#but also this is a part of a larger trend

[theangrycomet-art]

Sparks and Optics, What the heck do they have to do with an Alien Robot’s Health: A Minor Set of Headcannons on how Sparks work in TFA

A long winded and doodled brain worm that has been haunting yours truly because I got an ask about optic colors :)

This takes @paradimeart orbabies au/"how were more bots built without the allspark" headcannon/au into account so check that for some context on the exact details of Protorbs/Protomechs and the whole “Vector Sigma is now in charge of repopulating cybertron in place of the Allspark”

Alright, enough dilly dallying, let’s dive into this headcannon turned into a Chapter in a high school science textbook

First Off, Sparks

Each Cybertronian requires their spark to live, it powers their bodies and serves as a “soul”. Basic Transformers lore there.

Though with the whole Headmaster thing, there is evidence to argue that a transformer of any faction can theoretically survive being separated from their spark chamber for some time, as Bulkhead, Sentinel, and Starscream all were able to operate and function just as heads. I believe that there IS a time limit for this determined by how much power their heads can store. There is also the fact that some bots such as Blitzwing, Lugnut, and Wasp (and maybe Bumblebee- I don’t remember 100% for him) have more “modular “ frames that allow them to move their body parts independently when seperate d drone them. Both of which aspects are another interesting topic to explore but THAT’S a topic for a whole ‘nother post.

Transcript: The default color of a Cybertronian’s optic is determined on their spark. Pre-War, when customizations were more readily available, there were far more Optic Colors. This trend , however, has all but died in present day. End of Transcript.

As read on the tin, the optic color of a bot is shown to match the colors of the charged lining of the interior of a bot, blue for Autobots, red for Decepticons, purple in Wasp’s case. Given the the uniformity of eye colors in TFA, the inverse explanation I believe is that getting Optic Mods is considered a faux pas.

Between the strained resources from the war, Autobot propaganda, and the Decepticons’ limited access to such amenities, wasting materials on such minor modifications would not only seen as wasteful but highly suspicious. Those outliers with optic colors outside the typical hues of their faction likely face scrutiny from their peers on both sides.

But what is the difference between an autobots and a deceticon’s spark?

I believe that the critical difference is their ability to process and store energon.

Spark Anatomy

The spark is built into three major components, the shield dome, the outer core, and the inner core. Each is critical to maintaining a Cybertronian’s health and ensure their long lifetimes.

Transcript 1: a Healthy “Autobot-Typical” Spark. Shield Dome -serves as defense for the spark, EXTREMELY sensitive. Inner core: -extremely dense,innermost energon, made of multiple spheres contracted together, individual spheres CAN be removed. Outer core: -CRITICAL FOR SPARK STABILITY, keeps inner core safely in place.

Transcript 2: a Healthy “Decepticon-Typical” Spark. Shield Dome -serves as defense for the spark, EXTREMELY sensitive. Inner core: -larger energon deposits, tho (avg) the same amount, red tint indicates (here there are three upward facing arrows indicating “increased”) endurance. Outer Core: - more prone to breaking down but recovers quickly.

As shown above, the concentrations of energon that build up the inner cores of a transformers spark are significantly larger in Decepticons than in Autobots, allowing them to handle larger frames with ease, but also generate greater forces of strength without tiring themselves out as easily. It’s’ built for higher endurance and energy out body, which allows them to carry heavier duty tools (and weapons) naturally without easily exhausting themselves.

However, this comes at a cost, as the outer core, or this sparks “lining” is at a higher risk of warping or or worse damage.

Which leads us to OverCharged Sparks.

Overcharged Sparks

Overcharged sparks, or O.Sparks, have occurred for as long as the Allspark has been granting life, a minor glitch in the system. They are varied, but they’re all sparks who generate high maintenance cores with very limited outlets for the excess energy they generate. They come in two major types, depending on the source of their “overcharge”.

Transcript: Overcharged Sparks: Type 1. -sparks creation had too much energy output -> hence the name, excess charge cases the inner core to be over stimulated and lash out, bashing into the outer core, warping it, or worse tearing it.

Type 1 O.Sparks’ inner cores are permanently disrupted. They cannot stabilize nor can the individual energon spheres concentrate together on their own. There is very little treatment for grown frames with this condition, with protorbs/protomechs there is a limited window during which one can encourage the spark to concentrate its excess energy into developing an outlier. HOW one is supposed to go about this is completely unknown, and though Yoketron had some theoreys, his focus was more on making sure the protorbs/protomechs in his care survived into adulthood.

Due to this fact, there was an attempt made to force more outliers out of the latest batch of Protorbs by overstimulating their Sparks at creation. This experiment forced a generation of “experimental frames” to acquire with O.Sparks.

The experiment was a complete failure.

With 60% of the frames not surviving outside the proto-mold (so many little puddles of shiny melted baby goo to mop up), only half of the remaining batch not making it past the Protorb stage. Out of the surviving batch- a little more than a 200 grew to full maturity. With all that carnage, only 7% of the survivors developed any desirably outliers l.

The rest continue to suffer a lifetime of symptoms that few doctors could diagnose, much less treat with no gain. Most of these models aren’t expected to life so much as a fraction as the average expected lifespan for an autobot.

This was done without Yoketron’s knowledge, as he did not directly interact with the Vector Sigma when it was doing its thing and left the maintenance of VS to it’s keepers. But when he found exactly WHY so many of the children in his care kept suffering… let’s just say few have ever had the misfortune to see the cyber-ninja master terrifying fury. The already limited amount of outsiders allowed access to the “Daycare” went down to exactly 1 (and it certainly wasn’t Ultra Magnus or any of his lackeys) and the bots selected for “babysitting” were run over with a fine toothed comb.

After this, the Autobots focused on standardizing models. Two of the selected models were the smaller, more energy efficient, “scout” protoform model that Bumbleebee has and the sturdy, reliable truck model that Ratchet and Ironhide share.

Hence why there are so many younger bots share frame types.

The “Success” Stories

Despite the tragedy of the Council’s meddling, there are a few notable survivors success stories of the Outliers Experiment, some who even live with minimal symptoms and some desirable outliers.

Transcript: Notable Bots with O. Type 1 Sparks: Blurr. Blurr’s spark channeld his excess “charge” into his speed. Since his spark figured this out as a protomech & stableized some, his optics were able to settle closer to a healthy cyan.

Most well known amongst the Elite Guard would be Blurr, with his outlier being, of course, his speed. His spark used the excess charge to increase his processor efficiency and in turn encouraged charge release through movement. Holding still for extended periods of time is not an option, leading to limited and short recharges, which in turn lead to increase in irritability.

Transcript: Notable Bots with O. Type 1 Sparks: Bulkhead is an anomaly amongst the O!Sparks. His spark addressed his excess charge by enforcing his frame to a heavy duty build and "grow" until his frame could better handle it. He literally "broke the mold".

Bulkhead is the only bot with an O!Spark who's excess charge was directed to re-enforce his frame. According to his specs, he is supposed half his size (and a quarter of his weight). With this re-enforced frame, he is also the asymptomatic O!Spark.

Transcript 1: Moonracer is an atypical O!Spark. Her spark tuned her excess energy to a gravity manipulator. However her small frame still struggles to compensate for the remaining charge, resulting in her going into stasis at random.

Moonracer, like Blurr, proved to be an outlier with her built in Gravitic Adjuster. However, like Blurr, her spark does not allow Moonracer to stay still for long periods of time. Her charge builds up and leads to forced reboots to re-stabilize her energy levels. (ie if she stops moving for too long than she passes out) While not the worst of the potential side effects, it has impeded her desire to be a pilot.

Transcript 2: Most Cybertronians with O!Sparks don't adapt to the excess charge. These unlucky frames life spans are much shorter due to their sparks literally burning out their frame. Their lives can be extended through extensive modding and in some cases a complete frame change but their symptoms will always remain.

Most of the survivors of the Outlier experiments do not make it to 10,000. In fact, their lucky to make it to 3,000.

Typical Side Effects for Type 1 Overcharged Sparks

Eye Rings/cracked optics

poor vision

insomnia

higher core temperature

joint stripping (can be treated with regular oiling)

chronic pain

slow self-repair nanite response (can be supplemented)

Type 2 O!Sparks

Transcrpit: Type 2 is the most common type of O!Spark, and is typically the result of severe physical trauma, whether from combat, medical procedures, just plain bad luck.

These are the result of an Outer Spark Core failure, damaging the inner core and resulting in instability. As such, Type 2 O.Sparks are rarely found in Decepticons.

Most importantly, they are Treatable.

There are 3 sub types; 2-a, 2-b, and 2-c.

Type 2-a

Type 2-a O!Sparks are typically the result of poor mental health.

Long-term emotional distress can cause the Outer Spark Core to breakdown and weaken, causing instability within the Innermost Spark Core.

The most obvious symptom is a yellow tint to the Optics. The stronger the yellow tones, the worse state the Inner Core is.

The spark must repair itself on its own but in order for that to occur the patient must address the root problem. Treatment focuses on restoring the Outer Core and minimizing stimulation of the Inner Core.

Though uncommon, many veterans of the great war have develop some degree of Type 2-a O!Sparks.

Side Effects

memory purges

poor recharge cycles

lethargy

limited EM Field extentsion

chronic fatigue

Type 2-B

Type 2-B is the result of the Spark Chamber being damaged, BUT the spark core remained intact.

Research in Type 2 Overcharged Sparks began anew when the ailing Ultra Magnus's spark stability was under question.

In his case, his Innermost Energon was severely destabilized within the InnerCore, but the cores themselves remained intact. Until the cores are stabilized and the Innermost Energon stabilized, it is best to keep the patient in a medically induced coma.

Often times the circumstances of this kind of spark damage are in an unsalvageable frame, so there is not much research in long-term treatment, but First Aid believes it to be curable with the right treatment. How much of that assessment is First Aid being overly optimistic and under a lot of pressure is left to be decided

Side Effects

Optic Cracking (permanent)

lethargy

limited EM Field extentsion

chronic fatigue

chronic pain (though this could be due to the frame damage associated with such injuries)

Type 2-C, a recent discovery

Type 2-c O!Sparks have only recently been reclassified as a separate subset with the Autobots Aerial project.

Not much is known about them, and with only 2 known surviving holders of 2-c sparks, the data pool is extremely limited.

