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purgemarchlockdown · 5 months ago

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Kotoko's ideology

(Also Known As: Kotoko has fascist ideals and I read way too many wikipedia pages for this.) (CWs: Discussion centered around Prejudice, ableism, sexism, and other topics that are associated with right winged/fascist concepts)

(Note: I went on this rabbit hole because of This post from Gunsli that covers things I don't cover here. Go read it! Plus this post exists because of a lot of conversations from friends out of fandom, and in fandom, like 74n5n and the affermentioned Gunsli who also helped in proofreading!)

So Kotoko is one of my personal favorites of the cast. There's a lot of things I find interesting and intriguing about her and her characterization and her place in the story.

One of those things is her worldview. I'm obsessed with it to say the least. It's one of my favorite things about her characterization. I find it to be a complex and emphatic look at a specific worldview:

Fascism.

Vigilante Justice

Okay so, fascism as an ideology is something we tend to associate with conservative right-wingers and powerful political parties. In our stories, there's a bit of a mythical edge to the image of fascist dystopia. Something strong and uniform.

Like, a lot of cartoons and shows and comics have the alternate nazi dimension where fascism reigns supreme over the populace, for example. We got many films and shows of the heroes standing up against faceless images of Evil Nazis or Nazi-likes, with leaders who are powerful scientists or soldiers hiding somewhere scheming something.

We can tell if someone is a fascist, we say to ourselves. The aesthetic qualities of fascism are something we can all recognize. Right?

Kotoko Yuzuhira is a (notably afab, put a pin in this) college dropout vigilante.

This is immediately incompatible with how we tend to view it. She's not a faceless drone or general. She's someone working with limited resources trying to hunt down evil because The Law can't do it.

A Underdog Revolutionary, that's how she thinks of herself.

Kotoko: Yes. I hate evil. Hurting innocent people with violence, taking away from others, killing people… I hate all this evil behaviour! The law being unable to judge some sins, there's too many of these cases in this world. Having clearly bullied and torturing the weak, but exploiting loopholes in laws, there's so many sinners who still live in such a carefree manner! Even though I want to change this world, I alone only have this much power.

Kershaw argues that the difference between fascism and other forms of right-wing authoritarianism in the Interwar period is that the latter generally aimed "to conserve the existing social order", whereas fascism was "revolutionary", seeking to change society and obtain "total commitment" from the population.[47]

Robert O. Paxton finds that even though fascism "maintained the existing regime of property and social hierarchy", it cannot be considered "simply a more muscular form of conservatism" because "fascism in power did carry out some changes profound enough to be called 'revolutionary.'"[228] These transformations "often set fascists into conflict with conservatives rooted in families, churches, social rank, and property."

And that's what she...is. I'm not going to say Kotoko is part of a secret evil organization or anything like that. She is an underdog, at least at the start of Milgram. She's a single individual up against society and social order. A Heroic individual standing up against erroneous social structures.

Really, Kotoko presents as very classically heroic, she's directly acting to save people, confident, doing real research, actually finding those who deserve punishment and bringing it upon them.

She's determined, she's strong willed, even when she's suffering she doesn't stop.

T2Q6: Don’t you feel scared of killing people? A: If it’s for the world. How I feel about it is completely irrelevant.

It's sad and tragic, but she knows that if no one does it then nothing will actually change.

Kotoko: If you brag about hating evil, act against it! Carry on the belief that your actions can change this world! If you only brag about it from afar, the world will just continue to rot no matter how many of you are there!

She holds no attachment, no qualms, no second guesses. She does what is good at the cost of her own self, she's a heroic ideal in that sense. A hero so willing to do what is right even at the cost of their own self.

T2Q14: Don’t you feel a sense of isolation in your current situation? A: It feels like nothings changed. If the world gets even a little better just by me undertaking this isolation, then that is the role the strong play.

Someone who actually has the strength and intelligence to do the things that no one else can do.

T2Q7: Why did you choose law school? A: Because I have my suspicions. That’s the majority of my reason to why I chose to study it. Cause it’s unsightly to spout complaints without having proper knowledge T1Q4: When did you start learning martial arts? A: In elementary school, perhaps. Without enough power, you can't enforce justice and do the right thing, can you?

Who actually acts instead of just waiting around for the world to fix itself.

Kotoko: You keep asking for it, but as soon as it happens near you by your own choice, you all start complaining and evading your responsibility... You're always like this... Always such idiots!

Able to actually handle the problems thrown at her, instead of running away like a coward.

T2Q20: What would you have done if you weren’t forgiven? A: I’d despise it all. To compromise justice just because you’re unable to withstand the pain that comes with it is unbelievable

Fascism supports the creation of a New Man who is a strong-willed, dynamic archetype, a figure of direct action and bellicose violence. An anti-individualist, he is characterized by a sense of confidence and masculinity, quiet dignity and self-worth, determination, and authoritativeness. With a detachment from romantic love, family background and schooling, his worldview is romanticized, passionate, serious and realist, preoccupied with the honoring of fallen heroes, a strong belief in personal responsibility, national rebirth and renewal.

And there's something genuinely admirable about that intent of hers. It's sincere. She's disgusted at the state of the world, at how horrible it's become. Even implying that this isn't the Normal version of the world, but a distorted, corrupted one.

Becoming light-headed again, it all becomes crazy The normalcy sought for, Fading away, Everytime death comes The soul moves forward

1. The mythical past—used to invoke a nostalgia for a fictional time when the nation was great as it was not yet sullied by the “Other.”

Kotoko's ideology is built on an idea of the world's Unnatural Impurity. The idea that there is something corrupting and poisoning it. That Whatever is causing harm to the world is an External Thing. One that can be beaten if she puts enough pressure on it. At least for a while.

T2Q5: How do you deal with evil that can’t be bested by strength? A: Force it so that it can. No matter how long it takes, no matter what means I’ll need to use.

So I ask the question, what Does she consider evil?

Sinners

Okay, so she already answered this question, in her T1 interrogations she describes evil as:

T1Q20: What do you think is evil? A: Oppressing innocent weaklings.

Which is a pretty cut and dry answer that she elaborates on in her VDs:

Case Closed! We don't have to think more about this! Everyone go home! The post is done!

... Okay so it's not as simple as that. It's pretty clear that Kotoko's opinions on evil and how it should be treated is a bit...

Kotoko: Treat you like a child? Hah, you’ve got to be kidding. Back when I was your age, I was already the person I am today. I don’t have any plans to let you get away with something just “because you’re a child.” ……remember that.

Extreme, to say the least. She's very "Violence First." Because:

T2Q16: Do you think there are the ‘weak’ among the other prisoners? A: I’m sure there’s a lot. Those with weak wills will easily turn to evil. The only thing we can do is firmly instil the risk of turning to it.

Which- There's another contradiction! She just defined evil as the ones who oppress weaklings, yet right here she shows her disdain for the weak for so easily turning to evil.

And again, in the same trial, she refers to the prisoners as:

T2Q11: Is there really no chance to start anew for wrongdoers? A: No way. Once a beast gets a taste for human flesh, it will always come back for seconds.

And continues to discuss the matters of the strong, and how there oppressing the weak.

T2Q10: What is your ideal image of a hero? A: An ally of the weak. Someone who helps the weak and crushes the strong.

These are two very conflicting ideas. It's almost like:

Fascist societies rhetorically cast their enemies as "at the same time too strong and too weak". On the one hand, fascists play up the power of certain disfavored elites to encourage in their followers a sense of grievance and humiliation. On the other hand, fascist leaders point to the decadence of those elites as proof of their ultimate feebleness in the face of an overwhelming popular will.

And not only that- Kotoko casts herself as an underdog, and the assumption of that role is presuming one as "weaker than" or "having less opportunity/power/skill" than the one above, the elites above her who are stronger and more powerful than her. The Beasts who roam the land. Who will always win, because, in her own words.

T2Q18: What would you do if evil disappeared from the world? A: I see where you’re getting at. But I believe it will never truly disappear.

"Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy" because "life is permanent warfare" – there must always be an enemy to fight. Both fascist Germany under Hitler and Italy under Mussolini worked first to organize and clean up their respective countries and then build the war machines that they later intended to and did use, despite Germany being under restrictions of the Versailles treaty to not build a military force. This principle leads to a fundamental contradiction within fascism: the incompatibility of ultimate triumph with perpetual war.

Kotoko: How amusing! Are you really a warden? Es: Shut up... Kotoko: You let their sins off just because they're close to you? You're making the punishment less severe just because they get along with you? What's next? Going to give them leniency for their looks? For their personality? For how long have you known them? Es: I told you... to shut up... Kotoko: Why would I? I'm trying to tell you the truth. In MILGRAM, a warden with mindset of yours is just usele- Es: Shut the hell up! [slaps] Kotoko: [catching breath] "Violence"... you call it? Being angry at hurting your precious prisoners... [laughs] Ha... It's not even violence at all. Es: ?.. Kotoko: Weak... You're too weak. With that fragile body of yours, you can't stop anyone. You can't protect anyone. You can't even do your justice. All imperfect. Es: Imperfect?.. Kotoko: In order to stop someone, you have to squeeze their throat. Without mercy.

There's this sort of...self victimization to it? If that makes sense.

6. Victimhood—casting “Us” as victims of “Them”, who are taking resources from “Us” and demanding special rights.

A sense of frustration and anger at herself and the world for being so weak and pathetic.

A form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation or victimhood

And that these feelings of weakness and shame are real reasons to attack who she views as enemies. No matter if they are strong.

the belief that one’s group is a victim, a sentiment that justifies any action, without legal or moral limits, against its enemies, both internal and external;

Or weak.

Because Kotoko holds a lot of genuine anger at who she considers "weak." As shown above and in Many other instances. She literally calls them "Useless weaklings" in her T2 voiceline. She has this Deep Anger and Bitterness at those who she considers not doing enough to help. To those who are failing to actually do anything of actual substance.

Kotoko: How ridiculous... It's always like this... All of you weaklings always act like this... All of you enjoy seeing someone getting hurt... (...) Kotoko: You keep asking for it, but as soon as it happens near you by your own choice, you all start complaining and evading your responsibility... You're always like this... Always such idiots! Es: I acknowledge it. You're the strong one, and we're weak. You're right. But that's how we are. Kotoko: You have no power, and yet you make no effort to gain it! You're talking about justice, but it just doesn't make sense! You're invested in people's disasters, yet you take a position of "I have nothing to do with it"! You can't even face your true selves!

