#as according to my neo results

[joyridingmp3]

the only good thing about my job is that every now and then my coworkers will mention something about trauma that describes me that i didn't know i experienced due to cptsd and then i get to subtly be like OHH ✍️✍️📝 okay that's why im like that

[imagitory]

I've never been more heartbroken in my life.

I was gobsmacked in 2016, don't get me wrong. I was devastated and frightened and shaken beyond words. I even had to go behind a wall and collect myself at one point that horrible November 9th, 2016, after colliding with a man wearing a red MAGA hat at work. A good chunk of us at work talked amongst ourselves about it, offering each other comfort.

But this? This is different. I could imagine dumb people making excuses for voting for Trump in 2016 -- saying that they thought a businessman would be good for the economy, saying that they wanted someone who wasn't a "Washington insider" like Hilary Clinton. Sure, it was stupid, but people can be stupid. Quite frankly, a lot of people are stupid, in this country and otherwise.

But now? Anyone who voted for Trump now has voted for a man who not only rounded up immigrants and put them in concentration camps separated from their families; bungled the response to COVID-19 so badly that the American death toll easily surpassed every other country on Earth; has poisoned the Supreme Court to the extent that they overturned years of precedence with Roe V. Wade and has basically given Trump cart-blanche to do whatever he wants while he's president; was the first president in history to refuse to concede on election day; was impeached for crimes in office not once but TWICE; was instrumental to and passionately supportive of the full-on attempted coup at the U.S. capitol on January 6, 2021 that could've very easily resulted in the deaths of his own Vice President and multiple members of Congress; has spoken glowingly of despots like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un and even said he will be "a dictator on day one" if elected again; has both used slogans originally used by modern American Neo-Nazis ("America First") and purportedly told one of his ex-subordinates that he wanted generals like Adolf Hitler's...but also has by the day proven more and more just how mentally inept, vindictive, and mean-spirited he truly is.

And unlike in his previous races, Trump is ahead in the popular vote too. We can't just blame this on the electoral college being antiquated and gerrymandered AF like in the Trump-Clinton or Bush-Gore elections. Even if all of the third-party voters in this country had grown a bloody brain cell and voted for Harris so as to show solidarity against Trump and his form of American fascism, it still somehow wouldn't be enough. We could potentially blame this on lower voter turn-out -- according to what I'm seeing so far, even with all the votes not counted in this race yet, it looks like there were far less votes cast this election than in the last one, though likely still more than the 2016 race. But even so, I don't think that's the only problem. I truly think there were just a lot of people who turned out en-masse to vote for Trump. And all I can think in regards to those people is...

This is beyond stupidity or even selfishness. This is cruelty. This is large swaths of people deciding that they want fellow American citizens to suffer -- because in their minds, if those people suffer, that'll somehow make them happy. This is a large chunk of America saying, "yeah, you know all that crap about 'liberty and justice for all'? Screw that, I want a 'strong man' to bully people different from me for my own amusement." And -- perhaps -- there's also an element of feeling like their vote doesn't really have any consequences for them, so why should they care if the man they voted for is a god-awful person? It's not like that man will hurt them.

I had hoped. I had hoped, seeing the outpouring of support from liberals, independents, and conservatives for Harris/Walz. I'd hoped, seeing how many ex-Trump appointees were standing up against him, how much people were shouting their disdain for Project 2025 from the rooftops, and how many women were protesting in the face of Roe V. Wade being overturned. I truly had started to hope that America would prove we'd grown beyond our country's own original sin -- how our United States preached freedom for all while still being built on the backs of slaves and refusing to grant a vote to over half their population -- by electing a smart, successful, charismatic woman of color who sees our country as great in potential and wants us to pursue that potential as our first female president, rather than backtracking all the slow progress we've made over the last 200+ years.

But now...my hope has faded. My heart is in pieces and the world is so dark. I hardly know how I'll function at work tomorrow, even if I know somehow, I have to try. We'll all have to stand somehow. Somehow, someway...we'll have to find the strength. We'll have to stand, and we'll have to keep moving forward, even when it feels like we're a Little Mermaid walking on knives.

We'll have to stand.

[xidnaf]

you know what, i was too hard on mirror-gender people. who the fuck am i to complain about someone being annoying? i have an idea. let's get a house. every week we have a house party there with lots of cool-kid drugs, like fruit snacks and crackers or whatever else. every week it's the same couple-dozen-or-whatever of us. the first week or two we just focus on all learning each other's names. after that comes pronouns, and nothing nonbinary is allowed. everyone has to be he or she for one month. furthermore, during this month everyone has to make their sexuality public, and it has to be either "gay" or "straight." no bisexuals or asexuals allowed. after that, the rule swaps. everyone is "they" for one month. that's the communism-themed month. the third month is neo-pronouns only. no he's, she's, they's or it's allowed. and don't think you can get out of this if you're not a native english speaker. you're not allowed to use pronouns from your native language. spanish speakers can't be ella, arabic speakers can't be إنها, you get the idea. after the sixth full moon after our first party, if you ever get anyone's pronouns wrong you have to sing a round of inversion karaoke. the rules for inversion karaoke go like this: you have to sing a song from the perspective of someone from the same sexuality but the opposite gender. for instance, straight men have to sing from the perspective of straight women, gay women have to sing from the perspective of gay men, et cetera. and btw, inversion karaoke doesn't care about your soul, it just cares about what was on your nametag in the first month. after the first year we introduce inter-operable pronouns. everyone gets to say things like "my pronouns are the opposite gendered pronouns of the nearest person to my immediate north." we start standing on pre-placed colored dots on the ground like in gym class in elementary school. we turn back and forth to each other according to a set of pre-arranged rules, saying phrases to each other that sound like example sentences from an information theory textbook. we build logic gates out of our own genders. we build a computer out of gender, and we run minecraft on it. gender is a construct, so let's construct something fucking insane. after several decades of this we part ways and never speak to each other again, having officially Won Gender. also if "i like fitting in with people around me, so i find myself being more comfortable acting in a more masculine way around men, and more comfortable acting in a more feminine way around women" describes you, and as a result you find using the term "mirrorgender" to genuinely be a useful shorthand for your experiences, fuck man, you do you, who am i to judge.

[capricorn-0mnikorn]

I keep seeing / hearing this "fact" every Christmas Season

And it drives me to distraction (in large part because I bought into it, and repeated it myself, without thinking, for a long time):

"Christmas is actually Pagan, because The Bible says Jesus was born during Lambing Season (when the shepherds watch their flocks by night). And Everybody Knows lambing season is in March - April. So: ha! Gotcha!"

And this is repeated by both neo-Pagans, who want to claim that their religion was somehow "stolen" by the early Church, and by Conservative Christians who dislike the secular, party atmosphere, of contemporary Christmas celebrations, and are seeking to (literally) demonize those practices.

But a few years ago, a question popped into my head (I forget exactly what prompted it):

"Lambing Season in Northern Europe is in March - April. But Jesus wasn't born in Northern Europe. When is the (or was) the Lambing Season in Bethlehem?"

First, I looked up the breeds of sheep native to the Middle East, and the most common, ancient breed of sheep in that part of the world is the Awassi Sheep (DuckDuckGo page of image search results). Then, I looked around for breeding & lambing information. According to this 2011 abstract, the ewes can mate in April (not give birth), all the way through September, and their pregnancy is about 5 months long.

So lambing season could've been anywhere from September through February. And the tail end of December is comfortably in the middle of that.

So yeah, maybe December 25 was Jesus' birthday.

As someone who is no longer either Pagan or Christian, this isn't really any of my business, anymore, I suppose.

I just get annoyed by the implicit bias of: "The whole world looks like my back yard. And all of history should feel like my childhood memories." ...Especially when it's coming from people who are otherwise talking about history and or biology.

[the-moonlight-kindred]

Organovore and Humanity

As a DM, Storyteller, and Player, Organovore is a super fun flaw for a vampire to have to deal with. For anyone who has forgotten, Organovore is a flaw in Vampire: the Masquerade worth 2 dots, meaning it's pretty debilitating! Basically, you need to play a cannibal, which means that unless you work in a hospital, you're food almost always dies.

This, however, opens up a very important question: How do you justify doing this, but still clinging to your Humanity? It isn't as if you can choose not to do this. The alternative is to go hungry, because you can't sate your Hunger by just drinking blood, and going hungry means losing control and killing uncontrollably. So, once again, how do you feed in a way that is moral.

The first solution: consume only those whose death would be in service to your Convictions. Whether that's criminals or a specific group that has harmed you, acting in accordance of those beliefs allows you to retain what makes you human. For example, my VtM character was a Norwegian WWII survivor. As a result, they targetted Neo Nazis.

Second Solution: Find another Kindred who will let you feed from them. Kindred and most supernaturals are excluded from feeding penalties (though not from Prey Exclusions), meaning that you can simply drink blood from Kindred and sate your Hunger. This is trickier unless you got the Unbondable trait.

