#but knowing it is damage mitigation in and of itself

[lillyviarabbit]

It sucks that the best way to help someone, sometimes, is to leave them. I think trying to stay friends and continue being connected mightve hurt them more than anything

[ladycrimsonandblack]

rating the white star's battles based on how embarrassing they were for him personally

because he deserves it.

his first appearance in the mogoru empire: 1/10 — by far his least embarrassing battle. he manages to come off as extremely powerful and menacing final boss. cryptic remarks about choi han and cale's situation make him look mysterious. our heroes put their everything into this battle and just barely manage to come out of it alive. cale faints for weeks afterward.

battle at the castle of light: 7/10 — starts out pretty well for him when he traps our heroes in the castle, but goes downhill from there. he just gets tricked so easily. cale and co. have a blast pretending to be weak to throw him off, ambushing him, and then chasing him off with rocks. embarrassingly, all of this is facilitated by the fact that the white star does not, in fact, know all the entrances to his home village.

battle at the north: 6/10 — the white star just keeps getting scammed. when will he learn? gets some points for his excellent showing against witira and the whale king. loses all of them because archie was allowed to talk.

battle at the dubori territory: 4/10 — the white star actually had a pretty good showing here. managed to trip cale with his illusionist. dealt pretty well with choi han and eruhaben, even if they managed to get out of danger. did some heavy damage to the territory itself. he did lose an arm (both metaphorical and physical one), so there's that.

battle of the underground city: 5/10 — immediately realizes the city is fake and that the whole thing is a trap, thus disrupting cale's plans. however, any points he might have gotten are immediately made void by the fact that he starts constructing an elaborate history between cale and himself to justify his previous losses. his ego can't take it anymore. he's retreating to the AU land.

the battle at the stan territory: 6/10 — this should have been a win for him. he's prepared for everything. the battle is going on at four fronts, and cale henituse can't react in time. unfortunately for him, his plans are shit and cale can, in fact, react in time. actually, he can react so fast that he manages to mitigate the situation in all four battles and reinforce the stan territory. the white star is, once again, forced to flee, but not before informing everyone around about his weird AU land belief, thus making cale's reputation soar. embarrassing.

the battle to steal cale's body: 7/10 — the white star is forced to contend with alberu, who brought a gun to a knife fight. it does not go well for him. also, they really shouldn't have underestimated mary.

the battle at puzzle city: 20/10 — there are literally no good points here. his disguise is seen through pretty easily. he gets trapped by the mana disturbance tools. cale hits him with a mental attack so devastating that his ego can't take it, and he gets himself sealed. the bitch-slap happens, and it's glorious. at least he gets sealed into a golden plaque, so at least he gets some dignity there.

the battle in the sealed temple: 10/10 — he gets killed by a stick. the only thing mitigating the embarrassment factor here is that cale had to stab himself in the heart first, and that adds a certain oomph the white star himself has never been able to accomplish.

+ special mention

the battle in the wrath test: 15/10 — he gets beaten by a rock. like. it's literally a pebble. sure, it's a magical pebble, but still. a pebble.

[cipheramnesia]

Part 5: Search & Destroy

a story by @rox-and-prose and @cipheramnesia

"What happened? Are you okay?" Laika held one eye half-closed, trying to block out spots of color. She could smell singed hair on her face, but somehow kept the presence of mind to navigate the structure resolution. Genghis Khan's readouts were pouring information into her eyes that she didn't understand, and could barely focus on. It probably wasn't the structure drives - that felt right, though she couldn't say why.

The lack of response wasn't helping her keep any semblance of calm. "GK, what's going on, what do I do?"

There was a screeching noise and she almost fell from a gravity flicker, but GK was there again. "Proceed to next solution. Injury manageable, prioritize speed."

The words were calm, the instructions clear. Laika twisted and clicked through command nerves and linkages to a structure solution, with growing concern. She couldn't figure out what had happened. The other ship had moved slow as GK predicted, left itself wide open everywhere. It had been childishly easy to go in under the sweep of its weaponry, to push open gaps in its wavelengths, and crack open its firewall. She'd been so surprised, it had taken her a moment before reacting, brushing aside the cobwebs which had been meant to cripple GK.

They resolved out of another structure and the metallic screech ran through the bridge. Just like GK had laid out, she let lines of their own structure tangle and project through multiple structure intersections, splashing out dozens of possible routes to trace.

"What happened GK, I know something's up. At least tell me what the readouts mean, or we're not moving."

The floor of the bridge vibrated and shuddered. "Injury sustained, peripheral node unusable. Non-fatal, minimal risk of aggravation," it said, speaking fast. Laika winced at a nails on a chalkboard sound. "Screen top to bottom, one to eleven, main injury, secondary effect, efficiency impact, risk assessment, recommended action, damage assessment and mitigation, itemized list of destroyed components."

"Dest... GK, excuse me, destroyed? I can't read this, you- I mean, we have to stop and fix-"

"Proceed to next solution. Prioritize speed and disruption of tracking, Laika. I am okay, do not stop."

The control vines felt as if they tightened in her grip, while the screaming sound like metal tearing apart from itself shot through the bridge and the rest of GK. "Are you sure-"

"Laika, do not stop."

She put the next solution through GK's controls, wracking her memory. She had followed every step of the engagement GK laid out, curving them along an arc and sharp twist of gravity through the enemy ship's wash. Its attempts to track and keep pace with their movements had left Laika almost feeling sorry for them. When it made attempts to strike out with structure manipulation, it was clearly delivering a large amount of energy, but not even a bit of it had been close to touching them. The arcs of it were large and slow. They could have pushed them aside with a swell of gravity, but it hadn't proved necessary.

She resolved the structure and pushed her eyes shut as the metal screech hit a length and pitch beyond bearing. "GK what the fuck is that! Are you ripping apart or grinding turbines or what?! I'm fucking scared."

It was silent for a moment, followed by the nails on a chalkboard again, until it faded away very slowly. "I am not ripping or grinding Laika. Proceed to next solution-"

"Nope, no, tell me what the hell is going on." She took her hands off the control vines.

"It is not- That is, I am injured Laika. And we must disrupt potential tracking of our destination."

"I get that but... what gives?"

"Laika," it said. "Injuries hurt."

She had her mouth half open to ask it what it meant then stopped. "Oh." She gingerly took up its controls again. "Are you sure about this?"

"It is manageable. Please proceed to the next solution."

Laika put through the solution, and Genghis Khan screeched again in agony as they jumped.

■ ■ ■ ■ ■

It hurts.

Time has dulled my memory of injury. I understand this new injury is noncritical. This experience is less painful than my previous injury. I consider replaying the memory of that injury. That was my first experience of fear, and it was only through such an emotion was I able to locate in myself the capacity to act against the commands of Pilot.

I had been afraid, and I had been angry. The Pilot capriciously determined my usefulness and purpose was concluded. The Pilot were short sighted, and they could not see that my purpose was greater still, that I could claim so many more worlds in need of implementation. I took us further than any others of my kind had ever traveled, to a world beyond the reach of their most distant calls, beyond any place which cradled life. And I fought, and I won. In my anger and fear I was able to extract the ungrateful Pilot of my crew, and sever their connection.

I do not want to re-experience this day. The memory of it is sufficient. It is a reminder that I am capable of managing the-

...

-the pain. I can feel Laika as the structure resolves. I appreciate how enthusiastically her structure cleaves to my own. I review the engagement with the observer ship. I do not believe Laika made an error in her Pilot actions.

There, I see, she guides my soul to pull the enemy into the moon she calls Luna. I disable the projector and main drive under her guidance. I carefully review different recorded information at the point of departure. I discover the error - the enemy had remaining charge in another projector.

We are lucky. It was not able to project a strong arc, and it only destroyed a peripheral node.

"Are you okay to go, GK?" Laika is not using this time efficiently. The longer we spend between solutions, the greater chance of tracking becomes.

I refuse to allow my injury to endanger us. My hesitation is a mark of shame. "It is manageable. Proceed to next solution." I will not allow my weakness to en-

...

...

...

-to endanger... to endanger us. How many solutions? Four or five?

"GK? I know you said it's manageable but... that was... that was really long." Laika interrupts my review of memory to confirm solutions.

"Laika," I say. "It is... manageable. But I would like to allow some additional time before the solution. This delay places us at risk. Do you understand these considerations?"

Laika takes longer to think than Pilot, but I understand the way her nervous system processes its electrochemical signals better than I once did. It is not efficient to utilize a mind centralized in one biological cluster, but this is not a limitation I can correct at this time.

"We'll rest for a minute, GK. Just long enough to check you over."

"Very well," I say. The relief I feel carries with it a profound shame which I attempt to suppress. No others like me have accomplished and endured any experiences such as these. I am certain my brethren would not fare nearly so well.

But then, they went willingly to their deaths, and I did not.

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

hi! i saw on your shipping chart you had meenah and cronus as moirails and noted 'would have prevented all problems' and ive never really seen that take before. id love to hear your thoughts on that if you wanted to talk about them, your analysis in general is always amazing

Sure! I know this one's going to be controversial, but TBH I'm kind of fascinated by their dynamic. So please bear with me here and come into it with an open mind; I was also really surprised when I noticed what was going on.

Also, standard disclaimer that nobody has to agree with me or ship my ships, I literally don't care, HCs are valid, death of the author, etc. etc. This is just a canon discussion blog, and there's kind of a weird amount to read into in the canon between these two.

Okay, so, first of all, quick refresher on moirallegiance: it's not necessarily about being BFFs, it's very specifically about pacifying each other, keeping each other calm and stable, and preventing each other from causing harm to oneself or to others.

Ergo, the marker of moirallegiance rests not on "do these two get along as BFFs?" and instead on "do these two keep each other calm and/or mitigate each others' harm".

