#and people who don't know their heritage and who have been severed from their familial communities

[yves-and-scessernee]

I've been thinking about some things, and I wanted to clarify for some folks outside of the US:

When people in the United States talk about heritage, it's always with the implication of American nationality. Two friends in the US might chat casually about themselves and their families by saying "I'm Irish" and "I'm Polish." What they mean is "I'm Irish-American" and "I'm Polish-American" but, because the context of being in America is present, the "-American" part goes assumed.

That's why the "Where are you from?" / "Where were you born?" / "Where are your parents from?" questions exist. Between friends, those are casual ways to tell if someone is talking about X as a familial heritage or X as a nationality without saying outright "Hey, so are you a member of this American subculture or are you from another country?" It is absolutely rude to ask these questions without the context of friendship, but within a friendship people often share information about their heritage and nationality quite freely. Those two friends I mentioned above might go on to talk about how "My grandparents were born in Dublin and immigrated to the US, and my parents grew up together in Boston." "Oh, that's cool that they grew up together! My great-grandmother moved from Kraków as an infant with her family, but my dad met my mom through an exchange student program and she just finalized her dual citizenship."

Stripped of the context of "being in America", such statements can come off as presumptuous and deceptive. I understand that. Someone who has gotten used to chatting about their family while in America will likely default to keeping the "-American" part assumed on their behalf, which they shouldn't do. But an American saying "Oh! I'm Irish" to you when you know already that they are American is telling you this in the context of being American: what is actually being conveyed is "I'm Irish-American." To them, they're sharing what American subculture they belong to, rather than claiming participation in a different country.

And Irish-American culture in the US is alive and well! Irish-American cultural centers, museums dedicated to generations of Irish-American immigration, and festivals sharing what Irish-American families have brought to America are found all over the US. So it is with many other cultural communities. People care about the cultures they and their families brought over with them, and American subcultures are living entities unto themselves shaped by decades of history.

And of course some American families keep in touch with their parent cultures. As I write this, a friend is making arrangements with his family to spent next month with his grandparents in Mexico. My own parents just got back from visiting my sister in Ireland, where she's been studying veterinary sciences. Sometimes that's why Americans drop the hyphen in casual conversation: for my friend, where does Mexican culture end and the Mexican-American subculture within the greater American culture begin? A conversation with him actually got me thinking about this entire thing, because, for him, the distinction between being Mexican, having Mexican heritage, and being Mexican-American can be really blurry, particularly given the United States' history with Mexico.

Americans should stop assuming everyone knows the context of "having American nationality" when they talk about heritage. I agree. It can be easy to come onto the internet with the same assumptions you have in your everyday community, particularly if you're young. If you're American and you're reading this and you're just realizing that someone probably interpreted you as saying "I'm a member of this country" when what you meant was "I'm a member of this American subculture," I understand the embarrassment. This often isn't laid out clearly inside or outside the US.

But that's why I'm explaining it now. If what you mean is "I'm [Heritage]-American" and you're talking about your participation in an American subculture, you probably should start saying the whole phrase aloud. It's more polite to assume that someone doesn't know your nationality than that they do. It'll forestall misunderstandings and frustrations with friends and strangers alike.

[k-s-morgan]

I in no way mean to be disrespectful, I hope you and your family are doing well and I’m so sorry for the recent attacks. I’m just ignorant and want to know what would happen if Ukraine surrendered to Russia?

I hope you are safe from bombing and air raids 🙏🙏

Hi! Thank you <3 And don't worry, that's a good question.

What I'm 100% sure would happen in case of Ukraine's surrender, even under the most optimistic scenario:

We'd have to give up the entire country, not just a part of it. Russia always comes back for more. It's been following the same pattern with different countries forever. With Ukraine, it got a pretty decent chunk back in 2014. That land continued to belong to Ukraine on paper only - in reality, it was fully under Russian control, and no one really fought for it any longer. Was Russia satisfied with it? No. It kept preparing and then attacked to overtake even more land. It will never have enough, so to give up now means to acknowledge that the entire Ukraine will cease to exist as a country, whether right away or after Russia starts another war against us.

Ukrainian language, culture, and heritage would be destroyed completely in the coming years. Our history - and the history of the world children are taught - will be re-written. There is a reason why the majority of countries that were a part of USSR speak primarily Russian. Russia keeps carefully erasing other languages and culture, it's been doing it for ages. It's doing it right now on the occupied territories.

Pro-Ukrainian activists and people of note would be persecuted, kidnapped, tortured, and killed. This is also a pattern, it happens everywhere Russia invades. I know many examples personally.

We'd be gradually cut off of the outside world. Like, Russia has banned major fanfiction sites; it's trying to block YouTube and other platforms. The transformation into a semblance of North Korea would be inevitable.

Ukrainians would be treated as third-rate non-humans on their own territory. Again, it's been happening everywhere Russia barges into.

Ukraine would be used as a military base to attack other countries, and Ukrainians would be forced to become Russian soldiers.

As for the rest, it could go in several ways. Maybe Russia would want to show how 'amazing' it is, so it'd turn Kyiv into a second Moscow, creating different well-paid positions and opportunities to suck up to Kyiv residents and to prove its hypocritical benevolence.

On the other hand, it could just as well turn the entire country into a concentration and extermination camp. Russia has been torturing, raping, degrading, and murdering our people everywhere. Stealing their homes, kidnapping children, etc. and etc. I have a huge number of friends, people I know, or their friends who shared their stories, and each of them has been absolutely horrific.

My Mom's colleague, for example, used to live near Bachmut. When Russians came in, they immediately began to hunt down anyone related to the police and the military and killing them or actually demanding ransom for them. They kidnapped this colleague's friends, a married couple, kept them in a dog's kennel, pissed on them, beat them up, and raped the wife repeatedly. At that point, the colleague managed to flee the area, and she has no idea as to what happened to them afterward.

This could very well be the fate of our country in case of our surrender since the world obviously doesn't care and wouldn't bat an eye at the millions suffering and dying, kind of like it's happening now.

So surrendering is dangerous because we might cease to exist, but perhaps we are just prolonging the inevitable. A tiny country with a pathetic level of support cannot win against a giant that has a ton of everything and whose allies keep sending it even more weapons of destruction. Oh, and let's not forget how Russia keeps producing more and more weapons because the US and EU keep selling it the parts it needs for missiles and other stuff, and how Ukraine, after seemingly getting help from these US and EU, is forbidden to use it to strike Russia back.

It's all a joke to everyone but us, so I honestly don't envision a positive outcome at all. In the end, as long as our heroes are determined to defend Ukraine, we'll keep trying to hold on. The future will show what it'll lead us to.

[phantom-of-the-501st]

Arthur's death and the collapse of the gang: How did it impact Charles?

Time for sad(ish) rambles!

Content warning for mentions of alcoholism and death.

A while ago I saw a post on this app from someone who said that Charles grieved Arthur longer than he knew him and while I was aware that that was the case, seeing it so bluntly stated has forever altered my brain chemistry and I have not emotionally recovered since. So now I’m going to go on a ramble and make you guys bear the brunt of that pain with me! (Including you @the-bi-space-ace )

Now as a big Charles fan, I always get excited seeing him again in the epilogue, but there’s always been a part of that story that has stood out to me, and that’s the fact that out of everyone in the gang, one of the people who is hit the hardest by it’s collapse is Charles, a man who had only been a part of it for several months. And in my attempts to understand why, it has always taken me down an interesting exploration of Charles as a character, one that I want to share my ramblings on. Welcome to my TedTalk on the story of Charles Smith.

Charles’ Background

We're gonna start near the beginning because it's important. Charles has not had the best life: his mum was taken when he was young, he lost his mother's tribe which he used to be a part of (and now has no idea if it even still exists), his father turned to drink, and Charles ran away as a young teen, subsequently spending much of his life alone. For over half of his life he's been running as a lone ranger, living as a black Indigenous man in the late 1800s, a time that was far from accepting. He lost everything and as a result, has never really fit in anywhere.

And all of this is the basis for why Charles was hit so hard by the events of the game. It underpins his entire story arc.

