#and analyse any other material brought to them?

[fishluring]

making an astronomy/meteoritics iterator oc when i know fuckall or at least just very basic things about those things was maybe a mistake. Looking up stuff for reference/inspo like haha i like your funny words magic man

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Some Editorial Vocabulary

definitions of terms during the writing, editing and publishing process

Acknowledgements: Text in which the author thanks those who’ve supported them.

Action beat: Short description that comes before, between or just after dialogue.

Adjective: A word that describes a noun.

Adverb: A word that describes a verb.

Adverbial phrase: A group of words that describe a verb.

Afterword: A concluding section, often reflecting on the book’s creation or providing additional context.

Anaphora: The deliberate repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of successive clauses for artistic effect.

Antagonist: An adversary. The character who creates obstacles and challenges for the protagonist, or behaves in a hostile fashion towards the protagonist.

Anti-protagonist: A protagonist whose own actions create opposition and conflict, often within themselves or against their own goals.

Apostrophe: A punctuation mark used to indicate possession, omission and, occasionally, a plural.

Appendix: Space in a book for material that doesn’t fit comfortably in the main text.

Asyndeton: Literary device through which a sentence’s structure follows the following pattern: A, B, C.

B-C

Back matter: Also end matter. Elements reserved for the back of a book, including appendix, glossary, endnotes, bibliography and index.

Beta reader: Test-reader who provides feedback on book.

Bibliography: List of all works cited in book, and any other work of interest to the reader.

Chapter drop: The space above and below the chapter title.

Character arc: Narrative that shows how a character changes and develops.

Characterization: The process of revealing a character's personality, traits and motives through actions and dialogue.

Colon: Punctuation mark that introduces additional/qualifying information about the clause it follows.

Comma splice: Two independent clauses joined by a comma rather than a conjunction or an alternative punctuation mark.

Conjunction: A word that connects clauses or sentences (e.g. ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘if’, ‘then’)

Copyediting: A review of grammar, punctuation, and spelling, ensuring consistency and accuracy in the manuscript's language.

Critique: Also manuscript evaluation. Report analysing a book’s strengths and weaknesses.

D

Denouement: The final part of the book in which all the plot strands are brought together and resolved.

Deuteragonist: A sidekick or confidante character who has the most influence on the protagonist, often helping them solve problems and overcome obstacles. Can be critical to driving the plot.

Developmental editing: Also structural editing. The improvement of a manuscript's structure, content, and overall narrative, focusing on big-picture elements. Attends to plot, characterisation, narration and pacing.

Dialogue tag: Also speech tag. Words that indicate which character is speaking (e.g. John said).

Dialogue: The lines characters speak in a book.

Diversity reader: Also sensitivity reader. Test-reader who checks for misrepresentation in books.

Double-page spread: Also DPS. The view of a printed book or PDF when opened so that the left- and right-hand pages are both visible.

Drama: The conflicts, emotional intensity, and impactful events that drive the plot and engage readers emotionally. The focus is on character relationships, motivations, and the consequences of their actions.

Dropped capital: Decorative first letter of the first word on the first line in a chapter. Larger than the rest of the text and drops down two lines or more.

E-F

Ellipsis: Punctuation mark that indicates a trailing-off or a pause.

End matter: Also back matter. Elements reserved for the back of a book, including appendix, glossary, endnotes, bibliography and index.

Endnote: Additional useful information at the end of a chapter or book.

Filter word: Verb that tells rather than shows (e.g. ‘noticed’, ‘seemed’, ‘spotted’, ‘saw’).

Folio: Somewhat old-fashioned term for page number. Also used to refer to a page.

Footnote: Additional useful information at the bottom of a page.

Foreword: A recommendation of the work written by someone other than the author.

Fourth wall: In books, the conceptual space between the characters and the readers.

Free indirect speech: Also free indirect style and free indirect discourse. Third-person narrative that holds the essence of first person thought or dialogue.

Front matter: Also prelims. Includes part title and title pages, foreword, preface and acknowledgements.

Full point: Period or full stop.

Full stop: Period or full point.

G-L

Glossary: Alphabetical list of important terms with explanations or definitions.

Habitual past tense: Uses ‘would’ or ‘used to’ with a verb to indicate events that happened routinely in a time past.

Half-title page: The first page of a book with any text on it; in a printed book, always a right-hand page. Contains only the main title of the book.

Head-hopping: Jumping from one character’s thoughts and internal experiences to another’s. Indicates viewpoint has been dropped.

Imprint: Publisher’s name.

Independent clause: A group of words that contains a subject and a predicate.

Index: Alphabetical list of all topics, themes, key terms and cited author names covered in the book, and the corresponding page numbers.

Information dump: Also word dump. Information that’s necessary to the story but isn’t artfully delivered, or weaved creatively into the narrative and dialogue.

Line editing: Also stylistic editing. The refining of a manuscript's language, focusing on consistency, clarity, flow and style at sentence level.

M-O

Maid-and-butler dialogue: Dialogue in which one character tells another something they already know so the reader can access backstory.

Manuscript evaluation: Also critique. Report analysing a book’s strengths and weaknesses.

Narrative arc: Also story arc. The structure and shape of a story.

Narrative authenticity: The believability and truthfulness of a story so that the characters and events feel real within the framework of the novel’s world.

Narrative distance: Also psychic distance. How close the reader feels to a character’s thoughts, emotions and experiences within a story.

Narrative: Story. The part of the book that’s narrated, excluding the dialogue.

Narrative style: The author's unique manner of storytelling, encompassing language, tone, viewpoint and other structural choices.

Narrative voice: The style, tone, and personality through which a narrator or character tells a story to readers.

Numerals, Arabic: 1, 2, 3 etc.

Numerals, Roman: i, ii, iii etc.

Omniscient: All-knowing. Refers to a viewpoint style in fiction writing.

Overwriting: Using too many words on the page. Often characterized by repetition and redundancy.

P

Page proofs: A file that’s reached a stage in the publishing process where the text and images of a manuscript have been laid out in their final format.

Pantser: A writer who doesn’t outline or plan story structure, but flies by the seat of their pants.

Period: Full stop or full point.

Perspective character: Also viewpoint character. The character through whose eyes the story is primarily told. The narrative lens through which readers experience events, thoughts, and emotions within the story.

Plot: The sequence of events in a novel.

Point of view: Also viewpoint and POV. Describes whose head we’re in when we read a book, or whose perspective we experience the story from.

Polysyndeton: Literary device through which a sentence’s structure follows the following pattern: A and B and C.

Predicate: The part of a sentence that contains a verb and that tells us something about what the subject’s doing or what they are.

Preface: An explanation of the purpose, scope and content of a book, and written by the author.

Prelims: Also front matter. Includes part title and title pages, foreword, preface and acknowledgements.

Pronoun: A word that replaces a noun (e.g. I, you, he, she, we, me, it, this, that, them those, myself, who, whom). Pronouns can act and be acted upon like any noun.

Proofreading: The final pre-publication quality-control stage of editing where any final literal errors and layout problems are flagged up. Comes after developmental editing, stylistic line editing and copyediting.

Proper noun: A named person, place or organization. Always takes an initial capital letter.

Protagonist: The leading character in a novel, often facing central conflicts and driving action.

Psychic distance: Also narrative distance. How close the reader feels to a character’s thoughts, emotions and experiences within a story.

Purple prose: Overblown, poorly structured writing with strings of extraneous and often multisyllabic adjectives and adverbs.

Q-R

Quotation mark: Also speech mark. Punctuation that indicates the spoken word. Singles or doubles are acceptable.

Recto: The right-hand page of a book.

References: List of all the works cited in your book.

Roman typeface: Not italic.

Running head: Text that runs across the top of a page (e.g. title of the book, chapter title, author’s name).

S

Scene: a distinct segment or building block where specific actions and events unfold in a setting.

Scene technique: The use of dialogue, action, setting, and tension to craft compelling moments in the story.

Semi-colon: A punctuation mark that indicates a stronger pause than a comma between two main clauses.

Sensitivity reader: Also diversity reader. Test-reader who checks for misrepresentation in books.

Speech mark: Also quotation mark. Punctuation that indicates the spoken word. Singles or doubles are acceptable.

Speech tag: Also dialogue tag. Words that indicate which character is speaking (e.g. John said).

Story arc: Also narrative arc. The structure and shape of a story.

Structural editing: Also developmental editing. The improvement of a manuscript's structure, content, and overall narrative, focusing on big-picture elements. Attends to plot, characterisation, narration and pacing.

Style sheet: In which an author or editor records stylistic and language preferences, and tracks who’s who, what’s where, and when X, Y and Z happens.

Stylistic editing: Also line editing. The refining of a manuscript's language, focusing on consistency, clarity, flow and style at sentence level.

Subject: The thing in a sentence that’s doing or being something.

Subplot: A secondary storyline that supports and enhances the main plot of a narrative.

Suspense: The tension, uncertainty and anticipation created by withholding information, raising stakes or placing characters in imminent danger. Readers are kept guessing or forced to ask questions.

Syndeton: Literary device through which a sentence’s structure follows the following pattern: A, B and C (or A, B, and C).

T

Talking-heads syndrome: Dialogue that isn’t grounded in the environment or the characters’ responses to that environment.

Tense: The form a verb takes to indicate when an action happened in relation to the telling of it.

Tension: The emotional strain or suspense created by unresolved conflicts, stakes or uncertainties that keep readers engaged.

Tertiary character: A functional character who gives the story realism and depth, but doesn’t significantly impact on or influence the plot or the development of the other characters.

Theme: The novel’s central idea or message about life, society, or human nature.

Title page: Includes full title (and subtitle if there is one), author’s name, publisher’s name, logo, volume number, and edition.

Transgressor: A character who commits morally, socially, or legally questionable acts.

Tritagonist: Third most important character, who often provide regular emotional or physical support, but don’t determine how the story develops.

U-W

Unreliable dialogue: Dialogue that doesn’t match a character’s true voice, mood or intent.

Unreliable narrator: A character whose telling of the story cannot be taken at face value. They may be naïve, confused, or deliberately manipulative.

Verb, intransitive: A verb that doesn’t have a direct object (e.g. ‘I giggled’).

Verb, transitive: A verb that has a direct object (e.g. ‘wrote’ in ‘I wrote a book’).

Verb: A word that describes doing. Can refer to a physical action (e.g. to dig), a mental action (e.g. to wonder) or a state of being (e.g. to be).

Verso: The left-hand page of a book.

Viewpoint: Also point of view or POV. Describes whose head we’re in when we read a book.

Viewpoint character: Also perspective character. The character through whose eyes the story is primarily told, and the narrative lens through which readers experience events, thoughts, and emotions within the story.

Vocative: The form of address for a character directly referred to in dialogue.

Word dump: Also information dump. Information that’s necessary to the story but isn’t artfully delivered, or weaved creatively into the narrative and dialogue.

Source More: On Editing ⚜ Word Lists

[genericpuff]

I am relatively new to Greek mythology, and I thought I'd start from a few somewhat lore accurate retellings [even if it is a retelling of a retelling lol (LR is amazing btw, it's always so great to anticipate the episodes!)] and I wanted to ask for clarification on the timeline (despite it ambiguity). Khione, goddess of winter time (as far as I recall, please do correct if I am wrong) existed during the titans as she was classified as a titan (in my memory!) however, winter was brought upon the mortal realm when Demeter's rage and sorrow manifested. I'm still rlly confused on that. Thank you btw!

aahh so. Khione is. one of those goddesses who kinda sorta doesn't exist lmao at least not in the way people talk about her as a "goddess of snow", the same way Despoina didn't exist in much of the same ways (like, she's also commonly referred to as a goddess of winter and frost despite those terms NEVER showing up in official sources about her.)