I enjoyed the Organovore flaw. It offered a very real horror to the Kindred condition, and examining how someone keeps their soul from being further tainted despite having this flaw is fun to think about. The mental gymnastics and ways to justify it offer prime storytelling, and could even lead to a Kindred becoming a Blood Leech and excluding mortals entirely from their palate.

[city-of-ladies]

"Naqiʾa (c. 730– 668 BCE), wife of Sennacherib (705– 681), mother of the Neo- Assyrian king Esarhaddon (681– 669) and grandmother of Ashurbanipal (668– 627), is the best documented and in all probability most influential royal woman of the Neo- Assyrian period.

It was often suggested that Naqiʾa was the driving force behind Sennarcherib’s installment of Esarhaddon as crown prince. This was a truly exceptional case, as Esarhaddon was one of Sennacherib’s younger sons and most probably, even as a young man, suffered from an illness that would later kill him. Sickness was often interpreted as a sign of divine wrath in Mesopotamia; therefore, it was a severe obstacle for a claimant to the throne and any sickness of the king could be used to question his status as the darling of the gods. Maybe we will never know what the reasons for Esarhaddon’s promotion were, but we are sure about the results of Sennacherib’s decision.

Sennacherib was assassinated by his other sons and Esarhaddon had to fight his brothers in order to be enthroned. While the rebellion was going on, Naqiʾa explored the future of her son by asking for prophetic messages, something that was usually a privilege of the kings. The answer highlights the role of Ishtar, here called the Lady of Arbela, and the privileged position, of Naqiʾa:

I am the Lady of Arbela! To the king’s mother, since you implored me, saying: “The one on the right and the other on the left you have placed in your lap. My own offspring you expelled to roam the steppe!” No, king, fear not! Yours is the kingdom, yours is the power! By the mouth of Aḫat- abiša, a woman from Arbela.

Seemingly, the prophecy was right: it took Esarhaddon only two months to defeat his brothers and he was enthroned as Assyrian king. In this text Naqiʾa is already designated as queen mother; according to Melville this was “the highest rank a woman could achieve.”

In earlier research Naqiʾa was often seen as the strong woman behind a weak, sick, and superstitious king. Newer research has demonstrated that despite all of his problems, Esarhaddon was a capable ruler, who brought the Neo-Assyrian Empire to its maximal extension and pacified Babylonia, at least for a while. 

During his reign Naqiʾa became really powerful and commissioned her own building inscription. To undertake large building projects and praise them in inscriptions is typical for kings, but extraordinary for a royal woman. The inscription introduces Naqiʾa in a bombastic tone, which is quite typical for inscriptions commissioned by kings:

I, Naqiʾa … wife of Sennacherib, king of the world, king of Assyria, daughter- in- law of Sargon [II], king of the world, king of Assyria, mother of Esarhaddon, king of the world [and] king of Assyria; the gods Aššur, S.n, Šamaš, Nab., and Marduk, Ištar of Niniveh, [and] Ištar of Arbela … He [Essarhaddon] gave to me as my lordly share the inhabitants of conquered foes plundered by his bow. I made them carry hoe [and] basket and they made bricks. I … a cleared tract of land in the citadel of [the city of] Nineveh, behind the temple of the gods Sîn and Šamaš, for a royal residence of Esarhaddon, my beloved son …

We can clearly see that Naqiʾa held an extraordinarily powerful position during the reign of her son and this continued even after Esarhaddon’s death. She was eager to assure the enthronement of her grandson Assurbanipal. The loyalty treaty that was intended to secure his reign is called the treaty of Zakutu, another name of Naqiʾa. Its first lines read:

The treaty of Zakutu, the queen of Sannacherib, king of Assyria, mother of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, with Šamaš- šumu- ukin, his equal brother, with Šamaš- metu- uballiṭ and the rest of his brothers, with the royal seed, with the magnates and the governors, the bearded and the eunuchs, the royal entourage, with the exempts and all who enter the Palace, with Assyrians high and low: Anyone who (is included) in this treaty which Queen Zakutu has concluded with the whole nation concerning her favorite grandson Assurbanipal […]

That Naqiʾa was able to conclude a treaty with the most powerful persons throughout the empire and to establish her favorite grandson on the throne is clear evidence for her powerful position, even if she simply continued the plans she had made earlier with Esarhaddon. It seems that Naqiʾa died shortly after Assurbanipal was enthroned as king."

Fink Sebastian, “Invisible Mesopotamian royal women?”, in: The Routledge companion to women and monarchy in the ancient mediterranean world

[shinysamurott9]

I've had Ciel on my mind today and whenever I think of her, I can't help but think just how fucked her story and life is.

Seriously, she's born as a test tube baby, genetically engineered to be more intelligent with the express purpose of making better weapons and reploids for the dictatorship that created her, likely meaning she didn't have proper parents and no real childhood.

She created Copy X, who then went on to commit straight up genocide, so you know that definitely took a toll on her. Oh yeah she was 9 when she did this. So yeah can't imagine that helped with coping.

She then goes on to try and find redemption by forming the resistance to save reploids that her creation wants to exterminate, becoming the enemy of effectively all of what remains of society as a result, with people constantly dying around her for being part of her organisation. It's to the point where they are on the verge of collapse by Zero 1, this desperation being the whole reason she tries to find Zero in the first place.

During this whole time, Ciel is also working to try and create an entirely new, renewable and clean energy source on the faint hope that Neo Arcadia would cease their genocide of the reploids. An incredibly daunting task for a single person to say the least. Unfortunately it goes completely down the drain by Z3 where giving Neo Arcadia, or really at that point Weil, the Ciel System is completely out of the question. It was naive beforehand of course but it just sucks for her that all her time and effort spent working on the system in hopes of bringing a peaceful resolution basically meant nothing in terms of resolving the conflict with Neo Arcadia at least.

Oh and this was also after the guy who she handed command of the resistance to, massively escalated the conflict with Neo Arcadia, got a bunch of their soldiers killed only for him to eventually go crazy and have to be killed himself. So yeah I can't imagine that was great for her.

Honestly laying it all out like this Z4 is comparitively not nearly as bad for her, until right at the very end where the conflict that she is at least partially responsible for sparking is ended almost entirely by Kraft nuking Neo Arcadia. Fun fact according to the Drama Track, Vile's Incident, included in the Z4 Remastered Tracks CD, Kraft canonically killed approximately 20 Million people when he hit Neo Arcadia so yeah make of that what you will.

And of course after all that, Zero goes up and destroys Ragnarok and himself along with it. We see how grief stricken Ciel is in the game but honestly, listen to the Drama CD version of Zero's final monologue and hearing Ciel's scream shows just how crushing this is for her. Seriously her voice actress screams like part of her soul is being destroyed in that moment.

Honestly considering she goes through everything she does here, well before she even properly reaches adulthood no less, it's a genuine wonder Ciel isn't just completely broken by Zero 4. Worst part is it doesn't even stop after that, shit keeps happening and by the time the ZX era rolls around she's completely MIA, likely still alive through cybernetic enhancements so she's old as hell now and is forced to pretty much exile herself clinging onto the vague hope that the biometals she created will be found and used by an actually good person.

[thelawlandlass]

My spindle from NiddyNoddyUK arrived a few days ago. Been spinning up some red wool to use to make protective folk charms, such as rowan and red thread crosses.

I am a Scottish folk magic practitioner, and have been for 19 years. One of the reasons I got into traditional spinning was to be more authentic to my spirituality. I wanted to make more genuine folk charms and other folk magic crafts, as well as crochet hand spun wool.

Rowan crosses are one of the many traditional charms in Scottish folk magic. They were used to protect people against witchcraft and the Fair Folk (mistakenly called 'the fae' by contemporary witches/neo pagans). The red coloured thread symbolises stuff, such as sacrificial blood, thunder, and the blood of Jesus Christ.

I know red thread is significant in Jewish culture, which I find quite interesting given Scottish culture and Jewish culture are to completely seperate cultures. I often wondered if Christianity taking elements of Jewish traditions had something to do with this? I know Easter (according to Jew Witches website) was taken from the Jewish holiday Pesach (Passover), so it wouldn't surprise me how much Christianity borrowed Jewish cultural customs, and ended up in our folk magic traditions.

Or a cigar is just a cigar...

Anyway, I'll finish up the results and post them on here once I've completed spinning this wool.

[beardedmrbean]

The CEO of Telegram was just arrested in a parisian airport for a lack of moderation on his platform. As always, love how proactive my country is when it comes to stifling liberty.

We're just abandoning this over in France then, it had a nice long run as a slogan I guess.

Let's have a look

Pavel Durov, the co-founder and chief executive of the messaging service Telegram, was arrested and detained on Saturday, according to French media reports.

