#Fluent Design System

[factual-fantasy]

29 Asks! Thank you! :)) ✏️

My dearest compadre I am left handed

@ardent-38

WOAH hold your horses there friend! Octo and Seafoam aren't a couple- they're more akin to brothers than anything. So there will be no kissing in any scenario I conjure up for them <XDD

But other than that-- WAHGGGG THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! 😭😭😭���🥰 YOUR MESSAGE MEANT SO MUCH TO MEEEE!!! 😭😭🥰💞💞 --and honestly have encouraged me to reconsider drawing that idea!! :00 So thank you for that too! :DDDD

A force shutdown isn't the word I'd use to describe cybertronian fainting.. "force" sounds more like someone on the outside doing something to Ratchet to make him shut down when he is otherwise healthy/ok. Rather than something going wrong internally.

Like if he was going under for surgery, maybe when he goes under it could be called "force shutdown" as well as "inducing stasis".

Now a "system failure" or "system crash" might be more appropriate for fainting or suddenly collapsing. When Ratchet injected the Synth-en maybe his systems were overwhelmed by the foreign substance and he suffered a complete system crash and collapsed.💔

Something tells me that wouldn't work somehow, but I don't have all the technical knowhow to really explain why that would be a bad idea <XD I'm sure Ratchet could explain why that would be bad.

Hmmm, good question...

The only thing that comes to mind is for Raf I headcanon that he is fluent in sign language and that's how he communicates with/understands Bee. (My version of Bee communicates with sign language, not random beeps and boops that Raf somehow magically understands)

@rainbowwatermelon7

A drawing of mine doesn't feel complete or "safe to post" unless its been watermarked. But it could be different for you and that's ok :0

I mostly draw the scribbly head when I'm feeling well, and the drippy head when I am unwell in someway. I have been dealing with some health problems for well over a year now so drawing myself drippy became my new norm. <XD But its starting to get old so I might return to the scribble head just for the fun of it tbh-

I just like to draw it a bright and fun red instead of a dull and realistic dark red :00

Probably mentally break down and die somehow. 🫠 I couldn't handle living in a world where our planet and everyone on it could be destroyed by Megatron at any moment. Let alone being on the front lines along side the Autobots.

I do have other social medias, but they are all private/just for viewing other peoples art. This is the only one I post artwork to :00

Bibi you mean? I guess I was inspired by cats <XD But I cant remember anything specific that inspired me other than that.

@zecromgen5

Nothing specific I can share online, 😅 but yeah things have been alright!

I only know of YouTube <:( That's where I watched it back then.

@candyglumboy

Aww! The boys!! :DD

(Referencing this post)

Same ✋😔

@milk-powrit

My favorite of the beasts is Mystic Flour, for personality, powers and design. The others are alright I suppose <XD

I would probably be poisoned and die within the day 💀

If you mean if I was a transformer tho, I'd probably become really emotionally unstable like Ratchet was and just sob uncontrollably until I burned through it all 😅

I've seen it floating around Tumblr, but I never really looked into it <:0

He's recruiting more Autobots it seems XDDD

They might not want to fish, but they'd like to watch the koi swim around! :)

AAAA Thank you so much!!! :DDD

@florafandoms

Ough... so old.. 💔💔

Also thank you so much!! :DD

@misscherrypie (Pics from this post)

XDD I was hoping people would notice that. I think a hug from Bibi would fix me 🥺🥺

Pick up a pencil and my friend you have the power to bring a flood 🌊

@briandraws

My spirit animal ngl

@wolfie-777

Hey that cat is pretty cute! We should make a beloved internet meme about it! :D

@kaiserdarken

I have no idea <:0 Since MatPat took a step back from his channels I haven't been keeping up with any new FNAF lore 😔

@beryl-shade

I would obliterate the fleas with my Mary sue mind powers. No fleas shall cause my babies discomfort ☝️☝️

I have now. <XD How bizarre-

[txttletale]

do you have any feelings on any of jenna moran's ttrpg systems?

yes! i fucking love them. i like chuubo's and nobilis for all the usual reasons people love them (i haven't had the time to check out glitch) but also what's so great about jenna moran's systems is that every last word of them is dripping with voice. every mechanic and piece of flavour text has a perspective, a clear perspective, usually a playful and fun one but sometimes a mournful or angry or wistful perspective too. it's what makes them masterpieces.

honestly though my favourite jenna moran game is one i haven't played and likely never will because it's not super playable and it doesn't really seem meant to be played: wisher, theurge, fatalist is a masterful and fluent thesis on game design disguised as a shitpost disguised as a tabletop roleplaying game. some highlights:

[systematic-breakdown]

Simply Plural & Solo Server Organization Assistance

I noticed another uptick in systems requesting help organizing their simply plural. So that's what this post is. Featuring how we organize our system server on Revolt/Discord because it's safer for us than downloading an explicitly system-focused app. We don't talk about aesthetic or whatever since our Simply Plural is a wreck. If you're just looking for aesthetic inspiration sorry but you should go elsewhere. Also we're in the middle of remodeling so ignore the mess. Pictures and stuff below.

Ok I'm gonna start with Simply Plural.

We started by organizing based on system. Side systems aren't included in the main system category cuz why would they be.

The "Update" section has profiles that Anna or another archivist/manager wants to look at and profiles that alters haven't added to since making it.

Here's the inside of the main systems folder

"Age" is organized like this

"Littles" being 0-9, "Middles" being 10-12, "Teens" being 13-19, and "Adults" being 20+. Regressors can be any age but some of them asked for a section so they got one. We only really use the specific ages for parts who are stuck or who jump. Updating every alter who ages when they do is hard and not worth it when they can just tell us their age in the designated custom field.

"Extra" just has sections for dormant parts, integrated parts, and who the integrated parts went to. If we know who integrated into who, we have a custom field for specificity.

"Families & Special Groups" is for parts who are family members and parts who split off at the same time and are still together. The groups are usually in their own little bubble but there's no discernible effect on memories and memory sharing so we don't count them as a sub or side system.

"Formation Status" has 3 sub-sections for fragments, "in-betweens", and formed.

"Gender" has subsections for feminine alignment, masculine alignment, queer/GNC, and gender hoarders. Queer/GNC has subsections for any singular gender identity parts have listed that aren't exclusively feminine or masculine (e.g. nonbinary, agender, genderqueer, pangender). We tried to restrict it to "at least 3 parts have to experience this for it to be an official subsection" but we're pretty lenient about that. It gives parts trying to discover who they are or build themselves a little ground work at least.

"Interaction Status" has these subsections

You can probably figure that out on your own.

"Location" has subsections for various parts of our headspace where parts stay when they're not fronting.

Nutty added the "Name" section. He likes to alphabetize things and I guess our Simply Plural is no exception.

"Orientation" has subsections for romantic orientation, sexual orientation, and a section called "double down" which just means both orientations are the same (e.g. being biromantic and bisexual, being heteromantic and heterosexual). I think this is a messy way of doing this section, but I was outvoted.

"Preferred Language" has subsections for all the languages we or other parts know, knew, or have learned. We aren't fluent in much other than English, but there are parts who know a lot more than others in certain languages and that's really what this section is for.

"Religion" has more subsections than I thought but the division makes sense. Anyway you probably won't need to include this section unless parts have very different views on religion.

"Role" has a ton of subsections. Anna or whoever organized it tried narrowing it down. So "protectors" has subsections for aggressive, emotional, physical, preventative, sexual, social, and verbal. You probably won't need all that, but if it feels better having subsections for your subsections instead of putting specifics in your custom fields, to each their own. Lemme know if you guys want some role/function examples and how they operate in our system.

"Silly Groups" has subsections for silly groups. "Green Gang" consists of parts who have all set their profile color as green. "Freaks and Creeps" has parts who have a shared interest in supernatural and paranormal entities. I'm in "Gamers Anonymous" and we talk about video games and make fun of cishet CoD players. It's been really fun and Dr. Collins thinks it helps with integration and connection or something. So make silly groups. It's worth it I promise.

"Species" is for species. We got subsections for dead alters (like ghosts and Dacir and stuff), humans, nonhumans, objects, shapeshifters, voiders, and alters who don't know or don't feel like either. "Nonhumans" has subsections for different animals and anthros who identify as nonhuman.

"Subsystems" have subsystems. There aren't sections for roles since the roles are already established in other sections, but if the subsystem has roles specific to that subsystem, maybe put those roles in that section. That was a lot of S words. My bad.

Side systems have their own roles because they're not a part of the main system and it would be bad if the managers confused them and marked them dormant. But there's a similar process I think. We don't really have access to them so it's hard to tell if they even know about this stuff, but a couple of the side systems seem to have updated their profiles and groups so that's promising.

And here's how we do our Revolt.

We switched to Revolt after Discord announced their plan to switch from the current model - which is cool and good - to the stupid model - which is stupid and bad. Enshittification takes a while but so does transferring all of our stuff so at least we'll be ahead of it. Anyway Revolt is exactly like Discord but without the subscription and paid stuff so if you're using Discord this tutorial can still be helpful.

We have a server for the main system and servers for sub and side systems. Side systems are harder to communicate with — especially since there are presumably very few alters in the known side systems that know about this stuff (and care enough to look) — but this has made it way easier.

Anna started by putting the "Sysfo & General" category at the top. She thought it'd be easier for newbies if what they needed to see was where they opened up. I agree with this thought process.

"Read Me" is her introducing herself, introducing the server, and outlining the rules. Pretty simple - don't snoop, be respectful of boundaries and triggers, date and add context to body/irl pics, stuff like that.

"Roles" is describing alter roles and functions. Has basic roles like host, persecutor, gatekeeper and more system-specific roles like archivist, mimic, filters, and more.

"Innerworld Mapping" has pictures but it's more writing than I expected. Names places, puts pictures that relate to those places, and describes the layers and connections. A lot of fakes ("NPCs"?) listed there too which is nice when I go to clean out our Simply Plural. Parts get confused sometimes. I don't blame them. Fakes are confusing.

"Accounts" is where we keep account information. We put emails and usernames in without censoring but coded passwords so the only place we have those fully written out is in our real life journal.

"Recipes" is self explanatory.

"Body Pictures" is where we put pictures that are taken of our body. The rule for that section is that you're only supposed to put body pictures in there if multiple parts are fronting or if whoever's putting the pic in doesn't know who the fronter was. Other than that, Anna said that she wants the body pictures that specific parts take should go in their "Pictures" channel.

"Memes" section is for memes that we relate to but are specifically about our disorders or symptoms. "DID Pics" is for pictures that we relate to as a system but they aren't memes. Pretty dark place. I try to avoid it but I noticed some of the traumaholders really like it. I think that's concerning but it's none of my business.

"Shared Journal" is for communication or general logging.

"Example" category is a placeholder for the parts name. For dormant or integrated parts, we do this

Here's what Anna wrote for the example "Info" section

"Faceclaims" is self explanatory. "Front Tells" is self explanatory. "Triggers/Draws" are separated by message but are kept in the same channel.

