#but if he showed up there later after having burned most of his resources to talzin's clan they at least have a chance of

[redbean-nom]

the contrast between elsbeth's tribe (nightsister... commoners? peasants? villagers?) fighting grievous vs talzin's clan (nightsister royalty) is so funny like.

elsbeth's clan: probably-Mother Selena dueling grievous with two fire sickles that melt/short out when hit by lightsabers (grievous didn't even split his arms! it's literally a leisurely spar for him). approximately three archers in the background. one single unit of B1s and B2s plus possibly a handful of commando droids. elsbeth hiding in a tree and falling out.

talzin's clan: Mother Talzin voodooing Dooku from the castle basement and then levitating in a giant electric sphere and zapping the entire droid army for like five minutes straight. Ventress dueling four-arms grievous for equally long. An entire army of archers casually force-speed/force-jumping over entire trees. Grievous' full fleet, a bomber squad, a unit of commando droids, magnaguards, state of the art experimental tanks, more regular tanks, and a full army of B1s/B2s. Daka long-distance-necromancing the entire clan and resurrecting every single dead nightsister in the entire region. Talzin finally not-surrending by turning herself into a force ghost and then promptly going to start a cult to revive herself/the dead nightsisters.

[thecaduceusclay]

Alright, I’ll bite. Devil’s Minion in both the book and the show feels very connected to the AIDS crisis… but I’ve only ever acquired knowledge about that period through osmosis, so I’m curious if you have any thoughts/connections or information. 👀

I put out a call for people to ask me fandom-related queer history questions since I know a lot! I want to remind people this is open and that I welcome any fandom questions about queer history!

Ok this is going to get long because I have a lot of feelings on this topic especially. For those who just want some resources, further reading, and my sources, you can find those at the end. I'll pepper some links in, but I'll try to put the bulk of it there. But Daniel Molloy in the show especially is a man heavily impacted by the history of the AIDS crisis and I have a lot to say about that. I'm also assuming a knowledge of what HIV and AIDS are in the first place. You can do some quick reading here.

First, a note on the books since I mostly want to talk about the show. Queen of the Damned was published in 1988 when the AIDS crisis was in full swing. The peak of deaths was in 1993, but 1988 wasn't exactly early in it. The previous year saw the start of the AIDS memorial quilt, the founding of ACT UP (we'll talk about them later 💜), and Princess Diana publicly shaking the hand of an HIV positive patient. The shadow is cast over the culture, Anne Rice was not immune to the zeitgeist. Hell, she was living in the Castro district at the time and that is a notably queer area. (Her son Christopher talks about that briefly here.) I don't this the parallels are an accident. Armand is a man watching his lover slowly waste away while he can do nothing about it. Sure, it isn't AIDS, it's the alcohol and lack of care to his body. Sure, Armand could turn him. But despite their fun and their arguments being such a focus, that helplessness and fear permeates their relationship in the Devil's Minion chapter. Like so many gay men at the time, Daniel is wasting away. Armand is tormented by this. That is one of the most prominent faces of queer men at this time!

Daniel in the show has more going on in relation to the crisis.

I'll start by saying this in case it needs asserted, Daniel is a leftist journalist. And I don't mean in a casual liberal way. He's clearly passionate and involved and these things matter to him. He makes flippant and offensive comments in the interview sure, but I'm not saying he's perfect. His books give this away. He wrote about environmental issues in Under the Burning Sky, the prison industrial complex in The United States of Prison and Profit, and seemingly the surveillance state in Homelandia and likely in his book on Snowden. I'd also like to gesture to his work with "the barb". The Berkeley Barb was a leftist underground student paper. I'd recommend taking a look at their archives linked here and their website to get a grasp for what he was writing with at the time. (Warning, the archives are often NSFW). But in short the barb's attitude was largely anti-war, sex-positive, fuck the establishment kind of writing. He was already like this when he ran into Louis in '73. This will inform our view of him moving forward and will be our framework for understanding how he interfaced with the AIDS crisis.

I think it's important to note Daniel's proximity to AIDS too. I mean, subtextually, he had a brush with it when Louis nearly killed him in '73. Louis was a silent killer sweeping through the queer men of San Fran. Gay men were likely seeing lovers and friends disappear after going home with a stranger. Risky sex and drug use leading to a death going unacknowledged, one that's largely impacting gay men? I think the subtext of it is queer-- I mean clear. (Louis is not an all around metaphor for AIDS, but the ties between it and vampirism in the series seem clear, and in this instance the connection is there specifically for Louis, no one come for my ass).

Speaking of, the proximity is there in his behaviors too. He's a drug user who goes home with random men. (Casual sex was a big part of gay culture back then, see the hanky code and cruising for this.) Both of these actions put him at high risk of contracting HIV and put him among populations more likely to contract it. He was using heroin, and needle sharing is a huge risk factor in the spread of bloodborne illnesses, which can lead to the spread of HIV (which is why needle exchanges are so important.)

Finally for incidental proximity early on, Daniel was living in San Francisco. We know he frequented Polynesian Mary's at least, and possibly other gay bars. He also likely lived near or in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood (given his memoir being called Hate and Ashbury). This area is very notably queer, historically. By 1990 HIV was the leading cause of death for young men in San Francisco at 61%. That's frighteningly high, and sure this was much later, but San Francisco was an epicenter.

AIDS was first identified in 1981 as a spread of Karposi Sarcoma and PCP (or "gay pneumonia" colloquially) in gay men in areas like New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The first KS patient to go public (Bobbi Campbell) was in San Fran. He later wrote the first pamphlet on "safer sex". The first KS clinic was opened here, and later the first dedicated AIDS clinic (which Daniel seems to have written an article about according to his LinkedIn). By 1982 this epidemic was known as GRID, or Gay Related Immuno-Deficiency. (Interesting parallel that s1 notes Daniel as having an auto-immune disease, which Parkinson's is not primarily known as...). Daniel was covering these early years. His book A Shadow on the Skin was about this! It was a collection of articles he wrote on KS in the early years as he documented it becoming the AIDS crisis! He was routinely writing about the early epidemic. (s/o to @cbrownjc for this post where I found the blurb on the back of the book).

So, while living in San Francisco, this deeply politically involved young man was watching the early crisis unfold. He saw gay men dying slowly. Some gay men at the time described watching the AIDS crisis sweep through as watching their cities become ghost towns. This was something terrifying, something haunting, and something attributed largely to queer men. I mean, it was called GRID until 1982/1983. It wasn't until Ryan White, a 13 year old boy, contracted HIV from a blood transfusion in 1984 that people began seeing it as anything but just a gay disease. Even then, public perception didn't change quickly. It was so heavily associated with gay men, even, that getting national medical authorities to recognize women could contract it and treat it in women was a struggle.

All of this horror was occurring and the government ignored it. When they didn't ignore it? Ronald Reagan, then president, laughed at it. Hospitals were terrified of gay men, some refused to touch or treat AIDS patients. The FDA and CDC were slow to respond and to treat it.

In season one, Daniel is dismissive of his own queerness. He shrugs off his being in gay bars and hooking up with men, acts like it wasn't a big deal and it was just to score. I think this dismissive attitude likely stems from the AIDS crisis, at least in part. Lingering trauma from Louis' attack in '73 may play a role, after all, the body keeps the score. But I don't think we can overlook AIDS as a factor. The writers clearly didn't overlook it in his characterization, as exemplified above. I think they mean for this to impact who he is and how we view him! He watched some of the most terrifying years in recent queer history, of course he would downplay his queerness, of course he would marry two women even if he wasn't happy with them. (Not denying he may be bisexual, but he's certainly closeted.) And in the end, despite distance from his queerness, he still ended up having to waste away slowly from a disease with no cure, just uncomfortable treatments, much like men in the early AIDS crisis. (Early AIDS treatments were all trial based, you were lucky if you got in. You were lucky if you didn't end up in the control group. But the gamble was all you had, and those were the lucky ones. Even then it may not work, it was a trial for a reason. It wasn't until 1987 that AZT was approved to treat AIDS. It wasn't until the mid-90's, years later, that AIDS was considered survivable. I can't help but see his levadopa and how it only slows the inevitable as a parallel to this. A terrible reflection of earlier fears. Parkinson's has no cure. He'll deteriorate until he succumbs, even with medicine. He's lucky if it improves his quality of life, if it doesn't just make him more miserable. He'd be lucky to get a few more years.)

If Devil's Minion happened in the past, Armand watched his lover engage in high risk activities, while clearly aware of the risk given his coverage of AIDS. He watched Daniel writing a book worth of articles on KS and AIDS clinics. He knew how horrifying it was, he knew Daniel knew, and he watched his lover play with fire by using heroin anyway. And in the end? He still watched Daniel deteriorate slowly with medicine that only slowed it more.

If Devil's Minion is only coming and wasn't in the past at all? I think the impact of AIDS mostly falls to Daniel. After being turned he embraces life so fully. Yes, because he was dying before. But his style feels more queer once again. He doesn't have to fear any human diseases! He can fuck men! He can be gay! The shadow that hung over his youthful queer exploration, that interrupted it, is gone for him. And now he doesn't feel it's too late for him, I imagine. I mean, before he didn't have many peers, so many his age died. But now he's a vampire, he's outside of this. He can fuck young men, vampires, whatever. He's now outside of society whether he likes it or not, he's the "other", in for a penny in for a pound, right? And I think that's all going to impact who he is as a character going forward now too.

If there's interest in a Part 2 on the impact of AIDS activism in New York, since Daniel likely saw a lot of it up close, I'll gladly write it. I have opinions and info to share.