I will go on to explain BUT as always - I am not Greek, nor am I a trained academic on Greek myth material. This is largely my own speculation and current beliefs based on the research I've done over the years, which is always subject to change and grow. I do realize the irony that this post is gonna contain my own analyses and criticisms of misinformed beliefs about certain Greek myth deities from people who are just as formally educated as I am on the subject. If you disagree with any of my points or have anything to add that I overlooked, by all means please feel free to discuss in the comments. Otherwise, take everything I have to say here with grains of salt, remember to do your own research so that you're not making the same mistakes as the people I'm subtly criticizing by relying solely on one source of information.

There are a lot of mixed sources on Greek mythology, on account of both the cultural and political mixing that was happening during the time of Greek antiquity (the largest of which was the adoptions of many Hellenic myths by the Romans, which is why there are Roman counterparts of so many stories and Gods, ex. Hades = Pluto, Poseidon = Neptune, Ouranos = Uranus, Aphrodite = Venus, etc.) but ALSO because a lot of general understanding of Greek myth nowadays exists solely through the filter of pop culture adaptions and, well, the Internet, where people do in fact tell lies, even if they're rooted in some amount of half-truth 😅

Regarding Khione, she's more alike to that of Despoina, where the actual sources regarding her existence and role are very limited and, due to how others interpreted and misinterpreted those sources over the years, has resulted in "fake" versions of them being popularized and accepted as cold hard truth.

I've talked at length about Despoina before, there's a lot of debate over whether or not she was a goddess or simply an epithet which could refer to any other number of goddesses, including Persephone, Demeter, and Hecate. Her existence was largely sworn to secrecy as she was worshipped through The Eleusinian Mysteries, a cult of worshippers devoted to Demeter, Persephone, and god knows who else (they did in fact live up to their name, we still to this day barely know anything about them or what they did, they are a mystery LOL)

That said, a lot of people still run around with the singular committed belief that Despoina was the "goddess of winter and frost", a sister of Persephone, because... I actually don't know why, but I'm sure it started from some popular adaption that chose to depict her that way. Or maybe this singular belief just comes from Quora threads and misinformed strangers telling other misinformed strangers things that aren't wholly true but citing it as fact anyways.

Khione's affiliation as a goddess of snow kind of falls into the same camp of "yes, but also no". She's not a singular "goddess of winter", she certainly was NOT a Titan according to any of the limited sources that exist, and she didn't have any sort of "domain" over winter in the same way Demeter did over the harvest or Hades over the dead. Any claims as such are merely loose speculations with words like "probably" and "maybe".

At best we know she was a nymph associated with snow in some way that isn't 100% certain, either as a daughter of Boreas (the north wind) or as his consort. In some theories, she was both, as there could have very well been two of them, possibly mother and daughter, sharing the same name which is - surprise - just the Greek word for "snow", hence why people often default her as "the goddess of snow" and not simply what she more likely was, a nymph or deity associated with snow simply through the translation of her name and relation to the north wind.

(it should be noted btw that Greek deities and heroes sharing the same name happens a LOT and it's why it's always important to not stick to any singular "canon" as oftentimes all the various sources of culturally and politically relevant information are muddied by the game of Internet telephone and popular adaption.)

And all of that isn't even getting into what "winter" even meant within the context of Ancient Greece. I've also gone into speculative rants about this, but a "goddess of winter" by all accounts probably didn't even exist, because "winter" in Ancient Greece very likely wasn't the way we tend to envision it - an annual season of snowfall, holiday cheer, etc. - but was instead a period of drought. Demeter wasn't necessarily literally creating 'winter' through the manifestation of snow and ice, she was instead creating a period in which crops couldn't grow by not fulfilling her duties as the goddess of the harvest (after all, if Demeter was literally capable of creating snow and ice, why wouldn't we refer to her as such? As you said yourself, it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense for someone like Despoina or Khione to be the goddesses of winter when Demeter presumably already had control over that domain.)

"Harvest" and "drought" are both seasons in and of themselves, and the story of Demeter and Persephone was to explain the fluctuations of those farming seasons, not necessarily the definitions we rely on today where winter = snow. Persephone, by extension, wasn't necessarily the Goddess of Spring because she could directly create flowers and sunshine and rain - it was because her return to Demeter brought about the end of the drought, when Demeter would allow the harvest to continue, which served as our simplified understanding of 'spring'.

And if you need more proof of this, well, just go read the actual Hymn to Demeter. The word 'winter' is not mentioned once.

As for Khione, well... it's not that she didn't exist, there is source material about her, but it's incredibly minimal and, at best, just serves as a part of the overall picture, not the singular source. "Winter" - and all of the other seasons to boot - as the Ancient Greeks clearly tried to understand it wasn't through one single god, but an accumulation of many, across various communities, religions, and cultures that shared and adopted many beliefs from one another built on abstraction of thought and divine attribution for lack of clearer explanations at the time - through Demeter, who robbed them of the harvest and plunged them into famine for months every year; through Hades, who indirectly triggered these famines in his kidnapping and marriage to Persephone; through Zeus, who gave Hades his blessing to marry Persephone; through Boreas, one of four deities of the wind who specifically brought about the cold winds from the north; and through Khione, a nymph who was the consort and/or daughter of Boreas, whose name means 'snow' and who possibly had some affiliation with the cold and snow through her relation to Boreas who was linked to the northern regions of Greece which traditionally experienced the harshest winters and heaviest snowfalls.

phew

I realize that was a lot but I hope it helps clear up some of the confusion! And like I said in my above disclaimer, you def don't have to take everything I've said here as law or fact, more so another perspective on the matter that will hopefully at least lift the fog of confusion a bit. Being new to Greek myth can definitely be overwhelming on account of just how much there is to read and dissect, there are so many sources, articles, creative interpretations, and debates over these historical puzzles we don't even have all the pieces to because we're analyzing all of it in hindsight.

That said, it is still a lot of fun and I hope you enjoy the process of discovery and learning! I highly recommend also checking out /r/GreekMythology, Theoi, and the various translations that exist from authors like Robert Fagles, Robert Fitzgerald, and Emily Wilson :)

Good luck! <3

[sneakyboymerlin]

I don't like gwen/arthur because Arthur sucks. Like in their first romantic episode she has to teach him manners ugh

This was probably said in good faith, so I want to make clear that this is directed at fandom at large.

To be semantic, she more or less tells him that he already knows how to be respectful and that he shouldn’t need someone to hold his hand through using manners like a child, and then he enacts his own behavioral changes, having been properly shamed and also wanting to be respected by her.

That said, it is a tired trope for women to have to get their man in order. Then again, I don’t see anyone complaining about the misogynistic tropes with any other pairing… but people do tend to write their m/m pairings in a thinly veiled homophobic/misogynistic way. In short, they only hate misogyny when it aligns with their ship preferences, but not when Arthur compares Merlin to a girl as an insult (something which only makes sense if you see being a woman as a demeaning thing to be), not when fans treat Merlin as “the woman” (deciding that since he is both a servant and a softie, that he is to be assigned the sex roles of bottom and submissive since these are all traits that women are generalized as — not that he can’t be a sub bottom, but it’s pretty clear when people connect personality traits and menial labor/servitude to sex roles), and they definitely don’t care when their own analyses of Gwen fail to approach her as an autonomous individual who does things for reasons. There is no universal moral applied.

However, I don’t see how this statement is relevant to the topic of people minimizing Arthur’s canon love for Gwen and Gwen’s canon love for Arthur due to ingrained misogynoir. No one has to ship argwen, but to pretend that it isn’t present in the canon material when it is a built-in canon endgame pairing is just a desperate reach. Especially when people claim that it was a “marriage of convenience” (MIGHTY INCONVENIENT FOR A MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE) and that Arthur just wanted to use this woman for her body/womb… That is an actual problem. People should not be saying this. It’s not even CLOSE to canon.

Of course, some people just say, “Oh, Arthur could never love her like that,” and cut out the parts they would get in trouble for saying. We can try to just laugh at the fact that they’re almost perfectly quoting Uther to push these ideas, but it’s an incredibly damaging mindset to take into life. Why couldn’t Arthur possibly love this sweet, strong woman who stands up for what’s right even when it’s hard — the very thing Arthur emphasizes as a key element of his moral code? Aren’t these the very things that you all write Arthur loving in a white boy in your fanfictions? So why is it different when those traits come in the form of a black girl? Why does it not matter when Merlin has to more explicitly #fix Arthur, whereas Gwen simply states her expectations to Arthur that he should act mature, and it’s taken as evidence that the pairing should be outright dismissed? The arguments used against argwen are all 1,000x worse in m/rth/r, but you see nothing but defenses for Arthur. “Oh, he was raised by Uther, how could he know any better?” It is a damning double standard.

A more succinct question: why are these traits of Arthur’s only brought up to justify removing Gwen from the picture, as opposed to Arthur? Why are these traits of Arthur’s brought up only to take Gwen out and bring Merlin in?

Again, nobody has to ship it. IMO shipping is a very specific act that has little to do with how you personally value a ship, but is simply a way to interact/engage with it. But to pretend that argwen has no place in canon and to apply double standards to it is squarely misogynoir. So the conversation about argwen is not directed at people who simply don’t ship it. It’s about the people who claim that it’s impossible for them to truly love eachother. They do love each other and it is canon fact. Take it or leave it.

[darkdevasofdestruction]

Chapter 3 - Before The Day Is Over

"Michael?" the red haired beauty asked from the bed, where she was embroidering a dress. "Why did Gallant kill his grandma?" Langdon was sitting on the chair, writing tirelessly at his laptop. His fingers stopped typing, and he blinked for a second, thinking of a proper answer that wouldn't upset her innocence... Too much. "He has been lied to, and oppressed, by a person whom he deemed trustworthy family. His lonesome neediness brought him to desperation once he found out his beloved grandmother sold his life, for a slim chance of living, knowing very well that Venable's rules prohibited fornication." he watched with careful eyes as the woman garbed in grey rags - O, how he hated that unseeming outfit on her. While all the most worthless of pieces of stale meat were enjoying fine silks and royal treatment, she was forced to scrub the floor with her own delicate hands, and see to their every capricious whim. Her fingers tightened their grasp around the soft material of the dress, and her brows furrowed. "And... Why would she tell on her own grandson? Why would she bring him to the gallows herself and cut the rope holding the guillotine above his neck? Acting as judge, jury and executioner from the shadows, against your own family... That is..." she bit that plump, pink bottom lip of hers, and how enticing she looked. "Because, my darling - People are inherently evil. When a situation such as this arrives, where their lives hangs in by a thin thread of hope, they would trample over each other like cattle, just to survive." the blond arose from the chair, and with his hands behind his back, he slowly paced along the bed. 

"But you said you could take all of us, or none. The matter of empty spots was not a problem. And you refused to disclose any such criteria of choosing. They all thought they had advantages and disadvantages over one another... Yet you clarified it was not the age, nor the body that you analysed, but who they are as persons. Acts of betrayal and the impulsivity of revenge did nothing to aid their case nor secure a spot to the Sanctuary." Michael found himself smiling at her. He missed such talks with her so much. It wasn't that she didn't understand the reason for people's evil actions, but that none had any justification, except the fickle emotions tainting their ration. Humans were so easily... Corrupted.