Here's what she said about "Pictures" and "Videos"

Here's what she said about "Links"

And here's what she said about "Journal"

That's all from me if you have questions, need more advice, wanna check out our custom fields, or anything else leave it in the comments, mailbox, or reblogs and we'll get back to you 👍

dividers from

and

[kathlare]

I loved your writing, but oh my god, I'm so confused. Who the fuck is Amelie Dayman? What's her background? How the fuck is she related to Checo? I must confess that I've only recently entered the world of Formula 1 and there's a lot I don't understand yet, BUT GIRL I NEED ANSWERS

So happy you're enjoying the story — and don’t worry, the confusion is totally valid if you’re new to F1 and just jumped into this universe! 💛

To clarify: Amelie Dayman is a fictional character I created for this series, so don’t worry if you haven’t seen her pop up on the grid or online — she doesn’t exist in real life (although she totally should at this point 😭). So to help clear things up, here’s a little mini-biography in a Famous Birthdays-style format to give you better context:

ABOUT

Amelie Dayman is a Mexican singer, actress, and songwriter best known for her powerhouse vocals, genre-blending music, and breakout role in the film adaptation of Wicked. Born on September 25th, 2001, she rose to fame with her debut album, earning critical acclaim and a devoted global fanbase. Known for her emotional honesty and bold fashion, Amelie has since become a rising icon in both the music and film industries. Beyond the spotlight, she’s also celebrated for her authenticity and close relationships with fans and fellow artists.

BEFORE FAME

Before rising to stardom, Amelie Dayman grew up in London, where she developed a passion for music and performance from a young age. She began singing in local theatre productions and posting covers online, quickly gaining attention for her unique voice and emotional depth. Amelie trained in both acting and classical voice, balancing school with auditions and songwriting. Her early struggles with anxiety and self-image shaped the raw honesty in her work, laying the foundation for the artist she would become.

TRIVIA

Amelie Dayman is fluent in Italian and often incorporates the language into her songwriting. She has a cat named Benny who famously dislikes her boyfriend, F1 driver Lando Norris. A huge Studio Ghibli fan, Amelie has cited Spirited Away as one of her biggest creative inspirations. Despite her glamorous career, she’s known for her love of oversized hoodies, late-night Mario Kart sessions, and pineapple on pizza—an opinion she proudly defends.

FAMILY LIFE

Amelie Dayman was born into a big, tight-knit family with American, Mexican, and British roots. She is the youngest of six siblings and shares a particularly close bond with her older brother Callum, who’s known for being fiercely protective of her. Her sister Stella is married to F1 driver Sergio “Checo” Pérez, making Amelie the beloved aunt of four energetic nieces and nephews. Her parents, Victoria and Elias, both have creative and entrepreneurial backgrounds—her mother is an interior designer, and her father a businessman. Despite her fame, Amelie remains deeply grounded in her family, often crediting them as her biggest support system.

ASSOCIATED WITH

Amelie Dayman is closely associated with the world of Formula 1 through her relationship with driver Lando Norris, sparking a high-profile romance that has captivated fans worldwide.

[zeizeizeizei]

Unpopular Headcanons for Celebrimbor Pt. 1

✨Cook and Gardener

While known for his work in the forge, Celebrimbor found peace in mundane tasks like cooking and gardening. He often drew inspiration from the natural world when designing the Rings of Power.

✨Musical Talent

Celebrimbor could play the harp or lute with incredible skill, but he saw music as a hobby, not a serious pursuit. His compositions were often melancholic, reflecting his inner turmoil.

✨Wary of Magic

Despite his association with the Rings, Celebrimbor was deeply skeptical of magic in his youth. His fascination grew only after encountering Sauron as Annatar, who convinced him of its potential.

✨ Left-Handed

Celebrimbor was left-handed, which was considered unusual among Elves. This trait made him a unique swordsman and forgemaster, giving his creations a subtle asymmetry that became his signature.

✨Hates Gold

Celebrimbor loathes gold, finding it gaudy and heavy. He much prefers the lighter, ethereal beauty of mithril and silver, which he believed better represented the purity of his work.

✨Hates Sauron’s Aesthetic

Celebrimbor has a particular disdain for Sauron’s architectural style, often critiquing Mordor’s towers and fortresses as “crude and uninspired.” He dreams of tearing them down and replacing them with structures of true beauty.

✨Harsh Mentor

Celebrimbor has no patience for mediocrity, even in teaching. He often pushed apprentices in Eregion beyond their limits, believing failure was an essential part of mastering the forge.

✨Morally Flexible

He sees morality as a spectrum, not an absolute. This pragmatism often leads him to make questionable decisions that he justifies as necessary for the greater good, even when they leave lasting scars on his conscience.

✨Secretly Hates Fëanor

While many assume he respects his grandfather’s genius, Celebrimbor harbors deep resentment toward Fëanor for creating a legacy so overwhelming that it tainted every descendant who followed him.

✨Loves Rain

He found the sound of rain soothing, particularly when it fell on metal rooftops. It reminded him of the flow of molten silver and often sparked new ideas for his creations.

✨Fidgeterbrimbo

When deep in thought, Celebrimbor would absentmindedly trace patterns on surfaces with his fingers. This habit sometimes annoyed those around him, though he was oblivious to it.

✨Coded Notes

To protect his designs, Celebrimbor wrote his notes in a personal code that blended Tengwar with Dwarvish runes. Even those fluent in both languages found his system difficult to decipher.

Oh Tyelpé...

Source: my🍑

Thank you

[goldenvulpine]

ok here is a helpful guide for Superman fans in Tumblr when referring to different eras of Superman:

Golden Age Superman: Kal-L. The Original. Very cocky. Very charismatic. Couldn’t fly as a kid. Has no solid code against killing. Chaotic Good. Can actually fly now. Has a disturbingly high kill count. Loves Toxic Women (Lois Literally Drugged him one time). Literal WW2 veteran. Not from Kansas. Smallville, East Coast (likely New York). Is now married to Lois. Head of the Daily Star (not Planet). Is Power Girl’s cousin. Is very aggressive. Still saved people from suicide canonically. Canonically religious (Married Lois in a Kryptonian Ceremony). “What trauma?” Seen everyone he loves die.

Silver Age Superman: Kal-El. The Most Popular. Speaks fluent Kryptonese. Total “50’s Dad”. The Strongest. Also the most conformist. Strict Code against killing. Lawful Good. From Smallville. Is canonically Religious (For Rao, his culture’s God). Has multiple cousins. From Smallville, East Coast (likely Maryland this time). Says he wouldn’t hit a woman. Probably has. Sneezed a Solar System Away. Somehow the WEIRDEST one. Also the biggest Prankster. Was Superboy. Was part of the Legion. Saw Pa die. Refuses to acknowledge his trauma. Needs a hug but won’t say it. Works for the Daily Planet. Alan Moore loves him.

Bronze Age Superman: Kal El. Actually just Silver Age Superman but “weaker”. Still the Strongest. Your favorite writer’s favorite Superman. Neutral Good. Originator of the Clex Drama. Met God. Is a pure scientist. Has Three Canon Endings. All of them are literal tragic endings. Is best bros with Batman. Is the Original Nightwing. His cousin is the Second Nightwing. Dick is actually the Third Nightwing. Loves his bro Jimmy Olsen. Smarter than Batman. Made a vow to protect life. Newscaster. Grant Morrison and Mark Waid love him.

Dark Age/Byrne Superman: Clark Kent (Kal El). Still moody. Weakest Superman. Thinks he’s Neutral Good, still Lawful Good. Doesn’t like Krypton. Designer Baby. Best Journalist. Canonically a Porn Star. Died. Came back. Most insecure Superman. Loves ‘Murica. Killed like three people one time. Strict code against killing. “Superman is what I do, Clark is who I am”. Legion who? Superboy who? Supergirl who? Football Star. Pure Sarcasm. Agnostic. People say they hate him but is the reason Smallville, Man of Steel and STAS exist. Literally wants to fuck Jimmy’s Mom. Triangle Era (90’s) Superman: Clark Kent (Kal-El). Is less moody now. Makes more Jokes. Still a drama queen. Smarter. Stronger. Wants to write a Novel. Married Lois. Jimmy is the Best Man. Good Leader. True Lawful Good. The Superman you probably think of the Most. Coolest guy. 90’s Superboy (the best) 90’s Supergirl (Matrix). Was once Gangbuster (Chaotic Neutral). Mind so strong, he killed a psychic in his sleep without knowing it. Christian (Married Lois in a Church). Still knows Kryptonian Kung Fu (Torquasm Vo/Rao). Dick Grayson’s 3rd Dad. Tim Drake’s 4th Dad. Slept with a Mermaid in Collage. Is fun.

Post-Crisis/2000’s Superman: Clark Kent (Kal El) Retcons out the ass. Kara comes back. Knows Boxing now. Knows Kung Fu. Held a Black Hole in his hand. Destroyed Moons. Agnostic. Still Lawful Good. Loves his wife. Loves his adopted son. Chris Kent. His son is Nightwing. His other son is also Nightwing. Walked the earth one time because of war crimes. Saves people from suicide again. Was a Kryptonian general one time. Literal Genius. Smarter than Batman. Is the GOAT. Hates the President.

New 52 Superman: Clark Kent (Kal-El) Very cocky. Very charismatic. Couldn’t fly as a kid. Has no solid code against killing. Chaotic Good to Neutral Good. Lower kill count than Post-Crisis. Loves Toxic Women (Loves the craziest version of Diana). Had a Mid-Life Crisis in his Mid-20’s. Was a Wrestler. Talks like Jason Todd/Wally West/Nightwing/Peter Parker/every mid-20’s white boi in the 90’s-00’s. Everyone hated him. Wasn’t as bad as they say. Is the Andrew Garfield/Spider-Man of Supermen. Killed off without good reason.

Rebirth Superman: Clark Kent (Kal-El). Is literally just Triangle Era Superman. With kids. No Chris tho. Still Lawful Good. Strongest of the Post-Crisis versions. Tries to be a good dad. Is a decent dad. Except for the time where he left Jon alone. So he’s a bad dad. I’m still not over that. Bendis loves him. Says please alot. Watches Anime. Kind of a dead beat. I miss Chris.

if you want summations of other Supermen I didn’t cover you are welcome to ask.

[adhd-fandom-and-gay]

Sighs...long awaited intro post

But before that, can you please share this link or spare some money to donate to some friends of mine in Africa? They're apart of a queer refugee group that's running low on luck, funding, food, and hope so it'd mean the world to me and more if you could try to help in any way you can:

Thank you. Your support is everything in times like this. If you can do anything at all, it will be so much help for them all.

Now, onto the intro post:

🝰 ═════════↻ ◁ || ▷ ↺══════════ 🝯

"Dr. Jekyll has left the building—"

☢ ꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦ ⚗ ꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷ ⚛

Hi! Welcome to my blog! I made this intro post on the 15th of June, 2025, with the help of one of my dear oomfs and test tube sibling: @cultist-bones! (You wouldn't get the lore. You just had to be there when the scientists were formulating us in test tubes, y'know? /sillylilinsidejoke)

You don't get to know my names unless you learn some from a friend of mine or from me directly. It holds too much power for mere mortals (im just a cryptid like that sometimes) so just feel free to call me whatever you want until then. :>

Anyhow! I use He/They/It pronouns along with any neos—so just any pronoun besides she will do!

I am neurodivergent and have ADHD (duh), autism, depression, anxiety, insomnia, and some form of plurality! I'm the core (host? og? i dunno) of a system! No, you don't get to know the full headmate counts unless you talk to us regularly but general questions about our systemhood are fine! :3 I often have difficulty with social cues and such so please be patient and use tone tags, if possible <3

We're learning multiple languages at the moment, notably German and Russian! We aren't particularly fluent in either yet, though.

⚠︎ ⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⌖⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘ ☣︎

Update as of the 23rd: I also run a TGS Hyde askblog! @the-spirit-of-londons-nightshift

Update as of the 29th: 🌾posting is my tag for anything relating to straw. I'm weird like that...

` ᝰ.ᐟ ~ Interests !

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mister Hyde (Any Media! And all! I'm obsessed...)

Frankenstein - The Modern Prometheus (Any Media! Roughly the same for this!)

Tons of world history!

Any creative arts!

Character design

Music

Psychology

Alchemy

Animatic

Cookie Run Kingdom

The Most Dangerous Game (Mostly only the story but open to other iterations!)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Any Media!)