For now, stay safe everyone. I love you. And here's some further reading.

~~~~~~~~

A timeline of HIV and AIDS (1981-2024)

Only Your Calamity: The Beginnings of Activism by and for People With AIDS

HIV Infection as Leading Cause of Death Among Young Adults in US Cities and States (1993, about 1990)

On the impacts of the AIDS crisis on gay culture

The Queer significance of San Francisco

1 2 3 4 5 6

AIDS Memorial Quilt

Princess Diana's AIDS Advocacy

About the Berkeley Barb

How Ryan White impacted the view of AIDS

Daniel Molloy's LinkedIn

Practicum Page

[owl-falls-au]

Stanley Pines Evolution Timeline Part 1

IN ENGLISH

Arrival at the Boiling Islands:

As you may know, Stan arrived at the Boiling Islands due to an argument with Ford, the result of which ended with Stan in another universe.

When Stanley fell through the portal, he felt like he was floating.

A few minutes later, he felt the cold of the snow again.

When he looked around, he saw that he was in a snowy area, but he didn't recognize Ford's cabin, so he felt that something wasn't right

When he got up, he saw that there was a very strange landscape, with a giant skull and what seemed to be the ribcage and ribs of a being that died years ago

The first hours in that place were more terrifying than the 10 years he spent alone in the human world

All kinds of creatures tried to hurt him and kill him, the cold was unbearable, he felt the weight of the last hours and wished that everything was a nightmare

He found a cave and managed to make a fire, he had to use the shirt he was wearing under his jacket, but it was worth it to have some warmth

He had fallen next to the diary and now he had it in his hands, he thought about burning it, but he didn't dare, he wanted to keep it… Maybe it would be the last thing he would have of his brother…

The next morning, he woke up with a strong fever, thanks to Moses, Eda appeared, she had gone to his knee for some natural resources and found him in the cave

Thanks to that, she was able to find a warm place to sleep, where to heal her wounds and where to stay until she returned home

Reunion with Eda:

Eda would be overprotective of Stan, after all, she found Stan in a cave, shivering from the cold, sobbing and hugging tightly the diary of her twin brother, so she would be someone who, even if at first she did not want to show concern, dedicated herself to helping him

Eda sees in Stan the reflection of her younger self, she sees someone small who still needs protection, that is why she gives him a special concoction that keeps him young, she does not like being called old, but she likes to feel that she is wiser than Stan, or at least that she is like a good older sister

Eda learns Stan's story over time, and realizes that they have a lot in common, so she decides to teach him everything she knows about the boiling islands

Adaptation to the boiling islands:

Stan begins to adapt to the islands, learning to create concoctions, potions, and things like their smoke bombs, their years of running away and identity forgery were tools to survive and earn the money they needed to survive

Over time, the nickname "The Mystery Man" became a name to fear, the name of a human who was a fighter, a magician who can create potions and scam the most naive

Time of the curse:

During his stay on the Boiling Islands, trying to protect Eda in a chase, Stan was hit by the spell of a member of the coven, he could not figure out who it was, but Eda hurriedly told him that the person who cast the spell was wearing a white cape and mask, so they assumed he was a member of the emperor's coven.

Unfortunately, the next day, Stan wakes up feeling the effects of a curse.

Through his research on the Boiling Islands, Stan was able to discover that the curse he had was similar to Eda's, only instead of being the Owl beast, it is one with a similar form to that of a werewolf. Lupinotuum pectinem mortis (or as Stan called it, Lupin) is a mysterious entity that acts as the avatar of his own curse.

It inhabits those afflicted by its curse, often appearing in front of its victims within their subconscious when the curse is in effect.

Unlike Eda's curse, Stan's curse is "easier to control," in Eda's words.

Lupinotuum pectinem mortis, true to its name translated as "Werewolf of Death," is a robust, bipedal creature with a werewolf appearance.

It has a thick coat of dirty-looking silver fur, large legs, sharp claws, and a long tail.

His head resembles that of a common Wolf, with a golden circular marking with a small circle, resembling a fish eating something, with hollow black eyes and large fangs.

In the mindscape, he has an astonishing height that dwarfs Stanley, but when weakened, Lupin reverts to a smaller childlike form and is less than half Stan's size.

In the mindscape, he has an astonishing height that dwarfs Stanley, but when weakened, Lupin reverts to a smaller childlike form and is less than half Stan's size.

Nothing is known about this creature beyond the basics, that elixirs counteract the curse, its weaknesses are oversaturating its senses of smell, hearing, and sight, it will behave aggressively unless it senses safety and the scent of members of its pack.

What Stan doesn't know is that Eda knows the truth about his curse, but that information is "not important."

King's Arrival:

When Eda brought home little King, Stan didn't know how to handle him, they weren't used to taking care of children, because as soon as he heard King speak, he knew that this little boy was a baby

Over time, Stan began to take care of King as he was taught, but of course, with the help of Eda, which prevented Stan from using the lessons his father taught him to take care of King

Over time, King begins to learn to defend himself and be a great help to his family

Arrival of Luz Noceda:

When Luz arrives at the boiling islands, Stan showed up making an amazing entrance and distraction for Eda and Luz to flee, when everyone regroups, Luz is too stunned, since in her words, she didn't expect to meet someone like Stan in a world like that

When Luz realizes that Stan is human, she begins to ask him if he is "the chosen one" as in her books, which leads to a long dynamic in which Stan denies being a "chosen" like those in the books, but whose actions make him look like a hero, making Luz keep insisting

Coexistence with Luz and King

Over time, Stanley became fond of the children, Luz learned a lot thanks to Stan's life lessons, not only the things she did wrong, but he taught her to defend herself and fight to protect herself from threats like Emperor Belos or the other members of the Emperor's coven

Agony of a Witch: When Stan realizes Luz was kidnapped, Stan and Eda rush to save her, when Eda and Lilith were fighting, Stan tries to protect Luz, but because Lilith was using Luz as a shield, Stan joins the fight against Lilith

When Lilith reveals that she was in fact the one who cursed Stan and Eda, Stan is shocked, while Eda is enraged, not only because her own sister cursed her, but Stan, who she considers her brother, was also cursed because of Lilith

When Eda exhausts her magic and the curse is about to consume her, Eda orders Stan that no matter what happens, he must protect Luz, she reveals that she always had a way for Stan to get home and orders them both to leave

When both humans return to the owl house, Luz clings to Stan for safety, although Stan reciprocates, it is difficult to stay standing knowing everything that just happened.

EN ESPAÑOL

Llegada a las islas hirvientes:

Como ya saben, Stan llego a las islas hirvientes debido a una discusión con Ford, cuyo resultado termino con Stan en otro universo

Cuando Stanley cayó por el portal, sintió como si estuviera flotando.

Unos minutos después, sintió el frío de la nieve de nuevo.

Cuando miro alrededor, vio que estaba en una zona nevada, pero no reconoció la cabaña de Ford, así que sintió que algo no estaba bien

Cuando se levantó, miró que había un paisaje muy extraño, con un cráneo gigante y lo que parecían ser la caja torácica y las costillas de un ser que murió hace años

Las primeras horas en ese lugar, fueron más aterradoras que los 10 años que pasó en soledad en el mundo humano

Toda clase de criaturas trataron de lastimarlo y matarlo, el frío era insoportable, sentía el peso de las últimas horas y deseo que todo fuera una pesadilla

Encontró una cueva y logro hacer una fogata, tuvo que usar la camisa que llevaba bajo la chaqueta, pero valía la pena tener algo de calor

Había caído junto al diario y ahora lo tenía en sus manos, pensó en quemarlo, pero no se atrevía, quería conservarlo… Tal vez sería lo último que tendría de su hermano…

A la mañana siguiente, despertó con una fuerte fiebre, gracias a Moisés, Eda apareció, ella había ido a la rodilla por unos recursos naturales y lo encontró en la cueva

Gracias a eso, pudo encontrar un lugar cálido donde dormir, dónde curar sus heridas y dónde quedarse hasta volver a casa

Reencuentro con Eda:

Eda sería sobre protectora con Stan, después de todo, encontró a Stan en una cueva, temblando de frío, sollozando y abrazando con fuerzas el diario de su hermano gemelo, así que sería alguien que, incluso si al principio no quería demostrar preocupación, se dedicó a ayudarlo

Eda ve en Stan el reflejo de su yo más joven, ve a alguien pequeño que aún necesita protección, por eso le da un brebaje especial que lo mantiene joven, no le gusta que la llamen vieja, pero le gusta sentir que es más sabia que Stan, o al menos que es como una buena hermana mayor

Eda conoce la historia de Stan con el tiempo, y se da cuenta de que ellos tienen mucho en común, así que decide enseñarle todo lo que sabe de las islas hirvientes

Adaptación a las islas hirvientes:

Stan empieza a adaptarse a las islas, aprendiendo a crear brebajes, pociones, y cosas como sus bombas de humo, sus años de huir y la falsificación de identidad fueron herramientas para sobrevivir y ganar el dinero que necesitaban para sobrevivir

con el tiempo, el apodo "el hombre Misterio" se hizo un nombre de temer, el nombre de un humano que era un peleador, un mago que puede crear pociones y estafa a los más ingenuos

Época de la maldición:

Durante su estancia en las islas Hirvientes, tratando de proteger a Eda en una persecución, Stan fue golpeado por el hechizo de un miembro del aquelarre, no pudo averiguar quién era, pero Eda le dijo apresuradamente que la persona que lanzo el hechizo llevaba una capa y una máscara blanca, por lo que supusieron que era miembro del aquelarre del emperador.

Lastimosamente, al día siguiente, Stan despierta sintiendo los efectos de una maldición.

Gracias a sus investigaciones sobre las islas hirvientes, Stan logro descubrir que la maldición que tenía era similar a la de Eda, solo que en vez de ser la bestia Búho, es una con una forma similar a la de un hombre lobo, Lupinotuum pectinem mortis (o como Stan lo llamaba, Lupin) es una misteriosa entidad que actúa como el avatar de su propia maldición.

Habita en aquellos afligidos por su maldición, apareciendo a menudo frente a sus víctimas dentro de su subconsciente cuando la maldición está en efecto.

A diferencia de la maldición de Eda, la maldición de Stan es "más fácil de controlar", a palabras de Eda

Lupinotuum pectinem mortis, fiel a su nombre traducido como "Hombre lobo de la muerte", es una criatura robusta y bípeda con apariencia de hombre lobo.

Tiene una gruesa capa de pelaje plateado de aspecto sucio, patas grandes, garras afiladas y larga cola.

Su cabeza se asemeja a la de un Lobo común, con una marca dorada en forma circular con un pequeño círculo, asemejándose a un pez comiendo algo, con ojos negros huecos y grandes colmillos.

En el paisaje mental, tiene una altura asombrosa que empequeñece a Stanley, pero cuando se debilita, Lupin vuelve a una forma infantil más pequeña y tiene menos de la mitad del tamaño de Stan.

En el paisaje mental, tiene una altura asombrosa que empequeñece a Stanley, pero cuando se debilita, Lupin vuelve a una forma infantil más pequeña y tiene menos de la mitad del tamaño de Stan.

No se sabe nada sobre esta criatura, más allá de lo básico, que los elixires contrarrestan la maldición, sus debilidades son sobresaturar sus sentidos del olfato, oído y vista, se comportara agresivo a menos que perciba seguridad y el olor de miembros de su manada.

Lo que Stan no sabe es que Eda sabe la verdad sobre su maldición, pero esa información "no es importante"

La llegada de King:

Cuando Eda trajo a casa al pequeño King, Stan no supo como manejarlo, no acostumbraban a cuidar de niños, porque apenas escucho a King hablar, supo que ese pequeño era un bebe

con el tiempo, Stan empezó a cuidar de King como le enseñaron, pero claro, con la ayuda de Eda, lo que evito que Stan usara las lecciones que su padre le enseño para cuidar de King