"That is just the nature of mankind, my darling, there is little one can do about it. God - If there even is one out there - Created us in his image, though he cursed us all, because of a single mistake that the first generation did. Even then, the snake with the silver tongue was able to bewitch those two into sinning... But was it the snake's fault for speaking the words it was created to whisper, or Adam and Eve's fault, for listening and choosing to disobey their father? Likewise, it is the gun's fault that one man died from a bullet, or the person pulling the trigger?" Katrina tilted her head upwards, her eyes meeting his own voluntarily, for the first time since they've been reunited. "I would much rather die than allow any harm to come your way, Michael." she admitted in such a delicate voice, that Michael's smile only widened in disbelief. Such a bold declaration of selfless, pure love was something that she would be capable of vocalising. In a swift move, Langdon found himself sitting on the edge of the bed, his hands on her face, eyes wide in wonder, star-struck as though he was seeing Divine Providence, the same way a leper was cured by Jesus from his leprosy, and Lazarus was resurrected four days after his death. "I know, my sweet angel, I know." he said, planting a kiss on her forehead. "You have always been sacred." Michael reached for the needle and the dress, throwing them far away, in a corner. When the beauty attempted to protest, she was silenced by the man shifting his position to kneel between her legs, his hands holding her own.  "No, Michael, I-- I need to finish this dress before the Masquerade!" she whimpered. "I-I don't... I don't want to get punished for disobeying!" he could feel her trembling under his touch. "The last person who dared tell Venable that you are the leader here got... Severely punished." the fear she was so evidently displaying almost aroused him, were it not for the power trip of that wretch who dared terrify his beloved. "My love, what is there for you to fear anymore? Venable's word will mean nothing to you, once we've departed for the Sanctuary." he reassured tenderly. "Your beautiful fingers are bleeding, my darling. How many times have you pricked them, in you attempt at rushing the heavy work?" "Don't blame my incompetence on the work I have been assigned to do." she muttered, snatching her hands back and holding them to her chest. "Until the day that we leave, I have no choice but to obey the rules instilled, be them fair or not." "I will not allow you to do such a silly thing." the man chuckled, leaning closer to her. "You and I will go together to Venable's silly party, and you will be wearing the most beautiful dress there is, and your gorgeous hair will be let loose to dance around you every time I twirling you into my arms - All that, just to spite that self-important bitch who dared torment you." his voice, hushed yet dark, held an ominous tone to it.

Langdon's fingers gingerly trailed down, from her cheek to her jaw, and down to her neck, and to her cleavage, where he began unbuttoning the shirt-like dress with the colour of dust. She said nothing, though she needn't, as her cheeks were a shade of the deepest red. She felt the sash holding the apron over laxing and being set loose, and onto the ground. She felt so vulnerable, being unburdened by another, though she needn't be, as she had slept in his own shirt, just two or three nights prior. Why was it so different, so... Intimate, when another was doing it, looking so deep into her eyes, like a hawk watching its prey... No, rather, like an artist watching his most beloved masterpiece... His magnum opus. For Michael, the woman laying underneath him so timidly, like lamb with the softest, whitest fleece, was his salvation, the single spark of light in the endless pit of darkness, in which he felt himself succumbing like quicksand. She was that single, thin spider web string of silver hope on which he alone was clingy onto, like a man lost at desert, desperate for his oasis.

"Will you ever be able to forgive my unsightly behaviour, my love? I have been waiting so long... I have been pining so long... And search far and wide, agonising over the thought of having allowed you to be lost in this mayhem. I cannot bare living in a world without you, it is half a life, if even that much. Stumbling alone in the dark, without you was what most would describe as torment." his words were seducing, yet sincere. "I have wished to help you remember on your own, at the pace you needed for you to feel safe. I wished to earn your trust, naturally, and for you to develop your own feelings for me, the same as you did back then, when we were so young and impressionable, and so, so innocent." the man sighed, feeling his own arousal burning him hotter than the blight of hell, as though he was walking on brimstone. "But I cannot resist the temptation whenever you are around me. I feel suffocated with desire whenever I see your beauty, and my heart stops with love when those green eyes of yours gaze at me so tenderly. My whole body trembles with greedy concupiscence, just feeling your sweet perfume... And my skin immolates with every spot you touch." his body over hers, unveiled in the warmth of candlelight, the way God created them, Katrina's chest, glued to his own, could feel the rapid and uneven beating of Michael's heart. Her whole body felt incinerated with a hazy sensation of kindliness and heat, a sort of comfort that... Seemed to be transcend her into new planes of existence. "Michael?" she found herself whispering as she wrapped his slender arms gingerly around his torso, pulling him even closer to her, if that were even humanly possible. "Tell me something. Anything. I want to hear your voice." "I love you." the woman let out a soft gasp - She couldn't understand how, or why, but she could feel the honesty of his soul. "... Do you mean it?" she asked, wishing to feel the gentle caress of truth washing her in waves again. "I have loved you since the first time I saw you." he admittance was gospel. "Michael." she whispered. "My soul can... Feel... That your words hold candour. I cannot explain how or... Why... But I can feel it." Michael shifted his body so his own arms will be embracing his lover, one arm around her body, the other, serving as rest for her head. He leaned down to touch his forehead to her own. "As a witch, you were able to feel when people lied to you. It is a variation of one of the Seven Wonders, namely Divination. You are reaching new steps in your awakening, my love. Familiarity is helping you remember who you are." the adoration of his voice, praising and encouraging her so tenderly, made her feel as though she couldn't breathe, yet for once, it wasn't out of fear. It was an overwhelming sense of endearment and fondness. "Have we done this before?" the pink peonies in her cheeks glowed with heat, speaking so sinfully. "No." he smiled. "We were so young back then, and the world around us was dictating our every action. It is different now. It is just you and I, my sweet angel. Just you and I."

Morning had arrived faster than expected, and Langdon's eyes shot open, his head tilted to the side. A velvety curtain of scarlet hair was draped all over the beautiful woman cuddled so peacefully in his arms. She hadn't woken up yet. It was the sole night when she hadn't been tormented by nightmares. Michael was satisfied with the outcome. Not only was his sweet angel sleeping so tranquil, but the events of the night kept replaying into his head, making his smile in delight. Every new expression that he's never had the privilege of witnessing before, and every honeyed thrill she sang to him made him shiver with lust and greed. What a sinner he was, indulging in every one of his hedonistic desires, with the woman he cherished endlessly - She made him feel insatiable, forever hungry, only for her. Though he wanted to spend more time bathing in her restful grace and feel her chest going up and down with every breath she took, to feel the soft crimson locks around his hand and he idly plays and caresses it...  He had work to do. So much work, that ultimately will lead to the supreme climax of each and every one of these worthless urchins dying a most painful death. They deserved it. They were all tainted. Disgusting. Predictable. 

They were all so flawlessly human.

Michael carefully got off the bed, admiring the way his beloved looked, swallowed in his dark, disheveled shirt, the blanket only half draped over her body, and he went to get ready to leave the room. He got off on tempting and toying with all these idiots. She was going to be safe in his room - After all, who'd dare sneak in? Except for the dumbass couple whom he indirectly seduced into searching for his well-written words and finding out the regulations on their own, and encouraging them to sin.

Whilst away, Langdon's door was kicked open, and from inside the room, the red haired Grey squealed in fright, jumping to her knees, wrapping her body instinctively with the blanket. Squinting her tired eyes, she saw Miss Mead and Venable, along with two other large, muscular women who served as henchmen. 

"You know the regulations, Grey." Venable spat, even more disgust, as it was Langdon she was fucking, and not one of the many survivors. "A smart person learns from other's mistakes, they say. Evidently, your spot as a Grey, along with your blatant disregard for the rules, proves that you have earned your spot here for your sheer stupidity." how could they know? Who told them? Who spied on them so shamelessly, like disgusting lechers? "Take her."

At once, the two henchwomen stomped by the bed and one slapped the ant's face so hard that she fell back on the bed, while the other one buried her meaty hand into the cascade of crimson hair, and with inhuman force, she dragged her off the bed. She wasn't allowed to get up and walked  by herself properly - Instead, the first one grabbed her other arm and they roughly got her to the punishing room, where she was thrown to the hard ground. "Do we kill her, Miss Venable?" "Not yet." the woman tapped her cane next to the pitiful form of the woman shaking violently with fear, her face wet with tears rapidly falling down. "Did you think you were smart? Shamelessly seducing and opening your legs for the Cooperative man, thinking he would bring you to the Sanctuary? You are a disgrace for womankind." Katrina looked so tiny and insignificant, huddled into the wall, hoping to just disappear from the world. "Do you know who told us?" the girl shook her head. "You should." Venable smiled venomously. "Langdon." "He didn't." Katrina spat in a tone low and harsh. Venable laughed mockingly. "You shouldn't delude yourself so desperately, stupid girl. Accept reality. Your plan failed, and Langdon abandoned you. In fact, he is pushing for a death sentence, all things considered. Perhaps you hadn't performed to his satisfaction." the three other women laughed tauntingly. "Stop lying. I can sense your lies from a mile away. I know it wasn't him." were it not for her new-found ability, the frightened lamb would have never dared, speak back to a person of authority... But somehow, she had faith and certainty that Michael hadn't betrayed her. Last night was genuine - All of it. Every little thing they did, every declaration, every confession - They were all sincere. Were it not for Michael, she wouldn't have had courage. She wouldn't have seen any meaning in protesting or fighting back. Loneliness was dark and depressing, and solitude was her greatest pain for so long, something beyond her control, something that eats away at her very soul, little by little, eroding at her very core. Michael was different. Michael knew her. Michael was SEEING her. Michael loved her.  "Delusional whore." Venable spat with anger. "Miss Mead." she called out her right hand's name. "The whip."

The burly woman smiled with sadistic glee as she took the black whip into her hand, and with extreme precision and accuracy, she cracked it against the expensive cashmere of Langdon's shirt hanging shapelessly from her body. Venable felt such perverse satisfaction, imagining the Cooperative wretch having flesh being torn from its bone from the repeated whipping, though the annoyingly pitched shriek from the sobbing ant was beginning to get on her nerves. "If you want this to stop, tell us what you know of Langdon." "Nothing! I know nothing! We j-just met! Wh-Why would h-he disclose c-clas-sified information t-to some G-Grey?!" the tortured soul stuttered in searing agony, but the torment went on, and on, and on, with more degrading comments and humiliation. "Stop! Please, stop! I can't take it anymore! It hurts! Please, I beg of you, stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!" but she was so lost in her own personal hell that she didn't hear the door opening, Venable and Mead leaving, letting the other two henchwomen finish the job. "STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!!!!!!!!!!" her broken shriek that rawed her throat so much that it bled. And then it all stopped.

Only her distressed, broken weeps were echoing through the small, blindingly white room - For how long, she was unaware - But she heard her name being called, by the velvety voice of her lover, who was standing in the door frame, eyes wide with shock at the carnage painting the room like a religious mural. "My love?" though she was unable to move or look at him, she felt comforted by his presence. "What did they do to you?!" Michael rushed to her side, angrily stomping on the discarded leg of one of the torturers, and he fell next to his beloved. He wanted to throw his arms around her, but seeing his shirt being torn to ribbons and shreds. Her flesh was painted red, slashed and abused by the leather rope of the whip. How dare they commit such an atrocity? Didn't they know such folly deserved eternal torment in the deepest pits of hell? Had Dante Alighieri written Inferno for no reason? "I-It hurts so much, Mickey, it hurts so much. I f-feel so weak, I... I feel like -- Like I'm dying." she finally dared twist her aching body to hide in his arms, her fingers holding onto and wrinkling his coat with decrepit strength. "My darling -- Look at me. Look at me." he placed his hands on her pale cheeks, looking at her exhausted, sweaty face, hair aimlessly sticking to her face. "Remember how you healed me, my love? You can do so for yourself. Let me help you." her breathing was ragged and hot, gritting her teeth in sheer agony as Langdom gingerly removed the scraps of black shirt from her body, leaving her bare and vulnerable before his devilish eyes. "Do you trust me?" his hands held hers, giving them a reassuring squeeze, his lips almost touching her own. His whispery voice sent a shiver down her spine. "Venable said you were the one who betrayed me." she replied, a pained vibrato in her voice. "She said you were using me for your own lecherous needs, and that you have abandoned me." "And do you believe her?" the man frowned, feeling wrath taking over his senses. "No." Kat smiles delicately. "I knew she was lying." she continued, taking a few deep breaths to keep herself awake. "It only reinforced my trust in you." the man captured her lips, tasting like salted caramel from all the tears, distracting her from the slight sting of guiding her hands over her body. 