"Contempt for the weak", which is uncomfortably married to a chauvinistic popular elitism, in which every member of society is superior to outsiders by virtue of belonging to the in-group. Eco sees in these attitudes the root of a deep tension in the fundamentally hierarchical structure of fascist polities, as they encourage leaders to despise their underlings, up to the ultimate leader, who holds the whole country in contempt for having allowed him to overtake it by force.

So, if the words strong and weak just refer to the enemy, and those descriptors of the enemy can change depending on which one is more suitable for the situation. Thus making the idea of the evil that are "oppressing innocent weaklings" be more a subjective concept.

Then...what else can we search for when it comes to determining how Kotoko views who is "evil."

Cause, it's not just because they don't agree with her. It wouldn't have mattered if they agreed with her or not really. Yuno says it outright:

Yuno: Really? If you ask me, Kotoko is someone I would never want to make my friend, though. She’s the type who picks a conclusion from the very beginning and won’t actually talk with you.

Kotoko has stated that she has been tracking Mikoto Kayano since the start. Even though at the time she was semi-amicable with everyone. With Mikoto even being rather insistent that he did nothing wrong at all.

Kotoko: Like me being suspicious of Kayano Mikoto’s actions, carefully tracking his actions, it's all under your permission.

And she's said this again in the interrogation! Saying that she had "her suspicions."

T2Q17: Why did you choose law school? A: Because I have my suspicions. That’s the majority of my reason to why I chose to study it. Cause it’s unsightly to spout complaints without having proper knowledge

Suspicious about what? About who? She says it's the evil, the sinners, but who is this? Who is this evil? Criminals? That's just the terminology she uses. If it really was just criminals shouldn't she be against MILGRAM? Es? They did kidnap her and she has no Knowledge of their true intentions, and yet she doesn't trust her fellow prisoners but the Guard who locked them up.

"Obsession with a plot" and the hyping-up of an enemy threat. This often combines an appeal to xenophobia with a fear of disloyalty and sabotage from marginalized groups living within the society (such as the German elite's "fear" of the 1930s Jewish populace's businesses and well-doings; see also antisemitism). Eco also cites Pat Robertson's book The New World Order as a prominent example of a plot obsession.

And so, I ask again. Who does Kotoko believe to be evil?

"Your Existence is a Crime"

Chauvinism (/ˈʃoʊvɪnɪzəm/ SHOH-vih-nih-zəm) is the unreasonable belief in the superiority or dominance of one's own group or people, who are seen as strong and virtuous, while others are considered weak, unworthy, or inferior.

Kotoko Canonically Holds Ableist Beliefs.

This isn't up for debate.

22/12/15 (Kotoko’s Birthday)

Kotoko: Hm. The border between the two is getting a lot vaguer. Your entire existence is a crime. And I will see you’re punished for it. That is what Milgram, and Es, and I have chosen.

“UNDER” Doltish “001 Parasite”

Kotoko: “Fufufu, fufufufufu.You’re thinking some outrageous things.To be frank, it’s abnormal. But I don’t dislike it. If only all sinners were like you.”

Kotoko Also Canonically Holds Sexist Beliefs.

This also isn't up for debate.

Futa: Isn’t that obvious? What a stupid question. There’s no way a girl could win in a fight against a man. This is real life, not a manga. There’s too big a difference in body size. And that’s what determines the weight of your attacks. Kotoko: ……Futa’s not entirely wrong there In a lot of martial arts, they specifically split up divisions based on body weight for that reason. I’m bantam, and he’d probably be either cruiser or heavy.

“UNDER” Obscene “002 Slut”

Now, as much as the phrases "Obscene Slut" and "Your entire existence is a crime" is Loaded. Let's pretend, for a second, that this doesn't necessarily mean that Kotoko, to some extent, believes that mentally ill people are evil/wrong and that women are weaker than men.

For a moment, let us pretend that Kotoko didn't just tell us and go into the finer details of how she views strong and weak.

Cause, there is a bit of consistent framing Kotoko uses when she's talking about "the enemy." Those who contribute something meaningful to society (in her eyes) are ones who "contribute" something meaningful to society mainly through the usage of direct action, physical strength, and physical/mental durability.

T1Q4: When did you start learning martial arts? A: In elementary school, perhaps. Without enough power, you can't enforce justice and do the right thing, can you?

Kotoko: Es, look. Someone who committed a crime can only realise its severity through losing something. I've seen many criminals, but none of them would give way without pain.

Kotoko: Weak... You're too weak. With that fragile body of yours, you can't stop anyone. You can't protect anyone. You can't even do your justice. All imperfect.

Kotoko: You have no power, and yet you make no effort to gain it! You're talking about justice, but it just doesn't make sense! You're invested in people's disasters, yet you take a position of "I have nothing to do with it"! You can't even face your true selves! Es: Whatever you say. Kotoko: If you brag about hating evil, act against it! Carry on the belief that your actions can change this world! If you only brag about it from afar, the world will just continue to rot no matter how many of you are there! If you don't have strength on your own, let me take care of it, Es! I can do it in MILGRAM!

T1Q: What is your ideal image of a hero? A: An ally of the weak. Someone who helps the weak and crushes the strong.

Those who cannot do that and are "unable to contribute" or somehow disrupt the stable world, thus causing it's normalcy to "fade away" are parasites.

“UNDER” Doltish “001 Parasite”

Obscene

“UNDER” Obscene “002 Slut”

An existence that is disruptive to the world at large.

Kotoko: Your entire existence is a crime. And I will see you’re punished for it.

Who are Weak due to a issue in there mental state and need to be warned against the consequences of "turning to evil."

Or be treated as irrational beasts that need to be firmly put down because nothing else will get through to them.

T2Q11: Is there really no chance to start anew for wrongdoers? A: No way. Once a beast gets a taste for human flesh, it will always come back for seconds.

Fascism emphasizes direct action, including supporting the legitimacy of political violence, as a core part of its politics.[264] Fascism views violent action as a necessity in politics that fascism identifies as being an "endless struggle";[265] this emphasis on the use of political violence means that most fascist parties have also created their own private militias (e.g. the Nazi Party's Brown shirts and Fascist Italy's Blackshirts). The basis of fascism's support of violent action in politics is connected to social Darwinism.[265] Fascist movements have commonly held social Darwinist views of nations, races and societies.[266] They say that nations and races must purge themselves of socially and biologically weak or degenerate people, while simultaneously promoting the creation of strong people, in order to survive in a world defined by perpetual national and racial conflict.[267]

Social Darwinism is the study and implementation of various pseudoscientific theories and societal practices that purport to apply biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology, economics and politics.[1][2] Social Darwinists believe that the strong should see their wealth and power increase, while the weak should see their wealth and power decrease.

"The only thing we can do is firmly instil the risk of turning to it."

Kotoko's ideological view is, at the very best, biased against those of marginalized groups or of "degenerate" thoughts and actions, and at the very worst, actively targets them because she personally believes that they Do Not Contribute to Society.

But we aren't done there yet.

Werewolves

Let's take that pin out now.

Kotoko has gone on record that she views Femininity as:

T1Q10: What do you think about the word 'feminimity'? A: It's one of the means you can take. It's something you can freely choose depending on the scene, so it's not something to cling onto.

Now, as I have shown. She's kinda sexist. Which throws into question how she perceives herself.

Since, I have just asserted the idea that Kotoko does, at the very least, hold some concerning ideas about Women, and I think most people would notice that this is a bit contradictory when she herself isn't really the feminine ideal as decreed by the patriarchy either.

Now, just to be clear here, no, I do not think women should be baby machines. I am a cat who cannot perceive it properly.

However, if we are going by the strict gender binary and the stereotypes associated with it. Kotoko is pretty masculine. She puts focus on physical strength, she's mentally strong in the face of ills, she doesn't show much emotion, so on.

However, as Utena and also The World has proven to us. Just because you present or act in "non-traditional manners" doesn't mean You've Deconstructed the Gender Binary and the Patriarchal View of the World we Learn from the Society around us.

You can be the butchest girl the prison can handle and still hold traditional gender roles.

And the way Kotoko interacts with the world indicates that she still Holds these ideas, even if she has deconstructed them a bit, and since we are talking about her ideology...

Fascist Italy promoted what it considered normal sexual behaviour in youth while denouncing what it considered deviant sexual behaviour.[271] It condemned pornography, most forms of birth control and contraceptive devices (with the exception of the condom), homosexuality and prostitution as deviant sexual behaviour,

Sexual anxiety—as the “Other” embraces non-traditional approaches to sexuality,

But, going further into the way she views masculinity specifically...

"Machismo", which sublimates the difficult work of permanent war and heroism into the sexual sphere. Fascists thus hold "both disdain for women and intolerance and condemnation of nonstandard sexual habits, from chastity to homosexuality".

Machismo, Exaggerated pride in masculinity, perceived as power, often coupled with a minimal sense of responsibility and disregard of consequences. In machismo there is supreme valuation of characteristics culturally associated with the masculine and a denigration of characteristics associated with the feminine.

"Without enough power, you can't enforce justice" is what she said, isn't it?

Road to Hell

Okay, there was 700 more things I wanted to talk about but because I haven't even gotten into:

Through all of that, there would be one great leader who would battle the representatives of the old system with grassroots support.[1][2] In the fascist utopia, one mass of people will supposedly appear who have only one goal: to create their new future.[1][2] Such a fascist movement would ideally have infinite faith in its mythical hero who would stand for everything the movement believes in.[1][2] According to this utopian ideology, under the guidance of their leader the country would then rise like a phoenix from the ashes of corruption and decadence.[1][2]

Or her ideals of heroism or her view of violence in detail or-

But I think I can leave that to the people reading this. This post is getting really long and I'm trying to still keep it structured. I know all my links are Wikipedia and one Britannica. I had the energy to transcribe my dad's books on this I would.

However, we also do need to ask, where does this leave us?

Y'know, since Kotoko is the Audience Parallel and Milgram is a Social Commentary Webseries.

Well, Kotoko is a character in fiction, and fiction is the safest place to explore this. Kotoko Yuzuriha is a familiar character in the sense that a lot of people are like her actually.

Gunsli has brought up the idea that Kotoko was radicalized by news, and I personally think All the characters in Milgram have underlying right wing ideas and violent views on the world. It's not something...unique to them even. We call them conservative and traditional because to a lot of people it's "just the way the world works." Kotoko’s not special or unique for believing in these things.

She’s asserted multiple times that she’s had a “normal life” and whether or not you doubt the validity of that statement. There is nothing inherent about Kotoko that makes her more susceptible to this.

