#Not EZEL though
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blackberry-mochi · 1 year ago
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TODAY IS KAIMA'S ANNIVERSARY (I mean………. technically on itch it tells me it was released at 12:30AM on the 24th, but official sources claim it was released on the 23rd, and frankly 12:30AM is basically still the previous day) SO HERE'S AN IMAGE OF (true) SEARINA USING THE UNUSED SPECIAL CALLED "Hug!" ON ILLI!!! (It's there in the code I promise. I didn't look but it's gotta be there. You just don't see it because the game ends right as soon as SEARINA gets her soul back.)
Replayed KAIMA before drawing this and wowza……. I forgot how much swearing there was in it, pff. It's charming in a way though. ANYWAY KAIMA (the game) GOOD HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO NEW KAIMA (the location)!!!!!
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bigkickguy · 1 year ago
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enforcer and executor are my arknights favs
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Hello, I am a Frisk, a Frisk who never had a Chara by her side. I've committed the genocide with my own two hands, by my own volition. Every death still haunts my dreams and I can still feel the LV pushing at my mind to reset. I've spent 18 years with this regret and though my Chara has kept me from that path again I feel that I can never fully repent.
If you hate me I understand, I hate myself too.
To anyone else out there, be kind to your Chara's they are just as if not more important as anyone else.
*Sends chocolate through portal*
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*Ezel is no longer available for asks
*Frisk is now available for asks
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bobbile-blog · 11 months ago
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Not sure if anyone’s said this yet but now that we have Laterano events plural I’m fascinated by their (imo) very deliberate choice of protagonists, and there are almost a couple of layers of narrative going on there. I struggle a little figuring out how to get this into words but specifically I think they’re chosen to be people who can carry a narrative without contradicting the orthodox morals of the church. There’s a LOT of vaguely anti-authoritarian rambling below the cut so please kindly bear with me and my English major brain.
I can’t really start there though. One of the reasons this is so brain hurty is how deeply it’s woven into the storyline, so to start, I have to verbalize how Laterano and Arknights writing more generally is different from other, similar settings. Because like, I hear the words “morally negative church in a grimdark setting” and my brain immediately shuts off. Come on, that’s so far beyond low-hanging fruit, if you’ve seen any grimdark setting ever you know exactly what that looks like. And sure, it was fine the first two or three times you saw it, depending on your tolerance for that kinda thing, but it gets boring quick and even when it was new it was kinda uninteresting story-wise. “Religion is always fake because it inspires hope which means everyone who takes meaning from it is either a corrupt grifter or naive and misled” isn’t just edgy nonsense, it’s also basically useless as an actual critique. It tells you absolutely nothing except how to tune out a particular kind of story, and a story that tries to get you to hear less is doing its job wrong.
So, Arknights does something different. Instead of denying the premise of the church entirely, it actually takes it at its word. Laterano is, in almost every definition of the word, a paradise. It is basically unmatched in terms of actual quality of life, with its only competitors being the Durin cities and maybe Aegir, and is worlds apart from now much the rest of Terra sucks. More than that, though, the paradise is specifically tailored to the worldview of a religion with a strong central authority - when I say it takes it at its word, I mean the authoritarian bits too. Laterano is a city that lives in perfect order and peace because everyone follows the law perfectly and they all understand each other and never fight. Empathy is really important for this, as it allows for a believable amount of superhuman societal order. Laterano has very little crime, political drama, or quarrels in general. It’s the promises of a strict higher authority actually taken at face value: everyone follows the rules and that means they have effectively unfettered freedom, because they don’t want to break the rules and therefore they can do anything they want.
Laterano is specifically written to be a believable paradise in a setting that has none, so that when the story then turns around and criticizes that setting, it has significantly more weight. Even when the promises of paradise are taken at face value, there are still issues that cannot be addressed because the system is inherently flawed even in the imaginary scenario where it works. Even worse, the problems that poke holes in the imaginary perfect scenario are the same problems that they face in the real world, like “how do you deal with the interpretation of scriptures” and “hey there’s this racism thing I keep hearing about should we be worried about that or what”. Because of the way this imaginary perfect system works, we then look back on our real world in a new light and understand it a little better. It’s good critique.
Okay so how did we get here and what does this have to do with the protagonists? Well, this starts with Fiametta in Guide Ahead, because she’s a really weird protagonist. This is a cold take at this point but despite being the character on the front of the box, she has very little to actually do with the central conflict of the event. Most of the conflict is handled by Ezell first and Andoain second, and Fiametta mostly putters around putting holes in people until the finale where Andoain receives the answer he’s been looking for, he turns to explain it to the world, and he runs into the only person in the whole of Laterano who does not care about his motivations or his revelation. Her role, in other words, is to replace the climax of Andoain’s story with her own, and in doing so she makes it much harder to actually get a resolution and a meaning out of the story (this should not be taken as a criticism of her character, let me cook). Guide Ahead’s ending is hazy, with only small piecemeal resolutions to its conflicts, and for the longest time that was just the way the event was written and it stood on its own.
But now, Hortus de Escapismo is out and the monkey brain see patterns. Specifically, with the choice of protagonists. Because Executor is definitely different from Fiametta as a protagonist, but there’s one particularly important connection between the two, and that’s that as I mentioned in the beginning, they allow for stories don’t contradict orthodox morality. Fiametta we went over, as she’s uninterested in any of Andoain’s morality and just wants him dead. Executor, though, is purely focused on his mission and views the world through that lens. He only wants to achieve his objective, and while helping the needy is in line with the stated objectives of the church and he does do so when able, it’s secondary to his assigned task. He does change as he gets further into the story, and we’re not gonna ignore that, but we’ll be back to it later. What I mean is more that he is designed as a person who is able to lead a story that doesn’t contradict with the morals of Laterano. He sees the injustice and suffering around him, but that’s not his job, so he doesn’t need to solve it to have a complete story with a happy ending.
This is where it really gets complicated, so I apologize if I don’t explain this very well. I see this as us dealing with multiple layers of fiction: the events of the story, the perspective of the church, and our perspective as readers. Back to the first point - authoritarian institutions almost always use stories to sell people on their brand of order. Simple stories, simple enough that even calling them myths seems like overselling it a little, your “Saint George slays a dragon” kinda thing. This is the point of the second layer, the perspective of the church. I don’t really have an in-world justification for this layer - maybe you could make the argument that it has to do with Law’s perspective on things, but I don’t totally buy that - I think it’s more in a weird narrative transition space for people who don’t read very carefully. Regardless, Fiametta and Executor’s shared indifference to the questionable circumstances surrounding them is designed to let them tell a story to prop up the existing order. Their protagonist status and their missions are specifically constructed to allow them to ignore the suffering around them, and as such ignore the larger questions that might poke holes in the larger order. They’re both playing out the story of Saint George, where they go and find a bad guy and kill them and that’s all there is to it. The story is designed and told specifically for that “that’s all there is to it”.
