#1 ship in most countries for nothing
Text
I had a BRAIN BLAST on the way home today. So!
In the category of Readers Who Get To Do What They Want:
(CW for dark Simon, johnny, and “reader” with unhealthy relationship dynamics, gaslighting - not from who you suspect - and threats of violence)
A pair of identical twins who are basically opposites from birth. Twin 1 is obviously favored by their parents for being the “easy” twin that tries to appease them and keep the peace. Twin 2 a little hellion from birth, they think this kid is basically broken. Try to test for psychopathy but nope, their own kid has just picked up on the accidental favoritism from birth and just seems to dislike their own parents. But they still love their twin.
The twins grow up as complete opposites. Different social circles, hobbies, interests, clothes, attitudes. They’re incredibly close, but twin 2 will (and has) gotten violent on twin 1’s behalf because their parents are raising them to be “well behaved”.
By teen years, twin 2 is being sent to the countryside most summers to be handled by the grandparents. (Jokes on them, farmlife is nice and the grandparents aren’t exactly strict - mostly because twin 2 actually likes them and doesn’t see much need to rebel).
Meanwhile twin 1 is doing summer programs and learning arts, developing this intense aversion to conflict and has trouble standing up for themself. Especially without twin 2 there to lean on.
Come university, their parents insist on twin 1 staying close by for uni, essentially make the choice for them. Twin 2 decides to ship out of the country and plans on breaking off all contact. (Maybe due to some sort of unforgivable drama at the grandparents’ funeral?)
Before leaving, twin 2 gives twin 1 a burner phone with one number programmed in. Promises that if twin 1 ever needs to disappear, to be free of it all, they can call and twin 2 will be there in a heartbeat with bolt cutters for those chains. And then they just sort of… disappear.
Twin 1 doesn’t see them for *years*. Never uses that phone but keeps it.
So twin 1 lives their quaint pre-determined life with their acceptable job and it’s all mostly okay. Not bad at all. Quiet, if lackluster.
And then Simon comes along. Simon, who takes one look at this little angel and decides they have to be his. Theyre too good, too soft, unable to take care of themselves properly in this big scary world. And after all he’s suffered, doesn’t he deserve something sweet to protect? And hell, Johnny could use a kind touch every now and then too.
So he “seduces” twin 1 (aka, the dark!Simon move of just deciding someone is his and acting like it whether they like it or not). Manipulates them into stepping right into their own collar and leash, with him at the other end.
It’s too late by the time Twin 1 realizes what they’ve become - this man’s pretty pet. An agreeable little doll for him and his teammate to play house with. It’s not always bad, but it’s suffocating and scary. They feel trapped; they are.
It takes months until they get enough privacy to dig the old phone out of the place they nearly forgot about it.
Twin 2 picks up on the third ring.
In the intervening years, twin 2 has gotten into all sorts of trouble and mayhem. Become the demon their parents always accused them of being. Has, somehow along the way, joined up with KorTac and gotten all their files scrubbed. “Twin 2” no longer exists to the world at large. Nothing that anyone, even Kate Laswell, could dig up.
They get the call from their twin and break their contract on the spot. Get on a flight within hours. Sneak their twin out of the homey prison they’ve been locked up in.
Take twin 1 to a sunny, public cafe and get the story through their sibling’s nervous stuttering. Gets angrier and angrier with the more they hear, eyes fixated on the thin leather collar around their twin’s throat.
“Please just… I know it’s selfish and I’m sorry, but-”
Twin 2 already has a plan. They have a quiet, cozy cabin with comfortable funds in a rural part of Canada. Twin 1 will go there, rest and recover and be free. Twin 2 will take their place with Simon and Johnny to throw off suspicion and searches.
The scars from living the life they have? No worries. twin 2 will stage a car accident, reopen some of them to make it seem legit. Lie about head trauma to account for any lapses in their twin 1 act.
It’s decided within three hours. Twin 2 sends their sibling off to the airport and sets everything into motion. They’ve been dying to do something like this for years, after all the times their sibling stuck by their side and tried to stick up to them, to no avail.
Twin 2 instantly hates that fucking collar. Lets Simon put it on but not without the most dark look at the wall, thinking of all the ways to break his hands. Fingers twitching by their side.
The boys sit them down to watch scary movies because they always think it’s fun to spook twin 1 and fuck them while they’re all tense and shivery and but twin 2 is just watching, almost bored. Makes a few attempts to fake jump but keeps forgetting because all their focus is on not slamming a hand into someone’s dick for grinding on them.
Pretends to be asleep in the big bed they’ve been herded into when they kick Johnny or Simon off in the middle of the night. Purposefully aims for soft spots and bruises.
They try to act like twin 1 for a bit but the persona is so difficult to keep up when every little condescending comment from Simon or Johnny makes them want to start stabbing. The inside of their mouth is all torn up from biting onto their cheek and running their tongue over their teeth to resists snarling and snapping.
One day they’re going to snap… and it’s going to be so good to see these bastards bleed.
#cod#thoughts™️#my writing#fanfiction#dark fic#twin!reader#twin 2 reader#gaslight gatekeep girlboss#themboss really
401 notes
·
View notes
Note
Would you recommend the SSSS comic? I know little of it beside the very beautiful artstyle and premise
to answer the question of if i would recommend SSSS as a comic: yes, yes i would.
a description for those who don't know: Stand Still Stay Silent is a post-apocalyptic horror + adventure webcomic set in the nordics (norway, sweden, denmark, finland, iceland) that have been isolated from the rest of the world and gone back to their old gods. the the world outside of safe zones is full of trolls and beasts - humans and mammals that got infected by a horrible virus and turned into monsters. the story follows a ragtag crew that ventures into the old world (derelict denmark) on an expedition to collect books.
the comic updated every workday until it concluded in 2022, and consists of two Adventures. the creator had plans for many adventures with these characters in this world, but ended it after two when she wanted to take a new direction with her life.
what i love about it:
- the art is GORGEOUS. it's been a huge source of inspiration for me. open any page and it's a masterpiece, and you will ask yourself "how the FUCK did she update this FIVE DAYS A WEEK"
- the characters are wonderful and endearing. i just, i love them so much. i am so thankful lalli hotakainen exists he is one of my #1 blorbos forever
- the world is so cool. the blend of chunky sci-fi and norse mythology fantasy magic slaps. it goes so hard. i fell so hard for this comic when i got to the big ferry ship with a viking style dragon head prow added to it. it's everything
- it really really gets nordic cultures. it's difficult to explain all the dynamics and nuances but it just gets it. it brings me as a scandinavian a lot of joy to read a story that speaks to my heart this way. the attitudes, the language barriers, the cultural differences... it was so refreshing to me in a media landscape dominated by american stories. when the pandemic hit, i decided to reread the comic because i found such an odd comfort in seeing how it depicted the scandinavian countries reacting to, well, a pandemic.
- there's kittycats
what i don't like about it:
- the most glaring and obvious flaw is that everyone in the comic is white. there's not a single character of color anywhere, not even i background shots or the prologue. there's no mention of the saami people (the indigenous people of northern europe), either. i believe this was done in ignorance more than malicious intent, but the implications are Extremely Bad and it's been bothering me (AND MANY OTHERS) since day 1. that is the number one caveat i will give to anyone wanting to check this comic out. i've been in the discourse trenches and i am not going to excuse this. it's just bad!
- you can tell in the middle of adventure 2 that the creator has kind of lost interest in the work, around the time when she found jesus i guess. like, very few people can keep up work on the same creative project for years and years and years and i think it's fine that she wanted to drop it, but it's a bit sad to see the comic dragged to its end like a limp corpse, and feeling like the creator no longer really cares about the characters.
- minna sundberg has said and done some questionable things, presumably gotten somewhat radicalised over time, and has also converted to hardcore christianity which is what her new works are about. there's nothing about this in SSSS - there is a moment of christianity represented in the story in a sort of mythological sense, just like the other religions, but this was written before minna's conversion. her new works... are a Choice. i have much to say about them, and i have, and im not gonna rehash it now.
SO YEAH hopefully this will help you take an Informed Choice! i got into this comic in 2015 and was deep in the fandom and it's for better or for worse part of my soul foundation now.
i also recommend A Redtail's Dream, minna's "practice comic" before SSSS, based on finnish mythology and the kalevala.
125 notes
·
View notes
Text
IMPORTANT CRISES THAT ARE BEING IGNORED BY THE WORLD
[ we already are aware about palestine, NOT just gaza so i will refrain from mentioning anything here regarding it ]
these crises will not follow any specific order but i will be numbering them for the sake of proper structure.
i also did my best to find reliable and accurate information. please do not start hating me or questioning my efforts if i have mentioned something wrong or incorrect. instead you can correct me politely. additionally, if there are any crisis that i have missed out on, bring it to my awareness.
i am not going to be including all details but some major highlights so as to be able to keep ourselves updated of atleast the surface level knowledge (so i will try)
reblog and include (or highlight what needs to be excluded) any details that would serve in the best interest of this post.
1. TAMIL EELAM
sri lanka is an island historically inhabited by tamils, sinhalese, muslims, and other communities. the tamil nation is concentrated in the northeast. the muslim community generally speaks tamil. the majority of the country's sinhalese population lives in the southern part of the island and are buddhist.
following independence from britain, the sinhalese ruling class began to build an ethnocratic nation-state that entrenched sinhala-buddhist supremacy. tamil workers' rights were denied in the new nation-state, while tamil students were refused equal access to education. tamil people protested peacefully, but sri lanka responded with arrests and massacres.
in july 1983, the worst anti-tamil pogroms swept the island: tamil people were hunted in the streets, pulled out of their homes, and killed while sri lankan police watched on. In six days, 4000 tamils were killed. government ministers led mobs and targeted tamil homes in areas where tamils and sinhalese both lived, amounting to what the international commission of jurists labelled an act of genocide.
sri lanka booted the UN and international press from the country before relaunching its war against the tamil people in 2006. the state used banned chemical weapons like white phosphorous on civilians. a UN report estimates that 75,000 tamil civilians perished from september 2008-May 2009 alone. ground sources place the number much higher and estimate that over 120,000 people were killed in the final stages of the war.
nothing was spared. hospitals and religious buildings, full of the sick and wounded, were routinely bombed. the armed forces shelled food distribution lines and near International red cross ships picking up wounded civilians from beaches. even the government's own "no-fire zones," packed with thousands of civilians, were indiscriminately attacked from the ground and sky.
for the tamils, the last stages of the war fit into a broader pattern of sri lanka's post-colonial state-building project: a protracted genocide involving massacres, economic embargoes, indiscriminate bombings, discriminatory policies, and the dispossession of tamil lands. tamils fear their political identity, as a distinct group of peoples, a nation, will be dismantled and reduced to a scattered minority across the island.
12 years after the genocide, the sri lankan armed forces maintain complete control through a military occupation of the tamil homeland. five of the seven regional headquarters of the army are entrenched in the tamil homeland, with over 100,000 soldiers maintaining an environment of harassment and surveillance over the tamil people. like kashmir and palestine, the tamil homeland remains one of the most militarized places in the world.
HOW TO HELP
2. ROHINGYA
in august 2017, armed attacks, massive scale violence, and serious human rights violations forced thousands of rohingya to flee their homes in myanmar’s rakhine state. many walked for days through jungles and undertook dangerous sea journeys across the bay of bengal to reach safety in bangladesh. now, more than 960,000 people have found safety in bangladesh with a majority living in the cox bazar’s region - home to the world’s largest refugee camp. the united nations has described the rohingya as “the most persecuted minority in the world.”
the rohingya are a muslim ethnic minority group who have lived for centuries in predominantly buddhist myanmar - formerly known as burma. despite living in myanmar for many generations, the rohingya are not recognized as an official ethnic group and have been denied citizenship since 1982, making them the world’s largest stateless population.
as a stateless population, rohingya families are denied basic rights and protection and are extremely vulnerable to exploitation, sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and abuse.
the rohingya have suffered decades of violence, discrimination and persecution in myanmar. their largest exodus began in august 2017 after a massive wave of violence broke out in myanmar’s rakhine state, forcing more than 742,000 people - half of them children - to seek refuge in bangladesh. entire villages were burned to the ground, thousands of families were killed or separated and massive human rights violations were reported.
more than 1 million rohingya refugees have fled violence in myanmar in successive waves of displacement since the 1990s. now, more than 960,000 rohingya refugees are living in bangladesh with a majority settled in and around kutupalong and nayapara refugee camps in bangladesh’s cox’s bazar region — some of the largest and most densely populated camps in the world.
more than half of all rohingya refugees in bangladesh (52 percent) are children, while 51 percent are comprised of women and girls. the current refugee population accounts for one-third of the total population in the cox’s bazar region, making support to host communities essential for peaceful coexistence.
since 2021, to decongest the 33 camps in cox’s bazar, nearly 30,000 refugees have been relocated to bhasan char island by the government of bangladesh. while protection services and humanitarian assistance have been scaled up on the island, significant gaps remain in service delivery and the sustainability of critical assistance.
rohingya refugees have also sought refuge in other neighboring countries like thailand (92,000) and India (21,000), with smaller numbers settling in indonesia, nepal and other countries across the region.
armed clashes across myanmar have continued to trigger displacement, bringing the total number of internally displaced people (IDP) within the country to more than 1.8 million — including 1.5 million of whom have been internally displaced since february 2021.
as of december 2023, however, a new issue arose. the indonesian navy has pushed back a boat carrying rohingya refugees as it approached the coast of aceh amid resentment among some residents about a sudden increase in boat arrivals. the military said the coastguard first detected the wooden vessel entering indonesian waters on wednesday, before the navy ship KRI bontang-907 located the boat about 63 nautical miles (117km) off aceh on the northwestern tip of the archipelago and drove it out, “ensuring that the boat did not return to indonesian waters,” the navy said in a statement posted in its website.
military spokesperson nugraha gumilar said it was not known how many people were on board. they are suspected to be rohingya, a mostly muslim minority from myanmar who were forced into neighbouring bangladesh by a brutal military crackdown in 2017 that is now the subject of a genocide investigation.
more than 1,500 rohingya refugees have landed in indonesia on barely sea-worthy wooden boats since november, according to data from the united nations refugee agency (UNHCR), and the sudden jump in arrivals has aroused growing hostility among people in aceh.
indonesia has appealed to the international community for help and intensified patrols of its waters, promising to crack down on suspected human traffickers it says are involved in the latest wave of boat arrivals.
on wednesday, a mob of students stormed the basement of a local community hall in banda aceh, the acehnese capital, where about 137 rohingya were taking shelter and called for the group to be deported.
many of the refugees are in poor health after weeks at sea usually with insufficient supplies of food and water.
the UNHCR said it was “deeply disturbed to see a mob attack on a site sheltering vulnerable refugee families”.
indonesia, although not a signatory to the 1951 UN convention on refugees, was once known for providing a safe haven to the rohingya even as neighbouring malaysia and thailand pushed them away.
but the mood has soured this year, especially in aceh, where some residents claim the rohingya behave badly and create a burden on society.
muslims make up nearly 90 percent of indonesia’s 277 million people, and aceh is the only state in the archipelago to follow islamic law.
the growing hostility towards the rohingya has put pressure on president joko widodo’s government to take action.
“this is not an easy issue, this is an issue with enormous challenges,” foreign minister retno marsudi told reporters.
HOW TO HELP
3. MANIPUR
on may 3, members of the kuki and naga tribes, who inhabit manipur's hills and are regarded as scheduled tribes, or india's most disadvantaged groups, launched a protest against the possible extension of their benefits to the dominant meiteis.
meiteis account for half of manipur's population and extending limited affirmative action quotas to them would mean they would get a share in education and government jobs reserved for kukis and nagas.
meiteis have traditionally lived in manipur's more prosperous valley region that makes up 10% of the state's area. they have also had better access to employment and economic opportunities.
nagas and kukis live in the poorly developed hills.
the development imbalance favouring the valley over the hills has been a point of contention and rivalry between the ethnic groups.
the groups coexisted peacefully until unrelated events in recent months exposed old faultlines.
manipur shares a nearly 400-km (250-mile) border with myanmar and the coup there in 2021 pushed thousands of refugees into the indian state.
kukis share ethnic lineage with myanmar’s chin tribe and meiteis feared they would be outnumbered by the arrival of the refugees.
separately, the state government in february launched a drive to evict tribal communities from forests in the hills, saying they had encroached on government land, sparking anger among tribal people that they were being forced out of their homes.
"it has been building up for a long time, in some ways unseen and some ways quite openly, but the government was not paying attention," said pradip phanjoubam, editor of the imphal review of arts and politics.
although the first outburst of violence was put down by mid-may, sporadic reprisal attacks began within days.
both the meiteis and kukis are known to be flush with arms, including automatic weapons either stolen from the state police or sourced from across the border in myanmar.
new delhi has held talks with senior myanmar leaders to help control armed groups that operate from across the border but this is yet to produce results.
kuki and meitei groups also refused to join a peace panel formed by the federal government due to differences over names included in the panel.
the indian army and federal paramilitary forces in the state cannot act independently and are legally bound to work with state police and authorities, who analysts say are also divided along ethnic lines.
also, kukis accuse the bharatiya janata party-ruled state government's chief minister biren singh, a meitei, of complicity and inaction, and have sought his removal. singh denies the accusations.