"Good." he muttered, his lips moving along her jaw, and to her neck, in trails of romantic kisses. "It was Andre." he admitted the truth, gazing lustfully through hooded lids at the lewd and salacious imagery before him, an angel covered in blood, smearing it all over her body, like a temptress succubus attempting to seduce him. "He was jealous on us." he continued, inhaling a sharp breath, arousal heightening his senses. "The other two were told on, by him also. Nearly died." with each trace of her wounds, they would heal rapidly, until no sign of whip, nor scar existed on her soft flesh. "Venable cooked and fed him his lover, who cheated on him. If he cannot have sexual gratification, no one is allowed to know bliss." "Fool." Kat moaned, feeling her strength returning, bit by bit. "Will you take him with us?" "Not even in his dreams." Michael scoffed, and once all of her injuries were healed, he brought her into an embrace, uncaring of the blood stains on his expensive, elegant clothes. "Nobody who hurts my sweet angel should hold any hope of living." he scoffed, taking off his coat and wrapping her in it, like a blanket. "Let us return to my room, sweetling." he picked her up in his arms with ease, only to realise his mistake, as he exposed her to the eviscerated bodies of the henchwomen, body parts splattered everywhere.  "Wh-Who did this...?" the girl whimpered, bewildered and unable to comprehend what she was seeing. "You did." he smiled tenderly at her. "No, I -- I couldn't have! How could I?" she gasped, looking in disbelief. "There is a limit to the pains a delicate angel like yourself can endure. You must have been so desperate to make it all stop, that your innate powers acted up on their own to protect you." he explained, swiftly stepping out of the accursed chamber. "Will you ever have it in your heart  to forgive me for not being there to protect you?" he placed her on the bed, his eyes desperate and sorrowful for his failure. "What is there to forgive, Mickey? You were not there - I know you would have intervened. I know you would have saved me." she smiled tenderly at him. "Would I be too daring, were I to ask to wear your shirt instead? I love the material of it." Michael chuckled, amused, as his nimble finger unbuttoned his shirt and helped her dress it. "May I... Also... Ask for one of your rings?" Michael looked down at his hands, and picked the smallest one he had, before gingerly slipping it on her thumb.  "You used to wear jewellery every time we met. Rings and bracelets and necklaces..." his nostalgic smile seemed to afflict her also. "But my favourite accessory of yours have always been..." with a swish of his wrist, he created a flower crown made out of black roses, and placed it on top of her head. "Flowers." "I really love flowers." she smiled bashfully, looking down as her fingers delicately traced the ring on her thumb. "Thank you, Michael."

Doomsday was approaching at an unexpectedly fast pace, and the Halloween Masquerade that got everyone so excited was knocking at their door. Venable thought she was being smart, she thought the poisoned apple plan was her own witty idea. If she cannot be saved, no one else can. If only she knew she was the one being played, and the tale of Snow White was going to have a tragically fatalistic tale - For everyone but Snow White, that is. The ugly hag was going to get painfully dismembered by the Prince, and she will never get the chance to harm his beloved Snow White princess. The seven dumb dwarves can die, for all he cared - None meant anything to him. It was only her. Only his angel.

"Would you like me to tell you another one of the angel and demon's adventure, my sweet flower?" the man asked, getting in bed next to his beloved. "No." she turned to him, her palm placed on his bare chest. "I want you to tell me of our adventures, instead. No more metaphors or allegories. Just us. Kat and Mickey." Michael looked at her, and he offered a boyish grin, engulfing her in his arms. "I would be delighted to!" he felt so giddy, like a child being gifted a puppy. "It all happened so long ago, when we were young children, and you found me in the forest..."

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[transfemlogan]

Let's Talk About "Watering Down Characters" (& Very Specifically Remus Sanders)

I am responding to THIS POST, "Why I think people should be allowed to “water down” Remus", by @radioactive-dazey and creating a discussion around this topic. I feel like the idea of changing a character's personality is heavily talked about and done within every fandom aaannd with this post being talked about, I want to step in and say some things because I have Many Things To Say.

And before anyone says shit: I am a ts criticiser, yes, but I criticise everything about the fandom and show— not just Thomas. IDGAF that we have "better things to talk about", I've been talking about those things for like 4 years now and now I'm criticising the fandom. I can do it all.

Feel free to respond with your own opinions if you're replying to me. Can't say I'll reply to them all, but I like hearing what people have to say.

I am very aware that watering down characters is an inherent part of fandom. No matter what fandom you join or what media you get into, there is always a huge part of that community that waters characters down, changes their entire personality, or writes them differently. I do agree that this is just What Happens when you are in fandom. Not everyone understands source material, not everyone has the same opinions when analysing a show, and not everyone cares about it that much.

Personally, I don't get why you would talk about a piece of media and change everything about it, because then you're not enjoying the media, you're enjoying something completely different. But this is fandom and people have fun in different ways and I agree that you need to learn when to look the other way and let people exist.

However, I run a critical blog and my fun is criticising.

"It can be hard to write intrusive thoughts in a respectful way, so people avoid it."

OP brings up that writers may not know how to write intrusive thoughts and so they avoid it, in order to not "writing wrong". Which is alright to do! You don't have to write about serious topics... BUT... if you are voluntarily choosing to write about a series that includes the topic that you don't know how to write about, maybe... you should take the time to learn how to write it.

If you don't want to write about intrusive thoughts, I don't think you should be forced to, but if you are writing a character that controls intrusive thoughts, it makes zero sense to completely remove that aspect when you simply should not write him.

It's brought up how mischaracterising Remus leads to the misunderstanding of intrusive thoughts themselves and stigma surrounding them. Changing Remus' character is fun and all, until we remember that he represents something very serious and important. It's something that actively impacts people. Which is my issue with "escapism" within fandom (touched on later in this post). When people actively ignore real issues happening within the fandom, or in this case, the real issues the series itself is about, by ignoring Remus' character, watering it down, or completely changing it, you are causing more harm to intrusive thoughts and the disorders that are connected to them.

Let's bring up an example: Jimmy from Mouthwashing.

Mouthwashing is a game about a very heavy topic: sexual assault. You play as Jimmy, the main perpetrator, though all the men in the game have a role to play (bystander affect, toxic masculinity, etc).

The fandom is already watering down these characters and topics. Introducing shipping to a game with characters that shouldn't be shipped; making the characters all sweet, perfect, stupid angels who didn't know any better; implying that if Anya had told someone else then she would've been saved, and it's her fault she told Curly in the first place. I could go on and on.

Obviously, Sanders Sides is about different topics. Obviously, Remus is not the same as Jimmy. This isn't a perfect comparison.

But it'd be completely strange if someone told you they were using Mouthwashing as a way to escape real-life issues. That they're writing Jimmy differently, or completely removing the sexual assault entirely, because it's "hard to write".

This is at best super fucking stupid, and at worse actively harmful (which it is). If you can't write the topic of SA, simply do not write for MW in the first place. The same applies with Sanders Sides, and any other piece of media.

"Writers use writing/fandom to escape real life and may not want to talk about those topics."

This is not an inherently wrong statement, but it does ask a question:

If you are joining a fandom to "escape real-life topics", why are you joining one that talks about those real-life topics?

Sanders Sides is a web-series that discusses morality, intrusive thoughts, anxiety, catholism, and other heavy-hitting topics. With the introduction of the dark sides, with certain plot points and arcs— Sanders Sides is very much about those "real-life topics". If you are trying to avoid writing about intrusive thoughts, writing for a show that talks heavily about intrusive thoughts and has an entire character that controls intrusive thoughts isn't... a bright idea.

I know there's this entire talk about using fandom to escape, which is something I have talked about repeatedly on this blog, mainly when we talk about racism within fandom. When you bring up serious topics, people flee and get upset because this is their "safe place", when in actuality, it's a safe place for them and no one else. They are using the phrase "escapism" and "safe place" as a way to spout racist rhetoric without consequences. We all know how I feel about the idea of "escaping through fandom."

The statement "I don't write Remus in character because I'm escaping real-life" makes me raise an eyebrow, because.... the entire show is about that. You're escaping through something that has exactly what you escaping from— that's like if I said I was avoiding my triggers by watching something that included my trigger.

The better answer is just don't watch.

It's the same sentiment I held throughout the fandom after Remus was introduced. "Can you please tag 'duke dont look' or 'remus tw'? He squicks me out." I respect your triggers and squicks and I acknowledge that sometimes they can stem from strange places and be "irrational", but... if your trigger is an entire character, it makes more sense to simply leave the fandom instead of ask everyone to collectively keep in mind your feelings.

If you don't want to write intrusive thoughts, that's okay and I respect this, but maybe you shouldn't be writing for Sanders Sides in the first place if you "can't handle" what the series is about.

I know Sanders Sides did not start off like that, I understand if it was a way to escape at the beginning stages of season one, but it is more serious now. If it's including topics you cannot handle, then you need to take care of yourself and leave.

This mentality of "this makes me uncomfortable, so I don't have to partake" is such an interesting one. Mainly because people think their uncomfortableness always stems from a good place, a place that isn't allowed to be questioned. You can't get mad when someone is feeling bad, because those are their emotions. "If I am feeling uncomfortable, you should respect me and let me be."

But the issue with this is that sometimes (a lot of the times) the things that make you uncomfortable aren't inherently an issue. Sometimes it is an underlying thing you need to work through. Sometimes it's good to step outside of your comfort zone.

I have agoraphobia, which is the fear of leaving my house and going outside. If I was constantly letting this fear control me, I would never leave my house. This feeling doesn't stem from a good place. I need to be comfortable leaving my house and I need to force myself out.

You don't let uncomfortableness or fear control your morals. Just because something makes you Feel Bad, doesn't mean it is Actually Bad.

Which is why I think this debate is brought up. It's always talked about how one feels about Remus, how one feels about intrusive thoughts.

"What if they don't like writing about it?" "What if they don't feel comfortable writing something they don't know?" "But Remus makes me uncomfortable, I can't accept him."

Your feelings, while okay to have, are not always "valid."

You can feel how you want about Remus, but no one is forcing you to write him. When you write fanfiction, you are voluntarily writing it. You are choosing to create content within the media.

If you don't like the content in Sanders Sides; if you don't know how to accurately write intrusive thoughts; if you won't learn how to accurately write them; if you can't handle the topics that are in the series, itself; then why are you here? Why are you choosing to write it? Why are you in the fandom?

Change him all you want, but a better option is simply don't write him in the first place. You have no reason to mischaracterise him when writing him is a chose you actively chose to do.

Sure, it boils down to personal interpretation and "what you want to write", but if your interpretation is going completely against what is represented in Sanders Sides, then what are you here for? Which wraps all the way around back to my own personal opinion on mischaracterising characters:

If you're changing the characters completely, then do you even like them or their story or source material?

[lixenn]

OCtober 2024 day 27: fear

For today I decided to write a little snippet featuring René and his anxiety since fear is pretty much part of his life 24/7.

TW: minor self harm and anxiety? attack (René is not having a great time 😔)

The trembling wouldn’t stop.

Five minutes and 45 seconds.

The breathing exercises didn’t help, distractions just made him miserable and there weren’t anymore nails left to bite at.