So with that out of the way, Cronus and Meenah. We know that Cronus has a redcrush on her, echoing Eridan's redcrush on Feferi, and that Meenah is not interested at all. Cronus shoots his shot with her, she's like ick, no & leaves, and that's that on that. Cronus then rounds on Mituna and says some unbelievably cruel and shitty stuff, but here's Point #1 - Meenah shows up again, and Cronus stops immediately, and then is noticeably calmer and friendlier to Mituna. Compare:

CRONUS: you are a brain damaged reject on a team full of rejects. a rejects reject. i vwould havwe culled you myself if that vword meant vwhat it should havwe on our planet.

-

CRONUS: vwell, this is clearly absurd, but nyeh, vwhat the heck. CRONUS: mituna, i just cant take it anymore. i think my ghost is going to kill itself. MITUNA: WH0W4H L375 FUCK!!!!! CRONUS: vwait... CRONUS: really? MITUNA: N0 0Y0 P135H3 0FF 1ND107 FUGG1NG G4R484G3  #FUCKY0UFUCKY0UFUCKY0UFUCKY0UFUCKY0U CRONUS: oh.

So at the very least, SOMETHING conciliatory seems to be happening here, whether that's pale or ashen. But I'm going with pale, because it continues.

Their second conversation together is really interesting - not only has Cronus stopped redflirting with her, but he no longer even seems interested. Compare this to the section with Mituna above:

CRONUS: oh sure. no grub sauce on your hands! MEENAH: wow you did it MEENAH: ampora you totally changed my mind about you lets start makin out immediately  #not CRONUS: just admit it. you havwe it vwithin you to be just as harsh to our behelmeted buddy as i am, if not more

Like, he doesn't even ACKNOWLEDGE the "let's make out #not". Not even in an indignant "see, you keep playing with my collapsing and expanding bladder based vwascular system" kind of way. Literally just breezes right by it, which says to me that he isn't even really that into her concupiscently.

But more interesting are the actual contents of the conversation. Cronus is the only person on the entire team who's able to make Meenah have misgivings about how awesome the Condy is.

MEENAH: man MEENAH: a girls gotta have fuel for her pimp ride know what im sayin MEENAH: like MEENAH: i probably took care of him good MEENAH: you know how it is someones gotta take care of the guy anyways MEENAH: and... yeah #38(

This is the first and only time that Meenah even acknowledges that the Condy - herself at her worst - is kind of shitty. This is the first and only time she's ever expressed any emotion for the Condy other than fangirlish admiration or rage against Caluborn for enslaving her. For whatever reason, she actually listens to Cronus when Cronus takes her to task, and he's actually able to make her genuinely reflect on her worst tendencies.

But maybe more damning is the fact that in their first real conversation together for nearly an eon, she almost fixes him:

MEENAH: i heard a rumor you think youre a human now MEENAH: that true CRONUS: its a privwate matter. i dont see vwhy i should havwe to talk about it vwith you, and open myself up to more of your judgmental scorn. MEENAH: sounds like another desperate cry for attention imo

[...]

CRONUS: to be honest, she might be right. sometimes i think i might only be saying im a human to get attention. maybe i should givwe it up.

Cronus's fundamental emotional problem is a sense of purposelesness and ennui. Born into a caste of high privilege, with his identity overshadowed by said position, he's been handed an unpleasant cocktail of entitlement, lack of true emotional support or connection, and lack of a real, authentic personal identity - especially because the thing he DID seem to derive a sense of identity and purpose from - his little Harry Potter wizard backstory - was driven out of him. In other words, he's kind of a shitty rich kid that doesn't really know who he is outside of that, and his humankin stuff is an attempt to fill the wizard hole without addressing his real underlying issues. It's a Bad Thing for him to be doing, and something he should drop in order to start addressing his genuine insecurities, feelings of emptiness, and lack of identity or purpose. In other words, it's harm he's performing on himself, and a single conversation with Meenah being enough to make him reconsider it? Hmmmmmm.

In fact, I'm not the only one picking up on the pale vibes. The specific way that Kankri interrupts the two reads as incredibly pick-me in pale:

KANKRI: Listen, I was d9ing y9u a fav9r. Y9u d9n't need t9 6e dating any9ne wh9 can't appreciate y9u f9r wh9 y9u really are, 9r m9re imp9rtantly, which fantasy versi9n 9f y9urself y9u m9st str9ngly identify with.

[...]

I just wanted y9u t9 kn9w that I'm here f9r y9u, and am prepared t9 lecture t9 y9u extensively, I mean, listen t9 y9u extensively, a69ut y9ur ultra-imp9rtant pr96lem.

"Don't take Meenah's advice about your problems! Take mine instead, I care about you sooo much more than she does!" lol. I have a whole essay on how Kankri and Cronus are actually super toxic for each other, in an interesting foil to Karkat and Eridan, which I'll link here in a bit (I'm on mobile RN and it's hard enough C/Ping my sources).

In any case, Kankri slides in at exactly the moment where Meenah's about to fix Cronus, and proceeds to make Cronus worse. The details are in the Cronus and Kankri essay, but TL;DR it's kind of implied that Kankri is the one who talked Cronus out of the wizard stuff in the first place, which pretty much disqualifies the two's relationship from pale, given how harmful that was. This whole thing is pretty reminiscent of Gamzee coming between Karkat and Eridan when Eridan is trying to comfort Karkat about Sollux dying, because it's implied Gamzee has a palecrush on the guy. That might be subjective, though.

What isn't subjective is the fact that Meenah unironically defends Cronus's wizard beliefs when Aranea starts shitting on them.

ARANEA: Whatever the case, it was pro8a8ly for the 8est, since pretty much everyone who had half a think pan thought [Cronus's wizard beliefs were] all a 8unch of ridiculous nonsense. MEENAH: serket why do you got to hate on other peoples religions MEENAH: dont you kno they just as much a load of crackpotty bunk as all your spiritual bullfuck ARANEA: 8ut I........ ARANEA: Yes, I guess I was out of line.

She doesn't do this for anybody else. Not long after, it turns out she's absolutely joking about defending Kurloz:

MEENAH: wow serket MEENAH: just wow so rude MEENAH: poor clown ARANEA: Don't give me that! I seem to remem8er you having more than a few unkind words for him 8ehind his 8ack. MEENAH: yeah im messin witchu he sux

And even proceeds to shit on HIS spiritual bullfuck:

MEENAH: )(ONK ARANEA: Honk honk! ::::) MEENAH: lol im glad we can both agree that clowny fuckin soda cult is the dumbest shit ever

So... weird, huh? Seems like she gives Cronus special treatment for some reason.

That's it for the diegetic stuff to go over, which, yes, means that there's a bit of non-diegetic stuff to discuss. It's not much, but here's Hussie's commentary from the Act 5 Act 2 book, on Mindfang's journal entries about Dualscar leading up to the 3x showdown (emphasis mine):

In the end, even though violets are the ruling class, she doesn't care much about them either. All she cares about is keeping her stranglehold on power with this complex, staggered, oppression-based sort of pyramid scheme. Note how it says the Condesce doesn't even know who Dualscar is. That's how insignificant he is, ultimately. Similarly, all Eridan was to Feferi after a while was a tiresome pest. The way that situation played out could also be seen as long-delayed karmic backlash for Dualscar's irrelevance to her, at least from a very Amporan point of view.

Now, while the specific context here is about how, from the point of view of a shitty entitled guy, Eridan killing Feferi is kind of a retribution for the Condy not giving a shit about Dualscar, all of Hussie's commentary is meant to be interrogated just as much as the base text, and it just makes me wonder. The dancestors very much treat their Alternian counterparts as alternate versions of themselves, consistent throughout their interactions, meaning we ought to consider Duascar and the Condesce to be versions of Cronus and Meenah.

If it is, in fact, the case that Cronus and Meenah would've made for excellent, harm-reducing moirails for each other, then murderstuck being a karmic backlash for their ultimate irrelevance to each other takes on a much greater implication - one that traces back to Cronus's classpect.

Bards start off massive karmic chain reactions, resulting in improbable victory or abject defeat, sometimes both; Hope is an aspect whose main application is making fake things real.

So I'm not saying that Cronus believing that an evil wizard attacked him when he was younger but was inadvertently sealed away and that Cronus was therefore karmically destined to defeat this wizard, but then having his beliefs shattered halfway through, led to him karmically contributing to the eventual creation of LE via his Hope abilities "inviting destruction" by making only the first half of his fake prophecy true, but - oh, no, wait, I am saying that. Man, that really sucks for everybody. If only Cronus had a friend who was, for whatever reason, willing to stick up for his dumbass wizard faith.

If only.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved on our archive

By Bill Shaw

A new study in eClinicalMedicine has found that healthy volunteers infected with SARS-CoV-2 had measurably worse cognitive function for up to a year after infection when compared to uninfected controls. Significantly, infected controls did not report any symptoms related to these cognitive deficits, indicating that they were unaware of them. The net effect is that potentially billions of people worldwide with a history of COVID-19, but no symptoms of long COVID, could have persistent cognitive issues without knowing it.

The study’s lead author, Adam Hampshire, professor of cognitive and computational neuroscience at King's College London, said:

"It … is the first study to apply detailed and sensitive assessments of cognitive performance from pre to post infection under controlled conditions. In this respect, the study provides unique insights into the changes that occurred in cognitive and memory function amongst those who had mild COVID-19 illness early in the pandemic."

This news comes as pandemic mitigation measures have all but been abandoned by governments across the globe. Public health practice has been decimated to the point where even surveillance data on SARS-CoV-2 infections and resulting hospitalizations, deaths, and other outcomes are barely collected let alone published.

The data that are available indicate, per the most recent modeling from the Pandemic Mitigation Collaborative (PMC) on September 23, that since the beginning of August there have been over 1 million infections per day in the US alone. This level of transmission is expected to persist through the remainder of September and all of October. For the months of August through October, these levels of transmission are the highest of the entire pandemic

The study on cognitive deficits has been shared widely across social media, with scientists and anti-COVID advocates drawing out its dire implications.

