#They're willing to “martyr” and see the death of the totality of their people for their hateful cause

[cottoncandyopinions]

I saw a post yesterday that was talking about honoring the LGBT Palestinians that have died in this conflict for pride month.

And I don't have a problem with that but they called them fucking martyrs. MARTYRS.

Like for fuck's sake. The random innocents that die from being in a warzone aren't sacrificing themselves for their beliefs, they're not martyrs. They're victims, they're casualties, they're civilians dying due to factors unrelated to their beliefs and identities, they're just random people caught in a crossfire.

Calling them martyrs makes me sick to my fucking stomach. It's a glorification of their deaths, an attempt to apply meaning to the meaningless, and an insult to every damn person that didn't care about beliefs one way or the other and just wanted to *live.*

You don't just apply martyr status to random fucking people, you ghouls. That's not honoring them in any way. You don't fucking care if they actually had any beliefs they died for, you're happy to just stick a glorifying label despite the fact you're claiming you want LESS death.

[adamnedmartyr]

Now, for that headcanon I promised…

So, it's true. Kurama can be perfectly calm and collected in the middle of a battle or a crisis. He can totally detach himself from everything except strategy, logic. It helps him to formulate the best plans and to enact them with often lethal precision.

It also sometimes leads him to the realization that, in the grand scheme of things, sometimes his plans boil down to a last ditch effort in a desperate situation––even if the cost is his life––to protect those around him. [ There's a reason I chose this url for him, after all. ]

Now, that said… there's another part to this, too, that I don't think is as apparent.

Certainly, Yoko is 1000+ years old. He's faced many life or death situations, but that was before he actually almost died, before he would have died if not for Shuichi. And then there's the complication of the merger––that his consciousness is mixed with that of Shuichi, creating a sort of middle ground with Kurama.

[ I'll make another headcanon at some point explaining how they're all the 'same person', more of less, but with very distinct traits to separate which facet of that person you're dealing with––as opposed to Sensui's actual, factual, completely separate personalities. It's more a like what level you're dealing with. Shuichi is the most surface and basic version, Kurama is the middle ground, there's another step past baseline Kurama (when he's mad--or resigned--and willing to do things he normally wouldn't due to his more human influence ) before you get to Yoko. But anyway, I digress. I will save the majority of that discussion for a separate post. ]

Regardless, so much as Kurama cares for his friends and family, so much as he's willing to lay his life on the line, so much as he does believe that their lives and their futures are worth more than anything he could ever hope to do to make up for 1000+ years of ill deeds…

It's easy to remain detached in the middle of a battle or a crisis, because there's more for him to focus on, more for his brain to turn over without being able to wander. It's an easy choice… but that doesn't make it easy.

The laser focus on strategy--and usually afterwards on not dying or on reassuring friends that he's not dying--is a crutch in many ways in this one regard: when he cannot lean on it, that is when you start to see that such drastic measures still exact a toll, still carry a heavy weight. When this becomes most evident is one of two situations.

THE FIRST, is if you happen across Kurama when he is alone after such an incident, without anyone to pretend for or reassure. No smile. No humor. No mask. He's likely sitting or standing by himself, his eyes looking hollowed out, distant. Almost completely blank. [ One of the only people who has caught like this is Hiei––any mention of him in this is my take on him at @dragonofdarknessflame and no one else is obligated to think the same or follow my take, obviously––and it tends to unnerve even him a little bit, not that he would ever admit it. ]

He doesn't ever really deal with his feelings. He has a hard time even pinning them down because they're such a jumbled mess. He should have been terrified. He should feel relief that it didn't end the way it could have ended. Instead he just feels removed. Sometimes the pain that's a consequence of whatever martyr routine he pulled this time is the only thing that anchors him, gives him something solid and concrete to focus on when the others aren't around.

Once he's reached this point, he's going to be slow to respond, as though there's a delay to him even processing. If he can pull himself enough from it after a few questions, he'll take back up his mask and resume his usual performance.

THE SECOND, is when he's asleep. It isn't uncommon––especially in close proximity to such an event––for Kurama to have horrendous dreams ranging from nightmares to outright night terrors. That sharp mind of his is a double-bladed weapon. As lethally precise as it is when directed, it is just as dangerous when carelessly left to its own devices.