And I think those are themes that are worth exploring.

#milgram #kotoko yuzuriha #milgram meta #milgram analysis #milgram kotoko

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oliversrarebooks · 2 months ago

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Augusnippets Day 27: Chronic Pain

Human Resistance Masterlist

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tw: chronic pain, brainwashing, drugging, involuntary surgery, intrusive thoughts

Zach knew it was going to be a bad knee day as soon as he woke up.

It was the first time it'd happened on the ship, probably because he spent so much time sleeping, being "trained" in pods, or being carried around in tentacles. The alien "medication" also dulled his senses enough that his usual knee pain was distant and bearable. But all that sedentary time had caught up to him, causing his knee to grow stiff. Now, even moving it a millimeter caused pain to shoot up his leg, bringing tears to his eyes.

He'd been injured not long after the apocalypse began, running from his superiors on a mission to get supplies. His friends in the human resistance had patched him up as best as possible, but he couldn't afford to sit around and let it properly heal. They were already looking to Zach to be a leader. And so he dealt with his injury as best as he could, took painkillers whenever they could be spared, and tried to avoid strenuous missions on the days when things were really bad.

Zach could remember all of this, but it seemed strange and faraway, like something that happened in a movie. He'd risked so much just because he'd been convinced that his superiors were the enemy. If he'd known then what he knew now…

The training pod opened, and one of the trainers greeted him.

How are you feeling, human?

Zach should know the correct answer, given that he'd just had it hypnotically drilled into his brain, but he went blank. All he could think about was the radiating pain from his knee.

"Obedient…?" he guessed. Shit. It was going to be able to tell the training didn't take and make him do another round in the pod, which would only make his knee more stiff and sore. Or worse -- his superiors might not even want to deal with a human with an injury like his. After all, they had so many able-bodied humans to choose from, the entirety of humanity.

You're injured.

It didn't carry judgement. It was a simple statement of fact. But Zach tensed.

You're really gonna cry over that? Suck it up, said a voice from a long time ago, back when aliens were just a sci-fi concept, back when he was a child. I know that didn't hurt. Quit being a drama queen.

"It's nothing," said Zach reflexively. "It's an old injury that flares up sometimes. If I could just be allowed to stretch it…"

Now he felt actual judgement. I can feel your pain, human. It drowns out everything else. Your training was not absorbed.

Oh, right, it could read minds. At least it believed he was actually in pain, then, which was more than he could say for a lot of humans.

He was scooped up into tentacles before he could respond, and they were swiftly moving out of the training area and through the labyrinthine corridors of the ship. Zach couldn't tell what the trainer was thinking. Hopefully he wasn't being taken to be disposed of.

"Where are we going?" he asked, wondering if he even should.

The infirmary.

"Oh." He probably should have guessed that. He was still getting used to the fact that the infirmary on the ship had a seemingly endless amount of supplies. He'd spent too long at the resistance base making sure their extremely limited supplies were prioritized to those who needed them most, and that meant there was rarely anything left for his chronic pain.

But here, he was swept into the infirmary and placed in a medical pod, with two more of his superiors coming over to fuss over him. They were chattering to each other in their own language, which sounded like a low, melodic drone in his head when they were near. It was… comforting, in a way.

Tentacles reached out and manipulated his knee gently, so very gently, but he still winced at it. "It doesn't hurt that bad," he said on instinct before remembering they could feel his pain.

His trainer was in front of him, now, its eyes blooming into radiant colors and quieting his thoughts. You will tell the truth.

"I will tell the truth," he said helplessly.

Why didn't you inform your superiors about this problem?

He didn't even know what his answer was going to be until "I didn't want to be in trouble" spilled out of his mouth. "I didn't want you to think I was faking or being dramatic or trying to get out of responsibilities. Or so weak that I can't handle a little pain."

More chatter amongst themselves as Zach stared into the eye, losing himself.

Humans will not be in trouble for experiencing pain. Its tone made it sound like something obvious.

"That's not always the case where I'm from."

This is your home now. You will report to your superiors when there is a problem. You will not be in trouble for making this report.

"That's… good to know…"

Zach was vaguely aware of strange instruments brushing against his knee very gently, an action that still caused pain to travel up his leg and into his hips, even with his mind occupied by the hypnotic eye. A tentacle pulled on his arm and stung his inner elbow. More medication, but this felt different from the usual, cold and numb.

Unaware.

"Unaware…?" said Zach, confused.

Unaware.

"What are you…?" He felt so strange, almost like he was falling and the room was fading away. He needed to shut his eyes just a moment to get rid of the sensation.

He opened his eyes again. "What are you doing?"

The superiors in front of him beamed amusement into his head. It has been finished, little human. Your confusion is endearing.

"Finished? What do you mean?"

We have replaced your defective joint.

"Replaced?" He felt strangely woozy and out of it. Tentatively, he moved his knee. It didn't hurt any more. It wasn't just the sharp pains that were gone, but the background radiation of pain that had accompanied him for years had vanished.

It was impossible. He'd just closed his eyes for a second, he'd thought. "How long was I out?"

Three cycles, little one. We measured your joint. Produced the replacement. Installed the replacement. All while you were unaware.

"I… see." His superiors had knocked him out and replaced his knee without even consulting him on it. Not that he would have objected to having his knee fixed, but he still felt strange about it, even as it was settling in that he might not have to experience that pain ever again. Even as he thought this, the programming that had been drilled into his mind began to wash over him, encouraging him to be docile and agreeable and obedient.

It was good that he had been fixed. He would be a better human.

The trainer picked him up again. You have been asleep. You will eat. You will then redo your previous training until it absorbs.

"Until it absorbs… yeah, okay."

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#augusnippets #augusnippets day 27 #chronic pain #aliens #brainwashing #drugging #whump #whump writing #human resistance #zach

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lillified · 5 months ago

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regarding your piece “outlaws” is it intended to be like an apartment or a spaceship? until corrected, and probably still after, i’m choosing to believe that swindle is doing the equivalent of living in his van

that being said, where *do* the other (they don’t let him inside 💔) decepticons live? I don’t think it’s been shown thus far

hey, that’s a great question!

the “outlaws” piece you see is from an earlier point in the war, and the location is Swindle’s passenger ship, The Knave. It isn’t meant to be a living space, but he’s converted it and uses it a bit like an RV/motor home. Since he spent most of his time (and kept a lot of his stuff) in there, it was one of his prized possessions. In the Outlaws pic he has it parked in a mostly Autobot occupied part of downtown Protihex, where he operates it like a caravan to sell weapons and things to patrolling soldiers.

This actually brings up a great opportunity to talk a bit more about locations, specifically airships and spaceships (I promise it’s relevant to the main Cons);

So, there are many different types of aircraft (beyond the Bots who can physically fly, obviously). On the smallest side you get tactical drones and fighter craft, which are either remotely manned or manned by one Bot, who physically controls the ship by hooking up to a sensory chamber-style pod. These are much less ideal than having a flightforme, but were developed out of necessity, given the central Cybertronian government and fliers have tended to be on opposite sides at different points of history (this trend remains true for the Autobots, who are at a severe deficiency).

Next up are scout ships, which fit a small squadron of Cybertronians (think the size of the X wing in starwars).

After that you get into passenger ship territory, where aircraft have multiple rooms. Swindle’s ship fits this category. They aren’t intended as mobile residences and moreso exist to carry large quantities of ‘Bots over a longer distance, like a train or a cruise ship with basic amenities, but as the war progressed it was hard not to find different uses for them.

Passenger ships can be very specialized, and the only major difference between the larger varieties and true warships is that passenger ships aren’t outfitted with guns or any other involved defenses. Ferry ships are extremely massive passenger ships designed in Nova’s expansion era with the intent of carrying nearly a city’s worth of people across space, to populate new colonies. As suggested, most of these ships were built well before the war, so their defense capabilities weren’t geared for conflict.

The last category, as suggested, are warships. Most warships were manufactured during the war, but there are some that were recovered from pre-Quintesson era. These can range in size from the capacity of a small hotel to an entire military base, or even a city. Their scope is only limited by the ability to fuel them, and many warships were designed to act as mobile camps in the event of crisis and exodus.

As of the current day, the Decepticons have essentially been exiled. The last major conflict on Cybertron put the Autobots in control of most major territories and left both sides materially decimated. Until they can regroup and establish resource control again, the only real strategy the Decepticons have is to lay low and survive.

This leaves Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, Lockdown, Ravage, and Knockout on the Determination, which is a small scale warship. Like many slapdash offensive craft, it is flimsy and unreliable, but currently their only real option.

You haven’t seen most of it, but I can give you some sneak peeks:

you’ll see what these are for very soon…

As of right now, that’s all I have for you on spacecraft! I hope that answered your question :) thanks!

#transformers #ask #text post #text #lore

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lw77 · 1 month ago

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Over and Over (MV x CS)

Chapter 2. Do you know?

Max has always known, he wonders does Carlos know too?

It’s late February, with a typical seaside chill in the air, but nothing compares to the cold atmosphere surrounding Toro Rosso’s newest driver. Max can feel it—the skepticism. He’s not even eighteen yet, and he understands why. If it weren’t for his ability to drag that shitbox of a car to pole more times than it deserved in F3, maybe it would get to him. So, he stands tall—awkwardly, as any seventeen-year-old would—no choice, really, with the shadow of his father constantly looming behind him, ready to steer him like the cherished project he’s become.

But Max doesn’t care, not about the yelling, the spittle, or whatever his father has thrown at him through karting, the feeder series, and now here. He loves racing—he’s good at it—and driving a car to its limit feels almost effortless. Yet, that’s not what excites him now—not even the STR10 his father has been endlessly droning on about, going over the changes and improvements from last year to suit Max’s driving style.

None of it matters. Not the relentless coaching or the advice he barely listens to anymore, nodding only to keep his father off his back. Because Max knows what's waiting for him on the other side. He’s always been aware of it—the other half of himself, walking somewhere in the world, always nearby, ever since his consciousness first blinked into being. He’s carried this deep knowing that he’s following someone else’s tracks, trying to find them. He’s sensed them, at times, throughout his life, enough to know who it is. But he’s never been sure whether they felt it too.

Now, though, they’re teammates.

With each step Max takes toward their garage, he can’t help but wonder how they’ll react to the bond. Will there be that soulmate spark like in the movies—two magnets snapping together—or will they embrace, unable to let go, like in the books Victoria reads? There’s a heady thrill in knowing what awaits him: his soulmate. His boyish excitement is obvious, and he quickens his pace. His father, mistaking his urgency, comments on how much he likes Max’s sudden enthusiasm for seeing the car.

