#you know what is actually compromising the non-political nature of the event?

[softlygentlymine]

Compersion & Spirals

Compersion. I’ve understood its definition for a while, and even felt it at times. Being confronted with it at the happiest moment of a friend's life is absolutely wonderful. This weekend I attended a Birthday party for Shifter’s long-term partner, we’ll call her Macaron, who we haved played with in a foursome. It’s the first time we had been introduced to their respective families, which was really special. What was more significant, was the advance notice that this wouldn’t just be a Birthday party, it was also going to be a surprise wedding.

～

About a week ago, or so, I had been messaging Shifter, explaining that Firestorm and I had been discussing polyamory more seriously. I explained to Shifter about wanting to explore that option with him, to ask if the door was open. He did say it was, but I didn’t get the impression it was a discussion that he’d been able to fully explore with Macaron. Ethical Non-Monogamy is one thing, Polyamory - feelings - is a lot messier in its nature, which not everyone can understand. It didn’t come to much of a surprise to receive the following message:

“[Macaron] and I have been chatting on the poly subject again. And she has cold feet about it and would like to keep it just sexy time fun for the time being. I’m sorry to have gotten your hopes up. But when the reality of it set in to [Macaron]. She questioned her ability to manage it. And I will always side with what she says.  Again. I’m so sorry”

It’s more than disappointing, and I tried my best not to feel too let down by the outcome. I tried to explain the feelings I am processing to Firestorm, to keep communicating how I am feeling, and to help him understand my reaction to other relationships as the bloom and wither.

“That's perfectly fine, I totally respect her concerns and am happy to oblige. There's no issues from me on that ”

“Yay.

I feel bad.”

“It's more important to love your wife in a way that respects her. I enjoy our time, and am open if she changes her mind, but respect her decision and will treat it as final ”

I think I handled the rejection well, and although I was not in love, it still hurts to cut short any potential romantic relationship.*

～

Cut back to the surprise wedding, we arrived as per the invitation, which was quite early as far as the festivities went. This meant that we arrived and met the Bride and Groom before most of their own friends and family had a chance to turn up. Seeing him in person after 2 months apart, it was amazing how the electricity returned, I couldn’t keep my eyes off him. It’s odd, because objectively he isn’t the most handsome man around, neither is he the fittest. There is a sweetness to his smile, and a depth of honesty in his eyes.**

Knowing this was a special day for the happy couple, I had already resolved to be demure, polite, and interact in a way that suited their introduction of us. I did not want to bring dishonour to their union in front of their families, what we share as consenting adults is none of their business. Just because I would like to behave differently with those I build a relationship with, doesn’t mean they would.

The afternoon passed somewhat quietly, being isolated with Firestorm and his children from the rest of the attendees, it taught me a lot of lessons around guest seating and structure of the event for keeping their interest. I am extremely grateful for the privilege of attending, as it means there are key elements I will try harder to ensure are completed for our wedding.

Keeping with their intent to break tradition, the bride and groom pulled up to the seating area in the same car, a lot of sentimental value attached to the ‘chariot’. The happiness was evident on both their faces, and I felt support, cherishment and love towards them as they walked down the ‘aisle’ together.

It wasn’t glamorous, but it was meaningful. Seeing the culmination of 15 years of life together, 14 years of engagement, was something so incredibly special to be a part of. It made me yearn for my own day later this year. It helped affirm my desire for meaningful connections, with my fiancé, and others who will come into my life.

Seeing Shifter and Macaron in their little bubble of disbelief that they actually completed their intention to marry from so many years ago was interesting. I’ve thought often about the significance of marriage, and that whilst it might not be necessary in the modern era to make the legal commitment, there is a declarative nature to it that I want to take part in. I also think through the injustice of the system itself, restricting the nature of marriage to only two people. The historical frame of monogamous culture restricting the rights and societal recognition of non-monogamous relationship structures is so wrong in my view, I wish there was more I could do to change this.

We left early due to Firestorm wanting to keep a regular bedtime for his children, but I dearly wish we had stayed longer, if only to gaze across the room and celebrate the happy couple. I am looking forward to the shoe being on the other foot, and shining as a bride in my own stead. Before my engagement, I had never fantasized about the big wedding scenario, and yet the closer I get to mine, the more I look forward to it.

～

We are looking at purchasing our first home together. I’ll skip the financial rabbit-hole, and instead focus on how weird it is that this might actually happen. Our personal debts are not perfect, but there is hope that we might be approved and can begin the purchasing process. I’ve been filled with such a nervous energy. Firestorm has been calling the people who can make this happen. Hoping that the outcome of judgement is favourable to making our future a reality.

The location is interesting, as we have chosen to purchase significantly far away from the locations at which we both work. For the compromise in location, we succeed in value of the actual property offering. Better conditions of building, land size and keeping the price well within our budget. There is also the benefit of being nearer to Shifter and Macaron, just the other side of town.

I’m a little conflicted, because I have such a strong attraction to Shifter, and whilst that makes me more comfortable with the decision to purchase a property so far away, it’s not a factor I can rely on to guide my rational decision making. I will enjoy their friendship, but am unable to expect more emotional commitment.

The property comes at a time where we need our own privacy, our own space. We have spoken about it for some time now, and I really think that in the next twelve months we will start trying to fall pregnant. That’s a super intimidating challenge, partially for the life altering, no take-backs consequence of bringing a child into the relationship, and partially because it’s been a discussion for a number of years that I wasn’t ready. I didn’t even know if I wanted children for such a long time. It has absolutely helped having a partner who is so domestically inclined, I feel a sense of safety, that I will have someone who cares enough to be completely hands on with child rearing.

～

*Spiral: This feels like all I’m good for some days, a quick lust, a fuck, and sent on my way because I’m not valuable enough to want more from. The difference between Shifter and Crowns (the married man who has pursued me at work) is that I can sense there is a reciprocal emotion with Shifter, and that he’s honouring the commitment to his wife, Macaron, to value her before all others. We still have an open door to playtime as well. I feel sad, but respectful of the decision he has made, and the promise he is keeping to her.

With Crowns...there has been a blatant sexual interest, a retraction and then lust that disobeyed his wife’s requests. I have reason to doubt that there was ever any discussion with her. I could never totally regret my interactions with Crown, as challenging monogamy with Firestorm has led to enough self-awareness and recognition that my desire for established romantic relationships is not unreasonable. It has led to more self-love and actually asking for the kinds of relationships I want, rather than taking the meager offering they wanted to give me. It doesn’t mean that I will accept his advances when honesty is not his first motivation.

Crowns has been frustrating to manage expectations with. A lot of the initial expectation was crushed quickly, and I had thought that would be the end of the discussion. Then, he didn’t let go so easily. I felt caught between leading him on, and genuinely enjoying the company he presented. Conversation always lulled if I didn’t continue the expectation of sexual interest. I felt disappointed that I didn’t warrant more respect. The shadow of interest hadn’t dissipated, but he never crossed the line between wanting me, and actually getting to know me. It left me sad after interactions, and devalued my self-worth. I have come through those emotions to recognize I am worth more than that. I want more than that.

～

**Spiral 2: Shifter is out of my reach emotionally, but the look I received from him at the wedding was so heated, I was filled with want. It was a promise of more, a promise of sexual satisfaction, and the honour of his genuine desire for my interaction. I may not be able to enjoy the significance of a romantic relationship, but there is a kindness, a caring and an ethical component to his non-monogamous practice. It also helps that he identifies as polyamorous, so I feel a kinship of understanding.

And even going through my own thoughts, there remains an undercurrent of sadness that he is removed from my potential romantic partners. I really thought there might be something there worth exploring. It’s scary putting yourself out there to people, hoping that they’ll be able to love you. It’s also difficult recognizing kin, and having the frame of romantic monogamy limit your natural inclination to fall in love. I want to fall in love and be loved. I don’t need to spend every day in their pocket, but to acknowledge that the time we spend together will be valuable and sacred.

#polyamory #polyam dating #polyam positivity #polylove #relationships #communication #polyam life #polyam problems #ethical non monogamy #non monogamy

[marvel-teen-comics]

How I think the Xavier school should be run/x school headcannons

So here it is, the master post you've been waiting for on my head cannons on the incredibly interesting inner workings of the xavier/jean grey school for gifted youngsters. Or whatever they're calling it now.

I'm probably adding to this overtime so sorry if things seam strange, it also kind of fits into my bigger imaginary concept of how x men life is (because lets be honest the comics are hardly consistent) Basically marvel can't decide how the hell this schools run so heres how I imagine things

I’m also English so sorry if some thing aren’t common in American schools, I tried my best.

Anyway without further ado heres what going to xavier's would entail:

- I imagine a system for x men recruits somewhat like in academy x, where students train together as a group however I expect this would be voluntary after ‘certain events’ where students complained about just wanting to live their lives and not be the x mens puppets.

- this group of x recruits would have costumes (think New Mutants, Generation x ect) and would be trained to eventually join the x men. This would start as gym activity and eventually move up to the danger room. (never understood the whole school danger room in WATXM, seams dangerous and wouldn't be good for students who don't want to be part of the x-men!)

- self defence would be mandatory (because being a mutant is dangerous) and obviously everyone would train to use their abilities to their fullest extent but the actual training with the goal of fighting in the x-men’s conflicts would be separate (no more schism)

- Basically emphasis on ‘child soldiers are bad’

- costumes for this group! ok maybe I miss the GenX and New Mutants days of costumes, but seriously, no one has a coherent costume! most Academy X kids are stuck in those old costumes, pixie seams to be wearing a old New Mutants costume and the poor WATXM kids have nothing since they dropped the blazers. I expect older kids such as academy x and I guess glob and quire (are they adults now?) would just wear the same stuff they've always worn. But kids who never really got a costume such as anole or the WATXM kids could defiantly get a definitive costume (would they even join the x men recruitment? idk) plus everyone would customise it (think surge with her baggy trousers, god I love that look!)

- i’ll probably make a bigger post on everything costumes would need but yeah, they need something thats bullet proof, or at least somewhat protective. plus I'm pretty sure its cannon that x-men costumes keep you at a good temperature and stuff like that so it should be implemented. I mean lets be honest these kids get in fights, might as well give them some armour.

- Talking of armour (great segway) If we’re saying she's still a teen she’d be in the top year along with quentin and glob herman (tho maybe globs been held down idk was that confirmed?) because grant morrisons new x men came out right before joss wedons run so I'm thinking their around the same ages? so 17-18 is my guess for them

-the year below that I think would be the New X men and the hellions. So 16-17 (I know the age brackets seam weird but I'm willing to guess xavier's can't be to picky about keeping this strictly a high school situation as they can't really turn anyone away, I think its more like a british high school + six form which would be 11-18) So that Surge, Mercury, Hellion, Prodigy, Rockslide ect. Seeing as Pixie has kind of been aged up recently id also put her here. However I think she was probably originally meant to be in the year below.

- The year below this would be the younger academy x kids such as Anole, Blindfold, that purple guy I forgot the name of. As well as the WATXM kids like nature girl, eye boy, shark girl, Idie and Broo. Yeah I know nature girl got super aged up in age of x-man but we’re ignoring that event. So this would be 15-16. 

-The years bellow that I'm not really sure about because I don’t read most current stuff but I think Xaviers would accept kids above 11 yrs old so there plenty more years in the school! they'd basically have to accept anyone who's a mutant and seeing as that happens at puberty there could be students as young as 8

- I imagine parts of the school are named after dead x men, as we've seen with Proudstar hall, however would they name parts of the school after dead students? it would seam pretty morbid but they do have an onsite grave yard so.... if so, id expect Cypher and Synch to be commemorated and probably those who died in the bus massacre (tho thats probably too many dead kids, god thats depressing)

- the schools had a lot of teachers over the years, but it think the core teachers would be 

Emma Frost - headmistress (honestly the only person I trust to do the job) teaching telepathy mutant politics

Husk - math teacher (since 90′s generation X we've never seen her as a smart character)

Jubilee (as seen in generation x 2017)

Chamber - we've seen him come in on occasion so he might not be full time, though to be honest I don't imagine anyones full time

Northstar - (as seen in new x men: academy x) teaching flight and french

Dani Moonstar - counselling and teaching mutant cultural studies 

Karma

Beast - science teacher

wolverine - gym and mutant history

Toad - janitor 

Kitty pryde - computing (do americans call it computer science?)

- Ive always loved the idea of the x men base bellow the school but that is hella dangerous so to compromise id say theres a medical wing, danger room, hanks lab and at least one x-jet.

- the danger room would be used sparingly till students proved they could use it, they would then be able to book sessions but the controls would be locked on non lethal and non harmful for younger years. 

-the school would also have some sort of bunker (seeing as it gets blown up every other week) and there would be evacuation drills all the time.

Ive been working on this post for months so I hope you like it, yeah this ignores cannon quite a bit and its mostly just me saying how id run the school. I’m also imagining Westchester which again probably isn't the case anymore because I stay away from current continuity. but based on my early 2000′s knowledge, this is what I came up with :)

#X-men #x-men comic #generationx #generationx1994 #xavier's school for gifted youngsters #new xmen #nxm #marvel #Marvel Comic #Marvel Comics #Emma Frost #hank mccoy #charles xavier #x men #x men comics #x men headcanon #new x-men #northstar #lgbt marvel #early 2000's #danger room #new mutants #new mutants comic #grant morrison #grant morrison new x men #teen x men #Teen Comics #marvel teen comics

[pepperstrawberry]

Heavy post...*waves to frens*

Warning: Long post... but not putting it under a cut because I specifically want new followers to read this. Mutuals and long time followers? Nothing new here, feel free to hit that page down button a few times XD

So, over the last few weeks, I’ve gained a lot of new followers... and lost some too. Now of course, I generally don’t worry too much about it (or try not to). I know some folk unfollow maybe because it’s been a while and their interests have changed, or maybe in some cases they were dealing with some frustrating things that I happen to be also talking about at the time and so they wanted to get away from it all for a while and it wasn’t really a personal thing. No judgement on that stuffs...

But, I do want to make some things clear for those that have recently followed me and might have followed just because of a cute image or two I made for magic stuffs with the new set dropping:

First: I am a trans woman. I support the full LGBTAQ+ spectrum. Yes, this includes Non-binary, Asexual, Aromantic, and all. I’m not going to argue with folks on the inclusion. It’s just that way. Oh yeah, and Bisexual, both being and supporting. This means even when a couple is not with who you think they should be with (a straight person seeing a ‘bi’ with the same or gay seeing ‘bi’ with different, you know that whole thing... no matter who a bisexual person is with, they are still bi)

Second: I’m anti-capitalist. Yes, I live in a capitalist world, and have to abide by the current machinations of it. I mean, consider things like Patreon, Go Fund Me, and the like. Those are not ‘capitalist’ (though can and have been used in that way), but are a way a community can help creators make a living without having to worry about making every product ‘marketable’. (which is why I’m against the recent shift that Patreon is doing for it’s creators, but that is a whole other post).

Third: I am a supporter of things like Black Lives Matter and other inter-sectional things. Look, the same sort of oppressive arguments, and often even the same people, are used against both people within the LGBTQA+ community AND people of color. It just makes sense to back them up as much as my fellow lgbt friends.

Fourth: Which leads me to being Feminist. 3rd wave specifically. Yes, there are crap folk that claim to be feminist, but that is the case with any group. I mean there are lesbians that are against trans woman, soo... Anyhoo, the bottom line of 3rd wave Feminism is inter-sectional support. Women, LGBT folk, People of Color, and everything like that. And before you go ‘but what about white males?’, consider that that is who holds the power right now. Well, White, Male, and Rich. But many of the things that real feminism fights for also covers things that would help out men as well. Things like better therapy and psychological help. The idea of ‘toxic masculinity’ isn’t the idea that ‘masculinity is toxic’, but that there are ways that being a ‘guy’ has been pushed that are toxic in nature, both a danger for others as well as the men themselves. Remember the idea of ‘real men don’t cry’? That’s toxic. It teaches men that being sad isn’t a manly thing, but to express anger is okay. Which is why we get a lot of these shooters doing what they do.

Fifth: I’m... I guess I’m agnostic? I used to be christian, but I have found that some threads within that faith are... problematic lets say. But I find ANY system of belief (or non-belief in the case of Atheism or however you want to define it) has fringe folks that are... problematic as it were. I judge less on religious affiliation and more on how that religious faith is expressed. I would have more to say on that, but really that is the bottom line. If your faith is more about proving others wrong/judging others over just living the best life you can and helping others, then your faith is garbage. end of story. Don’t matter which god, gods, or even no gods at all you follow.

Sixth: I tend to be a bit of a critic about things. Sometimes I blow things out of proportion, sometimes I don’t go quite far enough. But in the end, I try to be as honest as I can and as clear as my rambly nature lets me. Though, as I always emphasize, I never mean to judge a person on their love of a thing. There are rare exceptions of course. Like, I will judge you if you love “Birth of a Nation” or “Triumph of the Will’ as they are both KKK/Nazi movies and white supremacist in nature. There is nothing in either to be lauded save that they were likely the first movies in their era to pull together several film elements that had already existed (really they were more a triumph of budget then of talent). If you like Game of Thrones because of how ‘realistic’ it is to do -that- to so many women (you know what that is), then yes, I’m judging you. But If you like Game of thrones for all the other reasons -in spite- of -that-, then no judgement at all. Those moments shouldn’t be enjoyed. At best, they should effect you will a visceral disgust as the moments are intended.

I used to (and sometimes still do) reblog the heavier, more ‘polictical’ posts to my other blog @pepperolitics, but after the purge messed up my adult blog, it’s harder to bother with a side blog these days. So there are times where my more direct political aspect comes to play on main.

And really? That shouldn’t be that much an issue when you think about it.

I mean, I try to stay positive and light on my main blog. That usually means the heavy subjects get put to my other blogs. Adult subjects to my adult blog (which is now effectively gone even if I haven’t actually deleted it yet) and the POLITICS go to the political blog...