As I mentioned in the meme response to @thuganomxcs found here, Kurama vividly recalls such situations in his dreams. He can remember everything in perfect detail, the events in the exact play-by-play that it happened, and he can recall the pain as though he were experiencing it again. It often feels as though he is. He will often, during this, be restless, though not very vocal, though sometimes he will cry or brokenly sob even if the screams don't escape his nightmares.

[ The times that Hiei has shared a room with him, such as at the Tournament––or times that he's just let himself in through the window of Shuichi's room due to pouring rain––he has sometimes observed this. He finds it even more disturbing than the blankness, because it seems unnatural to see Kurama like that. It's times like that when he will usually exit through the window––even if it means getting drowned again––and make more of a racket as he reenters, sometimes throwing something down on the bed as though discarding it in his haste to get in and close the window back, if making a racket didn't serve to wake him. ]

Though Kurama dislikes the vulnerability––and being seen while in such a state as he is whenever he first wakes from nights like these––he appreciates even Hiei's often clumsy attempts to distract and even more so that he seems just as unwilling to acknowledge that he's helping or that there's a reason that he needs to do so.

[littleyyhthings]

Now, for that headcanon I promised…

So, it's true. Kurama can be perfectly calm and collected in the middle of a battle or a crisis. He can totally detach himself from everything except strategy, logic. It helps him to formulate the best plans and to enact them with often lethal precision.

It also sometimes leads him to the realization that, in the grand scheme of things, sometimes his plans boil down to a last ditch effort in a desperate situation––even if the cost is his life––to protect those around him. 

Now, that said… there's another part to this, too, that I don't think is as apparent.

Certainly, Yoko is 1000+ years old. He's faced many life or death situations, but that was before he actually almost died, before he would have died if not for Shuichi. And then there's the complication of the merger––that his consciousness is mixed with that of Shuichi, creating a sort of middle ground with Kurama.

[ I'll make another headcanon at some point explaining how they're all the 'same person', more of less, but with very distinct traits to separate which facet of that person you're dealing with––as opposed to Sensui's actual, factual, completely separate personalities. It's more a like what level you're dealing with. Shuichi is the most surface and basic version, Kurama is the middle ground, there's another step past baseline Kurama (when he's mad--or resigned--and willing to do things he normally wouldn't due to his more human influence ) before you get to Yoko. But anyway, I digress. I will save the majority of that discussion for a separate post. ]

Regardless, so much as Kurama cares for his friends and family, so much as he's willing to lay his life on the line, so much as he does believe that their lives and their futures are worth more than anything he could ever hope to do to make up for 1000+ years of ill deeds…

It's easy to remain detached in the middle of a battle or a crisis, because there's more for him to focus on, more for his brain to turn over without being able to wander. It's an easy choice… but that doesn't make it easy.

The laser focus on strategy--and usually afterwards on not dying or on reassuring friends that he's not dying--is a crutch in many ways in this one regard: when he cannot lean on it, that is when you start to see that such drastic measures still exact a toll, still carry a heavy weight. When this becomes most evident is one of two situations.

THE FIRST, is if you happen across Kurama when he is alone after such an incident, without anyone to pretend for or reassure. No smile. No humor. No mask. He's likely sitting or standing by himself, his eyes looking hollowed out, distant. Almost completely blank.

[ One of the only people who has caught him like this is Hiei––and, of course, any mention of him in this is my take on him and no one else is obligated to think the same or follow my take, obviously––but it tends to unnerve even him a little bit, not that he would ever admit it. ]

He doesn't ever really deal with his feelings. He has a hard time even pinning them down because they're such a jumbled mess. He should have been terrified. He should feel relief that it didn't end the way it could have ended. Instead he just feels removed. Sometimes the pain that's a consequence of whatever martyr routine he pulled this time is the only thing that anchors him, gives him something solid and concrete to focus on when the others aren't around.

Once he's reached this point, he's going to be slow to respond, as though there's a delay to him even processing the other person's presence or that they spoke. If he can pull himself enough from it after a few questions, he'll take back up his mask and resume his usual performance.

