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trainsinanime · 1 year

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The shapes of railway networks

A while ago @ariadsishereagain asked me about countries that have no railway networks, and what I think of them. That's a fascinating question that has been in my mind ever since, because the truth is you can tell a lot about a country and in particular it's history during the 19th and early 20th century by its railway network. So let's do that. And the best way to do that is by looking at the incredibly detailed open-source world railway map OpenRailwayMap, a part of the OpenStreetMap project. I really recommend it! And let's start with one of my favorite examples of how railway networks differ:

At this zoom level the site sadly only shows incomprehensible internal abbreviations rather than city names, so let me explain: What we have here are France and Germany, along with some of the UK and Italy, some of various neighbouring countries and all of Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg.

France and Germany are the ones that I find the most interesting, because the shapes of their networks are so different. Not only is the german one much more dense, but you can see completely different patterns.

In France, the job of railroads is to bring people to Paris (PLY, short for Paris Gare de Lyon) The lines stretch out into every part of the country, but almost all of them converge onto mainlines going into Paris. You can see some lines along the coasts and the borders, and there is a medium distances circle around Paris (passing MZ, DN, TO, short for Metz, Dijon, Tours). This whole pattern is known as the Legrande Star, after Baptiste Alexis Victor Legrande, the french government official who designed it. His goal was to provide great access to Paris, the nation's undisputed political, cultural and economical centre. A couple of decades later, Charles de Freycinet added plans to connect all departments to the railway network, but he still followed the idea that the ultimate goal of almost every rail line was Paris. And so it was, and largely remained. Even the high speed lines, in red, follow this pattern to this day.

A result is that you will have to go to Paris whether you want to or not. Lille-Strasbourg? You're going through Paris. Bordeaux-Dijon?

You're going through Paris, and get to make your own way from Gare Montparnasse to Gare de Lyon on the Metro (and it isn't even a direct metro, you have to change trains). It's a massive detour but it's not like you have a choice.

Even if there is a direct TGV or a connection outside the main stations of Paris, you're still ending up very much near Paris; the difference is just that you're not going via the city centre, but rather via Disneyland. Legrande wanted to bring people to Paris; he was less concerned about connecting other places with each other.

Now compare Germany, and you will see a network that is more dense, but most importantly, utterly chaotic. You can see hints of a France-like star around Berlin (BSPD, short for Berlin Spandau, which isn't the most important station but what can you do), but it's really only dominating its immediate surroundings, the region of Brandenburg. You can see vague hints of a similar star around Hamburg (AH; don't ask) or Munich (MH), but also a massive tangle around the Rhine-Ruhr industrial area (around KD), or around the Frankfurt am Main area (FF). Red high speed lines are essentially random. Some of them do go to Berlin, sure. But many, like the one from Cologne to Frankfurt (KD to FF) or the one from Hanover (HH) south, do not.

And that really reflects the history. Germany wasn't a unified country when railroad construction began, and even though it did unify shortly thereafter, there's no hiding that its different parts developed separately, with no central planning, ever since the middle ages. Germany doesn't have a single central city like France. Berlin is the biggest and most important city, but not by far. Hamburg has huge cultural and industrial influence, Frankfurt is the most important financial centre and airport, Munich is huge, and there are agglomerations like the Rhine-Ruhr region that used to beat all of them in terms of industry. And the rail network, with no single central focus point, reflects that.

That doesn't mean Germany doesn't have its own blind spots. Due to being split in two, the east-west links aren't great. Getting e.g. from Cologne (near KD) to Dresden (DH) is pretty painful. Ironically, Berlin is one of the places that really suffers from this. There are plenty of trains to it from Cologne but they take forever, and you can see why: A lot of the route isn't high speed, it's just more or less upgraded normal lines. If you have a single destination, then it's easy to build all the lines there. If you want high-speed connections between everything, that's more difficult. (Also, our government isn't investing anywhere near enough into the rail network, both compared internationally and on its own terms, but that's a different issue)

Other countries in Europe tend to be somewhere between the extremes. Spain is fairly centralised around Madrid.

The UK is just as focused on London as France is on Paris, but it has strong regional networks around Leeds and Sheffield, and the weirdness in Scotland (four different lines between Glasgow and Edinburgh and counting!).

Italy, especially south of the Po valley, almost looks like a ladder: Lines are either on the one side of the Apennines or the other, with a few brave ones crossing through.

This works overseas as well. Describing the continental US as "like Germany" is certainly going to raise some eyebrows, but the map doesn't lie:

It's all on a completely different scale, but it's also a federal country with no one single clear centre. Yes, New York and Los Angeles are big and important, but neither is an all-powerful centre of the nation. What's fun about the US is that it's almost gradient-like: The more west you go, the fewer the railroads get. You can also nicely see the Alleghenies by the shadow they cast: Just a few brave rail lines managed to make their way through or around. Other characteristic items are the huge tangle that is Chicago, the closest thing the US has to a railroad capital; and the many places where lines are almost duplicated (just count how many different ways you can get from Chicago to Memphis, or Chicago to Cleveland), thanks to different competing railway companies that all hated (and sometimes still hate) each other's guts.

So that's what's mostly considered the "western world" or "industrialised world". I skipped Japan, China and India because the post is going to get too long no matter what, but they're all fascinating as well.

But if we go away from there look at countries where the colonialism was less settlers and more exploit mostly from afar, we see another very odd pattern emerge, like here in sub-saharan Africa:

The selection is somewhat arbitrary because you can find the same pattern everywhere south of the Sahara, and in one case (Mauretania) even in the Sahara: A railroad that goes straight to the coast. (The isolated sections inland are due to issues with the map software, they're all connected to one of the lines to the coast)

This kind of railroad is designed to extract a country's resources, and not much else. In Mauretania (not in this picture), that's iron ore. Elsewhere it might have been other ores, precious metals, gemstones, but also very often agricultural products, spices, dyes. The railway line exists to take these things, and bring them to a port. The line is not designed to actually help the nation grow economically. Think about it: All things being equal, you're probably just as likely to want to go parallel to the coast as perpendicular to it.

Also, each of these lines were built because there's something interesting at the end of it, or at least someone suspected there might be. If you wanted to develop the area, it would make sense to trade the interesting stuff in Togo with the interesting stuff in Benin. But the railway lines are not set up for that at all. The goal is to get the interesting stuff to a ship, and occasionally soldiers to the place where the interesting stuff comes from.

These days, the area that I screenshotted here is actually massive, full of people. The city of Abidjan has more than four million inhabitants (more than Berlin), Lomé has 1.7 million, Cotonou and Porto-Novo come close to a million if taken together, and nobody's quite sure about Lagos, but it's at least 14 million, and the metropolitan region might be 24 million. This is a band of cities that researchers think might, in the next few decodes, become on par with Washington-Philadelphia-New York-Boston in the US, or the Tokyo-Osaka in Japan.

And the rail connections in this region do not reflect this at all. A high speed passenger line and/or a heavy duty freight line could allow all these places to do business with each other, allow people to move to or visit each other, and just spur a lot of economic development. But the powers that built the lines, the colonial powers, were not interested. They had their harbour, and the region behind it, and they just wanted to extract whatever was there.

To be clear, that does not mean the railroads are evil now. Selling natural resources is still better than bringing no money into the country. And there are a lot of places where railroad junctions and depots became the point where cities were founded, so in some countries these lines do end up connecting the most important cities, more or less by accident. It's just that other lines or more lines are sorely missing.

A simple example for how this could look like is provided by Australia, where the colonists were settlers and did want to develop the land economically:

You have the lines from the coast inland, and sometimes quite a lot of them. But you can also see a line along the east coast, connecting the cities, and you can see that someone said "we need to build a railroad across the entire continent. No, two actually". That is not to say that Australia does everything right with railroads, they have a lot of weirdness there. But you can see that the railroads had more jobs than to just move resources to ships.

