#and a very useful contributing member of his society

[bonefall]

wait, why can’t a decent amount of the members in proto-thunderclan not hunt?

A lot of them have serious physical disabilities! It's enough that it poses a logistical problem, which they are committed to overcoming together.

Thunder Storm's three legs makes him slower than his companions. He's ferociously powerful, but like a male lion, he has to rely on his "lionesses" to slow a large animal.

Bright Storm has asthma from her heroics trying to save SkyClan cats from a fire. She's taking that from Gray Wing, who is famously the first major death now. Like her son, she has a difficult time with chasing prey.

Bumble is dyspraxic. She's a terrible hunter and fighter and struggles with self-worth because OTHERS used it to dehumanize her, and continues to, even after an entire society forms out of love of her.

Sunlit Frost has permanent nerve damage in his arm from the fire, and ends up working so hard that it makes his disability worse. A bite on the good paw from Snake becomes infected after he refuses to sit out from digging graves after the First Battle; I am planning a chunky B-plot about Sunlit coming to terms with the fact he has to retire early.

That's FOUR major members of a small group with physical disabilities that make hunting hard or impossible. They have a lot of logistical problems that I will actually be exploring solutions to.

[revacholianpizzaagenda]

97 Poets of Revachol pics!

HERE THEY ARE, courtesy of the event's official photographer, Zuzana Šubrtová. The Elysium-based LARP took place in two runs in Terezín, Czech Republic, in the latter half of September. These are from the second run!

I can't possibly describe what it was like to inhabit the rundown tenement of La Cage with more than a hundred other players, bringing to life a whole slice of society: immigrants, barflies, petanque players, sewer people, Union gang members, Wild Pines mercs, disco people, sewer people, looters, street artists, an inevitable mass of fascists, anarchists, communards (or so I'm told), communards (proper), communards (it's complicated), councilmembers, hustlers, taxidermy enthusiasts, the also-inevitable mass of pale-fried strugglers, journalists, Moralintern creeps, RCM chucklefucks, and so on and so forth. The old military hospital burst to life with small human moments and grand revelations happening in every corner at all time, as the gears of history moved toward our inevitable trial run of Le Retour.

We really had it all. Politics, drugs, creeping mold, more drugs, unseen voices steering us toward our best and worst natures, a metaphysical rave, entroponetic anomalies, precognition (scripted), precognition (just kind of happened?? Several times over?), suzerainist coffin deliveries, sweatshop politics, old reckonings, radiant sacrifices (accidental-ish), three-way divorces (one-upping one HDB), strikes and strike-breakers, political dance-offs and political orgies, and did I mention the drugs, under the greatness of history and the pale.

Thanks to the organizers for the colossal effort they pulled off like it was nbd, and to all my fellow dwellers of La Cage.

A few favourites:

First off, this was basically the entirety of my game:

...with a central heartrending tension between that abandon, that 'something beautiful is going to happen', and my character's earthly loves, the family she loved so much. It was really really fascinating and emotionally moving to get to play out that central conundrum in full (and go die on the barricades for an independent Revachol following the push of History) (and also of Franconegro pulling my strings like a marionette in a chilling scene) (but mostly History)

Case in point: me in the back, the Unseen voice/spirit/skill "Doomsayer" to the left, dear husband Tai in the middle. Sorry Tai!

Moralintern mission

Sweatshop workers strike

Both sides of the barricades, right as the game ended (this is not a spoiler, it said up front on the website that that's where the story would end): independentists (feat. His Fuckery Franconegro with the black wings in the background, but also the Unseen of if it sucks hit da bricks, the street martyr and idk who else) and globalists (Dolores Dei, Doomsayer et al)

speaking of those two - here's them in full rave regalia. I love that two of the collective skills of this place are flat-out "Dolores Dei" and "Franconegro", it's so fitting. Can't have current society without them, so here they are, as a molecular part of it.

RCM peeps predictably being serious, professional individuals

Designer drug guy talking to Corrosion who's kind of the local version of Electrochemistry. I'm sure this was a completely hinged conversation that reached sensible conclusions

Wild Pines mercs +1

Disco downtime. The set design for The Bearded Vulture club and The Second Club was out of this world. I hope my own pics can convey some of it.

sweatshop power dynamics (there were accidents, Union leverage, strikes, corruption... you'd think there would be barely time for anything else to go on AND YET)

possibly my fave pic of the whole thing (go Doomsayer!!!). we had specific graffitable areas on the wall and made VERY good use of them. Well, everyone else. My character wasn't much of a graffiti artist, her greatest contribution was turning "Revachol for revacholians" into "Revachol for mold"...

LARP^2

fascist campaigning at the Democracy Picnic

Petanque club...

...actually playing petanque? I never saw them ingame, I was starting to wonder if it wasn't a front for something else

Pictured - no scheming, plotting or quadruple-crossing here as you can clearly see by "Kras Knezhinisky"'s super normal demeanour and unassuming name, which I can totally believe was on his legit birth certificate)

I mention Kras because here's the theatrical taxidermy show with him in the middle narrating the adventures of his antifascist ferret Kommissar Kunixet. Nice pic, I take the shot. Five seconds later, superstar Frittte clerk Jamie Delaney joins in, and what can I do, NOT have Jamie in a shot? Absolutely not, so I take the same exact shot with Jamie in it as well.

And by sheer twist of technology (and of course the pale, and of course vile censorship in defiance of the Romangorod convention)... Kras Knezhinsky of all people gets kommissar-no-kommissar'd. "Kras, the pale is erasing you from our memories, from images," I warn him, showing him the two pictures. One hour later, he gets taken behind the waste disposal facility and shot.

Hm.

(LARP's haunted. These things KEPT HAPPENING. In the first run, that version of my character went "YOU MURDERER" at the specific merc who'd turn out to be connected with her background, a couple of hours before getting that reveal in-game. What's Elysium without some good old-fashioned precognition after all!)

Poor Flowerseller (red dress here) was kind of my Empathy - many valiant attemps were made, however. Uphill struggle.

HARDCORE anodic club leader Konrad Nilsen doing something not so hardcore here, idk what was going on exactly but then again I never even noticed we had a morgue and I had a plot right next room, so what do I know. I know that the end is near. That much for sure. And that the resolution of history's contradictions goes through the pale. But corpses? Nah.

||||||| 😎

[dicentsalve]

Hmm.. I'm very interested in your ideas / headcanons for La squadra, if you don't mind sharing

Ooooh, you woke up the wrong beast, bb

● Sorbet and Gelato.

Sorbet, being a priest at the prison, meets Gelato, who later goes to his church as a "correction".

This is not a story about how a bad boy spoiled a nice one, they are both crazy bitches, just in different conditions.

This is all until the moment when they are both thrown out of civilized society.

Gelato often tells some strange, disgusting or funny stories from missions or prison (He especially likes to tell them to Pesci).

Sorbet finds a common language with people quite easily, not conflicting (at least outwardly).

Sorbet's Stand - The Informers.

It's a multitude of bright blue dragonflies that penetrate into electrical and Internet networks, searching for the desired information

If the information isn't complete, then the stand collects all the pieces that resemble the answer to the request.

Gelato's Stand - Disturbed

A stand that signals the owner in the event of an impending danger and from which side it is approaching

If the threat is not eliminated, then the signal will continue to come with increasing frequency, increasing depending on the threat to life.

● Formaggio

Has a terrarium with spiders.

Every member of the team knows when a football match is taking place (not by choice).

Often watches matches with Prosciutto and Sorbet.

Sometimes plays with an ordered target (like children tearing off spiders' legs or drowning butterflies)

Secretly uses Illuso shampoos.

● Illuso

He is more sarcastic in Risotto's presence, much less in his absence due to the desire to present himself as better than others in his eyes.

It is quite possible that Risotto himself unintentionally contributed to this.

He knows that Formaggio uses his shampoos (he will strangle him on New Year's Eve)

● Prosciutto

He likes older women, especially if they have money, status and connections (hence the very expensive clothes).

He is a Neapolitan, which is both audible and visible.

He often clashes and picks on Ghiaccio because the White Album cancels the ability of Grateful Dead.

He often keeps Risotto company on lonely sleepless nights over a glass of martini and whiskey. Mostly, these are just silent get-togethers, so that he doesn't get lonely.

He is often the one who gets it from Risotto for the mistakes and failures of other team members, especially the younger ones.

He gets angry when Gelato scares Pesci with stories, but doesn't have the balls to say anything back to him.

● Pesci

He's a Tuscan and often uses the Tuscan dialect, especially in stressful situations, and also starts to mumble and stutter, which irritates Prosciutto, who doesn't always understand him exactly or at all.

He runs in the mornings to the embankment, sometimes together with Ghiaccio.

● Melone

Have known Ghiaccio since childhood.

He is quite calm without external triggers, just like Ghiaccio, so they easily found a common language.

Melone passed Polpo's test without waking up Black Sabbat, has had a Stand since birth, which partly helped him.

Unhealthy frequent contact with women in childhood instilled a more consumerist and insignificant attitude towards them in adulthood, which was additionally influenced by the Stand, the capabilities of which he actively explored without moral and physical restrictions.

Passion for neat, well-groomed legs, especially with heels, is due to the perception of innocence, inaccessibility and defenselessness, which is especially attractive for creating a junior.

Sleeps naked, because it is more cozy and comfortable.

Blindness in one eye was a big problem at first because of the blind spot it opened up, but he learned to pay more attention to it (He sometimes crashes into someone/something on sharp turns). He was able to get a higher education thanks to his brother's connections (or rather, the opportunity to get)

● Ghiaccio

After receiving the stand, he was a huge pain in the ass for everyone when he was just learning it.

Has a low body temperature.

Only Risotto and, a little less often, Melone can shut him up.