We don't know the full details of Charles’ past, but he certainly never had it easy. He's spent his entire life on the end of racist abuse, will have been no stranger to what people thought of him as an afroindegnous man, and has likely experienced many of the awful things that happened to people of colour at the time (and while there's never any confirmation in the game, it isn't entirely out of the realm of possibility that Charles ended up in a reform school at some point in his life).

He would have been treated as an outcast. And part of this plays into why he's so reserved. Charles has to be incredibly careful about who he opens up to and about who he trusts. Even within the gang there are people who view him negatively because of his heritage and so he has to be incredibly careful within the group as well. He lives in a society that deems him as someone that has no place and it is one of the key things that underpins Charles’ struggle to find a sense of belonging.

Charles’ Struggles with Finding a Place in the World

Charles himself admits that he struggles to understand what his purpose is: where he's supposed to be what he's supposed to do. He finds it really difficult to find a place where he fits in. And honestly, it's to be totally expected.

This is a man who has had everything taken from him. His family, his home, his childhood. Charles lost everything. He's someone who had to grow up too quickly in a world that stripped him of every part of his life that gave him any sense of belonging. He has no family, no friends, he's an outcast in society, he can't open up to people out of fear for his own safety. How can a man who lives in a world like that feel like he belongs there?

Charles on the outside seems like someone whose incredibly competent and confident, someone who won't back down in a fight, who will help those who need helping, who isn't afraid to defend those who need defending, and can stay calm in the face of it all. And he is all of those things. But he's also someone who is incredibly lost.

He's incredibly competent, but likely doubts his ability to protect people because of how many people he has lost. He appears confident on the outside and yet he has lived a life where he always has to be looking over his shoulder and be very wary of everyone. He won't back down in a fight but he carries the emotional weight of those choices and actions deep within him. He will always help those who need helping, but likely feels he can never help enough, that there's so much suffering that is entirely out of his control to fix. He'll defend those who need defending but has also found himself defending people he realises he probably never should have (Dutch for example). And he's not calm all the time, he's angry and frustrated and has a short temper but works to keep those emotions under control as much as he can because letting those emotions burst free rarely results in good outcomes.

I've never understood the argument that Charles is emotionless or stoic. He's far from it. He's a man I believe feels very deeply and very strongly, who holds the weight of the world on his shoulders in a way that's far heavier than I think any of us will ever truly understand. He's reserved, keeps many feelings close to his chest. He doesn't wear his heart on his sleeve, but as mentioned earlier, why would he? In a world that has driven him to loneliness, why would he be so open with people?

Finding the Gang

So where does the gang (and in a more focused sense, Arthur) fit in to all of this?

Well, for Charles, this is the first time in many years where he's felt a sense of belonging. No, not everyone welcomed him in with open arms, and he does tend to keep many at arms length with his walls kept firmly up, but he has a purpose, and a group of people who have (to a certain extent) taken him in. The gang is the closest thing Charles has had to a family in a very long time and it likely felt like things were starting to fall into place a little bit. I don't think he ever felt completely comfortable and at home, but it was somewhere for him to belong after spending most of his life being cast out by society. They're a group of people who exist in a world that doesn't want them, and part of that resonates with him because that's what his life has been for so long.

(SIDE NOTE: That's not to say that they're all treated the same way by society. Charles does not share the privileges that many of the other gang members have and as a result has to he more cautious about things than some of the others. For example, Charles is fully aware that Arthur is more likely to be able to have some influence over what happens to the Wapiti Tribe on the basis that he is white and far more likely to be listened to. It will never be an even playing field, no matter how understanding members of the gang may be).

And among all of those is Arthur. I've rambled before about how much these two trust each other and how insane it is in some ways. Arthur became someone Charles trusted enough that he was willing to share his concerns about Dutch with a man who had been raised by him and stood loyal to him for over twenty years. Charles went to Arthur about the Wapiti Tribe because he was the person he trusted most to help. They had each other's backs through incredibly tough times.

“Charles, will you ride with me?”

“Always.”

Despite spending most of his life pushed out by society and living for many years alone, Charles not only had a family, but a close friend he could trust. There were others he grew to care about too: Lenny, Hosea, Sadie, John, Abigail, Jack, just to name a few. Yes he was closer to some than others, but they were still his family in a way. But Arthur was the closest Charles had been to anyone in a long time (as far as we know) and one of the people he had the strongest connection with (in whichever way you view it because I'm not going to try and put labels on it).

Not only was Arthur someone Charles could trust, but he made sure to let Charles know that he was appreciated: letting him know how much the gang needed him, telling him he was glad to have him around, expressing his thanks about Charles having is back. Arthur always made it clear that Charles had a place with them and that was something Charles had not had for much of his life. For someone who has always struggled to work out where he's supposed to be in the world and whether he's even supposed to belong, having someone say “I'm glad you're here and I don't know where we'd be without you” is so important. Through all of it's messes, the gang was Charles’ home.

Which is why it's such a tragedy that it didn't last.

The Collapse of the Gang and a Loss of a Best Friend

Charles, a man struggling to find his place in the world, finds a home ans a family, somewhere where he might finally belong.

And then he loses it all.

Charles’ whole life has felt like the universe telling him he doesn't belong. He lost his mother, his tribe, his father, his home, all by the time he was just thirteen years old. He was alone for years, in a world that never wanted him. And then when be finally finds a place to belong, all of that is taken from him too.

I always wondered why Charles was one of the people who struggled the most after the gang collapsed because he's one of the people who has been there for the shortest amount of time. Many of the others manage to find their way; Tilly got married and was starting a family, Mary-Beth became an author, Pearson found a job at the general store, and John, Abigail and Jack finally started to settle down into a life (we're going to ignore the events of the first game for the time being). And then there's Charles, who is throwing fights for money.

For Charles, the collapse of the gang must have been confirmation that he didn't belong. If he truly had a place in the world then why was everything always being taken from him?

And to lose Arthur in the midst of it all. Charles found someone he could trust, who he could rely on. A man that, despite everything that the group was going through, would hopefully have his back for years to come. Even without the Van der Linde gang, Arthur was likely someone Charles could rely on after it all. But that was never to be.

As I said earlier, Charles has always had to be careful about who he opens up to and who he expresses his emotions and concerns to because the wrong person would weaponise them against him. But Charles found someone he could trust, someone he was willing to share his vulnerabilities with. He began letting his walls down around Arthur only to lose him within just a matter of months. And Charles was the one who buried him.

Think about this for a moment. Charles lost his best friend, made the decision to go all the way back and bury him somewhere he knew Arthur wanted to be (bearing in mind the man has been on top of a mountain for (at least) several days and is going to be in horrendous shape), went through the effort of carving out a proper gravestone for him, and then also makes sure to tell Mary where Arthur was buried so that the people in Arthur's life could mourn him properly and get closure. Charles put himself through what would have been an incredibly traumatic set of events to make sure that this friend got the burial he deserved. I don't even want to imagine how difficult that would have been for him.

(I'm also going to quickly throw in an idea that Noshir himself has mentioned before, which is that Charles’ mother used to sing him lullabies, which he then sung to himself as he buried Arthur. It's a possibility that has broken a piece of me into many pieces that I don't think I will ever put together again but it just encapsulates how tragic this whole experience was).

The collapse of the gang and the loss of Arthur once again left Charles alone in the world, unsure of his place or where to go. A feeling of hopelessness so deep that he was still struggling to find his place in the world eight years later.

Rekindling Old Friendships and New Hope

Thankfully, Charles’ story does not end (as of right now) in complete tragedy. Throughout the epilogue, we begin to see Charles find stability again. Working on John and Abigail's ranch gives him a sense of purpose. He forms stronger friendships with the Marstons, Sadie, and even Uncle, once again giving him people to trust, a place where he feels he has a right to be.

