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mostlysignssomeportents · 8 months

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How the kleptocrats and oligarchs hunt civil society groups to the ends of the Earth

It's a great time to be an oligarch! If you have accumulated a great fortune and wish to put whatever great crime lies behind it behind you, there is an army of fixers, lickspittles, thugs, reputation-launderers, procurers, henchmen, and other enablers who have turnkey solutions for laundering your reputation and keeping the unwashed from building a guillotine outside the gates of your compound.

The field of International Relations has studied the enemies of the Klept in detail: the Transnational Activist Network is a well-documented phenomenon. But far more poorly understood is the Transnational Uncivil Society Network, who will polish any turd of sufficient wealth to a high, professional gloss.

These TUSNs are the subject of a new, timely scholarly paper by Alexander Cooley, John Heathershaw and Ricard Soares de Oliveira: "Transnational Uncivil Society Networks: kleptocracy’s global fightback against liberal activism," published in last month's European Journal of International Relations:

https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:5e5a3052-c693-4991-a7cc-bc2b47134467/download_file?file_format=application%2Fpdf&safe_filename=Cooley_et_al_2023_transnational_uncivil_society.pdf&type_of_work=Journal+article

The authors document how a collection of institutions – some coercive, others organized around good works – allow kleptocrats to take power, keep power, and use power. This includes "wealth managers, company providers, accounting firms, and international bankers" who create the complex financial structures that obscure the klept's wealth. It also includes "second citizenship managers and lawyers" that facilitate the klept's transnational nature, both to provide access to un-looted, prosperous places to visit, and boltholes to escape to in the face of coup or reform. It includes the real-estate brokers and other asset facilitators, who turn whole precincts of the world's greatest cities into empty safe-deposit boxes in the sky, while ensuring that footlose criminal elites always have a penthouse to perch in when they take a break from the desiccated husks they've drained dry back home.

Of course, it also includes the PR managers and philanthropic ventures that allow the klept to launder their reputation, to make themselves synonymous with good deeds rather than mass murder. Think here of how the Sacklers used charity to turn their family name into a synonym for culture and fine art, rather than death by opioid overdose:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/11/justice-delayed/#justice-redeemed

Beyond providing comfort to "Politically Exposed Persons" and "High Net-Worth Individuals," TUSNs are concerned with neutralizing TANs. Activists in these transnational networks play an inside-outside game: in-country activists will recruit peers abroad to bring attention to the crimes of their local kleptocrats. These overseas partners target the klept in the places they go to play and spend, spoiling their fun – and if they succeed in getting corrupt leaders censured abroad, then in-country activists can leverage that bad press to fight the klept at home.

To fight this "Boomerang Effect," TUSNs seek to burnish corrupt officials' reputations abroad, getting their names on humanitarian prizes, beloved sports teams, cultural institutions and great universities. They seek to capture international governance institutions that might wrong-foot kleptocrats, co-opting them to enable and even celebrate looters.

When it comes to elite philanthropy, TUSNs are necessarily selective. Kleptocrats' foundations don't fund anti-kleptocratic groups – they stick to "education, public health, the environment and the arts." These domains steer clear of human rights questions that might implicate their benefactors. Russian oligarchs love children's charities and disability rights – provided they don't target the Russian state.

If charitable giving is reputation laundering's carrot, then "reputation management" is the laundry's stick. Think of organized copyfraudsters who clone websites that have criticized their clients, then backdate the articles, then accuse the originals of infringing copyright in order to get them de-listed from Google or taken offline altogether:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/23/reputation-laundry/#dark-ops

Reputation managers also spend a lot of time in court. In the UK – the world's leader in libel tourism, thanks to a legal system designed to let posh monsters sue muckraking journalists into silence – Russian oligarchs have perfected the art of forcing their critics to shut up and go away:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/03/04/londongrad/#enablers

Indeed, London is a one-stop shop for the global klept, a place were forelock-tugging Renfields will buy you a Mayfair mansion under cover of a numbered company, sue your critics into silence, funnel your money into an anonymous Channel Islands account:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/01/07/the-klept/#pep

They'll sell you whole galleriesworth of "fine art" that you can have relocated to a climate-controlled container in a Swiss or Irish freeport:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/14/poesy-the-monster-slayer/#moneylab

They'll give your thick-as-pigshit progeny a PhD and never check to see whether he wrote his thesis himself:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LSE%E2%80%93Gaddafi_affair

Then they'll hook you up with a cyber-arms dealer to hunt your enemies by capturing their devices:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/07/27/gas-on-the-fire/#a-safe-place-for-dangerous-ideas

But don't let Brexit stop you from shopping for bargains on the continent. The Golden Passports of the EU – available in a variety of flavors, from Maltese to Cypriot to Portuguese – offer the discerning failson access to the luxury good shops and fleshpots of 27 advanced economies, making it a favorite of the Khmer Riche – the junior klept of Cambodia's ruling faction:

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/cambodia-hunsen-wealth/

But golden passports are for amateurs. Skilled klepts travel on diplomatic passports, which offer the twin benefits of free movement and consequence-free criminality, thanks to diplomatic immunity. The former Kazakh dictator's son-in-law enjoyed a freewheeling diplomatic life in Vienna; one daughters of the dictator of Tajikistan had a jolly time as an envoy to DC; another, to London (where else?).

All this globetrotting serves a second purpose: when rival elites seize power back home and force the old guard into exile, those ex-monsters can show up in the lands they called their second homes and apply for asylum. It turns out that even bomb-the-boats UK will welcome any asylum seeker who enters via the private jet terminal at City Airport (to be fair, these "refugees" have extensive properties in Zone 1 and country places in the Home Counties, so they won't need housing).

This stuff works. After Kazakh state goons murdered at least 14 protesters at a Zhanaozen oil facility in 2011, human rights groups around the world took up the cause. But they were effectively neutralized by TUSNs, with former UK PM Tony Blair writing on behalf of the Kazakh government to the EU condemning any kind of international investigation into the mass killings (add "former Prime Ministers" to the list of commodities for sale in the UK to sufficiently well-resourced murderer).

The authors close their paper with two case-studies. The first is of the daughters of Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov, Gulnara and Lola. And President Karimov was indeed a dictator: he trapped his population within his borders, forced them to use unconvertible scrip in place of money, and ordered the murder of hundreds of peaceful protesters, plunging the country into international isolation.

But while Uzbeks were sealed within their borders, Gulnara Karimov became an international player, running a complex network of businesses that mixed the products of the nation's oilfields with her family's fortune. She solicited – and received – bribes from Teliasonera, MTS and Vimpelcom, who were all vying for the contract to provide service in Uzbekistan. All told, she extracted more than $1b in bribes, laundering them through Latvia, Hong Kong and New York. She acquired real-estate in France and Switzerland, and her spree continued until her father collaborated with Uzbek security to seize her assets and place her under house-arrest.

Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva was Gulnara's estranged younger sister. She and her husband Timur Tillyaev ran the Dubai-based SecureTrade, which did extensive business with "opaque Scottish Limited Partnerships," laundering more than $127m in a single year to offshore accounts in the UAE and Switzerland. They acquired many luxe assets – a jet, a Californian villa, and an LA perfumier.

Lola styled herself as the face of the Karimovas abroad, a "philanthropist and cultural ambassador." She was a UNESCO ambassador and commissioned works of monumental art – and also sued the shit out of news outlets that reported factual matters about her family repressive activity at home. She organized AIDS charities in the name of Uzbekistan – even as her father was imprisoning a writer for publishing a book explaining how to have safer sex.