Type 2-c damage seems to be the result of the spark overextending itself to it's breaking point. It is believed to occur during medical procedures or extreme physical trauma, or in the Jettwins cases, both. The running theory is that the sparks are so desperate to live they open themselves up to any possibility of survival.

As a result, Type 2-c sparks can be artificially stimulated into developing outliers.

Optic notes: a second pupil ring developed in the optics after the Spark is manually/medically stabilized, geometric cracks are develop. A case of nearsightedness has developed in one of the subjects though this has easily corrected with a visor.

Symptoms: None. Then again 2-C overcharged sparks typically result in short but extremely painful deaths.

Medical Notes: The Jettwins have shown none of the typical symptoms associated with Overcharged Sparks outside their optic color changing and their inner core scattering. This requires more research, but Wheeljack's running theory is that the decpeticon coding taught their sparks outer core to repair itself, and in the process somehow stabilized the center core.

Waiting for comparisons with Blurr's Spark (one of the only "stabilized" overcharged sparks known) for comparison.

COMMISSIONS OPEN

[fizzigigsimmer]

Didn't want to hijack @destroya2005 's post, but can never pass up an opportunity to call out the Duffers messiness.

Steve being forced to work at Scoops to "see what working in the real world is like" makes absolutely no sense, if he worked as a lifeguard for three years before then.

1. He was likely paid more as a lifeguard. Going off my own experience in 90s Illinois and Google AI lol, there was typically a small pay bump above minimum wage for lifeguards cause it requires a certification. Nothing huge but that dollar makes a difference. And goggle search seems to support it was the same in the 80s (on national average, there were always exceptions depending on location).

2. Even without that small pay increase, Steve already had experience getting and keeping a real American job lol, and there's no reason not to stick with that real job. Unless we're introducing the idea that Steve's dad is an elitist ass who doesn't think lifeguarding is a real job. But the writers never address this, or why slinging ice cream would be more "real" to Mr. Harrington so we're just left with the confusing conflict of Steve having already had real world work experience when his dad decided to force him to get some lol.

3. If it was a case of needing something that would last longer than the summer, then we need to address the question of why he couldn't just express interest about being hired on for winter work through the park district (or whatever public organization is running the place) he's worked for for three summers? I worked at my community pool as a teen, and even if the swimming facility was closed in the winter, the other activities attached to the facility and the connected park were still open. If not for school, it would have been easy for me to stay on and honestly work anywhere within the park district. Frankly they'd have been thrilled to pay me less than hiring older staff lol.

4. If it was their intent to imply that the Hawkins community pool is either too small or is detached from any larger community asset management (like a park district), they needed to make that explicit in the writing and filming. Which it most certainly isn't. LOL . They scripted this place to have a decently sized facility with multiple interior rooms, large enough to feasibly contain extras like an indoor sauna and a workout gym for their "sauna test", and showed multiple shots revealing the public park next door as well. The filming location is literally everything typical of a community pool: there is also a park next door with a playground, a basketball court, and a dog park, plus picnic and BBQ areas, and they are all managed together through the district. It doesn't take more than a quick google search for community pools in Indiana to confirm that even in tiny towns, this trends toward the norm. Even if the facilites aren't as large as this pool in metro atlanta, they at least tend to have a park with a playground for YEAR ROUND USE.

So in summary we have Steve, a recently graduated 18 year-old who is charismatic, easy on the eyes, a big name in town, with at least 3 summers of prior work experience, suddenly needing a permanent part time job, and he ends up in a doofy sailor hat at a place he hates because he wasn't qualified to work anywhere else? *squints* *tilts head* HOW? The math aint mathing.

All of this to say, that as a writer, the minute they introduced the idea of Steve working at the community pool for three years, their whole reason for having Steve work at scoops the season before disolved like sugar, and it's just so hilariously avoidable, and then fixable after that, and yet they do neither. They really just needed to provide the audience with further explanation for why he took that job besides : the plot we decided to go with demanded it.

Unless the reasoning is just that Steve's dad is a giant dick who goes out of his way to make his kids life hard as some kinda punishment for disappointing him. Which valid, and fandom writers are more than happy to take that and run with it lol. But a show really demands tighter writing. If that was what they were trying to say about Steve's dad, a throw away line about his dad wanting him to experience real work doesn't cut it.

Which yes, fandom runs away with that general assumption, but in reality it's glaringly obvious the Duffers just plain forgot that daddy wanting to teach his spoiled rich son a lesson about real work was supposed to be Steve's reason for working in the mall the prior season. And here we are.

[taleswithoutend]

It’s becoming abundantly clear that nobody cares about jewish people. You’ll get mad on our behalf when it’s convenient for you, and you’ll spit slurs at us when it isn’t.

But hey, I’m glad you’re willing to make excuses for blatant antisemitism when it’s used as a dunk against someone you don’t like. Maybe the next time Harry Potter discourse is in vogue, we’ll still be around to be convenient props for you.

[briannysey]

after oiling my hair for the first time yesterday it looks so alive in a way that it hasn't in such a long time

[phykios]

i've gotten a few very lovely comments on my fics recently, but also a few mentioning something along the lines of "is this fic abandoned, it's been so long since you've updated" and while i appreciate the sentiment, i must remind my audience that i am in the middle of my phd and only got back from my year long research fellowship last saturday and i'm still adjusting to my normal time zone. i can barely stay awake for more than 6 hours at a time. the fics are coming but jfc i'm busy

[salt-and-pepper-priest]

I feel like something that isn’t talked about enough is the actual drawbacks that come with deleting the main social media apps. Like, I deleted Instagram around two years ago and I never got tiktok or Snapchat and I’m genuinely very happy with those decisions and had a lot of reasons for doing them, but i never realised how socially isolating it would be.

For everyone around me those apps are a large part of their lives, like, if you spend a significant part of your day on tiktok that’s going to have an effect on the things you talk about and just your life in general, so to be cut off from an almost universally shared experience of, like, friends or even just gen z in general is quite strange. It’s not like everyone is referencing tiktok memes constantly but there’s kind of an understanding that if you do reference a trend, everyone around you will get it, and it’s weird to just not be part of that.

I also sometimes find it hard to connect with people ig, so then to have this extra barrier of like, jokes I won’t get or references I won’t understand is also kinda annoying.

Despite all this I have been better off without Instagram, but I probably am gonna re-download it in a few months and mayb get tiktok bc i think it will be too hard to be at uni without them, but Yh this has been my rant.

[the-moon-devi]

Astro Indicators Of Being Curvy

Reminder! This can change based off of genetics, and if you have any harsh aspects from saturn to any of these planets/placements.

🍑 Jupiter Dominance~ Individuals with Jupiter as one of their dominant planets tend to have a curvaceous appearance or a particular body part that is noticeably larger. However, this trait usually manifests in conjunction with other factors. Jupiter governs the legs, which often leads to this body part being much more prominent than others.

🍑 Moon/Venus Dominance: Both of these are feminine planets. Having 1 or both of these as your top 3 dominant planets gives the native a natural, curvy shape and womanly appearance. Moon gives you softness and bust. Moon can also bring the weight, while venus brings in the shape and curves. Moon rules boobs and venus rules the butt.

🍑 Sag/Taurus/Cancer/Libra dominant

🍑 Ceres in 1h/ conjunct Asc~ This is the asteroid of motherhood. And from what I've notice this brings women specifically a plumpness and curviness to their appearance. Their womanly body parts are more accentuated. Usually the chest area is prominent too!

Ex: Marilyn Monroe

🍑 Saggittarius Ascendants- our centaurs bring the legs. Lol. Although it doesn't always have to be the legs but it's usually something nice about that area. Sag Ascendants are ruled by the planet of expansion (jupiter) so its never surprising when I see that they are thicker than most people in their family.

🍑 purva ashada Ascendants

🍑 Cancer Ascendants- cancer all around brings womanliness, and femininity. They can sometimes embody that motherly figure of having wider hips and being thicker especially once they get older. Most the times when we see Cancer Ascendants who are slim they usually have saturn or mercurial influence on the Ascendant. Cancer can also bring the tata's.

🍑 Libra/Taurus Ascendants

🍑 7th house lord (positively aspecting) jupiter/moon

🍑 Moon in 2nd,1st,7th,4th house

🍑 Venus - Jupiter

🍒 Venus - Moon

🍒 4th house ruler aspecting Jupiter

🍒 Jupiter in 1h, 2h, 4h

🍒 Punarvasu, Vishaka, Purvabhadrapada in big 3

🍒 Jupiter aspecting sun/moon, ascendant, ascendant ruler

🍒 Mars ruled nakshatras in big 3; dhanistha,Mrigashira, Chitra

🍒 Aqaurius Moon/ Uranus - Moon; The Curious Case of Aquarius and Curviness/

It's perplexing to think about how Aquarius or even Uranus could be related to body shape. However, these celestial bodies are known for ruling trends, and in recent years, it has become fashionable to embrace curves. Women who are curvier than the norm, especially those from diverse cultural backgrounds, have become the face of uniqueness. Aquarius, the outcast of the zodiac, can bring attention to unconventional body parts on women. This can be unexpected and may occur with age, causing body image issues in some women, especially those with an Aquarius moon. This sign also brings a taboo or otherworldly appearance, which is why I believe Sarah Baartman, who was treated like an animal for her appearance, was an Aquarius moon. Women with an Aquarius moon can stand out because of their unique nature, as this sign is associated with trends. Not all Aquarius moon women are going to be curvy, but it is understandable why some plus-size models with an Aquarius influence on their moon have been celebrated for breaking beauty standards.

Ex: Barbie Ferreira, Ashley Graham, Precious Lee, and Mia Amber Davis w/ Moon conjunct Uranus

🍒 Moon aspecting Ascendant

🍒 Moon- Jupiter

The more you have the thicker you are. It usually takes a combination of these. If you have these and still aren't considered to be thick, check and see if you have saturn or mercury impacting your ascendant or ascendant ruler.

𝓓𝓲𝓿𝓲𝓷𝓮 𝓓𝓮'𝓛𝓾𝔁𝔁𝓮

𝓒𝓱𝓮𝓬𝓴 𝓣𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓞𝓾𝓽.....

