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al-perthe · 4 years ago

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The Arcana - MC with Epilepsy Headcanons (LIs & Courtiers)

I know we're most of the way through November, but it's National Epilepsy Awareness Month, and as someone with seizures, I thought I'd do a headcanon post for the Main 6 & Courtiers with an apprentice who has epilepsy - can be interpreted as platonic or romantic if you so choose. The Courtier ones are more about prevention or very specific scenarios so theymaynotbeasgood

Note that epilepsy manifests differently for everyone, so I may not have had the same experiences as someone else; I did my best to research outside of my own experiences but it may come across as rather general or vague. That being said, feel free to add on if you'd like to contribute (especially for the Courtiers... pls help).

EDIT: Under a read more because I didn’t realize how big this was, sorry!

ASRA:

Getting you to take your medication, and remember when to do so, was one of the challenges he faced when you awakened without any memories three years ago.It really took him a while to feel safe travelling out of the city, constantly worrying about what if you forgot a dose, what if you had a really bad seizure and got hurt, or even the thought of you just having a smaller one and feeling alone and afraid... As someone who enjoys naps, he's probably the best at making sure you get a good night of rest to help prevent seizures.

Safe. Peaceful. No danger.

Naturally, Faust is going to help comfort you after a seizure, especially if she can tell that you're experiencing fear and/or confusion as a result of it.

NADIA:

When you first started the investigation, you made sure she was aware of your condition. You assured her you'd be okay to take it on, just be a little patient if you were ever 'out of it' for a few minutes.

Oh, it's no trouble at all - she'll make sure that a specialist is brought in to ensure your treatment is the best it can be.

But a few moments later, she clarifies - this isn't being done for the sake of the investigation, and she apologizes if she gave off that impression. She does genuinely care about your well-being, and if she needs to take a step back or if there's more she can do, just let her know.

Her room is definitely the go-to spot if you need a quiet spot to wind down after a seizure.

Also good at making sure you're comfortable and can sleep well.

JULIAN:

Part of you wondered 'what if...?' when you found out about Julian's healing mark, but you dismissed it quickly - there's a chance it wouldn't work, and with the whole murder investigation going on, dealing with seizures (even if temporarily in theory) would just be another thing weighing on him. You couldn't do it. You wouldn't do it. It was selfish.As a doctor, he's the best at recognizing your symptoms as a result - he can tell right away if you're having an aura and need to move to a quieter spot or at least sit down. He does worry about it each time it happens, but puts on a calm face for your sake.Even Malak seems a little bit quieter when you're having a rough time with your epilepsy.Need a distraction afterwards ? Count on him to have a story from his travels to get your mind off it!Of course, let him know if your symptoms change, or if your medication doesn't seem to be having the same effect - he'll look into finding a more effective treatment.

MURIEL:

Inanna's the best at picking up when you're about to have a seizure, and lets Muriel know immediately.Since she can't always accompany him, he's done his best to learn to recognize when a seizure's on the way, or when it's happening. As someone who prefers peace and quiet, he knows the go-to places for some privacy if you're in the presence of other people.The most calming presence you could ask for once the seizure has passed. If you're experiencing confusion afterward, he asks you simple questions and makes simplified statements to help ground you in reality. So ironically, he's the best at helping you remember what happened.He may not be the best at striking up a conversation, but will offer you some words of comfort and reassurance afterwards.

PORTIA:

After your first seizure around her, she acknowledges that 'something just didn't feel right' moments before.

No guilty feelings though - once you've settled down, she asks what she can do to help in the future. She'll support you the best she can.

She's actually the one who brings you to Mazelinka, to see if she knows about any home remedies that could somehow help. At the very least, her soup will give you a good night's sleep to help prevent them!

Naturally, she also seeks guidance from Julian on how to help you with your condition.

If you're feeling anxious after a seizure, she's actually the one who's best at rationalizing you through those fears. The dread that there's someone just outside the cottage, the shop, etc that could hurt you? She checks out the windows and doors first, confirms with you that there's nobody out there, and reassures you that even if there was someone out there after you, they'll have to go through her first!

Expect to find notes from time to time with compliments or general positivity that also remind you to take your medication!

LUCIO:

If you've spaced out due to a seizure, you might need something repeated. He's not normally one for patience... but you're the exception. If anyone gives you a hard time for it, he's bound to round on them with a death glare.

As the Count, he's got access to all kinds of resources. He spares no expense at making sure there's specialists who can get you the best medication as possible, as quickly as possible, when you're in need of a new supply.

Mercedes and Melchior spend more time around you too - they aren't as quick to pick up on an oncoming seizure, but when they do, they make a great team. One of them stays with you, and the other goes off to find Lucio.

Need to get your mind off it? Did you know that he had a saltwater crocodile as a companion during his travels near the Sea of Persephia in his early mercenary days? When he first met the crocodile, it was clearly starving, so he had to wrestle it off... and as he goes on his heroic tirade, it's not so much the adventures themselves but the clearly exaggerated parts that entertain and distract you.

Sometimes you just need something or someone to hold onto, to keep you at peace and keep you feeling real after a seizure. Okay... so... patience, peace, and quiet aren't exactly his strong points. But - with a firm yet comforting hand on your shoulder - he's got your back, and you'll get through this.

VALDEMAR:

Epilepsy? It's actually more common than you think. They've naturally seen it plenty of times over the years.

Some types of epilepsy are limited to specific regions of the brain. Theoretically, it could be possible through surgery to alter or even remove the areas where your seizures generate... you leave it at a "I'll get back to you on it" and stick with your medication for now.

Then it finally happens. You've had a seizure in their presence. You're feeling confused and uneasy, but Valdemar doesn't seem bothered at all. "Seems like you're starting to come back. You might feel unwell for a few minutes, but that's typical in the postictal stage." More confusion. "... Right, simplified terms. You had a seizure. Now you're recovering. What you're feeling will pass. You need only wait a few minutes."

The explanations are nonchalant, blunt, and brief. But that just makes it easier to understand. It's... surprisingly calming, too. You scoot a little closer to them. They don't move away.

Will share interesting accounts of historical figures who also dealt with epilepsy, and reviews their own records of past patients with symptoms similar to yours to study potential triggers and effective treatments or preventions. After a while, you start talking beyond that, about how your day went and other chitchat. It seems that as a result of the time spent around you, they have grown... rather fond of your presence.

VALERIUS:

Obviously, for safety reasons, you're not going to drink heavily. But while some people have to avoid alcohol entirely due to their seizures, you're part of the typical group that can handle some alcohol, a drink or two depending on the strength.

If you're out with Valerius at some sort of soiree, he'll make sure that the one drink you get is the best one suited to your palate. Similarly, he points out the best food to pair with it so that way you're also eating to neutralize the alcohol.

Sometimes, you decide to pass on the drinking, and have fruit juice or even just straight up water served in a wine glass. He'll frown at you, but you KNOW you saw the briefest hint of amusement in his eyes.

To be frank, he usually attends these sort of gatherings for the wine and/or meeting with important figures. So he is ready to get you out of there if you need a quiet spot away from others.

He's not very good with reassurance. Sure, just a simple 'it's going to be okay' can help, but is it really enough? You can't just expect him to repeat it like a mantra or something. He's absolutely making that flustered face as he tries to figure out other things to say, but that's comforting on its own - he's trying for your sake.

VLASTOMIL:

Maybe there was a sudden flash of lightning, maybe there was some 'grand finale' of a fireworks show, but your photosensitivity stirred up a seizure in you.

He's not really sure what to do, but a cautious approach is a best approach.

He draws you aside later to ask about what happened - now admittedly, he's not very familiar with epilepsy. But photosensitivity? Absolutely! There are certain species of worm that are actually quite sensitive to lighting, such as... oh, right. The point is, for some enclosures, he's used a special type of tinted glass to reduce the effects of sunlight and nights when the moon is brighter, and perhaps something similar might be useful for you?

A week later, he brings you a pair of spectacles with darker lenses. They actually do the job pretty well? And he even had them designed to go along with your aesthetic? Whether he had them commissioned or if he just crafted them himself, this is... surprisingly nice.

Oh, and you can't forget the tea. Filling you in on the latest gossip and the occasional Worm Fact once you're feeling calmer is his way of taking your mind off any lingering anxiety. Also, he recommends a variety of herbal teas that calm nerves or even help you fall asleep.

VOLTA:

The first time it happened, oh, Volta did not know what to do! She was so distraught that someone else had to step in and help you collect yourself.

But now that she's aware of your condition, she will offer you words of comfort and kindness to help you after your seizure has passed. Volta's a sweetheart, of course she'd be good at that!

She has a highly developed sense of smell thanks to all the food she exposes herself to. It seems as though, when you were having stronger or more frequent seizures, there was something in your diet you had been eating more often.

In other words, she helped you determine that certain foods were contributing to your seizures. Grapefruit seemed to be the only thing you needed to avoid - come to think of it, you recall that it doesn't react well with certain components used in preparing your medicine - and other foods just needed to be consumed less.

She'll eat those foods at any gatherings, since you're trying to avoid them... oh, but save some of the other dishes for Volta, too!

VULGORA:

Tonic-clonic or grand mal seizures... call them what you will, but point is, if you collapse and lose consciousness in a seizure, they will get everyone to STAND. BACK.

"It's a seizure, just give it a minute or two, it'll pass! I SAID, STAND. BACK!! IF you're so much as THINKING about trying to hold them down, DON'T. NO! Swallowing the tongue IS NOT A THING!! Not unless you CUT IT OFF and FORCE IT IN SOMEONE'S MOUTH! Which I am CLEARLY NOT DOING!!"

... Okay, so getting other people to stay calm while you're having a seizure is not their strong suit. But they're certainly good at getting people to keep their distance, at least.

They're talkative and energetic! Of course being calm and quiet is hard for them! ... But maybe that's just another challenge for them to conquer? The first time they tried they basically just held their breath as long as they could.

Someone actually had the audacity to make a rude remark about your condition. But unfortunately for them, they somehow missed the bright red figure of Pontifex Vulgora in the vicinity.

That person was never seen in Vesuvia again. Because they moved out, after receiving a rather persuasive argument to move to... some other place. Oh, okay, you were worried there was some other reason they disappeared.

#the arcana #the arcana headcanons #epilepsy awareness month #arcana apprentice #arcana mc #asra alnazar #nadia satrinava #julian devorak #muriel kokhuri #muriel of the kokhuri #portia devorak #count lucio #lucio morgasson #valdemar #valerius #vlastomil #volta #vulgora #epilepsy

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rabble-dabble · 4 years ago

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The Cancer King's Court ~ The Holy Prince

Eridan Ampora/The Holy Prince

This Eridan is, in fact, the Eridan from our timeline.

After his death at the hands of Kanaya, Eridan mopes around the dreambubbles in a self loathing haze. Without Feferi or Karkat around to try and keep him afloat, Eridan is left to wallow in his own pathetic self pity. He takes every excuse to dive deeper into his own self loathing. Alternate versions of himself who have it better than him just go to show what a fuck-up he is, and those that don’t just reinforce his image of how miserable his life is.

He eventually runs into the Cancer King, who is absolutely pissed to see him. Karkat verbally tears Eridan to shreads, lambasting him for continually burying himself in his own self pity.

“you’re right, kar. god, you’re alwways right. i really am just a-”

“DON’T YOU FINISH THAT FUCKING SENTENCE, ERIDAN AMPORA. WHATEVER IT IS THAT YOU WERE GOING TO SAY, YES, THAT IS IN FACT, WHAT YOU ARE. AN ASSHOLE, A DOUCH CANOE, A RAGING BIGOTED VOLCANO OF BULLSHIT. THE PROBLEM IS THAT YOU CAN’T BE ASSED TO BE ANYTHING MORE THAN THAT.”

“I’M WILLING TO BET THAT YOU’VE SPENT YOUR ENTIRE AFTERLIFE WALLOWING IN SELF LOATHING, HAVEN’T YOU? IT’S ALL YOU DID WHEN YOU WERE ALIVE. IF YOU CAN’T MAKE YOURSELF SOMEONE ELSE’S PROBLEM, THEN YOU’LL JUST SINK INTO A HOLE UNTIL YOU CAN THROW YOUR PROBLEMS ON SOMEONE ELSE’S SHOULDERS. YOU’RE A PARASITE. YOU FED OFF FEFERI, YOU FED OFF ME, AND NOW YOU’RE STARVING BECAUSE NO ONE’S LEFT TO DEAL WITH YOUR BULLSHIT.”

“YOU COULD’VE MADE AN EFFORT, EVEN A SINGLE ATTEMPT, TO FIX YOURSELF UP AT ANY TIME YOU WANTED. I’VE MET PEOPLE WHO WERE ASSBAGS, WHO WERE JUST AS BIG OF SHIT STAINS AS YOU WERE AT ONE POINT, WHO HAVE BECOME BETTER PEOPLE. I’VE MET A VERSION OF VRISKA WHO TRIED TO CLEAN UP HER LIFE. FUCKING. VRISKA.”

“YOU’RE RIGHT, ERIDAN. YOU’RE A TERRIBLE PERSON. YOU’VE NEVER EVEN TRIED TO BE ANYTHING ELSE.”

Eridan stares silently. Karkat sighs and leaves.

Eridan wanders the Dreambubbles some more, Karkat’s lines repeating in his head. At first, it’s just another ember in his smouldering fire of self-loathing, but he can’t keep himself from chewing on it a bit more. Eridan’s conflicted thoughts come to a head when he meets himself from the New Timeline.

The Eridan from this timeline sold out his friends to The Condescension. He’s the reason she rose to power. And everything she’s done is on his shoulders.

When Eridan confronts his alternate self, he starts spewing all the same excuses that Eridan himself has used before. He didn’t have a choice, it’s his duty as royal blood, what did you expect him to do? When pressed, his alternate self admits to regretting what he did.

So, Eridan asks why he hasn’t tried to fix it yet? He’s a Grand Admiral in the Condescension’s navy. He has plenty of resources. He could easily fund the rebellion, work as a spy, plot some assassinations. He could try to fix this. Alternate Eridan refuses.

He’s always been the bad guy. Why pretend he could be anything else?

Eridan leaves in disgust. Karkat’s words finally sink in.

Even when given every reason in the world to change, Eridan couldn’t be bothered. Well, that ends today.

So, Eridan sets out to make amends. He visits the dreams of players still doing their sessions and gives them advice. He gives them hope, listens to their problems, helps them reach God-Tier and guides them away from the mistakes he made. He isn’t very good at it. Not initially. He finds himself listening to them as much as they listen to him. But, still, he grows. And, in doing so, he saves several sessions from the brink of disaster.

Eventually, Eridan meets Feferi. His Feferi.

The two awkwardly catch up, dancing around the obvious. They compare notes on the Dreambubbles and Eridan explains what he’s been up too.

Eridan bursts the bubble first. He asks her if she can forgive him.

…Feferi looks forlorn, devistated even, as she confesses that she doesn’t think she can.

Eridan quietly accepts this as he leaves.

He’s moping to himself in a memory of his old hive when the Pirate Queen knocks on his door. She comforts him and they try to make light of what terrible people they were. Again, they dance around the issue a bit, even humoring a bit of roleplay for old times sake, before they finally talk about the main issue.

Eridan laments how much it hurts to not be forgiven. Vriska can relate, but only to an extent. “I can live with Tavros not forgiving me, 8ut I don’t know where I’d 8e without Terezi. That sounds a 8it closer to what you’re going through.”

Vriska offers that, sense he’s making amends, maybe he could join the King’s Court.

Eridan turns her down. He wants to make amends on his own terms first.

So, Eridan gathers all the Players he’s helped and unties them against his alternate self. Playing on the flaws he knows his alternate self has, Eridan orchestrates his downfall, proving to himself that he’s outgrown the pathetic leech he once was. Eridan sees his new friends off with pride, inspiring them to join the Rebellion and fight fir the freedom of the Multiverse.

With that done, Eridan tracks down the Cancer King.

“i'vve wwon back my honor. noww i wwant to wwin back my friend.”

Eridan is the King’s commander in chief against the forces of Her Imperious Condescension. He intends to undo the damage done by his alternate self and win back Karkat’s friendship in one foul swoop. Like Vriska, his opponents tend to underestimate him. They expect the same arrogant manchild he used to be, which he uses to catch them off guard. In fact, his effectiveness was so great, that it took Karkat awhile to realize that he wasn’t God-Tier and was, in fact, still dead. Karkat rectified the issue soon after, but it’s a testament to how far he’s come.

Eridan spends most of his time with Vriska. The two of them forming something of a support group about being “the reformed bad guys” of the group. It never quite reaches the outright moirail levels that she has with Terezi though.