The second case-study is on Isabel dos Santos, "Africa's richest woman," daughter of Angolan dictator Jose Eduardo dos Santos. Isabel's vast fortune stemmed from her personal capture of vast swathes of the third-largest economy in Africa: "telecommunications, banking, diamonds, real estate and cement, among many others." Isabel enjoyed seemingly limitless access to state credit and co-investment, and was given first crack at newly deregulated industries. Foreign firms that invested in Angola were required to "partner" with Isabel's businesses.

Isabel claimed to be a "self-made woman" – a claim credulously parroted by the western press, including the FT. She used her homegrown fortune to become a major player abroad, especially in Portugal, where she was represented by the leading Portuguese law-firm PLMJ. Her enablers are who's who of corruption-loving lickspittles: McKinsey, Ernst and Young, Boston Consulting Group, and the Spanish BigLaw firm Uri Menendez.

Isabel cultivated a public facade of philanthropic giving and public spirited activism, serving as head of the Angolan Red Cross. She attended Davos and spoke at the LSE (she was also invited to Oxford, but her invitation was subsequently rescinded). On social media, she dismissed critics of her wealth and corruption as "colonialists," decrying their "racism" and "prejudice."

Isabel dos Santos's corrupt sources of wealth were finally, irrefutably exposed through the Luanda Leaks, in which the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists mapped the network of "top banks, management consultants and legal firms that were central to dos Santos’s operations."

Both case studies shed light on the network of brilliant, driven enablers and procurers without whom the world's greatest monsters would falter. It's a rare window on a secretive world, one that is poorly understood even by its inhabitants. As Michael Mechanic wrote in Jackpot, his 2021 book on vast, intergenerational fortunes, the winners of the lucky orifice lottery often lack any real understanding of how The Money is structured, grown and protected:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/13/public-interest-pharma/#affluenza

This point was reiterated by Abigail Disney, in a brave piece on what it's like to grow up subject to the oversight of these millionaires who babysit the children of billionaires:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/19/dynastic-wealth/#caste

This is an important contribution to the literature. We naturally focus on the ultrawealthy individuals whose reputations and fortunes are the subject of so much attention, but without the TUSNs, they would be largely helpless.

Going to Burning Man? Catch me on Tuesday at 2:40pm on the Center Camp Stage for a talk about enshittification and how to reverse it; on Wednesday at noon, I'm hosting Dr Patrick Ball at Liminal Labs (6:15/F) for a talk on using statistics to prove high-level culpability in the recruitment of child soldiers.

On September 6 at 7pm, I'll be hosting Naomi Klein at the LA Public Library for the launch of Doppelganger.

On September 12 at 7pm, I'll be at Toronto's Another Story Bookshop with my new book The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/24/launderers-enforcers-bagmen/#procurers

Image: Sam Valadi (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/132084522@N05/17086570218/

CC BY 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Colin (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palace_of_Westminster_from_the_dome_on_Methodist_Central_Hall_(cropped).jpg

CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

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netherworldpost · 5 months

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(stares deeply into your art student eyes) Listen to me. I have something brutally important to tell you.

If your school does not regularly teach you how to recognize, and treat, physical pain and physical stress that is inherent in most -- if not all -- forms of making art, then it is fundamentally failing you.

Higher education is, fundamentally, a business.

Strip it to the core, dig into the foundations themselves dug into the soil, and you have hired extremely expensive consultants. You have hired these consultants to teach you to build a career, or build a portion of your life, or both.

Everything about that statement is carefully worded to be neutral.

If they are not regularly teach you to recognize the beginnings of physical pain, and, how to alleviate it when it sets in, and, how to regularly assess your work flow to reduce physical strain, then they are failing you.

I do not care how good they are as teachers. Or artists. Or business people. Or providers of networking connections.

If physical self care, strain reduction, proper ventilation, physical protection equipment, and similar lessons are never covered, they are utter and complete failures and, on at a core level, thieves.

They are robbing you of some of the most important lessons an art school should be teaching you.

I hope you will take this scathing critique of common art school education and use your inborn curiosity, some of the animus that inspired me to write this and you to become an artist, and begin pairing "I work in X media" with "I should prepare Y."

And if you are teaching yourself, then apply all above as part of your education. Do not rob yourself of these critical lessons.

Your materials are frequently dangerous.

Your posture requires frequent positions at odds with what your muscles are designed to do.

Your hours are frequently extensive.

Your options are binary: accommodate your physicality or suffer at an increasing rate until you are physically unable to continue working.

My education was sub-par. It took me years to fix the damage of this oversight. I consider myself lucky to have built up a proper training regime in time before permanent damage set in, I cannot count how many colleagues I have known over the years who were not so lucky.

From my physical core (which I exercise regularly to keep strong and minimize pain and physical stress), I wish you the best of luck.

:-)

#art school #art advice

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gothhabiba · 1 year

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On the one hand, people who take a hardline stance on “AI art is not art” are clearly saying something naïve and indefensible (as though any process cannot be used to make art? as though artistry cannot still be involved in the set-up of the parameters and the choice of data set and the framing of the result? as though “AI” means any one thing? you’re going to have a real hard time with process music, poetry cut-up methods, &c.).

But all of this (as well as takes that what's really needed is a crackdown on IP) are a distraction from a vital issue—namely that this is technology used to create and sort enormous databases of images, and the uses to which this technology is put in a police state are obvious: it's used in service of surveillance, incarceration, criminalisation, and the furthering of violence against criminalised people.

Of course we've long known that datasets are not "neutral" and that racist data will provide racist outcomes, and we've long known that the problem goes beyond the datasets (even carefully vetting datasets does not necessarily control for social factors). With regards to "predictive policing," this suggests that criminalisation of supposed leftist "radicals" and racialised people (and the concepts creating these two groups overlap significantly; [link 1], [link 2]) is not a problem, but intentional—a process is built so that it always finds people "suspicious" or "guilty," but because it is based on an "algorithm" or "machine learning" or so-called "AI" (processes that people tend to understand murkily, if at all), they can be presented as innocent and neutral. These are things that have been brought up repeatedly with regards to "automatic" processes and things that trawl the web to produce large datasets in the recent past (e.g. facial recognition technology), so their almost complete absence from the discourse wrt "AI art" confuses me.

Abeba Birhane's thread here, summarizing this paper (h/t @thingsthatmakeyouacey) explains how the LAION-400M dataset was sourced/created, how it is filtered, and how images are retrieved from it (for this reason it's a good beginner explanation of what large-scale datasets and large neural networks are 'doing'). She goes into how racist, misogynistic, and sexually violent content is returned (and racist mis-categorisations are made) as a result of every one of those processes. She also brings up issues of privacy, how individuals' data is stored in datasets (even after the individual deletes it from where it was originally posted), and how it may be stored associated with metadata which the poster did not intend to make public. This paper (h/t thingsthatmakeyouacey [link]) looks at the ImageNet-ILSVRC-2012 dataset to discuss "the landscape of harm and threats both the society at large and individuals face due to uncritical and ill-considered dataset curation practices" including the inclusion of non-consensual pornography in the dataset.

Of course (again) this is nothing that hasn't already been happening with large social media websites or with "big data" (Birhane notes that "On the one hand LAION-400M has opened a door that allows us to get a glimpse into the world of large scale datasets; these kinds of datasets remain hidden inside BigTech corps"). And there's no un-creating the technology behind this—resistance will have to be directed towards demolishing the police / carceral / imperial state as a whole. But all criticism of "AI" art can't be dismissed as always revolving around an anti-intellectual lack of knowledge of art history or else a reactionary desire to strengthen IP law (as though that would ever benefit small creators at the expense of large corporations...).

