#apparently they have really good safaris

[culmaer]

I really wanted to go to the musical instrument museum in Brussels but I didn't have time :( the house of European history is also really interesting as long as you don't get one of the noon tours

oh that does look like an interesting museum too, definitely adding it to the list !! yet another reason to go back to Belgium !

y'know whenever I get a recommendation or learn about something new to do/visit in Belgium, it reminds me of an article I read back in the '00s. apparently Belgium is consistently voted as the most boring country in Europe — and honestly I found that intriguing ! like, I'm not a particularly excitable or high-energy person, so a "boring" place actually sounds idyllic !! for a time, this was the main reason I wanted to visit the country lol (of course after studying French and Dutch/Flemish, and after joining langblr and meeting some wonderful Belgians, those became the primary motivations for wanting to visit)

but now every time I learn something interesting about Belgium, my first reaction is "well, that's not boring at all !" and I can't help but wonder what the methodology or criteria are for decided a country is boring ?

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

Sorry if you've already covered this, but I was scrolling socials and saw that the San Antonio zoo got a large donation to expand their savanna habitat. The only thing that jarred me as I read through their expansion plans was apparently they're going to be outfitting some 'safari' vehicles so guests can be taken into the habitat to feed and interact with the animals (from within the vehicle). I was always under the impression that this kind of interaction wasn't necessarily good for either the humans or the animals-- is there a way it can be done ethically?? Anyway, I just thought it was interesting!

Ooo, okay, your question aligned with a thing I've been chewing on for a while, so let's talk ~ethics~ and ~philosophy~ aka this is gonna be a bit long. I do promise I'll answer your question, though!

The first thing I want to note is that you're really asking about two different things, which are almost always conflated these days when it comes to talking about animals: welfare (is the animal happy / healthy / safe) and ethics (is what's happening good / moral / acceptable). It's really important that we distinguish between the two, because welfare is an objective measure of physical and mental wellbeing, and ethics are a human construct that involves subjective interpretation.

A useful but highly oversimplified example of this is the bothering of cats for online videos. Pestering a cat to get a funny reaction once in a while may not impact their overall welfare. Welfare is the cumulative impact of an animal's experiences, which means that single acute moments may not weight heavily on the entire balance. If the cat is healthy, fed well, enriched, and has a good and positive bond with their humans, those momentary irritations for videos might not matter much. That doesn't mean that you or I, as viewers, might not still find bothering an animal for internet clout ethical. We can believe that humans shouldn't ever unnecessarily put their pet through negative experiences, and we can think that doing so just because it brings the human money or fame is distasteful. But! We have to recognize that as used in this example, those ethical stances aren't inherently tied to the animal's welfare state. Many people I know who dislike cat-bothering don't care if the animal has good welfare outside of that situation - they don't like that the situation occurs at all, ever.

So, back to your question. You're wanting to know if it's okay for a zoo to have a drive-through aspect of an exhibit where people get to feed the animals. You're asking if it's safe for the humans and for the animals (which is a welfare question) and if that type of interaction is ethical. I could just tell you that of course it's fine, San Antonio is an AZA zoo and their accreditation only allows them to do "good things" but that's now how it works here (nor is it the reality of accreditation).

The safety aspect is one I'm not worried about. It's actually a pretty common thing for reputable facilities to do some sort of vehicle tour in savanna habitats, whether in the guest's vehicle (safari parks) or on a hay-ride type vehicle (zoos). Many of those allow guests to feed out specific parts of their animals' diets. Offhand, I know Tampa and Fossil Rim both have feeding tours like this in a staff-driven vehicle. It's not specified from the zoo's press release, but I can guarantee you that guests will not be driving those vehicles - which means the interactions will be proctored by staff and what people are feeding out will be carefully regulated. The habitat is going to have rhino, giraffe, zebra, ostrich, and antelope/gazelle, and I'd guess that the drive-through is going to stick to those latter two and maybe additional species. Those are animals where a car is an appropriate safety barrier.

As to if it's ethical to do? It's spiny question, because it depends very directly on the ethical perspectives of the person you're asking. I think it's fine - you may not. Let's break down the different things that come into consideration on the ethical side, and my responses:

"The zoo is commercially exploiting animals by letting people pay to get closer." If the issue is that people paying to get closer to animals is using them for money, well, that's the business model of a zoo (non-profit or not, they still need revenue to operate). So IMHO it's not like it's "less ethical" than anything else the zoo is doing, using that framing.

"Zoo animals should be allowed to be wild and undisturbed by guests driving in their habitats." Zoo animals aren't wild, and their entire lives revolve around humans and the human work schedule. As long as a vehicle entering the habitat doesn't have a negative welfare impact (e.g. they're not scared of it), it's not very different from the rest of the routine of managed care.

"Feeding zoo animals will encourage people to try to feed wild animals." Thanks to obnoxiously viral content creators, people are going to try to feed wild animals no matter what. Doing it in a proctored situation where a staff member can try to do some education at the same time is probably the best possible scenario.

"People just do those tours to get close to cool animals." People are always going to want to touch the animals. If being able to pay for a tour keeps them from jumping the fence to try to pet a rhino, great.

There's one more that I want to talk about separately, because I think it's where a lot of confusion gets generated. It's this idea that "Humans shouldn't be interacting with animals at all, any interaction is unethical and bad for the animals." This is a welfare crossover, but not one actually informed by welfare science in a captive situation. And I think it's because the internet lacks nuance. Yes, it is absolutely correct to say that with wild animals, you should never ever try to feed a deer out of your car (or similar). It is incredibly harmful to those animals on both an acute and chronic timeline. But thanks to the rage-bait algorithms on social media and people endlessly justifying doing stupid, dangerous, bad things (and getting pushback for it), there's been a lot of bleed between the public's understanding of what wild animal welfare is and what captive animal welfare is. Combine that with the reality that captive animal welfare cannot be assessed or diagnosed from a single context-less clip, and that people with strong beliefs and no practical experience with the field/species/individual will pass judgement loudly to their audiences...

The result is almost a reflexive believe in many sectors of the internet that any human-animal interaction that isn't couched as a "rescue" is inherently unethical, for reasons people often can't articulate. Which is why, I think, so often people want to support certain aspects of captive animal management but feel guilty for doing so. I see this a lot in the questions the blogs gets, and I'm glad people feel comfortable asking, because it's important to think through not just the individual instances but the patterns leading us to question them.

So yes, I'd say that a staff-led experience in a vehicle chosen for safety is an ethical way to proctor an interaction between guests and certain savanna species. It will vary by facility - I'm always more wary about guests driving, although many drive-through safaris are fine - and by setup. I think what San Antonio is doing will be fine, though, and will be interested to see / hear about the setup when they start up.

If you've got a question about ethical captive management, I'm always happy to talk about it - but I'd invite you to poke around in your head a little and send me not just your question in the ask, but your thinking about why or why not something might be concerning. It's great practice for understanding why you relate to animal ethics the way you do, and where those beliefs come from.

[decepti-thots]

I would like to hear about which characters would use which kind of fountain pen 👀

okay, so with the caveat that all of this is coming from me researching pens in my quest to become slightly a 'pen person' and not like. being one. (but also from the perspective of watching my friend talk extremely in-depth about this for many years, and cribbing from her, in my defense.)

here are some random character-pen matchups and headcanons bc why not!!

first off. minimus, obviously.

there's a few things i think about this: he's fundamentally conservative in his tastes i think (no wild experimental designs), someone who would not want to spend an Excessive amount of money but also someone who would definitely have a higher-end one quality wise, and he'd have really nitpicky taste about shit like quality control. with this in mind, the guides i read that were offering opinions on higher-end 'beginner pens' consistently brought up the Pilot Custom 74, which is like, the platonic ideal of just a functional good quality Fountain Pen TM:

look at it. that sure is a ~£190 fountain pen! it's classic, functional, a solid 'name', expensive enough i feel like a person who grew up well off would be like 'oh this is my everyday pen' and i would be sort of like 'the fuck that costs half my rent'. lmao. but not like, someone splashing out a thousand quid or more expensive, yknow. he's probably had this same pen for like. the equivalent of twenty years or more. i'm sure he has more than one but this is his 'workhorse'.

here's another one i immediately am like 'oh i know what to pick' about. this one less in terms of specifically 'this character would use it' and more like 'this character reminds me of this pen'. it's rewind! and the pen is a Tombow Zoom 828fp because. well. look at this.