𝓗𝓸𝓽 𝓐𝓼𝓽𝓻𝓸𝓵𝓸𝓰𝔂

©𝓟𝓻𝓮𝓽𝓽𝔂 𝓒𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓶𝓮𝓵

[smalltestaccount]

196 Migration

If you’re not aware, the subreddit r/196 is going offline tomorrow (the 12th) in a protest along with multiple other subreddits against a decision reddit has made to their API pricing. 196 is one of the largest LGBT centric meme subreddits. The deal being that 196 will be shut down until reddit backs down from their stupid decision. Other subreddits are only going to be offline for a few days. 196 held this massive decision to a poll where about 60% said the subreddit should be privated indefinitely. Despite what people say, this will be an almost certain permanent end to the Subreddit. I think that anyone who believes that the chance of 196 coming back after the 12th has not thought it through very much and I consider this putting this to a poll to have been very stupid on the moderators parts as a lot of people clearly do not fully understand the likely outcome.

In short, Reddit is going to win this no matter how it’s sliced. Reddit will only back down their decision if the money they can squeeze from API pricing is larger than the loss in ad revenue from the protest. Many large subreddits that are closing will only be down for a few days. This results in a small dip in site usage, yes, but it definitely won’t cause significant issue to Reddit. However when all these subreddits come back there will be an uptick in site traffic, generating Reddit more money. The only way Reddit will lose money is with a decrease in active users, which is why some people want the subreddit to go down indefinitely, they want to leave Reddit and take many 196 users with them. Reddit definitely will not be backing down, the chance of that happening is minuscule. Therefore 196 will not come back.

196 is a special community on Reddit as it one of the largest subreddits with a strong LGBT presence and unique culture. 196 leaving will have many negative effects on the Reddit ecosystem. There are other LGBT subreddits that will very likely be shutting down too (for other reasons) such as r/traaaaaaannnnnnnnnns which is one of the largest trans subreddits. 196 has a large overlap with circle jerk subreddits, over the past year or so the relationship between 196 users and circle jerk subreddits has been quite important as they essentially have formed their own ecosystem as a place that LGBT teens and young adults feel comfortable in when Reddit as a whole is more dangerous. When 196 closes some people will leave for Tumblr TikTok and Twitter due to their main source of posts going dry. Circle jerk subs will start to reduce down to the users that do not consume content from 196, a group of people that is on average more conservative than the subreddits as wholes are with 196 users. This political shift on circle jerk subreddits will cause two things, 1: lgbt people feeling less comfortable on circle jerk subs and 2: circle jerk subs doing less circle jerking, due to less users and also a reduced interest in calling out bigoted posts on other subreddits. That will very likely become a negative feedback loop where circle jerk subs become increasingly similar to Reddit as a whole. And the effect that this will have on Reddit is going to be a general trend to become more conservative as the socially progressive community on Reddit shrinks with 196s departure. It’s likely a new or existing subreddit will replace 196 (a subreddit with less moderation tools and none of the user blacklists from 196), but by the time that subreddit comes about it will not reach the size 196 did. 196 leaving will have a permanent impact on Reddit as atleast some people will be reducing Reddit activity of leaving permanently. Reddit likely won’t become a new 4chan, but I would not be surprised if it became more similar to Facebook.

And a trans woman I must also feel the need to say that with r/traa and 196 very likely closing a large community of transfems will be displaced online. In the past 6 years Ive been a trans woman on the internet I can say fairly confidently that Reddit has been one of the most popular sites for trans women to congregate at, along with discord. Trans women are very likely a majority of the trans community on Reddit however on other sites like TikTok and here on tumblr trans women are definitely a smaller minority of the community. I feel like I should’ve just put that out. Right now is a scary time to be a young trans woman and two of the largest online places of support for young trans women closing doors will have negative impacts on the trans community.

Many 196 users who are smart enough to see what lies ahead are finding ways of congregating outside of Reddit. Besides the small social media sites that will obviously die before getting off the ground, tumblr is the most recommended place to call a new home. I know this sounds familiar to what happened with twitter, and the idea of Redditors coming to tumblr is quite scary. But I assure that 196 users are not dissimilar to tumblr users.

196 users migrating here to tumblr are using the tags #196 and #r/196. I will be posting some of my 196 and old r/traa posts under these. As a pseudo archive. I’ll also reblog and post as some of my favorite posts I wish to remember. Hopefully a migration of 196 users to tumblr is successful (though unlikely), if that happens I will try to post memes in the style of 196 posts. I know that I am an incredibly small account that is mostly inactive, so neither this post nor future posts will get much visibility. But I want to be here to support those trying to migrate

[writingwithcolor]

My alternate universe fantasy colonial Hong Kong is more authoritarian and just as racist but less homophobic than in real life, should I change that?

@floatyhands asked:

I’m a Hongkonger working on a magical alternate universe dystopia set in what is basically British colonial Hong Kong in the late 1920s. My main character is a young upper middle-class Eurasian bisexual man.  I plan to keep the colony’s historical racial hierarchy in this universe, but I also want the fantasy quirks to mean that unlike in real life history, homosexuality was either recently decriminalized, or that the laws are barely enforced, because my boy deserves a break. Still, the institutions are quite homophobic, and this relative tolerance might not last. Meanwhile, due to other divergences (e.g. eldritch horrors, also the government’s even worse mishandling of the 1922 Seamen's Strike and the 1925 Canton-Hong Kong Strike), the colonial administration is a lot more authoritarian than it was in real history. This growing authoritarianism is not exclusive to the colony, and is part of a larger global trend in this universe.  I realize these worldbuilding decisions above may whitewash colonialism, or come off as choosing to ignore one colonial oppression in favor of exaggerating another. Is there any advice as to how I can address this issue? (Maybe I could have my character get away by bribing the cops, though institutional corruption is more associated with the 1960s?) Thank you!

Historical Precedent for Imperialistic Gay Rights

There is a recently-published book about this topic that might actually interest you: Racism And The Making of Gay Rights by Laurie Marhoefer (note: I have yet to read it, it’s on my list). It essentially describes how the modern gay rights movement was built from colonialism and imperialism. 

The book covers Magnus Hirschfeld, a German sexologist in the early 1900s, and (one of) his lover(s), Li Shiu Tong, who he met in British Shanghai. Magnus is generally considered to have laid the groundwork for a lot of gay rights, and his research via the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft was a target of Nazi book-burnings, but he was working with imperial governments in an era where the British Empire was still everywhere. 

Considering they both ended up speaking to multiple world leaders about natural human sexual variation both in terms of intersex issues and sexual attraction, your time period really isn’t that far off for people beginning to be slightly more open-minded—while also being deeply imperialist in other ways.

The thing about this particular time period is homosexuality as we know it was recently coming into play, starting with the trial of Oscar Wilde and the rise of Nazism. But between those two is a pretty wildly fluctuating gap of attitudes.

Oscar Wilde’s trial is generally considered the period where gay people, specifically men who loved men, started becoming a group to be disliked for disrupting social order. It was very public, very scandalous, and his fall from grace is one of the things that drove so many gay and/or queer men underground. It also helped produce some of the extremely queercoded classical literature of the Victorian and Edwardian eras (ex: Dracula), because so many writers were exploring what it meant to be seen as such negative forces. A lot of people hated Oscar Wilde for bringing the concept to such a public discussion point, when being discreet had been so important.

But come the 1920s, people were beginning to wonder if being gay was that bad, and Mangus Hirschfeld managed to do a world tour of speaking come the 1930s, before all of that was derailed by wwii. He (and/or Li Shiu Tong) were writing papers that were getting published and sent to various health departments about how being gay wasn’t an illness, and more just an “alternative” way of loving others. 

This was also the era of Boston Marriages where wealthy single women lived together as partners (I’m sure there’s an mlm-equivalent but I cannot remember or find it). People were a lot less likely to care if you kept things discreet, so there might be less day to day homophobia than one would expect. Romantic friendships were everywhere, and were considered the ideal—the amount of affection you could express to your same-sex best friend was far above what is socially tolerable now.

Kaz Rowe has a lot of videos with cited bibliographies about various queer disasters [affectionate] of the late 1800s/early 1900s, not to mention a lot of other cultural oddities of the Victorian era (and how many of those attitudes have carried into modern day) so you can start to get the proper terms to look it up for yourself.

I know there’s a certain… mistrust of specifically queer media analysts on YouTube in the current. Well. Plagiarism/fact-creation scandal (if you don’t know about the fact-creation, check out Todd in the Shadows). I recommend Kaz because they have citations on screen and in the description that aren’t whole-cloth ripped off from wikipedia’s citation list (they’ve also been published via Getty Publications, a museum press). 

For audio-preferring people (hi), a video is more accessible than text, and sometimes the exposure to stuff that’s able to pull exact terms can finally get you the resources you need. If text is more accessible, just jump to the description box/transcript and have fun. Consider them and their work a starting place, not a professor. 

There is always a vulnerability in learning things, because we can never outrun our own confirmation bias and we always have limited time to chase down facts and sources—we can only do our best and be open to finding facts that disprove what we researched prior.

Colonialism’s Popularity Problem

Something about colonialism that I’ve rarely discussed is how some colonial empires actually “allow” certain types of “deviance” if that deviance will temporarily serve its ends. Namely, when colonialism needs to expand its territory, either from landing in a new area or having recently messed up and needing to re-charm the population.

By that I mean: if a fascist group is struggling to maintain popularity, it will often conditionally open its doors to all walks of life in order to capture a greater market. It will also pay its spokespeople for the privilege of serving their ends, often very well. Authoritarians know the power of having the token supporter from a marginalized group on payroll: it both opens you up directly to that person’s identity, and sways the moderates towards going “well they allow [person/group] so they can’t be that bad, and I prefer them.”

Like it or not, any marginalized group can have its fascist members, sometimes even masquerading as the progressives. Being marginalized does not automatically equate to not wanting fascism, because people tend to want fascist leaders they agree with instead of democracy and coalition building. People can also think that certain people are exaggerating the horrors of colonialism, because it doesn’t happen to good people, and look, they accept their friends who are good people, so they’re fine. 

A dominant fascist group can absolutely use this to their advantage in order to gain more foot soldiers, which then increases their raw numbers, which puts them in enough power they can stop caring about opening their ranks, and only then do they turn on their “deviant” members. By the time they turn, it’s usually too late, and there’s often a lot of feelings of betrayal because the spokesperson (and those who liked them) thought they were accepted, instead of just used.

