#and find the local homeless population

[crayonurchin]

27 & 30 for Crayon/Cammie, and G for yourself.

27, What causes them to feel dread?

His missing posters, anyone saying his deadname, what was in the ponyverse as Canterlot would, in the human world, probably be a very affluent area of central London, and rejection. That kid is terrified of rejection.

30, Who do they most regret meeting?

GOD that's a good question. It's small but it'd be a taxi driver that picked him up when he was maybe one week into running away. The guy looked at his expensive clothes, assumed he'd be collected in due time by equally rich people, and charged him about ten times as much for his travel fare than he should have. Cammie, being entirely ignorant, just paid, because he was high on freedom and life. It was only after he started realising the actual value of a coin that he realised he'd been robbed, and moreover, robbed without enough money to get anywhere that could help him, beginning his entrapment in homelessness.

That driver probably doesn't even remember the 'brat' he 'taught a lesson to'. Cammie can't forget him and the trust he broke in adults helping him out.

G) What trait of theirs bothers you the most?

His stubborn ideals. He can't accept anything without 'earning' it. And I wrote the damn character so I can just change it but I CAN'T, it's his toxic coping mechanism to feel like this entire misadventure was worth it. But MY GOD does it annoy me XD

like BRO THIS IS BAD YOU ARE IN A BAD SITUATION TAKE THE HANDS REACHING OUT TO HELP YOU and in that same breath I write him doubling down to do it without any aid and I'm like "hehehe mnyes explore the themes of coping with abuse" while also screaming because I'm so frustrated by it XD

[alvie-pines]

cannot express the pain and disappointment of going from tmnt (which has themes that are fairly left-wing) directly to transformers and being like ah. so this is the right wing propaganda show,

[homunculus-argument]

Character concepts that would be funny:

Some dude who's known around the city for being a complete public menace, obnoxiously loud, zero regard for traffic rules, laws in general, or basic manners. Nobody knows where he lives or what the hell he does for a living, he seems to always be wandering around the streets but as random as his clothes are, they always seem to be at least somewhat neat and the local homeless population doesn't know him and as far as they know he's not one of them.

Everybody knows he'll steal your shit. That's what he's known for, and what people warn each other about. Shoplifting, snatching your unattended coat off the back of a park bench, taking the fries from a fast food order that wasn't his. But somehow, only ever food or clothes. You forget your phone next to your kebab while going to a diner bathroom, and you come back to find that your phone is still there but your kebab is gone. And so is that guy.

Nobody knows what this guy's deal is. Well, his deal is that he is a shapeshifter. His true form is a seagull. He doesn't give a shit about integrating into human society, he just got sick of being harrassed by dogs while trying to eat from the trash can one day and decided to shapeshift to the biggest animal he could think of - having never been outside of the city, that would be human. Which naturally freaked out the dog, which was the goal in the first place.

And it then turned out that being around the city as a human had some other unexpected perks, which were convenient. Like cars swerving around him when he's standing in the middle of the road. He shrieks at them anyway, just to keep safe. He's learned some curse words but has no interest in learning any more of human language.

[bet-on-me-13]

Danny is the Crazy Old Man™️ of Gotham

So, the events of Danny Phantom happened decades ago

Like, Phantom Planet was one of the first instances of Superheroes in HISTORY. Early 1900's, just the Fentons were Insanely Ahead of their Time!

Danny is still a Halfa, but has allowed himself to grow old and live his best life before fully dying so he can accept his Throne in the Infinite Realms. He decides to experience Life in the fullest way possible, partying, drinking, making long lasting friendships that shape the lives of everybody he meets, all that!

Eventually, Danny's Party Life leads him to Gotham. And this place is just amazing!

It has all the comforts of Home, with so much more! He can Party! He can Fight! He can do anything he wants and nobody bats an eye, because a crazy old man getting into a fistfight in the middle of the road is just another Tuesday for Gotham!

He decides to spend the rest of his Mortal Life there. And this is still Early On in the DC Timeline, like, Batman Year 1 is happening Right Now.

He hangs around, befriends the local Homeless Population, and mostly just has the time of his Life! And he takes up the stereotypical Homeless Old Man look because why fight it? That's literally what he's going for!

He also unintentionally sets up a bunch of future events

He teaches Kid!Jason on his to steal Tires as repayment for driving off some muggers with a Baseball Bat (honestly he was looking forward to being mugged, it's a new experience after all)

He pulls Kid!Tim into an Alley after Tim gets caught out at night and gets chased by some Punks. He hides Tim behind a Dumpster and tricks the Punks into mugging him instead (Yay! He finally got mugged!)

He becomes kind of well known as the Old Man who wants to experience everything before he dies. He says as much too, not like he really has a reason to hide it. He just tells people "I want to live my life to the fullest, it don't matter if I live 10 more years or 10 more minutes, I'm gonna experience every second of it!"

He once walked into a Cloud of Fear Gas to see what it was like. Later he said it was a 6/10. "Not the worst thing I've had injected into my body!" He says with no Context.

He traded places with a Hostage during an active Crime Scene because he wanted to know what it's like.

He was once dared to take Batmans Utility Belt by another Homeless Guy as a joke, so he walked up to Batman later that night in full view of everybody else and just asked for his Belt. He gives up after a few minutes, and one guy asked "Why not fight him for it? It's an experience after all.". Danny replys "Nah, I've fought Vigilantes before. It was fun though, gotta say!"

...

This got away from me, but all this to say: Imagine the Bat Families Reaction when they find out "Crazy Old Danny" is PHANTOM. You know, THE FIRST SUPERHERO!

I imagine Constantine is having a stroll though Gotham after finishing up some business with Bruce, and just bumps into a homeless guy by accident.

Later that night:

Batman: Constantine, Why are you calling? Is it to do with the-

Constantine: Why the fuck is there a Homeless God in your City?

Batman: Wait wha-

...

Or imagine they know before Constantine meets him, and it goes instead like this

Constantine: Why the fuck is there a Homeless God in your City?!

Batman: You mean Old Man Danny? He's just a homeless guy? What do you mean?

Constantine: I swear on what's left of my Soul, that is a God.

Batman, a little shit: I don't think so, I would know (fully knows)

[themonkeylikecreature]

how to get shit done politically

Find a group for people in your area who agree with you on issue (check discord, reddit, local college groups, religious centers, your friend group, and annoyingly facebook is very good for this)

Keep track of laws being voted on or passed in your local state/city (this also works to sway your representative for national laws)

Find a law you would like to be passed or not be passed that is being voted on

Post in group found above that said law is being voted on, a link to the reps website and phone number, and optionally a script as to what to say

Hopefully convince a 1-20 people to contact them

Because so few people participate in local politics, that is probably enough people to get them to do the thing you want (number needed depends on population)

Enjoy the changes to transportation / police / homelessness/ education policy/ local laws/ air quality/ environmental issues/ so many other things

(Bonus step, follow your state/city in tumblr tags, and post to tumblr as well, and maybe we can turn this website into a place you can get actual actionable steps)

[conkreetmonkey]

Splatoon 3 is wild because imagine if you were living in Japan due to a recent economic and cultural boom, and suddenly a space shuttle with a mutant house-sized T-rex riding it suddenly burst from the center of Mt. Fuji and disappeared into space without explanation, and all you ever find out about what the fuck that was about is that Zuckerburg mysteriously disappeared the same day and was never seen again, but still "officially" ran Meta through an open secret Queen-Elizabeth-being-in-good-health gaslighting campaign, and everybody kind of suspected he may have been connected but never figured out anything conclusive.

Also the T-rex is now orbiting the earth in the fetal position like the guy from Jojo, and there are rumors of a substance that, if touched, turns you into a half-dinosaur monster. Nobody understands any of this but Meta employees just keep going to work and pretending Zuck still exists. The same 12 prerecorded voicelines constantly squak from the PA system.

Oddly, the statue in front of Meta HQ of a T-rex eating a human changes overnight into one of a giant human eating a tiny T-rex. Nobody noticed the switch, despite the statue being in a constantly bustling area. It happened shortly after the shuttle incident.

Jack Black's tiny clone, Lil' Jack, now wears a headset at all times and has been acting really shady since the incident. Also they're both hyperintelligent, immortal velociraptors found in an ancient cryogenic chamber who spend their days judging college football and eating the legally harvested flesh of hillbillies. Lil' Jack is probably plotting to kill Big Jack, but Big Jack doesn't seem to care, growing fat and lazy, sleeping on public benches in a bed of throw pillows. Also, he's very open about the fact that, as a velociraptor, humans look delicious, but he hasn't actually eaten anybody aside from the aforementioned hillbillies because he's civil.

Everyone is just expected to move on with their lives after this. This is normal to you.