But that would be the seventh thing on the list of getting to know me:

NOTHING IS EVER NON-POLITICAL.

Nothing.

Now, I will say there is a difference between ‘political’ and ‘POLITICAL’, that is to say: we are human, the way we interact with each other is inherently political. How we agree, disagree, compromise on a day to day basis is political. Manners are political.

All ART is political.

But then there is the capital ‘P’ POLITICAL, where we are talking about government, the big policies, the big moments, the major events.

Where we switch from political to POLITICAL is when we go from things that are inherent, inferred, or basically subtext to straight up text and direct.

In otherwords: I refuse the idea that me suddenly talking about politics is me “becoming” political. I have always been political, we all are. it’s just sometimes, you have to make your politics clear.

Or in other other words: White, capitalist, hurrah! jingoist soilder of things like C.O.D/battlefield is just as POLITICAL as a Woman with a girlfriend and a trans side kick or something... it’s just we have been so surrounded by the former over the latter that we think of it as the accepted norm rather then one flavor of story hero among so many others...

...okay, I’m getting extra rambly and tangental... But that was kinda the point of this post.

Some of you will disagree with some of my points for one reason or another. Sometimes in shades, and sometimes in full... But my base point is, many of my long time followers already know this about me, but some of the new folk might not. And if you are going to stick around, this is the sort of lady you are following.

Hi. I’m Anita Priscilla Barton. Many call me Strawberry, or Pepper, or even just Pep. I am a Bisexual Trans Woman, I love magic the gathering, coffee, and all my wonderful friends and mutuals. And yes, I am a political entity who’s beliefs,  shape her art and critique. Just as all of ours do.

#pepper rambles #pepper rants #getting to know me

[inyournightmares97]

GOT7 AS: Managers in a Company

Just a few thoughts about what GOT7 would be like if they were managers/Head of Department in a company. Totally inspired by the fact that I’ve been watching the kdrama Chief Kim lately and corporate politics fascinates me. 

Mark

Mr. Tuan is the head of the IT Department. 

He works with computers and is the acknowledged technological genius of the company. It takes Mark Tuan exactly two minutes to scan a software and he can suddenly use it as though he designed it himself. 

At the insistence of the employees from other departments, he regularly conducts tutorials and FAQ sessions to help employees better utilize the office software but nobody ever attends those. Instead, they just summon the IT Department to their desks whenever they can’t figure out something. 

It makes Mark furious. 

Sometimes there isn’t even any problem with the software. It’s just the female employees who have nothing better to do and want the chance to flirt with the cute guy from IT. 

He was even slipped a man’s number once. 

Mark finally ended up going to the CEO and making his tutorial sessions mandatory for all employees, So now on the first Tuesday of every month, all the employees have to gather in the auditorium for an hour and listen to Mr. Tuan give a lecture on the latest updates to the office Intranet and  explain how to use the software. 

He knows it’s a waste of his time since people will keep calling the IT Department for help anyway, but Mark figures the least he can do is waste some of their time in exchange. It gives him a small sense of achievement to look at all their bored and miserable faces.

Mark is a silent genius when it comes to IT, but his managerial skills are... non-existent.

The IT Department essentially does whatever they feel like because Mark has never scolded his employees or even told them to get back to work.

His only strategy is non-interference. He doesn’t care if the employees are playing games during office hours (he often does so himself, with the door to his office locked and his secretary warned to send all visitors away) and even if he catches them in the act he never says a word. 

But the employees know better than to completely neglect their work, because if they do, somebody from another department might file a complaint about them and that complaint would get forwarded to Mr. Tuan. 

Complaints = Paperwork

There is nothing Mr. Tuan hates more than paperwork. The only time his smiling and handsome face turns dangerous is when somebody comes up to him with paperwork. He would rather install the intranet software into a hundred office computers than file a single report. 

Mark doesn’t even remember the names of all the people who work underneath him in the department. So during performance reviews, everyone just gets a good/decent review because who knows how much work is being done by each employee? Certainly not Mark Tuan. He couldn’t care less. 

Mr. Tuan has never worked a minute of overtime in his life. 

He leaves the office at 5 pm sharp, every single day and he does not come in on weekends under any circumstances. I’m sorry, the company is about to fall to pieces and you need someone to fix the software? Sure, remind me first thing on Monday morning. 

Orders pizza and coke for the entire Department whenever it’s somebody’s birthday (his secretary slides him a note to remind him whenever that is the case). 

He’s a little absent-minded and clueless at times, but the entire IT department agrees that they pretty much lucked out getting Mark Tuan as a manager. They wouldn’t exchange him for the world. 

Jaebum

Mr. Im Jaebum manages the Production Department

Production and manufacturing isn’t easy work. There are deadlines to meet and quality standards to maintain. Production is the lifeblood of the corporation. 

The quality of the products is extremely important to the company’s reputation and Im Jaebum does not compromise on anything. Everything has to be done perfectly and he expects his employees to come up with flawless results. He comes up with numbers and his employees have to bring them into existence. 

But his expectations come with a responsibility of his own.

Jaebum takes excellent care of his employees. Even though the production goals he sets seem a little high at times, he also makes sure that every single employee, right down to the lowest factory worker is well-taken care of. 

The company hasn’t faced a single worker’s strike since Mr. Im took over the Production Department. He can often be found arguing with the Directors and higher-ups to ensure better working conditions and benefits for his employees. A healthy workforce makes for a healthy company. He genuinely believes that his workers need to be happy for the department to function efficiently. 

Mr. Im is both feared and respected. 

He sometimes goes down the factories himself and conducts surprise inspections, so the warehouses and production facilities are always on high alert. But if the inspection goes well, then he treats all the workers to drinks after working hours end. 

Jaebum sometimes gets a little drunk himself and does a really good impression of the CEO which gets everyone cracking up. But if anyone tries to take a video of him doing it, they’re going to be treated to a death glare. 

Jaebum also secretly really adores kids, even though he doesn’t have any of his own. So he organizes a ‘bring-your-kids-to-work’ day twice a year. All the employees of his department can bring their kids to work to see what their parents do. Jaebum places a huge jar of candy on his desk and blushes whenever the kids come up to him. He’s too awkward to actually entertain them but he thinks they’re really cute. 

He even let a particularly adorable five-year-old girl sit in his large, swirly leather office chair and wheeled her around like a rocket until he noticed the other employees were looking at him weirdly. 

Even though Jaebum works them hard and enforces a lot of strict rules, everyone in the Production Department agrees that you can never find a manager more fair or just than Mr. Im Jaebum. 

Jackson

Mr. Jackson Wang is head of the PR Department: Public Relations is his natural calling.

Jackson is that guy who constantly has a little Bluetooth mic in his ear; it’s really hard to tell whether he’s addressing you in front of him or he’s just talking to somebody through the Bluetooth. He likes to pace up and down the main office while taking calls in a loud voice. It makes him feel important. 

Jackson takes a lot of phone calls. Most of them aren’t even work related, he’s just chatting with people in high positions but he claims that “maintaining contacts” is what he’s getting paid for.

Mr. Wang also uses the company card a lot. He submits receipts for various clubs and restaurants that he took some big politician or journalist to. Jackson can often be found in the Finance Manager, Park Jinyoung’s office towards the end of the month, begging him to clear all sorts of absurd expenses made in the company’s name. They usually have an hour-long meeting in Mr. Park’s office and Jackson ends up paying for the events by himself. 

He’s not the best problem-solver. Jackson’s solution to just about any problem is “let’s call for a press conference.”

- “Mr. Wang, it’s actually very important that we keep this information away from the press for the time being-”

- “Yeah, yeah, I get that. But don’t you think we should hold a press conference? I’ll set one up right away!”

Somehow, he’s extremely hurt and surprised whenever he finds out that he’s been kept in the dark about confidential company matters. 

Whenever there is a press conference though, Jackson makes it the most flashy and extravagant event possible. He hands out imported care packages to all the journalists and gives them free hampers with company products.

Every minuscule charitable contribution the company makes is on international headlines the next day. Pictures of the CEO visiting orphanages and making donations to starving children in poor countries can be found all over the internet. Jackson put them there. 

He has a special team of people dedicated to leaving nice comments about the company on all sorts of internet fora. Sometimes he logs on himself and responds to haters just for the hell of it. He also manages the company’s social media presence; they have an Instagram page, a Twitter page, a Facebook page and exist on pretty much every social media platform ever. 

Jackson has an excellent employee incentive scheme. Friday mornings are brainstorming sessions and anybody who comes up with a good idea to boost the company’s image gets a special gift; usually an expensive bottle of wine Jackson scored from a guy he knows, or a little bonus. The Finance Department severely disapproves of this scheme, so the funds come directly from Jackson’s own pocket. 

He also likes a comfortable and bright environment. The PR Department’s office spaces are all painted in colorful shades, with beanbags and funny-looking chairs and fluffy rugs. He tried to get a cafe installed but the Finance Department put an end to that nonsense very quickly. 

Although Jackson can be a little wild and loud at times, everyone agrees that the PR Department is undoubtedly the most fun department to work in. 

Jinyoung

Mr. Park Jinyoung manages the Finance Department.

Before he turned up, the department was a corrupt mess. There were accounting scams everywhere, people at all levels of the corporate structure were siphoning off money whenever they pleased. Jinyoung personally tracked every single one of these people down and found proof that they’d been embezzling company funds. 

Let’s just say that a lot of employees got arrested during the first two months of Mr. Park’s appointment. The PR Department was in panic (the only time Jackson Wang was forced to actually work overtime to ensure the entire company wasn’t labelled as corrupt by the media), but it worked out in the long run. Now the company is clean and Mr. Park does not compromise on integrity. 

Jinyoung has one golden rule, which is written in bold letters and pasted on his office for everyone to see as they arrive. The sign reads ‘No Wasteful Expenditure’. There is nothing Jinyoung hates more than useless expenditure. Every penny spent must bring in some solid, traceable returns and that is how he runs the finances of the company.

He can regularly be seen arguing with Mr. Wang of the PR Department in his office. “Taking the journalists to a strip club is NOT a business expense! I refuse to sanction your reimbursements! Pay for your own entertainment!”

Jinyoung is also extremely stingy about allocating budgets to the Research and Development team. Kim Yugyeom can often be found in Mr. Park’s office as well, pleading for more funds while Jinyoung ignores him completely. “When is the last time your Department ever designed anything worth selling? All the money we’ve allocated you in the past is a sunk cost. Do you know what that means, Mr. Kim? It means it’s sunk to the bottom of the fucking ocean and we’re never getting that money back!”

Mr. Kim Yugyeom doesn’t ask for money anymore. R&D make do with what they have. 

Jinyoung is extremely anal about his office space. The entire Finance Department is stuck with posters like “Reuse and Recycle” and there are reminders to turn off the lights when not in use. Jinyoung also insists that the air-conditioning be switched off for at least two hours every day. Even in summer. Sweating is good for your body. 

The prevailing system is tough love. Jinyoung is harsh with employee performance reviews and getting a bonus is not easy if you work for the Finance Department. He’s also a micro-manager, requiring that every small thing be passed through him for approval. 

Delegation is not a term well-respected in Mr. Park’s vocabulary. He doesn’t trust people to do things themselves. Sometimes he wanders around the employee’s desks for no reason, hovering over them like a schoolteacher trying to make sure the students aren’t cheating on an exam. 

Whenever the auditing season is over, though, Jinyoung makes sure to throw a huge party for the accounting branch and invites the entire Finance Department. Work outings aren’t often but when they do take place, they get wild. 

Overall, the employees of the Finance Department work hard and long hours, but they can’t really complain because Mr. Park works just as hard as them and he never sets any standards that he doesn’t follow himself. 

Youngjae

Mr. Choi Youngjae is the friendly Human Resources manager. 

The HR Department is a very calm and peaceful place. Youngjae has strategically placed potpourri all over the Department office to disseminate calming fragrances and he keeps scented candles in his own office. It’s his way of relieving stress after a long day of dealing with people screaming at him. 

“Yes, sir, I understand that you booked the conference room in advance and that the PR Department should not be allowed to play loud music and disturb your meeting. Yes, I’ll have a talk with Mr. Wang about this.”

“It does make sense that an executive of your level should be allowed to travel in business class, but it’s up to the Finance Department to allocate budget and sanction your... yes, I understand. I’ll talk to Mr. Park.”

The HR Department is essentially the anger management center for all the other employees. Many of the managers like to come and walk into Mr. Choi’s office at all times of the day to vent their problems to him. He’s often dealing with noise complaints filed against the PR Department and the Marketing Department. 

His only friend in the office is Jaebum, who often comes to talk to him about employee benefits and payroll issues. Youngjae admires how passionate Jaebum is about worker’s rights and he generally backs him when trying to beg the Board to allow for an increase in wages or additional holiday bonuses for the employees. It’s the only time Youngjae’s job feels worthwhile. 

Youngjae is also required to hold seminars and training courses on conflict resolution and workplace ethics every quarter. The sessions are largely pointless because they usually just end in Jinyoung making snarky remarks about how all of the other departments waste the company’s money and Jackson’s cellphone goes off every five minutes because he refuses to keep it on silent. Bambam and Yugyeom are usually entirely absent from the seminars completely; they translate seminar day to mean holiday. 

Youngjae is extremely grateful to Mark and Jaebum for being the only two people who actually pay attention to his seminars, but they’re never involved in any conflict anyway so it makes no sense. 

Youngjae also regularly has to talk to Bambam about taking too many vacations days. Somehow, the man turns up with perfectly valid medical certificates stating that he was ill even though everyone knows he went on a trip to Bangkok with his new girlfriend. Youngjae doesn’t really know how to deal with the problem. He chooses to ignore it. 

On slow days, Youngjae brings his dog into work and spends the afternoon playing with Coco. 

Overall, he’s an extremely sweet HR manager who secretly hates his job but puts up with it because he doesn’t know what else he would do. Also leaves work at exactly 5 pm sharp and sometimes runs into Mark in the parking lot. 

Bambam

Bambam runs the Marketing Department.

The Department is largely a mess. It’s meant to be a hub of creativity, and the office is filled with drawing boards and sticky notes and all sorts of scribbles all over the place. 

A clean environment does not get one’s creative juices flowing. 

Bambam also has dartboards with pictures of their major competitors set up all over the office. Employees are encouraged to use them often. 

The job of marketing is to get products to sell and Bambam firmly believes that there is one foolproof way to do that; glamour. 

He makes the company sign endorsement deals with almost every single famous celebrity in town; actresses, sports-persons, singers... Bambam knows them all and they’re all endorsing his products. If his team can’t come up with a good enough marketing strategy then they can just take their pick of all the celebrities Bambam has signed deals with and use one of them to endorse the product.

It’s not easy convincing Jinyoung to part with millions so that he can pay some famous actress to advertise their cosmetics line, but Bambam is better at wearing Jinyoung down than the other managers. Also, sales figures have been skyrocketing ever since Bambam took over so Jinyoung has a soft spot for him. At least he brings in results, unlike the R&D team. 

Bambam maintains a very casual work environment with his employees. The moment their workload decreases, he’s usually off visiting some exotic foreign country. It’s surprising how he manages to get work done despite almost never being in his office; but Bambam parties hard and works harder. 

He probably would have been fired by now if he hadn’t been bringing in so many sales, and if Youngjae hadn’t been too soft to bring up the matter of him overstepping his allocated vacation days.  

All the same, all his employees love him. 

Yugyeom

Mr. Kim Yugyeom manages the Research and Development team

The R&D team was one of the biggest spenders in the company until Mr. Park Jinyoung was hired and slashed their budget in half. They’ve been struggling to operate since then, but their productivity hasn’t increased much. They still produce next to nothing. 

Yugyeom always encourages his employees to share their wild and insane product ideas. Since the R&D department don’t actually have to show any concrete results, they can often be seen slacking off. Most of their ideas are insane from the start and could never have been implemented anyway.

The only productive research that was taking place through the R&D Department was in the cosmetics line, but Yugyeom had that research shut down after he found out that they were testing the cosmetics on little bunnies and mice. He spent the rest of the day locked up in his office watching PETA videos on the horrors of animal testing and crying himself to sleep. 

It took the combined efforts of Youngjae and Bambam to reassure Yugyeom that he wasn’t responsible for the deaths of hundreds of animals and that he should just shift his focus to products which didn’t need to be tested on living things. 

The biggest achievement of Mr. Kim’s career was convincing the company to start a line of chocolate milk-based products. It was a line of research that Jinyoung firmly refused to fund but that didn’t matter because Yugyeom and his employees were fully willing to test the product on themselves. They drank nothing but chocolate milk for an entire month before the product was finally approved for sale. 

Nobody complained because Yugyeom looked so hopeful. 

Bambam was so proud of his friend for having finally developed a successful product that he hired one of the most popular actresses to endorse it and the chocolate milk sold like hotcakes. It’s still one of the most popular milk brands. 

On days when they don’t need to work because Youngjae is holding one of his workplace ethics seminars, he and Bambam go to the amusement park or the bowling alley and have the time of their lives. 

Most of the employees in the R&D team love Yugyeom because, well, nobody every really does any work there and he doesn’t care either. Who wouldn’t love a manager like that? 

#got7 #got7 scenarios #got7 scenario #got7 reactions #got7 fluff #got7 au #got7 office!au #got7 office #got7 drabbles #got7 imagines #got7 mark #mark tuan #got7 jaebum #im jaebum #got7 jackson #jackson wang #got7 jinyoung #park jinyoung #got7 youngjae #choi youngjae #got7 bambam #bambam #got7 yugyeom #kim yugyeom #got7 cute

[indige-zine]

Spotlight Series: Creative Disruption

Making noise, redefining language, wielding raucous imagery—these things serve an important role in our collective quest to decolonize relationships to our oppressors, our lovers, ourselves. Sometimes, you have to destroy and rebuild from the essentials.

indige•zine caught up with three Indigenous creatives who use their art to disrupt the boxes   that dictate the way Natives love.