MINI PEN. CHIBI LITTLE FOUNTAIN PEN. there's apparently a chinese pen that is a lot cheaper you can get of this little chonker's basic design, and i'm very, very seriously tempted to get one and call it 'rewind'. lmao. short and charmingly proportioned! i don't think rewind probably actually uses a pen but maybe this was one of those spousal in-joke gifts pre-war or something like 'haha this reminded me of you'/'are you calling me short' or whatever idfk. the point is. TINY PEN.

nautica got riptide a Jinhao 993 to cheer him up when they started doing lessons in that one issue towards the end of MTMTE/pre-DotL and he's finding it difficult maybe. "why would a fountain pen cheer him up-" THIS IS WHY LOOK AT THESE

my pen friend got the pink one of these for a fiver or something, bc i pointed out it was a pink shark and therefore a Nimona pen. haha. anyway. that's why riptide has a fountain pen.

rodimus is having a mid life crisis, and also magnus will probably think he is Mature and Good At Work if he shows up with a fountain pen, he figures one time, so he wheedles money off drift and buys this monstrosity, which to be clear costs EIGHT THOUSAND EUROS and is supposed to look like a cool racecar themed... thing. montegrappa is so fucking overpriced and tacky and they're invariably hilarious to me whenever they release some godawful tie-in thing.

now prowl. prowl doesn't have a fountain pen because prowl is the sort of person who insists on constantly having fucking. Gadgets TM. you know. the man thinks a smart fridge is a necessity, for some fucking reason. if it's electronic it's Better. however, LAMY, i found out, in addition to its wide range of pens, also makes like... high-end digital pens? you know, in the style of their most well known fountain pen design (LAMY safari) but like. a stylus. buying a brand-name pen manufacturer's stylus bc you want to have a fountain pen but also refuse to do anything not on a tablet or something is. 100% prowl to me.

and i think that drift would have a LAMY 2000. look at this thing. it's somehow so slick and modern looking in a way most fountain pens aren't without feeling weird or like it isn't one. it's also a really well regarded pen across the board and so many people swear by this thing. (my friend does indeed have this one!) he's got it because he (canonically) journals, obviously, he is whipping this bad boy out after meditation to Chronicle His Emotional State (usually um. bad. moving along.) it's one of the nice things he bought himself after he somehow acquired all that money (stole it on his way out from the decepticons).

sidenote: megatron doesn't use a fountain pen, despite being a canonical writer. his handwriting is fucking atrocious and he would break one pressing too hard if he tried. he privately thinks they're sort of pointless, but lets minimus endlessly explain nib types for the sake of indulging someone he likes and who clearly is used to being told to shut up.

[femmeleatherface]

i know the accepted origin for monsieur mallah and the brain's epic gay romance is doom patrol V2 #34, and that's certainly the first time it was really explicit for sure, but has anyone else read the V2 swamp thing annual #3?

it was published in 1987, 3 years before #34, as a tribute to all the DC comics gorillas, so mallah gets a lot of attention in it and he is EXTREMELY gay coded. it ends up making his feelings toward the brain get presented in a very un-heterosexual way. and it's all tied in with the themes and structure of the annual's story so closely that it feels very, very deliberate.

[ ID: the cover to the swamp thing volume 2 annual #3. a golden gorilla sits menacingly in the center, looking directly at the reader. a torn white shirt is clutched in its fists and dangling from its fanged mouth. in the leaves and grass in front of it are the remains of the rest of a stereotypical safari outfit, including a rifle that lies propped on the gorilla's right arm. swamp thing's face is in the background, the red eyes glaring at the reader above the gorilla's head. end ID. ]

basically, the plot of the annual is that gorilla grodd has figured out a way to weaken the shackles of his mind prison in gorilla city, and he's using his telepathic powers to summon all the dc comics gorillas to free the rest of him and take down solovar through lightning magic. swamp thing... is also there. he doesn't do much. the annual is more preoccupied with the gorillas than its titular character, who's primarily busy having relationship drama with abby.

this drama is what the annual opens with. in the previous issue swamp thing apparently made a "merely human" comment toward constantine, which hurt abby's feelings since she is also human. this sets up the main ongoing theme of the story, about humans in relationships with non-humans.

this is very closely tied with the portrayal of gorillas in certain medias, particularly from the early the 20th century. the annual explores this very extensively, leaning heavily into the sexual implications...

[ ID: a series of three comic book panels featuring b'wana beast in his alter ego, mike maxwell, with his companion/girlfriend, djuba. maxwell is a blonde white man and djuba is a red-furred female gorilla.

panel 1: smiling, maxwell pushes an extremely phallic sticklike thing into djuba's mouth while she takes off his hat. their arms are around each other and their faces are very close. maxwell says, "don't have to play macho man with you... nooo. gimme a drink. gimme a drink..."

panel 2: maxwell and djuba's faces are touching now, their heads turned so they are cheek-to-cheek. djuba feeds maxwell a red bottle she has around her neck, and he sips from it. maxwell says, "just a tiny bit now... i have to drive our friend back... that's it..."

panel 3: a closeup of maxwell and djuba's mouths, basically touching. djuba's lips are parted and maxwell says, "ohhh yeah... that's it. i can feel it... i can feel it..."

end ID.]

[ID: a single panel of congorilla in his gorilla form. he has golden fur and is looking behind him to some bushes, where the heads of two black-furred gorillas are popping out. congorilla thinks, "i'm picking up the overpowering scent of females in the grove below and my blood's starting to boil. it feels good. too good." end ID.]

[ID: two comic book panels in gorilla city.

panel 1: sam simeon, a more anthropomorphized gorilla with human-style white skin, black hair, and visible chest hair, speaks to solovar, a non-anthropomorphized gorilla with blue fur.

sam says: "lemme tell ya... here i could do my best work! y'know, get into a little self-publishing, maybe put on a comic convention or two every year... i bet we could get thousands of atilla gorilla fans!"

solovar says: "umm, yes, of course. i see that your human friend is enjoying her stay here, too..."

panel 2: angel o'day, a thin white human woman in a strapless black bikini with her white hair pulled up, smiles at a crowd of four gorillas clustered around her. they all smile back at her, enamoured. one gorilla holds her hand and another writes something in a small notebook. solovar and sam watch on in the background. sam looks confused, maybe even hurt. he says, "angel...?"

end ID.]

this is primarily where the humor of the comic is supposed to come from. it's honestly a bit uncomfortable because most gorilla media--particularly ones with this sexual element--draws upon a lot of extremely racist and eugenist ideas when utilizing these tropes.

the annual mostly ignores this; except for a white savior-y joke with b'wana beast's introduction early on, race never really comes up and it's primarily just wacky horny shenanigans with white people and gorillas with zero interrogation or even acknowledgement of where those tropes come from and why they exist. since the comic isn't all that interested in acknowledging the questionable racial elements at play, i'll just leave the discussion at that so we can get moving along to the fun part of how mallah and the brain fit into all this, but i did want to point it out because uh. yikes.

anyway. moving on!

mallah and the brain are the first non-grodd gorilla-related team introduced, right after the relationship drama is set up with swamp thing and abby. while they are on their way to commit international terrorism and kidnappng, a lackey harasses mallah by asking him if he wants to have sex with lois lane. mallah spends the entire conversation looking completely dead inside.

[ID: a single comic book panel. roland, a white human man with orange hair holds a newspaper. he leers at monsieur mallah, an auburn-furred gorilla. mallah stares back at him blankly while smoking a cigarette. roland says, "whaddya say, mallah? how'd you like to get between the sheets with superman's girlfriend? y'think you're more her type? you got animal magnetism, don'tcha?" a speech bubble from the brain off-screen shoots back: "enough, roland!" end ID.]

so our entire introduction to mallah as a character is dependent upon him experiencing a microaggression deeply rooted in heteronormativity, and he is very clearly having none of it. interesting!

at this point, grodd's mind control beam reaches mallah. he kills all the lackeys who were picking on him, which the brain is really only mildly annoyed by, something that, sidebar, is absolutely hilarious. he could be more supportive of the whole microaggression thing, but ultimately he's just like: "why did you do it NOW? you should have waited until later!"

[ID: a single comic panel. cigarette still in his mouth, monsieur mallah kneels on the ground, holding the lifeless arm of a dead white man. the leg of another dead white man lies on the ground in front of him, and there are puddles of blood everywhere. standing in the corner and covered in blood, the brain says: "sacre bleu! mallah, what has come over you? why have you slaughtered them? couldn't you have waited until they had outlived their usefulness?" end ID.]

at this point, though, mallah turns on the brain and breaks his life support chamber. the brain is fine, but feels betrayed, and in his first line mallah explains his behavior simply by saying "c'est la vie!"