(The big exception is the Pilbara region, in the north west, with its odd tangle of lines. Those are all just resource extraction lines, where the world's heaviest freight trains haul iron ore from various mines to various ports. The mines and ports are owned by different mining companies that don't like each other, so everybody has their own line from their own harbour to their own mine, even if a different line would have been shorter. That's why you get the tangle there.)

So, that's basically it. The railroad map of a country shows you a lot about how a country works, and more specifically how it worked during the late 19th and early 20th century, when most railroads were built. Where they lead to and where they don't reflects what planners thought of as important, and in turn, it has shaped the way these countries developed. And personally, I always find this endlessly fascinating.

#railroads #maps #i suppose you could take the 6 to bercy and walk from there but it's still not exactly convenient

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canmom · 10 months

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followup - the case of tiktok and zlibrary

i think a potential rejoinder to that piracy post is that the point of obscurity isn't to avoid discovery by the feds (impossible, even with private word of mouth), but to keep the scale small enough that it's not worth the effort to suppress.

an example brought up in a few replies is the case of ZLibrary, which hosts a large collection of pirated ebooks. the story goes, there were widely circulating TikTok posts promoting ZLibrary. ZLibrary became very popular. not long after, the US justice system moved to seize its domain names, meaning that if you typed in the URL to ZLibrary, the DNS (Domain Name System) would not direct you to ZLibrary's servers, but to a page saying the feds had seized this domain.

(this can be compared with the more standard practice of ordering ISPs to block a domain. in this case, the DNS registration is untouched, but your ISP will intercept requests to that domain, usually serving a blank page instead. this is easy to bypass using a VPN. in the ZLibrary case, the US government actually overwrote the DNS records, so nobody could obtain the IP address of ZLibrary from that particular URL anymore.)

imo there is no question that the feds knew about ZLibrary before it got popular on TikTok. however, you could still argue that they would not have been so quick to seize its domains if ZLibrary had been less popular. (not 100% sure if that's true. it takes time for the courts to make their move.)

but that's not the end of the story. subsequently, ZLibrary came back under a variety of domains - and also over the I2P and Tor anonymisation networks, which do not rely on the DNS. It was also backed up by the "Anna's Archive" project. if you want to download a book from ZLibrary today... it's not even hard. you can literally just get the current URLs on Wikipedia.

so if the story of ZLibrary demonstrates anything, it is that to some extent, the domain name system was a vulnerability. but only to some extent. because the site can register new domains faster than the feds can squash them. as long as the servers remain out of reach of the feds, domains can change, and proxies can be established.

this is all by design. the internet was invented to route around obstructions (for example, a computer getting blown up by a nuclear bomb). the web and the DNS, less so - but while it's mildly inconvenient to have to find a new URL for ZLibrary, it's not a show-stopper.

so i reckon if anything the case of ZLibrary demonstrates that with the right system design, even when the feds make their move, it's possible to bounce back. TikTok did not kill ZLibrary, at most they just tripped it up for a bit.

#piracy

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literallyanyname · 9 months

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Banana Fish Rec List

Here's a list of my favorite Bfish fics. I adore whump, so quite a few of the recs skew in that direction. Because Banana Fish whump tends to be particularly intense, I highly, highly recommend checking the tags and content warnings of each fic before reading. These aren't arranged in any particular order. Enjoy!

Love Letters by labingi

Status: Complete, 31,106 words

My Summary: Ash survives the stabbing by Lao, and goes to prison. He and Eiji exchange letters, and eventually emails, for several decades.

My Thoughts: This is one of the most nuanced, in-character BF fics out there. It is, at times, as painful as canon, but with a deeply satisfying ending. This work is a beyond gorgeous take on the BF characters. Probably my favorite on this list. Also, it is technically a Death Note crossover, but it honestly really isn't. DN elements are only mentioned a few times as a plot device.

Just Offscreen by @chaoslynx

Status: Complete, 6,728 words

My Summary: Foxx doesn't drop the cigarette in front of Ash. Foxx's men torture Ash, and he is eventually rescued by Eiji and Max.

My Thoughts: Read the tags on this one. Even for BF, it's pretty graphic. It's a really good fic though. It explores the implied elements of Banana Fish in explicit detail, and brings to the surface some of the underlying horror of canon. One common problem I see with fics and fiction generally is the tendency to use graphic subjects as a cheap shock factor. This fic does not do that. It handles the subject matter really well, and Ash's stream-of-consciousness POV is expertly done.

Eat the Elephant and its sequel, How To Walk Through Open Doors by Dodici

Status: Complete

My Summary: Ash makes it to Japan, and finds himself a little in over his head. Eiji is there to take care of him.

My Thoughts: Honestly, I really like the prose. It's really well written and the language just naturally reads like Ash's internal monologue. He says, does, and feels things without really understanding or bothering to think about why he does them in this way. The author captures Ash's perspective really well. Also, love me some realistic Eiji. I have a particular fondness for fics that flesh out Eiji's character even more than canon does. (Honestly, I get really hung up on characterization. I will usually stop reading an OOC fic)

I'll Save Myself by kanekki

Status: Complete, 30,324 words

My Summary: Instead of arriving at Dino's mansion the next day, Ash doesn't show up until about a month later. Eiji and Yut-Lung are held captive during that time. Continues until a little after the ending of the show.

My Thoughts: This is one of my personal whump favorites. Eiji undergoes a major personality shift that feels entirely realistic. He is still very much Eiji, but his time as a captive has deeply lasting effects. He also learns Yut-Lung's skill with needles, which is just cool. Also, Ash as sporadic-and-inexperienced-but-determined caretaker is an added bonus. The gang element is something of a side plot, but it's well developed. This fic really reminds me of the scene in episode 2 where Eiji is about to jump the wall and says something like "I'd rather die trying".

porgi, amor, qualche ristoro by ADreamingSongbird

Status: Complete, 18,763 words

My Summary: Ash has a very severe panic attack. Eiji comforts him through it.

My Thoughts. THIS FIC. This. Fic. It does something to me, honestly. It is just so, so tender and sweet. It's really well-written and a truly breathtaking insight into AshEiji's relationship post-canon. I reread it fairly often. The discussions of SA are handled very carefully and sensitively. Ash and Eiji are both well-written. The large volume of physical comfort feels like catharsis after canon's minimal and scattered touches, but it feels realistic. Like Ash would actually be comfortable with it in this context. It's hard to summarize exactly how much I love this fic.

Offset by superbrightsunset

Status: Complete, 3,859

My Summary: 5+1 about Eiji's physical strength as an athlete.

My Thoughts: Short, but very sweet. I love the caretaking in this fic. The style is very similar to the comfort aspects of Bfish canon. It's a good read for a quick AshEiji fix. Also, Shorter! And a light sprinkling of humor!

Save Me The Waltz (Alternate) by crowsnest

Status: Complete, 12,181 wrods

My Summary: Eiji is bfished instead of Shorter.

My Thoughts: This fic stuck in my brain for several weeks. Ash, Eiji, and Shorter all have to really go through it, but it is immensely satisfying for all three to come out alive and mostly whole in a way that seems realistic. This AU spans a few years, and leaves a lot of possible scenes to the reader's imagination. I really enjoyed reading this, especially the caretaking aspect.

Drugstore Cowboy by suffragettecity

Status: Complete, 2,048 words

My Summary: Ash goes to Shorter for a brief respite.

My Thoughts: I am in love with the atmosphere in this fic. It's uniquely platonic-ShorAsh. It's a fairly short one-shot, but the language is very immersive. There are little pieces of information scattered throughout that are deliberately unexplained, leaving the reader to make connections on their own. Overall a good read.

Okay. I might add more to this later. There are other fics I really like, but am too tired to rec. If anyone has any fics they want to share, please do!

