#and it’s also okay to speak about things in some spheres and not others
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You know what?
I get it, ok? I understand the concept of Rhysand being a morally grey character. I understand that SJM wanted him to be an anti-hero of sorts. I would be totally okay with him doing everything that he did and standing by his actions if he simply said “The only thing that concerns me is myself, my circle and my people. I’m here to protect my interests first and everything else second. I am no hero, I am just someone who puts himself and his sphere first. I am a selfish person and I’m totally okay with that. I do not need anyone’s approval.” I still wouldn’t be his biggest fan, because I do not tend to admire self serving people, but I would totally understand him. In fact, I might have done the same thing. I guess you can never know for sure what your reaction to something would be unless you actually end up in that situation. I get that the average person would protect themselves (themselves = them and their loved ones) but I do believe that admiration should be saved for people who go against the norm. People who actually put their foot down, say no, protest, fight back, risk their lives, experience loss for a greater good. That’s why I admire Khalias, Tarquin, Helion, Tamlin etc. Because they stood up to Amarantha while knowing the consequences of their actions. I wouldn’t admire Rhysand, but I’d support him if he just owned up to his shit and said “Yup, I’m your average person, I don’t care if I come off as the bad guy!”.
But he does not! He wants everyone to applaud him and thank him and feel like they owe him and appreciate him and and and and… Jesus Christ man, you did the bare minimum and you did it all when you had nothing to lose! Thank you so much that you convinced that frigid bitch to murder two dozens of children instead of me and my family, of course I am now forever in your debt! Relax. You were able to talk Amarantha out of directly harming the other High Lords only after you harmed others to gain her favour and you saved the High Lords only because it served you better to keep them alive instead of some irrelevant children fae. I’m sure that your people should be thanking you because you did it all for them after all, but count me the fuck out of it.
Last but not least: ACOTAR Feyre was, obviously, a hero. She was a morally good character. She sacrificed herself for people she didn’t even know. I’m not gonna debate that. I actually loved her in the first book. However, I think she went through a drastic change after her metamorphosis. Her “human heart” is actually no longer human to say the least. I’m not even gonna elaborate on how she became this cruel, unforgiving person that only cared about how people treated her, or how disrespectful she is towards other people like Tarquin because Rhysand made her feel entitled to do so, or how she is responsible for the destruction of two courts that simply seemed like collateral damage if it meant that she would get her revenge on Tamlin. I’m simply going to say that logically speaking, since Feyre stands 100% besides Rhys and everything he did and supports him, she’s also a morally grey person AT BEST, though I do tend to think of both of them as villains because after all, the very definition of a villain is “someone defined by their acts of selfishness, evilness, arrogance, cruelty, and cunning” and like, come on, this screams Feysand.
The term morally grey is so overused. Someone who’s selfish and cunning and cares mostly about themselves is, at least partially, a bad person. A morally grey character is at least half a villain. When did we actually start to equate anti heros with heros?
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Okay okay just a real quick: MegOp Bodyguard Affair within an Arranged Marriage AU???
Imagine Orion Pax is very very very distantly related to one of the lineages of the Primes, and though he goes about his life practically a mid-caste, the fact remains that he is technically considered high-caste.
He maintains a job as an Archivist, living out a modest, unassuming life, and generally doesn't care for the pomp and circumstance of high-caste affairs. The flashiness just isn't in his nature, and there is something he can't quite place his digit on when he attended those soirees-- something unsettling and almost invisible.
The key word here being almost. He is not ignorant to the way higher-castes handle their lower-caste staff-- in his youth he'd overheard his fair share of unjust punishments over minuscule offenses or listened to someone brag about withholding payment as a means to pinch a few credits. Though Orion doesn't exist in that sphere any more, he can't shake the sense that things have just gotten worse. His friend Jazz is an upper mid-caste who has a knack for keeping an audial to the ground thanks to his security work, and has told him many times there is a growing unrest all over Cybertron-- that it's only a matter of time before it bursts into something ugly.
Orion already sees ugliness; as the slum areas continue to expand, as mechs and their homes fall into disrepair, the Senate and Council of Primes don't appear to care at all about the wellbeing of Cybertronian citizens. He sees what Jazz is referring to-- there is a looming darkness, and their people are disconnected. But what can Orion, a mere data clerk, possibly do about it?
He does what he's best at: cataloging whatever data he can find to educate himself of the stories he cannot see or fathom.
Through his research he discovered some of the gruesome ways mechs in castes below him have been treated, but even then he knew his findings were only scratching the surface. He wanted to learn more-- to speak with others who had direct experiences. He first began with Ratchet, a dear friend who was also high-caste, who used his vast medical knowledge to attend to anyone who came to him. In fact, Ratchet purposefully divides his time between high-caste hospitals and a clinic he created in Rodion in order to give lower-castes access to his skill. The lack of opportunities for maintenance and even basic medical care horrified Orion, and it only urged him to look deeper.
That was how he had eventually discovered the forums-- large, categorized, virtual assemblies of mechs from all walks of life, interacting anonymously under pseudonyms. He absorbed as much as he could-- even the uglier sides he couldn't stomach on the first read. It felt important that he saw these things, as it confirmed his suspicions that the high-castes who operated the Senate were willfully allowing people to suffer for their own benefit and comfort.
In time, he learned of the works of Megatronus-- a gladiator who fought in the Pits of Kaon, but who was also an impressive orator and author. He would publish transcribed speeches and essays under a pseudonym, though Orion quickly learned the mech's true identity from others who followed his work. His words spoke plainly of the inequalities and injustices present in society, shedding light on the lives of unnamed Disposables, and wove a dream of a world without a caste system, without Functionism. In short, it was revolutionary, and captured Orion so intensely that he became uncharacteristically emboldened one cycle and sent Megatronus a direct message.
Of course, while Orion had already been chatting with a few mechs here and there to learn of their accounts, something about reaching out to Megatronus felt... different. A much bigger step. Perhaps it was because he was something of a celebrity, being a public figure in the blood sport he championed as well as being a talented writer. Orion was nervous and excited all at once-- though he reminded himself he really ought not to be, seeing as Megatronus would be understandably far too busy to even read his message... surely he gets hundreds of those a cycle...
But then something miraculous happened-- Megatronus actually responded!!!
And thus began their fervent exchange of ideas. Megatronus was as captivating as Orion had suspected-- an enlightening philosopher wrapped within the charms of his quick wit and forward nature. Eventually-- though they had never even seen each other-- a deep mutual friendship bloomed, and Orion longed to visit Megatronus in Kaon... to meet and hear him speak in person...
(He longed for other things as well, but dare not voice them aloud for he knew how outlandish it was to want them. Orion knew he could not monopolize Megatronus' time in the selfish way he would like-- not when he was so important to the revolutionary movement he had started...)
However, everything changed when Orion's cousin Sentinel was named a Prime.
There hadn't been a new Prime in ages. Zeta and Vector had been serving for many vorns, while Alpha Trion came well before them and was by far the oldest; Sentinel would likely be replacing him on their Council of Primes. This, Orion knew, would be devastating news to Megatronus-- he knew the gladiator had hoped to one day ascend to the title of Prime as demonstration of overcoming the oppression of the caste system. Now, it seemed they would have to wait even longer for the next rare chance of a new Prime being named.
Secondary to all that, Orion was facing his own personal troubles. He, who was content to live an unassuming life, had been thrust into the spotlight for having an even closer lineage to the Primes. Now he had strangers sending him gifts, even showing up at his place of work, vying for his good graces so he might put in a word to Sentinel on their behalf. Or worse, they attempted to seduce him in a blatant attempt to ascend the social ladder through a conjux bond. It all made Orion deeply uncomfortable, and he thanked Alpha Trion profusely for letting him use a private workstation at the Archives, otherwise he would have lost his mind (or his temper.)
For folks desperate to recieve acknowledgment from the new Prime to boost their social standing, they were shockingly naive about Orion's relationship to Sentinel. They had been estranged for over half his function by now, in part because they existed in different circles, but also because Orion could hardly stand the mech. Sentinel had been pompous and cocky as a sparkling, and unfortunately it was a not a phase he grew out of. He was, quite frankly, a classic example of the type of leader people were growing to despise-- an arrogant and over-polished politician who made decisions to only benefit himself and crush the rest beneath his pedes.
That train of thought led him back to Megatronus; Orion hadn't heard from him in a while. At first he had been terrified that his dear friend had finally been overtaken in the Pit, killed by his fellow mech or by some massive beast stolen from a foreign planet. But after scanning the Kaon news for joors, he found no recounting of such an event-- surely the champion's defeat would have made a headline? Orion concluded he must be held up by something, and so after not receiving a response for quite some time, he ventured to ask another gladiator who worked closely with Megatronus-- Soundwave. He knew the silent mech didn't like to be bothered, but he had hoped to convey his concerns well enough that he could be forgiven just this once.