But what I find even more moving is Charles’ acceptance that that isn't where he should stay. His place isn't at the Marston's home, it's out in the world somewhere with his own family. After having everything torn away from him for much of his life, and after being repeatedly thrown out into the world with no clear sense of direction, Charles is finally in a position where he has the agency to make that decision for himself. He takes that step not because he's forced to but because he understands that that is what he needs to do. It's on his own authority and while we don't know exactly what happens to Charles next, seeing him finally have that agency over his life and that understanding of where he needs to go after feeling so lost for so long is honestly the best place I could hope for Charles to be at the end of the game.

I'm sure he thinks about the gang a lot and the people who were a part of his life, even if only for a brief time. Hosea, Lenny, Arthur of course. People who have shaped Charles into who he is now. Do I like to believe that Arthur's unwavering belief in Charles is something that the man holds with him to remind him that he really does have a place in the world? Yes. I do. But I do also think that Charles’ growth is down to much of his own learning, understanding and reconciling. Though only knowing each other a short time, Arthur was an integral piece in the puzzle of Charles’ life.

[royalcommunistthor]

tell you what these people neither care about thor nor they care about loki. they just need to WOOBIFY loki that's IT and who is the closest to loki and affect loki? thor. yes, poor loki loves their abuser and sends destroyer to kill his brother (and you will also find these people justifying this by saying loki wasn't in right mind)

they will often mention that they love thor but no one is falling for their bs. what do you mean that being an abuser makes thor more interesting. I think you have an affinity towards abuse babe if you should get help. projecting on a fictional character is not going to help in long run

thor keeps being thrown under the bus every two weeks because of his association with loki. dude's only fault is that he couldn't stop loving that greasy weasel even after enduring countless abuse from loki. loki clearly ruined his life

tbf woobifyng has been around since the beginning of time so like they had to do it to him i guess. i will never understand why it's such a persistent and universal fandom phenomenon lest of all why anyone would do /ALL THAT/ for a man played by tom hiddleston. but. that's not any of my business.

don't even get me started on the whole jotun thing. MCU LOKI DOES NOT EXPERIENCE RACISM, MCU LOKI DOES NOT EXPERIENCE MARGINALISATION OF *ANY* KIND, MCU LOKI IS NOT BULLIED BY THOR, HE IS CERTAINLY NOT BULLIED BY HEIMDALL. can't believe this is something that apparently STILL has to be said- over and over might I add- despite the movies spoonfeeding it to you. the deleted scene has loki torment a servant, another scene that has been kept in has loki saying a guard should be FLOGGED for *gasp* taking too long. mans talking about subjugation and birthrights for like 3 movies straight. HE IS THE BULLY, BITCH!

what loki's jotun heritage reveal in the mcu does is RECONTEXUALISE LOKI'S RELATIONSHIP WITH POWER (which is 😘🤌) it doesn't mean that loki hadn't been wronged but it also doesn't make him experience racial discrimination! if anything, loki is time and time again shown to have everything back to front (which is honestly what makes him fun)- he grossly miscalculates thor's 'golden child' status, he spits that odin could never have a frost giant on the throne of asgard and then sits on that very throne a heartbeat later BECAUSE HE IS SECOND IN LINE! he thinks thor will never forgive him or see him in the same light as before - AND THOR FORGIVES HIM AND LOVES HIM, LOVES HIM EVEN WHEN HE'S ANGRY WITH HIM OR FEELING BETRAYED. it's literally the constant in loki's life.

thing about mcu thor & loki is that they essentially start in the same place, i mean it LITERALLY & FIGURATIVELY. we see them orbiting their father, eager for his attention and praise; their flashback as children running parallel. THEY GROW APART AND CHANGE IN DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS which is THE WHOLE FUCKING POINT, as you know...a basic storytelling device, but they're very clearly raised as equals, yes odin says they were both raised to be kings but we don't really know what that means; was loki meant to be a puppet king of jotunheim or a different client kingdom? were thor & loki meant to co-rule? was he meant to be thor's advisor/shadow co-king? was this a line from an earlier version of the script that just didn't get amended or taken out? we might never know, but one thing is certain; being the second son of a royal family is not oppression. the way this fandom talks about him you'd think he's fucking cinderella.

i hate the whole abuse debacle but for argument's sake like a person who manipulates you into being punished and then also tries to kill you several times would be the abuser. thing about thor is that he doesn't see himself as a victim and i think that's overwhelmingly a good thing because it makes him a more interesting character and it makes his relationship with him family more complex, he's anchored in by that deep personal connection no matter what happens - not to cringe quote star wars here but he loves his family more than anything they can do wrong. and BOY, wrong they do.

[bonny-kookoo]

Yoongi

𝐓𝐰𝐢𝐧 𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞 [Intro]

He's come to find his way into a place where he can feel some sense of belonging. He's joined this year's Festival to reconnect with what he thought he had to live without. But what he actually finds is worth so much more.

Main Tags/Warnings: Dragon!Yoongi, strangers to lovers/mates, mentions of folklore and traditions, modern fantasy, romance, Dragon!Reader, Evocation!AU

Length: didn't count sorry haha (mid)

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You're not sure what to make of Min Yoongi yet.

But granted, you've only just met yesterday, where he'd offered you his quiet company to not make you feel so left out. You'd been thankful for that- but you also don't know if that action had any sort of meaning behind it, or if he'd been just nice to you.

Maybe dragonbloods are just like that? You're not sure. You are one, sure- but you didn't grow up with any of it. Your parents didn't really care about their own heritage very much, didn't teach you anything, and only recently, you got to connect with someone who's also a dragonblood. She works in the same department that you do, though remotely from home just like you as well, and she's pretty much your polar opposite; Bubbly, loud, and most of all- confident and proud of herself. She wears her heart literally on her sleeve, and has been taking you under her wing ever since you joined the company.

You became friends because you both coincidentally lived in the same city, and after she found out about your situation- that you kind of wanted to learn more about your own heritage but didn't know how- she took on the job, and basically paid for your entire trip here, into the mountains, saying that you'd need to reconnect with it all more than anyone- whatever she meant with that.

But now you're just so lost, and you don't want to cling to her and make her babysit you. That would just be unfair- and you can just socialize on your own, right? How hard can it be?

Very hard. Especially with all those intimidating dragons around.

So you just stay by yourself again, nod Soyoon off because she deserves to be with her friends and family for these festivities.

It all looks pretty fun already.

Even though lots of wooden structures are still being constructed, the day is mostly spent catching up for most, it seems like. So you'll just take the time to explore a little instead, maybe get an idea of the area for yourself, to find some spots where you could recharge your introverted social battery a bit.

Suddenly, you feel eyes on you. And as you turn around, the red-haired man you now know as Min Yoongi looks at you again, with his cat-like eyes and a soft, small smile.

Soyoon had told you that she actually knows him- and that you shouldn't be alarmed by his sometimes stoic face or harsh sounding words. She'd told you that he's a bit grumpy sometimes, but mostly a sweetheart with a severe case of resting-bitch-face, and that his dragonblood is just extremely strong, influencing a lot of his behavior and making him act a lot more on instincts than someone else would.

She'd also told you last night that he doesn't have a relationship currently. And that even his action of sitting next to you, and sharing some food with you, was something new, because he typically doesn't really make the first step towards anyone, rather waits until he's approached instead. It made you feel a little complimented to hear that- but at the same time, maybe he simply thought of you as pitiful.

So you turn back around after waving at him a bit awkwardly, instead deciding to watch the people constructing the wooden stages and booths. Though you can hear steps towards you only moments later, Yoongi appearing standing next to your bench with respectful distance. "Is it okay if I sit here?" He asks you, and you nod right away, scooting over a bit. "Thank you." He offers, and again, you just nod quietly.

This is awkward. He looks so good, seems so.. comfortably confident. His sweater looks awfully soft, and his posture is way more relaxed than yours.

"Soyoon told me it's your first time here." He says, not looking at you, probably not to make you any more nervous than you actually are. He seems really good at reading people, you notice. Maybe he can sense it, somehow.

"I think.. I don't know. I wanted to maybe try and re-connect with.. all of this." You shrug to yourself, looking at your feet. "I.. kind of want to belong somewhere. But it feels like I missed the chance long ago and now I can't." You sigh, watching how two people laugh together as they work.