Con el tiempo, King empieza a aprender a defenderse y a ser una gran ayuda para su familia

Llegada de Luz Noceda:

cuando Luz llega a las islas hirvientes, Stan se presentó haciendo una asombrosa entrada y distracción para que Eda y Luz huyan, cuando todos se reagrupan, Luz está demasiado anonadada, ya que en sus palabras, no esperaba conocer a alguien como Stan en un mundo así

Cuando Luz se da cuenta de que Stan es humano, empieza a preguntarle si él es "el elegido" como en sus libros, lo que lleva a una larga dinámica en la que Stan niega ser un "elegido" como los de los libros, pero cuyas acciones lo hacen ver como un héroe, haciendo que Luz siguiera insistiendo

Convivencia con Luz y King

con el tiempo, Stanley se encariñó con los niños, Luz aprendió mucho gracias a las lecciones de vida de Stan, no solo las cosas que hizo mal, sino que le enseño a defenderse y a pelear para protegerse de las amenazas como el emperador Belos o los demás miembros del aquelarre del emperador

Agonía de una bruja: cuando Stan se da cuenta de que Luz fue secuestrada, Stan y Eda corren a salvarla, cuando Eda y Lilith peleaban, Stan trata de proteger a Luz, pero debido a que Lilith usaba a Luz como escudo, Stan se une a la pelea contra Lilith

Cuando Lilith revela que de hecho fue ella quien maldijo a Stan y a Eda, Stan queda en shock, mientras Eda enfurece, no solo porque su propia hermana la maldijo, sino que Stan, a quien considera su hermano, también fue maldecido por culpa de Lilith

Cuando Eda agota su magia y la maldición está por consumirla, Eda le ordena a Stan que pase lo que pase, debe proteger a Luz, le revela que ella siempre tuvo una forma de que Stan volviera a casa y le ordena que ambos se vayan

Cuando ambos humanos regresan a la casa búho, Luz se aferra a Stan buscando seguridad, aunque Stan corresponde, es difícil mantenerse de pie sabiendo todo lo que acaba de pasar.

[ourpleman]

Sick Day

So this was written very spur of the moment for @glamlet69 who is unfortunately sick at the moment :( hope you get better bestie! I have not written Marauders since high school and I have sort of had to rediscover the fandom, so I hope the way I've written them is okay.

Sirius first knew something was wrong when he woke up to James standing over him.

"Huh?" he said blearily.

"I've been trying to wake you up for the last minute," James said with a laugh. "I know we were up late last night, but -"

"I know, I know, I'm getting up." Sirius forced himself upright, trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes. What was wrong with him? Usually he was awake before James - back at home, he was always expected to be up and moving by eight, so while his internal clock woke him up early, James usually slept on. And on.

But they really had been up late last night. Remus was starting to get stronger every time he transformed, so he, James, and Peter were going to have to figure out how to become Animagi sooner or later - and in their third year, they had precious few resources to come by.

Sirius chalked it up to that and decided to move on.

But as the day went on, he only felt worse. The most obvious problem was his exhaustion. He forced himself through Transfiguration, telling himself it was all for Remus' sake - and all the while, his eyes felt heavy, and his throat was starting to feel like sandpaper.

That gave him some alarm.

You're not sick, he told himself. You're not going to be sick. It was what he used to tell himself at home; being sick, or showing any signs of it, was something that Muggles allowed themselves to deal with. Not wizards. They had tools at their disposal, and if he was sick, he wasn't a good enough wizard. That was what his mum used to tell him, anyway.

But his sore throat really started to persist after Charms. He'd stopped asking questions after a while; it hurt too much.

Naturally, this was the moment Remus chose to give him a gentle nudge.

"You okay, Sirius?" he asked. "You're looking a little peaky."

"You're peaky," Sirius shot back, then realized that with a week left that was hardly fair. "Sorry. I didn't get to sleep until late."

Remus frowned. "I hope that wasn't because of me."

James rolled his eyes dramatically. "Re-mus, come on, what've we told you? We are choosing to help you, you haven't done anything wrong, you are only dragging the mood down with your self-loathing bull, we are stupid for staying up at all hours and we will probably do it again."

Usually, Sirius would've encouraged it; but after today, he didn't know if he could do another day on five hours of sleep.

His head was starting to hurt.

Peter frowned, noticing his silence. "You know, James, maybe not tonight. Sirius looks a little -"

"I'm not under the weather," Sirius snapped before Peter could say it. "Just...maybe I'll get to bed at a good time tonight."

"Alright," James said. "Seriously, though, you should let me know next time if you're not feeling good."

"I will," Sirius said through clenched teeth, "but I promise I'm fine. Let's just get to Dark Arts."

But by the time dinner came, Sirius was ready to collapse. His throat was the worst, feeling as if someone had cast a permanent Crucio curse on it; his heart seemed to pound with every step he took; he just felt vaguely connected to the world, like he was half dreaming, and he was so cold. He wondered, just faintly, if he was burning up.

But really, he thought, this was more his fault than anything else. He could've mentioned something to James last night when he started feeling tired prematurely early. He could've said something to them today. If he were home, he could push through this in a heartbeat.

Pretend you're not sick. Pretend you're not sick.

Fortunately, they were serving the perfect comfort meal: fish and potatoes, all topped with a healthy amount of garlic. The potatoes soothed his throat, he drank glass after glass of water, and he found himself joking by the end of the meal. At least, his friends didn't seem to think anything was wrong.

Afterwards, though, he realized how much homework the professors had been assigning. Screw Remus' case - he'd be staying awake for four hours trying to get all this done. Two whole pages on freezing spells, a half page on vampires, and most importantly, a page on the beginnings of an Animagus transformation. He had to get that right. Remus was about to transform again, in just a week; he was already starting to look a little paler than usual. They wouldn't be able to help him this time - and it would probably be the same a month later...

And then there was his mum's voice in his ear. Muggles get sick. Wizards don't get sick. We are different from them. I take pride in my sons' healthy constitution...

"Hey, Sirius," James said at around midnight. "You should probably be getting to bed, right?"

"Yeah," Sirius muttered - hurt too much to talk. "Soon. Don't worry about it."

Mandrake leaf...about a month. Silver teaspoon of dew...place neither sunlight...nor human feet have touched...

When Sirius woke up the next morning, he was extremely confused.

His first thought was that he was dead miserable. Worse than yesterday. His throat hurt, his head was pounding, and he was cold and hot all over.

His next realization was that the sun was really high in the sky.

"Class!" he shouted, bolting upright; but his voice came out really hoarse, and when he sat up, he found James, Remus, and Peter all sitting across from him on James' bed.

"Uh," he said, then realized his nose sounded really stuffed up.

"We called you in sick, Sirius," said James. "Because you are."

"But -" Sirius struggled to think of something to say, but just as he opened his mouth, he was interrupted by his own sneeze. 

Peter handed him a tissue, which he reluctantly accepted.

"Why didn't you tell us you were getting sick, Sirius?" Remus said, looking horribly sad. "Everyone gets under the weather every now and then."

"Because - because -" How exactly was he supposed to say it without insulting Muggles? "Because I'm a wizard!"

James' eyebrows shot up. "So, you're better than a Muggleborn? Is that what you're saying?"

"Of - of course not!" Oh, no, now they were going to think worse of him for a totally different reason. "It's just - that's not what I meant to imply, it's just that growing up -"

"We know what you meant," James said. "It's just...your parents are wankers, Sirius, complete and utter wankers. Don't you realize that them telling you, er, whatever they told you -"

"That wizards can't get sick because we're stronger?"

Sirius winced as the words came out of his mouth.

"Yeah, that," Remus said.

"It's a really racist way to excuse making their kids miserable," James finished.

"Let's put it this way," Remus said, just as Sirius felt another sneeze growing.

"Hold on," Peter cut in, handing Sirius another tissue. He sneezed again, feeling like absolute shit, then took it gratefully.

Peter nodded at Remus to continue.

"Let's put it this way," Remus said. "You've all been staying up to help me, right?"

"Right," Sirius said ruefully.

"And we all got together to help Peter pass Charms after he lost his wand last year, right?"

"Right..."

"And when Severus turned James into a frog for a week -"

"Yes, I get it, I've helped all of you, so you're gonna help me," Sirius said. "I get it. I just..."

"It doesn't make you weak," James said, "although, Remus, you didn't really have to mention the frog thing -"

"You made a great frog, James, what are you talking about?"

"We're here to help each other," Peter said. "It's just...you know, it's kind of insulting when you don't ask us, Sirius."

Sirius frowned. "What? Why? I didn't want to -"

"Don't start apologizing," Peter went on, "it's just...no one is above help. Right?"

"Right," said the other two in unison.

"So go -" Remus shoved Sirius physically backward, "lay down. Take some goddamn Muggle aspirin, put on some blankets, and take a rest day."

"Fine," Sirius said, but despite being absolutely miserable, he was also starting to feel a little warm. Remus pulled a blanket up to his chin, and he felt like...like...well. His parents had never done that for him. Or maybe his dad had. A long, long time ago.

Say something. You've gotta say something.

Break the cycle, Black.

"Thanks," he said under his breath.

"Of course," said Peter. "Here's a cup of water if you need it."

"And some tea," James said. "I made it. From scratch. With a Muggle recipe, which my very pureblood parents made for me all the time." A corner of his mouth turned up. "Now we're going to do with you what we do with Remus. What are Sirius' parents?"

"Horrible wankers," said Remus and Peter, smiling.

"What are your parents, Sirius?"

"Horrible wankers," Sirius said, and it felt kind of good. "I can't say that to their face, though."

"No one's asking you to," Peter said, then shot James a look. "No one. We didn't all grow up with perfect parents, James."

Half an hour later, Sirius was feeling considerably better due to the tea, water, aspirin, and some soup that Remus had brought in.

"Well, that smells good," said James. "Where's it from?"

"Compliments of Professor McGonagall," Remus said, and James' jaw dropped.

"You're joking," Sirius said.

"She does care about us, you know," he said. "Or, well. She cares about me, because she has the impression that I'm the good kid that you three have managed to tempt astray." Then, a slow smile crept across his face. "What she doesn't know is that all of Severus' clothes have been turned into spiders."

James burst out laughing. "You didn't!" He planted a kiss on Remus' cheek, readjusted his glasses, and then had the gall to look disappointed. "Well, I wish I'd thought of that."

"Remember, James," Sirius said. "We help each other. Right?'

James narrowed his eyes. "I liked you better when you were sick."

[fincik]

Been a while since I updated. Quick doodle with some story for y'all

First | Previous | Next