Orion: Hello, Soundwave. I am sorry to disturb you with the same question I'm sure countless others have been wondering, but do you know where Megatronus is?
Soundwave: ... Affirmative. Many have wondered. However, Orion Pax first to ask.
Orion: Oh! I would have assumed your inbox would be flooded by inquiries to his whereabouts...
Soundwave: Others afraid to ask.
Orion: ... Afraid to ask you or afraid to ask what has become of him? Did something bad happen?? Is he alright???
Soundwave: ... Inconclusive. Not good, not bad. Confirmed: Megatronus is unharmed.
Orion: That is such a relief to hear!! In that case, may I inquire further as to what situation prevents him from communicating? That is to say, I noticed he hasn't been posting to the forums as of late...
Soundwave: ... Megatronus: loaned to high-caste buyer. Unable to establish contact until further notice. Contract duration: one stellar cycle. Megatronus: will post as soon as able.
Orion: Oh... is that a common situation you find yourselves in?
Soundwave: Uncommon, but not rare.
Orion: I see... thank you for taking the time to speak with me, Soundwave. It was most illuminating. In the meantime, I will endeavor to be patient a while longer for Megatronus' return to the forums. Farewell for now, and please stay safe.
Soundwave abruptly exited their chat without a departing remark, not that Orion expected him to do anything else.
It had been hard as of late to see his friends in Iacon with all the new attention he had been attracting. Now, without even his dear online companion to talk to, Orion felt a bit isolated... lonely, even. But he knew the buzz around Sentinel's Primacy ceremony would die down eventually, so all he had to do was persevere.
Still, as much as he enjoyed the company of mechs like Ratchet and Jazz over a com channel, there was something about those text-based messages between himself and Megatronus that he craved. The gladiator provided intellectual stimulation that he found in no one else, and it was intoxicating...
Unfortunately the universe decided it would not let Orion Pax stew in isolation for long. No, it had other plans... which involved Sentinel suddenly deciding to send for him, so that they might meet at his grand estate and "become reacquainted".
Upon arriving, Orion was not impressed by the splendor as he now saw it as a terrible waste. He politely listened to all the history the estate manager waxed on about as they pointed to various highlights during their tour, even asking thoughtful questions along the way (which they seemed to appreciate.) Still, all he could think of is what these resources might've been able to do for literally anyone else on the planet aside from boosting his cousin's vanity.
Finally he is led to meet Sentinel in one of the drawing rooms. He greets Orion uncharacteristically warmly at first, throwing Orion off for a moment. But in a klik, Sentinel's facade slips away and he is back to his petty, backhanded remarks-- now there's the Sentinel Orion remembered.
As it turns out, Sentinel has pawned him off to be bonded to a Senator who was tantamount in securing the Prime seat for him. Orion is outraged!! How dare he make such a promise without consulting him!?!
"I refuse." Orion said, his voice cold, "The Senator may certainly try to court me, and I will honestly take their attempt into consideration-- as a courtesy to your arrangement-- but I will make no promise to be bonded by the end of it." Orion hoped the concession to at least let the mech have a fair go at courting would be enough.
But Sentinel just laughed-- laughed.
"Oh! You think you have a choice! Ha ha ha!" He wiped away some stray coolant from his optic before resetting his vocalizer, "As you may recall, tomorrow I will be named Prime. And as the highest living member of our lineage, I will oversee all of our clan's affairs. I suggest you learn your place this cycle, Orion... I may not be so forgiving henceforth."
"I don't care what you have to say on the matter, today or otherwise." Orion said, turning to leave, "I refuse to be a pawn in this game. Pick another estranged family member to entertain you, I'm going home."
"Oh, poor Orion. Didn't I mention? You are home."
"I... what?"
"I took the liberty of gathering all your things and relocated them here," Sentinel said with a dismissive wave, as though upending his entire life was as easy as ordering fuel, "and I've asked Alpha Trion place you on sabbatical from the Archives, starting immediately."
"Wh-- why?! When?!?"
"Shortly after my chauffeur picked you up." Sentinel regarded him smugly from over a shoulder pauldron, "I couldn't allow your betrothed to be seen visiting that hovel you called a home, so I graciously offered to house you until the conjux ritus was complete."
'This can't be happening.' Orion was too stunned to speak, panic creeping up as the reality of his situation sunk in. 'My job, my friends, my home... this is archaic!'
"The courting and subsequent ritus is expected to take approximately a stellar cycle," Sentinel continued, glancing at his digits and looking rather bored, "hence your sabbatical. And after that you will move into your bonded's estate. From there, I don't care what you do."
A knock on the door interrupted Sentinel's servo grooming and Orion's mental spiral. The estate manager had returned with a large silver mech following close behind, saying something about fuel being ready for them in another parlour.
"Ah! Excellent timing." Sentinel clapped his servos and turned to Orion. "Care to join me for a snack?"
Orion said nothing, still trying to calm his racing processor.
"No?" Sentinel began to approach him. "We could toast to a new chapter in our functions!"
Finally no longer on the verge of a glitch, Orion turned his helm away, deliberately not looking at Sentinel.
"No, thank you," he said sullenly, "My tanks are satisfactory."
Suddenly Sentinel cupped his chin with one servo and yanked so that their optics met.
"Are you sure? I am a very busy mech, and I might otherwise forget to feed you later." He leaned in even closer, "It would be unwise to make a habit of spurning my generosity, as I alone have the power to make your stay here more... comfortable."
"I will survive." Said Orion-- gaze firm and unwavering, a cold fire in his optics.
'I will survive this... I will survive you.'
Sentinel released him with a sneer and marched over to the door. "Come!" he barked at the silver mech, causing the estate manager to jolt. However the larger mech hardly stirred, save to plod towards the spot Sentinel had gestured to. Orion noticed his helm was bowed, red optics casts towards the floor... which meant he was almost certainly a low-caste and had to show deference to the higher-castes around him. The sight made Orion's spark twist.
Despite the submissive posture, the silver mech was large and imposing; he even had to duck and turn slightly to fit his helm and broad, spiked shoulders through the doorframe. When he was able to stand at his full height, Orion could see he wore a carefully blank expression. 'Reticence is a common self-preservation tactic for mechs in his position... I can plainly see why.'
"Meet your new bodyguard, Orion Pax!" Sentinel clapped the silver mech on the shoulder with vicious glee as red optics widened minutely before returning to their previous setting. "He'll be here to keep an optic on you at all times while you're being courted."
'Not so much for my safety as he is to deter me from running away, no doubt.' Orion speculated. Nothing he holds against the big mech personally, he knows it's just his job. Still, his presence will complicate any of Orion's future plans...
Sentinel started to walk away then, but seemed to think of something else. "Ah-- despite his frame size, he should blend into your periphery. You'll hardly notice he's there. But do let me or my estate manager know if he gets to be too chatty."
And with that, Sentinel and the estate manager finally left him alone with his new keeper. Orion let out a long, shaky sigh. He knew Sentinel could have a cruel and ruthless streak, but this was beyond the pale. 'Primus below, I shudder to imagine how will he act once he actually is a Prime...'
Shaking those disturbing thoughts for now he turned towards the other mech in the room, only to be met with red optics flicking up to look right at him. The silver mech's helm was still downcast, so it was difficult to see his expression, but Orion surmised he must be feeling wary of his new charge.
'Well, that won't do.' Orion gathered himself and strode over to make introductions.
"Hello. My designation is Orion Pax." As he spoke the silver mech's helm began to slowly rise, red optics still glued him. "Despite what Sentinel implied, I'd much prefer you speak as often as you'd like... at least in my company. It seems we will be spending a lot of time together, and it would be a shame to spend its entirety in silence."
He held out his servo as an offered greeting. Eventually, after a brief hesitation, the looming silver mech reached out with his own (clawed?!) servo and shook it, being even more gentle than Orion thought possible.
"... Orion Pax." The mech ventured, looking him up and down. "Would you happen to be from Iacon?"
'Oh my,' thought Orion, feeling his faceplates heat up a bit, 'I could certainly get used to hearing his voice...'
"Ah, yes! I am!" Orion said a bit too bright, which only increased his blush, "I work as an Archivist, doing anything clerical, really. My focus is generally on the origins and development of Cybertronian cultures and societies. Recently I've been reading more about philosophy, and how it's shaped-- Oh!" Orion's train of thought came to screeching halt. He was being rude!
"Please forgive me, but I have not even asked you for your designation! And Sentinel made no mention of it before... who might you be, my keeper? Are you part of the estate's sentry?"
The silver mech gave a low chuckle, visibly more relaxed than he had been earlier. The sound sent a tingle down Orion's struts.