Sometimes he sleeps poorly, so he comes either to Melone (he regrets his life choices) or to Risotto.

Makes everyone who dared not only to drive it, but to touch anything in it, dry clean his sweet Miata.

● Risotto

He hates tea and mineral water.

Sometimes he makes fun of Formaggio (like stealing a fork while he's turned away or tripping him up a bit).

Melone and Ghiaccio - his right and left hands.

He knows many grannys well, whom he met at the cemetery and who always look forward to his return to Sicily.

His father was a member of the Sicilian Mafia.

[cinnamonest]

Head empty no thoughts just daydreaming about incel scara with groupmate/project member!reader

Imagine them sitting together in a library. They need to be close to share one screen and go over everything while one or the other does some explaining. And scara is just DISGUSTED by her very clearly, very obviously whorish behavior aka her casually jutting her chest, pouting/biting her lips, getting close to him when she needs to lean, when she bends over away from or next to him, he can see her cleavage if he tries hard enough, or see her skirt ride or her lower back getting exposed and if he moves juuuuust a bit closer he can touch her boobs-

Just outright disgraceful and shameless behavior typical of the female 😤 and no, that's not his boner wdym. And reader is just earnestly trying to understand what he's trying to say because he seems so indifferent and almost looks as if dislikes her.

Ahhh it must be because he's annoyed, this isn't her subject after all. In which case, ALTERNATIVELY- consider CS major scara with darling in some non-STEM field passively calling her dumb and insulting her intelligence whenever they come to "study" because: what? She doesn't know how to install Windows? Ha

Only reason she has a decent gpa is because you don't actually need brains or talent for those art "subjects" and they are more suited to females anyway because it's not like they contribute much to society or are very intelligent, unlike him-

I remember my university had these little rooms in their library that were basically tiny study rooms with a couch and chairs, but like no windows, and were advertised as two-way soundproof to help you study and let me tell you. Y’all. People had sex in those. A lot. It happened a lot.

But the thing is they had no tables with desk-type chairs, only like coffee tables and lounge chairs, so if you wanted to work with someone else on something you kinda had to use the sofa which could be very awkward. Anyway

Oh he's absolutely a STEM snob that looks down on humanities majors. They’re for people with no real skills, who lack the ability to do more important stuff… or God forbid, you're a fine arts major of some kind. Very typical girl stuff, they waste money on useless degrees because they insist on having equally useless jobs. You’re probably going to be a future HR person, getting random guys fired for harmless comments and such.

So he always talks to you in such a condescending way, as if the things he’s explaining are so very obvious or simple that it’s a chore to explain it to you. You need to be aware of how intellectually inferior you are.

Also he’s one of those boys for whom “disgusted” is really just turned on, he lacks the ability to distinguish it — like it’s arousing, but it’s irritating that it’s arousing because he can’t do anything about it, so he identifies that feeling as disgust when it’s really just unbearable levels of sexual frustration compounded with bitterness. Ugh.

And as for you, it has to be intentional. You know what you're doing. It's on purpose. You just think it's funny or amusing to torment someone who can't do anything about it. In a fair world, you'd pay for your actions somehow.

And maybe you're even getting good grades in exchange for "favors." That makes sense, it's the only way that explains how you remain enrolled really. Maybe you'll eventually do the same for him, try to get him to do work for you in exchange for something. Not that that would work, he would never ever enable you like that, and definitely has the self-control necessary to reject you.

There’s something so wrong with how things are, that this situation can even arise, that you’re allowed to waste so much money and time on your dumb degree when you have better uses. He’ll probably go home and make some long vent post to some niche corner of the internet about the woes of having to tolerate this situation. Tragic.

[luffyvace]

〜☆〜Shigaraki and Touya (separate) x Scholarly reader with glasses 〜☆〜

precisely what the title says~

Might post a lot lately because I’m trying to clear drafts :P

shigaraki with a intelligent reader is wonderful!

you can help him with his plans! 😋

your input is really valuable and whether the lov knows it or not you definitely play a big role in missions

your a mastermind who is very good at outsmarting the heroes

He feels like as long as he has you, no matter what you’ll always be one step ahead

your his Queen/King chess piece

together you’ll watch it all crumble

honestly I’m just assuming your in the lov because even if your not a official member you’ve certainly contributed a lot

to which he very much appreciates

He values your priorities and requests

as he said he always has room for his comrades wishes

you love him for that

never once has one of your plans completely failed

for example if all might destroys a bunch of your nomus even though they were supposed to terrorize the city

You don’t panic at all because it was all apart of your plan >:)

*rubs hands together like evil fly*

it was all a distraction so you could infiltration a hero base and steal some info and such….🥱

ez dub the heroes are walking L’s with skill issues 😂

WAIT IMAGINE READER DOES THE THING WHERE THEY PUSH UP THEY’RE GLASSES AND IT HAS THE GLOWING ANIME GLASSES EFFECT

HILARIOUS 😂💥💥

it’d be even better if your a tech savvy too

you can break into hero facilities better

plus screw with them if you want n all 💃

you and that emo long bob dude be competing (tomoyasu chikazoku)

you can first fr

READER BETTER>> READER ⬆️🔝

anyway shigaraki thinks reader with glasses is fiiiine 😍

fr like you look good!

he’ll probably ask questions like “did you make your own?”

“Where you born with bad vision or is it stigmatized?”

”when did you get glasses?”

”have your eyes gotten stronger or weaker?”

”do you keep them on 24/7 or do you take them off and take breaks?”

”do you get headaches from them?”

”is it annoying having to push them back up all the time?”

”are you farsighted? Nearsighted? Is it just for reading?”

now he’s not asking to annoy you, and these questions come with time he doesn’t trample you with them

he’s genuinely curious and is a pretty good listener

he’s not just asking just to ask it or anything

if you ever need a new pair he’ll find a way to pull through for you

he’s not always as resourceful as you but he does have some connections!

Uhh with touya? Intelligence won’t matter as much

Not to say he’s not impress though!

he likes to hear all the random facts of knowledge you tell him and he does listen

it’s intriguing, especially when he’s bored

he’d love to learn about astronomy if you know anything about it

he never took the time to learn himself but if you were to mention it he’d recognize some stars because he watches them so often

which makes for good dates!

stargazing!

you go to all types of different angles to look at them together

another thing is Touya never really went to school if so not for long

so you probably end up teaching him and filling him in on a lot of what he doesn’t know

not stuff he doesn’t care about tho

only the important stuff

essentials

which I mean it’s probably not essential anymore the way you two are living outside of society but hey it might come in handy

if someone were to ask touya a question but they’re trying to trick him by using a complex word, If you taught him he won’t fall for it! :)

I mean don’t get me wrong he’s not stupid

but you certainly are a lot smarter 😁

If you brag about it he gets kinda annoyed LOL

like if you beat him in video/board games a lot

which you do, you win like 98% of the time

the 2% he wins is from all luck games

and even so if you learn how those games work it’s over for him 😂😂

Touya doesn’t mind that you wear glasses at all

he does see a difference when you occasionally take them off but he doesn’t think you look wonky so don’t worry

he might be a little curious tho

like he’ll ask how glasses work (especially since your so intelligent)

which might lead into a conversation about why not everyone has 20/20 vision

yeah your conversations never stay on track because all the follow up questions

although you don’t mind because at least you know he’s listening

you end up explaining to him how glasses are made and he asks if you could make your own since you know

which honestly isn’t a bad idea since you could customize it and add whatever you want to it

you definitely thank him for the idea

he feels so accomplished—like he gets to be the smart one for once 😅🤷‍♀️

a sweet thing he does for you if you get eye strains/headaches is like rub your temples/run you a hot bath 💝

it surprises you how caring he can be but of course he’s not completely heartless

another cute thing Touya does is coming to you randomly with questions

”what’s this??”

”what in the world does ___ do?!”

”why does ___ happen?”

”is this normal?”

”what do you do if ____ happens”

”what’s __ x __ again”

”what’s ______ + ______ (big number + big number)?”

oh and you probably have better memory than him so

“Do your remember my past code?”

is common too 😂💗

I started this a while ago but never finished it so I’m glad to finally get this off my chest.

enjoy! Let’s see if the shigaraki and Touya stans will show up🕺

[pinemartenstudios]

Today, 10 years ago, Werewolf Cookie opened his eyes for the first time ever... At least in South Korea.

That's right. This Spooky Day is not just THE Spooky Day or Werewolf's birthday, but a once in a lifetime special occasion. I didn't know he existed until three years ago, but since I've known about him my life as changed for the better.

It all started when I was still a noob in CRK. It was the Hollyberry update and the Sonic collab was happening, the English dub didn't release yet and the World Chat messages still informed about people getting new epics or upgrading commons and rares to 5 stars. Suddenly, THE message appeared: "user has met Werewolf Cookie in the gacha". The moment I realized what I just read I tried scrolling between the Cookies I didn't unlock yet, and I could guess which one was him immediately even though it was the first time I was seeing him. I slowly got to know him and the very few things they revealed about his lore and I got attached to him.

Werewolf becoming my favourite character from the game allowed me to move on from Sonic and focus on a new, fresh interest, draw new topics and develop my creativity like never before. In spite of how simplified the canon art style of the game is, I got more used to draw human characters and improved so much my skills. Then Crunchy Chip began existing, the Dog Boy Holly Trinity was formed and the (non canon) friendship between the three became so important to me.

If we look in retrospective, Werewolf actually is an important character for the Cookie Run franchise, and I don't mean it because of him being an early days character. Before Werewolf, character backstories were very basic of just a personality trait: very happy cookie, very shy cookie, angel and devil, a rich woman, Indiana Jones... But he wasn't just the local werewolf. He was of the very first characters that had a slightly more complex backstory.