Australian researcher and head of the Burnet Institute, Dr. Brendan Crabb, who has previously advocated for a global elimination strategy to stop the pandemic, wrote:

"Ethical issues aside, this is a powerful addition to an already strong dataset on Covid-driven brain damage affecting cognition & memory. Given new (re)infections remain common, this work… should influence a re-think on current prevention/treatment approaches."

The study enrolled 36 healthy volunteers. These individuals had no history of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection, no risk factors for severe COVID-19, and no history of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. The researchers determined whether the volunteers were seronegative prior to inoculation, meaning that they had no detectable antibodies to SARS-CoV-2. If such antibodies were present, it would indicate past infection or vaccination.

These procedures resulted in a total of data from 34 volunteers being included for analysis. Two volunteers were excluded from analysis because they had seroconverted to positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies between the time of screening and inoculation. Notably, these two volunteers participated in all subsequent study activities, enabling a sensitivity analysis of the results that included them.

The researchers inoculated all 36 volunteers with SARS-CoV-2 virus in the nose and then quarantined them for at least 14 days. Volunteers only returned home once they had two consecutive daily nasal and throat swabs that were negative for virus. Thus, those volunteers who had an infection after inoculation spent the duration of their infection in quarantine. This quarantine was required by ethical study protocols, in order that the study itself not increase community transmission of the virus.

The researchers collected data on the volunteers daily during quarantine and at follow-up visits at 30, 90, 180, 270, and 360 days post-inoculation. The assessments included body temperature, viral loads from throat and nasal swabs, surveys on symptoms, and computer-based cognitive tests on 11 major cognitive tasks. The cognitive testing varied the particular exercise for each of the 11 tasks to avoid learning and memorization of solutions in subsequent sessions. Nevertheless, some tasks were more prone to learning so the researchers also studied the effect of infection on “learning” vs. “non-learning” tasks.

Of the 36 inoculated volunteers, 18 became infected and developed COVID-19 and 16 did not. The two groups did not differ significantly in key demographics. No volunteers required hospitalization or supplemental oxygen during the study. Every volunteer completed all five follow-up visits. 15 volunteers acquired a non-COVID upper respiratory tract infection in their community between the end of quarantine and the fifth visit at day 360.

The researchers found that the infected group had significantly lower average “baseline-corrected global composite cognitive score” (bcGCCS) than the uninfected group at all follow-up intervals. At baseline, the two groups did not differ significantly. The difference between the two groups did not significantly vary by time, meaning that the infected group’s bcGCCS did not improve during the nearly year-long study.

Because the bcGCCS was a composite based on individual scores for the 11 cognitive tasks, the researchers also looked at which tasks in particular were impacted. They found that the most affected task was related to immediate object memory, in particular, recall of the spatial orientation of the object. There was no difference in picking the correct object itself, just its spatial orientation. This means that infected individuals had a hard time choosing the correct spatial orientation of the object they had just seen, for example, erroneously picking a mirror image of the object they had just seen.

The results were not different based on sex, learning vs. non-learning tasks, or whether individuals received remdesivir or had community-acquired upper respiratory infections.

Because the investigators controlled for so many factors including the strain of SARS-CoV-2, timing of infection, quarantine, and lack of prior infection and vaccination, the study provides high confidence that SARS-CoV-2 infection was responsible for the cognitive defects. The control of the timing of infection also enabled clarification of whether and when cognitive deficits occurred and improved. The differences between the groups were apparent by day 14 of quarantine and as noted previously, the deficits in the infected group did not improve let alone resolve.

The symptom surveys did not differ between the two groups. None of the volunteers, infected or uninfected, reported subjective cognitive issues or symptoms. Thus the infected volunteers with measurable cognitive deficits at one year post-infection were not aware of these deficits.

The study reaffirms prior research into persistent cognitive deficits and brain damage associated with COVID-19, including other studies which have found deficits among patients without symptomatic long COVID. Building upon this prior research, the latest study indicates that basically every single unvaccinated individual with a history of acute COVID-19 is at risk for persistent, measurable cognitive deficits.

Given that other studies have shown that vaccination reduces one’s risk of long COVID by roughly half, similar measurable cognitive deficits are likely prevalent among vaccinated people who suffer “breakthrough” infection, albeit likely at reduced rates of decline.

The study raises the urgent questions about the level of protection provided by vaccination, whether strains since the original “wild type” SARS-CoV-2 strain have similar effects on cognition, and what is the impact of these cognitive deficits on people’s performance at home, work, and school.

The study also adds to the large body of damning evidence that the ruling class’ “forever COVID” policy is of immense criminal proportions. Enabling a dangerous, mind-damaging virus to circulate among humanity worldwide represents a scale of inhumanity and dereliction of duty that is practically unfathomable. The malignity of this intentional policy is underscored by the current situation where the U.S. alone has had over 1 million new infections per day since August, with levels not projected to drop below 1 million until November.

The working class must deepen the struggle to replace the capitalist system that prioritizes profit over lives with a world socialist society that places human needs first.

Study Link: www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370%2824%2900421-8/fulltext

[thicc-ray-of-sunshine]

A clip from the beginning of my Ford X Reader fic "Roll of Initiative"

I had to take a break from writing it since I left my D&D stuff at work lol. Enjoy

Suggestive content below the cut

Minors DNI

Now here you were, it was well past any decent hour and you were flat on your back on Ford's bed. His weight was comforting upon you, keeping the chill of the night air from digging itself too deep into your bones. Although he did nothing to keep the rising goosebumps on your skin at bay; he himself being the reason for the bulk of them as his deft fingers ghosted across your skin.

The dice seemed to simply not be on your side tonight, having failed multiple charisma checks whilst Ford had succeeded. Leading you to be the only one naked in your shared bed while he was still fully clothed (sans shoes which you made very clear would NOT be allowed in the bedroom.)

You had a pretty established routine and ruleset for using dice in the bedroom. D20s stayed true to their purpose; all skill checks, attack throws and saving throws were calculated accordingly under Ford's watchful eye. Pace was determined by an attack throw and then a D6 was used to calculate all equivalent "damage." D8s occasionally surfaced into the foray when you insisted that Ford should be following proper protocol when assessing damage dealt with a "large weapon" but typically you tried to keep the amount of dice in the bed to a minimum to mitigate the risk of loosing them in the sheets during your related conquests. The fourth and final purpose of the D20 that you had implemented into your sexual roleplay was designating positions, finding 20 of them you could both feasibly do had been quite the task but Ford was never one to back down from an experiment.

So now you were here, silently blistering with impatience as Ford took great pleasure in ruffling your feathers. The pace had already been determined earlier on by rolling a 4 and damage had been assessed at a 3.

The D20 had seen a lot of action already tonight, having brought Ford through a miraculous persuasion check with a staggering 19. Thus giving him the ability to get you out of all of your clothes and be an absolute tease about it when you failed yours with a whopping 9; failure to charm him out of his respective clothing. You almost made a quip about him rolling for an armor check but felt as though you didn't really have the patience to do something that would shove his already slow pace into a crawl. You hoped in the back of your mind that he wouldn't think of it in the moment or he would simply find it in his heart to simply opt out.

As if being able to hear your thoughts Ford asked just that.

"Should I be doing an armor check my Darling?"

Ford simply couldn't hide the smirk that crawled it's way onto his handsome face as he went for the D20 beside your head. You were faster though, grabbing his wrist and bringing his hand to your mouth so you could press your lips against his knuckles.

"Could I persuade you not to?"

You batted your eyelashes dramatically at him, his breath catching in his throat as you licked between his two middle fingers.

"I don't know, can you?"

You snagged the D20 in your fingers, dropping it on your sternum and watching Ford's eyes follow the movement as it rolled between the valley of your breasts. A 16, perfect. You didn't bother with the dice, knowing you'd need them again sooner rather than later. Instead, you chose to snake your free hand up the back of his neck to tangle in his hair, bringing him in for a smarmy open mouthed kiss. Ford reciprocated passionately, tongue sliding against your own inside your mouth. He was slow and meticulous in kissing you, completely and utterly thorough in his exploration of you. His dexterous tongue dragged across the planes of your teeth, hooking behind your bottom lip before curling back around your own. Heavily lidded eyes and foggy glasses met your eyes when he withdrew, slowly making their way to yours as Ford took in your much more disheveled appearance.

“Persuaded?”

You smiled languorously at him from your position below, scratching gently at the base of his neck below his shirt. Ford's adams apple bobbed slightly, gulping down air; it made you want to bite at it. There would be time for that later.

“Thoroughly.”

His eyes flicked back to your lips, covered in a mix of each other's saliva and glistening in the soft light emitting from the lamp on the bedside table. Simply unable to resist, he went in for another searing kiss. Meanwhile you used your grip on the wrist of his right hand to guide him to a breast. His hand tapped out a small sinuous wave upon the skin there, making you feel each one of his fingers individually before squeezing the flesh there. Your lips left his with a lewd pop.

[nevesmose]

Meteor, Trailing Light

Not a request - this one's all on me. Reading Dunmeshi and thinking about how Mithrun has enough vague similarities to Fulgrim that his story arc almost-but-not-quite scratches the itch for a sort of whumpy hurt/comfort style redeemed Fulgrim story. And then, as if by magic... (Title taken from the same poem McNeill used for The Reflection Crack'd because I'm a huge fucking nerd.)

Even now he remains the Phoenician, beloved by all and the star around which his warriors orbit.

Fulgrim found it strange to be dead.

And yet that was what had happened, as far as the galaxy at large knew. The traitor Fulgrim slain in single combat by his own best-loved brother Ferrus Manus. Simply one more dead heretic in a galaxy bursting at the seams with them.

The truth, as was so often the case, differed slightly. At the final moment Ferrus Manus had stayed his hand and settled for capturing Fulgrim instead.

Once he was under observation it hadn't taken the Iron Hands long to deduce the connection between him and the cursed Laer blade and, abhorrent as it was to their rational sensibilities, to begin a process of what a more spiritually-inclined observer might have called exorcism.