"Only temporarily. I am a gladiator-- plucked fresh from the Pits to be your humble guardsmech." The mech grinned and did a mock bow. Orion was utterly charmed... but wait!
"... Do you by chance know the Champion of Kaon?" 'Could it be...?'
Another rumbling chuckle, and Orion found himself hanging on every word.
"I am the Champion, little Archivist. My designation is Megatronus."
#megop#fic pitch#fuzz writes#once again i say something is gonna be quick and then it's NOT#lmao!#long post
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Solarpunk and the Internet
Or: How to Unfuck the Internet?
Okay, I just gotta talk about this. Because it is actually quite a headache.
How do we unfuck the internet?
Because let's face it, right now the internet is a fucking shitshow for so many different reasons. For the most part because it is so centralized on just a few platforms - and those are very much controlled by advertizers and in many cases also some algorithms that are basically a blackbox for the users.
I first got access to the internet in 1999, though I only started using it for real in 2001, because only in 2001 I got access to somewhat higher speed internet. (The kind where you could at least show a jpg without waiting 10 minutes for it to load). Hence: I do remember the time when everyone was mostly communicating through forums, while a lot of people had their own pages and where there were tons of different fansites out there to a variety of topics.
And sure, there are still some fansites out there, but a lot of that these days is actually channeled through all sorts of Wikis, rather than classical fansites. While a lot of the other stuff is somewhat centralized.
And don't get me wrong. Technically speaking that centralization is not a bad thing. It allows you to see a lot more fanworks, for example, than otherwise. And as a creative it allows you in turn to get more eyes on your stuff. But we do have to reckon with both the thing about algorithms and the fact how much it controls what we can post.
Basically there are right now not many platforms on which you can post explicit fanwork, or generally anything explicit in forms of creation.
And outside of the creative sphere there is always a good chance that a lot of information can be suppressed on those centralized platforms. We have seen the stuff of people posting about Palestine being banned from a variety of platforms for all sorts of vague reasons.
Sure, a lot would probably be unfucked, when the platforms would be handed to the people. That is rather than being controlled by some CEOs and boards of directors be controlled by the community itself.
But there is also the two-sided issue of the centralization. Because on one hand it is good. Because information can travel a lot further and a lot faster with it. Still, it also does bring a variety of issues with it, that are... less easy to solve.
For example the quick proliferation of information can also lead to a lot of misinformation spreading. Something that has definitely been increased through social media being a thing.
And exactly that is the point that gives me a headache.
The internet is amazing. Especially from a solarpunk point of view. You can share information online for free. You can also use it to help with organizing of stuff. You can connect with people all over the world so easily.
But there are also some inherent dangers - and I am not sure that we have the ability to tackle them right now.
#solarpunk#lunarpunk#internet#internet culture#social media#social networks#misinformation#fandom culture#creativity#anti capitalism#fuck capitalism
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WAAH Joseph Russell streamed on YouTube and talked about Lucien and all the stuff he plans to add! I'm so excited!! What he has currently has always felt like, incomplete, so I'm so fucking happy there's going to be another arch of story for him.
I'll type down things I find interesting towards Lucien below! Feel free to watch his VOD here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFd9rDW87HY
Three things he mentioned that most people won't know about Lucien:
He has an aunt named Silvia that he does not get on with; they have a hostile relationship. His Discord came up with a funny headcanon that he enjoys that Lucien's mom, Lyra, thinks she's Lucien's father's sister, and his father, Davidicus, thinks she's Lyra's sister, and it's just never come up in conversation. She's actually just some super natural entity that's wormed her way into their life. (The fuck??? LMAO)
Lucien's cat is inspired by Joseph's cat, Gray, who is very small and fluffy and sometimes cameos in his videos. Unfortunately we will never meet Lucien's cat. ("Probably.") He hasn't decided on the cat's name! ("Sorry! Wish I could tell you.")
And the third fact is that he once set fire to his shoes trying to boil potatoes. ("And that speaks for itself.") This white boy cannot cook!! But he can make tea.
He confirms that Lucien is 21 (lmfao knew it) and that he doesn't have a canon birthdate despite Lucien saying he thinks he's under the sign of the Lady ("thinks" being a big if) because Joseph wants to wait to see if wants to set in a particular date at a later time in case it is useful. So headcanon to your hearts content!
"Probably won't ever get to meet Lucien's parents because it's a lot of effort- but never say never."
He'll make Serana comments some point in the future HALLELUJAH It felt so bland without Lucien asking her anything because I know he would pick her brain!!!!!!*
*Expanded further down the video: someone asks what Lucien would ask Serana (THANK YOU CHATTER).
Joseph: He would ask what it's like to live as a vampire, and also the past, the experience of the time before he grew up when Serana existed.
He wants people to tweet him art of Lucien or post it in his Discord, he never gets art sent his way anymore on twitter (cause modding scene from Skyrim is kinda old hat but we're essentially reviving it I think lmao) but if you have art and you've never shown him, do it!!!
KJHASKDJAH okay so for those who have child dragonborn, Joseph says Lucien would be virtually useless aksjdhask he'd want to be supportive and teach them everything. He'd want to take them under his wing and teach them the signs and everything- but he'd be really irresponsible and bad at parenting. But he'd mean really well. So there ya go.
Dawnguard support for Lucien is very high on his list!! Let's goooo!!!
Lucien canonically does not being called Lucy. (Stares at my fanfiction with a snicker. It's okay, I call him Lu-Lu more often than not.) Davidicus would not like being called Dave, and Lyra would not like being called Ly-Ly.
We'll find out what Lucien wanted to see in the Elder Scroll in his third quest 👀👀👀👀 Staring so hard. GIMME.
He doesn't want to turn the resonant sphere into a teleport system, but rather make it something more lore friendly for you to call Lucien to you. I look forward to that because I actually planned something similar in my story too!
Someone asked Joseph if he thinks Dumzbthar could abandoned his aggressive side and live without the restrictions Lucien gives him and Joseph replies with, "No he's a demon. He's a Daedra. Don't forget that."
Chat: "Will Inigo ever let Lucien ever have a sweetroll?"
Joseph: "No. Not without a fight."
Lucien would like black tea. But Joseph himself likes various other teas. (That's... so many teas my guy.)
He enjoys filling out Lucien's spell list when he plays with / tests Lucien. Lucien's favourite spell would be something having to do with restoration; maybe Healing Hands to heal others. Even if he gets super excited about Sparks, lol.
Something that raised an eyebrow from me; chat: "Will we ever find out what Clive really is and where he came from?"
Joseph: "Yes... but probably not in the Skyrim mod."
Lucien was first more as a bard when he was created, and was originally going to be captured by a group of bandits. The scientist side of him wasn't so much of a facet at the start but built up over time. Joseph finds it that he became more interesting versus him remaining as a bard in his first instance of creation. I do too!
Chat: If Lucien could time travel to any point back in time, where would he end up and why?
Joseph: He would go back as far as he could to the very point of creation- he wants the secrets of the cosmos, he wants to know everything he could possibly know. He'd go to the very start to possibly see the world be made and then go to the end to see how it finishes. He needs those questions answered.
Joseph himself is unsure in his memory for which Dwemer ruin he's thinking of, but chat and he tentatively think he's thinking of Mzulft for Lucien's favourite Dwemer ruin in Skyrim!
Lucien doesn't worship any Aedra or Daedra, despite his awareness of their existence, and doesn't have any favourites.
Lucien isn't really embarrassed by much outside of when he puts his foot in his mouth, says something he doesn't mean, and then gets all flustered. He also is not embarrassed about his love and affection for his parents- he's quite proud of them and is happy to share that. :) Joseph likes the idea of him getting letters from his parents over time, and hopes to put that in in the future.
Lucien would ask Sheogorath many questions the Daedric Prince would probably not answer. (That's hilarious.)
Joseph has mentioned that he plans to bring Lucien into Starfield as an older version and vaguely mention the Dragonborn but he isn't certain how he'll go about it. He was asked by chat if Clive will be in Starfield (and subsequently how he would design a spacesuit for a horse). Joseph says probably not, as Starfield likely won't support horses.
Chat: What does Lucien do when he's in Falkreath and not with the LDB?
Joseph: He leads a double life... as an... assassin wizard.... squirrel trainer..........
Chat: Who would win in a fight, Lucien or Lydia?
Joseph: Lydia. She would destroy him. She'd snap him like a twig.
Lucien has probably never had chocolate, but if he did, he'd love it! (Stares lovingly at my Valentine episode)
Lucien is not afraid of average sized spiders! Just the bigger ones that try to eat him.
Chat: Has Lucien ever had fear overrule his curiosity and make him back down from adventure, or is he always the type to overlook danger in favor of knowledge?