After the thorough explanation Vermon’s curiosity was satisfied. Though he still wanted to know who attacked them and why. Quickcell didn’t volunteer the information he knows about them either. He’d like to hide in his pretend obliviousness a little while. It’s not like he’s specifically being hunted down so all the others need to know for now is they are in danger and they need to flee. Vermon’s most burning question has been answered now so he drifted off to sleep at a speed Quickcell would only hope to experience. The adults and the kids were sleeping too. But Quickcell has been awakened and now his mind wont let him sleep again. His thoughts centered around survival. He needs resources, shelter, and to predict his enemies movements to secure some semblance of safety. He started calculating: It took him a bit longer than a day to get to the valley from where his family was attacked, and it took the pursuers around a week to catch up. They just flew from afternoon to dawn. At this rate they bought themselves around 4 days of peace until the pursuers catch up and that’s IF they continue the same pattern of behaviour. But that was not guaranteed and he didn’t have enough data to make any predictions. He jolted at the sudden feeling of being watched and found Scorcher staring at him from where he laid. His eyes glowed softly as the rays of a full moon fell upon his figure. Now that Quickcell can get a closer look he realised what his red scales hide very well; Scorcher’s skin is a patchwork of old wounds, marks and burnt scales. The kinds of injuries you don’t get from a peaceful life.

“You’ve been through a lot haven’t you, little one?” – he said, his voice gentle like the morning breeze.

Qickcell was speechless. He was amazed about the number of scars this dragon has, the goofy exterior he’s seen when he saw them playing in the sky, his gentle words, but most importantly his eyes. Those eyes spoke of the same hardships he’s been experiencing. A life of trouble and danger. Eyes that know how to survive. Not just survive, but fight for survival! For the first time in maybe forever, Quickcell’s nerves calmed as he stared into those piercing orange eyes. And although he hadn’t wanted to share the information he knew with Vermon, somehow, he started into the whole story of how he got here.

“We were on the run. We were always on the run...Though at some points it did feel like it was just a fun family trip. We’ve met a few different dragons on our way. But one day we had guests, it was 3 very big dragons. They had 2 legs and were using their wings to assist them in walking. They were mean. They told us to get out of their territory. And we did. They followed us to their border and let us go. But a few days later they showed up with the same demands. Again and again they did this. For 3 weeks we weren’t able to remain in the same place for more than 2 days. We aren’t built for constant flying, we’re built for speed. This exhausted all of us. And then they decided they had enough of us. Attacked us brutally. They got the jump on mom and when dad went to help, the dragon that pinned mom down ignited himself on fire. I’ve never seen something like that. It burned my dad’s mouth. I am not sure if he can still shoot at all. But my parents told me to run. To find a safe place and wait for them. That they’ll be fine, I just need to get out. I flew as far as I could. When I had to land to rest and hunt, that’s when I met Vermon.” – he didn’t realize but while telling the story, tears started down his face. He quickly wiped them off and steeled himself. – “Anyway, if those dragons are now here we have to go as far as we can!” – he looked up but only saw a sea of red as Scorcher pulled him into a big hug.

“Don’t worry kiddo. You just relax and let the adults handle it.”

Quickcell found unexpected comfort in Scorcher’s words. He’s heard almost the exact same sentence from his own dad but it was somehow more reassuring coming from Scorcher. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to get him to sleep through the night. He woke up to every single sound the night has produced. The only reason he could fall back asleep is because Scorcher was curled up around him and though still half-asleep he was clearly monitoring all the sounds around them.

[sufferu]

Question, sorry if it’s been asked and answered before. How do you think the cast would react to pride if? Both the envy route and the pride route, what would be the alternative reactions to it? I can imagine the pride route characters after the viewing immediately deciding to go the imprisonment route of containing Subaru because killing him won’t work. And I’m not quite sure how the envy route would react to an alternate timeline of events, but definitely most likely horrified by this route. But you can ignore the envy route questions if you want, but the pride if is very interesting, especially if it’s the exact same cast as dog show. (Again sorry if this has been asked before, and apologies in advance for any follow up questions I might ask later)

Okay so, I feel like you’re asking me two different questions? By that I mean, with two different casts—

1) Original Dogshow Cast, beginning of Arc 5

Honestly I don’t think they’d even take it seriously. Like, maybe at first they’d be taking it seriously, as they watch those first three loops and maybe even those first few scenes of the Ayamatsu story (Rachins freaks at the idea of Subaru straight up murdering him in that alley but like. He DID kill Subaru first, so…) but then it’s like — sometime between Subaru getting a Gospel and Subaru becoming besties with Petelgeuse, everyone one by one completely loses the ability to actually go along with all this. It’s just too much: they KNOW Subaru, and the idea of Subaru going and doing all the bullshit he does in Ayamatsu is so ridiculous that it completely destroys their suspension of disbelief and now they’re all basically watching the corniest slasher movie fanfic they could have conceived of.

Reinhard is horrified at the burning of Lugunica, but that’s more at the idea that the version of himself onscreen can’t do anything about something so awful than it is about Subaru, specifically. Otto shivers at the idea of becoming a debt slave due to Subaru never stepping in to help him with that oil problem, but he puts it aside easily enough as things go on. At one point Ferris almost snaps out of it due to the horror of Crusch being erased, but then it’s followed up by “Subaru brainwashes Ferris into becoming his loyal servant” and now Ferris has decided that he will absolutely never let real!Subaru live down this bullshit parody version of himself, ever. The only person in that room who I think would be seriously traumatized by all that is Subaru himself, whose horrified reactions completely ease everyone else’s concerns about any of this EVER becoming a reality, because — look at him. Afterwards it’s like, “Okay, so — Ferris, stop laughing — those first three loops, did THEY actually happen?” “I’m so glad we got that cheesy-ass fanfic to ease some tension, god I needed that…”

But even that is just considering like — did they see those first three loops, or did they get catapulted into Ayamatsu with no context? Because if they got catapulted into Ayamatsu with no context then absolutely nobody is taking any of this seriously, from basically the moment Subaru kills Tonchinkan in the alley. (Except maybe Subaru, who at least recognizes that Return By Death is a thing that exists.)

2) Pre-Series Cast who never met Subaru before in their lives and is therefore at risk of entering the Ayamatsu route

This is the one time so far where the word “imprisonment” actually fits with what everyone is planning. Like okay — in regular Dogshow, the closest thing to that concept is “we need to put him on suicide watch,” and the one time that idea was developed past anything beyond throwing stuff at a wall and seeing what might stick as a half-decent idea, it was Crusch turning to Wilhelm and saying, “The Astrea Family has the resources to care for a suicide risk. How do you feel about a new grandson?” —But in THIS case, Subaru isn’t their friend: he’s a threat. As soon as he shows up, they’re gonna trap him and imprison him somewhere where he cannot die and keep him there until they figure out a way to neutralize the threat he represents for good.

If Subaru is right there with them and also pre-series, then they might be a little more assured simply because he’s just going “WHAT THE FUCK???” more and more as things go on. They manage to talk to him a bit before he disappears and kinda settle on “Alright, you would probably never do this, but we can’t take that chance — so in case you DO come here we’re just gonna prepare a room in the castle or something for you so that we can keep you secure just — for everyone’s sake.” “You guys have a castle???” The anticlimactic comedy skit of the ages. Subaru gets Isekai’d and immediately wanders over to the knight’s tower to wait for someone to come pick him up. “…You want some chips?” Most surreal series of events ever.

(They’re totally willing to just let him freeload indefinitely so long as he Stays Where They Can See Him, but eventually he convinced them to at least let him do SOMETHING to earn his keep, cause that’s the kind of guy he is. Subaru becomes the royal tailor. Nobody can answer the question of how he got the job, but at least he’s good at it, so whatever.)

[planetaryaether]

unfortunately i really don't have the time or the attention span to keep up with livestreaming or vods so have just been seing stuff about kirbycraft on dash. If you know/it's too much trouble could you give me the cliffnotes of Rythian kirbycraft stuff of importance?

Apologies for the late response! I was a few streams behind on KirbyCraft so I wanted to be fully caught up before answering. So KirbyCraft isn't really a rp but there is some lore and plenty of nods to Blackrock, so I have broken it down by stream in case there is a specific moment you are interested in/want to watch for yourself!

Stream 1: 20/01/2023 - Rythian died immediately - Rythian "finagled" his way into the group - "You can't trust endermen" - Ryhian is the only one with a brain cell "deep breaths rythian, deep breaths" - (Exasperated) "don't cause trouble with the endermen!" "don't cause war with the endermen, that's like 3 seasons from now" - "I can give you all the lore if you want" "Their entire world got ruined by a big ol' magical experiment so now it's a wasteland" - (after being called edgy) "listen. edge is my history. I can't pretend I wasn't an edgy boy. I'm holding onto that" - In response to "if we're cold, they're cold" about endermen "He's not cold - he comes from a dimension of void. He has no sense of temperature!"

Stream 2: 27/01/2023 - Rythian is assigned the leaky room below the farm (even out of rp rythian gets the shitty room)

Stream 3: 03/02/2023 - Rythian is a canonical boob man - (In response to Briony being excited about the idea of getting an enderman to pick up a pumpkin) "why are you so excited about an enderman, they re evil" "Briony, you are so naive, you'll be the death of me one day"

Stream 4: 10/02/2023 - (About endermen) "I may or may not speak that language"

Stream 5: 24/02/2023 - Au is different from blackrock lore (Rythian can be friends with endermen)

Stream 6: 03/03/2023 - The gang decides to live in a woodland mansion Rythian's wrestling intro is "the voodoo people" (pendulum remix) by Prodegy - "I may not have a finatical hatred for endermen, based on my character's backstory, anymore, but they're still dangerous enemies!" - Rythian goes into how he joined the Yogscast and that he has always had a passion for creative projects so the moment he had the chance to make one, he made Blackrock

Stream 7: 10/03/2023 - Rythian says endermen deserve nothing but then backtracks and says they can have a block. Is deemed a "big softie" for showing the smallest amount of not-hatred towards endermen - Rythian blames a portion of their house burning on an enderman - Rythian (about getting xp back after dying) "I guess I gotta go either go on a killing spree or find some nether quarts I suppose" Briony "Oh, no it's happening. Rythian has reached peak evil Rythian" "It's the evil alt-rythian"

Stream 8: 17/03/2023 - "Beginning of my villain arc? maybe" literally 5 seconds later quotes the lil jon remix of cooking by the Book - Kirsty calls the idea of the end cute Rythian: "It's not. It's terrifying and despair enducing"

Stream 9: 31/03/2023 - Rythian suggests giving the enderman that lives in their house a gift (something pretty that grows) because the End is devoid of anything twits a conversation about bears to (half-jokingly) say that it is okay that he kills endermen because it is 'in his nature'

Stream 10: 14/04/2023 - Only briony can tame endermen by looking them in the eye. Rythian jokes about how many mystery mods are in the mod pack and how he would prefer that all endermen are automatically hostile and "go full-on ender-war" - Rythian is against adding a big-titty-endermen mod - Because the end was transformed into a wasteland with no resources/food, its inhabitants changed into a form that could survive without sustenance. Endermen can survive most poisons, diseases, and curses. - Rythian compares the 'friendermen' to slave soldiers - Rythian describes as an "angy boy" - Originally Nilesy was supposed to be a part of KirbyCraft