[ID: two comic book panels.

panel 1: the brain and monsieur mallah inside a tank. monsieur mallah sits at the controls with his cigarette, still a bit blank-faced but looking more relaxed. the brain stands in the corner, his dome broken and a burst of elecrosparks. he says, "y-you betray me, monsieur... crackle pop... i... i who created you... fitzz fitzzz. why, monsieur... cracklcrackpop... tell me, why??"

panel 2: an exterior shot of the tank zooming off through the desert, treads and billowing dust behind it. a speach bubble coming from the tank reads: "c'est la vie!

end ID.]

this ends up being a running gag in the annual, where the brain tries reaching out to mallah but the mind control is so strong that mallah just continues torturing him. it's poetic justice, since the brain's entire plan before the mind control happened was to kidnap a child and torture them, but it's also buildup to something at the end. we'll get to that.

first though, they pick up sam simeon and angel o'day from the angel and the ape comics. throughout the annual angel has been used as the designated "white woman all the male gorillas go bananas for," but i want to note that we never see mallah as one of those gorillas. we never see him interact with angel at all, in fact, except arguably once, where even under gorilla grodd mind control he is more polite than angel's friend sam:

[ID: a single comic panel of monsieur mallah, the brain, sam simeon, and angel o'day inside the tank. monsieur mallah is at the open tank hatch, lowering himself inside. next to him, the brain pops out of his life support chamber as a mess of wires and cerebral matter. sam simeon is at the tank controls, angrily clutching the wheel in one hand. angel grabs sam's shoulder, looking worried.

mallah says: "look! it is ze sign we have been waiting for! attack, mes amis!"

angel says: "sam?"

sam says: "shaddup!"

the brain says: "fzzt."

end ID.]

it's like the cracks the lackey made about mallah and lois lane earlier and how apathetic he was to the conversation. this mallah is shown to just be SO disinterested in human women compared to most of his male gorilla counterparts. he also doesn't show any interest in b'wana beast's gorilla companion/girlfriend, djuba, when she shows up, which one might expect considering the raging gorilla horniness and grodd's own brief flirty remark to her. but why? why is mallah so disinterested in all these women?

obviously it's because he's gay as fuck, but is that what the comic is actually trying to imply? i'd say yes! that is where the ending comes into play, and why i feel the gay coding in this comic is intentional.

after grodd is defeated by frying his own brain, we get one last scene between mallah and the brain. it's only a page, so i'm just going to paste it here, because all of it is... amazing...

[ID: a full comic page layout.

panel 1: a closeup of the brain lying in the grass. he is little more than a mess of cables and metal being stepped on by monsieur mallah's bare foot. a sound effect reads, "plltch!" the brain cries: "aakk!"

panel 2: monsieur mallah and the brain in the jungle at night. mallah picks the brain up from under his foot.

mallah says: "monsieur brain! what luck zat i have found you! come, we must move quickly! ze coup has failed and ze soldiers of solovar are after us. apparently he did not take kindly to my little uzi love taps."

the brain says: "m-mallah? ooooh-nooo..."

panel 3: monsieur mallah cradles the brain to his chest and runs through the foliage.

the brain says: "n-non! please, monsieur... leave me be... or better yet, kill me now! i can't take zis torture any longer!"

mallah says: "kill you? monsieur, you offend me! mallah owes you his own life, many times over! one of our old hideouts is nearby. i'll have you safe and snug in one of your spare life support modules very soon, wait and see!"

panel 4: monsieur mallah huddles under a large leafy plant, hidden by that and the grasses with the brain close to his chest. mallah looks out cautiously, watching as three shadowy gorillas walk by with flashlights and metal helmets. the outlines of mallah and the brain's dialogue boxes are dashed to indicate they're whispering.

the brain says: "y-you will? but i thought... i thought you wanted to destroy me?"

mallah says: "nuzzing could be furzer from the truth, monsieur. i am here to help you and care for you, to protect you and serve you in any way i can!"

panel 5: mallah races through the foliage, holding the brain tight. the gorilla soldiers are walking away behind them.

the brain says: "b-but... why?"

mallah says: "c'est l'amour!"

panel 6: abby arcane, a young white woman with white hair that has black streaks in it, lies on the ground. she is in a fetal position, her eyes shut. behind her, a lake stretches out in the great yellow moonlight, the great trees of the swamp further beyond that.

end ID.]

JUST. SO MUCH EVERYTHING GOING ON HERE.

the mind control is gone at this point, so this is the only point in the comic where we get to see monsieur mallah fully as himself and how this version of him would normally interact with the brain. and it's so... passionate and sweet? he just basically says that he's going to be always there for the brain because... because of love? whAt???? did he just straight up tell the brain that he loves him??????? oh my god.

and just... the way the comic has spent so much time sexualizing the relationships between humans and gorillas, and how the ending scene with abby and swamp thing after this is also so freaking horny, and here we get a human/non-human relationship where one of the parties doesn't have a body and they cannot be physical, and for them in this comic at least... it doesn't matter. because love. the way this explores and subverts the horny gorilla tropes in such a unique way. oh my god.

and it's treated as a joke, for sure. the entire punchline for the running gag of mallah treating the brain like shit for the entire story is "he loved him all along!" which. uh. questionable in so many ways. but the entire origin of the brain and monsieur mallah as a gay couple came from a joke in a one-off doom patrol comic, so really this is all in the exact same "mallah and the brain as a big gay joke" vein. it honestly makes me wonder if grant morrison read this annual and that's where it gave them the idea for #34. but idk.

ALSO. that closing panel with abby waiting for swamp thing? yes, that's setting up a transition to a new scene, but it's also a reminder of abby's previous scene. swamp thing temporarily got hit with the grodd mind control beam and actually went to go impact the plot of his own annual, and she had her own big speech about her feelings:

[ID: a full comic page layout.

panel 1: abby stops at the edge of a lake, looking down at it. she is in a swamp with tall trees and a ramshackle cabin behind her. she says: "i don't understand, alec... i just don't get it at all. something's wrong with you... something's terribly wrong."

panel 2: a closeup of abby's hand touching the surface of the lake. she says: "one minute you're perfectly fine, the next you're unraveling. it's almost as if your personality were coming apart piece by piece... you don't have alzheimer's disease, do you? no, i don't think a plant can get that..."

panel 3: abby sits sadly huddled on the ground. her knees are pressed to her chest and she's stacked her fists on them to support her chin. she says: "it was probably what i said, wasn't it? i shouldn't have acted like that towards you, i know... sometimes i'm such a spoiled brat."

panel 4: a closeup of abby looking sadly at the water. she says: "i just wanted you to know that my feelings were hurt, and that we should work on what we have, alec... but i'm a stranger to you now, and that hurts worse than all the stupid remarks either of us could ever make."

panel 5: a distant shot of abby sitting and holding her knees while she continues to look at the water. she says: "i don't pretend to understand it... but i--i know where i belong... right here, waiting for you to come back. even if it takes forever. you are coming back, aren't you, alec? i mean... what would i ever do without you?"

panel 6: swamp thing under the water. moodily, he sits squatting with his arms crossed over his knees. a tire is half-buried in the sand next to him.

end ID.]

THE PARALLELS. the being hurt and hurting someone you care about but being determined to stay by their side because you love them. what. the fuck. what the fuck. this has got to be intentional and more mallah/brain fans need to be aware of this comic and add it to their lexicon because what! GAY!!!!

[frontiermemories]

Public Knowledge vs. Private Knowledge

Default!Verse

Public Knowledge

Raguna came up with his own name and birthday (New Year's Day), since he has no idea what his actual ones are.

He owns homesteads in both Kardia, and Trampoli. He splits his time among the farms roughly 50/50.

When Raguna is not currently at a farm, a gaggle of monsters whom he befriended tends to the fields. These monsters are extremely friendly and have been fully socialized around other people.

Despite making a living off of selling produce, he frequently gives a lot of it away. If you catch him early in morning while he's working the field, he'll probably send you away with a basket of freshly-harvested produce.

His favorite food is pickled radish or turnip.

Private Knowledge

Raguna is an earthmate. An individual with a mystical connection to nature which allows use of rune magic and other special abilities connected to combat and plant care.

He is proficient with many kinds of weaponry, but prefers a good longsword (He has not mastered the art of dual-wielding swords yet tho...).

Raguna uses rune magic to hide his weaponry in a sort of 'pocket dimension'. Though he looks unarmed, to the naked eye it can look like he draws a weapon out of thin air.

His dreams are sporadically plagued by strange intrusions, from bizarre monsters and a certain lingering magic of the vampire tribe.

Raguna periodically struggles with anxiety over his lost memories, and worries over being manipulated to cause harm to others.

Forbidden Knowledge*

He is a long-lost royalty, being a nephew of the current King of Norad.