His story didn't end in "his wolf instincts kick in whenever he's afraid or angry". He lived in a village and had a friend. Said friend was in peril and he had to save them by revealing his wolf form. He got cast away, they gave him his necklace before leaving, he very probably got the scar on his face in that very event. He's afraid of hurting other people and isolates himself from society, he hates himself and sees that part of him as an invasive entity, as a monster he has to banish.

It's true that many of the cookies I mentioned before got their stories expanded and their personalities developed in the following years, but he was a big step into offering a more complex storytelling. It's also true that he barely gets any attention from official sources and there's not that many snippets that can give more insight in how was his life before the Incident, who was his friend or if he'll ever reach self acceptance ever again. Everything is up to headcanons and theories and of course I gave him more character development and backstory that Devsis will ever give him.

From a Halloween special release to one of the classic cast members of the entire franchise. Reduced into emo alpha jokes by both the fandom and the English social media team. No matter what happens, Werewolf has reached an extremely deep place in my heart, and I won't stop loving him (platonically). I love Werewolf not in a "please marry me" way, but in a "I wanna tuck you in bed and kiss your forehead every time you go to sleep". He's just a guy, and I don't say it negatively. His design is extremely generic, it's pretty easy to find so many characters with a very similar face to his. But I think it contributes significantly to "his werewolfhood is neither a gift nor a curse. He's just a guy, and that is just a part of him. Alienating it only leads to becoming the monster they believe him to be".

Because of him, werewolfhood has become for me in a way of speaking about self acceptance, developing it into something very personal. I've been hyperfixated on werewolves since I was 5, but thanks to him my bond with the concept has grown even stronger.

To 10 more years and beyond. To more friends to meet in the way. To more artistic and personal development. Happy birthday Werewolf. Happy 10th anniversary to such an amazing character

[all-seeing-ifer]

Aromanticism in Academia

Since it's currently Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week and I'm currently in the middle of a master's research project about aromanticism and asexuality, I figured I'd contribute by putting together a list of some books and other academic sources I've read so far that deal with aromanticism! There's very little written about aromanticism in academia, so I think it's important to spotlight what we do have.

DISCLAIMER BEFORE THE LIST: Due to the lack of discussion of aromanticism specifically in academia, most of what I've found are texts that are primarily about asexuality but also discuss aromanticism. It's unfortunate, but it is also where we're kind of at right now in terms of academia, so bear that in mind.

Books:

Ace Voices: What it means to be asexual, aromantic, demi, or grey-ace by Eris Young - Definitely has the most focus on aromanticism of everything that I've read so far, this book draws from a combination of the author's personal experiences and interviews with other members of the a-spec community, including aroace and alloaro people. A good source of discussion of aro issues and how they interact with things like gender stereotypes. Also notable for its discussion of QPRs, a topic which I find has generally been ignored in academia about a-spec identities.

Ace: What Asexuality reveals about desire, society, and the meaning of sex by Angela Chen - Primarily deals with asexuality, as the title suggests, but also contains some relevant discussions of aromanticism, including the experiences of aroallo people. If you're going to check out the book, I would especially recommending looking at chapter 7: Romance, Reconsidered, which features most of the discussion of aromanticism and non-normative relationships

Refusing Compulsory Sexuality: A Black Asexual Lens on our Sex-Obsessed Culture by Sherronda J Brown - Again, asexuality is the main focus here, but I would still recommend checking out this book as it does still contain some useful discussion of aromanticism, particularly an extended critique of "singlism" (i.e. discrimination of single people) and how it is weaponised against aros. I also find Brown's criticism of the dehumanisation of aromanticism in media to be very compelling!

Minimizing Marriage: Marriage, Morality, and the Law - I would be remiss not to mention Brake's work here. While Minimizing Marriage is not specificallly about aromanticism and deals with marriage reform and the concept of amatonormativity more broadly, I think it's fair to say that many of Brake's ideas (particularly her coining of amatonormativity as a term) have become vital to the aro community and aro activism in recent years. Definitely a must-read for anyone interested in deconstructing amatonormativity and in contemporary critiques of marriage as an institution, though it's worth noting that this is a work of moral/political philosophy first and foremost, and as such it gets very into the weeds of things. Available on the Internet Archive here

Academic Articles/Essays (all can be found in the collection Asexualities: Feminist and Queer Perspectives):

"Why didn't you tell me that I love you?": Asexuality, Polymorphous Perversity, and the Liberation of the Cinematic Clown by Andrew Grossman - A really interesting and engaging analysis of the archetype of the silent film clown, and how it can be read as an a-spec figure. While Grossman uses the language of asexuality, his analysis makes it clear that he is looking at the clown as both an asexual AND aromantic character.

On the Racialization of Asexuality by Ianna Hawkins Owen - A personal favourite of mine. I think many parts of this essay will be very relevant to aromantic people, particularly Owen's investigation of how romantic love came to be pedastalised and her critique of attempts to normalise asexuality by distancing it from aromanticism.

Mismeasures of Asexual Desires by Jacinthe Flore - A critique of the pathologisation of asexuality that also discusses how aromanticism challenges common discourses around intimate relationships

Finally, I would like to mention the work of Bella DePaulo, who has written extensively about singlism and compulsory coupling, and who Brown uses extensively as a source in their writing on aromanticism. I didn't want to make this part of the main list because I haven't yet had a chance to get stuck into DePaulo's work, but based on Brown's mentions of her work I believe she has some very interesting ideas that are very relevant to aro people.

As you can probably tell, the list of academic sources dealing with aromanticism and aro issues is very limited. However, while aromanticism is vastly underdiscussed in an academic context, I'd like to point out that this is also only what I've been able to find so far. If anyone has any other recommendations please do add them to this post - I for one would love to hear about them!

[wolfiafuntime]

Modern! Cult Leader! Zhongli

 My first brainrot!! Or rather, the first one I'm actually writing about lol.

 Ft. Modern Sagau X Nonbinary! Reader (you get called adorable once)

 TW: cults, children being in cults, diet control, murder

Published: June 14, 2023

Words: 1,742

Pages: 5

 This brainrot takes place in a Modern! SAGAU. Where, within the state/city (haven't decided yet) of Teyvat, at Akademiya University, a young and self-absorbed Zhongli- who longs for money, violence, and fame- decides to start a cult.

 He makes up this genderless god who created the universe and all life within it. He says that each planet within our solar system once had its own dominant race. That the god fell in love with one of their creations- a dragon-like harbinger of war known as Rex Lapis- and who's love was returned. That together, the pair had seven children (Anemo, Geo, Electro, Dendro, Hydro, Pyro, and Cyro), and they were going to have another. But sadly, before they could be born, one of the planet's kings had grown jealous of their not only their love, but also their power. So, with his cunning wit, the king convinced six other planets to do a hostile takeover. One that killed both the Creator and their kids.

 He says that the grieving Rex Lapis, in a blind fury, went and slaughtered every living being that had contributed to his beloved's death. When he was finally finished, he went to the only planet that hadn't betrayed his spouse (Earth), and laid down for a several-million-year depression nap. At first, the people of Earth treated him with kindness. They cleaned his body while he slept, and created various shrines around him so they would have a proper place to put their offerings. But as the years went on, the people mysteriously stopped taking care of him. And so, life began to bloom across the Rex Lapis's body, and he slowly but surely turned into a mountain.

 He says that, when Rex Lapis had finally woke up, with life all across him, he didn't have the heart to move. For it reminded him of both his spouse and some of his children. And so, he used his powers to create a tiny solid projection of himself that he could act as his eyes and ears for the new world outside him. And, after getting a good look at everything, he decided to make a human form and conjure various other things he would need to disguise himself as a member of modern society. But doing so had stretched his what was left of his powers (which were weakened from years of disuse, like atrophied muscles) thin. So thin he couldn't do anything more without them breaking, and trapping himself within the mountain for who-knows how long.

 This human, as you've probably guessed by now, named himself Zhongli.

 Zhongli says that he felt insulted by the people for forgetting his beloved spouse, who oh so graciously gave them life. But without his powers, he couldn't seek vengeance like he wanted. So, he decided to take a more peaceful route and start spreading the gospel of his spouse and kids.

 The first few members of his cult are an odd bunch. A drunk wannabe musician, a pair of abused sisters, a married lady, and more. As a reward, he gave each of them a piece of jewelry, crafted with one of his children in mind, so they could identify each other. He called these accessories 'Visions', and said that they 'revealed the mortals who see the truth'. Each vision represented a different one of his born children.

 To keep his cultists where he wanted them, he created the 'creators diet', which, while being versatile, successfully damaged his servants' ability to think. He had them pray every morning, every night, and every time they faced any trouble. He had the cult move into a house located on the very mountain he claims his body is trapped under. This house, which he claims was made with power he gained from all the worshipping, is a building many family reunions were held when he was a child. One that his grandparents, who he had not talked to for years at that point, just so happened to give him before dying.

 The house was fairly large. Two stories, with two rooms on the ground floor (a large living room and large dining room (with a small kitchen attached)), and eleven rooms (ten bedrooms and a communal bathroom) on the floor above. One of the ten bedrooms was a master bedroom, which he obviously had to himself. While the members spent only slept in and cleaned the house, due to the distance from the city and the fact they all had jobs, he still had them meet every Monday at noon for 'group prayer' and group sparing. During these prayer sessions, he would have his servants give nearly all of their money to him. After all; he was a dragon. And what was a dragon without treasure?

 To his mild surprise, but great amusement, the cult grew very big within a few years. Too big for him to manage. So, he divided the job amongst six of the seven original members; a reward for 'enlightening' so many people. He also gave them physical rewards- another, different piece of jewelry he called gnosis, that he 'infused with his power' so that when their natural death comes, they would be able to sit beside his spouse and kids in celestia. Through them, he was able to get six different houses that his expanding cult could move into. Sadly, not everyone could move into one of the buildings. But considering the members that couldn't were all very big names within Teyvat, he was fine with making exceptions.