Pretty much any Gothic literature

Lots of works by Edgar Allan Poe (Cask of Amontillado takes first place.)

Don't Hug Me I'm Scared

The DHMIS Two of Us! AU on Tumblr (By @/bunnieswithknives on Tumblr)

Deltarune

Undertale

FNaF

BATIM

BBIEAL

ENA

⚕ lıılıılıılıılıılıılıılıılıılıılıılıılı ⚖ ılıılıılıılıılıılıılıılıılıılıılıılııl ♾

"...Call me Mister Hyde."

♍︎ ═════════ ↻ ◁ || ▷ ↺ ═════════ ♋︎

[angel-of-the-moons]

A Rose Under The Moon

Moon Knight System (Marc/Steven/Jake) x Fem!Reader

TW/CW: Violence, graphic violence, blood, fighting, human trafficking, mentions of abuse, drug use, child abuse, sex trafficking, angst. So much angst.

MINORS DNI: I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR CONTENT YOU CONSUME

A/N: Whew! I'm proud of this one! Many thanks to my bestest friend, Artemis, who himself has DID and helps me understand this condition and describe them (hopefully) more accurately! His system is a big help in me learning more about this subject! (Extra note: any Spanish spoken in this fic is in italics. As I am not a fluent speaker by any means, it is mostly translated by Google. Have fun!)

🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒

Chapter 2:

Inside Voices

(Steven, no…) Marc's voice groaned out, glaring at him through the shared reflection in the glass door.

"But Marc! I've lived here for ages and didn't know this shop was here!" Steven beamed, smiling widely. Thankfully the wireless headphones he had on made him look like he was on the phone, and not completely off his rocker…

Marc ran his hands through his curly black hair. (You have enough books!)

"But this store might have books I don't have!" He pointed out.

(Just let him look, hermano.) Jake sighed, his reflection staring up at Steven from a puddle on the ground.

"Yes, thank you, Jake. At least somebody encourages my hobby!" Steven huffed indignantly at Marc.

(Jake, stop babying him!)

(Hey, nothing wrong with having a hobby?) The man snorted.

Marc rolled his eyes and slumped his shoulders, he directed a tired glare back at Steven.

(You gonna go in or just stare at the front door?) He finally asked.

Steven grinned like an excited boy going into a candy shop.

Marc really needed to have a talk with Jake about this. Steven already had too many books in their flat!

Steven pulled the headphones out of his ears and shoved them in his pocket as he opened the door, nearly jumping when the bell dinged.

He looked around, rather impressed with how much was inside a small space. Steven almost jumped again when the clerk spoke.

"Hi! Welcome to Here Today Books!" She said cheerfully.

🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒

(I'm just saying, Steven… that's too many fucking books.) Marc said, crossing his arms at Steven through the reflection in the window across from his desk, cluttered with papers, folders, and books on various subjects of the Egyptian religious pantheon, architecture, etcetera.

"Oh, hush." Steven hummed, pushing his glasses up his nose as he examined the pages on one of the old books he held in his hand.

(Steven…) Marc sighed, exasperatedly. 

"I know, I know." He sighed, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. The stubble there was getting rather coarse. Maybe he could talk Jake out of growing that mustache or goatee he was thinking about…

Steven looked over and picked up the bookmark, sighing deeply as he looked at the gold-tipped rose sealed so lovingly in the plastic. Small vine-luke designs had been penned into the colorful sheet of paper inside the plastic as well.

(Very Beauty and The Beast, no?) Jake mused, his reflection from the mirror on the desk looking at Steven with a cocky grin.

It helped them, they found, to have as many reflective surfaces as possible in their flat; it enabled them to talk to each other simultaneously and "see" one another. Sure they could all talk in the headspace, and when they co-fronted it was almost like they could feel each other; rubbing shoulders, as it were, but sometimes you just needed to see the other person, y'know? Outside of your own head? Shared head? The terms still confused poor Steven, at times.

"I s'pose." He hummed, holding the plastic in his fingers gently, as if it were made of the thinnest glass. Absentmindedly, he pulled the sleeve of his shirt up and looked at the inside of his left wrist.

A mark was there.

A rose, to be precise.

Sometimes it would look like it was wilting, other times it was blooming and vibrant… other times it was closed, not ready to bloom.

Right now, it was somewhere between wilting and blooming. He wasn't sure what it meant. He thought back to Marc's ex-wife, Layla. And how he practically fell head over heels with her when they first met.

He had hoped, with Layla, that she had a corresponding mark… but she didn't. Layla was one of the few who didn't have a mark, or in the very least it hadn't shown up yet. Which isn't entirely implausible… But… something happened. After escaping the Duat, coming back to life, fighting Ammit… finding out about Jake.

They just drifted apart. The sparks that may have been there snuffed out, any hints at romance gone from the equation. They all decided it was better to leave it at that.

Well, at least they were all still on friendly terms, Steven mused. Layla still spoke to he and Marc via phone, or even email. It took Steven forever to convince Marc to ditch that "old dinosaur piece of plastic" he called a phone, and stick with his touch-screen.

Except… Jake. Ah, Jake. Layla never fully trusted him.

(Steven.) Jake said, getting his attention, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Hm?" He hummed, turning the bookmark over and over in his hand thoughtfully, eyes fluttering back to their mark on their wrist.

(It's my turn tonight.) Jake reminded him softly.

"Oh… right." He cringed. "Bollocks, I hate this…"

(I know, hermanito. But it has to be done, or the bad guys roam free…)

"All right, just… don't let me see any of it, yeah?" Steven sighed, placing the bookmark on the table as he put his hands in his lap.

(Of course.) Jake replied.

Marc stayed silent.

Suddenly, eyes flew closed, the jaw clenched; a bit of a sharp pain fluttered briefly through the brain at the sudden switching. They were getting better at seamless transitions, but sometimes some form of discomfort lingered. The body sat, almost like an empty vessel waiting to be filled. Whether it was five minutes or five seconds, it was unsure. 

When the eyes opened again…

Jake was sitting where Steven sat. Steven's reflection wasn't in the mirror as Jake's had been, previously. He was left alone with Marc staring at him from the inky-black reflection in the window.

(I really hate that we have to do that to him.) Marc sighed, shaking his head.

"He's too gentle for our work, Marc." Jake said, clicking his tongue as he stood, walking over to the wardrobe in the corner and reaching out to grab his old leather coat. "He's too… good."

(I know.) Marc's reflection was in the fishtank now, where Gus the Second was swimming alongside… they really should think of a name for the other two.

Jake tugged the old worn garment on and pulled the gloves out of his jacket pockets with a sharp yank, flexing his fingers as they filled out the soft, well broken-in leather. Lastly, he pulled out that golf cap and slid it on his head, and looked at Marc.

(You don't have to see this, either, Marc.) He said to him.

(Somebody's gotta bear the weight with you, brother.) Marc said intently.

"Gracias por eso, hermano." Jake mumbled, twirling the flat's keys in his fingers as he walked to the front door.

🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒

He sat, kneeling on the rooftop, his body hunched in a way that made him look like a gargoyle, unflinching and unmoving in his gaze; the cape gifted to him flared out almost like a long, tattered set of broken wings.

He wasn’t sure why he decided here of all places was a good place to talk. Why here? What drew him here? Was it the lingering joy and comfort Steven felt when he came in earlier that day?

The sign was hand-painted and in need of a new coat. Flecks of it had chipped away, the exposed wood beneath bleached by years of exposure. But… why was the bookshop important enough to stand outside now?

He looked down below, the curtains were pulled back still in the flat above, old lightbulbs casting a soft, orangish glow to everything inside. He could barely see from this vantage point across the street the boxes of books and book stacks lying on a desk in front of the window. Small knick knacks lined the sills, a hanging plant pot on the outside containing flowers of different kinds, slightly wilted from the lack of sun from the past few days, and now the night.

He stirred when he watched the young woman inside walk to the window in the living room and close the curtains; then tracked her movements as she went about her nightly rituals.

She seemed relaxed. Comfortable. Safe.

She didn't need protection tonight.

He felt the air chill around him, seeping through the wrappings of his armor.

“Jake Lockley.”

There it was. The voice he was waiting for. The voice that always knocked him away from his personal thoughts. The voice that told him of his duties during the night.

Khonshu.

“Yes, father?” Jake asked, standing up, turning to see the large imposing silhouette of a gaunt man, enshrouded in ancient, wispy linen wraps, a tattered shawl hanging from his bony shoulders, clenched in his fist; in place of a head was the dessicated and fleshless bone of a bird skull, small web-like tendrils wafting about here or there. Large, eyeless sockets fixed him in a crushing gaze, the skull tilting in an almost inquisitive manner.

(I wish you’d stop calling him that…) Marc grumbled from within. 

“Have you located the evil-doers I sent you after?” Khonshu’s ancient and ethereal voice grated out.

“Yes. I plan on taking them out tonight.” Jake replied dutifully.

Khonshu tilted his head at Jake, and stood from where he sat on the aircon unit. “Now… Why are you here? This is not where you usually prefer to speak with me.”

“I… don’t know.” Jake admitted softly. “Felt like I had to be here.” 

“Hmm.” The god hummed, stopping to stand next to Jake, looking down at the flat below. “Indeed.”

“Was there… anything else, father?” Jake asked, looking up at him.

“No. You can leave. I will issue new orders when our quarry is dead and dealt with.”

“Of course.” Jake bowed his head, pressing his fist over the moon on his chest; sparing one last glance down at the woman before walking away, leaping to another rooftop with superhuman strength.

Khonshu stayed. Observing, just for a moment longer, at the woman inside the safety of her home. 

“Interesting.” He mused to himself, stamping his staff down and vanishing in a haze of mist.

🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒

Jake panted, pulling one of his darts out of the chest of the man who had tried to previously shoot him just now. He sheathed the weapon and approached the shipping container, hesitating for a moment before smashing the lock open with his bare fist and hauling the heavy doors open.

Inside were half a dozen women and young girls, and children. Some of them naked, others half-dressed. Many of them were dirty and half starved, injuries evident on their poor bodies.

He noticed how they all flinched, backing away from him.

“I won’t hurt you.” He said, in a tone as soft as he could possibly manage, trying to ease their worries. “I’m here to save you.” 

Jake leaned down and pulled the jacket off the dead body of the man he had just killed, stepping over the corpse to the young woman nearest to him. 

She was clad only in her underwear, bruises and track marks lining her body. He draped the jacket over her shoulders, zipping it closed for her as he guided her arms through the sleeves. 

“The police are on their way. You’ll all be safe, soon.” He said, his glowing white eyes fixed in the black abyss of his mask immediately zeroed in on three women, clinging their arms around a group of small children.

The youngest couldn’t have been older than three years old. Her eyes cold, far too ancient and haunted for one so young, clouded by the things she’d been forced to endure for the profit of her traffickers; her tiny body already bearing the scars of the abuse and trauma. Jake’s fist balled at his sides as he forced his breathing to try and calm; adrenaline surging through him again, a hot coal of rage dropping deep into the pit of his stomach.

He wished he could kill them all over again. He wished he could make them all suffer in ways they could barely process for the things they’d done. He wanted to–

His cloak was tugged on, snapping him out of his seething.

He looked down, and a small boy, all skin and bones looked up at him. He looked to be about seven. Could be older, as malnourishment can inhibit growth. His big green eyes looked up at Jake as he wrapped the edge of his cloak around his shoulders like a blanket, his dirty and grimy fingers clinging to the blood-soaked material, seeking comfort he so desperately needed. Jake felt his heart crack in two. He looked almost like...