Raguna had managed to gain the respect of Terrable, the dragon, after defeating it in combat. Which contributed to the monster's willingness to help repel the Sechs Empire's invasion.

He has not tapped into the full extent of his earthmate powers yet. Perhaps he never will.

Pokémon!Verse

Public Knowledge

Raguna lives in a small dwelling in the outskirts Fuchsia City, though he has a habit of wandering around for days, or even weeks, unannounced.

Despite his long absences, his berry garden always seems to be thriving. A lot of the local wild Pokémon seem to pitch in to help with the planting, watering and harvesting.

Raguna speaks fluent Kantonian, though he has something of an accent that's a little hard to place.

He frequently volunteers at the Fuchsia City's Safari Zone.

When he's at home, he lets his Pokémon out of their Pokéballs indefinitely, really only using the tools when he's traveling.

Private Knowledge

He really only has memories starting from his early 20s.

Apparently Raguna happened to be found by a trainer, while he was aimlessly wandering around Victory Road.

He feels uneasy being around Lavendar Radio Tower, though he has no idea why. Actually going inside the building makes him physically ill.

Raguna has a bit of a complicated relationship with the Kantonian authorities, over his enigmatic past.

Forbidden Knowledge*

Raguna originally is from the Kalos region. In particular, he was from a rather affluent family in Lumiose City.

A young Raguna was in the Pokémon Tower when Team Rocket stormed the building. In the ensuing confusion, a spirit of a deceased Pokémon possessed the trainer and, being the young teen he was, absolutely wrecked his mind.

Raguna lost all memory of the time before he was possessed, with everything else being a blur in his mind.

The manhunt for the person now known as Raguna ceased after years of unsuccessful searching, with the young trainer officially being declared "Missing, Presumed Dead".

Genshin!Verse

Public Knowledge

Raguna appeared in Mondstadt one day and purchased a plot of land where he could grow his crops in peace.

The land that he tends to flourishes, both due to his natural expertise when it comes to plants, and his dendro abilities that were granted to him. He mostly eats his own food, as a result of this.

He is very active as a supplier of many of Mondstadt's restaurants. Though, due to his habit of just giving away a lot of his produce, he doesn't make all that much money off of this, but plenty to sustain his lifestyle.

Private Knowledge

Despite living a very humble existence, Raguna is actually quite wealthy. He doesn't know where the mora came from and is very meticulous over how he spends it so the money doesn't dry up.

He is a little bit afraid of larger cities, thinking that he might get a little overwhelmed by all the surrounding buildings and the concentration of people.

There are days where he will just stare idly at his vision, hoping in vein that he will learn about his past. Though he takes care never to show this desperation around others.

Forbidden Knowledge*

He's actually from a rich family based out of Sumeru. Through some odd side-effect of the dream-shenanigans, Raguna seems to have lost his memories of Sumeru and began to wander. The sages seemed to have little issue with this development.

Raguna was always at-odds with the corrupt sages of the Sumeru Akademiya, disagreeing with their treatment of Lesser Lord Kusanali. In fact, his vision was granted to him precisely for his willingness to stand against the sages.

*Forbidden Knowledge denotes knowledge that is lost to Raguna, himself. Certain rare individuals may know about this. You are welcome to chat with me about these.

[chirpycreations]

For the love of everything holy & your Youtube experiences, do NOT UPDATE FIREFOX!

I made the mistake of updating last night and got greated by this shit this morrning:

So apparently, on vs.12... whatever Firefox's latest update is, good old Youtube decided 5 second delays & annoying pop-ups to complain about add blockers wasn't enough. Now they won't let you watch higher than 360p or 720 p (how generious of them).

And no, it's not my computer, because on Safari I get this:

And it dose seem to be a latest Firefox version thing because, firstly, there's no reson Firefox would do THIS on purpose, & I got the old version back and...

The good news is, a quick google search and you can find the last version to redownload & install over the updated version you have.

You will get a warning window upon lauch about needing to make a new profile or quit, I did that, logged in to my account and seemingly everything is there. So asides from having to log back into everything & change preference to dark mod, everything seems to be where I left it.

Also, changing auto updates to manual, is a great next step :P

I'm still really peeved tho.

I'll tollerate the ad noncess, but videos in 360p. On a new-ish computer display they're practically unwatchable! If I wanna watch a video in 360p & have it look good, I need to go dig up my old Mac White!

This. This is a step too far with you and your monopoly-wanting-coperate-bullshit. I won't switch to Chrome, and I won't stop using my ad blocker. But what I will do is stop using Youtube. So fuck you Youtube, here's my 2 minutes notice!

I'm switching to Freetube.

Fuck you Google.

[heinousactszx]

Pokéblocks, poffins, poképuffs, pokébeans, do you have a favorite? Which would you totally eat if you could?

just for you anon, we're getting full reviews of each treat

Pokéblocks: my favorite minigame of the bunch. i loved timing up the machine and nailing the perfects as it spun up, and you can't go wrong with the rse bike theme aka the best one as the music. the only downside was forcing you to use them for the safari zone. I would definitely try one because chewing on something perfectly square shaped sounds like amazing mouthfeel plus they're like, gummies? or something? sounds good

poffin: great name, genuinely. i like that they didn't just call em pokémuffins, sounds like a real food. anyway the minigame was alright. i like ds touch screen minigames as much as the next guy but this one was nothing special. although it was nice to see it bake in realtime. I'd probably try a poffin but i'm really not a muffin guy. i wouldn't eat them regularly

poké puffs: it can not be healthy to be giving your pokemon only macarons, all i'm saying. the little minigames to get them were fun, i liked head it, but they weren't really about making them, you know? just sort of a prize for playing with your pokemon. i don't think i'd want to eat them, frankly. looks like way too much sugar for my tastes

poké beans: they definitely look like the healthiest treat so far. poké pelago was a fun little side venture, and admittedly it makes more sense to harvest them than bake them, although you can make coffee with em apparently. i would try them for that amazing crunch sound they make, really nailed that sensation there.

[a-tale-of-legends]

( Legendverse) Red and Green(protag) stuff

Red

Compared to Blue and Green as kids, he was much more ( genuinely) polite and responsible ( as responsible as a child can be anyway).

This doesn't mean he doesn't get himself into mischief. Either bc Blue or Green dragged him into a mess or he specifically thought something was a challenge that he was going to beat, he tends to get into more trouble than it's worth. It's fine though bc he's very polite :)

LIVES for the outdoors. Protag Trait of literally disappearing on people, only to be found in some forest camping( he has gotten better at letting people know of this tho). Really good at foraging and stuff.

I wasn't totally sure of the Professor! Red before, but seeing so many of it, I think it's neat :) He already likes pokemon and does want to understand them more. He could get his PhD like Blue ( who. Honestly doesn't really use it much-) but. That means going to school. Red loves to learn, but he is very weary of the school system. Maybe one day though. Battling is still his biggest passion, of course, I just think it would be something cool for him to do on the side.

Going with the above, I think he would really like what Beryl has done with the johto safari zone. Turning it into a rehabilitation area for pokemon essentially. I think he would help around the place pre- battle tower.

Tying into his love of learning- when blue and green leave for Kalos I just imagine Red being. So board. And lonely. He's no longer fearing the public as much as he used too, and constantly training doesn't have the exact same appeal as it did before ( bc he's no longer alone on top of a mountain). So he honestly just tries learning shit. He is the King of useless facts now. Cooking, knitting, crafting, you name it. Yes, Green has tried to make a profit from this. No, Red hasn't sold anything.

Like. Okay Red isn't like a master of these things, I should add. The most he's extremely good at is camping, battling, and cooking. Everything else is just decent.

He doesn't know how to feel about being Chosen. Especially so late into the game. Apparently, mew was supposed to Choose him when he started his journey....but forgot. It wasn't until SM until Mew did Choose him and by that point it felt. Pointless??? He suppose he's grateful, since he thinks being Chosen at such a young age would have been. Very bad for his mental state ( which makes him feel bad for a lot of the other Chosens after him), but like. It just continues to put him in some sort of pedestal that he doesn't want. He could ask mew to just. Unchoose him but....he doesn't know. Mew is nice though. A gremlin that doesn't give clear instructions yes, but still nice.

Green

Was always kinda blunt, even as a kid. Surprising bc she's also a skilled liar. No one knows how or when she got into scamming people ( who deserved it) or how she got so interested in money, but she is and we all have to deal with it.

Being younger and, well, a girl, Blue used to try and not have her come along with him and Red on their adventures ( Red didn't mind Green coming along, in fact he liked her company). Green would kick Blue's kneecaps for that. She would get scolded for it, but so would Blue for excluding Green out, so it's a win. She comes up with way more fun games than Blue anyway.