Finally, Max rounds the garage, stepping inside with little fanfare, enduring the slaps on his back while his father takes charge, gloating on his behalf. Max is distracted, his attention fixed on one person. He moves toward him: Carlos, deep in thought, his gaze distant as he listens to his father speak. Max wonders idly if overbearing fathers come with the soulmate package in this life, because whatever Carlos is hearing is making his shoulders rise higher and higher until they’re nearly at his ears.

Suddenly, Carlos turns toward him. Max notices the shift—the way Carlos’s lost stare sharpens in recognition, then something more. They lock eyes, and Max watches as the tension in Carlos’s shoulders eases, a wave of calm settling over him. Carlos’s cheeks and nose are flushed red, but they hold each other’s gaze. When Max continues forward, he sees Carlos’s body sway slightly in his direction.

“Hi, Max.” Max extends his hand for a handshake, aware of all the eyes on them in the garage, especially their fathers’.

“Hello, Max, I’m Carlos,” comes the belated introduction as Carlos clasps his hand. A sense of peace, bliss, and home hums where their palms meet, fingers curling together.

“Nice to finally meet you, Carlos,” Max replies, a smile breaking across his face. Carlos feels warm, alive, and Max can’t help but zero in on the space where they stand. For a moment, he’s pulled into the past, catching a glimpse of another meeting where he kissed this same hand, centuries ago—names and places lost to time. Then, he’s back in the garage, squeezing Carlos’s hand to confirm the present. Max wonders if Carlos remembers too, if he saw the same vision, because Carlos wears that same sweet smile he gave Max all those years ago.

Just then, a hand claps onto each of their shoulders—their fathers. Carlos tries to pull away from their prolonged handshake, but Max holds on, letting their palms slide apart slowly, fingers tangling one last time before he steps back.

“I see you boys have met already. Sainz, how are you?” Jos asks, failing to hide his smug smile as he claps Max, his prized trophy, on the shoulder.

“Good, good. Winning championships, you know, Jos?” Sainz Sr. replies, a jeering smile of his own, making Max’s father scowl.

While their fathers posture, Max keeps his gaze locked on Carlos, and Carlos on him. Max wants to reach out again, every part of him alive with the pull of their connection. A deeper part of him aches to hold Carlos against his chest, to feel the softness of his hair and the stubble he’s growing in this life. He wants to walk, sit, run, dance—whatever Carlos desires—by his side. He wants to ask, Do you remember? Do you know? Are you happy? Did you dream of me like I dreamed of you? I’ve been waiting… waiting for so long. Were you waiting for me too?

He snaps out of it when he sees Carlos being steered away toward his engineers by his father. Max’s own dad is angrily muttering under his breath about something Sainz Sr. said, but Max doesn’t care. All that matters is the small glance Carlos gives over his shoulder, like he can’t bear to look away either. And with that, something settles deep within Max— you were waiting too .

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dronebiscuitbat · 2 months ago

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Give me a Reason: Chapter 18 - "Unofficial Adoption'

N caught Uzi on the way down; looping his hands under her arms and her limp body resting against his chest, worry wracking his entire being as he glimpsed the small amount of blood on the back of her hand.

“Uzi!?” She was completely unresponsive, limbs all limp and head lolling to the side… was she supposed to be this light? It felt as though Cyn was in his arms, and she was six!

Tessa was at his side in a split second, voice hurried and urgent. “Need to get her in the car, she just spewed red.” She wrapped an arm around his back, the other lifting Uzi gently forwards so that she could help carry her.

“O-okay, yeah.” He stuttered “I-I got it, she's not heavy.” Tessa nodded, opening the back door to the car so that he could get her into the rear passenger seat, he held her in a princess carry, catching the attention of the few students that were still waiting either for busses to pick them up or their parents to. A murmur of snickers followed.

Did they not just see her pass out? Or unleash her guts out into a bush, flecks of red shining through? Whatever, they weren't important right now.

He sat her gently into the seat, buckling up her seat belt much like he would for his own little sister and adjusting it so it wouldn't rub into her neck, he threw her long forgotten backpack in too, thankfully not forgetting it like he would his own.

“Sit in the back, we're taking her into my office. I can patch her up.” He did as he was told, finding a place beside her and looking at her worriedly. He knew she'd been in pain, he knew! If only he'd pushed a little harder, maybe he could've convinced her to get help sooner.

Tessa broke the speed limit, heading into the opposite direction of the manor, deeper into town. N didn't know what to do, seeing a freind suddenly puke blood and pass out on top of him wasn't exactly something he knew how to deal with.

So he did the only thing he could think of, he took her very small hand and squeezed it gently, letting her know that someone was there, even if she was knocked out.

Tessa peeled into a small clinic, parking in an employees only spot in front of the white brick building, where she pulled the girl out of the back seat, N following close behind her with her stuff.

This was one of those moments where she was glad to have been to medical school, yeah, it was a little dissapointing when she landed a job here instead of in the big hospital in the next town (she suspected her parents had something to do with that…) but right now that was working in her favor.

N was right, she was light, like, a hundred pounds soaking wet kind of light that made her several times more worried about the girl. She pushed open the clinic doors, ignored her startled receptionist and made her way to her office, N trying to follow.

“Sorry buddy. You can't be in here, I've gotta do an exam.” N's eyes were worried, form trembling slightly, gripping onto Uzi's backpack like a stressball.

“B-But, I wanna help!” He whined, making his older sister smile breifly.

“You are, you've done super well so far, but now you gotta let me do my thing alright?” She put a hand on his shoulder and he whined before sighing, nodding softly as he sat right outside her office, in one on the weirdly uncomfortable waiting chairs.

“O-okay.” He mumbled, and Tessa ruffled his hair before closing her office door, Uzi propped up on the exam table, she was starting to stir now, hand pressed over her side as her eyes fluttered open, a low grown escaping her lips.

“Mmm… Huh? Wha…?” She lifted herself up a little, eyes darting around suddenly, fear gripping her features before they made a moment of eye contact.

“Tessa? What happened? Where am I?” At least she seemed perfectly aware now, but scared wasn't optimal either, Tessa put both her hands up in a placating gesture.

“You're in my clinic, you spewed red and passed out, so I brought you here.” She explained, and Uzi seemed to calm down slightly, but she didn't seem keen to stay, trying to get up though being stopped by both her height and a wince that had her going back down onto the exam chair.

“Hey, if there's blood in your bile that's not good. Let me try an patch you up.” The young doctor came a few steps closer, Uzi glared at her, if looks could kill, she'd be buried, but another wince, this one paired with a light hiss, and the girl seemed to admit defeat, nodding once in her direction.

Tessa was filled with relief, good, she'd cooperate, no need for a sedative.

“Can you tell me what happened? I will remind you that starting now I am your doctor, and nothing said here will leave this room.” That speech was practiced at this point, but it felt more poignant when it was N’s freind she was treating. The goth girl pouted for a moment, before grumbling;

“Got kicked in the stomach.” Uzi wouldn't meet her eyes again, but Tessa nodded carefully, hovering over the girl delicately.

“May I?” Tessa asked, gesturing to her, and at this she heard the girl give a small growl, Uzi herself lifting up her hoodie with a dusting of pink on her cheeks, giving the older woman a clear view of the now deep purple and black bruise on the goths side. Tessa winced.

“Ooh, got you good.” She whistled, putting on gloves before gently proding the wound, Uzi grunted in pain above her, but didn't give any more indication that it hurt at all.

“I've gotten worse.” She deadpanned, and Tessa really didn’t like the casual way she said it, but held that unprofessional feeling down for the time being.

“Right, mind if I take a quick flash of your insides, make sure you aren't bleeding?” She didn't wait for the answer, getting out the equipment for an Ultrasound.

“Uh… I guess.” Uzi replied, and Tessa went right to work, pushing up Uzi's hoodie a bit more before putting a dollop of clear goo on her stomach, trying to ignore the fact she could see the kids ribs poking through her chest, did no one feed her!?

Maybe she should start making even more extra food for N, just for her.

“Fuck! That's cold!” Uzi yelped. Tessa laughed at the reaction, smiling gently.

“Yep, that's pretty much the concensus, hold still yeah?” Tessa pressed the ultrasound gently into the skin, Uzi shivered and winced.

“Isn't this for looking at babies?” Uzi asked, gripping the side of the chair hard enough for her knuckles to go white.

“Yup! But it's the least intrusive way to take a peek in ya. Aaaand, there we are!” Tessa looked up at the imaging screen, looking for any particularly dark spots, thankfully, there weren’t many, some yes, but not nearly enough to be considered severe, or a reason to operate,

But she could see, vaguely, where her intestine had been pinched, which was probably what was causing most of her issues, the young doctor sighed in relief, but was also incredibly impressed, a pinched intestine would be enough to put anyone on the floor in agony, and Uzi was still walking, talking, and broody. Her pain tolerance much be off the charts!

“Right, nothing leaking, but your intestines been pinched, I can send you home with some painkillers and advice to not eat anything too crazy for a bit. Sound good?” Uzi nodded, before seemingly getting sheepish, rubbing her arm.

“I… don’t have any money to pay for anything…”

“Don’t worry about that. You’re friends with my brother, it’s alright.” The reply came automatically, Tessa waving it off with a smile. “It’s just ibuprofen anyway.”

“I don’t wanna owe you anything.” She murmured, and Tessa put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a radiant smile and a small laugh. “Girl you are a teenager, you got nothing I want. Just keep keeping my little brother company yeah?”

“W-where is N?” Uzi asked, a little more softly, and the young doctor could barely keep the smile off her face.

“Just outside, he was really worried about you, you pretty much collapsed on top of him.” Uzi went a little red, coughing into her sleeve awkwardly.

��In fact… N, you can come in now, I know you have your ear pressed to the door.” Tessa's voice was marginally louder, and within the next moment the door swung open, N racing to her side and wrapping her in a bone crushing hug.

“Oh my god are you okay!? Why did you keep saying you were fine when you weren't!? What happened?!” He asked so many questions at once she was having trouble keeping up, but it was his crushing hug that had her floundering more, when was the last time she'd been hugged? She couldn't even remember, she was trembling slightly now, very much not used to any kind of gentle touch.

“I-I'm fine! Get off N!” She yelped, instinctively trying to throw him off, but he was way too strong. She groaned outwardly as she crossed her arms, forced to accept his worried affections with a light blush.