Stream 11: 21/04/2023 - Rythian doesn't like that the endermen seem to think that their mansion is a safe place for them - Rythian tries to befriend an enderman and it says "I remember you" - Rythian acknowledges the usefulness of befriending endermen

[thelordofgifs]

Obscure Tolkien Blorbo: Quarterfinal

Urwen vs Eldacar of Gondor

Urwen:

Also known as Lalaith, she was the elder daughter of Húrin and Morwen and died age three of the Evil Breath from Angband.

MY SWEET LAUGHING DAUGHTER SHE DESERVED SO MUCH BETTER

In response to her death, Hurin says this "Marrer of Middle-earth, would that I might see you face to face, and mar you as my lord Fingolfin did!' His love and subsequent loss of her is definitely a motivator, I think, for his later valiant defiance of Morgoth! So she may have died young but she had a big impact. (I mean if we want to apply the butterfly effect she kinda caused the fall of Nargothrond: motivated Hurin to deny Morgoth, got Turin cursed to give really bad advice about bridges, no more Nargothrond.  How many 3 year olds could claim that? Also more seriously, a lot of the deaths in the Silm are violent and awful. But we little of mundane, quiet deaths from sickness. A young child dying in this way stands out in its more realist tragedy. And it shows the subtler ways Morgoth sowed despair in middle earth and also that he knew the Edain were a threat. The 'evil breath' mostly killed 'the children or the rising youth in the houses of Men.'

Eldacar of Gondor:

The twenty-first King of Gondor, also known as Vinitharya. During his reign the conflict known as the Kin-strife occurred and he was forced from his throne for ten years.

The blorbo of all time actually. He’s the protagonist of one of the most interesting stories in the LoTR appendices, the Kin-strife, and everything about his life story is so fascinating! His father was the crown prince of Gondor and his mother was the princess of Rhovanion so not a Númenorean. As a result all the racist nobles of Gondor made noises about how Eldacar was of “lesser race” and wouldn’t live as long as a “true Dúnadan”. One of the most fascinating examples of fantasy racism in Tolkien’s works imo – the bigotry is awful but the bigots have a shield to hide behind! Obviously their concerns are actually valid because they just don’t want their king to die young! (Their concerns aren’t valid. But I think the worldbuilding here is great.) Anyway Eldacar was born in Rhovanion and given the birth-name Vinitharya, but when he returned to Gondor aged five he was obliged to take up the Quenya name Eldacar, presumably to pacify all the racists in Gondor. He’s the EMBODIMENT of mixed-race/immigrant child trauma my beloved. Eventually his father died and he ascended to the throne of Gondor, but then his shitty second cousin Castamir (all my homies hate Castamir he’s the worst) started the civil war known as the Kin-strife and usurped Eldacar’s throne. Eldacar was forced to flee north to Rhovanion but Castamir captured his eldest son Ornendil and had him cruelly put to death which is SO SAD. But Eldacar, being brave and resourceful and clever and extremely cool, put together an alliance with his mother’s kinsfolk in Rhovanion and after ten years reclaimed his throne, which turned out to be slightly easier than expected because Castamir was The Worst and all his subjects hated him. And Eldacar PERSONALLY fought and killed Castamir HIMSELF and AVENGED HIS SON which is extremely important when you consider all the cringefail elves in the legendarium whose quests for revenge didn’t really go anywhere at all. Then he lived to be 235 proving that all the idiot racists who were worried about his lifespan didn’t have any idea what they were talking about, as is par for the course with racists. Also the Kin-strife itself has such far-reaching consequences for the history of Gondor! The Corsairs of Umbar, Gondor’s long-standing enemies, are actually followers of the descendants of Castamir. And during the Usurpation of Castamir Osgiliath was sacked and burned, leading to the beginning of its decline as Gondor’s greatest city. Even though Eldacar’s story is, to me, ultimately hopeful, it’s also such a fascinating turning point in the history of Gondor. Also ALSO he’s explicitly surrounded by textual ghosts which is really fascinating. His father Valacar has “children” plural – so Eldacar had siblings!! What were they like? How did they react to it all? And his son Aldamir is described as Eldacar’s second son and third child, meaning that he had a daughter too. Who was she?? What happened to her? He’s such a blorbo and there’s so much interesting stuff to dig into around him and he has to win this entire tournament please please please❤️

Quarterfinals masterpost

[restless-soulz]

HERE SHE IS!!!

Spiderlily aka Persephone "Percy" Parks

- [ ] Bitten by a radioactive spider that crawled up from the well she fell into when she was ten. Since then, she's been able to sense things that aren't there, go invisible, start up machines with electricity, stronger, faster, and generally more enhanced. She could also put body parts back on and regenerate them as if they were never separated, and could store kinetic energy and release it in a big blast.

- [ ] Originally, Percy thought she died because the powers lined up with being a ghost, until she figured out it was a weird mix of magic and powers.

- [ ] After showing her parents, they believed it best to homeschool her with her grandmother until she got a handle especially since new abilities would also be coming. Just small magic, nothing big like being sorcerer supreme, more like taking care of magical problems here and there with small charms for luck, doing readings to see what the next test will be, communicating with ghosts and the like. The most the magic has ever helped with was excorsing a demon or mild telepathy to see what her parents were hiding from her.

- [ ] When she was 13, rivals of her families farm set the barn on fire. Because of a good luck charm her grandma sent, Percy was invited to a sleepover and wasn't there as the house burned down with everyone in it, which her grandma would have seen and this imparted the final words of wisdom to Percy.

- [ ] So she was moved to New York and put into a high level school courtesy of her uncle, who is distant and awkward, where she met her best friend Nelly Reeds and Gwen Stacy who was at one point stalked by a boy because she rejected them.

- [ ] Indignant about this, Percy used her skills to see a costume and escort her friend home, and then used a bit of science and magic to web sling back to her apartment, and gradually began building a reputation as spiderlily, the cryptic vigilante who worked before most other hero's had established themselves.

- [ ] Known for giving unclear advice, knowing everything, giving chances to villains when she saw they were serious. New York loves her.

- [ ] Gwen is her green goblin. She...doesn't really come back from that, either girl.

- [ ] Harry Osborn is who she has a crush on, because he's just so smart and he's so nice to her, but he's also magical stronger than she is it turns out but she won't discover that until later (when he's searching for her in TWST) and also he's sometimes possessed by the demon Venom.

- [ ] Nelly is her girl in the chair and helped with magic vs enhancement experiments, so that Percy could make her own webs if needed while Nelly could get to a lab to make more but she usually relies on bio webs. They discovered that with a little focus, Percy could do genuine magic and not just the sleight of hand, fortune telly kinda bullshit "magic" her grandma taught that actually worked.

- [ ] She thinks all the avengers are pricks, but a select few and it's not Tony Stark. Why does he mock her for her costume when she physically doesn't have the money or time to develop and armor and AI to help her.

- [ ] Her uncle is Ben, and he has a boyfriend that's the police chief. Yeah. His name is Maynard Jones.

- [ ] overall way less tech based for herself but villains are using tech to an absurd amount so she and nelly does know how to hack and take them down , uses tarot cards as weapons for extra spook factor, gives dreamcatchers to victims, charms to schoolmates, does readings for other superhero's before battles.

- [ ] Hobie Brown stumbled into her universe and she helped him back to spider society. Miguel O Hara invited her to be apart of the multiverse, which she accepted because she needs help on the tech side because she really does not have the resources to tinker with like other spider people, but it's like a very distant relationship until they bring in Gwen and Hobie and Pavitr and then try and trap Miles. Hobie and her get along spendidly because country bumpkin against the rich sits right with Hobies soul. Has also met Noir, Ham, and Penni, and even helped Penni specifically after the venom event in her universe.

- [ ] Has a multiverse watch, but has a track record of breaking it. Lyla hates her a bit for it. Uses mirrors as easier transport because the tech portals make her queasy.

- [ ] How she got to TWST:

- [ ] When she was pulled along to help fight the Spot, she found that she could track him through her web of mirrors. She was like a moth to a flame, bent on catching him to prevent the future that she saw happen via precognition. And she paid the price for it.

- [ ] When the Spot tried to flee, she was able to tangle him in a web and they fought through dimensions (also missing the entire spider society revolt). He searched for somewhere he could place her where she could never reach anyone she knew ever again and came upon the TWST universe.

- [ ] They tumbled out of the Dark Mirror, and he severed her arm with the multiverse watch off and disappeared to continue his plans. She reattached it of course but the damage was done. Percy doesn't know which universe she's in, and she doesn't have a way to go back. Because of her magic, the cellular decay will happen at a much much much slower rate.

- [ ] She is found vomiting on the floor by Crowley a week before school starts.

[lucienballard]

Bob George in the ARC NYC stacks. Photograph: unknown/ARC NYC ...

‘No one else is saving it’: the fight to protect a historic music collection ...

It all started in a loft in Tribeca, New York, long before it was a trendy neighbourhood. “I had 47,000 records and nobody wanted them,” recalls Bob George, who had just published a discography of punk and new wave music. “That led a lot of people coming to me and saying you have to save this stuff; no one else is saving it. That got the ball rolling in my loft in what is now fashionable Tribeca, which was an incredibly unfashionable war zone in 1974 when I was first there.”

George turned his record collection into the ARChive of Contemporary Music (Arc) in 1985 with co-founder David Wheeler. The non-profit music library and research centre now contains more than 3m sound recordings or over 90m songs, making it one of the biggest popular music collections in the world. Donors and board members have included David Bowie, Jonathan Demme, Lou Reed, Martin Scorsese and Paul Simon.

The Arc is not open to the public but has been a vital resource for film-makers, writers and researchers ranging from Ken Burns looking for a song for his series Baseball to the new Grammy Hall of Fame and Museum in Los Angeles needing cover art for its inducted recordings. Now, however, this unique treasure trove is under existential threat.

The Arc cannot remain at its current Hudson Valley premises indefinitely and is in need of a new and bigger home. “We have to move and we don’t know when we’ll have to move and the collection is really at risk because it’s all on pallets,” says George, who dreams of a patron like James Smithson, the British scientist who left his estate to the US to found the Smithsonian Institution. “We’re looking for someone to help us buy a very wonderful property or for us to build a new building on vacant land in upstate New York.”

After growing up in Youngstown, Ohio, George moved to New York in 1974 as a visual arts student and started collecting records as a DJ. In 1981 he released Laurie Anderson’s first single, O Superman, which sold nearly a million copies worldwide and made it to number on the UK singles chart. He was a guest on John Peel’s beloved BBC radio show, sneaking in little-known records from New York, and took music to European broadcasters too. People kept giving him records that other collections turned down.

Some of the 18,000 recordings in the Keith Richards Blues Collection. Photograph: Arc NYC