HOW TO HELP
4. HAWA'II ( MAUI )
maui wildfires of 2023, a series of wildfires that burned parts of the island of maui in the U.S. state of hawaii in august 2023. the fires, which began on august 8, struck hardest the historic resort town of lahaina, on maui’s western peninsula, reducing most of the town to ash and ruins. 98 people were killed in lahaina by the smoke and flames or by drowning, making the wildfire one of the world’s deadliest on record. almost 3,000 structures were reported to have been either damaged or destroyed by the fire. in addition to the fires on maui, a series of less devastating wildfires burned parts of the island of hawaii starting on august 9.
while local and state government officials have hesitated to identify a specific cause of the wildfires (in general, uncontrolled fires in a forest, grassland, brushland, or cropland) as of august 17, some evidence suggests that sparks produced by a downed power line may have touched off at least one of the fires. meteorologists and climate researchers noted that the fires were likely to have been the product of several intersecting factors. the fires occurred at the height of hawaii’s dry season (which lasts from april to october). their severity was exacerbated by the presence of el nino—that is, the development of unusually warm ocean waters in the central and eastern tropical pacific ocean. el niño brings increased rainfall to south america’s west coast but brings drought conditions to the hawaiian islands. indeed, the interval of june to august 2023 was a period of worsening drought on maui and in other parts of hawaii. as the drought increased in severity, it dried vegetation, much of it made up of large tracts of fire-prone invasive shrubs and grasses.
in addition, the pool of warm water in the tropical pacific kept fueling hurricane dora, a powerful tropical cyclone that had formed off the western coast of mexico on august 2. dora passed some 1,100 km (about 700 miles) south of the hawaiian islands during the week of august 8, the day the fires began, which created a substantial difference in atmospheric pressure between the storm and a high-pressure system located north of the islands. that pressure difference drew high winds southward and funneled them into the centre of the tropical cyclone, which helped intensify and spread the wildfires. wind speeds reached as high as 107.8 km (67 miles) per hour on maui and up to 132 km (82 miles) per hour on the island of hawaii.
some researchers have noted that climate change may have played a part in worsening the wildfires’ severity. increases in global and regional surface temperatures due to ongoing global warming are thought to have caused grasses and other vegetation to dry out faster than usual. in addition, studies that considered trends in hawaii’s rainfall indicated that some 90 percent of the state had experienced at least some decline in overall rainfall between 1920 and 2012 and that rainfall amounts at higher elevations had fallen by more than 30 percent between 1990 and 2015 during the state’s wet season (november to march). in addition, the replacement of native vegetation with crops over the last century has affected local climate conditions, primarily in accessible areas in several parts of the state of hawaii, including near sections of coastline and in maui’s central valley—the sites of the island’s wildfires.
the fire near lahaina, a municipality of 12,702 people, began as a small brush fire just beyond the town’s eastern outskirts in the early morning hours of august 8. although local officials considered it to have been contained by mid-morning, the fire flared up during mid-afternoon, forcing officials to close lahaina’s bypass road. driven by the high winds, the fire then moved downslope into the town, and it spread quickly between the parched grassy landscape and the town’s predominantly wooden buildings, generating an immense wall of black smoke. within 15 minutes, the fire had spread to the centre of the town, burning the area between the town’s two primary access roads, which prompted additional road closures that hindered evacuation. the process of alerting residents to the danger was severely hampered by the toppling of several telephone and electric power poles in the area by high winds earlier that day, which had cut power needed for wireless services and telephone lines used for 911 emergency communication. as the fire grew, it became so intense that it melted pipes delivering water to lahaina’s residences, which reduced the town’s overall water pressure and thus inhibited the fire department’s ability to contain the wildfire.
ny 5:30 PM large areas of lahaina, which included tracts of residences and the town’s central business district, were on fire as exploding gasoline tanks in vehicles and filling stations contributed to the conflagration. since emergency services had no way to alert people through their mobile devices, the fire caught many residents by surprise, forcing some to flee in haste while trapping others in their homes. many of those who fled became boxed in by fire, smoke, and road closures; some sheltered in place, whereas others sought refuge in the pacific ocean, clinging to docks, pilings, seawalls, and other infrastructure. by 7:00 PM the fire had reached the harbour, and boats caught fire from the mix of wind-whipped flames and flying embers, causing their fuel tanks to explode. although the fire continued to burn in lahaina throughout the night, U.S. coast guard boats arriving offshore were able to evacuate several people trapped along the coast.
during the morning of august 9 the winds abated enough to allow firefighting crews, helicopters, and other resources to begin to make their way into lahaina, where they found a grayed landscape of ruined buildings and burned-out vehicles. officials reported that the lahaina fire had been 80 percent contained by august 10 and that it had burned nearly 890 hectares (about 2,200 acres) by august 14. maui’s other wildfires, which included the pulehu/kihei fire in maui’s central valley and the upcountry/kula fire along the slopes of the island’s eastern peninsula, were less severe, resulting in far fewer damaged homes and other structures and no reports of serious injuries or deaths. similarly, on the island of hawaii, fires scorched some 600 hectares (about 1,500 acres) of ranchland in the north and south kohala sections of the island, but no injuries were reported.
even as the fires began to spread on maui, government officials started to issue disaster declarations to fund firefighting efforts, rescues, and recovery. hawaii’s lieutenant governor, sylvia luke, issued an emergency declaration during mid-afternoon of august 8, which was followed later that evening by the activation of hawaii’s national guard. the following day, as reports of the unfolding disaster in lahaina reached the outside world, the U.S. federal emergency management agency (FEMA) authorized payments to fire victims, and U.S. pres. joe biden promised that “all available federal assets on the Islands” would assist in relief efforts. such efforts had increased by august 16, aided by state and federal agencies (including the U.S. Army, which provided logistical support and assisted in road clearing) and private charter flights that delivered donations of food and other supplies. In the aftermath of the wildfires, thousands of displaced maui residents were taken to shelters and evacuation centres on the island, which included hotels abandoned by tourists who had been evacuated to other islands or to the U.S. mainland.
HOW TO HELP
5. KURDISTAN
kurds have never achieved nation-state status, making kurdistan a non-governmental region and one of the largest stateless nations in the world. portions of the region are recognized by two countries: iran, where the province of kordestan lies; and northern iraq, site of the autonomous region known as kurdistan regional government (KRG) or iraqi kurdistan.
the turkish government claims to be conducting operations against the kurdistan worker's party (PKK) - a kurdish rebel organization that is outlawed by the state. through the use of airstrikes, the turkish military is hitting targets across the region and pushing deeper into southern kurdistan, launching ground operations from the military bases that it controls in the area.
a consequence of this encroachment into southern kurdistan is that civilians are being hit by turkish drones. those who are being hit are not just fighters but also ordinary kurdish civilian. innocent lives are also being lost when those who are hit succumb to their injuries. turkey justifies such acts under the pretext of fighting the PKK a rationale that it has used repeatedly to justify other military incursions. is this conflict new? absolutely not. what is new is the response to these operations. In previous decades, the turkish state could get away with indiscriminate bombing and military incursions as long as its justification centered on fighting terrorism. this justification was, after all, what other state actors operating in the region would use to rationalize military incursions against those deemed state enemies. no longer are there just people from kurdish diasporas across the world calling out the turkish state for its disregard for international law, but also from non-kurds. even at the administrative level of the united states government, officials are no longer believing the rhetoric that the turkish state uses to justify its military incisions. there will be no peace in kurdistan until turkey withdraws. there will be no peace for victims until turkey is held accountable for its criminal actions now and in the past. and as long as these atrocities are left without a response by international state actors and multilateral organizations such as the united nations and NATO, turkey will continue to commit crimes against kurds, including kurdish civilians.
HOW TO HELP
6. YEMEN
yemen is in the middle of a complex humanitarian crisis driven by a brutal civil war. indiscriminate attacks and chronic shortages of medical staff and supplies have led to the closure of many of yemen's healthcare facilities. more than 4.5 million people have been displaced since the war started in 2014. qith an estimated 21 million currently in need of humanitarian assistance.
collapsed health system- warring factions have extensively damaged public infrastructure, notably health facilities. since the saudi-led coalition (SLC) imposed a blockade in 2015, import restrictions and soaring inflation have severely limited yemenis' access to healthcare and essential services. the blockade has led to the cessation of salaries for many of the 50,000 health workers within the country, compelling them to exit the public health system in search of alternative income sources.
disease- due to the ongoing war, obtaining clean water, waste disposal, and accessing medical care have become even more challenging for the people. coupled with limited access to vaccinations, this heightened vulnerability has left yemenis susceptible to preventable diseases and emerging epidemics. the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was particularly severe, with yemen having one of the lowest vaccination rates globally in 2021. in 2017, a cholera outbreak led to 101,475 patients being admitted to hospital. the same year, cases of diphtheria emerged, a disease largely eradicated in most countries due to systematic childhood vaccinations.
trauma- continual fighting and indiscriminate attacks have affected the ability to provide trauma care, which remains a vital responsibility of hospitals in the area. teams in hospitals near the frontlines routinely react to mass-casualty incidents and continually strive to enhance their capacity year-round to address the frequent arrival of war-wounded and other trauma patients.
malnutrition- yemen is grappling with alarming rates of malnutrition. widespread food insecurity and limited access to essential healthcare services leave many children vulnerable to infectious diseases. Inflation exacerbates the situation, making it progressively challenging for yemeni families to provide nourishment for their children and cover the expenses of transporting them to hospitals.
it has been troubled by civil wars for decades, but the current conflict intensified in march 2015 when a saudi-led coalition intervened on behalf of the internationally recognised government against houthi rebels aligned with the former president ali abdullah saleh. the war is widely regarded as having turned a poor country into a humanitarian catastrophe. riyadh expected its air power, backed by regional coalition including the united arab emirates, could defeat the houthi insurgency in a matter of months. instead some reports suggest nearly 100,000 people have died. others put the death toll much lower, but fighting this year alone has displaced 250,000 people. there are more than 30 active front lines. a total of 80% of the population - more than 24 million people - need assistance and protection, including 10 million who rely on food aid to survive. its roots lie in the arab spring. pro-democracy protesters took to the streets in a bid to force the president, ali abdullah saleh, to end his 33-year rule. he responded with economic concessions but refused to resign. by march 2011, tensions on the streets of the capital city, sana'a, resulted in protesters dying at the hands of the military. following an internationally brokered deal, there was a transfer of power in november to the vice-president, abd rabbu mansour hadi, paving the way for elections in february 2012 - in which he was the only candidate to lead a transitional government. hadi's attempts at constitutional and budget reforms were rejected by houthi rebels from the north. the houthis belong to a small branch of shia muslims known as zaydis. they captured the capital, forcing hadi to flee eventually to riyadh. there is also a strong secessionist movement in the south. arguably too many sides benefit financially from the status quo. united nations officials warned that without more donations, nearly 400 hospitals and health care centers it finances would have to reduce services just as the coronavirus pandemic has surged in yemen. already, food rations have been halved for 8.5 million hungry yemenis, and 10,000 health care workers have lost the united nations payments that for many are their only salary, ms. grande said. since the war began five years ago, pitting the houthis against a government backed by saudi arabia and the united arab emirates, yemenis have endured doomsday after doomsday: relentless airstrikes against hospitals and schools by the saudi-led military coalition using american-made weapons, a severe cholera outbreak, the ever-present threat of famine, a health care system in collapse and now the coronavirus. "yemenis themselves say things are worse today than at any time in their recent history," mr. lowcock said in his appeal to donors, asking "whether the world is prepared to watch yemen fall off the cliff."
HOW TO HELP
7. SYRIA
over 80% of the population in syria is living below the poverty line. that means they make less than $1 a day. more than 11 million people require humanitarian assistance, 5 million of which are children. 93 million people across syria are now food insecure lacking reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food. 70% of the population is without regular access to safe drinking water. 6.1 million people have been internally displaced. up to 70% of healthcare professionals have left the country & 50% of hospitals are non-operational. 40% of school infrastructure has been destroyed or damaged.
government and allied forces continued to commit war crimes and other serious violations of international humanitarian law, including indiscriminate attacks and direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects. according to the UN, government forces did not approve around half of their requests to carry out humanitarian missions to:
monitor
assess and accompany aid deliveries,
provide security, logistics and
administrative support.
you may ask, how did the "war" start? even before the conflict began, many syrians were complaining about high unemployment, corruption and a lack of political freedom under president bashar al-assad, who succeeded his father, hafez, after he died in 2000. in march 2011, pro-democracy demonstrations erupted in the southern city of deraa, inspired by uprisings in neighbouring countries against repressive rulers. when the syrian government used deadly force to crush the dissent, protests demanding the president's resignation erupted nationwide.
the unrest spread and the crackdown intensified. opposition supporters took up arms, first to defend themselves and later to rid their areas of security forces. mr assad vowed to crush what he called "foreign-backed terrorism".
the violence rapidly escalated and the country descended into civil war. hundreds of rebel groups sprung up and it did not take long for the conflict to become more than a battle between syrians for or against mr assad. foreign powers began to take sides, sending money, weaponry and fighters, and as the chaos worsened extremist jihadist organisations with their own aims, such as the islamic state (IS) group and al-qaeda, became involved. that deepened concern among the international community who saw them as a major threat. syria's jurds, who want the right of self-government but have not fought mr assad's forces, have added another dimension to the conflict.
the united nations human rights office estimated last year that 306,887 civilians - 1.5% of the total pre-war population - were killed between march 2011 and march 2021 due to the conflict. it is said 143,350 civilian deaths were individually documented by various sources with detailed information, and that a further 163,537 deaths were estimated to have occurred using statistical techniques. at least 27,126 of those estimated to have been killed were children. the then-UN commissioner for human rights, michelle bachelet, stressed that the fatalities were the "direct result of war operations", adding: "this does not include the many, many more civilians who died due to the loss of access to healthcare, to food, to clean water and other essential human rights." the syrian observatory for human rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitoring group with a network of sources on the ground, had documented the deaths of 503,064 people by march 2023. it said at least 162,390 civilians had been killed, with the syrian government and its allies responsible for 139,609 of those deaths. the group estimated that the actual toll from the war was more than 613,400, with an additional 55,000 civilians believed to have died of torture in government-run prisons. another monitoring group, the violations documentation center, which relies on information from activists across the country, had documented 240,215 battle-related deaths, including 145,765 civilians, as of march 2023.
the government's key supporter has been russia while turkey, western powers and several gulf arab states have backed the opposition to varying degrees during the conflict.
russia - which had military bases in syria before the war - launched an air campaign in support of mr assad in 2015 that has been crucial in turning the tide of the war in the government's favour. the russian military says its strikes only target "terrorists" but activists say they regularly kill mainstream rebels and civilians.
the US, UK and France initially armed what they considered "moderate" rebel groups. but they have prioritised non-lethal assistance since jihadists became the dominant force in the armed opposition.
aUS-led global coalition has also carried out air strikes and deployed special forces in syria since 2014 to help an alliance of kurdish and arab militias called the syrian democratic forces (SDF) capture territory once held by IS militants in the north-east and stop the jihadist group rebuilding.
turkey is a major supporter of the opposition, but its focus has been on using rebel factions to contain the kurdish YPG militia that dominates the SDF, accusing it of being an extension of a banned kurdish rebel group in turkey.
turkish troops and allied rebels have seized stretches of territory along syria's northern border and intervened to stop an all-out assault by government forces on the last opposition stronghold of Idlib.
saudi arabia, which is keen to counter iranian influence, armed and financed the rebels at the start of the war. having refused to engage with president assad for more than a decade, it is now discussing how to facilitate syria's "return to the arab fold".
twelve years of war have inflicted immense suffering on the syrian people. in addition to the bloodshed, more than half of syria's pre-war population of 22 million have had to flee their homes. some 6.8 million are internally displaced, with more than two million living in tented camps with limited access to basic services. another 6 million are refugees or asylum-seekers abroad. neighbouring lebanon, jordan and turkey, which are hosting 5.3 million of them, have struggled to cope with one of the largest refugee exoduses in recent history. at the start of 2023, the UN said 15.3 million people inside syria were in need of some form of humanitarian assistance - an all-time high since the war began - and 12 million did not know where their next meal was coming from. the already dire humanitarian situation in north-western syria - the location of the last opposition stronghold - was made significantly worse by the huge earthquake that struck near the turkish city of gaziantep, about 80km (50 miles) from the syrian border, on 6 February 2023. more than 5,900 people were killed across Syria and another 8.8 million were affected, according to the UN. thousands of homes and critical infrastructure were destroyed, leaving many families without food, water and shelter. deliveries of life-saving aid to opposition-held areas were also delayed for days because of what a UN panel described as "shocking" failures by the warring parties as well as the international community. the disaster happened at a time when the prices of food and fuel in syria were already skyrocketing because of runaway inflation and the collapse of its currency, as well as the global crisis exacerbated by the war in ukraine. syria has also been one of the countries in the middle east worst affected by the covid-19 pandemic - although the true extent is not known because of limited testing - and is now also having to deal with a deadly cholera outbreak that was made worse by the earthquake. access to medical care is severely restricted for the sick and injured because only half of the country's hospitals are fully functional. despite their protected status, 601 attacks on at least 400 separate medical facilities had been documented by physicians for human rights as of february 2022, resulting in the deaths of 942 medical personnel. the vast majority of the attacks were blamed on government and russian forces. entire neighbourhoods and vital infrastructure across the country also remain in ruins. UN satellite analysis suggested that more than 35,000 structures were damaged or destroyed in aleppo city alone before it was recaptured by the government in late 2016. much of syria's rich cultural heritage has likewise been destroyed. all six of the country's unesco world heritage sites have been damaged significantly, with IS militants deliberately blowing up parts of the ancient city of palmyra. a UN commission of inquiry has concluded that the warring parties "have cumulatively committed almost every crime against humanity... and nearly every war crime applicable in a non-international armed conflict".
"syrians," a february 2021 report says, "have suffered vast aerial bombardments of densely populated areas; they have endured chemical weapons attacks and modern day sieges in which perpetrators deliberately starved the population along medieval scripts and indefensible and shameful restrictions on humanitarian aid".
HOW TO HELP
visit the websites [ save the children.org/ syria ] and [ islamic-relief.org /syria crises ]
8. LEBANON
lebanon is currently facing a deep economic crisis as a result of government corruption and financial debt. this is partly a repercussion of the lebanese civil war (1975-1990). during this time, the government piled up huge amounts of debt through corrupt and lavish spending. banks have now become unable to process transactions because the currency (lira) is crashing. this has left many unable to access funds, which are now worth only a fraction of their original value.
in recent years, the situation has only worsened with the pandemic completely shutting down tourism, previously an important source of income in lebanon's economy. this has left a large portion of the lebanese population impoverished and without access to basic necessities. for example, many people in lebanon now rely on private diesel generator operators to have sufficient electricity.
another event that worsened lebanon's current state is the explosion that happened in the port of Beirut in 2020, which killed over 200 people and left many without a home. over a year after the explosion, critics claim that the judicial investigation that should uncover what happened has been continuosly hindered by the country's political leaders. lebanon's current president, michael aoun, hasn't addressed these accusations, but he said no one will have political impunity if found guilty.
HOW TO HELP
visit [ savethechildren.org / lebanon ] and [ irusa.org /lebanon ]
9. AFGHANISTAN
even before the withdrawal of international forces and diplomatic missions and the takeover by the taliban in august 2021, afghanistan was one of the world's largest and most complex humanitarian emergencies (CHEs). more than two years after the withdrawal, and despite massive amounts of humanitarian assistance poured into the country, enormous humanitarian needs remain.
the 2023 afghanistan humanitarian needs Overview (HNO) says afghanistan is facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis “with a very real risk of systemic collapse and human catastrophe.” while in past years humanitarian needs have been driven mainly by conflict, the key drivers of humanitarian need in 2023 include drought, climate change, protection threats (particularly for women and girls) and the economic crisis.
the UN 9ffice for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (UNOCHA) estimated at the beginning of 2023 that a record 28.3 million people will need humanitarian and protection assistance this year, up from 24.4 million in 2022 and 18.4 million in 2021. with 28.3 million people in need, afghanistan is the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. the 2023 afghanistan humanitarian response plan (HRP) requests $4.6 billion to reach 23.7 million people.
in addition to the political, social and economic shocks from conflict and the withdrawal of international forces, disaster risk is becoming an increasing driver of underlying need. a national drought was officially declared in june 2021 and is the worst in more than 30 years.
on oct. 7, 2023, two separate 6.3-magnitude earthquakes near herat in afghanistan’s northwest caused significant damage and killed thousands. another earthquake shook herat province on 9ct. 11, resulting in further damage. the herat earthquake response plan from UN and humanitarian partners asks for $93.6 million to support 114,000 earthquake-affected people in herat.
following the devastating June 2022 earthquake that hit eastern afghanistan, CDP hosted a webinar to provide funders with information about the intersection of a natural hazard disaster amid a humanitarian crisis. the insights and recommendations webinar panelists provided remain relevant.
in 2023, 28.3 million people will need life-saving assistance. humanitarian partners have prioritized 23.7 million people to receive multi-sectoral assistance in 2023.
according to WFP, nine out of 10 afghan families lacking adequate food and children and pregnant women are the hardest hit.
each year, the international rescue committee (IRC) releases a list of the 20 humanitarian crises expected to deteriorate the most over the next year. IRC’s 2023 watchlist puts afghanistan in the third spot due to widespread poverty, harsh winter conditions, disaster impacts and violence and exploitation against women and girls.
on average, 200,000 afghans are affected by disasters each year. from jan. 1, 2023 to oct. 5, 2023, 26,014 people were affected by disasters throughout afghanistan. this figure was before the deadly earthquakes on oct. 7 and oct. 11 in herat province, which affected more than 275,000 people. as of nov. 22, humanitarian actors had reached 242,400 affected people with assistance.
in 2022, humanitarian partners reached 25 million people with at least one form of assistance. yet, millions who received one form of assistance will continue to require multiple rounds of support in 2023 to survive.
humanitarian access constraints continue to impact the operational environment. in 2023, there has been a 21% spike in incidents reported by partners compared to the previous year, as of ict. 31.
the taliban’s ban on women working for NGOs and UN agencies in the country means assistance will not reach all targeted women and girls. as UN women survey of humanitarian partners released on feb. 8, 2023 showed that 93% of organizations saw an increased impact on their access to affected women.
decades of conflict and severe drought contributed to afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis, but economic shocks are a primary driver of the deteriorating situation.
according to the 2023 afghanistan HNO, “afghanistan’s economic crisis is widespread, with more than half of households experiencing an economic shock in the last six months.”
a study by the United Nations Development Programme in April 2023 found that “afghanistan’s economic output collapsed by 20.7 percent following the taliban takeover in 2021.” the study also says, “the edicts restricting the rights of women and girls, including a directive banning afghan women from working for the UN, directly affect economic productivity and may also impact the level of aid inflows.”
when the taliban assumed power in august 2021, the country faced daunting economic and development challenges, and recent political developments have pushed the country into an economic crisis.
according to the world bank, “rapiid reduction in international grant support, loss of access to offshore assets, and disruption to financial linkages are expected to lead to a major contraction of the economy, increasing poverty, and macroeconomic instability.”
before august 2021, afghanistan’s economy was 75% dependent on foreign assistance. after the taliban assumed power, most international assistance was cut off, which caused a drop in purchasing power. the U.S. renewed the blocking of afghanistan’s central bank’s foreign assets amounting to over $7 billion (Executive Order no. 14064). in april 2022, United Nations (UN) experts called on the U.S. government to unblock foreign assets to ease the humanitarian impact.
in august 2022, 32 afghan and international NGOs called for a clear roadmap to restore the afghan central bank’s essential functions and release afghanistan’s assets frozen abroad. however, western countries have not been ready to lift sanctions until the taliban sets up a more diverse government, permits girls to return to secondary school and allows independent control of the afghan central bank.
a significant development occurred in september 2022 when the U.S. said it will transfer $3.5 billion in afghan central bank assets into a new swiss-based trust fund to be used “for the benefit of the people of afghanistan.” the new trust fund was created after months of talks between the U.S., switzerland, other parties and the taliban. no funds will go to the afghan central bank. the unfreezing of afghan assets has been called for by humanitarians.
however, the mandate of the afghan fund does not include support for humanitarian assistance. in their january 2023 snapshot report of the afghan economy, ACAPS said the key functions of the fund include price and exchange rate stability, payment of world bank arrears, representing the Afghan Central Bank (DAB) in court, payment for some critical imports, assessment of the capacity of the DAB, and support to the third-party monitoring of DAB’s anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing systems.
more than one million people were estimated to be without work in august 2022. an FAO household survey released in may 2022 found that 26% of respondents lost employment. severe cash shortages continue to limit economic activity within banks and local markets. another alarming statistic is that people's debts have increased both in terms of the number of people taking on debt (82% of all households) and the amount of debt (about 11% higher than the previous year).
in august 2022, dr. ramiz alakbarov, then the UN Deputy Special Representative in afghanistan, who is also the resident and humanitarian coordinator in the country, said, “without functional markets, without (an) operating banking sector, without investments in basic-level jobs, we will not be able to reverse the trends which we are observing now in afghanistan.”