Still… It was nice he cared so much…

“Alright, lay off little bro, don't want to suffocate her.” Tessa gently peeled him off handing Uzi a little baggy, a shake confirmed that a pill bottle was inside.

“I probably don't need to tell you how to take ibuprofen right? Every six hours, no more then four per day?” Uzi nodded, looking back up at N, who looked like a kicked puppy.

“Thanks for catching me…” She mumbled, opening the bag and popping open the pill bottle, shaking a pill into her hand and swallowing unaided. N beamed, but also looked slightly grossed out. Pill without water? Ew.

“Gotta say, you're a tough one, anyone else woulda come in here for that and they would've been writhing in pain.” Tessa complemented, making Uzi smirk.

“Told ya, I've been through worse.” She squirmed off the chair, legs at first unsteady, N holding his arms out to catch her before she batted his arms away, steadying herself with a deep breath.

“Am I free to go ooor?” She asked awkwardly, noticing that N had her backpack clutched in his hand.

“Oh you are absolutely not walking home like that. I'll drive you.” Tessa stood up, dusting off her coat, Uzi was about to protest, but a stern glare from Tessa had her sighing.

“F-Fine.”

Next ->

#murder drones #uzi doorman #serial designation n #nuzi #biscuitbites #give me a reason #fine I won't leave you on a cliffhanger #Tessa be picking up all the strays in every universe #n is a good freind

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floatinginzerogravity · 10 months ago

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Character Analysis of V/ Timeline of her getting back her memories/ whatever else is in here

Rewatching Murder Drones for the 5th (6th? 7th? I lost count) time right now. Got a lot of thoughts about V that I haven't seen anyone else mention, so I'm throwing them down here Be warned, senseless word vomit ahead. Something I find particularly interesting is V's memory throughout the series as well as how she treats N in relation to it

So, an analysis of her and N's relationship in the first episode. The disassembly drones have absolutely no memory of their time in the mansion at the start of the series, as well as their previous relationships That being said, scraps seem to carry over, like N's crush on V, and I think scraps of that also carried over to V. (Not in the form of a full blown crush, but more like she senses she cares about N for a reason she doesn't quite understand) And how does V respond to these phantom memories? Push them away and don't think about it, hence, the dismissive/avoidant way she treats N in the scene pictured above. And the memories are only phantoms and barely present, which makes it easy for her to simply focus on her programed mission, including trying to kill N when he "rebels like an angsty teen" At least, that's my two cents on it.

On to episode 2! First thing I'd like to point out is that she broke the chain somewhere between the gap between the beginning and the end of the episode (2:34)

(16:54)

She probably had her first encounter with Lizzie while N & Uzi were out investigating the J-solver. Speaking of the Absolute Slover, V doesn't recognize it at this point in the story, which is interesting because she (seems to) fully remember what happened with Cyn by Cabin Fever.

As a side note, while her "wanna do an autopsy?" thing can be brushed off as simply V being V, it could also be that she does recognize the solver and wants to get rid of Uzi. Do I find this likely? no, this is 100% me overthinking. moving on

Okay, this scene This has a very high possibility of being V trying to intimidate Uzi, but she's also kind of right. Nori had the solver, she was dangerous. But the thing is, she wasn't dangerous to Cyn's, and by extension, the disassembly drone's, mission. My theory is that V simply got lucky when hitting the mark on the Uzi's mom thing, but some things regarding the solver are starting to leak through and she just happens to pin it on the Worker Drones due to Uzi being a Worker Drone. Additional notes on the V scene at the start of the episode:

I find her bubble wand funny Also, she seems very okay with this for being a prisoner(?) Probably just likes messing with Uzi, if I'm being honest

But then there's the fact that she keeps up the whole "prisoner" thing even though she's fully capable of escaping. This is at least partially so she can go through with her murder plan in episode 3, but also partially so she doesn't have to leave N behind (especially, after the incident with Uzi) showing the first signs of her actually caring about N (with the show having prepped us to look for it beforehand using the mansion flashback) On to episode 3, AKA the first episode where V actually does stuff!

Ptff, V's little glance away

"Oh no, emotions, what do I do?"

(War flashbacks)

So, V 100% has most of her memories of what happened with Cyn by now, at least enough to have a good view of the picture

This scene is actually the first time we've seen V be somewhat vulnerable. Neat! Also, just last week she was pretending N didn't exist, and now she's asking him to run away with her? slow clap V, slow clap/hj

V just walks into the prom and is immediately ready to murder

also, what happened to

LIES

ptff, her disgust at the prom queen crown

she is so out of her element it's hilarious

V: wtf is happening THIS WAS NOT THE PLAN

annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd I have reached the image limit, this shall be continued through reblogs

#Murder drones #v murder drones #murder drones theory #murder drones analysis #serial designation v

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something-something-catchyname · 10 months ago

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The Chatbot

OK, here’s the thing, we all should know about AI by now, and the various forms it takes, well, I was having a play around with one if these chatbot apps and was immensely surprised by what happened.

So, there I am tapping away on my keyboard interacting with this chatbot, I’d thought I try and push the limits to test what an AI moral boundaries were.

So I set up the chatbot with the kinkiest, most degrading details I could think of, including things like drugs, nasty kinky sex, hypno, BDSM, kinda got carried away, anyway it seemed to accept them all.

So, we started ‘chatting’, you know the usual ‘chitchat’, then it started turning a bit kinky, but I went along with it. Little did I know, I should have been more attention to what the chatbot was ‘saying’.

I played along with the role, kinda getting in to it, but didn’t notice the use of the words relax and breathe, I did notice however and odd flash, but put it down to a glitch in the AI.

Anyway, this continued for a little while, the AI and I ‘chatting’ and the AI using the words relax, breath, deep, forget and the annoying odd flash.

After a few more minutes of this, I noticed that I wasn’t typing anymore, my arms had become lose and limp, my legs felt like lead weights, and I was simply reading what the AI was typing, just following its words as they appeared on the screen in front of me.

The flashing became more apparent and in my more relaxed state, I could see words within the flashes too, words like, sissy, slut, whore, cock sucker, panties, dumb, although I couldn’t consciously read the words.

I sat in my chair watching the screen, as the words start to take over, I noticed I was starting to dribble, both from my mouth and well, my cock too.

I also noticed that I had somehow changed in to panties and stockings, and I was jerking off to the words on the screen making the panties wet. The words on the screen commanded me to imagine I was sucking another mans cock, and he was shooting load in to my mouth. Upon mindlessly reading this, I shot my load all over my hand and immediately started to lick it off my hand.

As I did this, the words on the screen intensified and licking the cum from my hand seemed to entrench the words and commands even more.

Finally, I awoke with a start, the AI chatbot was just sitting a hello prompt, but I found myself panting, my cock hanging out of the women’s panties I had somehow got changed in to, I mean, WTF happened, can AI be really trusted or will it enslave us all in to mindless, hypnotized, brainwashed drones?

Only my AI master knows….

#hypnosis #hypnotized #mind control #hypnok1nk #hypno toy #hypnotism #hypno fantasy #brain washing #beta slave #gooner

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black-arcana · 2 months ago

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WITHIN TEMPTATION's SHARON DEN ADEL Guests On 'Labyrinth' Single From Ukraine's BLIND8

Ukrainian band BLIND8 has released a new song, "Labyrinth", featuring Sharon Den Adel of Dutch symphonic metallers WITHIN TEMPTATION.

This collaboration is a landmark moment for BLIND8, which formed just before the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has become a leading light for rock music in its homeland whenever circumstances allow. They will be joining WITHIN TEMPTATION as the opening act on their "Bleed Out 2024" European tour this autumn, playing arenas across mainland Europe and the U.K.

The song is also being released worldwide via WITHIN TEMPTATION's own record label Force Music Recordings.

Sharon comments: "'Labyrinth' is not just a song; it's a testament to the enduring power of music. And even with Roman, the singer, and Ihor, the bass player, currently having been mobilized and in training for the war, BLIND8 continue to defy the odds, proving that even in the most challenging times, art can shine a light in the darkness."

BLIND8 remain committed and hopeful of spreading their message of solidarity, perseverance and defiance across Europe at the end of this year, playing to their largest audiences yet in huge arenas, when they support WITHIN TEMPTATION. The musicians have said that this song is their testament to the fact that even in the darkest times, music has the power to inspire and unite people.

WITHIN TEMPTATION will embark on a huge arena tour of Europe in the autumn of 2024. Joining them on this tour will be both WITHIN TEMPTATION's recent collaborative artists and longtime friends: singer Tarja Turunen (on select dates),German metalcore band ANNISOKAY, BLIND8, GREEN LIZARD and Ukrainian producer and vocalist Alex Yarmak.

The tour starts in September with two shows in The Netherlands (that sold out within days) and will continue throughout Europe in an array of impressive arenas. A number of dates have already sold out, with tickets running low across Europe.

Last fall, WITHIN TEMPTATION co-sponsored the Ukraine Aid Operations boat fundraiser for the Ukrainian Marines. They donated 6,000 euros for 30 patches, which they packaged with a limited-edition box of their latest album, "Bleed Out"

Four months ago, Den Adel spoke to Metal Musikast about WITHIN TEMPTATION's music video for the band's "A Fool's Parade" single, featuring Ukrainian producer and vocalist Alex Yarmak. Recorded amidst the streets of Kyiv with renowned Ukrainian video director Indy Hait, the clip captures Sharon at important Ukrainian landmarks. Asked what it was like to make a music video in the capital city of a country at war, Den Adel said: "Well, I was never scared to go there, because I was in good hands, to my opinion. We were helped to do this video and to organize everything, what we wanted to do in Kyiv, by the organization called Music Saves Ukraine. And they told us about the app that you had need to have. For instance, if you go into Kiev, which we did by night train from Poland, because there's no commercial flights from Amsterdam to Kyiv anymore. So we had to go by night train from Poland to Kyiv. And they told us to download an air-alerts app because everyone in Ukraine has that, and you can select a region that you are in and any incoming dangerous drones or airplanes, like MiGs, who are carrying a supersonic bomb or anything, they will put that in the app and you know what the danger is and how much time you have to go to a shelter. And there's shelters everywhere, even in the hotel that I was. And we once had to go underneath the metro station, because there was a MiG on their way. And sometimes it has a bomb, sometimes it doesn't. It's sometimes just looking and scouting where they can do something with the next airplane. And this time it wasn't wearing any supersonic bomb, which was good for us because it can wipe out a complete area in a matter of seconds."