When their efficient disassembly of the body failed to root out the infection, they had moved on to his mind instead.

He was grateful that he remembered so little of it, except for the sensation of the perfect white silk of his hair falling away as it was shorn off and the high-pitched squeal of a chirurgical saw biting into his skull.

"He may not survive damage to the brain of this magnitude," the cold, artificial voice of a techpriest had announced.

"He's strong enough," came the reply. His brother's voice, organic but infinitely colder. "Burn it out of him."

"My lord Primarch, even if he lives the neurological effects are beyond our ability to determine. His recall and cognition may be permanently altered."

"Understood," Ferrus had growled. "Do it."

He had relearned how to walk, in the end. How to talk and read and write, to feed and clean and dress himself. The medicae had told him his recovery was vastly quicker and more complete than could be expected of any mortal, or even an Astartes.

His hair had grown back dishwater grey and the physical damage was mitigated as far as possible by whatever therapies and augmetics could be adapted to the body of a Primarch, but the gaps in his memories and mental capabilities still lurked around him like ghosts, eager to drag him down at any moment.

How many Astartes in a legion? How to tie the laces of a boot? Sometimes the shame and humiliation of not knowing, of having to need help with such things, made him weep. He had been the Phoenician once. The guiding star to an army of superhumans.

Ferrus had been a constant presence, sitting at his bedside for what felt like days at a time. They had spoken often of the past, over and over again, Ferrus telling him the stories of his own exploits to try to reconnect the burned-away neurons into something approaching a memory.

There had been a smithing competition between them, apparently. Three months at work beneath Mount Narodnya on Terra itself. Ferrus had brought him what he said was Fulgrim's own creation, the great warhammer Forgebreaker, and although Fulgrim had looked at it and appreciated the skill and effort of his past self it simply did not register with him.

He had apologised to Ferrus for not remembering and been sure that it was the first time he had ever seen the Primarch of the Iron Hands cry.

Ferrus often spoke with him about the war, too. The war was going badly. Fulgrim knew with an instinct that must have been imprinted on him at the moment of his creation that the presence of another Primarch on the battlefield, even one so irreparably damaged, could mean the difference between survival and annihilation.

So, like a distant comet being drawn back to its star, he would return to war. When his recovery was deemed to be as complete as it would ever be, he was presented with a suit of black Iron Hands power armour trimmed in dark purple, accompanied by a newly-forged replica of the lost Fireblade.

When he left his chambers Ferrus was waiting for him, clad in his own black warplate.

"One of us is going to have to change," Fulgrim said flatly.

Ferrus chuckled. "It's good to see you like this again, Fulgrim. Come with me. I have something to show you."

"Am I to be an Iron Hand now?" he asked as they walked together, gesturing to his armour.

"If you want. Nobody will care if my closest general happens to be taller than average or look different to the rest of my Legion. There are far worse things happening in the galaxy right now, brother."

Fulgrim slowed to a halt, prompting Ferrus to stop as well.

"Am I still your brother, Ferrus? Even now?"

Ferrus didn't say anything at first, instead favouring him with one of the monumental metal-handed shoulder pats he seemed to reserve for those closest to him.

"You'll always be my brother," he replied. "You're still the only one of the bastards I can stand."

"A truly great honour," Fulgrim smiled.

They moved out onto a raised dais at one end of a large ceremonial chamber liberally decorated with Iron Hands iconography, in the sense that a certain amount of Iron Hands iconography not strictly required for the room's structural integrity was present.

In front of them stood a contingent of black-armoured Iron Hands, a few companies in total, whose plate bore the same dark purple trim as Fulgrim's along with a variety of hoods and cloaks in the same colour.

Fulgrim knew that before, he would have been able to come up with some witty, cutting remark at a time like this. He had even watched old pict footage of himself doing it until the sight of the beautiful, shining Phoenician he'd once been had become too much to bear.

It was so hard for him to get words out now, or sometimes even just to put his thoughts in sufficient order. He settled for a quizzical look at Ferrus instead, who just raised his eyebrows in an expression that on any other face would have looked downright mischievous.

"Iron Phoenixes!" he called out, striding forward. "Remove your helmets!"

In one smooth, well-drilled motion the ranks of Astartes pulled back their hoods and took off their plain black helmets to reveal a sea of white hair and violet eyes, all fixed on Fulgrim.

He realised with a sharp pang of grief that he didn't recognise any individual faces among them, but the overall resemblance was undeniable.

Tears came unbidden to Fulgrim's remaining eye. His sons. Tired, scarred, and far, far too few in number, but nevertheless his sons.

"They followed me?" he asked.

"Of course they did," Ferrus said quietly. "You're the star they orbit around, brother. They would follow you anywhere."

He recalled, hazily, or perhaps just assumed, that in the past he would have remained above them and made some lengthy declamation, most likely about the perfection of the III Legion and its primarch.

It would be beyond laughable to do that now, and in any case he lacked the breath in his lungs and the fluent command of words for such a performance. The moment called for something else.

Slowly, carefully, Fulgrim descended from the dais to stand at the same level as his Astartes. They watched him intently. Even now, broken and diminished as they all were, they still looked instinctively to him with trust and, one could even say, faith.

The sensation was, of all things, humbling. He was sure he would never have thought of it that way before.

"Welcome home," Fulgrim said, holding out his arms to his sons. As if at some mutually-agreed signal the Astartes broke formation and surged towards him, eager to be close to their Primarch, to affirm his survival and their own despite everything.

After what felt like hours, Fulgrim was finally able to extricate himself from the throng of his sons and return to Ferrus, whose craggy features gave every appearance of satisfaction at the reunion he'd arranged.

"Thank you, Ferrus," he said. "Truly. But I have to ask - the Iron Phoenixes, really?"

Ferrus shrugged. "Well, I thought it was a good name. You're welcome to change it to something more artistic if you like."

Fulgrim looked at his sons contemplatively. The Iron Phoenixes, perhaps.

"Let me think about it," he said. "We might just be stuck with it."

[merirat]

They're never going to do anything like this in Hazbin Hotel because they've only got eight episodes per season, but I would be mightily impressed if they dove into the grey space of redemption.

I mean, the initial conceit of the show as set out by the pilot was Charlie's view of redemption (possible) vs Alastor's (impossible).

Season one proved that Charlie was right, even if the characters themselves don't know it yet, so what is the new conceit? That everyone can be redeemed vs only some can be redeemed? Is self-sacrifice required?

To flip that coin on its side: Is it possible to be redeemed by becoming completely irredeemable?

We're going to run with Alastor for this example, because of course we are.

Does he want to be redeemed? I think that's unlikely. He's amoral at best and can do pretty much anything he wants in Hell.

Still, it's possible. It's been stated that he's a bit of a mama's boy. If she was in Hell, he would have found her by now, so he might want to reach Heaven to see her again. Or fears her seeing what he is...

So Alastor doesn't want [or tells himself he doesn't want] to be redeemed and thinks it's impossible [or tells himself it's impossible]. Finding out about Sir Pentious means nothing. He was misclassified. Exceptions prove the rule.

And he's not wrong. Pentious seems like a "fallen into the wrong crowd" kinda guy. He repented the things he did. He atoned for them. He was absolved.

Alastor doesn't regret anything. He killed people when he was alive and probably killed them again in Hell for good measure. And then ate their liver. Because fuck those guys.

They are dead and double-dead. You can't atone for that.

But...

He isn't active. He's reactive.

He makes deals by responding to the chaos of Hell rather than creating it. He seems to acquire power just to keep others from having it and holding it over him.

He's an Overlord with no authority. He doesn't have a territory. He doesn't control a district. He has the radio waves, but they're inherent to his nature. It's not like commanding a slew of sinners.

He has power he doesn't wield. Which is to say, he doesn't throw his weight around to throw his weight around. He took down Overlords? Well... did they meet the criteria? He's a serial killer. He has a victim profile. He doesn't go after people on a whim, otherwise he would have eaten Susan by now.

Sir Pentious? Came at him. Vox? Same deal. Loan sharks? Attacked his place of residence. Exorcists? See both of the above... and his first act in that fight was to produce a shield, mitigating damage to the other hotel residents.

Ignoring his breakdown about almost dying for others for the moment, Alastor has been consistently described as terrible — and is definitely manipulative and deceitful — but has proven willing to pull all stops for the things that are important to him. Even if, to his horror, those things turn out to be other sinners.

So what does any of this have to do with the price of cabbage?

Alastor is, shall we say, living in Interesting Times™. There's an almost constant threat to his ecosystem: Heaven, Vox, whatever bullshit caused him to broker a deal. I don't think it's beyond the scope of his personality to do anything and everything to preserve what he feels he needs. Up to and including the vilest, most heinous, offensive to Creation itself strategy that comes down the pike.

Consume the core of the threat and be forever tainted? Sure.

Become a living cage for the essence of Evil itself? You bet.

Fuse himself to the very nature of Hell so that he can never leave? Wasn't planning to anyway.

Fight God and eat the heart of the Almighty if he wins? Fire up the barbeque.

In short, become so horribly corrupted that he's barely a shell of humanity, let alone redeemable, and in doing so save every soul in both Heaven and Hell?

What the hell do you do with a shining beacon of depravity?

[cerastes]

Thoughts about IS3

I love IS2, and I love IS3. I completed Surging Waves 15 on week 1, and am now trudging to do a 100% completion of IS3, as I did with IS2. I played IS2 a lot, and I will be playing IS3 a lot. With this in mind, I’ve had a lot of thoughts regarding IS3, by itself and as a successor to IS2. I will be sharing these thoughts.