#ai art #ip law #neural networks #machine learning #ai #technology #readings #art tag

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cerastes · 4 months

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What's your read on Andreanna's 'love at first sight' line? It could be fun to just take it as face value and just assume it's just her having a crush on Skadi and Spectre (making her utter lack of connection to them on the network very funny), but I feel like there's something else going on there. Is it seaborn stuff? Something to do with her being an abyssal hunter knockoff having some kind of innate admiration for the original?

It’s because she’s a Walmart Abyssal Hunter, yeah.

The line in question:

Andreana feels something completely and utterly puzzling and maybe even thrilling when see sees Specter and Skadi, so she says this. It’s further elaborated on in her Module lore:

In her Module, Andreana explains that she was making a joke with that comment, however, it is true that she felt weird and bothered, Felt A Ways, as some would say, when looking at them or in their immediate presence. Then she posits that this physiological reaction might have to do with That Weird Backstory Of Hers, but also, 1) she doesn’t really care too much about it, and 2) it sounds like a pain in the ass so she doesn’t want to find out.

As we all know (and if not, as you’ll learn now), Abyssal Hunters can sense each other on a level that other people can’t. They perceive each other as they would a wave, a sea current, the smell of the sea, even its temperature, if close enough to each other. In Under Tides, for example, Skadi immediately perks up when Gladiia breaks into Specter’s room to steal her away, because she immediately ‘smelled’ a cold, strong wave of seawater coming from her room. That’s how Gladiia ‘smells’ or ‘feels’. It is stated at various points that Hunters don’t even need words to communicate if they so choose, with Specter in particular feeling like land-dweller language is bothersome to a fault at first, and Skadi addressing that with “no yeah I hated it at first too, still can’t get used to it, but it’s got its virtues”. It also explains a little why Skadi is so stoic and laconic: She literally isn’t used to talking or needing to, but I digress.

It’s easy to extrapolate that this is precisely what Andreana is feeling when she sees the Hunters: She’s “feeling” them but has no earthly clue as to what the hell that is in the first place. Proper Aegir Hunters have an education — Gladiia taught Laurentina not just about the Hunter trade, but also about art in general, with a focus on dancing — that prepares them to be Hunters and have the information needed given to them. Andreana has memory issues and not a damn clue of what the dicken is going on when she “feels” a Hunter, no context, so her first assumption is “Huh. Love at first sight?” because why the hell is she feeling something as intimate as what kind of waves and breeze they are from just looking at them? Then, a while later, since Andreana is a pretty pragmatic, logical, no-nonsense person, she starts putting the legos together and thinking, oh, yeah, might have to do with my Mysterious Circumstances, on second thought. Then she shrugs it off and keeps fiddling with her crossbow.

In Kal’tsit’s own words Andreana 200 Trust Files), if Laurentina or Didi can be considered a proper inkwell, Andreana is a droplet of ink in a glass of water: A facsimile, an attempt at something, an aberration. Of course, this callous indictment isn’t directed at Andreana, it’s aimed at what was done to Andreana.

And since I know I’ll get an ask about it, I’ll take the liberty of plugging Andreana into Drimo’s patented Just A Guy spectrum. Is Andreana Just A Guy (gender neutral)? Not quite. Let’s compare and contrast with our favorite specimen, Shalem. Shalem is terrified of his backstory and runs from it at every turn, until it was impossible for him to refuse it any longer (IS2), Andreana, on the other hand, is aware that she has a backstory. She KNOWS there’s lore, but she doesn’t really want to meet it. The backstory ambushes her, but Andreana says “no thank you :)” and walks past it. It’s a pain in the ass. She’d rather play paintball. She’s not normal, is keenly aware of it, and doesn’t give a zalak’s ass about it. Can’t be bothered! Simply uninterested!

#arknights #andreana

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foone · 1 year

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So here's the thing about AI art, and why it seems to be connected to a bunch of unethical scumbags despite being an ethically neutral technology on its own. After the readmore, cause long. Tl;dr: capitalism

The problem is competition. More generally, the problem is capitalism.

So the kind of AI art we're seeing these days is based on something called "deep learning", a type of machine learning based on neural networks. How they work exactly isn't important, but one aspect in general is: they have to be trained.

The way it works is that if you want your AI to be able to generate X, you have to be able to train it on a lot of X. The more, the better. It gets better and better at generating something the more it has seen it. Too small a training dataset and it will do a bad job of generating it.

So you need to feed your hungry AI as much as you can. Now, say you've got two AI projects starting up:

Project A wants to do this ethically. They generate their own content to train the AI on, and they seek out datasets that allow them to be used in AI training systems. They avoid misusing any public data that doesn't explicitly give consent for the data to be used for AI training.

Meanwhile, Project B has no interest in the ethics of what they're doing, so long as it makes them money. So they don't shy away from scraping entire websites of user-submitted content and stuffing it into their AI. DeviantArt, Flickr, Tumblr? It's all the same to them. Shove it in!

Now let's fast forward a couple months of these two projects doing this. They both go to demo their project to potential investors and the public art large.

Which one do you think has a better-trained AI? the one with the smaller, ethically-obtained dataset? Or the one with the much larger dataset that they "found" somewhere after it fell off a truck?

It's gonna be the second one, every time. So they get the money, they get the attention, they get to keep growing as more and more data gets stuffed into it.

And this has a follow-on effect: we've just pre-selected AI projects for being run by amoral bastards, remember. So when someone is like "hey can we use this AI to make NFTs?" or "Hey can your AI help us detect illegal immigrants by scanning Facebook selfies?", of course they're gonna say "yeah, if you pay us enough".

So while the technology is not, in itself, immoral or unethical, the situations around how it gets used in capitalism definitely are. That external influence heavily affects how it gets used, and who "wins" in this field. And it won't be the good guys.

An important follow-up: this is focusing on the production side of AI, but obviously even if you had an AI art generator trained on entirely ethically sourced data, it could still be used unethically: it could put artists out of work, by replacing their labor with cheaper machine labor. Again, this is not a problem of the technology itself: it's a problem of capitalism. If artists weren't competing to survive, the existence of cheap AI art would not be a threat.

I just feel it's important to point this out, because I sometimes see people defending the existence of AI Art from a sort of abstract perspective. Yes, if you separate it completely from the society we live in, it's a neutral or even good technology. Unfortunately, we still live in a world ruled by capitalism, and it only makes sense to analyze AI Art from a perspective of having to continue to live in capitalism alongside it.

If you want ideologically pure AI Art, feel free to rise up, lose your chains, overthrow the bourgeoisie, and all that. But it's naive to defend it as just a neutral technology like any other when it's being wielded in capitalism; ie overwhelmingly negatively in impact.

#Capitalism #The ethics of AI art

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ratwithhands · 26 days

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Character relations/opinions!

Alright before I post any more Battle Addict stuff I should probably explain what a League Council is. Here's a summarized diagram:

A Pokemon League is a region's network of specialized skilled trainers. It is run by the League Council, which includes finance, HR, marketing, PR, and other managing departments which are divided into different branches depending on who they work with.

This is all to say that everything gets messy very quickly when news of the diagnosis spreads through the network. Originally the diagnosis was supposed to be private information for only the Battle and League departments, however certain higher ups felt it was a safety risk and notified gym leaders as well in the event of future collaborations.