HOW TO HELP
visit [ irusa.org ] and [ savethechildren.org /afghanistan ]
10. VENEZUELA
venezuela is engulfed in a political and economic crisis which has led to more than seven million people leaving the country since 2015.
since 1999, venezuela has been run by two men from the same party. hugo chávez was president from 1999 to his death in 2013 and was succeeded by his right-hand man, nicolás maduro.
their socialist PSUV party has over the past two decades gained control of key institutions, including much of the judiciary, the electoral council and the supreme court.
as a result, the role of the president has become much more powerful and the system of checks and balances has been severely weakened.
not long after mr maduro was elected, global oil prices plummeted and venezuela - which relies almost entirely on oil revenue for its income - went into a seven-year recession.
inflation skyrocketed and shortages of basic goods became widespread.
waves of anti-government protests in 2014 and 2017 fizzled out after a police crackdown.
millions of venezuelans left the country to escape economic hardship and political repression. But despite growing discontent, mr maduro was re-elected in 2018 in a presidential election widely dismissed as neither free nor fair.
with the executive and the judiciary under the control of the PSUV, venezuela's divided opposition in january 2019 united behind the only major institution where they were still influential: the National Assembly and its speaker, juan guaidó.
arguing that mr maduro's re-election was not valid and the presidency was therefore vacant, mr guaidó, with the backing of the National Assembly, declared himself "interim president".
he predicted he would be governing from the presidential palace "within months".
and while more than 50 countries, including the US and the UK, recognised mr guaidó as venezuela's legitimate leader, venezuela's military stayed loyal to mr maduro.
mr maduro, with the continued support of china and russia, remained firmly in charge of the country.
but tightened US sanctions made it harder for the maduro government to sell oil and restricted its access to foreign currency.
wiith the economy in freefall, mr maduro in 2019 relaxed some of the strict foreign currency regulations brought in by chávez.
shortages eased as a result and in 2021, the economy started growing. But extreme poverty remains shockingly high and many of those without access to foreign currency continue to struggle.
disillusioned with the failure of juan guaidó to seize control of anything more than some venezuelan embassies and assets abroad, the majority of opposition parties withdrew their support from him in december 2022 and dissolved his "interim government".
they said that their aim remained to defeat mraduro, but argued that mr guaidó's rival government was no longer the way to go about it.
negotiations between opposition and government representatives - which have stalled on several occasions in the past - resumed in november 2022.
the opposition hopes they will lead to free and fair presidential elections being held in 2024, for which they plan to field a unity candidate to take on mr maduro.
HOW TO HELP
visit [ globalgiving.org / venezuela ] and [ donate.worldvision.org / venezuela relief fund ]
11. HAITI
the country has been in a state of electoral and constitutional turmoil since the assassination of the president, jovenel moïse, in 2021 at the hands of colombian mercenaries with unknown paymasters, but the immediate crisis can be traced back further.
haiti has not held functional elections since 2019 – and the country has been in a fragile state since the 2010 earthquake that killed up to 300,000 people. but moïse’s death in July 2021 – and a new earthquake the following month – sent the situation spiralling out of control.
moïse was replaced by an acting president, ariel henry, who is unelected and widely viewed as illegitimate. in september, the G9 gang coalition blockaded the main port and fuel terminal after henry caused fuel prices to double when he announced a cut to fuel subsidies – a development that brought the crisis to new heights. haiti is now experiencing its worst-ever famine, with 4.7 million people facing acute hunger.
at the same time it is impossible to understand the current situation without acknowledging the dark history of international interventions, including US occupation from 1915-1934, that have blighted haiti. “those interventions have shaped haiti,” smith said. “there’s a chain-link connection.”
long before the litany of recent disasters, he said, “the duvalier dictatorship [the rule of father and son françois, or “papa doc”, and jean-claude, or “baby doc”, duvalier from 1957-1986] destroyed the hopes of a functioning state that serves the nation."
gangs have a longstanding role in political life, and have operated in tandem with political actors since the 1950s to intimidate rivals and deliver votes. there are suggestions of oligarchic figures with ties to the drugs trade pulling the strings – but “many of them are not affiliated to anybody”, smith said.
“the international drug trade is a very important part of it, but that was only the beginning. now gangs have secured their power locally, it is very hard to see that any more powerful actor can control them. the situation has dissolved into the incomprehensible.”
there are almost 100 gangs in port-au-prince, many of them in loose alliances at war with rival groups. gangs control major roads and draw income from customs, water and electricity distribution, and even bus services. membership has become so desirable for some young men that some gangs now have waiting lists for new recruits (pdf).
the country’s army – disbanded in 1995 after years of military interference in politics – has been reestablished but stands at just 500 soldiers, while police also appear impotent.
the ongoing violence has forced the closure of hospitals and has been blamed in part for the re-emergence of cholera, as well as fuel shortages that only worsen the crisis. last month, the UN estimated 155,000 people had fled their homes – almost one in six of the city’s population.
HOW TO HELP
visit [ savethechildren.org/ haiti ]
12. ETHIOPIA
between 2020 and 2022, ethiopia fought a war with militants from its northernmost region of tigray, then under the control of the tigrayan people’s liberation front (TPLF). the conflict was one of the deadliest in recent world history and drew international attention for a preponderance of alleged war crimes, human rights abuses, and ethnic cleansing in tigray. the war formally ended in november 2022; tigray was left in ruins, and its capital was turned over to the federal government.
for decades before the war, the TPLF was a dominant political force in ethiopia. between 1991 and his death in 2012, tigrayan soldier-politician meles zenawi governed ethiopia as an autocracy with the backing of a TPLF-dominated coalition. the zenawi regime oversaw rapid development and increased the international prominence of ethiopia, but his government marginalized ethnic groups, including the oromo and amhara, to solidify government power. additionally, ethiopia was at war with eritrea [PDF] from 1998 to 2000. the war was followed by a nearly twenty-year-long frozen conflict, effectively paralyzing both countries politically and economically.
the TPLF continued to govern ethiopia after zenawi’s passing until 2018, when protests, especially among the oromo population, prompted the government to appoint abiy ahmed ali as the next prime minister. abiy, born in oromia, was heralded by international actors and ethiopians alike as the country’s new hope for peace and ethnic harmony. abiy promised early in his premiership to heal broken trust between the country’s ethnic groups and began to roll back restrictions on certain political freedoms. in 2019, he received the nobel peace prize for negotiating an end to ethiopia’s two-decade standoff with eritrea.
by 2020, ethnic relations within ethiopia once again began to deteriorate. multiple delays of long-promised national elections and the declaration of an extension on abiy ahmed’s first term as prime minister in june 2020 drew indignation from the TPLF. the tigray state council’s choice to hold local elections in defiance of federal orders further inflamed tensions. the elections ultimately solidified the TPLF’s control of the region. on november 4, 2020, abiy accused tigrayan troops of attacking a federal military camp in the tigrayan capital of mekelle and ordered ethiopian national defense Force (ENDF) troops north. this began a military operation known as the mekelle offensive, which escalated quickly as the ENDF pushed further into tigray, and the tigray defense force, or TDF, ramped up their response.
abiy first framed the offensive as a targeted operation against TPLF leadership. a communications blackout implemented at the outset of the conflict shuttered coverage of ground conditions, but media and UN officials began sounding the alarm about improper treatment of civilians, especially ethnic tigrayans, by december 2020. ethiopia’s neighbor and former adversary, eritrea, intervened in the conflict militarily on the side of the ethiopian government. after months of denying their presence, in spring 2021, prime minister abiy ahmed admitted that eritrean troops were fighting in tigray.
in 2021, the United States characterized the war as an ethnic cleansing against tigrayans, and some NGOs raised concerns about the potential of genocide. in march 2021, the office of the UN high commissioner for human rights announced a joint probe with the ethiopian human rights commission (EHRC) to investigate alleged abuses and rights violations in tigray, although the impartiality and accuracy of the report [PDF] were called into question following its presentation at the United Nations.
tigrayan forces retook the regional capital of mekelle from the ENDF in june 2021. a month later, addis ababa announced the results of a national parliamentary election—which prime minister abiy ahmed won in a landslide. the TPLF boycotted the election, and opposition leadership in parliament accused the abiy government of banning poll observers in some states. later in the summer of 2021, abiy called on all capable citizens to join the war against tigrayan forces as the conflict began to spill over into the afar and amhara regions, growing closer to addis ababa. in november 2021, tigrayan troops and allied oromo militants marched within eighty-five miles of the capital but were forced back north by ENDF forces.
after a series of failed efforts to negotiate a settlement, the TPLF and the Ethiopian central government signed a cessation of hostilities agreement on november 2, 2022, in pretoria, south africa. followed by implementation negotiations in nairobi, the agreement promised to disarm tigrayan troops, hand control of tigray to the ethiopian government, end the mekelle offensive, and permit full humanitarian access to tigray.
notably, the pretoria agreement does not explicitly mention eritrea, nor were eritrean representatives present at the negotiations. this omission raised international concern that eritrean troops would continue operations within ethiopia in spite of the agreement between the ethiopian government and TPLF. as of january 2023, displaced tigrayans reported that amhara and eritrean soldiers continued to occupy western tigray. the amhara have contested ownership of the area; the displaced population was informed in late 2023 that they would be returned to their land, and the political fate of the territory would be decided in a referendum.
in 2021 alone, 5.1 million ethiopians became internally displaced, a record for the most people internally displaced in any country in any single year at the time. thousands also fled to sudan and other countries in the region. by the time the pretoria agreement took effect, the tigray war and its associated humanitarian disaster had killed approximately 600,000 people. in late 2022, humanitarian groups were permitted to meaningfully operate in tigray for the first time since november 2020.
HOW TO HELP
visit [ savethechildren.org/ethiopia ] and [ irusa.org/ethiopia ]
13. SUDAN
the dramatic evacuation of international residents from sudan has been a top media headline in recent days, as military conflict spreads across the country. violence in and around the capital of khartoum has forced Concern, along with other NGOs, to suspend activities and evacuate non-national staff.
“this conflict couldn’t have come at a worse time for the people of sudan, who were already suffering terribly,” explains dominic macsorley, humanitarian ambassador for concern US. “the country is just facing into the ‘lean’ season — that time when the remainder of last year’s harvest is gone and this year’s crops have not yet matured. the fact that most humanitarian supports have been suspended and conflict is restricting movement leaves many people in a truly horrific situation.”
violence in sudan has been a fact of life for years
many people last followed sudan in the headlines back in 2019, when months of civilian protest led to a transitional government. since then, however, slowed progress on this front has left room for uncertainty and violence. (similar circumstances have fuelled the crisis in neighboring south sudan for more than a decade.) according to UNOCHA, an estimated 300,000 people were displaced by conflict in 2022 — with nearly 33,000 displaced in november alone due to fighting in west kordofan and central darfur.
at the beginning of this year, concern listed sudan as one of the world’s “forgotten” humanitarian crises due to this fragile balance of security and instability. unfortunately, it is once again front-page news due to the crisis escalating out of the spotlight.
one out of every three sudanese requires humanitarian aid
the protracted nature of the situation in sudan has led to dramatic increases in humanitarian aid. as of december 2022, 15.8 million sudanese required humanitarian assistance, approximately one out of every three people in the country. this represents a 10% increase in humanitarian need compared to december 2021.
those numbers are expected to rise dramatically after the last two weeks. as of earlier this week, over 22,000 civilians have fled the country—many to neighboring chad, as well as nearly 3,000 to south sudan. as peter van der auweraert, the south sudan representative for the UN’s international organization for migration, told the new york times earlier this week: “The people that get out first are the people that have the means,” indicating that thousands more will likely be stuck in the country with increasing needs.
this new wave of violence will affect the global refugee crisis in more ways than one
sudan is both one of the largest host countries for refugees (1.11 million as of january 2023), and one of the largest countries of origin for refugees (844,000 as of january 2023). in the first two weeks of fighting, more than 20,000 sudanese have crossed the border into Clchad, with the UNHCR estimating an additional 100,000 could follow in the coming days.
the knock-on effects go beyond sudanese refugees. many of the foreign refugees (especially from ethiopia, syria, and eritrea) currently in sudan are also in areas affected by fighting. with fewer resources than locals, they will face additional challenges in moving around or outside of the country (much in the same way that refugees living in ukraine dealt with additional challenges in moving to safety). these large displacements will also create additional pressure on host communities in countries like chad and south sudan, where resources are already tight. psychological support will also be a key necessity for those who have been forced to flee.
“day and night the fighting went on — to save their lives people moved and left everything behind,” says concern sudan country director, AKM musha, who like many of concern’s in-country staff was advised to leave khartoum for his own safety. “the journey to escape was very difficult…a very frightening and horrible experience.”
for those remaining in sudan, there is a catastrophic combination of challenges beyond violence
as ranked in the 2022 global hunger index, sudan is the 15th hungriest country in the world. food insecurity and malnutrition have run high in the country for decades due to the combined impacts of conflict, drought, locusts, and disease. the conflict in ukraine and COVID-19-related impacts have contributed to inflation rates in excess of 400%. “hospitals are not working, people cannot buy food, water is in short supply — everything has been eroded,” says musha.
carol morgan, concern’s director of international programs, adds that healthcare will be a key issue for the people of sudan. “THere are only enough health personnel to cover about 17% of the population,” she explains. With the added pressures of conflict, this could seriously affect ongoing health concerns in the country, such as diarrhea — an issue responsible for one out of every ten child mortalities.
humanitarian assistance is not guaranteed
while humanitarian organizations both international and local are designed to help in times of crisis, the safety of staff is the number-one priority. the focus of violence in khartoum has led to concern evacuating its 10 non-sudanese staff members from the country. over 150 local staff members are either internally displaced or sheltering at home with challenges like rolling blackouts the rule versus the exception.
this means that not everyone who requires humanitarian assistance at this time will be able to get the help they need. concern had been working with the ministry of health in 73 health facilities and last year treated over 200,000 children for malnutrition. in total, the sudan team had planned to reach over 500,000 people through a variety of humanitarian programs in 2023, vital work which has now been put on hold.
concern has called for an immediate end to hostilities in sudan, as well as for protections to be put in place to allow aid workers to provide essential community support. “we need the fighting to stop and humanitarian access to be restored or else sudan is facing a really disastrous situation,” says musha.
HOW TO HELP
visit [ savethechildren.org/sudan ] and [ irusa.org/sudan ]
14. SOMALIA
during a year that marked the 30th anniversary of the collapse of the somali state, domestic and international attention was focused on plans for the delayed parliamentary and presidential electoral process. political tensions stalled reform efforts key to advancing human rights in the country, while conflict-related abuses, insecurity, and humanitarian and health crises took a heavy toll on civilians.
all parties to the conflict in somalia committed violations of international humanitarian law, some amounting to war crimes. the islamist armed group al-shabab conducted indiscriminate and targeted attacks on civilians and forcibly recruited children. Inter-clan and intra-security force violence killed, injured, and displaced civilians, as did sporadic military operations against al-shabab by somali government forces, troops from the african union mission in somalia (AMISOM), and other foreign forces.