The local art school was recently attacked by giant sea serpents, which were actually hideously bioengineered hillbillies, fulfilling a biblical doomsday prophecy, and they were driven back by Meta's army of minimum wage, part time child soldiers armed with warcrimey jury-rigged weaponry. The sea serpents had giant frying pans grafted into their mouths, which launched primitive tactical nukes made by filling garbage bags with their explosive blood. They still exist, and occasionally defend their comrades, but spend most of their time in the deep sea.

The local homeless emo twink everyone's attracted to is a closet millionaire who sells bootleg clothing in exchange for live rats, which he messily devours behind closed doors. He's also 8 feet tall and British and only has one eye.

North Korean refugees now flood the western world, after a greasy 14 year old hipster, under the guidance of Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift, beat Kim Jong Un in a mech battle, and the EDM remix of the Japanese national anthem they performed caused like half the soldiers to immediately realize North Korea sucks ass and defect. One of these individuals, 7 foot tall hypergenius, becomes a newscaster alongside a nepo baby rapper with dwarfism who likes to eat entire jars of mayo, and also they're a popular band. Also also, they may or may not be gay. Almost the entire population is gay, so this isn't a huge deal.

The new local newscasters are a famous Japanese lion tamer, an Indian girl with a bloodline trait allowing her to control snakes, and a Brazillian man the size of a smart car who exclusively communicates via grunts.

Gods, souls and zombies are objectively real, and you're effectively immortal because real-life respawning was invented a while ago. It works like a Keurig, but with mucus instead of coffee. Submersion in water kills you.

A good deal of the population is a hivemind. They pretend to be individuals for no reason.

Almost all men are now femboys.

Despite all this, you still have to go to work at 9 tomorrow.

[twstfanblog]

Woooow Jamil jr really out here framing his dad for a crime he didn’t commit lol

HEHEHEEH, the first meeting story of the Evil Dad AU unlocked!

Yeah, Jamil kicks off the search because THERE'S A WARRENT FOR HIS ARREST. Kalim: Kalim: So…we should look into this right? Jamil: OBVIOUSLY

They get to the city and everyone they suspect of being a part of the gambling ring gives Jamil answers so easily. Because they think he's their boss and he looks pissed, nothing good comes from a pissed-off boss. they manage to get led to the main hideout building of the gambling ring on their first day in the city. But things can't be that easy right?

They get to the back table, both of them stunned to see a perfect copy of Jamil working a table and winning big.

Kalim: Kalim: Jamil? "Jamil": JJ under his UM, looking like Jamil, just bolts after catching Jamil's expression of pure murder. It's chaotic chase scene that ends with Jamil losing the fake in an alleyway. Jamil has no idea where the bastard went, so their stay extends until they can catch him. This happens on and off for like a week. Then, after one failed chase, Jamil noticed that there's a small opening in the wall. He takes note and goes back to the other alleys he lost the fake in. They all have small openings pointed to the walled off center of the city. Jamil: Hey…what's on the other side of these walls? NPC: Oh. That's all abandoned houses back there. They put the walls up so tourists didn't have to look at them.

Kalim and Jamil go in the middle of the night to explore the abandoned part of the city, not really sure what they're looking for other than scenes of life. Which they do find in the form of the local homeless population. While Jamil talks to them Kalim keeps looking through the houses. Kalim manages to find Yuu's hideout for JJ, noting how everything in the house looks decently new and well taken care of. Walking around, he finds actual JJ on the couch asleep. Kalim notices he really does look just like Jamil but much younger. Kalim isn't very bright but boy does have eyes Kalim: Kalim: By the seven. Jamil has a SON….

A statement that wakes JJ up and he instantly pulls a knife on Kalim. Jamil shows up to find 'Fake Jamil' with a knife to Kalim's throat JJ: Stay away or he's dead! Jamil is about to use deadly force. Impressed or not, he needs Kalim to maintain control over the Asim's trade lines but Kalim calls out to stop him. Kalim: Jamil no! He's just a kid! JJ: Shut up!? Kalim: It's an illusion! He's like 9! JJ: FUCK YOU, I'M 11-Damn it. JJ goes for broke and shoves Kalim at Jamil to make a run for it. Final parkour chase scene of Jamil chasing down JJ in the abandoned city. It ends with JJ trying to scale a building o escape Jamil, only for a part to break off and he goes falling down. Jamil manages to save him and now he's got an armful of a tiny version of himself. Jamil, thinking: 11...11 Years ago. Who was I even with 11 years-? *Flash of Yuu in a belly dancer outfit asking him about the 'fabled' snake scepter that she stole the ruby eyes out of * Jamil:

They take JJ with them back to the house they're staying in and interrogate him. The first question being, 'Where's your mother?'. To which they find out that JJ hasn't seen Yuu in about a year, but she still sends JJ his monthly allowance to buy food and do general home upkeep, so he assumes she's still alive. And Kalim asks the most burning question he has.

Kalim: What's JJ stand for? JJ: JJ: I wanna talk about something else- Jamil: No. What does it stand for? JJ: JJ: Jamil Junior- Jamil: REALLY???? JJ: LOOK- Jamil: YOU KNOWINGLY FRAMED YOUR OUR FATHER!? JJ: LOOK

JJ spends the night at their home, Kalim and Jamil prepping to bring JJ back with them. This is Jamil's kid! Kalim can't leave him to fend for himself and Jamil plans to use JJ to try to lure Yuu out of hiding so he can FINALLY put her in a cage himself. Only for the two of them to wake up the next day to find JJ GONE. Luckily they both know where he is and it's back in the fucking illegal gambling house, disguised as Jamil, AGAIN.

Jamil: JJ! JJ, counting his money: I'm busy- Jamil: Get over here. Get over here, right now. JJ: In a minute. Sorry folks, my brother and I gotta talk about something. Back in a few! JJ shoves Jamil and Kalim out into one of the alleys and drops his UM; an angry, small 11-year-old boy glaring up at Jamil. JJ: WHAT!? Jamil: Don't you fucking raise your voice at me... Jamil states that they are LEAVING, JJ is coming with them whether he likes it or not. JJ counters that while it's nice having such a 'loving father', he doesn't plan on leaving. He will try to not get another warrant sent for Jamil's arrest though. Jamil, counter-counters by just picking JJ up and tucking him under his arm. Which while the fastest move was not the best move. JJ is screaming and kicking the whole way out of the city, Kalim beside them all smiles and saying how much JJ is gonna love their house and how much new stuff they'll get him. At a point, Jamil Snake Whispers JJ to sleep, so that he'll stop pitching a fit. Cue JJ waking up nearly a day later in a new city, in his new room, all decked out like a mini Scarabian prince. Sleepily glaring at Jamil bringing him some food.

Jamil: Jamil: Good morning- JJ: You motherfucker- Jamil: That's right. I did fuck your mother. That's how you got here. You're welcome. From there, it's multiple failed escape attempts. But, JJ is getting harder to keep trapped and then Kalim delivers the news that Yuu's been captured and an execution date has been set.

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

Spider-Punk x Black Cat: Punk!Cat Headcanons

Yes, I'm doing this. Every Spider-Man needs his Cat.

First of all, they'll be the first to tell you they are not dating.

If you ask, they'll both say 'We hate labels'. It's their thing.

If Hobie is the king of all things anti-facist then Felicia is the monarch of rage fueled feminism and anti-capitalism

Hates all things classist, racist and sexist and has a 'k!ll your local rap*st' patch on her battle vest

And her weapon of choice is spiked-out brass knuckle claws

Hobie towers over her (like he does everyone), but Felicia's ten times louder and twice as confrontational. Felicia in any universe talks bold with no filter, and Punk!Cat is that turned up to eleven

Which is probably why she's on vocals in the band

She has a mouth like a sailor and an accent as thick as Hobie's, so mixed with his slang, their conversation are literally British-dipped jibberish

Her style sits on the border of old-school punk and trad goth. She's usually in all black and white, compared to Hobie's red and blue, and sometime her domino mask is swapped out for trad goth style eyeliner

The motives align more than any other Spider-Man, at that makes things a lot easier.

Hobie loves a girl who can do a little direct action, and his anarchist beliefs align more with hers than any other Spider-man.

Though they did have to get over the fact he's an anarchist and she's a communist (she constantly says to him 'i dont believe in private property')

Of course she likes to steal, and she's real good at it

To most Spider-men this would be annoying, but Hobie actually finds it fairly impressive.

She steals things for him constantly, and he keeps every single thing she gives him. Lots of times they turn out to be useful, especially in his builds

Punk!Cat steals shit from museums to return objects back to their native countries and defaces pieces from racist, sexist artists

Steals from banks to handover the money to grass-roots resistance movements

And since Hobie is one of the only Spider-men to hate cops (blue laces people) he's always there to happily protect her from the pigs

She's still herself, but a bit different than most Felicias

Every Felicia is a little 'not normal' about Spider-Man, and Punk!Cat is the same, but approaches it from a different angle

She'll call Hobie a hero only because she know it bugs the day lights out of him

But unlike a LOT of Felicias, Punk!Cat outright hates Spider-Man merch and imagery

She thinks it's incredibly exploitative of Hobie and everything he stands for.