THE SECOND, is when he's asleep. It isn't uncommon––especially in close proximity to such an event––for Kurama to have horrendous dreams ranging from nightmares to outright night terrors. That sharp mind of his is a double-bladed weapon. As lethally precise as it is when directed, it is just as dangerous when carelessly left to its own devices.

Kurama vividly recalls such situations in his dreams. He can remember everything in perfect detail, the events in the exact play-by-play that it happened, and he can recall the pain as though he were experiencing it again. It often feels as though he is. He will often, during this, be restless, though not very vocal; sometimes, however, he will cry or brokenly sob even if the screams don't escape his nightmares.

[ The times that Hiei has shared a room with him, such as at the Tournament––or times that he's just let himself in through the window of Shuichi's room due to pouring rain––he has sometimes observed this. He finds it even more disturbing than the blankness, because it seems unnatural to see Kurama like that. It's times like that when he will usually exit through the window––even if it means getting drowned again––and make more of a racket as he reenters, sometimes throwing something down on the bed as though discarding it in his haste to get in and close the window back, if making a racket didn't serve to wake Kurama. ]

Though Kurama dislikes the vulnerability––and being seen while in such a state as he is whenever he first wakes from nights like these––he appreciates even Hiei's often clumsy attempts to distract and even more so that he seems just as unwilling to acknowledge that he's helping or that there's a reason that he needs to do so.

[gotyouanyway]

13 in general seems to have such warped morals compared to some other doctors like she lets a dude blow himself up where she wasn’t willing to in the Timeless Children and way back in Aracnids in the UK the american business guy is like “i’m going to shoot the big monster spiders” so she’s like “no these are living creatures and they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect; i’m going to lock them in a room and starve them to death instead” queen of having no morals

ok i put this off because i wanted to fully catch up and then go back and recontextualize a bit and this got really long and maybe not that coherent but YEAH here we go ----

i totally agree, her morals are very shaky and i think i actually like it! at first i didn't like it because i had gotten so used to the doctor being obsessed with morality, sometimes to the point of overcompensation (mostly 10 lol). and with the thesis of 12's final season being "without hope, without witness, without reward" etc. and goodness being the thing he died for, it felt kind of like a betrayal for 13 to equivocate on her morals so heavily

i mean, i personally love when the doctor isn't perfect and it made for some really interesting character moments like letting that old guy do the dirty work AND die for her in the timeless children. but i wasn't sure about it as a writing choice because it seemed weird after all of that. but then i started rewatching season 1 and like.. there she is though! it was obvious when it was 9, fresh out of the time war, still thinking like a soldier and not as ashamed of it yet as he would be. definitely not as interested in hiding it (or hiding from it). 9 let multiple people die for him without too much protest or guilt, he did his best and he felt for them but he didn't obsess over every loss or take all the burden on himself the way he would later on. he was going to gladly take the slitheen woman home to be executed, he had to be physically stopped from killing the last living dalek on sight LOL. a soldier, and nothing like the goodness-obsessed person we see later. and THAT is the morality i see in 13.

so that could definitely be a lapse in character continuity and i (petty) don't really want to praise chibnall for anything. but to give the benefit of the doubt for the sake of having a good time here: the things that 9 and 13 have in common are that they've both just experienced recent, devastating, violent loss of [checks notes] literally everyone they knew and cared about, and they didn't want to regenerate and keep living at all (or likely didn't want to). basically if we're talking about patterns of behaviour here, i think in both 9 and 13 we're seeing the doctor at low points, and specifically low points where they're doubting their morality and their identity as the Doctor. they're both literally born out of experiences where their morality failed them (12's goodness failed to save anyone he cared about - in fact, it specifically got bill and missy killed) or it failed period (the war doctor was not Good in the doctor's usual sense). so i like to think, again mostly for the sake of enjoying the show lol, that consciously or subconsciously 13 is going through something similar to what she went through after the time war - extreme distress and an identity/morality crisis, leading to her making some very questionable choices :)

the fun thing about 13 though imo is that this time she's trying to hide it from herself and from others a lotttt more. she's gone right back to being bouncy and fun to hide the distress (like 10/11) but she's also very clearly hiding it from herself and equivocating TO HERSELF. 9 took this stance of basically "war is hell, people die, i'm not god". now though, after spending a few hundred years reforming that mindset until he basically became a saint and martyr, 13 feels much more guilty about making questionable choices and she has to lie to herself about it. y'know, "maybe i let that old man get the blood on his hands and die so i could escape this situation, but at least i didn't stoop to the master's level".. ma'am you're fooling no one <3

anyway sorry this got so long i've been thinking about it for like 2 weeks love u xoxo

[rpmemesbyarat]

RP meme from Scream Queens Ep 13 "The Final Girl(s)"

"It was a plan 20 years in the making. And it worked."