Federal and regional authorities continued to intimidate, attack, arbitrarily arrest, and at times prosecute journalists, including by using the country’s outdated penal code. Somalia continued to rely on military court proceedings that violated international fair trial standards; it did not hand over Al-Shabab cases from military to civilian courts.
key legal and institutional reforms stagnated. the review of the country’s outdated penal code stopped; there was no movement on the passing of federal legislation on sexual offenses or on key child’s rights legislation. the government also failed to establish a national human rights commission; the appointment of commissioners has been pending since 2018.
allegations that somali soldiers were trained in eritrea and deployed in ethiopia’s tigray conflict added to the political tensions. the disappearance of the former intelligence official, ikran Tahlil farah, reportedly missing since late june, led to a standoff between president mohammed abdullahi “farmajo” and prime minister mohamed hussein roble, including over the control of the country’s powerful national intelligence and security agency (NISA).
attacks on civilians
the united nations assistance mission in somalia (UNSOM) recorded at least 899 civilian casualties, including 441 killings, between late november 2020 and late july; a marked increase compared to the same reporting period the previous year. most were killed during targeted and indiscriminate al-shabab attacks using improvised explosive devices (IEDs), suicide bombings, and shelling, as well as assassinations.
after the parliament extended the presidential term on april 25 by two years, armed confrontations between security forces linked to different political factions in various districts of mogadishu, the capital, resulted in the displacement of between 60,000 and 100,000 people, according to the United Nations.
federal and regional military courts continued to sentence people to death and carry out executions despite serious due process concerns. puntland executed 21 men convicted by military courts of al-shabab membership and killings on june 27, in three separate locations.
al-shabab fighters killed dozens of individuals it accused of working or spying for the government and foreign forces, often after unfair trials.
the UN attributed six civilian casualties to AMISOM forces between late 2020 and late july. AMISOM established a board of inquiry into an August 10 incident involving ugandan soldiers who were ambushed by al-shabab fighters around golweyn, lower shabelle and responded by killing seven civilians. a ugandan court martial found five soldiers responsible for the killings, sentencing two to death. reports of civilian harm as a result of airstrikes in the gedo region increased.
despite federal and regional investigations into the may 2020 massacre of seven health workers and a pharmacist in the village of gololey in balcad district, the outcome of these investigations remains unknown.
sexual violence
the UN reported an increase in incidents of sexual and gender-based violence, including of girls, which often resulted in the victims being killed.
key legal reforms stalled, notably the passing of progressive sexual violence legislation at the federal level. the somali criminal code classifies sexual violence as an “offense against modesty and sexual honor” rather than a violation of bodily integrity; it also punishes same-sex relations. article 4(1) of the provisional constitution (2012), places sharia law above the constitution and it continues to be applied by courts in criminal cases. consequently, the death penalty for consensual same-sex conduct could be enforced.
in puntland, the first region to pass a sexual offenses law, the UN reported on government interference and blocking of investigations into sexual violence incidents.
abuses against Children
children continue to bear a heavy burden of ongoing insecurity, conflict, and lack of key reforms in the country. all Somali parties to the conflict committed serious abuses against children, including killings, maiming, recruitment and use of child soldiers, and attacks on schools.
somali federal and regional security forces unlawfully detained children, notably for alleged ties with armed groups, undermining government commitments to treat children primarily as victims. the government failed to put in place child rights compliant justice measures.
the previous year, pending legal reforms sought to reduce the age of marriage, including a controversial draft law on sexual-intercourse related crimes—the status of which remained unknown—which would allow a child to marry at puberty regardless of their age.
when the covid-19 pandemic started in early 2020, schools were closed or partially closed for 134 days, including several weeks in march and april 2021, affecting at least 1.2 million children.
freedom of expression and association
federal and regional authorities throughout somalia repeatedly harassed, arbitrarily arrested, and attacked journalists. moments of heightened tensions around the electoral process correlated with an uptick in incidents of harassment toward journalists.
the UN and amnesty international reported an increase during the first quarter of the year in restrictions on journalist in puntland. in march, the military appeals court in puntland sentenced kilwe adan farah, a journalist, to three years in prison under the outdated penal code for his coverage of anti-government protests. earlier, a military court sentenced him to three months, despite the judge reportedly acknowledging a lack of evidence. the journalist received a presidential pardon.
several journalists covering protests in mogadishu were temporarily detained and harassed. on september 5, bashiir mohamud, producer at goobjoog media, was filmed being dragged through the streets by somali police while he covered protests demanding justice for the killing of a former intelligence officer, ikran tahlil farah. he was then held for a few hours at the hodan police station.
al-shabab claimed responsibility for the march 1 killing of journalist jamal farah adan in galkayo.
displacement and access to humanitarian assistance
over 2.6 million somalis are internally displaced, increasingly because of conflict. the UN said over 570,000 people were displaced between january and august 2021. droughts, flooding, and desert locust swarm—increasing in intensity and frequency due to climate change—exacerbated communities’ existing vulnerabilities and contributed to displacement. the UN and Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) reported that between january and august, droughts and floods displaced over 90,000 and 49,000 people respectively. tens of thousands of internally displaced people were forcibly evicted, notably in mogadishu.
nearly 3.5 million people were expected to face acute food insecurity and need emergency food aid in the last quarter of the year.
humanitarian agencies continued to face serious access challenges due to conflict, targeted attacks on aid workers, generalized violence, restrictions imposed by parties to the conflict, including arbitrary “taxation” and bureaucratic hurdles, and physical constraints due to extreme weather. al-shabab continued to impose blockades on some government-controlled towns, notably the town of hudur, and occasionally attacked civilians who broke them.
an Amnesty International report documented somalia’s inadequate response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and highlighted the chronic underfunding of the country’s health system.
HOW TO HELP
visit [ rescue.org/ somalia ], [savethechildren.org/somalia ] and [ irusa.org/somalia ]
15. BURKINA FASO
the world’s fastest-growing humanitarian crisis is currently unfolding in burkina faso.
nearly 2 million people need shelter after being forced to flee their homes due to extremist violence.
burkina faso is under threat from extremist attack in the sahel, a belt of semi-arid land south of the sahara desert.
less than ten years ago, burkina faso seemed like a beacon of stability in west africa. in 2015 the country held its first democratic election ever, paving the way to what seemed like a bright future.
but since then burkina faso has seen an increase in violence from jihadist groups, spreading from mali. armed groups quickly started expanding, crossing borders and setting up local groups across the sahel region – including burkina faso, mali and niger.
since 2019, insecurity has reached devastating levels and the number of burkinabe people fleeing violence has skyrocketed.
right now, burkina faso is one of the fastest-growing displacement crises in the continent.
according to the UN, more than one in every 20 people are forced to flee the violence.
burkina faso is a landlocked country situated in west africa.
the country is surrounded by mali to the north and west, niger to the northeast, benin to the southeast, and côte d’Ivoire, ghana, and togo to the south.
its capital, ouagadougou, saw a horrific terrorist attack at the beginning of 2016 which left 28 people dead, and 56 people injured.
the central sahel region, which includes the countries of burkina faso, mali and niger, is facing one of the fastest-growing displacement crises in the world.
yet, it is one of the most forgotten.
it is estimated that over 3 million people have been forced to flee their homes and at least 29 million are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.
the sahel region of africa is a 3,860-kilometre arc-like land mass lying to the immediate south of the sahara desert and stretching from east to west across the breadth of the african continent.
families started fleeing the central sahel region in 2011, after a violence outbreak in northern mali.
increased displacement was reinforced by poverty, food insecurity, unemployment and the presence of armed groups. climate change is also a challenge for families trying to flee.
HOW TO HELP
visit [ savethechildren.org/burkina faso ] or [ friendsofburkinafaso.org ]
16. JAMMU AND KASHMIR
as the sun rises over the picturesque landscape of kashmir, it’s easy to believe that all is well in the region. but beneath the scenic beauty is a harsh and unsettling reality — composed of a military occupation, oppression of the entire population and expression of fear, loathing and anger by the people of kashmir. the picture that the Indian government tries to paint — of normalcy and development in occupied jammu and kashmir — is a myth.
for the last seven decades, kashmir has been the epicenter of a bitter dispute between india and pakistan in which the people in jammu are an integral party. to resolve the conflict, the united nations security council adopted resolution 47 in 1948, and more than a dozen subsequent resolutions, stipulating that the final disposition of the state of jammu and kashmir would be decided by its people through a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the UN. this was accepted by india and pakistan and, in accordance with article 25 of the UN charter, both parties are obligated to implement these resolutions.
but this saturday, aug. 5, marks four years of india’s unilateral actions to consolidate its occupation of illegally indian occupied jammu and kashmir (IIOJK) and imposing what India’s leaders have ominously called a “final solution” for kashmir. to do so, india has resorted to a series of illegal actions, gross and consistent violations of human rights and other crimes that continue to this day.
india increased its military deployment in IIOJK to 900,000 troops right before aug. 5, 2019. this is the densest occupation in recent history — with one soldier for every eight kashmiri men, women and children. this massive force has perpetrated a vicious campaign of repressive actions, including extrajudicial killings of innocent kashmiris in fake encounters; custodial killings and “cordon-and-search” operations; use of pellet guns to kill, maim and blind peaceful protestors; abduction and enforced disappearances; and “collective punishments,” with the destruction and burning of entire villages and urban neighborhoods.
this brutal campaign is driven by the ideology of “hindutva,” which propagates the religious and ethnic supremacy of hindus and hate against muslims. noting this pattern, genocide watch has warned that “the indian government’s actions in kashmir have been an extreme case of persecution and could very well lead to genocide.”
to suppress the voice of the kashmiri people, indian authorities have used censorship and surveillance for decades in the occupied territory. since august 2019, information control has been fully institutionalized. journalists, lawyers, human rights defenders and the entire kashmiri political leadership are routinely incarcerated, beaten, humiliated, harassed and even accused of “terrorism” for reporting the human rights violations in IIOJK.
there is only one normality: the normalization of violence. generations have grown up witnessing violence, insecurity and trauma. numerous human rights organizations, international bodies and independent reports have documented use of rape, sexual assault and harassment perpetrated by Indian security forces against kashmiri civilians, particularly women as a weapon of war. emergency laws, such as the 1990-armed forces (special powers), have created an environment of complete impunity for indian security forces.
to extinguish the ethno-religious identity of kashmiris, historical sites have been destroyed and damaged. one of the most troubling aspects of the destruction of cultural heritage is the demolition of religious sites, particularly mosques, which inflicts deep emotional wounds on the muslim population.
in a classic settler-colonial project, india has initiated illegal demographic changes in the occupied territory, grossly violating international law, including the fourth geneva convention. this is central to its plan to convert IIOJK’s muslim majority into a hindu majority territory, to drown out the demand for freedom and self-determination. new “domicile rules” have been introduced, and more than four million fake domicile certificates have been issued to hindus from across india to settle in occupied jammu and kashmir. the land and properties of kashmiris are also being confiscated for military and other official use.
all the measures taken by India in the last four years are blatant violations of international law, including the relevant security council resolutions, specifically resolution 122 (1957). therefore, all the actions taken by India on and after aug. 5, 2019 are not only illegal but, ipso facto, null and void.
to justify its occupation and oppression, india has sought for decades, and particularly since 9/11, to portray the kashmiri freedom struggle as “terrorism.” likewise, to delegitimize the indigenous kashmiri struggle for self-determination, india falsely alleges that it is instigated by pakistan. to expose india’s falsehood, pakistan has proposed expanded patrolling by the UN military observer group in india and pakistan (UNMOGIP) along the line of control in jammu and kashmir. however, india refuses to allow the UN mission to patrol the line of control and to expand it. despite numerous attempts, india continues to deny access to jammu and kashmir to the office of high commissioner for human rights and other UN agencies as well as other human rights and humanitarian organizations and international media.
pakistan desires peaceful relations with all its neighbors, including india. pakistan has responded with responsibility and restraint to india’s repeated provocations. on the other hand, india continues to resort to aggressive rhetoric and repeated threats of the use of force against pakistan, even under the nuclear overhang. the onus is on india to create conditions that are conducive for a meaningful dialogue to resolve the jammu and kashmir dispute. to this end, india must:
• stop all human rights violations in jammu and kashmir
• halt and reverse its illegal demographic changes there
• reverse the illegal and unilateral measures imposed on and after aug. 5, 2019
• grant access to international observers, including human rights mechanisms of the UN and international media, to observe worsening human rights situation on the ground
the international community must play a proactive role obliging india to respect the human rights of the people of kashmir and to work toward a peaceful, inclusive resolution of the conflict. peace in south asia will be possible only when the jammu and kashmir dispute is resolved. the security council and the UN secretary-general must make concerted efforts, as empowered by the UN charter, to promote a peaceful settlement of the jammu and kashmir dispute, according to the relevant UN security council resolutions and wishes of the kashmiri people.
preventive measures to stop abuses in IIOJK and to promote global accountability is both a moral imperative and a collective human rights responsibility. millions of kashmiris have suffered for too long. to end their plight, they demand a peaceful resolution to the conflict. it is time to make peace a new normal.
HOW TO HELP
visit [ pennyappeal.org/ kashmir ] and [ standwithkashmir.org ]
17. UYGHUR CRISIS
the chinese government has reportedly arbitrarily detained more than a million muslims in reeducation camps since 2017. most of the people who have been detained are uyghur, a predominantly turkic-speaking ethnic group primarily in china’s northwestern region of xinjiang. beyond the detentions, yyghurs in the region have been subjected to intense surveillance, forced labor, and involuntary sterilizations, among other rights abuses.
the united states and several other foreign governments have described china’s actions in xinjiang as genocide, while the UN human rights office said that the violations could constitute crimes against humanity. chinese officials have said that they have not infringed on uyghurs’ rights and claimed that they closed the reeducation camps in 2019. however, international journalists and researchers have documented an ongoing system of mass detention throughout the region using satellite images, individual testimonies, and leaked chinese government documents.
when did mass detentions of muslims start?
an estimated eight hundred thousand to two million uyghurs and other muslims, including ethnic kazakhs and uzbeks, have been detained since 2017, according to international researchers and U.S. government officials [PDF]. the chinese government calls the facilities “vocational education and training centers;” the most common terms used by international media organizations and researchers are reeducation camps, internment camps, and detention camps. some activists describe them as concentration camps.
outside of the camps, the eleven million uyghurs living in xinjiang—officially called the xinjiang uyghur autonomous region—have continued to suffer from a decades-long crackdown by chinese authorities.
experts estimate that reeducation efforts started in xinjiang in 2014 and were drastically expanded in 2017. beginning that year, they documented the construction of new reeducation camps and expansion of existing facilities for mass detention. reuters journalists, observing satellite imagery, found that thirty-nine of the camps almost tripled in size between april 2017 and august 2018; they covered a total area roughly the size of 140 soccer fields. similarly, analyzing local and national budgets over the past few years, germany-based xinjiang expert adrian zenz found that construction spending on security-related facilities in xinjiang increased by 20 billion yuan (around $2.96 billion) in 2017.
in late 2019, xinjiang’s governor said that people detained in the reeducation camps had “graduated.” journalists found that several camps were indeed closed. but the following year, researchers at the australian strategic policy institute (ASPI) identified [PDF] more than 380 suspected detention facilities using satellite images. they found that china refashioned some lower-security reeducation camps into formal detention centers or prisons; expanded existing detention centers; and constructed new, high-security detention centers throughout xinjiang. (chinese officials have said that ASPI is an anti-china tool funded by australia and the united states.) instead of detaining people in reeducation camps, authorities have increasingly used the formal justice system to imprison people for years. In 2022, human rights watch reported that half a million people had been prosecuted since 2017, according to xinjiang government figures. the associated press found that in one county, an estimated one in twenty-five people had been sentenced to prison on terrorism-related charges, all of them uyghurs.
what has happened in the reeducation camps?
most people detained in the reeducation camps were never charged with crimes and had no legal avenues to challenge their detentions. the detainees seem to have been targeted for a variety of reasons, according to media reports, including traveling to or contacting people from any of the twenty-six countries china considers sensitive, such as turkey and afghanistan; attending services at mosques; having more than three children; and sending texts containing Quranic verses. often, their only crime is being muslim, human rights groups say, adding that many uyghurs have been labeled as extremists simply for practicing their religion.
information on what happened in the camps remains limited, but many detainees who have since fled china described harsh conditions. the UN human rights office released a report [PDF] in 2022 based on interviews with dozens of people, including twenty-six individuals who were detained, that found “patterns of torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment” in the camps between 2017 and 2019.
the UN report affirmed previous findings by international journalists, researchers, and rights organizations. various exposés showed that detainees were forced to pledge loyalty to the CCP and renounce Islam, as well as sing praises for communism and learn mandarin. some people reported prison-like conditions, with cameras and microphones monitoring their every move and utterance. others said they were tortured and subjected to sleep deprivation during interrogations. Women have shared stories of sexual abuse, including rape.
some released detainees contemplated suicide or witnessed others kill themselves.
detention also disrupted families. children whose parents were sent to the camps were often forced to stay in state-run orphanages. many uyghur parents living outside of china faced a difficult choice: return home to be with their children and risk detention, or stay abroad, separated from their children and unable to contact them.
what do chinese officials say about the camps?
government officials first denied the camps’ existence. by late 2018, they started acknowledging that there were “vocational education and training centers” in xinjiang. they publicly stated that the camps had two purposes: to teach mandarin, chinese laws, and vocational skills, and to prevent citizens from becoming influenced by extremist ideas, to “nip terrorist activities in the bud,” according to a government report. pointing out that xinjiang has not experienced a terrorist attack since december 2016, officials claimed the camps have prevented violence.
as global condemnation of the abuses has grown, chinese officials and state media have worked to discredit reports on xinjiang using a range of tactics, including disseminating disinformation and harassing activists. they have repeated a narrative that “anti-china forces” in the united states and other western countries are spreading “vicious lies.” beijing tried to prevent the UN human rights office from releasing its report. after its release, chinese officials described it as false information and published a rebuttal describing how foreign governments and organizations “spread numerous rumors and lies” about xinjiang.
why is china targeting uyghurs in xinjiang?
chinese officials are concerned that uyghurs hold extremist and separatist ideas, and they viewed the camps as a way of eliminating threats to china’s territorial integrity, government, and population.
xinjiang has been claimed by china since the chinese communist party (CCP) took power in 1949. some uyghurs living there refer to the region as east turkestan and argue that it ought to be independent from china. xinjiang takes up one-sixth of china’s landmass and borders eight countries, including afghanistan, pakistan, and kazakhstan.
HOW TO HELP
visit [ uhrp.org ] and [ saveuighur.org ]
18. THE REPUBLIC OF CONGO
the democratic republic of congo (DRC) is a country rich in resources, yet fraught with conflict and violence. the country is currently experiencing the largest displacement crisis in africa.
many of its people have not seen peace in more than 20 years.
the democratic republic of congo (DRC) is host to one of the world’s most complex and long-standing humanitarian crises, centered particularly in the east of the country. More than 2.1 million people were forced to flee their homes in 2017 alone — equivalent to an average of 50 families fleeing every hour, every day.
there are currently more than 100 different armed groups vying for territory and control in eastern DRC. this conflict is causing massive displacement and urgent humanitarian needs as families flee their homes for safety.
the armed conflict and insecurity has displaced 4.5 million people within the country. 13.1 million people need humanitarian assistance — 5.6 million more than in 2017. over the last year with intensified fighting, the humanitarian situation has dramatically worsened.
the rise of ebola has made the situation even more dire.
yes, ebola is endemic to DRC. the country is currently battling its tenth ebola outbreak, which has already killed more than 1,500 people. it is now the worst ebola outbreak in DRC’s history. over 50 percent of the total cases have occurred in the past three months.
on july 17, the world health organization declared the ebola outbreak in DRC a "public health emergency of international concern" (PHEIC). previous PHEICs include swine flu in 2009, polio in 2014, ebola in 2014 and the zika virus in 2016.
“We hope that [this] declaration by the WHO will translate into urgent and practical action, including more funding from international donors,” said laura miller, mercy corps’ acting country director in DR Congo. “every day, women, men and children are dying of the ebola virus and it is becoming too easy to forget that the ever-climbing case numbers are people.”
this particular outbreak is happening in the densely populated and conflict-affected provinces of north kivu and ituri, making it more difficult and dangerous to access affected people and areas.
a previous ebola outbreak in 2018 affected 54 people and resulted in 33 deaths.
what is the kivu conflict?
the conflict in north and south kivu began in 1996 in eastern congo in the aftermath of the rwandan genocide. the conflict involves numerous armed actors, including the DRC military, foreign rebel groups such as the democratic forces for the liberation of rwanda and allied defence forces of uganda and more than 100 local armed groups. due to this ongoing fighting, DRC is currently home to the largest UN peacekeeping force in the world, consisting of 21,000 people.
is there still war in DRC?
not technically. but there is still ongoing conflict, insecurity and a lack of effective governance. there are now more than 100 armed groups vying for territory and control in eastern DRC. the current president, joseph kabila, has been in position since 2001 following the assassination of his father, laurent kabila. the presidential election in december 2018 has thrown the country into further turmoil. in its 58 years of independence from belgium, the DRC has never had a peaceful political transition.
how densely populated is the democratic republic of congo?
DRC is the size of western durope and the second-largest country in africa. its population of 80 million people is spread throughout the country, with 40 percent of people living in urban areas. cities in eastern congo, like goma and bukavu, have been experiencing an influx of people fleeing violence from the more rural areas. people are seeking safety and security, and new opportunities to earn an income, as the conflict has forced many of them off their land.
this escalating displacement, coupled with resource mismanagement, is putting increasing pressure on the cities’ services. to respond to these needs, we’ve developed an integrated water initiative to improve access to water for the most vulnerable citizens of goma and bukavu. it also aims to provide equitable access to water for all.
how wealthy is the democratic republic of congo?
the DRC has vast human and natural resources, which could, arguably, make it one of the richest countries in the world. this central african country is home to the world’s largest reserves of coltan, used in mobile phones and electric cars, as well as significant quantities of the world’s cobalt and copper, as well and diamonds, gold and many other minerals.
yet, because of the ongoing conflict, poor governance and a lack of infrastructure, the congolese people are not benefiting from this immense wealth. in fact, in 2019, DRC will become the country with the second highest number of people living below the poverty line.
who is affected by the conflict in DRC?
in the conflict-ridden eastern part of the country, women and children are often most affected by the conflict, as is the case with many crises. more than 2 million children suffer from severe acute malnutrition. one in 10 women and girls experienced sexual violence in 2016. in some cases, women and their children have no choice but to flee the violence and hunger. women often leave their homes with very little but their children and the clothes they were wearing. men too are frightened of being killed or forced to join armed groups.