Tatiana Benally

Age: 24

What she does: Hailing from the Diné Nation in Shiprock, New Mexico, Tatiana lives in New York City as a working-class student of anti-colonialist practice, resiliency, and movement. When she’s not freelancing as a media artist or barista-ing in Flatbush, she’s helping to organize events like the Indigenous Creatives Festival with Manhattan’s American Indian Community House, making interdisciplinary art and music, curating the meme page Asdzaaproletariat, frequenting a Diné communist reading group, and much more.

How do you define love?

Love is an organic and necessary connection between human beings. Love is also complex, powerful and is certainly not perfect. There are many notions of love, but the most important love is one that is conscious and respectful of the conditions we are living in.

A noteworthy quote by [political theorist and philosopher] Hannah Arendt addresses the power of an anti-colonial love as:

“Love, by reason of its passion, destroys the in-between which relates us to and separates us from others … Love, by its very nature, is unworldly, and it is for this reason rather than its rarity that it is not only apolitical but anti-political, perhaps the most powerful of all anti-political human forces.”

I find this quote so beautiful in recognizing the power of love in building solidarity and its nature to be anti-colonial. The only thing I would argue is that love is absolutely political in our time. Destroying the “in-between” that [Arendt] writes about, things like individualism and social constructs, could be read as bi-products of capitalism and colonialism. Love is anti-colonial strength in our times.  

In which ways do your concepts of love and creativity meet in your life?

For me, this is mostly observed in the healing process of expression. I often turn to creativity as a way to grapple with feelings of ennui or as a tool to explore the roots of my feelings in times of confusion. Other times, I am just plain happy and the art that I make is then a document of a time that I felt full and warm. The healing power of creation is medicine for the maker and hopefully for people who connect with the art. That’s love.

What’s one toxic thing about romance and relationship you’ve had to unlearn?

The idea that it is cute or normal to be owned by someone (i.e. “She’s mine,” “You belong to me,” etc.) Language and behavior with possessive logic are only another vehicle to integrate colonial notions of property and other outward rippling capitalist-centric lifestyles into practice. From the many recognized and unrecognized Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) cases, to everyday practices of consensual intimacy being breached in relationships.

Love should be founded on mutual respect and compromise, and exist without power dynamics. The purpose of love is not to be used to cushion one’s oppression, nor as a tool of coercion into capitalism. We need to do better.

What is your most potent practice of self love as an indigenous woman?

Existing unapologetically. There is so much joy in embracing who I am and what I do without fear. It is wholesome and pure and everyone needs to do so much more of it.

Dio Ganhdih

Age: 31

What they do: Dio is an Akwesane hip-hop artist with brash, bold flows packed with humor and wit. Born and raised on Haudenosaunee Territory in Upstate New York, they’re also an educator and speaker whose work centers their experience as a queer, gender non-conforming Indigenous artist seeking community amongst their intersections. They’ve made music with Anishinaabe electronic artist Ziibiwan, Peguis First Nation producer Exquisite Ghost, mestiza hip-hop artist Chhoti Maa, and many others.  

How do you decolonize your love?

With reflection and accountability of my own toxic behaviors. I take my own internal spiritual temperature and sit with self to process past traumas and explore new paths of healing. The impacts of colonization are thick and dense. Without question, colonization confuses the love that I want and contradicts my intrinsic ability to love. I work to unpack and unfold the whitewashing and heteronormative culture I was surrounded with and inevitably influenced by growing up in a small town and Native community.

As a queer indigenous musician, how do you protect your spirit?

I protect my spirit by trusting my intuition and using my powers for good. I use smoke, sweetgrass, tobacco and prayer. I attend ceremonies and carry with me traditional medicines from my people. I work with teas, herbs and plants which offer external protection and vitality as well.

If you could tell your teenage self one thing about self-love, what would it be?

Teenage me: Believe it or not, you have everything within you to provide yourself with the love, attention, and the validation you are seeking. You will never actually fill that void until you learn how to embrace yourself fully. Dig deeper and push past that binary—you got this! Konarronkwa!

Gwen Benaway

What she does: Gwen Benaway is a trans girl of Anishinaabe and Métis descent. She has published three collections of poetry, Ceremonies for the Dead, Passage, and Holy Wild. Her fourth collection of poetry, Aperture, is forthcoming from Book*hug in Spring 2020. Her writing has been published in many national publications, including CBC Arts, Maclean’s Magazine, and the Globe and Mail. She’s currently editing an anthology of fantasy short stories by trans girl writers and working on a book of creative non-fiction. She lives in Toronto, Ontario and is a Ph.D student at the Women and Gender Studies Institute at the University of Toronto.

How have you used language and poetry to decolonize the institution of love?

I don’t know that language or poetry really can decolonize love. For me, poetry and language are an embodied reflection of a living, not an artifact nor a tool as commonly used by Western mentalities. Language and poetry arises from the love and the living, but can’t liberate us in and of itself. I use poetry and language to explore and narrate my embodiment and intimacies, but decolonization happens through what you do, not what you say. I think people get tripped up on that point, thinking that their language will be their liberation, when it’s their relationally and doing/living that is the revolution.

What is one misconception about desire and relationships you wish you’d known when you were younger?

I wish I had known that it was possible to live inside multiple intimacies and not focus so much on monogamous intimacy as the ultimate relational bond. What I’ve learned is that non-sexual intimacies are very powerful and important, as are polyamorous intimacies. I have several intimacies that I’m present in which are love affairs, but none of them supersede each other. That feels really comforting to me.

I also have several deep intimacies which are non-sexual and fill a lot of spaces for me in terms of kinship and care. I think when I grew up, I just saw abusive monogamous relationships and internalized that as normal. Now, I look at extended networks of kinship, care, and multiple intimacies as my safe normal. I also wish I had embraced my bisexuality sooner but I guess some things take time to grow.

What advice do you have for fellow Indigenous trans people trying to tell their story?

My advice to other trans Indigenous folks is to stand in your language, traditions, and kinships, but also embrace your own sense of selfness.

Transness is complex. It doesn’t have to be one thing. It can look and feel like many different paths or ways of being in the world. I think it’s important to see your ancestors in your transness, but to know that you can innovate around yourself as well.

There is still a lot of transphobia around us, but we are going to find a way through it towards a different future. Never be afraid to be traditional, but never be afraid to not be traditional (or adapt traditions).

Sometimes, I think Indigenous trans people get pressured to take up a certain space in the world. But like all Indigenous peoples, we’re diverse and not all of us need to be activists, writers, healers, leaders, etc. Some of us can just chill and support other folks who want to take on those roles. I want to see more trans NDN voices and bodies in the world doing a bunch of things, from every nation, and in their own ways. That’s my dream for us: a future where we are vibrant, visible, and varied.

#spotlight series #creative disruption #indige•zine #indigezine #issue 4 #decolonize love #tatiana benally #dio ganhdih #gwen benaway #interviews #indigenous artists #natives on tumblr #zine

[thesteadydietofeverything]

Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales is so much more than a Gwent-based spin-off

I put about 150 hours into The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. It’s probably my favorite game ever. I tend to think that I’ve more or less done everything in that game that there was to do, but there is one glaring exception to that: Gwent. I tried a couple rounds of the collectible card game in the beginning of the game, didn’t quite understand what was going on, and certainly didn’t care to learn when the rest of the game offered a big, beautiful world to explore, full of great stories created with near unparalleled writing. I had never really gotten in to card games within video games in general, really - I remember reacting to Final Fantasy VIII’s Triple Triad in much the same way. And I’ve certainly never attempted Hearthstone, or any such similar DCCG’s. This is all to say, I’m still a bit surprised at how thoroughly I fell in love with Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales, a game built largely around Gwent.

CD Projekt Red’s newest game was released just a few weeks ago to disappointingly little fanfare. What reviews there are have been pretty strong, but let’s be real - this is an isometric RPG with visual novel elements whose combat is based around a card game, and it was released three days before Red Dead Redemption 2. It’s a shame, though, because the game really does offer so much to those who, like me, might be unsure about undertaking such an experience. It’s got a gorgeous, comic-book-esque art style that makes exploring the game’s detailed maps a joy. It’s very well written, with novelistic prose and strong characters delivered by Jakub Szamalek, one of the writers from The Witcher 3. Marcin Przybylowicz returns with another memorable and moody Polish-folk-music-inflected score. While combat is entirely based around Gwent, the rest of this game is devoted to exploring detailed maps and making hard, morally ambiguous decisions in the main story. In other words, the team behind The Witcher 3 made a brand new, full, deep RPG set in the universe of The Witcher, and you really should be paying attention.

Thronebreaker is a prequel-ish spin-off, set just before the events of the first Witcher game. It centers around Meve, Queen of Lyria and Rivia, and her quest to reclaim her land from a devastating Nilfgaardian invasion. The morally gray nature of The Witcher universe is an even more ever-present central tenet in this game than previous ones, as it deals explicitly with the inherent injustice of monarchical governance. Meve is, as queens go, a very good one. She’s brave, determined, and compassionate, willing to fight to the death for the good of her people. But war nevertheless makes for hard decisions, especially when you’re leading a small army with limited resources against a giant imperial machine, and attempting to navigate the complex politics of multiple lands.

The maps you explore in this game can include big cities and castles, but for the most part, you’re traversing through rural lands, passing by small villages and farms, grappling with the cruelty of feudalism. The peasants you meet have next to nothing to begin with, so often are they forced by the government you rule to give up their earnings, at least in part so that you can live in luxury. Now that war has come around, it only gets worse for them - you physically take resources from them for your army, and often conscript them to join. You stick your nose into local conflicts you don’t fully understand or appreciate. Mass inequality and injustice are everywhere, and try as you might to be a just and fair monarch, you can only go so far when your existence is one of the primary reasons for that mass inequality and injustice.

There are rarely “good” options to choose from in this game. A decision always involves a compromise, and no matter what, somebody is going to be made very unhappy by it - most likely including you. There are often more ostensibly righteous or noble options, but the consequences of those can sometimes have an effect that makes you wish you had chosen the other one. “You’ve chosen one evil over another” is a prompt that you get very used to popping up - it’s the game’s sole response to you making a story-altering decision. Sometimes this can feel pretty damn off. Sorry, game, but choosing not to kill a messenger when I’ve just been reminded of the rules of war, or saving an elf from a mob of racist humans attempting a public execution are just not evils, no matter how you look at them. The point of it is showing how your actions, even seemingly altruistic ones, have consequences, and the shades of gray thing works pretty well for the most part, but despite the game’s assurance to the contrary, not every choice you make is an evil one.

The more successful decision making comes when you really feel those consequences, either through a hit to your resources, or a bit of writing that explains what ended up happening. There’s a heavy dollop of Machiavellianism to these decisions, as it often comes down to choosing between what’s right and what’s successful. You need gold, people, and resources to survive. In the early parts of the game, you’re pretty desperate for all three of these things. So when you stumble across an already disturbed grave that has valuables in it, do you pillage it? You want to say no, and yet, you weigh the options - the only negative would be upsetting company morale, but morale is already high after saving a church graveyard from a monster, so pushing it down to normal isn’t a great loss in comparison to leaving behind gold. In that same section, you can chase down a group of bandits that stole gold from the church. After you retrieve it, you can either return it, or keep it for yourself. I returned it, but I didn’t feel quite as great about it as I expected to. Sure, I made a small group of nuns happy, but does this truly benefit the kingdom as a whole if we’re short on money to fight our enemies?

That’s not to say that the game encourages you to make the selfish choice. I’ve heard it claimed before that the Witcher games reward policies of non-interference and cynicism in the face of injustice, but I don’t think that’s necessarily true. Sure, taking the gold for myself would have made the game a little bit easier for me, but that’s temptation, not reward. There’s always a cost for getting involved, but it’s hard for me to see that as the game punishing me. There are consequences no matter what, and this is the rare game with a semblance of a morality system that often makes attempts at doing the right thing the most narratively interesting choice rather than the choice with the most practical reward. This becomes clear in the second chapter, where, after seeing the atrocities wrought by the opposition, you can’t help but become more willing to recognize the cruelty in yourself, to make decisions you never figured you’d make. This wouldn’t feel nearly as impactful if you didn’t start out trying to make Meve the most just ruler possible.

Though the game presents a complex world of bitter division and desperate cynicism, and thus engaging with it leaves little possibility of not getting blood on your hands, the writing rarely feels ignorant of the roots of injustice. The human lands that you spend most of the game exploring are deeply racist. The Elder Races - elves and dwarves, mostly, have been subject to countless pogroms across these lands, and even when they aren’t being straight up murdered, are never treated as equals to their human neighbors. So the fact that the Scoia’tael, a radical group of nonhuman guerillas, exist isn’t surprising, nor can you not have sympathy for their alliance with the invading Nilfgaard. Though the Nilfgaardians can be seen as a stand-in for any massive imperial force, from the Roman Empire to Nazi Germany, with all the delusions of racial superiority that tend to go with empire, their invasion of the Northern Kingdoms actually does seem to make life a bit easier for nonhumans - one of the chief complaints of the humans you meet living under occupation is how many more rights have been granted to elves and dwarves.

The Scoia’tael, fighting for Nilfgaard, thus become another enemy you must face. Some of them, justifiably thrilled at the prospect of overthrowing their oppressors, use the destruction of a kingdom like Aedirn as an opportunity to slaughter whole villages of humans as revenge. You see the mindless violence they’ve committed, then are faced with the threat of it yourself, and there’s really no other choice but to take the Scoia’tael down. It feels terrible. Every aspect of it. And I believe the game earns this trudge through moral quicksand. It recognizes the righteousness of the Scoia’tael, even as it forces you into opposition against them. It’s both awful, and a surprising relief from the social commentary video games so often fall into - the reductive and mischaracterizing Bethesda/Rockstar/Bioshock “both sides suck” approach. It recognizes the power differences at the root of the issue, and doesn’t hide from the ugliness that ensues.

That’s not to say that the writing is always perfect when dealing with this stuff. Cut a single corner with material this volatile and you can end up with a pretty off-putting scene, as Thronebreaker occasionally does. There’s one character, a human named Black Rayla, that joins your team in the second chapter. She’s a seasoned fighter of the Scoia’tel, and thoroughly racist as a result, and yet, she’s useful to your cause, so you allow her in. This is all well and good, and theoretically should make for some interesting internal conflicts, but there were several scenes where I was disturbed by Meve’s lack of response to Rayla’s nationalist bullshit. There was one scene where she was going down some real “I don’t have a problem with them, as long as they know their place” garbage, and I just decided to dismiss her at that point. I wonder what would happen if she stayed with my group till the end, if Meve would have more to say to her after she wasn’t quite as desperate for her help. I’d hope so, but considering the lack of mindful writing around her character I witnessed it, I wouldn’t exactly expect it.

For as fascinating as the narrative of this game is, the thing you’ll probably spend the majority of the game doing is playing Gwent, and for a solid two-thirds of my time with the card combat, that was something I was very happy to be doing. The system built for this game, similar to, but modified from its Witcher 3 iteration, is deep, strategic, and occasionally pretty challenging. It feels made for newcomers like myself, mostly unfamiliar with Gwent, or even the standard mechanics shared by most card games, in the way that it eases the player into it. The first hour or so of the game is the official tutorial, but really the whole first chapter feels like a fairly natural extended tutorial for beginners, starting you off with a fairly limited deck in order to solidify the basics. For the most part this is very well done, though there were some particular aspects of the game that didn’t seem to be entirely explained, and took me a pretty long time to pick up on exactly how they worked.

The biggest strength that the card game here boasts is real variety. So many of the battles have particular rules or cards in play that drastically change the way you have to approach your strategy. Many of these come in the form of “puzzles” - aptly titled special battles where you’re given a specific set of cards and there’s really only one solution that you have to deduce through experimentation and logic. These are largely fantastic, not only because they’re all unique and fun in their own right, but because they often serve as mini-lessons in how individual units work and the various strategic ways they can be utilized.

Then there are the standard battles, where you actually get to shuffle and draw your own deck. The designers clearly put a lot of effort into the variety here as well, so often do they throw in inventive special rules and objectives, a lot of which not only change the pace of battle in meaningful ways, but often weave narrative significance into play as well. One of my favorite feelings in this game was getting stuck on a battle because of its particular rules, banging my head against it for a little while, then just suddenly seeing it, and pulling a satisfying victory just before it would’ve started feeling frustrating.

For as much thought and care as was clearly put into the design, though, there’s really only so many ways to keep combat interesting and engaging through a campaign that can last as long as fifty hours. In the back half of the game, combat can too often feel like a grind. At this point, you’ve got a big, diverse deck with plenty of powerful cards that makes it too easy to brute force your way through most situations. I found myself repeating the same tried and true tactics over and over again to bring my game to a speedy end so I could just move on with the story, which I was still very much enjoying. It’s hard to know if more work could have been put in to truly keep the card game feeling novel - Gwent just generally loses its depth once you’ve got mastery over a sturdy deck. I think ultimately, the game is just too long - possibly by even as much as ten hours or so, honestly. That’s not to say that I outright stopped enjoying it at any point; this is unquestionably one of my favorite games of the year, but if I didn’t have to face that grind in the final couple chapters, it very well could have been a contender for the top spot.

It feels a bit too long in the narrative sense as well. Not necessarily the written aspect of the narrative - that all felt consistently strong and inspired throughout the course of this game. But the mechanics surrounding the narrative, in particular the hard decisions you have to make as a result of limited resources, fall flat once the in-game economy feels maxed out. By the final chapter, all my upgrade trees were completely filled and I found myself sitting on a growing surplus of funds, and suddenly making the “right” decision didn’t feel quite as hard.

Despite its cumbersome length, few games surprised and enchanted me this year as much as Thronebreaker. The challenging and compelling role playing, the satisfying card combat...hell, even if that stuff wasn’t as outstanding as it is, I probably would have been happy to spend a considerable amount of time in it for its art style and music alone, so thoroughly did it soak me in those intoxicating Witcher vibes. It made me very excited at the potential CD Projekt Red still has in it for finding innovative and novel approaches to fresh storytelling in a well-worn universe, and I just hope that potential can continue to be realized after the distressingly muted reaction to this game’s release. Here’s hoping that its recent addition to Steam, and its upcoming console release, allows it to find the audience that it deserves.

#Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales #Thronebreaker #The Witcher #Witcher #CD Projekt Red #Cyberpunk 2077 #RPG #Role Playing Game #Card #Cards #CCG #DCCG #Collectible Card Game #Digital Collectible Card Game #Review #Criticism #Podcast #Video Games #Politics #Games

[blaperile]

Homestuck Epilogues - Meat - Page 7

#Homestuck #The Homestuck Epilogues #Meat #reaction #Dirk #Rose #Seer #Hero of Heart #Seer of Heart

[the-omegaverse]

Personal Touch Mating Service

Pass. Pass. Pass. Pass. Pass. Pass.

 Nothing. Absolutely nothing. MatedMatched.com, bringing matchmaking to the digital age. You filled out a questionnaire of what you were seeking and what you were like, and the trial presented you with several possibly compatible options. Glancing over the last profile in today’s lineup, you tap the last ‘Pass’. Maybe a more tradition matchmaker? A blind date? Your mother?

You shudder at the last one. No, if your parents decided on your match, you’d marry a wealthy two-dimensional cardboard cutout. Maybe in another five years you’d be that desperate.

You look over craigslist. Nothing on there that looked promising.

A Google search for ‘traditional’ matchmaking had several ‘Find a Mate for Your Omega Child’ ads, but it wasn’t until halfway through page three (yes, that desperate) that you found a site that looked promising. It seemed similar to MatedMatch, but instead of an AI, a ‘person’ would look over your entry, compare to options, and set up a chaperoned date. It was stiflingly old fashioned, but it could be fun to try, once. Only the first date was ‘required’ with payment of $19.99.

With a shrug, a sigh, and a ‘What have I got to lose?’, you tap ‘Accept’, and wait to hear back.

It’s three weeks, and you’ve almost completely forgotten about your late-night, loneliness-fueled purchase when you get off work and find a missed call, with a text message.

          “Hello, this is Personal Touch Mating Service. We attempted to call in regards to your date. Please note that if you choose not to accept, the deposit you paid is non-refundable.You may call or text this number for details.”

Well, that certainly refreshed your memory. Deciding that getting the ‘details’ over text would be easier as it would allow you to have it pre-written down for you, you message back your preference and wait again. The reply comes about fifteen minutes later in the form of the name of your chaperone, a restaurant address, and a time. Nothing else.

You do go to the trouble of googling the restaurant, finding the dress code, and putting together a nice outfit. For all you know, this might be the Alpha of your dreams. Could also be an absolute tool, but only time will tell.

The night of, you’d just gotten off work and gone straight to your apartment. Showered, done some light makeup. You didn’t want to set up any expectations that glamorous, tedious makeup was your normal. You also didn’t want to put in no effort at all. A simple pastel green blouse with lace trim, and dark blue slacks. A moment of debate and you decide on stub earrings. Not diamonds, but they’d look like shiny clear gems that could be diamonds to the untrained eye. Styling your hair was second nature, and you left for the restaurant with ample time to spare.

Pulling in to the parking lot, it wasn’t overly packed. You find a spot within a few moments and walk to the door. It’s at this point that you feel the bubbles in your stomach and your anxiety-ridden mind supplies helpful and calming thoughts in the vein of kidnapping, rape, and murder.

You relax slightly as you enter the restaurant’s waiting area and a small-framed Beta woman stands, asking your name. She gives you a smile, and holds out her hand.

          “I’m Carolina, it’s wonderful to meet you. Your future mate has already had a seat, follow me.”

If you’re honest, the ‘future mate’ bit did turn your stomach a bit. That was for you to decide, this certainly wasn’t an engagement event. You assume they use that kind of language to try to get you in the mindset, and you can see the point. Just act like this is the love of your life, and things will work out better than if you go into this already hating them.

What you did not expect was to see someone so close to what you’d always envisioned sitting alone at the table you’re guided to. Tall, with deep dark skin, cropped short hair, in a grey suit with orange accents. Eyes you could get lost in, if you looked at them long enough. You feel a flush as you put two and two together and notice the Alpha has a similar reaction, staring at you with hard eyes.

Your stomach flips and you sit across from them. That’s how you notice the height difference. You weren’t a stereotype by any means, your own height being on the upper end of ‘normal’ for an Omega, but this Alpha was huge. Easily over six feet. They weren’t slim either, having enough muscle to give you ideas about what those arms could do.

A waiter comes by, and you ask for water. God, but don’t you need water right now.

Conversation is slow to start, and your chaperone has to encourage discussion several times. Whether it’s nerves or because you just want to look at them, you aren’t even sure.

You have similar interests. The same religion. Similar political views. Really, everything is to a T as you asked on the site. Right up until you talk about home life, or rather, what you want your home to be like, after having a mate.

“No, that’s not what I’m looking for at all.”

There’s confusion, both on the Alpha and Betas faces.

“Why would you need to work? What would the point be?”

“Why shouldn’t I work? I like my job as it is.”

“But... don’t you want children?”

“Of course I do, but I’d be bored stiff just sitting at home. Especially once they’re in school.”

There was quiet. The Beta woman stands and asks to speak to you privately so as to let the Alpha think on what you’d said. Why do you feel like you’re about to be scolded?

Once you’re out of earshot, she explains.

          “I’m sorry, it’s just that most who use our service have a more... traditional approach to family. We did pick someone who seemed to be open to what you put you wanted, but... well no one’s perfect. We picked this Alpha because they checked all the other boxes. We’re typically far better, this is a bit of a disappointment on our behalf. If you’d like to end dinner early, we would understand.”

You almost want to laugh.

          “Oh no, that’s what a relationship is. It’s compromise and learning where you’re willing to move along. I do really like this one... a lot. I want to keep talking... see where we can work out... have a few more dates.”

The Beta smiles as you head back to your table to find your food is being set down. As you’re twirling a bite of pasta on a fork, the Alpha shifts position slightly.

“And when they’re still too young for school?”

You chew your food, swallowing before speaking and taking that time to think of a way to word your response.

“I’d always considered a nanny or babysitter, while I work from home in case anything comes up. If absolutely necessary I can leave my current job and move on to consultation work. It typically pays better but it’s less steady. That could actually be ideal for raising children. I won’t ask you to work less and watch them, it’s something I do want to do, but I enjoy my work.”

“Could you pick it back up when they’re grown? You’re very young still, by the time a brood of pups is grown and out you’ll still be prime to work full time.”

You take several more bites of your food. You did like the thoughts of staying home. You always wondered if there was something genetic about it, or if it was personality, or perhaps the way you were raised, but you, even while working, had thought the idea of working once they were out of the picture could work. Hearing it mirrored here wasn’t the worst result.

“It’s something to think about. This is only our first date.”

The Alpha gives a grin, just a touch of that feralness that all Alphas seem capable of producing.

“And our next date?”

You give a glance to the Beta, who gives a small shrug and nod.

“I’m free Wednesday?”

“Wednesday it is.”

#ABO #Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics #Alpha #Beta #Omega #Omegaverse

[queendeeshorrorimagines]

Hello!! Could I possibly get a romantic dbd matchup? Survivor or Killer is fine! Male or female. Whoever suits me best really 👉👈

I’m non-binary but I use any pronouns! I’m 18, 5’7 with short, fluffy golden-brown hair and icy blue eyes. I’m average weight for my height, not too strong but I make up for it in flexibility!

I’m one to go up to others first and become friends, so I consider myself to be extroverted. Yet if I’m out in public with my friends, I’ll stick to their side like glue and will refuse to talk to others unless I have to. I’m pretty formal when I first meet someone and very polite, once I know you better I’ll be much more silly and open. I enjoy teasing my friends and joking around but know when to stop! I’m suuuper loyal as well as protective, if someone I care about needs my help? I’m there in an instant. With my s/o I can be pretty clingy and will legit hold onto them whenever I can, I crave affection 😭 I will actually cry with any form of soft affection i get.

My hobbies include listening to music, reading, writing, playing video games, gardening, and designing outfits. Other things I do that I don’t really consider hobbies are drinking tea (almost 24/7), and collecting weird plushies/ pins.

Overall I’m just a little being who likes hugs and tries their best for their friends and family. Thank you so much if you get to this!! I appreciate it a lot! Take your time <3!

I decided to do both killer and survivor

For survivors, I ship you with... Meg Thomas!

Meg admires how family/ friend oriented you are given the fact that Meg herself is very much family oriented when it comes to her mother. She understands not being physically strong but she's all for using what your good at as a compromise for not being the strongest/ biggest. While you're a flexible person, meg is the running type. Dates with Meg would be more of the social gatherings (i.e. going out to group dates or going out to clubbing/ social events) but if you opt for the more intimate types of dates that's just one on one, Meg is more than willing to do that.

Post fog wise, Meg loves your bright and social personality. It reminds her of the warmth of the sun. Just like you're protective over the people you care about, Meg becomes super protective over you when the two of you are in a trial. Your gardening knowledge could help Meg out when it comes to what plants arent an danger while she gives you tips on how to run more efficiently from the killers.

For killers, I ship you with... The Huntress/ Anna!

Anna ended up having a soft spot for you when she saw you. Anna wasn't sure if it was the way you have a sense of child-like innocence like she has or if it's the way you're loving towards the people you care for. Given that Anna has survived decades in the harsh environment of the red woods, she's quite knowledgeable about nature and would talk to you about how to take care of plants and crops during harsh environments like snow.

Seeing your collection of weird plushies, Anna couldn't help but to gift you any plushies in her collection that you might enjoy. She also tends to gift you shiny items that she finds that you might enjoy. The main issue I see with your relationship with Anna is the simple fact that Anna isn't a social person, she prefers to be one with nature rather than with large social groups. She tries for you because she cares and wants you to be happy.

Other possibilities: Dwight Fairfield, Leon Kennedy, Amanda young "the pig", Philip Ojomo "the wraith."

#matchup 0002 #anon ask #dead by daylight matchups #matchups are open

[writeyouin]

Swerve X Reader – A Human Crewmate - Chapter 9 Part 1

A Play-Date with Megatron Part 1

A/N – Based on a lot of head-canons from @rocksinmuffin and @straightouttacybertron so extra special thanks to them for that. Fun fact, Lepoteran is a word I made up based off Lepidoptera which is the scientific name for a moth.

Warnings – None.

Rating – T

Swerve watched as you paced the bar, speaking excitedly of the planet Hacathar which you would all soon visit. He loved seeing you like this, as did most of the crew. By now, quite the crowd had gathered to hear what you wanted to see upon visiting.

“I wonder what kind of people live there,” You beamed.

“It’s a space-port,” Nightbeat answered, happy to show off his knowledge. “Ships from all over the galaxy refuel in the port while the planet itself is for people to get a break from ship life.”

“Cool… Hey, will stuff there be too small for you?”

“No need to worry about us short stuff,” a slightly overcharged Chromedome laughed, patting your head with a servo which you playfully swatted away. “We’ve got to use our holoforms.”

“Holoforms?”

“The illusion that makes us look human,” Rewind explained. “We also use mass displacement to reduce our weights.”

“Oh yeah, I saw some of those when I was brought aboard. Rodimus, Maggie, and Rung used them.”

“They’re stupid,” Whirl complained loudly. “They don’t want us there! Then why fragging go?!”

“If you hate it so much, why are you going?” A mech called Wrecker asked angrily.

“Maybe I’m going to trash the place.”

“Oh yeah? How ‘bout you scrap off before I trash you?”

Whirl stepped forward threateningly, “You piece of scrap, I’ll-”

“I’ll bet,” You interrupted loudly, “that this planet doesn’t accept non-organics because they’re jealous; I would be too if I was faced with someone way more awesome than me. Never meet your heroes, right?”

Whirl laughed obnoxiously, “You’re right meat sack, smart fragger.”

“So, you’re not going to break anything?”

“Not when they clearly idolise me. Gotta keep the worship coming.”

Everybody watched in awe, all wondering the same thing. How had you stopped Whirl from fighting? Nobody could control him; it was a fact he was immensely proud of. If anyone bothered to ask Whirl why he’d acted so out of character, he would have lied or shrugged it off. In truth, Whirl was afraid of disappointing you. You were a clean slate, someone who didn’t know or care about his past. You understood him without trying to change him; in short, he respected you. Without showing affection or anything that would jeopardise his reputation, Whirl made the effort to find ways to listen to you, even if it meant taking the bait to obvious lies aimed at stroking his ego.

“Great because I’m looking forward to a little window shopping,” You chimed.

The conversation resumed at a normal pace once again. Meanwhile, when everyone else was in jovial conversation, Swerve worried between serving drinks. He’d spent so much time planning everything the two of you would do together that he hadn’t even considered his holoform. Swerve was no stranger to what passed as handsome on Earth and that concerned him. He wasn’t tall, slim, or remotely muscled and up until now, he hadn’t minded but what if you saw him and were repulsed or expecting more. There wasn’t time to change the holoform now but Primus, he wished he could.

Swerve opened his mouth to shoot a casual question about Earth shops but before he could, the ship’s PA came on, calling you to Megatron’s office.

When you reached the right corridor, Rodimus stomped out of the office. Upon seeing you, he pointed and yelled, “Just so you know, this isn’t my fault,” before storming off again.

You frowned, confused until Megatron called you in with a stiff, “Enter human.”

You stood awkwardly I the doorway, looking up at Megatron who’s discomfort showed. Despite his displeasure, Megatron spoke solemnly, “Thank you for coming, we have something very important to discuss. Tomorrow we arrive at Hacathar and it has come to my attention you intend to go to the planet’s surface. Unfortunately, I cannot allow you to do that, instead you must stay here with Ratchet. You have my humblest apologies.”

“WHAT?!” You exploded. “Why can’t I go?”

“A foreign planet holds many dangers for… one of your kind,” Megatron lied. He couldn’t tell you the real reason; that a Cybertronian aboard the Lost Light was trying to kill you and the planet would provide too many opportunities to do so.

You sighed heavily, “Megatron, I’m afraid I can’t stay on the ship tomorrow. I mean, I didn’t want to bring this up and panic anyone but- but- I’ll die if I don’t get onto a planet soon.”

“Excuse me?”

“Human’s need exposure to natural pathogens to survive, we store them in our blood streams for ages but I’m beginning to run low; if I don’t top up soon, I’ll- I’ll-” You managed to start crying.

Megatron shuffled uncomfortably, unsure of what to do; your lie was taking a heavy toll on him. He couldn’t leave you unprotected, nor could he let you die; his processor was working hard to come up with a workable solution.

“Very well human,” Megatron said tiredly, “we shall reach a compromise. You may visit the planet to replenish your pathogens however, I shall be there to accompany you for the entire day.”

“I mean, can you believe it? Megatron actually told me I can’t go with anyone but him. Does he really think I’m that bloody fragile?” You ranted at Swerve who was feeling more and more crestfallen. Once again, all his plans to make you happy had been foiled. It was almost like there was a force keeping the two of you apart.

Despite his despair, Swerve slapped on a false smile and hid behind humour, “Hey, it could be worse, I can’t believe you managed to trick him like that. I mean, enzymes? That’s hilarious.”

You grimaced guiltily, “Gosh, I’m sorry Swerve. I’ve been bitching at you this entire time but you’re right, at least I get to go out now. I wish I could still go with you but there’ll be lots of time to spend together afterwards. Hey, how about we get a few bots together for a game night when we get back?”

Swerve gave an enthusiastic thumbs up, “You got it.”

You beamed and stretched, “Alright, I’m gonna get some sleep before we hit the planet. Night Swerve.”

“Right and I’ll be right here… recharging.”

Swerve laid on the berth, thoughts once again consuming him. Did he have a problem? He’d already considered this time and time again, constantly switching between conclusions. It was very possible that he needed to get over you, for you were the impossible; despite that, he didn’t want to get over you. It was near impossible to stop thinking about you except for when he talked with friends, providing a distraction to his overworked processor. The only problem with that method was that very few people considered him friend enough to converse with; in all honesty, he was lonely before you came along.

“Damn it, why can’t she go back to just a hot frag fantasy? At least then, I didn’t care.”

You pouted as various bots went to the ship’s docking bay and you awaited Megatron who had delivered you a set of rules while you slept. Never had you felt more patronised than when you read them.

Rule 1: You must wait till everyone else has left before we leave.

Rule 2: You will stay in sight at all times.

Rule 3: No wandering off.

Rule 4: No outside communication without my permission - that includes other crew members.

Rule 5: There will be no mention of Cybertronians on the planet surface.

Rule 6: There will be no consumption of alien foods so as to avoid injury or disease.

Rule 7: No visiting of bars, clubs, or any other such rowdy areas.

Rule 8: No participation in dangerous events.

Rule 9: No usage of the name Megatron upon the planet’s surface so as to avoid conflict.

Rule 10: You will follow my instruction at all times.

 You tapped at the datapad keyboard adding to the document.

Rule 11: No fun.

 Megatron cleared his vocaliser at you, “I see you’ve been studying the code of conduct I’ve given.”

You turned the datapad screen off, hiding the addition, and forced a grin, “I sure have, Megs.”

“Megs?”

“Rule nine, no use of your name on the planet; I was just practicing,” You said innocently.

Megatron frowned coolly; you were almost sure his face had only one setting by now.

“So… can we go now?” You asked.

Megatron nodded and applied his holo-form.

“Whoa… dude, you look awesome.”

Megatron ignored the praise, mainly because he didn’t know what to say; very few had praised him unless out of fear and now, nobody did, not that he felt he deserved it. He walked to the docking bay with you by his side where he could keep an optic on you.