(Also, I'm new to Tumblr and don't know the authors' tumblrs. Please tag them if you do. And if anyone wants their fic removed, please let me know and I will.)

#banana fish #ash lynx #eiji okumura #shorter wong #asheiji #fic rec #fanfic rec #rec list #bfish

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done-dm · 3 months

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I really hope we get to see DX-TR again before the season ends because the bits and pieces we know about him are fascinating.

Like, he gets brought onto this elite group of mechanites for a very particular skillset. As K-LB so eloquently puts it at the end of season three, "The thing about DX-TR... MR-SN's superpower was making you believe in his dreams. DX-TR's superpower was making you believe his lies."

He's an invaluable member of the team and then betrays his party to the githyanki only to work on the exact same thing they were working on before: traveling beyond the planescape. We see in VR-LA's vision via MR-SN that DX-TR specifically wanted the whole crew to be captured, but don't really get an explanation beyond DX-TR saying to Endellion "We need them! All of them, alive! Especially him. This wasn't the deal!"

And it doesn't seem like he gets much from the githyanki aside from resources. Again, drawing from what K-LB has said...

"In some ways, DX-TR seemed as much of a prisoner as us. Like, he could go and come back, but mostly he was summoned [...] He was stuck in that same room with us, a little more space to walk around..."

And he keeps working on the project. For three years he keeps his old friends in a cell, watches as AS-TR deteriorates to the point of not speaking at all, and keeps at it.

Until he doesn't. According to K-LB, there was a certain point when he "stopped working so hard" and goes on to say "I just feel like it wasn't because he hit a dead end. It was because he didn't need to be working hard on it anymore. He was just biding his time."

But why bide his time? Kyana points out during the conversation with K-LB and the others that DX-TR probably used their attack as a distraction to escape, that he could have taken more hits at them and chose to run instead, but there might be another reason.

When VR-LA asks K-LB if they succeeded in their work under the githyanki, K-LB responds "We're still here, ain't we?" VR-LA quickly figures out this meant that the githyanki would have killed the old Per Aspera crew when they finished, which likely includes DX-TR. So he fled to save his own skin but also (either purposefully or inadvertently) saved his old crew by stalling with the githyanki.

Instead of playing on this angle with the crew during the rescue attempt, he comes across as a cut and dry villain the first time we meet him. He kills Dani while she's unconscious and no threat just to send a message to VR-LA not to come after him.

And then, once he's free and has the most valuable information in the planescape, he goes to work for the mindflayers??? Why? Why would he choose to go work for one of the most universally hated and dangerous species that exists? What's stopping them from eating his brain and using his knowledge without that pesky individuality getting in the way?

For whatever reason, he gets to remain himself and is set to eliminate other threats to the mindflayers' plan. He kills Casimir, but not C-RA or K-LB. Which, as K-LB tells VR-LA outright, he easily could have done so since he caught everyone off guard. Instead, he lets C-RA take his arm (which, granted, probably isn't as big of a deal for a mechanite and can probably be repared, but if I were in a situation as dangerous as working with mindflayers on a daily basis I would want to be in tip top shape at all times in case one of them gets hungry) and runs again.

K-LB and E-DN have explicitly stated that they want him dead despite knowing he spared K-LB and C-RA's lives. VR-LA's on the fence about it, but–even if he did fully commit to killing DX-TR–his devil deal is still up in the air and there's a very real possibility that VR-LA can't kill him. Whether someone else on the crew can do so on his behalf remains to be seen, but since he technically only gave the order to kill the mindflayer in the last episode with Kyana and Vhas doing the dirty work and Austin still almost used the deal to stop him, I think that might not be a loophole he can take advantage of.

Which means by the end of this campaign there's a fair chance that DX-TR is just going to be out there in the planescape doing who knows what. We don't know what his motivations are beyond finishing the project, what don't know how much his old crew still means to him (enough to lose an arm but not enough to keep them imprisoned for three years?), and we don't know what he plans to do after this.

Rambling aside, I want to put him under a microscope to study.

#rwd spoilers #spoilers up to season 5 episode 6 #rwd dx-tr #rolling with difficulty #vr la rwd

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cor-lapis-candy · 1 year

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If y’all want to be Dottore’s patient you have a medical kink

I make the rules, now enjoy!

I have kept away from giving this a gendered reader so whatever hole this is going on in is up to you.

MINORS DN!!

Sure checkups were last in priority for the second harbinger, but sometimes certain high-profile members did need a truly skilled hand in their diagnosis, and so you, his favourite for the drivel he had to assess were returning, ready to let him do as he pleased under the guise of needed tests.

Today was a check-up he had been craving, it had been months since the last time he had you in for one of these particular exams, the last time he had managed to get away with simply feeling you up, feeling the give of your skin under his fingers before stretching you open on his fingers but this time, this time he was hoping for something more, had prepared something more.

In a sealed container, kept in the small samples fridge in his exam room were a few small containers full of a mix of his and a few favoured clones' cum, a selfish surprise he had been hoping to see drip from you post-exam.

Containing his excitement was harder than expected, the wait between calling you in and the actual moment you arrived was almost enough to have him begin fiddling with his pen, but the moment you had stepped into the room, as usual, you are fine with Dottore's odd need to help in stripping you down and changing you into the paper gown before laying you out for his exam, uncaring as your doctor takes your clothes slipping the underwear you had been wearing into his pocket for the time being.

Settled back on his exam table there is nothing more than a shiver from you before his hands are on you once again, pressing and questioning if anything was amiss before he was pulling away to gather a few items, smirking as he ducks to the fridge grabbing one of the small sample pots and a few other objects. Sure he had plans for you but there was an exam to be carried out and as soon as that was complete he could carry on with what he wanted.

No, deserved to see from you.

Once the actual samples were capped and labelled, tucked into the sample bags with neat labels and dates for sending off to his clones for legitimate results meant that he could finally move on to working you open and get what he wanted.

It's easy to use some of the lube he kept for his tools for working his way into stretching you open, two fingers becoming three and three to four, watching with eager eyes as you take his fingers so nicely if only he could replace them with something much more satisfying, mount the exam table and fuck you into the shitty cushions but with the time limit of your visit, he would have to do what he could for now.

He could spend some of his idle time later thinking of how it woudl have looked had he taking his fingers away and watched as you finally show some reaction to the perversions he had subjected you too, have you flush and whine, moan his name, tell him to stop, to keep going, to just give him something as he fucked you as he longed for, but for now, he would slip his fingers free and get his little surprise ready.

Taking a wide tube syringe and slowly watching as the tube fills cum, hands steady as he slides it home, the cold feeling of the syringe finding its home in you making you shiver, throwing a glance up towards your face met him with a familiar look of peace and yet it emboldened him to watch, to see how you reacted to the chilled feeling of his cum filling you, to the obvious fluid that would be sitting in you for the next few hours.

But there you were, eyes lidded and mouth open with your soft breaths, you were so calm, so trusting, so beautiful like this. Full of his cum and just taking it, letting him fill you in one of the most impersonal ways but even then it was making him hard, making his hands shake slightly as he pulls the syringe-free, now bare hands scooping the cum that dribbled out up only too push it back in to settle it where he had left it.

In the end, you didn't even blink as he pushed further in, digging his fingers in and making sure to slightly fuck his cum into you before pulling away to prompt you to get dressed again, rattling off a few requests and statements as he scribbled a few notes about what he had planned for the next visit, watching out of the corner of his eye as you simply respond by nodding and agreeing to come back two weeks later for the results.

Even after you had left the knowledge of you leaking his cum for the rest of the day, unknowing and unfazed would haunt him, thank god for this being the last of his work for the day, the underwear he had stolen was about to become the next vessel to hold the evidence of lust.

Maybe next time he would replace the ones you wore with these, leave you full of his cum again and cover you with more of his spend, stained both inside and out...