But, as we said earlier, this is a good critique, and as such it intentionally undercuts this story with the third layer: what we actually see as readers. We are shown the suffering and the injustice, and then get to see our protagonists ignoring that to pursue their goals. This is what gives Guide Ahead’s ending its unique texture, which sets it apart from every other event with a vaguely unresolved ending. We have seen the actual issues with Laterano, and also watched our protagonist explicitly ignore them in favor of her own story. It’s unsatisfying in a way that only really makes sense to me if we as the readers have an understanding of intentional authorship. Whether it be Yvangelista XI or Law or The Actual Real Life Pope, there are issues here that we want to see a resolution to but people are choosing not to address them. Again, it’s good critique. Not only does it push the reader to unpack and understand the actual real-world technique, but it also helps blunt it. You have just seen a plot and protagonist ring uncharacteristically hollow. You then look around to see why that is, and you realize there are many things that should have been resolved that weren’t. The next time you see a story resolve with that same hollow-ness, you know where to look. Surprise! Harry Potter was propaganda the whole time. It’s okay, it was never good, you were just twelve.
I guess the last thing is where we go from here, because Executor’s story breaks this mold somewhat. In Hortus de Escapismo, he has to deal with a mission that isn’t actually bounded by his normal rules, and because of that he actually does have leeway to help the people around him. He starts as someone who is totally mission-focused, but by the end of the event he’s done a total 180 and is blocking Oren’s attack, which makes the mission harder but helps the non-mission-critical civilians of the monastery. He breaks from the rigid thinking of “kill the bad guy and that’s all there is do it”, and gives his attention to the people he isn’t supposed to see. I think this is an indication of the direction we’re going to be headed in the future with Laterano events. The events aren’t going to get better - they’re going to keep being just as morally murky and complicated as in the past - but the characters are going to get better at handling it, and when they do, they’re going to actually start to change things for the better.
Goddamn that was a lot of writing for 1 AM. I still have a. Lot of thoughts on this event with stuff like empathy and Lemuen and Federico being an autistic icon(my beloved) but I’m going to leave things there, I think, because if I write for any longer my phone is going to crash when I try to post this. Anyway if you actually made it to the end thanks for listening to me rambling and I hope that made sense. Cheers.
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incorrectromanceclub · 10 months ago
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Ezel: To be completely honest, your friend scares me a little. Laia: Vlad? He wouldn't hurt a fly! Ezel: That's reassuring. Noe: He would kill a man, though.
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alelx2194 · 4 months ago
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Okay I rarely post anything in general, but the latest 100YQ chap gave me enough of a nascent hope to motivate me.
So we got a new set of Oracion Seis this chap, somewhat obviously based on the OG FT ones. You have Racer, Brain, Cobra and Angel equivalents to the very least.
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Now I dunno if the two on the left match anyone in particular. Could be the big guy is Hoteye cause Hoteye is big. Could be he's big cause Midnight had an illusion form. Not really the point of the post though.
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(as an aside they could just be the equivalent of the original OS spread, Brain and Cobra fit, while Angel "fits" in the sense she's the girl. Bird guy only really fits the Angel thing cause of the feathers in the first place. Still leaves Hoteye and Midnight vague lol)
The Brain equivalent is a little bit too much of an equivalent. AKA he might actually be the original, revived as a demon.
So that opens up the gates for a very interesting matchup. See, Brain and a certain main character originated from the same arc.
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In a way, Brain and Zero's actions are what caused Wendy's guild to vanish, as well as her to start her growth as a person and fighter.
I mean, plenty of other people helped her in that journey in more positive ways. Natsu, Gajeel, Jellal, Erza, and so on. But Brain/Zero is ultimately what forces Wendy to grow up before she should.
And. With him revived. We get a chance for a very interesting matchup.
Give me Wendy vs Zero 2.0 Mashima. You already feed Natsu three fights per arc. Surely Wendy can fight a big boss once per series. I wouldn't mind a team effort. Just let her have this. Will it probably be awfully mismatched? Will it require some little sillyness to be resolved? Is Zero perhaps a bit too old news for anything too exciting even with demonic stuff? Probably. It is that kind of series after all. Natsu ain't no stranger to absolute shenanigans.
Will it be cool to see? Honestly, I don't know. It is however a very interesting idea, at least to me.
Plus I wanna get Wendy's
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equivalent of this
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Now, one could fairly argue Wendy already got that moment. And that Zero is similar amounts "That bad guy in front of me" as Ezel. Plus she's probably over him by now. Still, I think it could be her best option for something that's not mostly gags. Cause Hiro does seem to have an issue with making her fights mostly gags in 100YQ. >.>
Anyway this is way more than I usually post ever, have a nice day if you actually bothered with my silly little post.
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scamanthalikely · 10 months ago
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"So, you're saying it's still alive in there?"
"That's the theory, anyway. I believe the purpose of the patron firearm system is to provide reinforcement of the Law. But I feel that there is no point in seeking it out at this stage, at least not for me."
"Ezell..."
"There's only one way to be sure." Gesturing across the table, the Sankta gestures at the disassembled shotgun, kindly smiling towards the Doctor. "Now, which part of the firearm contains the fragment of God?"
_ _ _
The empty laboratory clicks open with barely a hiss, thanks to the clever use of a magnet at the top and bottom. It's stupid, you know? All of this technology for monitoring these top secret projects defeated with something a child has decent odds of keeping around as a curiosity. W chuckles to herself as she quickly shuts the door behind her, slipping in. A handheld light clicks on as she surveys the room. Her eyes widen.
*Well, well*, she thinks. *Guess I'll be adding this to my collection next.*
Reaching across the table, she starts to reassemble the firearm beginning with its smallest pieces. But as she moves to affix the firing pin, a curious thought strikes her as though from afar-
*YOU'LL DO.*
There's an explosion like the report of a firearm, and then nothing.
- - -
She comes to some time later, the mist of the fire suppression system making her vision hazy. Of course it's that damn Doctor in their stupid idiot mask. Must've been some kind of intruder countermeasure. She squints against the light, eyes trying to adjust. "Ugh... could you shut that damn thing off? It's getting in my eyes."
The Doctor gives a look of concern, brow furrowing detectable even through the darkness of their mask. "...no," they say, carefully and diplomatically.