 As the years went on, he slowly started decorating himself with various makeup and props to make himself look more dragon-like. Horns, cat-pupil eye contacts; he even went so far as to get his arms tattooed brown and gold! All to show his people "the growth of his power".

 "The more acolytes I-- and my beloved, of course- gain, then more of you should be able to meet their grace when your natural death comes. Why, with enough of you, we might even be able to raise them from the dead!" <- Something Zhongli will soon regret saying on a regular basis. 

 Sadly, some of them meet their 'natural death's fairly soon. Like Makoto and Rukkhadevata, who had discovered the truth through his goddamn parents of all people. Of course, he killed all four, but that brought some new problems. While Makoto was easily replaced by her sister, he not only needed a replacement for Rukkhadevata, but she had a daughter that needed to be taken care of. Her father didn't know she even existed, and he feared her discovery would start an investigation into his cult. Little did he know that his murders already did.

 It took him a few years to discover, but when he did, it was already too late. He, in another panic to preserve everything, killed the mole. But, worried that there was another one, he made plan and slowly acted on it over the following months. First, he had one of the archons buy him a house and faked a 'power tear' because of overusing said powers (he, before leaving, compared it to a muscle tear). Then, he had all but one of the houses change the day and time of the weekly prayer session. Finally, through his archons, he had the seven houses turned into buildings for newcomers, with the only members ever coming for the weekly prayer session (Which he also altered to be on separate days depending on the house they're in).

 Don't be mistaken, he still had connections to the cult and most certainly still had control over it! He made absolutely sure of it before he left. The archons, who knew of the truth and were sworn to secrecy, regularly contacted him for guidance, prayers, and offerings. But he was now living a much more normal lifestyle. It was kind of difficult for him, to be honest. He had to wear long sleeves and gloves whenever he left the house. He had no one to talk to him, no one to clean for him, no one to cook for him… But the worst of all, in his opinion, was him having to get a job.

 He can't help but be thankful for his past self's decision to complete college and get his degree, even though it had become unneeded before he had even finished school. Without it, he wouldn't be able to get a job as a funeral consultant. And, just his luck, his boss was also a member of his cult! A member of the liyue house, with a pretty little pyro vision ring worn on her ring finger of all things.

 He had a difficult time hiding his laughter. Sadly, that was just about the best thing he discovered as of late. For he made a rather worrisome discovery a few months later.

 When he first heard he was getting a new neighbor, he didn't think much of it. Other than anticipation for getting a new toy for him to use and abuse, of course. But then he actually saw his neighbor, and he froze for a second. A (s/t) person with the hair, eyes, and body to match his so-called beloved spouse. He cursed his past self for allowing that one geo boy draw the 'human form' of his 'beloved' for a moment. But then he took a deep breath, and went and introduced himself to you.

 You- kind, sweet, and adorable you. Who's personality somehow also matches the one he made up for his 'creator'. And he silently worries as he helps you carry some boxes into your deceased grandparents house. Worries about someone from his hundred-membered cult, all of whom now having homes of their own- spotting you. If you accidentally snap his followers out of his control..! No- that can't happen. Won't happen. Not on his watch.

.

.

.

 And my brainrot's died. Or rather, passed out, 'cause I wanna continue with this idea, but I have no idea on where to go from here. Maybe he kidnaps you. Maybe he manipulates you into becoming a recluse that only relies on him. Maybe he falls in love with you and decides to make you the vice-leader of his cult. Or maybe he falls into a delusion where you are his dead spouse.

[zombiecicada]

So I have been reading Valfrey’s honour tier list over and thinking for a while about it. I considered doing it with Wolfbell since it is in fact supposed to be for the tourney contestants, but poor kid is both just a kid and also not finished her entire story. I feel as to judge her now when she has not yet come full circle and overcome her challenges would be unfair to her.

So we’re going to submit the bastard that is Flare Okarda. Who’s my current running oc to become the tourney participant in next year’s tournament (if there is one) and he has made it his personal goal to anger Valfrey as much as possible.

Valfrey of course belongs to @gethoce

For a quick summary of Flare’s character:

He is an original species called a pjofur, who through technological means have achieved ‘reincarnation’. A term used to describe a process in which the memories and personality of an individual are computerized and placed into an organic vessel in order to ‘bring someone back to life’, a process of which has long since robbed the species of their souls.

Flare is a rogue member of the pjofur society, formally known as Jokull, on his third reincarnation something happened and he developed a fatal logic error in his programming that caused him to descend into severe aggression and insanity.

Jokull eventually attacked his assigned romantic partner when she tried to check in on him, almost killing her. He stole a copy of the reincarnation equipment blueprint, deleted his all his backups, and fled the planet and became a fugitive, further descending into madness until he became someone else who couldn’t recognize himself as Jokull anymore, and this person named himself Flare after the intense feeling of being mentally burned alive he felt when he first lost control.

-

One must live their life for a purpose such as serving a shogun or protecting one's people.

-

Ah, purpose and servitude. Gross. Disgusting. Boo, even. Flare has a very rocky relationship with purpose and an even rockier time with the concept of serving someone or said purpose, stemming from his time as Jokull before being plagued by the fatal logic error.

Flare would admit his concept of both purpose and serving said purpose to be limited to one very far end of the spectrum, an extremism which has permanently spoiled his outlook on the overall concept making him unwilling to even try to accept there is other, kinder purposes and things to serve. All he can think about was that Jokull was always just intended to be an extension of Jakob. A trophy son and ticket to bragging rights. A cog in the machine only the machine sits in a glass box all shiny and squeak less and flawless.

That was what he had been brought into the world to do, and Jokull stripped himself of any and all individuality for it and denied himself anything that wasn’t serving the society. That was his purpose. His only purpose, for both of his reincarnations. Flare often says that Jokull played their game twice without a single selfish thought or complaint. And what good did it ever do him in the end? When the fatal logic error happened, all his fancy, glorious high end contributions to society did not buy him a single ticket of mercy and he was thrown into the fire.

Flare doesn’t want to be like him. He doesn’t want to ever be more fancy person calculator instead of a being. He’s not Jokull. He’s not the cog in the machine and wants no part of it. The society can rot for all he cares. He is going to live completely selfishly, he’s not going to bend to any one purpose, he’s going to have fun, and everyone else can kick rocks with their teeth.

-

If left without a purpose one must make it their mission to find one.

-

Flare’s commitment to having a purpose is equivalent to that to-do list you said you were going to make, and maybe you did but now it’s sitting somewhere in your workspace collecting dust.

He claims his purpose is to fuck around and find out, like how his prime goal with this is simply be the biggest disgrace to Valfrey’s honour code possible. To be free to do what he wants when he wants, ignoring he’s often at the mercy (of which there is none) of the fatal logic error that forces him to do things regardless if he actually wants to do them or not.

He is a force of destruction and chaos with no linear path or progression. His goals ever changing. For all his insistence that he does in fact have a purpose, he is stuck in place, making no true progress, hardly ever finishing the projects he starts before he loses track and jumps to something else, all while continuing his steady descent into further mental instability.

-

Be the master of one's emotions, yet do not rob yourself of your whimsy for it’d poison your mind.

-

Control is the last thing he has over his emotions. It’s like trying to control a tornado, or more accurately an intense electrical storm. He has severe emotional dysfunction, his thoughts and feelings and unyielding and uncontrollable torrent of lights and pulsing sounds that has no off switch.

He often describes his feelings as ‘you’re in a room and the lights are strobing and the speaker is on full volume and you have your hand in a bath of electrically charged water also the tag on the back of your shirt is itching you’.

Despite this, he often claims to be horribly bored and under stimulated. This leads him to being uncontrollably aggressive, and he will impulsively pursue experiences, no matter how unpleasant or risky they might be. Often this throws him into the path of combat, the aforementioned aggression Flare exhibits often unrivalled. These can manifest into unhinged outbursts known as flares.

Flare’s lack of control over how he feels stems back to the fatal logic error, which continuously misinforms the brain inside the vessel on how to manage chemicals and hormones, leading to disastrous outcomes and highly immoral decisions.

-

Always be honest unless doing so risks the safety of those you swore to protect.

-

Flare will lie without second thought if it will benefit him, Flare is rarely honest unless it’s to give his ‘honest opinion’ on you, and by that he means he’s going to insult the hell out of you. His one and only circumstance to always telling the truth is if you can get him to agree to a set of ‘game rules’ and make him join some game.

He’s not particularly sure why (he blames Jokull, as usual) but if he plays a game while he may not completely obey the rules, he will be completely and openly honest that he did in fact break the rules and a truthful explanation as to why he felt it was necessary to do so.

-

Do not steal unless it is to protect.

-

Flare steals about as easily as he tells lies and makes insults. You can bolt something down and that’s only a temporary solution especially if he decides he really wants that thing.

From stealing the copy of the reincarnation technology, to the player’s handbook he possesses (though he claims that he didn’t steal such he found it and while that’s technically true it wasn’t his to take) to arguably Jokull’s entire life and person, to the lives of several people, Flare has taken a lot. And he has really no intentions of stopping any time soon.

He’ll debate with you if stealing to protect himself from boredom or the brain itch of realllllllllly wanting that item is a valid loophole though!

-

Do not sneak attack when a fair battle is possible.

-

Flare isn’t necessarily one for sneak attacks, even if he has no issue employing them regardless of the ‘fairness’ of the battle. He often marches right up to his enemies, who, confused by his boldness that often falls into the range of being straight up suicidal, are rarely ready for him to launch into the levels of extreme aggression he is capable of, especially when he outwardly exhibits no means of causing notable levels of damage.