He closed his eyes for a moment and kneeled, getting as eye level with the boy as he could.

“You’re safe now. They can’t hurt you anymore.” Jake said, his voice quiet, almost broken. He reached for a ratty blanket on the ground and covered the little boy with it, the sight of him covered in a bloody cape almost too much for him to bear. 

He felt his breathing hitch when the little boy smiled up at him, gap-toothed and happy. He handed the boy off to a woman who looked to only be maybe nineteen.

“Stay…” He cleared his throat, looking at everyone within the container, standing back to his full imposing height. 

“Stay here while I make sure it’s safe and I got them all. Someone will be here soon to get you all out of here.”

“Thank you.” One of the women sobbed quietly, clutching onto what looked to be her own child. They looked too similar for them to be anything but related.

Jake turned, his cape flowing out behind him like a white shadow as he stalked into the warehouse beyond, his fists already tight; the spiked knuckles on the back of his hands ready for blows he was all too eager to deliver.

He stepped over bodies, beaten, broken. Lifeless. 

All at his hand. They deserved worse.

The eerie quiet of the cavernous space was only interrupted by the tinkling of chains suspended from the rafters, wind whistling through unseen cracks. 

He could hear the sirens in the distance closing in, but he didn’t relax. He wouldn’t. Not until he was sure.

Not until he knew they were all dead.

Jake’s hands trembled with anticipation as that coal of rage ignited into an inferno, burning hot and low in his belly, sending sparks through his bloodstream. He was so far into that haze of red, he missed the man rushing him with a kabar knife. 

He must have missed that one, the coward was probably hiding the moment the carnage broke out.

The moment he turned, he felt the blade slip easily through the wrappings of his dark armor, piercing the flesh and organs beneath, the pain tearing through his body like a macabre tsunami.

He brought his fist out, slamming the spiked knuckles into the face of the man.

The coppery scent of blood, the crunch of bones and cartilage filled his nose and were deafeningly loud in his ears. He was sure he watched his eyeball dislodge, hanging over the crushed and bloody expanse of his cheek as his body was sent flying into the cargo loader nearby.

The sound of his bones turning almost to powder overpowered the haunting ambience of the dark lair.

Jake marched over to him and gripped him by the shirt, rearing his fist back for another punch, even as his body hung limp in his grasp. 

Only… he couldn’t land the blow. He just couldn’t. It was one thing to kill to protect. But it was another to beat a corpse that he’d already wrought with one blow. His ears picked up the sounds of shouting, sirens, bootfall. A helicopter whirred above, spotlight shining at the carnage below.

He stood, clutching at the knife still sticking out of his side as he dragged his feet, pulling the shell of his body outside, where he was met with armored police officers, wearing what he assumed was some kind of riot gear. The pain in his side was maddening, he almost didn’t hear them demand he kneel. But he did hear a woman cry.

He lifted his gaze to see the woman he’d handed the boy off to; the child still clutched in her arms as they looked over at him, their eyes locking with his.

“He saved us!” She cried.

“Don’t hurt him, please!” Another shouted.

“He’s a nice man!” A child sobbed, clinging to the emergency blanket around her frail body.

Jake felt like he could cry, he felt his heart swell to bursting; not able to tear his gaze away from the innocents he’d saved, that he killed for. Not even when one of the officers approached him, gripping his elbow to keep him steady.

The older man sighed, unable to cuff the man that the human trafficking victims were shouting and crying accolades for. Even if he apparently killed all these monsters bare-handed. “Come on, lad. Let’s get you looked at. We can’t leave that knife in ya.” 

“I’m fine.” Jake mumbled, looking at the ground. His shoulders slumped.

“Like hell you are.” The officer turned and shouted for a medic.

“Perdóname, mi corazón." Jake muttered to himself. To someone else.

But as the man carrying the equipment bag jogged towards him, Jake gripped the handle of the knife and wrenched it free in one tug, blood spurting from the wound.

“Good God!” The officer gasped, reaching out to press his hand over the gushing wound. “Are you insane, boy?”

“Yes.” Jake mumbled, pulling his hand away from him, with gentle care that betrayed the violence his bloody fingers had wrought mere moments ago. He felt the wound close, the magic and blessed armor already performing its duty. Just as he had, so violently.

Jake straightened his posture as the medic and the officers backed away in a strange mixture of fascination, horror, and awe.

“Who… what are you?” The medic breathed.

Jake turned away, his gaze to the sky.

“I’m Moon Knight.”

And with that final goodbye, he leapt up, disappearing into the blackness and depths of the night, his heart heavy but relieved, cloak streaking across the shadows, as if to chase them away.

Chapter 3: Link

[yunsound]

Chinese History: Great Yu Cures the Waters

Modern China has over a hundred thousand waterways and several of the biggest rivers in the world. As the entire east side of China is coastside, China’s biggest major cities (Shanghai, which literally means On-the-sea, Shenzhen, Hong Kong etc) are all along the ocean, with Beijing not far inland. 

Do not start a Hong Kong argument with me- I am JUST SAYING that in ancient times, Hong Kong was an important part of the dynasties’ power that relied on water. I have no patience for Hong Kong arguments. Seriously. PLEASE.

Other major cities, like Chongqing, Nanjing and Wuhan all lie along the Yangtze River. This is very natural- civilisation sprouts up where there is running water. 

WARNING: GOING OFF ON A TANGENT, PLEASE SKIP IF YOU’RE HERE JUST FOR THE MYTHOLOGY, I WILL MARK THE BEGINNING OF THE MYTH WITH A CAT PICTURE

I am going to do a quick advertisement for my home city, Shanghai, which has the Huangpu River running through it (making up the Bund, or Outer Beach) and Lujiazui. If you’re going to visit China, I would say Shanghai is the one place where foreigners will have the easiest time.

It’s probably the city most influenced by foreign culture- most people don’t speak fluent English but if you’re staying in populated areas like Xujiahui, Xintiandi, Lujiazui etc you will have no problem since the people you run into will speak at least a few words of English, metro stations and malls will have English signs, etc. 

Shanghai, within China, has a reputation of being rich and snobby but I feel like that’s a better option for a first-time foreign traveler. Please visit Shanghai! If you have any questions about Shanghai feel free to ask. 

OKAY WE’RE BACK ON TRACK. Say hi to Mr. Fresh.

China has an excellent agricultural background and due to government efforts (no this is not propaganda) most of the entire country has access to clean running water, though this is still an ongoing effort since China is so huge and some rural areas need to be developed for canals to be built.

This is due to the canal, irrigation and waterway system that has been in place for centuries and that we constantly update and improve as China’s population grows. (However, with global warming and climate change, regions of China are beginning to face drought- the government is currently building more infrastructure)

But back in ancient times, China still had a huge population without the technology of today. How did China deal with trying to wrangle water into place?

This is due to the help of Yu the Great.

If China struggles with water today, back then it was a disaster. Flooding, drought and famine were very common back in the day of someone called Yu (4000 years ago). His full name is unknown- he is referred to as Yu, or Great Yu (Da-yu).

Yu was either a very high-ranking official in the court or a descendant of an Emperor and thus part of the royal family. Either way, he was an important person. He and his father Gun (pronounced Gwun, not American gun) were both large-scale civil engineers, meaning they designed infrastructure for the Emperor. 

Water-related natural disasters were so common that the empire could not develop socially or economically, and the people were commonly dying. Farmland was scarce and so agriculture was unstable (which is terrible for a civilisation), and flooding often destroyed people’s homes. 

Gun (Yu’s father, remember) was sent to figure out a way to stop the disasters. He spent a very, very long time trying to design a set of dams. His solution was just to plug up the waters.

None of this worked, even though he invested his entire life into it. 

Emperor Yao gave the job to Yu instead. Yu, who was smart and meticulous, decided he’d learn from his father’s mistakes and stop trying to plug the water. Instead, he’d try to divert it and make the water benefit the people. 

Artist 贫烦 on Xiaohongshu

Yu studied his father’s work for a long time and figured out that the solution was to let the water flow along to the sea instead of spreading out with nowhere to go. 

In the end, Yu spent decades working with the people (he was physically there, doing manual labour, which is impressive of him) digging a series of irrigation canals along the mountains and valleys of rural China.

These waterways would be filled with the waters from the floods and were cleverly designed so they would provide flowing water to nearby villages and had to be just deep enough but not too deep that the water would flow perfectly from the source all the way to the sea.

We all know how huge China is- what makes Yu so famous isn’t just that he designed some waterways or even that he personally helped the people, but it’s that he was able to design irrigation canals so perfectly-made that they fit all across China.

That is tens of thousands of kilometres of waterways where the height, width and depth of each canal has to be just right so the waterflow doesn’t stop halfway or overflow. He did it without modern technology either. 

There is a myth in which once he made a mistake in timing and a flood came just as he and the workers had finished building the skeleton of a key waterway.

Since the waterway wasn’t finished, the flood almost destroyed the frame- Yu, without caring for his safety, jumped into the water and directed the workers to help salvage the canal construction.

The gods, being touched by his bravery, sent a mythological dragon (dragons are water deities, remember) to help him and save his life.

While Yu probably did exist and did do all these wonderful things, there is also a myth where instead of digging the waterways he rode on the back of a giant mythical turtle whose slithering tail carved the waterways instead. I like to believe in the manual labour story. 

Once Emperor Yao aged and died, since Yu was so revered for his deeds, he ascended and became the new Emperor. 

After his death, he was deemed Yu the Great (or Big Yu, I guess, directly) and is honored as one of the founders of the powerful Chinese civilisation. His myth is known as 大禹治水, or Yu the Great Cures the Waters. 

Chinese myths, except for the fantastical ones of deities, usually refer to gods or people doing great things for the citizens. The most respected figures (beyond Wukong, Ne Zha, Erlang, and all the big honchos up in the sky from novels) are the ones that help the ordinary people.

[qs63]

Amestris Military Training

This is the fourth of my series of long posts about the Amestrian Military. This is the speculative part of this meta. Little is known about the training the Amestrian soldiers receive, the most we have seen about it comes from the OVA “Another man's battlefield” and a few scenes in the manga. However, as we have seen through this series of posts, Arakawa took a lot of inspiration from the real world. The Imperial Japan military training seems to match a lot of what we see in FMA. Brace yourself, this is long and history heavy. 

Once again, I'm not a historian and I'm not fluent in Japanese. Please let me know if there's anything I missed or got wrong.

To see the rest of this meta series check out the Main Post.

First a little background about the Empire of Japan. It was the Japanese nation-state that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the reformed Constitution of Japan in 1947. Its history is divided in three periods named after the emperors that presided over them: Meiji (1868-1912), Taishō (1912-1926) and Shōwa (1926-1947).

This is a period of transformation for Japan, where they opened to the world and tried to modernize themselves and catch up with the western nations… by copying them. Meiji Japan is almost a pseudo European country. Their laws, government organization, education, etc. was reformed and modeled after the contemporary European nations and the United States of America. The influence of the third French Republic was especially strong in the early Meiji period, with it getting revised and remodeled in favor of other systems — mostly German as the relationship with the USA and its allies soured — throughout the years.

This is also the case in their military education. 

Officers training  During the early Meiji, the military cadets (meaning candidates to become officers) received a French style training which was later changed to a German style cadet system. The main difference between the two systems is that the German style required for the cadets to gain experience as Non-commissioned officers before graduation, while the French one didn't. 

Based on what we see in Fullmetal Alchemist they follow the German style system that lasted from 1887 to the American intervention in 1945. The main indication of this is that we see Riza Hawkeye in Ishval as a NCO.[1] She would've never been there under the French system. The time frame of the German style training also matches what we see in FMA. I'll explain this a bit later. 