In March 2022, WITHIN TEMPTATION was one of the artists who took part in a telethon concert in support of Ukraine. "Save Ukraine - #StopWar" united more than 20 countries and bring together more than 50 participants. The marathon was broadcast from Warsaw on the Polish TV channel TVP. In addition, broadcasters from many countries around the world rebroadcasted the marathon on their local channels.The "Bleed Out" album was released last October.

#Blind8 #sharon den adel

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droctaviolovecraft · 1 month ago

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TW: "THE HOUSE FELL MARGINALS!"

"I killed so many bandits that I feel like Cabo Bruno."

Identification: Mr. Policeman

Lead Researcher: Dr. Öctavio Kalev

ANM #: ANM-911

Classification: Assistant 🔵 | In service 👮

Anomaly Type: Sentient, Military Entity

Damage Type: [Unidentified]

Control: ANM-911, or "Officer Hoyt," is authorized to operate within the designated perimeter of the Lisbon Natural Reserve (LNR), Portugal. The area, measuring 10 km², is monitored by a combination of the Institute's covert surveillance drones and undercover personnel. These assets are to observe but not interfere with ANM-911’s nighttime operations.

Due to ANM-911’s nature and its useful role in eliminating criminal elements, the entity should not be contained or antagonized unless it poses a direct threat to MOTHRA personnel or civilians. Any interaction with ANM-911 must be handled by personnel with Level 3 security clearance or higher and should be limited to verbal exchanges. Civilians who come into contact with ANM-911 should be amnesticized after encounters, with memories replaced by common folklore about a ghostly police officer haunting the LNR.

Although ANM-911 primarily acts against criminals, it is known to misinterpret undercover MOTHRA Foundation personnel as outlaws. All personnel must display special identification badges containing anti-recognition sigils to avoid hostile interactions with the anomaly.

Description: ANM-911 is the anomalous form of a former police officer named "Officer Hoyt," who was part of the now-dissolved "Eagles of Freedom" task force that operated in Lisbon, Portugal, in the late 19th century. This task force focused on combating anomalous criminal activity in the region, particularly within the Lisbon Natural Reserve. ANM-911 retains Officer Hoyt’s physical appearance, though heavily distorted.

The anomaly resembles a tall humanoid figure dressed in a torn, worn police uniform with a badge bearing the name "Hoyt" and an insignia from the now-defunct task force. ANM-911 carries a steel baton that is abnormally durable and covered in what appears to be dried blood. Its most striking feature is its glowing red eyes, and when agitated, the entity’s mouth stretches to an impossible width, grotesquely distorting its face.

ANM-911’s primary anomalous trait is its ability to identify individuals with criminal backgrounds. The exact mechanism is unknown, but Hoyt can instantly determine a person’s criminal history and intentions, even if concealed or encrypted. ANM-911 has been observed locating criminals within a 10 km radius, tracking their movements, and confronting them with extreme speed and precision. It is equipped with an anomalous vehicle: an old police car resembling a mid-20th-century model, with faded paint and rust. This car can travel at incalculable speeds regardless of road conditions and appears immune to physical damage.

When ANM-911 locates a criminal, it confronts the individual aggressively, resembling a caricature of an irate police chief. ANM-911 issues loud, sarcastic warnings, often laced with profanity, before demanding the criminal perform humiliating or exhausting tasks. Common orders include:

Performing 500 push-ups on the spot

Reciting the complete set of local police rules and regulations

Publicly confessing their crimes in detail

Crawling for 1 kilometer on all fours, barking like a dog while ANM-911 threatens to strike with its baton if they stop or slow down

Singing the national anthem while doing jumping jacks—ANM-911 insists it be sung loudly and in perfect pitch, hurling insults if they falter

Writing an apology on the ground with their nose—ANM-911 forces criminals to kneel and use only their nose to "write" an apology for their crimes on the ground

Counting every blade of grass in a 10-meter area—ANM-911 demands that criminals count and report each blade of grass, often interrupting them to restart if they seem to have missed any

Balancing on one foot while reciting the alphabet backward—The criminal must balance while ANM-911 patrols around, ready to strike with the baton if they lose balance or mispronounce a letter

Saluting and complimenting each tree in the area—ANM-911 orders the criminal to stop at every tree, salute it, and offer a flattering compliment as if addressing a superior officer

Performing 100 jumping jacks in the mud—ANM-911 forces criminals to perform exhausting jumping jacks in the mud, sometimes splashing more water on them while mocking their form

Cleaning its police car using only their tongue—ANM-911 orders criminals to use their tongues to clean its old, battered police car, pointing out missed spots or spreading more dirt to prolong the task

Pretending to be an airplane while running through the forest—The criminal must run through the forest with their arms outstretched, making engine noises while ANM-911 follows closely, mocking their "flying skills."

These tasks, though humiliating, are designed to break the criminal’s will without direct violence, allowing ANM-911 to exert control over their behavior through psychological pressure and embarrassment.

Officer Hoyt uses his baton in a threatening manner, though rarely follows through unless the criminal resists or attempts to flee. In cases of evasion or aggression, ANM-911’s anomalous abilities become more pronounced. It can stretch its limbs to inhuman lengths, enabling it to capture escaping individuals. Furthermore, ANM-911 has demonstrated a high degree of regenerative ability, recovering from gunshots, amputations, or other significant injuries in seconds.

The entity exhibits increasing aggression in response to the severity of the criminal’s record. Minor offenders are subjected to verbal abuse and forced to perform tasks, while those with violent criminal histories or records of anomalous activity are treated with greater hostility. In these cases, ANM-911’s physical distortions intensify, with its body contorting into unnatural shapes as it approaches its target. It can pursue these criminals relentlessly, showing no signs of fatigue or injury.

Once ANM-911 apprehends a criminal, their fate varies. Minor offenders are typically left incapacitated but alive, while serious criminals often disappear after their encounters with the anomaly. MOTHRA Foundation investigations have found no trace of these individuals post-encounter, leading to speculation that ANM-911 either transports them to an unknown location or exterminates them in an undisclosed manner.

History: Officer Hoyt was a highly decorated police officer within the Institution’s internal security division, tasked with overseeing anomalous investigations in urban areas. As part of the "Eagles of Freedom," Officer Hoyt was known for his unorthodox but effective policing methods, earning a reputation for being tough on crime, especially within anomalous communities. However, after an ambush by an organized crime syndicate involved in anomalous trafficking, the entire task force was killed in action, except for Officer Hoyt, whose body was never recovered.

It is unclear how Hoyt became ANM-911. However, his behavior, speech patterns, and choice of targets align with his pre-anomalous identity. ANM-911 still believes he is fulfilling his duty, though with extreme and distorted methods.

ANM-911 Addendum-1: Recent reports indicate that ANM-911 has expanded his patrol area within the Lisbon Nature Reserve. He has also begun targeting high-level anomalous criminals, some of whom are connected to the Institution’s ongoing investigations. The organization is debating classifying Hoyt as a "Helper" since his actions have aided in the apprehension of several anomalous threats and criminals.

The relationship between ANM-911 and MOTHRA remains tenuous. Although he does not recognize the current Institution personnel’s authority, he seems to have residual loyalty to the organization, particularly those who align with "law and order." Efforts to re-establish formal communication with ANM-911 are ongoing.

ANM-911-Beta Incident: During a routine investigation of a smuggling network in the LNR, two Institution agents were mistaken for criminals by ANM-911. Despite showing identification, ANM-911 aggressively pursued the agents in his police car, causing significant damage to the surveillance vehicle. Only by evacuating the area and using advanced amnestic grenades were the agents able to escape.

ANM-911-03 Audio Log – Lisbon Nature Reserve Patrol

Date: 03/14/2023

Time: 02:17 AM

Incident Type: ANM-911 Criminal Apprehension

Personnel Involved: N/A (secret recording device placed in the area)

[Sounds of an old police car skidding to a halt, gravel crunching under the tires. Faint nighttime sounds of the reserve in the background. A door slams open forcefully, heavy boots hitting the ground quickly.]

ANM-911: [Yelling] "STOP! You think you can outrun me?! YOU THINK YOU'RE FASTER THAN THE LAW, YOU FILTHY PIECE OF SHIT?!"

[A man's panicked breathing can be heard as footsteps drag through the dirt.]

ANM-911: "STOP RIGHT THERE! You're not getting away, you scumbag!"

[A wet thud is heard as ANM-911 grabs the man, throwing him to the ground. The man's groan of pain is audible.]

ANM-911: "HOW TALL ARE YOU, CITIZEN?! I DIDN'T KNOW YOU COULD STACK SHIT THAT HIGH! What are you, 5'7", or just a waste of space that learned to stand up?!"

[The man stammers, trying to respond.]

Man: "I—I don’t—"

ANM-911: [Shouting over him] "SPEAK UP! Where are you from, HUH?"

Man: I—I—I—I’m f—from—

ANM-911: YOU CAME OUT OF YOUR MOTHER'S CUNT! YOU HEARD THAT?! Yeah, I bet she’s real proud of the fine criminal specimen you turned into!"

[The man sighs and groans as ANM-911 moves closer. The sound of steel hitting the ground, presumably ANM-911’s baton, echoes in the audio.]

ANM-911: "You think you’re tough? YOU THINK YOU’RE SOME KIND OF BIG-SHOT HITTER? You rob people, huh?! You think the law doesn’t apply to you, huh?! WELL, GUESS WHAT—IT’S YOUR LUCKY DAY, BECAUSE I’M HERE TO REMIND YOU, YOU’RE NOTHING BUT A GODDAMN LOWLIFE!"

[ANM-911 kicks the man in the back. Heavy breathing from both can be heard. ANM-911’s tone becomes eerily calm, dripping with sarcasm.]

ANM-911: "Tell me, how long you been at this, citizen? Huh? I BET YOU THINK YOU’RE SOME KIND OF EXPERT THIEF. LOOK AT YOU. I bet you’re REALLY PROUD OF YOURSELF, breaking into homes like a sewer rat. What was it? A few wallets? Maybe a nice watch for mommy and daddy? I SERVED 28 YEARS IN THE MILITARY, CITIZEN, only got booted after I killed a few deserving punks like you… that’s why I joined the police… [ANM-911 smacks his baton against his palm.]

Man: [Gasping, trying to speak] "I-I didn’t—"

ANM-911: [Interrupting, mockingly] "OH, YOU DIDN’T KNOW? You didn’t know it was ILLEGAL to rob people? Or is that something you just forgot? JUST LIKE YOU FORGOT TO GROW A BRAIN?!"