And she hates their totalitarian J.Jonah more than anything because if theres one thing she hates, it's misinformation and propaganda

Although most Fe's love their jewlery like no other, Punk!Cat takes another slight deviation -

Punk!Cat knows that things like diamonds, pearls, and gold has been used as items of oppression for literal centuries. Instead of a taste for items of bougeois lust, Felicia is much more into punk jewlery

She loves everything pinned, spiked, and covered in soda tabs. Her hero uniform is covered in chains, and even her canon 3-claw grappling hook is replaced with a heavy chain and hook she fashioned herself. Scavanged, of course.

She's really close with Gwen and Pavi

Community outreach is everything to a punk, ya'll

Her and Gwen get along immediately. Felicia is never one to be quick to jealousy and she accepts Gwen with open arms.

Gwen turns up to Hobie's universe distraught and homeless.

She teaches her about squatters rights and how her and Hobie keep a roof over their heads, always made sure she had toiletries and someone to talk to, because she knows what it's like to have a strained relationship with your dad

Pavi takes to everyone quickly, but when he and Felicia are together, it gets LOUD

The Spider-Society hates her

And Felicia and Hobie love it

Hobie had no idea how controversial dating Felicia would be. Not for band fans, but for all the other Spider-people

Turns out, Felicias aren't very popular with the Society

The both of them thinks it hilarious

They tell him Spider-people are suppose to be with their MJ's. That's how it's meant to be.

Dating a Felicia or saving a Gwen is an anonmaly waiting to happen.

But neither of them care, and if anything, that only eggs them on. If everyone thinks they're 'bound' to breakup eventually then thats even more reason for them to stick together.

Hobie has absolutely made Felicia her own watch

One which she uses to crash the Spider-Society every now and again

Because of this, Miguel hates her and Jess is just so done with the both of them

Even if Hobie and Peter.B are in no way close, Peter seems to be the only adult in their corner. As a Spider-man that didn't have the most conventional story with his MJ, he's more than supportive of Hobie and his unconventional story with Felicia. He figures if he and MJ can make it work, so can they.

Her and Gwen bond over the awkwardness of being variants of the dead or ex-girlfriend of most of the Spider-society, and how Spider-men see them because of it

And when it's time to take the Society down, she's the first in line (after Hobie, Gwen, and Pavi of course)

[dxmedstudent]

I haven't been on Tumblr in a while but wanted to check how you're doing! How is married life treating you and how is work- I remember last time you were applying for GP training! I'm just coming to the end of F1 :)

Me neither, Anon! Honestly? I have been meaning to come back to Tumblr a while ago, but life has been busy! I had tried to spend less time on socual media so i could focus on my membership exams, and that went too well.

Time flies, I can't believe it's been more than 10 years since I joined tumblr or graduated from med school.

I can't remember which updates I've already shared, so I'll make a list.

Married life is great - pretty similar to pre-married life. Because we started off in different cities due to my training and covid, it's honestly just a joy to live together and be able to hang out. I've been meaning to post a couple of anonymised wedding photos. It still feels amazing that we managed to get all the people we love together. We also managed to fly out to my birth country so that DxDude could meet my relatives...most of whom don't speak English. It was hilarious and lovely and he took being mobbed by an army of Eastern European Babushkas very well.

We adopted a cat! His owner died suddenly and my parents sort of got left with the cat. It was at a difficult time, as it was around the time my beloved cat passed away last year. I still miss her. But I couldn't let someone's baby, a lovely senior cat, live out his last days in a shelter. He's a little 14ish year old man called Sherlock. He loves being held and sitting on my shoulders and he drools when he gets excited. We've been trying to discourage his habit of nipping you when he wants something.

My houseplants and balcony plants may be slowly getting out of control, but I'm happy I have lots of them, and i would have more if we weren't running out of space. I'm currently waging a war against mealybugs. Send thoughts and prayers.

I did get into GP training! And it was local to where I wanted to be, which made it much easier to finally move in together. In fact, I JUST finished GP training a couple of weeks ago and am now living my GP dreams working in one of the practices that I trained in. It's very inner city London. Our patients have complex needs, and I'm honoured to ve in a team that have a lot of experience serving patients affected by substance abuse, homelessness and refugee populations and other complex issues.

We went on Honeymoon to Japan! It was amazing, and I'd still love to go again. I was bold enough to arrange my Honeymoon to be barely a month before a postgraduate exam, but I passed!

This past academic year has been filled with sitting exams and jumping through the hoops required for my eportfolio. On top of working full time as a GP. I didn't think I would do it all first time TBH, but my supervisor had more faith in me than I did. It's honestly been amazing to work for a few jobs in GP training where I felt seen and wanted and where my hard work was appreciated. I can't believe my supervisor offered me my current job, and wanted me to stay on, but they did!

I finished a diploma in sexual and reproductive health and trained in fitting contraceptive implants. I'd like to train up to fit IUDs also to try to improve local access to sexual health services.

I went on strike these past couple of years, when the junior doctors went on strike again. I'm still processing the pay offer and the new government. But I'm relieved we're no loner under the Tories.

We'd like to move house, but we've not gotten around to trying to do this seriously, because my life was already stressful enough. We do need more space, and I hope we'll find somewhere modestly nice that we can afford.

We're trying for kids, and it's sadly taking much longer than we hoped. Being a patient is...a slow and frustrating experience because it already feels like I've had to work harder than I should to advocate for appropriate care. I could say a LOT about the postcode lotteries that come with UK fertility care but I'll leave that for another post.

I've finally accepted that my hair is wavy, and I'm trying out different products to lean into the natural waves and bring them out without leaving it a frizzy Hermione-esque mess. It spent tge past years mostly in a plait or cadet bun, but I'm finally giving my hair a bit more freedom. I have NOT yet accepted that my hair is mostly white at this point. I alternate between wanting to go grey (because that would look cool) and wanting to stay brown because that's kind of how I've imagined myself for the past 35+ years.

I finally get to indulge in painting my nails. I've loved it since I was like 13 and seeing my nails sparkly and colorful brings out my inner 13 year old and she is thrilled. Every time I make my nails glow in the dark, I show them off to DxDude before bed.

My laptop died and then I inherited an old laptop from my parents which is also dying. Which is part of the reason I haven't created much art in recent years. I should probably just bite the bullet and buy a new one, but my exams and diplomas have been expensive so I've been putting it off. To be fair I also made the decision to use my limited free time to keep up with friends and family IRL and try not to feel bad about taking a break from creating. I felt like I was blaming myself for not managing to do everything I wanted to do. I've slowly accepted that none of us can do everything.

I think that's it for now. Looking forward to catching up with what medblr are up to 😃

[script-a-world]

Submitted via Google Form:

Any tips on creating monsters? Especially if these monsters are simply some of the native life forms of an isolated location our heroes find themselves on? I mean sure, I think of whatever creepy and scary idea you can think of and chuck it in... but there would probably be reasons they evolved that way naturally and it isn't to terrorise outsiders.

Also, if I have one of those monsters secreting a toxin, how possible is to to have one of my humans someone be immune to it, or otherwise has minimal effect on them?

Addy: If you're looking to make something fit an ecological niche, start with what already exists and work from there. Not necessarily a cut-and-paste, but take inspiration from it.

For example, there's something to be said about the simple bear. Bears are scary. They're big, they're tough, they're pretty fast, they can climb trees, they're reasonably clever, and they're very hard to kill. The word "bear" basically means "the brown one," as people used to be so scared of bears they wouldn't say their name, in case a bear got summoned.

Also wild boars. Pigs are freakishly big, and wild hogs are worse. Boar spears have a crossguard to keep the hog from just running the spear through its whole body as it runs at you. You also get into jaguars (they're like IRL drop bears in the shape of cats), crocodiles, and all sorts of kinds of things. Even hippos.

You want somewhere to start? Take a large, bulky predator (or omnivore or big herbivore) and give it some weird traits. Adapt it to the demands of your local environment. Give it a niche to fill, with a lot of the basic premise/heavy lifting done for you by nature. How about a giant bat? Or a coyote with mange (likely the origin of the capybara tale)? Or a cannibalistic giant lizard? Then add spooky and scary stuff, go for it. But remember - some of the creatures that we find very normal and commonplace? They were once considered monsters too.

For toxins... it depends on what the toxin is. If it shuts down specific metabolic processes, then your characters could be totally immune, as they have different biology. Or maybe it's like how alliums (garlic, onions, and leeks) are super toxic to most pet and livestock species, but not us. Our blood is just a bit different in a way that makes n-propyl disulfide (the compound that makes alliums toxic) wayyyy less toxic. The toxin could also be intended for birds or reptiles or whatever else, and therefore have a lesser effect on mammals. Or maybe humans are just special.