You gasped upon reaching the ramp. The planet below was similar to a rainforest, with thick foliage of the lushest blue creating a tall canopy over the sandy floor. Buildings were scattered under the bushes and trees in a random order; they were seemingly made of sharp, long slabs of crystal. You briefly found yourself wondering if they were onyx. Various market stalls outside the buildings had thatched roofs made of yellow, straw like flowers. With a mix of odd foods on one, clothes the likes of which you’d never seen on another, and technology on a third, you were reminded of old bazaars seen on films. Then, there were the people, all organics like you, yet wholly different. There was a person who looked like a humanoid caterpillar with a long body and multiple hands. Then there were hulking elephants of people inching their way through the crowds with polite exclamations. Somebody examining jewellery had a large maw with razor teeth and apparently no eyes or nose; that person was actually licking the necklace it was holding.

You beamed excitedly at Megatron; it was like nothing you’d ever imagined. You ran straight for the first stall, a clothes stall with labelled racks that indicated not size but species. Megatron glared, he should have made another rule, no running. He paced towards you, maintaining a dignified speed while you listened to the shop keep, a sort of moth man, speaking with a customer; you were amazed by the ship’s translator that Perceptor had previously explained. Eventually, the moth man caught you staring.

“Can I help you?” He harrumphed disdainfully.

“Uh yeah, sure,” You breathed, attempting to calm your boggled mind. “Do you have any clothes for humans?”

“You can’t read?”

You glanced sheepishly at the signs, “Oh yeah, right, sorry.”

“(Y/N),” Megatron glowered, appearing by your side.

“What?”

“The rules.”

“Oh come on Megs, I haven’t done anything yet.”

“Your communication says otherwise.”

“What that? I didn’t know you meant I can’t talk to anyone, I was only asking-” You faltered at Megatron’s scowl, “You know what Megs, when you’re right, you’re right, sorry.”

“Well, at least you behave better than Rodimus.”

Usually, you would have argued your point, but you weren’t willing to push Megatron too far lest he took away your outdoor privileges.

It took only a minute to find the rack for human section and when you did, you were disappointed to find only one hideous, mustard coloured jumper that was much too small anyway.

“What a bust,” You murmured, looking around for the next store.

Your excitement was quickly restored upon spotting a music store which was playing a song you knew well.

“Oh my God,” You laughed. “They have the YMCA in space.”

You grabbed Megatron’s hand, pulling him quickly to the music stall, where you started to dance, much to his consternation.

“Dance with me,” You giggled.

“I do not dance.”

“Come on, every ex-warlord should know how to dance. Besides, this one’s easy, you just have to make the letters. If you don’t like this one, I can see if they have the Macarena.”

“I have no idea what you just said,” Megatron deadpanned.

You danced with even more enthusiasm, and started singing along with your own words, “Old man, you can’t help yourself. Old man, do it for your good health. Old man, old man, come and dance with me, after that I will set you free. It’s the YMCA, come and dance to the YMCA.”

As you crooned, Megatron suffered; as it turned out, you didn’t behave better than Rodimus.

While you danced, Swerve was miserable. He’d visited all the places he’d planned to take you… alone. None of it meant anything without you; he was once again friendless. Now, it was approaching the planet’s early sunset and Swerve was stood by himself on a curved, wooden bridge which overlooked a flowing river; in a few short minutes, it would also have the perfect view of an effect known to occur on Earth, aurora borealis, more commonly known as the Northern Lights.

Light moaning revealed that Swerve wasn’t alone as he’d first thought. He looked around and quickly spotted a pair of the planet’s native Lepoterans (the very moth people you’d discovered earlier) making out amorously in the side alley. Swerve sighed despondently, sloping off in another direction; he couldn’t catch a break.

#more than meets the eye #MTMTE #transformers #Transformers MTMTE #swerve #swerve x reader #swerve x human reaader #lost light #The Lost Light #ll #reader #reader insert #fanfiction #fanfic #a human crewmate #chapter 9 #rodimus #chromedome #rewind #megatron #a playdate with megatron #a playdate with megatron part 1

[throwingideasatthewall]

The Clone Wars    Senate Murders

          (Season 2 Episode 15)

Ack      ....  So     are     we    going     to    address     the     guy      that    got     killed?      . .      Oh      This   is a new one       . . .         Oh       No       . . .        The        Bab        ies        -      Will       Only    Pro     Long

  Oh good

 [I was worried      I was going to have to pull out  The old   “Amidala kills children,”      Thing,]

   Any way,      That’s            Good        I like        babies not getting         hurt,         [Cute things in      general]    

      Oof           That’s           Not-

     [pretty sure       that’s the            point]

       Whelp

Well I have teased       Amidala pretty       unmercifully,      Regarding       That        Episode,        I do    still give her       a bit of slack          (Age    appropriate)       Because she still    has a chance to        un-feck the situation      [In the       story]

 Least we know    it      isn’t her getting   poison      ed this time,

 Oh,   never     mind,

That actually    did   apparently   help     (slightly)     (in the   unaccountable)        (Slightly           less       toxicity          in         air)

     Smooth

      Hold             Up           Wait,          Wasn’t              Ready           (Sus             Pect-           Ing-       Animation           That       smooth,

      I          think that was      Sa-        tine          -            Good         ref      (erence)          Picking       up        right       where       he      left        off  

   C-3PO

   Nice

  Whelp

-Windows        -

   Okay,        Minor        Issue?

  ?

  Oh it’s a whole bunch of them

   That’s nice-

      Senator            Stonk

“what will the public think   if I don’t want to make child soldiers,?”

     -Boomer

    (Probably)

   “But he wants to know    how very sorry he is,”

    Haha

      That   is the correct tone

  “Sorry-”

   Sorry doesn’t get you anything

   It’s an attempt to control the     narr-     ative

And    nothing else

 (If you screw up just      fix the problem     don’t keep dragging the tox,”

   Votes

  That’s nice

This is a very non-toxic         healthy tea

  (I know he’s kind of assuming authority          here

    But they   seem to be pretty close friends-

   Who are covered under the friend-      ship rules

“ A.k.a. not doing it to a random stranger who doesn’t like it,”

 Good rule

Oh God      It’s        

THAT

fucker..  

   ?

With the line about   convincing     other people of good?

I-

 Nope-

Note; this isn’t an official X

 It’s just a show my venomous   hatred of this guy..

And the episode he   Spawned    from

 Which was the first one to     earn a strike from me...

For normalizing    abuse...

With that in mind I give this episode the benefit of the     doubt...

  Even with that     concerning opening line

  So I will acknowledge I am slightly doubtful

 [not quite   putting on the   SWAT gear,    maybe just     a bat]

With that-     in mind- let’s continue...

... .

Mistakes       ...     

Em-     That at least counts as   one tox

Bring up the previous   things you did wrong     does not fix it

It’s guilt tripping

And an attempt to get the other party to validate   your toxicity

Dude’s      Towing..

Just after a joke   about how sorry doesn’t do anything

I hope the writers can see the irony in that

(Utilize          It)

  Peace         -         Dick

  Ah

   Hey-

[Repeat generations/friends can be friends with older     members,      just      Weird,]         -        Any       ,Way-

  Aight

  Ni’     gh    t’

 Ah- did they skip over to it or they   going?

“exciting isn’t quite the word   I would use,”

Toxic,     authority assuming,     enabling,

Authority assume     is not ok  regardless of what generation you   are

[Dude’s going to be a Traitor,        Isn’t he?

  They focused on him

  Might be actually a good bit of tension    if he didn’t      (Former   Separatist)

Terri-fying

Yeah surrounded by a bunch of toxic boomers   who will   feel free.    To be as doubting       distrustful.    negative     and overall unhelpful

As you allow

And they feel like pushing the   boundary...

Mind

Or-     gana

Dick move

It’s her     personal opinion       -      and it ain’t   tox?

People can have   dislikes

Not like she called you an   Overinvolved boomer       —        or held you to any   accountability       (Yet)          ...    

 Who order-

[This is getting really     tox

and I don’t trust the   writers           ✖️ Just   putting      it     over        there         in       case      I need it           .....

 Hm

 You

 ..  [Grooming        isn’t cool

 Self deprecation       isn’t either]

  Aight

  Hm

 Also there’s a process you need to go to to speak?

Money doesn’t   matter -

Killing    -      and     hatred      but       the   pacifistic        bitch        vilified

*Spoken   in  complement

She kicked     ASS   last episode

*sorry   for the vulgarity       I’m excited      . .       Also,    so is this     Padme’s episode.

 Cause        Neat.

 Good

 But are votes   casted by     clapping?

(I’m not sure)

 Okay

  Whelp

That’s     either a bad guy       or damn good red   herring

I’m intrigued

Also, whatever happened to     Clovis?

Like,      he still a        senator?

He get   kicked?

Uhm

Dude,

 False   appreciation

Also yeah     what was with that dude       earlier?

[Uncle what’s his name apologize to him for Padme’s comment despite Uncle what’s his name being the one who made it, implying dude took a serious issue with it,]

Also,   Oo, is this working of the previous quote about the line between friends and foes being blurred.

              [I like                  consistency]

So it has to be one of those guys,

The ones in the   room with her,

I’m putting a guess on   Senator-

 The one uncle       what’s- his-name         apologized to

      That guy

[Or it could be that guy that]

No actually he’s probably   abstain        ed for that reason

Sorry      I’m getting ahead          -     But it does say     “Murder,”

   And        I      am    curious        .     Really   going   over       -         Also    why   is that guy   bowing?

[Tran-slation?]

Right        .        obvious     villain       .

 Also   light bullshit..

There’s no-   way guy could’ve made it over there

The thing is still in session

We saw him less than a    minute ago

 And she just came in directly

[He’d be         halfway down the hallway]

For likely scope

Yeah, this dude is totally a     Red     Herring       -        He’s    way    too    over     the     top       ...    I’m putting my bets      On that human Senator          Guy           .       CHILD SOLDIERS      ARE BAD!       [sorry I just   felt the need to say that,]

  Okay,    Uncle-what’s his name-

Other person

 That guy-

  Drink      -ing!

  Nice

  Vi-ctory

   Oh, this looks like a problem

    Child groomers          In-       corporate-

    Off

Second Red herring!

(It’s that guy   and I’m sticking with        it)

  Private

  Yeah,  like how did he even get into the room without a key card?

  I know Amidala’s a senator and      by that,               A public      servant,         But you figure if they’re bringing out the    alcohol, they’d shut the door

   -Declare      off hours

  -For the celeb     ration-

 Separatist      Con        Spiracy-

   She has a     point-

   You did a     hundred percent enable his behavior

    (No argument            there)

      Pro- separatist

Ah, uncle back stabber there would contradict you

   Not sure if you’re the same species

But,       you do know about his bullshit,

Don’t assume accountability       free snarking             Territory           (They’re all enablers so I’m not even going to bother with the math,      About who screwed up more,          All the   elders   here are held to the same standard,       About,

 Uncle Backstabber a little more

   *Since I know what he did,

Account

From the most bastard,       of the group,

Who’s the next Red herring?

It’s that dude     I swear      Soon

Yeah child soldiering is a bitch

As is enabling

But she has no idea what’s going to happen     being the past.

Dick,    whelp,

Poor       Frita       (I think)

He’s going       he’s going to get roped into this too     isn’t he?

      “ We you must be doing something right,”

Nah,  enabling abusers  never a good idea

   But then again there’s no rules for dealing with trauma individuals because they aren’t supposed to be any

   How long that takes and what it entails

   Is down to who ever is        asserting accountability     (Excluding      the actual accountability, cutting      Them off)

That’s unnegotiable

(And it can’t involve   death)

Too.     harsh-

No you haven’t-

Well, yeah

But that’s     accessory at best     ... Ono you’ve done a wonderful job

No he hasn’t

Don’t coddle   the abuser

 He’s screwed up pretty consistently

 Pretty sure       it’s more than five

And was leading to let the future get     hecked         ...

 Very       Likely

He wasn’t hurt

The other lady   spent a lot more time defending

She should get the ‘don’t listen to them’

If anything just    ‘reflect the bitch’          (Neutral)          Aight    

     Too          Late!

      Can someone stop      playing the sad music?

      This isn’t sad

     And you can’t make me       sympathize for the abuser

   (I- don’t trust this     writer)

    That Dude sus

    Aight

  Faker-

He’s dying you        dumb ass

(Having a      heart attack       probably

  All the stress            of denial)

   Whelp

Call!

 Please

 Whelp

 -Oh wait      bitch is dead?

Uhm.

DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD  the WICKED WITCH IS DEAD!    

 (I know that seems really harsh-            But dude- deserved it

And I never have to deal with that character        anymore!

So,

 Al-      right       the      funeral;

 Um,

DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD  the WICKED WITCH IS DEAD!

 (I’m sorry I really hated that      character-)

* In reality      the loss of life is a very serious thing and      I don’t mean to make light of it

 But no one is required      to feel sad about their abusers-         Nor toxic individuals        Nor anyone else        Yes the loss of life is a     serious thing           But it should not             And could not         control a person’s life

I’ve always played accountability    over death          Or death   penalty           ...

“...was is a flawed man,”

  He tried to sell someone into   slavery...

  The fact that Amidala was an adult           and could get out of the situation           Doesn’t forgive        how terrible that situation was.

    Un-healthy           And        Wrong

   “Own    mistakes”

 And he tried to guilt trip everyone       into giving him validation

    Specifically           Amidala

      Every        occasion

    [Also      flawed          Some          one        breaking            the           code           once             or           twice,           (Under            five)            Is        flawed,

       This         dude          tox,  

       He should’ve been sentenced     to      accountability along time ago

    For trying to make the world      a generally terrible place for someone

    Multiple times-

  That’s not okay

   [and he clearly         didn’t learn his lesson]

    [Note; whether a person “learned their lesson” or not,            Is irrelevant

   [They already    knew the rules before]

But he never compromised his principles-

    HaHAha,

    What?

That’s because   dude didn’t have any principles

He broke them long before,

Also why the frick does Master Yoda care?

Dude    was          a      politic,

 The     Fuck,

He engaging this propaganda?

Why?

Why does he care about any of this.

Why does   ANY     one

[Satine, alright, hermen got murdered and she might be looking for evidence on who-done-it   That’s fair

?

Oh says it’s an everyone event

That makes sense

Guessing the Jedi are required   to come or else the branded as that asshole

Fair

 Eyes

Aight

What-      ever-

   ?

Why the guard?

Like cultural customs

Aren’t honor guards          for veterans      (And possibly extremely         high positions,      Like         Chancellor?

As technical commander of the army?

Like,      Explain?

That guy-

 Sus

 Very       Sus-

   Pas-         sed

    I’d say      to find his killer

     But yeah I can’t really   blame anyone for not    caring that much     about that dude

   Specifically      Amidala

(Though     accountability law..

   D

   Frita is honestly my favorite        character

   I don’t know       why.

     Possibly his relation to the           chancellor and how      he still a good natured guy,

     Aight

     Yeah     he was a dick,

Hope those aren’t memories     [also        totally the        Kamooin               B-            Right?

                    [Like                         I’m totally still after                          Dude, ]

But she’s   the only one that     touched the bottle]

That we saw?

Dude did suggest it

      Still        heavily          sussing              him                .          No           Face               .              Also       is that his wife?

     (Don’t think it was         ever established)

     I-

    Mentor

     ?

   How old is this person?

I’m gonna assume     adult

 So.

He toxically asserted   authority over me.

Or wrong choice of words and they meant like     “best friend”

 Cause that’s kind of     tox,

Me?

  - -

  This is     getting       Hella          tox

    You’re       a      person

    Yeah you might miss him   and that’s totally fine

     But-

You’re still a person completely able to   self determine.

   ‘ take his place,’

   Oh no

   Oh no

   Shit

   Just what she needs         overinvolvement 

   Right

   Not        threatening at all    

    Oh         Red           .         We        never       see      them      enter            .         Right            .            Well this turned from a private party     to a    Conference

   I thought he was just calling    to offer condolences.

   Questions.

Oh,    Did you not tell the loud ones what happened to their loved one?

  (Like normally I’m all for no one should      witness anyone else’s death          Or that news be public

   But this is assumed authority.         And that stuff is pretty normal

     Regardless       of how terrible.       Senator Fa

This guy seems like a drip

[Guessing that’s the reason why       Amidala is going to end up taking charge,]

Because      the Chancellor     hired a sham detector    Whelp

   Dick way to put it

  True, the protocol for murder          isn’t cutting and clear

   Dragging random people into it, isn’t

   You see it          you’re        immediately accountable,

      (Only by view of the body,          Not by word of mouth)

Because this kind of approach is super          in-effective,

  Whelp        Great

  Also there were thousands of       senators in that building that could screw up the thing

Only five

(I’ll give the        murder        mystery            It’s             Dues,           And           let it          continue,             But       (im-probabilit-           ies is not a good thing)

        Might              Want                    To                  Avoid

(Also     if that’s the     qualification;       I’m sussing         Amidala,          Dude      was                 a           dick           to          her)

    THOUGH              I’M STILL-         SUSS      -ING           DUDE       IN           Blue?     dude with the    beard

   That      one.

   Build-ing    <—-    He          Sus

   Him

—-

 Ha!

Here

Hey   that was almost emotion,      Nice

(also, dang how frequent are   murders?

Him

<—-

  He          Sus

   He didn’t take a seat         like everyone else

   [Also, it was purple    Dude wearing purple     that’s who I’m talking about]

Also are you going to introduce him as the     detective ?

‘cause you’re kind of   screwing with these people

Not   telling them what’s going on

Answering in vague Snark

Him.    ...

For no reason

Considering he was an uncountable toxic frick who allowed it lots of people to get hurt-

  I’m       mad,

 A ight

Right..

 And

Okay, He’s got a point

Immediate accountability     is the case murder     for good reason

Surprised they didn’t start       this right after the     murder

When it happened

Dude- [i’m not going to criticize       the spatial awareness]

Him

<—-

 Right         there

  Murder

A good point since     they really haven’t explained anything?

   Okay,         Right

Or anyone     stealthy

  Though yeah I guess    politicians

  [just don’t like the        generalization]

   Someone good        With he rbs..