Gamzee holds him in considerably high regard for doing such a 180. It’s the reason he gave him and Vriska such lofty titles. Rose speculates if that has something to do with Gamzee’s unwillingness to face his own issues, but that’s for another day.

Like Aradia, Eridan never forgets the weight of what they’re doing. In fact, he refuses to associate with the ‘sacrifice’ side of the Court’s buisness. He understands the necessity of it, but he’s a reformed man. He can’t bring himself to sink back down there.

For a similar reason, he tries to let anyone know that he's The Holy Prince. He can’t stand to think about what the Players might say if they knew what their mentor was a part of.

Still, Eridan makes a point of befriending those he dismissed. He shares hunting stories with the Purrdator, he relates to the Bard’s loneliness. He even buries the hatchet with Sollux.

Eridan trusts in Terezi to keep Karkat on the straight and narrow, but he still worries about him. Eridan knows exactly what it’s like to bury yourself in your flaws. Luckily, he tends to inspire Karkat to be more merciful just by his example. The King even took the time to learn some of Eridan’s favorite board games.

In the end, The Holy Prince is a loyal man who holds himself to a high moral standard. A competent commander and a friend to all his students. Eridan Ampora is someone Karkat is proud to call his friend.

god I love that you just submitted this because I SCREAMED when I saw it.

also????? eridan being a source of advice for KARKAT????? YES PLEASE

anyways you said figure and I went OF ANGELS??? because hell yeah I'm gonna incorporate more aspect stuff. also eridan being a voice of reason is concerning and funny at the same time. i respect that you had vriska relate to him but even then like she has terezi which is SUCH a valid point!!!! eridan has to get there for a LONNNNNNNGGGG while but I'm actually glad that he’s working towards being better seeing he always had that potential but never took it.

#homestuck #eridan ampora #the holy prince #karkat vantas #sollux captor #aradia medigo #vriska serket #feferi peixes #the red death #the pirate queen #cancer king karkat #au #doodleart #submission #anon #evil john anon #jjhfjrjrhjrbrbrnjrrm

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thebmatt · 4 years ago

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Headcanons

I’ve spent a good portion of the past two days looking for ask memes here in tumblr that I could address some of these things with (thank you @autumnslance for the reply) but then I realized “wait, I can just TALK about these things if I want, it’s my own tumblr, there’s no rules about it”

Anxiety is a bitch yo.

So I’m gonna start a little series about my own headcanons I have about my characters. And we’re gonna start of with....

The Multiverse

This is The Big One, the massive thread that more or less holds together all of my headcanons I’ve developed about/within any fandom I’ve considered myself a part of, ever.

I have a lot of inspiration to draw from here, Marvel and DC’s multiverses are obvious but also a tremendous amount of @magicturtle‘s work with building the world of the Void Saga of the Critical Hit podcast.

The basics of the idea is that for every world, every universe, there exists other versions of this universe, which has the same general structure (worlds, continents, locations, even a vast majority of people), but with at least one Major Difference. A Major Difference could be specifically important people being entirely different, certain historical events happened differently and thus an alternate history emerges, or even something as big as events happening in a different age of civilization. As an example, the Hydaelyn of my own Warriors of Light would be a different universe of Lashen and Blanfyr. Their universes are identical, with the Major Difference being that Lash, Blanfyr, and their ally Azrael are the Warriors of Light, not my crew. Versions of them may exist in each others universe, but they would have different histories.

It’s important to note that the Shards aren’t different universes either, they’re what are known as Demiplanes, a different plane of existence tied to the primary plane of their own universe. Every version of the universe known colloquially as Hydaelyn, as an example, has its own versions of the shards, which may or may not have their own histories. In Toragana and Veilette’s universe, the shards are either numbered differently or were subjected to the Ascian’s machinations in a different order, for example.

My own WoL/Ds are now aware of the existence of other versions of their universe. Franks, in particular, is exploring the theoretical physics and mathematics with a renewed gusto now that he has some confirmation of this. Well, he has MORE confirmation of it, but we’ll get to that. He knows of at least two other versions of their universe now, and as he’s mentioned, the math the Arcanist’s Guild has managed to work through supports the idea of no more than 15 versions of their universe, but he’s not quite willing to put that in stone yet. He’s got some revisions to do.

Other universes

Hydaelyn’s not all there is that’s out there, however.

There are also other worlds out there, other universes, which are ENTIRELY different. Different worlds with different kinds of life on them, landmasses that would be unrecognizable to the people who live on the Source and no versions of the people who live on it. They even have their own demiplanes, different in number and purpose

Franks knowns of one of these, because he comes from it. His original world is called Azeroth. On that world, he spent a majority of his life as a creature known as a human, but a large number of recent years as a walking corpse.

These universes which are entirely different from one another all share one trait, they each have their own set of universes which are similar to themselves save for at least one or more Major Differences.

You can probably see where this is going. Every fictional world or setting I’ve ever been interested in potentially could have its own representation in this multiversal structure.

The Structure of the Multiverse

So who knowns about the whole of the multiverse? Who knows about its structure?

There is an organization who has taken it upon themselves to watch the whole of the multiverse with one goal in mind, their own Prime Directive, if you will, and it is simply thus: Do NOT allow knowledge of the multiverse to become widely known to any universe at large and prevent unauthorized travel between them.

The founders of this organization were an extremely advanced race from a universe that had learned of their “universal neighbors”, developed the technology to cross the barriers between them, and had over millennia formed diplomatic relations with each other. Vast citadels existed in each version of their universe with permanently open gateways between them, allowing politicians, diplomats, and scientists to consult with their counterparts in the different universes.

Periodically, their scientists would determine the planar coordinates of another universe, and an expedition to this new neighbor would be formed. “Opening Day”, the day a new portal was brought online, had become a cultural milestone for them, and it had evolved into a major celebration. People would gather near the citadels holding massive parties. Different versions of the same being would gather, sharing knowledge and celebrating accomplishments.

Unfortunately, this race had made a major assumption. Every other universe they’d discovered had Major Differences that were ultimately benign, ultimately leading them to the same current point, an age of enlightenment and reason. They expected something similar in this newly discovered universe.

What they found instead was a world dominated by a predatory insectoid species that had been destroyed in every other universe early in the history of the race. In this universe, however, these insectoids had destroyed them instead. And now they had evolved into a massive hivemind swarm that had consumed almost all other forms of life in their world. And they were hungry.

What followed was a cataclysm. The insects poured through the portal in uncountable numbers, devouring and consuming everyone in their path. They quickly discovered the other portals, centralized as they were in the citadels of every version of their universe, and expanded into them all. Their prey was a race of civilized thinkers, they had all long discarded any forms of a military, and they could not stand up against the insectoids single unifying mind and the viciousness of their forms.

It took only a few months before they were all but wiped from existence. A few members of each universe had been working on a form of transport capable of independent travel between universes and also the “in-between” space that divided them. Before the insectoids could eat them as well, they boarded their experimental craft and activated it, blindly jumping away from their universe.

It worked. The survivors, less than two dozen in number, ended up in the In-Between, out of reach of the insectoids. Their “ship” boasted a large variety of experimental sensor devices for exploration, and so they were able to monitor, in near-realtime, the destruction of all versions of their civilization and culture, consumed by their own failure to account for all potential possibilities. Their were no other versions of their universe remaining, the version where the insectoids had won was the last one in existence.

For the next century (age being another thing they’d managed to defeat) they simply explored, mapping as much of the multiverse and it’s various forms of life as they could. Ultimately they decided it was their duty to prevent what had happened to any other universes, and so they set out establishing their organization to accomplish this.

The Organization

I don’t have a name for this organization, nor the race that established it. Everything i call them in my head is directly pilfered from one or more of my inspirations, and I don’t want to canonize any of them by writing it down here.

The organization is responsible for cataloging and organizing the multiverse as well as monitoring its inhabitants for the development of any methodology which could enable discovery of the multiverse or cross-universal travel. To this extent, they recruit agents, beings from across the multiverse who must forsake any ties to their home universe or any versions of it to monitor others. These agents are given a ship capable of monitoring all universes under their purview, as well as opening a doorway to any point in their assigned sector.

The organization groups universes thus: all universes which are identical save for Major Differences are grouped together in what is known as a universal cluster. These clusters are named (generally for the primary world of importance that all universes share) and numbered in order of creation (if they can determine it) or discovery. The first universe created is named Prime or One, all others receive a sequential number. These grouped universes are known as parallel universes when discussed in comparison to each other. Likewise, Universes in different clusters are known as alternate universes.

The organization has a very strict non-interference policy in the affairs of any universe not related to their mandate of cross-universal travel. This includes in the combatting of threats. While agents do carry a variety of weaponry suited to the different universes under their purview, the policy of the organization is to minimize knowledge of their existence. To this end, Agents are to recruit assets from the variety of worlds under their watch, and provide them whatever resources they need to deal with cross-planar incursions (or potential ones). These assets are, as a rule, not made aware of the greater structure of the organization or the scope of the multiverse, only that it exists and the extent of whatever knowledge they need to defeat the threat. Assets are carefully cultivated for capability and trustworthiness before they are recruited.

Agents of this organization also carry are provided with the means to acquire whatever clothing they need to “blend in” but the structure of the multiverse provides their best disguise in itself. Should a being cross from one universal cluster into the next, the multiverse itself will change your form into something that most closely matches something within the universe you’re going to.

This is why Franks, when he found a strange portal within Azeroth and ended up on Hydaelyn, which does not have widespread sentient undead, his form became similar to what he used to be.

Thus far the agent responsible for monitoring both the Azeroth and Hydaelyn universal clusters has not seen fit to interfere in this planar jump, as Franks has taken great pains to conceal the connection between them on both ends and has thus far dedicated himself to opposing the machinations of the Ascians, who are known to the organization as an potentially extremely dangerous threat to the multiverse should any universe’s version of them manage to free their primal and rejoin all of the shards. He’s monitoring the situation there extremely closely.

#final fantasy XIV #worldbuilding #thebmatt's headcanons

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jimmigmalingan · 4 years ago

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Her Name Is Not “baby”, It’s JANET.

It’s not “Miss Jackson if you’re nasty” either, although just as iconic.

What better way to celebrate Women’s Month than to get to know a great embodiment of a strong and powerful woman. In fact, so strong and so powerful that my instinctive reaction when I first saw the invite to her journalism class was “Oh no.”

That was the G-Rated version of it actually. Nevertheless, same message.

I barely even knew who she was or what her teaching style was going to be like. Her G-suite display picture just exuded “Oh no” energy. I mean that as a compliment.

I went straight to my friend from elementary school who shifted to Communication a year earlier than I did. I said “Do you have any tea on her?” The first thing he told me was that she had very high standards.

I like that, actually.

Back when I was in high school, which seems like very long time despite only having been a whopping three years, those were the types of teachers that I would consider my favorite ones. Ma’am Rachel from my English class, and Ma’am Elma from my Research and Biology class. Both of which actually went on to be school heads in different schools after we graduated.

I’m just here thinking to myself “God, I would’ve been excelling at her class if it isn’t for this stupid pandemic.” I clearly am not. We will get to that soon.

When we had the chance to organize an interview as a class, it invigorated me a tad bit. This is the closest I can get to having human interaction in an academic sense, but it was also my chance to have an idea or two of who ‘Janet Tibaldo’ was. Is she going to be the bane of my existence for the next four or so years or is she going to be alongside the people who I consider to be my “heroes”?

To my surprise, she’s very, well... human.

From what I’ve gathered in both of the interviews, our class’ and the other, she is a woman of strength. She is a passionate educator, a dedicated mother, and most of all, a woman of faith and devotion. In both of the interviews, she often emphasizes the importance of the “vertical relationship” in her life, and how it can have a positive effect in one’s horizontal relationships.

I do appreciate those remarks from her quite a bit, despite me having a rockier and more complex relationship with God as a queer person. I never considered myself an atheist. I do believe in God, and I believe that I am loved by God, despite knowing that people out there will try to convince me otherwise.

How could he possibly hate me when I pray to him too and he answers them just the same? It makes absolutely no sense to me.

When she said that you can fix your horizontal relationships once your vertical relationship is stable, it did strike a cord just as much as it struck a verve in me. I am trying to. It took me a while, but nevertheless I’m glad that I am here.

She often described herself as “strict”, both as a parent and an educator. It often surprises me how much bombardment my friend from elementary experiences from her subjects. The way he describes it to me sounds a bit like torture. I always took his words about her with a grain of salt. I will probably never believe him until I experience it first hand. He did say I was lucky that I shifted during online classes because she is a bit more lenient, otherwise I would’ve been dead meat.

If she was the monster that she’s painted out to be, I do understand why. It’s not like I don’t have a maternal figure or two in my life with eerily similar approaches. Like I said, she is a bit more human than what one would expect. She talked about her sleepless nights to dedicate herself onto her work, how she takes it upon herself when things go wrong, and how she said she hopes for a better and more empathetic world when I asked about her hopes for the future. To me she sounds like a person who stands her ground and knows exactly what she wants, even if it gets the best of her at times.

With that, she shared a peek of her younger days, how she spent her childhood during the Martial Law era, how newscasters on TV sparked her interest in the field of Communication, how in her college days they made do with the resources they had back then, emphasizing how lucky we are to have the technology we have now, how she was an activist back in the day. It painted a picture in my mind. Ahhh. No wonder.

There has always been ‘fire’ inside of her. A fire that lead her to be an educator today, despite having left the path of being a media practitioner.

I did think about it a couple of times. If being a visual artist doesn’t work out for me, maybe I’ll just teach. To me, it looks fun. She did say that she never thought in a million years that she would end up becoming a teacher because she thought it looked boring. According to her, lot of her family members ended up becoming teachers and she never wanted to be one of them. Maybe there’s some ugly parts of it that I don’t get to see, but it seems like a much more stable career path than visual arts, especially in a country like this.

Just from the interviews alone, you can tell that she has so much wisdom to offer in this field. That makes me all the more excited to meet her in person. If anything, there’s your proof right there that God is out there writing poetic justice for people. Maybe it was God’s way of saying “I have something better in mind for you, you just have to trust me.”

Another standout from the interviews was when she told all of us as a piece of advice that we should grab opportunities as they come. Oftentimes, the biggest regrets you have in life aren’t the things you did but the things you didn’t do. I have to admit, the main reason why this music video is taking too long to make is because of self doubt and insecurity. She’s right. I should toughen up a bit, shouldn’t I? Not only that, but there’s a lot of competitions that I found interesting in the facebook group that I just allowed to pass me by. I don’t want to blame my years in Architecture for it, because it did cause me some good. It’s just that I knew what I was running away from after years of feeling like I will never amount to anything.

I knew that. If anything I was way bolder when I left high school, only for Architecture to beat me down. It does take someone like her to remind me of who I was then.

When I was going through my depressive episode late last year, ultimately leading me to shift to Communication, I found myself seeking refuge in the music of Janet Jackson. As a matter of fact, I shared her music to the same friend I mentioned earlier, and now he’s a fan too. We’d often joke about which Janet we were talking about in the conversation.

On one hand, we have Janet the popstar, who despite being blacklisted by Bush’s racist and misogynistic America, kept on going. She kept performing and making music for as recent as 2018, and now she’s inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On the other, we have Janet the teacher, who keeps holding on to her faith despite all of the trials and challenges that came her way all these years.

What’s it about Janets being fiery passionate women anyway?

That actually leads me to my next point of interest.

What moved me the most about both of the interviews was her openness about her struggles with mental health, and how she refers students to seek help as well back when classes were physical. I don’t think conversations like these were possible back in the day, especially when I was a child. Apparently I didn’t have ADHD I was just an idiot, and people like me get punished for their idiocy. That was my upbringing, and it’s so refreshing to know that kids nowadays are lucky to have a ‘zeitgeist’ like this.

I was brought up for the longest time in the idea that if you show any signs of vulnerability, you are weak. It took some time for me to ‘rewire’ my brain and undo all of that...

because that is blatantly false.

If anything, for me, it further solidified how strong she was. It takes so much strength to admit that you’re human. It takes so much courage to tell yourself that you probably need help because you struggle in this aspect of your life. It is so easy to pretend that you can take everything like a champ and you don’t need anyone to help you.

The easy route was to say “I’m fine” or “I’m doing good” when asked a simple question “How are you?”, the hard route is to ask yourself that same question “How am I?” and be honest and introspective about it.

She did just that. She took the hard route.

She said she was having trouble sleeping and that she had to consult a mental heath expert for that recently, and that this pandemic made it particularly hard for her to juggle work and home matters.

I don’t think she will ever understand how a simple statement like that inspires someone like me, because what I got from that was ‘if somebody as strong and as passionate as her bleeds the same way that I do, I too can be strong like her.’