"It can be intimidating to join a new group of people. Especially if you're not used to actively socializing." he comforts you, leaning back a little as he greets a young man with a nod. "But it's not too late at all." He tells you. "You've already made the first step by coming here. I'm sure you'll be fine." He reassures, and you nod after a moment, silence falling over the two of you for a good little while. But it's not truly uncomfortable - it's a simple company without actually needing any words.

And he doesn't seem to mind it either.

And suddenly, just as you've started to relax next to him, he speaks again. "Would you like to spend this festival with me?" He asks, now actually looking to the side at you.

Internally, you have to disagree with Soyoon on his alleged angry resting face now that you look at him; he looks nothing but kind to you, even without a clear smile on his face. He rather looks comfortable and relaxed than mad, really, so his gaze also doesn't intimidate you at all, giving you no problem with eye contact.

"Would you.. would you like to?" You ask instead, and he chuckles, corners of his lips now tilting up a little.

"I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't interested." He teases a little, and you can't help but smile now as well.

"Okay." You say because of that, making his smile turn a little bit wider, eyes warm as they rest on you. "...what does that mean?" You meekly wonder, and he laughs to himself, before he shrugs towards you.

"Guess we'll have to find out, hm?" He teases again, and you can feel your cheeks heat up.

Min Yoongi truly seems to be a charming dragon, a fire burning hot under his skin-

And it's starting to heat up yours too, without any need for physical touch at all.

What have you gotten yourself into?

[heathersdesk]

Something About Me You Should Know

Have any of you seen that person on TikTok whose whole thing is finding people's birthdays based on nothing but their available social media presence?

I have all the necessary skills to do that. I'm a genetic genealogist. I use commercial DNA testing to help adoptees, donor conceived people, and people with unknown paternity in the United States document their biological heritage and find living family. I'm very good at what I do. I find people, whether they want to be found or not.

I have to exercise a great deal of self-control not to do this to the men who berate me in my comments all over the Internet. They're not worth it. They don't learn anything from the experience. It makes them twice as hateful as they were before because all it does is increase their fear, which is what motivates them to do what they do.

But that doesn't mean I haven't learned anything from it.

I did this to someone from DezNat who was harassing me, and to someone who has been harassing me since the election. Let me tell you what I learned from those experiences.

The DezNat individual was deeply concerned about being perceived as morally correct. They were also in Idaho, not far from me. When I threatened to come to their testimony meeting and reveal who they were and what they were doing, they got scared enough to contact me personally from another account. They wanted reassurance that I wouldn't actually do it. They pretended to be "a friend of that guy" and confirmed the suspicions I had from the very beginning: all of those accounts were being created and managed by a very small number of people. Their network included accounts pretending to be left-leaning, specifically so they could engage in arguments under false pretenses and increase the feelings of loneliness and alienation among left leaning people.

This second case is more recent. They chased and hounded me for three days about voting for Kamala Harris. I lost all of my patience and went to work on election night because I had the time. I learned an incredible amount about this guy—enough to know he was only pretending to be a leftist concerned about Palestine, and was actually a Trump supporter in rural Pennsylvania. I know his stepmother is an Asian Trump supporter, as are several of his half siblings. This is exactly how I know he's a Trump supporter. He doesn't care about what happens to them, and neither does his Trump loving father, who was dumb enough to put his zip code in his Instagram handle.

That guy also didn't learn anything from the situation, but I did. Once again, it's confirmation that people in leftist spaces harassing people the most, including those who appear to be on the left, are actually Trump supporters playing stupid games. Don't engage with them. Block them. Report them.

They want you to be angry and exhausted. They want to take your time and energy away from the work you're doing. They want to perpetuate the perception that the left is fractured and disorganized. They want to put you in the mindset where you attack other leftists because of what they say to you.

There's a reason I use my full name on the Internet and have for years now. I am exactly who I appear to be. You want to show up in my ward or at my house? Do it. Look me in my face and say the things you say online. Put yourself in actual space where I could show you exactly what I think of you. That guy from DezNat knew where I lived. I told him to come. Let me see his face. Let me see exactly who it is that pretends to be my brother at Church but is secretly a predator. Let me see you.

They won't because they're cowards. They're terrified of what they cannot understand. Everything they do is motivated by fear.

Don't waste a second being scared of them and what they can do. Peel off the mask and there's just a terrified mouse of a human being, scared that someone bigger and badder than them is going to come along and eat them. That's why they love Trump so much. He makes them feel strong because they're not. He makes them feel powerful because they're not. He vanishes all their deepest insecurities, which is something they desperately need.

That's why they're scared of you: because you don't need that. And if you ever figured that out for even half a second, you would destroy every illusion they have about themselves and the world with the truth.

You want to taunt a Trump supporter. Don't call them racists or fascists. They don't know what those words mean. Tell them "I know something you don't know." Because you do! You know all kinds of stuff about Trump that they don't know! You know all kinds of things about the world that they don't know. They live in a bubble of their own construction. Point out all the things they don't know because they live in their bubble.

If you're feeling sad and frustrated right now, that's okay. But don't be scared of these people. They're unworthy of your fear. Being unbothered by anything they say and do is the smartest thing you could do right now. Regroup and recommit to ruining their day. That's what they're afraid of, and it's what they deserve. Show them everything they're missing out on by staying in the bubble that was made for them.

Be free and happy as yourself because they are not. That's the best revenge there is: to be full of the unconditional love for yourself and compassion for others they don't have.

[mathildeaquisexta]

So, I live in Aix-en-Provence. Since two months, my city was labelled "Ville Impériale" ("Imperial city") which means that important stuff happened here during the Consulate and the Empire and it left some historical and architectural heritage (I will make several posts about them all). And today I will be talking about a mansion and a castle that used to be occupied by princess Pauline Borghèse and Joseph Fouché (not at the same time obviously, that would have been insane lol).

First, the Hôtel de Forbin.

Pauline lived here for some time in 1807 because she fell in love with Auguste de Forbin, whose family owned the place. They stayed there for some time but it was complicated to maintain their secret relationship as the hôtel particulier was literally in the middle of the city's main street, le Cour. So she pretended to be sick and said she needed the fresh air of the countryside. Later, her husband joined her and I don't know if her lover was still there. Did he know ? Was he part of this relationship ? We will never know.

As for Fouché, it was his first home in Aix after his second disgrace in september 1810. He was appointed senator of the city and the people LOVED him, like everyone was in mourning when he left for Ferrières (and keep in mind these people were very religious and nostalgic for the monarchy, they were the first in France to respawn white rosettes out of nowhere when Napoleon was in Elba island). Interesting enough, in the municipal archives’ constitutional and political acts, they called him « His Excellency monsignor Joseph, Duke of Otrante » and just chose to ignore his family name.

Here, a crazy extract from Les Rues d’Aix :

so there basically, people invited by Fouché to celebrate the new year are complaining about the cold nights and fearing the olive trees would die and some noble guy is like « who cares about the olive trees as long as the Duke is fine ! »

Then, the Mignarde castle.

Insane and disgusting stuff happened here because of Pauline's whims. First she "made the frogs and the cicasias shut up" because their sound bothered her (basically she paid men with sticks and they just hit the trees and the lake until all those poor animals left of were k*lled) and then she took a donkey milk bath everyday but it was very expensive so that milk was sold to the city's market when she was done and people realized something was wrong when they poured it in their corn flakes bowl and it weidly smelled of lavender (obviously it was a huge scandal).

And what about Fouché ? Well, he lived there for some months without making scandals, just being the father of the year and walking in his garden holding the hand of his daughter Josephine. Nothing suspicious happening here.

[atopvisenyashill]

THE PACT OF ICE AND FIRE

so there's an aspect of this one i don't think has really been delved into that I think may be important when it comes to canon jonsa and I wanted to do my own lil analysis, along with maybe some tin hatting at the end here.

this is what the pact is (or what we know of it at any rate, Munkun is not exactly a good source of information):

Cregan Stark and Jacaerys Velaryon reached an accord, and signed and sealed the agreement that Grand Maester Munkun calls “the Pact of Ice and Fire” in his True Telling. Like many such pacts, it was to be sealed with a marriage. Lord Cregan’s son, Rickon, was a year old. Prince Jacaerys was as yet unmarried and childless, but it was assumed that he would sire children of his own once his mother sat the Iron Throne. Under the terms of the pact, the prince’s firstborn daughter would be sent north at the age of seven, to be fostered at Winterfell until such time as she was old enough to marry Lord Cregan’s heir.