  Okay.

  Neat.

  Insult.

Poor.   Frita

  He didn’t deserve     this,

(Well yeah he’s an enabler,)

But       He’s the least toxic..

[Also poor Frita,       Always       getting sucked into these mysteries

   He’s the shaggy        of this damn group

   [Likes food          and hanging out with people,          Gets dragged into      bullshit,

 Rip

Insulting     the whole damn room             .....            This character is                 obnoxious

            But in a fun way

             The narr              -atives-            clearly having fun

Ono        yeah       he   was    an   open   dick

  [Seriously they’re treating him    like-]

  ?

 No it couldn’t possibly be because he was an       ex separatist,

Open book         Case,

Con-troversial

 Politicians      arguing over basic human decency

   And common sense

    ‘Do we really.. Ok        that’s enough politic jokes

   The movie started it         so I had to finish it.

  Now on with.

      Dude drunk

     Dick

  “ I’m        totally-”

 Um, this is     delicious corruption

How long until     Amidala figures what’s going on?

  Whelp

He just     left?

   He really is a       quack

    Did you find him         on       fakedetectives.com?

     Palpatine?

    Crud

    Okay,

    That guy,

    Target

   Good

  Aight

Also it’s that guy     Authority ass-     umer sus,

  No       No,

Good plan

Ono

  Good      plan

  Evil.

  Aight

    .

  Good

In-vestigation

   Yes-       Good

    Let’s           Do           It           ...

    It’s that guy

    Him

He     -a dick

Also not to claim authority over   him

Not, not to be     cu-     rious-    -

No-pe

Authority   figures     don’t 

 He was an ass

Also yeah just     put   all the possible suspects in the room      -         That       Guy

Uhm

Ty-pho

Agana!

  That       fricker

   Onu          looked         at him         before         his death                 -             He came back last       to the party-

       He was the first             to suggest opening the drinks             -              Also the thing with the detective       and him just trying to get over as quickly as possible

        He sus,  

Aight,   

Right,       -       Don’t - get stabbed

Um-

Aight

Wha-

 Ha, such a red         herring-

 Okay-

Oh, Red herring        Co-nference

  Didn’t notice the     snake lady          (Kamoin)     Empty     Chair       -        Also     they know each other?

  Good,        evil for them,

  Fair

 Aight

Also yeah the         boomers here didn’t do it       -         More     likely someone from the Present     Gen.. . 

Theory

That      Guy..

Guy’s like damn

Like just give her your time and your place and       your alibi.

Whelp,       Aight

So I’m pretty sure if I had paid attention to the     bottles,        That wouldn’t have   matched up       ...

Yeah he was a separatist

              DAMN

    Like I saw the hand on the dock            But I thought it was an assassin        or team up

                But  

                 DAMN

                               I feel                                   verified

              Until it played music                       victory music                         Over the arrest                       of a distressed                        and less toxic                            person

*While   painting      the      toxic     person           as a        saint

                  Which I cannot                          condone

         As such;

                  it earns my most                             regretful                              strike;

Official;

   For attempting to     excuse a toxic       person’s          actions

* I want to emphasize that this is not ok, a person does not get off for un- accountable actions, simply by apologizing, never mind the fact          - that it is an attempt    to guilt-trip       Invalidate          And      Gas-    light               The       Recipient,       But also should not apply to someone that has repeatedly attempt to Gaslight, guilt trip and sell a person into slavery;         (Crossing more than five accounts)

[never mind the selectivi       ty of what it is applied        “Ano” getting away         With slavery, be        -cause he        Was “So-      rry,” gun        held to      (-near)        his       Back      While      Lolo       doesn’t     just   mummer      sorry)

         That once you commit harm              against another person.. it can                not be taken back, the victim       owes you no sympathy, no    right to their emotions, and        certainly, no un      accountability-       Forgive      Ness-      From what you have done.

   You must live with what you have        commit

   Regard        Less

[allgoodthingsflowintothecity]

Naegiri Week Day 2 - Melt

Some pre-game, pre-relationship stuff. Honestly, this one is about 40% Naegiri and 60% me realizing I really like writing Junko, so... apologies? Also, there’s an official 4koma where Kyoko refers to Makoto as “dangerously cute.” Good content.

Makoto Naegi thought that he’d been doing a good job at making friends with all of his new classmates this year. He might not be an Ultimate, not really, but he was certainly more agreeable than most, and that was one thing he could pride himself on. Even when it came to people like the constantly-defensive Toko Fukawa or the arrogant and dismissive Byakuya Togami, he felt that he was at least making steps to get to understand them better, perhaps even getting to the point where he would consider them friends even if they wouldn’t return the sentiment.

But some of his classmates were much, much more difficult to get a handle on than others. For example? Junko Enoshima and Mukuro Ikusaba, the set of twins that seemed never to part. Mukuro, while not friendly by any means, was polite enough on the rare occasion that she wasn’t shadowing her sister, but mostly she just hung behind Junko and glared suspiciously at anyone she interacted with. That much, Makoto could deal with. She was, apparently, an ex-soldier; he understood how that might leave someone feeling wary and protective of their loved ones.

The real enigma was Junko. Sometimes she’d be peppy and interested—maybe a little too interested, though Makoto tried not to judge—in what her classmates had to say. Other days, she’d reply to every inquiry with a string of expletives or just sit alone (though Mukuro was always nearby) and sulk, sighing melodramatically to herself. Makoto felt a bit guilty for how nervous she made him; sometimes people were more vulnerable to mood swings than others, he knew that, and there were mental conditions that could cause dramatic personality shifts. He hated to think that he was judging her poorly over something she couldn’t control. But it was more than just that. Somehow, Junko had a knack for getting under people’s skin. She’d fret loudly that she worried her new exercise regimen would make her look too muscular and “mannish” for anyone to find attractive just as Sakura Ogami walked by. She’d lament to Kiyotaka Ishimaru that she tried to keep her grades up, but how could she ever manage when she was so naturally unintellectual, and after all, it was the skills you were born with, not the ones you worked for, that really mattered? Just last week, Makoto had overheard Junko asking Sayaka Maizono if she’d heard of that new all-female pop group that was leading all the charts, “and they all seem so close too! Hey, when’s the last time you saw the rest of your group?” It was entirely possible that these were all just unfortunate coincidences and Junko’s worst crime was being a little insensitive, but Makoto couldn’t help but feel unnerved every time she casually tossed out a sentence that struck right at one of their classmates’ emotional weak spots.

Knowing all this, he really shouldn’t have been surprised when she zeroed in on him, a big toothy smile on her face, the lunch period after what was at that point the most nerve-wracking night of his life. Junko placed her cafeteria tray down next to him, and patted the seat on her other side until Ikusaba took it. “Soooo, Naegi,” she began, sitting down.  “I hear you’re melting the local ice queen, huh?”

“Huh?” He glanced between them, already feeling like a fly caught in a spider’s web. A quick look around the cafeteria revealed that the only person present with the capability to rescue him was an upperclassman he recognized by their girth as the Ultimate Imposter. Unfortunately, the man of many faces seemed too distracted by their plate, piled high with food, to pay them any mind. Abruptly Makoto regretted choosing to eat lunch early.

Junko made a show of rolling her eyes, jabbing him harder than he’d like with her elbow. “Don’t play dumb! Everyone knows you asked out Trust Issues with the hands last night. Can’t believe you actually got her to say yes!”

“Uh.” Makoto wasn’t quite sure where to start with that statement. There was the fact that, apparently, “everyone” knew that he had asked Kyoko Kirigiri on a date, despite the fact that the only person he’d told about it aside from Kirigiri herself was his good friend, Asahina. As genuine as Asahina’s friendship was, she could be a bit of a blabbermouth, but that still didn’t explain how Junko knew Kirigiri had said yes when he hadn’t even updated Hina on the situation since receiving Kirigiri’s response. There was the litany of unflattering nicknames Junko had just unleashed upon Kirigiri. He could easily imagine her non-reaction if she had been present to hear them—one of the things he most admired about the detective was her ability to keep calm under pressure—but Makoto himself still felt compelled to defend her, especially given how she’d done nothing to earn Junko’s scorn. Then there was the whole “can’t believe you got her to say yes” thing, which, yes, shouldn’t have been a big deal. But Makoto had to admit it rankled him.

Before he could even begin to form his reply, Junko barreled on. “Honestly? I figured she only hung out with you because you’re the one person here who’s so clearly harmless. Like, she doesn’t like me because I’m, like, super nosy, y’know? And she doesn’t like Sis because Sis knows, what, a thousand and ten different ways to kill somebody? But what are you gonna do?” She pointed her chopsticks at him for emphasis. “Be too nice to her?”

There was a moment of thoughtful chewing before she added, “Well, I guess that’s what you did, after all.”

“I-I’m sure she doesn’t dislike you…” That probably shouldn’t have been the aspect Makoto focused on, especially since he wasn’t sure it was actually true. But this whole conversation—if such a one-sided dialogue could even be called that—was throwing him for a loop.  After the stress of asking Kiri last night, he’d been prepared to avoid any and all anxiety-inducing conversations until… well, until their date. Now his head was swimming; why was Junko so interested in his relationship? How did she even know about it in the first place? She wasn’t right when she said that Kirigiri only liked him because he was “harmless,” was she?

His panic was interrupted by the soft clunk of a tray being placed on the side of him where Junko and Mukuro weren’t seated. “Good morning, Naegi,” came a familiar voice.

Oh. Oh, this was going to be either very good or very, very bad.

“H-Hi, Kirigiri,” he stuttered. She raised an eyebrow at his obvious nerves, and then her eyes moved to the duo behind him. He imagined she was very easily connecting the dots.

Junko didn’t look even a little guilty as the detective frowned at her. She gave an exaggerated wave, showing her teeth in another wide grin. “Heeeey, girl! We were just talking about you!”

Makoto wasn’t going to have any appetite to actually eat his lunch at this point.

If Kirigiri was surprised by this news, she didn’t show it as she pulled her chair out and took a seat. “That’s appropriate,” she commented coolly, picking up her chopsticks. “I was just speaking about you as well.”

Junko’s smile abruptly turned to a scowl of annoyance as Kirigiri gestured behind herself, pointing at a positively irate-looking Ishimaru marching up to their table. “Enoshima! Ikusaba!” he boomed. “Hacking into the Hope’s Peak Academy security system is absolutely against school rules! I’m going to have to insist that you two go speak with the headmaster immediately!”

There was a moment where Makoto was sure that Junko was going to put up a fight, but in the end she simply flipped one of her ponytails and moved to stand up. “Eh, fair enough. C’mon, Sis.”

Mukuro didn’t even reply as she followed after her twin, the two exiting the cafeteria. Now that he could breathe again, Makoto noticed that the rest of the student body was starting to filter in. No one was paying much attention to Ishimaru’s latest rule crackdown.

The hall monitor clapped Kirigiri on the back. He was too caught up in his victory to notice the way her eyes narrowed in annoyance at him, but Makoto did. “Well done identifying the culprits, friend! Giving anyone other than authorized security personnel access to the surveillance tapes would have been a disaster!”

“I’m sure Enoshima has already watched some of the recent tapes,” said Kirigiri. “It was a reference she made to events last evening that initially tipped me off. Still, if the system was compromised only this morning, she hasn’t had very long to go through the footage.”

Ishimaru glowered at the lack of respect for school property. “Unbelievable! To commit such an indecent act… I must proceed to the headmaster’s office and ensure that their punishment is fitting!”

“Don’t tell the headmaster I was involved!” came Kirigiri’s hurried request as Ishimaru filed out of the room. It was probably useless and both Makoto and Kirigiri knew it; if Ishimaru was even capable of lying, he hadn’t shown it through the entire semester they’d known him. She sighed after he left. “I really wish I didn’t have to bring him into it.”

Makoto blinked, still trying to digest all of the new information he’d just received. “Wait. Enoshima and Ikusaba… hacked into the security system this morning?”

“Well, I would imagine it was Enoshima’s idea, but yes. I suppose I should thank you. If I hadn’t heard her speaking to you, I wouldn’t have realized that she was the perpetrator.”

So, that explained how Junko knew about their upcoming date. It also meant—“So, you heard that whole thing back there?” Makoto couldn’t see his own face, but he knew it was beet red.

“I did step in as soon as it sounded like you were really having trouble dealing with her.”

“O-Oh… Yeah, thanks…”

“And for the record…” Was that a hint of pink on Kirigiri’s cheeks as well? “She was wrong. I don’t just think you’re harmless.”

Makoto felt the corners of his mouth turn up. “Yeah?”

“Yes.” Then she was leaning in to lightly kiss his cheek, and he thought he might internally combust. “You,” she whispered, voice only slightly wobbly. “Are dangerously cute.”

#naegiriweek2017 #fanfiction #naegiri #dangan ronpa

[sazorak]

The Ongoing Narrative Evolution of Attack on Titan

Hajime Isayama’s Attack on Titan (or Shingeki no Kyojin, if you’d like) is, at first blush, little more than a particularly smart and stylish take on the usual apocalyptic-horror formula: existentially-terrifying monsters in a world already lost, with a heap of unanswered questions. This conceit is ubiquitous these days; it’s at the core of hundreds of zombie and zombie-like apocalypse narratives scattered across a dozen different mediums.

How did world get into this mess? How does one survive in a world like this? Is it possible for society to survive in a situation like this? These questions form the backbone of fiction like Attack on Titan— internally within the narrative itself and externally in how the audience engages with it. One of the fundamental weaknesses of most zombie-like narratives is an inability to move past this core conceit and answer any of the questions. Few even try— as to do so might undermine much of the fundamental appeal of the narrative: the life-of-death tension and unknowable nature of the mystery.

Attempting to evolve the narrative past the status quo (no matter how unstable that status quo may logically be) runs the risk of alienating an audience who became engaged with the work because of that status quo in the first place. Oftentimes, the questions raised are far more interesting than the answers, and authors sometimes have no actual answer in mind when they ask these broad-sweeping questions in the first place. At the same time, maintaining a status quo indefinitely is boring; it’s at the core of why zombie fiction is so same-y and garbage.

One of the things that’s most remarkable to me about Attack on Titan is how it is not only willing to abandon the initial status quo, but continually evolve and develop the concept of the narrative while not betraying the themes and events it began with. It’s natural in a way that most apocalyptic monster stories aren’t. It continually raises more nuanced, challenging questions while answering older ones, and each new status quos raised is as perilous as the one that preceded it— just more complicated and nuanced.

Very little of what I’m talking about here is particularly revelatory if you’ve been keeping up with Attack on Titan, and if you haven’t been this discussion is going to amount to little more than the world’s strangest Cliffs Notes. I just want to nail down just how much Attack on Titan has been successfully evolving its themes while staying engaging, largely for my own satisfaction having just recently caught up. Spoilers for Attack on Titan through Chapter 98 after the break.

Much of Attack on Titan’s initial appeal came from its basic aesthetics. The imagery of sword-wielding techno-spider-men fighting giant naked man-eating men is at the core of why the anime was instantaneously popular, and why the manga blew up in the first place. But it’s fascinating how quickly it moved past being just that. In a way, Attack on Titan has undergone a continuous, evolutionary process— resulting in increasingly complex thematic phases that we can point to.

The initial premise was the simplest. The last remnant of humanity lives in a walled city that keeps horrible man-eating giants out. Life sucks. Then the titans breached the walls! The lead character, Eren, becomes an orphaned refugee after a titan eats his mother right in front of him, and enlists in the scout legion to try to get his home back, and get his revenge. But things suddenly turned in just a single volume’s time, when by a titan eats Eren…  and inexplicably he transforms into an intelligent, sentient titan who wrestles the bad ones!

The immediate reaction by many to this twist was rather negative— which isn’t that surprising. After all, it seemingly undoes the base premise of the series, and forces another greater suspension of disbelief just after people had come to terms with Attack on Titan’s definition of “reality.” Isayama sold them a bill of goods that promised nasty naked boys eating spidermen; a sudden twist towards what first glance seemed to be rank power fantasy of “I AM THE NAKED GIANT BOY NOW, I SHALL DESTROY THE GRAVEYARD SMASH” was something of a ‘betrayal’ of the darker themes that had brought them in in the first place. But those who gave this course change a chance discovered that rather than the narrative becoming simpler, it was WAY MORE COMPLICATED. Before Eren became a titan, we had no idea what the titans were, or where they came from. After he became a titan, we had even less of an idea, as the evidence we now had was so fragmentary and seemingly contractor as to defy most speculation. The general question of the setting (“How?”) became an outright mystery (“What!?”). What was the connection between humans and titans, and how the hell did Eren manage to turn into one and back again?

This turn also really kicked off what’s been a central aspect of Attack on Titan ever since: politics. The revelation of Eren’s ability was an incredibly political one; what was to be done with him, and what was the motivation of those now wanting him dead? The revelation that there was in fact a deeper connection between titans and humans suddenly brokered a great deal more suspicion in the actions of both the humans and the titans.

This paid off with the next major twist, when an expedition attempting to make use of Eren’s abilities was attacked by another titan that seemed to be under human control; others had the same ability as Eren! The narrative shifted from being “man vs monsters” to “man vs man, contextually monsters” as the titans took a role less as primary threat and more a backdrop for the conflict. That these “manned titans” seemed to be behind the deliberate compromising of the wall years previously resulted in a massive shift in the overall tone and nature of the mystery. The existential question was now less “Why is the world like this?” and more “Why would someone do this?” and “Who did this?”

The conflict was no longer us vs an inhuman them; who the enemy was no longer as clear. Who could Eren, and us by extension, trust? Those in charge seemed awfully like they knew way more than they let on, and it turned out that several of Eren’s compatriots from his training were the titan-changer sleeper agents, and were those who caused his family and thousands of others to die. But even stranger, these titan-changers in their midst impossibly came from some place outside the walls— which contradicted all we knew about the outside world.