The Paris prosecutor's office told NPR that a statement about the matter will be issued on Monday.

Law enforcement agents reportedly arrested Durov at Le Bourget Airport outside of Paris, where he was arriving on his private jet from Azerbaijan, according to multiple French press reports.

AFP reported that an arrest warrant had been issued for Durov as a result of an investigation into whether he has failed to crack down on illegal activity including drug trafficking, the promotion of terrorism and fraud on Telegram.

The French newspaper Le Monde reported that the probe is examining whether Durov has refused to cooperate with law enforcement over issues including cyberscams and the spread of child pornography on Telegram.

The Russian Embassy in France released a statement saying it had asked French authorities for an explanation for Durov's detention and asked that his rights be protected and consular access be granted.

Durov, a 39-year-old Russian-born billionaire, is a dual citizen of France and the United Arab Emirates, where he runs Telegram, the Dubai-based messaging service with nearly 1 billion global users.

He is considered “Russia’s Mark Zuckerberg” for in 2007 founding VKontakte, Russian for “in touch,” a Facebook copycat site that became the country’s most popular social network.

In 2013, Durov and his brother, Nikolai, launched Telegram. Pavel Durov fled Russia a year later after his refusal to hand over data on Ukrainian users of VK to Russian authorities.

When Telegram first started, cryptocurrency fanatics were quick to embrace it, and the app has since risen to become one of the most popular messaging services in the world. It has emerged as a go-to place for unfiltered updates on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

Telegram has a laissez-faire approach to moderating content, which has drawn concern from researchers, who have noted how misinformation, extremism and illicit activity, like drug sales and child pornography, often goes unmoderated.

Some experts have even suspected that Telegram might have links to the Kremlin, which Durov called “inaccurate” in an interview in March with the Financial Times, the first time the reclusive CEO has spoken to the press since 2017.

On Durov’s Instagram, he is often photographed bare-chested, showing off his muscular physique in desert landscapes or posing in infinity pools.

He is regularly seen sporting all-black outfits in an apparent nod to the character Neo from the movie The Matrix.

Content on Telegram ricochets around the web when it is shared to other social networks, where it can often be subject to the content moderation rules of other platforms. But Durov has long championed Telegram as an anything-goes service, with Durov’s supporters hailing him as a free speech hero. ______________________________

Cyberscams are everywhere, got 8 new asks in my inbox since signing out last night and 6 are cyberscams, CP is a different story if that's getting a pass then that's 100% something that needs to be fixed.

I don't use telegram so I don't know what level of moderation if any exists on there, I do know that's one of the ways people get things that normally wouldn't make their way out into the world out there which is good for real information.

[broomsick]

I’m glad somebody brought this up because I’ve been meaning to specify a few things concerning this very topic for a while! The reason I tailor my posts to the norse pagan community in particular, aside from the fact that I’m norse pagan myself, is that back when I became interested in heathenry as a spiritual path, there really was no online content tailored to it at all. At least none that I felt was both reliable and inclusive.

I’m fully aware that a lot of what I post applies to most pagan paths! In fact, I write a lot of them while taking into account how a good portion of my followers work with an eclectic set of deities, or simply don’t identify as norse pagan to begin with. This diversity in the neo-pagan social media community is something that I particularly adore.

But something I’ve set my mind on is to provide fellow norse pagans with my own personal experiences, as well as the results of my research on the various topics related to nordic religions and their history. Since I’d noticed that information on the topic of modern norse pagan practices was scarce, I hope to jump in and provide my personal thoughts! Which is why I often enjoy tackling different spiritual topics from a heathen angle, in accordance with my experiences as a heathen.

I hope all feel welcome to take away what they will from my ideas, regardless of their spiritual path!

[yamayuandadu]

Hello, I am a person interested in folklore. I wanted to ask if you who Assur or Ashur is and what legends he has and if it isn’t too much of an issue, give some good sources on Mesopotamian myth and folklore as I can’t tell what’s real and what’s bullshit.

Probably the best overviews of Ashur’s character are still Wilfred G. Lambert’s short 1983 article The God Aššur and Grant Frame’s My Neighbour's God: Aššur in Babylonia and Marduk in Assyria.  If you can read German, Wiebke Meinhold’s Die Familie des Gottes Aššur is a must read too. The wikipedia article is actually quite in depth too now, a pleasant surprise - it used to be a nightmare.

Long story short, it is generally agreed Ashur started as a divine representation of the namesake city (or perhaps the hill on which it was built) and with time could become essentially whatever its political interests required; so, for instance, when his cult center turned from a city-state into the capital of an empire interested in military expansion, he gained warlike traits. His early character was fairly indistinct, and he had no signature epithets which would point at a specific sphere of influence, though.

While it’s par the course for ancient Mesopotamia to have gods essentially represent the political interests of their cult centers, this is particularly extreme in Ashur’s case because for a solid chunk of his history it’s hard to even speak of him as a personified deity. For example, the Old Assyrian texts from the trading colony Kanesh essentially make it difficult to tell when the god is meant and when the city. Regarding specific cities as numinous, basically divine, locations are not without parallel either, but rarely to such a degree. It’s possible he was initially depicted in art in non-anthropomorphic form, see here for some discussion. However, anthropomorphic depictions might be present on seals too, see here.

As a result of Ashur’s lack of personhood in early sources, he had very few truly distinct associations with other deities to speak of. Basically the only exception is the minor goddess Sherua, but it was already a matter of heated debate in antiquity how they are related to each other. There are also virtually no references to him having parents; no genealogical speculation centered on him ever developed before the emergence of a Neo-Assyrian trend of referring to him as self created (bānû ramānīšu).

The earliest evidence for a gradual shift towards making Ashur into a more standard deity, as opposed to a semi-personified deified city, are probably theophoric names. Additionally, rulers of the city addressed him as a source of their authority and presented themselves essentially as governors acting on his behalf, similarly to what their counterparts in Eshnunna and Der did with Tishpak and Ishtaran, respectively.

Further important developments occurred in the Middle Assyrian period, some 4-5 centuries later. The idea at this time was to essentially pattern Ashur’s character on Enlil. This is attested to various degrees for the heads of many pantheons on the periphery of Mesopotamia, you can read more about other similar cases here. However, in Ashur’s case this process was nowhere near as straightforward as sometimes claimed, as recently stressed by Spencer J. Allen in Aššur and Enlil in Neo-Assyrian Documents. For the most part, the two were effectively separate, even though Ashur did borrow Enlil’s titles, traits and even some of his relatives and servants.

Ashur generally doesn’t appear in myths. The only exception I can think of is that during the reign of Sennacherib there was an attempt to develop a rewrite of the Enuma Elish with Ashur taking Marduk’s role but it’s… well, an incomplete rewrite and nothing more. A pretty incoherent one at that according to Lambert.  Regarding your other question: I have a recommended reading doc linked in my pinned post, you can find it here.

[the-era-of-shadow]

Mimicry of a Rivalry

Written by Aikshlin Rose

Cover Art by Aikshlin Rose

Chapter 4: Fixation is a Fickle Thing

THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS: Swearing, a debatably ethical experiment, paranoia, abusive behavior

[Start] [Prev] [Next]

According to Eclipse, it is likely that Mimic is possibly only 1/4ths or even 1/8ths Black Arms rather than half Black Arms akin to Shadow or Amy Rose, so it's likely that there wouldn't be much of a hivemind connection for Hue to use to track him down with. Thankfully, Aidrira was willing to give Hue directions to the Robotnik Empire’s Northamer base in place of that.

Once they reached the base itself, Hue found it very easy to track down where exactly within it Mimic was; catching him through a window into a laboratory of sorts. The laboratory of Doctor Wesley Starline, Aidrira informed Hue telepathically. The supposed ‘Doctor Wesley Starline’ was, as Hue saw him, a masculine presenting platypus mobian wearing a well-kempt uniform of the Empire's signature red, white, black and gold. 

A strange flash of anger overcame Hue as they eyed the Doctor’s outfit - thoughts that were not their own flashing through their mind.

Black and red? How bold, Doctor. How bold to so blatantly steal even our signature color scheme! Your foolishness knows no bounds!

The words seemed to Hue to be from the very hivemind itself - an amalgam of shared hatred towards the Robotnik Empire. Though the use of ‘Doctor’ in place of ‘Robotnik’ or similar struck them as very specific to Shadow. Was this actually Shadow speaking? Or is this rather a result of Shadow’s position as leader, and thus its mannerisms seeping into the hivemind as a whole? The time to speculate on such things would have to be on another day.

Hue returned their attention to Mimic and Starline as the two began to talk to one another.

“I'm glad you could make it here today, Mimic; for today is a very special day indeed,” Starline announced with glee, grabbing a decently sized container of metallic liquid and showing it off to Mimic. Immediately, Mimic’s eyes widened with what Hue could only assume to be shock.