"I get it, okay? I'm in the damn doghouse. Just shut that thing off or at LEAST turn it down."
The Doctor pulls out a compact mirror, flipping it open with one hand, and shows W her own reflection. She squints against the glare a moment before her eyes widen.
The lights are not on in this room. The only source of illumination is coming from just above W's brow, with more behind her splaying out. She flexes her shoulder back as she grabs the compact in wonderment and shock, and she sees the wing behind flex also, it's fragmentary components splaying out like fingers widening from a fist.
"Uh oh."
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sunder-the-gold · 1 year ago
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How halo-empathy re-contextualizes our Sankta Operators
I'll ignore Ezell (Enforcer) for this post, as we got to know him at the same time as we learned about halo-empathy.
Adnachiel
"In a show of humility, Adnachiel stands helpless in the face of loftier, theoretical topics, though everyone assumes he's just being modest. After all, as soften spoken and kind as he is, Adnachiel gives off the impression of being a clever and considerate young man."
Adnachiel didn't have to deal with that sort of misunderstanding in Laterano, where other Sankta would feel that he isn't being modest when a topic falls outside of his understanding of deterministic, mechanical principles.
On the other hand, he left Laterano before he was the requisite 12 years old for receiving his patron gun. We don't know how long he's lived in virtual exile before he became Infected (and thus exiled for real), but it seems like long enough for him to have adjusted to managing the expectations of non-Sankta.
Of course, that doesn't mean he can stop people from spreading exaggerated rumors about his intelligence and foresight, especially when he's got enough of both in reality.
Probably, his perceptiveness and analysis also helped him adjust to the necessity of watching and listening to other people to guess their state of mind. Philosophical theory is one thing, but facial expressions and vocal tones tend to have clearly observable meanings.
(Though I'm left wondering if his parents lied to him about the reason why they took him away from Laterano as a child. When a potential bully and a potential target both feel each other's emotions, would bullying still happen? Maybe this was an early-writing fluke?)
Arene
Where Adnachiel opened up to other people and studied them in return, Arene displays more introverted, self-focused tendencies.
Arene's troubling lack of sympathy for other people could owe to the several years he's spent exiled from Laterano following his infection with Oripathy, "from an early age". Younger than 12 years old, when Sankta normally receive their patron firearm.
Spending his formative years separated from his parents and surrounded by people from whom he could sense no emotions, with an underdeveloped ability to read emotions normally, and possibly with a unconscious sentiment of Sankta racial superiority, it's perhaps not surprising that Arene displays sadistic, solipsistic tendencies.
His third Archive File further mentions that he "tends to be a little sheepish around some of our other Laterano operators". One assumes this refers to other, unfallen Sankta who not only remind him that other people have internal lives of their own, but that there are some people who can still see right through him.
Ambriel
She's not just evading her taxes; she wanted to live where no one could empathically sense her desire to slack off. Possibly.
For that matter, her choice of weapon not only lets her avoid direct confrontations of a physical, mortal nature… the farther she could deploy from other members of the Lateran Guard or Notarial Hall, the less likely they could see or feel her slacking off.
When the Notarial Hall employed her to watch out for and locate students playing hookie from school, did they hope to inspire her to change by confronting "herself"?
Executor
He and Oren confirm that despite his apparently darkened halo and the unexplained device clamped onto it, he's not fallen. He's very much capable of sensing the feelings of other Sankta. He just doesn't care. Possibly, he thinks that feelings do not change facts, and he bases his decisions on facts.
This does not contradict what he says in his third Trust line. Rather it must mean that when he says, "I cannot understand other people", he cannot understand the reasoning of other Sankta despite knowing their emotional state. His actions could anger another Sankta close enough for him to feel their anger, but he doesn't understand WHY his actions provoked that response.
Exusiai
Texas: "Exusiai is my polar opposite. She seems to get along fine with anyone, but lets very few people close to her." Exusiai: "Texas is a handful. Even when she lets you close, she won't spare more than a few words. It took me a long time to figure out whether we were cool or not."
Exusiai grew up never needing someone to say more than a few words; she could know how they felt. She had to learn how to read someone as tactiturn as Texas because Sankta don't understand subtler body-language or unspoken words within words. Texas outright tells us that Exusiai finds it very hard to really TRUST other people; Texas had to prove herself through actions because Exusiai can't peek into her mind.
Which makes Exusiai's pledge of loyalty to the Doctor more impactful; even without halo-empathy, she's utterly convinced she understands and agrees with the Doctor. ("Leader… No, savior, I pledge this gun in my hand to protect you until the very end of this world.")
Mostima
This explains so much about Mostima, whom probably already wasn't the most social of Sankta. Before she fell, she had the Sankta empathy to assist her. Fiammetta didn't, but Fiammetta was raised by Sankta and knew how to bridge the gap, so Mostima still didn't have to learn anything. But after she fell, she lost almost all connection to other people that she'd taken for granted, and the effort to reconnect didn't seem worth the trouble.
Exusiai goes crazy not just because Mostima won't use her words to explain, but because words are all Mostima has any more and she was never good with them. Exusiai can't feel Mostima's feelings anymore.
This also brings a new dimension to how the Doctor managed to reach Mostima, and convince her that maybe making new human connections wasn't such a hassle (for her) after all. ("…I see now. When I thought of having a friend like you, the spark of joy I felt wasn't fake after all. Scrap what I said before, Doctor. Maybe I do need a bit of warmth in my life.")
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koshka-sova · 11 months ago
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i have finished reading hortus de escapismo. i liked it more than i thought! certainly grim and depressing in many parts, as this was the central conflict of the monastery' inhabitants and especially clément's internal breakdown. some thoughts below about the event's ending teasing future stories, in no clear order...
firstly, they really went and put in a teaser for the next celebration event (zwillingstürme im herbst) by having arturia be escorted out by a spire caster of all people. if her previous appearance in lingering echoes was any hint (or even oren's tip about her back in guide ahead), it's clear now shes not only operating in leithanien, she seems to have strong ties with the country's militia. from what little i got by filtering any spoilers, ZiH seems to involve not just the twin empresses but the witch king again, so just what kind of business did arturia even get into... im curious.