Is in the middle of the road in terms of talkativeness. Blue is definitely the one who does the talking most times, but Green isn't shy from it herself. In fact she's pretty talkative too, just not as much as Blue. Still, she can be also pretty quiet like Red. I think these two have a cute friendship, but I gotta work out the details. Tbf, they are protags lol. Protags gotta stick together.

Like Red, has the Protag Trait of just disappearing and doing her own shit. Unlike Red, is probably worse at telling people about it. Where's Green? Wouldn't you like to know, weather boy.

I've ultimately decided that Green is a cave fanatic. She just loves cave spelunking that much. She's not even looking for shit to sell, she just likes caves.

She was the only one that actually completed her pokedex....okay no. I'm sure Red and Blue did eventually, but Green was the first, as always. Red was under pressure from being champion to do anything and Blue was in his feelings, so leave it to Green to buckle down and get the damn pokedex done ( also to alleviate the loneliness of her two friends drifting apart and kinda leaving her behind even more)

Honestly it is just traveling now. Going into caves, battling strong trainers if she wants to, scheming all the way. I like the idea of her becoming world champion but I don't know if that's possible in my au yet. We'll see.

She grew taller out of spite btw. She was the shortest of the trio and she didn't like that, especially bc Blue would tease her for it, so she willed herself to be taller. Not even Mewtwo knows if the Chosen powers were at play here.

Speaking of Mewtwo, yeah she got it. She's the Chosen of it. Mewtwo shouldn't be able to Choose being a man made pokemon, but it did so out of spite and honestly? Good for them.

Sometimes I think Green genuinely forgets she's a Chosen. Like actually. The only thing that actively reminds herself that she is one is that she has powers now and she can live when Mewtwo fucking yeets her into the sky ( this is a fun bonding activity).

During the johto arc, Green was in Johto, staying with Bill's family. Why? I haven't fully fleshed it out, but I think it's a matter of her just not wanting to be at home anymore. That's the baseline of it. She's probably helping Bill with some stuff in return. Green during this time was angsty and angry, so her powers ( or what was unlocked at the time) would tend to flare up when she's pissed. Though, given that she's still very new to bring Chosen, they are unreliable as ever. So. More on her plate, I guess.

Green and cooking is an interesting case. I don't think she's bad. Maybe she's pretty good. But uh. The girl lives off protein shakes and granola bars. If not that: meat( sorry Red). So it's probably less of that "Green can't cook" bc she can, and more of " Green can cook but is choosing not too".

I haven't talked about the whole " Green being forgotten from the narrative despite accomplishing so much" here and that's only bc I want to take a closer look at that on my own time. I still think it's true but I want to like it. Map it out better, if that makes sense.

Green going to Kalos with Blue is for two reasons: Shopping ( Blue and Green are The Shopping Duo) and Caves. Oh and mega evolution so three. Unlike Blue though, she ain't studying shit ( okay she does a little) and spends most of her time doing Arceus' knows what. I think it would be funny if both Green and Blue gained several exes in their time in Kalos but that has yet to be determined.

Green and Blue are actually siblings in my au, so if you're wondering why I'm grouping them together so much, that's why.

Has a lil ditto :3 Is less used for battles and more so for schemes and is in general a friend that's happy to be there :]

[pinewoodpipit]

bloodwritten silver fic - Chapter 1 Meta

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Other meta posts for this AU

Mid-fic meta (posted after chapter 5's release)

Fic end meta

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General thoughts and early fic notes

I’ve really liked the concept for this fic from the start. It’s one of the earliest AUs I came up with and actually started as two different fic ideas; one which was just about why Fade loves her shorty so much, and another one about a werewolf AU. It also originally started as a much closer AU to canon; as in the same storyline and world as the canon Protocol, but with Fade being a werewolf. In this version of the story, Neon heard a ruckus in Fade’s room and discovered her transformed into her wolf form, having lost control due to sleep deprivation. I eventually found that changing the world to something a bit more fitting to the theme to alter it to an almost Soulsborne or RE8 kind of fantasy world made it MUCH stronger. It’s kind of mid-modern; modern enough for people to have guns, but kind of medieval in tone and general… practices regarding monsters.

-

This fic centres around Fadeshock, but a large part of the plot will also revolve around Reyge. I won’t go into detail on this, you’ll see soon enough!

-

To clarify the difference between monsters and Radiants - Radiants are humans or humanoids with magical abilities, and monsters are inhuman creatures. Werewolves fall into an uncomfortable halfway point, and so most call them both interchangeably. Reyna heads a monster hunter guild which Neon works for, and Neon wasn’t comfortable killing Fade as she sees werewolves as more human than beast. It’s the difference between killing a wolf and a person who can turn into a wolf. She has no trouble killing a dragon which has begun to raid villages and hunt people, or a basilisk which is killing livestock, but she won’t kill a werewolf who’s only apparent crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. She also knows, though, that Reyna is a lot stricter on this topic than she is, and so she lied to cover her ass. She is also aware that the lines can blur and quickly become dangerous for her, even though she’s a Radiant herself, so she keeps herself hidden. It’s steady, stable work which she’s good at and pays well, but it is also dangerous and she’s very aware of that.

-

Silver perpetually injures monsters in this fic. If a monster is shot with a silver bullet the wound won’t clot and they’ll bleed out without treatment. The trap around Fade’s arm was silver and so it’s perpetually eating into her, especially since it was barbed and some of the barbs couldn’t be removed while Neon was cutting her loose. Silver is aggravating for monsters to touch, too - it burns them. This will be an important note later in this fic.

-

There is a reason Sage uses her code name while Neon, Fade, and Reyna all don’t! You’ll see why later on.

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Playlist

Again I’ll just share the song titles which are on my playlist, since I don’t know how to share a playlist while making the creator anonymous for my own privacy.

Devil’s Backbone - The Civil Wars (this is the primary theme song and I thought about making the title a lyric from it, but I wanted to stick to an original one for this fic, with this one taking one of the chapter titles instead)

Drops in the Lake - Lord Huron (another primary theme of this fic which took the final chapter’s title)

Just a Man - Jorge Rivera-Herrans, EPIC Ensemble

Karanlığın - VALORANT, Helin, ARB4

GET MINE - Holy Wars

Exhumed - Zola Jesus

Misery - Lucille Croft, BRVMES, TINYKVT

Carrion Flowers - Chelsea Wolfe

Electric Gold - Marion Aunor, Moophs

Wolf Like Me ft. Shovels & Rope - Lera Lynn, Shovels & Rope

Blood On My Name - The Brothers Bright

Cupid - Twin Ver. - FIFTY FIFTY

Stolas Sings - Caleb Hyles

VISIONS - VALORANT, eaJ, Safari Riot

Gravedigger - MXMS

Homeostasis - Nostalghia

You Can’t Judge a Book by the Cover - Ruby Ibarra

INFERNO - Sub Urban, Bella Poarch

REBEL TIME - MOONGA K., Sampa the Great

Boyfriend - Dove Cameron

Many of these were taken from the characters’ official playlists, curated by Riot themselves. I felt they were fitting for this AU especially; particularly Fade’s, as Neon is less… angsty in general. Some happier songs are on here too, though, as even though this fic has a darker tone, it’s still got some rom-com elements in there.

[vulpisnocturna]

🍄 if you had to live the rest of your life as either a gnome, a fairy, or another woodland creature which would you choose and where would you live?

🏵️ what flower symbolizes you? if none come to mind, what’s your birth flower and do you identify with its meaning?

🌷 favourite current hobbies or ones you would like to pick up if you could?

🌸 do you believe in any legends or myths? (NOT conspiracy theories)

🌴 describe your dream holiday?

🌹 what do you look for in others when establishing a connection? (platonically and/or romantically)

🥀 what keeps you motivated/helps boost your mood when you’re feeling off?

(I know TOO many questions, but —)

🍄: Wood nymph/Dryad: I’d just hang out around my tree and talk with Artemis. Sounds like a good life.

🏵️: I think irises, I think they signify resilience. As to what I associate to myself I would say lavender as well, but maybe I’m not really understanding what it’s asking me- mainly it’s because the smell of lavender is very nostalgic to me. My birth flower is water lilies (they apparently mean birth, resurrection and enlightenment). Maybe a little with resurrection but not too much

🌷: right now it’s drawing and writing, but I have tried everything under the sun (ADHD lol). If I could I’d pick up candle making I think

🌸: nope, I’m a very cynical person. I do think myths were used to describe real life scenarios and I find them extremely interesting, but as fantasy

🌴: anything to do with nature/animals. So something like Iceland, going for a safari, visiting Japan’s countryside etc.