“Holy fucking shit you actually did it?? You figured out how the hell to make a ‘Metal Virus'?!” He exclaimed in disbelief. "Here I thought the Doctor must’ve been fuckin’ loopy to have believed this was even possible, but here you are, managing to pull it off!"

“I'm hoping I have - but I've yet to put it to the test,” Starline admitted.

“Ahh… So I imagine doing that is what we're doing today, then?” Mimic surmised. 

“Indeed!” Starline responded.

“I see. And what is it about this metallic liquid specifically that makes you think it'll be the one to turn every organic thing it touches into metal, exactly?” Mimic questioned Starline, giving the container a tap.

“I'm glad you asked, my dear!” Starline reacted, wrapping one of his arms around Mimic as he likely prepared to give a monologue - much to Mimic’s clear dismay. “You see, I used my previous prototype as a base for this one - and then into that base I added a concentrated sample of Neo Metal’s DNA replication ability!” They then explained.

“... How the hell did you even get that??” Mimic wondered. Despite the fact that Hue couldn't access what Mimic was thinking with the hivemind connection between them being so thin, they could tell from his facial expression alone that he was hesitant to believe what Starline was saying.

“I asked them for it,” Starline simply answered.

“Of course, why didn't I think of that?” Mimic responded, his voice thick with sarcasm. Not that Starline noticed it at all.

Instead, Starline released Mimic from his grasp and went back to one of the desks in the room to retrieve a rather sizable amount of test tubes. The majority of the tubes were placed within a set of eight trays; containing ten tubes each within them. There were two test tubes, however, that lay beyond the confines of the trays and instead were within one of Starline’s own hands. The test tubes within the trays were all filled halfway with some sort of crimson red substance - likely blood, while the two tubes in Starline’s grasp were empty.

“Suppose those are our test subjects for today, hmm?” Mimic inquired, walking towards where Starline had set up the trays.

“Indeed they are!” Starline replied. “Within these vials are blood samples taken from many of our colleagues within the base, separated based on their blood type.” Just like that, both Mimic and Hue noticed that there were labels on the front of each of the eight vial trays, indicating what blood type the tubes in each tray contained in them. After taking a decent gander at the labels, Mimic’s attention switched back to Starline, finally noticing the empty vials in their hand.

“What are those two for?” He asked.

“Oh, these? Why, these are for us!” Starline answered. Mimic looked at him with a glare of confusion, which seemed to make them panic slightly as he realized he’d have to reconfigure his likely already immensely thought-out villainous monologue on the spot. “B-Because why shouldn’t we be involved in our own experiment, right? S-So I figured we would also get samples of our own blood!” They stammered anxiously, hopelessly flailing around in fidgety movements as he tried and failed to keep hold of his composure. 

Despite Starline’s truly pathetic display as they explained himself, Hue couldn’t help but to admire the commitment such an idea in general carried with it. While Hue themself wasn’t much of a scientist type, it did remind them quite a bit of certain members of their new family. Perhaps if they were lucky, Starline would one day rejoin Mimic’s side within the Black Arms. But that would have to be an endeavor for another day - surely sealed in the vaults for after they get Mimic assimilated, as that was their number one priority for the foreseeable future. 

“I guess that’s a fair enough idea,” Mimic remarked with an amused smirk.

“Glad you agree! Do you know your blood type, Mimic?” Starline carried on with the discussion, his confidence quickly rebounding. Mimic paused for a moment, some sort of thought coming to him that Hue desperately wished they could read. But just as quickly as the thought came, it left, and Mimic simply shook his head in denial. “No? That’s fine! I have the stuff to test it right here!” They assured him. “Mine is AB-M positive, the universal mobian blood receiver, if you were curious. .09 chaos energy content.” 

Mimic just quietly nodded, his eyes darting away from Starline. 

For a moment, Mimic’s eyes had made their way to the window that Hue was peeking from, and he seemed to notice them there when this occurred. Hue was admittedly a bit worried about what would come of this encounter, as they were not ready for him to notice them. But to their surprise, Mimic paid the spotting little mind and just scoffed to himself as he turned his gaze to the opposite direction. Did he think they were some sort of illusion? … Was such a question even worth asking?

Hue decided that no, it was not, and thus they continued to watch through the window. 

They did adjust their position to make themself more hidden, though.

It took Starline a surprisingly short amount of time to get samples of his and Mimic’s blood. This was partly due to the fact that there had been not a single bit of hesitation when it came to Starline extracting their own blood. Though, for the process of getting Mimic's sample, things played out a bit differently - especially towards the end.

Once it was in the test tube, the differences in Mimic's blood compared to the rest of the samples was clear as day for anyone to see, especially Starline. The sight of the oddly thin and orangey fluid threw the doctor completely off from his set routine, compelling him to stop and examine the tube more closely.

“Mimic, how come your blood is so… odd?” Starline questioned rather bluntly.

“Odd? How so?” Mimic replied, Hue being able to tell that the ignorance in his tone was clearly fabricated despite the lack of a persistent hivemind connection.

“It's… orange? And seems to be a bit thin in consistency?” Starline explained in earnest, once again seeming to not pick up on the nuances of how Mimic spoke.

“Oh, that? It's just an Octopus tribe thing,” Mimic excused, which Starline accepted without question.

But the peace made with that acceptance did not last for very long, as when the results of the test Starline then ran on the sample of Mimic's blood came in, the doctor seemed quite perplexed by them.

“What do you mean .35 chaos energy content?? That's more than even the most record breaking of mobians throughout history! And why are there so many antigens present?? My equipment can't tell if you're AB-M or O-M!” He cried out in bewilderment. “This can't seriously be another ‘Octopus Tribe thing’, can it?? I know where you come from is mysterious and not well documented but I know for a fact that you're still fucking mobian!” Starline continued on, turning to Mimic as his confused cries turned into an angry rant towards his partner. An unjustified, ill-informed angry rant. Hue knew it, and Mimic clearly knew it too as he nervously glared back at Starline. Mimic knew of the reason for all of these oddities - the true reason, but he did not want to reveal such things to Starline. Hue could tell as much.

“... Sounds like your equipment’s busted,” Mimic argued after a minute or so of uncomfortable silence, fighting back an urge to retreat to safety that was so strong that Hue could pick up on it despite their weak connection.

Starline backed away from Mimic, his facial expression lightening up as his words caused them to second guess themself.

“Maybe so. I'll just mark yours as ‘unknown’,” They relented, much to Mimic’s relief.

At long last, Starline began to distribute the Metal Virus prototype among the blood samples. If successful, the prototype should turn the blood into the same liquid metal as itself - Starline reminded Mimic of such as he grabbed some paper and a clipboard.

Once the prototype had been placed into all the main blood samples, Starline grabbed the clipboard from Mimic to take over note taking while he was to grab a tray for Starline and his samples and distribute the last of the prototype into them. 

As much as some part of Hue - or perhaps someone else in the hivemind entirely - yearned to see what notes were being taken on the experiment, they did get a decent view of the samples themselves to take notice of. In each of the samples, the prototype bubbled slightly as it seemed to have some sort of reaction with the blood. But it was minimal at best, and quickly dissipated as the two liquids stayed separate. That is, with a singular exception.

Mimic's sample, of course.

It bubbled far more noticeably upon contact with the prototype, a sight that caused Hue’s own insides to tremble slightly - a surge of energy that came with it an strange sense of delight. Hue could feel the reaction in every nerve in their small little body. The sensation of latching onto something and absorbing it, the sensation of taking something over and making it a part of themself. 

Come to thee, Oh great chaos. Come and be united with your kin as you so desperately deserve.

This sensation coursing through Hue, the reaction happening in the test tube containing Mimic’s blood.

This was assimilation.

And it seemed that Hue wasn't the only one to realize that as what it was.

Mimic stared at his sample, a look of uncomfortable disgust plastered on his face. He knew very well what was happening, and seemed to hate it to its very core.

“Mimic, is there something-?” Starline began to interject, noticing his pained expression. But he interrupted themself as they noticed the sample, which had now become completely itself aside from a couple dozen metal flakes that floated in it. “Well… that certainly didn't happen with the others…!” He reacted in shock. Mimic didn't say anything. “Mimic, you were in the Empire when Neo first upgraded themself and tried to take over, right?”

“Uh… yeah…?” Mimic forced out a response.

“Did they by any chance copy any DNA from Shadow?” Starline wondered, turning their head away from the sample and onto Mimic instead.

“M-maybe..?”

“Do you think that part of the prototype might be reacting with your high chaos energy blood content? I know you said that my equipment might have gotten the reading wrong - but if we accept the general idea that you have a higher chaos energy content than the typical mobian, the presence of Black Arms DNA from Shadow may have had an easier time tapping into the chaos energy in your blood compared to the other samples and because of that was able to assimilate it?” Starline theorized. “Though it seems to have acted separately from the rest of the Metal Virus prototype, as it seemed to negate the metal part entirely,” Starline continued, ignoring the fact that the hypothesis that they were proposing was making Mimic look visibly nauseous. “I'll make note of this.”