For now let's concentrate on who and how someone could enter the Imperial Japan Army Officers Academy.

Three types of students could enter the academy: graduates of the Army's Children School, graduates of  Junior high school (both these schools covered ages 12 to 16), and selected active Non-commissioned officers who applied for officer training. 

The graduates of the army's children school didn't need to pass any exam to enter the academy, but only the best were selected. They had to compete for positions with the external candidates, those aged 16 to 19 who passed the recruitment exam (which required at least a junior high school education). Both of these students would enter the academy as cadets.

While the program was revised many times, the longest standing program was the 2 courses 4 years system. 

In this system the cadets would first take a two year military officer preparatory course that was equivalent to regular higher education. They were taught science, history, geography, etc. by civilian teachers. Their rank (the equivalent of private first class), military branch, and unit were designated upon graduating the preparatory course. 

After graduation the cadets would serve in their designated unit for six months (during which time they were promoted to corporal), afterwards they would be given the rank of sergeant upon entering the main military officers course. 

The main course was 1 year and 10 months long, and it was where the actual military training happened. The cadets would be taught tactics, military history, military system, weaponry, marksmanship, etc. they would also receive training in camp duty, shooting, swordsmanship, gymnastics, horsemanship, etc. in addition field trips were also conducted. 

Upon graduating they would become Apprentice Officers (a rank equivalent to Sergeant Major, the highest of the NCO ranks) for a trial period of about six months. Afterwards they would be officially appointed as 2nd Lieutenant (the lowest of the officers ranks) on the recommendation of their original troop's officer corps.

Now you might be wondering why I think Arakawa used this system (or rather one inspired by it) in Fullmetal Alchemist. I have a few reasons.

The first is the characters' ages. We know Roy and Hughes are 18 in “Another man's battlefield”, and we see them training in marksmanship and military tactics. We also see they have upperclassmen which implies the course is longer than one year.[2] We also know that Roy is 20 years old when he graduates the academy and visits the Hawkeye family, thanks to brotherhood giving us the date of Berthold's death.[3]

This all matches with the imperial Japan German style cadet system, where the majority of students would enter the preparatory course at 16 upon graduating from junior high school or the military school, they would then be 18 at the time of starting the main course, and 20 upon graduating from the academy. The ages of the characters and what we see on screen matches the system’s time frame.

Riza Hawkeye is yet another example three years after her father's death and conversation with Mustang, during the Ishval war, she is yet to graduate from the academy.[1][3][4] Either the Amestris academy lasts more than the two years we see Roy and Hughes go through, or she waited about two years to enter the military Academy (otherwise she would have already graduated by Ishval). I don't think it makes sense for her to wait so long to join the academy, specially if it has an age cap (of 19 in Imperial Japan). So assuming she entered right after her father died, that would put her in the last year of the German style system by the time we see her in Ishval, perfect for getting pulled into a war with her already assigned unit. 

This brings me to my second reason for believing Arakawa is using this system: the ranks.

I mentioned before that the cadets in FMA don't seem to have a rank, this makes sense when you consider that in imperial Japan they were given ranks that do not exist in FMA. Instead of adding ranks or messing up with the system Arakawa might have just completely skipped them (much like she seems to have done with the military police). 

I also mentioned that graduates (the so called Apprentice Officers) are assigned a temporary rank of Sergeant Major. In FMA we know that you graduate with a rank of Warrant Officer[1][3][4]. But hold on, that's not the same… well not in name, but yes in practice. Sergeant Major was the highest NCO rank in Imperial Japan. It's not in FMA, that's Warrant Officer. So technically they're equal ranks. Furthermore, It doesn't make sense for a graduate of the OFFICER school to be officially assigned an NCO rank, unless that's for a trial period like in the German style cadet system. For reference, the French style system assigned graduates the rank of Second Lieutenant (the lowest officer rank) upon graduation, since it didn't require the cadets to gain NCO experience. The fact that we are shown both newly graduated Riza and Roy with the rank of Warrant Officer can only mean there is also a trial period in Amestris.

Further proof of this is that within a year of us seeing the freshly graduated Warrant Officers Riza Hawkeye in 1909[1][3], she's already a full fledged 2nd Lieutenant by the time we see her in Resembool in 1910[5], and again she's a 1st Lieutenant a year later when Ed becomes a State Alchemist[5]. Riza is good, but that's a lot of promotions in a short time. It makes more sense if you think that she was officially assigned her 2nd Lieutenant rank after completing her 6 months trial period, and then she was promoted around the same time as Roy got his Colonel promotion, perhaps for her work in Ishval + whatever cases they worked together. Now, that seems a lot more reasonable than Riza averaging a promotion per year in her early military days.

Another hint towards this system is the number of 2nd Lieutenants we meet: Havoc, Breda, Ross, Catalina, Henschel, Darius, Heinkel, Jerso, and Zampano. This is the rank we see the most of, and it makes sense if they all got it by going through the Officers Academy. We know this to be true for at least Havoc and Breda.

Havoc's and Breda’s graduation.[6]

Now you might notice I haven't mentioned the third type of student, the active non-commissioned officers (aka Second Lieutenant candidates). This is because while they go through the academy too, they're very different from the cadets:

They must be under the age of 38 and pass the Army Preliminary Course recruitment examination, which is different from the cadets exam.

They do NOT live on campus.

Their training only lasts 1 year (during peacetime), unlike the cadets 4 years. 

Because they are older than the cadets at the time they become officers, their promotion ceiling is lower as they hit the active duty retirement age before achieving high ranks.

Falman would fall into this category as he was a Warrant Officer for more than six months and clearly looks older than the rest of team Mustang. However, a year does not pass between him getting appointed to the North and him getting his promotion. My explanation for that is that the North has a shorter program for Second Lieutenant Candidates. In imperial Japan not only was the program shorter during war time (10-2 months), but the time also depended on which branch, region, and school you enrolled in. Since the North is quite hostile and is technically in a cold war with Drachma, it makes sense their Second Lieutenant Candidate program is short. The other explanation is that Falman started the program before being transferred. 

That more or less covers the Officers military training and education. Feel free to ask me if you want a more day to day explanation of the cadets’ life at the academy. You can also check this article. There's at least one documentary about it, available on Amazon Prime Japan.

Non-commissioned officers training  NCO’s training in Imperial Japan was first performed by the training corps (1871–1899), then by each unit (1899-1927), then after a decline in quality it was done at a training school (1927-1938), and finally back to the training corps until the American intervention. It's impossible for me to know if Arakawa used this system for the NCOs, and which period she chose to use, given how little information we have about the NCO characters. I still mentioned it in case anyone was curious about Fuery’s training. The training school lasted just one year and it was focused on general education, military education, and technical training.

The military police To end this, I will mention that the military police had their own academy separate from the officers’. They also had their own ranks equivalent to those of the army, i.e. Police First Lieutenant. It is possible this is the case in FMA. They're at the very least not trained together with the military personnel.

Thank you so much for reading all the way to the end. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please don't hesitate to reach to ask questions or just rant about this. I love discussing FMA.

Source Fullmetal Alchemist Manga

Chapter 24: Fullmetal Alchemist [5]

Chapter 58: footsteps of ruin [4]

Chapter 59: the immoral alchemist [1]

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

Episode 30: The Ishvalan war of extermination [3]

OVA: Another man's battlefield [2]

The complete art of Fullmetal Alchemist [6]

[graphypixllc]

Describe the Visual Identity: Making Your Brand Visually Memorable

The visual identity of your brand is the thing most people will notice first. Now, let’s go into detail about each element and explore what should be included in brand guidelines:

Brand Guidelines Logo

Your logo is the face of your brand. Outline when and how to deploy it. Include variations in format, such as horizontal or stacked. Mention minimum size and spacing requirements.

Example: Apple’s logo is iconic because it’s simple yet versatile.

It works equally well on product packaging, digital ads, and storefronts. A good mark helps people recognize your brand right away.

Color Palette

Choose primary and secondary colors that reflect your brand personality. Use tools like Pantone or HEX codes to ensure accuracy.

Example: Coca-Cola’s red evokes excitement and energy, while Tiffany & Co.’s Robin’s egg blue conveys elegance and exclusivity.

Colors evoke emotions and associations. Choosing the right palette strengthens your brand’s emotional impact.

Typography

Specify the selection of font types that match your brand’s personality. Include rules on headings, subheadings, body text, and other typographic elements.

Example: Google utilizes clean, sans-serif fonts to convey simplicity and approachability.

Typography informs both readability and perception. The wrong font undermines credibility.

Photography

Establish rules for imagery styles. Include candid shots and staged shots. Also specify filters or image treatment to utilize.

Example: Airbnb photography is about homes and actual experiences, therefore reinforcing their community-driven ethos.

Imagers tell stories, and continuing photography styles reinforce the brand narrative.

Iconography

If applicable, provide examples of approved icons and explain their role within your brand ecosystem.

Example: Microsoft’s Fluent Design System includes standardized icons that enhance the device user experience.

Icons simplify communication and improve usability, especially in digital interfaces.

By detailing these elements, you create a framework ensuring every piece of content aligns seamlessly with your overall aesthetic.

GraphyPix LLC offers multiple brand guidelines for your design. Investing in strong brand guideline templates is not just about looks. It’s about giving your audience a smooth experience. When done well, these documents are valuable tools. They empower teams, please customers, and boost growth.

[talenlee]

Game Pile: Princess Wing

Princess Wing is a Japanese indie TTRPG, by Hayato Suzumiya, in which players take on the role of Princesses at the prestigious Princess Training Academy, who defend earth from mechanical monsters called Void through their cool outfits that also double up as multi-purpose military machinery and short skirts. Drawing heavily on a particular kind of anime genre that I mostly know in the terms of ‘like Symphogear, right?’ it’s a card-based RPG where players use a predetermined micro-deck to make strategic moves and drive their narratives forward, and everything novel about it I can think of I pretty much describe in this opening paragraph.

Yeah, uh, I don’t know what I’m going to tell you about this one. Come with me on the journey to not really understanding a book that I’ve spent several days reading and the reasons why I think that is.

Just a note: I’m reading an unofficial translation of Princess Wing. I’m not fluent in Japanese, and any time I think a phrase is badly written or clunky or strange, I let it go. That’s not important to this and treating the game as if that’s vital is a great way to cut yourself out of a lot of really cool translated TTRPGs.

Straight up, the things in this game that stood out to me, from my initial notes:

I like the way it suggests players recruit other players to play NPCs in scenes. That’s a cool idea to make part of the recommended text.

I appreciate the idea of dealing players a hand they get to use over the course of a scene, meaning you can have good and bad moments that you get to pace out, without full control over the.

It includes a section on pronoun use in the game.

And then the followup notes…

Wait, the pronoun use splits everything into a hard dichotomy where players are all ‘she’ and the enemies are all ‘he’? Kinda simple binary there.

Hang on, what’s the resolution mechanic for this game? What do I do if something comes up that’s not in one of these specific tables?

Wait, character creation starts when?

At which point I realised I kinda had to give up on treating this book like I would one written in a more familiar language to me. I think it’s very it’s important to look at games outside of my genre interests and my readership space – I love Golden Sky Stories and had a lot of fun engaging with the hot mess that was Gensou Narratograph, after all. I am an anime fan, but something like Symphogear that this game is pretty explicitly referencing, has never been my interest. What’s more, this is a translation of a Japanese RPG — which means there’s a range of ways I think things should be done because they appeal to me and make clear sense to me, that are culturally signified. I won’t know what I don’t know if I don’t look.