It truly depends on what the person has done to trigger his ire, but usually when such is triggered he will simply go straight into mauling whatever angered him, no warning and no declaration of battle. It is less a battle and more a vicious one sided attack resulting in murder.

-

There is no honour in being outnumbered, use usually unfair tactics to even the playing field when the odds are stacked against you.

-

The one and only rule of Valfrey’s that he can get behind. Flare often picks fights in which he’s at the disadvantage, causing him to employ surprisingly creative and effective tactics to gain an upper hand in a fight.

Flare’s primary tactic is to make combative use of his mind reading ability. By using such, he can see where his opponent will try to dodge to, allowing him to immediately turn his attack to that position, or get some kind of warning as to what his opponent(s) might have planned and counterattack. While he is unhinged and spontaneous, operating off the concept of ‘if I don’t know what I’m doing you sure as hell don’t’, he will briefly and with a surprising rate of success preform tactical actions based on what he gathers from his mind reading.

He is not afraid to fight dirty.

-

Respect yourself, keep yourself healthy and well groomed.

-

Respect is a concept Flare has very, very little of, much less respect for himself. Often at the whim of a self directed sadism, he will often cause himself harm or even cause his own death just for kicks and mental stimulation. Sometimes, death comes because he couldn’t be bothered to care for himself, he could tell you in graphic detail what the process of starving to death actually feels like.

He often looks like he has stuck his hand in a toaster, bags under his eyes are common, all too often some bone is fractured or broken and not being tended to, or some stab wound has been patched up in a messy hurry.

He insists there’s little reason to dedicate a lot of time and care to his vessel. It is replaceable and temporary. If he dies, or gets lethally hurt, he can simply make a new one. His attachment to himself, his vessel, even his identity, is held together by a few highly strained threads that might just snap at any second.

-

Stay true to your principles.

-

Hypocrisy is his middle name. Probably. Does his kind have middle names? He hates hypocrites. Maybe that’s one of the reasons he hates himself so much.

-

Do not slaughter your own kin (members of your clan or similar concepts) unless they strike first.

-

Oh look at that, one whole brownie point for him. He almost killed one of his kind, Jokull’s assigned partner, but he didn’t. And he’s not come in direct contact with any other members of his kind since.

But there’s not much stopping him from killing another member of his kind should they meet. They’ll probably just reincarnate anyways.

-

Take vengeance on those who have wronged you or your kin.

-

Oh he will. And he is. Not his kin, he doesn’t have any. But for himself absolutely. Kind of… Not really- he never has ever taken any kind of revenge on Jakob, or whoever it was who gave him the fatal logic error.

-

Be polite and respectful to those who deserve it.

-

For as smart as Flare is you could probably win a bet with him by telling him you’ll give him something if he can define two words of your choice, and if he needs to give you something.

And he’ll agree because he thinks you’re gonna pull out a word like pseudonym or tacenda, only you tell him to define politeness and respect and he just gives you a death glare instead.

-

If one serves something like a clan or leader that disrespects them or otherwise goes against their principles the clan does no longer deserve to be named kin.

-

….well, the queen can’t go against her principles of treating the society like a hive when she’s the one who set it up like that. And then Nightmare had no principles to begin with so can you REALLY break rules if they don’t even exist? But Flare would argue they’re both bitches so, maybe, that counts.

-

Do not disrespect Valfrey.

Uhhh- Flare I don’t think that’s a good idea-

[elenauaurs]

“As members of a society that pursues peace, harmony is strictly necessary. Please try to see it this way: Just as a contract is only made with mutual consonance, Those who lack the ability—or rather the brilliance—to maintain their usefulness and cooperation are not befitting in this society... And my role, you ask? To reshape them all until they fit”

A mysterious figure among the IPC Strategic Investment Department, responsible for the role of disciplining their fellow co-workers and representing Diamond.

Bort can be described as an cunning individual and extreme perfectionist, although ironically they committed several rule breaks for the sake of showing their worth. They are straight-forward about their goals and ideals, believing that people who have no contribution to society have no place in it. Surprisingly, they have some empathy for these people and wish to help.

In the IPC, Bort is not considered a being of his own with freedom and rights, but rather as an extension of Diamond's power—That said, despite being part of the IPC, they are not exactly one of the ten stonehearts and occupy some of the roles of Diamond.

(Click on the image for better quality)

When Diamond decided to remove all his impurities and imperfections in the form of a shining meteor, a being made of stone was created from the collision of that meteor against the ground.

Bort is a strict person, known for always keeping a somewhat dull smile on their face and correcting their department's mistakes. They are normally reserved, however a person with great aptitude in social matters. Despite being considered obedient and intellectual by their peers, Bort actually has a hard time understanding their own feelings and negligence them, preferring to follow orders than worry about this silly things.

Before being completely under Diamond's command, Bort was responsible for missions on very dangerous planets and ended up developing an obsession with battles and now is very angry at not being able fight as much as they did in the past.

"They are extremely smart and pleasant to talk to, but it is a dangerous trait... They always preferred satisfying their intellectual curiosity, over using his skills for the benefit of others"

- Unknown Senior Manager

. . .

VOICELINES

First meeting

"Bort" of the illustrious IPC's Strategic Investment Department— or, as those closest to me refer to me, Ballas—is at your service. To whom do I owe the honor, my dear nameless companion?

Greeting

Straighten your posture, lift your head and leave behind any trace of laziness before greeting someone. Never underestimate the importance of body language—as a Trailblazer, you will certainly need it.

Parting

In a formal meeting, time is meticulously measured, from hours to milliseconds. I usually don't mind it... However, I'm your presence i feel like time is… too fast. Sigh… What a pity.

About Self: True Desire

What do I truly desire? Uh, well... that's rather a silly question. Anything that Diamond wants too. If he's happy, i'll be more than satisfied. :)

About Self: Old Self

I no longer recall what I was like, but that's only natural. If i expect a lot from others, I must hold myself to the same stantard, even if it means sacrificing who I truly am.

Chat: Food

I have often heard about the benefits of food, not only for bodily functioning but also for overall well-being. Personally, I have never savored the pleasure of eating, and in my form it's unlikely that I ever will... So, I kindly ask you to accept this money and buy some food. Even though I won't enjoy it with you, I'll feel happier seeing you healthier.

Hobbies

Even though I don't need it, I take great pleasure in sleeping. It makes all the worries of the world disappear for a brief and comfortable moment

Annoyances

The intense feeling of failure, especially when others have high expectations of you, can be incredibly... infuriating. I feel powerful under the pressure they put on me, but I can't help but feel an inexplicable pain in my chest...

. . .

Ok, it ended up being a bit big because I ended up getting excited hshqhdhwhdha

There are still many things left to say about them, such as their backstory and their relationship with other people like Aventurine, Topaz, etc... But that's for another post

I ended up changing a few things slightly from the little intro I made previously so... Here are some curiosities

They are genderless

They can't eat, drink, have no organs but can sleep for lore reasons

Sometimes they give off a weird vibe to others so no one messes with them

They are dependent on Diamond

They like fish and stars!

(and also, the phrase I left below the cut comes from houseki no kuni)

[briefobservationdreamer]

Missing Potential About Organisation XIII Members

Some things about Organisation XIII members that I thought was a shame we haven't seen (yet)

The events of Chain of Memories being touched on. Like, how do Lea and Riku interact with Aeleus, Ienzo and Even? What about Saïx’s involvement, how much of it was from Xemnas, Saïx or just Axel's initative? Imagine Sora dealing with Marluxia and Larxene in KH3 with their history remembered. And let's not forget Riku Replica.

Marluxia and Larxene actually share very little one-to-one screentime for two villains who are working together, they only have a single short scene in KH3 before other characters show up. What was their relationship as Nobodies like? How did they come to trust each other enough to try and orchestrate a coup together and be loyal enough to die fighting together twice? We know Marluxia didn’t remember his past, but what about Larxene? Does the history of their Somebodies still factor in, even though they might not even remember?

Seeing the Organisation’s earlier history. How and when did they claim the World That Never Was as their base of operations and start working on completing the artificial Kingdom Hearts? How did they all get their powers and weapons and learn how to use them? How was it run before Saïx became mission control, how did he get that job and what kind of training and missions were they assigned to turn it into the Organisation we see in Chain of Memories, Days and 2? What are the details of Axel and Saïx’s story, how they lost their hearts and plotted their coup, how Axel got his teardrop tattoos and how Saïx got that scar and got possessed. How did Demyx, Luxord, Marluxia and Larxene get recruited (twice)? The original Organisation XIII doesn’t actually get to be an organisation of 13 people for very long, if at all, and there is only a brief period at the beginning of Days where we have a chance to see all members interacting with each other. I know there were at least two coups being plotted but they are never seen acting collectively as a single unit.

Lea still keeps his affinity for fire magic since being recompleted, but what about the other recompleted members of the original Organisation? I’d have to assume that the others still keep their powers post-recompletion too, and if so it’s a shame we don’t get to see the Radiant Garden crew using their powers more. Or Aeleus and Dilan showing off their fighting skills in general (even in a war), they are castle guards after all.

The Radiant Garden crew adjusting back into society after all the human experiments they did, especially if they remain respected authority figures.

Lea losing much of his potential character development in KH3 - exploring what his keyblade and being a wielder means to him, making up for his mistakes and fighting to get his friends back and earning all of those things - in favour of ignoring a lot of the harmful things he did and turning him into comic relief who doesn’t contribute much to the war. He deserved better than that.