HOW TO HELP
visit [ savethechildren.org/ democratic republic of congo ] and [ ngocongo.org ]
19. WEST PAPUA
ever since the invasion of west papua over fifty years ago, the Indonesian security forces have committed a never ending catalogue of extreme human rights violations.
over 500,000 civilians have been killed in a genocide against the indigenous population. thousands more have been raped, tortured, imprisoned or ‘disappeared’ after being detained. basic human rights such as freedom of speech are denied and papuans live in a constant state of fear and intimidation.
genocide
almost all papuans will be able to tell you stories of friends or family who have been murdered. a paper prepared by the yale law school for the indonesian human rights campaign in 2004 found “in the available evidence a strong indication that the indonesian government has committed genocide against the west papuans”.
the use of torture by the Indonesian security forces against the indigenous papuan population is widespread.
there is much documented evidence of this endemic behaviour and in recent years video footage (captured as ‘trophy footage’ by indonesian soldiers) has been leaked and broadcast on international news channels such as al jazeera and channel 4 news.
rape
sexual assault and rape has been repeatedly used as a weapon by the indonesian military and police.
in a public report to the U.N. commission on human rights in 1999, the special rapporteur on violence against women concluded that the indonesian security forces used rape “as an instrument of torture and intimidation” in west papua, and “torture of women detained by the indonesian security forces was widespread”.
the robert f. Kennedy memorial centre for human rights prepared a full report on “rape and other human rights abuses by the indonesian military in iran jaya (west papua), indonesia”.
freedom of expression
the basic rights to freedom of expression are almost completely denied in west papua. anyone expressing any criticism of indonesian rule and in particular aspirations for west papuan independence can expect to be persecuted by the police and imprisoned.
recently, leading human rights organizations kontraS papua and the commission for the disappeared and the victims of violence, published a report on the increasing tendency of the indonesian state to charge people peacefully expressing their desire for political independence with treason. they state:
'in 2010, cases with a political dimension have characteristically become ensnared by the charge of makar, the indonesian word for treason or rebellion… altogether in 2010, 32 people were charged or investigated in connection with article 106 on makar.’
political prisoners
yusak pakage, sentenced to 10 years in prison for attending a west papua flag raising ceremony.
there are currently hundreds of west papuan political prisoners being held in west papua and across indonesia. many are serving long prison terms for peacefully protesting against indonesian rule or for being members of organisations calling for west papuan independence.
filep karma is a particular case in point, serving a 15 year jail sentence simply for raising the west papuan national flag. he is an amnesty international prisoner of conscience. conditions in the prisons are often very poor and maltreatment of prisoners is common with many being beaten and tortured while detained. prisoners have often developed severe health problems and been denied access to medical care.
lives lived in fear
papuans return to find their homes in burnt to the ground by the Indonesian army following a ‘sweeping operation’
papuans return to find their homes in burnt to the ground by the indonesian army
many papuans live in a constant state of fear and intimidation. people living in villages across west papua can at any time be subject to military sweeping operations.
under the pretence of looking for insurgents, the military have repeatedly swept through entire rural areas killing arbitrarily and burning whole villages to the ground, destroying subsistence food crops and livestock and forcing people to flee into the forests where they are prone to starvation and disease.
impunity
imdonesian special army force (KOPASSUS) have committed widespread human rights abuses in west papua
despite public statements that the Indonesian government is improving its human rights record, the situation on the ground seems very different. there are often limited or no investigations into human rights abuses and if any discipline is handed out it is normally of little significance to the perpetrators of the abuses. amnesty international states:
“impunity for human rights violations is commonplace. accountability mechanisms to deal with police abuse remain weak, and reports of torture by members of the security forces often go unchecked and unpunished. many victims of past human rights violations in papua are still awaiting justice.”
access to journalists and NGOs
west papua is currently off limits to international journalists. if discovered without permission they are arrested and deported by the Indonesian authorities. some have even been attacked and imprisoned.
it is clear that Indonesian authorities will stop at nothing to keep the ongoing genocide they are directing in west papua out of the international media agenda. west papua has also become impossible to operate in for many NGOs. in 2010 the international red cross were expelled, and in 2012 peace brigades international were forced to leave. International human rights organisations such as amnesty and human rights watch are also denied access to west papua.
HOW TO HELP
visit [ freewestpapua.org ] and [ freepapuamovement.org ]
20. ARMENIA
azerbaijan launched "anti-terrorist activities" in the nagorno-karabakh region on tuesday, saying it wanted to restore constitutional order and drive out what it said were armenian troops, a move that could foreshadow a new war.
armenia and azerbaijan have already fought two wars over karabakh in the three decades since the soviet union they were both members of collapsed.
here is a look at the history of the conflict and the latest developments.
WHAT IS NAGORNO-KARABAKH?
nagorno-karabakh, known as artsakh by armenians, is a mountainous region at the southern end of the karabakh mountain range, within azerbaijan. it is internationally recognised as part of azerbaijan, but its 120,000 inhabitants are predominantly ethnic armenians. they have their own government which is close to armenia but not officially recognised by armenia or any other country.
armenians, who are christian, claim a long presence in the area, dating back to several centuries before christ. azerbaijan, whose inhabitants are mostly turkic muslims, also claims deep historical ties to the region, which over the centuries has come under the sway of persians, turks and russians. bloody conflict between the two peoples goes back more than a century.
under the soviet union, nagorno-karabakh became an autonomous region within the republic of azerbaijan.
FIRST KARABAKH WAR
as the soviet union crumbled, the first karabakh war (1988-1994) erupted between armenians and their azeri neighbours. about 30,000 people were killed and more than a million displaced. most of those were azeris driven from their homes when the armenian side ended up in control of nagorno-karabakh itself and swathes of seven surrounding districts.
44-DAY WAR IN 2020
in 2020, after decades of intermittent skirmishes, azerbaijan began a military operation that became the second karabakh war, swiftly breaking through armenian defences. it won a resounding victory in 44 days, taking back the seven districts and about a third of nagorno-karabakh itself.
the use of drones bought from turkey and israel was cited by military analysts as one of the main reasons for azerbaijan's victory. at least 6,500 people were killed.
russia, which has a defence treaty with armenia but also has good relations with azerbaijan, negotiated a ceasefire.
the deal provided for 1,960 russian peacekeepers to guard the territory's lifeline to armenia: the road through the "lachin corridor", which armenian forces no longer controlled.
PEACE TALKS
analysts say successive rounds of talks, mediated variously by the european union, the united states and russia, have brought the two sides closer to a permanent peace treaty than they have been for years, but a final settlement remains elusive. the most sensitive issue is the status of the 120,000 ethnic armenians in karabakh, whose rights and security armenia says must be guaranteed. prime minister nikol pashinyan has said armenia recognises the sovereignty and territorial integrity of azerbaijan, but baku says it is not certain the assertion was made in good faith and accuses armenia of fuelling separatism.
HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
in december 2022 azerbaijani civilians identifying themselves as environmental activists began blocking the lachin corridor, and in april 2023 azerbaijan set up an official checkpoint, saying it was preventing weapons smuggling. the flow of people and goods between armenia and nagorno-karabakh was largely cut off. the united states bemoaned the "rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation".
this week, the international committee of the red cross (ICRC) was able to make simultaneous aid deliveries via the lachin corridor and a separate road linking karabakh to the azerbaijani city of aghdam.
despite that, tensions have risen sharply this month, with armenia and azerbaijan accusing each other of building up troops.
HOW TO HELP
visit [ armeniafund.org ]
#palestine#gaza#somalia#sudan#armenia#congo#west papua#lebanon#yemen#syria#tamil eelam#manipur#uyghurs#jammu and kashmir#burkina faso#ethiopia#haiti#venezuela#afghanistan#kurdistan#hawaii#rohingya
150 notes
·
View notes
Note
I recently entered asian qls, and I've been hearing a lot about gmmtv in thai bl. what's the deal with that? do they make good bls or something?
What's the deal with GMMTV?
I (and a few other people) have given GMMTV the nickname of Disney BL because
It has the budget
It has stylish shows
Most are plot-by-numbers (meaning formula style plots that are predictable)
And it's all about branding
Good and bad are subjective, so does GMMTV make "good" BLs is not a question that can be answered, especially by me, but GMMTV does make BLs. A lot of BLs.
In 2022 and 2023, half of its shows were BLs. And a few others were BL-lite (Midnight Museum and Home School, I'm looking at you). Out of the 16 shows announced in GMMTV 2024 Part 1 (Part 2 is coming tomorrow), 10 of those shows were BLs/GLs/QLs. Over half of their shows are focused on queer relationships. [Photos from Boys Love Hub]
So regardless if I think they are good or not, the company is doing some heavy lifting in regards to queer representation since all of their shows have 1) a queer character, 2) a queer director, or 3) a queer producer.
As much shit as I want to give GMMTV, and DO, the company makes being queer palatable for mass distribution, and that's mainly because of its branding and reach since all shows, at one point, were free on YouTube for most countries.
Take right now for example, BrightWin fans are up in arms because Bright has a girlfriend. BrightWin haven't had a series since 2021's 2gether movie. THREE YEARS AND PEOPLE STILL SHIP 'EM! *eye roll* And that's because GMMTV doesn't just make BLs. It makes a brand of each and every one of its actors. If an actor is put into a pair, there will be a mascot, fanclubs, fan meets, tours, light sticks, y todo.
Someone wrote a good post, which I cannot find now, about the idolifacation of GMMTV actors, and it's accurate. These aren't only actors. They must sing. They must dance. They must host Live House. They must participate in Safe House. They must have a vlog and do live streams every week. They must go on GMMTV's little outing events and have a spin-off show where they travel around with their paired partner and eat food or drink some cocktail or do something because Lord forbid these people do nothing.
And this isn't just a GMMTV thing, but only GMMTV does it on this scale, so what's the deal with GMMTV is that it is a company doing company stuff.
I'm sure others can chime in and give more in-depth points, but I'm exhausted even thinking about it!
107 notes
·
View notes
Text
BSD and Shipping
Since Valentine's day was coming I was interested in discussing a huge part of the BSD fandom: Shipping
( ⚠️ RANT INCOMING. DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED ABOUT OPINIONS ON SHIPPING. PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL TOWARDS OTHER PEOPLE'S OPINIONS IN COMMENTS AND REBLOGS. ⚠️)
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
So where to start?
For a long time I have been noticing one specific trend in the BSD subreddit. And that are posts that talk about unpopular opinions/Headcanons/fav or least fav ships etc.
What I find interesting about these posts is that one thing is always in the forefront, and it's the debates about the sexualities of the characters in BSD. While Headcanons can be annoying and some people do push their opinions on others, there is nuance that is lacking in the community when discussing some topics. Finding posts about Mori being a pedo and how Dazai is unlikable or overrated is very easy and the discussions surrounding topics like that are always the same. People would pick sides and end up writing a lot about what their opinion is and while that's valid, it also ends up in fandom wars where it's hard to like or dislike something without your head being in the chopping block.
Now let's go to the original topic: shipping. To examine the environment of shipping culture in BSD fandom we have to start with the headcanons that people have adopted for sexualities of the characters.
1. THE PROBLEM WITH HETRO-NORMATIVITY
Now, the posts about shipping often contain a lot of people writing paragraphs and paragraphs about what ships they like or dislike.
One of the ships that takes the most bullets for its existence and popularity is Soukoku or Shin Soukoku. There are lots of comments about these ships that "remind" us that canonically Dazai, Chuuya, Atsushi and Akutagawa are all straight. They should not be shipped with each other because they are straight.....
Dazai flirts with women and wants to commit a double suicide with a beautiful woman. Atsushi is very clearly set up to end up with Lucy. Akutagawa couldn't care less about romance as we see how dismissive he is with Higuchi. And Chuuya.......wears fashionable outfits and has a slutty waist, but we won't comment on that.
Dazai and Chuuya have a lot of queer subtext that anyone can see. Akutagawa and Atsushi are pointed out to complete each other and complement each other several times. These ships don't exist out of thin air.
Now there is nothing WRONG with anyone having the headcanon of any of these (or any other) characters to be straight, after all we are not given enough information about their sexualities. But by stating "Dazai is straight, he likes women" or "this ship doesn't make sense because they are not gay" not only does it imply that characters can't have other preferences but also that being straight is the default, which it isn't.
This is coming from a straight woman from a very conservative country where we don't have exposure to queer media. It took me a long time to stop being so heteronormative. I think assuming someone is straight until they prove to you or tell you directly is just as bad and as assuming someone is gay. I think we have come far along as a community to understand that it shouldn't be our first instinct to assume everything is heterosexual until we get some sort of proof or stamp of approval from its creator.
Asagiri isn't going to stand up in a stage in front of the world and say "yeah Dazai and Chuuya have gay feelings for eachother" because the manga is from Japan. If there were explicit queer characters then BSD would no longer get the label of being universal because of certain censorship laws. Even if it's getting more acceptable in Japan to show queer characters in manga and anime, BSD isn't a romance or slice of life story. It's a seinen, not a BL/GL. Besides, Asagiri shows little to no interest in romantic relationships in his story.
So by saying "______ character is straight because we don't have any other information proving otherwise " isn't a valid excuse to tell shippers not to ship certain characters, it's making it seem like heterosexuality is the default state of being.
That also doesn't mean you can say "Dazai is gay, don't ship him with women" because that's the same thing. If you think Dazai is gay/bi/pan/etc. then that's your opinion, pushing that on others only worsens the rep of skk shippers especially.
You have the right to like or dislike certain ships or have your own Headcanons. This is why even feminising certain characters also isn't as problematic as people call it. It's just a different take on a character (but that time people were correcting those who called Sigma a "he" instead of "they" was genuinely wrong). Headcanons of some random online stranger doesn't make anything canon. So if you find yourself around annoying people like that, just leave the conversation.
2. WHY SUBTEXT MATTERS
Subtext is really important when discussing media; in case of BSD whether it is the anime, manga, anthologies or LNs. BSD is not new to subtext, even from the start of the story there is a lot of queer subtext that people can figure out easily.
When we are introduced to Dazai and Chuuya's partnership in the first season, it's clear as day to see the dynamic and its underlying tension. We can see how close those two are that their relationship can't be explained just as simple partners turned enemies. Time and time again we get so much queer subtext between Skk's interactions. The entire 15 arc and well as Stormbringer shows us the bond and trust between the two as well as the intense amount of gay scenes. At this point I am sure Hoshikawa is a hardcore skk shipper. All of their official art is also gay (that could be queerbating though). Asagiri must know what the public thinks about Skk and still writes subtext about them. It makes sense why this would be a popular ship; it's not made out of thin air with no context (*ahem* Kousano *ahem*) but has actual roots and the proof to back it up too.
SSKK is a similar story, it's not my favourite but it has been growing on me ever since S5. Similar to skk, we get a lot of subtext and homoerotic moments between Aku and Atsushi. They are yin and yang. They are enemies that sought to kill eachother but still team up to fight together. Atsushi is literally the centre of Akutagawa's life since the beginning. Atsushi and Akutagawa grow together as characters and as different as they appear are similarly looking for one thing: validation and acceptance. Their relationship is so compelling in so many levels that it too makes sense why their ship is as popular as it is (especially regarding recent events in the story)
Ranpoe.....let's be real, those two got married a long time ago. They are the definition of "be gay, solve crimes". They are undeniably a cute ship regardless of whether it's one sided or not. Fyolai as well makes complete sense with the context behind Fyodor and Nikolai's relationship, while I also consider it quite one-sided as it's mostly Nikolai that is fascinated by Fyodor (and wants to kiss kill him) Fukumori isn't my cup of tea but it too has enough subtext to back it up, same with FukuFuku.
While I would love to talk about other ships, I wanted to show the reasoning behind the most popular pairings.
Personally, as a multishipper, it's very fun for me to have so many characters to examine and spend time obsessing over.
Now, there are straight ships that I like too as well as ships I don't ship for myself.
The reason I don't like Yosano and Ranpo together is because I see them in the same position as Kyouka and Atsushi. The scene of Ranpo recruiting Yosano (who worked with Mori) into the ADA parallels Atsushi saving Kyouka (who also worked with Mori). I consider them siblings and like how they are platonic instead of it being the typical "a boy and girl can't be besties". Another ship I love and cherish is AtsuLucy because it's so adorable, Lucy is my fav Guild member and her and Atsushi are "Girlboss and Malewife". I ship Tachihara with Gin, Higuchi and Gin as well as Kunikida with Yosano (surprisingly I don't find the appeal of Kunizai; though I still like that ship from time to time, just don't ship it actively). I prefer not to ship Sigma with anyone (he is still a baby to me)
So it's not that BSD doesn't have straight ships, when you make a majority male cast and have them be rivals or enemies, obviously people will ship m/m more. Especially if there is more subtext and tension behind the male characters and they have little to no interactions with women.
And I might get some heat for saying this:
It is okay for most of the BSD characters to be considered queer because if comp het is so normal in anime/manga then why can't the opposite be the case? We already have enough series with little to no representation, so why can't we have a bunch of queer characters?
3. TOXIC SHIPPERS AND THE FALL OF FANDOM CULTURE
I have been raving for the past two sections and defending the shipping community. But it isn't a conversation with nuance if I don't address the problem of a small group of people that take shipping too seriously. The reason why fandom itself gets a bad rep is because of shipping more often than not. I will admit, it's not all sunshine and rainbows when people argue about their fav ships. And a lot of the aforementioned ships are to a point, toxic. Yes, some shippers are annoying and ruin everyone else's fun. There are ships that don't make sense at all.
But that doesn't mean that a small part of people should represent others who are just having harmless fun and don't even believe their ships to ever become canon. Let's be real it's highly unlikely we will have any couples by the end of the show (the closest could be AtsuLucy). Sometimes people are too intense about ships and that goes for both antis and pros. Both of the extreme are toxic. And instead of shoving down our opinions down other people's throats, we should be celebrating the very story that brought us together in the first place.
Yeah it can be hard for those who don't like shipping at all to enjoy the story and have discussions. But we have to remember the roots of fandom culture start with shipping. It's always been the case and it's always been the most popular way to discuss one's favourite fictional work. From Sherlock to Genshin to boy bands to streamers, everything has been shipped and will always be. There is a reason why AO3 works so well.
4. SO WHAT?
The ships are what brought me to BSD in the first place. I wanted to explore the world of BSD because of its characters and their dynamics. And a lot of other people have gotten into this fandom for the exact same reason. While there are unflattering moments in our fandom, that doesn't mean it's not a place for people to come together and have some fun. Whether you ship or not. Whether you like fanfictions or not. We have to accept that there are a lot of pros to shipping too. It brings our ideas together, makes us feel giddy inside or tears our heart apart, it produces beautiful fanarts and fanfictions, it makes us analyse characters, it makes us look deeper into the story....and it makes us wait for what's next to come.
And I want nothing more than to be able to enjoy shipping without the guilt that comes with it.
Shipping isn't free from its flaws, but it is not defined only by its flaws. It might not be for everyone, but it is someone's everything. So even if you don't like it in particular, let's not spoil other people's fun. One's trash is another's treasure.
~Peace out 🕊️✌️
#shipping#my rants#bsd#bungo stray dogs#bungou stray dogs#bungo gay dogs#bungou gay dogs#bungou sd#bsd skk#bsd sskk#bsd fyolai#bsd fukumori#bsd fukufuku#bsd ranpoe#bsd dazai#bsd chuuya#bsd soukoku#soukoku#shin soukoku#bsd ada#bsd port mafia#bsd ranpo#bsd fyodor#bsd nikolai#bsd pos#bsd atsushi#bsd akutagawa#bsd gin#bsd tachihara#bsd yosano
63 notes
·
View notes
Text
“Ocean separates lands, not souls..”
― Munia Khan
DISCONTINUED
"Every night I have dreamt of you. You plague my dreams, in the most deepest, truest sense. In every vivid picture, I love you and you, I. Each dream is a glimpse of pages from the storybook of our lives together. Futures so ripe that if I were to bite into them and give in to temptation, my mouth would be forever stained with its sweetness and the forbidden fruit would dribble down my chin and dry there. My skin would absorb it until it seeped into my bloodstream and it flowed through my heart over and over again. Until it was carved into my very soul and became nothing short of everything that I am. It would coat my hands and my heart and my mind until all I can breathe is you. It transcends even Odysseus's devotion to Penelope. It is so all-consuming that even I fear it."