René might have a problem.

A small one. Barely a blib on other people’s radar. Not significant in any way but a problem nonetheless but that was nothing new.

6 minutes.

His hands were still shaking, he should probably. Just … stop, but he reached the point where tremors were on the last place of his priority list.

The experiment failed again. Seven times. All of them gone to shit. He’d followed the protocol to the letter, replicated the entire process from the exact materials to the environmental conditions but still. No dice. Which made no logical sense because René knew it should have worked. He’d seen it with his own eyes, analysed the data and the results spoke for themselves, but one success meant nothing in science. Without statistics there’s no proof, no proof meant no conclusive result and no result was failure.

René was sick of failing.

Sick of experiments, sick of lab, sick of numbers that made no sense.

Sick. Sick. Sicksicksicksicksick.

The trembling stopped but only because he was gripping his hair too hard for there to be any room for further movement. The stinging pain was a slight relief against his spiralling thoughts, so he tugged, harsh. Once. Twice. His scalp burned and some hairs gave away to his grip. René let go, staring at the strawberry red strands woven between his fingers. His vision was obstructed by tears, partly from the pain but mostly result of frustration and being overwhelmed.

The urge to rip, scratch, bite bubbled up again, but René caught himself before he dove of the deep end.

I-

I need.

I need Cilmi.

Cilmi would fix it. Cilmi always fixed it. When anxiety crept up on him in the dark, when fear dragged him down and chained him to despair.

Cilmi will fix it.

Climbing to his feet was hard. Taking a step forward was harder and actually entering the hallway was nearly impossible but René managed. Somehow. He always managed. He needed to. Because his mind never left him alone, anxiety a constant companion ever since he’d been small and with time he learned to cope with his treacherous brain. But there were bad days and worse days and days where he could barely get out of bad without hyperventilating.

Today was bad but not …. the worst.

Because Cilmi was still there. As long as his best friend was still in reach, René could handle the trap falls of life.

The door to the library – oaken, heavy and still splattered with drops of blood – was a welcome sight to René’s tired eyes.

Nearly there.

The smell of books, a mixture of paper, ink and a smattering of dust, brought tears into his eyes again. It smelt like home. Safe.

René homed in on Cilmi, who had looked up from his book as soon as the silence of his sanctum had been disturbed by the squeaking of the door. His dark eyes catalogued everything, the wet cheeks, messy hair, trembling lip and blood crusted nails. No judgement, no disgust, no pity. Cilmi just registered everything that René’s appearance had to offer, came to a conclusion and carefully closed his book.

In a matter of seconds his friend stood before him, taking over his entire vision. A heavy hand dropped onto his hand, the weight familiar and unmistakable, the careful ruffle a stark contrast to his earlier pain.

Cilmi was always careful with him. Careful and kind.

And with the very same kindness he enveloped René in his Flames and ordered:

“Sleep.”

Reality fell away, making space for the bliss of unconsciousness and René let himself fall into a dreamless sleep.

Thanks.

[bluebelly-sun-serpentine]

Trump administration is going for catastrophic cuts to NOAA and to NASA science spending.

I did say, well before the election, that this would be on their list of things to do. Somehow knowing it was going to happen didn’t prepare me for the gut-clench of fear I felt reading this.

I wish I could read the budget requests, which don’t appear to be publicly available yet. But cutting earth sciences - which would likely include funding for the earth satellites used for so many things (studying and tracking wildfires, making predictions that keep farmers in the business of feeding us, monitoring certain kinds of pollution, doing vegetation or land use analyses, not to mention so much climate science etc etc etc) - means cutting a lot of the research projects that have actually been materially benefitting the world over the last 25+ years. Reporting indicates they’re cutting all the funding for the kinds of projects that have really brought returns on their investments, and are instead budgeting a ton of money to try putting Americans on Mars and the moon. Because planting another flag on a desolate wasteland just feels better to them than protecting the paradise we still have from turning into a desolate wasteland.

Gutting NOAA, as I said last year, means that far more people will die in hurricanes and other extreme weather events. Cutting all climate research means hastening the end for all of us.

Because the Trump administration is operating on one principle (What’s the dumbest thing we could possibly do next? Let’s do that!) I’m sure there will be catastrophic cuts in other places - even in the bits of the military budget that do provide a true public good. For instance, GPS is already under-resourced and in need of redundancy support. What’s the likelihood Trump will cut funding for that vital infrastructure and put it into an irretrievable tailspin because he wants to spend more money on, I don’t know, putting lasers on sharks and setting them loose in the “gulf of America” to hunt migrants “in service of our national security.” We’re going to watch him put money into R&D for giant mech suits or machine-gun-armed tesla robots that still need remote operators or whatever the scummiest possible weapons contractor is trying to sell this year instead of updating and reinforcing the systems that keep so much of the world running day to day.

I keep thinking about Osama bin Laden and how quickly he achieved his goals. Within a quarter century he sent the empire he hated into death throws just by reading our small-minded fears and vain arrogance well enough to know which button to push to get us to start our own self-destruct sequence. He knew we would respond to 9/11 with the kind of stupidity that led us here, and he’d be throwing a party if he could see us now.

If you read much history you become less susceptible to the idea that the US is the most evil empire in the history of all empires; it just doesn’t really track when you actually pay attention to what other imperialist or colonialist projects have done. Do I believe the US government has done evil things, repeatedly, with ill intention, and at great scale, in collaboration with disgusting opportunists both at home and abroad? Yes. But I still think the US once had a kind of promise that certain other kinds of states - say, explicitly ethnonationalist states, or explicitly authoritarian states - can’t actually ever hope to make. Maybe it died with Reagan, or maybe it died with the Patriot Act, or Citizens United, or the internet. If that promise is still alive maybe it’s like the little tadpoles I saw on Sunday, trying to scrape by long enough to make it to metamorphosis in a rapidly evaporating puddle in the sun. Someone chose an unlikely place to build new life; who knows if any of them made it. I guess if they didn’t someone else at least got to feed off the remains.

[cha-ra-nui]

your analyses on the nothingburger 2024 has been for kpop are painfully accurate. supposedly great debuts like meovv or say my name came and went with little to no interesting material to recall. tws and rescene were slightly better, but didn't have enough hype surrounding their debut to make them mainstream. illit stood out because magnetic broke so many charts, but as a debut ep itself, super real me was fairly mid, maybe high average- 7/10 i'd say.

then a few groups with actually GOOD music such as nature, mirae, or pink fantasy ended without their disbandment gaining a lot of media traction. actually, nature had a few really good tts (girls, oopsie my bad, limbo) but was handled so poorly that maybe it's better for the girls to not be in that group anymore. same with mirae.

comebacks weren't as exciting and that was so disappointing. many companies, but PARTICULARLY hybe, seemed to lose a lot of their creative vision.

red velvet, one of the best girl groups, had their 10 year anniversary, and yet it seemed like the cosmic era barely ever happened. it was an incredible song, though, i'll give them that- popped up on my top 5 songs of 2024.

for one of the queens of 4th gen, it makes no sense for itzy to have (partially) "flopped" as much as they did. gold was their first ot5 comeback after a good while, and while born to be was fairly solid (8/10), it was nowhere near the quintessential and iconic flavour of itzy that so many of their fans know and love.

deja vu sounds like a nugu group trying to be txt. it's got their angsty flair all over it, complete with that awful vocal processing hybe loves to put on txt & enha, but neither the hooks nor production lives up to actually good angsty txt tracks like lovesong or even crown. i have a similar gripe with enhypen-- brought the heat back seemed to be more their group's "thing", whereas XO seemed like polaroid love from temu.

tomboy walked so super lady could trip and stumble through the runway. (g)i-dle fans/nevies will whine and protest that idle's whole thing is changing up their style and staying inconsistent, while putting soyeon on this pedestal of an amazing lyricist and producer, but once you point out to them that idle songs with completely different vibes (like latata, hann, or tomboy) are all bangers and THESE NEW ONES AREN'T, they call you a hater. i was a neverland myself until nxde, i think, which is where their music started becoming tiresome. just because it's making a good point about feminism doesn't mean it's not performative, people! it doesn't mean it's good music, people!!! dammit. fate >>>>>>>>>>>>> literally any of the other songs from the '2' album, or any of their 2023-2024 material.

and stray kids-- what is happening? i adore them, but so much of their content now feels like a parody of their own group. chk chk boom was definitely a step in a better direction after the tiresome lalalala, but not by much, giant sucked, and walkin on water is somewhere in the middle despite being a pretty decent song. they used to be a group whose mvs inspired an insane amount of hype in me, but other than mountains (which is an 8), i don't think any of their songs lived up to their potential. :/

i have more groups to rant about but i figured i wouldn't bother you lmaoooo keep doing your writing things, you're great!!

No please, by all means, rant away while I'm trying not to tear up at getting such a long ask about something I honestly never expected anyone to read all the way through. I love to read it! You're not bothering me, in fact, you just made my day! My DMs are open if you want to talk about it!

[duxbelisarius]

The Dance of the Dragons: A Military Analysis (Pt. 5)

At long last, we finally arrive at the battles of the Dance! A huge thanks once again to those of you that have been following from the start; if you’re just coming across this series now, I’ll direct you to the Master Post, which lists my previous analyses!

Part 5 will offer brief analysis of the use of intelligence in the Dance, but will focus primarily on the first campaigns of the war: Stone Hedge and Rook’s Rest. I will examine the strategic and tactical decisions made by the commanders of both factions, as well as assess logistics where pertinent. A definition of terms is helpful first, as I will be making use of the terms strategy and tactics; in the context of European Warfare between 1740 and 1813, Claus Telp defines strategy and tactics as follows:

‘Strategy’ is the art of war at the strategic level, concerned with political decisions such as the definition of the war aim, the mobilization of manpower and material, the planning and conduct of campaigns and the determination of the purpose as well as the context of battle. ‘Tactics’ is the art of war at the tactical level, concerned with fighting a battle in pursuit of the strategic purpose.

Intelligence gathering and espionage in the Dance suffers from the same illogical events and poor writing by George (shout out to reddit users /u/Tribune_Aguila and /u/leonie46 for drawing attention to this). While Daemon, Mysaria and Larys Strong exert a sizeable influence on the Dance via their networks of spies and informants, their effectiveness depends on whether the plot needs them. Despite commanding the Gold Cloaks for a year and a half from 104 to 105 AC, after which he was absent for the war in the Stepstones and then was in exile from 112 AC to 120 AC, we’re to believe that Daemon’s standing in the unit is great enough to use the entire force as a fifth column in the taking of King’s Landing. Of course Larys Strong fails to detect this despite being Master of Whispers and former Royal Confessor, possessing knowledge of and contacts within the city that allows him to sneak Aegon II out of the city when it falls to Rhaenyra, and to seize control of the city from her during the Storming of the Dragonpit. Gyldan tells us that Daemon had a ‘mole’ within the Green Council, and this may well have been Larys Strong, but this information ultimately amounts to nothing and is never brought up again. This inconsistent use of intel underlines a major problem with how George writes the Dance: No matter how skilled or a effective a character or characters are portrayed to be, their quality varies considerably based on how they further George’s plot, so that their qualities are liable to deteriorate at the author’s convenience.

Referencing our timeline from Part 3, open hostilities only began a month or so after Viserys death, but the beginnings of the Stone Hedge campaign can be traced back to just after Rhaenyra’s coronation. On the 12th day of the 3rd Moon (March 12th; dates will hereafter be rendered in our calendar), Daemon and Caraxes captured Harrenhal and began gathering a host of Riverlords loyal to the Black cause. Gyldan states that Harrenhal was lightly garrisoned due to Larys Strong being in King’s Landing, implying that the bulk of the Strong household forces were with him at least. Even having lost territories during the reign of Maegor the Cruel, Harrenhal is still the largest castle in the Riverlands with substantial lands within it’s fief, but we are never told of any Strong forces fighting on Aegon’s behalf. House Bracken and Vance of Atranta are the only Riverlord houses we know of that supported Aegon, with the Tullys opting for neutrality and most of their other bannermen rallying to Daemon. 