There's two parts to this that I think are important here. Here is the first, which is the basics of the pact, and that most Jonsas are familiar with:

Jacaery's First Born Daughter Is Fostered At Winterfell -> She will marry Cregan's first born son and heir.

Obviously, this never happened for several reasons and the pact is forgotten but perhaps it will be fulfilled anyway by...

Jon, a secret Targaryen bastard, is "fostered" at Winterfell -> he will fulfill the pact by marrying a Stark Maiden aka Sansa.

Basically, it's a genderswapped version of what the pact entails. I think given George's fondness for how Tolkien was a hater of Macbeth because he thought the "no man of woman born" should have indicated a girl and not just a man born via c-section, I think the genderswap aspect fits George's style.

The second part however, has more to do with Jacaerys and Sara and I feel like it's glossed over a bit. See here:

They had spoken their vows in Winterfell’s own godswood before a heart tree, and only then had she given herself to him, wrapped in furs amidst the snows as the old gods looked on.

Jacaerys, a "secret" Targaryen bastard who gets his family name and allegiances through his mother, not his father -> Rumors of a secret marriage in front of a Weirwood with a Stark bastard, Sara

Listen. It doesn't matter whether Sara Snow is real, you believe whatever makes you happy! But what IS real and relevant is that this part was included in F&B for a reason, and is indicated to be the catalyst for the pact. Jace and Sara get secret married in front of a Weirwood, and this is what calms down Cregan so they can make their pact. And here is how (I believe) it applies to Jonsa:

Jon, a secret Targaryen bastard, but who gets his look and his allegiance not through his father but Lyanna's blood -> Jon, a Stark bastard, will marry an Heir in secret in front of a Weirwood tree.

THAT is, imo, the most important aspect of this scandalous story from Mushroom - that a secret bastard, a targaryen and a stark, secretly marry in front of a Weirwood tree just before a bloody war kicks off. People tend to make Sansa the Sara in this part, which is valid, but I think Sansa's role in this is not just to be the pretty Stark maiden, but to be the HEIR that is secretly marrying for love, like Jacaerys is, and that Jon's role will be about his status as a bastard, so that both parts kind of apply to both characters. And given that, if Jace and Sara had married, their daughter would have been a Starkgaryen with "secret" bastard heritage (from both her parents), marrying a Stark Heir, it does make sense (at least in my mind) that this may apply to Jon and Sansa's future plot. the That's something I touched on here in my "what will Jon's endgame" post.

Then there's the Vermax of it all...

Mushroom also claims that Vermax left a clutch of dragon’s eggs at Winterfell, which is equally absurd. Whilst it is true that determining the sex of a living dragon is a nigh on impossible task, no other source mentions Vermax producing so much as a single egg, so it must be assumed that he was male. Septon Barth’s speculation that the dragons change sex at need, being “as mutable as flame,” is too ludicrous to consider.)

This brought to mind the ole' Jonnel and Sansa (the first) thing - beyond the J&S similarities (Jacaerys & Sara, Jon & Sansa, Jonnel & Sansa), I think it's also important that Jonnel and Sansa never have any children, though they're married for several years. Jacaerys and Sara also never have children, yet there's the rumor Vermax laid eggs in the crypt, with some believing this may have meant Sara was pregnant (but perhaps miscarried) when Jacaerys left. I think however, the fact that both J&S couples kind of mysteriously do not have children of their own, and that their Houses descend from someone else to be important.

I've kind of briefly gone into the idea that Bran rules in a parliamentary style over (what's left of) Westeros, and while I'm not too committed one way or the other on whether he physically has children or whether they elect the ruler on the Iron Throne more often starting from Bran, the succession is significantly less of an issue because of the permanent Great Council/Parliament that will exist. Sansa (and Jon, for that matter), however, is the heiress to a long line of kings and lords and needs some sort of heir. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibililty that while in the Vale, she connects with some of Jocelyn Stark's descendants (the famous "Vale cousins" that Catelyn mentions as heirs for Robb) and makes one of them her heir, or even names the children of Arya her heir, and pulls a Queen Elizabeth, but then I thought of Vermax laying dragon eggs that are never found, and Jonnel and Sansa never having children, and George's love of threes and thought...perhaps Jon and Sansa will have an heir, but Sansa can't claim the child as hers.

In that same vein, it’s noteworthy to me as well that Serena and Edric (Sansa's younger sister and Jonnel's younger brother) have TWO sons but the line completely bypasses them. We have no idea how the Northerners felt about these marriages beyond the fact that they didn't like Lynara's sons because their rules were plagued by troubles. Is it possible that they chose to bypass Edric's sons because of the incest, and Sansa/Jon may be forced to reconcile with how the realm views him (as Ned's son) and what he actually is (Lyanna's son) when it comes to the line of succession? IE - Vermax is rumored to lay an egg in the crypts but no one ever finds out, Sansa is rumored to have have had a child with her “brother” but no one ever finds out the truth.

TO SUM UP: I think the Pact of Ice and Fire is a hint that Jon and Sansa will secretly marry in the godswood of Winterfell, and it's likely that when Sansa is named Queen in the North, her heir will be "fathered by a wolf" or a "wildling" and she and Jon won't be able to tell anyone that Jon is the father.

[lurkiestvoid]

I have absolutely zero spoons to provide links this is not a news post this is a ... a sigh. it's widely reported and easily searchable info. Fuck it i came back and added links

memos relating to the bullshit huge federal funding freeze and demanding orgs answer 14 questions by next week to keep their funding, to ensure they aren't supporting "illegal" "DEIA"

The acronym has grown

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility

They're gonna go after the whole fuckin ADA, aren't they.

Oh, and he repealed instructed the DOJ not to enforce the FACE Act, the 90s law to protect clinics, patients, and staff from anti-choice protestors (they can now get right back up to the doors, and short of basically killing someone it just won't be enforced)

They're trying to institute a way to simultaneously email all 2.3 million federal employees at once to be able to "communicate directly" and not have orders "filtered by management". Several lawsuits already, massive privacy concerns, etc.

Loyalty tests have begun for both current employees and applicants, mostly headed by department-inexperienced youths, to ensure full 100% enthusiastic support specifically of MAGA over Republican party and with zero non-party associations or opinions

He revoked equal opportunity employment, killing 60 years of labor+civil rights just as both my trans wife and my trans self are trying to find work

The funding freeze has everyone scrambling. Compliance by 5pm today, so many have been working through the night because some of these programs can't just be flipped like a switch. non-profits panicking. Research suspended. Emergency meetings. Already "temporary" layoffs of medical staff and others, for grant freezes.

r/fednews is a new subreddit for Fed workers to whistleblow and share internal fuckery. Have a random screenshot.

The reddit account that discovered that the funding freeze EO was written by two randos bc the pdf metadata wasn't scrubbed, one of whom is Heritage Foundation, was nuked. An hour later the EO was updated to change the "author"

Aaaaand he's openly talking about deporting "criminals," and regressives are enthusiastically supportive of the idea of deporting "dissidents" like [checks notes] American citizen Selena Gomez.

Etc etc etc oh god there's so fucking much already.

I am left wondering how to personally tread the line between "do not comply in advance" and "do not draw attention to yourself." How to keep my family safe. I am wondering how many of the social media posts encouraging people to scream and be loud and DEMAND to be SEEN and RESPECTED as QUEER/DISABLED/ETC are maybe written by people who don't know or remember how fucking bad the baseline social attitude was towards marginalized people even just twenty years ago, and therefore have zero context for exactly how bad it can get and what it's like to survive daily life in even the mildest of strict national oppression, and maybe don't really even believe us when we try to tell them, think we could never go back that far surely, not for very long surely.