Where Ships Sail: A Historical Romance
Simon Riley is a dirt poor boy living along the ports of mid-1700 Great Britain. He is only fifteen when he meets her: the girl who owns the ports. She is everything that he is not, but everything he will ever come to want. No amount of class divides or silky lace dresses are a match for the love beginning to drown his heart.
But love is not the only thing Simon must face.
There are revolutions across the sea, a family who needs to be fed, and a desperate need to show his worth. With an ocean between them, Simon must fend for himself and his country if he wishes to become the best for the people he loves the most. But after receiving a wake-up call in the battle fields, Simon realizes there is no time to waste when it comes to love. Upon returning to where it all started, Simon finds he might already be too late.
original story inspiration
Chapter 1: Where it Begins
Their lives will always start and end where ships sail.
Read it here.
Join Cherry’s Discord Server
#where ships sail⚓#simon ghost riley x reader#simon riley#ghost simon riley#simon ghost riley#simon riley x reader#simon riley x you#simon ghost x reader#simon riley x y/n#ghost cod x reader#ghost mw2#cod simon riley#ghost call of duty#ghost cod mwii#ghost cod fanart#ghost cod mw2#historical romance#historical au#story teaser#original story#Spotify
58 notes
·
View notes
Text
NANOWRIMO DAYS 1-10
Saying Farewell to Armageddon
Act 1
The first winter
This is not a ghost story. Well, technically, it is, as it involves the haunting consciousness of someone who is definitely dead. Probably dead. Most likely dead. In the far-off future, true death is mostly optional.
This is not a fairytale. Granted, there is a princess in disguise. There is a fair bit of magic. True love prevails. But no, this isn't a fairytale.
Rather, this is a war story.
3834 AD: Ten miles from Skandasaipur, a city on Mars, part of the country of Mangalrajya.
A cold and burnt-red winter. Turquoise snow gently falls in tiny cubes, landing on the rust-colored dirt. In the distance, right on the horizon, there are pillars of smoke. Somewhere a city is on fire. “Aiyo Rama! They better not have burned down the teleportation port again! It makes shipping the ice impossible,” a young woman called Sugafana sighed from deep within her layers of bright purple and emerald green protective clothing. Her companion, a man covered in dark blue and silver, sighed, leaning down on his shovel. “Calm down! We can always drive down to Samarthanagari and use the public pod station,” the man, whose name was simply Jay, said. Sugafana merely grunted with annoyance before picking up her own shovel.
Once, Sugafana had worked in Samarthanagari's best girls' school. Every Thursday and Monday, she would march in through the front gate with her smart green briefcase. The school was now nothing more than a steel shell. “The hair curlers burned that pod station last month,” Sugafana reminded Jay, who sighed. “Just keep digging, Martian snow is going for fifty credits per kilo right now,” Jay pointed out, and Sugafana picked up her shovel before digging into the ground. Fifty credits a kilo. Before the war, Martian snow went for five dollars a kilo. Every Shigmo, children would eat cups full of the stuff flavored with sugar and wild honey.
“I can practically feel your frown from here,” Jay remarked as Sugafana scooped then snow up before dropping it in her bucket. “Prices are getting ridiculous! Barf cheene ghan used to be super cheap, and now vendors will have to charge ten credits to make a profit,” Sugafana growled with annoyance. “And it’s just dry sugar ice,” Sugafana finished as she stuck her spade into the snow again. “Correction, it’s dry sugar ice that some people believe has magic powers!” Jay cried in a sing-song voice. “And do you believe that?” Sugafana sarcastically asked. Jay shrugged. It was the sort of shrug Sugafana had seen many times over the past two years they had spent ice farming. A shrug that indicated Jay wasn’t willing to really believe in anything. Sugafana struck the ice again with her shovel, and there was a sudden faint clinking sound. “There’s something here,” Sugafana said, feeling faintly surprised. “You probably just hit some black ice, the snow fell during the night and the field was empty yesterday,” Jay pointed out. No human alive would dare to go out into the snow at night. The icy winds would tear through layers of protective clothing freezing blood in its veins. “The appliances wouldn’t come out here, no energy charging grids for miles,” Sugafana pointed out as she leaned down to push the cubed snow away with her gloved hands. “I heard the richer appliances have started using humans as portable batteries. They make the humans run ahead of them on treadmills,” Jay recalled as he shifted, standing behind Sugafana. “And who told you that? Your gossiping premika?” Asked crisply. “I told you before, Minty is not my girlfriend,” Jay said wearily, and Sugafana gasped. An eye was staring back at her in the snow. A shiny golden eye. “It’s an android,” Sugafana said, pushing more snow away to reveal a lady's face. A long and elegant face with Cupid bow lips and a stately nose. “Hit it with your shovel,” Jay ordered her. “I said Android! Not appliance! Androids don’t have artificial intelligence,” Sugafana snapped with annoyance as she quickly used her shovel to clear more and more snow. “They don’t? I thought all electronics were determined to turn us into slaves,” Jay remarked as Sugafana unearthed golden shoulders covered in a magenta silk shawl. “My transportation pod uses an electric battery, the lights at camp use electric wind power, and none of them have killed us,” Sugafana pointed out, and Jay raised a gloved finger. “None of them have tried to kill us yet,” Jay merely replied. “Just help me! Baba Tarak will find us a buyer who will pay a small fortune,” Sugafana said, and Jay kneeled down next to Sugafana, his gloves brushing against the snow. For a moment, their eyes met. It was amazing, Sugafana thought, what a person could tell just by glancing at someone’s eyes. Sugafana had never seen Jay’s entire face. They always met five times a week on the fields in their uniforms, helped each other shovel the snow, and then said goodbye at the migrant camp's gates. It has been that way for years. Once or twice, Jay had been foolish enough to ask Sugafana if she wanted to stand together in the food ration line. She always said no. It was easier that way. Still, Jay’s eyes were so dark it was almost impossible to see their pupils. They did, however, crinkle in a way that whispered they were kind. “That’s peculiar,” Jay remarked, breaking away from her gaze. His hands had uncovered a peculiar glowing lump that extended just below the android's chest. “It looks like a perfectly normal maternity droid to me,” Sugafana replied, brushing more snow off its legs. “Is that what they look like? I’ve never seen one in real life! Most women had their babies in my town the old-fashioned way,” Jay remarked. “I used to walk past a boutique selling them on my way to work! I never saw actual pregnant women in the city,” Sugafana replied as she cocked her head to one side, trying to find the android's barcode. “Strange, there’s no identification,” she said to Jay. “And what does that mean exactly?” Jay asked.
#nano 2023#nanowrimo#life on mars#write a novel#writing#speculative worldbuilding#speculative fiction#science fiction#scifi#sci fi and fantasy#original character#original story
86 notes
·
View notes
Text
Good Guy, Bad Guy - Lloyd Hansen Series
Part 5
Character: Lloyd Hansen x Rich!Female Reader
Summary: Y/N got what she wanted. The status of CEO is in her hand. But the sudden confession from Lloyd made her think twice about the divorce. Did she make the right decision?
Words Count: 4,050
A/N: This chapter timeline is set after Lloyd confessed to the reader. This chapter will be focused on Y/N learning her feelings.
Hope you guys enjoyed it. Comment and Reblog from you meant so much to me. Thank you so much. 💓🥹
This chapter is from Lloyd Hansen's Series - 3 Billion Divorce.
Check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7 (Extra Story)
And check out my other stories from Masterlist.
A fool in love.
If someone called him that last year, he would laugh because, to him, love is a joke.
Lloyd Hansen a sociopath and the most dangerous man; he is the type of man who eliminates everyone in his way. He never let any task or mission affect his feelings.
But now, he looks clueless, thinking about which plan to get you back.
After everything both of you've been through.
You tossed him after the contract expired. No one ever plays with him like this. He waited three months, thinking you regretted it and will call him back. But no, nothing, Nada!
At first, Lloyd thinks you’re not his type, but he likes it each time you catch him off guard with your crazy ideas; he likes it when you become annoyed every time he provokes you.
And your love for money is also up to his taste.
Right now, he looks out of place at Carmichael offices. Carmichael knew his long-time friend was a chatterbox. But something felt wrong because this sociopath was silent the whole time. "What's wrong,Lloyd? Is this about your ex-wife?"
Lloyd clicked his tongue and then punched the table "Wife. I never signed the damn paper."
“Hahaha.” That laughing voice already made Lloyd's ears itchy. Her presence already makes his mood get worse.
Susan's sudden appearance worsened Lloyd's mood because of what she would say. "Y/N already found your replacement."
'Ouch!’ her words just added more salt to his wound.
"What do you mean b**ch?"
Susan gave him a middle finger. "Let me just say he's so much better than you. Wow, he still related to the royal family."
Lloyd snatched the phone from her hand. When he saw the photo of you hugging another man, his mind had already planned 100 ways to get rid of that person. He opened the photo comment and found the name of the person hugging you.
"Where did you get these?!!"
Susan grabbed her phone because she knew he would have smashed her phone into the wall. "It's trending on social media. Your ex-wife became famous after the divorce."
The truth is, she followed your fans' account.
That's one of the biggest secrets she won't tell him.
Susan is one of your biggest fans. She applauds anyone who could tame Lloyd. And her favourite part is you made him in a dilemma.
It's her turn to laugh at his misery.
He gave her a side-eye. "She's still my wife."
Lloyd grabs a keyboard and use CIA database. Carmichael doesn't even want to know how Lloyd knew his passwords. With facial recognition favourite, he could find out who it was.
Earl Thomas Kimberley. Thomas is a top photographer, travelling worldwide, famous in design, and shooting in a country with a refugee crisis that can move everyone's heart.
After his step-brother humiliated the family name, Thomas became the CEO of the family business in a shipping company. They owned 500 vessels, including travelling ships, car carriers, gas and oil tankers, submarines, and cruise ships.
A successful man with a bright future.
Compared to him, Thomas came from a prestigious family, just like you.
A light hum resounded in the silent room. Lloyd looked at the computer with an expressionless face.
“Something is off.”
“What?”
“Nobody has a perfect life. He must have a deep secret.” He grabbed his phone to give an order to his team.
Carmichael patted his shoulder. “Good luck with that.”
Lloyd told his IT team to dig deeper into Thomas. His habit of buying stuff online, his friends, his female friends, and even his porn history.
But after a few hours, they found nothing terrible about Thomas.
It made Lloyd anxious.
Looking out the window, where the sky is blue, Lloyd wishes it could calm his insecurity.
What if you like him? A good guy like Thomas.
Eight hours ago before the photo.
The sky is grey, and the strong wind gives the plane turbulence.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we're experiencing some turbulence. Please return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts."
You were in the private jet on the way to England. Your former professor invited you to give a speech. Of course, you agree.
Even if you must defeat your fears, plane travel still brings goosebumps.
Your hands gripped the armrest tightly when the plane got turbulence.
“You should listen to music for distraction.” Jimmy was sitting in front of you, worried, looking pale, and he could see the sweat on your forehead even though the inside temperature was cold.
Jimmy sighed heavily; there's nothing he can do with your stubbornness. He knew you needed Lloyd but didn't know why you let him go.
It was Lloyd's job to make you at ease every time you travel by plane.
Before Jimmy, one of the people who disagree with your choice of a husband even though it's a contract, of all the men in the world, you choose Lloyd.
But now, he became the parent who was sad because his favourite son-in-law had left the house.
Even though Lloyd could be selfish and childish most of the time, at least when you were in trouble, he knew exactly what to do.
“If I listen to music, I will forget my speech.”
“Were you able to sleep last night?”
“Only for a few hours." You try to find a comfortable position to close your eyes, not looking at the window.
You usually get at least 6 hours of sleep when Lloyd is beside you. Since you moved back to your childhood home, the bed feels strange. And nobody helps to calm down your nightmares.
When you moved out from the house shared with Lloyd, you said this would be a new start.
You finally became the official CEO and could live alone without any worries.
But something unexpected happened.
‘My dear wife, I love you more.’
Lloyd's confession caught you off guard, and his words echoed in your mind, making you unable to sleep.
You’ve been pushing the divorce and moving out, mainly because you started to feel comfortable with him. It was supposed to be fake marriage, but you made a mistake with a sexual relationship with Lloyd.
‘Kill your emotion. You need to be a ruthless f*ck to rebuild L/N & Co.’
That’s your grandfather's last word to you before he died. You promised not to get f**ked by feelings and to prioritise the company.
You know your weaknesses. Good at business but stupid in romance.
But since you spend time with Lloyd. You kept thinking about him. And it's suffocating because of your ego; you held back from calling him.
That's why you said yes when your professor invited you to be the speaker. Remembering the youthful memories you had back in college was nice. If you go back, you could put behind all your trauma and ex-husband.
At the Debating Chamber.
In front of hundreds of people, you were relaxed while giving a speech and answering all the questions because your former professors and classmates were present to help you.
It felt like you went back to being a teenager again. There's no family drama because of your grandfather's will. You just focus on your study—simple time.
After the speech was done, you immediately rained with questions. Even with Jimmy beside you, he can't just push them away.
Until a blinded camera flash made anyone close to you feel uncomfortable. Somehow it worked to make people move away from you.
But the photographer keeps taking pictures of you. "Excuse me,sir, could you turn off the flash?"
The person behind the camera laughed. "I'll stop if you give me 100 dollars."
His voice sounded familiar. When the camera is put down, you finally get a closer look. You knew who it was.
Thomas Kimberley, your former classmate. It's been years since the last time you met. From everyone in your class, you are much closer to Thomas.
Probably because he also has the same family drama. He's the second son of Kimberley's family, but his mother is a mistress. He doesn't get along with his stepmother and step-sibling.
How did you know his drama? His stepbrother announced it inside the class to humiliate Thomas since he failed to become an Oxford student.
But you didn't graduate together. Last semester Thomas suddenly left and followed his dream to be a photographer. You heard this is his way to rebel against his father.
It turned out fine; he got what he wanted, travelled worldwide, and became a famous photographer. His appearance also changed.
Back then, he only wore a cardigan with a dull colour and jeans. But now his appearance has turned him into a good-looking man, especially when he wears black suits and thin gold frame glasses.
"Thomas. You jerk." You gave him a playful punch to his shoulder before you gave him a side hug.
You didn’t know some students took a shot the moment you gave a friendly hug to Thomas and sent it to social media.
Thomas laughed, “When they told me, you were coming, I thought you would buy this place.”
He linked his arm with you. “Ah, that’s our friend, let's meet them.” His act caught you off guard because Lloyd was the only man who could be this close to you.
And there it is; you thought you could forget him, but everything reminded you of Lloyd. You let this slide for once because you don’t want to ruin the reunion.
It was supposed to be a quick hangout at the pub. But one of your friends got this idea to visit another pub then another pub. You've never been this carefree and hungover. Looking at your friends singing at the karaoke and being happy. You suddenly have a thought.
After graduating, you couldn't hang out with them since your grandfather dragged you back to the States.
You were having a second thought. If you stay back then, do you still have a chance to have a normal life?
You stop daydreaming when someone hands you a glass of water.
"Thank you."
"When was the last time you drank after you became the CEO?"
You sip the water while thinking about the moment you get the position; you become more ambitious and almost sleep daily in your office. "Hmm, never."
You put down the glass and rested your head on your palm while looking at him "Thomas, are you happy after you achieved your dream?"
"Wow, wisdom time because of the alcohol." He chuckled and then was silent for a while. "To be honest, I'm not 100% happy. Because it ruined my marriage."
Your eyes widened when you heard his confession. You didn't know he got married. "You? Married? Divorce?"
Thomas nodded; he stared at the wall of liquors. "She doesn’t like my job."
"Because you always travelled around?" You put your hand in front of your lips. That was a slip of the tongue. You were too honest because of the alcohol. "I'm sorry."
Thomas doesn't feel offended. "That's right." He put down his drinking glass and turned towards you. "It's my turn to ask a question. I want to know how the famous ice queen finally fell in love."
You gulped. You will not tell Thomas how you met Lloyd when he was supposed to kill you. You waved your hand and acted shy. "He helped me deal with my family. That's why I…"
You were silent when you wanted to say the following words. Your mind suddenly recalled everything that happened between you and Lloyd. Both of you have been through heaven and hell together.
"...love him." Your voice became softer; maybe only you could hear it. Is it because of the alcohol that made you say those words or because of something else?
You suddenly stand up from your seat, making people beside you almost jump. "I… I think I should go."
Thomas looks at his wristwatch. "You're right. It's already late." He stood up to grab his coat and yours. "My driver will drive us both."
"Thank you."
"It's nothing ,Y/N compare how often you drag me every time I get hungover."
You hummed, remembering he always got drunk whenever he fought with his step-brother.
While in the car on the way to your hotel, Thomas saw you looking at your phone screen, not doing anything; he asked, "Is your husband still awake waiting for you?"
You shook your head. "No. He didn't come with me."
"What a pity. I want to meet him."
You wonder if you heard it wrong. He sounded sulking. Did your friend want to meet Lloyd?
You waved goodbye to Thomas when the car arrived at the hotel.
When you enter the building, Thomas' smile disappears from his face. He took out his phone to make a call. "Cancel it. We chose plan B."
The next day you woke up; you weren’t that drunk. You picked up your phone to check on your schedule. There’s nothing. You remembered last night you told your secretary you want a day off.
It was a sunny day.
You decided to take a walk from your hotel to clear your head.
You don’t have any plans. When you saw the nearest coffee shop, that became your first destination.
The coffee shop has a lovely aesthetic and is not too crowded. After you order a coffee, pick a seat at the corner near the window that faces the street.
While you enjoy your drinks and cakes, other customers keep coming; you notice the queue line getting longer.
When you look up, a man has his hands full. One hand holding a laptop bag and one hand holding a baby. His kid was uncomfortable with his arms, making him unable to make an order.
“Kendal, please hold on a second.” He tried to calm his baby.
“Professor Watson.” You greet him. He's one of the professors you adore because of his intelligence and wisdom.
He turned his head and saw you. Both of you met yesterday but didn’t have the chance to talk.
"Y/N. Haii…" He struggled to hold his daughter. You can't bear looking at your favourite professor looking like a mess.
"Let me hold her."
"Thank you, but I don't think,-" His daughter already stretched her short arms towards you. That was unexpected.
"Both of us will be sitting there."
After a few minutes, Professor Watson joins your table with his coffee and cake.
"Thank you for your help."
"No problem. What happened? You look… lost?" Every time you see him, he always looks like a perfect scholar. It's pretty difficult to approach him. Even though he seems scary, he will help his students.
After ten years, his style has become easygoing, and he is more welcome. He never smiled at his students. It's been ten years, and now you see the smile stay on his face.
"Haha, today is my day off. But my wife suddenly got called to the hospital. I thought it would be a good idea to bring my daughter to the coffee shop while I make new material for my book."
Wow, his personality completely changed. Before, he never shared his personal life. But now he still tells you about his wife working as a doctor and his son joining the football team even though you didn’t ask.
He seemed happy after he got married. If you get married, will your personality change too?
“You’ve changed, Professor. Back then, if we asked about your day, you would say ‘Nothing besides crying myself to sleep.”
“That’s true.” He laughed. “I used to be pessimistic about life, especially marriage.”
Kendall, the cute baby, is still sitting on your lap. She is fascinated with shiny things on your head, which as your hairclip.
"Wa, is?" Her chubby finger pointed to your hair.
"Ooh, this is a hairclip."
"Hai,- cip,-" Kendall keep mumbling, ‘Hai,- cip,’ for a long time. You are weak to her cuteness. You take off your hairclip and let her play with it.
“I’m sorry, Y/N, she’s on the stage where she likes to play with sparkly things.”
“It’s okay.” You don’t mind if she breaks it. Anything to make her comfortable on your lap. The scent of a baby tickled your nose when you put her into your arms. Your maternal instinct suddenly kicked in.