“Could I… have a break real quick…?” Mimic weakly requested.

“Oh, of course.”

Hue watched as Mimic left the room, feeling quite sorry for him despite all that he had done to them in the past. They knew the fear he was likely feeling quite well, that fear of the unknown - of the unknown that was the Black Arms. They wished that Mimic could just see that the Black Arms are in fact not evil, like so many have claimed. Rather, they’re simply trying to undo the evil that has been done to this poor realm. But they had to be patient in order to see that realization come to be, so they continued to sit where they were, waiting for him to return. 

Before that had the chance to happen, however, Starline also left the room. The reason as to why was unknown to Hue, but they did not try to seek the answer out at that particular moment, knowing that doing so could potentially get them caught by either Starline himself or by someone else. Caught before they were ready to be, by the wrong person, or both.

As if on cue, a familiar voice resounded through the hivemind as Starline exited the room.

“Apologies for the sudden interruption everyone, but I’ve seemed to pick up on an assimilation of sorts occurring without my knowledge. Would anyone possibly know the circumstances around it?” Rang a curious inquiry from Eclipse. A couple other voices then followed, all confirming that they too felt the sudden sensation of initiation, and all lamenting that they did not know from where it came. Once the rest of the voices died down, Hue finally joined in on the discussion themself. They recounted the reaction they had witnessed with immense detail, knowing that they were the only one that could answer their brethren’s questions.

“Doctor Robotnik has facilitated our increased access into his forces in his attempts to further his desires. Pitiful and ironic.” Omega remarked, his voice in particular sounding like a radio signal being picked up on compared to the others, which sounded more like just thoughts in Hue’s head. Interesting detail they picked up on, is all.

“Hmph, I’d say,” Shadow joined in. “Now, what was that part about Metal Sonic copying my DNA or whatever?” It then asked.

“It sounded like it happened a long time ago…” Hue answered, hoping it was sufficient. “Maybe some time in 2004?”

“... Very well. Seems as if it was before I had… reawoken,” Shadow responded.

“ ‘Reawoken’? What do you mean by that?” Hue inquired. Despite knowing it was most likely not wise to distract either of them from their respective duties, they were intrigued by the vagueness of Shadow’s pondering words.

“Heh… I’m not fully sure myself. It’s just what feels right to describe the point at which my memories picked back up from. The point at which I felt like I had… regained control of myself, in a sense,” Shadow explained. 

“Back on topic – they’re trying to use our assimilation ability to make people into… Robots? If I’m understanding what you said correctly? How… moronic,” Eclipse said, reentering the conversation.

“They are not doing it intentionally. They are making this so-called discovery as a byproduct of their idiotic scheme,” Omega claimed, much to the amusement of the others in the hivemind. “A scheme that I must point out does not have a control group present. Doctor Starline is just as much a ‘foolish scientist’ as Eggman.”

“That’s what it seemed like to me, yeah,” Hue agreed.

“A great bit of observation from the both of you,” Eclipse complimented the two. “Regardless of their intentions or even the practicality of their pursuits, I will keep an eye on this little… project of theirs.~” Hue giggled, excited for the day where they would know what plans were forming in Eclipse’s mind at this very moment in time.

“Well I guess that clears everything up then, hmm?” Rouge surmised; the others agreed. “Keep up the good work out there kiddo, you’re making this ex-agent very proud!~” 

Just as the voices from the hivemind faded away, Mimic came back into the room. Instantly, he and Hue met eyes. Their first reaction was to panic, to try to run away and get him to believe their presence to once again be a trick of the eye. But there was no denying things this time around from either side, and there was no one else around to intervene. All this time, Hue had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike and show Mimic that they were there watching - and this was indeed that perfect opportunity. So they did not move, not even an inch. They stayed right in the spot they were in, allowing Mimic to assess the situation on his own and to comprehend what he was seeing. 

“Holy fucking shit, it really is you…” Mimic gasped as he moved closer to the window, reaching out towards Hue to the point at which the glass panel between them blocked his fingertips. 

Hue chirped in response.

“What… What are you doing here?” He asked them.

Hue wished they could give a more direct answer, but without a translation mask or hivemind connection, they had to simply rely on what was to Mimic just meaningless noise.

Mimic did not speak this time around. He just stared at Hue, a spark of desire growing more and more in his eyes with every passing second. As the staredown continued, the connection between them seemed to strengthen. Mimic’s thoughts faded into Hue’s brain, a desperate yearn for power expressed in entrancing mumblings of the mind. His other hand motioned towards the switch to open the window, and yet his eyes never broke contact with Hue’s, his internal mantra of how much he needed their power never wavering. 

Hue felt quite sympathetic towards Mimic in this moment, and they wanted a reunion just as much as he seemed to, even if the motivation differed between them. But it was unfortunately not yet time for them to meet again, so Hue took off to a tree in the distance, leaving Mimic to stare out the window and wonder just what he was even doing mere seconds ago. 

Mimic’s thoughts faded out from Hue’s detection, and they were too far away now to hear his voice. But they could still see him, and that was enough.

After bringing himself to reality, he huffed in a fit of anger, no doubt grumbling to himself about the strange scene that had just played out in front of him. 

Soon enough, Starline came back with the results of their experiment in hand. He and Mimic seemed to talk about it for a little while, but Mimic soon turned the conversation back to the encounter with Hue he had.

According to the facial expressions that Hue picked up on, Starline seemed skeptical at first of Mimic’s claims, but was eventually convinced that this was indeed a real event that actually happened. Whatever Starline said after that seemed to really rile Mimic up, as he soon stormed out of the room, taking his shoes with him.

Thankfully for Hue, it did not take very long to find Mimic again, as he popped back up in Hue’s line of sight within one of the base’s parking lots, starting up one of the cars parked in it that Hue could only assume was his. While Mimic was in the parking lot, he seemed to notice where Hue was hiding. He huffed and puffed, but instead of trying to chase after them, he just got in his car even quicker, the sight filling him with determination to put towards whatever it was he was doing now.

“Should I follow him?” Hue asked into the hivemind as they watched Mimic drive off into the distance.

“Of course. Glean as much information from this as you can. We may just find an opening to exploit within,” Eclipse answered.

And so they did as suggested, flying away from the tree they had been hiding behind to follow Mimic and his car.

–

After what felt like hours of chasing Mimic down, the path his vehicle created came to an end as it reached Mimic's intended destination, which was then in the same breath Hue’s destination as well. He had parked on a street that felt familiar to Hue, though the reason as to why was not one they immediately realized. It was only until Mimic had walked over to the specific building he had his sights on that the pieces fully fell into place in Hue’s mind.

They watched as Mimic knocked upon the door to Whisper’s home rather harshly, each strike at the closed entryway holding a malice within them that Hue could notice even from afar. 

It had been months since Hue had been here. At this building, on this street, in this town, even. It had been so long since they had last seen Whisper. They couldn't tell if they wanted that to change today or not.

But regardless of what they wanted, Whisper made her appearance, answering the door as she glared at who she was met with in annoyance.

“Why are you here…?” She groaned.

“Why are any of us here, really?” Mimic responded with a shit-eating grin.

“I'm not in the mood for your fucking mind games, Mimic… Answer the question or get out of my damn face…” Whisper snarled.

“You never are…!” Mimic sighed with a shrug, an act that made Whisper look like she was on the verge of killing him right where he stood. “But anyways… So where are you keeping the wisps? I need to borrow them for… something,” He then asked her.

Whisper jolted slightly in reaction to that question. It seemed to strike her in an uncomfortable way. If Hue squinted, they could swear they saw the slightest bit of… tears? In her eyes? Was she… sorry? Remorseful? Wracked with guilt for having abandoned them? Did she… miss them? But that didn't make sense, how could it? If she felt so terrible about being separated from the wisps, then why didn't she go out and try to find them? Why hasn't she made any efforts to reunite with them? Were the Freedom Fighters keeping her away? Did she regard the wisps as if they were dead? Did she truly, despite her sadness, hold her humanity with such value that she'd still rather sacrifice five life long friendships than it? Why can't she see it? Why can't she see how wonderful the Black Arms truly are?? So many questions and thoughts flooded Hue's brain, and seemingly Whisper was experiencing much the same - if the expression on her face was anything to go by.

“Well?” Mimic inquired, beckoning Whisper's attention back to him.

“I… I don't have them,” Whisper responded, her voice rather rough and quiet. She was holding back tears, clearly.

Hue was too.

“The fuck you mean you don't have them??” Mimic questioned her in angered bewilderment.