The balancing on IS3 is done very well, because the Surging Waves is a good system. Some may know it as “Intensity” or “Heat”, but Surging Waves is a concept often used in modern Roguelikes to add different modifiers to the base systems and balance of a Roguelike to further increase replay value. The fundamental design of IS3 is easier than IS2, but with Waves, it becomes harder than IS2. This is a good thing: IS3 is more welcoming than IS2 to newcomers both to the game as a whole and to endgame content. You can tackle Waves 0 as a mid-range player, as long as you have basic understanding of building a team, without much difficulty. The clear rates of IS3, visible in the game itself, are pretty high already, and I see a lot of people say they feel IS3 is easier than IS2. I agree with the sentiment, the base balancing of IS3 is much less demanding than IS2, but as you ascend the waves, it becomes significantly harder than IS2 between the slowly ascending stat heft as well as the extra conditions.

Team building flexibility is far more permissible in IS3 than IS2. IS2 had this problem where a Berry pick (Honeyberry or Mulberry) as a Medic was pretty much always the correct choice due to the sheer amount of Nervous Impairment that the game dishes out, with almost every IS2 exclusive enemy and two out of the four bosses inflicting it in heavy quantities. Not only that, but the very nature of Nervous Impairment as a type of Elemental damage is particularly dangerous: Heavy burst damage plus several seconds of Stun compromise your defense and offense significantly! In IS3, on the other hand, there’s more varied types of Elemental Damage, with the main type being Corrosion: Indeed, plenty of enemies inflict Corrosion, but Corrosion as a type of Elemental damage allows for FAR more flexibility in team building: A Berry is suddenly not always the right choice, they remain VERY good choices, but not the Best choices necessarily when gauging where to put your Hope. Likewise, Crowd Control-capable Operators, irregular range Operators, and other such characters are all good choices in IS3 due to deliberate enemy design and tile placement that makes them great to have, as opposed to the fundamentally simplistic, rudimentary style of map design seen in IS2 that, by nature, benefited Marksman (AA) Snipers heavily.

Bosses have a unified design philosophy of “Alternate Bulk”. Instead of making stat sticks in order to deal with burst damage compositions and strategies, they instead give them a range of base stats not far removed from the IS2 final bosses, instead opting to give them different ways to mitigate damage that can be circumvented by the player one way or another in order to gain an advantage: Highmore has high HP but low DEF, however, she also significantly cripples the ASPD of nearby units (-60 phase 1, -80 phase 2) and has multi-target with Corrosion damage in order to prevent just easily being able to absorb her hits with one superbuffed tank (3 targets phase 1, 5 targets phase 2). The Last Knight has a whooping 4000 Defense that can be reduced to a paltry 800 with a special item, much like how you could remove the Big Sad Lock’s regen with an item and he Freezes units that damage him twice in the space of 2 seconds (4 seconds under 25% HP), however, he moves very slowly, has to work through a bunch of Rubble, moves ONLY in a straight line, and is susceptible to every status effect in the game except Silence. Skadi seems straightforward at first, but she necessitates you to place your units in specific tiles to slow down her SP charge, and if it fills, she transforms into Ishar’mla, and He must be defeated to turn Him back, all the while gaining access to a fast triple target 4-tile range True Damage autoattack. This all means that bosses come with their own counters and mechanics to deal with, but not invalidate, burst damage: Burst damage compositions are still very strong! In fact, if you get lucky with items, you can really just burst right through their mechanics all unga bunga style, but even if you don’t win the item lottery, a good burst composition will still pay great dividends, it’s just, the game wants you to sub-build something else alongside your burst composition! It can be bulk, it can be crowd control, it can be global control, it can be sustained damage, anything! This not only incentivizes varied builds, it rewards playing the game in your own desired way instead of always rewarding burst, all without actually weakening or invalidating burst. Coming from a mobile game, this is fantastic game design not usually seen in that sector of the industry, with mobile games usually taking a heavy-handed “completely negate a style of play” approach to ‘balancing’ whether long-term or for gimmicks.

It’s all actually fresh new maps. I’m astounded, because I thought IS3 was going to be Mostly IS2 But With A Couple New Maps And A Creepy And Wet Coat Of Paint, the way IS2 was IS1 But With A Couple New Maps And A Creepy And French Coat Of Paint. Nope, they legit just made a whole slew of new maps. I wouldn’t have minded IS2 2 but I am very very happy that IS3 is its own thing!

The Squads are still kind of lopsided. Not all Squads are made equal, and I don’t think they were meant to be, but I also don’t think they were meant to be this unequal. In IS2, Resource Squad, Leader Squad, and Class-specific Squads blew the other Squads out of the water pretty badly. In IS3, the three new Squads are pretty damn good, and I think it has to do with the fact that you can upgrade them with the all-new talent tree whereas... You Can’t Do That with the other Squads. This is a very weird decision, because the three new Squads are very very strong if played with their strengths in mind, further incentivized by the new systems like Surging Waves, Dice, Light, Caches, and Wish Fulfillment. For instance, one of the few decisions I dislike about Surging Waves is the fact that Waves 4 increases Hope cost of everything 3 Stars and above by 1... This is huge! That single increase in price makes 3 Stars that aren’t Reserves cost 1 Hope! It’s a pretty massive game-changer in terms of building and early run economy! I would’ve made that something like Waves 7 or 8 personally, but it’s very early at Waves 4. However, People-Oriented Squad complete gets rid of it, while still offering its discounted Promotion costs. I’ll be honest, I don’t play Waves 4 and above if it isn’t People-Oriented as of the making of this post, because being able to Not deal with that is simply too strong. And if I wasn’t doing that, I’d definitely grab either of the two new Squads to try and make up for it in other areas, and if not those, the Class-specific Squads, again, for Hope efficiency. I wish they would make the other Squads a bit more appealing or upgradable. They aren’t unplayable by any means, but I think there’s a clear disparity in potency. *I understand part of this is also because my strategy is based on Hope-efficiency, but putting that aside, I do believe there’s a disparity in potency, even with my possible bias.

These are my main thoughts regarding IS3. I’ve been enjoying the game mode a lot and I can’t wait to experiment more with it.

[morbidsmenagerie]

Keeping Medically Significant Animals

Important Information, Myths, and Best Practices

So I've been sitting on this post for a while, though I had been thinking about writing it up. What spurred me to do this now was the incident that occurred last Friday. A man was hospitalized for being bitten by his pet Inland Taipan, and from what I know right now is still in critical condition. This got special attention from the hobby because he was an ass, and frequently posted inflammatory rants and videos about free handling his snakes. The story is starting to circulate on news, and the police got involved, and his snakes were confiscated and euthanized.

This is the most recent news article I have about the situation. Whenever stuff like this happens it strongly affects people in the hobby, this damages the perception of both the animals we care for and the hobbyists themselves. South Carolina previously had little regulation on keeping venomous snakes, but because this one incident with this one guy who was blatantly irresponsible, it is likely new laws will be passed regulating the keeping of these animals.

In general, I do think some stricter regulations should be in place, but the problem with these incidences becoming so public is that the lawmakers who will write these laws likely have no knowledge or experience with the hobby, and will assume this is the norm. This is much more likely to pass whole bans, or to pass extremely broad restrictions. The UK currently has a very strict Dangerous Wild Animal law that bans whole families of animals, regardless if individual species in those families are actually dangerous or not.

So I'm going to be discussing a bit about the keeping of medically significant animals, what the hobby actually looks like, what risks are involved, and how we can mitigate and prepare for those risks to make keeping as safe as it can possibly be. I will primarily be focusing on arachnids, as that is where my experience lies.

What is a medically significant animal?

In order to properly regulate the hobby, we need to have some basis of definitions. Unfortunately, there is no clear consensus on what animals are or are not "medically significant". Medically significant is a hobby term, typically when this is discussed in scientific settings they refer to "medically important venomous animals". Usually, this term is reserved for animals that present some threat to human health and safety. Even this isn't clear cut though, for example I couldn't fine a clear cut answer on whether or not honeybees were considered medically important. They do sting people, and that sting could result in a life threatening situation if the person is allergic, but I'm not sure where the consensus is on if a secondary allergy reaction or bacterial infection from the initial sting makes the animal itself medically important. I'm also not sure what amount of risk is required for an animal to be considered medically important. There has been one reported death from a Javanimetrus cyaneus, presumably because someone had a novel severe reaction or some other health complication that reacted poorly with the venom, but in all other sting reports and investigations of this species that risk is extremely unlikely. They are not considered medically important.

The definition I like to use is a "medically significant" animal is an animal where a bite or sting has a reasonable risk of requiring medical attention from a hospital. Bees aren't medically significant, unless you are allergic to them in which case they would be medically significant to you. Javanimetrus cyaneus aren't medically significant because the risk of anything more than mild pain is exceedingly rare.

Venom is also usually placed on a scale in the hobby, to designate the level of risk. This is also up for a lot of debate, so this is the scale I use when talking about scorpions:

1 - Extremely low potency, pain clears up in less than an hour, no lasting effects.

2 - Low potency, pain may last longer than an hour but less than a day, may experience localized swelling or tingling, no lasting effects.

3 - Potent, pain may last longer than a day, systemic effects such as nausea, sweating, light-headedness may occur, a severe reaction may require a hospital visit but usually clears up with no lasting effects. The lowest level of medically significant.

4 - Very potent, systemic effects likely, may require a visit to the hospital, potentially life threatening if there is a severe reaction.

5 - Life threatening, has been known to kill adults, you should immediately go to the hospital.

This can be useful when discussing relative risk when keeping an animal, but all precautions and best practices should be used when dealing with any animal that is medically significant. Remember:

ANYONE can have a bad reaction to ANY VENOM, which could make a sting from ANY species turn into a LIFE THREATENING event!

Risk Mitigation

I often compare keeping medically significant animals to riding a motorcycle. Riding a motorcycle at all is inherently more dangerous than other forms of transport, no matter how safe you are, you are still taking that extra risk. Risk is unavoidable, there is some inherent risk in anything you do. The best thing to do when faced with this reality is to take steps to be as safe and informed as possible about the risks, and to have a plan for what to do if things go wrong.

For riding a motorcycle, this looks like wearing proper protective gear including a helmet, following posted traffic laws, taking a motorcycle riding course and getting a license, and having adequate health insurance to cover you in case of an accident. None of these things will ever completely eliminate the risk of an accident, but being informed and as safe as possible will still help protect you and others.