“I was doing the book and then doing Peel shows and it accidentally became this large collection that nobody wanted. They kept saying, oh, we collect classical, we collect Broadway, we collect ethnic music. I said, well, I have funk, reggae, African and hip-hop and they said, oh, no, we don’t collect any of that. Forty years later, I say, you put all those together and that’s what music has become.”

The simple goal of the archive, which has always had a peripatetic existence, is preservation. “We have no interest in quality,” George cheerfully admits. “It started that way from the very beginning because there’s no way to tell what’s valuable in the future. Everybody brings their own criteria and tastes to things in their own time. But the future is quite different, as we hope.”

The archive has never received aid from any city, state or federal organisation but its scale gives the Library of Congress a run for its money. It has absorbed major collections from musicians and fans and is home to most of Rolling Stone Keith Richards’ extensive blues inventory.

George dispatched two semi-trailers to a condemned house in Boston sinking under the weight of Jeep Holland’s set of more than 125,000 recordings and over 2,500 signed albums from the likes of the Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley and the Sex Pistols. “Going towards the bathroom, he has a gas stove, the pilot light is on, there are records in the oven. It was just a storage space ... His car had become so full of records that he abandoned it and rented a car.”

George has made repeat trips to countries such as Brazil, Cambodia, Colombia, Cuba, Japan, Jordan, Laos and Thailand. The Arc contains Demme’s personal collection of Haitian albums. More than 150,000 pieces of world music have been catalogued; there are plenty more to do. “We’ve tried to get as much of that material as possible so that collection is just fabulous.”

The Arc preserves copies of every recording in all known formats. It has electronically catalogued more than 400,000 sound recordings and digitised 200,000 with the Internet Archive – more than any other public university or private library in America. It also contains more than 3m pieces of material including photos, videos, DVDs, books, magazines, press kits, sheet music, ephemera and memorabilia.

The late Andy Rourke of the Smiths at Arc looking at Smiths records he had never seen. Photograph: Arc NYC

George says: “We catalogued 105,000 singles just recently; we have another 200,000 or 300,000 to go. This is the first way a band at one time got their feet in the water. They put out one or two or three singles. If they did hits, they got the chance to do an album and so much of this material does not exist on LP or CD. Little by little more of it might be streaming because of YouTube, as people can get away with murder on YouTube, which is great, but YouTube will disappear. Everything commercial will disappear.”

Among those who have turned to the archive is the Oscar-winning director Ang Lee, who wanted records by the singer Bert Sommer for his film Taking Woodstock. “The archive is amazing because we don’t know what we have until somebody needs it. We’ve been into the stacks and we found five LPs by Bert Sommer. For me, it’s like I have no idea who this guy is and what he did; he’s sort of a folkie. For Quincy Jones, we just sent him a list of the 8,000 things that he’s either produced or on.

“Research was how we basically stayed alive along with the largesse of the rock stars or celebrities that we had hooked up with. The idea was never to open to the public but that’s what we want to do now. I don’t think it’s untrue that we’re one of the largest in the world and that we want to make that available. We’ve tried to save two copies so there will always be a listening copy and then that would then become a listening library.”

George hopes the new archive will be open to students, educators, historians, musicians, authors, journalists and the general public. An anonymous donor has come forward with a million dollars to help realise that dream but more money is urgently needed. One possible new home is an abandoned IBM campus spanning 34 acres, although that would cost $8-10m. George is considering partnering with an upstate university and has plans to offer residencies for scholars.

“People could come in and produce a work, and that would go out into the world. It could be a blog, essay, tape, compilation, new recording, whatever. We’re really quite un-academic. I’m against it somewhat and I’d like people to have ideas and bring those ideas and put them back into the world as opposed to making it an interactive experience for everybody. I don’t want to be Disney World. It’s nice to have seminars. It’s nice to have listening parties. It’s nice to have dances.”

source

[alpacavampire]

Remember that time when I said "Batman Forever but instead of Dr Chase we have Dr Jack Napier so I can have Batjokes and Twiddler in the same universe?" Well finally here it is

After having the idea, I spent a long time thinking about which actor to base my joker on and when I remembered that my dad thought that Johnny Depp was in Batman Returns, I realized that he could be a great fancast and after thinking and organizing ideas I came to all this.

I present to you Dr Jack Napier who later became Joker, also known as Bruce Wayne's husband or Batman's enemy

Jack's personality is more like Chase's, only much more flirtatious and joking around Bruce (especially) but he's also really serious when needed.

Joker's personality is a combination of Sweeney Todd with Mad Hatter and a small dash of the Joker from the animated series.

Physically I think he would look like Ichabod Crane, that's why the image

Let's go now with a little back story

Jack Napier was a doctor at Arkham who had a psychiatric specialty in Dissociative Identity Disorder, which is why he was assigned to treat Harvey Dent.

Most of the doctors who treated Harvey ended up being attacked by him, however Jack was the only one who managed to earn his respect since he was the only one who treated him with equal respect.

However this did not stop his escape just like in the movie, it was then that Commissioner Gordon asked Jack to work together with Batman on Harvey's case and then Bruce was assigned to him after the riddles were sent.

His development with the relationship with Bruce/Batman is something like what you saw in the movie with Chase, only it was more intense, especially for Bruce since Jack managed to turn all his senses upside down and burn his circuits since he was the only person he didn't know how to react tob (I'll probably elaborate on this in another post.).

Jack and Bruce ended up falling deeply in love and the two began a relationship that led to Bruce proposing to Jack, who accepted and a grand wedding was held in Gotham.

Oh, I don't want to elaborate too much on Joker because it's probably a spoiler for what happened with Jack, though:

Joker appeared much later, when Jack had an acid accident caused by the gangsters of the city.

Jack disappeared for a year from Wayne Manor, with Two-Face and The Riddler being the main suspects in his kidnapping.

Bruce in the public eye was only working with the police waiting for his husband to show up while Batman searched everywhere using all his resources to find him.

When he finally found them, he demanded to know where his husband Jack was, Then he received Joker's introduction as an answer.

That's all for now my dear people, I thank you very much for having come this far and for being interested in my nonsense.

If you would like to know something, the ask is always open.

Thank you very much again 🫶🏻💓

[mariacallous]

NSELE, Democratic Republic of the Congo—Nana Ibumbu noticed that 8-year-old Daniel Mwanza was burning up. Ibumbu is the nutritionist at an orphanage on the outskirts of Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and oversees all aspects of the children’s health. Last fall, Congo faced a major mpox (previously known as monkeypox) outbreak, as well as a persistent threat from measles. She decided to give Daniel antibiotics, hoping his fever would die down. But then the vomiting started, and soon afterward blotchy rashes appeared on Daniel’s skin.

Days later, two younger children, Chris Matondo and Benicielle Tshitenge, showed the same symptoms. Ibumbu thought they all might have measles; few of the 35 kids living in the orphanage were vaccinated. She took the three to a nearby health clinic, where Dr. Tresor Gulefwa had another theory: mpox. To be sure, he had to send samples to the National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB), located in central Kinshasa, about 18 miles away—the only lab able to test for infectious diseases in either Congo or the neighboring Republic of the Congo.

Congo struggles with a string of annual epidemics: Measles, polio, cholera, plague, malaria, Ebola, and mpox are just some of the diseases that have threatened children, many of whom are unvaccinated. In Congo, only 35 percent of children are fully vaccinated before their second birthday. This follows an unfortunate trend: Before the COVID-19 pandemic, global immunization rates were slowly increasing, but in 2021 almost 25 million children around the world missed their routine vaccinations, the largest backslide in more than three decades.

Congo has long been a ground zero for infectious diseases. Low vaccination coverage—as well as reduced trust in vaccines—and poor sanitation put the country at risk of exporting viruses across its borders. During a 2018 Ebola outbreak, which became the world’s second-largest, related cases were reported in Uganda. Although Congo’s government has taken steps to improve immunization rates, the country’s large size and limited financial resources make controlling nationwide outbreaks difficult. Without comprehensive vaccination campaigns, diseases can spread and adapt undetected and threaten the rest of the world, too.

Days after returning from the health clinic, 1-year-old Chris’s fever remained high. All the orphanage staff could do was wait. Without the test results, they wouldn’t quarantine the children, as a mpox quarantine would be much stricter than one for measles, given the 3 percent to 6 percent mortality rate for mpox. As they waited for the results, the children in the orphanage mingled and spread the disease to at least two others. Even months later, Gulefwa never received the test results from the INRB.

But whether the children at the orphanage had measles or mpox still mattered: Although a more effective mpox vaccine, Jynneos, was approved by the FDA in 2019, it is not yet publicly available in Congo. When the virus reached Europe and the United States last year, causing short-lived but sizable outbreaks, they received the available vaccines. But Congo is among the countries most affected by both viruses. Between 2020 and 2022, the World Health Organization recorded more than 10,000 cases of mpox in Congo, with more than 360 deaths. Congo also experienced its worst-ever measles epidemic between 2018 and 2020, with more than 460,000 cases. The true figures are likely much higher.

Given Congo’s history with the disease, just one case of mpox is enough to declare an epidemic, according to Gulefwa. Last year, 22 of the country’s 26 provinces experienced mpox epidemics. But the lack of capacity for rapid testing in Congo often renders test results useless, as the orphanage staff learned. “The biggest challenge is the time between when we receive the samples and when we find the results,” Placide Mbala, INRB’s lab manager, said.

Congo struggles to immunize millions of children under ordinary circumstances. A lack of infrastructure, fuel shortages, and the centralization of vaccines in the capital have contributed to the problem. Keeping the vaccines at the necessary temperature in the tropical climate is the biggest challenge, said Devos Kabemba, the head of the Nsele health zone. He added that the Nsele health zone doesn’t receive enough annual funding to develop adequate vaccination campaigns—only $3 per child, when it really needs $15. Support from international partners isn’t enough to cover it.

The government has focused on education. At the Mervedi medical center in Nsele, mothers stood in line with their newborns waiting for them to be vaccinated. Many women said they have no access to clean, running water—another factor exacerbating epidemics in the country. Outside the clinic, Ortane Manligo, a community volunteer, spoke to people about vaccines. Her work is key, as rampant disinformation following the COVID-19 pandemic has made people wary of vaccination.