"Now, this is a hammer. Hammers are good for bashing people in the skull and watching them bleed to death, okay?"

"Easily cuts through muscle and bone, and has the added advantage of making sure your victim's final emotion is terror."

"I needed a persona to hide behind while we murdered people and stuff."

'As for me, what I've noticed is that the more weird and gross you are, the less people want to know about you. No one asks the kid with terrible acne what their favorite movie is or where they were born."

"My butt could launch a thousand ships."

"All killers have a cool costume; Jason with his hockey mask, Freddy Krueger's sweater and hat, Cujo's totally realistic dog costume."

"Unisex, kind of satanic. But not, like, a giant goat head satanic."

"I think he's dead."

"Stabbing can be pretty dramatic."

"Wait, we're spraying acid on the furniture?"

"Obvi, I was the brains of the operation."

"Your high school transcripts are clearly faked. And I'm guessing you made up your SAT scores, 'cause it's not possible to get one million percent on them."

"I've got a bedazzler back in my room."

"I hope you guys aren't freaked out by my appearance. Or lack of social skills and money."

"Come on. Let's go mingle, babies."

"I've always said that being nice is a really good quality. It could save your life one day."

"Order is restored, as they say. More than restored--reborn."

"I mean, someone had to take all the blame."

"Can we save the shoe?"

"Also, it helps to be completely frickin' insane."

"Because for a plan like this to work, you have to be willing to totally commit."

"I mean, desperate times call for desperate measures."

"This was the price I had to pay if I wanted to get away with murder and pin it all on someone else."

"Because some people don't deserve to just get murdered. They need to be truly punished."

"I didn't do it, I swear!"

"I'm one of the good guys!"

"You bite your own toenails."

"Okay, I am flexible."

"When I fart, I cup it in my hand and smell it."

"Dear god, shut up!"

"Oh, I see where this is going. You're gonna try and pin all of these murders on me so I spend the rest of my life in prison."

"The doctors were able to save my eyeball, and they said that I'm gonna make a full recovery."

"You're the killer!"

"Your entire life story is totally fabricated."

"She definitely was not adopted."

"Wait, I do know! I know where I know you from. You're from that prostate commercial."

"We took her in out of the kindness of our hearts. And also for the tax deduction."

"As soon as she learned to talk, I wanted to disown her."

"Our daughter sucks."

"But, sweetie, you're toxic, and you're bumming us out, so it's time for you to go."

"You can't arrest me-- don't you need, like, a warrant or something from a judge?"

"Wait, you think I'm the killer?"

"Well, just saying you saw something isn't evidence."

"Uh, if you're gonna just continue to accuse everyone, could we at least sit down?"

"I don't have a diners club card! Is diners club still even a thing?"

"I didn't know the oil was boiling!"

"What is your game here?"

"I mean, I am a pillar of this community."

"What better way for you to knock off everyone that you hate, because they're different from you or not as popular or not as pretty, than to murder them one by one?!"

"This is what I like to call first-class entertainment."

"You'll never take me alive!"

"Are these strippers?"

"I just don't understand how you just end it."

"I don't have a choice is what I'm telling you."

"Don't let it end like this."

"It was never gonna work out between us."

"We got too close to the sun, baby. We shined too bright."

"I promise I will never bang anyone the way I banged you."

"What do you mean, "what charity"? Just charity. All proceeds will go to charity."

"My friends are dead! I have nothing left!"

"I wrote up a quick book and became a media sensation."

"Women are better."

"If you think about all of human history, add up the wars and the genocide, all the oppression, the violence, the exploitation, the degradation of the human spirit, what do all those things have in common? Dudes. They have dudes in common, right?"