I just booked my appointment to my therapist yesterday. I haven’t seen her in quite some time now. It’s nice to know that I’m not alone in this, despite going there for feeling alone. Ironic, isn’t it? I feel like I’m running out of friends, and it’s starting to feel like paralysis, really.

After the interview ended, and I finished watching the interview from the other block, I couldn’t grasp the idea of this woman being taken as a monster, because the only words I could think of in association to her thus far is ‘uplifting’ and ‘inspiring’, in the same way that Ma’am Rachel was one of the people who inspired me to be a a cartoonist and Ma’am Elma inspired me to be a competitive dancer.

I had to give up three years worth of friendships to start back from scratch and to be here. I was actually so unsure if it was even worth the sacrifice, but Ma’am Janet Tibaldo, out of all people, showed me something to look forward to in this field. Based on what I’ve gathered from her, I’m up for a good time.

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burnalltheoxers · 5 years ago

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Now that I have your attention, here are some ways that equestrians can actually respond to the racist nature of the sport and the United States. Reason I'm focusing on horse people specifically is because 1) the majority of people in my life who are staying silent on this issue are horse people and 2) there are suddenly so many brands saying that they're "listening" and "dedicated to making the industry more diverse". I'm glad Janet in marketing knows how to post a black square on Instagram. Next, let's try actually doing something. 1. Accept that your lack of action up until this point is appalling and damn near unforgivable. This post isn't meant to be a 10 step program in how not to be racist, but accountability needs to happen before anything else. I can count on my hands the number of times I've seen a non-White model in an equestrian catalog. It's four. That's how many times I've seen it. Brown skin did not just appear yesterday. Discussions about diversity and representation have been ongoing for years. Your refusal to divert from the status quo is an act of violence. 2. Collect sources that speak to these issues and how they relate to the sport. If you want to better understand what's happening, refer to the people it's happening to. I've spoken about my experiences on here before, but I cannot speak for everyone, especially those who come from different cultural backgrounds. The Young Black Equestrians podcast is a great place to start. I also love Black Reins, and they have exposed me to many new trainers and online resources. Use their interviews to gather information. You're probably going to hear things that make you uncomfortable. Humble yourself, and be empathetic. 3. Start a diversity and inclusion committee/task force/whatever to actually put that information to good use AND MAKE SURE THAT GROUP IS ACTUALLY DIVERSE. There needs to be a diverse, humble, creative, and receptive team that is dedicated fully to promoting diversity, inclusion, and equity in your company. Again, the conversations will get uncomfortable, but being uncomfortable is better than being murdered. 4. Establish and support programs that give funding to those who want to ride but do not have the financial means to do so. Anyone can be poor. There are poor people of every race. Those statements, however, do not discredit the fact that Native Americans, Black Americans, and Hispanic Americans face poverty at higher rates than other races in the United States. If an activity is only available to those with financial means, by default it is going to be very, very White. A great program to look into is the Compton Cowboys, and there are similar stables that specifically work with at risk youth. If you are a trainer with the ability to do so, look into starting a program like this. Scholarships and grants also need to be accessible to everyone, not just those who are already members of nationally recognized organizations. Don't lecture me about "hand outs." I actually care about poor people. 5. Stop equating racism with a lack of education, The South, Conservatives, and Western Riding. Doing this prevents you from holding yourself accountable for casual racism and micro aggression. Look at your own behavior. Look at your language. And then fix it. 6. Care about Black people, like, just half as much as y'all seem to care about horses. Stop sharing the post about the police horse that got hit with a brick. The horse was not the target. The horse is fine. The individual who hit the horse was arrested on sight, much faster than the cops who murdered George Floyd. And last I checked, George Zimmerman is a free man. You can also stop sharing false stories about the horse trailer that was surrounded in Tulsa. There were no horses in the trailer, despite a Facebook post stating that they were burned alive. No canisters were thrown into the trailer, despite another post saying the trailer was bombed. We live in the "fake news" era. Fact check hysterical stories before you share them rapidly.

BLM National Resource List

#me #articles #direct action #equestrian

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al-n-cartoons · 5 years ago

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The Multiverse in a Blender, Chapter 2 Part 2

Danny and Dexter wound up sharing small talk near the far end of the food table, neither seeming too keen on socializing with a group of what were effectively strangers.

Dexter twitched, cringing at the foul tunes coming from the center of the room. "Frankenstein's monster despise," he hissed slowly. "Whatever are they producing such distasteful sounds for?!"

"Probably a little something called 'fun'." Danny quipped. "You know, that thing humans do?"

The expression Dexter gave was so flat, it was a surprise when he didn't turn two dimensional, "I came here to discuss over inter-dimensional affairs and inspect the oddities that are the gathered specimen, not to have some insolent entertainment to swindle away what is to me an ever thinning resource: my time."

"Seriously? Those are the only reasons you came? I did to figure out what's going on, get some better explanations, and maybe plan around our enemies somehow getting better at making our lives worse. You sure you didn't want anything else?"

Dexter paused, eyes trailing away for a moment to land on the green eyed brunette, a slight dusting of pink overcoming his face for the second time that evening. Danny followed his gaze, stifling a snort when his understanding only worsened the other's blush. "Oh my gawd!" He managed to say through his laughter, "That's, um, that's not going to happen. Age difference and all?"

Dexter upturned his nose, trying to force back the heat in his face, "I am sure that I don't know what you are referring to." He asserted.

Rex bustled past the two, tailed by Bliss. "You guys playing music roulette over there? I'm in!"

"Hey, I know this song." Bubbles chirped as another tune began to play. She swiped the microphone from Steven, causing him to give a squeak of surprise. "MINE!" It was a rock song, preceded by an acoustic guitar and a cry of "that's alright, that's okay!" by various of the other participants, acting as the chorus.

"A wise man once said 'time is money'

So how much money did I lose to you, honey?

I find it kinda funny

You wanna keep this feud running

But I'm glad I'm your mind

So keep that cannon fire coming, woah!"

"Steven should be the one singing this. It would've been perfect!" Danny jokingly whined, joining the large cluster of people. Dexter followed belatedly after.

"Or Zak." Ben added. "That would be ironic, considering the name of the original singer."

"What about Zak?" Came another new voice, entering through the entryway and followed by two others. Danny face-palmed, exasperated, and hissed something into his hand about 'anonymity'.

While Bubbles continued to howl into her microphone, Ben and Zak gave a quick hug in greeting. "So...are these your unofficial plus twos?" Ben asked, giving the uninvited guests a bemused smile. As he'd mentioned earlier, someone disregarding the one and only rule of their meet was fairly expected, but it was who had done so that came as a shock.

"Sort of. They contacted my people, swearing to high heavens that something catastrophic had happened. They say their names are 'Mabel' and 'Dipper'."

Ben eyed them, a little suspicious, "Zak, the only people who know are the people I used to tether-"

"You didn't know Bliss or Bubbles. You barely met Steven. If those can be exceptions, why can't they?" Zak asserted. Ben paused, looking upwards and touching his pointer finger and thumb to his chin, considering.

"Can't argue with that." Ben conceded. He turned around, gesturing to and naming each guest.

"Oooh, is this a party?! Pepper boy, you never said anything about a PARTY!" Mable said excitedly, bounding up and down. Ben quirked a brow at the nickname, earning only a shrug from Zak, to who, the nickname belonged.

"Yeah. We're all pretty young, and most of us don't know each other. I figured it would be better to get to know everyone before we had to do anything crazy." Ben explained, not for the first time since the night had begun. "They're not playing karaoke, but it's similar. My name's Ben, by the way."

"Shouldn't figuring out what happened be our top priority? Whatever caused our worlds to collide do so again, and succeed in whatever it was trying to do!" Dipper suddenly exclaimed, looking worried. Zak and Ben shared another look, this one far more uncomfortable. Zak gave a small chuckle, distancing himself from the trio.

"Yeah, I'm not touching that with a ten foot pole." Said the fleeting traitor.

Mabel looked to Zak, then to Ben. She took the hint and followed in Zak's example. Ben turned back to Dipper, smiling a little anxiously, "Heh, the funny thing is..." and so he began to explain. The conversation detracted endlessly, Dipper finding innumerable bits which needed to be clarified. First was why Ben needed a partner, then of the Plumbers as a whole. The Omnitrix, a brief history lesson on Alien integration throughout Earth, Rook's species, and more were all subject to Dipper's vigorous inquiry before the actual cause of the worlds' clashing came to the discussion.

At the end, Dipper gave a slow nod, "Alright, I think I understand now." Ben's sigh was short lived, as Dipper took out a pad of paper and a pencil, eyes eager, "But just in case, go over everything from the beginning."

"SING!

You barely wrote em anyway

That's alright that's okay

C'mon

We're coming for you!

Juanita, Juanita, Juanita, Juanita,

Juanita, Juanita, Juanita, AHHHHHHHH!"

Connie held her stomach, both from Bubble"s attempts at voice acting and at the thought of Steven having been the singer instead of the blond, "Oh, yeah, baby, they really have you in mind!" She chortled. Steven gave a small huff.

"I'm not that deranged." He paused a moment, reflecting on his own behavior dating the previous months. "Anymore."

"Hey, Ben, do you want to sing?" Danny offered, trying to pry the brunette away from Dipper's integration.

"Oh, sorry, Dipper. They're calling me!" Ben said, turning on his heel and swipe the mike from the mid-fall Bubbles had left it in. "Are you trying to break my stuff?" He remarked at her. Mabel dragged a dejected Dipper to the group.

"SWITCHING VOCALS!" She cheered, quickly descending into a tireless chant. After about six iterations, Ben agreed.

"Fine, fine, just don't drop the beat." He said. The song began to play, far more casual than the other two.

"Oh, things couldn't be worse,

When your job's saving the universe." His voice, although not that of an angel, was fairly decent and decidedly smooth. He made a circular motion to the rest of the bunch, indicating to them.

"Oh, things couldn't be worse,

When your job's saving the universe." The rest sang back. Rex motioned as if he were playing a guitar. Chuckling, Steven followed in miming the motion. The only person to not participate was Dexter, who couldn't sing. Dipper was also finding some difficulties, for he fumbled with the lyrics.

"My name is Benji, of Ben 10,

I've fought in battles, no care for when.

Aliens, tyrants, even internal beasts!

Oh, no!

When yours is this job, life can be tough!

They've ruined my doings, and all of my stuff. Danny?" He quickly passed the mike, his lips upturned in a teasing smile.

Danny gave a displeased huff, but didn't refuse. "My name's Danny, alive and dead,

I am a halfa, though it's poorly said,

Thought it'd be cool, to take a small peak,

Ended in lighting and grinding my teeth.

If my folks ever found me, it'd be a surprise,

Oh no..."

"Oh no..." they chorused, but Danny didn't seem satisfied.

"Oh, and my parents hate Phantom, my counterpart,

They tracked and attacked me, right from the start,

Woke up in binds, flat on a table,

Now I guess...I'm far less stable,

#ben 10 omniverse #ben x rex #Rex Salazar #Danny Phantom #Steven Universe #Powerpuffgirls #singing #Dexter

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stanskzseungmin · 5 years ago

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HJS ~ The Princess and the Pirate

Pirate! Jisung x Royal! Reader! X (Mentioned) Royal! Chan

Fairytale! + Fantasy! AU

Word Count: 3756

Genre: Angst

A/N: I am using the word “pirate” quite liberally for this story. Jisung isn’t your typical blundering scurvy of the high seas...more like the high...sky? Just, Jisung is not a good person.

A/N 2: This is the same AU as my KWJ ~ I am You, so if you see similarities between the two, you know why x’D

A/N 3: Yes, I just high key copy and pasted the beginning bit of my WJ one here.

A/N 4: Again, not proofread. Shocking lmao. #WeDyingLikeMEN

Once upon a time, in a land far away, there were two kingdoms. One kingdom is a warring kingdom that relied heavily on military. This kingdom prides itself on its massive well trained armies and futuristic technologically advanced aerial warships and mechanized weapons.

The second kingdom wasn’t as militaristically inclined. This kingdom prides itself on its pacifist nature and on its massively well read population and royals. They believe that words are far superior weapons.

Due to the opposing views, tensions arose between the two kingdoms. The military kingdom offered protection under their well trained and well equipped armies in exchange for full willing submission. The pacifist kingdom would politely refuse due to the peaceful times they’re living in. Neither kingdoms were in any danger.

But the military kingdom had other plans. The military kingdom wanted to expand its empire to broaden its reach and influence. The only roadblock: the peaceful kingdom. It was as if the peaceful kingdom had sheltered all the other tribes and villages under their roof by alluring them with sweet words. But words aren’t what makes the world run, it’s a showcase of power.

Everyone within the royal family is well trained in the art of combat. The king is well adept in the art of sword fights and the queen is a master of fencing and she took it upon themselves to train all the guards. In a grand room made of white marble with large windows lining the walls, the sunlight were illuminating the room. There dressed in white protective gear and a fine mesh white mask. Many trainees were in pairs as they were sparring with their sabres. The trainees were overseen by the queen. She had a straight posture with both hands folded neatly behind her back, a sabre held securely flush against her back. Her long dark locks were pulled up into a tight top bun. She wore a tight fitting knee length white dress that was slightly longer in the back long puffy sleeves and a vertical slit cuffed at the wrist as a lovely grey corset wrapped her torso. To finish off the look, she wore knee high leather heel boots. The clicking of her heels was enough to spur anxiety as she held a calculative gaze over everyone. There was a group of trainees gathered around. They surrounded what seemed to be an awe inspiring fight. A singular sabreur was single handedly taking down and disarming everyone who step forward to attack.

“Wow, is that the genius?” one of the trainees whispered.

“Oh so his highness i the genius everyone speak of?” another asked.

The genius handed their sabre to a trainee who came up and and bowed prior to leaving.

“What are you talking about? The genius isn’t the prince,” the sabreur loosened the strap behind their head and they pulled the mask off swinging their head back and forth letting their long locks uncurl and fall delicately against their back. “The genius is the princess.”

“Y/N,” the queen’s voice was stern and commanding. “You are to appear before your father in the throne room half past noon.”

“Yes, mother,” you bowed politely as you head out to change to a proper attire.

Your servant aided you by your styling your dark locks into soft curls and held back with a hair comb. You don a lavish pink silk dress that extended to the floor with a long sleeves that extended past your hands and a blue silk wrap around your torso giving you a rather oriental appearance.

Folding your hands in front of you as you held up the front of your skirt, you head towards the throne room before your father. The guards has opened the large ravish dark oak doors for you as you walked towards your conversing father and elder brother.

“Big brother. Father,” you greeted bowing slightly before them. You fell before deaf ears.

“This blasted kingdom with their talks of peace!” the king, your father, ranted pacing back and forth and throwing his arms in the air. “Why can’t they just make it easy and just surrender to us! Pathetic king.”

“I have a suggestion, father,” your brother started, raising an arm in suggestion.

“Invasion?”

“No!” you interjected. “Invasion will disturb our times of peace, those who ally will them will turn on us if we settle on invasion.”

“Bold words from my daughter, it’s as if you’re one of them! We need to expand, my daughter. Our power must grow and remain unmatched. We will become the greatest kingdom of all.”

“But father, we must focus on within, there are pirates and bandits within our boundaries.”

You brother scoffed as he chuckled softly to himself.

What you believed was dangerous and speaking your mind could get you jailed or banished. Or worse-- killed. This used to be the palace of your childhood-- a place where you once called home with a loving father, mother, and brother. But now after countless victories during the tides of war, their power and influence soared as did their hubris. Your family became strangers.

You straightened up and inhaled shakily. “In order to establish a large empire, a sturdy foundation is needed. If the foundation falls, the entire empire falls.“

“My daughter, you are dearest to me. What do you suggest we do?”

“Father, I may have a better suggestion. Two birds with one stone. Sister is right when she mentioned a strong foundation. If we invade the the other kingdom we would have a follower of distrust. Since it is beloved’s sisters idea, she could marry the other kingdom’s prince with the promise of peace. Lower the guard, then strike when they least expect it!”

“Big brother!” you snapped offended by the elder’s suggestion.

“Why, that’s a brilliant idea! Wonderful!” your father exclaimed pridefully.

“Father! You promised that you wouldn’t marry me off! I am not an object that could be handled and passed,” you pleaded. Your voice was weak and cracking as your eyes welled up in tears from betrayal.

“Times change, my dear,” your father stated. Turning to your brother, “I will prepare the aerial ships and calvary for the upcoming attack. My son, travel to the other kingdom offering our proposal. My dearest daughter can marry their eldest, Bang Christopher Chan.”

“But father!” you tried to interject.

“Silence!” your father boomed. “You’re dismissed.”