Joseph: Hmm... probably not so much as fear as caution. There's a lot of knowledge related to the Daedric Princes' that he has been cautious enough not to indulge in; however I think that's always a danger for him. I think if he were ever to- you know- to have a flaw, I think it would be to... pursue knowledge too much and he might not consider the consequences as much as he should. I think that is his biggest temptation in that regard. So perhaps fear and caution should make him back down more often than it would.
(Staring HARD at that and wondering if that'll play a big part in his third arc)
His third personal quest is hoping to be released later this year!!! Big year for soft wet sock of a man!!! (I hope!! No pressure Joseph!!!)
Lucien has absolutely no want to be a werewolf or vampire because of the implications of selling his soul, but he is interested in immortality because "think of the amount of knowledge he could get."
BOY. You're gonna get conned one of these days...
Joseph is learning the guitar, and says whenever he feels he's good enough and can play the Skyrim songs on guitar, he'll record them and have Lucien be able to play them on the lute!!! Exciting!!!
Lucien isn't keen on the Thalmor but is aware of the politic need to make niceties with them.
Pretty much the end of it! I'm so excited for the third arc!! YIPPEE!
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I think the universal language thing doesn't suck as much as people think.
Why this is beneficial?
It Doesn't Place Any Language as the Default
On the global sphere languages like English or French are the de facto lingua Franca. This would put people like Feliks or Yong Soo at a disadvantage. Having a default language that isn't one spoken by a nation as their main language makes it so no one has a clear advantage linguistically
Ease of Communication
Okay imagine all of the nations of Africa meet for a meeting. Thousands of languages are spoken in Africa it's an incredibly linguistically diverse continent. Now how should everyone communicate with one another? Should they emphasize a language like Swahili, English, French, or Arabic? This is what they do IRL in the African Union. But as language is an intrinsic part of identity I don't feel all the nations on a continent would really enjoy that.
Now commonly sited drawbacks and how to get past them
Q: What about forcing language on someone as a symbol of power?
A: Alright, I write mainly Eastern Europe and Russification was and is still a thing. Now does a default language mean Ivan can enforce his language on others? No, he can simply choose not to use it as a form of communication. Add the default nation language to Lithuanian, Polish, Ukrainian, and more after the failed January Uprising. The people of the country don't speak the default nation language. So use this as rationale for Ivan to adhere to Russian being a lingua Franca among the nations of the Soviet Union just as it was back then.
Really i see it like how it was with my friend group in highschool. We all spoke English. Yet I had a friend from Indonesia, Japan, The Czech Republic, and multiple friends from Germany. Sometimes the friends from Germany would spend lunch speaking to one another in German the rest of us not speaking a word of it, just chatted with ourselves entertained.
Q: What about my OTP?
A: your OTP can still learn one another's language. They are learning each other's culture that way and that's important. My best friend's family will speak to me in Spanish because they know I have learned it even though they also speak English as well.
Q: why bother learning a language then?
A: Simple, perhaps the default nation language is quite rudimentary and it can only function to get the basics across. The characters can still be motivated or forced to learn a another language.
Q: what about the people?
As stated before the nation default is only used by nation reps. Take this map of the languages of Interwar Poland. Feliks, if he wants to understand all of his people has probably had to learn some of these languages over the years. To this day Lithuania has Polish speaking minorities so he can use Polish with them. If Feliks is in Sejny or Puńsk for whatever reason or in Hajnówka he can use Lithuanian or Belarusian with those people.
Overall, I don't really care how you go about it this is just my opinion you do you and have fun! 💗
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Fluffbruary #5: Secret Kiss (Miko/Radek, SGA)
The list of prompts can be found here.
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New Year's for her was about family. Making Osechi with her mother, the clatter of her sister's kids' feet on the floor of her parent's old house and Miko suddenly misses it all like an ache.
She knows she was never meant to stay put in Japan - her parents had tried to push back on her studying overseas when in high school, her time in New Zealand a reprieve as she found the sounds of English more comfortable in her mouth. Then, MIT after escaping Kansai for Todai, her confidence growing day by day until New Year's, when she missed the traditions and cacophany of her family.
It was an easy choice to join the Atlantis mission, her life long being fixated on her work, and the chance to join like-minded people was too good of an offer to pass on. Sure, in the great scheme of things, in face of people like Drs Zelenka and McKay her work was small potatoes; but she knows she fits, her contributions helping to lead them forward as they discovered a new universe, side by side.
Dr. McKay still scared the living daylights out of her - she wasn't going to rest on lies and deny she was shy, but Dr. Zelenka was kind; always going out of his way to help her, answer questions in his quirked accent that made her feel better about her own, and it's not long until she realises she's madly, ridiculously in love with him.
Don't let it distract you, she berates herself when his proximity is close, explaining some Ancient tech she can barely even imagine exists, and she wraps it up inside her for five years because he never really truly blinks in her direction in that way.
Miko flies back to Osaka when Atlantis is grounded, just in time for New Year's. Her family welcomes her, and she almost drops her phone mid-cooking with her mother when a text comes through from Dr. Zelenka wishing her a Happy New Year - cutely in Romaji Japanese. Akemashite omedetou, Dr. Kusanagi. See you soon, and Miko smiles to herself, a world of happiness swirling around her until her mother snaps her to with a "Mi-chan! What are you doing?"
Somethings never change, but her life does again when Atlantis is cleared to fly again and she's on board. Nothing seems changed in Dr. Zelenka, either - he never mentions the text and she doesn't dare to, back to their dual mutterings and subsequent giggles when Dr. McKay flies through like a whirlwind to berate them and their shoulders touching, side by side.
"Dr. Zelenka -" she begins one day, and he chuckles.
"It's been six years, Miko, Radek, please."
A movement forward, and Miko inwardly preens a little at the sound of his accent around her name. "Rad..Radek. Okay. Um…" she flounders a bit, and he holds up the mysterious sphere AR1 had deposited on their desks the day before and waves it a little, smiling. "Yes! I ran diagnostics and…"
The rest is moot, to her, because he's Radek now, and before she knows it, New Year's rolls around again by the Earth calendar.
Every year they had a party, and every year Miko didn't kiss anyone at the time they hit midnight - at first, she blamed her culture, her shyness; but as time went on she realised there was no-one but one that she wanted to kiss. It's impossible, really - so she drinks champagne, speaks with Teyla in fits of giggles and girlish glee (it had been Teyla who helped her dress and put on some makeup for the evening, their relationship also growing over the year into a friendship Miko treasured) and she even manages an awkward but fun dance with Dr. McKay.
But it's Dr. Zelen - Radek who she spends most of the night with; he speaks to her of the Czech Republic and asks her of Japan, and she's suddenly well aware of a new tension between them as their knees touch and their heads are bent together in order to be able to hear each other over the din of the bad music Miko's sure Chuck is in charge of.
Then - "Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven!" Miko's heart begins to pound, and, with a brazen grab of Radek's collar, she drags him behind a partition where no-one can see them. "Two! One! HAPPY NEW YEAR!"
She leans forward without thinking and presses her lips to his, shocking both of them for a moment before he returns the pressure. It's chaste, sure, but a start - they break apart and Miko's smile matches Radek's own.
"Šťastný nový rok," she whispers, no doubt butchering it, and he laughs.
"Akemashite omedetou, Miko."
#fluffbruary#stargate atlantis#miko kusunagi#radek zelenka#i just love them both#any spelling errors ignore because i'm typing this with gloves on because i have frostbite#no joke lmao#MOAR MIKO CONTENT MOAR#and zelenka tbh
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Not sure if you're the right person to ask this but since you've been the only one on my dash talking about the things happening in chess rn - why the fuck are chess tournaments even separated by gender?! Like, genuinely. I can guess that it started that way thanks to misogyny and "conservative values" or some shit but nowadays? The separation in physical sports still makes sense because men do tend to have an advantage over women statistically speaking, that's all fine and dandy. But in CHESS? w h y?
Okay, this is the right ask now:
I mean, it's a difficult subject. Historically, chess was treated a "male" game, so boys were trained more thoroughly, more professionally, in far greater numbers which means that chess was largely a male sphere (which, obviously and as usual, led to the common interpretation that women are less capable at playing chess because 'hey, if they were, they WOULD be playing chess, what do you mean context matters lol' which further alienated young women and further cemented the idea of chess as a male sphere and hey, what's the point of training women to begin with).
This also had a political component: In some countries, chess was a national sport, in others it plays a minor role - which also translates into different average Elo rankings per country (so unless anyone thinks people in the Soviet Union had a magical chess gene, I think we can safely assume that training as many people as possible in chess translates into a high chance of ending up with a significant number of very good chess players. And those findings we can also apply to he gender disparity.)