Also, threat displays are very much a thing. They're big, they're flashy, they're scary. You can have a critter that hisses and growls and blows up a neck pouch for intimidation, and the intended purpose of that is to scare off creatures that would try to steal its food.

Feral: I’m gonna take a slightly different approach to monster making than filling an evolutionary niche. Classic horror monsters often derive from thematic or symbolic exploration. Vampires are a seductive Other; although they come from older folktales, the vampire of today was born in the early 19th century to explore the racist, xenophobic, and homophobic anxieties of English society.  Werewolves also have much older origins than the common version in modern media but have always blurred the line between a civilized human and a primal beast. 

Looking to the horror King, It fed on fear, taking the shape of the children’s fears - monsters from B-movies like werewolves, a clown, a woman from a creepy portrait, a syphilis-infected homeless man, a zombified Georgie - which the narrative used to explore more abstract fears - leaving childhood and going through puberty, not to mention the overall terrorizing effect of racism, misogyny, and homophobia on the population. The Shining doesn’t even try to pretend it’s not about alcoholism and the effects of substance abuse on a family.

You mention that this story will take place in an isolated setting. Isolation is terrifically thematic. How can you lean into it? What if everyone who dies seems to be totally alone when it happens? And even after they realize they’re in danger, they keep putting themselves in a situation to be alone? Pair that with your monster’s evolution to better survive. Does the monster have some way of peeling one person off from the pack as part of how they hunt - maybe they have some form of vocal mimicry like some birds or a cat that makes the person think they are going towards a crying baby or wounded animal? Does it have exceptional camouflage so no one suspects they are not alone when they’re in a vulnerable position? You mention there being a toxin - instead of killing, can it produce hallucinations or paranoia that would cause a person to split from the group? These could all help the monster hunt whatever its normal prey would be while still tapping into much more abstract fears that you want to explore.

[thenixkat]

Mundane AU!Laios thoughts

Note:

Probably contains spoilers

Mundane au= no magic and no fantasy 'races' (like... little people are a thing, they exist in reality, some people just have dwarfism. The elves are just skinny racist and xenophobic Europeans like? And there's already parralells made with the demi humans so if I do anything the orcs are Afro Native and Kobolds are somewhere African or Arab. And for the ogres... gigantism is a thing that exists in real like and totally a teen girl would just wear some horns.)

Thoughts:

The Toudens are European-born. From somewhere cold as hell, really isolated and conservative, that's close to some mountains, that's racist towards the local indigenous people.

(The sibs, but especially Laios got chewed out about some shit and has been trying to be better, slips up every now and then but takes criticism well so long as folks tell him what he did/said wrong).

Local weird kids put off vibes that the rest of the village didn't like, Laios and Falin grew up bullied and ostracized. Falin got sent off to schooling in the big city and later to a university in Italy where she met Marcille.

Laios dropped out of high school and joined the military as soon as he was able to b/c he wanted to get the hell out of dodge. Served for a few shitty years b4 just... deserting and backpacking across Europe just straight up homeless and working whatever odd jobs he could find. Man was going through it. Wound up in the same city where Falin was studying at a university in and decided to visit her. She took one look at him and refused to let him just go back to what he was doing, so Laios started couch surfing with her (very much against dorm rules but he looked terrible and Falin wasn't about to let anyone stop her from making sure her brother has a roof over his head and food).

Eventually, she takes him with her when she does a work-study in the USA for her ecology degree and they ended up staying/Falin kinda maybe sorta dropped out and got a job with a vet near where she was doing her work-study.

Laios and Falin are technically illegal immigrants but they're white so no one really questions their citizenship (their working on getting citizenship/papers)

Laios gets a GED. Does some self-study from Falin's textbooks and online stuff but that's about it for his schooling.

Laios definitely, like, lives in Falin's basement. Falin is the primary breadwinner in this household, Laios is aware of this and has learned to accept it even tho he would like to take care of his baby sister and sometimes feels bad about not being able to. They used to share a room in a cheap apartment but after building up enough savings they managed to buy a suspiciously cheap house in a rural town bordering a reservation and not far from a national park.

Laios still works odd jobs, mostly physical labor and stuff where they won't ask for a degree. Has worked retail, where his customer service was trash but he's darn good at just stocking and shelving shit.

Met Chilchuck while working retail, Chilchuck introduced him to the concept of a union which Laios thinks is really neat.

The town where the Touden's moved has a sizable population of people with dwarfism, Chilchuck is a notable member of the little person community in the area. The Touden's go to Chilchuck for help with paperwork (they pay him a small fee) and he doesn't ask too many questions about why they don't have this or that piece of documentation.

Laios enjoys doing citizen science and bird watching. During the tourist season, he runs a small wilderness guide giving campers and hikers tours in the local national park.

There's a hermit that lives in the national park illegally (Senshi) that Laios and Falin made friends with. They love his cooking.

Laios is active in the online furry community. He does commissions, mostly of digital and physical art or people's fursonas and vore stuff. He does great ferals, and decent anthros, but his human art is not good (he's working on it).

Laios is decidedly chubby in this, his weight goes up and down depending on the season and how much physical activity he's doing. But ever since he reunited with Falin, she's been making sure he doesn't skip meals if they can afford to eat. And ever since he met Senshi he's gotten heftier since he loves that man's cooking.

[evidence-based-activism]

Any sources on prostitution where the interviewees aren't pulled from shelters/help centres? I saw someone talk about how a lot of studies purposefully pull the most vulnerable women to include in the study so that results are negatively skewed. It's a silly argument to me because it doesn't take away the fact that those women literally exist, but I am interested to see other studies

Yes! Honestly, I think this is more of a "ask for proof studies are purposefully pulling only from shelters" situation, because while there are definitely some studies that do this (and that's a good thing! studying this subset of prostitutes is important!) I can find no evidence that this is a common theme in this field.

Unless you mean to exclude research that involves contacting participants through various outreach agencies. This is fairly common in prostitution research, but it's not a unique phenomenon; it's a common technique for studying any relatively small and/or "underground" population (i.e., contact via an established organization that has already established themselves as legitimate). Further, these agencies often aren't just helping women who self-select into a program, they are deliberately reaching out to the local prostitute (and/or other vulnerable*) population(s) in order to offer assistance. As such, this is essentially the same procedure that any research study would start with (contacting a sample of the population), it's just been done in advance of the research starting. (It's similar to snowball sampling, which is an accepted sampling technique when probability sampling is impossible.) There is still some research that doesn't use this strategy, some of which I list below, but it is less common, again due to the size and secrecy in this population.

(*Another thing to note is that the "help centers" researchers recruit prostitutes from aren't always specifically about prostitution. Instead they may be focused on homelessness, substance abuse, job training, health clinics, or other government services.)

---

That being said, here's some examples of the research I think you're looking for:

To start, one of the most frequently cited studies I see, "Prostitution and Trafficking in Nine Countries" [1], is the origin of the of the "89% of people in prostitution want to leave prostitution" statistic interviewed people (mainly women, but also occasionally some men and transgender women) in help centers in only 2 of the 9 countries, and even then they didn't exclusively interview women from help centers in those countries. There's also good reason to believe that in Thailand - one of the countries where they interviewed women at a help center - the results were actually positively skewed. Specifically, they were unable to interview many women on the street as they "found that pimps did not allow the prostitutes to answer our questions". The country estimates of individuals who want to leave prostitution ranged from 68-99%, excluding countries where interviews were primarily conducted in either help centers or medical centers changes the range to 68-97%. (This study covered a lot of other topics as well, including current and past experiences of violence.)

A non-exhaustive list of other studies that didn't pull (at least not completely) from shelters/help centers:

200 female street prostitutes in the San Francisco Bay Area; study found 62% were physically abused as a child, 60% were sexually abused as a child, 62% started in prostitution before age 16 [2]

1,969 women identified via "information on prostitute women identified by police and health department surveillance"; study found a standard mortality ratio (mortality compared to general population) of 1.9 for active and inactive prostitutes, 5.9 for active prostitutes only, and 7.9 for homicide of active and inactive prostitutes, and 17.7 for homicide of active prostitutes only [3]

193 legal prostitutes in Zurich were recruited from "different locations, namely outdoors, in studios, bars, cabarets, parlours, brothels and escort services"; study found 63% had at least one mental disorder, notably this study did not represent "women who were forced [in] to sex work and women who were working illegally" [4]

A research review [5] - albeit one fairly limited in scope, as they looked only at research on adult female street prostitutes in western countries - summarizes various physical health, mental health, and violence studies; samples ranged from street interviews to help centers to medical centers

This research review [6] examined dissociation in various work (street, brothel, club, etc.) settings, prison, and help centers; methodological limitations prevented a meta-analysis, but they found high rates of prior trauma, violence, and dissociative behaviors/symptoms among prostitutes. They also note that "The more accessible and thus most studied [female sex workers] are those acting on the street, in public brothels, in clubs or in windows."