#il dottore smut #genshin impact smut #fatui harbinger smut #genshin smut #genshin impact x reader #cw: dubcon #cw: medical #corposting

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harrysrealbo · 5 months

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Chapter One

welcome :)

word count: 2003

cross posted on wattpad

warnings: badly translated french

It had been two long years since I last set foot on a paddock. The memories of Monaco 2021 were still etched vividly in my mind—the cheers of the crowd, the pulsating energy, and the bitter taste of disappointment. He had been set to race, but destiny had other plans. A DNS, a race skipped, and a relationship shattered in the cold night of the principality.

As I approached the paddock entrance, my heart raced with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. The air was charged with the familiar scent of gasoline and the low hum of engines, but this time, it felt different. I was no longer the carefree girl cheering on her boyfriend; I was Amelia, a silent supporter who had watched races from the comfort of her living room for far too long.

The memories flooded back as I stepped onto the paddock, surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the Formula 1 world. The clinking of tools, the distant hum of engines being tested, and the occasional bursts of laughter from the team members created a symphony of sounds that had been absent from my life for too long.

As I stood there, lost in the whirlwind of emotions and memories, a voice, smooth and familiar, cut through the ambient noise of the paddock. "Amelia," the voice called out, and as I turned, there he was—Lewis Hamilton, grinning with that trademark charm that had made him a legend both on and off the track.

"It's been too long," he said, his eyes reflecting genuine warmth. The corners of his mouth curled into a friendly smile that seemed to erase the time and distance that had kept us apart.

A mixture of surprise and joy crossed my face as I registered the unexpected encounter. Lewis had always been a constant in this ever-changing world of Formula 1, a familiar face that transcended the rivalries and competition. His presence was a comforting reminder of the camaraderie that existed beyond the fierce battles on the track.

"Lewis," I replied, a genuine smile breaking across my face in response to his infectious grin. "Yeah, it really has been."

He stepped closer, his eyes scanning my face as if trying to read the unspoken chapters of the past two years. "I've missed having you around. The paddock isn't the same without you."

His words resonated with a sincerity that touched me. Despite the competitive nature of the sport, there was a sense of community among the drivers, a shared understanding of the sacrifices and challenges they faced. Lewis, in particular, had always been a pillar of support, a friend even when our paths didn't cross often.

"I've missed it too," I admitted, the honesty of the moment lingering in the air between us.

Lewis pulled me to his side for a moment, his grin softening into a more contemplative expression. "Life moves fast, doesn't it? But sometimes, we find our way back to where we belong."

It was at this moment our exchange that caught the attention of nearby media, the paddock went into a frenzy. Cameras flashed, and reporters hurriedly moved in our direction, eager to capture any interaction between the two of us. I hadn't anticipated the level of attention this return would attract.

Lewis grinned, soaking up the attention as he leaned in slightly. "Seems like the paddock missed you, Amelia."

A chuckle escaped my lips. "Or maybe they just missed the drama. It's been a while since I've been part of the circus."

His grin persisted as he gestured towards the Ferrari garage. "So, are you with Ferrari this race?"

I shook my head. "Supporting, always. But I'm actually a guest of Lando. I'll be sitting with his family."

Lewis raised an eyebrow, a playful glint in his eyes. "Lando? Did you ask him, or did he ask you?"

"I asked him," I replied, with a small hum "I thought it would be a more low-key return, you know?" I laugh, shaking my head. “At the moment he seemed like the safest option; he's been bugging me to come watch.”

Lewis laughed, a hearty sound that resonated through the garage. "You could have asked any of us, you know that, right? We'd be happy to have you around."

“Not everyone.” I remind softly

“The ones who matter would’ve, you know that Ames.”

There's no words that fall from my mouth, only a soft smile because even after two years away, two years of healing my heart still knew who mattered the most.

As the media continued to capture our conversation, Lewis flashed another grin. "Well, Amelia, welcome back to the circus. It's always more fun with you around."

As Lewis and I continued our conversation in the buzzing paddock, the distinctive voice of Lando Norris broke through the ambient noise. He approached with a bemused expression, shaking his head as he spoke, "This was not what I expected when I promised you a quiet race."

Lewis chuckled, offering a reassuring grin. "You couldn't have expected this to go any other way, Lando."

Lando, let out an exaggerated sigh. "Well, you know, I was hoping for a bit of peace and quiet. Maybe some tea and biscuits in the garage." he grinned at me, a teasing glint in his eyes

"In this paddock? Dream on, mate." Lewis threw an arm around Lando's shoulder as we walked towards the McLaren garage.

"If you hadn't stopped her, she would've gotten in without an issue. The media's been gone for ages." Lando, shook his head looking slightly offended.

I shook my head, smiling softly. "It's okay, Lando. I just didn't want to step on anyone's toes."

"You mean you didn't want to step on Charles' toes."

Lewis nodded in agreement. "That's exactly what she means."

Lando, still adjusting to the idea of a 'quiet' race weekend, flashed a mischievous grin. "Well, Amelia, welcome to the chaos. I hope you're ready for it."

As Lando departed, leaving me to navigate the bustling paddock on my own, I sought refuge in a quieter corner where Lily, Kika, Kelly, and surprisingly, Alexandra, had gathered. Lily, always exuberant, leaped up at the sight of me, engulfing me in an immodest hug that spoke volumes of her excitement.

"Amelia! It's been ages!" Lily exclaimed, the warmth in her voice a stark contrast to the tension that lingered in the air.

The other women echoed Lily's sentiment, expressing their joy at seeing me after such a long absence. All except Alexandra, who regarded me with an icy reserve.

"And you are?" Alexandra asked, her tone cool and detached.

"Amelia Klein," I replied, offering a soft smile despite the chill in the air.

From that moment, Alexandra went silent, retreating into her phone and shooting occasional glances in my direction. The tension between us was palpable.

"God, where have you been, Ames? You dropped off the face of the earth," Kelly shook her head, her gaze meeting mine as we took each other in for the first time in years.

"Outside of your sporadic Instagram dumps and what Lando spreads around the paddock, I have no clue what you've been up to," Lily added, nodding in agreement.

I couldn't help but snort, shaking my head. "I can't tell that man anything, can I? He's like a toddler."

"Exactly like a toddler.” Kika nodded, “You should ask him who he talks about you to the most."

Lily shook her head, elbow meeting the other girl's ribs "Well, catch us up."

I took a deep breath, preparing to share the condensed version of the last two years of my life. "I've been living in Italy with my brother, it’s nice being able to stay with him. I only ever come home to Monaco to see my family for the holidays.” a soft hum escapes my lips as I play with the lanyard around my neck. “I worked hard to get my degree early - god I thought I’d never finish honest;y. I don’t have a secure job set up yet but I have helped some newer publishing houses get their shit together." I explained, a mixture of pride and nostalgia in my voice. "It's been hard not being able to be home you know? Being here it's like.. Being whole again. But I'll keep doing it as long as it means Cha—" I halted mid-sentence, my eyes drifting involuntarily to Alexandra, a tight smile on my face. The unspoken words lingered in the air, a testament to the complexities that life in the paddock brought with it. As I continued, I hoped the conversation would shift away from the intricacies of my personal life and back to the camaraderie that had drawn us together in the first place, and it did as the girls took turn gushing about their lives, their plans and how the past two years had shaped them into the people they are today.

My phone buzzed, I ignored it, immediately pressing the button to silence it as I laughed at Lily’s impression of Alex. It wasn't until the third time I had attempted to silence the call that I forced myself to pick up, his name took over my screen. I held my breath for a moment before I held the phone to my ear “Hello?”. He ignore all pleasantries, immediately responding in French, he questioned my allegiance, "Vous êtes ici, mais vous ne pouvez pas soutenir Ferrari?"

I excused myself from the conversation with the other girls, retreating to a more secluded spot as the tension between Charles and me spilled into the airwaves.