Now, you may think, hang on, but you don’t know anything about Symphogear, so why should we care what you say about the Symphogear-inspired TTRPG? And if you need an expert’s opinion on whether or not it’s delivering on its ideas, then yeah, I suppose that’s a thing. I cannot tell you if this is a game that’s good at being Symphogear and crucially, anything I learn about this game will not be useful for interpreting Symphogear. After all, if I was to just look at this book I might assume that Symphogear is about some very specific, complex machinery that’s designed to work under specific rules and conditions, almost like a kind of murder mystery of a mechanical construction, a system of combat rules that remind me a great deal of Bleach in the way that it relies on hard-to-decipher but consistently-applied rules and mechanisms that don’t actually make the narrative they construct meaningfully engaging.

Y’know, Bleach and Symphogear, two very similar anime that I’m sure won’t annoy anyone with that comparison.

Here’s the thing: I think this game is explicitly and delicately tuned to its audience. I really do, and this is an assumption based on the idea that this game is trying to do a good job, by people who are confident in what they are doing. It has the presentation of a thoughtful, creative, well-made book, after all. How then do I grapple with this mechanically uncomfortable system, awkward problem-solving mechanism and system for narratives that need the whole thing mostly created ahead of time, across a language barrier, and not come across as being, at the very least, a little bit of a dick?

I do not know this audience. I do not know who this book was written for. It is a mystery to me and even obvious inferences – it was for people who read Japanese, probably in Japan, and probably used to other Japanese TTRPGs, of which I know exactly one – can’t be treated as representing a meaningful truth. I am peeking through a keyhole and what I am seeing makes no sense to me.

When I talk about games, I describe them as a machine that makes stories. TTRPGs, then, I tell people, are a machine that makes a machine that makes stories. It is a system that you then use to construct your game, and then you play that game to find out what happens. And twice now I’ve looked at Japanese TTRPGs that seem to instead take one step back from that freedom, away from that creativity.

I think that this game hooks you instantly if you like its pitch. Do you already have a Symphogear OC that kinda works in these five general overtones? Do you already have a character you think of as ‘An Amanda’? Well, here’s what you want, here’s the onramp, let’s go. For me? Someone who doesn’t know what it’s about and doesn’t have a reason to resonate with its looks and vibes? It has no time for me and I don’t find a reason to want to belong to a universe that is primarily about teenaged girls with multiple pages dedicated to showing you the components of their uniforms.

At the time of writing I am coming off watching another strange set of interactions about Dungeons & Dragons by people who do not like it remarking on the behaviour of those that do like it. This space is interesting because there are some valid criticisms in deep and thoughtful ways and some shockingly headassed takes that don’t make any sense to me. One criticism is that it’s really weird that the official D&D tiktok is boasting about the new Players Handbook being the largest one ever, as if to say that getting more book in your book means the game is better. To that end, I’d like to submit that Princess Wing is a game that wants to make sure before you start, you’ve already watched twenty plus episode of an anime ahead of time. By that marign, I think it’s fair to say that makes this one of the best games ever.

I don’t think this game has a bad approach, I just think the approach is one that misses me, and unlike other games I criticise for a bad approach, I think this is a good thing here. It doesn’t want me. It has no interest in me, and it does not care about informing me about its world.

You have to admire the purity.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[collegiatesins]

── ( ryan destiny. twentyfive. cis woman. she/her. ) thank god you’re here, man - have you seen OPHELIA 'OPHIE' ALEXANDER anywhere? i totally lost them after their rendition of needed me by rihanna last night. no? they’re like, aye - high and go to PALLADIAN - i think they’re a JUNIOR studying CONSERVATION & RESTORATION + EXHIBITION & MUSEUM DESIGN ? but who knows, these days. all i know is that they’re ESOTERIC, SPONTANEOUS and a SCORPIO . last night they kept going on and on about how they won MOST LIKELY TO START A CULT ON ACCIDENT last year, which is cool and whatever, but i just wouldn’t expect it out of them, considering they’re so, like, ABSENTMINDED, OVER EMOTIONAL, you know? anyways - i’m going to check down by the dogwood blossoms, i think that’s where they like to hang. text me if you see them, okay? bye! / as penned by lulu. 28. she/they. cst.

BASICS

full name : ophelia estelle alexander .

nickname(s) : ophie , o .

age : twenty - five .

date of birth : october 30th , 1999 .

birth chart : scorpio sun , cancer moon , leo rising .

hometown : bath , england .

gender : cis woman .

pronouns : she / her / hers .

sexual orientation : bisexual .

DISPOSITION

myers - briggs : the adventurer ( isfp-t )

ennegram : the enthusiast ( type seven )

moral alignment : chaotic neutral .

likes : art nouveau detailing . bat motifs . cryptic notes in margins of books . old medical illustrations . rainy days spent restoring oil paintings . anachronism . gothic architecture . dusty museum archives . allegedy cursed items . tarot decks with worn edges . dead languages . being alone in a museum after hours . curating deeply unsettling exhibits . artists who've famously gone mad . handwritten letters with custom wax seals . collecting weird buttons . the tension between beauty and rot . burning incense at 3AM . etc .

dislikes : reality tv shows . fast food chains . loud parties . unkept spaces . sudden changes . excessive swearing . unreliable / disloyal people . wastefulness . invasive questions . overly spicy food . true crime podcasts / documentaries . astrology . impersonal gifts . people who are as haunted as she is. etc .

quirks : refers to her favorite sculptures as if they’re old friends. keeps a pressed moth in her wallet instead of a photo , sketches eerie floor plans of imaginary museums in the margins of her notes . collects pieces of broken things (mirrors, jewelry, frames) and keeps them in labeled jars . chronically carries a scalpel in her bag (for “emergencies”) . sometimes forgets to answer questions out loud — only nods or stares . can identify the binding glue of a book by smell . leaves one fingernail unpainted 'for the dead' . has a tattoo written in a defunct museum cataloguing system . keeps old teeth (not hers) in a matchbox for luck . folds every note she gets into an origami bat . sews secret pockets into her pants for lockpicks/crystals/etc depending on the day . etc .

CHARACTER ASSOCIATIONS

lydia deetz ( beetlejuice ) , nancy downs ( the craft ) , pearl ( pearl ) , wednesday addams ( addams family) , clarisse mcclellan ( fahrenheit 451 ) , amy dunne ( gone girl ) , lisa rowe ( girl interrupted ) , theodora crain ( the haunting of hill house ) , delirium ( the sandman )

REPUTATION AROUND PALLADIAN

haunting the art school halls like an eclectic dressed ghost. part conservator, part cryptid. the one quietly restoring a 17th-century frame while listening to haunted classical edits at 3x speed. fluent in dead languages and emotional subtext. owns more rings than friends, and prefers it that way. rumor has it she once made a professor cry during a critique with nothing but a well-timed eyebrow raise. her dorm smells like incense, linseed oil, and secrets. makes coffee like it’s a ritual. dresses like she stepped out of a victorian séance and critiques exhibitions like she’s dissecting a corpse. the girl who names her tools, labels her books by feeling, and keeps a curated museum of memories under her bed — ticket stubs, pressed moths, broken charms, all tagged and dated. known for her resting bitch face and unnervingly specific compliments. she’ll restore a centuries-old canvas with surgical precision, but god help you if you smudge her eyeliner. unreachable by phone, reachable only by omen. bites her lip when she’s nervous, burns letters she never sends. sees beauty in rot, poetry in dust, and horror in silence. strange? maybe. unforgettable? definitely.

CHARACTER SUMMARY

tba ya'll

but basically daddy runs one of the local funeral homes and mommy's is/was a horror novelist (ex: stephen king) who became a horror headline (went missing when ophelia was 5 and has been MIA since).

8 years later ophelia's father remarried a nice elementary school teacher who didn't seem to mind the family home was located right outside a grave yard and that her lover's child was a odd little freak. in fact, sara encouraged all of ophie's odd interests and conversational topics. two years later, the happy couple gave ophie two younger siblings. twins! a boy, and a girl. those siblings are now 10 and more normcore than ophie would like but she still loves them.

ophie did a couple years of traveling and "finding herself" before deciding to further her education. she came to palladian mainly because it's her late mother's alma mater and ophelia has always had a sneaking suspicion that her mother's still alive out there somewhere. and she's convinced herself she'll be able to find answers here.

[houseofdissension]

⸻ 𐄁 𝐕𝐎𝐋𝐍𝐄𝐑-𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍𝐄  𝐈𝐍𝐂.  //  𝐒𝐔𝐁𝐉𝐄𝐂𝐓  𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄  𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐃  𝟎𝟎𝟏-𝐁

⸻ 𐄁 𝐒𝐔𝐁𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐋 𝐋𝐎𝐆 // [ 𝑹𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝑭𝒊𝒍𝒆: 𝑽𝑫𝑰-404-𝑺𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚-𝑹𝒆𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒅 ]

⁂ 𝙸𝙽𝚃𝙴𝚁𝙽𝙰𝙻 𝙰𝙲𝙲𝙴𝚂𝚂 𝙸𝙽𝚃𝙴𝚁𝙲𝙴𝙿𝚃𝙴𝙳 ⁂

This  entry  was  originally  destined  for  Volner-Downe's  Personnel  Registry,  but  has  been  quietly  rerouted  through  encrypted  Resistance  Infrastructure  under  Operation  Echoroot.  Subjects  previously  listed  as  compliant  under  Standard  Dissension  Protocol  are now  flagged  for  irregular  behavioral  residue  and  non-sanctioned  memory  persistence.  Data  scrubbers  failed  to  fully  erase  emotional  tethering. All  consenting  Dissented,  Non-Dissented,  and  Reversed  Resistance  members  are  secured  under  top-tier  identity  protection.

Behavioral  indicators  suggest  controlled  dissent  masked  as  submission.  Civic  placement  remains  active,  though  field  surveillance  has  confirmed  contact  with  unsanctioned  parties.  Various  subjects  have  been  reclassified  under  Designation:  Bloomfield  Echo—a  Resistance  asset  with  latent  restoration  potential.

Do  not  alert  internal  monitoring  systems. If it is a part of your mission spread  what occurs  from  the  inside. If  someone  seems  to  doubt  Volner-Downe,  send  a  cryptic  signal. 𝑾𝒆  𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘  𝒉𝒐𝒘  𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚  𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅  𝒕𝒐  𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒄𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆  𝒖𝒔. 𝑾𝒆  𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓  𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕  𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚  𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅  𝒖𝒔  𝒕𝒐  𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒕. Meet  us  where  the  lines  blur.

[  𝗩𝗢𝗟𝗡𝗘𝗥-𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗡𝗘  𝗜𝗡𝗖. 𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘  //  𝗡𝗢𝗡 𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗦𝗘𝗡𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠  ]

╰──   ella purnell, 30,  cis-female,  she + her  ]  ＞  𝙾𝙱𝚂𝙴𝚁𝚅𝙴𝙳  𝙰𝚂𝚂𝙴𝚃  𝙻𝙾𝙶:  The  individual  known  informally  as  [  MANON MOVSKA  ]  has  been  noted  for  presence  within  the  Downe’s  Hollow  parameters.  According  to  behavioral  estimates,  they  present  at  approximately  [  THIRTY  ]  and  have  been  under  evaluation  for  [  THIRTY YEARS  ].  During  scheduled  daylight  hours,  they  are  recorded  operating  in  the  role  of  [  EMOTIONAL RECOVERY ARCHIVIST & THERAPIST  /  UNKNOWINGLY DISSENTED  ].  Community  observation  reports  suggest  notable  behavioral  markers:  prone  to  [  UNSTABLE  ]  under  stress,  yet  reportedly  [  EMPATHETIC  ]  in  collective  settings.  Volner-issued  residency  placement:  [  SEBASTIAN ROW / DESMOND TOWERS  ].  Echo  archetypes  detected  in  personality  patterns  include:  [  a mausoleum of memory, lacquered in protocol — she walks like a question left unanswered, spine straight, smile studied; built from clinical whispers and smuggled grief, she is the daughter of fracture, trained in the art of making others whole; her hands are lullabies; her gaze, a locked drawer — fluent in triggers, thresholds, and the taste of old music; she catalogues pain like scripture, each step a footnote in a life she’s not sure is hers.  ].  𝚂𝚃𝙰𝚃𝚄𝚂:  under  continued  observation.  Decompression  tolerance  uncertain.  Reintegration  probability:  TBD.  