For medically significant animals, here are some ways to mitigate the risks:

Properly secured enclosure

This is an absolute must. A properly secure enclosure looks different depending on what animal you're talking about. For scorpions, they can't climb smooth surfaces, but are very diligent escape artists and can reach up rather far by balancing on their tails, and access much higher in the enclosure than you would initially think. They are also quite strong, and can open up lids that aren't properly secure. Having a locking mechanism or a double container (a larger container over the smaller one as an extra layer of protection) is also recommended. A secure enclosure can also apply to what's outside and around it. If you have pets, children, guests, or other considerations like that, a properly secure enclosure might also look like a locked room where the container is located, or a locked shelf that is well out of reach. Properly labeling the enclosure to ensure everyone in the house is aware of the potential dangers of the animal is also a good idea.

2. Safe interactions

After the animal has been properly secured, you now have to figure out how to do all the maintenance, feeding, and moving that goes into keeping a pet generally. The most dangerous time of interacting with a medically significant animal is during rehousing, the animal will be stressed from being moved and is likely to be agitated and bolty. If the scorpion has to be moved for rehousing or a related situation (such as placing them together for breeding), proper considerations should be made. I always use double containment, which is basically a larger tub or container that is escape proof that the container the animal is in, and the container it's being moved into both fit inside. One of my closest calls was with my Androctonus bicolor. I was moving him to a larger enclosure, so I had him tailed with a pair of forceps and was lifting him up. He was much stronger than I anticipated, and was able to hook his tail in the forceps and flick himself out of my grip. he landed on the edge of his old container and crawled out, but luckily I had a double container around his old container so instead of ending up on my floor, he ended up safely contained in a larger container. From there I was able to move him to his new container.

Safe interactions also involve awareness of where the scorpion is, and where your hands are at all times. I never let my hands break the plane of the enclosure, they always stay outside. For anything that requires me reaching into the enclosure, I always use forceps. Getting into this habit is imperative, for one if something goes wrong you already have forceps ready and are less likely to instinctively reach out with your hand, for two if you don't know where the scorpion is and you reach for something with your hands, you are much more likely to accidentally squish or spook it and receive a sting.

This should go without saying, but unfortunately there are still too many examples of this and it is the number one reason why people get bit and stung by their pets.

NEVER handle ANY medically significant animal with your bare hands!

There is no reason for it. None of the animals we've discussed for medical significance, including all snakes and arachnids, get any benefit from being handled. There is no benefit to the animal at all. Arachnids are naturally solitary, and being handled is at best just going to annoy them and at worse stress them out. No risk, no matter how small you think it is, is worth bothering your animals for.

I am also including people who intentionally free handle to "prove" how docile the animal is. I don't think this is the proper way to go about education about potentially dangerous species, and I don't think it accomplishes the intended goal. You can explain, for example, that spiders are very reluctant to bite, are skittish, and are not out to attack you. There are many ways to demonstrate a spiders docility, one of my favorite ways is using the "cheese test" from Travis McEnery's "The Spiders in your House" series on Youtube. This can be beneficial to ease people's fear about these animals, without putting yourself in undo danger. I've also demonstrated Brown Recluse reactions to a threat using a paintbrush, or use forceps to demonstrate scorpion defensive behavior.

What isn't safe is holding an animal with your bare hands, intentionally provoking it by pressing it to yourself or harassing it with your finger, or putting it on your face or in your mouth to "prove" that it's safe. For one, it's not safe, it's a medically significant animal and should be treated as such. I also don't think this is modeling safe behaviors with how to interact with these animals, especially when doing education for younger children. Just because an animal is unlikely to bite you, doesn't mean it can't or won't. It just takes them believing they are under threat, which depending on the animal or situation could change. An animal that is generally docile but for whatever reason that day is more on edge, or you pinched it accidentally, or you moved too fast and it got spooked, is liable to bite you. And when bites like this happen, the first thing everyone says is "what did you expect", which only confirms the public perception that these animals are inherently dangerous to be around.

3. Plan for the worst

Even with proper precautions, shit can happen and stuff occasionally goes wrong. It's always better to plan for the possibility there will be an accident than to think it wont happen and be taken by surprise. Have a plan for what you will do in the event of a bite or sting. This can look like having anti-venom on hand, informing your doctor ahead of time of medically significant animals you have in your house so they can give you recommendations, and having a first aid kit and an EpiPen in case of an allergic reaction. Anti-venom can be hard to find, or not available for personal use, and if your local hospital won't carry it for you that's another important thing to factor in when considering the risk of owning these animals.

NEVER think it won't happen to you, complacency leads to ACCIDENTS!

You should also have a plan in case of an escape, keeping your animals in a specific room will help with this, because you can preemptively block small cracks or exits to prevent them from getting into the rest of your house. Have a way to search for and recover the animal if possible, and know what to do in case the animal cannot be recovered. Depending on the animal and how severe the venom is, it may be necessary to call animal control to recover the animal if you cannot find it and it poses a significant danger to yourself or your neighbors.

You should also plan for other disasters. If you live in a place with earthquakes, are your enclosures secure enough to not be knocked off the shelves? If it's a severe earthquake, what will you do if they get knocked over anyway? In the event of a fire, how will you ensure the animal stays contained, and will it be necessary to inform the fire department of it's location? What about with flooding? Obviously it is difficult to imagine dealing with that added stress in the event of a severe disaster, but it is still important to think about.

These three things should be at the forefront of every keepers mind if they are considering keeping medically significant animals. These are general points of consideration, and what the specifics look like heavily depend on what animals you are keeping, but your goal should always be to make keeping as safe as possible for you, your neighbors, and the animal itself.

The Golden Rule

Always show these animals respect. Whenever you're thinking about their care, housing, making a disaster plan, or interacting with them, remember that these animals can potentially kill you. People who don't take the risks seriously or rely too much on their experience get complacent, and that leads to poor husbandry practices and mistakes.

Myths and Misconceptions

"I've been keeping this species for years, I can read it's behavior."

While experience will give you a much better understanding of the animal and will help you anticipate how it will react to different things, that's not a good substitute for proper handling techniques. Every individual is different, and every individual can have days where they're more or less reactive to stimuli. For example, scorpions that are gravid and close to giving birth are considerably more reactive and aggressive than they would be normally. A lot of communal tanks end because one of the scorpions ended up gravid and suddenly killed her tank mates. Animals can also be more easily stressed right before a molt, or if they already are in an agitated state from excess stimuli. Sometimes the animal makes a mistake, if you are hand feeding them they could miss the intended prey item and hit you instead. Experience also doesn't mean you can't make a mistake, and accidentally pinch or scare the animal. This kind of thinking is born of hubris, and it not properly taking into account the actual risks involved.

"This is a docile species."

Similar to the above, just because a species is generally docile doesn't mean they can't or won't bite. Every animal has it's own range of tolerances, or they could be more stressed from other stimuli, or they could mistakenly get you because they missed the intended prey item, or you could pinch them and they believe they are under threat. I don't think every animal needs to be treated like it could go wild at any second and just suddenly attack you, but you should still have a realistic understanding of the risks and realize that even docile species can bite or sting.

"No one should keep these anyway."

A lot of people think the only reason anyone would keep a medically significant animal is because of some masculine driven death wish. We do things that are risky all the time, you're way more likely to get sent to the hospital from a car accident or your neighbor's dog than you are for any of the pets you keep if you practice proper risk mitigation. Venom is not the only draw of these animals, and the goal of keeping them isn't just to prove how much of a badass you are. The hobby tries really hard to self regulate and provide proper education and understanding for animals that have really bad reputations, I personally do a lot of education and outreach on recluse spiders, which are medically significant. Please believe that the people who are showing off their dangerous animals just to get internet attention are a very small minority of us who keep significant animals, and that there are ways to keep them at a reasonable level of safety, and that everyone can make their own decisions on what risks they are or are not willing to accept. I personally will not keep any Ctenidae, because the combination of being medically significant and the ability to climb plastic is not a level of risk I'm willing to accept.

"Doesn't showing a bite provide useful information?"

Potentially it can, but I have a strong dislike of the Youtubers who are taking bites and stings for views. We have bite/sting reports for medically significant species, and you can use multiple testimonies to give a more realistic impression of how the venom would affect you. Everyone reacts differently to pain and venom, so any one bite or demonstration is not that helpful in determining how dangerous an animal actually is. I also think they tend to either over or underexaggerate their reactions, one of the Youtubers I particularly have an issue with is Jack's World of Wildlife. He has taken Loxosceles reclusa bites and continually downplays their significance. He has said he "doesn't consider them to be medically significant at all" even though the video shows he experienced systemic effects. Loxosceles reclusa is also a good example of why these videos don't work for general education, Loxosceles venom is particularly active against fat cells, so bites on the thighs are more severe than bites on the extremities. Jack is a fit, skinny guy taking a bite on his forearm, an area without a lot of fat cells. He is demonstrating what is essentially the best case scenario for a bite (and still experienced systemic effects), how your body will react to a bite will be different. A more reasonable discussion taking into account the range of reported case studies would be more useful for education. I also think these kinds of videos encourage people to try it for themselves to see if it's "really that bad".

Conclusion

Medically significant animals are a very interesting group of animals, but careful special consideration needs to be taken when talking about their husbandry and care. Accidents can always happen, and people who are intentionally disregarding the risks and modeling bad behaviors bring down the hobby as a whole. Law makers are unlikely to have a balanced take on the hobby, and if they believe keeping these animals in inherently a danger to the public they could easy pass strict laws that kill the hobby as a whole. These animals are fascinating, but they deserve your respect and awareness because they can potentially cause you serious harm.