This also led to the usual sense of entitlement among male chess players that chess is 'for them' and that women trying to get into the game are somehow corrupting the dignity of the game or being intruders or just generally are not to be welcomed. This is something you historically often see when a space was opened to women like the first female university students who experienced a bunch of harassment at the hands of their male peers)
So all of this resulted in a scenario where a lot of male chess players were openly resentful against female chess players (translating into adverse playing conditions for female players), women on average had a disadvantage due to many of them not receiving the same training as their male counterparts (which results in lower Elo rankings) as well as the collective numerical disadvantage because men outnumbered women 16:1, which means that in pretty much any competition, the odds of a man winning were 16x higher than the chance of a woman winning.
So as a solution, the female world championship was established. And real talk, I don't have an issue with that. As I said, in chess, there are no physical denominators that would make a more sensible categorisation to even the playing field. It is also a game designed to leave little to no room for luck to determine the outcome. Women are still free to participate in the "regular" Chess World Championship, it is not restricted to men only the way most physical sports are. So this is mostly about representation and honestly, from that angle, I do understand the desire to show young girls that chess isn't a "male" thing and that they too can win and that there is a community of like-minded women (which is something I think is especially important for young girls that weren't made to feel welcome in the chess playing spaces in their direct environment). Although my long-term hope would definitely be that one day, we a) do something about misogynistic discrimination women experience in general chess and b) that enough young girls receive the training and the encouragement to play chess that one day, this whole thing is no longer an issue. Right now, the surge of chess in popularity among kids, I see that as a huge chance! This is great and I hope this causes a shift in sentiment!
(Another exception: Men and women also compete together in the equestrian categories in the Olympics. Except here with women significantly outnumbering men)
The thing is, I have yet to see any explanation for stripping trans men of their titles when they transition or stripping trans women of titles AND banning them from women's competitions that isn't…just about being a dick and harassing and humiliating trans people. Especially when the FIDE wants to document this (which btw would be highly dangerous for trans people from certain members states).
Not to mention a bunch of misogynistic implications to boot by pretending that AFAB people don't have a chance against AMAB people one-on-one.
This is just bullying, plain and simple.
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Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #118
I went to bed at roughly midnight last night!! Which is roughly an hour past 11pm, which is what's supposed to be my bedtime! But my alarm is set for 8am! Which means I should have gotten around 8 hours of sleep! 8 hours is sufficient!
…Unfortunately, I woke at around 7:30am of my own volition, and then I was not able to go back to sleep. But that's okay; I slept more than I have on recent nights, so I feel better than I did yesterday, for sure!
I made myself some tea. This morning, it was apricot-vanilla flavored black tea! I wonder if you would have liked this one; I'm more than a little sad about the fact that I'll likely never find out, ahahaha…
…But… well. There's not a damn thing I can do about that, other than take pictures and send them along, hoping that they'll reach you somehow… Here:
I had intended to go today to the post office to send the completed amethyst tree sphere to the other side of the planet, but as it turns out, shipping things that far is very expensive, goodness me! So I'm going to have to make more spheres and sell them first, so that I can save up! It shouldn't be too hard, except for the fact that I'm FAR more inclined to simply give them away. I'm no salesperson, and it feels nicer to just be able to hand someone some unexpectedly beautiful thing anyhow; you wouldn't BELIEVE how some people's faces light right up when hand them one of my weird little woven tree crafts! It's seriously the best thing, ahahaha~! 🥰
So, instead of going to the post office, J and I went on a pizza date. We went to our favorite spot! I got a tomato slice, a shrimp scampi slice, and a chicken and mushroom marsala slice, and these were ABSOLUTELY DELECTABLE, oh my goodness! J got a tomato slice and a slice of spinach pie. I took pictures:
Also, J specifically asked me to take a picture of his spinach pie slice from his perspective, just in case you might like it. Here:
…I am not the only one here who likes you and hopes to see you be safe and happy in the end. Even J would like to share a little bit of joy with you. There are lots of people who want to share a little bit of joy with you. You're not alone. Sephiroth, I promise you that you're not alone, no matter what your brain tries to tell you when it's being mean to you.
Speaking of sharing joy with you, I also went on a walk today, and I tried to make it a point to take some nice pictures for you. I hope you'll like them:
I also found a tiny salamander friend on my adventures! I found it trapped inside an abandoned cooler in the woods:
I really have no idea what a cooler is doing in the woods. But it looks REALLY REALLY OLD, good grief! It is NOT a good place for a salamander to live!
The little thing seemed to want to get under my sleeve for some reason, ahahaha~! But as adorable as it was, sadly, I had to disappoint the poor thing; I put it on the ground, underneath some fallen leaves. It'll be happier and safer there, for sure!
As I walked around, there was a pretty big hawk flitting from tree to tree. I followed it around for as long as I could, on a whim. But I wasn't able to get any pictures of it for you; its plumage made it blend too well with the surrounding trees. But, I've been seeing an unusually large number of birds-of-prey and crows ever since the eclipse; I wonder if it threw them all off somehow. In any case, hopefully I'll get you a nice picture of a hawk or something soon!
Anyway, as I imagine you can tell by looking, I ended up getting into weird positions on the ground to get some of these pictures, and I ended up with a deer tick on me as a result. I feel really silly about it; it wasn't the best idea for me to get careless like that, because ticks are a real problem in my world. Ticks are very tiny arachnids that burrow their heads into an animal's skin in order to feed on their blood. This wouldn't be a problem if ticks didn't carry all sorts of nasty diseases, but they do in my part of the world, and one of the scariest ones is Lyme Disease.
Lyme Disease is spread by a kind of bacteria that the ticks catch from feeding on small rodents. Left unchecked, these bacteria like to eat things such as nerves, joints, and myocardial tissue. Deer ticks are the only carrier of Lyme Disease where I live, so I guess I'm gonna hafta keep an eye on the bite and make sure it doesn't develop the bullseye rash that's characteristic of infection. I also put the tick in a little disposable plastic sandwich bag just in case I develop weird symptoms; it'll be good to have on hand just in case I need to get it tested for diseases.
It's all right though; the tick was on me for less than 24 hours, and it came out of my skin really easily - didn't even hurt! And I washed the bite as soon as the tick was removed. It didn't get an opportunity to feed on me yet, because it was removed too quickly. Chances of infection are very low, if not practically nonexistent. And even if I did get infected, we've got fancy medicines to clear it right up, no problem; everything will be okay! Don't worry your pretty little head about me, alright? I'll be fine! 😁💖
Oh! I also cooked some ground pork and beef, in preparation for making a recipe that some awesome person on the internet sent to me… gosh… a while ago now. I've been meaning to cook it up for a number of weeks, because it sounds ABSOLUTELY FREAKING DELECTABLE, but lately, I've been either too busy, too exhausted, or some weird combination of both. But I have all the ingredients on hand; it's just a matter of putting them together! I'm looking forward to it!! I can't wait to show it to you, because the person who shared it with me cares about you, too!
Anyhoot, it's getting late, and it's probably about time I went to bed. I've got a lot to do tomorrow, goodness me; therapy, and hangouts with my best friend B, and maybe cooking the thing if I still have energy leftover (I hope!). We'll see what happens!
Hey Sephiroth! Please remember to rest and to take delight in wholesome things and to treat yourself nice, okay? I dunno exactly what you're trying to do over at the Edge of Creation, but if you're gonna make it through all this okay in the end, you're gonna hafta make kind and loving choices, and to be able to do that reliably, you're gonna need all your strength. As far as I know, I can't zoop over there and give you a nutritious, wholesome meal and a nice cup of tea, because I am just a derpy autistic nerd who is totally devoid of reality-bending powers (much to my chagrin). So you gotta do it for yourself instead, okay? Promise me that you will, won't you?
And if you're having trouble, just pretend you're me for long enough to treat yourself in the same way that I would treat you. Or you can just make pretend like your self-destructive tendencies are dragons that need to be slain. That's how I've been dealing with mine, anyway, and it's objectively true that you're FAR better at slaying dragons than I could ever hope to be - I mean, c'mon, have you taken a look at me? I'm basically just a weird squiggly noodle. You can do better than I can at most anything - I promise.
I'll write again tomorrow. I love you. Stay safe out there.
