#Halo effect | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

facingthenorthwind · 7 months

Text

So while reading Halo Effect, I naturally became obsessed with the one (1) Jewish character who turns up twice, one as a brief mention and one to write a single letter. Because I am extremely normal, I am writing a fic about him. Technically I've only written the first half (the second half is Peter and Thomas meeting up with him), but it's self-contained. It's been written for literal years, so I figure I should at least post it on tumblr. I hope you enjoy it, @alex51324!! (Also I haven't Yiddishised the Hebrew yet because I only know the standard pronunciation but I'm going to get someone to do it before I post it on AO3.) Hopefully this is comprehensible to non-Jews?? Please let me know if not.

Is it breaking a mitzvah if I say mourner's kaddish for someone who might not be mourned otherwise without a minyan? At most, there's a Green who has a J on his identity disc on one of the wards, but he's currently on so much morphine I don't think he'd remember the words, Issac wrote to his father once he finally got back to his unit. Honestly, he didn't much care what his father wrote back — if God didn't like him saying kaddish for Fitz, God could come down here and tell him what alternative he had. He asked his father to send a candle so he could light it for Fitz, but crossed it out and asked him for ten candles. Fitz may have been the first, but he sure as hell wouldn't be the last.

The news of Fitz’s death had preceded Issac’s return, but nobody had touched Fitz’s belongings yet. Cruelly, the most essential things, the things that meant most to him, had gone down with him, but Rouse eventually laid out everything that was in Fitz’s rucksack so they could decide what they should send back to his family — well, his brother. Fitz had said he didn’t have any other family left.

They decided they’d split his cigarettes between them — Scogs tried to crack a joke about how Fitz had always been so free with his cigarettes it was almost like he wasn’t gone, but he trailed off, and no one laughed. His large collection of letters went in his rucksack, of course (he seemed to get them constantly, all from different people; sometimes he had even acted as some kind of go-between, passing on information from one letter-writer to another, as if they couldn’t just write to each other themselves). The scarf he’d worn every day from Christmas until mid-April, when even he couldn’t deny it was too hot, went in as well — Issac had always thought privately that it was fairly ugly, but then again, if he tried to knit a scarf it would probably turn out much the same.

Dawson got Fitz’s copy of Prester John out of his own pack and removed his bookmark before handing it over to Rouse. “He’s made some little notes in it,” he said. “Nothing all that interesting yet as I can see, but it doesn’t feel right to keep it.”

Rouse packed it and Scogs didn’t mention that he had been next in line to read it. One of them could write home to get another copy, probably. Issac was sure he could — he had already received several yellowbacks which he’d left in the break room once everyone had read them so they could find a new home. Fitz’s sewing kit, playing cards and the various other things he’d been sent went on top and by the time they were done there was an all-too-noticeable hole where Fitz had once slept.

It was only then that Issac noticed Rouse had gained corporal’s stripes. It made sense — Fitz needed replacing and Rouse was an obvious choice, being the smartest of the lot of them. He congratulated him, but Rouse wasn’t offended that he didn’t quite hit the right tone and his smile didn’t reach his eyes. Rouse’s didn’t, either.

When he arrived at the wards for his next shift, Captain Russell clapped him on the shoulder and gave him an extra ration of brandy. And then they just had to get on with it.

------

Fitz’s brother never replied to the letter he sent, so Issac kept saying kaddish for him past the thirty days that were traditional. He knew there were lots of reasons he might not have written — maybe it got lost, or he didn’t want to hear from Issac, or any number of perfectly innocent explanations, but as Issac watched men die day after day he couldn’t stop thinking about how if Fitz’s brother was dead, there was no one to remember Fitz as family.

He said it for eleven months, as he would for a brother — four months longer than he’d known him. About six months in, Rouse wrote to him saying that he’d been stationed with Fitz’s brother at a CCS. He was a corporal, apparently, and Rouse said he reminded him of Fitz — that they said some of the same things, though in temperament they were pretty different. The war dragged on.

He kept a list of people in his units who died as he transferred from place to place, but it quickly became clear that he couldn't light a candle for each of them. The list just kept going, a litany of names followed by the date of their death in the Gregorian and Hebrew calendars. Jerry Scoggins, 30 September 1915/22 Tishrei 5676. Billy Dawson, 2 October 1915/25 Tishrei 5676. Fred Keighery, 4 February 1916/30 Shevat 5676... It felt like keeping track of their yahrzeits was more of a motivation to note the Hebrew date than keeping the holidays, since it wasn’t like he could, not really. Even as he tried to pray every day for whatever service he had free, the words of the festival services just made him homesick, and he didn’t have any of the things you should have: matzah or his mother’s blintzes or a lulav.

He wrote to Moishe about studying the RAMC periodicals at Shavuot instead of Torah; it felt... oddly fitting. He knew, logically, that this war was man's fault and God didn't have anything to do with it, but that didn't provide any comfort when he was on death watch, sitting beside a man who gasped as he drowned on dry land. If the only control he had in this hell was giving two fingers to God, then he was going to take it.