🌹: Romantic: compassion; platonic: also compassion, open-mindedness

Those three mainly, below those sense of humour, emotional intelligence, resilience, something that I admire basically

🥀: my life ambitions keep me motivated, when I need a mood boost I tend to hang out with my cat with whom I have a co-dependent relationship 🥰

[ewan-mo]

Not quite the day we thought it would be

12th March 2023

This was one of those days which fails to match the planned programme, and sort of slips from your grasp as it proceeds.

We were due to be picked up at 9.30 by the transport from Mukono hospital. Very heavy rain indicated there might be a bit of a delay. During the ensuing two hours while we were waiting, we met a couple of Welshmen. One was involved in a Welsh tree-planting project in Uganda, his friend was a Welsh MP from Cardiff. You never know who you are going to meet on safari.

Incidentally, the Welsh tree project sounds a really good one. They had planted over 2 million trees here by November 2022. Do have a look at the details on the internet – there are several sites of interest.

You would use water more carefully if you had to pump it by hand and carry it home

Anyhow, it was getting on for midday when eventually our transport arrived with our good friend Lamet, a great ambassador for mental health. And off we went in the rain, “quite far” as he said. We were way out in a group of villages; much intermarriage and lots of interesting syndromes, apparently. The clinic is held on Sundays so that patients can just come on for their appointment after attending morning service. How practical.

The clinic under a shade umbrella

Timothy is a local Councillor. At first he seemed very quiet and unforthcoming, but proved to have a remarkable understanding of his community and its health or otherwise. And, somehow unexpectedly, an excellent sense of humour.

Mo talking with Lamet clinical officer and Timothy

The rain had kept back a number of patients at the clinic – there were 12 instead of 18, but Lamet knows who the missing ones are, a very important statistic. 

We took the team out to lunch, to a café they tend to use. Bit of a wait for our food, probably over an hour. Towards the end they came and confessed that instead of my mixed vegetable soup they had made me a mixed salad. Oh dear, in all that cold and rain too! I had a smoothie instead. 

Back to Mukono Hospital where Dr Simon, Medical Director picked us up in very timely fashion. We were going to his house for dinner. It’s a long time since we’ve been in a Ugandan home for a meal, and it seemed an important step forward. 

But first we went to see Simon’s dad, a retired reverend who lives with his wife at the end of a muddy track, made significantly more slippery by the rain.

Dad loves visitors, and talked cheerily and at length for some time. He came to UK once, to Swindon and Chippenham, on a theological visit. He enjoyed UK very much.  

Finally, to Simon and Irene’s, and we are back on the original schedule!

Such an enjoyable evening, with good food, stimulating conversation and the company of three delightful lively children. I have now known Simon since he was a medical student in 2013. A very happy friendship.

[channelrat]

Okay, so next time I talk about my story, I might just actually write something, like a little story for it, so yeah. But right now I’m very tired so I’m just gonna share a little funny thing.

So, recently, my sleep schedule has been demolished and I’ve been sleeping during the day more often and for longer periods of time, which has led to me staying up very late during the night. Last night, I apparently stayed up until around 4:00, last I remember.

Now, this time has been spent doing many things, most of which I can’t remember, which leads to some very interesting discoveries in the morning.

Yesterday, I found out that at around one in the morning, I sent a message to my best friend. Saul Goodman in all caps. And they replied.

I’m doing perfectly fine, I swear.

And this morning, I was checking how much time I’ve spent on certain apps (Procreate, YouTube, Safari, etc) and I discovered that last night I spent almost three hours on my notes app.

I checked it and apparently I wrote over 1500 words of pure angst at three in the morning. Productivity.

Also, I drew an actual drawing. Lineart and all. It’s relying way to heavily on shadow but I don’t really feel like dealing with it.

According to this evidence, I become someone else entirely at three in the morning. Just pure motivation and productivity yet I have no recollection of anything later on.

Anyway, my many midnight/morning exploits aside (I shared this because I thought it was funny and that it could hopefully make someone laugh), I hope you have a lovely day!

Here’s some photo evidence of everything (if it loads. Also the notes one might look a little weird.)

stop this is so iconic 😭😭😭 i looooove the late night brain off creativity. the drawing looks good i like it (i love shadows they're my favorite thing when drawing next to not giving people faces)

[survey--s]

533.

What can you smell right now?    My scented candle, which apparently smells like “smoked roses”.

What was the last thing you bought online?   A cooling blanket and some air freshener for my car.

If you drink coffee, when was the last time you went a day without having one?   Whenever I had that horrendous flu/bug thing - it must have been back in February, I think?

Do you have any appointments coming up?   I have two jobs to do in a couple of hours. I have to go and feed Monty and then pop in on Charley the cat.

Do you put appointments in your phone’s calendar app to remember them?   Yeah.

Will you be visiting anyone’s house in the next week or so?   Yeah, my job involves going in/out of people’s houses lol. I also see my in-laws most days as they look after the dog for us while we work.

Have you ever been to a petting zoo? What animals did you pet?   Yeah, loads of times - goats, lambs, pigs, calves, hamsters, rabbits, guinea pigs, chicks, ducklings - all sorts.

What was the last movie you saw in theatres?   I haven’t been to the movies since before COVID lol.

Do you know anyone who has done a PhD?   Yeah, quite a few people.

How many unread emails are in your inbox right now?   Zero, I check/delete my e-mails as they come in.

What four apps do you keep on the home bar on your iPhone? (Sorry, I’m not sure if Android has an equivalent!) Phone, Spotify, Safari, Messages.

Have you ever used Tumblr? Do you still use it today?   No, this is all a figment of your imagination.

Are you tired right now?   A little bit, but not full-on exhausted or anything like that.

What’s your favourite day of the week and why?   It depends on the week and what I have planned, but generally weekends are the best for obvious reasons lol.

How far away is the nearest major city?   About two hours away.

Do you own an electric kettle?   Sure.

Are your eyebrows wispy or bushy?   Both lol.

Have you ever lost your wallet or purse? Did you have to replace a bunch of things?   I’ve lost my bank card a few times but I just froze it via the app and ordered a new one.

Where are you right now? Describe the room or place to me.   I’m in the living room as it’s bloody roasting outside. There are windows at each end - the front door is at one end, the kitchen door at the other and the upstairs door on far left as you come in. The walls are painted a mix of red and grey, the carpets are grey and so is the sofa, with red blankets/cushions to match the walls. All the furniture is white. There are fairylights all around the room and a scented candle burning above the fireplace.

Do you prefer big dogs or small dogs?   Medium sized dogs - around 15-25kg is perfect for me. Anything bigger and they’re generally too strong for me to handle safely, and any smaller and they’re just not really my thing, I guess.

Are you good at understanding heavy accents? Which accents would you say you’re the best at understanding?   For the most part I manage fine. I guess British accents.

Have you ever played on a real life pinball machine, or just on the computer?   Both.

Do you have a lot of word documents or notes on your computer?   No, I don’t think there any saved on here actually.

What’s your favourite Ben & Jerry’s flavour?   I’m not a fan of Ben & Jerry’s anymore. I loved it as a teenager but now it all tastes really sweet and artificial,.

Have you ever been to a school reunion? How was it?   No, and I have no interest in going to one.

How many nights a week do you generally cook at home?   I eat at home pretty much every night but I don’t always cook.

What colour are the street signs in your neighbourhood? Are they the same all over town or do they vary?   Like, the signs with street names on them? White with black lettering. That’s the same everywhere in the UK.

Do you have good grammar and punctuation skills?   Yes.

Have you ever tried vegan chicken? Did you like it? Yeah, I used to love Quorn stuff but now it makes me sick lol.

[ds-strolls]

City Safari: Spots & Shells

It’s roughly 7 AM on the 7th of April, 2024. Just two days ago, around 10 AM, an earthquake shook up the state of New Jersey and sent tremors to the heart of NYC. We got hit with a 4.8 earthquake, and to be honest, it wasn’t really a big deal. I had an existential crisis/panic attack about three hours after the quake, but that’s because I got way too high and had recently been rejected from a few jobs I applied for. All that to say, the earthquake wasn’t the biggest thing to have occurred in the upcoming days.

Now, if you can’t tell, I’m unemployed, which means I have a lot of free time on my hands, and apparently, I’m an old man who likes to take strolls. These strolls vary from being very introspective/deep/depressing walks to artful/vibey/purposeful walks to get in the right headspace. So, one morning on the 7th of April, I aim to be as productive as possible today. Get up, get a cup of coffee, do some laundry, and clean the apartment with the wife. We are productive today, busy bees doing what needs to be done to live in a clean space, while I personally make sure I’m in the right headspace. So, I make sure to conveniently fit in a stroll or two when the laundry is getting done.