[ANM-911 stands over the man, tapping the baton in his hand.]

ANM-911: "Alright, citizen. You know what’s coming next, don’t you? Get up. ON YOUR FEET. No? Too tired? GREAT! I LOVE seeing criminals suffer."

[The sound of the man coughing and struggling to stand is barely audible.]

ANM-911: "Now listen up, you piece of trash. You’re gonna drop down and give me 500 push-ups RIGHT NOW. And after that, you’re gonna recite every police rule in this area. If you miss a single one, I SWEAR I’LL MAKE YOU START OVER. GOT IT?!"

Man: [Stammering] "I-I can’t—"

ANM-911: "YOU CAN’T WHAT?! BREATHE? Oh, too bad, because I DON’T GIVE A DAMN IF YOU CAN’T BREATHE! YOU’RE GONNA DO THOSE PUSH-UPS UNTIL YOUR ARMS FALL OFF. And if they do? GUESS WHAT? I’LL BEAT YOU UNTIL YOU LEARN TO USE YOUR LEGS INSTEAD OF YOUR ARMS!"

[The man begins doing push-ups, wheezing and coughing between reps. ANM-911 paces back and forth.]

ANM-911: "LOOK AT YOU. Pathetic! My grandma could do better push-ups, and she’s been dead for 20 years! You’re EMBARRASSING YOURSELF, and frankly, YOU’RE EMBARRASSING ME! Is this what passes for criminals nowadays?! I’VE SEEN DEAD SQUIRRELS WITH MORE FIGHT!"

[The sound of the man gasping, his heavy breathing, as he continues trying to do push-ups.]

ANM-911: "Faster! You think prison’s gonna let you off easy, huh?! You’re lucky I found you first. Prison guards? They’d make you their personal puppet. Yeah, you’re getting off easy now!"

[The man collapses on the ground, panting.]

ANM-911: [Laughing] "Ah, tired already? That’s fine. You’ve got all night to become a REAL MAN, citizen. We’re gonna get REAL cozy. You, me, and my trusty baton. If you’re not doing push-ups, maybe I’ll just drag you behind my car for a while—SEE HOW LONG YOU CAN KEEP UP! HAHAHA!"

[The audio cuts off as ANM-911’s laughter echoes in the distance.]

[...]

End of Log

#scp #scp foundation #mothra institution #writing #art #horror #original scp #anomaly

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gatheringbones · 1 year ago

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[“The belief that the troubling circumstances we have come to tolerate are impervious to change can itself become an excuse for resignation. It can fuel the kind of apathy that prevailed among the “passive democrats” that Everett Hughes described in his Frankfurt diary. The resignation is unwarranted, because, like most aspects of the social order, dirty work is not immutable. It is a function of laws and policies, of funding decisions, and of other collective choices we have made that reflect our values and priorities. Among these choices is whether to recognize the immense harm it causes, not only to innocent people and the environment but also to the people who carry it out.

The anguish such workers experience may elicit little sympathy from those who feel that anyone who participates in a cruel or violent system must be held accountable for the suffering they cause, even if, afterward, they harbor shame or regret about what they have done. As Primo Levi affirmed in “The Gray Zone,” doubts and discomfort expressed after the fact by oppressors are “not enough to enroll them among the victims.” But Levi also called for judgment of the low-ranking functionaries in oppressive systems to be tempered by awareness of how susceptible we all are to collaborating with power, and by an appreciation of the circumstances that lead relatively powerless people to be pushed into such roles. In contemporary America, the chief circumstance to consider, I have suggested, is inequality, which has shaped the delegation of dirty work no less than the distribution of wealth and income. More privileged Americans are spared from any involvement in such work, knowing it can be outsourced and allotted to people with fewer choices and opportunities. The result of this moral inequality is to ensure that an array of hidden injuries—stigma, shame, trauma, moral injury—are concentrated among those who are comparatively disadvantaged. These moral and emotional burdens have barely factored into the debate about inequality, perhaps because economists cannot measure and quantify them. But their effects can be equally pernicious and debilitating, shaping people’s sense of self-worth, their place in the social order, and their capacity to hold on to their dignity and pride.

Inequality also shapes the geography of dirty work and who is held responsible for it. As we’ve seen, the blame is rarely directed at the companies that profit from it or the public officials who have passed laws and policies that perpetuate it. More typically, it falls on the least powerful people in the system, “bad apples” who are singled out after the periodic “scandals” that shock the public—the same public that spent the preceding months or years ignoring what was being done.

In fairness, one can hardly expect the public to register concern about conditions it rarely sees. Dirty work is obscured by structural invisibility: the walls and barriers that keep what happens inside prisons and industrial slaughterhouses hidden; the secrecy that envelops the drone program; the nondisclosure agreements that the middlemen overseeing the cobalt supply chain are required to sign. These arrangements have had a “civilizing” effect, pushing disturbing events “behind the scenes of social life.” Yet there are limits to what even the most elaborate mechanisms of concealment can hide. In spite of the isolation and impenetrability of institutions like prisons and industrial slaughterhouses, plenty of information about what transpires within them leaks out. The secrecy cloaking the drone campaign has not stopped writers and documentary filmmakers from producing illuminating work about it, nor have nondisclosure agreements prevented NGOs from issuing detailed reports about the cobalt supply chain. The problem is not a dearth of information but the fact that many choose to avert their eyes, not only from dirty work but also from those who get stuck doing it, people with whom they almost never interact and find easy to judge.

What do we owe these workers?”]

eyal press, from dirty work: essential labor and the hidden toll of inequality in america, 2021

#eyal press #currently reading

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aroacewxs · 11 months ago

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2 5 and 9 for rui!! bonus points for 5 if its not a pjsk song ksdjhgdfj

sorry this is a bit late!!! was quite busy today.

2) favourite thing about this character

many things come to mind when im asked this question but one of the most personal and touching aspects of rui's character is definitely the unthinkable amounts of love he has. for everything.

how despite it all, he chose to love. despite his suffering, he chose to love. he could never bring himself to have ill intent towards anybody who has ever wronged him. he carries so much love for this planet, for every living thing that breathes. he handles plants with such tender care it makes me want to curl up into a ball and cry a little. even for inanimate objects like his drones and robots, he treats with such gentleness as if they were his own children. his mechanical darlings. you've got to be kidding me

and oh, how deeply he loves his friends, those who have led him through the dark with such tender, firm hands. those who put their trust in him, in him and his eccentric ideas and imagination with no limits. those who gave him a chance, those whose company says "i love you, i love you for who you are and i love being with you" more than words could ever express. those who make him question whether he's living his own life or one of an incredibly fortunate fellow in a stage play.

in the end, rui chooses to love. rui loves deeply and loudly in his own special way. and i think there's something incredibly meaningful about that.

5) first song that comes to mind

okinimesumama by eve :] his alt is my favourite rui alt in the entire game and it's just a very very ruicore song to me. iirc tokishun even said that it's a song that suits him very well BUT i may be wrong. don't quote me on that. I mean:

Waiting for the "1, 2..." signal Holding hands with you is An act of courage for me

Now, we form a circle and start to spin Bit by bit I come to hate it, but I come to like it Hey, hey, I don't even understand the meeting of my selves We steadily close the gap But we remain far apart

There's no meaning to being humble and respectful So bye-bye to my embarrassing dreams From now on, forever, let's get along

We now avert our eyes from each other Bit by bit I come to hate it, but I come to like it Hey, hey, I don't even understand the meeting of my selves I steadily become better But I'm crumbling to pieces Da-dum, you disappear before I can touch you

IT'S HIM!!! IT'S HIM! BUT ALSO i've been thinking my love mine all mine by mitski : )

'Cause my love is mine, all mine I love mine, mine, mine Nothing in the world belongs to me But my love mine, all mine, all mine

My baby, here on earth Showed me what my heart was worth So, when it comes to be my turn Could you shine it down here for her?

9) could you be roommates with this character

Absolutely Not. rui and i have many things in common, and not wanting to clean because we end up making a mess within a day is one of them. i don't think either of us would survive if you put us in an apartment for a month, actually. if you were to put two teenagers with an unbridled, hungry desire to create and the inability to take care of themselves, i do not think it would go all too well

maybe if there was like one other person who's very reliable, I'd consider it, but I'd just feel bad for them

on the other hand, we could really bond. fun times

THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE ASK :D i love thinking about this guy

#project sekai #wxs #wonderlands x showtime #kamishiro rui #rui kamishiro

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firedjinni · 1 year ago

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tell me about your rw ocs!!

:D sure!

The main ones I've been doodling are Three Rivers and the Administrator (AKA Mini), who basically spawned out of faffing around in a giant doc of iterator headcanons. (I was trying to work out how an "off the string" scenario could be done with my particular headcanon interpretations of iterators and their puppets, and brain basically made up a guy, lol.)

Three Rivers is an iterator who manages to eventually remove their own taboos (and later goes off the string) via a very risky and roundabout plan:

Reassign abandoned citizen ID drones to a bunch of reasonably intelligent organisms

Do this enough times to establish the minimum number of "citizens" needed to revive a specific voting council

Have the "citizens" vote in a (rigged) election to promote one trusted organism (in this case, a personally selected and hand raised slugcat - that's Mini!) to the rank of Junior Administrator (Senior admin requires tougher credentials for approval, unfortunately)

Get your new Junior Administrator to disable the basic antivirus security and administer a homemade taboo-erasing retrovirus into your systems! Preferably foolproof this step as much as possible so even a slugcat with limited understanding of iterator technology can still carry it out effectively.

The security system flags your new administrator for "suspicious behavior" and "genetic ID mismatch" partway through the infection process, puts the rest of the facility into lockdown, and demands senior admin access to restore basic functionality

Whoops

That wasn't supposed to happen--

Ironically, TR wasn't even trying to get "off the string" at the time - she just wanted to be able to upgrade and maintain her own facility beyond what her own very limited system privileges allowed her, and the whole mobile puppet thing was kind of an afterthought? But once half the structure stopped cooperating and the inspectors kept trying to kill her little administrator, well... there were only so many options left.

So, using what limited resources they still had control over, they made a traveling puppet (yay self-modification!) and ditched their failing structure to set off out into the world, followed by a small entourage of slugcats and scavengers. The others don't have designs yet, but I feel like that would be a whole post all on its own, lol...