The network is mostly divided into people who are positive/neutral about the news, and people who feel negatively about the twins as a result. Coworkers who were already familiar/close with the two tend to be positive, or at least supportive, whereas those who didn't know them got another reason to avoid them. Some people think they should go on leave for "recovery", but some are more forward and want them terminated.

If you're wondering where Cynthia falls in this, she's a foreign top league worker (Sinnoh Champion) who is hosted in Unova. Basically she has dept. employees assigned to help her connect to people around the region and get different services if requested. She's basically watching everything unfold from the sidelines, with every interview about her opinion boiling down to "lol if you're scared of people stronger than you then get good". She does also bring up historic accounts of CM/HCCM though, mostly to clarify that CM is not a new or scary thing. She's not for or against the twins, rather just hoping to use this as an opportunity to teach others.

I didn't end up drawing her because I got tired but Elesa got the news too!! She actually got it before everyone else since the twins decided to go tell her beforehand. The general scene basically had Ingo and Emmet deliberating in the car, Ingo telling Emmet it's not too late to turn around and go home while Emmet was hesitant but adamant that they needed to tell her first. She probably took it the worst out of everyone but that's mostly just cause it caught her off guard that her friends would just randomly drop in to deliver the news. She's still rooting for them though, mostly trying to support the Subway with more collaborative events to make the twins look better after the hit from the media. She also tries to rework Emmet's restraints where possible, usually trying to make them look more cohesive with the rest of an outfit or trying to make them less visible (cause as much as Emmet says it's not a big deal it's still the first thing he looks at in his reflection).

Here's them in alt clothes :7

Man is cuffed under there (T_T)

Can't really think of too much to say so hope you guys like the art and see you later!

#submas #submas au #au #ingo #subway master ingo #ingo pokemon #nobori #emmet #subway master emmet #emmet pokemon #kudari #pokemon shauntal #caitlin pokemon #marshal pokemon #champion cynthia #grimsley #Elesa will use these two to model clothing lines without mentioning Emmet's are technically modified to match his work requirement #“His hands are just cold dw about it”#I wonder if Emmet's version of the clothes would be sold seperately #surely there must be a market for thick clothes with long sleeves and a compression fit #hell Emmet's league restraint is like half leather by volume there's gotta be an audience for that #also for those wondering‚ BFOs are considered auxilliary to the formal league and are considered as extra members for special events #They're generally not included unless an event is being planned or they need the extra marketing bait #Also the General Department handles other tasks!! it's just that most people are assigned/categorized for a specific dept. anyway #so the GD is for people coming in from out of the region or people ranking below gym leaders since they aren't assigned #All this writing is kinda making my head hurt‚ see you guys later

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melodiousmonsters · 7 months

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I'm just going to start talking about my celestials each month to give you all some low effort and fun(for me) content. Also doing full illustrations of them as well, with some design notes at the end.

My interpretation of loodvigg, named Fhobia Denta Latrostratous (they're one of the three celstials with a full name at the moment) is a fair bit different from other's interpretations of it for extremely personal reasons. They're a tad bit strange, and creepy looking, but overall they are a compassionate (in their own strange way, like almost everything about them) and creative individual that's held as a role model for all shadowkind. They also have a lavender colored ring around their pupils so their eyes aren't fully pink, which is the main difference from the cannon loodvigg, along with the subtly different feathers, lower body, markings on the abdomen, and scales on the arms.

They are generally unexpressive (tonealy, the main way monsters express their emotions) yet VERY emotional. Over the years they gradually became more in control of their emotions due to sheer life experience, but they are still a little more irrational and driven by emotion than most of the other celestials.

They hate being touched, loud sudden/repetitive noises, math, people or things that get too into the meaning of art and other stuff like that, and the texture of a few things like fish meat or coarse fabrics. There are very few things they have a neutral opinion on, one of which is the taste of blood by itself.

They love keeping up their appearance in most situations, for example, their hair isn't naturally like that, they use their saliva like hair jell and specifically style it to look like that, also they would be absolutely rancid smelling and filthy with their diet of fresh meat and preferred locals of wet warm caves. They spend a lot of time cleaning themselves, which is extremely rare for monsters. They also like eating more than your average monster, they eat like a toddler because of how preoccupied with eating they get, collecting/making taxidermy and other oddities, and all critters, especially invertebrates though.

They are majorly interested in biological sciences, specifically preservation and taxonomy. They gave the celestials and dof era monsters/critters their scientific names(no I don't have scientific names for the celestials yet, I've kinda ran out of ideas for scientific names tbh). They happen to spend a lot of their time in a very large cave network with a lot of different types of caves that make good enclosures for keeping critters to study.

They care a lot about the other celestials as they are siblings and gets very angry if something bad happens to them, only if they feel it's undeserved, their empathy is a bit wacky and inconsistent.

Also most shadow monsters tend to share in its odd mannerisms, sometimes the behaviors show up in completely non shadow affiliated monsters and no one knows why.

Disclaimer (I think that's the right word), yes you guessed right, Fhobia and the large majority of the shadow monsters are autistic, the term isn't used in universe as the monsters don't have a word for autism as they aren't that into psychology and "the way that monster is" has worked in place of a proper word historically, monsters aren't into categorizing others.

as for design notes and process here it is! all the stuff in red boxes are final.

#my singing monsters #beezleart #art #melodious monster chronicles #loodvigg #fhobia denta latrostratous

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armysantiny · 1 year

Text

-[renjun; soft bf headcanon

Nct’s resident artist boyfriend everyone!!

Anywho—

You and Renjun initially met at an art workshop

He was looking for help with a brush technique and there you were, having just learnt it from the art professor

Bless you for offering to help him because he’s certain he wouldn’t have asked himself

Somewhere during the workshop, social media handles are shared

You two are the creative friends to lovers fr

Sending aesthetic pictures to each other and saying what do we think?

Renjun’s the one who takes the initial leap to give you his number

And the rest was history <3

Renjun is 100% the teases you out of love boyfriend

It’s his love language <33

Very much a fan of buying little trinkets he finds that remind him of you

Presents them to you when he gets home by quite literally dumping the paper gift bag in your lap

Immensely satisfied by the reaction on your face

Takes you to craft stores and small privately-owned cafés on dates

Saves your favourite new cafés and restaurant on his phone so can grab desserts and take-out from there on his way home for you

This man makes such a good impression on your friends

I’m convinced they smother him in affection whenever he joins you on an outing

Low-key pleading for help with his eyes while he’s having his poor soul squeezed out of him

And you’re over there watching him suffer with an unassuming grin on your face

What did he really expect from you, huh?

You little traitor – his words, trust me

But it’s fine, he loves you anyway

Even if he’s wheezing to get his breath back

Isn’t the biggest fan of PDA but peppers you with kisses all over the second you two are alone

Expect forehead kisses and the occasional peck on the lips when you two are outside

Hand holding with Renjun >>>

Makes up for his lack of PDA by having your hand in his almost always

He stuffs your hand in his pocket when it’s cold and puts a hand warmer in the hand he is (unfortunately) not holding

Pretends not to absolutely combust when you put your head on his shoulder as you’re walking home from a date

He feels absolutely normal about this. Yes :D

Takes candid pictures of you and uses them in a collage that he surprises you with on your birthday

I swear down he has the softest of smiles as you process the gift in your hands

Has the sweetest of heart eyes fr

“This…you made this for me?”