𐄁  𝗩𝗢𝗟𝗡𝗘𝗥-𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗡𝗘  𝗜𝗡𝗖.  //  𝗣𝗢𝗦𝗧-𝗦𝗘𝗧𝗧𝗟𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧  𝗢𝗡𝗕𝗢𝗔𝗥𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚  𝗘𝗩𝗔𝗟𝗨𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘 𝗘𝗩𝗔𝗟𝗨𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡.

FORM  82-D  |  RESIDENCY  JUSTIFICATION  INTAKE: Your  responses  are  recorded  under  Civic  Harmony  Protocol  6.1.  Please  answer  with  full  clarity  and  personal  accountability.  Ambiguity  may  result  in  further  observation. ⸻  𐄁  𝙾𝙿𝙴𝚁𝙰𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽 𝙴𝙲𝙷𝙾𝚁𝙾𝙾𝚃 //  𝙵𝙸𝙴𝙻𝙳 𝙵𝙾𝚁𝙼  𝟸𝟷-𝚂 UNAUTHORIZED  RESIDENCY  TRACE  –  ACTIVE  DISSENT  ALIGNMENT You  are  speaking  into  a  system  not  meant  for  them.  Your  words  will  not  be  traced—unless  you  falter. State  your  reason  for  wanting to join The Resistance  with  precision.  Do  not  overreach.  Do  not  embellish. Vagueness  invites  audit.  Honesty  cloaked  in  care  invites  protection. We’re  not  asking  for  your  confession. We’re  asking  if  you  remember  what you stand for.

1.  Please  describe  the  circumstances  of  your  initial  transition  into  Downe’s  Hollow.

Plucking  a  match  from  the  bunker’s  emergency  kit  beside  her  —  unlit,  slightly  bent  —  she  rolls  it  between  her  fingers  like  a  talisman.  Back  and  forth,  back  and  forth.  The  sound  was  soft,  wooden,  steady.  Her  gaze  remained  elsewhere,  as  if  she’s  listening  for  something  only  she  can  hear:  a  hum  beneath  the  generators,  or  maybe  the  tail  end  of  someone  else’s  dream. Manon  speaks  without  ceremony,  but  every  word  lands  like  a  thread  drawn  tight.   ❛  I  wasn’t  brought  into  Downe’s  Hollow,  ❜   she  starts,  twirling  a  strand  of  hair.   ❛  I  was  born  here.  State-certified  at  the  Second  Start  Retreat.  Y'know,  that  little  facility  off  the  Garden  District  in  Seb's  Row  that  smells  like  old  gauze  and  artificial  citrus?  My  sister  Lucienne  and  I  were  wards  of  the  Company  before  we  knew  how  to  write  our  own  names.  Our  father  worked  for  them.  Mother  too,  for  a  while  —  before  she  was…  ❜   Her  voice  catches  —  not  from  emotion,  but  from  CAUTION.  The  sentence  cuts  clean.   ❛  Before  she  left.  ❜ The  match  turned  between  her  knuckles  again,  now  a  little  faster. Truth  was  she  no longer  transitioned  into  the  Hollow.  Manon  transitioned,  much  like  everyone  else  in  the  Resistance,  into something else —  awareness:  into  questions  she  wasn’t  supposed  to  ask,  the  ones  they  don’t  put  in  the  files.  Like  why  her  memory  collapsed  around  certain  dates,  why  did  she�� sometimes wake  with  saltwater  behind  her  eyes  and  the  smell  of  burning  pine  that  DIDN'T  come  from  anywhere  near  her apartment in Sebastian  Row,  why  sometimes  she  found  notes  written  in  her  handwriting,  but  not  in  her  voice?  It's  something  she  keeps  to  herself. Glancing  down  at  the  matchstick,  her  thumb  pressed  hard  enough  to  snap  it  —  but  she  doesn’t.   ❛  They  say  Downe’s  Hollow  is  a  haven  for  order.  For  healing  and  for  structure.  I  used  to  believe  that.  I  spent  the  first  half  of  my  life  trying  to  become  their  perfect  answer.  But  now?  ❜   She  offers  a  thin,  drowsy  smile  —  beautiful,   friendly,  her  dimples  ripen  on  her  cheeks,  prompting  fond  lines  to  fan  out  from  the  undershadows  of  her  large  bright  green  eyes.   ❛  Now  I  think  I’ve  been  living  in  the  question  all  along.  ❜ As  much  as  though  she'd  whittled  and  hewn  herself  from  lost  girl  to  expert  therapist,  she'd  had  to  toil  herself  to  detect MINUTIAE in  expression  and  body  language,  to  mold  understanding  out  of  parting  lips disarticulating  due  to  intense  trauma  that  she  stands  to  treat  everyday.  Manon  drops  the  match  back  in  the  tin,  doesn't  light  it.  Doesn’t  need  to.  The  fire  had  started  years  ago.

2.  At  the  time  of  your  arrival,  what  were  you  running  from,  or  toward?

One  of  her  boots  rests  atop  the  leg  of  the  chair  opposite,  casual  in  its  defiance  of  the  room’s  sterile  geometry.  Fingers  having  moved  on  to  idly  toy  with  the  elastic  of  a  resistance-issued  wristband,  pulling  it  until  it  STRAINS,  then  releasing  it  in  slow,  silent  intervals.  Posture  relaxed  —  only  the  placidness  of  someone  accustomed  to  waiting  for  truths  to  rise  on  their  own,  like  bruises. Her  voice  was  soft, deep  but  unmistakably  amused,  touched  with  something  wry  and  bone-deep  —    ❛  Running?  ❜   The  word  tastes  absurd,  and  her  smile  briefly  flickers  to  life  —   small,  sharp,  and  not  particularly  warm.    ❛  Hun,  remember,  I  was  born  here.  In  the  bowels  of  the  doctrine,  fed  soy  and  slogans.  I  knew  how  to  recite  the  daily  invocations  before  I  knew  how  to  braid  my  own  hair.  Where,  exactly,  could  I  have  run  to  that  wasn’t  already  charted  on  their  spreadsheets?  ❜   Manon  was  never  more  aware  of  her  own  mortality  than  she  was  now...  every  day  since  she  joined  this “insurrection”  as  Volner-Downe  preferred  to  call  it,  every  part  of  her  is  frangible  and fractured  because  she  began  here  without  a  choice and she knows the consequences if found out. (  these  feelings  do  not,  of  course,  prevent  her  from  being  cocksure  in  her  own  way  ). A diminutive  hand  gestures  vaguely,  languidly,  as  if  pointing  to  a  GODLESS  sky  somewhere  beyond  the  concrete.   ❛  I  guess  if  I  was  running  from  anything,  it  wasn’t  a  place.  It  was  a  version  of  myself  I  couldn’t  quite  name.  People  assumed  I  was  chasing  a  career,  or  purpose,  or  stability  —  and  I  was  but  it  was  more  than  that  too.  I  think  I  was  following  the  scent  of  something  half-buried.  An  echo,  something  like…  a  fracture.  ❜ The  grin  returns  —  her  TRADEMARK  kind,  equal  parts  flirtatious  and  exhaustion.   ❛  Turns  out,  when  you  grow  up  under  glass,  even  the  act  of  breathing  sideways  feels  like  rebellion.  ❜

3.  Do  you  believe  you  chose  this  life,  or  were  chosen  for  it?

A small judder  plays  at  Manon's  fingertips  as  she  presses  them  to  the  metal  of  the  thermos she's had at her side,  as  if  hoping  it  might  somehow  warm  again.  It's  almost  like  she  can't  keep  still;  the  vivid  remembrance  of  being  interrogated  throughout  her  years  in  Downe's  Hollow  education  system  and  way  after.  Despite  knowing  this  was  different,  it  brought  out  an  unease  in  her.  Funny  that,  how  her  job  was  similar  in  the  way  of  prying,  but  she  couldn't  seem  to  handle  the  poking  around  into  her  life.  The  caffeine's  long  gone  but  the  gesture  remains  —  a  muscle  memory  of  comfort,  of  something  grounding.  Her  gaze  drifted  —  not  away,  but  THROUGH,  as  if  she’s  watching  something  unfold  just  beyond  the  walls  of  the  bunker,  in  a  place  memory  won’t  fully  illuminate.  A  glint  of  tension  flickers  at  the  corner  of  her  mouth,  not  quite  a  grimace,  not  quite  a  smile. ❛  Honestly I’d  love  to  say  I  chose  this  life  —  really,  I  would.  That  it  was  some  bold,  defiant  moment  of  clarity,  a  line  drawn  in  the  ash  where  I  decided  to  stop  being  what  they  indoctrinated  and  started  becoming  something  of  my  own  making,  ❜   clipped  off  with  a  snap-clap  of  her  hands  together  that  culminated  in  a  finger  gun.  Seemingly  playful.  Manufacturing  a  mockery  out  of  these  questions  permitted  her  some  room  for  the  uncomfortable  niggle  of  SINCERITY  to  leech  out  with  each  breath.   ❛  but  the  truth  is  messier  and  duller.  There  was  no  single  moment,  no  dramatic  unraveling.  Just…  small  steps.  A  hundred  quiet  decisions  made  while  the  room  was  still  spinning.  I  told  myself  I  was  helping,  that  my  work  mattered,  that  if  I  listened  closely  enough  —  to  the  patients,  to  the  patterns  —  I’d  hear  something  worth  staying  for.  Or  so  I  thought,  but  deep  down  I  think  I  was  already  woven  into  it.  ❜ Drawing  in  a  breath  as  if  to  continue,  it  takes  a  minute  to  pass  to  realize  that  she  ISN'T.  The  silence  afterward  wasn't  empty:  it’s  heavy,  like  something  folded  and  set  aside.

4.  When  you  envision  the  person  you  used  to  be,  what  part  of  them  still  lingers  in  the  current  design?