"La seule fois où je n'ai pas soutenu Ferrari, c'était pour te soutenir, Charles. Vous le savez mieux que quiconque." I replied with frustration coloring my words.

"Oh, donc tu soutiens Ferrari, mais pourtant tu parles à tout le monde sauf à moi?" he retorted, the lines of communication strained.

"Pourquoi t'en soucierais-tu si je ne te parle pas, Cha ? Tu m'as dit que si on ne parlait plus, ce serait comme gagner un championnat, et pourtant là tu m'appelles. En colère contre moi d'être assis avec Mclaren. Tu n'as pas à t'inquiéter pour quelqu'un d'autre en ce moment ?" I shot back, the exchange conducted in our shared language, a battlefield of emotions.

As the argument unfolded in French, Alexandra's gaze bore into me with an intensity that sent shivers down my spine. The air grew heavier, and finally, unable to bear the scrutiny, she left the scene. The line remained silent, the only sound Charles's breathing as I muttered a curt “Bonne chance." before ending the call.

Rejoining the group, annoyance etched across my face, Lily sensed the tension in the air. She whispered something softly about race days being unpredictable, a sentiment I couldn't help but acknowledge with a reluctant nod. Kelly, shook her head and assured me that he probably only meant well, attempting to diffuse the lingering discomfort.

As we prepared to depart for our respective garages, the excitement of the impending race hung in the air. The paddock buzzed with anticipation, and I couldn't escape the irony that, in a sea of orange – I was the only one dressed in red, a silent homage to the ties I couldn't completely sever.

Taking my seat, surrounded by the enthusiastic orange-clad fans, I felt a subtle isolation in my choice of attire. The red, once a symbol of shared dreams and aspirations, now stood as a stark contrast to the vibrant sea of orange that enveloped me. It was a visual representation of the choices made and the paths diverged.

The engines roared to life, the air filled with the electrifying energy that only a Formula 1 race could evoke. I took a deep breath, steeling myself for the emotional rollercoaster that awaited. In that moment, amidst the sea of orange, I couldn't help but feel like a solitary figure, navigating the twists and turns of a race not just on the track but within the intricate contours of the heart.

fun social content:

#charles leclerc #charles leclerc fanfic #charles leclerc angst #charles leclerc smut #charles leclerc imagine #formula 1 fanficiton #charles leclerc drabble #charles leclerc story

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kafus · 7 months

Text

youtube

file too big for tumblr so you get a youtube video but HIII I DID IT!! I BEAT THORTON!!! I GOT THE GOLD PRINT BABEY I WAS NOT EXPECTING THIS TO HAPPEN TONIGHT!! months of on and off grinding and then 3 days straight of doing this nearly all my waking hours and losing so many streaks and I DID IT!!! this is one of the hardest things you can do in gen 4 ever i think i'm losing my mind. pthgss battle factory does NOT fuck around

some commentary below the cut if you're interested in my thoughts/strategy while doing this

when i saw whiscash i swapped into scizor because i thought it was safe and i wanted to preserve weavile's strength, speed, and fake out for later... and i did my calcs wrong. i've been hunched over calculators and spreadsheets for hours to have the best odds of winning this streak and somehow i was calculating doubles damage instead of singles so EQ was stronger than i expected. embarrassingly i didn't notice this until someone pointed it out to me after the fact LOL. i don't even know how i didn't catch it, of course EQ does more damage, it's STAB!! so that was actually a pretty damn dangerous switch! but he missed stone edge i am BLESSED stone edge more like stone MISS AHAHAHAFSDKFSDAL

anyway after whiscash was down i let entei take out my scizor because scizor is slow and was already on low HP, if i tried to preserve it it would probably just get outsped and die to a legendary or something later. and entei had two dangerous sets in particular it could possibly be so i really needed to scout its fire move. tbh when i saw entei my heart sank, i knew my team was really weak to fire and that it could be a problem but i just never found any good pokemon to swap while climbing round 7. i just hoped that garchomp resisting and having earthquake would suffice... but the entei had a shuca berry (halves a super effective ground hit) so outrage actually did more damage. if entei crit me at any point it would have been over but otherwise it would have been impossible to take out garchomp in two hits thankfully. and i had a persim berry if outrage ended in two turns and confused me. but didn't end up mattering!

my heart SANK when the focus band proc'd on latios (a 10% chance) but then i was like YES!! THIS IS WHAT WEAVILE HAS BEEN WAITING FOR!! THERE'S NO WAY IT PROCS TWO MORE TIMES IN A ROW RIGHT?! because weavile using fake out would give me a chance, and then if focus band proc'd again, the flinch from fake out would let me get a second turn and weavile outspeeds that latios SO it was pretty safe unless i got insanely unlucky. AND IT WORKED OUT!!!!

i dunno if i deserved this win because my round 6 (the round before this one) was INCREDIBLY lucky, like, i got the round 7 staraptor in my draft and it had choice band brave bird and just decimated EVERYTHING except a couple bronzongs which i had a strong vaporeon for, so... it was basically a freebie and then round 7 had some close calls but also i got garchomp from trading with the literal first trainer (who i almost lost to but shhh) and then all the stuff with scizor/whiscash... BUT. it's been long enough i'm TAKING IT

anyways POGGERS

i'm probs gonna upload this battle video to the dns exploit server later but i gotta wait for my parents to go to bed so i'm not interrupting them using wifi by turning on the gen 4 compatible guest wifi lol

(btw if you want to do factory yourself please look up smogon's resources on it and use calcs and stuff i promise without it it will be a living nightmare 10x more than it already is)

#hgss #pokemon #pokemon hgss #battle factory #kiki was here #kiki.txt #kiki plays games #Youtube

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gorogues · 11 months

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Hey :o) I've been mulling for a while on a possible (possible) "Rogues play DnD" fic (where business is slow and/or dangerous and they have to lie low a while, so Piper suggests he run a campaign and helps the others make characters, because "it's good for cohesion and teamwork, Len" and also "you get to loot and have fun with no real-life consequences"). I'm going with a vague, mostly pre-52 version of Hartley, James, Len, Lisa, Mark, Mick, Roscoe and Digger, btw.

So I have my own ideas about the classes and races of the characters they'd want to play, running the gamut between "character is nothing like its player" and "character is basically a fantasy version of the player"), but I'd love to hear your thoughts about it - and your mutuals/followers! What would fit them? What wouldn't, but they'd find hilarious (and make work somehow)?

tl;dn - DnD Rogues. Go nuts :o)

(GAH I forgot Sam but he's there too!)

Hi, fun concept! I have to admit that I know very little about DnD, so am not much help in assigning classes or races, unfortunately! But I can suggest who might be more likely to play someone similar or different from themselves. Sam in particular would go with something very different; this is a guy who LARPed as a cowboy, had some lulz pretending to be a heroic Mirror Master, and thought it'd be fun to play a random joe in a leadership class. His Black Lantern incarnation -- which wasn't him, but was based on his memories -- said that he became the Mirror Master because he hated who he was. So I definitely think he'd want to be someone very different and possibly unexpected. And James likes disguising himself and playing around with different identities and gender, so he'd also be quite open to playing someone very different from himself…it'd all be part of the performance.

I think Len and Roscoe would be likely to play someone mostly like their own selves, or perhaps someone more like who they aspire to be. Roscoe has literally been other people, but he's kind of rigid in his thinking and has struggled hard to be what his parents wanted from him (and truthfully he's probably told himself that's what he wants too, even if it isn't). Mick would probably choose someone quietly steadfast, the strong and silent type, since he often seeks tranquility to escape the chaos of his own thoughts. He'd likely be open to any class/gender/race so long as it fit that archetype.