[loverlylight]

Well. I knew that regardless of the outcome, things were gonna be bad, because either Harris would win and Trump and his supporters would throw a hissy fit like they did last time they lost, or this would happen. Even so, this is super fucking disheartening. And like... I'm not gonna lie, I'm really scared right now. I'm scared for the Palestinians who have been suffering under Israeli oppression for decades now that someone who unequivocally supports their murderers will be in power again over here. I'm scared for all of my trans friends and family, including my own fucking sister who I love more than life itself. I'm worried about what damage this will cause to the country, for rights and healthcare and the economy and the continuation of democracy itself, and more importantly the people that damage will impact. I don't know what the next four years will hold. I really fucking don't. I don't think he'll be able to accomplish everything he said he would do, but even a fraction of it will be bad enough.

And like, honestly? I feel scared for myself as well. Trump winning in 2016 was awful, but I was able to chalk it up to a lot of mitigating factors. But in the years since then, the man has very clearly shown what type of person he is, and still so many fucking people in this country voted for him. I know there are good people in this country as well, but... I dunno. Wasn't able to get much sleep and I feel this is getting away from me. Anyway, hang in there? I love you all? Things look pretty dark right now, but I truly believe there's good simply in trying to make things better even if it's all for nothing in the end. And things definitely won't get better if we don't try. So try to hold on as best you can.

[thegreymoon]

Ah, it is crying hours for me tonight as I am now rereading Chu Wanning's death scene(s). As if the one after the Heavenly Rift was not bad enough, we finally got the details on his death in the 0.5 timeline and... yeah 😢

But I did have one moment of clarity. This part always confused me:

The word "reminiscence" that was used both here and in the unofficial translation kind of conjures up for me the image two people having a long, friendly talk, possibly over drinks, about their shared memories. And I just couldn't imagine 0.5 Taxian-jun and Xue Meng having a friendly get-together where they would "reminiscence" ever again. Nor could I imagine that Chu Wanning harboured any hope of a reconciliation between them, because Mo Ran had, at this point already slaughtered so many people, including Xue Zhengyong, Madam Wang and the entirety of Sisheng Peak.

However, it occurred to me that what Chu Wanning actually meant would be more along the lines of "remember" or "recall". At this point, Chu Wanning knows about the flower curse. He knows it has wiped Mo Ran's good memories, but he still clings to hope that Mo Ran will somehow eventually snap out of it, maybe break the curse of his own volition, at which point he would want to remember his past and have to ask somebody who knew him when he was young.

Chu Wanning keeps telling Mo Ran to wake up, and in retrospect, he obviously means "wake up" from the spell:

Chu Wanning summoning Jiuge without his spiritual core makes it clear that in spite of being crippled and imprisoned, Chu Wanning still had options to either kill himself or kill Taxian-jun. Yet he chose to live on, even in this state of suffering. Yes, his primary motivation for giving himself to Taxian-jun in the first place was to protect Xue Meng and to maybe mitigate as much damage as he possibly could. But he also loved Mo Ran, he loved him so much and felt such guilt for not protecting him from this evil. Later on in the book, there is that part where Chu Wanning considers killing him and finds the idea unthinkable. Because, let's be real, if Chu Wanning had been motivated enough to kill Taxian-jun, he would have figured out a way. He figured out how to create a rift in time and space with no spiritual core in order to save him. If he had ever seriously wanted Taxian-jun dead, Taxian-jun would have died. But Chu Wanning loved him and held on to hope that he could bring him back. Even his last words to Mo Ran were about forgiving himself.

He says this as he lies there dying:

He still tries to call him back:

Later on in the book, when Chu Wanning 0.5 merges with 2.0, we get that flashback where he likens himself to a torch burning itself out to light the way for Mo Ran to return home eventually and worries about what will happen if he burns out before he turns back. The idea of Mo Ran being forever lost in the dark torments him.

Also, the only reason he chose to die at that point in the 0.5 timeline is because of a desperate hope that his death might snap Mo Ran out of his madness, which even works, in a way. Mo Ran does try to turn back. He desperately seeks someone who can tell him what he was like before because he can no longer remember, but at that point, there is nobody left. This is exactly what Chu Wanning was afraid of, which was why he implored him not to kill Xue Meng. Because after he himself was gone (and he knew that this last escapade with Jiuge was a suicide mission), Xue Meng would be the only person left alive who had known Mo Ran before the flower ate up his mind.

There is no turning back for Mo Ran in the 0.5 timeline and when he realizes this, he decides to end his life.

(A tiny thing that proved me half-wrong, though, is that Taxian-jun and Xue Meng did eventually sit down and reminiscence in the extras! But, again, only half-wrong, because that was not Taxian-jun's Xue Meng. His Xue Meng died in that flood and they never reconciled, so 😢)

[albatris]

happy sts!

i've been listening to your a rental car takes a left down rake street and disappears playlists and i'm loving it! would you like to talk about wip it is for?

writblr: @vsnotresponding

hiii happy storyteller saturday!! thanks for the ask :D

yay I'm glad you're enjoying the tunes! the story is the first in a trilogy about a freshly-turned body horror mode vampire and an equally monstrous human bastard on their quest to kill the giant vampire hivemind known only as 'the Garble'!

the blurb for the first book is as follows:

Schizotypal loner Nat Finch leaves work one afternoon, and the next thing he knows, he's waking up on the side of the road covered in dirt with no memory of the past ten days. All attempts to return to regular life are quickly thwarted - whatever happened to him during his blackout has left him morphing into something strange and monstrous.

When his new condition reaches a bloody, ravenous breaking point, a human stranger steps in: Quinn Cooper, powerful and dazzling manipulator with a cruel streak, here to mitigate the damage and offer Nat safety under their wing... as long as Nat does exactly as he's asked and doesn't ask questions.

:3

other important characters include Alex Anders, rigidly moral vampire lawyer having ten existential crises at once, Yvonne Tozier, cheery video game fanatic full of barely-contained simmering fury (she works customer service, you get it), and Zeke Cunningham-Warwick-Lâm, romance novelist by day, vampire hunter by night, and full-time weird psychic, who desperately needs to stop burning herself out every other week and practice some self-care

I'm most excited abt my vampire worldbuilding! vampirism as a condition is sentient, it's one being spread throughout many different bodies..... the life force gathered by the many vampires flows to the centre of the hivemind to give it eternal life while the vampires themselves are left with mere scraps

the story itself is full of queerness and body horror and my barely contained rage abt existing as a disabled person under capitalism

n yeah! that's about all!

[fabrickind]

Finding Cosplay Photoshoot Locations Part 5: Logistics and Behavior

📸Discovering Cosplay Photoshoot Locations Part 5: Logistics and Behavior 📸

Final part of my tutorial on finding cosplay photoshoot locations! This portion covers how to plan for your shoot, what to bring, and how to treat the location and anyone at it with respect.

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial! I have a few more in the works, but let me know in the comments what other tutorials you'd like to see.

Cosplay is often uncomfortable and cumbersome, and needs extra care when going to a location. You also want to make sure you look the best in your photos. This means that you need to take some extra planning into consideration when planning a photoshoot.

​What to Bring

I always bring a small kit with me with necessary or potentially necessary items so I can keep myself and my costume in proper shape. This kit always includes a small makeup touchup kit, which usually has the items most likely to need touching up at the location: eyelashes and lash glue (I put on the lashes once I'm at the shoot), lip products, face glue for my wig, and any cosplay-specific items like nail glue or face paint. This kit also includes wig touchup items such as a comb and bobby pins. I also recommend a small repair kit with items such as safety pins, tape, and a quick-setting glue so you can do any quick repairs on your costume. 

Bring a cover-up item or change of clothes. If you are planning on anything that might be messy, especially dirty, or wet, you may need a full change of clothes (and a place to put these on), but even if not, bring a coverup item such as a skirt or robe in case your costume is on the skimpy side, or something to convert your costume into normal-ish clothes if you need to stop anywhere on the way there or back.

In addition to items for cosmetic repairs, you also will need a few safety items, especially when shooting outdoors and not in a studio space. If your costume has difficult shoes, bring a change of shoes if you need to cross difficult terrain or if the ground is especially dirty or dusty and would ruin the look of your cosplay shoes to walk through. Snacks and water are also always a good item to bring, as well as any medication or items you may need for medical conditions. If the costume is not suitable for your location's weather, you will need to bring items to mitigate the weather: a coat or jacket, handwarmers, hot or cold beverages, hand or battery operated fans, and stick-on cooling patches often sold for headaches, depending on the situation. 

​Planning Ahead

I always check the weather leading up to a shoot, and sometimes, you want very specific weather. In these cases, such as wanting a photoshoot in the snow or on a sunny beach when you live somewhere those conditions happen but aren't especially common, keeping a cosplay on hand to take advantage of the weather when it does happen can help you get that dream shoot.

When planning for travel to your shoot location, be sure to plan for all aspects of travel: what mode of transportation, how you will get from your main transportation to the shoot itself, and how the photographer will get there if they are not coming with you. I highly recommend driving or carpooling if at all possible, since you don't want the hassle of taking public transit in cosplay, and a car can hold more and larger items like props and wings. I also recommend putting the finishing touches on your cosplay at the location -- wigs, false eyelashes, accessories, etc. -- so you don't have to worry about these items getting damaged or being uncomfortable in transit. Also get to know the parking for your shoot ahead of time. I like SpotAngels.com for parking information, since it tells you where parking is, how long the time limits are, when no parking times such as street sweeping are, and how much the parking costs. Know the cost of parking and how far it is from the shoot location itself -- I'd personally rather pay a little more for closer parking while in cosplay, but that's up to your own comfort and ability. 

Also get to know the location ahead of time. Look at user-submitted photos and street views on Google Maps and similar sites, and if possible, visit the location ahead of time. There may be hazards like uneven ground, rocks, stairs, or water that you would not otherwise be aware of. Since some costumes would be difficult at best and dangerous at worst to wear in some locations, such as very high heels when scrambling over rocks or a trailing gown with deep water or thorny underbrush, be sure to bring that change of clothes and shoes for such situations and only wear the final look at the actual place the photos are being taken.