You said it yourself that this colonial government is even stricter than the historical equivalent—which could mean it needs some sort of leverage to maintain its popularity. “Allowing” gay people to be some variation of themselves would be an ideal solution to this, but it would come with a bunch of conditions. What those conditions are I couldn’t tell you—that’s for your own imagination, based off what this group’s ideal is, but some suggestions are “follow the traditional dating/friendship norms”, “have their own gender identity slightly to the left of the cis ideal”, and/or “pretend to never actually be dating but everyone knows and pretends to not care so long as they don’t out themselves”—that would signal to the reader that this is deeply conditional and about to all come apart. 

It would, however, mean your poor boy is less likely to get a break, because he would be policed to be the “acceptable kind of gay” that the colonial government is currently tolerating (not unlike the way the States claims to support white cis same-sex couples in the suburbs but not bipoc queer-trans people in polycules). It also provides a more salient angle for this colonial government to come crashing down, if that’s the way this narrative goes.

Colonial governments are often looking for scapegoats; if gay people aren’t the current one, then they’d be offered a lot more freedom just to improve the public image of those in power. You have the opportunity to have the strikers be the current scapegoats, which would take the heat off many other groups—including those hit by homophobia.

In Conclusion

Personally, I’d take a more “gays for Trump” attitude about the colonialism and their apparent “lack” of homophobia—they’re just trying to regain popularity after mishandling a major scandal, and the gay people will be on the outs soon enough.

You could also take the more nuanced approach and see how imperialism shaped modern gay rights and just fast-track that in your time period, to give it the right flavour of imperialism. A lot of BIPOC lgbtqa+ people will tell you the modern gay rights movement is assimilationalist, colonialist, and other flavours of ick, so that angle is viable.

You can also make something that looks more accepting to the modern eye by leaning heavily on romantic friendships that encouraged people waxing poetic for their “best friends”, keeping the “lovers” part deeply on the down low, but is still restrictive and people just don’t talk about it in public unless it’s in euphemisms or among other same-sex-attracted people because there’s nothing wrong with loving your best friend, you just can’t go off and claim you’re a couple like a heterosexual couple is.

Either way, you’re not sanitizing colonialism inherently by having there be less modern-recognized homophobia in this deeply authoritarian setting. You just need to add some guard rails on it so that, sure, your character might be fine if he behaves, but there are still “deviants” that the government will not accept. 

Because that’s, in the end, one of the core tenants that makes a government colonial: its acceptance of groups is frequently based on how closely you follow the rules and police others for not following them, and anyone who isn’t their ideal person will be on the outs eventually. But that doesn’t mean they can’t have a facade of pretending those rules are totally going to include people who are to the left of those ideals, if those people fit in every other ideal, or you’re safe only if you keep it quiet.

~ Leigh

[whencartoonsruletheworld]

Hey so that reminds me. The first Five Nights at Freddy’s trailer dropped and it looks good and fun and scary and the Jim Henson company can do no wrong as always!!! I can't fucking wait!!!!!

But like– warning for people not familiar with this franchise:

(and I have no idea HOW you could have missed this but I have encountered larger and stranger knowledge gaps in my time on the internet so just. sending this out there):

FNAF is THEEEEEEE jumpscare game.

Like. I’m not a gamer or anything but just from my memory it’s what started the jumpscare horror trend of the mid-2010s. The entire game system for the vast majority of the franchise is BUILT around jumpscares. Jumpscares are what it is known for, if its name could be changed to anything it would be "Jumpscares: The Game" because that's what it is. The first thing anyone learns about this franchise is that there are one shit billion jumpscares in it. The trailer didn't have too many but the movie no doubt WILL have a metric fuckton just because that's how the game operates.

also for those not familiar with this franchise, every game (the first one implicit but it's still present) deals with child death + murder. Teaser already confirmed that will be in the film, leaked trailer confirmed even more of it. Have you seen that viral post going around like "sir this is the child death and murder franchise i know what i signed up for" "what kids are in fnaf??" "are you in the headspace to receive information that could possibly hurt you right now" they are NOT kidding it is a core part of the lore and plot.

tl;dr if you don't know anything about fnaf but wanna see it after the movie trailer looked sick, massive MASSIVE trigger warnings for jumpscares and child murder. It's a core part of the franchise and if you can't deal with one or both of those you should avoid this one come October.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Newly discovered antibody protects against all COVID-19 variants - Published Sept 3, 2024

Researchers have discovered an antibody able to neutralize all known variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, as well as distantly related SARS-like coronaviruses that infect other animals.

As part of a new study on hybrid immunity to the virus, the large, multi-institution research team led by The University of Texas at Austin discovered and isolated a broadly neutralizing plasma antibody, called SC27, from a single patient. Using technology developed over several years of research into antibody response, the team led by UT engineers and scientists obtained the exact molecular sequence of the antibody, opening the possibility of manufacturing it on a larger scale for future treatments.

"The discovery of SC27, and other antibodies like it in the future, will help us better protect the population against current and future COVID variants," said Jason Lavinder, a research assistant professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering's McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering and one of the leaders of the new research, which was recently published in Cell Reports Medicine.

During the more than four years since the discovery of COVID-19, the virus that causes it has rapidly evolved. Each new variant has displayed different characteristics, many of which made them more resistant to vaccines and other treatments.

Protective antibodies bind to a part of the virus called the spike protein that acts as an anchor point for the virus to attach to and infect the cells in the body. By blocking the spike protein, the antibodies prevent this interaction and, therefore, also prevent infection.

SC27 recognized the different characteristics of the spike proteins in the many COVID variants. Fellow UT researchers, who were the first to decode the structure of the original spike protein and paved the way for vaccines and other treatments, verified SC27's capabilities.

The technology used to isolate the antibody, termed Ig-Seq, gives researchers a closer look at the antibody response to infection and vaccination using a combination of single-cell DNA sequencing and proteomics.

"One goal of this research, and vaccinology in general, is to work toward a universal vaccine that can generate antibodies and create an immune response with broad protection to a rapidly mutating virus," said Will Voss, a recent Ph.D. graduate in cell and molecular biology in UT's College of Natural Sciences, who co-led the study.

In addition to the discovery of this antibody, the research found that hybrid immunity—a combination of both infection and vaccination—offers increased antibody-based protection against future exposure compared with infection or vaccination alone.

The work comes amid another summer COVID spike. This trend shows that while the worst of the pandemic may have passed, there's still a need for innovative solutions to help people avoid and treat the virus.

The researchers have filed a patent application for SC27.

More information: William N. Voss et al, Hybrid immunity to SARS-CoV-2 arises from serological recall of IgG antibodies distinctly imprinted by infection or vaccination, Cell Reports Medicine (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2024.101668 www.cell.com/cell-reports-medicine/fulltext/S2666-3791(24)00382-3?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS2666379124003823%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

Yes, like I said, I believe that everything that happens after GAME OVER is actually not the ending that was originally planned for Homestuck.

At this time of Homestuck's writing, several factors were in play: first, Hussie had been enduring years of harassment, which had only escalated over time; second, they had bitten off far more than they could chew with the Homestuck game, and third, that's not even mentioning all the other projects they were dealing with, including merch, managing 3rd party artists working on future parts of the comic, managing 3rd party artists putting together an album, etc....

I also can't overstate how horrifically toxic the fandom was, especially to Hussie, and how most people in it genuinely did not know what Homestuck was about, to the point where TO THIS DAY you can be called an actual IRL genocide supporter and fascist for wanting to talk about Eridan - even though he's literally the least casteist highblood, and his entire character arc is about the ways his shitty society have twisted and harmed him.

So, it's my belief that Hussie realized they had several more years of writing ahead of them to conclude Homestuck the way they originally intended, looked at how stressed it was making them, and looked at the way that the fandom didn't even care about what the work they claimed to love was even trying to say, and went "fuck it."

I genuinely don't believe that Vriska was intended to solve everything - what I believe is that bringing Vriska back solves SOME issues, but causes others, and then more Stuff(TM) would need to happen in order to deal with that, ultimately culminating in EVERYONE being brought back to life.

And part of my evidence is actually some of the things you say: in one of his final conversations, Karkat explicitly says that he never figured out what Blood was supposed to be about, meaning he never actually completed his character arc. The same is true for Dave's reluctance to trust himself to step in and intervene, because he's afraid of not being good enough. Basically none of the alpha kids deal with their personal problems, either, and Jade never gets a proper conclusion to her character arc.

It speaks to me of an ending cut short - wrapped up with a shitty bow because the author couldn't fucking take it anymore. I actually sympathize with Hussie; I think it's a monumental kindness on their part that they bothered to end the damn thing at ALL, without cussing out the fandom that had literally not stopped harassing them and accusing them of being every kind of bigot for YEARS, when Homestuck is literally about how the patriarchy and fascism Are Bad.

So, like, y'know, agree to disagree, but the point I'm basically trying to make is to not take anything post-Game Over too seriously, because - in my opinion, at least - other factors are in play, and it feels unfinished and like a wild departure from everything the preceding comic was setting up because it basically was one.

Why the Alpha Timeline is the Alpha Timeline

I figured I'd make a post, since it's pretty subtle and I think it genuinely passed a lot of people by? Homestuck is made up of a lot of words, haha.

The alpha timeline is described by Doc Scratch, functionally, as "the timeline that causes LE to exist."

The path which alone has my absolute mastery is the alpha timeline, a continuum I define as that which boasts exclusive rights both to my birth and to my death, two circumstantially simultaneous events.

Aranea also gives the explanation that the alpha timeline is the one where reality is perpetuated.

AG: Reality itself is using you and many others to propagate its own existence. Strictly speaking, there is only one path to its successful propagation. 8ut it still permits you to make choices.

Caliborn also states that his quest as a Lord of Time is coming to terms with the inevitability that everything, ever, in all of time, will be because of him - that he'll be the one to shape it, including the circumstances of his own defeat.

uu: AS A LORD OF TIME. I THINK I'M GOING TO MASTER TIME. NOT WITH MY BRAIN. WHICH WOULD BE TOO HARD. BUT WITH MY INSTINCTS. uu: LIKE IN A WAY THAT WORKS WITH MY NATURAL IMPULSES. SUCH AS MY AMBITION. MY WILL TO COMMIT MAYHEM. MY DESIRE TO PUNISH THOSE I DESPISE. uu: SO IF I WANT YOU TO BECOME STRONG. SO YOU CAN CHALLENGE ME LATER. AND I SEE EVIDENCE. THAT YOU PROBABLY BECOME SUCCESSFUL. uu: I THINK TO MYSELF. WHY SHOULDN'T I BE THE ONE TO MAKE THAT HAPPEN? IF IT'S GOING TO ANYWAY. uu: I THINK PART OF MY PERSONAL QUEST. IS TO BECOME AT EASE WITH THE FORCES OF INEVITABILITY. uu: INEVITABILITY THAT ALL THINGS SHOULD AND WILL FALL IN MY FAVOR. THAT ALL CAUSALITY ANSWERS TO ME. AND THAT ALL OUTCOMES NOT ONLY SERVE ME. BUT CONSIST OF MY BEING. uu: SO I FEEL THAT. THE MORE I GROW IN POWER. uu: THE MORE STUFF IT SHOULD TURN OUT I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR. uu: UP TO AND INCLUDING. EVERYTHING THAT EVER HAPPENS. uu: EVEN IF IT HAS TO BE. uu: RETROACTIVELY.