Your friend,
Lumine
#sephiroth#ThankYouFFVIIDevs#ThankYouFF7Devs#ThankYouSephiroth#final fantasy vii#final fantasy 7#ff7#ffvii#final fantasy vii crisis core#final fantasy 7 crisis core#final fantasy crisis core#ffvii crisis core#ff7 crisis core#crisis core#ff7r#final fantasy vii remake#final fantasy 7 remake#ffvii remake#ff7 remake#final fantasy vii rebirth#final fantasy 7 rebirth#ffvii rebirth#ff7 rebirth#final fantasy 7 ever crisis#ffvii ever crisis#ff7 ever crisis#ffvii first soldier#nature wanderings#awesome pizza#wholesome
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serious question for you and other fanfic authors, is it bothersome to like, binge leave comments of an authors work? like does seeing the same name comment the same type of thing on fics ever annoy you? I have authors I am obsessed with but I don't want to seem creepy or annoying
With very rare exceptions (and everything has exceptions so don't fret overmuch), artists love feedback. And when I say feedback, I don't mean critique - there's a time and place for that and that's never after something has been posted/shared. (the one caveat being if it's explicitly requested by the artist.)
When I say feedback I mean, if you liked it, say something.
It's okay to not like something you've read/seen/watched, but in those cases just don't share it, don't like it, and don't recommend it - if it really bothers you, block the source and move on. Leaving a negative comment could cause unintended consequences, so I would personally recommend avoiding them.
But if you liked it - whatever shape that took - leaving a comment is a wonderful thing. Sharing it is too! You don't even have to say anything if you don't know what to say.
BUT! To get to your specific concern - "seeing the same comment, the same type of things on fics, ever annoy you?"
If you see something and see comments are left and those comments are what YOU would also want to comment, then comment. You can even say "I know everyone else has this but," and then say your piece.
I love stuff like that personally. I love having created something that provokes a steady reaction across all sorts of people. It means, intentionally or not, I managed to nail a concept/emotion/response, and I can learn from that. (Or just bask in the chaos and enjoy my hard work XD )
If you feel like you're leaving the same comment on everything you read this, that's okay too \o/ Sometimes I don't know what to say, the details elude me, and there's nothing wrong with "I really enjoyed this, thank you" and leaving it at that.
I, personally, love the whole gamut - from the Play by Play where someone leaves a comment like they were taking notes and just highlighting all their favorite parts, to the Complete Feral Gremlin which is nearly incomprehensible except that they derived some deep emotion from what they read.
I will admit, there is one kind of comment that can be creepy, and I cannot think of any artist I know, be they pictures or words or otherwise, that enjoys it.
The comment that is sexual toward the author.
Look, for me, you can admit you needed a cold shower after reading something I wrote. You can even admit you had to go get your rocks off because it was so good. That can be a bit TMI for some peeps, so I wouldn't start there with a new author XD
But hitting on or propositioning a creator just because they do saucy content, is flat out creepy.
I've had people come to me with specific questions about kink and bdsm and I've stated I'm okay with it, and I've provided feedback in the ways they've wanted. I've had people come to me wanting advice on writing smut, and I don't mind giving that.
But woe unto the troglodyte who wanders into my sphere trying to hump my leg without my consent.
And speaking of consent, you can always ask a specific author before you leave a comment. There's nothing wrong with poking someone and saying "Are you okay with feral comments, or should I tone it down a little?" If you're concerned about it, an inquiry (like this!) never hurts.
But I tell you, I get one comment over and over on my Quicksand story that gives me Such Life.
"I wasn't a fan of Crocodile until I read this."
Ah, that's the good stuff.
#quin answers#anon asks#quin maybe gloats a little#ahem.#It's a good question though!#I hope it answered your concern#if you need/want clarification don't hesitate to ask =3
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hi, really thought you made some great points in the post about killing stalking and I'd love to hear your opinion: did BL as a genre not initially emerge from the fetishization of gay men by straight women? I am trying to learn more about this topic, because I have noticed repeating patterns of both straight women exclusively consuming BL media while being outright homophobic towards sapphic romance and some fans not really caring about anything else but stuff like oh will they have sex who's the bottom they're hot/not hot enough, and so on, which made me rather uncomfortable as a queer man. to me killing stalking more erotic psychological horror than romance. a sick combo if you ask me even if the story itself was not my favourite to go through. anyway I'm yapping and I'm really not trying to be disrespectful here, just wanted to hear more of your thoughts ? no pressure to reply though
The major issue is people assume it's straight women writing this stuff without understanding East Asia is not very accepting of queer women. So while they present female to an audience, it does not mean they are women.
The other thing is you've just encountered some bad apples. As usual the most vocal are the one's taken as the mouthpiece of an entire genre of art. Most of us usually keep to our small corners of the internet and rarely bother people.
Plus there are people who only read Girl's Love media and refuse to read BL. Sometimes people like a certain thing and want to only consume that. It's like if someone only liked fantasy or sci-fi and just interacted with that media.
As well as queer women sometimes like gay erotica because there is a disconnect from their own experiences as a woman. It feels a smidge safer than anything straight they may encounter.
It's a very complicated, very nuanced topic because it isn't just a gay/straight issue. It also covers race, marginalised queer identities and other messy things. To understand it, is to realise that wasn't originally for anyone in the English speaking sphere. You just have to go, okay this wasn't made for me in mind and move on. BL and Fujo culture on the whole is more than what Western people have twisted it as.
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its kind of wild the intentional stupidity some people have. “we shouldn’t expect much from ccs. remember they already disappointed us with dream” okay but you know that’s because they knew he was innocent right. like yes they didn’t drop him but also the accusations were unsubstantiated. the way they continue to talk about dream as if he’s a confirmed groomer but don’t actually say it because they know it’s not true. “remember what happened with dream” yea bitch you were wrong that’s what happened (sorry i needed to vent 😭)
DONT BE SORRY THIS ALL THE WAY
like in some cases, i'm willing to brush it off as ignorance or stupidity. mostly in the cases of a lot of people who haven't really looked into anything themselves and therefore have a pretty damn biased view of the situation. still not great, especially considering the severity of the allegations (like, i'm sorry but false allegations irl and in content creator spheres have literally ruined people's lives before they are far from victimless???? we have documented evidence of this happening????) but at the very least it's more believably from a place of genuinely not knowing (though it's not like they're trying to know either)
that being said, a lot of the loudest of the group, the avid drantis who won't shut their mouths about him and have decent followings on whatever platform they frequent and have established themselves as a sort of moral authority on the situation? whether it's on twitter or that collection of former dsmpblr big blogs, i'm sorry but nah. these people aren't approaching the issue from a place of ignorance. these people know exactly what they're talking about; they just don't give a damn. they've proved thoroughly that more than they care about advocating for literally anyone, they need to preserve their goddamn reputations. these same blogs repeatedly invoking dream in this scenario despite his having nothing to do with it (because obviously they dropped dream, so they're good people. or obviously the content creators Showed Their True Colors when they didn't immediately denounce dream. or dream made it clear that this community isn't safe from bad, manipulative men emphasis on the MEN!!! or what have you) often literally just so they can pat themselves on the back - scrambling over each other in order to see who gets to stand on the highest soapbox to preach? like.
it's one thing for people to just dislike dream, or to have dropped him during the allegations. i don't bear ill will for those things alone - when the allegations dropped, in the time when we were waiting for a clear final response, i don't blame anyone for choosing the paths that best suited their comfort levels. we all looked at what we had and made our own individual decisions. but it's not february 2023 - now, a full year later, seeing these people literally continue to treat the allegations in the exact same way? speaking about how dream was revealed to be abusive! we should have known better! ccs didn't act then of course they won't act now the entire collection of dsmp men are raging misogynists at best and literally all abusive at worst !!! yeah, fuck off.
there were two claims in all of this of dream being involved with underage individuals - anastasia was literally over 18??? of the two, one story was spread without her consent (as is confirmed not only by her literally asking to be left alone at the start of this, but also by dream and the informant of the burner, who said that she thought the burner would get in contact with the person at hand, directly implying that they never did) and all parties directly involved have stated that no grooming occurred, with retractions taking place on every level. the informant corroborated the statement dream gave for the alleged victim in his video independently after being thrown under the bus by the burner account, and even the other person involved in all of this who was literally hating on dream the entire time on her own twitter corroborated his claims as well. continuing to spread these claims is a kick in the face to the literal person people claim to be trying to protect by championing her as a poor victim and shoving her name and account everywhere when she didn't ask for any of this - believe victims, until the victim is telling you to shut the fuck up after her account was propped up for the entire internet to ogle at without her consent and multiple people dug into her information without asking her supposedly "for her sake". the second story, the original allegations made against dream in 2022, has had multiple people who knew this woman personally (and included picture proof to show that they did) come out independently and say that she's a liar. on top of this, allegations against the accuser have come out (with a whole lot more proof of manipulation than was ever present in the case with her accusations against dream!) and been corroborated by, again, someone who knows the accuser personally, and these allegations have included the fact that certain elements of the original allegations against dream were faked, something that supports what dream said in his video, on top of the other proof provided. but you know, believe victims - not that one, though, or that one. and everyone knows that if you're falsely accused of a crime, then you're not a victim. obviously.
time and time again these people have not only shown that the only victims they're at all willing to listen to are the ones convenient to their story (and the ones that aren't get to be shouted over, ignored, and twisted for use in their own agendas) but they've also repeatedly twisted information to best fit their personal narratives. these people have skin in the game, you know? they didn't exactly approach the situation with dream quietly. they have staked a lot on dream's guilt, including their own personal moral soundness - they've spent over a year of their lives assuring themselves that they're not like the dirty dream stans, they took the allegations Seriously and have denounced a Dangerous Bad Man. the existence of other victims challenges that story, and so they can't acknowledge their existence at all. maybe i'd be less bothered if these weren't the same people who seem so fucking devoted to their being perceived as Authorities On Abuse, who have championed themselves as protectors of the hurt and downtrodden, who go on and on and on about how they take these things with utter seriousness and how much victims matter to them - only to let their internal biases and sheer self-righteousness prompt them to ignore any "victim" that doesn't suit their favored narrative. god forbid these people admit that they were wrong! god forbid they admit that they spent a year of their life in their circles preaching hellfire and brimstone against an innocent man, god forbid they admit that they've harassed people out the door of their circles and been proud of their efforts based on falsified information, god forbid they spend a damn inkling of their time reflecting on their own hypocrisy.
but, you know. #believevictims am i right?