134 female porn actresses recruited via an online survey; results poorer mental health and increased experience of multiple forms of violence including childhood sexual abuse [7]

An analysis of the content on a website for escorts to share information found "physical violence and electronic abuse are common experiences" [8]

222 women in indoor and outdoor prostitution settings were interviewed, most were contacted outside of a shelter or treatment center; high rates of violence were reported across all settings [9]

And, of course, none of this addresses all the other issues with prostitution such as the relationship between prostitution and human trafficking, the negative societal effects (e.g., perpetuation of misogyny), etc.

I hope this is what you're looking for! Let me know if it isn't!

References below the cut:

Farley, M., Cotton, A., Lynne, J., Zumbeck, S., Spiwak, F., Reyes, M. E., Alvarez, D., & Sezgin, U. (2004). Prostitution and Trafficking in Nine Countries. Journal of Trauma Practice, 2(3–4), 33–74. https://doi.org/10.1300/J189v02n03_03

SILBERT, M. H., & PINES, A. M. (1982). Entrance into Prostitution. Youth & Society, 13(4), 471–500. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X82013004005

Potterat, J. J., Brewer, D. D., Muth, S. Q., Rothenberg, R. B., Woodhouse, D. E., Muth, J. B., Stites, H. K., & Brody, S. (2004). Mortality in a Long-term Open Cohort of Prostitute Women. American Journal of Epidemiology, 159(8), 778–785. https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwh110

Rössler, W., Koch, U., Lauber, C., Hass, A.-K., Altwegg, M., Ajdacic-Gross, V., & Landolt, K. (2010). The mental health of female sex workers. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 122(2), 143–152. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0447.2009.01533.x

Love, R. (2015). Street Level Prostitution: A Systematic Literature Review. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 36(8), 568–577. https://doi.org/10.3109/01612840.2015.1020462

Tschoeke, Stefan, et al. “A Systematic Review of Dissociation in Female Sex Workers.” Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, vol. 20, no. 2, Mar. 2019, pp. 242–57. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1080/15299732.2019.1572044.

Grudzen, Corita R., et al. “Comparison of the Mental Health of Female Adult Film Performers and Other Young Women in California.” Psychiatric Services, vol. 62, no. 6, June 2011, pp. 639–45. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1176/ps.62.6.pss6206_0639.

Davies, Kim, and Lorraine Evans. “A Virtual View of Managing Violence among British Escorts.” Deviant Behavior, vol. 28, no. 6, Sept. 2007, pp. 525–51. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1080/01639620701316830.

Raphael, Jody, and Deborah L. Shapiro. “Violence in Indoor and Outdoor Prostitution Venues.” Violence Against Women, vol. 10, no. 2, Feb. 2004, pp. 126–39. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801203260529.

[memphisfoodnotbombs]

In this video, the Memphis chapter of Food Not Bombs faces harassment from the Blue Suede Brigade (BSB), a seemingly subservient apparatus of the Downtown Memphis Commission (DMC). BSB targeted and disrupted our compassionate service under the pretense of requiring a permit for sharing food in a public park. This incident occurred during a picnic at Court Square Park on Saturday, 10/14/2023, at approximately 2:05 pm.

The DMC, a business entity supposedly responsible for governing residential and business areas in downtown Memphis, receives public funding based on property value assessments and utilizes the BSB as the “eyes and ears of the business community.”

The requirement of a permit to offer a basic necessity further highlights the systemic injustice endured by our community.

This incident is not isolated but represents an ongoing problem concerning the DMC. We have attempted to engage with the DMC and elicit a plausible explanation for their legal authority to impose permit requirements on non-vendors in a public space. Despite sending a letter to the DMC over 11 weeks ago, their response has been evasive and unsatisfactory.

Memphis mayor-elect Paul Young, President/CEO of the DMC, vaguely suggested that the issue would be addressed internally through comments on our social media pages. Why then was the Blue Suede Brigade officer unaware of this supposed resolution?

The persistent harassment we face is a direct result of the DMC's failure to provide a satisfactory answer to our legitimate question: "We ask the Downtown Memphis Commission to immediately clarify its legal authority to require and issue permits to non-vendors."

When will the DMC cite its legal authority?

The recent harassment exposes the negligence and indifference of the DMC towards addressing the legitimate concerns we have raised. We question the DMC's reluctance to cite their legal authority and establish a justifiable basis for impeding acts of compassion and the sharing of food in public parks.

During the incident, one of the individuals seeking food assistance was a homeless veteran who had not eaten in over 24 hours. Another unhoused person recounted being denied access to local shelters due to not possessing the "proper" identification simply because they hailed from another state. These stories reflect the dire situations faced by the unhoused population in Memphis while exposing the failure of the existing system to meet their basic needs.

Unhoused individuals are our neighbors. It is our collective responsibility to support and uplift them, rather than subjecting them to further harm and exclusion. It is not a crime to extend a helping hand, enjoy a picnic in a public park, or share food with those in need. Compassion and solidarity should never be trumped by bureaucratic restrictions.

The Memphis Flyer

We invite you to read our open letter to the DMC for further details: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19xCJbdgkjPBVw-r6oC_m9tuNPfIVixHFAz-KlX0MZ9E/edit?usp=sharing

Find more videos, press articles, links to socials and information in our Linktree: https://linktr.ee/memphisfoodnotbombs

Link to this video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/MNxS11bK87c?si=8bzqe2du6ZpECWfg

In this video, the Memphis chapter of Food Not Bombs faces harassment from the Blue Suede Brigade (BSB), a seemingly subservient apparatus of the Downtown Memphis Commission (DMC). BSB targeted and disrupted our compassionate service under the pretense of requiring a permit for sharing food in a public park. This incident occurred during a picnic at Court Square Park on Saturday, 10/14/2023, at approximately 2:05 pm.

The DMC, a business entity supposedly responsible for governing residential and business areas in downtown Memphis, receives public funding based on property value assessments and utilizes the BSB as the “eyes and ears of the business community.”

The requirement of a permit to offer a basic necessity further highlights the systemic injustice endured by our community.

This incident is not isolated but represents an ongoing problem concerning the DMC. We have attempted to engage with the DMC and elicit a plausible explanation for their legal authority to impose permit requirements on non-vendors in a public space. Despite sending a letter to the DMC over 11 weeks ago, their response has been evasive and unsatisfactory.

Memphis mayor-elect Paul Young, President/CEO of the DMC, vaguely suggested that the issue would be addressed internally through comments on our social media pages. Why then was the Blue Suede Brigade officer unaware of this supposed resolution?

The persistent harassment we face is a direct result of the DMC's failure to provide a satisfactory answer to our legitimate question: "We ask the Downtown Memphis Commission to immediately clarify its legal authority to require and issue permits to non-vendors."

When will the DMC cite its legal authority?

The recent harassment exposes the negligence and indifference of the DMC towards addressing the legitimate concerns we have raised. We question the DMC's reluctance to cite their legal authority and establish a justifiable basis for impeding acts of compassion and the sharing of food in public parks.

During the incident, one of the individuals seeking food assistance was a homeless veteran who had not eaten in over 24 hours. Another unhoused person recounted being denied access to local shelters due to not possessing the "proper" identification simply because they hailed from another state. These stories reflect the dire situations faced by the unhoused population in Memphis while exposing the failure of the existing system to meet their basic needs.

Unhoused individuals are our neighbors. It is our collective responsibility to support and uplift them, rather than subjecting them to further harm and exclusion. It is not a crime to extend a helping hand, enjoy a picnic in a public park, or share food with those in need. Compassion and solidarity should never be trumped by bureaucratic restrictions.

No one needs permission to share the gift of compassion. Food is not a privilege but a fundamental human right that must be secured for all individuals.

We invite you to read our open letter to the DMC for further details: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19xCJbdgkjPBVw-r6oC_m9tuNPfIVixHFAz-KlX0MZ9E/edit?usp=sharing

Find more videos, press articles, links to socials and information in our Linktree: https://linktr.ee/memphisfoodnotbombs

Link to this video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/MNxS11bK87c?si=8bzqe2du6ZpECWfg

#FoodNotPermits #FoodNotBombs #FoodNotBombsMemphis #MemphisFoodNotBombs #PermitPaul #PaulYoung #Memphis #MemphisTennessee #MayorOfMemphis #MemphisTN #PleaseShare #DowntownMemphis #DowntownMemphisCommission #BlueSuede #BlueSuedeBrigade #FoodIsARight #FoodIsAHumanRight #Love #Compassion

[beifong-brainrot]

The (old) announcement for the new earth Avatar series in 2025 is making the rounds on twitter with so many reactions being wishing for a Bolin-like mankisser Avatar, which has led me & my maladaptive daydreaming to concoct this speculation/wishlist/fanfic, hope you enjoy:

Technology has evolved to be somewhat modern day tech with majority population no longer very spiritual & dismiss bending & spirits as being "old head" stuff & glorified pretty animals & weird martial arts, and now the Avatar isn't considered a big deal anymore. This is part of the main conflict with the new Avatar

Korra dies at around 80ish, mostly b/c I want old lady Master Jinora to be the new Avatar's main spiritual teacher

Show starts with Jinora copying her dad's lead and summarize the end of Korra's life before zooming in on her and the White Lotus going around the Earth Kingdom searching for the new Avatar. Unlike w/ previous generations, there's hardly any Avatar claims, which is nice b/c no random false claims, but Jinora gets annoyed at how un-spritual and downright flippant people are about the Avatar cycle nowadays.