Aradia's stint as stewardess of the afterlife is explicitly described as "service to the lord of double death," and Dave explains that he acts instinctively - like Caliborn does - to fulfill the conditions of the alpha timeline. It's also worth noting that their classes, Maid and Knight, are roles that directly serve a Lord in the real world.

TEREZI: LUCK1LY YOU M4K3 4N 4DOR4BL3 H4NDM41D TO TH3 M4ST3R OF D34TH, 3SP3C14LLY 1N YOUR CUT3 CH3RRY P1X13 3NS3MBL3 ARADIA: you think so?

GG: well youre from the future right? GG: dont you know already if itll work? TG: yeah more or less TG: i never really studied how it went down all that closely TG: i just figured when the time came to sort it out the right thing to do would be obvious TG: like it is now TG: managing the loops is a balance of careful planning and just rolling with your in the moment decisions TG: and trusting they were the ones you were always supposed to make TG: by now im pretty used to having my intuition woven into the fabric of the alpha timeline

I'm starting with all that so I can explain that the GAME OVER timeline doesn't end when the time players disappear from it, like doomed timeline offshoots normally do, because it IS the alpha timeline: the sequence of events that causes GAME OVER to occur is the sequence of events that Caliborn/Lord English have chosen: one where (nearly) everyone dies, all hope of victory is lost, and his servant, the Condesce, gets to claim the Ultimate Reward, perpetuating the same misery and oppression in the new universe, and presumably all universes to come.

We see from Caliborn's chess match with Calliope that his (and by extension, LE)'s modus operandi is to follow the rules to the letter, while manipulating his opponent, tricking them with "shitty twists". It's always been explained that LE's actions have been "sanctioned by paradox space," that is, everything he's doing is explicitly allowed, nothing he's doing is against the rules - including the fact that he must be defeated. He has, via his mastery of time, perfectly engineered a situation where the only viable reality is the one where yes, he IS defeated... in the dream bubbles, by the dead and doomed, whom he sent to the dream bubbles in the first place via Condy, Jack English, and all the other boss fights. And his will, his ideals, are imposed on the new universe in spite of his defeat.

In a completely Watsonian read of the text, Lord English is an incredible villain because - subtly and unsublty - he IS basically responsible for every bad thing that ever happens, ever, to everyone. He has legitimately been the puppetmaster pulling the strings the entire time, pretty much all because Caliborn is a huge asshole who loves to hurt other people, and wants to do it as much as he can, to as many people as he can, for as long as he can.

But I think he's especially interesting through a Doylist perspective, through a reading of the text as a coming of age. Homestuck is a worth riddled with theme and symbolism, and thematically, Lord English represents everything that these kids need to overcome in order to mature into kind, empathetic adults who will be one day responsible for the care and oversight of a new universe. He represents selfishness, sadism, greed, destruction, oppression, fascism, murder, genocide, and hatred. And also literally the patriarchy.

And, you know what? Don't take my word for it. Here's Andrew Hussie's commentary from Book 6 Act 5 Act 2 Part 2:

Much of the logic [for who contributes to Lord English] orbits around these negative traits associated with men, or more specifically, the “toxically masculine” aspects often linked to certain male personalities. Dirk has a lot of these traits, which are central to Dave’s feelings of tension and abuse concerning his bro. The intellectual aggression, the power of assertion, the knowitall-ism, the mansplaining. That’s a lot of Dirk stuff when he’s at his worst. Equius shares a lot of those traits too, with some different points of emphasis. Both of them have this creepy-guy streak running through them, with strange or offputting interests, and seem to get a quiet kick out of making others uncomfortable through demonstrations of these fascinations. They are actually pretty similar characters in this way.

He's invited into the trolls' universe (and, by extension, the kids' universe) via the Dancestors, in an original sin kind of way. I'll let Hussie explain on their Formspring (emphasis mine):

We learn more about the troll race, as a once peaceful species and such before kid-ancestors as players scratched their session, though the short term relevance of this is mainly as a preamble to Scratch's religious story. Establishing an Eden-like paradise from which there is some departure through sin is sort of the boilerplate basis for religious lore. ... The failed players from peaceful Alternia made a classic "deal with the devil" move by causing the scratch after being given a choice by the mother of all monsters. (Echidna. Hey, she's a big snake!) By doing so they brought Scratch into their universe, and therefore all the things you'd expect that comes with summoning the devil.

The Dancestor's "departure through sin"? It was the fact that they couldn't get their shit together and grew up inside the Medium. That's why they're the age they are, 9 sweeps - adulthood by troll standards. They aren't kids anymore because that's the ultimate sign of having failed to do a coming of age. Symbolically, the Dancestors represent a prior generation of grown-ups that fucked everything up, leaving a huge mess for their descendents to clean up after. In fact, Doc Scratch even describes the alternate choice Echidna gave them:

The heroes could either accept their defeat along with the extinction of their race, and put no others at risk.

In other words, they could have stopped LE if they'd simply chosen not to Scratch. But once more, in line with their behavior up until that point, they chose the selfish option, and bore descendants into the world they ruined. They're immature, nasty, mean-spirited, cruel, callous, and shallow on purpose, because their role in the story is antagonistic. They're aligned (even if unwittingly) with Lord English, as they're the ones who directly invited him in via their failure to grow the fuck up.

There's also a reason why SBURB/SGRUB directly tie achieving godhood and reaching the Ultimate Reward to planetary quests fundamentally designed to help children mature. God-tiering is supposed to come at the end of one's quest, as achieving it directly teleports you to the Battlefield for the final boss.

AG: I really think how successfully they mature is tied to success in the game. It challenges the players in all the ways they need to 8e challenged to grow, which is different for every individual, and veeeeeeeery different for every race. AG: I don't think we were so hot at that aspect of the game. In fact, I'm sure we were quite awful. Hell, even I wasn't that gr8 at it! I actually just kinda fell ass 8ackwards into the god tier, to 8e honest.

And there's a perfectly functional Watsonian explanation for this - in order to increase the odds that the new universe will successfully propagate new universes, it's ideal to leave it in the hands of kind, mature people. But the Doylist explanation is, again, even more interesting.

Hussie has spoken extensively about the comic having always been about two things at its core: first, a creation myth... and second, a coming-of-age. These are complimentary themes, as Homestuck also makes statements about society and its effects on kids. In the real world, the kids of today become the voters, revolutionaries, and lawmakers of tomorrow. In Homestuck, they create, and are responsible for, a new universe.

I always saw HS as an exploration of young people developing relationships over the internet […] There’s a lot more to HS than just that obviously, but if there’s anything which it’s been about through and through, it’s modern kids relating to each other from afar, developing as people and growing up.

In fact, all the initial kids' entry artifacts are metaphors for "departures, loss of innocence, and sometimes the journey from childhood to adulthood outright." John biting an apple, symbolizing the act that cast Adam and Even from Eden. Rose breaking a bottle, the act of christening a boat, and an item integral to the main means by which she relates to her mother, alcohol - an adult substance. Dave hatching an egg, literally the act of bringing new life into the world. Jade shooting an effigy of her dog, both symbolic of Old Yeller, and of breaking a pinata, an act often done at quinceneras.

There comes a point in childhood where the child stops being a child - the safe, familiar, comfortable world that they knew stops existing, and they can never get it back. They are thrust into a world that is alien and massive, and forced to grapple with the weight of their future duties. They deal with losing their guardians and finding direction in their absence. They must decide how they want to grow up, and then are responsible for shaping the society that comes after them. In other words, SBURB/SGRUB in this metaphor represent adolescence.

Within that context, God-tiering is actually interesting because it symbolizes adulthood - a semi-permanent state that a child is supposed to reach at the end of their SBURB/SGRUB journey. And, in fact, it's treated that way - none of the characters reach god-tiering the "proper" way... and of our god-tiered characters, nearly all of them have some sort of emotional struggle with growing up too fast. Vriska with the expectations of her shitty society, Rose with her emulation of her mother, Dave with his abusive brother, and the Alpha kids with substance abuse (the jujus) and romantic drama.

Anyway, sometimes when Mario's running sideways he gets a star that makes him magic and invincible. OH. YOU MEAN HE BECOMES TRICKSTER MARIO. Yes, but less stupid. So for a while he becomes flashy and hyperactive and nothing's challenging anymore. He just starts barreling over mushrooms and leaping over pits as fast as he can, then gets to the end and jumps on the flagpole and that's it. Mario "wins". But the point is, he didn't really win. That magic star was actually devastating to his development as a human being. WHY. Because he skipped over many critical trials on his spiritual journey. Mario NEEDS to stomp on all those mushrooms. He NEEDS to bonk those bricks with his head, for the sake of his personal growth. By using the star, he is denying himself many powerful moments of catharsis.

Like... I dunno... seems pretty blatant to me!

So with Homestuck so firmly being a coming of age, and with the Dancestors - whose primary failure is that of unrelenting immaturity - being cast in an antagonistic role, doesn't that make Caliborn's position of ultimate final boss extremely fitting when we take this conversation into account?

You may be destined for bigger things, but you’re still an atrocious, stupid child. And you may have won the “game” with your sister, but that doesn’t mean it was the best thing for your development as a person. You had her dream self killed, which is not an opportunity your species typically gets. So she died prematurely, instead of allowing the conflict within you to settle itself naturally. In short, you forced your predomination to happen a little too early, and now you’re stuck. STUCK? Yes. Your personality is stuck in some sort of cantankerous prepubescent limbo. You are going to be a stunted, miserable tool forever.