“Of course I did, my love~”

You better keep this man

Renjun best boyfriend

I’m rooting for you two <3

Networks: @kwritersworld, @kdiarynet, @ultkpopnetwork, @whipped-kpop-creators, @k-library, @knet-bakery, @kpclub, @nct-writers, @neoturtles

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading! Consider reblogging, leaving some feedback or donating to my kofi!

Taglist: @teeztheflag, @jeonqquk, @mikailo666, @babyboobean, @taemin-jaemin, @iiindigocheesecake, @xavi-in-kpopland, @flowerjun, @marxenash | Taglist form

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endless-summer-soldier · 5 months

Text

dr. feelgood - chapter nine

pairing: Surgeon!Bucky x SurgicalIntern!Reader

summary: Y/N has a one night stand with a handsome stranger the night before starting her new job as a surgical intern. Little does she know, the handsome stranger also happens to be her new boss

warnings: must be 18+, drinking, some surgery descriptions, smut, self-pleasure, praise kink, oral sex, unprotected sex, rough sex, PTSD, choking

word count: 2.8k

series playlist

taglist sign up (for the people I'm currently tagging - please fill this out if you want me to continue tagging you!)

taglist: @tellmealovestory @mrs-bucky-barnes106 @charmedbysarge @theroyalmanatee @ozwriterchick @aya-fay @differenttyphoonwerewolf @sebsgirl71479 @notmeddy @drewsuncrustables @lokidokieokie @hextech-bros @nats-whore @m4nulup1n @arcanebabe @tanyaspartak @jackiehollanderr @princezzjasmine @pono-pura-vida @mavrellover91 @helluvapimp @almosttoopizza @esposadomd @zannemes

series masterlist

After checking on my patients and changing out of my scrubs, I walked into the parking lot to find Bucky leaning against the side of a shiny black jeep.

“There she is!” he announced, straightening his posture to greet me. “I was starting to wonder if you were standing me up.”

“I would never,” I feigned offense.

“I have a hard time believing that.”

I considered my dating history, “Sure, I’ve ghosted guys before. But I’ve never actually stood someone up. That’s just cruel.”

“Fair enough, but don’t even think about ghosting me.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” I winked at him. He opened the passenger side door for me, like a true gentleman, and I climbed into the car.

The drive to his place was short and we made easy small talk on the way. I was expecting to feel nervous in the lead up to our arrival at his place, but I wasn’t. He pulled into the driveway of a brick row home, with navy shutters and white accents along the windows. I let myself out of the car before he could open the door for me and he led me up the couple stairs to the front door. There was a welcome mat on the front porch that read The Neighbors Have Better Stuff and couldn’t help but laugh.

“Is this your version of home security?” I asked, pointing to the mat with my toe.

He chuckled, “My sister got that for me when I bought the house. And I have to say no burglaries yet so it must be working.”

When he opened the front door, I was surprised to find that his house felt very homely. I was expecting a bachelor pad, with hard edges and several shades of grey. Instead, I was met with neutral colors, tasteful art, and warm lighting. Bucky placed his keys on a hook by the front door and told me to make myself at home. I shrugged my jacket off and before I could find a spot for it, Bucky took it from my hands and put it on a hanger in the hall closet. I slid off my ankle boots and found a seat on the very comfortable sectional, as Bucky flipped a switch that started a flame in the fireplace.

“Here’s the remote, you can find something to put on the TV while I grab us a few drinks.”

I clicked on the TV and was met with a wide selection of programs. “You have all the streaming services…” I spoke in disbelief.

“And cable,” he added.

“Sheesh, living the dream over here.”

“You know what’s embarrassing about that? I almost never watch TV,” he admitted.

I gaped at him, thinking about the intricate network of log-ins I’d collected and bartered for over the years.

He sat next to me on the couch with a decanter of red wine and two crystal glasses.

“Let me guess, this is a vintage sangiovese from a little village in the south of Italy?”

He poured a sample into a glass and handed it for me to try before adding, “Don’t give me too much credit, it’s a midrange bottle. A Spanish tempranillo.”

“Mmm,” I replied, before imitating a sommelier, swirling the wine around before taking a big whiff. I took a sip and contemplated before making my assessment, “I’m getting strong notes of grape.”

Bucky let out a chuckle before topping off my glass and filling his own. He leaned deeper into the couch and I did the same, keeping about a foot of distance between us.

“You know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re trying to impress me, Barnes,” I declared.

He shrugged, “Is it working?”

“Maybe a little.”

He pulled his phone out and tapped a few buttons, before smooth jazz started playing over the speaker system in the house.

“How about now?”

“Why have we been spending all this time at my place when you live in this literal smart home?”

“I had to make sure you weren’t after me for my money,” he joked.

“Oh, is that not clear? I’m definitely only interested in you as a sugar daddy.” He gave me a look and I was pleased to have grated on his nerves just a bit. “But seriously, your house is incredible.”

“You haven’t even seen the whole thing.”

“Are you going to give me the tour?” I smiled.

He nodded, “I can give you a tour.” He stood up and held his hand out for me. We started on our current floor, where he showed me his incredibly clean kitchen and back deck, overlooking the water. Then he took me into the basement, where he had a room that could only be described as a mancave, with a big screen TV, comfortable seating, and a small stocked bar. There was also a small room in the back that had a home gym, full of free weights, a treadmill, and a Peloton.

Next we headed toward the second floor, which contained the laundry room, home office, and the master bedroom. We paused when we reached the master bedroom, as I entered the room and decided to look around.

“Does this meet your standards?” he joked. I smiled at him as I walked around the bed and peeked into the bathroom. It was immaculate. Perfectly clean and tidy, well decorated, and aesthetically pleasing. I was impressed.

“Are you always this clean?” I asked, still in disbelief.

“Ever since the military. They ingrained cleanliness into me, despite my protests.”

“Remind me to thank them. Most guys I know live in their own filth.”

“Well I’m not most guys,” he said, stepping a foot closer to me. “You want to know the best part about this room?”

“Does music magically play in here too?” I asked.

“It does, but that’s not the best part.” I tilted my head, waiting for him to explain further. He didn’t speak more, but ushered me to come to him. I complied, standing about a foot in front of him, dying in anticipation. He placed both hands on my shoulders and gently guided me backwards, until the back of my legs hit the mattress. Then he pushed me down so my knees buckled and I was sitting on the bed. As I sunk into the soft mattress, I felt like I was sitting on a cloud. I instinctively leaned back so that my torso was on the bed and let out an unconscious sigh.

“This is amazing.”

I heard Bucky chuckle as he watched me, “After I got back from my deployment, all I wanted was a soft bed. I didn’t want any reminders of lumpy cots or sleeping in the desert.”

“I don’t think I can go back to my bed after feeling this one.”

“Well it’s a good thing you don’t have to,” Bucky flirted. He slowly crawled on top of me and my hands instinctively found their way around him. I gently scratched the hair at the back of his neck and studied his face, trying to read his expression. His pupils were wide and were focused on my eyes, flashing briefly to look at my lips. I could sense his heart beating out of his chest, matching my rhythm, and he let out a deep exhale that barely reached my mouth. We were in a stare off, taking each other in and waiting on edge to see who would make the first move. The edges of his mouth slowly turned upward into an amused grin and that was it for me. I pulled him towards me, desperate to feel the caress of his soft lips. His touch did not disappoint. As soon as we connected, I probed my tongue into his mouth, deepening the kiss. He placed his strong hand on my jaw and entwined his fingers into my hair.