His father sent him a machzor so he could pray Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but he got to Unetaneh Tokef and didn't even have the energy to be embarrassed when someone found him crying ten minutes later. Reciting the ways people would die in the coming year — who by water, who by fire, who by sword and who by wild beast — felt absurd when he could list just as many from who was on the wards. Who by phosgene, who by sepsis, who by bullets? And for the machzor to claim that repentance, prayer and righteousness averted the severity of the decree — that sure hadn’t fucking worked for the soldiers getting killed. It hadn’t worked for Fitz or Scoggins or Keighery or—

By the end of 1917 he could no longer go over the top, having lost his hearing in his left ear from a shell exploding too close. The letters he received detailing how his nephew he’d never met could talk in whole sentences now and how Mr Rabinowitz had fallen and broken his leg felt like missives from a world he would never return to again; how could he, when all he knew was the war?

The Armistice meant the supply of wounded slowed, but he didn’t go home — he was stationed at a general hospital, so there were still plenty of cases coming through. Even when they offered to send him home because he wasn’t regular army and they were well aware that the other corps had mostly got the wartime recruits out… he knew it was cowardly, but he accepted the offer to stay on until the RAMC left France. He couldn’t picture how he was going to fit back into the Leylands, and perhaps if he put it off long enough he’d finally work it out.

He did not.

When he finally got off the train at Leeds, it felt a little like a fairytale — he kept being shocked that he could recognise the buildings as the train came in, and it sounded the same as it had before the war. The back of his throat began to ache, though he wasn’t sure why, but before he could focus on that his mother was calling his name and hugging him. Had she been there the whole time? She gave him a kiss on the cheek and led him to everyone else — there was Shoshie, who grinned at him and then prompted the child hiding behind her legs to greet his Feter Itzik. While the nephew he’d never met hid his face in her skirt, his father embraced him with a decidedly gruff, “Son.”

And at last there was Moishe, his smile twisted by the scarring on his face. He looked like he understood the slight bewilderment that must have shown on his face. “Glad they let you go eventually,” he said, slapping him on the back. He spoke into his right ear, probably noticing that Issac had turned so he could hear the people in front of him more clearly with it.

“Yeah,” Issac said, not trusting himself to say anything else lest he start crying.

“See, he’s not scary, Dovid,” Shoshie said, having coaxed his nephew out in front of her. “Say hello.”

“Hello Feter,” he said at last. “Why don’t you have a face like Feter Moishe?”

“Dovid!” Shoshie said.

Moishe shot Issac a grin. For the first time in too long, Issac laughed.

#emma writes things #halo effect #alex51324

58 notes · View notes

blankbullet5 · 4 months

Text

Johnny Cage: Ugh, you’re even worse than Shang Tsung.

Quan Chi: (chuckles) An astute observation, earthrealmer.

Shang Tsung: (appears out of nowhere) Um, excuse me, how is he worse than me?

Quan Chi: Haha, even this weakling can see who is the superior sorcerer.

Johnny Cage: Actually, baldie, it’s not that. It’s just that Shangy here, is somewhat hot, and has that halo effect going for him. You, on the other hand are the ugliest mf I have ever seen.

Quan Chi: How dare you insult me!

Shang Tsung: (chuckles) He’s merely stating a fact. And you’re not helping yourself with that ridiculous make-up.

Quan Chi: (gasps) Are you calling my magic runes ridiculous!?

Shang Tsung: There is never a need to paint anything on your forehead, Quan Chi. Never.

Johnny Cage: Plus, that Gene Simmons look is totally old-school, and not in a cool vintage sort of way.

Quan Chi: (sniffs) Both of you insolent fools will pay for mocking me! (Releases his tentacle attack)

Johnny Cage: (terrified)

Shang Tsung: (has never been harder in his life)

#mortal kombat #quan chi #shang tsung #johnny cage #quan chi getting bullied #idk why i wrote this #mk shower thoughts #dumb #mortal kombat edit #mortal kombat1 #mk1 #halo effect

31 notes · View notes

stanford-photography · 1 month

Text

Portrait of Ursula By Jeff Stanford, 2024 Buy prints at: https://jeff-stanford.pixels.com/

#© Jeff Stanford #midjourney #midjourneyart #ai #discord #digitalart #aiart #Artists on tumblr #Ursula #woman #headdress #colorful #serene expression #gaze #vibrant #halo effect #sunlight #leaves #portrait

13 notes · View notes

nightowldelta · 7 months

Text

Moon halo, with additional celestial bodies pictured here such as:

Jupiter on the right (one of the brightest objects in our night sky)

Elnath on the left

Capella on the top left

Tau (I think, at least if I look correctly on Stellarium)

The second and third are part of the Auriga while the last is part of Taurus constellation

#Moon #Halo effect #Stars #space #constellations #Jupiter

29 notes · View notes

rastronomicals · 2 months

Photo

11:58 AM EST March 9, 2024:

Rush - "Halo Effect" From the album Clockwork Angels (June 8, 2012)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

File under: Bands that first broke in Cleveland

#Rush #Clockwork Angels #Halo Effect

4 notes · View notes

alex51324 · 8 months

Note

Hello! I figured you were the person to ask, so: do you know where I could find more info on Edwardian gender segregation laws? Like, the maids aren't allowed on the men's corridor, but what if you are a young maid who wants to visit the chauffeur's cottage because you want to ask the chauffeur's sweetheart about being gay because you are a small lesbian? Is Peter leaving the door open good enough? Would they have to find a bench somewhere on the estate gardens? Asking for spin-off fic purposes. (Also, I am sending you good vibes and will pray for you at shul.)