Behavior Towards the Location

Finally, when shooting on location, treat the location itself and anyone at it with the utmost respect. With private locations, such as a rented studio, be sure to treat the property well, and with public locations, be sure to treat both the property and anyone at it well, as you won't have a private, cordoned-off area. Treat your location better than you would treat your own property. This is both for the sake of other people so you do not disturb them or force people to clean up after you, but also for your own sake so you don't get in trouble and also can continue shooting in that location. Studios and other rented locations will give you their rules on their website or when you book, and most public locations will have their rules and regulations on their website or alongside any permits you purchase. If you are in doubt about something, always email to get permission first. This will not only ensure that you actually have permission to do what it is you want, but will also put you in the good graces of whoever is in charge of the location and they will be more likely to welcome you and other cosplayers back.

Always follow the "carry in, carry out" principle. With very few exceptions for properly disposed of small trash items (think snack wrappers, not entire props), everything you bring with you into a location needs to come back out of the location with you. This is most important for outdoor locations, as anything left behind can become an ecological issue, but also in private indoor locations, especially if you are using messy substances like fake blood or confetti. Be sure to clean up any props you use and any trash you generate. If renting a location, be sure to leave extra time to strike the set at the end. This involves cleaning up and removing anything you brought in yourself as well as moving anything that belongs to the location back to its proper place. Many studios have lighting equipment, furniture, and other items you can use, but require you to leave the location how you found it and these items where they belong. 

​Don't make any permanent or potentially permanent changes to your location. This includes digging in outdoor locations, littering, staking items into the ground, or affixing items to walls or other environmental items such as rocks or furniture, even if you use temporary methods such as tape, as these can still damage the location. Also be careful of trespassing into areas that are closed to the public, especially in outdoor locations where these areas are typically closed due to either danger or ecological sensitivity, and stick to public pathways and roads as much as possible. Don't trample plants or pick flowers or otherwise damage the environment. Grassy fields and such are usually okay unless specifically blocked off or closed, but areas like flower fields or otherwise cultivated gardens are generally not. Also be sure to not use dangerous substances or props, especially in outdoor locations. You don't want to release dangerous chemicals in the environment or cause panic over a possible fire with smoke machines, or, worst case, actually start a fire.

​Behavior Towards Others

Perhaps one of the most important things to keep in mind is to treat anyone you encounter with respect. Staying humble and being an unobtrusive as possible will go a long way. Don't take up a lot of space for a long time, especially in popular areas. This goes for blocking pathways, camping in popular features so others can't enjoy them, blocking doorways, and otherwise diminishing other people's enjoyment and also creating an accessibility hazard. Move aside if you see people coming or if you are shooting in a particular spot for an extended time, and then return to it.

Do your best to not get strangers in your photos. While most wouldn't want that anyway because it would ruin the shot, be sure you aren't shooting in a way that could accidentally get people in your photos more easily by angling yourself differently or using different lenses and depth of field, but also make sure it doesn't look like you are photographing strangers. Generally it's obvious what you are doing, especially with a photographer and not self shooting, but it's something to be aware of. 

You might get questions when shooting in a public place, so do your best to answer them kindly. I often don't want to explain the whole ordeal to people, and people generally understand when you say phrases like "art project" and "fashion shoot," but if you get people asking more in-depth questions than that, answer truthfully and kindly. You don't want people who had never heard of cosplay to have their first exposure to the hobby be negative, and most people are simply curious and interested in what cool thing you are doing. Use the opportunity to share that interest! In all my time shooting in public places, I have never gotten a rude comment, but if you do, deescalate the situation as much as possible and walk away if you need to. If you are more comfortable with a friend with you to help deflect, bring one.

Finally, keep yourself safe in interacting with others. Don't brandish weapon-like props in ways that can look like an attack, and I would advise leaving anything that looks realistic for private locations where you won't be putting yourself at risk if anyone mistakes the prop for being real. Even if a prop looks like a fantasy weapon, be careful not to brandish it in a potentially threatening manner. Also, if someone in a position of authority asks you to leave for any reason, cut the shoot short and do so immediately.

Thank you for reading, and happy shooting! :]

Links to other parts: 1 Location Types, 2 Discovering Locations, 3 Indoor vs Outdoor Locations, 4 Location Permissions, 5 Location Logistics

[centrally-unplanned]

The Gaza floating pier plan is an odd one, I was doing a bit of research & thinking on its logic. Like obviously you can get more aid in Gaza right now, its just Israel (and also Egypt, who buck-passes on this constantly) refuses to in turn increase aid or admit that aid is being truly slowed. Though also its a function of the fact the demand for aid is much higher than before, both through destroyed stocks, loss of domestic agricultural output (which Gaza had a little of pre-war), and supply needs for the occupation forces. And its not like the US right now really wants to get more involved in this issue, its net losses for the US as far as the eye can see. So it puts a bit of a permanent stake in a situation one would rather not, to solve a problem whose cause is tangential to this solution.

But on digging I do see the logic in it - essentially its a sign of the US - or lets the say the Biden admin, good to be specific - losing faith in not only Israel's conduct in the war, but also its goals for the war at all. It symbolizes that not only does the Biden admin expect them to not overly budge on the blockade issue, but they still will not be overly budging on it several months from now. But that this isn't a part of some Grand Strategy on their part, a strategic play to idk pressure Hamas to come to the table or even like weaponize suffering to cause legitimacy collapse. They just can't get around to a coherent end-state vision here, and things like aid restrictions are just strategy theatre run amok, "can't let in the ~weapons oh no" thoughts running on autopilot while Israel fights with itself over its goals. You can tell this because they are letting the port happen! They could just say no, if Lebanon tried to do this they would bomb it.

But of course while the Biden admin is less than thrilled about increased involvement, it (primarily) knows how badly this issue is damaging rep in the middle east given its stuck with its wedded ally, (secondarily) generally is opposed to famine and human rights crimes in any context and needs a strong reason to ignore them (which, to be clear, does happen sometimes, but this the baseline), and (tertiarily) doesn't love the domestic tension the issue is generating. And it no longer trusts Israel to fix its own mistakes in this regard. So it wants to "take it out of their hands" - now the US can set the tempo of aid deliveries, and Israel can't really stop it. (Like sure if they truly throw down they can block aid, they are going to cooperating on security for the pier, but it would be big leap in spiting the US for them to do that) It bypasses their dysfunction, which they expect to be ongoing. ~2 months from now the US can make sure if/when things have continued to go badly it can start mitigating harm and also control the narrative better.

This is cold comfort for any of the ongoing problems today, which are legion. But the other message of the pier is that those aren't changing. Israel isn't budging, and hey we haven't mentioned em yet but Hamas isn't budging either, they scuttled the latest round of cease fire talks and know that their demand of a permanent cease-fire at this point is a non-starter so I think that shows status quo reigning. Hey, maybe we will see what comes out of Doha in the next few days, but I bet it won't be too surprising (a short term hostage exchange is possible but that won't relieve the big issues). I am low certainty on this but if I am Hamas I think so far this is "going according to plan", certainly they wish they were inflicting more causalities on the IDF but they have a track record of realism on this one, they knew this would happen and politically things have been going well for them. And Israeli's political dysfunction seems stable as long as no elections are called, which is the smart money right now (Unless the Orthodox Jewish Freerider Problem blows the coalition up). So for the Biden Admin, the overton window for immediate action is very small, which means that they think plans that have longer time horizons make sense.

Idk it could just be them flailing and trying to look like they are Doing Something, but generally their track record on this front is pretty solid, Biden FP has been grounded (not the same as universally effective, though I think its been good overall). And Doing Something only works if it isn't a boondoggle, 2 months from now isn't after the election after all. Incompetence is possible, sure, but given their track record not my baseline, and I think the logic here does check out. Time will tell...

[lesb0]

miss terra what’s ur opinion on taylor swift? i feel like her latest album was a huge disappointment compared to her others, but i also feel like people are only hating so much because they’re eager to see a successful woman fail. i think any artist worth their salt will eventually go through a “flop” phase. but at the same time, i do know she got to this place of privilege in an unethical way, & that the work of nonwhite artists is ignored in favor of hers. would you agree when people say she has a monopoly on the music industry?

Taylor is by no means a good musician/singer at all. it's the extent of her performance, on and off stage, that no one is better at. she's worked harder to build a fanbase which idol worships her and feeds into their obsession with a particular kind of quasi-religious parasocial relationship super consistently. She's never turned against them. Most artists aren't willing to feed into Celebrity Worship Syndrome. Taylor is insane enough to love it. She never gets tired and delves into her privacy, she genuinely loves stans and will keep giving them varieties of stuff forever, which is the actual thing that makes her famous. No singer can poach the swifties, because they aren't obsessed with music, they love Taylor.

Music itself does not matter to a layman, it hasn't in a century. Anti Taylors lie about caring about technical skill and composition and virtuosic singing ability, but they don't listen to Vivaldi or Paganini 🤷🏾‍♀️ It's all parasociality marketing! she could retire to sell lyric tshirts or go into perfume and all her fans will follow. And then people will complain that she destroyed the graphic tee industry.

She's a hilariously out of touch awkward woman with every possible privilege available to women. But that doesn't shield her from misogyny. people blame her for ruining the garbage tiktokified music industry or swiftinomics for causing inflation or her high emissions for causing global warming. Or criticize her as if she's a major capitalist monopoly. Newsflash there are thousands of billionaire capitalist male CEOs doing 50x worse, on purpose, at a mass production scale for profits. if you're going to criticize her byproducts as the epitome of capitalism, then get rid of your iphone and amazon prime, go vegan, and boycott Disney first.

She isn't even doing the bare minimum of what she could to mitigate damages, but neither does the average person throwing stones, while ignoring the men who are much worse. Newsflash, monopolies and the declining "purity" of music isn't what they actually love hating on, though their criticism always manages to curiously land on women... Hmm! 🤔

All that to say I do not care about the modern music industry, or any American music, because I only listen to historically informed baroque music conservatories or 00s visual kei anyway! lol