We moved together slowly, savoring the moment instead of rushing to the finish line. Bucky had moved from my lips to my neck, planting wet kisses down to my collar bone, where he lingered, doing things that would surely leave a mark. I ran my hands up the back of his shirt, needing more skin to skin contact. I scratched small circles around his back before I whispered, “Can I take this off?”

He pulled away to catch his breath and grabbed the collar of his shirt from the back and easily pulled it over his head.

“Your turn,” he said smugly. I rose to his challenge, propping myself on my elbows to pull off my top. While I wish I’d been wearing some lacy lingerie, I was clad in a ribbed bralette in heather grey.

“I’m sorry I’m not in lingerie, but I didn’t expect-”

He cut off my defense with a kiss, massaging my lips with his and sending his tongue in to explore my mouth.

“You are so fucking sexy,” he breathed in between kisses. “Don’t ever apologize for how you look.”

That statement turned me on even more, if that was possible. I pushed him off of me and directed him to lay next to me on the bed. I unzipped my jeans and shimmied out of them, then climbed on top of Bucky so I was straddling him.

“Please don’t make me wait any longer,” he begged. I wanted to tease him more but I wasn’t sure I could hold it together much longer either. I hovered over him, planting a few kisses on his lips before making my way down his body to his pelvis. I playfully nipped at his hip bones before unbuttoning his jeans and pulling them down his muscular legs. I could see his erection through his boxer briefs and wasted no time massaging his bulge.

His head dipped back into the mattress in pleasure, and I had barely even started. I pulled down the waistband of his boxers, freeing his erection from its confinement. I gripped him firmly, sliding up past the tip and back down in a fluid motion. Bucky let out a contented sigh, giving me the confidence I needed to continue. I leaned forward to take his shaft in my mouth, bobbing my head up and down as I massaged his member with my tongue. He reached down and tangled his hand in my hair, gently massaging my scalp.

“I’m not gonna last much longer,” he breathed. I continued blowing him, paying special attention to the tip and fondling his balls. I heard him grunt and tasted the slightly salty taste of his semen. I eased working his shaft with my mouth, opting to clasp him with my hand, as I swallowed down his load. He guided my head up off of his penis and pulled me up towards him, squeezing me into a tight bearhug.

“You are amazing,” he gushed, kissing my cheek and neck repeatedly. I wiggled out of his tight grasp to reposition myself so that I could see him better. I placed a hand on his jaw and pulled him toward me, kissing him with vigor yet again. He placed a hand on my hip, gently running his thumb over my pelvic bone. He pulled away sooner than I wanted, and I tried to pull him back to me. He recognized the look in my eyes, and gave me a soft smile as he brushed a few loose strands of hair behind my ears.

“Don’t worry, love. I’ll make it up to you.” He gently laid me down on the mattress as he shifted his weight on top of me. He started with my lips, exploring my mouth with a slow, lingering kiss. Then he peppered kisses along my jaw, up to my ear. He tugged my earlobe with his teeth and then planted soft kisses behind my ear. He moved down my neck, applying pressure with his tongue. As he continued south, briefly teething on my clavicle before journeying down to my sternum. He slid his hands up my sides and under my bralette. He looked up at me and raised an eyebrow, as if asking for my permission to proceed. I gave him a quick nod and he peeled the bralette up, freeing my breasts. I pulled the bralette over my head and shivered slightly at the cold air caressing my nipples. Bucky picked up on my momentary discomfort and acted quickly, bringing his mouth to my left nipple as his hand massaged my right breast. I let out an unconscious moan and noticed a smirk on Bucky’s lips before he switched sides to the other breast. Things started to get fuzzy as I was entering a natural high.

Bucky moved down lower, teasing my abdomen, pelvis, and inner thighs along the way. He pulled my thong off slowly, teasing me, but then his tongue found my clitoris and I was sent into orbit. He managed to circulate the use of his fingers, lips, and tongue to all my sensitive areas. My fingers were digging into the bed sheets, looking for something to grasp as I teetered on the edge of my orgasm.

Bucky took me by surprise when he inserted a second finger and I let out a heavy breath. I shifted my gaze down toward Bucky and was met with his ocean blue eyes looking up at me. I could’ve sworn he was smiling too, even though his mouth was focused on pleasuring me. And that was all it took. I succumbed to my orgasm, shuddering and releasing all the tension in my body as Bucky lapped up my juices, savoring every drop. I felt light headed from the intense orgasm that came quickly. I’d never finished like that from oral stimulation alone. I blinked rapidly up at the ceiling, trying to refocus my eyes and sighed, “Oh Buck.”

I felt his weight shift up as he crawled up beside me, “How was that, my little sex goddess?”

I turned toward him and couldn’t hide the smile from my face. He knew exactly what he was doing to me. I nuzzled into him and said, “I don’t ever want to leave this bed.”

“Me neither.”

I was startled awake by my own gasping. My eyes bugged and I struggled to breathe as the pressure increased to my throat. Bucky was on top of me, his legs straddling my waist, but not in a fun way. He had me pinned down to the mattress and his forearm was pressed into my windpipe. His eyes were glazed over, almost like he was possessed.

I tried to call his name but it came out as more of a gasp. Then I made the mistake of trying to push him off me. I should’ve realized fighting back would just make him push harder, but I wasn’t thinking, I was reacting.

His hands were now enclosed around my neck as he started to squeeze harder. My first instinct was to panic, but I knew that wouldn’t help break him from his trauma-induced haze. If I could just talk to him, maybe it would wake him up. Maybe my voice could break into the nightmare he was having, even just to serve as a distraction. I tried to speak again, but all that came out was a squeak.

I needed to pull him back to reality, so I tried something unexpected. If he thought I was a dangerous enemy, the last thing he would expect would be affection. I gently placed my hands on his jaw. His expression shifted slightly and his grip on my neck loosened a bit. I took the opening and carefully pulled his face closer to mine, rubbing little circles behind his earlobes with my finger tips. As his face drew nearer, his forehead and nose connected with mine and his hands released my neck. I barely brushed my lips against his mouth and felt all the tension in his body melt away. I took in a few deep breaths, relieved to have de-escalated the situation. Bucky rolled back to his side of the bed, but curled into me. I directed his head to my chest and ran my fingers through his hair, giving him a scalp massage. He fell back asleep with ease, his breaths and body weighing heavy on me.

Despite the soothing sounds of his breathing, I was wide awake. Adrenaline was still coursing through my veins from the attempted strangulation. The strangest thing was, I wasn’t upset with Bucky. That wasn’t the Bucky I knew, it was just a PTSD flare up. I should’ve been scared of him, of another attack. Yet, I couldn’t imagine leaving him. He talked a little about his time in the military but he never got into any of the specifics. PTSD never even crossed my mind, Bucky always seemed so put together. And now that I saw the darker side of him, all I wanted was to help him and protect him from his haunting thoughts.

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes #bucky x reader #bucky barnes doctor au

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aroacesafeplaceforall · 11 months

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Hello there!

Mod team:

I'm Jamie and I use any pronouns but prefer masc (he/him) thank you! I'm on the A-spectrum, specifically aegosexual and aromantic!!

My name's Noah Oats and I use they/them pronouns! I'm aroace, specifically quoiromantic and aegosexual! I have diagnosed ADHD and am an INFP :D

We’re here for all your Questions, Rants, Vents and Confessions!

Ask box is always open and we’re always here for your asks!

We are here to educate, explain and help with anyone who needs it!

Stay safe, remember you are valid and its your box!