“You’ve changed too Y/N.”
“Back then, we only talked about your assignment, but I could see that you carry an enormous burden. Right now, I can see that you have become more confident and brave.”
He pointed to your finger that was wrapped with a diamond ring. “Was it because of your partner who is the biggest support?”
After you heard his question, you remembered everything Lloyd had done to help you, guard you, and get your position right now. He didn’t ask questions when you asked him to do complex tasks. He just says yes and provides a great result.
Like today, you can enjoy your walk without worrying anyone could hurt you.
Even though you have to pay billions, with his help, you gain your freedom.
If that means excellent support, the answer is “Yes, yes, he is.”
You forgot about the time until Kendall made a fuss since it was her time to nap.
That means it's time to go back. You still carry Kendal in your arms until both of you arrive at Professor Watson's car.
On her baby seat, Kendal is still holding your hairpin, her father tries to open her palm, but she's persistent.
"It's alright Professor she can have it." You brushed her fluffy cheeks.
"Haha, you'll be a great mother, Y/N. Say, thank you to Aunty Y/N, sunshine."
Your body cringes when you hear the nickname. Damn Lloyd, for keep calling you that name.
He said while tightening his seat belt. "Let's meet again on your next visit."
After the car left, you went back to the hotel through the park. While walking, you sighed heavily. Your plan to travel so you could forget Lloyd failed. Because it seems like life doesn’t want you to move on from him.
“Did you enjoy your coffee sunshine?”
Your footsteps halted when you heard his voice.
He is sitting on the bench wearing a polo shirt, beige pants, brown loafers, and his favourite aviators.
"Lloyd?!!"
Lloyd followed you back to the hotel. When he entered your room, he jumped to the couch and rested his feet on the table.
He didn't talk on the way here; it's out of his character. If you look closely, he seemed to be sulking. After staying together for a year, you knew he would act like a child.
"Lloyd, are you alright?"
He scoffed and shook his head. "How can I be alright when I found my wife is getting close to her best friend?"
You were taken aback; did he just accuse you of Thomas?
"There's nothing between me and Thomas." You don't have romantic feelings towards Thomas even though he's a good guy.
There's a memory about Thomas that you buried.
Lloyd clicked his tongue. You are still clueless and dense with the opposite gender. From the photo, he could read Thomas' expressions towards you.
Lloyd took away his aviator and threw them on the table. He smiled softly, strode forward and stood in front of you.
You remained frozen, wondering what he was going to do. The next moment Lloyd stroked your cheek with his index finger and pulled you into his arms.
"Let's go to bed." He rested his head on your shoulder.
'Huh?'
Lloyd pats your back gently. "I'm tired. I haven't slept for 7 hours because I'm worried about you."
Without breaking the silence, you agreed with his request.
Inside the bedroom, you were nervous when you lay beside him. While you are anxious, the man beside you has closed his eyes.
You tried to twist out of his arms, but it was no use.
Lloyd brought your head to his chest. He held you tight as if to keep you from escaping.
"I missed my wife so much I thought I would die.”
You gently patted his back as if you knew what he was thinking. He buried his nose into your hair and took a deep breath.
"While I'm gone can you sleep?"
You sighed heavily. "No. Living alone made me more depressed."
He chuckled, "Stop pushing me away then."
You pinched his arms even though you knew it didn't affect him. Instead, he giggled more. But he was right; the answer for your insomnia is him.
But something has been bugging you for these couple of months. You break the silence by asking the big question.
“Do you think there’s something else after this?”
There was silence, but you felt Lloyd loosen his grip. "Like what?"
You gulped. "You know, like building a family?"
"..."
"Forgot what I said." You pulled your blanket and turned your body to the other side. But Lloyd's strong arm turns your position back to face him.
Lloyd didn't expect that question out of your mouth.
'Family.' Of course, that idea had crossed his mind. But the desire is getting stronger because of what he saw today.
He had arrived when you went to the coffee shop. From the car, he saw you talking with an older man; he didn't open the car door when he saw you holding a baby in your arms.
The image of you inside the house holding the baby. Their tiny hands touch your cheeks. And then you greet him with 'Good morning.'
He decided not to join your conversation and stay in the car. Looking at you holding the baby gave him a feeling of joy.
"Do you remember my confession?"
"Yeah."
You met his scorching gaze, and he smiled.
"The confession means I want to spend the rest of my life with you, sleep with you, have sex with you."
You remained frozen but still looking at Lloyd's gleamed eyes.
"It also means I want to get you pregnant, build a family with you."
Your heart began to race wildly inside your chest. Hearing his confession once again sounds completely different now.
Because you want to have the same goal as him.
It was dark inside the room, but Lloyd could feel your heartbeat.
"Tell me what I want to hear Y/N."
"I love you too Lloyd. I'll give you my everything."
Lloyd pulled you into his arms again, almost squeezing you. He finally found the answer.
The next morning.
The sounds of the alarm make both of you wake up together.
You grab your phone and see the notification that tells you the schedule for today. When you wanted to leave the bed, your waist suddenly got held.
"Don't go." Lloyd grumbled on your back while his eyes were still closed.
"I'm meeting the PM today. I can't miss it." Your finger tickled behind his ears. That's the sensitive part of his body. The technique makes you free from his hold. You immediately ran to the bathroom.
Lloyd growled while his hand ran through his face. He hates it when the quality time with you gets disrupted.
'RING.' He silently cursed; another interruption kept coming. He picked up his phone, turned out it was from Carmichael.
"Lloyd."
"Yeah?"
"I know you have plans to get rid of Thomas. But I suggest you don't."
"Give me one reason."
"Hermes."
Lloyd's breath hitched when he heard that name. Before he met you, he'd been searching for this weapon dealer called Hermes.
"The agency has been looking for this person for a long time. When you were looking for Thomas' flight schedule it's the same with Hermes everytime he made a deal and the description also matched."
So the agency finally got the answer. Thomas Kimberley is Hermes. He is hiding in plain sight using his famous status. No one would think a charities photographer was also a dangerous weapon dealer.
"You were right. He's not a good guy. But,-"
"What?"
"He seems pretty close with your wife."
Lloyd clenched his fist. “Don’t say anything that makes me want to kill you.”
Carmichael was silent for a while until he said “Be friends with him and make Hermes the agency's asset.”
A/N: Wow, Carmichael is heartless towards his friend, does he? What will Lloyd go to do? Is he going to help his friend or not?
Wait for the next chapter.
If you want to be tagged in the series, you can tell me from the comment. 💓💓💓
And if you have any questions or want to send any prompts and drabble, you could send them to my inbox. I'll be happy to answer.
This chapter is from Lloyd Hansen's Series - 3 Billion Divorce.
Check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5,-
And check out my other stories from Masterlist.
Taglist:
@motivation-idontknowher
@evansce1
@chibijusstuff
@jasminxts
@alchemxx
@imsolatetothegame
@thorinmistress
@bree-lyrie
@another-tblr-fangirl
@buckysteveloki-me
@cherrybubblebullet
@supraveng
@avery-1999
@ridingthehotmessexpress
@hoely-maria
@katymae12344
@g-c-e
@rookiemartin
@my-regrets
@openup-yourmind
@magnificentsaladllama
@patzammit
@krissy25
@stressed-out-gisele
@eralen
@readingislife
@ara-theo
@rebeccapineapple
@spikeluv84
@sebsgirl71479
#lloyd hansen x fic#lloyd hansen x you#lloyd hansen x reader#lloyd hansen#lloyd hansen x fem!reader#soft!dark lloyd hansen imagine#soft!dark lloyd hansen x y/n#soft!dark lloyd hansen x reader#soft!dark lloyd hansen#chris evans characters#chris evans x y/n#chris evans x reader#the grey man#3billiondivorce
194 notes
·
View notes
Note
mimi congrats on 500 <3, sending this for your event!!! (1) ship pretty pls :3 i listen to everything? mostly fall out boy, joji and the cure <3 i am a graphic designer. kinda hate dessert but i am addicted to energy drinks HEH. i love traveling to big cities! so very anti beach ❌. i’m lowkey introverted but very very extroverted online 😭 HEDJSIFKS dream date???? museums!!! very very into staying in but not against to going out? i’m very passionate about the things i like? but kinda sensitive to every other thing HEHEHE tysm! congrats again!
awi!! omg omg omg hi sweets!! tysm for sending this in - I'm so excited to do it for youuuu! (I got your other request about the nsfw bit dw)
happy reading!
mimi 🤍
MAX VERSTAPPEN ᝰ.ᐟ₊ ⊹
- calls you schat or liefje
- has an obsession with your legs. loves having them in his lap when you're cuddling or wrapped around his waist
- his love language is physical touch! he's a man of few words so it's small touches like a hand on your back or a quick kiss to your hand that let you know he's there and how he feels
- max will do anything for you and he cannot help but spoil you. you barely have to mention something once before he's driving to the store or ordering it online for you. nothing is too big or too small for him to get for you.
max's music taste is... limited? so anytime you're driving anywhere, he's more than happy for you to have aux! he loves discovering new artists through you and with you and anytime you make him a playlist he always listens to it pre-race. of course he has to let everyone know that his amazing love made it for him. to which they usually reply "we know max, we heard the first time." (really they think it's sweet that he's so dopey for you)
he literally supplies you with all the redbull you could ever want! sometimes he 'jokes' that you're only with him for that reason but a quick kiss to his cheek has him blushing and flustered and the thought has left his head. speaking of blushing and flustered, max loves when you play dangerous games with him. sliding your hand higher and higher up his thigh at dinner before sneaking off to the bathroom with him.
max is obsessed with watching you come apart underneath him and he puts as much determination and passion into making you cum for him as he does into his driving. he loves how fucked out you look and he can't get enough of gently holding your throat and telling you to open before spitting, relishing in the way he feels you swallow under his hand.
he also can't get enough of watching you in the mirror. bending you over the sink, putting you on your hands and knees on the bed, bending you over against the hallway wall; anywhere there's a mirror, max is sliding into you from behind and whispering filth into your ear as his hips roll into yours.
he loves jetting off to city breaks for the weekend with you when he can; new york, paris, seoul, budapest, prague, tokyo, florence, krakow, chicago, seville, nice; your passport is full of stamps and stickers from your trips with him. you've started a scrapbook together with a postcard and a polaroid of the two of you in every city you've been to!
he loves taking you to various art galleries and museums in the countries and cities you visit and he's become surprisingly good at being an instagram bf and taking aesthetic pictures of you in galleries and exhibits. max loves watching you as you look around, the way your face scrunches when you're focusing, the way your lips move as you read the placards, the way you excitedly tell him all you know or you've read about the exhibit and the way you're moved by the things you see.
cosy date nights are a must with him whenever he's home and most nights (whether wild nights out or dinner dates at home) end with you cuddled into his side on the couch and the cats on his lap. it's his ideal evening and he won't tell you yet but he plans on hopefully making it a permanent fixture in his life soon.
max loves your passion for life and your passion and drive for the things you love, even if he doesn't love them in the same way or understand them. he learns so many new things through you and with you. he loves the way that you light up his life and make him feel warm. max swears he could never win another race for his whole career and he'd still get that world champion feeling just by looking into your eyes.
"schat, what do you think about going to paris next weekend?" max asks. you giggle and look at him leaning against the bedroom door frame as you lie on the bed, with jimmy curled up on top of your feet and sassy cuddled into your side,
"max!" you point at the still half-unpacked suitcases at the foot of the bed, "we just got back from prague!" he shrugs, seemingly un-phased by your argument,
"your point is?"
"we can't go away again! what about the cats?"
max sighs and crosses the room to plop down onto the bed next to you, sassy glaring at him as he accidentally shifts her from her cosy spot at your side, you stroke her back absentmindedly as she takes up a new spot on your stomach,
"we can ask lando to cat-sit!" you roll your eyes with a smile, max is grinning like a child,
"you've already booked the tickets haven't you?"
"nooooo..."
"max."
"maybe..."
"baby!" he pouts at you and you can't help the way you laugh, leaning to kiss his cheek,
"you're trouble, you know that?" he gently pushes sassy and jimmy out of the way and they almost huff at him before stalking out of the room as he rolls on top of you, pressing a dangerous kiss to your neck,
"you love that I'm trouble liefje..."
#mimi's 500 celebration ₊˚⊹ ᥫ᭡#mimi.writes#mimi.thirsts#f1 x reader#max verstappen x reader#awi#omg you need to pick an emojiiiiI!!
53 notes
·
View notes
Text
Nace Jordan on the cover of Slovenian tabloid Lady (22 February 2023)
Nace Jordan from the band Joker Out
"They even impressed grandma Marija"
Nace Jordan is not a new name on the Slovenian music scene, as his bass guitar can be heard in many songs by various music artists, and we also spent some time with him on the entertainment show 'V Petek Zvečer' (On Friday Night). But he, of course, is having the time of his life since he became an indispensable member of the hottest music band in Slovenia at the moment, our Eurovision representatives, Joker Out.
"The rest of the guys tell me that I can just chill and be happy because I joined them now when they're having the best of times," says Nace Jordan, who can't hide his excitement about becoming a member of Joker Out. "I'm very positive by nature and I find something good in everything, and coming into the band is definitely one of the best things that has happened to me." He also feels a little troubled about it, though. "What if someone says that now that Nace has come into the group, it's going downhill. You never know, that's just how I think," he says self-critically, but he has nothing to fear. Bojan Cvjetičanin, the singer of the group, knew who he was calling when he invited him for a coffee. "Having jumped into some bands before as a substitute, I knew it could be very difficult. Especially if there are some disagreements in the band. So I first asked Bojan if they had had a fight. And him confirming to me that they didn't was the decisive factor that made me accept the invitation," says the 28-year-old from Kranj.
Caption 1: Nace Jordan is the newest and the oldest member of the band Joker Out.
From dreams to reality
Nace joined the band with a wealth of musical experience, as the description of his work states that he is a musician, bassist and producer. But he started -like most young people- with the dream of becoming a singer. "I loved to sing when I was little and I always said I would be a singer when I grew up. Then my cousin, Miha Zore, also a musician, inspired me to pick up the guitar for the first time.
At home, they didn't want to buy it for him because they were convinced that his first enthusiasm would soon pass. Then he found his mother's old guitar at his grandmother's house, and he practised so hard that his parents relented. However, he switched to bass guitar quite early on, because he realised that there was a shortage of bass guitarists in this country. He says he is self-taught, but he has had some very good mentors, including Primož Grašič, Matej Hotek and Englishman Scott Devine, who has one of the biggest bassist schools on YouTube today. There are also his musical friends Denis Beganović - Kiki, a renowned multi-instrumentalist from the Primorska region, who played with Magnifico for a long time, and his drummer colleagues David Morgan, who plays with Avtomobili, and Anže Langus, who he says believed in him, supported him and opened many doors for him. "I'm grateful to all of them for passing on their knowledge and encouraging me," he says modestly, adding that he also had a hand in writing down the tunes. "That's why they call me a musical jukebox. I am lucky that I learn a tune quickly and remember it quickly. Today, for example, I still know all 200 songs, including quite a few German shlager songs, that I played on a cruise ship one summer, by heart."
Nace earned his first real money from music when he went to play on a cruise ship at the age of 18. "At a jam session in Kranj, I met musicians who told me about working on the ship. I auditioned and was selected. We then cruised the Baltic with Maja Založnik and others and played," he says, easily recalling those days. It is much harder when he has to remember all the musicians he later worked with as a bassist. "I have fond memories of working with Katarina Mala. I loved playing with Samuel Lucas and his band. I accompanied Nina Pušlar a few times. I consider it an honour to have worked with Elda Viler. And I could go on and on." But he prefers to stop, because he really doesn't want to forget anyone, and he admits that he will miss his musical friends from V petek zvečer (On Friday Night), with whom he had a great time for two years. He is now saying goodbye to them, as he would not be able to bear being on two ends at the same time. At the same time as saying goodbye to the show, he is also saying goodbye to the hat that has been his trademark for many years. "I put that hat on my head for the first time in 2013 and people liked it so much that they kept asking me about it. Then it started annoying me because I realised that people thought I was bald. So I took it off, because I have a fine haircut," he explains with a laugh, running his fingers through his hair.
Caption 2: "The real passion is not the music, it's the people you make it with, play it with. And that's what I've got now," says the satisfied Kranj inhabitant. PHOTO: Primož Lavre
Night jogging
As befits a true Gorenjska inhabitant, Nace also likes to ski, but this winter that is not an option. "Just recently, Bojan and I, who is a keen snowboarder like me, were talking about how good it would be to go skiing. But we really can't afford it this year, because it would be unwise to get injured before Eurovision," he says. He still has some sporting activities to do despite Eurovision. "Apart from skiing, I really like swimming, badminton and running. The latter is still the one I do the most, but I'm probably the funniest runner in the world. I'm the slowest and the latest. I like to run between 11 p.m. and midnight. This stayed with me from the days when I was much heavier, and I felt awkward running in the daytime. But I really enjoy running," he admits. Since he's sculpted his physique, he also enjoys looking in the mirror. Nace finds it easy to talk about the period when he was chubby, but he prefers to explain that he feels much better since he started to pay attention to his diet due to health problems. "When I started to watch what I ate, the weight just melted off. I found a lot of useful things online and I've put together a lunch menu of seven dishes that I really like." Nace mostly cooks for himself, but he is also very grateful to his mother Darja for helping him now that he is busy. Even though they have not always been enthusiastic about his musical pursuits, his family has always been there for him. "I listened to them for a long time, wondering 'When will our Nace find a job?', but now I know they are happy for me. They see that I enjoy what I do, that it's such a big part of me that I can't do without it. And just the other day at lunch, my grandmother Marija said: 'Well, now we're going to have a celebrity in the family too?'" he tells, laughing.
Caption 3: He enjoys being on stage because he is always 100% ready to perform.
Article by: Simona Dakič Nemanič
Scans and translation by: @kurooscoffee
119 notes
·
View notes
Text
Channeled Messages - Traits Of Your Soulmate!
Piles:
1-2-3
4-5-6
Disclaimer:
this is a general message so not all that is mentioned may apply to you/your person, take what resonates!
. ♡ ° . . • . ♡ ° pile one
I feel like your soulmate is someone from your past. This doesn't only apply to your current waking life, this may be someone you know from a past life or someone from the dream realm. Your soulmate has the most angelic energy. They bring peace wherever they go. I'm getting the message that some of you who picked this pile may work with the Greek God Apollo or are interested in astral travel or shifting. Your person has a bright yellow aura. I also feel that your person may be into foreign music or they may be a polyglot!
rainy, dazed, free, child, ship, sail, ghosts, young, journal, kite, fromis_9, love, sleepy, frog, turtleneck, president, frame, glasses, brick, country, india, tulum, minneapolis, highway, plus, notes, music, sticky, gold, ice cream, wales, four leaf clover
. ♡ ° . . • . ♡ °pile two
I feel like like your soulmate is the physical version of a chai latte! I know that may sound weird but they have a calming, magnetic, cozy energy. They may wear beige often. I also feel like your soulmate is very clumsy, I'm seeing ink bottles spilled on paper. This person is also a huge animal lover! They may have a pet turtle or a pet named turtle. I also think that this person looooooves pasta so much that they literally eat it multiple times a week.
whales, plaid, plisse, open, knit, wool, maple, orange tabby cat, kristen, california, brazil, pierce, slay, jumping, airplane, drives, dust, flowers, sushi, kintsugi, novels, poetry, virgina woolf, museum, kryptonite
. ♡ ° . . • . ♡ °pile three
I feel like your person loves the snow. As a kid they may have wanted to be in the winter olympics. This person is super outgoing but they may use their outgoing personality as a shield. They may really like sonny angel toys and may have a large collection of them! This person could also love watching daily vlogs or healing vlogs. They're also very studious and math may be one of their favorite subjects!
cloudy, snow, peace, green, jumbo, lights, blink, rose, waste, glasses, vision, braid, mosquitoes, mountains, sled, porsche, nantucket, lima, yellow, surfing, corners, ikea, polka dot, grapes, beabadoobee, posie
. ♡ ° . . • . ♡ °pile four
I'm immediately feeling that this person loves the color pink. They may have or may have had multiple cats. Some people may judge this person because outwardly they may look immature but they actually have so much depth and are extremely intelligent! This person may use really sweet, sugary perfumes similar to sweet like candy by ariana grande. I'm also seeing that this person is an avid gamer and may really like dungeons and dragons or street fighter!
stuffed animals, suede, long, juice, stay, socks, nothing, frost, yes, dungeon, prom, violets, fraises, france, ghost, garden, keep, lock, race, seaside, tyler, chrome, seasons, popcorn, like or like like, lovely, music, chasing
. ♡ ° . . • . ♡ °pile five
Your person has total Rory Gilmore vibes regardless of their gender. They may wear striped long sleeve shirts and flare jeans a lot. They also really like the marauders from harry potter. Their favorite food is soup, more specifically clam chowder? This person loves going to concerts/movies and they may keep their concert/movie tickets pasted in a red journal.
pancakes, sociable, snakes, ring, right, map, facing, dress, horse, turkey, love, tidal, cross, breathe, mantra, west, vibes, running, salon, juniper, resting, also, miso, yogurt, chambers, register, wash, above, charlie, tiger
. ♡ ° . . • . ♡ °pile six
Your person loves taking selfies lol. They are always taking pictures and they may even be an influencer. I'm also feeling that they love having quiet time, they find being alone and being quiet so relaxing. This person may collect vintage items and may have a vintage scarf that they tie to their bag. This person also really loves brownies lol. They have a very calming presence and they'll help you learn how to reflect inwardly!
holding, four, poles, moist, jungle, ranch, halsey, notion, falling, number, erase, data, samsung, princess, quality, cyan, random, coarse, hiding, shiba, lemon, pricy, bait, madison, wisconsin, logic, bread, pumpkin, lavender
If you enjoyed this reading please reblog!