He's literally a child who chose to stunt his own growth so that he could reap all the game's rewards for himself. Someone who so stubbornly desired the selfish, greedy, and immature option that he was willing to hurt himself to achieve it. Caliborn - and by extension, Lord English - is a direct symbol for the refusal to mature, to be kind, to care about other people. By including Dirk, Gamzee, and Equius at their worst, he also comes to represent misogyny, toxic masculinity, the patriarchy. He's the Condesce's master, and so by extension, he represents fascism and oppression; as Doc Scratch, he gets off on abusing girls, and so he also represents predators and abusers. And his goal is to perpetuate himself, his ideals, what he symbolically represents, down every successive generation. Much like how these cycles of abuse and oppression seek to perpetuate themselves in the real world!

And that's why the alpha timeline, the GAME OVER timeline, is the way that it is: it's one where Lord English WINS. In Lord English's version of the story, everything is fucked up forever. He might be defeated, as is the timeline's inevitability, but his politics, his bigotry, and his ideals live on.

Except.

Our Breath player gains a power that literally unsticks him from time.

Now, personally, I don't believe that the ending we got is the one that was originally intended. I don't feel the need to elaborate upon that here, but suffice to say, given how clearly and consistently these themes are set up throughout the entire rest of the comic, it just makes sense to me that the ending we got, where characters stay dead, never finish their character development, etc. etc., is a MASSIVE tonal and thematic departure, which smacks of external pressures and influences. Everything after [S] GAME OVER is soft canon to me for this reason. But there's things that survive in it that are really really interesting, so I'll mention some.

First, the pre-retcon versions of the characters still exist, as we see from (Vriska). That means that everyone who died in GAME OVER would not necessarily have stopped mattering to the plot. I firmly believe that the original ending would've seen Lord English confronted by the GAME OVER (characters), who would also have the most karmic claim to beating Lord English's face in. This would also satisfy his whole deal of playing by the rules - he knows he HAS to be defeated, he just gets to choose the circumstances of his defeat; without realizing that John's retcon powers can rewrite a timeline, he would've set up his own death to be in the bubbles, at the hands of the already-dead, while Condy claims the Ultimate Reward - thus making it so that he still wins in the end.

But Breath represents freedom, choices - and the retcon powers are something John gains mastery over after completing his personal quest, which we've established is directly tied, both literally and symbolically, into growing up and maturing. By becoming a kind, empathetic, mature adult, John is able to choose something else.

Second, that the Ultimate Self is brought up at all, which seems to me like it would mitigate the bittersweetness of the (characters) from GAME OVER staying dead - because, in my head, the original plan for the retcon was that it would bring everyone back, and therefore, all the (characters) from GAME OVER would live on through the surviving post-retcon gang, who will eventually achieve Ultimate Selfhood, as Davepetasprite^2 says they will. This would also directly mirror the words Godtier!Calliope gives to her counterpart:

CALLIOPE: bUt then... CALLIOPE: what shoUld i do? CALLIOPE: you don't need to do anything. CALLIOPE: be who you've become, and who i didn't. CALLIOPE: consume the fruits of an existence i could never understand. CALLIOPE: live.

Third, there's just so many outstanding plot threads, even for the characters that DO survive. Jake's prophesized to defeat Lord English, Dave never actually gets over his hesitance about time travel and defeating Lord English, Karkat has multiple means of bringing his dead friends back to life and doesn't say anything, Vriska and Terezi still aren't 100% reconciled, Gamzee's tragedy is never addressed, Jane, Dirk, Jake, and Roxy never really figure out their situationship, etc. etc. etc. ... to say nothing about all the plot threads left dangling for the characters that stay dead.

And finally...

Isn't that just kind of a better story? One where the kids get to grow, change, learn from their mistakes, and create a better, kinder universe, after defeating the avatars of cruelty, oppression, and immaturity?

Is it just me? Haha.

[jiraisupportgroup]

First of all - I'd like to note that this post is not intended to pressure anyone to change or to make people feel ashamed for the position they are in in life. I feel like a lot of people don't understand that being in this position is not often a choice. A majority of the time there are mental illnesses or chronic physical illnesses which lead someone to this point. It isn't like they're just hanging out at home all day having a blast - it is emotionally and physically taxing to be in this position, and it can be incredibly hard to break out. Not impossible!! Just very hard.

It is not as simple as "just go outside" "just get a job" etc; that kind of advice is not helpful. This post is mostly aimed at people who want to make some sort of change in their routine. Again, if you don't want to change or don't feel a need to - I'm not here to pressure you into changing your life or to tell you you are wrong for living this way - you're not, you're okay I promise. More so this is for people who are thinking about changing things up or adding a little more structure to their life.

Keep in mind - there is no shame in this. If you're looking at your daily log of activities and it isn't what you want it to be that is okay! Don't beat yourself up or be down on yourself for not being perfect or not being where you want to be. This is just so we can identify trends in our behaviours and more clearly see the things we want to cut back on or the things we want to add to our daily / weekly routines.

Try to keep this in a place where it is easy to keep track of. I typically recommend something digital like a notes app on the phone or a google document since you can access that from a computer or your phone - that way it's much easier to just pop in and write a simple note like "10am - had a bagel for breakfast", or a little pocket notebook that you can keep on your person. Make it as easy for yourself as possible.

It can also help to add little notes about how certain activities make you feel or your general mood throughout the day. This doesn't have to be extensive, but something like "Took a shower, feel refreshed but exhausted", or "2-4pm scrolling TikTok, I don't feel anything, I'm a little irritated". Keeping in mind how certain activities make you feel is a good step in identifying how different things affect your mental health and overall energy / stress levels. This can also help us start to see some of the underlying reasons for some of your behaviours. If you start to see why you do or don't like doing certain things, you can have a better understanding of yourself and how you can go about changing certain habits.

For example if you absolutely 100% detest doing the dishes, the feeling, the smell, how long it takes, etc, it isn't going to be very helpful to have a "just do it" approach to building the habit. It will become much easier if we also adopt other things into this such as having a dish-washing chair, a special soap, or gloves to make the process more bearable before throwing yourself head-first into it.

Some goals are easier to identify than others. For example "I want to brush my teeth every night" is a pretty identifiable goal and the steps you need to take to achieve that goal are pretty straightforward. Other goals like "I want to feel more productive" or "I want to have more energy" are vague and difficult to achieve in themsevles, so we need to break them down.

What does each goal mean to you? What does "being more productive" mean? Does it mean keeping your room clean? Creating a physical product or hobby? Achieving smaller goals throughout the day? Exercising more? Trading social media for something like a book? Learning something new? What smaller aspect of this larger idea stands out to you? Once it is broken into parts it's much easier to work on one aspect at a time instead of just trying to change everything overnight.

Other goals seem like too much, like "I want to be able to go to the grocery store by myself". That's an easily identifiable goal, but it's a BIG goal. There are likely steps you'll have to take to work up to this goal, and those steps are heavily tied to the reasons why you don't like going to the grocery store in the first place. If the crowds make you anxious - going out with friends or family to less crowded places, or going to the grocery store at less busy times of day could help. If the food items stress you out - going out to places like office supply stores that don't carry food items or going to the store without the intent of buying anything just to walk around and get used to it might be helpful. Some stores like Kroger, Ingles, or Target often have little coffee shops in them - maybe going to one of these with friends just to get a snack and hang out can help expose you to the idea of the store itself without the pressure of having to pick out what you're buying or the pressure of interacting with the cashier so you don't have to tackle it all at once. Or if you typically get groceries delivered to your house, maybe you could do a purchase online pick up in-store thing one day - you don't have to spend much time in the actual store, and you don't have to pick items out while you're there, but it'll get you to the actual store and then you can just go home right afterwards. Try to find ways to get slowly closer and closer to your final goal without throwing yourself headfirst into it. (One thing I will say specifically about going to the grocery store is try to avoid planning out exactly what you're going to purchase beforehand - I used to do this and I would end up crying in the middle of the store if they didn't have the exact bread they wanted, it backfired on me more than once T-T so do that at your own risk).

Write out as many or as few goals as you can think of. These are long-term goals, so if your list feels really long don't worry! You don't have to do all of this at once! In fact, I implore you not to try and do too many of these things at once! Try not to get overwhelmed if it feels like a lot - you've got time, this is not a once-and-done kind of thing, we're going to take it slow and try to be reasonable with ourselves and our expectations of ourselves.

But how do you pick a goal? There's a lot of ways you could do this. Some people like to try and go for the one that seems the hardest first - I've never really had luck with this I usually just give up when I feel like it's too hard. Some people try to pick the one that seems the easiest to ease themselves into it - this is always nice because it can help you feel like you're actually making progress and changing things. Some people pick ones that overlap. Like if you want to spend less time on social media and more time doing a hobby like knitting - you can combine those two goals into "trade social media time for knitting" to kind of tackle two things at once. Try not to combine too many things together - we do still want these goals to be small and separate from each other - but smaller ones like that it is okay to and makes sense to combine together.

So! You've picked a goal to work towards! Yay! How do we do that? It depends on the goal you've picked. If it's something physical like showering, brushing your teeth, vacuuming, doing the dishes, going for a walk, or cooking dinner, it's a little easier to track. Setting reminders or keeping a log of when you do these things can help, some people like having weekly or daily checklists to keep track of what has been done and when. Try to avoid putting too many things on the checklist - we don't want to overwhelm ourselves, remember we're just working on one thing right now.

For others, picking a certain day of the week or time of day to do these things can help as well. Having a set time or day for certain activities can help set the routine of doing them, and also makes it a little easier to keep track of when they are done. If you miss these days or times don't beat yourself up! Try to avoid the feeling of "oh well I was supposed to shower at 7pm and now it's 10pm so I missed my opportunity" you can deviate from the timeframes you set for yourself they're just a guide. But over time if you decide you're going to brush your teeth at 9pm every night, after a month or two you'll start being like "oh it's 9pm I'm going to go brush my teeth" it becomes a second-hand habit that you don't have to think about too hard after a few months.