next, is andoain. it's nice that he gets a nod through the notebook lemuen found in the monastery. i wonder if it's a given that he visited there, given that hes from iberia, laterano's partnering nation in building the monastery in the first place? i used to share fiammetta's anger towards him and thought him unsensitive to lemuen and mostima, and really, none of them have given the closure fia so desparately wants. but with how internalised sankta othering is, how it's so ingrained in their culture because to them, Paradise is real and is their given right, andoain is unique in asking these questions about the lateran faith and equality. to the readers, who are now learning even more clearly how sankta naturally live in a system that promotes that specific brand of racism, andoain becomes more decent than most other sankta characters. seeing the sankta involved in hortus, we can now see just how prejudiced they are especially about sarkaz, with the exception of federico. the nod to andoain in hortus invites me to think he might play a role again in another laterano event, as despite having two laterano events that bring this prejudice into light, theres no satisfying addressing of the issue despite it being literally questioned--by patia, andoain, ezell and cecilia in GA, then by federico and abbot stefano in HdE. this brings me to...
third and last point: im hoping hg cooks something new for laterano. in the epilogue, the pope expresses satisfaction that federico is starting to ask questions about how the law is not as encompassing. he says he will relay federico's question to a man he knows. although there's no way to say this is andoain (hell, what if it's ezell or an entirely new person), it does raise the question why they'd include this dialogue. ofc, in true arknights fashion, this could mean nothing at all. the same is true for lemuen and the abbot's epilogue. both of them either say or think that the abbot's journey is yet to end, and that he will find his own laterano. a new kind of laterano? much like a new volsinii without the famiglie? or (the efforts of) a new iberia? or whatever is in store for leithanien in ZiH? or the strides kjerag is pulling in the new event with degenbrecher? this could be a sign that the issue of laterano and the Law's directive--and its consequences taking shape as sanktan prejudice--will be challenged again, perhaps in a more direct manner. and who better to challenge this than andoain, who's done so before? perhaps it is true that abbot stefano will be involved again then. and id also like to mention lemuen, who does show that sort of questioning as well, in the form of acknowledging the monastery residents' bond regardless of race. still, she seems to have concluded as of the event's epilogue that that sort of understanding between different people is impossible (though she even seems to extend this to between sankta; is she saying this bc even with shared empathy and common goals there is still conflict?). so, who knows. for all i know this is just my delusional hope that andoain and lemuen might become playable some day. even if not though, i do think hortus de escapismo intentionally doesnt give a resolving answer to the inherent issues with Law's directive.
i dont know how to end this, other than that in the end, it is nice to have an epilogue that gives closure to the different characters involved. theres closure for raimund, fortuna, abbot stefano... even hyman and aulus have a section.
last thoughts. the arknights wiki mentions that a sami priest once foretold that terra's end is near, though their cries were ignored. interestingly, we've seen at least two apocalypse scenarios, both not addressed as canon as of now. one is the seaborn assimilation (is3 ending), the other originium spread (kaltsit skin). so perhaps, its not out of pocket to speculate that there might be a future laterano event that signifies a sort of 'end' or fall, either of the physical holy city or the Law. we'll see in due time...
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artandthebible · 3 months ago
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David and Jonathan
Artist: Rembrandt van Rijn,
Genre: Religious Art
Date: 1642
Medium: OIl on Panel
Collection:  Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
David and Jonathan is a painting by the Dutch painter Rembrandt, made in 1642, now in the collection of the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia. it is one of the works, together with the Hellenistic sculpture acquired in 1850, The Venus de Taurida, with which the Hermitage began their collection in 1882.
The subject is taken from the Book of 1 Samuel 20: 35-42. David was a close friend of Jonathan, the son of King Saul. Saul suspected David of aspiring to the throne of Israel. Saul thus planned to kill David, but when Jonathan learned of his father's intention, he warned David of the danger. Jonathan advised him to run away, though David took shelter by the stone Ezel, where their last meeting took place. Jerusalem is portrayed gleaming in the left background, with a quiver of arrows at David's feet being interpreted as those weapons given David by Jonathan after the victory over Goliath (1 Samuel 18:1-4).
Rembrandt portrays Jonathan holding David to his chest as the latter weeps uncontrollably: "And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul." (1 Samuel 20:17) The young David cannot contain his grief. Jonathan, more mature in years, keeps back the tears, although his face expresses deep sorrow. Themes of love and suffering lie at the heart of the biblical story captured in the painting. Rembrandt painted the picture soon after the death of his beloved wife Saskia, and perhaps its subject is associated with his own feelings.
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naraven · 6 months ago
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Dear @xianyoon,
Hello, Operator! For your next mission, we have decided to pair you up with the following operator(s):
ENFORCER
cw // she/her pronouns, relatively fluff, excessive talk of coffee oops, use of an operators real name
It was fate, people say, that the two coffee nerd operators would eventually meet and team up.
It was a relatively simple operation. Post-debrief, fellow operators say it was Enforcer who approached and introduced himself to the operator who was chatting with a couple others in a small circle.
It went off without a hitch. There were no major fatalities, and everybody came back in high spirits. Two operators in particular were noted to be particularly excellent, before, during, and after.
The operation went well, one operator reports, but the constant talk of coffee between Operator Enforcer and Operator [Y/N] made it really hard to rest sometimes. It made me crave caffeine so much I begged them for a cup almost immediately coming back to Rhodes Island.
Bonding over coffee and the brewing process is a must! It always varied, from how much milk or espresso would be included, to certain ratios, and the million different tools used to get the best shot of espresso.
There arose an inside joke that they would speak an entire different language when it came to making coffee.
Some signs would eventually lead a couple rumors, though. From the way that, sometimes, they would always be on their transmitter device to talk to each other, and the use of each other's real names. Many would assume, quite naturally, that they were romantically involved.
When confronted, neither of them claimed anything about the rumors.
It made sense these two operators would get along. Besides being giant espresso nerds, they both enjoyed visiting the medical ward to help lighten the mood, and general soft and kind natures seemed to attract a crowd wherever they went.
They became a familiar face to all the Infected kids that awaited their visits, often swarming them when they arrived. Many other patients say they also enjoy the two's company, saying their presence eases the atmosphere of the illness ridden ward.
One most important thing that everyone notices, though, is how much brighter Operator [Y/N] looks nowadays.
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"Oh, hello Doctor."
"Doctor!"
>You two are in high spirits.
"Well, we were just experimenting!" [Y/N] finishes putting up her hair, the frothing hot milk set aside two cups of nearly identical lattes. "Well, Ezell was."
"I'm trying to put my own spin on [Y/N]'s favorite latte." Enforcer takes a small sip from his mug, closing his eyes as he evaluates the taste.
"So? How is it?" She inquires, taking a small sip of her own.
"It lacks sugar, but I like the ratio a lot." He takes another sip, licking some of the froth off his lips.
"I'm glad! 30 grams of espresso and 180 grams of steamed milk, it has a nice balance to it. Doctor, would you like to try some?"