You dashed out of the room feeling utterly destroyed and betrayed. The clinking of your heels echo loudly throughout the marble floors of the hallways. Tears free fell from your eyes as your check constricted painfully. Pulling open the door of your room and slamming it shut behind you, you threw yourself onto your bed sobbing into your arms. You remained in bed for a couple of hours wallowing in your self pity. The sun had set and your room became enveloped in darkness.

Sniffling softly you looked to your bedside table. Resting atop of it in a delicate frame was a past picture of your family. It displayed the smiling faces of your younger parents, you of your childhood years and your elder brother of his teenage years. The family of yours… of the past-- of your childhood. They were not your family anymore. This was no longer your home. Blinking your stray tears away, you stood up, kicking away your heels, unwrapping your blue wrap and letting your hair free from its comb. You slid on a pair of comfortable flats as you rummage through your room, pulling back at the week stones to reveal a hidden compartment. Your fingers delicately grasped at the item wrapped in lining. You dragged your fingers over the fabric as your heart beat in nostalgia. You quickly unwrapped the item revealing a custom rapier that your elder brother had gifted your years before. It was your most prized possession, it was the only thing you had left of your elder brother. You secured it to your waist via a simple black belt. You climbed out your window as you looked one last time at the room of your childhood as you turned away and disappeared into the night.

The night was Han Jisung’s veil. As soon as the daylight diminishes, Jisung slithers out of the darkness and begin to wreak havoc. Jisung hated the empire with a vengeance. His parents were victims of the empires unnecessary wars and conquests. While they gained, the people suffer. Whenever they boast and lie about their victories and gloat about the people’s sacrifice as honorable, another person pays the price. The person is the people.

Ever since the death of his parents, Jisung became a pirate and swore to take down the empire. He hardly had any empathy for the inhabitants of the empire. They blindly follow the empire like the sheeple they are without doubt that the empire is the sole reason for their suffering. They only see the glory and power, not the destruction and the pain.

Jisung befriended the bandits and ruffians of the empire that shared his view. One of which is his closest friend, Hwang Hyunjin. They bonded over their shared pain feeling empathy and condolences towards the other’s situation. He too lost his family due to the war. With the combined might and experience in the arts of deceit and manipulation, they’re able to secure an aerial ship from the military when they were beaten and battered by war. Together with his close friend, Hyunjin, they both lead that ship. Hyunjin and the ship were currently situated hidden deep outside the walls with Jisung within the main walls working as the inside man, learning information, gathering resources and weakening their supplies.

Jisung was currently jumping from roof to roof taking reconnaissance of the area he was in. In the dark veils of the night and the poorly lit streaks, he spotted a figure in pink dressed in the finest silk sticking out like a sore thumb. Jisung immediately recognized you. You were the crowned princess of this accursed empire. Hatred bubbled within his chest as he drew his blade. However, a thought did cross his mind. Why were you wandering the streets at night when pirates, bandits, rapists and murderers hiding in the shadow?

Speak of the devil because a group of men stumbled out of the speakeasy. The were obnoxiously loud and bordering the point of unconsciousness. They obviously were drunk with the stumble in their step, the slurs of their words and their reddened faces.

“Ayy, fellas. Look at this beauty,” the man slurred. The other men laughed as they surrounded her.

“Begone or you will regret it,” you threatened, your voice stern as you reached for your trusted sabre.

Jisung smirked at your bravado.

“The kitten wants the play,” another man chuckled as they all began to grab at you.

“Stop!” you commanded trying to tear away from their grip.

Although Jisung despised you, he despised victims being taken advantage of even more. Grumbling softly to himself, Jisung leapt off the roof landing before the men with a loud thud.

“Leave the young lady alone,” Jisung threatened, his voice dripping with venom.

“Mind your own business, kid,” one spat.

“How about you mind yours?”Jisung threatening unsheathing his blade.

Sensing Jisung’s heated aura and gazing upon on his blade, they realized he was deadly serious as they all scrambled off in fear.

“I- you didn’t have to, kind sir,” you bowed slightly. “I thank you.”

Jisung warily looks at you up and down and hesitantly accepts her gratitude.

“Do you not have anywhere to go?” Jisung started, sheathing his blade in the holdest by his side.

You shook your head. “Not anymore,” you whispered.

Jisung contemplates taking you in, after all you are the enemy, but a brilliant thought struck him. You were the crowned princess of the empire. He could use you as leverage to take down the empire.

“Would you like to stay with me? I know a place,” Jisung offered with a sickenly sweet smile.

You bit your lip contemplating your offer. It wouldn’t be long before you were noticed to be missing and you couldn’t risk being seen. There were a high rise of crime activity within the walls during the night. You sighed as you were left with no other option.

You nodded hesitantly. “If it wouldn’t bother you, I accept.”

Jisung smiled as he led you to his hidden spot. It was run down and broken. The old wood was splintering and wearing away with age. The building looked to be abandoned long ago. There were hardly any furniture, the ones that were there were in disrepair and dusty. There were several coarse cloths and rags lining the walls and the floors.

“What is your name? I would like to know the name for the kind man who has saved me,” you smiled politely.

“Jisung,” he stated. Jisung decided to give out his actual name to gain your trust. You were valuable to his plan to take down the empire.

“I am F/N,” you decided against revealing your true identity. Jisung scoffed internally. Of course you would give a fake name.

Time goes by and the pair become closer. Some nights where Jisung would sit at the window watching the stars, he thinks back to all the times he spent with his family and his close friend, Hyunjin. These were the nights Jisung felt the loneliness creep in. However, your presence made those nights feel a little easier. Jisung enjoyed the little talks you would have and you felt the same. You both had similar views about the victims of war. Like Jisung, you wanted to help. You both would bunker down during the day as Jisung occasionally left to gather some new clothes and supplies as well as bringing some food. You often wonder where Jisung would get the supplies and you were certain it wasn’t by legal ways, but you couldn’t bring yourself to care. When night fell and you are fast asleep, Jisung tended to slip out and meet up with Hyunjin outside the walls to discuss future plans.

“What do you want to do?” Hyunjin asked. “Are you still going to use her?”

Jisung contemplated it. His heart ached at the thought of deceiving you.

“I want to let her in,“ Jisung whispered.

“What?” Hyunjin breathed out. “But she’s the enemy?”

“I can’t leave her alone. She isn’t like what we thought at all,” Jisung looked directly at his best friend’s eyes. Jisung expect Hyunjin to blow up at him and shouting profanities at him and how he’s risking it all. He didn’t expect for Hyunjin to smile at him fondly.

“Are you sure?” Hyunjin asked with sincerity.

“Really?” Jisung stuttered.

“What?”

“You’re not going to give me shit?”

“No, you deserve to be happy,” Hyunjin smiled.

Jisung couldn’t ignore the change he’s been feeling. He’s grown fond of you. His heart would beat rapidly whenever in close proximity with you. Jisung could swear his cheeks were beet red whenever you smiled and let out a whole hearted laugh. His heart skipped a beat whenever your eyes would shut whenever you laughed. Your laugh was like music to his ears. Whenever you were happy, he was as well.

Currently, you both were sitting under the shade of a tree just outside the walls watching the sunset. The atmosphere was tense and quiet, but they found comfort just being in close proximity of each other. Both were looking off to the side, distracted by the thoughts running through your minds. You were debating on whether or not to reveal your true identity and Jisung was thinking the same. What if you wouldn’t stay? Would you hate him?

“Jisung?” you soft voice broke through the silence and snapped him out of his thoughts.

“Y-yea?” Jisung cursed at himself mentally for stuttering.

“I have something to tell you,” you gulped. “I would like for you to listen to what I have to say fully before you say anything.”

“Of course.”

Letting out a shaky exhale, you began to reveal everything. Your real name and how you ran away from the empire. You didn't like their militaristic ideas and the monsters they’ve become because of power. They weren’t your family anymore. Your voice was weak and was cracking as you continued on, pausing every once in a while to sniffle and gasp, wiping away your tears.

Jisung pulled you into his arms and comforted you. He rubbed small circles onto your back as he pulled you into his chest. Your fingers reach up for the fabric and gripped it, letting the tears flow. Jisung could feel the wet spots forming on his shirt, but he couldn’t care less.

“I’m scared,” you whispered out. “I don’t want to go back. I don’t want to be taken back.”

“You won’t. I promise,” Jisung’s words were sincere.

You both made eye contact and it seemed fireworks exploded. Both your hearts lept in your chests as lingering gazes fell straight to the lips. Getting caught up in the moment, the two lean in. Their noses touch lightly as rubbed against each other softly. Both erupted into big smiles and small giggles. They leaned in ever so closer as a harsh gush of wind snaps them out of the moment. They quickly pull away and blush.

“Well, well,” a voice started. You both jumped up at the voice. You squeaked as you recognized the figure before you

“B-big brother!” You hide behind Jisung.

He chuckles darkly. “Little sister, it’s been so long. Don’t you know how worried I was?”

“Leave her alone,” Jisung threatened, recognizing the lies weaved within his sweet words.

“You never cared about me,” you accused as you glared at him, willing away the tears that threatened to spill.

“But I have, I always did. Do you really think this boy going to protect you?”

“Better than you…” you spat.

“Dear sis, I would like to have you know is that this man has been lying to you all along,” your elder brother smirked.

“W-what are you talking about?” Jisung stammered. “I haven’t lied to her.”

He smirked, ignoring Jisung. “Dearest sister. Han Jisung here is a pirate! Did you really believe he cares for you? He’s our enemy!”

“W-what?” you choked, feeling your heart shatter. “Y-Y/N,” Jisung stammered as tears welled up in his eyes.

“Is...is it true?” you whispered.

Jisung wept as he nodded pathetically. “Y-yes. Yes, I am. I’m a pirate, but I meant everything I sa-”

You shove him back. “Don’t. You-You lied to me. You were going to use me all along were you.” Tears now ran down your cheeks in waterfalls as you backed away from him. You felt the familiar sting of betrayal as you did back then.

“Y/N please, I'm not using you. I really care for you. Y/N, I love-” .”

You cut him off, placing your hands over your ears and screamed, “Stop. Stop it. I don't wanna hear any more of your lies!”

You ran off sobbing profusely.

“Wait!” Jisung tried to chase after you, but your older brother cut him off. He chuckles at Jisung with a dark look in his eyes. Growling at the elder, Jisung unsheathed his knife as he took a swing at him. Your brother easily dodging Jisung’s attack. As if he was playing with a baby, your brother easily sidestepped the flurry of Jisung’s attack. Jisung lunged at him with a loud roar as he sidestepped Jisung and bringing a hand down to the back of his neck. Jisung’s eyes widen as he gasped. Jisung fell unconscious to the floor upon contact.

You were found huddling behind a bush, your knees pulled to your chest. You sobbed pathetically as your body shook. You gasped and wheezed as you tried to control your tears, but they kept coming out in never ending streams. A pair of legs appeared into view. You looked up at the figure.

“B-big brother.”

“Baby,” he smirked using the nickname he always referred to you by in your younger years. He outstretched his arms, prompting you to run into them. Your elder brother enveloped your sobbing form in a big hug.

“Poor baby got her heart broken by the pirate, haven’t she?.” He paused.

You sobbed, nodding pathetically in his chest.

“I’m sor-” You gasped as your eyes widen.

He ran you through with a small blade with it piercing through her heart. “This is your punishment for defying the empire.” The fabric of began to stain a brilliant red from your blood.

He gently set you down on the soft grass and delicately closed your eyes, planting a small kiss on your forehead..

“Rest well, little sister.”

“Jisung,” a voice echoed. “Jisung!”

Jisung slowly opens his eyes and groaned. The back of his head was throbbing from where he was struck.

His eyes widened as he quickly sat up. “Y/N!”

“Jisung? What’s the matter?” Hyunjin asked with worry etched on his face.

“I need to- I need to find Y/N!”

“What has happened?”

“Her brother! He found her.”

Hyunjin nodded, understanding the situation. He offered Jisung his hand. “We’ll find her.”

They went their separate ways. Jisung looked around the surrounding locale as he went in to investigate the outskirts of the woods. Jisung froze in his tracks. His eyes are wide as he gazed at the sight before him. Horror was etched on his face. Jisung dropped to his knees. His breath was taken away and his heart was hammering in his chest. Tears began welling up in his eyes.

“Y/N?” He choked out.

You was lying there with you hands neatly folded over her body in a pool of your own blood. Dried tears decorated your cheeks. You looked to be at peace. Despite the dried tears, your face was free of any pain and appeared as you were having a peaceful slumber. Jisung slowly crawled his way over to you. He reached out to touch you. His fingers were feathering over your cheeks as if he was afraid of breaking you even more. Jisung carefully brought you up to his chest and delicately wrapped his arms around you as he erupted into loud sobs.

He screamed out, his voice tearing through the silence of the night. “I’m-I’m sorry… I’m so so so sorry. I love you, I love you so much.”

Jisung let out one last sob as he collapsed with you in his arms.

#stray kids #skz #stray kids angst #stray kids imagines #stray kids han #skz han #han jisung #stray kids jisung #skz jisung

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housebeleren · 5 years ago

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Magic Legends

youtube

Hoo boy. I’m honestly shocked it took this long. The Magic Multiverse is deep enough to nearly endlessly expand into, and many people are at least casually familiar with it. Basically, I’m pretty stoked, but as always, I have thoughts.

Full disclosure, I tend to stay away from MMORPGs just for the simple reason that they are too easy to completely lose your entire life into. Plus, I already have paper Magic & Arena to do that, so I otherwise try to stick to video games with clear starts and finishes. That said, a Magic: The Gathering based game is exactly the sort of thing that could suck me right back in.

Thoughts

I alternate between excitement and concern. My biggest concern is that the gameplay will be unexciting. The worldbuilding is likely to be pretty solid, given the material they have to work with, but translating the gameplay into something that isn’t just “World of Warcraft, but instead of continents, PLANES...” is going to be the biggest challenge for them to overcome. But, that will also be the biggest achievement if they manage to do it well.

My second biggest concern is that they will use the color pie too rigidly in such a way that it imposes too many limits on character building. One pessimistic commenter said “pessimistic prediction: one class per color” and I highly doubt that. They know better (at least... they must know better, right?). No, I have hope that they will come up with something a little more interesting.

The challenge is that in MTG lore, all characters use magic slightly differently. There are some obvious overlaps, like Chandra and Jaya, who would both fit squarely into “Pyromancer” class. But what about someone like Koth? Is that an entirely different class? Or do they mix his power suite up with the pyromancer power suite and come up with a more generic Red “Elementalist” class?

Similar things could be said for characters like Gideon & Teyo. They’d probably fall into similar classing. But would they bundle Elspeth & Ajani’s powers into the same class? This question really comes down to how finely they choose to divide the classes up. My guess is they probably won’t want to have more than 10-15 classes to start.

Character Creation - Class

I’ve actually given a lot of thought to this (shower/car thoughts), and there are definitely some cool ways they could mix up the color pie and still give people a reasonable amount of customization, but within some sort of confines so the game isn’t infinitely large. My solution would be to try to divide the realms of magic use into some number of “Schools”, which then have combinations of colors available to them. For example, one school would be “Elementalism”, associated with Red, Green, and Blue mana. You could pick any one or two color combination from within those three, and that would determine your Class.

That would allow for a high degree of customization (each school would have at least 6 Classes associated with it), but there could be some shared design, moves, and in-game resources for all Classes within the School. So your moveset would be some number of general moves from your School, plus the specialized moves for your color & specific Class. (So a Green-Red Elementalist would get some general moves that all Elementalists get, some moves that all Green or all Red Elementalists get, and some specific moves that only the Green-Red ones get.) Examples of Schools that would cover most known Planeswalker movesets (totally just examples):

Elementalism - Red/Green/Blue - This covers all the elements & is probably the most straightforward. Probably the main DPS grouping.

Artifice - White/Blue/Black/Red? - These would be the characters who can manipulate metal as a core part of their powers. Characters like Tezzeret & Saheeli. Supports good for team buffs.

Arcane (or something?) - White/Blue/Black - Some sort of a catch-all bucket for characters who manipulate minds, time, law, and seek knowledge for power. Good at weakening/disabling the enemies & providing certain types of buffs. Also counterspells. :)

Soul/Spirit - White/Black/Green - This could cover a lot of the characters that manipulate life & death and call on spirits & demons to assist them. These would be the best healers

Creature - All colors? - These would be characters like Vivien & Huatli whose primary power suite involves summoning and bonding with creatures (and maybe those who transform into creatures). They’d be able to support and flex into roles as needed, based on their summons

Fighting/Martial - All colors? - The physical group for players who want to be Gideon and others who are strong physical fighters, aided by magic. Probably the main tanks and maybe some DPS for rogue-like characters (maybe Black-aligned goes towards DPS, white-aligned goes towards tank?)