Community volunteers “were doing well with convincing parents to vaccinate children against polio and other diseases,” Manligo said. “But when COVID came, disinformation spread on WhatsApp.” A study by the government and international partners showed that 45 percent of disinformation about COVID-19 is transmitted by word of mouth and 20 percent through social media; while the government has involved community leaders in its fight against disinformation, rumors remain hard to control. COVID-19 made it harder to convince citizens to get vaccinated, undermining preparedness for future pandemics.

Another major barrier to immunization efforts is low-level corruption. Many health workers responsible for vaccinating children around the country say they have not been paid for years. Jacques Belly, a health worker in Kinshasa who administers vaccines, said he has not been paid beyond his $75 monthly risk bonus since 2008, adding that the situation in the Nsele health zone resembles that of most of his colleagues. “We are Congolese, and we care about our children. We continue to work, and we continue to ask the government to pay us through strikes and protests,” Belly said.

Most funding for vaccines and medical utilities comes from partners like UNICEF, the World Health Organization, and the Gates Foundation, but health workers’ salaries are the responsibility of the state. Veronique Kilumba Nkulu, Congo’s deputy health minister, said the issue stems from a lack of digital payment infrastructure that could allow the money to reach health workers in remote areas. She said in an interview with Foreign Policy that they are trying to introduce more mobile payments, but the situation on the ground shows that even in Kinshasa, health workers aren’t receiving their salaries.

This precarity has led some local health workers to extort the population by asking parents for money in exchange for vaccines. Kamy Musene, a former program field manager for the University of California, Los Angeles, infectious disease program in Congo, monitored the government’s efforts between 2018 and 2022. He found that some mothers were collecting sugar cane to pay for vaccination cards for their children. “We heard in some villages that mothers had to buy vaccination cards for their babies, which can cost almost $1,” he said. Some mothers said their children still did not receive vaccines, and in some cases not even their cards.

“The problem is they know what is happening, but they are not reacting to what we are telling them. Nothing is changing,” Musene said.

The children at the orphanage in Nsele eventually recovered, according to Ibumbu, but the test results never came back. While the outbreak—which she still suspects to be measles—would have been a good opportunity to immunize all children at the orphanage, Gulefwa never received the supplies to do so, leaving the orphanage vulnerable to outbreaks. For Ibumbu and the children at the orphanage, the lack of food and beds is a much more immediate threat. “We don’t have enough means to protect and support these children,” she said. “But we’re trying to do it; it’s our duty.”

Although the COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the importance of global health security, the inequity and disinformation that followed have affected the ability of some governments in the global south to immunize children against other threats. As new diseases emerge, countries like Congo remain on the front line of eradication—and without the appropriate resources, they risk fueling other outbreaks and other pandemics.

[usagirln12003]

Eren Kruger: Hogwarts AU

Eren Kruger was a Half-Blood wizard that was born on the 5th of April 1926 and started attending Hogwarts on the 1st of September 1937, being sorted into Ravenclaw House.

He had a Beech wand with a Dragon Heartstring core.

His Patronus was a Snowy Owl.

His favorite subject was Transfiguration and his least favorite subject was Defense Against the Dark Arts.

He was one of the Ravenclaw Prefects of his year and later Head-Boy.

Kruger appeared to be a largely stoic individual who never displayed any emotions, most likely as a consequence of enduring years of suffering and misery as a mole and being forced to commit brutal and atrocious acts against fellow witches and wizards. After finding Grisha and Faye Yeager in the Department of Ministry, he felt no qualms in punishing Grisha physically. He again continued to show a lack of empathy when the Yeagers learned of Faye's death, remaining stone-faced at the sight of their sorrow.

However, in truth, he felt remorse for all of his immoral acts that he did to his brethren, but saw it necessary if the ultimate result would have resulted in the ministry being reborn as a proud nation. Another notable aspect of his worldview was his relativistic belief; he denied the concept of an objective truth, claiming that everything was a matter of personal opinion.

Kruger was anti-establishment, a rebel, and against the Pureblood status-quo. His loyalty and attachment for his allies was immense to the point. As the Owl was a brave and very resourceful man, having taken the initiative or the courage to live most of his remaining life amongst the enemy. Throughout his life posing as a Pureblood supremecy, Kruger managed to build a long list of contacts, comrades, relationships, while never being caught.

Kruger's drive with giving Half-Bloods and Muggleborns their equal rights went so deep that he was able having to deal with working daily alongside some of the most extreme portion of anti-Muggle people, such as a few of his fellow colleagues at the ministry. The two formed a bond where both could be seen slacking off together instead of working. Kruger was able to sit through hearing Gross' fanatically hateful tirade against muggles to Grisha without becoming angry, and even when he pushed Gross over the walls of Azkaban in order for him to get his soul sucked out by a dementor, he did not express any emotion.

Another notable aspect of his worldview was his relativistic belief; he denied the concept of an objective truth, claiming that everything was a matter of personal opinion, citing the perception around their the legendary witch Ymir changed according to the state in power as an Example. While speaking of Ymir, Krueger detailed how during the middle ages, she was seen and worshipped as a Goddess, while afterwards she became the personification of all the hateful narratives associated with muggles as a whole explaining his worldview. Compared to the other members of the Revolution, who believed that muggles never had a brutal culture and that every atrocity mentioned by the Wizarding government had to be lies made to justify the oppression endured by Half-Bloods and Muggleborns, Kruger refuted this view, openly doubting most of the extreme claims thought up by higher-ups in the ministry, though recognized the historic truth that muggles used to hunt witches and wizards to burn at the stake.

He believed that many errors had been committed throughout history, and that the only way for Half-Bloods and Muggleborns to gain back their freedom was for them to stop repeating the mistakes of the past.

[leam1983]

So, Walt wants a Framework...

I may have created a monster.

See, Mondays are slow in the morning for us, and the weekend vibes don't really end until noon sharp. So, Sarah and I are discussing potential work-related upgrades, when Walt mentions that his trusty ASUS laptop is starting to feel sluggish.

I mean - you know me. You know Sarah, too. We immediately had Linux Distro boners, and considering how Walt isn't tech-focused and really needs a turn-key solution, Linux Mint was our best choice. Still, the hardware proper was aging, so Walt did as Walt does and took to Best Buy's website to show me the first page that crops up when you type "laptop" in their Search bar.

He wasn't wrong in the sense that swapping one entry-level device for another one would've done the trick; even a basic and bare-bones platform designed to run MS Office as its most resource-intensive task could've done the job. The problem is, I'm getting sick of dealing with bi-yearly comments related to how he's "unsure" of his laptop's performance. I want something I could overspend on intentionally in order to give him a nice, sizable buffer of performance that could last at least five years.

Considering, the best option really is a Framework laptop. I showed him the company's website, explained the business model to him, and now he's hooked, envisioning a future where all he needs to run presentations for the extremely rare event of his needing to beat pavement to find us clients is a snazzy lil' pouch crammed with a few Expansion Bay modules, including USB-C. It immediately turned his Pitch Brain on, and he started selling me on the worth of using sustainable tech in our day-to-day operations, to predictably and playfully poke fun at me for daring to use a boutique laptop (from Razer) in what is likely the least-sustainable choice imaginable...

I rolled my eyes. "It's a Blade 14 from two years ago; I can't just toss that out the window! Morally, I have to take that hardware to its limits first, and then worry about revisions!"

Walt scoffed back. "Aw, come on; it'd be a business expense! We should all get a Framework!"

Followed twenty minutes of Sarah and I trying to talk our now laptop-obsessed boyfriend into letting us keep using the same portables we already have, and doing our best to convince him that he's the one who needs an upgrade.

"But you don't even game on your laptop!" notes Walt. "Don't you wish you could do that on your off-time?"

I rolled my eyes. "Sure, hon - I'll just use the company Visa at 41 years old and just buy myself a new toy like I'm an idiotic Sales Rep who's just been slated for a fat commission! No! I cannot do that, Walt! Besides, my laptop is for work! What does it say about me if I use company hardware to frag noobs after hours?!"

Walt drew himself up, smirking. "I don't care what it says, because I'm the boss of this company - and the boss wants us to have sustainable tech, now. It's good for the planet, good for our image, and I'll have a reliable one-stop shop for any future upgrades."

I threw my hands up. "Fine, whatever! Let's just burn twenty thou plus taxes off of our operational budget! I love you, hon, but this is the shittiest idea ever, Walt."

Walt placed a hand on my shoulder. "I'll call Scrooge, get him to draw us up a budget with a few mockup bills. If it makes sense, we'll pull the plug. If he tells me I'm being delusional, then we'll just buy one for me."

Sarah gave Walt a circumspect look. "Fine. But if it turns out you just buy one for yourself, I forbid you from loading up our own Visa for Christmas gifts shaped like laptops, later on."

That knocked a few Machiavellian twinkles out of Walt's eyes - but not by much. I know the big guy; if he's convinced himself we deserve something, we'll get it, even if we issue moral objections. It might take years and he might use different excuses, but it'll happen.

Note to self: try and convert the BF to Ascetism, or at least Minimalism...

[hollowwhisperings]

The difference is much more one of martial status than birth or social station: there is also that Awkward Reality that, while Wei Wuxian behaved & was generally treated as a "Young Master" (due to his fostering & lack of true peers, strength-wise)... there was no sect to stand behind him.

The burning of Lotus Pier left the membership of Yunmeng Jiang to be as follows:

Sect Leader Jiang Wanyin (16/17 years old). Wielder of Sandu & Zidian.

Jiang Yanli (19 y/o ~ early 20's). Non-combatant.

Wei Wuxian (17 y/o). No longer wielding Suiban.

That's it. Everyone else was dead.

There was no Sect, no homebase nor material assets, no elders nor fellow cultivators... nothing & no one to support any of the Jiang siblings, Wei Wuxian included. The only things standing between WWX and a powerhungry mob were WWX himself, "Sandu Shengshou", and Courtesy.

"Courtesy" is what enabled the Jiang to sit in War Councils, the "time" to search for their MIA brother, troops to help them reclaim Lotus Pier, food to eat, allies to guard their backs when they slept. After the War, "Courtesy" kept debtors at bay: all those "loans" (of troops, resources and "good will") accrued during the War to be Repaid (with interest). "Courtesy" kept Yumeng Jiang from being completely overrun by anyone & everyone so they could "have" their Formal Mourning periods. "Courtesy" was what kept Debtors from showing up at the Jiang's doorstep, demanding repayment in the form of Wei Wuxian. The Jin wanted him as a Pet Researcher. Gusu Lan wanted him as an emergency patient. Various minor sect leaders wanted him as a rentable army-of-one, an instructor, a head on a spike (etc). Sandu Shengshou had the "Right" of Outraged Refusal because Courtesy gave him that right, as Wei Wuxian's Sect Leader.

It is this "Courtesy" that Wei Wuxian was not reciprocating.