"It's true, a lot of people had to die to make that happen, but I often catch myself thinking, "you know what? Maybe it was worth it."

"But I suppose money still talks."

"We're gonna make cookies and brownies, and eat them while we talk about our feelings."

"At least some good came out of all of that evil."

"These kids were martyrs for a much bigger cause."

"It's not my fault that all of that happened to me."

"Maybe if I would've had a real dad, my brother wouldn't have turned into such a douche."

"They're dead. And that is your fault."

"I didn't kill any of these kids."

"Are you getting me a car?"

"I think you need your space."

"I was under the impression that I had the inalienable right to a jury of my peers. Look at these hippos. These are not my peers."

"This is a kangaroo court."

"You can't ignore the verdict."

"My dad is super gross rich. Like, disgusting rich. He'll have me out of prison in no time."

"You're going to an asylum."

"You're rude, entitled, narcissistic, racist and insane."

"Your entire defense consisted of you screaming at the jury that you didn't kill anybody and then threatening to kill them if they found you guilty."

"I think I'm ready to show you my ears."

"I love it here! I never want to leave!"

[catalysisrp]

Hello, Catalysts!

It's a Monday, which isn't great -- but it's also time for another preview, so it's not all bad either!

First off, the obligatory reminder that we now have three different challenges open for participation as a means of acquiring an early reserve: the intro form, and two different dev challenges -- one for your own characters, and one for somebody else's!

(For those of you who don't like this sort of thing, we'll open general reserves later this week -- but you'll only get two, as opposed to the challenge participants, who can claim up to three total!)

Another two previews for you today, both our member groups and our first two subplots! There will be further subplots rolled out after site open, each built with the intention of being open to a variety of character groups and individual ideas. Enrollment is optional and relatively open, so no need to worry about reserving slots or being unable to participate!

As always, feel free to drop us an ask or hit us up on discord if you have any questions or concerns.

Previews included below the cut for mobile users!

Member Groups

PROMETHIUM ( #C98951 )

The discoverers proposed the name “promethium”, derived from Prometheus, the Titan in Greek mythology who stole fire from Mount Olympus and brought it down to gift to foolish, mortal humans. Its name symbolizes “both the daring and the possible misuse of mankind’s intellect”. All of its isotopes are radioactive and it is rare. This is the membergroup for characters with abilities.

COBALT ( #4774A8 )

Cobalt is found in the Earth’s crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. It is used to make powerful magnets. Transplants drawn to the dusty and decaying roads of Perdition fall into this membergroup. Are you new here? Did you find your way to Perdition or just get lost on the long, lonely road?

TANTALUM ( #7E9945 )

The name tantalum was derived from the name of Tantalus in Greek mythology. According to myth, he was punished after death by being planted in knee deep water with the branches of impossibly tempting fruit hanging overhead. Attempts to bend and drink were met with an ever-receding waterline; grasping hands reaching up for the fruit were ever denied, always falling short. Locals without abilities, local government, and local law enforcement are assigned to this membergroup. They live here in a constant state of in-between; Perdition is the space between failure and prosperity, it’s on the road to somewhere but not a destination, between catalysis and decay.

FLOURINE ( #A84771 )

It is the most electronegative element and the lightest halogen. It exists at standard conditions as wildly toxic. It is a gas so reactive it will ignite anything it touches. Initial studies on fluorine were so dangerous that several 19th-century experimenters were dubbed “fluorine martyrs” after gruesome accidents with hydrofluoric acid. The influential and powerful comprise this membergroup: employees of the ATLAS branch, Perot mine leadership, and members of Perdition’s toxic high society fall into this membergroup.

Subplots

Titanomachy

For behold, He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth. The mountains will melt under Him and the valleys will be split, like wax before the fire, like water poured down a steep place. Micah 1:3-4

A clash of gods in the valley, and Perdition, trapped between two mountains: Titanomachy, the war between the old gods, the Titans, and the new Olympians. They fight for control of their universe, for who will reign in the valley, the lives of the average caught beneath trembling boots.