So yeah, that’s just an example of one way they could subdivide, cover a lot of the bases, and still provide tons of customization, because within each School you could choose any combination of colors. (Probably just mono or dual color)

Character Creation - Race/Origin

The other part of character creation is the race & origin of your character. Personally, the #1 thing I hope they do NOT do is tie race & class together. I’d really love the flexibility to pick any race and class combination, and not fall into the usual tropes. What they should do, however, is provide a choice of origin planes for each race.

For example, I would love it if they had 5 or 6 possible starting home planes (Ravnica, Zendikar, Innistrad, Dominaria, Kaladesh, & Theros, for example?), then for each race, you got a selection of starting points. If you pick Elf for your character, you could choose to start your adventure on Ravnica, Zendikar, Dominaria, or Kaladesh, but not Theros or Innistrad.

Humans could start anywhere, of course, but each other race would have a subset of starting points, and that selection of Race & Origin would determine your starting point and initial storyline, leading to your spark ignition. And yes, I think it’s crucial that characters go through an initial story that culminates in their spark ignition, and flings them to another plane.

Wrap Up

Anyway, I don’t want to go too deep down this rabbit hole, because at the end of the day, they’re going to create what they create. My only hope is that they really do justice to the incredible Magic creative with equally compelling gameplay.

#MtG #magic legends

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awesomelephuoclocblog-blog · 5 years ago

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Hostinger Review 2020: Is "For all intents and purposes Free" Better than "Free" for Hosting?

https://lephuocloc.com/three-for-one-hosting-review/

On the off chance that you're getting this, you're probably pondering whether Hostinger is a web encouraging association that can be trusted – and whether there's a stunt about their strong advancement assessing.

In this extraordinary review, we will truly research Hostinger and answer the going with essential requests:

Around the completion of this study you can find a select advancement code which licenses you to save 15% from your Hostinger demand, on top of all as far as possible and excellent offers you would as of now have the option to find on their site. Appreciate!

Fortuitously, when Hostinger were picking their picture name, they no doubt didn't foresee the a wide scope of ways it might be mistakenly spelled.. so on the off chance that you're here a direct result of filtering for hostenger or hosinger or even hostiger – basically understand that surely, that is a comparable association we're talking about here, so you're in the right spot :)

The Story of Hostinger

To give you an idea of precisely how gigantic Hostinger is, here are a couple of figures: the association starting at now has practically 30 million customers not simply in the US, UK, India and Indonesia, yet what's more in 170+ various countries (this is essentially every single country of the world!).

In addition, there are no signs of moving down – according to their data, Hostinger is up 'til now stretching out at a pace of 1 client at normal spans.

Right now Hostinger has destinations high-performant gear arranged in a couple of datacenters around the world: specifically, in the United States, Brazil, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Singapore, and Indonesia. An extra datacenter focused on Eastern Europe is foreseen the not all that far off future.

In any case, as you may expect, Hostinger hasn't by and large been the general goliath it is today. It started in 2004 as unassuming "Encouraging Media" in the little anyway rapidly creating country of Lithuania, arranged in the north-eastern bit of the European Union.

The originators of Hostinger didn't intend to follow the gathering and make basically one all the more encouraging organization – they set up the new association as for an innovative idea:

People would favor not to pay for our displaying – basically the encouraging: direct, strong, and as unassuming as could sensibly be normal.

After various years, this standard in spite of everything remains at the focal point of what Hostinger centers around, to be explicit extraordinary organizations at a close to zero expense.

Nevertheless, how does Hostinger achieve such reality? – you may honestly solicit – toward the end from the day, how might it make sense of how to minimize its expenses while keeping the quality high? I will explain soon – most importantly, we should look at the thing itself:

Which Hosting Plan Is Right for You?

There are a couple of kinds of encouraging offered on the authority Hostinger site, each with various assessing plans. This makes it a test to pick just one, considering that there are moreover extraordinary additional organizations and features included to no end cash based dependent upon the course of action.

We should center in and endeavor to understand the fundamental portions of encouraging – this will enable us to constrain our choice and reach the last final product.

We'll assess all of the three kinds of Hostinger's encouraging organizations, overall, examine this little table. It summarizes the most critical differentiations between encouraging sorts and gives the most generally perceived use cases:

Performance Sufficient for little and medium websites High execution for greater destinations and online projects Medium to high dependent upon the plan

Space for growth Rigid – need to climb to another encouraging plan Flexible – can incorporate more resources "on the fly" Very versatile – granular authority over resources

Cost level Low Medium Flexible

I accept that even from this table, the qualification between the three encouraging sorts that are offered by Hostinger is extremely clear, anyway we will moreover give hardly logically low down explanations underneath.

Before we go into nuances, nonetheless, we need to appreciate one key thought: the server. Essentially, it's a specific PC that stores locales and demonstrates them to your online visitors:

Any encouraging is a grouping of servers, mind blowing PCs which are moved up to stay online each moment of consistently/365 and show your website to any person who types in its area into their program.

Thusly, servers are essentially the standard section of any encouraging organization, and they can be used in different habits depending upon the client's necessities and money related arrangement. This is the spot the three encouraging sorts come in:

Common encouraging is a crucial structure for the people who are essentially starting or need to test their online endeavors with least employments. It's assigned "shared" in light of the fact that each server holds hundreds or even an enormous number of locales from various clients.

This gathers a lone server's benefits are used at the same time by various areas – fine for destinations which have moderate traffic, anyway can impact execution for greater locales.

On the positive side, shared encouraging is unfathomably unassuming and easy to use. This makes it ideal for private individuals and little undertakings which are just starting their way into the online world.

Business encouraging is a further evolved sort, sensible for greater locales which are required to have medium to high step by step traffic (a large number of customers for consistently and anything is possible from that point).

Hostinger's business encouraging uses what's called cloud advancements – your handling resources are not connected to a specific physical server, anyway are spread over different machines, which guarantees better adequacy and flexibility.

This also infers your encouraging resources are detached from each and every other site for this circumstance, which prompts by and large better, appeared differently in relation to shared encouraging.

All of these favorable circumstances incorporate some significant detriments, clearly – business encouraging is in a general sense logically exorbitant, with the most affordable course of action ("Startup" at $15.90 consistently) costing twice as much as the most expensive shared game plan ("Business" at $7.95 consistently). Unexpectedly, the last naming is very perplexing from my perspective – yet at this point we understand what's in store :)

VPS encouraging is the most versatile and the least straightforward encouraging sort offered by Hostinger. It signifies "Virtual Private Server", considering the way that for this circumstance a lone physical server runs a couple of individual conditions which don't get with each other using any and all means. It takes after having your own server, on the other hand, really it's an alleged "virtual" machine.

Such course of action thinks about most prominent flexibility – you can do almost anything you need with your virtual server, since you have official level authority over the entire structure.

Which appears fun, until you comprehend that you won't increase a beneficial force board with a VPS encouraging arrangement. In a manner of speaking, it's needy upon you to set up all parts of your virtual server.

This is the explanation such an encouraging is at the same time supportive for specialists who know absolutely what they're accomplishing (for instance programming architects and website specialists) and near futile for some other individual.

Given the specific features of each encouraging kind, I can make a reasonable proposal that you should in all probability pick the common sort. Why? In such a case, that you were addressing a tremendous business or a web progression association, you would realize all that I referenced in the past fragments.

That case aside, we ought to expect you need the basic encouraging – and see which of the three Hostinger Shared plans is the most reasonable choice.

On Hostinger's shared encouraging page you can see three offers: the Single course of action, assessed at $0.88 consistently, the Premium game plan, esteemed at $3.49 consistently, and the Business plan, evaluated at $7.95 consistently. I trust understand that these are remarkable progressions:

You can get these expenses if you demand a multi year pack, tinier periods cost hardly more (in case you ask me, a year group is commonly all that might be expected to grasp if you genuinely need a website, and test your online errand).

Such expenses are significant for the term of the group you demand, after that your encouraging will get deferred at a conventional rate.

Simply taking everything into account – these are both fundamental practices among encouraging gives, so nothing dubious about Hostinger in such way.

Every one of the three shared plans are equipped with everything that is significant for a basic start, including updated programming and hardware, so we will basically focus on the qualifications:

The Single game plan has too relatively few features and figuring power that is adequate only for the most diminutive of destinations, while the Business plan includes not a lot of focal points diverged from the Premium game plan while being twice as expensive.

Toward the day's end, the Premium game plan is the most balanced similar to features, over all it is the most economical course of action with a free space included.

What's more, it is the most affordable course of action to offer customized fortifications – and you will feel the handiness of this part the primary go through something happens to your site :)

To close, for the vast majority and little prescription

https://lephuocloc.com/three-for-one-hosting-review/

https://lephuocloc.com/

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your-posts-are-schist · 5 years ago

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In regards to a previous post

I reblogged a post very recently where I talked about my experiences with meet ups and what's needed for one so I thought I would make a separate post for anyone who wants it.

This is tagged in discourse tags mainly because I see people against enbies, queer folk, and aspec(ace/aro spectrum, not autistic. As an autistic person, this isn't the post's point so don't make a fool of yourselves and hone in on a useless and harmless bit.) people complain about there being ace/aro, queer, and/or enby meets but not lesbian/gay/bi/trans meets in their local communities or clubs or in general.

So as someone with a little experience, I'm gonna give all of you a very simple breakdown on how these work and what you can do to get a meet up that you would like to see. Then you can be proactive instead of crying over people who were proactive having meets on the internet. And yeah, I think I'm allowed to be pissy at people whining about others making their own spaces when they themselves do nothing irl to make the spaces they want. I understand the frustration of not having a space and how mental illness or other things like availability get in the way, but most people I see complaining blame others for what they don't have and make no effort. No one will give you something when you don't say you want it and most people won't waste resources on something if only one person speaks up. So listen up and if you want something, try to use this to help get it. You do deserve a space to meet others like you after all.

There are a lot of variables to running a meet up, so let's stick to the basics or this will be longer than it already will be. Feel free to take your time reading this too. There's no rush and it is a lot to process.

People. You need people who want a meet. If you want and think people would want a lesbians only meet, find some other lesbians in your area and ask them. Go to existing community gatherings and ask around. If you feel more confident, procceed.

Chances are, the reason there's no meet for the group you want is because no one or very few asked for one. A lot of people tend to believe they're the only ones who want something and that no one would come if they tried themselves so they avoid the risk of failure all together. Another group having a meet just means they took the risk and it paid off, not that any group they're under or working with favors them over you. Some people will settle for what they have too, so they may be happy just using the general community spaces because they served them well enough so far. When you see aces/aros/queer people/trans people/enbies having meets it means put they effort into getting them, that's why they have them. Put in the effort to make what you want.

Try to find others who will help you with the process. It can be lengthy and time consuming. Do not start a meet up alone if you aren't absolutely sure you will have the time and money to spare.

Planning. It's a pain in the ass, I won't lie. You have to pick a venue, a time slot, possibly spend money, offer refreshments and possibly branch off into conversation topics or activities. You also need to listen to feedback and manage poor behavior.

I say venues but using free, public places like parks will work. If you want a pavilion though, you will probably need to rent one. You could also hold them in your own home or talk to people in schools/colleges about providing a room.

Time slots are necessary if you're planning on renting a venue, so make sure you have a time picked before hand. Some venues only have limited times available. If you aren't renting one, still plan a length for your meet and take your own availability into account. I would suggest to hold it for an hour, but maybe see how long other meets run in your area and base it off that. Also keep your time consistent. Always try to have the meets at the same time(and place) it will seriously help in the long run.

On the topic of time, if you're holding a meeting that lasts an hour, offer drinks and snacks if you can afford it. Definitely have water, people will get thirsty.

Conversation topics help break the ice. You can have an introduction on the first day, but plan some for following meets because it does take time for everyone to be comfortable with each other. Activities can help this as well, it doesn't have to be a game either it can be like, Flannel Friday or something like that.

Feedback will help you improve the meets. Always keep a notebook handy during them or an email open to the members so they can share their opinions with you.

Managing poor behavior is tough and runs on a case-by-case basis. On one hand, you should confront bigotry in your meets and explain why that was wrong of them. On the other, it can be easier to just ban someone. In most small meets I help at, there's a three strike rule, with exceptions for very extreme cases or outright violence like sexual harassment, verbal abuse, and physical violence. Someone saying something ignorant or displaying inappropriate behaviors like shitty bigoted jokes, can probably be taught better and could be given a warning and a chance to learn and grow. If you do decide to give them a chance make an effort to separate the person from those who were asking your help. If they keep it up and don't show any improvements they should be booted, there's only so much time you can put into helping a person.

Advertising. Bolded because it's the most important part. A lot of meets fall through because of poor advertising. Make a page for your meet and print out copies. Put them in places where you might find people with similar interests. Since we're talking about LGBTQ+ specifically, aim for any currently running community meets or organizations. If you have an LGBTQ+ center near you, get in contact with them. They may be willing to help you. When you make your advertisement make sure you put the date and time of the meet, the address, and contact information, whether it's yours, someone who's helping you, or multiple can work.

Be on top of announcements. Sudden, last minute cancellations are a terrible thing and should be reserved only for emergencies like injury, illness, or sudden persobal matters. This is also where having help comes in handy.

Don't be afraid to ask questions or get some help. Running meets is a difficult, time consuming task and you will have your hands full. But it can be very worth it when the payoff comes around. Being able to meet people like you can make it feel worthwhile and the accomplishment is also nice.

Local orgs should be willing to help you set these up or advertise your meet and community groups should too, if they have other meets. Get in contact with group, club, or org leaders and send them a message asking for what you want to see. If you are willing and able, offer your time to help run it because then they won't have to spend the time looking for someone to run it.

And I think that's about it! So if you take the advice and try to make a meet for yourself pr get one started, then good luck and I hope it goes well! Unless it's for something bigoted, then I hope it burns down on the first day.

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hypsterlicious · 5 years ago

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What could possibly go wrong? (Voltron Paladins x Reader)

This is an oldy, but a goody. I wrote this when I watched the Voltron series on Netflix and became obsessed! I was only intending on it to be a one shot, but maybe I will hop back on this story if anyone wants more. Hope y’all enjoy it!

------------------------------------------------------------- <3 --------------------------

The Paladins were successful in liberating yet another alien planet from Zarkon's hands and were one step closer to ending the war. Although the planet's locals were nocturnal and usually let the planet rest throughout the day, they were forced to work on the Galra's schedule due to Zarkon's reign and the planet suffered, risking the utter destruction of the civilization and the planet itself; That is until Voltron liberated them. To show their appreciation, they threw together a late night party in honor of the Paladins to celebrate their victory. The heroes gathered around in the lounge room of the Castle, exhausted but with a newfound adrenaline after yet another successful mission. Shiro brought everyone in for a team huddle to congratulate them and to thank everyone for doing their part in making this mission one of many victories.

"Nice work, team. You've really come together in these last few missions and we've made a lot of progress." Allura couldn't help but add on to Shiro's encouraging words by saying a few of her own. The war against Zarkon might not be over, however she valued everyone sticking together and pushing through every battle making the Coalition ever stronger.

"Yes, excellent work Paladins. Thanks to you, Voltron still stands as the most powerful defender of the universe." Although Coran was present in the meeting with everyone and also grateful, he seemed preoccupied with checking the time along with anything else that sporadically popped into his head, turning to face the group.

"The locals of this planet were so grateful, they've orchestrated a huge celebration in your honor! Unfortunately now it's a bit late and we should probably get some rest. Off to bed with you now." Dramatic sighs erupted from the Paladins all at once. Although they were burnt out from their recent battles with the Galra, they were also young adults who felt as if one night of being able to relax and enjoy themselves would do them some good. Lance being the most vocal of the group was of course the first to express his concerns.

"Aw, come on! They're celebrating us! Can't we just have one night where we can be us instead of the 'Defenders of the Universe' or whatever?!" Although Pidge and Lance didn't always see eye to eye on most issues, she agreed with him and stubbornly made a statement of her own, much to everyone's surprise.

"Zarkon's men have been defeated, so we know the planet is safe. Plus, everyone's been working really hard on our last missions. Can't we have a little bit of fun?" Although Allura listened to their reasoning and attempted to come to an understanding, she also couldn't ignore the duty that her father had tasked her with and therefore couldn't take any chances with Voltron falling into the wrong hands, denying their request harshly.

"Like it or not, you are the Paladins of Voltron now and we cannot risk something happening to one of you." Shiro both being the Leader of Voltron and a respected figure to the team made the decisive call and sided with Allura on the issue, both expected and much to the demise of the group's hopes.

"The Princess is right. If something were to happen to any of you, then we couldn't form Voltron. Also, just because we've defeated Zarkon's men on this planet doesn't mean we should let our guard down. There could still be more of them working undercover." Coran decided to crush the young Paladins' morale by reiterating his previous statement, adding on to their hatred of the many burdens they bare as Voltron.