Now, I usually hit the park that’s nearby the apartment for my strolls — it’s a decent space that’s a short distance away, with a track. So, after hitting the laundromat — just putting the laundry in the wash, which gives me about a 30-minute walk at least. Not really a morning person, but today, I’m up and ready to go out and have either a very introspective walk or a good vibey walk.

Now, I bounce around from playing some lo-fi/jazz, firing up a podcast about ad tech, or walking in silence. For this one, I went with the latter and headed to the park a short distance away. I enjoyed a bit of a pre-roll I got at an edible bakeshop from Bay Ridge, a great place for some edible baked goods. While I indulge in my vices and continue on my walk, I notice a figure behind me on the track who is holding a case securely on his person. It’s a clear case, and I only noticed because I slowed my pace and he passed me at some point. This clear case now became an obsession of mine. Maybe it was the pre-roll, or maybe it was the existential crisis that happened two days ago. Why walk around with a clear case, I say? What’s inside this case? What is so important?

I trail behind this man with the clear case and notice that he recognized someone in the distance. I squint my eyes to get a better look, and I notice this loud apparel-wearing clothed man stretching on the park bench, waving to his friend — the friend with the clear case. Now, this loud apparel-wearing clothed man wore a leopard-patterned fur jacket, which just felt like a lot for a Sunday morning. As the friend with the clear case walks up to leopard jacket, I finally get a better glimpse at the contents of the clear case… The leopard jacket points at the turtle excitedly! The friend with the clear case was carrying a turtle. A turtle within the case. I found this weird for some reason. Why is this guy delivering a turtle to a person wearing a leopard-patterned jacket? My mind races at the possibilities and the oddity of it all while I continue to walk on the track.

Now, I’m ahead of the guy with the turtle and leopard jacket as my mind tries to come to terms with this rare sight. I begin to think, how many times would I see something like this? As the two individuals now trail behind me, I begin to rationalize it as being normal. Then, I hear a hello from the sidewalk on the right side of the track, outside of the park. It looks like the guy who said hello knows both of the individuals, and they somehow start talking about their walking schedules in the park. So now, I’m thinking that this is a regular occurrence for the guy with the turtle, and I judge myself for finding it weird and odd. My mind is spiraling on this 30-minute stroll, waiting for the washer to be done at the laundromats so I can transfer the items from the washer to the dryer.

With this new revelation of the meaning of normalcy, I return to the laundromat and proceed to remove my items from the washer. Still coming to grips with reality as I transfer the laundry to the dryer, I notice the dryer door won’t close. This results in me almost breaking the door in frustration since it won’t close, causing the attendant at the laundromat to rush over to stop me from damaging the dryer door. I’m cooked. Saw a turtle going for a walk with a leopard, and now I’m wrecking the laundromat. I muster up an apology and put my quarters in, counting slowly to make sure I time everything right, and I get out of dodge and return to the confines of our apartment building around the corner.

[a-tale-never-told]

We know of a few members of Class 49 in some timelines, like Chiaki's father being in it, Ibuki's mother and Mahiru's dad. But given the nature of this world I have a strong suspision some of those members either don't exist due to their parents being killed during Operation Downfall, barred due to the racist backwards nature of this country, and we know one of them is 100% dead due to the Commies.

Well, we certainly know plenty about Chaiki's parents, Ibuki's mom, and... Dad. However, according to the Hope's Peak Hall of Fame, a part of the school dedicated to some of the most talented individuals in the history of Hope's Peak Academy, they have a large portion of the hallway dedicated to Class 49 and their accomplishments.

Here are the other members of the Class, at least from what little information I got from the descriptions of their biographies.

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Akamatsu Kyoka- Ultimate Vocalist

As we all are familiar with already, this is Ibuki's mom, who used to go by the name of Sylilla Romazaki, the infamous leader of the teenage rock band "Model Notes" during the 1970s and 1980s. When she graduated, she decided to retire from the music industry and married a doctor named Mioda Hibito. She's really kindhearted and genuine, and I can definitely see why Ibuki takes inspiration from her, in more ways than one.

Shinji Kasai- Ultimate Firefighter

Best friends with Nanami Tenmei from their high school years, who took time off from school due to complications with chronic back pain due to an injury he suffered, so he's older than most of the people there. Still, he's got a good career on his shoulders, as he's working as a security guard but still has ties to the fire department and he's married with three kids. He's pretty loud, but he's a decent guy and contributes greatly to making the community a safer place.

Hanami Watanabe- Ultimate Botanist

A talented expert in the field of botany, she was supposedly Tenemi's ex-fiance, and it was rumored that they had an arranged marriage. Despite possesing an absolutely uncanny and similar resemblance to Chiaki, she was a really nice girl but could be really savage when it came to her comebacks. According to the description, she's Sato Hanami now, and she and her husband now operate a curry shop.

Mio Yonaga- Ultimate Otokoyaku

An incredibly talented stage actress who infamously crossdressed as men and was the definition of a class clown who enjoyed a light-hearted atmosphere. She's known for having a usually upbeat and optimistic outlook on life and is a rather playful person to interact with. She and her husband live in Okinawa and is considered to be one of the shining beacons of the class.

Biju Hakoda- Ultimate Hiker

The former Ultimate Hiker, with a passion for exploring the outdoors, from the jungles of the Amazon to the mountaintops and forests of the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, to the safaris in Africa. Generally a calm and passive person, yet a man of very few words during his time in Hope's Peak, he's also half Indian on his mother's side, which has resulted in him having to live in exile from the country and become ashamed upon by the rest of the public due to his race and ethnicity

Goro Hirabayashi- Ultimate Glassmaker

He's the former Ultimate Glassblower, which is basically having to inflate molten gas into a bubble with the aid of blowpipes. Not really much is known about him other than the fact that he's the only confirmed member of Class 49 who has no known information about his whereabouts, which is honestly really strange.

Yuka Kurosaki- Ultimate Saxophonist

An expert in the field of playing saxophones, and was apparently the best friend of Kyoka Mioda in school! A really skilled musician too, upbeat, optimistic, and full of energy and soul, and has numerous good qualities to say about her. She has two kids and is still using her married name, Saihara Yuka, despite the recent divorce she endured.

Ichiro Kashiki- Ultimate Geologist

An incredibly tired man who spent most of his time working and assisting with mining operations and other geological studies. Despite the fact that he was actually asleep in class, he eventually became an activist for environmental rights and the preservation of valuable mining resources and has a daughter who is part of the Student Council, from what I heard.

Sakura Chigusa- Ultimate Cheerleader

The former Ultimate Cheerleader, and one of Nanami Harumi's best friends. She was incredibly popular, friendly, kindhearted, sociable, kinda an airhead, and a bit judgemental about boys. From what the tidbits say, she's a P.E. teacher now, and a vocal activist for equal rights for women, which has landed her into some complicated and tight controversy.

Sakura Fushimi- Ultimate Fashion Designer

Basically the definition of the mean girl stereotype, she is really short-tempered and always lashes out at others out of fury. However, she seemed to get better as of late and is widely considered by some to be the best Gyaru of her generation. Even after she left Hope's Peak, she still holds a job as a professional designer, so she's doing better for herself.

Sakura Sakura- Ultimate Model

And here's the one I know the least about. Despite her being the Ultimate Model, she was probably the biggest jerk in Class 49, messing with people and making fun of them, getting people to do her homework, and committing all kinds of crazy pranks all across the academy. The worst one was when she actually tried to blow up a statue in front of the school, along with Fushimi and Chigusa, and it ended up leading to them getting expelled. Strangely, like Goro, Sakura disappeared during the incident and nobody's heard anything from her ever since.

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Wow... so this is everyone.

I wouldn't exactly say that this is everyone since my dad was originally part of the class as the Ultimate Construction Worker, he's not even mentioned in the Class 49 section at all. Honestly, I have a gut feeling in my heart as to why he's not in the Hall of Fame of Ultimates.

Even if that's the case, it doesn't make all that much sense to me when you take into consideration that Biju is in the Hall of Fame despite being half-Indian. So by the logical stances of this school's official policy on racism and prejudice and what happened to your father, he shouldn't even be mentioned in Class 49, let alone be a part of the Main Course!.

It's really odd, I know. Why is Biju a member of one of the Main Course classes? Especially with a class with an iconic and notorious reputation as Class 49? Wouldn't it make better sense just to expel both Hitoshi and Biju for even being at Hope's Peak due to their skin color? In fact, why are they and Ichiro even in the same class? How does Class 49 even exist in the way that it was formed?!