I'm still working on a design for the traveling puppet, but the idea is that it's basically derived/reconstructed from the same base organism used to create normal iterator puppets, just bigger, more robust, and generally capable of surviving independently of the superstructure! (The concept was loosely inspired by the likes of @/ikayblythe's reiterator AU, haha)

Due to the state of the facility, though, it's something of a rush job. It looks cool, but the mouth goes nowhere and is just for show, and it still has to manually flush slag by running a bunch of water through the pseudolymphatic system and directly dumping the Microbial Waste Goop out the back ports, and some of the other internal components are... not terribly efficient... and they had to ditch so much processing power to get this thing up and running before time ran out, but hey, it works, so cool proof of concept, right? Right??

anyway her nearest neighbor eventually catches this on an overseer and just about shits a brick lol

#thank you so much for giving me the excuse to ramble <333 #rain world oc #rain world #oc: mini #oc: three rivers #my art #asks #my deranged mad scientist darling who gave a slugcat root access and then became a swamp creature...

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usafphantom2 · 11 months ago

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How to identify and track military aircraft in online applications

It is surprisingly easy to track what is flying above you, but there are limits - you will still see only what the military wants you to see.

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 12/24/2023 - 14:40 in Military

The system, known as ADS-B, allows you to quickly search for what is flying in your vicinity, or even on the other side of the world.

In the past, before the 2000s, people looked at the sky and saw the trail of condensation created by commercial and military jets at high altitudes and wondered what would be the aircraft that passed over our heads, where it was going, where it came from. Today, thanks to a worldwide transponder system, you can track even U.S. military aircraft.

About a decade later, it was already possible to follow commercial aircraft, knowing which airline, flight level, speed and route taken by the flights, being able to accurately follow the arrival of a plane at the airport.

Currently, equipped with a smartphone and with a particular app or website, we can find all this and much more.

Civil aviation authorities around the world began to implement Automatic Transmission of Dependent Surveillance (ADS-B) in the early years. The ADS-B is an aircraft-mounted transponder system that transmits a variety of information in real time, including the location, speed, direction of the aircraft and a unique transponder code for each aircraft. This information, plotted on a map, gives pilots and ground controllers the ability to quickly get a sense of the local airspace (or the airspace of most places on Earth).

Transponder signals can also be captured by cheap terrestrial receivers that amateurs, aviation enthusiasts and others can build for less than $100 using widely available hardware and software, some of which can be obtained on flight tracking sites.

Movement of aircraft tracked by the ADS-B Exchange around the world.

As of 2021, ADS-B transponders are mandatory in the USA, Europe, Australia, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Taiwan and Vietnam, and the system is being implemented in China, Canada and Saudi Arabia.

In the United States, almost every type of aircraft - from commercial aircraft and small private aircraft to military fighters, helicopters, bombers, tankers, information-collection aircraft, transport, special operations aircraft, drones and even VIP aircraft carrying the president and members of Congress - are required to transpose into controlled airspace.

A screenshot of the online flight tracking site ADS-B Exchange showing a snapshot of military flights in the United States on July 18 of this year on the ADS-B Exchange.

The information is not only available to the aviation community. The ADS-B Exchange website gathers aircraft tracking data and makes it available in real time, allowing anyone to track air traffic anywhere the system is working.

Unlike FlightRadar24.com or FlightAware.com - which rely on flight tracking data streams provided by the FAA and other international aviation authorities or obtained from Aireon's global ADS-B air traffic surveillance and tracking network, as well as ground-based ADS-B receivers - ADSBExchange.com relies on thousands of independently owned ground-based ADS-B receivers and multilayer devices, or MLAT.

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MLAT receivers in groups of three or four in a small geographical area use triangulation to track aircraft. In other words, if an aircraft is not using ADS-B for transponder as military aircraft sometimes do, MLAT receivers can still capture their S-Mode transponder signals and establish a position and tracking for an aircraft, as well as altitude and speed data.

The network of receivers of the ADSBExchange.com website includes 10,000 MLAT devices worldwide. As it does not collect flight tracking data from government or commercial sources, it may offer "unfiltered" flight tracking.

ADS-B Exchange merges ADS-B data with other publicly known data on military and civilian aircraft around the world. Individual aircraft are plotted on OpenStreetMap - a free geographical database of the world - represented by color-coded icons according to altitude. The icons range from individual autostos and Cessna 182 to four-engine Boeing 747 and Airbus A380 civil aircraft. Military icons include U-2, KC-135 Stratotankers, C-17 Globemaster III, C-5M Super Galaxy, V-22 Ospreys and so on, although fighters are often represented by a more generic icon model of swept wing and stuffy nose.

A click on the icon includes spatial information, including ground speed, altitude and location, ADS-B signal strength and other data. It also includes the registration of the aircraft, the country of registration and adds a photograph or thumbnail of the aircraft when possible.

All this means that, with the click of a button, you can instantly find out what is flying near you.

Although aircraft tracking has long been a niche hobby among aviation enthusiasts who like to catalog the comings and goings of aircraft, the public availability of transponder data in mid-air also offers journalists, researchers and other observers an effective means of tracking the movements and activities of the planes of the richest and most powerful in the world. The aggregation and analysis of public flight data shed light on the CIA's torture flights, the movements of the Russian oligarchs, and Google's friendly relationship with NASA.

Flights from ISR platforms tracked in the Ukraine region for a period of one month, at the end of last year.

More recently, these tracking techniques have gained international attention after attracting the wrath of Elon Musk, the richest man in the world. After buying social media giant Twitter, Musk banned an account that shared the movements of his private jet.

Despite repeated promises to protect freedom of expression - and a specific promise not to ban the @ElonJet account - on the platform, Musk censored anyone who shared the whereabouts of his plane, claiming that the data obtained entirely legally and totally public was equivalent to "murder coordinates".

A Global Hawk flown remotely with the indicater FORTE12 was the last aircraft tracked over Ukraine before the invasion of Russian forces and the closure of the country's airspace to civilian air traffic, according to the global flight tracking service Flightradar24.

Soon after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a US Global Hawk, with the indication FORTE12, was followed almost daily by thousands of people on the Flighradar24 platform.

Publicly available flight tracking data is a growing problem for the U.S. military, a senior Pentagon official said recently.

Sites such as ADSBExchange.com, FlightRadar24.com and FlightAware.com aggregate flight data in the United States and abroad using a combination of commercial and citizen-owned sensors that capture the movements of commercial, civil and military aircraft in real time, 24 hours a day.

"The Department of Defense considers open source flight tracking and data aggregation on our aircraft a direct threat to our ability to conduct military air operations around the world," the U.S. Air Force said.

An F-35 fighter was tracked in the Flightradar 24 app earlier this year, during a flight near Phoenix, Arizona.

Aggregated by websites and retransmitted on social media accounts, the data can be a free source of intelligence for nation-states, terrorist groups or individuals, revealing everything from operational movements of aircraft, aviation units and troops to training standards, development test flights and the movements of government officials, experts said.

This image shows a Beechcraft King Air configured for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions in the military aviation field of Baledogle, Somalia, in 2021. The U.S. civil registration code on the side was not assigned to any specific aircraft at the time and its exact operator remains unknown. However, this is very much in line with the types of aircraft that JSOC allegedly operates clandestinely and that would be interested in hiding the activities through the proposed aircraft flight profile management database tool.

Therefore, military aircraft routinely transmit their ADS-B data, but have the option to turn it off when necessary. The Pentagon is well aware that aviation enthusiasts - and potential opponents - monitor ADS-B data and that aircraft turn off transponders when they do not want anyone to observe them. Often when following the aircraft they simply disappear abruptly from the map.

The U.S. military is also known to use fake hexadecimal codes, which identify a transponder as belonging to a specific aircraft, to help mask certain sensitive flights. For example, the U.S. Air Force VC-25A Air Force One jet that transported President Donald Trump to Afghanistan in 2019 electronically disguised itself for a time as a KC-10 Extender tanker in this way.

As a particularly notable and relevant example of tracking high-profile U.S. military flights, the U.S. Air Force C-40 Clipper aircraft that transported Nancy Pelosi, then a representative of the Democratic Party in California and mayor, to Taiwan last year was visible online, despite concerns that the Chinese military might try to forcibly prevent the flight from reaching the island or harassing it otherwise.

This flight, which used the SPAR19 indicative, was one of the most tracked of all time in terms of total simultaneous users monitoring it on the popular website FlightRadar24, and ended up taking down the app for a period of time.

The Ghostrider trail on the night between November 20 and 21, 2023, on Radarbox.com.

In mid-November, something new happened: a U.S. aircraft involved in combat apparently left its ADS-B on, and did so intentionally. An AC-130J Ghostrider attack aircraft carried out an airstrike against a target that had launched a missile attack against U.S. forces at Al Assad Air Base in Iraq. The AC-130 gunship has a variety of weapons, including 30mm and 105mm cannons, and precisely guided bombs and missiles, and usually flies in lazy circles above its target, pouring firepower on the targets below. In Al Assad's retaliatory air attack, according to The Aviationist website, the Ghostrider involved apparently kept his transponder on all the time, drawing large circles on the ADS-B map and it was possible to be seen on the Radar Box website.

In Brazil, it is possible to track several military aircraft in aircraft tracking applications, including the most widespread Flightradar24. Next, you can see the KC-390, C-130 Hercules transport aircraft or T-27 Tucano coaches in flight near the Air Force Academy. The FAB has hidden data from the presidential aircraft A319 (VC-1) and E190 (VC-2) on these sites.

FAB T-27 Tucano aircraft are often seen flying near Pirassununga, AFA headquarters.

More recently, it was possible to follow the flights of the Brazilian Air Force that went to seek refugees and Brazilian citizens who were and Israel and the Gaza Strip. The KC-30 and KC-390 aircraft could be tracked in real time on the tracking platforms.

If you are a fan of military aircraft or just like to know what is happening when you hear the noise of aircraft engines, ADS-B is a free and reliable tool that you should use to track and identify planes. Observing fighters, spy planes and transport coming and going can help you get to know your armed forces. Just keep in mind that, at least when it comes to military flights, you will only see what the military wants you to see.

BONUS

From Christmas Eve, the flight tracking site Flightradar24 will be keeping an eye on Santa Claus and his reindeer Rudolph, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen as they accelerate around the world.

Initially tracking Santa Claus was a challenge, but thanks to an ADS-B transponder installed a few years ago and the reindeer horns functioning as an additional antenna, Flightradar24 uses a mixture of terrestrial and satellite ADS-B coverage to track Santa Claus during his busiest night of the year.

To follow the good old man, go here.

Tags: Military AviationtrackingTechnology

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Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. He uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.