"Now off to bed with you!" The Paladins all groaned in unison as Shiro, Allura, and Coran all exited the lounge, leaving the rest of the team to themselves as they prepared for their next move against Zarkon's empire. Lance obnoxiously exclaimed his frustration, making the rest of the party in the room eye roll knowing that it wouldn't help their situation.

"Man this sucks! Everyone gets to party except for us! We're the reason they even get to party!" Pidge plopped down on the sofa with a sigh of defeat.

"Oh well. If we die fighting the Galra, I can safely say I died never having gone to a real party before." Lance over exaggerated to the point of absolute annoyance in reaction of Pidge's comment.

"Wait Pidge! You've never been to a party?!"Keith jumped into the conversation, defending Pidge against Lance's judgmental satement.

"So what? Neither have I." Hunk confessed to the rest of the room while they were all on the subject.

"Yeah come to think of it, I've never been to one either." Lance just scanned everyone in the room slightly irritated.

"Okay, so let me get this straight. Three out of the five DEFENDERS OF THE UNIVERSE have never experienced the utter enjoyment of a party?" An idea fired up in Lance's brain causing his face to light up in everyone's horror, "Well I say we change that, tonight." Hunk caught on to what Lance was suggesting and quickly started to panic a little.

"W-wait, what? D-didn't Shiro and Allura say to stay put?" Pidge cut Hunk off with her answer nonchalantly.

"I'm in." Keith attempted to shut down Lance's proposal to everyone by reminding them of what was just discussed.

"No way. Do you know how much trouble we'd be in if we got caught? Shiro and Allura were right, it's too risky." Of course Lance found an opportunity to tease Keith and took full advantage of the moment.

"Oh, whatever Keith! You're just scared to go to a party!" To everyone's expectations, Keith and Lance started bickering back and forth, "No, I'm just not an idiot."

"Who are you calling an idiot, IDIOT?"

"Maybe if you weren't an idiot, YOU'D KNOW!" Pidge finally ceased their vocal war by butting in.

"Whatever, are we going or what?!" Lance did a one-eighty and got right back to the point, dropping his attitude towards Keith like it was nothing.

"Alright, so me and Pidge are in. Hunk, you in on this?" Hunk hesitantly responded, unsure of what to say.

"Uh, I don't know Lance. Are you sure this is a good idea?" Lance defended his brilliant idea to the room.

"Ah, relax will ya? Like Pidge said, we've defeated the biggest threat to this planet already. And besides, we're the Paladins of Voltron! What could possibly go wrong?"

Outside of the Castle sat a restless Shiro letting his thoughts run wild while watching the celebration going on nearby. He thought about Zarkon as he sat there trying to figure out what to do to defeat him. He thought about what would happen after they did. Would the fight ever end? Or would others try to take Zarkon's place? Would they have to defend the Universe forever? However, what Shiro thought of most was Earth. He thought not only of the possibility of never seeing his home planet again, but the other paladins as well.

"Maybe I have been pushing them too hard." He stood up to go back inside and talk to the others when he saw a small group of familiar looking individuals in the distance heading towards the party. Shiro let out a defeated sigh.

"I can't ever catch a break."

You were seated at the bar enjoying the atmosphere of the party, space beer and other drinks flowing around freely. You were an earthling and had your own messed up reasons for getting stuck on the other side of space, but you were resourceful so you made do. It was refreshing to see a planet liberated from the Galra and by Voltron nonetheless. You've heard of the Legendary Defender from all across the Galaxy but to see it with your own eyes was a whole new experience. A group of four entered the club, catching your attention as you stared at them in awe.

"Humans? And I thought I was the only one unlucky enough to make it all the way out here." A Hispanic earthling in the group locked eyes with you from across the club and immediately strolled over to you.

"Hello there, beautiful. The name's Lance. I see you don't have a drink or a date, mind if I fix that for-?" A boy with dark eyes and a black mullet pulled Lance by the ear.

"Sorry about Lance. He's an idiot." Unsure of how to react, you just stared at them with a smile, fighting the urge to laugh as they squabbled in front of you.

"Ow! Okay, Keith I get it. Now could you please let go of my ear?!"

"Nah I'm good." Their squabble was interrupted by a nerdy girl with short hair and glasses.

"So are you from Earth like us? Or are you an alien that looks similar to humans? Ooh! Or do you have a chameleon ability that helps you blend in?" A bigger guy sporting an orange bandanna stepped in to stop her rambling by addressing the elephant in the room.

"I think what Pidge is trying to say is if you are from Earth, then how did you get all the way out here?" You were surprised to say the least. No one had really asked you anything like that since you've been out here so you just assumed that nobody was interested.

"It's kind of a long story." Keith and the rest of the paladins were interested in what you had to say so he made an excuse to keep the conversation going.

"Well, we've got all night."

As you sat there talking with the surprisingly young Paladins of Voltron, you grew to admire them a little as they reminded you of how Earthlings were since this was the first time you've come across people like you during your time here; It was almost nostalgic. You ordered drinks for everyone and chatted it up, sharing your experiences out in space and reminiscing about Earth. Hunk hated the taste of the drinks being served so he whipped up a new drink of his own called 'Altean Love Potion' while Keith, Pidge, and Lance played Space Pong. You were seated at the bar, laughing at how buzzed the Paladins were all getting and enjoying your drink to yourself when a muscular man with a white tuft of hair and an old scar across the bridge of his nose sat beside you.

"Mind if I join you?" You kindly accepted, your cheeks feeling warm from either the buzz you were getting or from the man who was now sitting to your right, you weren't quite sure. He ordered a space beer as you casually started conversation.

"So you must be Shiro." He gazed at you curiously, wondering how the girl seated next to him figured him out so quickly.

"Alright, you caught me. How did you know I was here?" Resting your elbow on the table, you placed your head in your hand, a playful smirk emerging from your lips.

"I might have noticed you watching your friends from across the club." He chuckled nervously, noticing now how obvious he must've seemed and apologized to you for not taking responsibility for them sooner.

"Yeah, sorry if they've caused you any trouble. And thank you for looking out for them."You giggled as you stared at the Paladins, watching them as memories from Earth started to emerge once again.

"No problem, they're a nice group of kids." Shiro stared down at his drink, a mixture of sadness in his eyes and a half smile on his face.

"Yeah, they are. I wanted to let them have their fun. They deserve it."He felt a warm hand gently placed on his left arm, drawing his gaze back to you as your eyes locked with his. The lights from the bar gave off a captivating gleam in your eyes and time seemed to stand still.

"And you don't? All they could talk about was how they wished you were here with them tonight. They look up to you ya know?" The sound of glass shattering distracted you both to the source of the noise.

"Hey, that was my drink!" An angered and obviously drunk Keith stood up to a nasty looking alien twice his size. You and Shiro started towards them as Lance stood beside his fellow Paladin against the alien brute, adding fuel to the fire as he started to taunt the intimidating alien.

"Yeah! You're just mad because we kicked your alien butt in Space Pong! It's not our fault you're a sore loser!" Lance's taunting angered the alien to no end making Pidge step back, uncomfortable by the situation.

"Uh, guys?" Lance and Keith directed their attention to Shiro, both turning slightly pale as they realized their leader had caught them at the worst possible time.

"Oh, Quiznak." Shiro stepped in just in time getting between them and the buff alien.

"Lance, Keith, it's time for you to leave, now." Although Keith had a lot of respect for Shiro, he refused to back down as he couldn't ignore what this alien did to his drink in his drunken state.

"Not until he makes up for that drink!" Hunk and Pidge held Keith and Lance back while the tough guy growled in a rage.

"I'm not making up for anything, boy! And your little friend here's not gonna stop me from tearing you ap-!" A taser gun entered his neck as he fell to the ground, making a huge thud as his body fell seemingly lifeless on the floor, revealing you from behind him.

"Well that shut him up." The paladins all just stood there staring in awe at what you just did, "What? I didn't kill him." Keith was the first to speak up, motioning everyone towards the entrance of the club.

"We better get out of here before he wakes up." The rest of the group followed Keith to the door, Lance slipping out his excitement of what you just did while in pursuit of the others.

"Holy crow, that was so cool!" You watched them with a strange pang in your chest that you couldn't quite pinpoint as they were about to leave when Hunk turned to you, halting the rest of the team.

"Hey wait, what are you gonna do?" Pidge added on to Hunk's point in curiosity while the rest of Paladins directed their attention to you, interested in your answer.

"Yeah, didn't you say you were trying to get back to Earth?" You peered down at the floor, an uncertain expression painted your face as you attempted to come up with an acceptable answer.

"Well, I'm unsure of that myself to be honest. I'm a long way from from Earth and I'm all alone out here so..." Footsteps approached you as you were lost in your train of thought and you felt a strong grip on your shoulder, drawing your eyes to Shiro, a confident smile on his face.

"Why don't you join our team?" You gazed at everyone else who all wore welcoming smiles, all waiting for your response. You nodded at Shiro, sharing his confidence as you all headed out of the club, together. The alien you incapacitated earlier stood up groggily after you all left, pulling some sort of communication device out of his side pocket.

"Emperor Zarkon. I have some information that might be of use to you. It's about the Paladins of Voltron."

"Proceed."

"They've recruited an earthling to their forces. There was discussion of this new recruit's pursuit back to Earth, sir." An eerie amount of silence fills the communicator as the alien awaits Zarkon's response.

"....Excellent."

The End.

#voltron #voltron: legendary defender #paladins #fanfiction #ones shot #takashi shirogane #pidge gunderson #lance mcclain #hunk #keith kogane #coran #coran the gorgeous man #allura #zarkon

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thejiaqiverse-planniverse · 5 years ago

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3. The wild-card prediction (HAPPY\BAD ENDING)

Analysis source material: 20% | My own imagination: 80%

Check these approaches out too if you’d like: approach 1 | approach 2

Ok ok, let’s all take a deep breath after surfacing from the deep dive of approach 2 shall we? Be relieved because we are NOT diving back down there again!!! YAY!!! This approach is also a villain perspective approach, so what exactly were King Dice and the Devil up to in this version of the story? And how will this tie to the Cuphead DLC or more?

The conclusion is: in reality it makes not much sense for the Devil and King Dice to end up in a fight for life or death. To expand, they could even be a true “power couple”.

From King Dice’s POV, it seemed all he stood for was literally loyalty to his boss and his job. Although he would portray himself as someone so powerful that no one was allowed to “mess with”, never once did he isolate himself from or place himself above the Devil. Needless to say there was no sign of King Dice being defiant here, certainly nothing for the Devil to be paranoid of!

Now from the Devil’s POV, it only makes sense that he would from the very beginning let someone not just capable, but also he’d trust completely run any of his major establishments, share access to the earnings and be his right hand man (if King Dice did not exaggerate his role in his song). A trusted employee or partner can take care of the Devil’s weak spots and save him tons of time, and they’d unquestioningly have his back whenever he was weak and in need of help (no bribe or manipulation needed). King Dice in fact was this ideal loyal and powerful candidate. Let’s bring up the soul contracts again! Both their names were on there, I mean, King Dice must be very trusted right? (Thinking again, why would the Devil agree to let King Dice know of or put his name on something with such power if he wasn’t trusted to begin with? To give him very good arsenal to defend himself or perhaps fight the Devil off?) this quite solidly disproves the theory that the Devil plotted so carefully to cut off then end King Dice.

Besides, if we toss away the reasons listed under both of their perspectives and even more, which means, somehow the Devil did end up following the long six-step plan in approach 2, shouldn’t this plan in reality be no longer necessary if the first step is to work together and build a stable, intimate, trustful, and mutually beneficial relationship?

King Dice and the Devil made a great team too, they probably had the same interests in mind; we can see from the start of Cuphead: Don’t Deal with the Devil, they flawlessly joined efforts to lure Cuphead and Mugman into their trap;

King Dice set up the risky scenario and the Devil came in at the end to seal the deal. From the looks of it they’ve likely done this a lot before: they’ve probably joined forces to trick other Inkwell residents into signing soul contracts or doing something else too.

From looking at the DLC trailers we learn that Inkwell is not just limited to isles 1 to 4, which means there’s more space for our protagonists to explore and vice versa, more areas King Dice and the Devil would like to claim or maintain in the future. For this purpose King Dice and the Devil’s masterplans will be directed toward the outside world rather than each other.

With that in mind, all the cutscenes and in game information will be here looked at in a completely different way than in approach 2.

Plus I’ve been thinking of the HAPPY ENDING, the cups easily freed everybody just by throwing soul contracts into the hell fire? I mean, it just appears the Devil was too careless, losing a large sum of his resources gathered throughout years of work in a blink, poor guy—mindlessly putting hard earned stuff at high risk, thinking he’d manage to keep everything under control all the time—he lost oh so badly!

Now we almost covered where this wild-card theory stems from, we need to bring up the soul contracts yet again! This time however we bring the BAD & HAPPY ENDING of Cuphead: Don’t Deal with the Devil along with these contracts to explore the possible true nature and purpose of these papers.

Here’s where my wild guesses kicks in. Keep in mind there’s little evidence for or against these guesses that I’ve known of.

Why didn’t the Devil himself pay these debtors a little visit and get the contracts right from the start? Is he that incapable? How would him agreeing to send someone like the cups out for the job make sense in another way? Well, let me resume a familiar writing structure here shall we: the Devil and King Dice’s five-step plan to train some good fighters for their use in the future.

Step one (we can say it’s slightly “evident” in the game?), get as many people to sign away their souls as possible, once they signed their soul contracts immediately have everyone working at the casino pounce on them to take their souls. Once the debtors realized that they were losing their souls for what they wished for they’ll be fighting for their lives. They would either win and flee with their contract, or lose and perhaps be transformed into one of these purple minion demons.

Step two, note down the escaped debtors and start the game! Now the Devil and King Dice would send sometimes some random run-and-gunners or sometimes their own employees to “retrieve the contracts”. Cue the death battles! Only the fittest would survive these battles, with all this going on, whoever survived would live in fear thus try to grow their powers further to avoid their souls being collected as long as possible. This is exactly what the Devil and King Dice would like to see!

Step three, the tricky multiple-possibilities step. At this point the debtors whom lost will already be in the Devil’s possession; with their contracts still existing, the Devil could either go and claim the remaining debtors as soon as he saw them as being ready or keep going with the death battles for training purposes. However, the innocent good fighters Cuphead and Mugman became the game changers. What the Devil expected was probably them bringing back some or all of the soul contracts they were tasked to retrieve. He would then send King Dice in their way to raid all the contracts out of their hands, now Cuphead and Mugman would have no choice but to give their souls up and become his minions. He did not see King Dice failing to defeat these two! Mission: “making the cups feel good about themselves winning all this time” would then be a go, as the last resort to try and get them to join the Devil’s club. Well all would be fine if the cups gave in and joined the Devil after that (BAD ENDING)! In the worst case scenario for both King Dice and the Devil, they not only beat both of them but also destroyed all the contracts (HAPPY ENDING)! No! The plan to train fighters and force them to serve the Devil in the future blew apart completely!! Or did it?

Step four, carrying on or temporary retreat. If the cups joined the Devil (BAD ENDING) and the Devil had all the contracts, he would carry on, sealing new contracts, collecting the fallen and/or souls deemed ready to do his bidding and preparing for the next round of death battles, just casually repeating steps one and two. And now the plan B if the soul contracts were no more (HAPPY ENDING), which consisted of King Dice and the Devil slowing the casino business and the Devil moving/hiding away with their money they still had to heal and rehabilitate.

Step five, finally putting their collection of trained fighters to use! So now here are the two main ways of doing so: the regular way according to plan and then the plan B way. When would they need these trained fighters? Remember when I mentioned there might be more areas than Inkwell isles 1 to 4? King Dice and the Devil could have planned to concur these new areas, or maybe others whom were formerly friendly with them/formerly not a threat would try to attack them whenever they were weakened. Therefore King Dice and the Devil would need troops. If all goes as planned (BAD ENDING and similar), with their money plus army of good fighters, they would win and then possibly gain power over new areas. Repeating steps one and two again, King Dice would continue to get them money or something, meanwhile the Devil could grow his power and when someone else dared to fight them again, he’d be ready. However, if the cups had destroyed the contracts they brought back (HAPPY ENDING, the cups burning the soul contracts had loosened the Devil’s grip on the debtors completely), what could the Devil do then? Well, the Devil already owned a sizable army of fighters by then, he could just admit defeat then go on to defend themselves\invade other areas like nothing happened after his recovery; but, what if the Devil felt his current army was not enough, he could really use King Dice’s help for this one. See the next few paragraphs.