It might be a cheap `n easy answer, but I suspect Mark would want to be a wizard because he's not hugely imaginative and would enjoy the gravitas of being some kind of powerful Gandalf type. In practice he'd probably come across as an unintentional ham. And I don't know what class or race Digger would be -- he might enjoy the challenge of something unexpected or ridiculous -- but am pretty sure his character would end up a drunken lout because that's just how he rolls. No pun intended :]

With Hartley I go back and forth on whether he'd go with the obvious bard archetype he genuinely enjoys being or try something entirely different to have a new experience…not sure, really. I don't know what class Lisa would play, but I think she'd want to have a female character because she's in a crowd of guys (not that they'd all necessarily pick male characters) and I think she'd want to assert her identity amongst them.

Not sure if this helps!

Anyone else have some input?

#belphegor1982 #Mirror Master #the Trickster #Captain Cold #the Top #Heat Wave #Weather Wizard #Captain Boomerang #Pied Piper #Golden Glider #words #neat

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stimmingandstruggling · 1 year

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Hi. I also think about Light Yagami a normal amount. I am sane and moderate person. I'm so normal about dn.

(I'm insane)

Do you have some more autistic light HC???

The thought of light stimming brings me joy

AAAAA ANON SORRY I HAVENT ANSWERED THIS YET THE BRAIN WORMS TOOK HOLD BUT I ABSOLUTELY DO!!!!!!

this. isn’t really a headcanon but hey i want to talk about it so!!! i write light stimming very specifically, make it a point. with other autistic characters i’ll just reference stimming unless it’s the focus, but with light i will ALWAYS be VERY SPECIFIC about what he’s doing. that is for 2 reasons. 1 light has learned to be hyper-aware of his own stimming, and very much Notices when he does it. 2 light is just a very particular, specific, meticulous person. yeah anyways light stimming!!!!

spreadsheet autistic, you can’t tell me he didn’t have a very large spreadsheet of every single kira victim and their data, complete with color coding

he was scolded a lot by his parents as a little kid for his “odd” behaviors, learned early on to mask

hyperverbal and started speaking very early

teased a lot as a little kid, especially for his large vocabulary, i am giving him my experiences okay. again, learned to mask quick.

in high school, researched like. current trends, thought of them as another school subject. “i’m going to get a good grade in knowing the same things as my classmates, something that is both normal to want and possible to achieve”

unusually straight posture

has restrained “acceptable” stims like occasionally finger tapping, pacing, etc when he’s in public, and even those he tries to minimize

alone they get a bit more intense, especially when he’s focused and passionate about something

those dramatic pencil swooshes are 100% stimming

i think if he was able to accept himself and open up he’d have lots of large gesture stims, lots of clenching and unclenching his fists

echographia!!!!

childhood special interest of his was solitaire, this is because it was mine for many years. had a particular deck of cards he carried everywhere, doubled as a comfort object

i cant remember if i’ve talked about this on here before but high pitched noises bad. which is part of why he doesn’t like misa

(l’s voice though, despite his hatred of it, is like. therapeutic. his voice is So Nice but what he’s saying makes light want to throw him out of a window)

a lot of yotsuba arc in my brain is light being SO mad that this is like the most comfortable he’s ever been because he’s consistently accommodated and headquarters with l is like autistic heaven, but also he’s HANDCUFFED to L.

l: we don’t do fluorescent lights

light, stuck between kissing him and using the chain to strangle him: that’s nice.

#thank you anonnn #dn tag #autistic light yagami #autistic l lawliet #light yagami #l lawliet #lawlight #death note #asks

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92fs · 2 months

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I’m curious about how you’d write/work with Matt’s character in that case. I rarely see anybody talk about his fanon characterization with an actual critical lense rather than people just complaining about his presence in general.

Thank you for giving me a reason to complain, I'll put it under read more:

First, I don't think Matt is an unnecessary character. I see how anime-watchers might think that considering his cut-down screentime, but manga isn't much better either. Still, I don't think he's an unneeded character. I think he was written in at a later stage of plot development and then he wasn't really properly added into the story.

Let's assume I'm dealing with the plot of DN how we know it. How I would fix the issue of Matt's written off/killed off character? I'd take what we have in the manga and amplify it, then develop his individual self a little more.

So, Matt's given a very particular role. He's Mello's right hand, practically. But we barely see it even though I do not believe Mello would let go of his first/only friend so easliy. For all the talk about how Matt was "written in so Mello isn't lonely", there's barely any fucking interaction between the two.

Changes that I would make to canon Matt:

1. Write Matt into more scenes at Wammy's.

Childhood-teenagehood are important phases in a story that spans over nearly three decades in the manga (if we count additional one-shots). Seeing more of Matt at that stage would be detrimental to his idea as a character.

2. Actually let him interact with Mello at a near-constant basis in adulthood.

They are implied to be close yet there are only so many scenes of them interacting in canon. I really fail to believe Mello wouldn't have a plan for Matt to leave the orphanage and contact him. Matt should be actively there from the beginning of Mello's arc.

3. Give him at least one-two private scenes with Near.

Near is one of the prisms through whom we learn about other characters: he narrates L, Light, Mello from perspectives that no one else has. He'd be vital to help narrate Matt, but we don't even know what he thinks about him.

4. Let him have a memory-sequence/flashback in at least one chapter where we learn how he felt about being next if Near and Mello die.

When you think about it, if not for Mello's thinking, Near would have died. Matt was next in line. I know that fandom doesn't give his intelligence credit for SOME reason, but there clearly were at least a couple dozens kids at the orphanage at the time of their stay. He was next if Near died, too. I'm actually incredibly curious to know how he felt about it, how he would have dealt with Light. Matt is so elusive, not unlike blunt Near or brash Mello - or direct L. I genuinely wonder what he would have done if he was next L. If he even wanted to.

Comment here: I know he died before them, but I think it was a kill-off. Plus, he had plenty of time to consider his chances before.

5. Maybe let the reader hear his thoughts on L. It can even be indirect, through Mello's voice.

We know that Mello sees L as an ideal to become. That Near first doesn't care much, but then grows curious about L's result-matters kind of approach. What did Matt think? Did he know about Mello's meeting with L (if we consider LABB canon)? Did he share his passions? Did he feels suspicious? Did he not care? Is he even apathetic?

6. Show the reader his individual interests outside of being Mello's assistant.

This reminds me a little bit too much of cases when a girl character is characterized primarily through being someone's girlfriend first and her own person second. This shit is tiring. We know what Mello is outside of Near. We know what Near is outside of Mello. Where the fuck is Matt's personality? Why do we know of the SPK members and the Police Department more than we know of someone in similar position? We know he's quiet and avoidant, and seems to joke to handle stress. What else?

Overall, I would add depth to him. But, this is about expanding on scarce canon. Fanon-wise, I would give him a spine. We know nothing about him in the years of Mello's absense from the picture, and he apparently did not stay in contact with Near. How did he get where he was? I doubt that Mello would carry anyone if they couldn't handle themselves, so clearly Matt's not his lap dog. He's his own character, and a damn adult too. I don't like the headcanons of him being that pathetic submissive dog that needs guidance. I think he's fine on his own.

#DN #death note #mail jeevas

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lowlightt · 3 months

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I’m friends w @kwop-kilawtley and their friend. In fact, i’m in a group-chat with them. They both are watching death note and searching furiously for good lawlight fics. As someone who has literally never seen or read DN, it’s entertaining to watch them lose their minds over your fic. They absolutely adore it, talk about it all the time, and are anxiously awaiting more. I am not exaggerating, at all. I would take a nap and come back to 200+ messages about your fic and lawlight and how you captured their characters so well.