LOVE U ALL U ARE VALID

Link to my Aro-spec post

Link to a post containing most Ace Spec identities

Asexual Wiki, Aromantic Wiki,

the Asexual Visibility and Education Network -Asexual resource

AUREA - the Aromantic-spectrum Union for Recognition, Education, and Advocacy

List of Aroace Spectrum resources

Connect to the community - aces and aros The Battle of the Phobics Link to link post

The comments section link to a helpful article on how to educate/beat the acephobes

Ask box Days!

Sunday: sex stories Sunday, for aro and/or ace specs! Block the tag “aroace explicit” to avoid!

Mondays: free day

Tuesday: rant and vents! Everything goes but everything answered with a ‘.’ Thing

Wednesday: free day

Thursday: minor friendly Thursday! A day for just minors asks to be answered about their aspec ID and questions. Block “aroace minors” to avoid

Friday: free day

Saturday: free day

Recommend blogs

please feel free to ask me first, if I don’t provide a good answer or you want more you can ask again or go to one of these blogs! Please tag more blogs I should add to this list!!

@asexualadvice - asexual advice! (Read blog but helpful info!)

@aegosexual-moments - the aegosexual blog of all time (excluding myself /j)

@aromantic-diaries - Very cool aro person!

(Yes I know my profile pic is off center, suffer)

(It’s seperate because aroace is unfortunately usually viewed as one identity, ace and aro are separated spectrums)

(If I hear one more complaint about my icon I’ll change it to what ever random piece of art crosses my dash next and you wouldn’t like that would you??)

The Blogs blogs that are kinda fan accounts???? wtf????

@aroaceplaceforsome they’re the neutral party here, they use pronouns

@throwawaysoiwontgeteatenbyjamie a whore

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO @the-knowable-entity for drawing our profile pic!!!

Banner art by @pride-flag-planets

The forces:

A collection of multi member blogs dedicated to one country of aspecs… all against Denmark

@aussieaspecforces

@indianaspecforces

@americanaspecforces

@british-aspec-forces

#aroace #aromantic #asexual #aro #ace #aspec #intro post #finally #pride month #ace pride #aro pride #aroace pride #queer resources #resources #lgbtqiia+#lgbtq #lgbt #lgbtqia #lgbtqia+#lgbtqplus

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toskarin · 1 year

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slightly more armchair rambling about ai art than is standard fare for that kind of thing

imo the strongest indictment of ai art's current state is that even a neutral stance will be disappointed when you see there's new art of your niche fave, open it, and discover it's ai generated. it's unexciting in a way that other art isn't, and it's not even something "inherent"

no matter what anyone does, it's all a bit too much of a slurry right now. I'm not taking the shortsighted position of "ohhhh it's not art because there's not enough steps!" or anything, (because trying to classify what is and isn't art is stepping directly into an unwinnable argument) but the weird hypercommercial walled garden of it all strangled out the fine tuning that could possibly make something exciting

know how much drawing is done by someone who mods their favourite mmo and takes caps of it? usually none. the mod assets are probably not even theirs either, but the level of constraint-adjustment provided to the end user lets them exercise creative vision, so some caps look noticeably better. some screencaps are exciting, but in the end, it's digital photography

the entire field of ai art is characterised by deeply interesting tools, developed by the terminally uncreative, licensed in restricted form to the incurious.

their loudest critique comes from.... a reactionary legalist perspective on the material end, or a spiritual moralist perspective on the theoretical end

there's so much that tells you who's at the wheel, too. basic functions like adjusting palettes or posing mannequins for reference are niche hacks that actively fight against the main functionality (prompting) because the fantasy of the "one button press to make art" wound up just as constraining as the fantasy of "writing code in plain speech"

setting aside arguments about what makes human art special, about what makes ai art immoral, about what counts as real art or not,

the main audience for neural networks (read: the ones who decide the direction research moves) have an overly simple definition of art, and so a page can only contain that which is desired, and so a page can only be absent of that which is undesired

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multidimensionalguidance · 2 months

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SR Chart in-depth Analysis Part 1 🗝️

I thought it would be a good idea to write down an interpretation of how my SR chart might develop during this year, forget about it, and then revisit it during and/or at the end of the year! A fun experiment for me, even though I can honestly say that I've already been seeing the way it has been activating.

Note: please keep in mind I use sidereal and whole house system.

Libra ASC: this was the first thing that stood out to me when I saw the chart. I was already feeling an "upcoming glow up" vibe, and confirming it was hilarious. Even though Libra and Venusians in general are not just about appearance, they value aesthetics A LOT. I've already received comments on how my skin is looking amazing, and overall, just a lot of attention from others being thrown towards my appearance. So, aside from that more obvious aspect, I would say that this rising sign makes one feel more keen to developing and/or creating relationships of all kinds, meaning, that it is expected to become a tad more social during this year. Romantic relationships, creativity, arts, a need to be more diplomatic or neutral, and communication with others will become themes I will engage with a lot.

To give dept to this house, I pay attention to the where Libra sits in my natal chart and where it goes on the SR chart, also, where the lord of the SR ASC sits (strength, aspects, etc.) in the chart.

Example: Libra sits in my 12th house, and becomes the rising sign for SR chart. This tells me that a lot of my subconscious patterns will become more noticeable, particularly for relationships, and that those matters that are usually hidden about me are now put on the spotlight. Now, it's very interesting that the lord of my SR ASC moves to the 12th house, so its like there will still be things that are still kept hidden. Knowing me, I will be content with spending time alone and/or in foreign places, so I don't mind. Venus is debilitated, and I'm assuming that keeping to myself will partly occur from difficulties with possible insecurities, being overly critical or focused on self reflecting. Themes of feeling unworthy, and healing it. A great amount of attention being placed towards looks could definitely make one feel uncomfortable or unsure of why you're receiving it so much, and if it has to do with superficial reasons it can makes you feel unseen, as if others ignore your depth.

Scorpio stellium 2nd house: a focus on transformations occuring around money, resources, values, face area, food or products consumed, luxury, comfort, sensuality, and romance. I would expect a highlight and plenty of motivation to pursue all of these topics, since the Sun sits there conjunct Mars. Scorpios move quietly and under the radar, so there will be lots of secrecy on how I will exercise my power/drive, and also on communications around how I'm making money or managing my finances. Money from others moving directly into my pockets from foreign matters, contracts, writing/communication (9H ruled by Mercury), networking, social media, creative pursuits, romantic partner (11H ruled by Sun), somehow losses that turn into gains, expenditure, spirituality, and foreign residence (12H ruled by Mercury). In general, major important upgrades to the way I relate to Venusian matters.

Sagittarius 3rd house: even if houses are empty in a natal or SR chart they still hold meaningful information, but will of course be felt less in comparison to the houses that have planets. I see that my mindset, near environment, and communication will be a lot about/with foreigners, spiritual topics, traveling, and philosophy. The ruler sits in the 7th house, so it will also be mixed with my romantic life (with a foreigner), business, contracts, and other type of close relationships.

Capricorn 4th house: I don't usually pay much attention to Pluto unless its close to ASC or inner planet (Sun, Moon, Venus) but I will now for the sake of giving more context. There could be a major change of residence occuring or renovations of some sort. Home environment could be a bit chaotic or under frequent changes. Part of Fortune also sits there, so all of those transformations might actually be aligned with blessings or for a better outcome. The ruler sits in the 5th house with the moon, so it will definitely make me feel anxious and emotionally restricted or numbed. Luckily, I've had enough experience with Saturnian energy, so I know how to work through it until I find balance.