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Is it ever specified or even shown how humanity was told that the war was over? Like, after the events of Halo 3, how tf did Humanity get over (if they did) the Covenant appearing and just glassing a solid portion of Africa?
(As usual, I answer this while explaining everything I know so my apologies to anyone who already knows some or all of it.)
I would hesitate to say that humanity got over any of it, really. There is still high animosity between humans and ex-Covenant species. We just see lots of major Halo characters trying really hard to preserve a fragile peace where they can. There is a multi-species city called Paxopolis that was built inside the Dyson Sphere at what used to be Onyx to support the research going on out there, but it's a major outlier. Candidates to live in Paxopolis are rigorously screened for being able to live with other species before being sent out there. Meanwhile on Carrow, humans and Sangheili are living on opposite sides of a desert and are on the brink of conflict pretty much constantly.
(Another interesting outlier, though, is places like noted hive of scum and villainy Venezia. Rebel-heavy human populations have so much bad blood with the UNSC/Earth that honestly the ex-Covenant doesn't feel that much different for them, and so you've got humans, Kig-Yar, and Sangheili able to drink in the same bars out there.)
As for just telling people the war was over? It takes a while for communication to travel to all the nooks and crannies of an interstellar civilization, even (or perhaps, especially) one as thoroughly ravaged as humanity was. We do have some canon examples of the consequences.
The worst of these by far was Operation SUNSPEAR. I hate to spoil a genuinely good book because I think Envoy is great, but at the time Reach fell a team of Spartans had been sent behind enemy lines. Their mission was to take out Covenant leaders and destroy Sanghelios with a NOVA planet cracker bomb. They figured out they wouldn't be able to get Sanghelios, but they did manage to post up over the colony world Glyke to await further updates on what they should do.
The team had lost all communications with their chain of command (and Earth at all) not long after being told that Earth was under attack by the Covenant. After waiting in silence and eventually becoming sure that Earth was gone, they destroyed the planet.
....And it turns out they did this in the weeks right after humanity signed a treaty with the Arbiter, because the news just hadn't been able to get out there yet and nobody could tell them.
The fallout from that happening is the central Problem of an entire book (...well, there's also a big ancient Forerunner weapon crisis at the same time, but that's just Halo Tuesday it's fine) and nobody is okay about it.
And speaking of the glassing in Africa, the title character of Envoy is Melody Azikiwe, who was very personally impacted. I was able to find this moment cause I remembered some of the wording, so:
The second example that comes to mind immediately is a lot less dramatic: There's a short story called Breaking Strain in the Fractures anthology in which a UNSC ship (the Dark Was the Night) has been stranded on the colony of Losing Hand for a long time, and relations between the UNSC crew and the locals are getting tenser and worse by the day. When things are coming to a head, they pick up some Covenant approaching on sensors and start preparing for the worst.
...And then when the "Covenant" arrive, it turns out to actually be a joint team of humans and Sangheili who tell them that the war is actually over, it's 2553 and it ended last year.
Last example I can remember offhand: we also know that this happened on the Sangheili side too. Jul 'Mdama ends up on a Sangheili colony that doesn't know the war is over, and breaks the news to them. (It was April 2553, so the war had been officially over for over 4 months at that point.)
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hii i want some meenah (and or kankri) analysis >:3 love the way you explain things
HEARTTTTTTT thank you mio <3333 you will have to forgive me because the beforus trolls really really are not my wheelhouse outside of, like, talking about the ways that they represent (generally) interpretations of the beta trolls that hussie found shitty and obviously the whole obsession he had with owning the teenage SJWs for being messy about their critique of him as if he did not create the confines and energy of that space in the first place.
that said meenah is one of my favies of the bunch and i think i already have said a little bit to you about why i find her compelling on twitter before but UHMMM cracks knuckles
okay so i am a big fan of the characters whos isolation plays into the ways that make them harder for the rest of the cast to sympathize with. isolation is obviously an element of homestuck that is generally relevent to every characters story but for some of them that makes the friendgroups they have cultivated a source of empowerment and for some of them it functions to magnify why they hold whatever particular place in the narrative they do. why the narrative, as something alive and malicious to the characters living within it, grants some of them agency and denies others. and in some ways meenah gets agency, i mean she is the catalyst for every major decision that ensures the outcomes of her session! she has massive influence and control of her own future and is very strongheaded in her refusal to give that up, i love it for her.
that said she also is another victim of fitting into a character slot influenced by hussies biases. i think it is a little bit too simplistic when people try to paint the hemospectrum as just racism flipped on its head (plus that doesnt really account for the lowbloods who are written to be brown), but the makaras and the peixes get the worst of the messiness that IS there, where both on individual levels their characterizations end up saying some extremely fucked up things and revealing a lot about what hussie thinks black culture, like, is. and in a more general sense they invoke the uncomfortable undercurrent of antiblackness and anxiety surrounding black culture becoming a dominating cultural force that troll society is built upon. ive seen this spoken about better, and by actually black fans, so i wont try to hard to restate it all, but the ways that alternia (and beforus by extension) invoke black culture especially in the trolls we are meant to understand as holding societal privilege is like, so so so fucking weird!, and the choice to insert meenah the way that he did, long after discussions about this had started to really permeate the sphere of critique to me cant really feel like anything but a conscious decision, and retroactively erased any chance at him claiming ignorance with what he was doing with gamzee. the decision to double down on the concept that any of these behaviors are instinctual is also the bane of my existence. all of these characters who are loaded with blatant racism and then forced into roles of antagonizers are the ones i feel the most need to align myself with forever no questions asked.
to roll back around to meenah's isolation though, i think a lot of people kind of forget that for as much as she idolizes her post-scratch self, she felt so trapped by the prospect of ruling on beforus that she literally chose to run away and go into hiding and live! all by herself! this is so sad to me and especially drawing back on that metanarrative string of being a marginalized girl we are supposed to read as privileges (eugh!), i think it speaks so blatantly to her want for a nice life where she can be with her friends, even if i think her own conditioning makes her not entirely aware of that because shes spent her entire life being told she is meant to want power and her attitude of embracing that in the least-beforan way possible is so clearly the escapist fantasy of a teenager whos been told all her life how to be who hasnt quite unlearned the idea that power and riches and status are what makes you important.
even despite our entire view of her through her active role in the story being basically hussie telling us over and over and over again what a violent and selfish person she is, everything we hear about her actions in their session point more to meenah just being an abrasive girl who doesnt really know how to express her feelings, especially the ones that make her feel vulnerable or forced onto equal footing with people when shes always been told that isnt what shes meant to do. she bakes them a cakeeee for their anniversaryyyy come onnnn :o(((( i love her. even the stuff she does to damara is all only ever done with the intent of making sure her team can survive the game she has brought them all into (their dynamic is my favorite part about the beforus trolls one day i will speak on it). and ofc her entire plan to kill all of them to make sure they dont all end up wiped from existence!
ok um i am admittedly losing steam with my thoughts here so i will end this there but tldr she is everything to me
#also admittedly i dont think about kankri much outside of like how i wish he couldve been utilized and how much i hate most of what we got#but for you....... i will do my research and get back to u#also i love what u do with their dynamic big fan of vantas wifeguy trutherisms#meenah#ask#meta#<- feels a bit sillay to tag as usual idk if im actually saying anything not surface lvl here lol
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Hello! I was wondering, is there a certain recipie or type of food that is related to Veles? Either as an offering or something made for certain occasions?