>Aren't all lattes just espresso and milk? What makes this one so special?
"Doctor..." [Y/N] mumbles in disbelief.
"Uh oh," Enforcer sheepishly laughs, "Doctor, you really shouldn't have said that."
"Doctor!" She exclaims.
>Huh?
"Listen carefully, Doctor! I'll repeat it as many times as you want!" Suddenly, a screen appears in front of her with a slide presentation already on it.
"See, look carefully! This is a cappuccino. They're mostly equal parts espresso, steamed milk, and milk foam."
>R-Right...
"Sorry, Doctor. You're on your own now." Enforcer sits down next to them, still with his latte in hand.
>You can't stop her either...?
"No, I can." He smiles, tapping the side of his mug with his fingers. "It's just, I also took offense to what you just said too. Feel free to blame only yourself for this."
>Urgh.
"Doctor! Are you even listening? Now, this is a flat white. Many people mistake this with lattes, but its important to not that this one lacks the milk foam at the top."
>What can I do to get out of this?
"Listen to the whole thing, of course."
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toomanyplotbunnies-sendhelp · 10 months ago
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Hello and welcome to Day 21 of "Let's Explore My Plot Bunnies"
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Sorry if this is later than usual 😅
Today, I have a more unusual crossover plot bunny for you all - a Cardfight! Vanguard and Katekyo Hitman Reborn crossover!
The main motivations for this (already 2 or so years old) idea are as follows:
I love any card game anime - Cardfight Vanguard, FutureCard Buddyfight, Yu-Gi-Oh!; you name it, I probably already watched and loved the whole thing. Vanguard is probably my second most favorite anime besides the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime from this genre of shows.
I want Tsuna to have an actual hobby and make friends that aren't forced upon him by someone else. Like seriously, let the kid be a fucking kid - all world saving shenanigans aside.
So, yeah. Making Tsuna play a game and enjoy it while also making friends is the main goal of this fic. Also, I still have yet to find a good title for this fic idea yet, so any suggestions are welcome.
As for the synopsis:
After Tsuna got his Sky Flames sealed, he went to a festival with his mother. Tsuna got lost and met a young man named Daichi. Daichi kept Tsuna company till they were found by Nana. During this time, Daichi, in an attempt to cheer Tsuna up, showed him a bunch of Vanguard cards he had on himself. Tsuna instantly loved them, especially one Incandescent Lion, Blond Ezel. Once Nana found them, Daichi decides to give Tsuna the card he liked most out of the ones he showed him as a keepsake. (Daichi kinda feels like both Ezel and Tsuna need each other and if he ever learned something while playing Vanguard is that you listen to your gut in these situations)
Tsuna comes back home with Incandescent Lion, Blond Ezel, and with a new determination to make a deck to fight Daichi with it in the future. And so, years passed, and even though Tsuna did gather enough cards to make the deck he wanted, because of the seal's interference with Tsuna's courage and self esteem, he never got the nerve to actually have a Vanguard Fight with someone.
One day, Tsuna gets another headache before going to school (which is a common occurrence nowadays due to the seal clashing with Tsuna's Hyper Intuition) and gets the impression he should bring his deck to school. Even though nothing happens at school, while on the way back home, Tsuna bumps into another boy his age, scattering the vanguard cards the boy had in his hand. Since he feels guilty, Tsuna helps the boy gather them up, and once done, he, seemingly in a hurry, runs off. Unfortunately, Tsuna sees one of the cards from the boy's deck on the ground and follows him to give it back.
Tsuna ends up catching with the boy - who introduces himself as Jun - at a card shop named "Card Citadel." Jun, wanting to thank Tsuna somehow for returning one of his cards, asks if he plays. Tsuna, thinking this might be the only time he gets to fight like this, says he has a deck but never really played against anyone. Jun offers to be his first opponent and teach him the rules of a true fight.
Both enjoy the fight a lot, and Jun, feeling like he found another person with potential in Tsuna, wants to be his friend. Although bewildered, Tsuna accepts, and they make plans to meet at Card Citadel again tomorrow.
Next, Tsuna meets Ayaka, Jun's classmate and friend, who is also a cardfighter. All three of them became extremely close friends in the few months they knew each other for. When the opportunity to enter a Vanguard Tournament appears, the three of them decide to take it - mostly because they wanna know how playing in a tournament feels like and because they want to have fun playing against stronger opponents. The name they come up with for their team is "Skyfall," which is a fairly ominous name, but also, it's too catchy to just gloss over.
As Team Skyfall, they make it to the finals of the regional tournament only to meet Team Orion and its leader, Shindou. While Ayaka and Jun fought with Shindou's teammates, Tsuna faced Shindou, which ended in Team Skyfall's defeat. Tsuna, for the first time, feels very angry at some of the comments made by Shindou during their fight and wants to prove him wrong. Jun and Ayaka are also frustrated over the loss (in Ayaka's case) and win (in Jun's case). Jun feels like he won because of luck and not skill, so he feels like he shouldn't accept the win. Ayaka lost her fight and felt like she needed to improve or else she would be left behind.
All three decide to review their decks and get better from then on. Fortunately, there is another regional selection for the tournament they just lost. Unfortunately, most of the teams participating are teams that placed second in their regional tournament. This is the only chance left to go to the nationals for all of them.
Fuelled by their determination to face Team Orion again and win this time around, Team Skyfall wins the chance to go for the nationals. From there, after facing more and more powerful opponents, Team Skyfall manages to meet Team Orion again in the national finals. This time around, Team Skyfall won, and, reluctantly, Shindou recognized their skills. Although there are more things to settle between the two teams, they are amiable with each other from then on.
After the nationals are over and some more time passes, Tsuna and his friends get invitations to a (fancy) meeting with other National Champion Teams in New York (the costs being covered by their host). Thankfully, this takes place over the summer so they can attend it.
At the meeting, they encounter many other fighters such as Alessio and his team, La Vipera (Italy's Champion team), and Kong and his team The Chi (China's Champion Team) among others. This meeting is merely a formal introduction for every Champion to each other and to their host, who introduces himself as "Akash."
Akash wants to make Vanguard an even more popular game, and to do so, he introduces the notion of an annual tournament between the Champion Teams of each country. Akash assures them that the idea is still not yet to be put in motion as he can tell most of the ones present are not convinced. Instead, he says that everyone should take this opportunity to know each other better and, if they are available, they can meet again next year around the same time for another meeting - of course, the travelling and hotel costs for the champion teams are covered by Akash himself.
Although Tsuna feels like there is something more to Akash than meets the eye, he and his friends still enjoy their one week stay in New York and make friends there that they continue to keep in touch with.