I think the most logical, rational solution we have to analyze is that Hope's Peak decided to pull this strategy because of forced pressure from the outside world, in order to be seen as embarking on some kind of educational reforms for the school system. In other words, this was essentially supposed to be a move that would drastically improve the academy's reputation and public image, since Hope's Peak's reputation wasn't as acclaimed as it was now today.

And even that, you gotta consider that during the entire time, America was occupying almost half the country with military forces during the period of time, so perhaps the Steering Committee feared incurring the wrath of the Americans, hence why Class 49 was formed as a temporary solution in order to appease them?

But even then, it's still a tremendous rabbit hole to go down through Why were the Americans even involved in the first place? What did they even necessarily want for Hope's Peak? Why was Biju placed on the Hall of Fame, yet Dad was not, despite being part of the class itself? And the most confusing thing of all is how does Harumi Nanami fit into all of the events mentioned?

Let's think about this okay?: She solved the murder of her junior high school teacher, despite not having any official leads and having to rely on a trash bag with dismembered body parts, in less than a few minutes, she has solved about 450 cases over the span of several decades, has formed her own team of law enforcement experts, and is widely popular and well respected within the police departments, yet she doesn't even get an acceptance letter for the Main Course. How come?

After all of the hard work that she dedicated years to help the police with the increased crime rates in this city, and the school doesn't even accept her? Yet someone like Eminia Niijue, a person who wasn't even relevant to Hope's Peak at all before then, gets to be accepted into the Main Course? With how much Hope's Peak values talent above all aspects of life, it would be absolutely ridiculous that they wouldn't even give Harumi an acceptance letter into the Main Course, especially considering her reputation and how talented her skills in forensics are, as well as having connections to the police.

Maybe it's because she was a girl? You know how Hope's Peak treats us ladies nowadays.

No, I don't think it's just because Harumi was a female. There's got to be an explanation for this type of behavior because I refuse to chalk it all up to simple misogyny by the Steering Committee or even the Headmaster. After all, the Sakuras were at Hope's Peak's Reserve course, and they were accepted into the Main Course, despite being close friends with Harumi, so she should've gotten accepted in by comparison, especially in comparison with someone like Emina, who wasn't even heard of untill she was married into a rich family through an arranged marriage.

There's gotta be more to this story than what I've just investigated. I'm sure that something suspicious happened that day, and I wholeheartedly won't stop untill I find out what! After all, if this was something that violates and is against the very ideals and beliefs about talent in Hope's Peak, what else could they have been lying about for years?

This situation opens a massive can of worms for not just everyone involved, but also the very ideas of talent and hope in society, because if a person who's clearly talented in a particular subject gets denied acceptance into this prestigious academy where talent is the main belief in society and someone from a nontalented background gets accepted instead, then what does that mean for the rest of us talented people in society?

This is honestly terrifying to break down and for good reason. If Hope's Peak were to be caught breaking its own rules and ideology simply because of greed, then... what does that mean for all of us? My dad... could it be because of...

Let's not jump straight to any conclusions. While yeah, the prospect of them hypocritically preaching their belief about talent and hope yet denying someone as talented and helpful as Harumi simply because of corporate greed is absolutely disgusting to think upon, let's not focus on that now, because it's not relevant to what's happening at the moment.

I'm not saying that this conversation is irrelevant or doesn't matter, but it's not what we're focusing on right now. What matters is stopping Komaeda from making the worst mistake of his life by trying to murder Hajime, and preventing the two from ever interacting with each other, in order to guarantee Hajime's safety. So instead of worrying about something in the past, focus on what you can do starting now.

[lavender-linens]

Oh boy, do I have opinions about beginner fountain pens! Keep in mind that I have smaller sized hands, which does influence my opinions.

I highly recommend pelican twist and pilot kakuno! Both are pens designed for elementary schoolers, so you get fun colors (the rose gold pelican twist is so pretty!). They are also very pleasant to write with for long periods in my opinion and are very ergonomic. I've tried lots of pens in person, and these are my favorite beginner pens other than the platinum preppy (which is excellent for how cheap and convenient it is). Platinum plasair is a very comfortable pen and writes very smoothly, but unfortunately it's ugly and clunky in design.

For more expensive pens, I would like to own the pilot prera, I tried it in person once and it was a wonderfully balanced pen. It's a bit overpriced for what it is though. I love my Waterman hemisphere, it's so elegant, ergonomic, and has lasted me 8 years and counting! My local pen shop isn't the biggest fan of Waterman (they don't have good margins for local stores and they switched mainly to converters apparently) but it's one of my favorite pens hands down.

I have tried the lamy safari. I don't know why everyone recommends it (I tried I back before the qc issues). It's overpriced for what you get, and the balance of the pen is horrible posted or unposted. No. Bad pen. Just why?

Pilot metropolitan is better balanced and super smooth, if a bit heavy for my taste. I don't own one even though they are super pretty because I hate the step down to the grip.

I personally recommend buying a converter and an ink syringe and being done with the whole cartridge issue.

I love Clairfontaine French ruled paper, but they recently changed the line coloring and now it's too bright. Boooo. Nakabayashi's Logical Prime is a wonderful notebook, so cute, pretty, and elegant. Do not be tempted to get their Logical Air though, the paper quality sucks and you will hate writing on it.

My ink recommendations are J Herbin, Diamine, or my new favorite Pilot Iroshizuku (seriously, so smooth). For some reason every single dark red ink I've tried has dried up in my very reliable pens.

Herbin: Lierre sauvage and poissiere de lune are my favorites from Herbin. Perle noir works well. Blue des profundedores is a good ink, but I'm not a fan of the color.

Diamine: claret is a lovely bright pink, blue velvet is a rich and shocking dark blue. I recommend both highly.

Pilot Iroshizuku: I am obsessed with ama-iro and prefer it to konpeki. Tsutsugi is nice, it's almost exactly the same as Diamine claret. Yama-budo is lovely as well. Iroshizuku inks are very well lubricated and very saturated, and the bottle is gorgeous, I love them.

I recommended pilot kakuno and Diamine claret to my friend who was just getting into fountain pens and wanted something violently pink like Elle Woods might have. She was very, very pleased with the combination.

My brother: I've just got him on the platinum preppies.

My bf: has a twisbi and another heavier pen I don't care to remember. I don't like either really, he really would just prefer to steal my pens. Maybe I should get him a kakuno. I think most fountain pens are way too big or made for men with giant hands.

ok, if you're a beginner and are interested in getting into fountain pens, i recommend jetpens' beginner guide because it's pretty alright

note: i don't recommend shopping at jetpens - they aren't bad by any means, but goulet pens is family owned and gives you a lollipop and sticker freebie with every order! i prefer them because of that. they also just have better customer service and, like, actually do sales sometimes. jetpens never does sales and when they do the deals are Bad

for beginner pens i personally recommend, if you wanna go REALLY cheap, get a jinhao shark. they use international standard cartridges AND include a converter for under five dollars! people seem to really like the pilot metropolitan for beginners, but i personally hate it for its garbage converter, proprietary fill system, and slippery grip section. the lamy safari has a triangle grip that some people hate and it also uses proprietary lamy fill systems, but it is far superior in my opinion. if you want to play it safe, i would go with pilot - lamy has some quality control issues. if you want to cross your fingers for a really good batch and experience, go lamy. for other options, check out the beginner pen selection on goulet's site! if you have any questions about specific pens in that selection then send an ask, i am insane and will probably have more information for you

do not buy disposable fountains as your first pens - they aren't representative of the experience.

info on different ways to fill your pen are here! i will always recommend bottled ink over cartridges - there's more options and bottled ink is better for the environment!

for inks, i'll always recommend waterman intense black if you want a black ink. it's nothing if not reliable! for more colorful options, try the pilot iroshizuku line. they're amazing!!!! please note that SHIMMER INKS are NOT for beginners. if you want glitter, make sure to practice with other inks and pens first so you know you like the hobby... glitter is not for the faint of heart in the fountain pen world. do not buy any NOODLER'S INK, the guy who owns it is a trump supporter and conspiracy theorist.

for paper, i would recommend not using something super textured or fibrous, as the fibers can get caught in your pen and cause a clog. printer paper is crummy but not the absolute worst - your ink WILL feather and bleed somewhat, but it won't be terrible. for dedicated paper, try rhodia, tomoe river paper (MY FAVORITE), or clairfontaine! you don't have to worry too much about this if you're a beginner, just make sure not to use your pens on highly textured paper

there's a lot more i could talk about, so again, feel free to ask! this is just the basics =)