Hey! So, I'm not sure about sources, because a lot of this stuff wasn't written down at the time, but I'd say you're probably fine with having her visit the cottage. (I think I've had Anna visit them there, haven't I?)

First, visiting a whole separate dwelling with plenty of Stuff That Isn't Bedrooms would be generally less suspicious than going into the Corridor That Consists Entirely of Men's Bedrooms.

A key thing to remember about Victorian-to-Edwardian mores was that it was a lot more about the appearance of impropriety than what would actually, logically, give two people an opportunity to have illicit sex. Bedrooms and darkness were to be avoided at all costs, even in a house stuffed full of people; a parlor in broad daylight has an air of innocence even if the house is otherwise empty.

Second, if it's a spinoff, it's after the war, and The War Changed Things. In terms of the upper classes, chaperonage basically disappeared, and a woman calling on a man in his home during the day isn't necessarily something you would absolutely need to make sure that there's another woman present in order to do. (Although if you made a habit of it, that would be Noticed.)

For the working classes, things were even more relaxed; at this point, thanks to changes in mores and increased employment opportunities, you get people in the employers-of-servants classes complaining about how you pretty much have to allow your maids to have "followers" (boyfriends) these days, if you don't want them quitting the job after a few weeks.

Third, it is pretty much an open secret that Thomas and Peter are Like That, so that's probably going to slide them into the same category as, say, visiting the vicar or a man old enough to be your father--it doesn't really count as Visiting A Man, in the capital-letters sense.

So yeah, if they're in the front room with the curtains open, that should be fine--although if the maid makes the mistake of trying to avoid being seen going into the cottage, that would contribute to an appearance of impropriety.

There's some wiggle room to adjust it up or down depending on what you're going for--if you want it to be totally on the up-and-up, have her invent/volunteer for some errand, in the middle of the day; if you want an air of scandal, have her do a bit of lurking in the darkness (like that time canon!Thomas did outside of Anna and Bates's place).

#downton abbey #thomas barrow #halo effect

17 notes · View notes

astralbondpro · 2 months

Text

The Halo Effect // In Broken Trust

1 note · View note

bitletsanddrabbles · 1 year

Text

#downton abbey #downton abbey fanfiction #soldier's heart #halo effect #island of the gays #i mean most of these will probably happen eventually?#just curious about interest level #bah i can't make polls this morning

7 notes · View notes

ruindunburnit · 9 months

Note

Okay, so I’m re-reading “Marked”. I’ve only ever gotten up to “Burned” before I quit, and that was years ago.

I forgot how awful Zoey was about Elliot. Wouldn’t she think he was rude because he was tired, and he was tired because he was a “fridge”. Nope, he’s a “slug” and ugly, therefore bad.

I remember Stark being rude and cocky, but that was okay because he’s attractive.

You're absolutely right on this one! I've never seen a character who adheres to this Pretty Privilege Principle -- that is, an aesthetic-based Halo Effect -- so strictly as Zoey Redbird!

When I say Halo Effect, I'm referring to a cognitive bias whereby someone allows a positive or negative impression of a person to influence their judgement of that person in other areas.

As you said with Elliot, because she feels he's unattractive snd she has a negative impression, she perceives everything he does is annoying to her, and because of that, she assumes he is "bad", and ergo deserving of death. That's a major cognitive bias, especially as nothing he says or does has anything to do with her relief when he dies. When he says something homophobic to Damien, that comes *after* she made her mind up about him being bad -- it's almost as though (in a Doylian sense), the authors only wrote in this incident to justify Zoey's baseless assumption to the audience.

Meanwhile, because she has positive impressions of Stark and even Kalona as being attractive, all of their worst behaviours are excusable, and don't make them beyond redemption -- including rape.

This is coming from a series that really tries to hammer in a "beauty is on the inside" message, especially in later books with Shaylin Ruede and her visions of auras (which supposedly show what people are *really* like on the inside). Unfortunately, all it does is remind us that the authors are only capable of showing goodness as aesthetic beauty, and forgiveness as only available to the beautiful...

Which is not how I imagined I'd be reminded of the fact that the Ancient Greeks believed exactly that: that being beautiful to look at was a sign not only of favour from the gods, but of being a beautiful person on the inside as well. (An idea encapsulated by the word "Kaloskagathos", and one which may well have won a legal case, as the old story goes).

Given that the series was also trying to hammer home the message of progressive leadership and ideas while honoring ancient traditions, I'm not going to give this a point in Zoey or the authors' favours. It was a logical fallacy then, and it's a logical fallacy now.

Thanks for the ask! Please feel free to ask more!

#House of Night #Zoey Redbird #Halo Effect #cognitive bias #logical fallacy #Theories and Headcanons

4 notes · View notes