A glaring omission through most of the narrative at this time, is how the arrival of autumn affected mobilization efforts outside the North. Gyldan tells us that Jacaerys arrived in Winterfell with autumn well advanced, and based on our calculations in Part 3 along with a distance map, the journey Dragonstone-The Eyrie-Sisterton-White Harbour-Winterfell should have taken him three to four days at least assuming a journey of c.1000 miles at 30 mph plus time for stops in the Eyrie, Sisterton and White Harbour. This means autumn in Westeros would have begun within a week of Rhaenyra’s coronation (and would last until the first half of 130 AC), while fighting began in early April following the torture and execution of Blood for the murder of Prince Jaehaerys. There was already deep snow around Winterfell when Jace arrived, and even if the the climate further south was too warm for snow we should at least expect rain, sleet and cooler temperatures. Cregan Stark was already preparing for winter at that point, and we should expect this to have been the case in the agriculture-focused Riverlands; and yet Daemon seems to have had no difficulty raising troops, with many grabbing “a pitchfork or a hoe and a crude wooden shield” and marching to Harrenhal, according to Gyldan.

The opening blows of the Stone Hedge campaign were struck by the Blacks, when raiders of House Blackwood attacked villages on Bracken land, destroying septs and homes, crops and livestock. Amos Bracken, son of Lord Humfrey Bracken and heir to Stone Hedge, leads forces to retaliate; these are ambushed by Blackwood troops at a nearby mill, leading to the Battle of the Burning Mill. As alluded to in Part 2, George resorts to an absence of security repeatedly to justify the outcomes of his battles, and Burning Mill begins this trend. Amos Bracken and Lord Samwell Blackwood are both killed, and grievous losses are suffered by both sides; Raylon Rivers, Amos Bracken’s bastard half-brother, leads the remnants of the Bracken host back to Stone Hedge. While the Brackens’ forces were fighting at the Burning Mill, forces from House Darry, Piper, Roote and Frey captured Stone Hedge with the aid of Daemon and Caraxes, and Rivers is forced to surrender to spare the lives of Humfrey Bracken and his family. 

Thus ended the first campaign of the Dance in the Riverlands, as we are told that Aegon’s supporters there followed suit with the Brackens and surrendered. We have little to work with in the way of tactical analysis, but the brief account we’re given raises serious questions. We know that House Vance of Atranta also supported Aegon, and that House Vance and Bracken controlled more land and could raise larger armies than House Tully. Even if that army was divided between Atranta and Wayfarer’s Rest in the case of the Vances, such forces should still have required time and effort to subdue. George has yet to show us where Atranta and Stone Hedge are located on in-world maps, but Atlas of Ice and Fire’s locations for them seems reasonable; despite their forces a likely close proximity, both houses are subdued without much effort and never again take up arms against the Blacks. Daemon makes effective use of Caraxes in forcing the surrender of Stone Hedge, but we only hear of Daeron utilizing his dragon in this way during the rest of the Dance, once again demonstrating the sub-optimal use of dragons by both factions. 

The involvement of House Frey in the capture of Stone Hedge is by far the most questionable inclusion by George; we have no estimates for the forces available to the Darrys, Rootes or Pipers, but we do know that House Frey has the same advantages over the Tullys as Vance and Bracken. It’s more than likely that they would have been the largest component of Daemon’s forces at Stone Hedge, which begs the question as to how they managed to get there at all. A little over half a month passes between Rhaenyra’s coronation and the outbreak of hostilities, almost the exact amount of time it would take to travel from King’s Landing to Harrenhal, while House Frey’s seat at The Twins would take twice that time to reach. The Freys would need time to muster their forces and even if they conducted a forced march to Harrenhal, they would still then have to march the length of the Trident to reach Stone Hedge and would have to fight if need be. This is where George’s inconsistency with the weather is especially telling, as inclement weather would endanger the harvest and thus delay any muster by the Riverlords; we are also told later that rain and mud delayed Aemond and Criston Cole’s march on Harrenhal, with Aemond and the bulk of the army arriving there 20 days after setting out from King’s Landing. 

The rivers offer an easy solution to this problem, though introducing river travel to the narrative of the Dance creates further problems as well shall see later. Maester Yandel’s Riverlands chapter in TWOIAF stresses the importance of the Trident and it’s tributaries; mile-long lines of poleboats are “not unknown” on the rivers, while the use of the Trident and it’s tributaries by the Ironborn longboats was crucial to the founding of the Kingdom of House Hoare. Traveling on the Green Fork means the Frey forces would only have to cross the Trident and make a short march to Harrenhal, making this the most likely outcome. The rivers are a solution to this issue but introducing them in such a way requires the narrative to be consistent in the role they play from this point on, which proves not to be the case.

This brings us to the final major campaign of 129 AC, Rook’s Rest; the goal of this campaign was to force the submission of Rhaenyra’s supporters on the mainland of the Crownlands. The impetus for the campaign came from a list assembled by Larys Strong of all of Rhaenyra’s Crowndlands supporters, which likely included Rosby, Stokeworth, Darklyn, Staunton, Crabb, Brune, Celtigar and Hayford. Lords Hayford and Harte were executed after refusing to renounce their support for Rhaenyra, but Harte is never mentioned again in the narrative, while only Rosby, Stokeworth, Darklyn and Staunton are attacked by Criston Cole. With 100 knights, 500 men-at-arms and 1800 Swellswords under his command, Criston Cole marched on Rosby and Stokeworth first, whose lords had sworn new oaths of allegiance to Aegon and so added their forces to Cole’s. Duskendale, the seat of House Darklyn, is taken by surprise and sacked, with Lord Darklyn being beheaded and his forces joining up with Cole. As with Burning Mill, we have no idea what constitutes surprise, especially not in the case of a 3000+ strong host attacking a castle; most likely they attacked during the night, or were able to secure the gates and prevent them from being closed. The Battle of Rook’s Rest itself is dominated by the battle between Rhaenys and Aemond and Aegon II, and part three addresses my issues with the use of dragons during the campaign. 

From a strategic perspective, the Greens and the Blacks had essentially traded blows with the Stone Hedge and Rook’s Rest campaigns, although the end of 129 AC found Rhaenyra in a far stronger position than Aegon II. While Daemon had succeeded in securing the Riverlands and stamping out any of Aegon’s support there, Criston Cole had robbed the Blacks of many of their loyal houses in the Crownlands. Nonetheless, Rook’s Rest was a pyrrhic victory for the Greens owing to the injuries suffered by Aegon II and Sunfyre; while Rhaenyra continued to be cut-off from her allies on the mainland, Daemon’s actions in the Riverlands combined with the support of the North, Vale and northern Reach also cut off Aegon his allies in the Westerlands and Oldtown. The stage was set for a rapid escalation of the war in 130 AC, which would bring the Blacks to the brink of victory.

[muqsspace]

BLOG POST 2

In this week’s lecture. It explains about Digital Citizenship. What is Digital Citizenship? It is the ability to utilise technology sensibly, securely, and politely is known as digital citizenship. It refers to the capacity to safeguard private information on the internet, reduce the risks brought on by cyberthreats or other online threats, and use information and media in a polite, informed, and lawful manner (Lcom 2023). For this week’s post. It will further explain the components of Digital Citizenship.

The first component of digital citizenship is Internet safety. With how the internet has been used widely in this world of modern technology, safety is always a first in everything regardless of what are the aspects of life that exist. Crime exists everywhere, like the real world. Crime also happens on the internet and that is why internet safety is a must. Despite their connections, these subjects are distinct concepts. Internet safety includes specific dos and don'ts to protect kids, while digital citizenship curriculum focusses on how behavior and actions spread and affect others on the online and the ways users should conduct themselves as good citizens of this digital world (Twomey n.d). There are many safety precautions when it comes to internet activities to ensure the users data is safe and protected. For example, always use a strong password. Even with a strong password, users are advised not to use password that is related to themselves to increase the security of the account. When it comes to scams and such, it can happen in creative ways. Therefore, users are advised to be aware of what link they encounter and not to simply click on any link as they could be a phishing link. As for scam calls, it is best to first listen to the caller and analyse it. If the caller sounds very suspicious, it is best to end call. And never answer yes or no as hackers might already have the user’s data and they only need verification to use the data.

Secondly, verifying sources. Before the internet, society is used to information being spread slowly. But with technology, information can now be spread in a blink of an eye. And since information sharing is now faster than ever. Misinformation can happen at any given moment. This will cause disruption in society if users are not careful with the information that they share. It's imperative that professionals adopt a critical mindset and see the value of confirming the veracity and authenticity of the material they encounter (Kariuki 2023). With critical thinking, users can help to prevent misinformation to be spread. These steps will help to ensure that whatever information that a user come across is proper. Before sharing, it is best to fact-check the information and to not just simply believe what people online have shared or posted. Research on said information and make sure that whatever is shared is accurate. While fact-checking is important. Reliability is equally as important. It is recommended that users identify whether the origin of the information is published by a reliable website/account. There are a lot of people who create multiple accounts or even a website just to publish fake news to the online community and that causes disruption. As for students, especially those who are continuing their studies in the higher education. They are advised to ensure their citations is a proper citation and that the resources they gathered are from a reputable source. Other than making sure students learn to be a responsible digital citizen, they can also save their marks on their assignments.

Third concept is managing inappropriate content. With internet. There are many information and contents that can be found online and can be searched in the matter of seconds. One of them is inappropriate content. What exactly is considered as inappropriate content? This can vary differently by age. But to narrow it down for a student perspective, it is content like the dark web, adult websites, weapons etc. These are websites that are very inappropriate to students. Even if they do not know how to search for these contents, they may accidentally stumble across these contents. Raising awareness and instructing others on how to be good digital citizens are important aspects of being a good digital citizen. Teach teenagers how to constructively discuss harmful internet activity with their friends. Assist them in recognising when something has gotten too far for them to manage alone and in understanding boundaries (Shannon n.d). Adults should help raise awareness on this issue. Always supervise their children’s online activity. Adults are responsible to nurture their children’s childhood and let them enjoy it as they should. As users, when come across with inappropriate content, it is recommended to report the content and adjust their profile and choose what content that users want and do not want to see.

In conclusion, being a good digital citizen is important for everyone to ensure a fun, interactive and safe environment for others, especially for children to use. This also keeps the internet safe to use for everyone. The government should also improve the cyber security so that the people are assured that their data is well kept secure.

REFERENCES

Kariuki, C, 2023, Navigating the Digital Era: The Power of Verifying Information, LinkedIn, 22 May, viewed 4 October 2024, <https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/navigating-digital-era-power-verifying-information>.

Lcom Team, 2023, What is Digital Citizenship & What Does It Include?, Learning.com, 11 July, viewed 4 October 2024, <https://www.learning.com/blog/what-is-digital-citizenship/#:~:text=Digital%20citizenship%20is%20the%20ability,respectful%2C%20knowledgeable%20and%20legal%20way>.

Safe Space, 2020, Inappropriate Content [Image], Safe Space,  28 May, viewed 4 October 2024, < https://www.safespace.qa/en/topic/inappropriate-content>.

SAFESITTER, n.d, 9 Lessons to Teach Children About Digital Citizenship [Image], SAFESITTER, viewed 4 October 2024, <https://safesitter.org/digital-citizenship/>.