And I am so, so sorry my loves, but you have yet to see a true winter, and you're treating the snow flurries as hyperbole.

[twilight-sanctuary]

OC Deep Dive Tag

Thank you for tagging me @squidgang and @mogruith! Some of these answers I had never articulated for myself in detail before, although they had been swirling around in my head.

No pressure tags for @aristenfromwarsaw, @mercymaker, @alstrodurge, @papuchette-atma, @eruvande or anyone who liked the questions can tag themselves.

Phobias and other fears Loa is afraid of losing control of herself, afraid of becoming a pawn in the gods' game (and she is still a pawn in the gods' game). Afraid of persecution and exile, afraid of unforgiveness.

Pet Peeves The theme of world domination and power. This is what her past life has cost her. And she's even a bit grateful to Orin... However any plans for world domination, easy profit, and promising alliances now give her a nervous tic. For the same reason she tries not to socialise with Minthara, Minthara likes to rock an already holey boat too much.

3 items you could find in their bedroom Moon-shaped earrings for every occasion, lavender-citrus perfume, a knife under her pillow and books on medicine that she's long since read and plans to sell but somehow fails to do so every time.

First thing they notice in a person She notices the smell and voice first, oddly enough. In her old life, Loa was a nocturnal creature, hardly interested in people's faces. It was while traveling that she began to notice, to see, to be interested in others, and that's when her true curiosity awoke.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how high is their tolerance to pain? 8-9, perhaps Bhaal's heritage is having an effect. It's also one of the reasons she wears lats - she feels almost no injury and is used to throwing herself chest-first into the front lines, the heavy armour at least protects her from injury. She also has an almost fantastic will to live

Do they go into fight or flight mode when under pressure? The response to mild stress is fight, to severe and prolonged stress is flight. Usually under pressure it can be heated like a frog on a slow fire, it may not even notice it.

Do they come from a large family or are they family people? Lol, oh, Bhaal has a very large family. There used to be at one time. Her father spawned himself a lot of spawns of different races and cultures. Can all of Bhaal's spawn be called family? I think not. Some would probably be more appropriately called friends in misfortune. So her family is those she protects from her inner demons and sometimes from their own.

What animal represents them best? Orca. These whales are quite intelligent and easy to train, plus they don't attack humans first unless they're pissed off. However, they are nonetheless some of the deadliest predators on this planet. Cruelty controlled by internal effort is characteristic of the Loa. What is a smell that they dislike? She also likes the smells of field flowers and cut grass. To unpleasant odors she is tolerant. What's more, she likes Astarion's natural corpse odour. Yes, Dark Urge's tastes are unpredictable. In general, with few exceptions, her scent preferences are more likely to be misunderstood than understood by us.

Have they broken any bones? You know, in the Forgotten Realms, injuries are just part of being an adventurer. Spells can heal a fracture, lift a curse, or regrow a limb. Of course she breaks bones.

How would a stranger likely describe them? “A haughty but smiling drow lady who is clearly hiding something from others.”

Are they a night owl or morning bird? She clearly led and continues to lead a mostly nocturnal lifestyle. I'm guessing that Gale and Wyll are most morning bird. Karlach is just active at all times, but at some point she can get sleepy like a baby. Shadowheart and Astarion are owls, and Lae'zel, because of her Astral plane origins, does not vary in her performance depending on the time of day. Loa's main forays out of the camp occur at sunset and pre-sunset.

What flavor do they hate and what flavor do they love? Oh, her taste and oblation receptors work strangely. She likes spicy and loves meat, quite possibly she once practiced raw food eating, but falling off the nautiloid put old habits on hold.

Do they have any hobbies? +8 Medicine. She's kind of a self-taught surgeon. Experimenting with electricity. +8 Perception. I guess she likes detectives and puzzles. She's also interested in spell books, which she doesn't really understand very well. +4 Deception, +4 Performance. She could quickly figure out gambling and learn to play a musical instrument if she wanted to. But these are developmental perspectives rather than real interests.

Boom, birthday surprise! How do they react to surprises? Oh nooooooo! She doesn't know when her birthday is, lol. She is 87 years old, but there is no exact date. She is suspicious of surprises especially after the Arfur Gregorio toy store. The poor thing totally didn't expect that someone could hide explosives in teddy bears. Do they like to wear jewelry? She used to have a lot of piercings once before! She had a double bridge and a double vertical labret. At the moment she only wears earrings regularly. Do they have neat or sloppy handwriting? She has large, sprawling and slightly sharp handwriting. Do they have a favourite fabric? She likes that ceremonial armor can also be worn with brocade elements. Her undergarments are usually of simple and natural fabrics.

What kind of accent do they have?

Loa's voice is number 8. I'm very bad at accents, and she's lived in Baldur's Gate for 75 years, so I'm guessing her pronunciation of the common tongue is pretty clean.

[gothicloverdream]

"it's also something that really, really speaks to a kind of deep human experience in my case, motherhood and, again, sacrifice. And this extraordinary thing of having to sacrifice something that is the most important thing in your life. I felt that that was a compelling story to be a part of and play."

"Lucilla and Rome have been through twenty years of upheaval. From the moment Commodus died, there have been pretenders to the throne. She immediately understood that this upheaval could cost the life of her son, who is a true heir to the throne. She yearns for a benevolent democracy, a real democracy. Instead, she has been through the madness of several power-hungry people who have just bought power and put their sons in charge. You continue to see these people who have realized that if they can buy the Praetorian Guards, they can buy the emperorship. And this is Rome, which is chaotic at the film's start. It is also a historical fact that after Commodus died, that was the end. After the death of Marcus Aurelius, five decades of a golden period of Rome with benevolent emperors was over like that. They call it the Five Good Emperors. Now we have jumped into this abyss of chaos, and we are almost seeing Rome become a sewer, where any good values that underpin a fair and equitable society have given way to corruption, selfishness, and a total lack of values."

"I have found myself, as the daughter of a former Caesar, kind of political pawn that can be trotted out and used. And at the same time, Lucilla is fully aware that this is how she can survive. She has found a love that she never expected to feel. Acacius, a former comrade of Maximus's, has not only become her champion but is the leading general and leader of the army in this quest to continue to expand the empire and to get more money by taking over more colonies. Acacius is forced to operate as a general and champion of an empire he no longer believes in. But he does it for one reason only. He hopes that, together, he and I can bring back the republic, that we can topple these horrible people who have usurped a power they have no legitimacy for."

"Those scenes between myself and my son are heartrending. I weep for Lucilla because she has tried to save her son by sending him away with soldiers who were supposed to protect him and keep him away from the inevitable assassins of the Praetorian Guard that would come after him so that they could quell or remove his pretension to the throne. What I did not bargain for is that they would lose him, and they lost him. The search parties that I sent out for him have never found him. They keep bringing me clues that he may or may not have survived. Lucilla is living this nightmare where she does not know if her child is still alive, and she, just like any mother would, yearns for that one thing that she loves more than anything else in the whole world. But she has to, out of duty, choose to let go of him so that she could stay behind and try to fight to save Rome. Instead of following her heart and going with her child to keep him safe, she makes an impossible choice. And I feel like one of the things that's so emotionally wrought for Lucilla is that fine balance between the values of stoicism and duty she has been brought up with. And then this natural,overarching love for her son. So when she does find her son or realizes that he is alive, she is then met with this awful, awful realization that he hates her. And I don't think any mother could imagine any worse fate than finding a child and then realizing that that child now hates them."

"As the sole surviving parent of my son, one of the things I brought into Lucilla this time was that sense of how you cement the burden and gifts from your heritage in that child. What is the thing that makes our family so special? What about your father, mother, grandfather, and grandmother? What is it about them that you are carrying inside you right now? A young man, especially Lucius, is confused and enraged and has lost everything he loves several times. He is a traumatized young man. He needs to be grounded in his heritage, which is what Lucilla is trying to ground him in... that he is the continuity of this line."