“I mean I don't fucking have them, asshole! Go bother someone else for their fucking wisps,” Whisper answered, lashing out at him.

“Oh bullshit. Explain to me why I just saw Blue watching me back at the Northamer base, then!” Mimic argued.

Whisper paused for a second. It was clear even from a distance that Mimic's question caused a realization within her that horrified her. 

“Ignore them. Ignore any of the wisps that try to get your attention,” She advised Mimic in a strained voice.

“Why?? So I don't get to have their power-?!” Mimic hollered, immediately assuming Whisper as antagonistic. 

“They aren't… they aren't my wisps anymore, and they sure as hell aren't yours. But they will want you to regard them as your own,” Whisper responded, explaining herself in vague terms – an odd choice, Hue thought.

“... What?? What the fuck is this shit you're spouting now, a scare tactic?!” Mimic questioned her, not believing anything she was saying.

“Believe me or don't, I couldn't possibly give less of a shit. But you're better off if you regard the wisps as dead,” Whisper warned before slamming the door in Mimic’s face.

This did not, unfortunately for Whisper, deter Mimic from having his sights set on reclaiming the Diamond Cutter wisps. In fact, it only made his conviction stronger, as he pounded at the door, demanding Whisper to ‘stop lying to him and give him what he deserves for putting up with her all these years’. 

“If only she hadn't been so vague, perhaps he would have gotten that warning through his thick skull…~” Eclipse remarked with amusement over the hivemind.

“I don't really get the point of that, honestly. Why not just be direct?” Hue wondered.

“We ponder the same question, my dear child… But regardless of just what Whisper thought she was going to accomplish with such a tactic, she has given to us a wonderful opportunity,” Eclipse replied.

“Hmm… Yeah, I think she has! Mimic didn't believe a single thing she said – in fact, he's now even more convinced that she's trying to mess with him and hide the wisps from him!” Hue speculated. “And with that in consideration, we can play into that belief of his and get him right where we want him!” 

“Yes! Yes! You said exactly what I was thinking!” Eclipse cheered. “You're quite the smart one, aren't you?” They added, complimenting Hue.

“It's hard not to be when I have such a wise caretaker such as yourself!” Hue remarked.

“Aww shucks! How dare you say such lovely things while we are apart?!” Eclipse reacted. “Report back to the Aerth Temple immediately so I may give you a great big hug and some head pats!” They then playfully ordered of Hue.

“Roger that!” Hue responded with a giggle.

[foryoupeko]

Genuine question to Mahiru fans

Would you be okay with a comic that explores Mahiru's UNREQUITED crush on Peko?

I have two comic ideas but I wonder if I should put them in the vault along with my Chihiro Pronoun comic. I feel like ppl are gonna either be mad or misinterpret it.

The two ideas under the read more if you want more context:

Mahiru tries to get Peko to smile. They go to all the cast members for advice but it's all futile. At the end of the day Mahiru is walking alone to her room. She didn't get Peko to smile but she's glad she spent the whole day with Peko. She stumbles on a secret meeting with Peko and Fuyuhiko. Peko has a soft smile (a smile that Peko herself doesn't realize she has) and Mahiru takes a picture. Mahiru looks at the picture in the camera; clearly mixed feelings.

This takes place after waking up from the NEO World Program. Peko and Nagito woke up after everyone else and is resting in the MedBay. Mahiru comes to visit. Peko tries to apologize but Mahiru stops her. "It's not your fault. From what I heard, you didn't want to hurt me. You were just a victim brainwashed by the Kuzuryu clan. But it's going to be okay! I wanna help you distance yourself from that life and watch you grow as your own person". Nagito butts in explaining that Mahiru is dehumanizing Peko by taking away her involvement in the decision. "You weren't there at the end of the trial so it's not your fault but we all decided that Peko did that on her own accord outside the Kuzuryu's influence. I know you don't want to be mad at Peko but you can't just erase her decision like that. Don't you think it's cruel to perpetuate this notion that Peko can't do anything for herself?" Mahiru grabs Nagito's shoulders and expresses anger that he'll never understand. Girls are just raised to take care of men. That standard is unfair but how are girls supposed to know that's unfair when society enforces it so much. It's not Peko's fault that she thinks this was okay! She doesn't know how else to live! Peko had only the illusion of choice but in reality there wasn't. But Mahiru can help her heal! They can have a normal peaceful life outside of violence! Hajime comes at the end, scolding Mahiru she wasn't ready to see Peko yet. Mahiru leaves revealing Hiyoko was outside. Hajime asks Hiyoko why she didn't do her job of keeping Mahiru out. Hiyoko just shrugs, clearly dejected that the girl SHE likes is much more interested in her murderer than her best friend.

[nokingsonlyfooles]

Sometimes, it's the little nonsensical annoyances...

There are definitely more important things than this going on, and I'm not going to do much good by pointing it out, but I might as well express the thoughts so I can try to lay them to rest.

This:

...is absurd. Some Taiwanese venture capitalist asshole was annoyed that some white business assholes in Quebec are remixing boba tea, which he loves, and is his culture, and cannot be improved without due deference to its originators. To address his grievance, perhaps he'd like to fund some more authentic boba tea, made by the folks in the image above.

Depending on their personal behaviour and business practices, which I am not aware of, I wish all the boba tea makers the best. I love boba tea and NO, MORE BOBA TEA PLACES WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE THAN I HAVE FINGERS IS NOT ENOUGH. I NEED MORE!

Fuck, I want boba tea.

But I digress. To experience offence in this particular fashion over this particular item, you need to stop learning and switch off your brain at the point where Taiwan invented the boba tea. Where did the tea and tapioca, and milk and sugar come from? Don't worry about it. We gotta stop right here, or this story will get real complex, and I'm not comfortable with that level of complexity, so let's pass our judgment and say no more about it. Boba tea belongs to Taiwan!

Chat, ya gotta realize, mainland China was not interested in diluting its tea with so much milk and sugar that it doesn't taste like tea anymore. That would've been kookie-dooks. The British Empire had to steal it and fuck it up. Then Taiwan stole it back and fucked it up more (according to Wikipedia, via the Dutch in the 17th century). And tapioca is a staple starch from the Americas. "Refined into a juice, gelled into cute little pearls, and served with tea and sugar" is not an Indigenous American serving suggestion. I don't see Taiwan adding a label to every boba tea giving due deference to cassava-loving Americans, nor expressing humility about their use of it not being an improvement.

It's not that I need Taiwan to do this. I just want to see this train of thought followed to its logical conclusion. If you're saying these assholes in Quebec shouldn't be fucking with Taiwan's boba tea, you're also saying those assholes in Taiwan shouldn't have fucked with America's tapioca - and that's terrible. Of COURSE they should've fucked with the tapioca, it is delicious! And if it turns out it's more delicious with fizzies or liquor in it, we're gonna drink that, too, no matter who came up with it. This is how food works. Copying the good ideas off a nearby culture is not evil, not in and of itself. Butter-chicken pizza is not evil, it is spectacular.

I want my boba tea. I don't need a label specifying that it resulted from an intersection of five separate colonizing empires (China, Britain, the Netherlands, Spain, and Japan), the colonization of Taiwan, mass political imprisonments and executions, and the genocide of the Americas. It's very interesting to know that, but mentioning it right when I'm about to slork up my tea would make me choke - pointlessly, I think. Everything is like that. The machine I'm using to write this is like that, the clothes I wear are like that, the language I speak is like that. Nothing is without sin. It can't be put back the way it was, all we can do is try to mitigate it as best we can.

Is refusing to fund some guys with new tea additives because they wounded your nationalist pride (which seems to exist in somewhat of a context-free void) anything more than Neo-liberal capitalist wanking behaviour? Maybe the Chinese-American company will do better and the Quebecois one won't, but that's not justice for any of the injured parties, that's just marketing. Buying shit is not an effective means of reparations or political speech. There is no ethical boba tea under capitalism. I don't have the spoons to research and consume the Least Problematic Beverage, and if you do, I think they'd be better spent on literally anything else.

Mr. Dragon's Den, I have a brick you can use. Go damage property like a real protester or just sit down and drink your tea. Feel free to appropriate whatever cultures you prefer for your toppings.

[itsclydebitches]

Oh man that was a doozy of an episode. I'll write a proper recap when I get to it, but I want to throw out some initial thoughts while it's fresh.

Warning, copious salt ahead.