But we had little time to dwell on this, as Eren and the scouting legion… initiated a coup de ’tat!? The government was quite clearly complicit in the state of things, willing to throw away millions of lives to maintain the precarious status quo and keep their hold on power. To do so, they attempted to seize Eren, triggering the coup. This finally moved the conflict to one purely “man vs man”, with the titans becoming little more than raison d'être. The coup ultimately culminated with the crowning of a new, more cooperative monarch, and the revelation that the nation’s isolation and regressive state was foisted upon it by its former rulers. We also began to learn more of the true nature of the titans: that they are created, that the power to become a titan can be transferred, and that it all somehow ties into the overthrown royal bloodline.

It seemed like oh so soon, we would be able to answer the ultimate mystery of the world. Eren gained his titan power thanks to a serum his father had given him right after the first wall collapsed, he seemingly having come from some place outside the walls just like the titan-changers. All the scouting legion needed to do now was take back the wall that had fallen all those years ago, and pull from its ruins the lost secrets of Eren’s father. Unfortunately, the titan-changers too knew of this goal, and it culminated in a pitched battle of titan versus titan and man versus titan, against those who had destroyed the wall.

The victory, at tremendous cost, brought the greatest revelations and shifts in the narrative of all: the conflict had always been one of man vs man. The walled nation that they thought was the last bastion of humanity? Little more than a single isolated kingdom, whose citizenry was of a seemingly cursed bloodline with the ability to transform into mindless titans— as well as to inherit the ability to become an intelligent titan. The titans hadn’t destroyed the rest of the world; they were amid an industrial revolution! The titans on the island were little more than dissidents from a beleaguered ethnic minority, transformed into monsters and released there as a last cruel insult to a nation that once ruled the world.

And now we truly see that nation at large. Those once oppressed by the titans now use them as weapons in World War I-era armed conflict, turning non-citizens kept in ghettoes into living weapons in an exploitative military machine. It’s far beyond the simple cruelty of man fighting monsters; true horror always belongs to the cruelty of mankind alone. Eren and his homeland don’t need to kill all the titans, or even defeat some narrowly-defined enemy; the world is their enemy. By their very birth, they are hated, used, and discarded. And how do you fight that? You can’t spiderman that away.

It seems their answer is to repay it in kind. Eren has infiltrated the home of those titan-changers who had once infiltrated his own. To what end? We don’t know yet. But I’m really fascinated to find out; it’s a total inversion of the concept we started with, and it took a hell of a ride to get here and have it feel like a natural extension.

#attack on titan #shingeki no kyojin #think piece #manga #anime #apocalyptic fiction #nonfiction

[cadpadawan]

What a time to be alive!

On March 11 2020 the World Health Organization declared that the outbreak of a viral disease, with a name similar to a certain brand of light beer, had reached the level of a global pandemic. In the panic reaction, that ensued the reports about the number of the infected, the mass demand on toilet paper and instant noodles skyrocketed on an intergalactic scale. As I let this sink in, it becomes increasingly clear that not even the best of stand-up comedians could have made this shit up!

A great deal of the recent public narrative has focused on the importance of social distancing, and something as surreal as the correct hand washing technique. It turns out, that an acute and extremely violent diarrhea is not a typical symptom of this disease. So, even in the most unfortunate case, that I would become infected with this novel coronavirus-thingy, it wouldn't be exactly the most rational manouver to stockpile 500 rolls of toilet paper, in preparation for a two-week isolation period. Unless, of course, I happened to have some weird pre-existing medical condition that would force me to poop runny and fluid shit non-stop in this doomsday bunker of mine. So far, I haven't been diagnosed with such a syndrome, not that I know of, anyway.

Of course...

There is always the chance, that the universe had a special treat preserved just for me, for a special occassion, like this:

SURPRISE, MOTHERFUCKER!

As for the counter-measures...I have actually practiced the noble art of social distancing and personal hygiene long before it started trending. You see, I'm not exactly a people's person. I'm more like one of those ”mind your own business and fuck off!”-persons. And coming to think of it... What kind of person does NOT wash hands after taking a shit, anyways?!?

Seriously, though...Now the University of Applied Sciences, where I am currently studying mechanical engineering, has also closed doors. The University administration had the forethought to do so in advance, a week before the Finnish government ordered all schools to go online. The ongoing product development school project is pretty easy to execute online, luckily. So, in this respect, this global panic should not compromise my studies that much. I'm quite self-disciplined, so this sudden change of plans did not exactly freak me out. I think I have the emotional strenght to focus on this school project, despite the fact that it would be much more pleasant to binge on alcoholic beverages and PS4 for the next couple of weeks. On a side note, I've been playing the novelty PS4 game Death Stranding for a few months now. Suddenly, the dystopian atmosphere of the game does not seem that far-fetched. We are turning into something similar to the game's isolated prepper characters. (Or, to be more to-the-point, I doubt there ever was a time when humanity was truly connected – when there was no physical barriers, we built the barriers in our minds, that's for sure...)

While conducting an in-depth online research into the topic of the school project, I also went through the trouble of getting the facts straight about the coronavirus via some quality sources of information. Let's face it: social media does not qualify as such. If I was dumb enough to take the corona-garbage in my Facebook newsfeed seriously, it would mean that this COVID-19 outbreak was either:

1) a punishment from a narcissistic god, on the grounds that humanity is a bunch of ungrateful little shits, wallowing in a cesspool of sin – homosexuality, gender equality and veganism, in particular.

2) a pre-emptive strike in the forth-coming WW3, conducted by a biological weapon that was engineered in some top-secret level-5 security military lab in Wuhan, China.

3) A dick move played on the Jumanji-board, that some douchebag accidentally came across in the estate of his deceased grandmother.

4) A Black Death reconstruction executed by the aliens responsible for this shit show simulation.

So, what the actual fuck is this coronavirus, then?

We are witnessing the triumph of an infectious disease, that is caused by a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV2). The COVID-19 monicker seems to stand for a novel CO-rona-VI-rus D-isease that emerged in 2019.

Coronaviruses are fairly common in the animal kingdom, although, this novel coronavirus seems to be one of a kind, that has not been previously detected. If I asked my internet friends here, they would probably say something along the lines of ”I'm not saying it was aliens...but it was aliens!”

Either that, or Mother Nature just wants to kill us all?

The source of the virus is not yet fully known. The latest findings suggest all kinds of bat-related stuff. So, I guess it would be fairly safe to assume, that the world has now officially gone bat shit crazy? The year 2020 will be forever remembered as the Great Pandemic of toilet paper hoarding. Officially, the common symptoms of COVID-19 include high fever, dry coughing, shortness of breath, fatigue paired with muscle and joint pain. No mention of convulsive diarrhea anywhere. Are the government officials withholding some crucial information, in the best dystopian fashion? I guess it would prove pretty hard to maintain morale, if the public was told that we are going to dive in some deep shit, in the most literal meaning of the expression.

Well, I didn't stock up on emergency supplies.

I'm a student with no budget, for fuck's sake. I live from one government hand-me-down to the next, or as we say in Finnish: ”kädestä suuhun”. It literally means ”from hand to mouth”. I could not possibly afford to stockpile shitload of TP or anything else, for that matter. Not that I even wanted to. I find it extremely hard to believe, that the world is going to run out of toilet paper any time soon...or...if a single drop of bat guano is going to collapse all civilization as we know it, then...maybe all this so-called ”civilization” is not so civilized to begin with... From a bystander's view, this onslaught of basic human stupidity, that this pandemic seems to have released upon us, makes it fairly easy to relate to the idea, that Mother Nature really wants us all dead. Maybe...just maybe...the real virus that is threatening all lifeforms on this blue planet is human, not some small agent that replicates inside the cell of an organism. After millennias of gang-bang-thank-you-Ma’m it's payback time?

Whatever the case, it's peculiar that, at this point, the virus seems to have entered Europe via Italy. Well, it still remains to be confirmed, but...if this actually proves to be the case, it would bear an uncanny resemblance to another historical pandemic from way back – the Black Death, that swepth across Europe in the 14th century. Well, y'know...history on repeat etc...

The Black Death, a.k.a. The Great Bubonic Plague, was the first major outbreak of a pandemic on the European continent. It probably originated somewhere along the Mongol conquest of China, due to a pathogen spillover event. Such an event most likely took place somewhere in the Hubei province in China in late 2019. A reservoir population with a high pathogen prevalence, like maybe some killer bats from outer space, or a secret military lab, came into contact with a novel and unsuspecting host population – the ordinary chinese folks doing some grocery shopping at the local market.

Back in the day, the war-mongering Mongols obviously had no clue about the correct hand washing technique, or cough etiquette. The plague spread like wildfire among the troops. It was caused by a bitchy pathogen, a bacterium called Yersinia Pestis. Eventually, the pathogen traveled down the Silk Road to the seaports of Europe, among the Mongol army. To be precise, the pathogen was actually carried by fleas that black rats were infested with. When the Mongol armies arrived at Europe, things got a bit gruesome. Djanibek Khan was the commander of a massive Crimean tatar force, that sieged the port city of Kaffa in 1348. By conducting a somewhat brutal manouver in biological warfare, Djanibek Khan's troops catapulted infected corpses over the city walls. A few infected Genoese traders managed to escape – and introduced the Black Death onto Italian soil. The rest is history.

Ok, let's assume the internet scholars, religious freaks and conspiracy theorists were right for once. Why does the entry point always have to be Italy?

It's almost as if the history of mankind wanted to suggest, that God had some serious bone to pick with the Italians. What have the Italians done in the past, that seems to have compromised the cosmic balance so seriously?

Luigi, you did not by any chance place a slice of pineapple on the pizza, did you?!?

Ever since the Dark Ages, politically motivated monoteistic religions have always blamed normal people for any kind of disasters. The concept of God's mercy is convenient in such a way, that premature death in the hands of any natural disaster would automatically grant an instant VIP-entrance to the delights of afterlife paradise, for a beliver, whereas for a non-believer it most certainly would mean a severe charcoal-grilled punishment in the never-ending flames of hell. In this respect, these so-called Abrahamic religions have not really changed in the last 4000 years. If history can teach us only one thing, it would be: the vast majority of mankind is actually dumb as shit.

So, what can I do?

Not much, except keep avoiding stupid people, as usual, and keep washing my hands as if I had a severe obsessive-compulsive disorder. Yeah, I'll just keep focus on my studies. Whenever I need a break from the depths of mechanical engineering, I'll just check on the news to see the most recent updates in this global shit show. It's funny, when I read about the history of mankind, I can't help but think, that my ancestors must have been of a special kind of stupid in many ways, indulging in a behaviour that was harmful to themselves in the long term. As I watch the stupidity of mankind unfolding right before my very eyes, I feel the occassional urge to book the next flight to Northern Italy and start licking doorknobs in the local supermarkets, relentlessly. Maybe I could wash the sour taste from my mouth with an ice-cold Corona beer, with a slice of lime in it. The path of glory has been well-defined, like aeons ago. The issue has always been how to bring everyone along for the ride. With the general attitude being ”Me first & The Gimmie Gimmies” (the best band name ever, by the way!), we're heading towards the biggest butt-fuck in the history of humanity. Maybe we'd be better off hoarding lubricant, instead of toilet paper?

[hellohackedtechposts]

Note from a Magnanimous Hindu to those other Indians

India is truly blessed that our population is dominated by thos. Who identify as Hindu – the most noble and altruistic people. In the history of mankind. Irrespective of your caste, gender or religion, we know what’s best for you and have now mobilized. Our government to work in your best interest. It’s been a tough ride for Hindus in India since we’ve constantly been under attack and oppressed. All we have going for us is a majority of the population. Dominance of our upper-caste in every conceivable position of power. A central government heavily composed of RSS trained Hindutva leaders. Finally, we have reached a point where we can openly impose our superior ideals onto you. Just in the last few years, here’s how we’ve been looking out for you: 1. We are champions of women rights and can’t bear to stand discrimination of women Specifically, we love saving Muslim women from Muslim men. So we banded together for our Muslim sisters to save them from the treachery of triple talaq. Otherwise, some of our most powerful leaders spend their time. Stalking women others take time out to celebrate rapists and a special few actually rape women. 2. We will do ANYTHING for national unity Anything to a majority Muslim region. We are in the early days of uniting J&K with the rest of the country. What better way to do this than to force Kashmiris to unite with us by restricting their movement. Communication and political activity while imprisoning them in a military state. And using the NRC we have already started the process of making countless Muslims in Assam stateless. All this will help create akhand bharat. But non-Hindus needn’t worry, since our government is also represented. Those who can “purify” (convert) thousands to Hinduism at a single event.

3. We seethe with rage when we see animal abuse We spring into action if there is even a hint of suspicion that a Muslim man may have hurt a cow. When this happens, we will happily justify murder. Otherwise, under our supreme leader, beef exports have been as robust as ever. India remains one of the top global exporters of beef. The key of course being that lesser beings like buffaloes can be sacrificed for any amount of financial gain. But even with cows, once they are spared by evil Muslims, we can let them die in misery in spaces run under the auspices. Premier Hindutva leader and bovine lover Ajay Singh Bisht (Yogi Adityanath). 4. We abhor crony capitalism We lose our minds when we have to clean-up the mess left behind by previous non-Hindu government regimes that were corrupt. This is why, we have focused on providing you with a leader who is at heart, a chai wala,  or in his words, a fakir-aadmi.  Under this “honest” regime, we are happy to turn a blind eye to the Adanis being bailed out by various BJP governments again and again. We enjoy it when Ramkrishna Yadav (Baba Ramdev) receives all the free land that he needs for his Ayurveda business. And we are extremely proud of wunderkind Jay Amit Shah (son of fakir’s right-hand man) who unbeknownst to all turned out to be a financial prodigy. Let alone the matter of our dear government instituting mechanisms like electoral bonds to institutionalize opacity in corporate political funding. All this, is in YOUR best interest.

5. We are happy to sacrifice for national security India’s national security can not be compromised. We feel extremely proud whenever the government takes credit for actions by our armed forces. In fact, we are so sacrificing by nature, that using our Hindutva powers, we have sacrificed multiple journalists who deviate from the acceptable Hindutva narrative and are even happy to get rid of the odd judge who could  come in the way. To ensure that national security is never compromised, we have even sent nationalistic terrorist Pragya Thakur to the Lok Sabha. All this has been accomplished in just five years. We appreciate your gratitude. You’re all welcome and stay tuned for more #AccheDin. Read the full article

#Political

[vbktechnologiesllp]

Internet Is Not Safe Anymore

There is a reality check for everyone who does ethical Cyber-attack for living no matter what the scope, size or age of your Word-Press site, your site is at risk! It is not that much certain that Cyber-Criminals don’t concentrate or feel to target only mainstream websites; however, they also target small and venerable sites as well, as they can easily exploit the common vulnerabilities of such websites. Normally, most of these Cyber-Attacks are smartly conducted via programmed bots to automatically find certain soft spots in websites. At times, they do not differentiate between your site and a popular one. Smaller sites are more prone to get compromised since they generally have lower website security measures in place. So, the next time you think your site is too insignificant for a Cyber-Criminals, think again. The odds are high that your website can be used by the Cyber-Criminal to send spam, do SEO spam or perform a malicious redirect. Once the Cyber-Criminals manage to find a loophole in your site, they can gain access to a plethora of opportunities to take their ‘spammy’ intentions for a spin. Cyber-Criminals can pull off many different types of Cyber-attacks. For instance DDoS attacks, Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attack, injection attacks, SQL injection attacks, session hijacking, clickjacking attacks, etc. Luckily, most of the threats that can damage your Word-Press site can be prevented. But first, we need to arm you with the right knowledge of these common types of Cyber-Attack, so that you can take the right measures to address it.

Plugin Vulnerabilities

If you have ever worked on Word-Press projects, then you might be aware of the fact that the plugins play a significant role in Word-Press website development. As a matter of fact, Word-Press is designed for non-developers and developers alike. The one who is in need of a quick online presence, then the plugin proves to be a reliable solution that bridges the gaps and integrates various functionalities to the website.

Unfortunately, plugins are considered to be the most vulnerable to Cyber-attack when it comes to the Word-Press ecosystem. However, one can’t blame the developers who created that plugin. Cyber-Criminals manage to find vulnerabilities within the plugin’s code and use them to access sensitive information.

Brute Force Attacks & Weak Password

Lack of login security is another entry point for Cyber-Criminals to target Word-Press sites. Cyber-Criminals tend to leverage readily available software tools to generate the password and force their way into your system. Malicious Cyber-Criminals employ software tools such as Wires-hark (sniffer) or Fiddler (proxy) to capture your Word-Press login details and steal your personal information and other sensitive information. In addition to that, the brute force attacks can create devastating seniors for users who have a weak credential management system. By way of such attacks, the Cyber-Criminals can generate 1000s of password guesses to gain entry. So, you know what to do if your password is 12345678 or admin123, right?

Word-Press Core Vulnerabilities

Nothing is perfect in this world. It often takes time to discover vulnerabilities within the Word-Press ecosystem, and this delay can put thousands of Word-Press users at grave risk of data breaches. Fortunately, the Word-Press team releases security patches and updates on a regular basis.

Unsafe Themes

At times, you can give in to temptation and install a free theme from your favorite search engines. However, how one can determine whether that theme us safe or not, especially when it is free? Honestly, most of these free themes available on internet are vulnerable to Cyber-Attack just like an outdated plugin would. However, this does not mean that all free themes are a strict no-no. There are plenty of efficient and reliable free themes uploaded by developers who provide regular update and actively support the project.

Hosting vulnerabilities

Another popular entry point for Cyber-Criminals is through your own hosting system. Normally, most of the Word-Press websites are hosted on the SQL server and this is how the Word-Press website becomes a potential target of Cyber-Criminals. In addition to that, if one uses poor-quality or shared hosting services, then it makes their website more venerable to Cyber-Attack. In such cases, the attacker can gain unauthorized access to other websites on the same server.