After coming back to Japan, the three met new faces around Card Citadel, the cardfight beginners Kira (who is Shindou's classmate apparently) and Rinne, a more ... hot-headed individual. While Kira is somewhat aware of how to play Vanguard, Rinne is a total newbie that Tsuna decides to teach the ins and outs of the game, the same way Jun taught him two years ago. (And yes, at this point, it has been closer to 2 years since Tsuna met Jun)
Despite his fiery attitude, Rinne gets the game rules down pretty fast and becomes more excited about fighting other people. He and Kira become a permanent addition to Tsuna, Jun, Ayaka, and Shindou's group and continue to meet at Card Citadel.
A new tournament is announced during the winter season of this year. This Vanguard Tournament features a tag fight setting instead of the usual 1v1 setting they experienced till now. And you cannot choose your tag partners. Instead, you will be placed at random with another participant from the same bracket you are in.
The six friends join in the tournament, meeting old friends, but also new ones too. However, there is one person Tsuna never thought he would ever see participating in such a tournament, and that is Hibari Kyoya, the so-called "Demon of Namimori, who terrified the entire school (both students and teachers alike) and pretty much controls Namimori Middle School with an iron fist.
Unsurprisingly (since this is Tsuna we are talking about), Tsuna's random tag team partner is the aforementioned Habari Kyoya. But surprisingly, both of them work together quite well... (if you ignore the fact that Kyoya barely spoke with Tsuna since the teams were made, that is).
As the tournament goes on, Tsuna feels like Kyoya doesn't trust him as a teammate all that much (given that Kyoya doesn't talk with him at all or even seem to acknowledge that they are fighting together). Meanwhile, Kyoya is trying to get a read on this version of Tsunayoshi Sawada that he had never seen before - more confident in his skills, more open to social interaction, more ... carnivore than the herbivore Kyoya pegged Tsuna to be. This Tsunayoshi is pretty much the opposite of the herbivore he always sees at school. And yet, Kyoya can help to notice that not every herbivore behavior was left behind when Tsunayoshi became a carnivore - which should make him an omnivore. The first omnivore Kyoya has ever seen to be more precise.
The Tag Team Tournament ends with Kyoya and Tsuna vs. Shindou and Jun (who seem more ready to fight each other than him and Kyoya, Tsuna can't help but notice.) By a stroke of luck and a bit of Shindou's stategic mind, Tsuna and Kyoya lose the match - but they aren't that upset about it. Tsuna likes that he managed to be a good tag team partner for Kyoya since Kyoya acknowledged him during their fight against Shindou and Jun. Kyoya, on the other hand, finds himself enjoying this new omnivore Tsunayoshi a lot more than the herbivore one. Kyoya decides that maybe Tsunayoshi's presence is something he is more agreeable to having around himself - as long as his loud friends aren't going to bother him, that is.
And so Kyoya, from time to time, shows up at Card Citadel as well. Mostly to fight Tsuna as 1v1, which most of the time Tsuna loses. But still he is having a lot of fun.
Now, in his 3rd year of middle school and already a Vanguard Champion and participating in more tournaments while also debating which high school he should choose, Tsuna gets another surprise. Well, two actually.
The first one is the self-proclaimed "World's Best Hitman" named Reborn, who says he is here to teach Tsuna how to be a Mafia Boss. (Which OK... knowing Alessio well means Tsuna is more or less aware of Mafia shenanigans since Alessio is part of a Mafia family)
The second one is that Akash has decided that the Annual World Tournament should begin this year - and Tsuna's Intuition tells him something bad might happen there.
Regardless, he first has to survive whatever Reborn has in store for him before facing the disaster he feels the newly announced tournament will become. And if the whole Flames thing that Reborn has been telling him about is actually connected to both Akash and the game that he loves to play and that gave him all these amazing friends, well Tsuna will protect his friends (both the old ones and the new ones) from danger with all he has.
Some details:
In terms of clans for every character I have the following: Tsuna has Gold Paladins (because Ezel); Jun has Granblue (I just like the image of Tsuna's first opponent ever as a Pirate); Ayaka has Oracle Think Tank; Shindou has Shadow Paladin (befitting of the 1st major enemy Tsuna has to face); Kira has Nova Grappler; Rinne has Kagero; Hibari Kyoya has either Dark Irregulars or Narukami (still haven't decided but I am leaning towards Dark Irregulars); Alessio also uses Dark Irregulars, while Kong uses Nova Grappler.
In terms of Ace Vanguards/Units, I have the following list for them with photos (also, all of these are grade 3):
Tsuna - Incandescent Lion, Blond Ezel
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Jun - Young Pirate Noble, Pinot Noir
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Ayaka - Supreme Heavenly Battle Diety, Susanoo
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Kira - Galaxy Blaukluger
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Rinne - Amber Dragon, Eclipse
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Shindou - Knight of Severity, Dubdrenn
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Alessio - Scharhrot Vampir
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Kong - Beast Diety, Azure Dragon
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This idea really just came to me because I wanted Tsuna to have a freaking hobby that he enjoys doing. And because I wanted him to make friends without Reborn's interference. Like seriously, let the kid be a kid and have a game to enjoy.
I can only imagine the amount of confusion Reborn has when Tsuna explains what Vanguard is. Same when Tsuna appears to be on good terms with Hibari Kyoya of all people.
I WANT Tsuna to go to Italy for some tournament or because Alessio wanted him to visit. Why? Because it will be hilarious to explain to Reborn that yes, Tsuna was in Milano before. And yes, Tsuna knows how to speak Italian (at least conversation level). And let that paint for Reborn just how incompetent of a father Iemitsu is, since he (and by extend the CEDEF) is unaware of Tsuna ever being in Italy at any point in time. Like, how do you not know that your own child is in Italy? And, even worse, that your child is some Champion Representative for Japan for a (fairly popular) card game?
Because no Cardfight! Vanguard fic idea is complete (in my mind) without some PSYqualia bullshit, there will be PSYqualia bullshit. Who gets it and how, we will see.
I feel like by the end of this whole thing, Akash is either going to be your most beloved son (like he is to me) or your most, "I hate him because of his actions" character. Like, there is no in-between for Akash. (Even I oscillate between the two categories sometimes)
Both Alessio and Kong are part of the Mafia world. But again, they are children. So let children enjoy their damn game, mafia people.