This search goes really wrong though... b/c 20 years after Korra's death and they still haven't found the new Avatar 😨. WL members begin wondering if the cycle is broken, but Jinora doesn't give up hope in finding Korra's reincarnation.

Jinora may be an old lady, but she's very spry and agile and credits the Air Nomad lifestyle for how she doesn't slow down at all in the search.

Scenes begin getting interspliced during the Avatar search, cutting to some ”random” Earthbender (obvs the Avatar). He's some big buff brown athlete dude who is trying to make it to the big leagues of pro-bending... but he struggles a lot. Backstory: he's dirt poor and kicked out by his family after being such a failure in school, turning to sports to try to live out his dream is a last ditch effort. Very last ditch b/c if he doesn't win tonight's match money, he's not gonna make rent and end up homeless, so he's very stressed.

Cut to some of the younger While Lotus guys who pass by the local small-town arena and then ask Master Jinora if they can take a break this weekend and watch a local pro-bending match. Honors was at first gonna say no, but her gut/spiritual connection to the previous Avatar suddenly tells her that going inside might be a good idea.

They walk in to see a pro-bending match in progress, and it's pretty neck&neck with our Earth Avatar looking like he might be able to pull out a close victory..... until the enemy's team's earthbender sends him flying back, and instead of falling normally, our Avatar gets genuinely scared that he's gonna break his neck and experiences a slowmotion "life flashing before my eyes" near-death moment where he gets sad b/c.... he's kinda a loser and his life sucks!

That's when he suddenly airbends and catches his fall.

Jinora & the WL are overjoyed to see this and it's a big huge moment..... until they zoom out and it turns out nobody else in the arena gives a single fuck outside of the fact that airbending is cheating ”yellow fan! move back 1 zone!" even our new Avatar's teammates are pissed at him

Jinora gets really mad "Um, hello? That's the Avatar!" but nobody cares beyond the game. Jinora starts grumbling abt "young folks"

Our new Avatar doesn't even care much either and just pleads with the ref that he just did it on accident, but the yellow fan goes thru.... and it ends up costing the match!

new Avatar leaves the match dejected and kicked off the team "if you hadn't done that Avatar mumbo jumbo, we would've won the prize money!" and new Avatar leaves teary eyed and cursing this "stupid Avatar stuff"

Jinora & the WL drop in on new Avatar (literally, Jinora is too excited and just flies down from the sky) and new Avatar yells abt "I don't have any money, scary airbending Grandma-mugger! Please don't rob me, I'm already homeless!"

It takes a while for Jinora to convince him to come with her (turns out, he doesn't know much abt Avatar stuff either, Jinora really starts grumbling abt "young folks" now) but in the end the White Lotus win him over by pointing out that the Avatar gets free room & board from the WL.

scene break to the following day, preparing to take a Sky Bison to the Fire Nation, & the new Avatar asks why they're going there

Jinora explains that the WL has contacts with the traditional Sun Warrior pueblos who have agreed to train the new Avatar in Firebending (Jinora then wonders aloud if the offer still stands after being 20 years late in finding him)

new Avatar guy then asks why Fire first, & not Air. Then Jinora starts lecturing him abt having to go in the order of the Avatar cycle ”It's Earth Fire Air then Water. How do you not know this?"

While she's ranting abt this, some dude shows up and new Avatar tries to hide by earthbending a hole into the ground... it turns out to be his dad. Somehow, his dad found out abt him being a late bloomer Avatar (new Avatar bragged on corny Instagram-parody abt being the new Avatar, it wasn't as popularly received as he had hoped, most ppl called him a liar)

NA's dad, same dad who kicked him out of the house for being a jobless loser dropout, suddenly wants to schmooze up to the White Lotus, after confirming that his son wasn't lying

Argument ensues, but ends with his dad at least being concerned abt his son travelling overseas and insisting that the WL take his number and give him updates. While climbing onto Sky Bison Jinora takes some grandma-ly pity on NA and tells him that they won't update his dad if he doesn't want them to.

Fast forward to NA meeting a Sun Warrior Master (their people are one of the few civilizations still keeping the traditional bending and spiritual practices alive, part of why Jinora picked them) and NA begins his training... poorly

The SW Master gets very frustrated at how blockheaded this guy is and how little he pays attention (on more than one occasion, NA pulls out his phone and desperately tries to convince social media that he really is the new Avatar, but everyone keeps accusing him of using a greenscreen filter or something to look like he's on vacation)

Sun Warrior guy ends up dragging Jinora aside and having an outburst and saying some... not so nice things about this new Avatar. He starts asking Master Jinora if it's possible that intermixing between nations has somehow produced multi enders, maybe he just has an airbender & earthbender parent. Jinora tells the SW Master to stop being ridiculous, and then he escalates as says that even if NA is the Avatar, he won't teach him b/c he's ”a lost cause"

NA accidentally walks in and overhears this, and it hurts his feelings and he starts getting existential b/c "it's happening all over again! o sucked at school! I sucked at probending! now I suck at this too! my dad was right.... I should just go home" 😢

the Sun Warrior Master feels bad & tries to retract what he said, but Jinora says that she'll talk to the NA

Jinora decides to change up the schedule the rest of the day and train the NA herself. He gets excited at first b/c he thinks it's for airbending"at least know I can airbend!" but turns out Jinora just want to do some simple spiritual meditation stuff as something (hopefully) easier for him to help build his confidence

Meditation practice goes similarly awful (he can't concentrate or relax to save his life) but the conversation does turn to Jinora talking about the spiritual aspect of Avatars and asking him if he's ever connected to any past Avatars

Jinora decides to try something, and takes NA to a shrine that she had once visited with Korra in her later years. Jinora hopes that this place might help him connect to Korra (possibly for selfish reasons b/c Jinora misses Korra)

It's late at night at this point, and the NA just ends up falling asleep rather than meditating. Jinora sighs and reasons that it's only his first day.

But ... turns out that during his sleep, NA does make contact with the spirit of old gray Korra... and she slaps the NA's spirit awake

NA freaks out "Why are you blue & glowy? Wait why am I blue & glowy?"

Korra doesn't have time for his questions and starts getting into it "Finally! It's been 20 years! You're old enough to be a fully realized Avatar, so why is this the first time I finally made contact with you? You've gotta be a bigger spiritual blockhead than when I started out!"

NA confused and explains that he's not a realized Avatar, it's just his first day

Spirit Korra freaks out and starts shaking NA's spirit like a ragdoll "You just started!!? We don't have time for this! I need to warn you about something! Here, it'll be easier if I show you!"

Spirit Korra touches his forehead and shows him a vision of a worldwide apocalyptic event that's like a climate change fueled by the modern-tech world's disconnect & mistreatment of the spirits hanging around the material world.

After the vision Korra lets him go and yells at him to hurry up and finish his Avatar training. And then before she wakes up him again she asks him to send her regards to Jinora btw.

Cut to the waking world, Jinora is concerned over where NA's spirit went and shaking him. Then he wakes up screaming and asking if being an Avatar always means that "scary old ladies are yelling at me... Oh... she told me to tell you that 'Korra says hi'"

And that's where my maladaptive daydream decided the 1st episode of this hypothetical/speculative show would end, but here's also 2 other "scenes" I daydreamed where the new guy's Team Avatar forms.

1st scene is him perhaps going on a trip away from the Sun Warriors' remote traditional village and going to a semi-rural fishing town and ending up meeting some bronze-skinned rough-and-tumble looking firebender dude seaside restaurant that he flirts with.

The NA wonders if he could flex his Avatar status to help with flirting with the fellas, but his recent failures w/ Avatar training has him feeling down and ending up losing his nerve and goes to leave. But the firebender guy sees the depressed NA first and invites him for a bowl of this town's specialty noodles.