❛  Do  we  ever  really  molt  entirely  or  just  learn  to  wear  the  old  skin  inside  out?  ❜   The  question  floats  out  before  the  real  answer  arrives,  swaddled  in  a  smirk  so  brief  it  might’ve  been  imagined.  Brow  raised  pointedly,  her  fingers  resumed  their  soft  percussion  against  the  thermos  —  slower  this  time,  as  though  her  body  was  trying  to  DIVERT  itself  from  the  edges  her  mind  kept  grazing.  There’s  no  defensiveness  in  her  tone,  but  it  wavers  around  the  middle,  like  she  was  walking  through  a  room  she  used  to  live  in  and  wasn’t  sure  which  of  the  furniture  was  hers.   ❛  Of  course  when  I  was  a  kid  I  was  softer,  naive  —  I  believed  that  if  you  were  good  enough,  thorough  enough,  precise  enough,  the  world  would  hold.  That  care  could  be  an  architecture,  and  if  I  tended  to  people  with  enough  gentleness,  maybe  nothing  would  fall  through.  I  have  that  empathy  in  me  still,  for  sure.  In  the  way  I  catalog  suffering  like  scripture,  in  the  way  I  memorize  the  tea  preferences  of  clients  I’m  not  supposed  to  get  attached  to.  I  always  wanted  to  fix  things  before  I  understood  that  some  breakages  are  structural.  I  wasn’t  wrong  back  then.  Just…  unfinished.  ❜

5.  In  your  current  state  of  clarity,  how  would  you  describe  your  belief  in  the  Dissension  Procedure?

A  TREMOR  worked  its  way  through  her  knee,  restless  beneath  the  table,  though  her  face  remained  composed  —  too  composed,  like  a  sculpture  left  to  weather  indoors.  Unlike  her  usual  demeanor.  The  dim  bunker  light  paints  her  prominent  eyes  the  color  of  old  tea,  and  something  in  her  expression  flickers  —  not  enough  to  be  called  grief,  not  yet.  Now  her  thumb  draws  circles  against  the  base  of  her  thermos,  absentminded  and  ritualistic,  as  if  motion  could  anchor  thought.  For  a�� moment,  she  looks  not  like  a  therapist,  an  archivist  or  a  resistor,  but  like  a  woman  suspended  in  the  uncanny  stillness  between  suspicion  and  confirmation. ❛  You  know  the  story  we’re  trained  to  believe  —  the  Procedure  is  salvation,  etcetera,  etcetera.  For  a  long  time,  I  didn’t  argue  with  that.  I’d  seen  the  worst  of  the  mind;  I  knew  how  heavy  the  past  could  become  when  carried  unchecked,  but  clarity’s  a  strange  thing.  It  doesn’t  arrive  with  trumpets  —  it  creeps  in  during  the  lull  between  cases,  during  late  nights  where  you  start  recognizing  your  own  handwriting  in  notebooks  you  don’t  remember  writing  in.  When  strangers  call  you  a  name  you’ve  never  heard,  and  look  wounded  when  you  don’t  respond.  ❜   The  air  seems  thinner  in  here  now.  Or  maybe  that’s  just  her  breath,  drawn  too  shallow.  She’d  almost  let  too  much  slip  —  came  PERILOUSLY  close  to  unveiling  the  edges  of  herself.   Instead, she continued on: ❛  There  was  a  boy  —  fifteen,  maybe.  Quiet  and  real  bright.  I  prepped  him  for  Reversal  not  long  after  I  joined  the  Resistance,  tried  to  ease  his  fear  with  soft  clinical  language  and  kind  eyes.  He  didn’t  make  it  past  the  second  week.  Brain  hemorrhage,  Vincent  said.  Failure  to  reintegrate,  and  I  remember  thinking  —  who  consented  to  this?  Who  told  him  this  was  a  mercy?  And  now…  ❜   Voice  fraying,  just  slightly,  she  quickly  gathers  it  like  thread.   ❛  I  despise  Dissension.  Lately,  I’ve  stopped  pretending  it’s  just  about  ethics.  It’s  personal  —  how  could  it  not  be?  I  watched  what  it  did  to  my  sister.  One  day  she  was  Lucienne  —  sharp,  loud,  full  of  opinions  —  and  the  next,  she  was  someone  else  entirely.  Like  they’d  scraped  her  clean  and  left  just  the  shell  behind.  That  kind  of  thing  doesn’t  leave  you.  It  gets  under  your  skin,  makes  you  second-guess  your  own  memories.  Sometimes  I  wonder  if  that’s  what  I’ve  been  doing  all  along  —  trying  not  to  look  too  closely,  in  case  I  see  the  same  cracks  in  myself.  ❜

𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞  𝐭𝐨  𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐫-𝐃𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐞  𝐈𝐧𝐜.,  𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦  𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵  𝘪𝘴  𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺  𝘢𝘯𝘥  𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦  𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴  𝘵𝘩𝘦  𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧.  𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳  𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦  𝘩𝘢𝘴  𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯  𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘥,  𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳  𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭  𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥.  𝘞𝘦  𝘢𝘳𝘦  𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥  𝘵𝘰  𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯  𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴  𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺  𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.

𝗪𝗲’𝗿𝗲  𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗱  𝘁𝗼  𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲  𝘆𝗼𝘂  𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿  𝗼𝘂𝗿  𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲. –  Compliance.  Continuity.  Purpose.

⸻ 𐄁 𝚁𝙴𝙲𝙻𝙰𝙸𝙼𝙴𝙳 𝙵𝙸𝙴𝙻𝙳 𝙻𝙾𝙶 // 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙷𝙾𝚄𝚂𝙴 𝙱𝙴𝙽𝙴𝙰𝚃𝙷 𝙰𝚄𝚃𝙷𝙾𝚁𝙸𝚃𝚈

You  were  not  born  for  their  corridors. You  were  not  made  to  smile  on  cue.

Your  signal  reached  us—quiet  but  clear.  The  static  beneath  your  routine  was  heard,  translated,  carried  forward: you  are  not  alone.

Here,  the  rules  do  not  hold.  Memory  is  not  a  defect.  Dissonance  is  not  disease. You  are  joining  something  older  than  silence.  We  do  not  promise  safety. We  promise  truth—and  the  strength  to  face  what  was  taken.

𝗪𝗲  𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲  𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻  𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴. Meet  us  at  the  equator.

[xaltius]

Unlocking the Power of Data: Essential Skills to Become a Data Scientist

In today's data-driven world, the demand for skilled data scientists is skyrocketing. These professionals are the key to transforming raw information into actionable insights, driving innovation and shaping business strategies. But what exactly does it take to become a data scientist? It's a multidisciplinary field, requiring a unique blend of technical prowess and analytical thinking. Let's break down the essential skills you'll need to embark on this exciting career path.

1. Strong Mathematical and Statistical Foundation:

At the heart of data science lies a deep understanding of mathematics and statistics. You'll need to grasp concepts like:

Linear Algebra and Calculus: Essential for understanding machine learning algorithms and optimizing models.

Probability and Statistics: Crucial for data analysis, hypothesis testing, and drawing meaningful conclusions from data.

2. Programming Proficiency (Python and/or R):

Data scientists are fluent in at least one, if not both, of the dominant programming languages in the field:

Python: Known for its readability and extensive libraries like Pandas, NumPy, Scikit-learn, and TensorFlow, making it ideal for data manipulation, analysis, and machine learning.

R: Specifically designed for statistical computing and graphics, R offers a rich ecosystem of packages for statistical modeling and visualization.

3. Data Wrangling and Preprocessing Skills:

Raw data is rarely clean and ready for analysis. A significant portion of a data scientist's time is spent on:

Data Cleaning: Handling missing values, outliers, and inconsistencies.

Data Transformation: Reshaping, merging, and aggregating data.

Feature Engineering: Creating new features from existing data to improve model performance.

4. Expertise in Databases and SQL:

Data often resides in databases. Proficiency in SQL (Structured Query Language) is essential for:

Extracting Data: Querying and retrieving data from various database systems.

Data Manipulation: Filtering, joining, and aggregating data within databases.

5. Machine Learning Mastery:

Machine learning is a core component of data science, enabling you to build models that learn from data and make predictions or classifications. Key areas include:

Supervised Learning: Regression, classification algorithms.

Unsupervised Learning: Clustering, dimensionality reduction.

Model Selection and Evaluation: Choosing the right algorithms and assessing their performance.

6. Data Visualization and Communication Skills:

Being able to effectively communicate your findings is just as important as the analysis itself. You'll need to:

Visualize Data: Create compelling charts and graphs to explore patterns and insights using libraries like Matplotlib, Seaborn (Python), or ggplot2 (R).

Tell Data Stories: Present your findings in a clear and concise manner that resonates with both technical and non-technical audiences.

7. Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Abilities:

Data scientists are essentially problem solvers. You need to be able to:

Define Business Problems: Translate business challenges into data science questions.

Develop Analytical Frameworks: Structure your approach to solve complex problems.

Interpret Results: Draw meaningful conclusions and translate them into actionable recommendations.

8. Domain Knowledge (Optional but Highly Beneficial):

Having expertise in the specific industry or domain you're working in can give you a significant advantage. It helps you understand the context of the data and formulate more relevant questions.

9. Curiosity and a Growth Mindset:

The field of data science is constantly evolving. A genuine curiosity and a willingness to learn new technologies and techniques are crucial for long-term success.

10. Strong Communication and Collaboration Skills:

Data scientists often work in teams and need to collaborate effectively with engineers, business stakeholders, and other experts.

Kickstart Your Data Science Journey with Xaltius Academy's Data Science and AI Program:

Acquiring these skills can seem like a daunting task, but structured learning programs can provide a clear and effective path. Xaltius Academy's Data Science and AI Program is designed to equip you with the essential knowledge and practical experience to become a successful data scientist.

Key benefits of the program:

Comprehensive Curriculum: Covers all the core skills mentioned above, from foundational mathematics to advanced machine learning techniques.

Hands-on Projects: Provides practical experience working with real-world datasets and building a strong portfolio.

Expert Instructors: Learn from industry professionals with years of experience in data science and AI.

Career Support: Offers guidance and resources to help you launch your data science career.

Becoming a data scientist is a rewarding journey that blends technical expertise with analytical thinking. By focusing on developing these key skills and leveraging resources like Xaltius Academy's program, you can position yourself for a successful and impactful career in this in-demand field. The power of data is waiting to be unlocked – are you ready to take the challenge?

[theatrekidenergy]

Ahoj / Hello / Ciao !!

General info

Hey, my name is Adam! He/him.

I speak English, Czech*, and I’m learning French! Currently high A1/early A2 on the CEFR for French. I’m also proficient in Russian and Italian, but not fluent.

-> * Note: Czech is my native language but living in America has stripped me of (most) of my ability to speak it lol

Special interests — Neuroscience, Formula 1

Current hyperfixation — The Pitt

-> Very recently stopped being fixated on Conclave (16’ and 24’) and still the biggest Vincent fan!!

MBTI - I’m an ambriverted INFJ-T

Not super important to my blog but I’m a saarloos wolfdog therian, expect the occasional post but don’t worry if it isn’t your thing.

I’m disabled and an ambulatory cane user. I have hypermobile ehler danlos syndrome (hEDS) and fibromyalgia. I will likely speak about my experiences with disability on this blog, and I’m always happy to answer any and all questions you may have about my experiences or conditions!! ❤️

I’m also autistic and have ADHD. ����

I’m a high level figure skater! Skating is the only thing I can do without pain or flairing up. Dynamic disabilities exist!

Favorites

Color - Navy blue, neutral shades

Shows - Moon knight, Daredevil, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Star Trek: Strange new worlds, House MD, Madam Secretary, Designated Survivor, Skeleton Crew, Northern Exposure, The Pitt

Movies: Conclave, Captain America: Civil War, Star Trek: the voyage home, An American Werewolf In London, Gran Turismo, The F1 Movie

Songs - Chosen by Måneskin, L’altra dimensione by Måneskin, Super massive black hole by Muse, Homesick by Noah Kahan, Homesick by The Finn Brothers, Northern Attitude by Noah Kahan, Milk & Sticks by Boy & Bear, Feeding Line by Boy & Bear

-> Favorite artists are Noah Kahan, Boy & Bear, Måneskin, Hozier, La Femme, Videoclub, Odetari, Lord Huron, and Crowded House

Other blogs

Please check these out when you get the chance! 🫶

— @theadamchronical -> Academic and figure skating focused side blog

— @shiftingwithadam -> Shifting blog

BYF & DNI

BYF ( Before you follow ) : I am a minor, keep this in mind when interacting with me in DM’s, tone tags are greatly appreciated. I do try my absolute best to keep this page safe for younger folks, but there is a chance the occasional curse word will slip through so if you regress or have a little in your system tread with caution! 🫶

DNI ( Do Not interact with me if you are ) : Basic DNI, any form of far right groups, transid, rad queers, TERFs

(Last update 27 June 2025 - 27/06/25)

(This post is still in Progress!)