Shannon, J, n.d, Digital Citizenship: 7 Steps to Keep Our Kids Safe Online, JONNYSHANNON, viewed 4 October 2024, <https://www.jonnyshannon.com/blog/a-guide-to-teaching-smart-digital-citizenship-how-to-keep-kids-and-teens-safe-online#:~:text=Teach%20kids%20and%20teens%20how,to%20take%20the%20next%20step.>

Stark, R, 2023, Internet safety 101: 10 Simple Rules to Keep You Safe [Image], Acer Corner, viewed 4 October 2024, <https://blog.acer.com/en/discussion/500/internet-safety-101-10-simple-rules-to-keep-you-safe-2023>.

Thompson, J, 2023, Opinion: Are We Having a Moral Panic Over Misinformation? [Image], UNDARK, 26 October, viewed 4 October 2024, <https://undark.org/2023/10/26/opinion-misinformation-moral-panic/>.

Twomey, K, n.d, Digital Citizenship and Internet Safety: Essentials for Responsible Online Behavior, StoryboardThat, viewed 4 October 2024, <https://www.storyboardthat.com/articles/e/digital-citzenship>.

[mourningcandles]

i believe u mentioned a platonic hanahaki au in the tags of a reblog at one point... if u wanted to expand more on that i found it very interesting of a concept....

Let’s play a game. Send me a potential AU and I’ll tell you five fun facts that would happen in a story. (Or more, if I've already thought of that AU.)

Five worldbuilding fun facts

Hanahaki in this AU became endemic to London not long after the war on Hell, with it having been brought back from the front lines by lovelorn soldiers.

Mr Hearts/Mr Apples allows for the trade of the resulting flowers. It's a brisk and bloody business, but there is no competition with other Masters.

Different varieties of flowers are associated with different sorts of longing, so heartbreakers may break someone's heart just right to sow the seeds for rarities, then enlist a partner to collect. The resulting blooms are falsely advertised as surface-grown, of course. This trade somewhat undercuts the smuggling of sunlight and Surface blooms.

Society's demand for Surface flowers has lessened. For over a decade, flowers have been associated with disease. However, hanahaki is still romanticised due to Victorians already having been obsessed with both the meaning of flowers and coughing dramatically on a chaise lounge.

Hanahaki is not strictly romantic. It is instead tied to any concealed love or longing, including friendship and grief.

Five character fun facts

Furnace Ancona's big secret in this AU is that she has chronic hanahaki, rather than the result of the accident with the Discordance. She still deals with some of the same accusations of having been in love with Cornelius as in canon.

Furnace wears a little neckerchief so she can discreetly collect and dispose of her flowers.

Idris Peters has multiple factors contributing to their illness, but they have trouble parsing their own feelings on a normal day. For this reason, they keep a notebook to track the species and number of the flowers they cough up each day. They then analyse the data to try to discern what is troubling them, like some manner of augury.

If she finds herself without anywhere to put her flowers in public, Furnace will either hold them in her mouth or swallow them. This leaves her either unable to speak or at risk of poisoning herself, but she considers it to be better than risking her condition being used as blackmail material.

Cornelius has no idea that Furnace is so tormented by his death at the Hurlers and his subsequent betrayals as he fosters dissent in the union. She never told him how much their friendship had meant to her. She never told him a lot of things. How can he help a woman who never told him how?

[mrbensonmum]

TV Shows - CSI: Las Vegas VII

I had to take a little writing break because my wrists were starting to feel the strain from all the writing (I have to write a lot for uni, and I also need to fill up my own page). But of course, I didn't stop watching CSI: Las Vegas, and that's why we're already in the middle of Season Four!

You can tell by now that the characters have become very well-established and developed. Many of them don't seem as young and inexperienced anymore, and that even applies to Greg. I find him the most interesting here because he has developed to the point where he's even taken out into the field, and we know that he'll soon leave the lab and go into the field. He hasn't left behind his outgoing nature but has used it to progress. His exceptional knowledge about various things also comes in handy!

Nick and Sara are now applying for a higher CSI class, and they are overshadowed by Catherine, as Grissom assigns her an important case. She brings in Greg, which further frustrates Nick and Sara. However, by the end of this episode, you can see that, due to past episodes, it's no longer just a team here but rather friends in a somewhat familial relationship (even their time together during breaks or after cases shows this). Because it's patched up, you understand why it was Catherine and why she brought in Greg. (Nick and Sara have another story connecting them, but that's more related to the actors, but more on that later!)

At the beginning, it was still a bit rough, and sometimes even a bit rough when switching between cases. But this is absolutely not criticism at this point, just an observation. Because this has also been ironed out more and more, and you always switch at just the right moment, so one case doesn't "wear out," and you have to immediately deal with the other one. As a viewer, you're always kept on your toes, which is good because with crime series that handle only one case, this can sometimes be very exhausting over the intended 45 minutes. This danger rarely exists here.

One of the big mysteries of the series has now also been revealed; we know who Catherine's father is. The casino mogul Sam Brown! Catherine found this out about Greg with a not entirely legal DNA investigation, and of course, Sam Brown immediately tried to bribe her after being acquitted of a murder case. I vaguely remember that there's still a lot to happen here, and I'm curious how the gaps in my memories will be filled. Don't worry, otherwise, I won't get on any Catherine rage train today. Since the episode with her ex-husband and daughter, she has been reformed, and you can see that in her character, which is calmer and even more grounded. Although there are still outbursts sometimes, but that's human!

What we're increasingly seeing now is the famous CSI effect. I've worked with people in the lab for a long time, and it's fascinating what you notice in such a series. It starts with the absolutely wrong use of gloves because when you wear them and work with materials, you absolutely don't touch anything else and don't even touch your hair; it would all contaminate. Then also the quick processing of analyses through various devices, including DNA comparisons. Yes, the operation of the devices is okay, and the devices are real, but everything is very much accelerated, which of course also happens in terms of storytelling. But normally, such analyses would take much longer than shown here. What's really interesting is the many reports that this was actually demanded in the real world by law enforcement agencies because, as you could see here, it's possible. There are also statistics showing that the number of students enrolled in scientific studies has increased. This shows what power and impact such a series can have when it's well done.

I'm considering whether I should also make a post about the music. I wanted to do that with Dr. House, but then I forgot. Because the individual pieces chosen are really good, plus then some scores contribute a lot to the mood of the series and to individual scenes.

Oh, come on, here's a little preview. In the first season and in the famous roller coaster scene of Grissom (the end of season one), you can hear this song, and as far as series go, it's one of my absolute favorites.

[ayearwithoutwater]

Nine.

I remember regarding the vicissitudes of my love life in 2014 rather wryly.

I felt caught between—by—a trio of men: my personal triumvirate, I'd named them amongst my closest friends. Alberto, Stephen, and John were united in my mind by their graduation year, as all three were just one year ahead of me in college, as well as by the persistent notion I'd had that they'd all resided at the same dorm in their freshman year. Although they weren't personally acquainted with one another, they knew of each other, perhaps mostly through me and the stories I'd tell them of the others. I'd met them independently as a sophomore during what I'd later come to view as the most formative year of my love life thus far.

By 2014, I had already created defined roles for each of them in the narrative of my life. Alberto was the loving boyfriend who would soon depart for the next exciting chapter of his life, Stephen was the off-limits figure with whom I had palpable chemistry, chemistry that I pointedly chose to ignore out of fear that I would do something I'd regret, and John was the equally beautiful and philosophical man whose presence was profoundly aspirational. While graduation brought separation for Alberto and me, it also gave me space to explore myself with the remaining two.

I confess that there aren't enough words for now to give as much attention as I'd like to Stephen, but that's fine; John was always today's intended focal point, most specifically because he was my formative one that got away.

When I first met him in China Gazing, the seminar we shared, I didn't think much of him. Honestly, I didn't pay much attention to any of my classmates; 2013 was a busy time for me, and I was perennially preoccupied with my seventeen-hour days.

John set himself apart from the rest of our classmates with his insights during our roundtable discussions. China Gazing was one of our college's few courses that examined, broadly speaking, Chinese culture and society via its presence within the proliferation of written materials and literature produced by Westerners; it was one of few meta-analytical courses taught at my college that dealt with my heritage as parsed through Western conceptions and could easily be put into conversation with the discursive output of Edward Said, which explains my interest in the subject matter…and John's, too.

John grew up in San Francisco with mixed Irish and Chinese ancestry. Later, I would marvel at his prodigious command of Chinese, particularly his fluency in Mandarin outpacing my own despite him having grown up in a Cantonese household. (Plenty of people are capably or equally fluent in both, but his mastery was all the more impressive to me because he is a second- or third-generation Chinese American.) In class, his essays and input stood out to me from the rest because he spoke eloquently (and without pretension) while offering novel analyses of our coursework; suffice it to say that, almost immediately, it was he who I strived to emulate. Merely knowing that he would hear what I had to contribute to any discourse was enough motivation for me to devote special effort to my preparations for class—I wanted to appear nothing less than erudite.

In hindsight, John was probably my first intellectual crush. Everything he said seemed to be something that nobody else had ever conceptualized, and his writing seemed full of references both seminal and obscure that I could build an entire syllabus around solely his bibliographies. Perhaps I myself was simply unlearned—he'd had an entire year of life more than I did to study, after all—but wasn't that the point of college, to be surrounded by intellectuals and inspired? While my friends were off reading Foucault and Freud, I wanted to read John.

I can't say that I remember how we became friends, which is probably to say that it wasn't too important. Class ended with the semester, and I no longer had anything in common with him, but I would still see him around, sometimes. As I ascended the ranks of our student government, I ran into him more and more often because he had a vested interest as a composer in our music club. As the class of 2014 graduated, I was suddenly single, and I found myself attending the same graduation party thrown by our college. He, too, was single.

I remember being plied with wine by all of my friends. I remember being a nuisance, walking around to tipsily ask all of my gay male friends in attendance why they weren't attracted to me (to which their joking response was that they were). I remember seeing John from across the room and making eye contact with him. I remember walking directly towards him, ignoring anyone and everyone else. I remember us sequestering ourselves within the photo booth for hire, and I remember kissing him for the first time.

I don't—didn't—know what I'd expected. It was as if kissing him unlocked from deep within me a torrent of truths that I had never given the space or effort to confront, that he was ridiculously handsome from the shape of his eyes to the sharpness of his jawline, that I was immeasurably attracted to him but never realized it because I'd locked away in the recesses of my psyche even the tiniest inkling of attraction to anyone else because I already had a partner. It wasn't just that he was smart—it was also that he was unbelievably beautiful.

I had a Lily Allen concert to attend, but, later that night, I slept with him in his Harlem apartment.

I remember feeling bewildered. I remember clumsily going through the motions in his bed because I was freshly out of a relationship, and I was in complete disbelief that the most stunning species of man was interested in me. I'd never been with anyone else other than my first boyfriend, and I wasn't sure how to behave in uncharted territory.

I hate to say it, but it was also uncanny because he was kind of an older brother figure to me. He was someone who sort of looked like me and therefore also had gone through life facing similar obstacles as I did or would. I often went to him for advice, whether personal or academic or philosophical, and I treasured his presence in my life. When our relationship became physical, I felt awkward because I felt that I didn't measure up. I didn't feel insecure, but I felt as though I still had some growing to do.

I think I botched it. Over the summer, our time together was marred by him trying to figure out his preferred type of employment and, predominantly, me trying to answer the question: how soon was too soon? I liked John a lot, but conventional wisdom said that any relationship that developed too soon after a prior relationship would be doomed to be a rebound and nothing more. But, I didn't want him to be a rebound, and I certainly didn't want him to feel as though he was one, because I liked him a lot and I wanted his company. Still, between that and my lingering sadness for my breakup with Alberto, I felt like a mess. Summer was here, the days were warm and I had all the freedom in the world to move on with my life, but I felt intuitively that I needed to slow down and process. I wanted to be with John, too, but I was afraid of being inadequate.