They hit it off well, and NA enjoys getting to forget abt Avatar training (Jinora will yell at him later when he ends up missing the whole day's practice). NA asks firebender guy what he does, and he says he works on his dad's fishing boat as the chef ”stereotypical, right? they always ask the firebender to cook. I'm good at it though" And when he in turn asks the same question, NA tiptoes around the Avatar stuff (after how everyone else in his hometown and his old probending reacted, he thinks it probably won't be "cool" to say he's the Avatar)

But turns out, firebender guy thinks it's awesome, and NA is like "You're the first person other than Master Jinora to think me being the Avatar is cool😊" "Who's Master Jinora 🤔?" "One of the old ladies who yells at me 😐"

2nd scene is the waterbender & Airbender girlies of the team being introduced.

the waterbender is a traditional southern water tribe student who's doing field research for her thesis on Sun Warrior culture. She doesn't use waterbending much for combat at first (she mostly just uses it to create ice magnifying glasses to read ancient texts)

But she ends up getting roped into Avatar business after running the airbender girlie, who is Jinora(& Kai)'s granddaughter!

She flies over to the SW pueblo to see how her old granny is doing

she has a sort of funny half-camaraderie half-antagonism relationship with Granny Jinora, b/c she's a master Airbender who genuinely cares abt Air Nomad culture, but she also likes new untraditional modern tech social media fashion stuff too, and that part kinda annoys Jinora since her granddaughter kind of runs a nomadic travel page and takes lots of pictures

Jinora's granddaughter and the water tribe thesis writer meet at the Sun Warrior village, and the water tribe student complains that there's practically nothing to make a thesis on since the Sun Warriors are very protective of their culture to actually let her study anything beyond some old statues at the gate. She rambles aloud that the other grad students were doing much more exciting theses, and that the only novel thing she could do was either try (and fail) to convince the secretive Sun Warriors to let her do a paper on them... or do a paper on the mystery fate of the Avatar in the 20 years since Korra's death

Jinora's granddaughter ends up being a big blabbermouth and spilling every abt why her granny is here with the Sun Warriors

They both get roped into Avatar destiny stuff as a result

Some other random thoughts I had: it'd be cool to do another southern water tribe festival arc at some point, except this time with nods to Korra and Katara in the festival and an update on the spiritual connection there far away from the big metropolises.

Plus, it'd be cool to see Tenzin's kids and grandkids at some point, with a joke about Rohan being forgotten, b/c he was just a baby while his whole family saved the world a million times, so a self aware jab abt Rohan being old and still salty abt missing out on the adventures w/ Korra 😤

OH my gosh i love that! Babe you've got some spectacular ideas, write a fic! Granny Jinora oml 😍 and I genuinely feel for the new avatar. Its easy to feel like a failure and i think a lot of us could relate lol

[beardedmrbean]

California Governor Gavin Newsom was called out by a reporter after he continued to dodge questions about blowing the state's $24 billion spending on the homeless.

The Golden State's budget deficit is at least $45 billion, a shortfall so large it prompted Newsom to propose painful spending cuts impacting immigrants, kindergarteners and low-income parents seeking child care in a state often lauded for having the world's fifth-largest economy. 

California spent $24 billion tackling homelessness over five years but didn't track if the money was helping the state's growing number of unhoused people, a damning report says.

At a press conference announcing his plans, he was asked by Angela Hart of KFF Health News if he felt his administration did enough to ensure the money was well spent and if he was worried the appetite for spending was lessening based on the homelessness program.

The usually confident Democrat hemmed and hawed for two minutes, to which Hart responded: 'I'm sorry governor, I didn't hear responses to either of those questions.' 

The governor said throughout his initial answer that the problem was dealing with local governments but Newsom was clearly chastened by Hart's retort.

Newsom finally leveled, saying the audit 'did not surprise me' and he agreed with most of its findings and said that the state has made unprecedented investments and tried to increase accountability from local governments for that spending.

'As it relates to the public mood... more is not always better, the public want to see results,' he added.

Hart finally thanked him for his answer, calling it 'thorough' before asking Newsom about cuts to healthcare spending and climate change.

The audit slams the state's homelessness tsars for spending billions across 30 programs from 2018-2023, but gathering no data on why the cash wasn't tackling the crisis.

It confirms what's clear to many residents — the homelessness crisis is out of control, and that tent encampments and troublesome vagrancy across major cities is bad and getting worse.

Homelessness jumped 6 percent to more than 180,000 people in California last year, federal data show. Since 2013, the numbers have exploded by 53 percent.

California is home to nearly a third of America's entire homeless population.

State Auditor Grant Parks wrote in a letter to Gov Gavin Newsom and lawmakers that the 'state must do more to assess the cost-effectiveness of its homelessness programs.'

Auditors probed five schemes that received a combined $13.7 billion in funding.

Only two of them were 'likely cost-effective,' including one that converts hotel and motel rooms into housing and another that helps to prevent families from becoming homeless, they found.

The remaining three programs, which have received a total of $9.4 billion since 2020, couldn't be evaluated due to a lack of data.

Thomas Wolf, a San Francisco-based consultant and former homeless drug addict, called the findings a 'scandal.'

'The state has spent billions on homelessness, and it's worse,' Wolf posted on X/Twitter.

'Outcomes literally mean everything when it comes to homeless services, and unsurprisingly, they have no data.'

For some, the audit confirms fears of a 'homeless industrial complex' – a gravy train of funders, officials, shelter owners and charities more keen on swallowing public funds than solving the problem.

Democratic state Sen. Dave Cortese, who requested the audit last year after touring a large homeless encampment in San Jose, complained of a 'data desert' and lack of transparency.

Republican state Sen. Roger Niello called the lack of accountability troubling.

'Despite an exorbitant amount of dollars spent, the state's homeless population is not slowing down,' Niello said in a statement.

'These audit results are a wake-up call for a shift toward solutions that prioritize self-sufficiency and cost-effectiveness.'

Newsom has made tackling homelessness a priority, and the growing crisis is sure to dog him should he ever set his sights on a national elected office.

The Democrat has pushed for laws that make it easier to force people with behavioral health issues into treatment. 

He also campaigned hard for a proposition that voters passed in March to make counties spend on housing and drug treatment programs to help fight homelessness.

The state auditor also reviewed homelessness spending in two major cities, San Jose and San Diego, and found that both failed to track revenue and spending due to a lack of planning.

The report spotlights how officials are battling a surge in homelessness in California and beyond.

A recent DailyMail.com/TIPP Poll showed that more than two thirds of US adults said homelessness was out of control and that officials needed to move those sleeping rough into tented encampments outside towns and cities.

The survey revealed that 67 percent of Americans are fed up with the country's fast-rising number of homeless people and want mayors to take drastic steps to tackle the scourge.

Former President Donald Trump making it part of his re-election campaign.

In a video on homelessness released by his campaign, Trump said that 'hardworking, law-abiding citizens' were being sidelines and made to 'suffer for the whims of a deeply unwell few.'

He vowed to 'ban urban camping' and create 'tent cities' on 'inexpensive land' for homeless people that will be staffed with doctors and social workers to help people address systemic problems.

[mariacallous]

Meduza's The Beet: Starting from scratch in Armenia

Hello, and welcome back to The Beet! 

I’m Eilish Hart, the editor of this weekly dispatch from Meduza that brings you underreported stories from across Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. If some kind soul forwarded this email to you, sign up here to receive future issues straight from the source. (And be sure to check out last week’s report on the uncertain fate of Georgia’s endangered languages.) Subscribers get access to all our features first — but we’re not asking you to be a gatekeeper. Quite the opposite: Tell your friends to subscribe to The Beet, too! 

This week, we’re returning to the South Caucasus to follow up on our coverage of the fall of Artsakh, the erstwhile breakaway republic in Nagorno-Karabakh. After more than three decades of bloody conflict that included two full-scale wars (fought from 1988–1994 and in 2020), Azerbaijan launched a blitz offensive on September 19–20 that forced the surrender of the separatist government and its army. Following Stepanakert’s capitulation, Baku finally lifted the Lachin Corridor blockade, opening the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia after nine long months. Fearing reprisals at the hands of Azerbaijani forces, Karabakh’s predominantly ethnic Armenian population began fleeing the region en masse. Cars and buses packed with people and what few possessions they could carry formed traffic jams that lasted days on end. By October 1, Armenia had taken in more than 100,000 displaced people — nearly the entire population of Nagorno-Karabakh. 

For many Karabakh Armenians, this was not their first evacuation from the region. But with Azerbaijan in full control of Nagorno-Karabakh, it seems unlikely that they will return. With this in mind, the Armenian government has rolled out financial assistance and is offering a “temporary protection status” for the displaced, as well as the prospect of full citizenship (a rude awakening for the many Karabakh Armenians who have long held Republic of Armenia passports but didn’t realize they were only good for international travel). In the meantime, many displaced families struggle to find adequate housing and make ends meet. For The Beet, Yerevan-based journalist Sona Hovsepyan reports on how Karabakh refugees grapple with the difficult task of rebuilding their lives from scratch. 