You wonder how Kyoya got into the game? Blame Tsuna for that one. Kyoya got curious since whenever Tsuna would meet with Jun and Ayaka at Card Citadel, he would look excited and happier than before. Kyoya picked up on that change and followed him to Card Citadel. He got into the game without even meaning to do so. (Kusakabe is glad that Kyoya has some type of hobby besides just hitting people)
The whole thing between Kyoya and Tsuna mostly happens because I refuse to believe Kyoya wouldn't pick up on changes within his territory. Especially when said change happens to Sawada Tsunayoshi (who is a sealed sky, which is why Kyoya feels that Tsuna's strange as all hell. Unfortunately, he just chucked that to herbivore behavior without looking too much into it.)
Tsuna's seal here is mainly keeping his Sky Flames back, but it also interferes with his Hyper Intuition. This causes Tsuna to have a lot of migraines. So much so that he has pills prescribed by the doctor for them.
Speaking of the seal, it also is far too powerful for some measly bullet to break, so no magical "Reborn/Shamal does shit" that can get rid of the seal. Only Tsuna, through some unknown to him (but known to me) means, can remove the seal. After all, I feel that Nono would have put a strong seal on the CHILD that was a DANGER to his sons' sucession who were located in ITALY. (I can't get over the whole Nono thing, really. And I don't fucking buy that he wanted Tsuna "to have a civilian life" just like Iemitsu wished. Nono took the opportunity to get rid of another obstacle to his sons' succession as the next Vongola Boss. Simple as that. Too bad the Universe said "fuck you Nono" and killed his children)
And this is about it.
Holy hell, this was loooong. Hopefully, my ramblings entertained you all. Also, a bit of a heads up, you may see more Cardfight! Vanguard (or card game anime) ideas from me in the future - it mainly depends on how hyperfixated my brain can get on that idea. Also, yeah, I hyperfixated on this idea for the last 2 years. This is why it's more articulated than the others.
Another small thing before I go: If you are interested in the full decks for everyone (more or less), I have those too. So just let me know if you want a list for every character.
Anyway, have a nice day/night and take care!
See you tomorrow,
-TooManyPlotBunnies-Send Help
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usagirln120 · 8 months ago
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Wendy Marvell: Hogwarts AU
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Wendy Marvell is a Pureblood witch that was born on the 27th of February 1985 and started attending Hogwarts on the 1st of September 1996, being sorted into Hufflepuff house.
She grew up as the youngest and only daughter of Igneel and Grandenney Marvell before she and her adopted older brother Natsu moved in with their grandmother Porlyusica after their parents were killed in an accident at the Dragon Reserve they worked at.
Due to their mother working part-time at the Fairy Tail Orphanage, she and her brother knew the orphans and considered them their second family.
When she started attending Hogwarts, she often tagged along with her brother and his friends due to her shy nature making her unable to reach out to her classmates.
Even though she was underage, she snuck back into the Hogwarts castle during the Battle of Hogwarts due to worrying about her older brother where she ended up getting sent forward seven years into the future due to a mishap with a time turner.
To everyone's surprise, she also managed to defeat a Death Eater named Ezel completely by herself during the Battle.
When she restarted her studies on the 1st of September 2005, She had grown out of her shell and eventually became best friends with the fourth year Hufflepuff Chelia but also became close friends with the fourth year Gryffindor Romeo.
She and Romeo eventually married and had a son together while Wendy started working as a healer at St. Mungos.
She has a Larch wand with a Dragon Heartstring core.
Her Patronus is a Antipodean Opaleye Dragon.
Her favorite subjects are Charms and Care of Magical Creatures.
Her least favorite subjects are Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions.
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writerfarzanatutul · 8 months ago
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#Islamic Short Story 14
Sayem gulped down the cool water, the metallic tang a stark contrast to the heat of his rising anger. He watched in dismay as Hasan and Ezel, two of his best friends, launched the basketball towards Alexandar's group like an unwelcome missile. A brawl erupted, a tangle of limbs and flying insults. Sayem knew this wasn't the first altercation between his group and Alexandar's. They were like oil and water, destined for a fiery clash whenever in proximity. But missing the annual sports day, a competition Sayem had been training for months, was unthinkable.
The coach's booming voice cut through the chaos, separating the combatants. A tense silence descended as the coach surveyed the scene, his gaze finally landing on Sayem, the only one who hadn't participated in the melee.
"Sayem," the dean's voice was laced with disappointment, "tell me the truth. Who started this?"
Alexandar scoffed, his eyes flickering towards Sayem.
 Alexandar knew that Sayem would never tell the truth since the truth could mean suspension for Hasan and Ezel, effectively barring them from the competition.
 Taking a deep breath, Sayem met the dean's gaze, his voice steady despite the tremor in his hands.
"Hasan and Ezel initiated the fight," he declared, the words heavy on his tongue. Alexandar's jaw dropped in disbelief, while disappointment clouded Hasan and Ezel's faces.
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Sayem, Hasan, and Ezel munched on popcorn, dissecting each play of the day's games. Despite the sting of missing the competition, they found enjoyment in watching others compete. In the distance, Alexandar's group erupted in cheers – they had won the basketball match. As Alexandar and his team celebrated, his gaze fell upon Sayem's group. He watched, surprised, as they laughed and debated the winning shot.
A sudden impulse drew Alexandar away from his team. He approached Sayem, his expression unreadable. Sayem, Hasan, and Ezel looked up, a flicker of uncertainty crossing their faces.
"Why?" Alexandar finally asked, his voice low. "You could have lied and played today."
Sayem offered a warm smile. "We couldn't live with ourselves if we did. Allah S.W.T. says in the Quran that,
 O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm for Allāh, witnesses in justice, and do not let the hatred of a people prevent you from being just. Be just; that is nearer to righteousness. And fear Allāh; indeed, Allāh is [fully] Aware of what you do. "
 He paused, reciting the verse from Surah Al-Maidah.
Alexandar listened intently, though the words themselves held no meaning to him. Yet, the sincerity in Sayem's voice resonated.
"Even though we weren't fond of each other," Sayem continued, "lying wouldn't have been right. It was our fault yesterday, and for that, I apologize."
A beat of silence followed, then Hasan and Ezel mumbled apologies in unison. "We're sorry," they echoed.
Alexandar's lips curved into a genuine smile. "Your apology is accepted," he declared, extending his hand in a gesture of camaraderie. "But only on one condition – you accept my friendship."
Sayem's smile widened, and he grasped Alexandar's hand firmly. The gesture was small, but it marked the beginning of an unexpected bond, forged in the crucible of honesty and respect.
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gynoidgearhead · 2 years ago
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View on Twitter
Thread by Alec Karakatsanis from June 15, 2021:
This the story of one of the most remarkable cases in U.S. history, and you’ve probably never heard of it. The story of what the U.S. government did to Ezell Gilbert is important because it explains how our legal system works as well as any case I have ever seen.