Perdition is a small town, ringed by a crown of mountainous thorns, and only the truly loyal or the truly trapped have remained as its economy has withered, as the rest of the world spun on around it. It is protected by a small but gritty force of officers and city workers, locals who have been local for generations and generations, or in some cases, newcomers that have stumbled in and fallen in love with the sharp edges of the place.

The infestation of the Olympians, wearing federal ATLAS uniforms, driving desert-dusted humvees, building an ominous compound standing ugly on the edge of town, has not been welcome.

Tension was immediate. Local law enforcement has never been fond of the interference of federal power, especially not out in the boonies of the Battleborn state, out in the west that has, in so many desolate corners, remained wild. They are suspicious of ATLAS's closed-door and classified nature, of the high number of their missing neighbors, and the question of what are they doing here? It's not just geological surveying, that's for sure.

Even worse, within Perdition's police department, there is an officer or two on the take. In City Hall, there are clerks and townsfolk more than willing to accept a blank check from ATLAS for their clandestine assistance.

The war is quiet, for now, but the push-and-pull has already begun. There is thunder in the distance, muting the whispering in the mines: Down from Othyrs, down from Olympus they come, into the low, dry valley.

He has rays flashing from His hand, and there is the hiding of His power. Before Him goes pestilence, and plague comes after Him. Habakkuk 3:3-6

Members

Below are some character ideas or possible subplot positions related to the Titanomachy subplot! It's not limited to what is listed here, so if you have an idea just reach out to the admins!

The Titans

The loyalists: police and cityworkers going toe-to-toe with Atlas

On the take: the traitors in the departments, lifting evidence or stalling FOI requests

The local dispatcher on the fence

The double crosser

EMTs suspicious of strange things they're seeing on calls

The Olympians

ATLAS Directors

Scientists & field geologists

PIs working for ATLAS to get dirt on their local detractors

ATLAS security forces

The skeezy lawyer

Xenos

Xenos /Greek: ξένος, xénos, plural xenoi/ is a word used in the Greek language from Homer onwards. The most standard definition is "stranger". However, the word, itself, can be interpreted to mean different things based upon context, such as a more hostile interpretation: enemy.

The truth is out there. The truth is here. The strangers that rolled into town on convoys of military vehicles and humvees, subsidized by a government that tells its people nothing, they know. They definitely know something, and Perdition stands in the dark.

For years, certain internet sleuths and conspiracy theorists have long suspected something strange is happening in Perdition. At first, it was simply a gathering of intensely fixated Redditors and forum users, a small subset of generally strange and typically youthful true believers who spent a lot of time watching X-Files and scouring the night sky for unknown phenomenon. They try, and fail, to capture pictures and video of the strange animals around Perdition. They hunt bigfoot through the steppes and Pahroc range. They collect sunburns and live tweet about the haunted, desiccated buildings in Delamar.

In 2015, ATLAS arrived. The federal government deploying (as one internet personality described it) 'jack-booted thugs' on the very edge of town stirred up more interest in the once-niche supernaturally curious internet group, Xenos.

A variety of more adjusted locals began to show interest in the group meetings held in the community center, sipping bad coffee and clutching paper napkins. Relatives of families destroyed by various illnesses, families of the missing, who have lost loved ones to the expanse of desert. People looking for answers to unanswerable tragedies.

Xenos meets irregularly and is rather disorganized. Some groups within the group are more concerned with alien encounters and UFOs. Some are of the ghost-hunting variety, traveling to ghost towns and trying to wiggle into abandoned mines. What they have in common: they don't trust ATLAS, they don't trust local law enforcement, and they all believe strange things happen in Perdition.

Members

Below are some character ideas or possible subplot positions related to the Xenos subplot! It's not limited to what is listed here, so if you have an idea just reach out to the admins!

Xenos Cryptid Hunters

The fearless leader

Videographer

Peppy and bubblegum-sweet-excited vlogger

Local vet with supernatural pastime

Haunting the Haunted

Local with retrocognition

Photographer

The one in it for the lols

Nevada history buff specializing in ghost towns

Anti-ATLAS

The doomsday prepper who lives in an Airstream outside of town

Reddit sleuth

Pirate radio host

Family of the missing

Disgruntled ex-employee who never got higher than low-level security clearance