The Jaune vs. Ruby fight... honestly, I'm way more Team Jaune here. Look, obviously Ruby is going through a very difficult time right now but 1. Jaune is not privy to most of that (he doesn't get to see her awful flashbacks like the audience does) and 2. He's been going through a "very difficult time" for several decades. He literally just watched a whole village of friends DIE because he helped defend Ruby against Neo's attack, right on the heels of her and the others completely dismissing that relationship. I literally don't care who's right about the tree, I care that our huntress heroes balked at the idea of spending even one day protecting defenseless civilians that were clearly very important to their friend WHILE he did all the dangerous work of looking for a way out for them all (the best of both worlds!). Then they had the gall to smile at him after he watched them perish and go, "They're not dead. It's what they wanted :)" They don't know that! Yang literally admitted just moments ago that they do not know what happens at the tree, but now they're 100% sure that the paper people have resurrected into a better state because that's a nice, simple narrative. Even if they were sure of what happens, that's still a terribly difficult loss to deal with. As they saw with the Prince, people can come back from the tree COMPLETELY different, with little of their original personalities intact. If that's not a kind of death I don't know what is.

I hate that Yang responds with, "Hate that!" when they learn that Jaune did them the honor of keeping them close, bestowing all their names onto his new family. I hate that they can't put themselves in his shoes for longer than a few seconds and jump straight to him being "crazy." I hate that they're lost and aimless in this world, Jaune has spent a lifetime mapping its secrets, and yet they decide that they can't count on him. Why? Because he failed to have an easy answer ready when they needed it and has failed to hide that - surprise - things have been difficult for the lifetime he's been fighting alone. As he himself says: how dare I fail to solve all our problems.

Toss in the fact that we've had eight Volumes of Ruby demanding leadership at every turn, displaying full confidence in front of Jaune and reassuring him that yes, she knows what she's doing. I have soooo many problems with how Jaune is written, but my god, looking at things from a purely in-world perspective, he has EVERY right to be pissed as hell at her. Ruby promised she knew what she was doing. Jaune defended her decisions to Ren. He was put into a position where (according to RWBY's "logic") he had to kill a friend. Then he's dropped into a horrific alternate reality - a result of Ruby's failed plan - and yet spends his life waiting for her return. He devotes himself to her: looking for her, trying to find a way out for her, keeping her weapon safe for her, naming a new friend after her, and yes, protecting people like she helped teach him to. Obviously the others are all a part of that too, but at its core Jaune has spent decades following Ruby's leadership, despite how badly it failed him.

And then what? After all those YEARS what does he see when they finally reunite? A Ruby who is ungrateful to have her weapon back, is dismissive of his life here, stands uselessly while the others fight the battle for her (again, Jaune can't see inside Ruby's head), and then when defending her results in the DEATH of his village? How does she respond?

"What about me?"

Ohhhh my god, girl!! Yeah, yeah, no one gets to plan their breakdown, but I was still seriously side-eyeing her "Is this a bad time for you?" Yes, Ruby, it is a bit of a bad time because a village of people just died and you're only concerned with how hard your own life is. Read the room a little? Jaune's "It's all about you!" was so satisfying, though his immediate apology afterwards was not. Honestly, let Ruby sit with this, please. As I've said this whole Volume, she'd have a leg to stand on if she'd actually been forced into this war: if Ozpin had manipulated her into joining Beacon, if fighting had been a necessity due to her silver eyes, if the adults around her hadn't said at every single turn: 'Stop wresting control you're not ready for and let us carry the load.' But she didn't. It's all about Ruby because Ruby MADE IT all about her, so no... to my mind she doesn't get to turn around and start complaining that others expect something of her. Especially when the expectations are so low like Jaune's, 'Can you maybe consider that I've been through hell for several decades, respect the life I've built here, and be grateful for what someone is offering you rather than complaining that things aren't perfect right off the bat?'

This episode was so weird for me because on the one hand it gave me a LOT that I've been looking for, but on the other hand it highlighted how much I've come to dislike the four main girls. Why are they disgusted with Jaune bestowing their names on new friends? Why do they dismiss him despite everything he's accomplished? Why does Yang plant herself in front of Blake when her baby sister is being mildly critical of her? (Plus, I'm really not a fan of this droopy-eared, people pleaser Blake. Bring back the fierce, opinionated fighter she used to be.) At least we're staying consistent with the group turning on each other and assuming they'll be attacked at the slightest provocation (yay Volume 6 callback). I made a note in my last recap that I loved the girls enjoying the chess battle together and that's largely because most of the time they don't act like friends, let alone family. WBY have been nothing but critical and dismissive of Ruby since they landed here. None of them have any real sympathy to offer Jaune. As much as I disagree with her overall stance in the face of what's happened, Ruby's "We're so happy for you" to Blake/Yang and her "Shut up" when Blake tries another stupid platitude were great. Thanks, sis, for only paying attention to your girlfriend lately and no thanks, Blake, you already kept me from trying to come up with a practical solution once this Volume. Another, "Things are bad, but..." isn't going to cut it anymore. They ALL treat each other so badly nowadays and I'm shocked whenever we get a group hug that supposedly conveys how much they truly love one another. Can't you all just be nice with more frequency? More of that wholesome support seen in the chess fight over the stupid gags, please.

(Actually, that's a big compliment I just thought of: the episode didn't interrupt the intensity of that fight with another joke. Great job.)

Of course, we're already seeing the seeds of the quick forgiveness: Jaune's immediate apology, Blake trying to be optimistic, all of them staring in concern as Ruby flies away. It looks like the writers have a general sense of the show's criticism, but not why that criticism exists. Yes, Ruby has gone through a lot and she has plenty of reasons to be frustrated and disappointed with her team, but Jaune is still right. I don't think the show is ever going to get that. Ruby has been positioned as the victim this entire Volume, the poor soul "forced" to shoulder this responsibility, everyone offer her comfort and sympathy with no acknowledgement of how this all came about... and having one (1) character say, 'No. You fucked up' doesn't change that underlying narrative. Jaune is just the new Ren, allowed to briefly pull back the curtain on Ruby's leadership, only to almost immediately pull it back. If anything, the fact that Ruby is upset at being leader just offers another layer of protection.

Ruby: I want to make the decisions!

Someone: We don't think that's a good idea, but it's kinda hard to stop you... Wait. Your decisions are bad.

Ruby: Excuse me? Don't you know how hard making decisions is? How can you criticize me when you don't know what it's like? I'm the victim here!

Ruby as a character is pretty impervious to real criticism now because everything she's ever done falls under the header of "The Leader." Once you position her as the victim of unwanted leadership (which again, she's not) it automatically absolves her of true responsibility. She never would have made bad decisions if she hadn't been forced to make all the decisions in the first place, ergo you're the problem for dragging this poor girl who was only trying to make the best of a terrible situation! Meanwhile I'm just

[gestures to Ruby eagerly agreeing to go to Beacon early]

[gestures to her arc where she rose to the challenge of being team leader]

[gestures to the fact that leadership/teams were kinda dissolved outside of Beacon and people only kept looking to Ruby because she demanded to be heard]

[gestures to her hunting down Cinder against Qrow's advice]

[gestures to "This is my fight too!"]

[gestures to her insisting on Jaune's stolen airship plan against Qrow's advice (again)]

[gestures to "We never needed adults to solve our problems!"] [gestures to her solely making the decision to lie to Ironwood and ignoring her teammate's disagreements]

[gestures to her being the face of hope for all of Remnant]

[gestures to her awful plan that made Penny human, forgot Cinder, and deliberately destroyed a Kingdom]

[gestures to the fact that Jaune is ALSO a team leader and ALSO has a personal grudge against the baddies and has ALSO spent longer than twice Ruby's lifetime playing the part of a literal #Hero trying desperately to keep people safe, only for her to show up, endanger his new family, not fight, and then the rest of her team tries to platitude their way through a 'It's not that bad' response to their deaths]

Man, if I were John I would have had a LOT more to say to this girl and her "What about me?" attitude alfkjasflajfds

[aspoonofsugar]

The Third Wolf

Jabberwalker: YES! READY! STARVING! TAKING!

So, this volume is just LRRH masked as Alice in Wonderland, as you can discover by reading this. Still, there is something missing from my previous post. Or at least, I came up with a theory, which imo complements it well.

In short, Ruby's story this volume centers around 3 Wolves:

Neo

She stalks Ruby around, tortures her and manipulates her into killing herself. She waits for her in a cottage (a pink palace) in the woods and hides behind her illusions, which exhibit mismatched eyes (the Wolf's eyes giving him away).

Even when it comes to her main allusion, Neo being a Wolf fits. Trivia is just the Roman name for Hecate and what's Hecate's sacred animal? The Dog:

Neo is associated to the Jabberwalkers (dark and wolf-like creatures) in the Ever After (the Underworld). In short, the Jabberwalkers are her dogs (wolfs) and she herself is a wolf (dog-like creature).

The Curious Cat

Do I need to explain? (I did in the previous meta anyway :P) They meet LRRH in the woods, trick her while she is wandering around with a basket full of flowers (WBY) and lead her around to make sure she gets completely lost.