Cyber-Infection

Cyber-Menace, or simply menace, refers to creating certain circumstances or events that result in developing potential issues for cyber-protection. A few common examples of such Menaces include a social-engineering or phishing invasion that helps a Cyber-Criminal in installing a Trojan-Virus in your system and steal private information, political activists DDoS-ing your Web-Site, an administrator accidentally leaving data unprotected on a production system can result in a data breach, or a storm flooding your ISP’s data center.

Cyber-Protection Menaces are actualized by Cyber-Criminals. These Cyber-criminals usually refer to persons or entities who may potentially initiate a Cyber-Invasion. While natural disasters, as well as other environmental and political events, do constitute Menaces, they are not generally regarded as being Cyber-Criminal, it does not mean that such Menace activists should be disregarded or given less importance. Examples of common Cyber-criminals include financially motivated politically motivated activists for Cyber-Invasion, nation-state Cyber-Infiltrators, disgruntled employees, Cyber-Criminals, competitors, careless employees.

Cyber-Menaces can also become more catastrophic if Cyber-Criminal leverages one or more vulnerabilities to gain access to a system, often including the operating system.

Cyber-Liabilities

Cyber-Liabilities simply refer to weaknesses in a system. They make Cyber-Menace possible and potentially even more hazardous. A system could be exploited through a single Liability, for example, a single SQL Injection infiltration technique could give a Cyber-Criminal full control over sensitive data. A Cyber-Criminal could also bind several exploiting techniques and take advantage of various Liabilities of your system. For instance: The most common vulnerabilities are Cross-Web-Site Scripting, server misconfigurations, and SQL Injections.

Cyber-Perils

Cyber-Perils are usually misinterpreted with Cyber-Menace. However, there is a subtle difference, as a Cyber-Protection Peril refers to a combination of probability and end results of a Cyber-Menace and it is usually in the monetary terms but quantifying a breach is extremely complex. Therefore, a Cyber-Peril is a scenario that should be avoided combined with the likely losses to result from that scenario. The following is a hypothetical example of how Cyber-Perils can be constructed:

SQL Injection is a Liability

Sensitive data theft is one of the biggest Cyber-Menace that SQL Injection enables

Financially motivated Cyber-Criminals are one of the examples of Cyber-Menace activists

When sensitive data is compromised then is it extremely complex to bear the significance of such financial loss to the business

The probability of such a Cyber-Invasion is high, given that SQL Injection is easy-access, widely exploited Liability and the Web-Site is externally facing

Therefore, the SQL Injection Liability in this scenario should be considered as extremely hazardous liability for Cyber-Protection.

The difference between a Liability and a Cyber-Peril are usually easily understood. However, understanding the difference in terminology allows for clearer communication between security teams and other parties and a better understanding of how Cyber-Menace influences Cyber-Peril. This, in turn, may help prevent and mitigate security breaches. A good understanding is also needed for effective Cyber-Peril assessment and Cyber-Peril management, for designing efficient security solutions based on Cyber-Menace intelligence, as well as for building an effective security policy and a Cyber-Protection strategy.

Targeted and Non-Targeted WordPress Cyber-Invasions

If you have been reading about Word-Press security and looking for ways in which your Word-Press security can be compromise and techniques that can be employed to protect your WordPress Web-Site from Cyber-Criminals, you will notice that there are two types of Cyber-Invasion, targeted and non-targeted Word-Press Cyber-Invasion.

What is the difference between a targeted and non-targeted WordPress Cyber-Invasion and how can you protect your Word-Press from both of these Cyber-Invasion? This article explains the difference between these two types of Cyber-Infiltration and explains why some or the WordPress infiltration techniques can be implemented to protect your Web-Site from one type of Cyber-Invasion.

Non-Targeted WordPress Cyber-Invasion

Non-targeted WordPress Cyber-Invasion is an automated invasion and it is not specifically launched against WordPress Websites only. For example, if Cyber-Criminals are trying to exploit a known Liability in an old version of Word-Press, they do not manually look for Word-PressWeb-Sites, check their version and see if they are vulnerable to such Liabilities.

Instead, they employ automated tools to send a specific HTTP request that is exercised to exploit the Liability to a number of Web-Sites, typically a range of IP addresses. Depending on the HTTP responses received back, the tool determines if the target Web-Site is a vulnerable Word-Press installation or not.

Protect WordPress from Non-Targeted Cyber-Invasion

Therefore if you hide your version of Word-Press, or even hide the fact that you are using Word-Press for your Web-Sites you won’t be protecting your Web-Site from non-targeted Word-Press Cyber-Invasion. To protect Word-Press from non-targeted Cyber-Invasions follow the below recommendations:

One must always keep all their Programs up to date and always install the latest and most secure version of Word-Press, plugins, and themes. This also applies to MySQL, Apache and any other programs that are running on your web environment.

Always uninstall and remove any unnecessary plugins, themes and any other components and files which are not being frequently employed.

Do not employ typical login credentials such as admin, administrator, and root for your Word-Press administrator account. If you do rename the Word-Press administrator account.

One must always properly protect the Word-Press Login and admin pages by developing an additional layer of authentication, which involves read protection for Word-Press Login Page with HTTP Authentication.

One must always try to develop strong login credentials and this does not apply only to Word-Press but to any other service or Web-Site. If you have multiple clients for your Word-Press, then employ a Plugin to create policies forward-Press credentials, in order to ensure the safety.

Targeted WordPress Cyber-Invasion

Targeted Cyber-Invasions are specifically targeted towards your Web-Site and blogs. There are several reasons why your Word-PressWeb-Site might be a victim of a targeted Cyber-Invasion and the reason why your Word-Press is a victim of a targeted Cyber-Invasion is not of importance. What is important is to understand what happens in a targeted Cyber-Invasion so you can protect your Word-PressWeb-Sites and blogs better.

Targeted Cyber-Invasions are more catastrophic than non-targeted ones simply because rather than having a number of automated tools scanning Web-Sites randomly, there is a human being analyzing every detail about your Web-Site in the hope of finding something that could be exploited.

Anatomy of Targeted WordPress Cyber-Invasions

At first, the Cyber-Criminals will employ automated tools to check if your version of Word-Press is vulnerable to any known vulnerabilities. Since automated tools are employed to hide the version of your Word-Press.The Cyber-Criminals will also try to determine what plugins are running on your Word-Press and if any of them are vulnerable to a particular Liability. In addition to that most of these tasks are executed employing automated tools.

One of the most venerable links in the Word-Press security is credentials and by employing these automated tools the Cyber-Criminals will try to enumerate all the Word-Pressclients and even launch a password dictionary Cyber-Invasion against Word-Press.

There are many other ways and means how to infiltrate a Word-Press blog or Web-Site and targeted Cyber-Invasions do not specifically take advantage of a security weakness in Word-Press or one of its components. It could also be a security hole in the webserver Programs or configuration etc, but the above three are the most common Cyber-Invasion entry points.

Protect WordPress from Targeted Cyber-Invasions

There are many WordPress Cyber-Invasion and techniques you can employ to protect your WordPress from a targeted Cyber-Invasion as highlighted in the below list:

To start off with, all that applies to protect your WordPress from non-targeted Word-Press Cyber-Invasions applies also to targeted Cyber-Invasions

Secure and Protect your WordPress Administrator Account

Enable Word-Press SSL to access your WordPress login page and admin pages over an encrypted communication layer to avoid having your WordPress login credentials being hijacked.

Always employ a WordPress security monitoring and auditing plugin to keep track of everything that is happening on your WordPress and identify any suspicious activity before it becomes a security issue

Practice WordPress client roles to improve the security of WordPress by ensuring every client only has the minimum required privileges to do the job

One must always employ a WP-Scan WordPress security black box scanner and other tools to frequently scan and audit their WordPress Website.

Protecting WordPress from Cyber-Criminals

From time to time you might read about a particular WordPress security tweak that some people say it works while some others say it doesn’t, such as hiding your WordPress version. In such scenarios we often witness that secrecy of the WordPress version has minimum effect on the overall security of the WordPress design, then we think why bother? If you are dubious about a particular tweak if the tweak does not impact the performance of your Word-Press and is easy to implement go ahead and implement it. Better to be safe than sorry!

Apart from the above tips, there are many other ways how to improve the security of your WordPress blogs and Websites and protect them from both targeted and non-targeted WordPress Cyber-Invasions. Ideally, you should keep yourself updated by subscribing to a WordPress security blog where frequent WordPress security tips and infiltration techniques are published.

What Is DNS Spoofing?

DNS spoofing occurs when a particular DNS server’s records of “spoofed” or altered Infection to redirect traffic to the Cyber-Criminals. This redirection of traffic allows the Cyber-Criminals to spread viruses, steal data, etc. For example, if a DNS record is spoofed, then the Cyber-Criminals can manage to redirect all the traffic that relied on the correct DNS record to visit a fake Website that the Cyber-Criminals has created to resemble the real Website or a completely different Website.

How Does Normal DNS Communication Work?

A DNS server is normally employed for the purpose of resolving a domain name (such as keycdn.com) into the associated IP address that it maps to. Once the DNS server finds the appropriate IP address, data transfer can begin between the client and Web-Site’s server. The given below visualization will display how this process will take place at a larger scale. Once the DNS server locates domain-to-IP translation, then it has to cache subsequent requests for the domain. As a result, the DNS lookup will happen much faster. However, this is where DNS spoofing can act as a great trouble creator, as a false DNS lookup can be injected into the DNS server’s cache. This can result in an alteration of the visitors’ destination.

How Does DNS Spoofing Work?

DNS spoofing is an overarching term and can be carried out using various techniques such as:

DNS cache poisoning

Compromising a DNS server

Implementing a Man in the Middle Cyber-Invasions

However, the Cyber-Criminal’s end goal is usually the same no matter which method they practice. Either they want to steal information, re-route you to a Web-Site that benefits them, or spread Virus. The most argued technique of DNS spoofing is employing Cache-Poisoning.

DNS Cache-Poisoning

Since DNS servers cache the DNS translation for faster, more efficient browsing, Cyber-Criminals can take advantage of this to perform DNS spoofing. If a Cyber-Criminal is able to inject a forged DNS entry into the DNS server, all clients will now be using that forged DNS entry until the cache expires. The moment the cache expires, the DNS entry has to return to the normal state, as again the DNS server has to go through the complete DNS lookup. However, if the DNS server’s Programs still hasn’t been updated, then the Cyber-Criminal can replicate this error and continue funneling visitors to their Web-Site.

DNS cache poisoning can also sometimes be quite complex to spot. If the InfectedWeb-Site is very similar to the Web-Site it is trying to impersonate, some clients’ may not even notice the difference. Additionally, if the Cyber-Criminal is using DNS cache poisoning to compromise one company’s DNS records in order to have access to their emails for example, then this may also be extremely complex to detect.

How to Prevent DNS Spoofing

As a Website visitor, there’s not much you can do to prevent DNS spoofing. Rather, this falls more in the hands of the actual DNS provider that is handling a Web-Site’s DNS lookups as well as the Web-Site owner. Therefore, a few tips for Web-Site owners and DNS providers include:

Implement DNS spoofing detection mechanisms — it’s important to implement DNS spoofing detection Programs. Products such as XArp help product against ARP cache poisoning by inspecting the data that comes through before transmitting it.

One must always employ encrypted data transfer protocols with end-to-end encryption via SSL/TLS will help decrease the chance that a Web-Site / its visitors are compromised by DNS spoofing. This type of encryption that allows the clients’ to verify whether the server’s digital certificate is valid and belongs to the Web-Site’s expected owner.

One must employ DNSSEC — DNSSEC, or Domain Name System Security Extensions, as it exercises digitally signed DNS records to help determine data authenticity. DNSSEC is still a work in progress as far as deployment goes, however, it was implemented in the Internet root level in 2010.

DNS Spoofing — In Summary

DNS spoofing can result in making quite a bit of trouble both for Web-Site visitors and Web-Site owners. The Cyber-Criminal’s main motive to carry out a DNS spoofing Cyber-Invasion is either for their own personal gain or to spread Virus. Therefore, as a Web-Site owner, it’s important to choose a DNS hosting provider that is reliable and clients’ up-to-date security mechanisms.

Furthermore, as a Web-Site visitor it’s just as important that you “be aware of your surroundings” in a sense that if you notice any discrepancies between the Web-Site that you were expecting to visit and the Web-Site that you are currently browsing, you should immediately leave that Web-Site and try to alert the real Web-Site owner.

Denial-of-Service Cyber-Invasions

There are many different techniques that Cyber-Criminals practice to carry out DoS Cyber-Invasion. The most common method of Cyber-Invasion occurs when a Cyber-Thieves floods a network server with traffic. In this type of DoS Cyber-Invasion, the Cyber-Thievessends several requests to the target server, overloading it with traffic. These services that request can be illegal and with mostly fabricated return addresses. This results in a scenario where the server is overwhelmed, due to the constant process of shooting junk requests. This ultimately misleads the server in its attempt to authenticate the requestor and helps the Cyber-Thieves to exploit the vulnerabilities of the server.

In a Smurf Cyber-Invasion, the Cyber-Thief delivers Internet Control Message Protocol broadcast packets to a number of hosts with a spoofed source Internet Protocol (IP) address that belongs to the target machine. The clients of these infected packets will then respond and the victim’s host will be overwhelmed with those responses.

A SYN flood occurs when a Cyber-Thief sends a request to connect to the victim’s server but never completes the connection through what is known as a three-way handshake. This is the method employed in a TCP/IP network to develop a connection between a local host/client and the server. The improper handshake leaves the connected port in an occupied status and it then lacks the ability to process further requests. A Cyber-Thief will continue to send requests, saturating all open ports, so that legitimate clients’ cannot connect.

Individual networks may be affected by DoS Cyber-Invasions without being directly targeted. If the network’s internet service provider (ISP) or cloud service provider has been targeted and compromised, the network will also experience a loss of service.

CSRF Cyber-Invasion Technique

Cross-Web-Site Request Forgery, also known as session riding or sea surf. It is a widely known Cyber-Invasion against authenticated web applications by employing cookies. The Cyber-Criminal is able to trick the victim into making a request that the victim did not intend to make. Therefore, the Cyber-Criminal exploits the trust that a web application has for the victim’s browser. While Cross-Web-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) Cyber-Invasions do not provide a Cyber-Criminal with the response returned from the server, a smart Cyber-Criminal has the ability to create disastrous scenarios that can have a catastrophic effect on your Web-Site, especially when paired with well-crafted social engineering Cyber-Invasion.

Cross-Web-Site Request Forgery is a kind of Cyber-Invasion conduct by Cyber-Criminals that involves authentication and authorization of the victim’s network. In this technique first of all the Cyber-Criminals has to send a forged request to the webserver. On top of that, the CSRF Liabilities affect highly privileged clients, such as administrators, which could result in a full application compromise. During a successful CSRF Cyber-Invasion, the victim’s web browser is tricked by InfectedWeb-Site into unwanted action. It will then send HTTP requests to the web application as intended by the Cyber-Criminals. In addition to that, such a request could involve submitting forms present on the web-application to modify data-archives and once the HTTP request is successfully delivered, then the victim’s browser will include the cookie header. Cookies are typically employed to store the client’s session identifier so that the client does not have to enter their login credentials for each request, which would obviously be impractical. If the victim’s session of authentication is safely archived in a session cookie or if the application is vulnerable to Cross- Web-Site Request Forgery (CSRF), then the Cyber-Criminal can leverage CSRF to launch any desired infected requests against the Web-Site and the server-side code is unable to distinguish whether these are legitimate requests.

CSRF Cyber-Invasion can be employed to compromise online banking by forcing the victim to make an operation involving their bank account. CSRF can also facilitate Cross- Web-Site Scripting (XSS). Hence it is extremely important that you treat CSRF as extremely serious issues for your web application security issue.

The CSRF Cyber-Invasionnormally employs an HTTP GET request. If the victim visits a web page controlled by the Cyber-Criminals with the following payload, the browser will send a request containing the cookie to the URL crafted by Cyber-Criminals.

Cross- Web-Site Request Forgery in POST Requests

GET requests, however, are not the only HTTP method the Cyber-Criminals can exploit. POST requests are equally susceptible to Cross- Web-Site Request Forgery (CSRF), however, The Cyber-Criminals also has to involve a little bit of JavaScript to submit the POST request.

CSRF Protection

One can have two kind of primary approaches to deal with Cross-Web-Site Request Forgery. For starters, One has to synchronize the cookie with an anti-CSRF token that has already been given to the browser or preventing the browser from transmitting cookies to the web application.

Anti-CSRF Tokens

The recommended and the most widely employed prevention technique for Cross- Web-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) Cyber-Invasion is known as an anti-CSRF token, sometimes referred to as a synchronizer token or just simply a CSRF token. When a client submits a form or makes some other authenticated request that requires a cookie, a random token should be included in the request. Now, the web-application has to verify the existence and purity of this token before processing any requests. It is extremely important that the web-application should have the ability to reject the token with a suspicious approach.

It’s highly recommended that you employ an existing, well tested and reliable anti-CSRF library. Depending on your language and framework of choice, there are several high-quality open source libraries that are ready-to-deploy. Here we have mentioned some of the characteristics of a well-designed anti-CSRF system.

It is extremely important that each client’s session should have a unique token.

For security measures, the session should expire automatically after an instructed period of time.

It is extremely essential that the Anti-CSRF token should be a cryptographically random value and it should have significant length.

It is extremely important that the Anti-CSRF token should be added within URLs or as a hidden field for forms.

It is also important that the server should have the ability to reject the requested action if the validation of the Anti-CSRF token fails.

Same-Web-Site Cookies

The Same-Web-Site cookie attribute is a new attribute that can be set on cookies to instruct the browser to disable third-party usage for specific cookies. The Same-Web-Site attribute is set by the server when setting the cookie and requests the browser to only send the cookie in a first-party context. Therefore, the request has to originate from the same origin — requests made by a third-party Website will not include the Same-Web-Site cookie. This effectively eliminates Cross-Web-Site Request Forgery Invasion without the practicing synchronizer tokens.

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