They are trying to play it cool with how much they love you but from one writer to another, i would want to know if someone loved my story that much. 🤍🤍

🥺 this will genuinely make me sob. I remember after I first watched DN furiously searching for fics, and the happiness, euphoria, tears and heartbreak my favorites brought me. (and I always loved watching my friends find new fics they love even if I’m not in the fandom XD) all of that to say it is so wildly complimentary to think that my writing could be loved so much. especially since there are so many amazing writers in the DN fandom, it is an honor to be told that I captured them well! they are such complex characters & the atmosphere of DN is so particular and it takes such a delicate balance to encapsulate, & since I can’t help but always look over my writing with such a critical eye - this gives me so much joy. It makes me feel like a real writer & everything :3

it means the world and more to me that my writing could inspire the same feelings my favorite fics have given me in another person, like for me, that’s what writing is all about! thank you so much for telling me, this message has made my day and inspired me to get back to my current DN WIP🤍🤍

#lowlightt's asks #genuinely I will never get over this #my heart is fit to burst !!

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godsofdeathloveoranges · 9 months

Note

Between a fem Near and Fem mello who would be more popular?

Hmm idk if you meant in fandom or in canon but-!

I think fandom-wise a fem!Mello would probably be more popular, especially with a more western audience. People tend to like hot, fiery bombshell blondes (most) of the time + i think a fem!mello would have the sensual appeal that misa does. It would definitely be appealing to see more of a tough girl- especially because the other female characters are only really there to be used as pawns in light's game (aside from lidner and naomi- who did end up being tricked by him but damn if she didnt give him a time of it), and i think people would like the "take no shit" attitude. ... but it depends tho bc fandom is largely populated by a very particular annoying type of ("dudebro") fan, the type that hates female characters that are TOO loud or aggressive, the way Mello is. I find that a lot of male fans like Mello for his agression and more (stereotypically) masculine attitude (though mello is VERY queer with his croptops and leather and long hair), as well as being somewhat of an underdog- i have a feeling the same fans are the ones who'd despise the very same traits in a female counterpart.

Near would be split into three receptions. 1) hated even more feverishly- near was NOT generally liked by the fandom back then- i didnt get into DN until about... 2015-ish? But even then you could tell from the fics and fan reception more from the time that people did NOT like Near at all, and it was rare to find someone that did. I largely suspect this is because he's just very misunderstood- like being seen as emotionless/uncaring when he's just guarded, seen as cocky when hes just confident, seen as 'getting lucky' rather than credit being given to his intelligence. This would be a LOT worse if he was a girl- just look at Misa. Whilst yes, the series does unfortunately downplay her intelligence a lot and turns her into pretty much comedic relief for most of the last third, there are times you can see just how smart and calculating she can be also- that are frequently ignored because shes. Well. A girl. Same would go for fem!near- absolutely everything would be an asspull, people would hate her for being "the worse, girl version of L", and people would respond more negatively because if they already hated near for beating light to begin with, theyd hate even more for a GIRL to do it. 2) the people who'd like fem!near for the appeal of a cute female character- some fans just like cute anime girls and... tbh valid. Some people like characters less when theyre girls, some like them more! I do think early receptions to near might have been more positive if there was that moe factor (and yes near is moe as a boy too but yknow what i mean). She'd definitely be a cute waifu to a lot of people. 3) the people who like near pretty much the same, just that near is a girl now. Id definitely have found a fem!near interesting- the underdog aspect would have been even moreso, and id have loved to not only see light get his ass handed to him by a girl, but a female character who actually got the writing they deserved? Yes please!

I think both characters would be more well recieved now, the way their male counterparts are- especially near, who's much more well liked by this generation of fans than the previous one. I think people would pay them more attention, bc holy shit strong female characters who are morally grey (mello) and very neurodivergent-leaning (near but tbh mello too).

Now IN CANON i think things would be v interesting

Near might have a slightly more difficult time with her team and presenting a case- not the SPK, i genuinely dont think they'd have a problem being lead by a female lead, but i think near would definitely have a lot more problems (from external sources) in general when it came to being in an authoritative role, and would definitely see a lot more pushback when it came to decisions. So she'd let NO ONE outside the team think she was female- as far as everyone would be aware, 'N' would be a man, and the voice filters would reflect that, maybe even purposefully pitched down a little. Of course, Near is canonically voiced by a female VA anyway, so its not like her voice would change, just that she'd be more conscious of it. She'd also be aware that she could use that to her advantage, knowing Kira wouldn't be looking for a woman. This would continue when she succeeded L. As far as everyone would be aware, L would be a man- and this would benefit her greatly on field missions (if there ever were anyway), with people (if ever suspicious) assuming she'd be L's secretary at most.

Mello would definitely definitely use his- or, rather, her looks to her advantage. I think it would be a lot harder for her to climb the rungs of the mafia though, and she'd probably have to work a lot harder and rely a bit more on charming her way up than earning respect the way a man would. Still posing a threat, dont get me wrong, but she wouldn't be stupid to think that she'd ever earn the same level of respect as a man would (i mean its the mafia lets be real here idk much about the criminal underworld but i think its fair to say it's male-dominated and probably quite misogynistic). That probably makes it easier for her to gather intel on potential traitors and targets, though. But mello was never the head so much as a right hand man (at least to my knowledge feel free to correct me if im wrong), so that's probably a more palatable position to the other mafia members than if she had her eyes on the top.

#kinda long oop #but yeah i tried not to be too cynical about it but #+ im also fond of female charas using their gender to their advantages #wish we got to see misa doing it more tho she did know how to come across as harmless and innocent #also make no mistake fem mello can still kick major ass + has a temper she just knows its easier to manipulate men when need be #fem!near #fem!mello #genderswap #genderbend #au #death note #near dn #mello dn #ask

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aurorawest · 5 months

Note

Book ask 4, 5, 9, and 10?

4. Did you discover any new authors that you love this year?

In no particular order: Emily Tesh (I read Silver in the Wood early in the year), Charlie Adhara, Kim Fielding, Aster Glenn Gray (tbh, I should have included Honeytrap in my list of books that surprised me with how much I loved them), Anita Kelly, DN Bryn, and Kit Oliver.

5. What genre did you read the most of?

I don't really consider LGBTQIA+ to be its own genre, but let's say LGBTQIA+ romance, haha.

9. Did you get into any new genres?

No, I've kind of always read widely. About the only genre I never read in my younger days was romance, which now of course...see above. But that started before this year.

10. What was your favorite new release of the year?

Probably have to give the nod to A Power Unbound by Freya Marske. Of course, my TBR is so long that I won't even get to a lot of this year's new releases until next year, haha. Honorable mentions to Solomon's Crown by Natasha Siegel, Something Wild & Wonderful by Anita Kelly, and The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles.

Thank you for asking!!

end-of-year book ask

#evenaturtleduck #reading tag #end of year book ask 2023

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mrcompass · 3 months

Text

Doji vs Ziggurat: Beyblade Characters Comparison

"I see now. You're the same as that piece of trash, Doji." "Oh no, don't put me together with that Doji [...]"

Ryuga and Dr. Ziggurat in "The Plot Thickens."

Hello, MFB fandom. I wanted to talk about the most terrible adults in the Beyblade Metal Saga ever produced: Doji (Daidoji in the Japanese dub) and Ziggurat. The quotes I just cited are characteristic of how, in the show, characters like Ryuga and Ginga tend to see them as the same (people in real life tend to do that as well). However, despite some common points, they are much more different than they seem.

Same Way, Different Goals

The reason why they're often said to be the same is because of one major thing: the way they achieve their goals. To do that, they abuse the power of Beyblade and also children. Doji gives the Dark Nebula (DN) Bladers as a sacrifice to L-Drago despite their loyalty, as pointed out by Ryutarou. Ziggurat uses the students of HD Academy as test subjects, not only the members of team StarBreaker (SB). Of course, the amount of trauma and abuse they inflict is more complex than that, but it can give you an idea that they don't seem to care about the innocence and vulnerability of children. Ziggurat, in particular, seems to despise children for the former.