In 1997, Ezell Gilbert was sentenced to more than 24 years in federal prison in a crack cocaine case. Because of mandatory sentencing (treating crack 100 times as severely as powder), he was put in a cage for a quarter century, and even the judge said this was too harsh.
At sentencing, Gilbert saw an error that increased his sentence by about **ten years** based on a misclassification of a prior conviction. In 1999, without a lawyer, he filed a petition complaining about the mistake. The Clinton DOJ opposed him, and a court ruled against him.
Ten years later, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in another person’s case, confirming that Gilbert had been correct about the error in his case. A public defender helped him file a new petition for immediate release from prison back to his family. He had served his time.
But Obama/Holder DOJ argued to a federal judge that even if his sentence was illegal, Gilbert must remain in prison. They said the “finality” of criminal cases was too important to allow prisoners to file more than one petition, even if the first one was wrongly denied.
The federal judge sided with Obama/Holder, and Ezell Gilbert remained in a cage even though everyone agreed he was now in prison illegally. He had the audacity to hope that courts would follow the law.
A federal appeals court disagreed with Obama/Holder, and in June 2010, three judges set Gilbert free after more than 14 years in prison.
The judges rejected the DOJ’s argument as a departure from fairness and common sense. They said that it could not be the law in the U.S. that a person had to serve a prison sentence that everyone admitted was illegal. Ezell Gilbert went home and stayed out of trouble.
Here’s where it gets interesting. There are many people like Gilbert in federal prison whose sentences are illegal. Did you know that? Instead of rushing to ensure that thousands of people illegally separated from their families were set free, DOJ decided to fight and appeal.
The Obama/Holder DOJ argued: If prisoners were allowed to file more petitions, the “floodgates” would open and many others — mostly poor, mostly Black — would have to be released. They asked a larger group of judges to reverse Gilbert’s victory.
In 2011, a larger group of judges, led by a Republican majority, agreed with Obama/Holder that the “finality” of sentences was too important to allow prisoners to be released on a second rather than first petition, even if the prisoner was correct all along.
Ezell Gilbert was rearrested and sent back to prison to serve out his illegal sentence in a cage. media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/f…
An 87-year-old Republican judge wrote a dissent. Having served in WWII, he called the explicit decision to illegally keep a human being in jail “shocking.” He wrote that a “judicial system that values finality over justice is morally bankrupt.”
Addressing Obama/Holder argument directly, he said: “[T]here are many others in Gilbert’s position — sitting in prison serving sentences that were illegally imposed. We used to call such systems ‘gulags.’ Now, apparently, we call them the United States.”
Major media ignored Ezell Gilbert’s case at the time.
In 2013, two years after sending him back to a cage, Obama granted Gilbert clemency, and the media praised Obama for his leniency. Tens of thousands of other human being remained in prison illegally. You’ve never heard their names.
(end thread)
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fairytail-whathesays · 1 year ago
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Could I get some headcanons for the Tartaros guild? I think the concept of a guild made up entirely of demons is really interesting, but God I hate the way it was handled in the story.
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It was Mard Geer Tartaros who suggested the initial alliance that would come to be known as the Balam Alliance. He did this in consideration of Hades, whose power was great enough that a guild war with Grimoire Heart could conceivably destroy both sides, and Brain, whose alter ego Zero he recognized as being a true demon (that is to say, an unholy demonic entity, rather than an artificial being created by Zeref). The three guild masters (Zero, Mard Geer, and Hades) are roughly equal in strength, with Hades edging out the other two.
Franmalth's power is a curse-type variation on Seith magic. Meeting with Bickslow would promptly result in him being exploded.
Hell's Core is the result of a trade made between Grimoire Heart and Tartaros--the latter gave Hades access to another lost magic (godslaying magic, later taught to Zancrow) and the former received blueprints for Hell's Core, a rejuvenation device based on the successful creation of the Grimoire Heart device held within the GH airship.
While many of the demons have intimidating body plans, a few of them were intentional on the part of Zeref. Torafuzar and Ezel resemble sea creatures because Zeref created them after observing 17th-century pirate legends and fiction. Torafuzar's control of water and incredible defense is analagous to insurmountable, kraken-like sea beasts often found in such tales, while Ezel's focus on slashing and killing is analagous to the heroes who often slew them or died trying.
Jackal is the youngest of the demons, having been created by Zeref later than the other books. Hostility to human life is already pretty inherent to Etherious-kind, but Jackal has not died nearly enough times to be remotely smart or pragmatic, compared to seasoned fighters like Ezel, Kyoka, or Franmalth.
Seilah's Macro works through ether-nano, controlling objects and human bodies through the ether-nano within them. This is why she has trouble controlling corpses, as their bodies have stopped absorbing it. Though it has no maximum range or expiration, Macro loses efficacy in ether-nano-poor environments, or when negated through magic barrier particles.
Keyes' ultimate necromancy project was saved for a worthy subject, and that ended up being the wizard who could kill--or, as happened, imprison--Deliora, a demon Tartaros had released. Since he couldn't find the body of that human, he had to choose randomly. However, him being chattery about this facet of his experiments is why Silver took up ice-element magic, hoping to emulate the unknown hero (Ur).
And the reason Silver uses devil-slaying magic is because...he invented it. Being a prisoner of Tartaros came with the advantage of having access to Tartaros' network of information on magic and curses, and Zeref had previously created godslaying magic by "corrupting" dragonslayer magic, and imbibed it into books (two of which later came to Zancrow, Orga, and Chelia). Silver was smart enough to successfully reverse-engineer this process based on godslaying magic to create magic inherently disastrous when introduced against demons. The reason he was able to use it to freeze a dragon is because it's basically souped-up dragonslayer magic.
The reason Kyoka's enhancement curse is so powerful is because, like Seilah's Macro, it interacts directly with ether-nano. Thus, as long as there's ether-nano in the air, she can continue to become more powerful.
The detonations of FACE would have invariably killed every last one of Zeref's demons, not just because it might have killed Zeref outright, but because while the demons may use curses rather than magic, the books they are tied to are emphatically made using magic and are laced with it. FACE would've destroyed them for the same reason it conceivably could've unsealed E.N.D.
Cube, whose true name is Plutogrim, is in fact another demon from the books of Zeref. Alegria is of course its curse; much like Franmalth's Revolution curse, it absorbs bodies and magic and incorporates them into itself. In destroying it, Lucy unknowingly freed not only Fairy Tail, but innumerable victims that had been fed to it in previous guild wars.
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