#pick a pile#pick a card#channeled message#love reading#tarot reading#pick a picture#future spouse#pick a pile reading#pick a card reading#tarot community#general tarot reading#pac reading
555 notes
·
View notes
Text
The first episode of The Americans is one of the most perfect episodes of TV I've ever watched from a my-kinks perspective. CW: rape, and brief sexual harassment of a minor.
Non spoilery burbling followed by spoilery burbling (again, just for the first episode, which is 40m long)
NON SPOILERY
The main characters are a married couple of KGB spies who have been in deep cover as normal Americans for almost two decades. They have two preteen kids who have no idea.
They are both phenomenally competent – a lot of my pleasure lies in just watching them work.
He's acclimated to his life and feels the pull of the life he's playacting – he's a goofball dad, more naturally affectionate with his kids, more drawn to American prosperity. A new mall opens up and he mentions to his wife, on the way there with his kids, that it has "fountains and skylights". I love that line – so unimportant, but she'd never say it.
She's the fanatic. She idealizes the Soviet way and despises Americans for their weakness in comparison, but it's also been decades since she was in the country. It seems that, even before she left, she was so immersed in her harsh training program during her formative years that she lost touch with what normal Soviets were like.
He's in love with her but not so much the other way around, and watching him try to love her is like watching someone trying to grab a knife by the sharp end.
They can only be mostly open with each other. A cult of two. And even then – because they were told not to share their pre-spy lives with each other, to make it easier to keep their cover stories straight – they don't even know each other's birth names until the end of episode 1.
SPOILERY
Oh my gosh. So. I'm really into how he's in love with her and how emotionally unsafe she is to love because of who she is.
He listens to a tape of her seducing a CIA guy and the unhappy microexpressions rippling on his face as he listens to it – amazing! You just know she's never been expressive with him during sex, because it wasn't necessary for the job.
At another point he comes home and starts kissing the back of her neck in the kitchen, and her expression tightens as he ignores her stop words, and she whirls on him with a knife. He says, "You're my wife." She replies, "Is that right," and her eyes say: that means nothing to me.
And of course –
The guy they're keeping in their trunk, a Soviet defector they kidnapped, is a colonel who raped her in her cadet days. She's cracking under her desire for revenge, arguing for killing him immediately (rather than waiting out the American scrutiny on every train station / port, and shipping him back to the motherland), and not saying a word about her personal reasons. When it comes out – because the colonel, tired and expressionless, apologizes after she beats the shit out of him – her husband veers on a dime from planning to return the colonel to American hands and defecting himself, to choking the colonel to death in the garage.
They dispose of the corpse together and fuck in the car. I find this unbearably romantic. Especially because... (1) the intimacy is genuine, her loyalties really do shift closer to him (she lies to her superior about his loyalty for the first time), but (2) sleeping with him at this junction is also the strategically optimal for her to be doing to manage him. She cares about him, unlike the other men she manages with sex, but he is in fact in that category for her.
There's no way he doesn't know that, but he loves her anyway, and maybe even admires her for it. He's so fucked.
#rambl#the americans#if my read of the vibe is wrong don't tell me#i'd like to find out for myself as i keep watching
158 notes
·
View notes
Note
Hi there! I was wondering what your thoughts are on ACD Watson's wives. First of all, I know nothing about the marriage traditions or laws in Victorian England but it seems weird to me that he kept remarrying because I guess his wives kept passing away? I mean he didn't/couldn't divorce them back them, right?
He didn't do very well with his private practice from what I've gathered. How come he could afford remarrying all the time. Also in my culture (East Asian), if a person's spouses kept dying, the matchmaker would refuse service because that person would be considered a curse.
Thank you and have a great day!
Hi!
Your questions are pretty interesting. As a South-East Asian, I can understand how people would frown at the person whose spouses kept passing away. There must be quite a few similarities in our cultures, even if we're not from the same country/region.
1.) A simple, detached answer would be that Arthur Conan Doyle was not the best person when it came to keeping his stories consistent, especially on the character-related details.
He might've wanted to tell us that Watson got married, but probably he didn't want Watson's marriage to keep him from assisting Holmes with his cases, and that's why everything about Watson's married life and wives is so skewed.
He wasn't even consistent about the location of Watson's gunshot wound in A Study in Scarlet. Initially, Watson was shot in the subclavian artery of the left side. But on the next page, the wound location has been shifted to his leg? This is just one of the many examples of Doyle's inconsistencies in his stories.
Maybe he didn't check that Mary Morstan had died sometime during one of his stories. Anything is possible.
2.) Another version of the answer (which is heavily filled with Holmes/Watson shipping): Watson was an unreliable narrator and didn't want any unwanted attention of the general public drawn towards the nature of the relationship he had with Sherlock Holmes. That's why Watson was so inconsistent in the stories that he published in The Strand magazine. I believe there's a reason Watson describes Holmes as cold and calculating at some points, but goes on to describe the incidents where Holmes was undoubtedly kind to someone at other points of the stories. I even wrote a meta about it here .
The fanon version is that Watson wanted to avoid the risk of being arrested on the grounds of gross indecency, and so he made up a wife - or even several wives - to cover it up.
I mostly agree with this theory, because otherwise, Watson (who's married by the timeline of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes) going away with Holmes to Switzerland, and even sharing a room with him would be pretty weird and not exactly plausible, I don't think his first wife, Mary Morstan, is an imaginary character. But it's very much possible that her marriage to Watson was just a ruse to hide from the prying eyes of the public.
If we strictly talk about canon, then Watson marries Mary Morstan in The Sign of the Four, then she probably passes away by the time of The Return of Sherlock Holmes short-story collection (the jury is still out on that one - again, because of Doyle's inconsistencies), then Watson starts living with Holmes again as a bachelor for a long time. Then by the time of Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, his wife is brought up again.
Either it was another case of Doyle's inconsistencies, or Watson remarried sometime off-stage. (Though I think Doyle would've at least made a passing reference to Watson's remarriage, him being the POV character in most of the stories and all... idk.)
From what I've gathered after reading all the stories, Watson seemed to have only two wives at different points of time. Mary Morstan and another unnamed one in Casebook.
From the first-hand experience of reading those stories, I don't think Watson having multiple wives is a canonical thing. That's also a part of fan-interpretation. It's because the physical description of Watson's wife/ wives kept changing every time she was mentioned in any stories because of the lack of consistency in the whole narration. That's how it seemed to me when I read the stories. Though I've gone through them all only once, which means I could be wrong about this bit of detail in particular.
Still, Watson didn't seem to have numerous wives in canon to me. Just two.
And yes, you're right. Watson wasn't well-off even with his private practice. The fact that he was able to afford to remarry so many times (if he ever did) is quite odd.
Then there comes the social stigma behind divorce/remarriage. I'm not that familiar with the marriage traditions in Victorian England either, but I don't think people worldwide were so free and open-minded about the topic of divorce in general. Things have advanced in Western countries nowadays, but the social aspect of all this must have been quite different in the Victorian era. So, you're right about that thing too.
Tl;dr: There is no specific answer to your question, because the author of the original stories didn't bother to keep his details intact. They kept changing in canon, so you're free to believe whatever you want to. Because, as you said, the fact that Watson keeps remarrying all the time doesn't add up with his financial condition along with the societal conditions in that era.
So, everything is just open for interpretation here.
I personally believe that Watson only had one wife - Mary Morstan - whom he had a lavender marriage with (a fake marriage for the sake of society). I know this isn't canonical either, but what actually is canonical - well, nobody has a definite answer to that question.
I hope you find my answer satisfactory, because your ask was rather interesting.
Thanks.
#asks#anonymous#acd canon#john watson#holmes/watson#sherlock holmes#acd johnlock#the mysterious case of Watson's wives#Doyle's inconsistencies#arthur conan doyle#canonical discussion#meta#sort of#johnlock
62 notes
·
View notes
Text
Hi, I'm Twilla and I'm currently in the process of writing a ShigaDeku Dystopia/Soulmate AU fic that no one, and I mean literally NO ONE, asked for! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Why do I always join fandoms late and why do I always somehow end up loving/shipping the rarepairs in fandoms that barely anyone likes or wants to read about lmao? 🥺👉👈
I just finished reading the latest manga chapter, watched all six seasons, and binged all three movies. I am absolutely BURSTING with ideas of where I want this story to go. I want to at least post the first chapter by the time ShigaDeku Week 2024 is here next month. :)
In my fic timeline, the MHA canon story line doesn't happen until Class 1-A's third year, and since my story is set six years after their graduation, most of the main characters are in their mid to late twenties. My story starts after the Quirk Affliction, a strange illness that begins killing off Quirk-users all around to world, resulting in a massive a death toll that causes civilized society to collapse.
Anyways, here's the general synopsis:
The Final War was over before it had even begun. With the onset of the Quirk Affliction, a mysterious illness that disproportionately targeted the Quirks of heroes over the Quirks of villains, the world was left defenseless as it plunged into a new era of chaos and devastation.
It’s been six years since the onset of the Affliction and the death of All Might. Six years since the world’s heroes, and the society they desperately fought to protect, crumbled into dust in Shigaraki Tomura’s hands.
From the ashes of this destruction, Japan’s new regime was born. The country was split into three territories, each with its own Grand Commander, united in nothing save for one singular rule: life for those who submit, and death for those who do not.
As Grand Commander of the largest and most plentiful of Japan’s territories, Shigaraki has lived the last six years reaping the fruits of his labors and taking pride in helping his Sensei accomplish his dream. But as of late, Tomura has been having strange dreams of his own: hazy memories of an abandoned park, of blooming wisteria trees, of laughter and freckles and forest green eyes.
Midoriya Izuku, now Quirkless due to the Affliction, has not stopped his pursuit of helping others, despite the world — and everything in it — turning itself upside down. Izuku dreams of a brighter future, and strangely enough, dreams of his long-lost childhood friend, Shimura Tenko.
The same Tenko that Izuku had unknowingly befriended as a young boy. The same Tenko who’d stopped him from jumping off the rooftop all those years ago. The same Tenko that, Izuku realized with horror, was now the monster known as Shigaraki Tomura.
Unfortunately, Izuku learns all too late that having a Soulbond with the King of Villains comes with a heavy cost. Shigaraki seems hell-bent on keeping Izuku as close to him as possible, believing Izuku to be his Soulmate, and thus, Shigaraki’s only true weakness, stirring up an ill-fated romance that neither has prepared themselves for.
As a new calamity encroaches upon them in the form of a mad man attempting to become a god, the heroes and villains must find a way to work together and solve the mystery of the Affliction before it destroys the world and everything they hold dear.
✨ P l e a s e ✨ let me know if you're interested in hearing about this by either, liking, reblogging, or sending me a PM. I'm working really hard to get the first chapter of this out by ShigaDeku Week 2024 in May!
Thank you so much for reading. 💚💚💚
#shigadeku#tomudeku#shigaizu#vigilante deku#mha fanfiction#shigadeku fanfiction#tomudeku fanfiction#shimura tenko fanfiction#midoriya izuku fanfiction#mha rarepairs#shigaraki tomura fanfiction#league of villains#league of villains fanfiction#shigadeku ao3#bnha fanfiction#mha ao3#bnha ao3#shigadeku week 2024#shigadeku week#mha soulmates#mha vigilantes#twilla speaks
16 notes
·
View notes
Text
HELLO!!!
Welcome to my comic! I hope you enjoy reading it!!!
Updates are whenever I have finished drawing a page. (I don’t want to make a schedule for myself or I’ll get put off…)
START
CHAPTER 1 - WORLD TO WEST
CHAPTER 2 - COWBOY 101
v Read here for disclaimers, warnings & maps/locations v
DISCLAIMERS:
✰ - Nothing much of this is based off of real-life events; the most real-world aspect of this story is the countries being named the same as they are IRL. Otherwise, any place/event/character name that may sound like something IRL is either a coincidence or a reference.
✰ - Similarly, if a character or a part of the storyline reminds you of another piece of media: Please don’t tell me… Most likely it’s intentional or I had no clue.
✰ - If you want to draw fanart, GO AHEAD!!! Just be normal about it. If you have questions on things such as shipping characters together/relationships between characters, ask me over on my main @nightshadowhawk .
✰ - Lastly, I have never made a comic like this before… I am learning, hopefully I’ll improve over time. 😁
———
WARNINGS:
(16+ recommended reading age)
✰ - Violence / Injury
✰ - Blood / Gore
✰ - Character death / Animal death
✰ - Mature themes 😯
✰ - Language
✰ - Alcohol
✰ - Weapons
(I will tag / warn when some of these themes are included in a page)
———
MAPS OF MAIN LOCATIONS:
———
That should be all…! Any questions for me or even the characters themselves ask @nightshadowhawk ! 😁
29 notes
·
View notes
Note
''JK devouring Tae with his eyes and jkkrs be like "wow the sexual tension between JK and JM here." ''
Perfect example of people choosing to believe their own perception of people's actions over the things people actually say.
The fact that people watched this Live with subtitles and came out thinking " yes taekook is real" really baffles me. Some of you really come on here and prove everyday that the only experience of relationships you have are from movies, novels and fanfic because trust me, couples in real life don't act like that at all.
Cuz wdym "jk devouring tae with his eyes"???? The sexual tension was so hot with taekook that it was Jimin's door JK was going to knock at 1am? Jk just couldn't keep his eyes off Tae and that is why he visited Jimin's hotel room 3 times a day? Tae and JK are just so used to being with each other and that is why Tae went to jimin's room and thought it was Jk's because it was Jk who opened the door and greeted him?
if Jk was devouring Tae with his eyes i guess JK and MIngyu finished their 2 minutes live fast so they could go tear the clothes off each other's backs cuz damn!!!! did u see the way JK was staring at mingyu while licking his lips? Plus that was the same night Tae came into the country from one of his paris trips and Jk sure has a funny way of showing his attraction for tae because we only see in his eyes how he wants to "devour" tae but we are seeing him with Mingyu the day his boyfriend gets back into town from a trip or we are hearing that he is knocking on Jimin's door at 1:50am to get in a there doing nothing for about 4 hours at a time.
We only see how "attracted"Jk is to tae when he constantly calls him handsome but when the staff hide cameras in the boys hotel rooms without telling them to catch a candid reaction, we see tae getting into his hotel room alone and see Jk and JM getting into Jk's room together and panicking at the door when they notice cameras.
Jk is so attracted to Tae and is so down to devour him that when he shares a room with him, he chooses to go spend every night in jimin and jhope's room (according to Jimin and jhope) to the point that he becomes an unofficial member of the room and they even form their unit name 3J.
Jk is so ready to "devour" tae that he is seen "hiding" in a dark corner at Jhope's JITB party with Jimin, with his hand over Jimin's while his boyfriend is on the dance floor.
Y'all always screaming "sexual tension" or "jk is devouring tae with his eyes' but every two business days we see or hear of Jk spending most of his nights with other people. Even in chapter two where taekook were "free" they still couldn't take their time to physically release that "sexual tension". they go snowboarding and have a good chance to stay back just the two of them and release the tension but one of them chooses to go back home with friends, they attend a musical and have the chance to keep each other warm that night or keep each other company, yet Jk goes home to start a Live and fall asleep on Live. They attend a premiere and even have drinks after and naturally, you would think after such a fun night out with friends and some alcohol in their system, they would want to, you know....release some of that pent up tension but we have Jk going back to his apartment and starting a Live all alone while Tae is passed out drunk in his apartment. He couldn't even stay back to take care of his drunk boyfriend or cuddle him to sleep. he choose to seek company from millions of fans on the internet.
On couple holidays or birthdays when you would expect that they will spend time together giving each other "gifts", you hear " did V come?' "V hyung didn't come", or " even though we are all in the same group, during all our days off i only saw Jimin hyung and Hobi Hyung" or you hear that JK was with Jimin at 4am on his birthday. Even in chapter two after all the hangouts your ship couldn't even make time to be together on one of the days when u would expect couples to be together. We had Jk going Live for about 5 hours all alone on white day even though his "boyfriend" was in the same damn country.
He is so wanting to "devour" tae that he wakes up in the morning at 8 am, starts a live and when his bandmate comments, he starts inviting himself to his house and asking said bandmate to let him come over for a live and a shower later. one would think that because of the obvious "attraction" between Jk and Tae, they are the ones we would have "caught" getting into a hotel room together, or "hiding" in dark corners at parties with hands touching, at parties, or hearing that tae's door was the one that Jk went to knock at 1am, or we should have atleast heard that when Tae and Jk finally got to be roomies, Jk would sleep in their room everynight, but nooooooo, my guy was still going to sleep in Jimin and jhope's room even though his was literally roomies with his boyfriend.
At the very least, we should have atleast heard that Tae was the one he was drinking late at night with and ended up with a bruise on an erogenous part of his body but noooooo, it wasn't.
Seems like this "attraction" is only alive in theory because Jk has a very funny way of showing it.
Continue believing the voices in your heads and your own perception of things instead of using your tiny brains to think. You hear that Jk literally is almost always in another member's room at ungodly hours, instead of snuggling with his boyfriend and u are talking about Jk wanting to devour someone who has told us more than once that at some ungodly hour of the night, Jk was hogging Jimin all to himself and not letting Jimin go to him.
Talking about "looking at the bigger picture" but there is evidence of your ship spending birthdays and couple holidays with everyone but each other. Talking about "it is everything we have noticed about them over the years" but it is Jk knocking obsessively visiting another member's hotel room and his so called boyfriend not even knowing his room.
According to you people Tae is annoyed or jealous about Jk talking with his friends or about jimin pinching Jk's thigh but the same Jk sat there and was ok with Jimin telling him and everyone else how his "boyfriend' was basically obsessed with his room and comes there more often than mangers and even comes at 1:50am. i can imagine tae fast asleep and Jk sneaking out to go knock Jimin's door at 1am to get in there doing "nothing". The fact that taekookers know how walk forward and not backwards really amazes me because you lot really are the most delusional bunch of shippers the world has ever known.
Shut it down, TKKrs. I've never heard any of these arguments before. Compelling!
Converting to a Jikook account in three, two, one...
17 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
k4nao
zombiezzan
lethalhedgehogs
Pokloni i svasta nesto
skater314159
My Random Mind
dirkstridersuggestion
ocean man
scientificapricot
When The Sun Shines It Will Shine Out The Clearer