We know very little about Veles so it’s hard to give any definite answers based on records of his pre-Christian worship. We can make some educated guesses on the basis of later Christian folklore about Saint Nicholas (who is believed to have inherited some of Veles’s traits in the areas populated by descendants of his previous worshippers, there are also other relevant Saints but I will not discuss them here) or other folkloric entities (associated with similar concepts and often appearing in opposition to the Thunderer, who also can appear as many different Saints and characters).
In the oldest sources we find Veles referred to as „the god of cattle”
„(…) Oleg and his men swore an oath by the Rus’ religion and swore by their weapons, and by Perun, their god, and by Volos, the god of cattle, and ratified the peace.”
- Tale of Bygone years, entry for year 907, as translated in Sources of Slavic Pre-Christian Religion ed. J. A. Álvarez-Pedrosa
*So, are Veles and Volos the same? Most slavists who I saw speaking on the subject were of the opinion that „obviously we can’t know for sure but it seems very likely”.
Borys Uspensky in his „Cult of Saint Nicholas in Russia” explores the numerous connections between Saint Nicholas and Veles and gives us some ideas derived from the cult of the former. One of them is a sacrifice of a three year old bull (de facto only the best part of meat goes to the god, the rest is shared by the people of the village).
Therefore the first thing we could use is beef.
Another thing is beer and other alcoholic beverages. Uspensky mentions the tradition of offering beer to Nicholas and points out that people would occasionally refer to him as „the beer god”. He also claims that consumption of alcohol on the Day of Saint Nicholas had ritual character.
Andrzej Szyjewski seems to be in agreement, in his book Religia Słowian mentioning that:
„Another dominion of his was alcoholic fermentation, he is the god of beer, patron of feasts and festivities as manifestations of wealth.”
The next one is grain and grain products. This is also guessed from the connection with Saint Nicholas, but makes sense in context of Veles being seen as deity of fertility.
„The reapers work in such a fashion as to leave one sheaf of grain remaining in the middle of the field, there the spirit of grain dwells untill it’s also ritually harvested and preserved untill next year’s planting. Among Eastern Slavs this sheaf is called the Beard of Veles, or the Beard of Nikolai. Once the reaping is done a female reaper braids the sheaf three times saying <Bless me Lord/ May I twist this beard/ Strength for the reaper/ Head for the horse/ Beard for Nikolai>” (trans. notes: It rhymed in Polish. Sort of.)”
- Religia Słowian by Andrzej Szyjewski
Uspensky points out that according to Ivanov and Toporov an alternate name for „the beard of Nikolai” may have been „the beard of Veles”. Additionally he presents a following belarusian folk song:
„Where have you been Nicholas?/ I walked in the field, I was sprinkling the dew/ I walked in the balk, I was making the rye crop/ I walked in the forest, I was placing the hives”.
Therefore it should not come as a surprise that the next food I’m going to mention is honey. Uspensky cites Nicholas as one of the patrons of beekeeping. Not incredibly important but I’d like to add Veles seems to also be associated with the color gold and bears so I was not particularly shocked.
My last suggestion are eggs. Eggs are a symbol of fertility and according to Uspensky they feature in some celebrations of Saint Nicholas as well as in certain rites of ancestral worship, which fits in nicely with Veles’s spheres of influence.
Okay this is it for today! After nearly 10 months I am letting the post fly free. If I ever find/remember something more I’ll add it in a reblog!
Hope you’ll still enjoy dear patient Anon 🥀
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Pissgate? Oh?
Okay so I got 3 asks about this so it's time to spill some tea. This is some of the most insane drama I've dealt with in the Tales fandom to date and that's saying something. No holds barred here, I'm sharing this all because I don't have a ton of tales people following me here anymore lmao.
So this story goes back to 2020 when I was writing my fic absurdities and echoes, which includes a torture scene. To put it one way, it kept going in uh, directions I didn't want it to go (read: Zelos kept ending up with a finger in his ass) so I decided to do a spin off fic to get All That out of my system. The fic was initially supposed to be a one off horny thing but it eventually evolved into a whole Bad End AU where the crestoria party are sacrificed to Kasque and Aegis is kept as the personal pet of the twins. It's called Abominations against God if you want to look it up but to be honest you probably shouldn't, and don't read it unless you read the tags. Anyways, in abominations, I was trying to think of ways to humiliate Aegis so I ended up making him piss himself which was an accident, no pun intended.
So anyways, I wrote that, and a now ex friend who isn't relevant to the story was like "that was hot can you write one with Vicious" and the perks of being my friend is that since I have no limits I'll write you whatever freaky shit you want. So I wrote a Vicious piss fic, dropped the google doc in the group chat, and jokingly said "PayPal me 30 dollars and I'll post it". Someone actually did, and I'm a they of my word, so I was like fuck it we ball and posted it on anon.
Now enter the bane of my fucking existence and two of the biggest pains in my fucking neck for the last 3 years, two big name fans who we will call S and K because I don't do subtlety and I don't care if they see this. If you are active in the English twitter crestoria sphere you will almost certainly have encountered them. Anyways, these two are the definition of hypocrite purity wankers. They go on and on about freaks in the fandom and how disgusting all the r18 content is, but then they post monsterfucking smut on an alt ao3 account. I wish I could make this up. So anyways, I posted my anon fic, and then someone else posted an anon piss fic right after in solidarity which was cool. But then S and K take to twitter and complain about all the "unsanitary" content, as they put it, in the ao3 tag. I can't speak for the other one but mine at least was tagged thoroughly and you knew what you were getting into when you clicked it. Basically it was a stupid thing to complain about because if you don't like the content you can just not engage with it. They had their little hissy fit, I ended up blocking them later for being a pain in my ass, and the story ends there right? Wrong!
I have another, also unrelated friend who's into piss and I wrote something for them for their birthday and I was like "I'm not posting this because of what happened last time". They said they had a piss fic they wanted to post, and that they'd post theirs if I posted mine. So I was like, cool, let's do this. Solidarity! And OF COURSE, guess who has a problem with it?
S and K go on a tirade about all the disgusting fics in the tag again and how the crestoria fandom is full of sex crazed freaks or whatever (which is again really rich coming from people who pearl clutch and then post smut on an alt account in the same breath). In comes anon #2 again, who dive bombed in with their own piss fic the first time, posting another like the absolute legend they are. However, in the author's note they put something like "proud to be one of the 3 people keeping the crestoria tag horny" in reference to S and K's little temper tantrum... And this made them FLIP THEIR SHIT.
Literally, they freaked out soooo bad. They were talking about how because of this author's note people were stalking them and trying to trigger them on purpose and the most ridiculous shit. All the while... If you don't like the content and you KNOW that you don't like the content... What are you doing in the author's note? And people ROASTED them for that. Because none of this would have been a problem if they had just ignored it and moved on. But no, they had to open the fics up, look at the author's notes, and make a big stink about the whole thing just because they didn't like the content.
Eventually they locked their accounts for a bit when they started getting backlash but this is always going to be a big reason I will ALWAYS be on the "don't like don't read" train. Because you might not be into it, it might not be your ship, your kink, whatever, but it tickles someone's fancy, and you freaking out about how disgusting and degenerate it is will make the people who enjoy it think YOU think they're disgusting and degenerate. Do I have a piss kink? Honestly that's irrelevant at this point, but ultimately I support everyone's right to make whatever content they want and to have the people who don't want to see it utilize the block and mute functions. They're there for a reason.
Anyways, peace and love ✌️
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Love a good pop psychology discussion. One other thing I’d add - he’s projecting all his insecurities on her - while also using her to disprove them to himself. He sought out a much younger woman probably for many reasons we could discuss, but one clear reason is his obvious insecurity about getting older. With her, he can prove he’s still got it so to speak, while also being the worldly, wiser man. I don’t have much empathy for him at the moment, but do feel it’s a sad way to live.
Okay, I think you do have a point here, as the ego stroke mechanism is often a big part of age differential relationships for men. (God, they just really are so afraid of the reality of living, aging, and dying, aren't they?)
But... ugh, I know I probably shouldn't bring this up, but think it needs to be said. Rumors about him "dating" down in age go back to when he was still in his early 30s. I remember reading some from the 2014 period and they specifically mentioned the aspect of the younger girls being easier to manipulate and get rid of. I didn't think that much of it at the time because he was 33, so the age gap didn't look that horrible with a 23-24 year old. Questionable, especially with the reasoning given, but not horrible. Also, I use "dating" loosely here, as these girls seemed more in the FWB or hook-up category, not the "real girlfriend" category. So, obviously, this is a pattern that predates issues with aging.
So, this is what makes now look really odd - he's suddenly moved what he seemed to be doing in private for quite some time (mack on young woman) out into the public sphere where his publicly acknowledged girlfriends were formerly more age appropriate. That's the decision I'm still mulling over.
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