The whole possession thing is kind of glossed over in KH3, in that it doesn’t really seem to affect the Real Org members. The way Xigbar described it in DDD makes it sound like some kind of hive mind to me, so I wondered about Xehanort being able to completely control any of them at any time, all of them forced to share the same thoughts and feelings from Xehanort about what he wants them to desire (or even sharing or sensing each other’s thoughts and feelings?), and in the Keyblade Graveyard none of them are themselves at all until their deaths. There was a reason Xehanort did this after all, and it would not only keep the members trapped and make betrayal more difficult, but make it even more impressive that Saïx, Vexen and Demyx were able to pull it off despite this.  

The traitors in the new Org doing more than drop off a replica body at Radiant Garden right when it was needed. Maybe there could have been more communication between the traitors and the guardians to make cooperation easier and give the plan greater chances of success, maybe even pass along information about the organisation's plans and movements (easily done by Demyx if he was always sent on recon missions). This is really more of an idea I had.

Group dynamics in general. So many contrasting personalities and motivations with so much potential for interesting interactions just by putting some of these characters in the same room for a few minutes.

All the former Nobodies adjusting to having a heart again after being recompleted. Even though there would be a lot that's similar for them, I think each of them would experience it in their own way, with their own unique challenges, needs and coping methods about the process.

[deutoplasmic]

AVERAGE WORKDAY AS A VICTIM OF CAPITALISM

kawanishi takumi x gn! reader. 1.7k words. fluff, coffee shop au, meet-ugly.

Usually, people consider having a job to be a solidification of a status in society, a contributing member of the economy, the responsible taxpayer living their best life. People also usually consider that having a good job means that you feel more happier, more fulfilled, more societally adaptive, more content with how fate happens to play out.

You say usually, because you are 5 seconds away from just finding your manager Sho and outright resigning. It's only the promise of sweet, sweet money that keeps you together after you clock into work, take a couple of orders, and serve a table – only for some woman to sniff her drink, frenetically slam it down on the varnished wood, and screech something along the lines of this iced latte tastes like full cream milk, I know it's full cream, stop lying to me, and I ordered skim! Her furious spittle keeps flying all over the tabletop and the cute decorative succulent you watered earlier today. Someone’ll have to clean it up later and it sure as hell won't be you.

Just in case she’s actually right and you didn't just bungle her order, you glance across the room to confirm the bottle of milk just used for her drink. And. It's most definitely skim. When you look back at her frenzied state, there is definitely not a single chance on Earth that she'll listen to you – or anyone, really, except maybe Sho. He’s always had a penchant for calming down aggravated customers, which would be really useful if he was here right now. But he's not, so you just get to relish in a spray of saliva, loud shrieking, and your increasing urge to just blow up on her. You definitely have to ask for a pay rise soon or something.

The woman yells out one more thing about disgusting coffee beans – you decide not to mention that to Sho, considering he likes to pride himself on his nitpicked 1000-time-tested internationally-sourced coffee selection – and in all the joys of working in the food industry, cathartically throws her drink at you. Or launches, which is a better word for how fast it hurtles toward you.

Unfortunately, you are not very skilled in the art of catching high-speed coffee cup-shaped objects, so you have to make do with the power of determination and spite. Making do, however, ends up constituting of you trying to grab the drink from out of mid-air. It also happens to constitute your expertise ultimately failing you, as the ridged edges of the cup bounce off your fingers.

And into this back of this poor neighbouring guy’s white graphic T-shirt, which is at just the right angle for a considerable amount of latte to splash all over itstaining the fabric a milky brown that creeps outwards and clings to his skin like vine tendrils you keep trying to pull off but just end up sticking again.

Everyone else in the cafe is silently staring at you and the guy, catching every single movement as the guy slowly turns around. Having a job makes you more content with how fate plays out, you fatalistically think, happier and more fulfilled. To your immense dismay, you can't just stand there and consider quitting as a viable option just yet, so you struggle but manage to splutter out a “sorry for the inconvenience, sir, we can pay for the cleaning”. There is no way you're going to even glance at his probably very shellshocked face out of pure shame after this extreme loss of dignity.

He does not respond, leaving the cafe to just slowly and awkwardly start chattering to each other again. After the woman awkwardly realises nothing else is going to come out of this, she just hisses out something unintelligible – probably something like “never coming here again”, which, y’know, good riddance – and storms out the cafe to the cheery jingle of some windchimes.

The guy is still silent. Someone dings the bell on the counter. You decide to just risk it and go to sneak an apologetic look-

“Is everything alright?” Sho, the saving grace of your sanity, walks outside the kitchen curiously with his hands dusted with some pale white flour. “There are some customers waiting- Takumi?”

You swivel to fully face the Takumi guy. And he's staring right at you. And he is very, very cute. And you just spilled coffee on him.

However, there is no rest for mildly-above-minimum wage pay workers, so you snap to attention. “Sho, I accidentally spilled a drink on his” – you stiffly gesture in the direction of said man – “shirt. Is there any chance I can get it cleaned for him?”

Sho looks at you before laughing. You have definitely made a fatal error and you’ll be fired right now, right here, and you’ll have to dig up your resume from the depths of somewhere to go on the arduous task of job-hunting.

But then. He just goes ahead and waves you off kindly. “No, Takumi’s a friend of mine – I’ll just do it myself. In the meantime, do you mind getting the spare shirt in the storeroom for him to change into?”

There is absolutely no way he said that. As you hastily nod in acknowledgement and speed over to the storeroom, you catalogue whatever that... situation was that just unfolded.

First, you fumbled a drink horrendously. Second, you got this poor guy’s shirt ruined. Third, you probably-most-definitely jeopardised the Google rating of this cafe. And fourth, you somehow managed to not get fired after this crazy debacle, just to make up for your horrific luck today.

As soon as you get home, you are going to go to sleep and pretend nothing happened today. Absolutely nothing. Not at all. Right now, though, you grab the shirt neatly folded underneath some dish towels, and take some sweet, sweet time to close the door. Sho’s busy wiping up all the coffee on the floor, so you hand over the shirt to the Takumi guy whilst emphatically not making any eye contact, and shuffle-run back to the counter to get to serving the small gaggle of people waiting there. Hopefully, you’ll never see him again and you can forget all about doing latte DIY on his shirt. Hopefully.

Your shift thankfully ends without any more fiascos, and life is looking up for you. It’s so consolidating, in fact, that you have to remember that you have another shift tomorrow just to keep your hopes down. Goddamnit. Definitely no rest for mildly-above-minimum wage workers.

-

When you clock in the next morning, everything is as usual. The table of the incident is clean. There are no mysterious coffee stains on any fabric. Maybe, you desperately hope, everything will be fine today!

After making a slew of drinks for regulars and newcomers alike, you’ve almost shoved the events of yesterday out of your mind. That is, until you’ve just served a latte (you refuse to acknowledge the type of drink) and the assistance bell rings. You look up from the counter and towards the customer. It’s a guy in a shirt that looks very familiar, and when you take in his face, you realise just exactly who this is.

He grins awkwardly at you. “Uh, hi?”

Your head starts frantically sounding emergency sirens. It’s Takumi. The guy you just spilt coffee on yesterday. It is so over. You are so over. Autopilot, however, kicks in and saves you from making a fool of yourself. “Um. Welcome. What would you like today?”

He helplessly stares at you for a few seconds, before pulling out a kind of crinkled neon-pink sticky note from his pant pocket. “May I please have your number?”

Sorry. What. “Sorry, what?” you echo in shock, stress removing the formality of your speech. “Huh?”

“Oh. Um. I, uh” – he squints to read the words on the paper – “thought it was worth a shot?” There’s a sad and very pitiful expression on Takumi’s face, which is too much for you to bear, so you hastily clarify what you said.

“Uh, sorry. I assumed you wouldn’t want anything to do with me after I ruined your shirt?”

“Ruined?” His eyes are very wide in bafflement. “Don’t worry, Sho’s very good at cleaning out coffee stains. Actually, I was grateful you spilled it on me, because otherwise I wouldn't have-”

You stare at him. He stares back at you, before caving in and looking away. When he realises you’re not going to say anything else, he frantically apologises. “Sorry. Was that too much information? Uh, I shouldn’t have trusted Keigo-”

“You’re fine,” you assure him awkwardly, grateful for the few customers inside. “Don’t worry.” This Keigo character clearly didn’t brief Takumi well enough if whatever's going on here is any clue.

“Oh. Cool. Um. Can you- we- go- guh. Can I get a hot chocolate? Medium please,” he blurts out so fast that you almost struggle to figure out what he ordered, but you're luckily versed in the art of deciphering drinks from mumbles. It's a skill you've developed from this very job.

You scribble his order down on a cup, professional 'I am just a calm, composed, paid worker at this cafe' mode activated again. "Anything else?"

"Uh." He consults the sticky note again before looking at you with so much hope that his face could probably be used in one of those tests where you try to identify someone’s emotions. "Can I um. Can I say your number again?"

His optimism is so inspiring, it's so obvious he doesn't work in the food industry. Why not, you impulsively decide. Why not.

“Sure,” you tell him indulgently, and the way he looks at you almost makes being a mildly above minimum wage worker worth it. Almost. Because now you have to ask him to pay for the drink, but you also don't want to ruin the moment, nor do you really want to put it 'on the house' since it'll be deducted from your paycheck, so you're kind of just standing there at an impasse.

Such is the life of a victim of capitalism.

"I'll make that for you right now," you sigh in defeat, and try to ignore the way your heart thumps a little too hard and fast at his excited smile.

[krishna-sangini]

After seeing @stardustkrishnaverse 's post about how our Kanha shares our grief and helps us to overcome them, I just wanna share this incident where this EXACT thing happened with me.

So, many of you may be aware that I've gotten into the Western dance society of my college. Soooo yeah. It was time to contribute to the funds. After doing so, you become official members of the society.

Now, here's a thing about my family: Dancing is not seen as something deserving of respect. Especially Western dance forms.