Marvel at how deep King Dice and the Devil’s plan went—calling King Dice his “good-for-nothing lackey” was probably just the right thing to do after they’d discussed about it. Being all beaten, King Dice and the Devil would split up—the Devil would go into hiding. Quite the opposite, King Dice would openly portray this loyal, betrayed, and now heartbroken man with nowhere else to go as the Devil “abused his trust”, “never valued or respected him”, had “been disappointed with his defeat” and “officially chased him out”. Cuphead and Mugman being his witnesses would confirm the Devil’s “ill treatment” of King Dice they’d seen, unknowingly aiding King Dice and the Devil’s plan. With all the sympathy he’d get, King Dice, during his recovery from the fight with the cups could maybe get a ordinary job and new home within Inkwell isles 1 to 3 to patiently wait for an opportunity—catching the eye of their target group or individual, interested in not only his skills of earning/scamming away money, but also his experience of working alongside the Devil.

So who would be interested in that way? Someone or groups like the snow monsters. They could be the Devil’s relatives, minions or simply someone competing with the Devil, wishing to grow their own reign, and perhaps already seeing this as an ideal opportunity to get rid of the Devil when he was weak and take the resources he had. King Dice would join them when he was asked to, maybe he’d also fake reminiscent a bit saying how he thought he was so close to and so trusted by the Devil as he had an important role next to him, learnt so much about him, etc. King Dice would possibly even hire new people and reemploy his gang to assist him, too. Thrilled they now had King Dice on their side, they would listen to him when he convinced them to get the Devil’s big loot—firstly looking all around Inkwell isles 1 to 4 to find the Devil, as the last King Dice knew, he was still in bad shape and in hiding somewhere there.

Greed driven and/or eager to win, these new monsters would tear apart the town convinced they’d find evidence of the Devil’s location. When they still didn’t find the Devil they would terrorize the residents for clues. With their now supposed-to-be peaceful lives severely disturbed, the isle 1 to 3 residents would join forces to get the snow monsters away from their homes. The monsters would fight to keep their investigation going. (Well, this could be a plausible reason for the cups and Chalice venturing out to fight the snow monsters in the DLC as so little info is given in the trailers; or I may have over-imagined as they could’ve just wanted a tasty meal and/or some tales from Chef Saltbaker) Now if the residents couldn’t defeat the snow monsters, King Dice or even better, one of the workers King Dice recruited would suddenly break down and say something along the lines of “when I started work with you guys I didn’t expect your ways to be worse than the Devil’s!” (King Dice would have driven this idea so deep into the minds of whoever he recruited by then) Pouncing on his new employers, King Dice would help the Inkwell residents defeat them.

Remember the Devil could shape shift? So where can he possibly be all this time according to this wild guess? King Dice did make a notion to employ more workers, the Devil could totally disguise as someone looking for work and be invited to the snowy lands with no one suspecting at all (meaning the info that the Devil was still in bad shape and In isles 1 to 3 was falsely provided)! Now with most of the snow monsters gone to look for him in isles 1 to 4, the Devil could finally get rid of the remaining guards that opposed him and claim these lands for himself. (Well I mentioned in approach 1 that the Devil might be in these snowy lands; only in this case he could appear as a possible ally of the cups and Chalice’s in defeating the snow monsters if the isles 1 to 3 were indeed invaded by them. Or entirely not...) After King Dice played hero and returned, he would start fresh with the Devil, with their new areas. Well, there was one last thing King Dice must do: making peace! Now being more of a friend to the Inkwell isles 1 to 3 residents, simply reflecting on the Devil’s past mistakes for him, then promising to never let him sign a soul contract again if he resurfaced would be sufficient. After all the idea of King Dice keeping the Devil in check from then on would sound appealing. So you point out that King Dice and the Devil gave up a lot not being able to sign new souls contracts? I don’t think so, because this did not forbid King Dice the Devil from training/tricking others into joining their operation/reign (kinda the same as what the contracts were intended for in this approach), they’d still find a way. With a little cooperation, planning and patience, all would lead to a win-win situation for King Dice and the Devil!

Is there room for even more wild guesses? Oh yes there is!

This time they stem from the Devil’s identity; if the Devil is meant to be a biblical reference, which means someone directly opposite from the Devil may exist as well—yes I’m talking about God. I’m just not sure if we are already introduced to God in Inkwell at this point, either as an actual character, or as the ideology of love, innocence and good within the cups, elder kettle and other Inkwell residents (reminder, this could be why the cups were able to defeat the Devil as good will always be more powerful than evil, as stated in approach 1). If we weren’t introduced to this God character before, I’m also not sure if we will be introduced to them in the future.

If a God did exist in Inkwell, the Devil gathering souls and trying to collect and train an army would make even more sense, as this would be not just for taking over the world of Inkwell, but also to one day face off God. If it does come to this, I wonder what will happen. How do the Inkwell residents react to the introduction of God and possibly his angels? Will King Dice and the Devil have the opportunity to spin lies and stuff to turn the entirety of Inkwell against them? And a more pressing thought, will King Dice and the Devil eventually get away with it, because if there was good within the Inkwell residents, there would also be a dark side, which can be victorious at times? Or will they just fail and get their butts handed to them? Can’t say for sure, all this is nothing but a wild guess for fun and games!

You know what’s fascinating after making two opposite theories?—one of King Dice and the Devil fighting each other to the death and one of them cooperating ever so smoothly—if we do see King Dice around in the DLC without context (from the cups and Chalice’s perspective), and if he says nothing or delivers a hate speech against the Devil, we can only wonder if he’s really traumatized and telling the truth (approach 2 when the Devil tried to kill him) or if it’s just part of their plan (according to this approach).

So... that was the wild-card prediction; and please let me mention this one more time, parts of this prediction and the approaches before are also the basis of the Jiaqiverse fancanon (The Inkwell Paradox, my long, outlandish fanfic, which I’ll write a summary for soon after). Stay here with me if you’re also interested in that, and thanks again for reading XD

#cuphead delicious last course #cuphead dlc #cuphead don’t deal with the devil #cuphead #king dice #cuphead king dice #cuphead devil

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playchoices · 7 years ago

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Inside Choices: Growing from “Rant Ahead, Be Aware”

While looking through Tumblr posts this week, one of the longer response posts caught my eye. The post was well written and though titled “Rant ahead”, was a well reasoned commentary on things that bother the post’s author. Since the post brought up many points that other players have also expressed, I thought replying as a blog post so everyone has a chance to see the response would be appropriate.

Thank you to lauraotaku2234 both for your thoughts and for permission to share it in our blog. The post is bolded below.

From the Tumblr post “Rant ahead, be aware”:

I just love how Pixelberry reblogs fanart and nice messages about the game. But when fans are actually pointing out errors and mistake the game has done… they just ignore it. They have decided to close a bubble to them.

This is a very fair point. Our team really does read a lot of the feedback generated by our players. But even though we may be working on fixes or things that address the critiques, most of the time people on our team don’t give a firm answer for fear of making a situation worse or suggesting something that might end up not happening in the future. Because I lead the team, I have a lot more latitude in responding to critiques, but I’ve been focused on a lot of different projects which means that I haven’t responded as often as I should.

I hope this post helps to provide some more light on many of the below issues.

Now, there is a difference between the: “We want more diamond options” and the “James situation”. Here’s why:

On the diamond thing, I doubt PB will change that, mainly because they get their money from us buying diamonds, the more options we get, the least money they make. So its understandable. Yet, the money they make is supposedly to get better staff and equipment so the game can improve and be better. A year has already passed and I still can’t find what the improvement is or was.

You’re correct, it is harder for us to change the diamond economy. We have been experimenting with different options that try to balance our ability with making money and giving players a better experience. As a player, myself, I totally get the complaints. I don’t have anything new to announce right now, but we are working on different features and will see if things like rewarding diamonds for watching ads will help in providing that balance.

It also makes sense that you and other players can’t find what improvements have been made. But I’m hoping that is partially because we’ve been slowly building and rolling out improvements over time and that you’ve gotten used to some of those changes.

One of our most popular requests is launching more weekly content. And in the past year, the biggest change we’ve made by far is expanding from 3 books at launch to a much more robust library. When we first launched Choices, we had about 10 people writing with two new chapters per week. We now have over 30 writers and sometimes release as many as 6 new chapters a week with other new series in production, too. Along with all these writers, we’ve added more artists, producers, testers, and other roles to increasing our capacity for weekly storytelling.

It’s something you can’t see, but when I walk through the doors into our offices, I love hearing the buzz in our office and seeing all the people working together on Choices. And when all the writers assemble for their weekly “Writer’s Meeting,” I still get the chills seeing so many writers gathered around a long table talking about how they can improve their craft together.

So, I hope you really do believe we’ve been investing a lot in growing our team because we treat the future of Choices very seriously.

(As an aside, some people on the team have suggested maybe doing a Fan meet-up in the office - in the Bay Area in California - or maybe sending writers to different book conferences next year, so that maybe some of you can see that growth in person, too.)

Now… The James thing. PB common, you can do better than that. I wouldn’t be upset if you they gave us an actual reason as of why. Also, we need an explanation about what “other characters” means. Will the rest of the character change too? Will it only be a few one’s? I’m replaying every single finished book to find what other faces may have been changed. It has to be done, I don’t want to play The Royal Romance to find you changed Hana’s character appearance just… because.

You are right. We should have told you about the change ahead of time. Also, I wish I could go into more details about the change, but in my previous post, I tried to say as much about why we made the change as I already could. We know this really upset many of you. We understand. It’s our bad for disappointing you.

In regards to “other characters”, we have not rolled out the changes yet, but our Tumblr fandom is pretty clued into what other characters will likely be changed. We will make specific references to those characters when it happens. We will not be changing any other Love Interests (LIs), so Hana and others are safe.

The only book I’m not replaying is ROE, why? Because is a waste to my keys and time. The storyline got old really fast. It was actually a really good story, and I remember the First Book Finale actually left people with their mouths open, but they ruined it when they brought a third book, and now a fourth. I mean, it’s a plot that can be solved with a Snap. Adding more tasks as a way of length[en]ing the story was a stupid move and only brought fans rage. Most fans agree with me when I say: Endless Summer should have as many books as The Freshman, The Crown and The Flame shouldn’t have ended in the third book, The Haunting of Braidwood Manor should’ve been longer, Most Wanted deserves a second book, and even tho The Freshman is my favorite series, The Sophomore plot isn’t going anywhere, it’s like Love Hacks at its beginnings and it’s tiring.

As I mentioned before, Most Wanted 2 must happen. It’s the book every fan is waiting for, including me. It has an amazing storyline with amazing characters, yet, they decided to shut it out, and even erase it from their AppStore/PlayStore menu.

It’s pretty clear that much of the Tumblr fandom has the least love for Rules of Engagement (ROE.) But we have other fan groups and other people who really like this series. Just as we actively try to promote diversity in our characters, we do try to balance the resources we put into genres for various fandoms and individuals playing through our stories. We aim to have something for everyone, and all of our writers pour their hearts into everything they work on.

As the RoE series wrapped up, the writers of ROE moved on to a “mini-book” that would tie the series up in the right way. The book will probably finish too quickly for fans of ROE and not fast enough for fans of other series, but this book length fit the purposes of the story arc. Also because we have such a wide variety of writers, each with their unique storytelling talents and skills, continuing a romance series such as RoE doesn’t actually affect some Tumblr fandom favorites, like Endless Summer or Most Wanted.

Part of what we’re trying to do with Choices is to try new series and genres which is why we sometimes will end, or pause a series faster than fans want so that we can try new things. Most Wanted didn’t do as well financially as our other two launch series, so we moved that team onto Endless Summer and LoveHacks, where they could excel at leading new projects. One of those writers, Andrew, has moved onto managing another project. But Luke continues to be a part of Book 2 and 3 of Endless Summer (which we are aiming to start releasing in December.) And Owen is working on a secret new project, now that LoveHacks has completed!

I really do hope and think that when it makes sense, we will start work on Most Wanted 2. But it will be a matter of the right timing in terms of having one or more of the original team ready and balancing the start of Most Wanted 2 versus other new series we want to start. Dave and Sam will eventually return.

I respect Pixelberry as a company a lot. But with these changes and empty storylines, I just wonder where the old Pixelberry went. It seems like they just ran out of imagination to make stories, so they just continue old ones and create new ones with similar plots but shorter books that in the end everyone likes.

Thank you for respecting us. It’s clear in the thoughtfulness of your “rant” and in the praises and critiques of our fandom. Even when you think we’re ignoring you, we hear many, many of the messages. And I admit that some of the critiques really hurt and sometimes the ones that hurt the most are the ones that ring the most true. But we also recognize the strength of the critiques often is also a measure of how much our fandom cares.

I really, truly hope that as we release new chapters, books, and series that you’ll see that the creative wells of our teams has not run dry. And when a writer is being blocked, a designer is confused by the path forward, or a tester doesn’t know how to reproduce a problem, the creativity of the fandom often breaks that block, clears the path, and helps us keep moving forward. Whether it’s beautiful art, all the “Jomes” jokes, Brian’s Ask Blogs, the many forms of Cetus, faceclaims (yes, it’s okay to keep doing them), and other posts, your creativity motivates us.

As you continue to share on Tumblr or Facebook or Twitter or Instagram, we’ll continue reading, digesting, and modifying our plans. But if you have specific problems or want to ensure we hear what you have to say, I encourage you to contact us directly via our in-game Help. Or if the game is down, reach out via Contact us via our website. We have experienced Player Specialists who listen, solve, tally, describe, and share your thoughts with the right people on our team. They are the first to alert the rest of the team to major problems and Trina, the leader of that team, also shares motivating, poignant, or key messages to the whole studio. Also you can tweet story related questions to @PlayChoices. Jessica will often check with individual writing teams to see if it’s something they can answer.

To all of our fandom everywhere, thank you for your love. We understood that love isn’t just fun and compliments, but it also comes with teasing and obstacles. And the best love comes with hard talks, accountability, and growth. When we stumble, we promise to honor our side of the relationship by continuing to learn and grow. And we hope that you will continue to rant, tease, and grow with us.

On behalf of our whole team,

Oliver

#playchoices #pixelberry #inside choices

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tipsycad147 · 3 years ago

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FULL BEAVER MOON – A THANKSGIVING NIGHT TREAT

by thegypsy

November’s full Moon is called the Beaver Moon and the name can be traced back to Native Americans. The Algonquin tribe and many colonial Americans called it the Beaver Moon because November was the final month to set beaver traps before the swamps froze, which would ensure a supply of warm winter furs. Others have a slightly different version, but still tied to the beaver, stating that November was the time beaver’s built their dams up before winter. It was also called the Full Frost Moon by other Native American tribes, for obvious reasons.

Another distinct feature of this and the following winter full moon’s is how high they climb into the night sky. They are nearly at the level of a summertime noontime sun. This height produces some amazing shadows on the landscape, especially with bare trees and most ground vegetation having already died down.

What You’ll Need For This Ritual

As always, this ritual is designed for a group and is best performed outside around a generous bonfire (with the cold already upon us, the fire will be the difference maker!)

What items you’ll need to collect for this ritual (as written)

Four quarter candles – yellow (east), red (south), green (north), blue (west) Seasonal Altar Cloth Native American items to decorate the altar and circle area Tobacco for offering Pencils and paper Cakes or other seasonal baked goods Seasonal Beer and Ale to share Goddess Candle (White)

Any portion of the ritual that is bracketed by <> symbols should be understood as instructional notes and not to be spoken aloud.

Ritual Begins

In this a place of magick, energy, and power, where all the mysteries slip from their folds, I do conjure a sacred space. We are free as the circle is cast, now together; between the worlds.

Calling the Quarters

East Eastern winds; stout and frigid blasts of air swirling around each of us are a gentle reminder that indeed, winter is coming. The message of preparation is never more clear than when we find ourselves on the cusp of great change. The dark half of the year will come and it will go, but the messenger will remain with us for all eternity. <light yellow candle>

South Southern flames; uncontrolled merging of red, yellow, orange, and blue present themselves as advocates for the power of fire. Now is the time where the precious gift of light has great value, for it offers hope when things appear bleak, cheer when sadness permeates the land, and comfort in those times of solace. <light red candle>

West Western waves; the never-ending rhythmic cascading waves demonstrates the tireless power of water. Energies that seem to emerge from nowhere but extend to everywhere provide us with the pathway to success if we allow them to lead us without doubting their sources. <light blue candle>

North Northern nights offer a clarity that allows for extended sight. The skies are speckled with the shining of a million stars; each offering a moment of hope, and together offering guidance and clear direction. Without a compass, we have no direction, and without direction, we have no way to move forward. <light green candle>

Great Goddess, we of humble origins and earthly simplicity seek nothing more than your continued blessings and protection, both in our lives and through our magickal work. In the great circle of life, it is you who sit at the center; guiding, teaching, and providing. We humbly ask for your presence tonight. <light Goddess candle>

Introduction

Tonight we gather under the light of the full moon to cleanse and share time with one another. This year is unique as the secular holiday of Thanksgiving also falls on the same day. Even though it’s not the true Thanksgiving, we shall make an exception for tonight’s celebration as we believe that giving thanks should be a daily occurrence and not saved up for a single day annually. Tonight will also be a night of looking back into the past to express our gratitude for those who tirelessly toiled to build the foundations of the world we live in today.