One thing that can be said is that they have very different end goals and visions. Doji wants to dominate the Beyblade world and the world in general through Ryuga. This fits particularly well with his character since he always used someone with more power than him to get what he wants: he is like a wolf that can survive without its pack. Doji's idea is not really original; with Ryuga's first appearance in episode 13 and his following fight with Ginga, we directly understood what he wants to do: use the dark and evil artifact to steal everyone's power and use this to rule the world. Ziggurat's worldview is more subtle; he says he wants to use Beyblade in order to take control of pre-existing institutions like governments. He is a CEO after all, who just wants to further increase his wealth and control over society. The spiral force he created (assuming everything went according to plan) could have changed the world forever, a world he could have controlled. Of course, those plans weren't safe at all. Doji had no way of containing Ryuga, and we all know what happened in the end. Faust was obedient as long as he was ordered to make Tempo spin. But imagine if they needed him to stop making the energy for maintenance (because buildings and nuclear reactors need that sometimes)...

The Scales and the Compass

To highlight better their capacity, we can see a little interaction they have. For Ziggurat, he has the most interaction with Zeo, who will defeat him in the end. For Doji, it would be Ryuga, but he was way too formal with him; in a way, he was closer to Yu Tendo. What is more interesting is that Yu and Zeo have parallels between them or rather they mirror each other. Yu is a prodigy, Zeo is not. Yu joined DN for fun and to be with his new friend Ryuga, Zeo joined HD Academy out of desperation for his oldest friend Toby. Yu seemingly had a nice relationship with Doji and in Masters, grew closer to Masamune. Zeo has a terrible working relationship with Ziggurat, and his friendship with Masamune was torpedoed during the SB arc. Kid Zeo looks similar to Yu, and Flame Libra and Byxis both represent objects. You could argue I'm off-topic, but Yu and Zeo are the best characters to understand the psychology of Doji and Ziggurat.

Doji gave various things to Yu, and he rarely gives something to people except false promises and punishment. Yu got an enviable position in DN, along with a room full of toys, the right to recruit and command other DN Bladers, and spend time with Doji. They even share an evil laugh together. And it appears Doji's behavior was beginning to influence Yu. Kenta even thought that they were friends. In reality, they were not. Doji is just a wolf in sheep's clothing. With every character, he acts nice and polite (it's especially true in the Japanese dub) but it is just a facade he made in order to deceive people. At the moment Yu stepped out of line, he changed his attitude. Look at his face right after Ginga and Yu's shake hands.

He threw the poor kid right into Reiji's fang, even though Yu opened his heart to him by telling him how he felt about Beyblade. He understood that his corruption of Yu was eventually going to wear off. He did not even "offer Yu" to Ryuga; no, he was just being petty.. For him, it was as if Ginga had stolen one of his best toys, and so Yu had to be disposed of in the cruelest way possible. To me, their relationship was the most sinister in the whole show because it reflects something real: people pretending to be what they aren't to trap teens/children.

Ziggurat took advantage of Zeo. The way he appeared on a rainy day close to a road is for me reminiscent of the Devil. In fact, he could be inspired by the biblical devil. His Bey represents Capricorn, a goat who was commonly associated with the devil. He leads Hades Inc., has a child named Damian at his service (like the antichrist of The Omen movie), and most importantly of all, he makes contracts and deals. He made a deal with Zeo: "Do my experiment and I will cure your friends." In a way, he did; he cured Toby. Zeo even got stronger, participated in the World Championship, and got a new shiny Bey. But like a contract with the devil, it's all fake: Toby became someone else, Zeo didn't really bond with Flame Byxis, he became crazy because of a painful process that worked half the time for him... Unlike Doji, Ziggurat seemingly gives a lot to those who work with him, but he takes more in return. Ziggurat doesn't hide this; he was even proud of what he did to Toby. He also doesn't shy away from putting down Zeo and even taunted Ryuga about his loss of control to the dark power. And that's because, unlike Doji, he has something for himself. Doji needs other people to get what he wants, Ziggurat has money and his intellect; he can choose who he is working with. That is why Doji recruits Tetsuya; even if he loses, he can still use him to make L-Drago stronger. The doctor recruited only powerful Bladers he could control (blackmail for Julian and money for the Garcias) and threat them and Zeo as pawn.

In the end, these men work very differently with very different objectives. Doji is a power-hungry man who lives only for power and himself. He uses others to gain as much as possible, and if they are not enough, he squeezes the (orange) juice out of them. Ziggurat is an evil scientist and billionaire seeking to enrich himself and gain more influence. Both were corrupted by the power of Bey, and no wonder they were part of the Hades cult.

#ziggurat #Daidouji #doji beyblade #zeo abyss #yu tendo #team Starbreaker #metal fight beyblade #Hades inc.#dark nebula #damian hart

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iknowwhereyousleepatnight · 9 months

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Top 5 hottest dn characters

so i woke up, saw this ask, and immediately went back to bed. but i couldn't sleep. i just kept thinking about it. this may seem like a simple, easy question, but it is NOT. this question is asking me to choose the top five hottest death note characters. the top five hottest. i cannot stress enough how hard this question is to answer. every death note character is hot. all of them. well, most of them. i don't know how i'll choose the top five, buy i will try

i'm going to start off with eliminating some characters, attractive as they may be, because they don't seem 'hot' to me. i'm excluding Near, Mello, and Matt because they are cute not hot. following that logic i'm also taking Misa out of this. i'm also taking Ryuk out of the running because he's,,, ugly (i am not a monsterfucker thank you very much). but Rem stays because she is hot (i love her i love her i love her i lo)(forget what i said about not being a monster fucker). from the taskforce i'm excluding Ide because he's not hot and i would exclude Matsuda for being too bbg but i firmly believe that he is one of the most attractive characters in death note so he's staying. Mogi is in, Aizawa is in. Sachiko and Sayu are out because they aren't hot. Soichiro is in because he's a dilf (same with Aizawa but at a lower level. he hasn't leveled up his dilfness yet). Raye is out because he's not hot but Naomi? Naomi is in. Naomi might win this. Naomi wears a leather jacket and solves crimes and is beautiful and perfect. Aiber and Wedy are both in because they're hot (i don't expect them to go that far though). I'm excluding all Yotsuba characters except Namikawa becuase he has long, luscious hair and that's hot. all of the SPK (excluding Near) is in (especially Halle. she's hot. you know, i'm almost thinking that i have a thing for women). Watari is hot in an old, rich way which brings him back around to not being hot so he's out. Beyond is in because mass-murder is hot. Light is in because mass-murder is hot. L is in because he's L.

if i've forgotten anyone then oops but whatever.

so in no particular order we have:

Light

Matsuda

Soichiro

Mogi

Aizawa

Naomi

Beyond

Aiber

Wedy

Halle

Gevanni

Rester

Namikawa

Rem

i've narrowed it down to 15. this is workable.

now the second round of eliminations!

Gevanni, Rester, Aiber, Namikawa, and Wedy are all out because i said so. Mogi is out because i said so. Aizawa is out because i said so. Light is out because he's a little freak and canonically handsome but also he's kinda insane (he is my fav death note character but he is not hot enough)

this leaves us with a much more manageable seven:

Matsuda

Soichiro

Naomi

Beyond

Halle

Rem

now i get to order them based on hot-ness. (i'm shaking this is the hardest decision i've ever had to make. if anyone asks this again they better bring a weapon because i'm not doing this without my life on the line and even then i'll prbably choose the sweet release of death over this)

Naomi

Halle

Rem

Matsuda

Soichiro

Beyond

kinda conflicted with some of them but i'm done with this and i'm done with you. i hate you anon. worst thing i've done all week. how dare you make me pit so many queens against eachother. this took me two hours so you better appreciate it.

#i don't have a type i don't have a type i don't have a type i don't #what if i just want powerful women to step on me? what then?#ignore that i'm silly rn #ask

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