Sooo yeah, naturally my mom revolted. Like, how I'd spoil my academics for something insignificant, how I'd side-line my academics for my passion and stuff. I don't blame her. But then again, the fact that she just assumed I wouldn't be able to juggle the two things together hurt me.

In my childhood, I was barred from learning to dance at the age of eight because my father hated dancing (He still does). Since then till now, I have never asked them to let me dance professionally. And now when I had this golden opportunity, I was being asked to just let it go.

It may not seem like a big deal, but it WAS a VERY big deal for me.

I tried making my mom understand, but then she threw the final weapon, "Talk to your father".

And I knew it was impossible to make him understand. So, I just considered all my paths leading me to dead ends. I felt so freaking lost, I just cried my heart out. Then I legit called for Keshav. I requested him, more like begged him, from all my heart to help me through this mess. Like, I just simply surrendered.

And help he did. I texted my father about the situation. He called me the next day and talked to me about how I would handle both academics and dance and then he agreed for me to join the society officially.

A man who is simply repulsed at the idea of dancing agrees for his daughter to join a Western dance society.

Now tell me my Keshav isn't right beside me 24/7, listening to all my problems and waiting for me to ask for his help. From that day on, I feel more than reassured and loved knowing that my sakha is there for me every single moment <3

[aedesluminis]

Prieur's admission to Dijon Academy of Science

On 5 June 1790 Claude-Antoine Prieur sent to the Dijon Academy of Science a manuscript called "Moyens par lesquels on pourrait approprier nos monnoyes [sic] à un nouveau système métrique" (1) in order to submit his application for becoming a member of said institution. The document, meant as an appendix to his previous work on a possible reform of the metric system, explained how to adapt the decimal scale to France's monetary system of the time.

A month later, on 5 June 1790, Pierre Jacotot, one of the two commissaries (2) tasked with judging Prieur's work, made a full report of it and the young 26 years old Claude-Antoine, was elected as associate member following the vote that took place among the present members at the end of the session.

What follows is a translation of the acknowledgement speech he made on 18 November 1790 at the Academy and the academy president’s subsequent reply. Both texts show a rather peculiar portrait of Prieur, different from the usual adjectives - shy, introvert, awkward, not particularly brilliant - used to describe him by the few historians that ever talked about him.

It has been several months since you accepted me as a member of your illustrious institution; the circumstances have not allowed me to prove my gratitude yet. I am here today to fulfil this task. Even though I was favoured seemingly for my consummated talent, I have no illusions. For a man of my age it can only be considered as an encouragement to inspire emulation and I will commit myself to deserve it. Indubitably, it is flattering to be part of a rightfully famous academy, which has given so many contributions to science and literature, which includes men of superior genius and merit among its members, in a word, which made itself very useful to be country where it was established, spreading there the light of reason, whose influence on the happiness of the entire society is so evident: but such titles of glory are none other than an obligation to make oneself worthy of them. Destined by status to serve my country in the army, in a corps, where military service is above all, in many aspects, linked to scientific culture, I decided to devote my leisure time to the latter and, in this perspective, the interaction with skilled teachers and the enjoyment of all the aids that the Academy gives to education (3) contribute even more in increasing the value I attribute to being received [as a member of the Academy]. There is one last consideration that makes my acceptance so dear to me, the French nation in this moment is regenerating itself through a Constitution based on the immutable principles of reason and justice; equality, liberty, so favourable to friendship and the progress of human intellect, strengthen the bonds of fraternity among all citizens; therefore I wish more ardently than ever anything that can bring me closer to my compatriots and I will be so happy If I can be of any use to them. These are, Messieurs, my feelings; I dare to hope that they will be worthy of being accepted; they are simply the proof of my respect, gratefulness and complete devotion.

Claude Picardet’s - the president - reply:

Monsieur, the Academy, always careful to identify those touched by the love for letters and knowledge, did not wait for you to express the desire to be part of it in order to wish that itself. For a long time the Academy has known of your devotion to science and how much you take it further, not limiting it to the mere name that describes the noble professions you exercise, proof of which is the erudite memoir which you presented to us and to which we applauded. Be thus assured, Monsieur, of all the satisfaction we feel in having you seated among us. This company, by associating you to its works, hopes that yours will help in keeping its name high and the esteem gained among scholars, even foreign ones. Such a honourable feeling would slow the moment the works of the Academy did as well, works that the institution had announced to be willing to pursue and that were promised to be useful and beneficial. But what I want to add, Monsieur, among the reasons that determined your welcome here, there is the knowledge of your character; there is your sweetness and amenity; there is that fine intellect, that sense of righteousness, so evident both in your conduct and conversations. These qualities, of which one cannot have enough in a society of men of letters, seem to me an excellent addition to your talents; qualities that will suffice whenever I would have to remind here, in the various function that I exercise, the love of concord and peace, the reciprocity of glances and attentions and, at the same time, the dedication towards work. Monsieur, in this reply to your speech, by mentioning the qualities that distinguish you, I named those of a true Academician.

— P. Gaffarel, Prieur de la Côte-d’Or, 1900, p. 14-16

────────────

(1) The full name of the work is “Moyens par lesquels on pourrait approprier nos monnoyes à un nouveau système métrique, proposé pour les mesures d'étendue et de pesanteur, et établi de telle manière que toutes ces mesures, leurs multiples et leurs sous-multiples, forment toujours une échelle de divisions décimales.”

(2) The other commissary was Louis-Bernard Guyton.

(3) The Academy of Dijon offered drawing and science courses.

[mariacallous]

There are more than 114,000 missing persons in Mexico, and that number is continuing to rise. Criminal violence in the country is at a record level, largely driven by gangs and drug cartels. Many of those missing are buried in clandestine graves all across the country.

To contribute to the solution of this complex problem, a group of scientists from the Center for Research in Geospatial Information Sciences (CentroGeo) put technology and data analysis at the service of the searches.

"I never thought I would have to work on this, but if this knowledge is of any use, now is the time to show it," says José Luis Silván, a geographer at CentroGeo. Years ago, as part of his doctoral work, he specialized in measuring forest biomass and human populations through satellite information. At that time, he was far from imagining the scientific work he is doing today: investigating the potential of drones, hyperspectral images, and protocols to detect clandestine graves.

In a recent article published in the International Journal of Forensic Research and Criminology, Jorge Silván and researcher Ana Alegre insist that studying the geographical environment is very important to understand in depth a crime such as disappearance. Thus, “due to its context and diversity of climates, the case of Mexico may represent an opportunity for the development of investigations.”

Finding burials requires hard work. All available information and resources must be optimized. Therefore, scientists have evaluated the use of remote sensing tools and have systematized information from previous findings. They seek to discover patterns in the behavior of the perpetrators and, with this, to find burials.

According to Red Lupa, 88% of the 114,000 cases of disappearances in Mexico occurred between 2000 and May 2024. 10,315 were registered in 2023, the most on record. This represents an average of 29 people per day. Jalisco, Tamaulipas, State of Mexico, Veracruz and Nuevo Leon are the entities with the highest incidences.

Justice is almost non-existent, with 99% impunity for this crime. For this reason, since 2007 alone, civil society has formed more than 300 search groups, mostly made up of family members who scour the land guided by witness statements or organized in general brigades. These groups have detected most of the 5,696 clandestine graves reported on Mexican soil.

The association United for Our Disappeared searches in the north of the country, in Baja California. One of its members, who preferred to remain anonymous, has been searching for his son for 18 years. He says they have been using pointed rods to detect graves for more than 10 years. This is one of the most widely used tools in Mexico for this purpose. "We fit the rod in where we suspect the earth was removed, insert it, pull it out and smell it. If there are bone remains or tissue, you can tell by the smell. It is a strong odor, easy to detect. It smells like organic matter in the process of decomposition."

Before, he says, they used a georadar—a device similar to a pruning shear that detects inconsistencies in the ground—but they abandoned this practice because it was not very useful. The radar responds to almost any kind of object, from chips to boats. The last time they used it, it returned 40 suspicious spots, but none were positive. In Mexicali, another group uses a drone to fly over areas and detect changes in the terrain. Others have used machines to dig holes instead of shovels. Some innovations are abandoned over time, but the use of rods remains.

In 2014, after the disappearance of 43 Ayotzinapa normalistas in Mexico, Silván and other CentroGeo professionals joined the scientific advisory board on the case. During the search for the students, different civilian groups and government brigades detected dozens of illegal graves. In less than 10 months, the Mexican Attorney General's Office counted 60 sites and 129 bodies in the state of Guerrero. As a result of the raids, 300 illegal graves were revealed. Since then, the number of clandestine graves has only grown.

No one anticipated the size of this horror. The report "Searching between pain and hope: Findings of clandestine graves in Mexico 2020 - 2022", exposes with hemerographic data that in those two years, 1,134 clandestine graves were registered, with 2,314 bodies and 2,242 remains. In proportional terms, Colima reported the highest rate of illegal graves, with 10 per 100,000 inhabitants. It was followed by Sonora, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Sinaloa and Zacatecas.

By number of cases, Guanajuato, Sonora and Guerrero stand out. These three entities account for 42% of the records. By April 2023, a journalistic investigation by Quinto Elemento Lab reported that the number of illegal burials reached 5,696 clandestine graves, and that more than half of them were detected during the current federal administration.

Employing his field of study, remote sensing, José Luis Silván uses images captured with satellites, drones or airplanes, from which he extracts geospatial information using knowledge of the physics of light, mathematics and programming. Multispectral and hyperspectral images capture subsurface information using sensors that record wavelengths of light imperceptible to the human eye, making them useful for searching.

In 2016, during a first study by CentroGeo researchers, they simulated burials with pig carcasses to evaluate the potential of using hyperspectral cameras in searches and learn what information from the sensors was useful to them. The Mexican researchers knew from research in other countries that successful detection with these techniques depends, in part, on being able to recognize how carcasses (and their spectral images) change in different soils and climates.