Long ago, in the times before this nation and peoples, our ancestors would gather together at the end of the harvest season in celebration. They would have given thanks to the Goddess for providing them with grain, vegetables, and meat which would preserve life through the dark half of the year. Additionally, they would make certain that no family in their clan or village was without the means to survive; even if this meant spreading the available resources thinly across the community. Everyone in those days relied on each other and any weak link could weaken the entire village’s abilities to continue.

Over time the ancient ways have been long forgotten by most people and this night of thanks was moved and then tied to the actions of the first Europeans in America. The traditions from ancient tribes across Europe were watered down and repurposed into new traditions for the white settlers. Unfortunately, these colonists were vastly unprepared for life in the new world and if it wasn’t for the charity offered by Native Americans, they’d have died and the settlement likely abandoned. History tells us how tribesmen and women educated and assisted those travelers with knowledge and more importantly with food; helping them ultimately survive the frigid first winter of coastal life. Yet instead of giving thanks to the indigenous populations and creating an event to celebrate them, those settlers gave thanks to their God for everything. They even went as far as to try and make it into a Holy holiday of sorts.

Remembering & Understanding The Native Americans

This transgression has been evident for centuries, and as the holiday teetered between religion and a secular holiday, the Native Americans who literally saved the lives of those early travelers were forgotten. The history texts speak of a few higher profile Native Americans, but only because it was necessary to tell the story. The really ancient traditions were not even considered in the narrative.

Most traditional Native Americans treat Thanksgiving as a false holiday or an outright lie. They do not serve turkey dinners, pumpkin pie, or any of the other modern traditions celebrated by those around us. They instead spend the day in stoic reflection, remembering, and honoring their grandfathers and grandmothers. Many also spend time celebrating the fact that their culture’s were able to survive the centuries of hardship at the hands of those descendants of the original colonists. Many likely reflect on the past and wonder what their lives would be like today if their ancestors had done nothing to help the white settlers. Yet, most Native Americans alive today realize that ignoring someone who is in need of help isn’t the right way to live. The Great Spirit of the land did not put the First People here to be greedy or cause harm to the downtrodden. All life is precious, and all human’s are equal, regardless of origin, culture, race, or creed. To allow another life to fade away when it could have been saved goes against the basic tenants of human kindness.

Many indigenous tribes had celebrations of thanks that lasted for days, and looked very similar to this gathering. Everyone gathered around a fire with spiritual food being placed on an altar. The ritual leaders would then begin a lengthy list of things that all people should be thankful for, starting with their very lives and progressing into many different areas and items. Each item they gave thanks for was an integral part of life and covered food, water, hunting grounds, weather, the sun, friendship, and more. Tonight we will honor the same traditions of the First People and let their spirits remember that we have not forgotten their kindness, even though it was repaid in bloodshed, banishment, and cruelty. For without them, none of us would be standing here today.

Giving Thanks

Many tribes speak of the Great Mystery, which can be interpreted as the force behind all creation and spirituality; one that isn’t personified into a single deity or form. This force flowed through all people, all objects, and gave the wind it’s power to blow, the flames their power to produce heat, and the water the power to cleanse. All things are connected by this force but it was understood by all as a great collective oneness. This short description helps us to see the rationale on why it was impossible for the Native Americans to allow the colonists to starve; they may have been from another land, but they were still part of the oneness.

The Great Mystery instructed people to love one another always and only had a simple requirement for giving us life and that was to be grateful. This prayer is original, but was influenced by many other prayers from different tribes and is being spoken with a pure heart and the true intention of thanking the Grandfather’s and Grandmother’s of those who walked these lands many lifetimes ago. Please be silent and open your minds to not only hear, but also to listen.

Traditionally, tobacco was seen as the unifying thread between human and spiritual communication and before our prayer, we are making an offering to those who are with us tonight.

Great Spirit of these lands and the lands of afar, We stand humbled in your mighty presence Your great gifts of fire, water, wind, and earth, They provide us with life and the means to reproduce It was by your will that we exist in this world And we offer thanks and endless gratitude High above, the night circle of light shines The Great Grandmother who watches over us Surrounded by the infinite expanse of infinity And yet never far from our needful callings In each step we take, our memories are stirred The Great Grandfather’s who first walked here Communing with the lands and forest creatures Learning the sacred wisdom and sharing it freely To those ancestors, we offer our thanks and gratitude To the Four Winds and our great brother the Sun Stands of noble trees and fields of plenty Animals, birds, flowers, and pools of sacred waters With great reverence, we offer our thanks and gratitude To the Three Sisters called Corn, Beans, and Squash Yes, we know you well for the strength provided For the herbs and berries and the sacred keys We are thankful for the secrets of healing medicine For our clan and our people and their generations Their prosperity is only by your invisible hand Our spirituality guided and our souls nurtured As we spend this lifetime in service to one another Nothing eternal can emerge from a life of darkness We are forever thankful for the light of day Until the last days of our earthly existence And the first day of our next lifetime We shall forever be indebted to those ancestors Who stepped forward without fear or concern To bear the ultimate gift of pure love One human being touching the soul of another With comfort and great care they came Sharing the power of the Great Mystery

Cleansing And Releasing

Each month we use the night of the full moon to self-heal. It’s a time to release that which no longer serves us, what we no longer need in our lives, or things we have outgrown. Tonight we purge ourselves, we unburden ourselves, we release and let go of the anchors which have been weighing us down. It’s time to step out of old ways and false identities which no longer define who we are. We must examine our behaviors, our attitudes, and our frame of mind. Only by getting rid of the old can we celebrate the new. Under this full moon, we can show ourselves and the universe that we are truly ready to take the bold step toward the new and unknown opportunities ahead of us.

The Great Guardians of the South have provided us with this cauldron of cleansing flames to consume that which is old and no longer valid in our lives; by burning the remnants of things useless and without value, we strike them from our memories. Some people have brought specific things that have been dead-weight in their lives to burn tonight, others have them in their minds. The latter can be written with intention and burned in the fire.

As you place your items into the fire, say this aloud with intent – “I give up freely that which is no longer serving me, releasing it, to create a space to fill with things that inspire me”

We gather tonight by the light of the moon, to celebrate the season, to offer thanks to the ancestors of this land and rejoice. May the next turn of the Wheel bring us love and compassion, abundance and prosperity, fertility and life – As the moon above, so the earth below.

So Mote it BE!

Cakes & Ale

Many groups choose to bring drinks and food to share around the bonfire. Take as much time as you’d like to converse with one another and enjoy the time together.

Closing The Circle

Immense and unmatched power of the earth; we thank you for attendance in our circle. Stay if you will, go if you must, in perfect love and perfect trust. So mote it be! <extinguish green candle>

Healing waters of life; we thank you for attendance in our circle. Stay if you will, go if you must, in perfect love and perfect trust. So mote it be! <extinguish blue candle>

Cleansing flames from the fires of the great forges of the south; tonight we give thanks beyond measure for your attendance in this circle. So Mote it be! <extinguish red candle>

Whispering winds, invisible but without compare; we thank you for attendance in our circle. Stay if you will, go if you must, in perfect love and perfect trust. So Mote it be! <extinguish yellow candle>

Great Goddess, we thank you for your abundance, your wisdom, your continued blessings and your unconditional love. <extinguish Goddess candle>

This circle is open but never broken!

https://www.thegypsythread.org/full-beaver-moon-2018/

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marinschoolssuper · 4 years ago

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Let’s Check Our Thought Process

MAKING A COMMITMENT TO CRITICAL THINKING

“When we are not given reasons, you must understand the natural human response is to form our own conclusions. And I feel that is what we have done.”

-Comment recorded at a school board meeting

Recently, as part of a group exercise, I was asked to reflect on my “greatest professional learning” during the pandemic. We were given a few weeks to think and then were asked to share our responses when we met.

A cynical answer popped into my mind: People don’t practice critical thinking very well and are either unconscious of that or are willing to flaunt it without shame.

The quotation at the top of the page is verbatim; It was spoken during a well-attended public meeting. It was not taken out of context; it was offered plainly in an effort to explain peoples’ actions by framing the thought process that guided them.

More outrageous than the statement itself (which argues openly in favor of prejudice and justifies acting without understanding relevant facts) was the lack of response from others in the on-line meeting. No one pushed back. No one questioned the premise, a premise that would be flatly rejected by any competent scientist, logician, academic publication or court of law. It hardly needs dissecting; its potential consequences are so obvious. And yet, 40 people remained silent. In a governance meeting of an institution dedicated to learning, dedicated to teaching children how to think rationally and independently, someone was able to say something so irrational and receive no response other than some nodding agreement from the audience.

To be fair, emotions were running high and arguing a logical counterpoint (even an argument that nearly makes itself simply by repeating what was said slowly) would probably come across as aggressive and partisan. But later on, when the emotional tenor of the meeting had subsided, shouldn’t the entire group, including the person who said it, have taken a moment to reflect and consider the foolishness of such thinking? Are we so concerned with the fragility of others’ egos that we don’t have the collective will to set and reinforce norms for rational thinking like we do for other elements of public discourse?

Unfortunately, I believe we do not. The year of the pandemic has provided many examples of our cultural tendency to avoid being critical of others’ reasoning in favor of avoiding hurt feelings or of “just moving on”. In board meetings, task force gatherings and during the every-day interactions in our schools, I have observed the abject failure of critical thinking coupled with the social failure to respond. (In some cases people have even applauded fundamentally flawed thinking.)

Maybe, like a man with a hammer to whom the world appears to be a nail, I am seeing the failure of critical thinking everywhere I look. However, it may not be that the pandemic has diminished peoples’ capacity to think critically; perhaps this widely-shared social deficit was just as bad before COVID-19 and the crisis has simply made it more plain.

COMMON POPULAR LAPSES IN CRITICAL THINKING

Your Truth, Best Practices, Trauma, Words are Violence and Speaking from the Heart.

“Thank you for telling your truth.” I heard someone say recently when another person shared a perspective and a set of supporting facts that could have brought about reasonable disagreement. I had to check my own thinking because I happened to agree with the person’s perspective. But that doesn’t mean she was sharing the truth. If my “truth” were different from hers and mutually exclusive, would that mean that there are two contradictory truths? If that is the case, doesn’t that mean that truth and perspective have become synonymous? Doesn’t that give Kellyanne Conway license to develop “alternative facts” when the actual facts don’t support her perspective or opinion? Doesn’t that mean Donald Trump is still the President or that at least has reasonable claim to the office?

I have running joke with a colleague: During a discussion or debate, whomever declares “best practice” first, wins. We’ve even begun team meetings by entering the room and shouting “best practice!” before anyone else can talk. It actually gets funny when you start listening for it at work. By beginning your proposition thus: “Best practice says….” one automatically ties a potentially controversial statement (fairly easy to debate) to one’s own professional judgement and reputation, which others are usually more hesitant to question. An idea is somewhat independent of the person but a judgement is not, and people in polite company generally prefer to debate ideas rather than question others’ judgement.

For example, if I were to say that giving 3rd graders timed multiplication fact tests in large groups is “best practice” anyone who argues with me not only objects to the tests but also insults me by questioning my judgement.

On the other hand if I were to make the proposition without judgement: “I’m thinking of giving my 3rd grade class a timed whole group multiplication test on Friday.” It is more socially acceptable for my colleagues to give me candid feedback. I’m not hitching my wagon to the practice but expressing an idea. The obvious advantage to that is it gives one better access to the wisdom of one’s colleagues, helps one clarify his or her thinking and act in a more effective and humane manner.

I’ve heard the word “trauma” abused to the point that feel traumatized when I hear it. I’m exactly half kidding. Hearing the word trauma does not cause me trauma but the term trauma has been weakened substantially by overuse. Last week I was in a meeting and the host said, “I understand all of our kids have suffered trauma over the last year.” Being polite, and not wanting to disrupt her flow as the meeting began, I resisted the temptation to speak up and say, “No, they have not. Some kids are happier and more resilient now than they were before the pandemic and we should not expect them to suffer long term psychological harm. Others have had a hard time but have not suffered trauma. Maybe some (I would guess a small number) have gone through trauma but certainly not all of them.

Trauma indicates the need for a serious response either medically or psychologically. To claim that all children have suffered trauma when common sense and probability would argue otherwise is doubly problematic. First, diagnosing all children with trauma might lead us to implement an uneven distribution of resources, reducing timely access for legitimately traumatized children. Secondly, declaring universal trauma weakens the term itself. For example, if my child is presumed to have had trauma (absent a serious medical or psychological event that can be reasonably predicted to cause long-term problems) he is put on the same footing as another child who actually did suffer a serious medical or psychological event. Should he not then be treated with the same urgency? After a while because everyone is traumatized, no one is traumatized.

“There are different kinds of violence, words are violence!” An audience member asserted during the public comment period in a recent school board meeting. Others nodded. Words can be violent metaphorically but in and of themselves words are never violent. Similar to trauma, the entire concept of violence (and its attendant appropriate responses) are weakened by misuse. Words can certainly be powerful. They can encourage, perhaps even cause violence, but alone, they do not constitute violence.

It is important to make that distinction. For example, if someone were to say to me, I am going to say some really horrible words to you or if you prefer, I am going to do something physically violent to you, which would you choose? I’m pretty sure, I’d opt for the words even if I didn’t have the details about the kind of violence being planned. If a guy in the next car yells a nasty name at me, I would certainly prefer that to him punching me in the mouth. We can ignore words. We can tune them out. We can consider them and respond. Lumping words together with real violence lessens the outrage we should feel about violence and increases the outrage we should be able to control about words.

Okay, I am going to speak from the heart: I have learned that when I speak from the heart it is acceptable to say anything no matter how irrational, absurd or self-serving without fear that others will question it. Speaking from the heart gets my audience to pause and understand that my forthcoming statement is deeply attached to my emotional composition and that challenging it will go beyond questioning my logic and into the realm of hurting my feelings. I know that questioning my logic is socially appropriate and professionally desirable but hurting my feelings goes too far! If I speak from the heart well enough, I might even choke up a little letting everyone know a line has been drawn that should not be crossed. Real speaking from the heart also signals my virtue because it shows I have the courage to be vulnerable in public. What brute would argue with someone who has the courage to be vulnerable, to speak from the heart?

I actually spoke from the heart accidentally a few weeks ago. I was in a meeting and was accused of something I thought was particularly unfair. When I responded, I choked up a little, something I try to avoid in my professional life, but it happens from time to time. Anyway, the people who had said the thing I didn’t appreciate changed their tone and were suddenly very polite to me and even thanked me for being vulnerable. They assured me that they understood my perspective and knew my intentions were positive. So I know speaking from the heart works but I’ll still try to avoid it. (I know when it comes up naturally it works better than when you just declare it in advacne.)

Kidding aside, wrapping one’s opinion or perspective in emotional language or gestures is problematic. It squelches honest inquiry and may discourage others from sharing important information that will help everyone concerned. Emotions are important and worth our attention but they should not be used as a tool to override reason. Emotions arise in all of us and deserve consideration but they also deserve time to settle so that we can think straight. We need to allow others that courtesy as well. When someone speaks “from the heart”, including oneself, it’s worth listening, maybe even acting. But the words that come from that kind of speaking need time to cool off and be tempered by dispassionate critical thinking.

We Can Work on This... and we should!

A cultural tendency to avoid critical thinking was not, it turns out, my greatest learning from the pandemic. A deeper recognition of our ability to consider any situation, let emotions arise and eventually choose our response was. This isn’t a new lesson but a deepening of an old one. It gives me the optimism to get back to the work of advocating for critical thinking for ourselves and for our children. It isn’t easy. It can make people angry. I think its what got Socrates killed. But it is, I believe, the core of our work: Critical thinking is the foundation for all the subjects kids learn in school. And it’s time to re-commit to making it a central feature of our work and discourse.

To that end I propose a community-wide, long term study of the topic. I’d like to start by recommending the adoption of a definition of critical thinking, the one offered by The Foundation for Critical Thinking: The art of analyzing and evaluating thought processes with a view to improving them. Critical Thinking is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored and self-corrective thinking. (Linda Elder, 2020)

From here, I hope we can make it fun and interesting. We need to get comfortable with being wrong about things and re-thinking our positions. It’s not about winning individually but improving as a community of learners. That’s an important part of our mission.

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