If it is a more nebulous or vague goal, we might want to make a roadmap. Like if your end goal is "I want to be able to keep my room clean consistently" there's a lot that goes into that. Often that includes dishes, taking the trash out, doing laundry, folding the laundry, vacuuming, etc. Trying to take all of that on at once can be really overwhelming! Start small. Let's say, maybe every other night you want to take the dishes from your room to the kitchen. Just focus on that. Or maybe you want to make your bed every day. Or maybe you want to do your laundry once a week. Pick one aspect to focus on for a while, and slowly build on that. After about 2 weeks of taking your dishes to the kitchen every other night, maybe you can add washing them into that. Or after doing your laundry once a week for about a month, you can add folding it into that. If you ease yourself into it, it gets much easier to actually build these habits and not super overwhelm yourself right off the bat. And if you miss a day, that's okay! I'm not expecting you to set a goal and then immediately be able to do it all the time, and you shouldn't expect that of yourself either. Go easy on yourself. Slow progress is still progress. Maybe you're not making your bed every day, but making it once or twice a week is still progress! And over time that once or twice a week will evolve into three or four times a week. And it'll just keep going from there.

On the other hand, if you're trying to STOP doing something as much - the approach is often a little different. Some people like to use timers or notes to show when they last did something so they can see how long it's been or notice changes in whether they're doing it more or less frequently. If it's something like trying to cut back on social media you can set time limits on your phone for how long you're allowed to use each app. These are easy enough to bypass but often times having that reminder of "Hey it's been 15 minutes your time limit is up" can be a reminder to yourself that you want to be more mindful of how long you're spending on these apps, even if you just extend the time limit when it pops up.

Set up alternatives for yourself! It's really hard to say "oh I just won't do that anymore", give yourself something else to do instead. If you want to spend less time on social media, you might instead spend more time reading, drawing, or even playing video games. (Trading social media for video games is a healthy trade I will die on this hill - I don't care how many articles you've seen saying they're just as bad as each other I promise you Persona 5 is not as bad as Twitter for your mental health). If you want to stop smoking, instead have gums, lollipops or a drink you enjoy; or practice breathing techniques when you want to smoke; or if you vape try switching to a lower concentration juice (I'm also trying to stop smoking so I feel you on this it's a tough one). If you're trying to stop SH, have other things like ice cubes, rubber bands, pens, or something that will give you a physical sensation without causing harm (or as much harm). Work with yourself, identify what you're getting from each of these things, and try to make a trade for something that is a little better for you but still gives you some of that thing that you want. Don't beat yourself up if you do still engage in these habits, it is hard to stop. Instead of punishing yourself for still doing these things, praise yourself for doing them less often. (And if you're not doing them less often, praise yourself for being aware of your habits in the first place).

The hardest thing about this whole process is getting the motivation to start. Once you get started it's much easier to keep it going, but that first push to get the ball rolling is the hardest part. For a lot of things you can't wait until you feel like doing it - often that won't come. There are different ways people motivate themselves to do things they don't want to do. Ease yourself into it, don't do everything at once do the first step of the process and then take a little break. For example, if you're folding the laundry, separate it into categories then take a little break. When you come back fold one category, then take a break. Then do the next category. Over time the laundry will be all folded! Set a timer, think about how much time you could reasonably spend doing something. Let's say 10 minutes. Set a timer for 10 minutes, then start whatever task it is you want to do. If you want to clean your room maybe set a timer for 10 minutes and spend that time picking up trash. After those 10 minutes are up you're done. You can come back to more of it later. Often times you'll find that you're able to finish a lot of tasks faster than you thought you'd be able to, and if they're not finished oftentimes times you're more inclined to keep going once those 10 minutes are up since you've already started the ball rolling. Some people use a sort of "rip the bandaid off" technique where they set an alarm to go do something and as soon as that alarm goes off they just force themselves do it. This is hard at first but it does become easier. Think of it like you're jumping into a pool. 3...2...1... GO! Often that initial push to just start walking to go to the thing you want to do is the hardest, and once you're moving it becomes easier.

Tell a friend you're going to do it. Sometimes this helps you feel more motivated to do it since you're giving yourself a little bit of outside pressure to complete the task. On this note, weirdly enough, stretching can help you get motivated to do harder tasks. Like if you want to take the trash out but you're laying in bed, stretching in bed just to get your blood moving can sometimes help you get that initial push to get up and take the trash out.

Work with yourself. Try different approaches, and celebrate your successes no matter how small they may seem. Over time you will find things do get easier, and after tackling one small goal for a month or two, you can add another small goal into the mix.

Some popular app recommendations (I'm so sorry this list is so short - hoping to add to it in the future)

IAmSober - Andriod and IOS - allows you to set multiple goals of things you want to stop doing and shows you timers for how long it's been since you last engaged in that habit.

Flora - Google Play, IOS, and Chrome Extension - sets a timer for how long you don't want to use your phone or computer, once you finish this timer without using your device it grows a tree, and adds that tree to your garden. I used to use this for studying back in college and I quite enjoyed it.

HabitShare - Android, Google Play, and IOS - set habits and keep track of when you've completed them, you can also link with friends to see each other's habits too (although, this is optional you can also keep it private).

These are the best-rated free apps I could find for this kind of thing, if there are others that you use or have used in the past please feel free to comment or rb I would love to be able to add to this list.

Thank you so much for reading! I hope this can be at least a little helpful and I hope it doesn't come off as a "just do it" kind of vibe. I know getting the motivation to start building new or breaking old habits is realllllly hard so hopefully, this is at least a bit helpful T-T

As always, I love you guys and I'm proud of you for being here and doing what you can ˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗ please feel free to comment or send in any questions, comments, concerns, additions, or anything of that sort ~ ♡

[allthecanadianpolitics]

sorry if youve gotten this question before, or this just isnt what you focus on but considering all the things happening in the us right now would it be advisable for me (a trans guy) to move to canada? like how are you guys holding up in terms of policy around trans and gay people? and what city/providence would you most recommend, if any?

Things are mostly ok within the larger cities (Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, etc) but some rural communities in bible belts have not been safe spaces for LGBTQ people.

One major concern is that the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada is a transphobe, and based on the polls consistent over the past year or so, he has a very real chance of becoming Prime Minister.

There has been a large rise in homophobic and trans phobic hate crimes in recent years. Its definitely not as bad as the USA, but things are not necessarily trending down either.

As far as which regions in general are safest:

Canada's most left party (NDP) is in control of two provinces, British Columbia and Manitoba. The party is very LGBTQ friendly. Additionally the Liberals are in power in Newfoundland & Labrador and Yukon and are also generally pretty supportive. All other provinces in Canada right now have Conservative governments. The territories of Northwest Territories and Nunavut don't have party affiliations.

There have been some Premiers who have taken transphobic stances and policies in New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and Alberta (all are run by Conservative governments).

Moving to Canada is also very expensive, very time consuming and is far from guaranteed unless you have jobs lined up for you, are wealthy, etc. I'm not saying to give up on the idea, just make sure you do the research and know what you're getting into.

Canada has a higher cost of living with especially high rent prices, particularly in Vancouver/Toronto and the neighbouring areas of BC and Ontario. So make sure to keep that in mind.

Hope this helps. I'm Trans too (Trans Femme) and happy to answer any other questions you have.

[rubyclover]

I said I can’t write but if felt nice getting that other idea out of my head. So I wrote this and will post. Technically I started trying to write this like a month ago… Please ignore the constant switching between past and present tense. It’s something I never seem to notice until someone else points out where it is.

Prompt: Professionals hate him but he was right! [Adam] Heaven and Hell come to the realization that The First Man played a larger part in the three realms’ political/social ecosystem than they thought. His absence leaves a vacuum that Lute is unable to fill but she may not need to because Hell is solving the problem themselves… The Morningstar Family can’t run from this.

No ABetaO we expire like Adam~

Imagine that Adam dies, the hotel has never looked better, the residents have healed up and Charlie gets another TV appearance. Lucifer is even more depressed than before but hides it. Adam is gone She’s going to reveal Sir Pentious’ redemption with evidence that is NOT childishly scribbled on key cards. Instead of the interview taking place in the 666News studio it’s held outside the hotel. She will take questions, live, right after the interview. Katie Killjoy wants to give the public a chance to cause chaos for ratings, so she puts Charlie in a vulnerable position.

Things go great… for the first 20 minutes. The interview isn’t even half way done when someone from the crowd interjects after Charlie says ‘The Sinners have a better life now that the Exterminations are permanently canceled.’

That person’s voice is calm but still pissed as Hell. They fire back that no, Sinners don’t have an easier life now that the Exterminations are over. It’s worse! Charlie and the crowd perk up.

The voice moves to the front. They’re short with plain street clothes, hood up. It’s obvious they’re poor and at the bottom of Hell’s pecking order. A couple of Imps are with them equally disheveled and tired looking. The man goes on to point out some rather hard truths.

Thanks to the last Extermination, angelic steel has become a hot commodity. While uncommon right now, there’s a pipeline to obtain an angelic weapon. All you need is enough money. Carmilla Carmine doesn’t care about how her product is used after purchase.

‘Permanent Murder’ is a new trend on HellTube netting ridiculous profits. The main targets are vulnerable Sinners, usually the scared and alone new arrivals, Imps and Hellhounds. All killed by beautifully glowing angelic weapons.

Overlords are more formidable with these weapons so the chance of contractees escaping, like Angeldust, has become damn near impossible even if they destroyed their contract. Some desperate souls were happy with their messed up immortality. It gave them some hope, ‘at least I have a chance to turn things around eventually,’ but that pathetic security is gone.

The Exterminations kept said Overlords in check to a degree. They were more inclined to take care of their underlings because that guaranteed their safety. Now? Just get an angelic gun for all your troubles. Valentino is having a fucking field day.

The ‘permadeath’ toll for one year will be ten times the amount of one Extermination Day considering how much Hell’s citizens like to kill Sinners…

Not to mention, whole industries in Hell, from top to bottom, are starting to crash. Their purpose or sales revolved around the Exterminations. Some workers cannot afford to lose their job and have to sell their soul against their will.

Etcetcetc

As the man speaks Charlie is surprised to see heads nodding in agreement! Someone comments that they hadn’t seen their Sinner friend in a few days and tries not to panic while another face falls in the crowd and wrings their hands together. An Imp with curved horns standing beside a young Hellhound sweats profusely and starts to leave. Tension moves through the public. Not just the ones in front of the stage but also those watching TV.

Despite her best efforts Charlie cannot lift the crowd’s mood. She realizes prematurely revealing Sir Pentious’ redemption is the only way to salvage this growing disaster. Unfortunately the man’s timing is perfect because the second she opens her mouth he turns his anger on the Morningstars.

He calls out how much her family misrepresents themselves as rulers. They don’t do anything for Hell anymore. They spend most of their time fucking around while the Sinners suffer. The other Sins manage their rings and hellborn, not Lucifer or Lilith. All three of the Morningstars can’t truly understand human suffering yet they profess to know how to best handle it. With no idea what it means to be human yet they pass judgement on them.