Connie Nielsen on Lucilla & Lucius and Acacius: Gladiator II: The Art and Making of the Ridley Scott Film

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

Worldbuilding

Thanks so much for the interest in this series on my previous post, I’m excited to share it with you :)

One of the strengths of the Grishaverse worldbuilding is that the different countries and cultures take clear inspiration from the real world, so the reader is able to infer a lot of the small details without having to be spoon-fed the information. For example, we don't need a long, info-dump explanation as to why surnames in Shu Han are constructed from the prefixes "yul" or "kir" based on sex and the first name of the parent (eg Kuwei Yul-Bo, son of Bo Yul-Bayurr) because we understand that the country is partially inspired by Mongolia. And even if we don't make this immediate connection, looking at characters like Tolya Yul-Batar and Tamar Kir-Batar we understand how to infer the source of the name because of it's basis from many different naming conventions in our world, such as the -son, -dottier, or -bur suffixes in Iceland. Something I think I see authors do a lot is struggle with the balance in this kind of situation, but personally I find that Leigh Bardugo does it really well. We don't need to be told the extensive information about this, even if she knows it or has some idea about it for herself, because it isn't relevant to the story. If we were told about it in great detail during the Grisha Trilogy or the SOC duology, it would feel a lot like info dumping. But by telling us what it's necessary to know about the Shu royal family in KOS/ROW and letting us fill in the gaps, we feel that we have enough information to both understand and keep the story moving forwards. All we're actually told, to my recollection, is that the Shu queens maintain the given name of the first queen of Shu Han rather than their mother's name to unify the family and to maintain the status symbol of the royals. The information we've been given from this that's immediately relevant to the story is an explanation as to why the character doesn't take her mother's name, so we're not confused or distracted by that as we read on, but we also know that Shu Ha, or at least its aristocracy, is a matriarchy, that the Shu people still feel a great respect for their first queen, implying further that there is a great respect for heritage in the country, and that the Shu monarchy feel the need to remind people of that first queen for what is probably a fear of unsettlement in their power and therefore a need to remind people that this is their 'birth right'.

In my book, there are futuristic technologies made possible by the blending of science and magic, such as a scanner that can identify several genetic markers and is connected to a national database in order to identify anyone, that is used very similarly to a passport system, as well as by the justice system. But it's not necessary to explain the set up of the database, or that the earliest generation of the scanner was developed in the 16th Century, because that doesn't move the story forwards. Instead, I focus on the impact that the technology's usage has on one of the main characters, who has to have routine police and governmental contact because she witnessed the destruction of her home and the murder of her family at age 10. The case is so famous that at the equivalent of passport control to know that her information is about to appear on that database and the person is going to know what happened to her is deeply stressful for her, but there are no alternatives because this system is considered far safer than any paper-based system that could be cheated or faked. My aim is to actually say that the scanner recognises the person and brings up their information so that I can use it to move the story forward through the emotional response of the character, whilst letting the reader infer anything else about the system. I also don't have to tell you that the technology has been around for centuries, but if I have a stranger to the technology describe it and casually mention that 'Generation 18' or something similar is written on the side, you know that it's been around for an extended period of time.

I hope this made sense and was somewhat helpful, I thought I wouldn't go into too much detail and instead split this into multiple posts. Thanks for reading, and if there's anything in particular about worldbuilding you'd like me to talk about let me know and I can give it a try :)

[lazyyogi]

Hi Lazy Yogi, I've followed you for many years. but I changed accounts so it looks like I'm new. For the first time ever, I have a question.

For context, I live in Israel. You may have heard about this place on the news, we're insanely small but somehow get a lot of attention on the world stage. If you have negative feelings towards us I totally understand, we tend to be portrayed badly by mainstream media. I won't go into defending any side here because everyone is at fault. But the main background for my question is that in October, unprovoked, thousands of terrorists forced their way into our homes to murder, rape, and kill thousands of innocent men, women, and children. And kidnapped hundreds more. For months now we have been at war with these terrorists.

Now, I've casually followed Buddhist texts and ideologies for over a decade and very much relate to the spirituality. However, I'm struggling to understand or find support in Buddhism for such extreme times and sufferings. How does Buddhism look at war? What if sometimes it's necessary? How do you process that? What do you do in times of such extreme societal trauma? Where do you even begin?

Anyways, I don't expect you to have the answers, but if you do happen to have any suggestions for readings, quotes, or anything at all to help, it would be much appreciated.

Wishing for peace,

Spiritually-caffeinated

There are many different buddhist traditions and they each may say something different on these matters.

Overall, war is bad. Violence is bad. It should be avoided in all its forms, as it causes harm and spreads ignorance. That said, war is not always avoidable.

There are contexts in which you see Buddhism and the martial arts blended together. Whether we are talking about Shaolin kung fu or Buddhist samurai, the martial arts were regarded as a way to deepen our self-discipline and bring our minds and bodies into harmony. In terms of combat, there were elements of self-defense, overwhelming offensive attacks, and engaging in warfare.

It is difficult, however, to draw direct parallels from those examples to the present day. The form that warfare has taken is drastically different. From terrorists embedding themselves in civilian infrastructure to military use of drones, weapons of mass destruction, and cyberwarfare.

You ask where to begin when living in such times of extreme societal trauma. I would say you begin with yourself. Seek out the violence within your own mind and heart. Resolve to free yourself from it. And then do the work to do so. Daily meditation and mindfulness practice is a good way to start.

The vow to "Free all beings," begins with freeing them from you.

With regard to the current bloodshed around Gaza, the spread of violence has gone far beyond the battlefield. It is in the minds and attitudes of the people who identify with either side. The spread of division is the spread of ignorance.

Generally the spiritual approach to the disputes of humanity is this:

"You cannot solve a problem with the same level of thinking that created the problem."

That said, I certainly have no solutions for any of this.

I am from a Jewish family, was raised Jewish, and I've been to Israel a few times, although I do not practice Judaism. It is because of my Jewish heritage and upbringing that I was taught to be especially mindful of those who are enslaved, oppressed, discriminated against, and made victim of genocide. Because I know the stories and histories in which the Jewish people were subject to all of that.

And its for those reasons that I cannot rationalize the dramatic loss of civilian lives due to Israel's military strikes in Gaza. The numbers are staggering and the conditions are gruesome.

At the same time, Gaza's government is a literal terrorist organization that, as you've stated, conducted a raid in which thousands of Israeli civilians were raped and murdered, while several hundred were kidnapped. It is an action that would have seen intense military response by any capable nation. I don't know what Hamas expected their horrific raid to accomplish and I am surprised that I don't see more condemnation of Hamas from those who support Palestine.

It is this terrorist organization that should be eradicated and yet due to the way terrorist groups embed themselves in civilian populations, it is nearly impossible to do so without incurring substantial losses to civilians. We have seen this time and again in varying circumstances all over the world.

I pray for a safe and peaceful Gaza living alongside a safe a peaceful Israel. How do we get from here to there? I don't know. But I can tell you it won't come from more civilian deaths, more hate, and more division.

A book I have always found helpful for meeting the most challenging aspects of human life is The Places That Scare You by Pema Chodron. Give it a read; I hope it helps you, my friend.

May all beings be free.

LY

[mymistakewriting]

Howard 'Chimney' Han headcanons & thoughts

Let me start this post out with a heads up because I'm sure something I say here is going to upset someone. I've seen how divided some of this fandom is on Chimney. NOTHING I SAY HERE SHOULD BE TAKEN AS ME BASHING A CHARACTER. I have several opinions on Chimney. My opinions and feelings on Chimney are VERY complicated and I'll do my best to explain them all.

And now, let me begin with the question posed to me by @happilylovingchaos

Heritage: Because he lost his mother so young and he stayed in the United States instead of returning with his father back to South Korea after her passing, his exposure to his heritage was limited (and rather tainted) despite another family taking him in. Because of this, I'm very sure his feelings towards his heritage is complicated - he's proud of where he comes from, he'll happily answer questions or discuss it if people want to hear it.