Aquarius 5th house: as I already mentioned above, with Moon and Saturn conjunct here it is likely that I will be feeling as if my emotions are harder to access which could cause anxiety, creative blockages, frustrations, or depression. Definitely will incorporate lots of yoga, nature, and emotional regulating activities during this year to keep that on check.

Pisces 6th house: with Rahu sitting there, I could see that my attention will gravitate around how I incorporate work, daily routine, health, and exercise with spirituality, creative endeavors, and abstract thinking. I had already experience gut health issues and almost all of those topics shortly after my birthday, so I can see how wherever Rahu is placed in a SR chart, there is a lot of movement for good or worse. With the ruler of 6H going into the 5H, I could see how work and health matters could exacerbate my emotional challenges.

Aries 7th house: Jupiter is siting here, and even though it is retrograde, the functionality of the planet doesn't suddenly stop occuring. It makes Jupiter have a more inward expression if anything. There will most likely be expansion or growth of romantic suitors (specifically male, since its in Aries), contracts, business, relationships of all type of relationships being upgraded somehow, and in general lots of luck with interpersonal skills. Those with whom I develop close relationships will become like teacher, or enjoy providing protection to me. The ruler sits in the 2nd house conjunct with the Sun, so others will either expand my resources or simply have an influence in it. Since its with the sun, it should be beneficial or empowering.

Alllllriiiight, I shall stop here for now and release the 2nd part at another moment!

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dolceterzo · 1 month

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il museo del sesso

Fandom: Ghost (The Band)

Pairing: Papa Emeritus III x GN!Reader

Genre: Romance - Fluff - Humour

Word Count: 1035

Summary: Reader has had a long day, and Terzo has Secondo's latest newsletter from his travels.

A/N: This is my first ever Ghost fic to see the light of day, and the first fic I've published in over a year. I'm scared, but I figured I'd unleash it into the wilderness! Some Italian terms of endearment are in the feminine, but the actual reader description is gender-neutral. Yes, bad Italian translations are featured - my ancestors are cursing me as I type. Enjoy!

----

It had been a long day. Sister Imperator had run you ragged preparing for Terzo’s next assignment, though he would no longer perform the duties bestowed upon him as the anti-pope, being retired meant having other expectations placed upon him instead. You were to accompany him as an international dignitary of sorts, meeting with other congregations within the Ministry’s broader network, building an empire required going beyond Italy, Sweden or Los Angeles… And, after all, Terzo was a popular Papa, no matter how the dismissal from the higher clergy may have looked. Just as Secondo was out there performing ambassadorial duties when he wasn’t in his vineyards, so too would Terzo begin a new chapter.

But that was later. Now? Now you just needed to lie down.

Terzo was already on the bed when you entered your shared living quarters, and he was reading the latest instalment of Secondo’s monthly newsletter - an unusually personal and rather entertaining mailer only the Emeritus brothers were privy to.

To Terzo's great joy, it included a gossip column, specifically for his benefit he was sure, as well as an arts and culture spot. For Primo, there was a horticultural section full of plants and landscapes from wherever Secondo had been, and for Copia, there was a section on animals and literature.

The sound of your arrival has Terzo looking up with a pleased smile, his eyes are bright as he pats the space beside him, his raven hair falling loosely around his forehead. He puts Secondo’s digitally crafted newsletter down, letting the tablet rest on his thighs for a moment.

You waste no time taking him up on the offer, he looked utterly dashing in his glasses, his shirt unbuttoned enough to enjoy a peek of his chest. You loved Terzo in many ways, but seeing him relaxed and enjoying something away from clergy matters was high on your list.

Scooting next to him, you’re mindful of the device. Positioning your head on his torso, your arms locked around his midsection, the instant sensation of his warmth and the weight of his hand on your back has you exhaling with relief.

“Ciao, piccola ucella.” He greets softly, fingers grazing the back of your neck, slowly caressing as he begins to thread his fingers in your hair.

“Ciao, amore.” You hum, eyes closing for a moment, your muscles relaxing with each passing moment.

“Busy day, hm?” He asks with a smile, knowing full well that you would have been giving Imperator a run for her money.

“Si, very busy.” You answer half-heartedly, already well on your way to dozing on him.

You feel the soft rumble of his laughter against your ear, “It seems you’ve already decided on how to remedy this exhaustion, no?” Giving you a gentle squeeze. “Oh absolutely, you’re my favourite cuscino.” You purr, grip tightening as you shiver, trying to draw extra warmth from his body.

He wordlessly puts the tablet on the bedside table and tugs at the blanket draped over the headboard, bringing it down over both of you, making sure you are suitably covered.

“You know, I find it very sweet when you use some of your Italian, tesoro.” He praises, his thumb brushing over the shell of your ear.

His gaze never leaves you, concern and adoration blending into one, though the conversation had been playful, he could see that you were not only physically fried but mentally too.

“Sorry, honey, I’ve interrupted your Secondo monthly.” You mumble, sighing, you wanted to talk to Terzo and enjoy doing something with him, but now your work mode had been switched off everything else was catching up to you.

“Bah, if I cannot cuddle with mia amata, and make sure they are well, then what good is this love we share, hm? It is okay to not always be, switched on, alright? You tell me this quite often, do you not?”

You really cannot argue with him, especially when he speaks to you in that hushed way that few people, if any, ever get to experience.

“I do.” You concede, lifting your head to look at him, your face full of gratitude, your hand cups his cheek, fingertips tracing those lines that make him so handsome to you, watching with a sweet ache in your chest as he closes his eyes and enjoys the sensation.

When he meets your gaze again his lips upturn into a mischievous smile, “Shall I read to you this last section that mio fratello wrote?”

Your expression matches his in excitement, nodding as you immediately plant your head back on his chest, ready to listen to every word.

“Molto bene, prezioso.” He hums, keeping one arm wrapped around you, the other scooping up the tablet and flicking back to the page he had been reading. He clears his throat for dramatic effect, adjusting the glasses on his nose.

Terzo begins, “The weather in Amsterdam was a drizzle, overcast, not too terrible by any means, if a bit glum for such an intriguing visit. Naturalmente, I was invited to il museo del sesso…”

“The sex museum?” You snort, laughter shaking softly through you, positive you understood him correctly.

“Si, si…” Terzo says with a wry smile, continuing. “I was invited to il museo del sesso, and wouldn’t you know it? In the modern and contemporary gallery, they had painted the most squisito portrait of me. Specifically, my “Anno Zero” momento, quite the homage to the Emeritus physique…certainly, they picked the right brother to fully display our prowess, eh, cari fratelli? Needless to say, it was an enjoyable visit.”

Now you’re giggling uncontrollably, whether it was because there was a naked painting of Secondo in Amsterdam’s sex museum, or whether it was because Secondo seemed exceptionally pleased with this fact, you weren’t sure.

“That has to be one of the best instalments yet.” You muse, giggles still bubbling in your tummy.

Terzo relishes the laughter he pulls from you, thankful for his brother’s colourful display of vanity for helping you get rid of some of the day's tension. He laughs too, leaning down to kiss the top of your head, squeezing you gently.

“Yes, my love, I’d say it was too.”

Fin.

Italian Glossary:

Ciao - Hello

Piccola Ucella - Little Bird

Amore - Love

Si - Yes

Cuscino - Cushion/Pillow

Tesoro - Treasure/Honey/Darling

Mia Amata - My Love

Mio Fratello - My Brother

Molto Bene - Very Good/Very Well