The experiment was carried out on rented land in the state of Morelos. There they buried seven animals and evaluated the light reflected by the soil at different wavelengths for six months. They concluded that a hyperspectral camera, which provides more than a hundred layers of data, has the potential to detect clandestine burials, although the technique is only effective three months after burial. They tried to arrange for the acquisition of a camera and drone (valued at 5 million pesos) through the National Search Commission, but were unsuccessful.

Faced with this, they began to evaluate more affordable alternatives, such as multispectral devices. Today, despite the fact that spaces such as the Commission for the Search for Disappeared Persons of the State of Jalisco (COBUPEJ—-with which they have a partnership—has acquired this equipment, no national strategy exists to deploy these technologies systematically.

Some time later, the scientists took on a bigger challenge. When they briefed the National Search Commission on the usefulness of remote sensing for locating burials, officials told them that in some regions of the Northwest, the greatest need was to locate substances used to conceal crimes. "They dispose of them in caustic soda or with chemicals, char them and incinerate them in the open air or in crematoria; they throw the remains away or bury them," the researcher says.

So, in 2021, Silván's group did another experiment, this time in Hidalgo and with a spectroradiometer, which measures how different substances reflect light. For that study, they tested the trace of substances used in crimes. They found that diesel, muriatic acid and blood treated with anticoagulants require more precise imaging to be located, but that most substances, such as caustic soda, lime, blood and those resulting from open burning could be detected with multispectral sensors, which are less expensive.

CentroGeo has also participated in the development of complementary strategies to identify areas with a high probability of harboring clandestine graves. One example is the training of mathematical models with the coordinates of previous findings and the characteristics of the sites preferred by criminals, which they call clandestine spaces and which define as those which are easy to access for perpetrators and of low visibility to the population.

In addition, they have been using the signs that decomposing bodies leave on the vegetation for years. As a corpse decomposes, it releases nutrients into the soil, in particular increasing the concentration of nitrogen. In plants, this element is linked to chlorophyll, which gives them their greenness. In experiments with buried pigs, they have observed that a chlorophyll indicator can be quantified through satellite images. They measure how fast this index grows to detect sites with anomalies. This tool is available on the "Clandestine Space" platform.

Silván says that to interpret the nitrogen signal, they must consider that the gas signal can also vary due to the use of fertilizers or rains that carry nutrients. The presence of nitrogen, then, is not definitive proof of the existence of trenches, but it provides indications that justify paying attention in certain regions. The National Search Commission has been trained to use this indicator.

In Baja California, a northern state with 17,306 missing persons cases, these strategies have already been used. They first analyzed 52 locations of known graves and deduced that, because of the way they were distributed, there was a high probability of finding more graves at a distance of between 18 and 28 kilometers from those already known. They also looked for possible "clandestine spaces" and identified that 32% of the territory of Baja California had the potential to be used for that purpose. Finally, they reviewed the concentration of chlorophyll in satellite images. The result was a useful accompaniment for some family brigades.

Recently, Ana Alegre and José Silván analyzed geospatial models that could explain the distribution of graves in 10 states. They found that the travel time it would take an offender to get from urban streets to the grave is the factor that most influences the location of graves. "The secrecy sought by perpetrators seemed less important than reducing the effort they invest in creating the grave," their article says.

In addition to collaborating with the government, CentroGeo researchers work with civil associations such as Regresando a casa Morelos and Fuerzas unidas por nuestros desaparecidos en Nuevo León (FUNDENL). Some time ago, the former asked them to survey a site. "We collected thermal images and three-dimensional models to provide information," says Silván. In addition, they gave a workshop for visual interpretation. Silván describes the members of "Returning Home Morelos" as dedicated people. "They want to find their loved ones, they are willing to learn anything, to analyze an image or fly a drone. To everything."

With information from the FUNDENL collective and support from the American Jewish World Service, CentroGeo created "Huellas de vida", a platform that crosses the information of unfound persons and unidentified bodies with data from objects found in clandestine burial sites in Nuevo León. The intention is to detect coincidences that will help solve cases.

The geographer points out that the investigation is advancing, while the forms and numbers of disappearances are multiplying. Other countries, he says, are installing ground penetration radars on drones, or are planning to use electronic noses as indicators of methane, an element that corpses release at a certain stage of decomposition. To search for missing persons from the Spanish Civil War, for example, patterns in geographic data were tracked to narrow down search sites.

The big pending issue is to evaluate the real contribution that geographic information has had in uncovering crime scenes. "It is complicated to have feedback, even with the National Commission, because they are not obliged to tell us where they have findings." It will be until they have the new reports when they will be able to collate the results and measure the impact of their contributions. For now, "it is complicated to attribute the findings to our tools and information".

For his part, the member of United for our Disappeared assures that the search groups are the ones who have found most of the clandestine graves currently located. The usual thing, he says, is that the governments do not have departments for this work and only search when they have declarations that oblige them to do so. With the collectives it is different, because "we receive anonymous information, and even if we have no information, we still schedule searches and go out".

Finding graves is the beginning of another loss. When they have reason to excavate, they use picks and shovels and, if they find human remains, the authorities (who usually accompany them) cordon off the area and proceed with their work. If they are not present, they call them. "From there, many times we don't know what's going on, we don't get feedback from the authorities. We say that the person we found is lost again." The problem is general, "the collectives complain that people get lost in the bureaucratic process". In few cases, they say, the Prosecutor's Office restores the identity of the disappeared.

While technology is integrated into the systematic searches, collectives such as United for our Disappeared ask society to share the information they have on missing persons. "We only want to find them, all the information that reaches the collectives is anonymous," says the interviewee whose identity we reserve. The authorities have accepted this, he assures.

For his part, José Silván comments that, as a result of the collaboration with COBUPEJ and other institutions, they are about to publish a book to disseminate techniques for the detection of graves that they tested during their work.n de fosas que probaron durante un año en dos sitios de inhumación controlados en Jalisco, así como otras experiencias recogidas a nivel nacional a través de la ciencia ciudadana que hacen las madres buscadoras. The book is entitled Interpreting Nature to Find Them and is coordinated by Tunuari Chavez, head of the COBUPEJ context unit, and Jose Silvan under the direction of commissioner Victor Avila.

[scotianostra]

David (Davy) Blair was born on 11th November 1874 at Broughty Ferry.

Blair was an employee of the White Star Line and had been originally earmarked to sail on The Titanic on it’s maiden voyage to New York, indeed he was second officer on the ship during its trial voyages to test the ship’s seaworthiness and the final journey from its place of construction in Belfast to Southampton, but a change in crewing lists at the last minute saw the second officer from Broughty Ferry taken off the passenger liner.

In his hurry to disembark the ship at Southampton docks, Davy accidently took a locker key with him. It was an innocent oversight, but one that likely contributed to the sinking of the Titanic. The seemingly innocuous key was in fact the key to the cupboard in which the crow’s nest binoculars and telescope were kept locked away. Titanic’s lookouts on that fateful night had no access to binoculars, and failed to spot the iceberg until it was too late.

He sent a postcard to his sister-in-law, writing: “Am afraid I shall have to step out to make room for chief officer of the Olympic. “This is a magnificent ship, I feel very disappointed I am not to make her first voyage… I hope eventually to get back to this ship.” But when he left Titanic on April 9, he would never set foot on it again.

The ship sank on April 15th after striking an iceberg, claiming more than 1,500 lives.

Investigations into the sinking of the Titanic raised lots of questions, including the obvious – why had the iceberg not been seen sooner?

It was believed Davy inadvertently hampered the ability of Titanic’s lookouts during the transatlantic crossing. The official inquiry heard from surviving crew members, lookouts Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee.

The pair told the inquiry they would have spotted the iceberg sooner had they had the means to do so.

When questioned how much sooner, Fred replied: “Enough to get out of the way.”

Davy kept the key as a memento and it was considered to be one of the most important artefacts from the Titanic.

He died at the age of 80 in 1955 and the key was passed on to his daughter Nancy.

It later sold at auction for £90,000 in 2007 and the proceeds were used to set up scholarships in Davy’s name.

Davy Blair went on to win gallantry medals later in his career. In 1913, when he was First Officer on the SS Majestic, he jumped 40-foot overboard to help save a crew member from the chilly waters of the Atlantic.

The ship was 700 miles from New York when a stoker from the engine room “rendered temporarily insane by the heat of the stokehold had rushed on deck, and in his frenzy thrown himself into the sea”. Davy, who had just come off duty, heard the commotion and “without a moment’s hesitation” dived from “the dizzy elevation” to the man’s aid.

A report about the rescue in the London Gazette at the time said: “On the morning of 6th May, 1913, whilst the Majestic was in the North Atlantic, a Fireman jumped overboard.

“Vessel was backed to the place where he was supposed to have gone overboard and after some time he was sighted close to the port bow.

“Starboard emergency boat was lowered but Mr Blair, fearing that the boat might not reach him in time, jumped overboard from the port side of the vessel, swam to a lifebuoy which had been thrown overboard, and endeavoured to reach the man with it.

“He did not succeed, but, although weakened by the coldness of the sea, he managed to point out the whereabouts of the man to those in the boat, who rescued him and then picked up Mr Blair.

“There was a fog prevailing at the time and the water was very cold.”

The act of bravery saw him awarded the Sea Gallantry Medal from King George V at Buckingham Palace in 1915 and a medal from the Royal Humane Society.

A total of nine medals awarded to Davy including an OBE, First World War service medals and his Legion d’Honneur – the highest French order of merit.

As for the Titanic's binoculars and telescope, is it realistic that there was no others on a ship this size? I don't know.....

Pics are of Commander David Blair, and in the second left, packing scientific instruments for an expedition to the South Pacific.