The crowd becomes agitated and the Imps beside the man move closer to him. They aren’t trying to draw safety from the Sinner but are taking defensive positions. Charlie realizes this isn’t someone speaking up in the heat of the moment. This is a planned speech. He’s highjacking her broadcast!

She sees the Sinner clench his fists and feels herself start to sweat. Why was he saying any of that? Yes, life will be a bit hard at first but now everyone can come together and rebuild! There are so many possibilities available to The Pride Ring. It would improve lives. Change was always good they just had to be careful. Yet the stranger goes on.

He claims that Lucifer is a washed up angel that can’t comprehend mortality because of his maladaptive dreaming and pride, Lilith is apathetic to Sinners and wishes to aggravate Heaven no matter how much Hell will suffer and Charlie is so sheltered that she thinks PTSD can be solved by clapping and saying positive affirmations.

Little is known about the royal family but the stranger’s comments sway the crowd. The hotel’s original commercials got the time of day because of Charlie’s status, not because the facility had managed to accomplish anything. Lucifer barely appears at all even when large fights break out leveling half of Pentagram City. And Lilith? Missing for 7 years after riling up all of Hell multiple times, causing Heaven to start the Exterminations.

The stranger calls the hotel a disgusting joke. Calls out how Charlie is trying to ‘pass the buck’ over to Heaven. The Pride Ring’s actual rulers are Overlords and they make sure Sinners suffer and continue to act depraved whether they like it or not. Her family has the power to take control and lessen the city’s suffering but they don’t. Instead they play with their little pet project .

Why are they focusing on shipping problems elsewhere? There’s a better way to solve the pain and suffering at the source than waiting! Fix Pentagram City! Show Heaven that the current number of Sinners isn’t a threat!

‘For all the crying and sniveling you do Princess Charlotte, you sure don’t actually help where it counts! I’m sure you care about Sinners but only on the same level as someone cares about cute public park ducks.’

Vaggie, who had been standing to the side of the stage leaps forward, places herself in between the stranger and her girlfriend. Everyone’s raised emotions have put her on edge. She ignores the harsh gasps when her angelic spear slides free and into her hands. ‘Back up! Now!’

Charlie’s heart sank at the escalation. She understood her girlfriend was still tense from the extermination but all their hard work was starting to fray around the edges! She just hoped her dad didn’t-

The King of Hell himself appears through a portal shortly after gathering himself together. The opening looked angrier in color, matching his mood. Sickly green lines run throughout the glow, radiating blistering heat. Parts of the stage began to melt and the forgotten camera crew swivel to their ruler. Lucifer’s face is set in stone but his bright flickering eyes give him away.

‘Who the fuck are you?’ He snarls, apple topped cane slamming onto the stage causing some of it to splatter. ‘How dare you speak to my daughter that way.’ Lucifer’s face morphs into a more demonic grimace. Katie Killjoy scrambles from her chair and off the stage at the same time as Charlie vaulting up to place a hand on Lucifer’s shoulder whispering ‘dad no!’ She doesn’t want the hotel’s improved reputation to evaporate. A confrontation with someone on live TV would scare people away!

Lucifer growls in the back of his throat, looking at where he assumes the bastard’s eyes are under his hood. Smoke and embers sizzle out from the corner of his mouth and inbetween teeth. He hated acting this way but he had an image to uphold. ‘Answer your King you wretch. Don’t confuse my inaction with benevolence. You’re testing my patience!’

After a beat or two of staring each other down the stranger has the gall to ‘tsk’ off to the side as if spitting. ‘As you with your majesty. It’s all fine by me.’ A small, scared hand reaches up and whips off the dirty hood exposing his face to all of Hell.

People instantly whip out their phones. His face is shockingly similar to Lucifer’s, in fact a basic carbon copy sans a few attributes.

Cameras catch alabaster skin and soft, blond, curly hair, short, wiry build, vivid green eyes, pale coral cheek markings, pointed ears and four demon wings the same color as his skin.

Leaf green eyes stair directly into Charlie’s while electing to ignore both fallen angels. He stands ramrod straight. Cutting a regal silhouette despite the filth on his body and clothes.

‘My name is Cain Adamson, The Wandering Star.’ He bows in a fashion Charlie hadn’t seen in all her galas. ‘Lucifer Morningstar’s first born and bastard son. It’s nice to finally meet you sister mine… I’ll be taking your family’s crown for my father.’

[So in this AU Cain rescued Adam’s body and resuscitated it. They had a familial bond even when Cain got banished for murdering Able and found out his bio dad was Lucifer. Eve didn’t pay much attention to her first born out of guilt so Adam stepped up. No one shamed her. Adam never felt like Cain was separate from his other kids even though he looked nothing like him. Now Cain wants to provide for his father who’s trapped in hell and in really bad condition by booting the Morningstars out of power in the Pride Ring.] Dunno about pairing but Adamsapple or Guitarhero would be a safe bet. Either way Lucifer will suffer lol

[wtf do I call this? Family Feud AU? Chessboard AU? Secret Brother AU? Idk h e l p ]

[exhaled-spirals]

« [W]hat if I told you that you will witness many strange and marvellous beings, creatures and sensations along your path; that you will experience new colours, shapes and textures – make contact with fields and trees, and with people from a wealth of backgrounds; invigorating games, vehicles, animals, the touch of mud and flesh, sweet and savoury foods, new companions, the experience of love and friendship, of anger and hurt, of aloneness and contemplation. And what if I said that all these experiences will lead to fresh ideas, creations and relationships… to a personality with choice and possibility as well as limits and apprehensions; and that these limits and apprehensions will point to a vast background of sky and consciousness, a background that will give you the feeling of being a part of something much greater than yourself? […]

Would you want to go? […]

It is much easier, at least ostensibly, to live in isolation from other people. It is much easier to develop a relationship to a leader, a party, a doctrine – or, for that matter, a television show (or set of shows) – and a passive-receptive lifestyle than it is to live in direct contact with people, with the exchange of ideas, with the diversity of perspectives, with wonder and surprise, and with unsettling yet potentially edifying truths about life.

Moreover, it becomes easier to live virtually […]. The power in these situations is enormous, and yet it is so often about trivial matters […]. While there is clearly no antidote as such to this problem, there is a sensibility […] that, in my view, powerfully counters the roboticist trend, and this sensibility is ‘awe’. I think of awe as the humility and wonder, or sense of adventure, toward living. It has also been defined as a sense of vastness that defies accommodation. However one defines it, the sensibility of awe subverts mechanised living. […]

That being said, one of the challenges with awe is that it is so often framed as a ‘high’, or short-term lift. That is why I distinguish between the short-term jolt of awe, or what I call ‘quick-boil’ awe, and the life-changing ‘slow-simmer’ form of awe.

The quick-boil form of awe tends to link with activities such as hiking through woods, falling intensely in love, taking a mind-altering drug, playing a vigorous sport, and travelling to exotic places. The slow-simmer awe, on the other hand, transforms the exhilarating energy of quick-boil awe into something long-lasting – such as staying open to the daunting scenery of every day, making a lifestyle of wonder and discovery, delving deep into a project or craft, and consistently engaging with life’s many-sidedness, whether unveiled in one’s work or love life, in child-rearing, friendships, or the larger community of which one is a part. […]

The problem, however, is that we are so susceptible to commodification in our culture, and to the conversion of substantive reforms into expedient elixirs, that we need to stay ever vigilant about the larger path that is imperative for us.

In a nutshell, if awe is to be a life-changing experience, it will need to encompass something that is all too often overlooked in today’s prepackaged world: anxiety, and in particular, life-enhancing anxiety. Life-enhancing anxiety is invigorating anxiety. It is anxiety that enables us to live with and make the best of the depth and mystery of existence. It also enables us to live with and make the best of the paradoxes of existence, such as our capacity for wonder and discovery in the midst of apprehension and even dread. Too often, however, we ignore the paradoxes of anxiety and fail to do the work necessary to go beneath the surfaces of life, to unveil the fuller and deeper questions of life.

Among these questions are: given the spectre of death, how is one willing to live? What is the purpose and meaning of one’s life, of the life of one’s culture? How do we shape ourselves and our societies so that we can pursue what we love? How do we avoid war and tyranny, sexism and bigotry? […]

[S]low-simmer awe is a […] layered and nuanced experience. For example, if we search beyond the surfaces of [it], beyond the readily observable, we often find the element of unease, of apprehension, and even of dread. Put more plainly, when we peel back the layers of slow-simmer awe, we often find death […]. Consider, for example, how the complex symbol of death – or the groundlessness and helplessness of our condition – looms abidingly in classical art: painting, music and literature. This is because the element of death looms over and intensifies the elements of grace, beauty and compassion that exemplify such work. […]

This is also why I have concerns about recent trends in awe research that de-emphasise or even reject these darker elements of unease.

[…] Here, then, is my summary of the capacities we need in order to optimise slow-boil awe. Or, to put it conversely, these are the capacities that are likely to atrophy the more we model ourselves after machines:

The capacity to slow down.

The capacity to optimise presence, or the holding and illuminating of that which is palpably significant within ourselves, and between ourselves and others.

The capacity to deeply reflect on ourselves and our society.

The capacity to act on our reflections about ourselves and society, to make available a more awe-based path for ourselves and our world.

The capacity to savour the delights of life […] even as they are tinged with sadness and pain.

The capacity to be deeply moved throughout one’s lifetime.

The capacity to focus on what one loves.

The capacity to see the big picture of life and its possibilities. […]

The capacity to appreciate mystery.

The capacity to appreciate the fact that we are alive.

The capacity to nurture balance (for example, between fragility and boldness).

The capacity for solitude.

The capacity to commune with nature.

The capacity to deeply appreciate travel and the ‘foreign’. […]

The capacity to give oneself over – discerningly – to the unknowable.

The capacity to trust the ultimately unknowable.

Let’s give Becker, who grappled mightily with the cost of automation, the final word:

Whatever [the human being] does on this planet has to be done in the lived truth of the terror of creation, of the grotesque, of the rumble of panic underneath everything. Otherwise it is false. Whatever is achieved must be achieved from within the subjective energies of creatures, without deadening, with the full exercise of passion, of vision, of pain, of fear, and of sorrow. »

— Kirk Schneider, "We need raw awe"