I remember a conversation over brunch with John at Serafina that to this day defines the restaurant chain in my mind. I remember him offering to bring me Chipotle on a day when I was particularly depressed. I remember having my read receipts on for text messaging and leaving his messages to me unread, because I was possessed by some ridiculously misguided notion that being fair to him meant nipping our budding situationship or relationship or whatever it was, because I was afraid of breaking his heart, too. It wasn't quite cutting off my nose to spite my face, but it may as well have been because the end result was the same: I denied myself what I wanted for no reason other than to appear noble and soured my relationship with him in the process.

Seasons later, he invited me to his birthday. It was a casual gathering of the people in his life as he celebrated at a nightclub, and I showed up late. Again, I was awkward, but I knew I still liked him, and I felt more ready to explore that. As we greeted each other, I wanted to kiss him—but he was no longer interested. Embarrassed, I ran away, hiding myself in a bathroom stall while one of our mutual friends consoled me over text messages, telling me that the timing just wasn't working out. The next year, he moved to Hong Kong.

Honestly, I don't know if he was actually the one that got away. I don't know if we would've worked out. Our interest in each other was reciprocated, but everyone tells me that the right person at the wrong time is still the wrong person.

It doesn't matter. Whether or not he's actually my one that got away is immaterial because what matters more to me is that he was the first in my life to personify that trope: whereas Alberto set the standard for the boyfriends I would come to have, John set the standard for the boyfriends I would come to never have. Again, it all came down to choice. I chose to commit to Alberto just as I chose not to commit to John. I pressed myself to avoid making John my rebound but, in retrospect, I should've just let myself go all in instead of imposing arbitrary rules upon myself for no rationale other than to perform correctness, as if there's a correct way to accept the love that entered my life.

A decade later, John was one of the men upon whom I relied during my year without water. Time's distance did little to separate him from his big brother archetype in my head. As I parsed my newest breakup with him, I confessed to him that, all those years ago, I'd loved him, too, and that I was sorry for how I had behaved.

I suppose that my experience with John taught me not to fetishize a perfect goodness, to not let it stand in the way of romance, because there is no perfect love. It's taught me to accept the flaws that realistically accompany any relationship, which therefore has empowered me to go after what (or whom) I want—not just someone who checks most, not all, of my boxes—because perfection does not exist.

Equally, I've been wondering whether I've ever been that person for anyone else. I've wondered whether any of my exes look back at me as their person that got away, but I suppose it's all moot. I think I might have been idealizing the role of the one that got away out of fear—fear that I wouldn't be the one that was chosen, birthed from a childhood of being the one that was left behind. Yet, all my insecurities and arbitrary rules have done nothing but prevent me from living the life I've been wanting to live, and so I'm now choosing to stand my ground as I stare down my future. I've come to conclude that I'm not going to be the one that got away, anymore or if at all—instead, I'm going to be the one that chose to stay.

It is, after all, the more interesting choice.

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[peachywritess]

happiness looks good on you ー knj

☁️ genre: long-term lovers, estabilished relationship, fluff, kind of domestic!au, namjoon being a supportive husband.

☁��� pairings: husband!kim namjoon x artist!female!reader

☁️ warnings: there aren't any, just joonie being husband material, use of pet names such as jagiya, baby, love.

☁️ word count: 1,7k

☁️ author's note: just a small little thing i had in mind, not my best but i really liked writing this, i hope you like it bubs!!<3

Feedbacks are welcomed !

The brush plopped into the water jar, and a few drops of coloured liquid spilt on the wooden surface. Some ended up on your phone which lit up, the lock screen displaying your favourite picture: you and Namjoon holding a white teddy bear he had won at an amusement park. You remembered that day clearly: it was your first anniversary.

You had captured the moment with a polaroid camera Namjoon had bought as a gift, and you still hadn’t figured out how it worked so the shot came out far too bright. However, looking at that picture years later still brought a sense of warmth and nostalgia: you were both so young, inexperienced, and still seeking to understand each other. Seven years had passed since that day, and so many things had happened: your trip to Bali, rescuing two calico cats and naming them Zelda and Esme, your tour of Europe, and then your marriage.

Your house was full of memories and pictures from your numerous adventures like the one in the Italian Alps where you were too scared to cross a suspended bridge, and Namjoon had to carry you for more than a mile. Or the one in the french Blue Coast when he had mistaken tanning oil for sunscreen so you both had pretty bad sunburns for the entire week.

“I told you to buy sunscreen, Joonie - sunscreen!”

“It is! See, huile de bronzage.” He had panicked showing you the little brown bottle.

“It literally means tanning oil, Namjoon Kim!”

A smile shone on your lips ー reminiscing all of the wonderful memories you had made together. You missed his buzz cut, and how his short hair used to tingle your palms: when you were younger, Namjoon let you dye it in different colours. One time, you had opted for pretty pink flowers, and the dye had stayed on for months.

You loved that he couldn't give a damn about other people's judgement - in fact - he would always brag to his hyungs how talented his girlfriend was. Surely, he would let you know.

"Jagiya, you are so talented. Please dye my hair forever!"

You had majored in arts whereas Namjoon had chosen to open up a travel agency. Initially, it was not easy for either of you: you had only each other's support and getting through the month was always difficult.

Namjoon stayed out late to advertise his shop, but despite this he would always stay up all night watching you finalise one of your paintings, making sure to bring you a glass of water about every half hour because "it's important to stay hydrated when you are working hard."

He would try his best to stay awake by telling you about his day, showering you with compliments and then attempting to analyse what you were painting. You would quietly listen to him, some mhmh's and mhh's in response and occasionally interrupt his chatter to tell him to get some rest. Yet each time he reiterated the same phrase: 'I'll stay awake as long as you do, love'.

And so within minutes he would fall asleep on the couch and you would bring a blanket and a pillow for him to be comfortable.

But now, his hair had grown out and you had practically lost the sparks you usually felt when you painted. Finishing a canvas was now something you had to do - and really didn't enjoy at all.

“You have one month, Y/N. Then I will shred the contract to pieces, understood?”

You listened in silence as your boss complained over the phone, her voice a few octaves higher.

“I mean, what happened to you? Do you think I pay lazy and unmotivated people? Our company seeks talent and commitment, and I’m afraid you no longer have any of these requirements.”

You sharply inhaled pinching the bridge of your nose, back resting against the chair as Namjoon stood right behind you, he too in silence. His hands were placed on your shoulders, which he stroked softly.

“I understand, Mrs Han. I am working on a piece at the moment, and I swear that it will be done in less than a month-” 

You took all of your courage to speak - that woman truly scared you. Ms Han was the director of the agency you worked for, whose aim was to sell artwork at a premium price. She was a fifty-year-old woman with a passion for belittling her employees and underpaying them.

“No more promises, I don’t care. I just want that piece at the end of this month.” She interrupted you, and you sighed.

Just know that this is your last chance.”

And just like that she hung up, leaving you lost in a limbo of disbelief and terror: you could not afford to lose this job. 

Yes, it probably wasn't the best job on the planet, but you hadn't yet realised your dream of opening your own atelier, and this company - although not particularly ethical - was a sure ticket to gaining a small amount of notoriety in the industry.

“Wow, what a bitch.” Namjoon proclaimed breaking the silence and bringing a small smile to your lips. 

“Damn right she is.”

You groaned, squinting your eyes shut, before running your hands down your face - in a gesture of sheer exasperation. “I could end her whole career if I wanted to.”

“Then do that, baby. You have nothing to lose, she does.”

You let your head fall back, resting it on the chair, finally meeting your boyfriend's gaze. He was smiling, and his dimples looked so adorable you wanted to squeeze his cheeks.

“Um, probably my job, Joonie?”

“Yeah, that’s a good point.”

Namjoon leaned forward until you were close enough to look directly into his eyes, then left a soft kiss on your forehead. You closed your eyes, savouring that brief moment of tranquillity. His attention then shifted to the canvas in front of you - a few lines of red paint already starting to dry up - and observed it thoroughly without saying a word.

"Do you remember when you accepted the job offer?" He questioned.

"Mhmh, what about it?"

"And do you also remember what you told me?"

You bit your lower lip, scratching your chin with your index finger.

You had said a million, no, a billion things to Namjoon before you signed that contract.

"Um, wish me luck?" You said in a slightly questioning tone, and your husband facepalmed.

With a swift movement, he turned the chair you were sitting on allowing you to look him directly in the eyes. That gesture made you blush and you stared at him with doe eyes.

"No, jagi, not the correct answer." He tilted his head, soft jet-black locks brushing his forehead. "You promised me you wouldn't let them change you."

You were struggling, and that broke his heart.

Namjoon knew you were desperately trying to paint something, anything that would please your boss. He had examined the shift in your brushstrokes from time to time, and they didn’t seem to belong to you. They were abrupt and quick, whereas you always directed them with gentle movements.

He was not seeing you on that canvas, instead, he was seeing a version you had been forced to become.

"Is it worth it, love? Do you want to become a machine for them to make more money?"

You sighed. He was right ー Namjoon was so right.

You had completely forgotten how it felt to make art, you had forgotten how it felt to be free. You had submitted to their rules because they had made empty promises from the start and you had believed them.

Namjoon crouched down, resting his hands on your knees. In that position, the light coming from the window illuminated his face as you gazed at him with pure admiration. He was glowing.

His brown eyes seemed to light up, turning a honey-like amber colour.

"Joonie..." You murmured as your hands gently grabbed his. "I can't lose this job, I just cannot."

"Y/N, you are the best thing to ever happen to me, you know that right?"

His thumbs softly rubbed the back of your hands, something he always did to comfort you. As he stroked he gently drew imaginary shapes like circles, flowers or hearts.

You hummed in response locking eyes with him.

"That's why I want the best for you. I want you to be happy because I can't bear the thought of you ever suffering. And what I truly wish for, is for you to find your love for art again, and-"

"Baby..."

"I don't want you to feel obligated because I swear to you Y/N, I will always support you no matter what," he then grabbed both your hands in his, and brought them to his lips. "but I wish you just left this job."

You smiled when Namjoon placed a gentle kiss on your knuckles. Despite all these years, he had never changed: he was still the same old romantic and you couldn't complain.

"I know, Joonie, but what if I can't find anything? What if... I don't make enough money to open the atelier?"

Namjoon lightly squeezed your hands, his eyes never leaving yours as one hand cupped your cheek, delicately caressing it.

"Jagiya, you are the most talented woman I've ever known, and you can do whatever you wish to do. You inspire me every day."

"I wouldn't even know where to start." You relaxed in his touch, letting out a breath.

The warmth of his hand unexpectedly left your cheek, and that's when you saw him searching for something in the pocket of his jeans.

"Perhaps, you could start with these."

You blinked quickly observing the object your husband was holding before your eyes. You raised your eyebrows in confusion, not understanding why he was showing you a pair of rusty keys.

Then, a wave of realisation hit you.

Namjoon immediately noticed your eyes turning glazy and your mouth opening slightly in an expression of pure wonder. You grabbed the keys with trembling hands and clutched them to your chest, heart racing.

"The place is a bit run down, but I am sure that in a few months, we will manage to make it perfect."

Without wasting a second you threw your arms around his neck, and tears of happiness fell from your eyes. You couldn't believe it: your dream had just come true.

"I love you so much, Joon, I- I can't believe it. I love you!"

Namjoon stroked your hair, unable to resist tearing up with you, holding you close to him. At that moment, all he wished was for time to stand still and remain like that forever.

"I love you too, princess."

Happiness looked so good on you.

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