While we, the readers, Know WWX literally Couldn't (he was a freshly malnourished mortal drinking himself into forgetting the past 2-ish years entirely)... his Sudden Inability to Be Courteous was Dangerous.

(for himself & Yunmeng Jiang, politically; for everyone, as veterans of a very recently ended war)

Yunmeng Jiang didn't really become an Actual Sect again until Jiang Yanli's marriage to Jin Zixuan: her hueband was a powerful ally, being a peer to her brothers in sword cultivation, and a Useful Blockade between the powerhungry (his father, most obviously) and the still-fragile Yunmeng Jiang (without WWX, its martial strength was Jiang Wanyin + his new reputation as "Sandu Shengshou").

That Jin Rulan survived his father's death spoke of Powerful Protectors, Jiang Yanli's death told us who was "Protecting" him: people seeking a "justification" to play Regent to her son-as-figurehead. Without Jin Zixuan, Jiang Yanli & Jin Rulan were effectively hostages of the Jin: Jin Rulan remained a hostage, even despite Jiang Wanyin's best efforts, all the way to the events at the Guanyin Temple.

Yunmeng Jiang was never in a position to protect itself, not after the Burning of Lotus Pier, let alone support its most valuable & dangerous asset (WWX): similarly, the Jiang siblings could not support their brother because, 1) he would not let them & 2) the only one "qualified" to help WWX in the way he needed... was Wen Qing, considered by WWX as being the foremost doctor in the Cultivation World.

The Jiang siblings did not have the skillset of An Actual Medical Doctor nor any "sufficiently" similar traumatic experiences that would allow them to Recognise or Relate to the [horrific ball of poor coping mechanisms & self-destruction] that had so changed their brother: what little WWX recalls from this time is his being Drunk or Trying To Get Drunk (a cheaper effort, with him so "freshly" malnourished & sans a golden liver but still costlier than his family could really afford at that time).

The only people WWX "believed" he could confide in were the Dead, as evidenced by those ghost girls LWJ was so jealous of &, later, Wen Qionglin.

Wen Qing was probably singlehandedly responsible in "postponing" WWX's self-destruction until after [politics] "Shot First": she Knew His Biggest Secret & had a somewhat "comparable" experience to his Surviving the Burial Mounds (via being a POW &, previoisly, Wen Ruohan's personal physician).

Yunmeng Jiang was never famous for its healing arts but, again, the Sect only had three known survivors. The Jiang siblings, meanwhile, could not recognise that WWX's needs were Medical and that "have you tried meditating" was no longer a viable option.

WWX refused any & all help right until Wen Qing, most Esteemed Doctor in the setting (by WWX's reckoning), showed up. That she Knew of his "pre-existing condition" made her uniquely qualified, from WWX's perspective, and her Past as Wen Ruohan's personal physician made her "safe" to confide in (if Wen Qing had not personally witnessed "worse things" than what WWX might confide, she at least had "experience" in concealing any Judgement or Pity).

The circumstances were universally terrible: even if Wei Wuxian had been officially adopted into the Jiang family, made into his younger brother's "heir" in their family register, his lack of a Golden Core & his "refusing" to follow protocol by openly carrying his weapons would still be a Problem.

Nie Huaisang could "get away with" what he did becauae he spent his entire life making him the subject of piteous vitriol, of "humiliating" himself & his Sect. Nie Huaisang was considered a walking joke, publically scorned for his entire life, ridiculed and the only "expectation" that cultivators not of his Sect had for him was "cowardice". He cultivated this image, on purpose, his entire life: if he was seen with a weapon, someone would joke it was more dangerous to NHS than anyone else.

Wei Wuxian had never truly concerned himself with his public image: this is a Plot Point. Jiang Wanyin and Jiang Yanli were little better, when it came to politics: they were their parents' children (but withhout the decades of experience to compensate for it). The only thing that could have made Wei Wuxian's breaking protocol non-problematic, short of having Bao San-Ren fly by to give his dizi her "Seal of Approval" (& threatening imminent mortality on anyone saying otherwise), would be stripping WWX of any power by outing himself as being without a Golden Core. He would additionally need to Destroy the Stygian Tiger Seal with every Sect standing witness, erase his own memories of [developing necromancy], and Lie that the Seal could have only been created in the extreme circumstances of [blatant lies], ideally with Bao San-Ren nodding along to said Lies.

In short: Wei Wuxian was screwed. The extent to which he and his "foil", Jin Guangyao, were "screwed over" by Circumstances Beyond Their Control is matched only, perhaps, by the times everyone was screwed over by Flagrant Miscommunication.

It's why the Juniors are always the "Hope Spot": they talk to each other, witnessing firsthand the Consequences of not doing so.

I like how Nie Huaisang straight up refuses to cultivate and carry a sword and no one has anything to say about that because he’s a sect heir but when Wei Wuxian, son of a servant, does it suddenly it’s a problem.

[inukag]

Speaking of filler episodes/arcs making Inuyasha (mostly him) ooc, there's one arc that makes Kagome (not only wildly OOC, but also makes her kind of dense/dumb): the kenkon halberd arc with Akitoki Hojo. - I hope you don't mind I lay off this rant (been bottling that up for MONTHS now). I just HATE the disservice to Kagome's character

(I'm not listing them in order, btw)

First sign where she's made sort of dumb (which she is in reality NOT throughout the series): Hojo shows up with that scroll to show his ancestor KAgome Hojo (🙄🙄 dude, we see what you're trying, you are DENSE), and she has that INCREDIBLY OOC moment where she wonders, and almost with certainty --after they run into A. Hojo-- that she will stay in the past and marry him... Like WTAF? That's just SO OOC because at point in the story, she admitted to naraku's evil baby that she's in love with Inuyasha; it also portrays her as stupid as if she doesn't even consider that there may be other girls/women name Kagome.

Then there's guilt tripping Inu to help akitoki, telling him "don't you feel guilty?" which he rightly replies with "why? Naraku destroyed Mount Hakurei (?)".

When Inuyasha is saying that humans shouldn't mess with yokai weapons, that is not their business, her thoughts keep going into tangents (several times during the three episodes), and reading "humans should not mess with yokai weapons" somehow equals "yokai/hanyo shouldn't get involved romantically")

When she and dense ancestors are separated from the rest of the gang, she remains quiet when Akitoki makes a veiled racist remark regarding inuyasha when she mentions she doesn't have a boyfriend (WHICH ISN'T TRUE, SHE'S WITH INU AT THAT POINT) and he goes all "I understand you travel with half demon and a monk who aren't appropriate husband material" and on top of that he goes "i'm sure under this sky is a young man destined for you" (jesus, this guy is like koga, if not worse (stealing a kiss, hello?) and she again pretty much accepts those words.

In than same scene, she quickly dismisses the thought of Inuyasha potentially becoming her hubby with a shake off her head that would have been IC for the first 5 episodes of the series, NOT this far into the story.

Then when the dude falls asleep SHE PUTS HIS HEAD ON HER LAP - that shit is ooc af and a slap to the face to the first new moon with Inu.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some more OOC Kagome moments.

And ofc, Inuyasha is bit OOC in this arc because this akitoki asshole keep acting like he's Kagome's intended husband, keeps shouting his love for her (despite knowing her for one hot minute), and Inuyasha says NOTHING (I'm sure he would have ripped his arms if he knew this fucker tried to kiss her while she slept).

Sorry that was long. ❤

(Sorry for answering this a month later than I said I would, last time I watched these episodes was YEARS ago so I wanted to rewatch them before I answered this ask!) 

First of all, I have to disagree a bit about this idea that these episodes made Kagome look completely dumb. At least in terms of action/battle, they made her use her arrows numerous times (people always complain about her not doing anything) and she was smart enough to 1- Test the sword on her friends’ lookalikes to see if they are yokai 2- Question them when they used her and Akitoki’s names 3- Rightly guessing that the girls are actually puppets and that’s why they weren’t affected by the blade

That was quick thinking of her and showed that she’s resourceful too, which is great! This is a lot like early-manga Kagome, like when she burned the toad demon or when she attached a yokai leg to her arrow. 

Now her assuming that a “Kagome Hojo” existing in the past must mean that she stayed behind and married Akitoki was pretty... weird. Unless Kagome is a rare name in Japan? I don’t know about that. 

But YES what bothered me the most in those episodes is how Kagome barely acknowledges her relationship with Inuyasha?? Like you said she completely shakes off the idea that Inuyasha is her boyfriend and that he could potentially end up with him??? 

GIRL WHAT you literally screamed that you love Inuyasha and cuddled him like 10 episodes ago??? 😭 Although this was in response to Akitoki telling her that the person who will eat her cooking everyday is very lucky, so maybe this was Kagome saying “well Inuyasha wouldn’t enjoy my cooking” because this episode has another instance of Inuyasha saying he enjoys instant ramen more than home-made cooking....

Sunrise PLEASE shut up..... Inuyasha isn’t Naruto! Loving ramen is not one of his core personality traits! There’s nothing in the manga that indicates it’s the only food he enjoys...

Anyway, Kagome not mentioning her relationship with Inuyasha is still wildly OOC when you consider how she reacted to Koga flirting with her and mocking Inuyasha... 

The whole theme of this arc was the differences between yokai and human and whether or not they are compatible... so I think what Sunrise tried to do is to set back Inuyasha and Kagome’s relationship so they can then re-confirm their chemistry at the end to prove that yokai/human relationships are indeed possible... 

It’s just very weird to do this that far in the series (this arc spans episodes 137-140). The plot with Hoshiyomi and Tsukiyomi was also just a repeat of Inuyasha and Kikyo, with the whole “they thought they betrayed each other but they actually didn’t” so it wasn’t particularly original. 

It really was such a weird tangent, Inuyasha saying “humans shouldn’t mess with yokai weapons” and Kagome ending up with “maybe my relationship with Inuyasha won’t work after all”... It would have been an interesting idea to explore if Kagome actually brought up significant differences between them that could lead to problems (like the anime-only idea that Inuyasha is 200 years old, or their children having yokai features, human villagers not accepting them, etc.) but none of that was addressed so it felt very shallow. 

I think it’s kind of funny that Akitoki declaring his feelings for Kagome was just ignored by pretty much everyone except Shippo essentially calling him cringy and Kagome questioning her future for a few minutes. I kinda hated that Kagome put his head on her lap when he was sleeping but it’s almost like she wanted to see if she would get butterflies in her stomach like the first time she did that with Inuyasha, but she clearly didn’t feel anything so she realized it wasn’t going to happen 😭

All in all I don’t think these fillers are bad. There’s some annoying set backs and OOCness but it ends with some wholesome Inukag moments too. It’s not like some of the filler episodes that makes Inukag look toxic (except maybe that line at the end of episode 140 where Inuyasha says Kagome is not kind...) or skews the love triangle. Also these episodes highlight a major problem I have with the anime, and that is the animation quality and style changing every episode. Episode 138 & 140 have amazing animation directors (Shouko Ikeda and Kumiko Takahashi) but the other 2 are mediocre imo and it’s very jarring. At least in the manga Rumiko Takahashi’s art is consistent. 

ALSO if you think Akitoki deserves to get beat up by Inuyasha for trying to kiss Kagome without her consent you should read A Rude Awakening by @born-for-eachother! Kat went HARD on Akitoki in her fanfic, Inuyasha was ready for murder LMAO.