‘We left everything’

Uprooted and jobless, Nagorno-Karabakh refugees start from scratch in Armenia

By Sona Hovsepyan 

“My six-year-old grandson woke up in the middle of the night and cried, ‘Grandpa, I want our home,’” Areg Mirzoyan recalled, breaking down in tears.

Mirzoyan’s family is originally from Arajadzor, a village in Nagorno-Karabakh. They are among the more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians rendered homeless and unemployed after Azerbaijan’s lightning offensive drove them from the disputed enclave in late September. Mirzoyan’s family settled in Malishka, a village 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of Yerevan, Armenia’s capital. Locals provided them with temporary housing: a single bedroom for a family of six.

“I never imagined it would turn out like this. I thought we would go back to our homes,” Mirzoyan told The Beet.

But nearly two months after the exodus, finding permanent accommodations and employment are now top priorities for former Nagorno-Karabakh residents. 

On October 17, during his speech to the European Parliament, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that Armenia had accepted 100,000 displaced people in the space of a week “without establishing refugee camps and tent settlements.” He also added that Armenia needs more international assistance, including financial support.

Earlier, Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan reported that various governments and international organizations had donated more than 35 million euros ($37 million) in aid through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).  

Mirzoyan’s family members are struggling to find jobs in the village, where farming is the only occupation. His son, Amran, was a soldier in the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army, but he has yet to find work and does not plan to continue serving in the military. Mirzoyan and his wife, Sevil, are both retired but have yet to receive pensions from the Armenian government. 

In late October, the Armenian government announced that displaced Karabakh Armenians would be granted “temporary protection status.” Labor Minister Narek Mkrtchyan later clarified that refugees registered at an address in Armenia may also be eligible for pensions and other government benefits. However, those who take Armenian citizenship would forfeit the social support provided to refugees.

During the interview, 63-year-old Mirzoyan pointed to the clothes on his back — the only things he could save while fleeing his home during the Azerbaijani attack. 

The family left in a rush without taking additional clothing, money, or food with them. Mirzoyan’s three-year-old granddaughter, Alice, arrived in Armenia barefoot because her shoes were broken. Neighbors and volunteers in Malishka donated new clothes and other necessities for the children.

‘The stores in Artsakh were empty’

Mirzoyan recounted how his grandson, also named Areg, was astonished upon entering a grocery store in the Armenian border city of Goris, which was the first to receive displaced people from Nagorno-Karabakh.

“He said to me, ‘Grandpa, look at how many candies there are here.’ The stores in Artsakh were already empty, with literally nothing in any of them. The child was amazed,” said Mirzoyan.

In the nine months leading up to Azerbaijan’s September 19–20 attack, Nagorno-Karabakh was under a blockade. It began when Azerbaijani activists blocked the only road connecting Karabakh to the outside world: the Lachin Corridor, or “the road of life,” as Armenians call it. As access to food, medicines, and vital services dwindled, the region descended into a humanitarian crisis. 

On the eve of the Azerbaijani offensive, Nagorno-Karabakh’s human rights ombudsman, Gegham Stepanyan, told The Beet that the region was experiencing a “humanitarian catastrophe.” 

“Nagorno-Karabakh residents had no access to basic necessities such as food and healthcare during the blockade, nor the right to free movement,” said Mariam Muradyan, the children’s rights officer for the Caucasus at Global Campus of Human Rights. The blockade and subsequent exodus have had a huge impact on children from Nagorno-Karabakh, she added. 

“The government has to look at the individual demands of Karabakh refugees, which is a challenging process,” Muradyan said. The most important thing now, she continued, is that the Armenian government provides psychological help to displaced children and their families.

UNICEF-supported social workers reported in October that Nagorno-Karabakh’s displaced children — who number more than 30,000 — were showing “signs of severe psychological distress” and were at risk of deteriorating mental health unless they received immediate support. 

Mirzoyan said his grandson Areg remembers the recent fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh well; even weeks later, every loud noise makes the six-year-old jump out of his skin.

‘Everyone calls for peace, but nothing changes’

Despite everything they’ve been through, the Mirzoyan family still hopes to return to their homeland one day. However, they fear living under Azerbaijan’s control.“If we have the opportunity to go back, we will go back immediately, but we can’t live side by side with Azeris,” Mirzoyan said. 

After taking control of Nagorno-Karabakh in September, Baku presented a plan for reintegrating the region’s ethnic Armenian population. However, Human Rights Watch warned that Baku’s assertions are “difficult to accept at face value” given the months-long blockade of the enclave, decades of conflict, impunity for apparent war crimes, and Azerbaijan’s poor human rights record.

Seda Avanesyan, 69, fled Nagorno-Karabakh with her family on September 25 after Azerbaijan opened the Lachin Corridor. Initially, they stayed with relatives, but now they rent a house in Malishka. Avanesyan’s family members are willing to undertake any work to earn a living, but her daughter has yet to find a job. Her son-in-law, a soldier, plans to continue serving in the Armenian army. And her grandchildren, eight-year-old Anahit and 11-year-old Nare, have already started attending a local school.

Avanesyan, who is from Askeran, recalled a time when Karabakh Armenians used to interact with Azerbaijanis from a neighboring town. But now, she said, people find it difficult to trust the reintegration process.

“We had a good relationship during the Soviet Union; we used to communicate and trade with Azerbaijanis from Akna, but now it is not possible to live alongside each other,” she told The Beet. (Akna is the Armenian name for the town of Aghdam, which was left completely destroyed and deserted after the first Nagorno-Karabakh war. Yerevan ceded Aghdam to Azerbaijan under the ceasefire that ended the 2020 war.)

“We were hungry and thirsty for 10 months, but in the end, we hoped everything would be fine,” Avanesyan continued. “The opposite happened. Everyone calls for peace, but nothing changes.”

The ICRC reported that only a small number of Karabakh Armenians had chosen to stay in their homes as of mid-October, while others had been unable to leave the region. According to Red Cross teams, some of these people required medical help, food and water, or assistance securing transportation out of Nagorno-Karabakh. 

Earlier, a U.N. mission estimated that between 50 and 1,000 ethnic Armenians remained in the region.

‘We don’t have another option’

Emma Baghdasaryan, a 20-year-old student living in the town of Armavir in the west of Armenia, assisted displaced families in the aftermath of Azerbaijan’s September offensive and throughout the 2020 war. She volunteers with the Armavir Development Center, a non-profit organization providing the displaced with food, blankets, and sanitary items.

“Volunteering is a form of patriotism for me. I don’t have extra money to help families. It’s the only thing I can do for Artsakh’s people,” Baghdasaryan explained. “I believe that families from Artsakh simply need warmth, understanding, and appreciation.”

According to Naira Arakelyan, executive director of the Armavir Development Center, there is still an urgent need for volunteers. Arakelyan also emphasized that many Karabakh refugees are living in poor conditions. 

“Karabakh Armenians need social and psychological support; everyone is under immense stress right now. The living conditions in the temporary housing that people have rented are terrible,” Arakelyan told The Beet. “There are no beds, refrigerators, washing machines, or other necessary items in most of the apartments.” 

Andranik Aloyan, 44,fled Nagorno-Karabakh along with his pregnant wife, two small children, and 71-year-old father. Their journey from the town of Martuni to Armenia took an exhausting three days; at night, the family slept in their car. 

“We didn’t have bread after September 19. My children had nothing to eat for [a] few days. My wife was pregnant, and, in that condition, we left everything and fled to Armenia,” Aloyan said.

This marked the family’s second flight from Nagorno-Karabakh: they previously fled the region during the 2020 war. In the months before the exodus, the family experienced constant fear and anxiety due to the blockade, Aloyan recalled. His wife, Hasmik Antonyan, lacked access to vitamins and basic healthcare throughout her pregnancy, causing a delay in her childbirth. She was then hospitalized on September 19, during the Azerbaijani attack. She eventually gave birth to their son after the family reached Armenia.

Today, Aloyan and his family live in the village of Getap in Armenia’s Vayots Dzor province, a two-hour drive from Yerevan. Their new house, which they are renting, is unsuitable for winter. Some of the windows are broken, and the gas and water supply lines need to be replaced before the colder weather comes, Aloyan said. “The house is in terrible condition; it’s very damp. We are cleaning it so that we can move in. Right now, we don’t have another option,” he explained. 

On November 13, Aloyan told The Beet that, so far, only he had received a support payment from the Armenian government, which has promised to provide each displaced person with a one-time payment equal to $250 and an additional $125 per month to cover rent and utility costs (for a period of six months). His wife, father, and children were still waiting to receive their respective payments, he said.

Aloyan was a soldier in Nagorno-Karabakh and is still looking for a new job. His son and daughter have yet to start kindergarten in Armenia. For now, their parents’ priority is readying the rental house for winter, and afterward, they will send the children to nursery school.

Having fled Nagorno-Karabakh for the second time in three years, the family has decided not to return. “No, we don’t want to go back. I am scared for my children,” said Aloyan. “We can’t live there anymore.”