Finally, when Ruby reaches the cottage in the woods, they surprise her and try to eat her. Only to end up swallowing up an older woman and the owner of the house. Even when it comes to them possessing Neo, the design calls back to the Big Bad Wolf of the story:

Both the eyes and the mouth are different than Neo's usual ones. Just like the Wolf in the fairy tale is described having peculiar eyes and a peculiar mouth. These 2 attributes are even tied to the Cat completely negating who Neo is. After all, Ice Cream girl is defined by:

her mismatched eyes, which her parents forced her to hide

her muteness, which her parents and teachers forced her to compensate with devices

Right now, Neo has lost both. Her mismatched eyes are hidden by the Cat's ones and her mouth speaks.

Ruby's inner Darkness

The Wolf in LRRH is symbolic of the Jungian Shadow aka everything a person represses. The thing with the Shadow is that the most you try to ignore it, the more dangerous and stronger it becomes. Ruby has been living as the embodyment of life, which means she has been neglecting to tend to her own shadows. To her own feelings. To her own pain.

The result is her spiraling and being engulfed by Darkness. Still, this Darkness has not yet a real representation within the story, which brings us to:

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand; Long time the manxome foe he sought— So rested he by the Tumtum tree And stood awhile in thought.

Interesting, the original poem mentions a fight between the hero and the monster by the Tumtum tree :P

What does the Jabberwalker represent, though? This creature is the only one, who can kill the Afterans. Why? I think because they thematically represent a loss of self:

The Tree is going to transform Afterans according to what they are and to what they want to become. This can lead to progression, like the Paper Pleasers or to regression, like the Red King, who turns into a Prince. Still, what happens if the creature just... can't figure themself out? What does happen if they choose to give up on any new possible identity?

In this case, they would choose to become nobody. They would decide to give in to anonimity, which is the opposite of self-individualization. Anonimity is a trait of Grimms, which are empty and try to fill themselves by praying on human negativity. In short, anonimity can be seen as a declination of Destruction. So, what if when Afterans can't figure themselves out... they end up becoming a Jabberwalker? Or what if the Jabberwalker is a body that collects all the souls who could not properly ascend, neither to regress nor to progress? A body with no proper identity, which can only jabber very basic and instinctive concepts, with no real meaning behind them?

After all, they very clearly allude to zombies, as RWBY even start calling them Walkers. And what are zombies if not people who lost their sense of self? And what do zombies do if not to spread an infection, which in this case is Destruction? Death?

The Tree is the path to self-actualization, so a person symbolically dies when they lose their sense of self completely. When they don't wanna become anything else. Only in this case, they really disappear and become nothing. Only in this case their existance is negated and amounts to nothing.

Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if this is what awaits Ruby as she is now. She doesn't wanna change. She wants to disappear. It is possible, then, she will risk to be swallowed by the Jabberwalker. It is possible she might become the Jabberwalker herself. A mindless Wolf. Still, obvious foreshadowing is obvious:

The moment Ruby is about to get killed by Neo's Jabberwalker, her whole team comes to her rescue. This is clearly what is going to happen here, as well.

At the same time, I think what should help Ruby conquers this is also something else:

Penny's death has been eating at Ruby throughout the whole volume. It is the news of her loss, which starts Ruby's spiral and her friend keeps appearing everywhere in the Ever After and Ruby's mind. So, obviously she needs to come to terms with this. Ruby needs catharsis and right now I think @hamliet theory is right: only Jaune can give it to Ruby.

Right now, Ruby thinks Penny died by negating herself, by choosing to be nothing out of a death wish. Still, this isn't true. Penny died as herself. It is tragic, but she still managed to affirm her own personhood. She chooses friendship and trust over duty and control. Penny dies, but she doesn't become a "Jabberwalker". She isn't undone into nothing, but on the contrary she "ascends" into gold. Ruby needs to realize this. She needs to realize the kind of person Penny was. And she needs to realize what she herself is doing now is the opposite of how Penny lived and died.

I think such a realization might give Ruby catharsis and inspire her to move on. In general, it would work very well thematically on multiple levels and for multiple characters:

It means Penny symbolically saves Ruby, which would be just a beautiful conclusion to their bond. Ruby is the one who recognizes Penny's personhood first, so it makes sense for Penny to indirectly do the same for Ruby. She inspires her into becoming an idealistic adult.

It means symbolically Ruby's child self saves her. It is that purest and most idealistic part of herself that comes through for Ruby when she needs it.

It gives catharsis to Jaune, as well. It turns out what he was hiding out of pain and shame is the key to save Ruby.

It foreshadows what Jaune will probably have to do in the finale aka conveying to Cinder Pyrrha's teaching about destiny. He can start practicing with Ruby.

It completes the parallel between Jaune/Pyrrha and Ruby/Penny nicely. In volume 5 Jaune's suicidal charge is interrupted when he realizes this is not what Pyrrha did. Here Ruby should realize what she is doing is not what Penny did.

In general, it just works very well with the theme of grief explored this volume. Right now, Ruby has been going through the 5 stages of grief twice, in a neverending spiral:

Episode 1 > negation > Penny's death is hidden and Ruby refuses to talk about it

Episode 2 > bargaining > Ruby needs to bargain for Penny's sword and eventually she bargains the sword to meet the Red King and talks about her feelings for Penny by doing so

Episode 3 > anger > Ruby gets angry at the Red Prince and shouts at him in frustration

Episode 4 > depression > Ruby is undone by Herb's hallucinations

Episode 5 > acceptance > Ruby meets the Blacksmith and is confronted by Penny and Summer's ghosts, but fails to reach true acceptance

So she starts the cycle again

Episode 5 > bargaining > Ruby bargains Summer's emblem to help her friends and mentions "a mother's promise"

Episode 6 > negation > Ruby doesn't even see Summer Rose's reflection in the gallery of mirrors

Episode 7 > anger > Ruby lashes out at others

Episode 8 > depression > Ruby is overwhelmed by her pain and attempts suicide

I think episode 9 and 10 should be acceptance, true acceptance this time. I also think it would be cool if we have a call back to volume 6.

When Ruby uses her silver eyes there, the last 2 people she sees are Penny and then Summer:

Penny leads Ruby to Summer. I think here should be the same one way or the other. Acceptance over Penny should help Ruby face her feelings for Summer. After all, the majority of the narration in the trailer is still missing, which means we should get it in these final 2 episodes. Basically, Summer is coming, one way or the other.

BAD WOLF, GOOD WOLF

Ruby risking to become/to be swallowed by the Jabberwalker would work also for another reason:

Turning Ruby into nothingness, forcing the light out of her to reduce her to a mindless puppet is probably what Salem wants to do. So, Ruby going through this same struggle now will give her the strength to face Salem and her Grimms Experiments when the time comes.

I think this whole volume has a meta-theme to it, which is how stories and fictions help people process trauma and grief. Both in healthy and unhealthy ways. I will write more about it when the season ends. As for now, let's say it is not by chance Ruby is going through her spiral in a fairy tale world, where she conveniently can't die. Imagine if Ruby had drunk poisoned tea on Remnant. She would have died for real. "Luckily" she only sips tree tea, which will be no fatal to her. The metaphorical meaning is clear, right? Ruby is symbolically rereading a fairy tale of he childhood. One her mom used to read ot her. She is rediscovering it from a more mature and darker perspective. She is processing through it all her pain, trauma and grief. Still, she will come out stronger from this. So stronger she will manage to face the challenges of the real world and to survive to them.

So, how is this transformation gonna manifest? Obviously Ruby is gonna come out as herself, once again. Still, if her inner transformation has to be shown, I would like for it to happen through Little:

Mouse Leader: And on this day, we were not the prey, but the hunters!

The Mice Hunters tried to warn us and RWBY since the beginning. Beware of CATS! Still, they also claimed the prey is gonna be the hunter ;)

Now, this can become true in many different ways without Little having to change. Still, I like the idea of Little changing to metaphorically show Ruby's evolution. But if this is gonna happen, then which kind of form should they take?

Little is Ruby's child self, but also an animal-shaped companion. Basically, they represent an inner beast. It is just that at the beginning of the volume Ruby's inner beast is too immature because she is refusing to integrate with her shadow.

So, a more refined version of Little should maintain Little and Ruby's idealism, but also be wiser and show that Ruby has started to integrated with her repressed self. What better form than a Little Wolf, then?

After all:

The Hunter > The Huntress

Little Red Riding Hood > Ruby Rose

The Wolf? > Little

Ruby is unbalanced because she has refused her inner wolf all this time, so what better use can she make of it if not to change it into strength that protects her child self. To use all that repressed energy to refine herself, instead than negating who she is?

And on a light-hearted note... what is better than a wolf to hunt a Curious Cat?

(By the way, this can work well even in the case Neo stays in the Ever After with Juniper and Little. Juniper could be the March Hare to her Mad Hatter and Little might be the Dog to her Hecate) > thanks to @lintuwaterfall for suggesting this