I do fully believe he intends to make sure Jee-Yun is aware of and connected with that portion of her heritage, he does still hold it close even if he doesn't feel as connected with it himself. Additionally, I think he uses the language pretty fluidly, kind of like how Eddie occasionally slips in a Spanish word, Chimney slips in a Korean word or phrase when he thinks it matches what he wants to say more. That said, I don't think it's something he uses often.

Other: For all that the show frames Chimney as the funny guy who takes nothing seriously, ESPECIALLY when paired against Hen, I don't think he is. He's not the comic relief, he's not the guy that's always joking around. And I see that misconception a lot in the fandom as well. He definitely uses humor as a coping mechanism, don't get me wrong, but he's usually the one balancing Hen's more wild ideas. He acts as her balance - her savior complex versus his need to stay well within the bounds he's been given because he knows and has seen what can happen if he oversteps those bounds for even a moment. Better read as her savior complex versus his survivor's guilt.

He's not fit to be a full time captain. He did passably well as interim captain in the show, however he has the tendency to focus on the wrong things and he tends to freeze when he's under pressure and asked to make the calls. If he worked on that, he'd make an amazing captain. Personally, I think he should be paramedic in charge for a-shift at some point. He'd thrive in that position. However, to do so would mean he would have to take a step back from the rescue (firefighter) portion of his job to focus more on the medical side and I just can't see him doing that.

He does owe Buck an apology for punching him during the situation with Maddie. But not because it was uncalled for. Yes, he shouldn't have hit Buck because frankly, I'm half sure at the time Buck didn't know where the hell Maddie was, it was just another time that she'd up and ran away like she always did when he was little. However, in the situation? I understand why he did. He shouldn't apologize because oh he hurt Buck and Buck's everyone's favorite - he should apologize because it was a moment of high emotion and they both should have communicated better. He isn't a terrible person for reacting as a worried partner who wasn't being told the truth. It was just a shitty situation. For everyone.

This one is just fun. He's the reason Buck trained Ravi the way he did. Chimney certainly didn't give Buck an easy time during his probationary year, and Buck took that to heart. He's tough enough to handle the job because of how Chimney helped train him in his mind, so of course he paid it forward. I'm pretty sure Chimney got a laugh out of the stories when Hen told him.

Chimney handles being the partner of a domestic abuse victim beautifully. He knows that sometimes, things are going to happen that trigger a memory or reaction that don't make a whole lot of sense. The fact that he's been shown to roll with the punches and let Maddie make the calls on how fast they do something? Beautiful. I adore their relationship SOLELY for Chimney's side of it and how considerate he is of the fact that he hasn't been there, he doesn't understand everything she's been through. But he still tries to make sure she knows she's safe and loved and valued. He is exactly the kind of partner she needed after what she lived through with Doug.

[alanshee-keeper-of-realms]

In honor of Disability Awareness Month here are some Cyrus Borg headcannons of mine

He's Transgender FtM deadname Cerise is close to his current name as he wanted to honor his parents who supported him throughout his transition

His full name is Cyrus Hassan Borg and he was born on October 13th 1975

He has a prosthetic and is an ambulatory wheelchair user having been born with a severe case of spina bifida

The closest to our real life heritages that would compare to his village and family is Pakistani

My guy has legitimately been clocked in at going 10 mph in his wheelchair. It is now a goal of all employees to see if they can ever catch him going faster then this.

He's the quiet imp in the corner the one you don't assume is up for causing trouble but oh boy you ask him and he can and will leap on it

Legitimately made 16 versions of Pixal because ADHD hyperfixation wouldn't leave him alone about perfecting the program

Was accidentally inspired by a legend that came out of Birchwood Forest about Zane

All 16 of his Nindroid kids are still currently online and running around, he is a very proud dad and takes every opportunity to show them off to whoever will listen

His children give him flack for this haha

Skylor once tried to give him a meal on the house as a thank you for bringing the community back together he instead slipped $100 bill into her tip jar she still makes jokes towards him as a result to this day over it. Pixal lost it laughing when Skylar told her

The reason he did this he is very very charitable maybe a billionaire but even he is confused how he has so much money since he's donated so much back to the community through various charities

Cyrus is also he reason Kryptarian constantly has upgrades and the right equipment. The prisoners have a certain level of respect for him as a result of this.

He lives in Borg Industries publicly it is not known that there are five levels above his office these are personal Apartments but to throw people and would be kidnappers off he does own several vacation places nearby that he frequents to make it look like he lives there

He is a very sneaky mother fucker Pixal found out this the hard way when she told him no coffee and he got a co-worker to smuggle it into him

The community absolutely loves Cyrus like he gets so much fan mail and fan art from the public that they have their own designated spot and room to sort it all out

He actually does have a weapon of choice throwing daggers he picked this up after season 7

The reason Pixal is so good at dodging things being thrown is because Cyrus in his anger and fury will sometimes let loose any tool in his hands that he has

whether this be screwdrivers, one time it was his shoe, another time it was a pen. It's never really anything that can actually cause harm it's more so him just letting them know he's absolutely Furious

Which brings me to my second point it is very very hard to get him absolutely angry at you if he is throwing things at you that means you have definitely crossed the line somewhere

His wheelchairs are all custom made by himself but he is known if a worker comes to him and requests he will make their own Mobility aids or repair them

Borg Industries is a Forefront leader of workers rights there is literally a plaque on the door that reads

Borg Industries is a Safe Haven for anyone that Society deems a minority, if a worker is caught discriminating against any of these groups they will be immediately be dragged upstairs in front of the CEO, footage reviewed to make sure they are seeing what they were and you will be personally handed a pink slip and fired.

Cyrus also has made it well known that the company will not work with anybody who does not also uphold this there have been many companies made bankrupt by borg Industries stepping out after they were caught discriminating or cheating people out of their well-earned income.

Although it doesn't appear so the stairs outside actually on one side collapse in on themselves and a elevator switches into place lifting the person up to the level of the doors

Cyrus and Pixal visit Children's Hospitals around Ninjago at random, they will also randomly pop into universities and teach a class on Nindroid technology Pixal showing her tech. Zane occasionally joins as well,

[nebulabasket]

It's Indigenous People's Day, y'all! This is going to be a long post.

We have the privilege of being bodily white. Definitely take more from the Scandinavian and British parts than the Indigenous part on that front. And, unfortunately, we weren't really raised near the rest of the tribe. Even then, we were still raised by a line of proud Choctaw and instilled with their values. Still some of my my fondest memories with my nana, who passed 3 years ago as of last week, are of her proudly showing us the culture and art of out tribe and telling us stories of her experiences with her family and fellow Choctaw.

What's always irritating is that, beyond no one believing that we're Choctaw, so many people don't even believe that the Choctaw tribe exists at all. We've constantly been accused of making it all up to seem special or something. We were even called racist and insensitive over claiming to be Choctaw. The majority of attempts made to open up about our heritage were immediately shut down. And the issue of people not believing that Choctaw exist at all has been issue since as least as far back as 4 generations. It's beyond irritating. We are most certainly real.

We've always wanted to visit the Choctaw Nation and participate in cultural practices first-hand, but we've never had the opportunity to, and, quite frankly, it's not a very safe place to travel to as an openly nonbinary indigenous person at the moment due to the state surrounding it. There's been a lot of violence towards both trans and indigenous people even in our home state and a severe lack of justice. It's extremely saddening.

We thought it would be interesting to share a little bit about the Choctaw Nation, I suppose to bring a little more awareness to our existence. Like, did you know that only 16 years after the Choctaw began their journey down the trail of tears, Choctaw people made donations equivalent to thousands of dollars in today's money to aid Irish people during the Irish Potato Famine? Even today, relations are still strong between the Choctaw Nation and Ireland, and, in 2020, the Irish paid it forward by aiding the Indigenous tribes who were hit hardest by covid. And here's a cool necklace my great grandpa gifted to my mom:

I wish I knew more about this necklace, but Choctaw people do a lot of beautiful beadwork. I've always wanted to find a way to incorporate it into my usual clothing. I wish I had better memory so I could tell you more at the moment or that my nana were still around to share her stories, but this is at least something. We deserve to be recognized.

Anyway, Columbus sucks butt and Happy Indigenous People's Day!