#but the distribution of territories and who gets to live in them and who is the boss of how a territory is managed is SUPER strict

[keydekyie]

How does one become an elder in a Kanai community? Is it an actually position, or is it just the oldest among a community that make decisions?

It's just a matter of the most senior, most well-respected community members coming together to make decisions and lead gatherings. Elders emerge organically from the group, they aren't usually voted on or anything formal like that. Kanai communities are small and everyone knows everyone else. Not everyone wants to be considered an "elder" in the leadership sense as they get older, but it's commonly expected that the more outgoing, responsible, and sociable individuals will become elders as they age.

[afloweroutofstone]

The inevitable downfall of the violent, dictatorial, neoliberal government of Assad is itself a moment worthy of celebration; yet the future of Syria is now up in the air. The hopes of the Syrian people now depend on the answers to many questions that we cannot conclusively predict right now. These unknowns include:

How will HTS function as a national government? Has their signaling towards a more moderate strand of Islamism in recent years been sincere, or was it just a show to allow them to function as the center of power in a rebel movement ranging from jihadists to secular socialists? Are they either motivated to or capable of making good on their promises of reconstruction and national institution-building out of the ashes of what now constitutes Syrian politics? Will they be a theocratic monolith like the House of Saud, a weak pluralist semi-democracy like Lebanon, a diverse semi-autocracy like Turkey, something more reminiscent of Assad’s secular nationalism, something else entirely?

Will HTS be able to establish unified control of the security situation? There is currently a lack of centralized authority, a rapid formation of new organized criminal syndicates trying to either loot or establish control over slivers of territory, and dozens of ideologically-motivated armed rebel groups with only loose loyalties to the HTS government. The Taliban government in Afghanistan is still fighting Islamic State rebels for full territorial control to this day. How long will this fighting last in Syria, and what forms will it take?

If HTS can establish control, will they be willing to be restrained in their monopoly on violence, or will they attempt to rule purely by force? This can often be a make-or-break moment for the evolution of new post-war governments.

How will the interventionist powers with a vested interest in Syria react? Russia owns a naval base and just lost an ally; the US owns a chunk of Syrian territory; Israel is already making offensive moves; Turkey is now the closest ally and sponsor of the new government; and Iran has its own proxy forces in the conflict (not to mention supply lines to other proxies in the Middle East). Is Turkey getting its first puppet state in the region (besides Northern Cyprus)? Will the new Syria be pressed in from all sides? Is it even possible for an independent Syria to emerge from this?

How aggressively will Israel pursue control over the Golan Heights? What has long been a frozen conflict is already turning hot now that Israel's sending troops in to expand its effective lines of control and double down on its (illegitimate, illegal) occupation of the area. What does HTS do in response, and more generally, how do they deal with the fact that they're now neighbors with Israel?

There are already some early signs of refugee inflows returning from the diaspora-- how widespread will this be, how quick will it be, and how it we be distributed geographically? Will states with large refugee populations pressure them into returning? There are perhaps 10-15 million Syrian people living abroad, with more than five million just in the countries immediately surrounding the nation- what happens to all of them?

Will the Kurds be allowed to participate in the post-war political process? This might seem to imply some form of formal break with the PKK in order to appease Turkey enough to participate in the official deliberations on Syria’s future. I'd be interested to hear what kind of arrangement they might pursue- maybe some form of autonomous zone comparable to that of Iraqi Kurdistan?

Will there be retaliatory violence against the Alawite minority who were favored by Assad’s dictatorship? Against any of the other ethno-religious minorities who faced violence by virtually every side of this conflict? Wars of this intensity do not vanish overnight, especially in a nation like Syria which is fractured along ethnic, religious, and political lines. HTS has made a point of noting that they believe in protecting minorities in Syria, but the test will be in how they now treat Kurds, Yazidis, Alawites, Druze, etc., etc.

[bonefall]

Is there a list of all the jobs the cats can have?

I gotta make a whole thingie on this but here's a short list of the new job expansions, as a quick summary before I get around to it;

All heads of the patrol expansions report to the deputy. Patrol expansions also have apprentice chores that need to be carried out-- like dishwashing for Kitchen Patrol.

Official Jobs: Tasks that a cat can volunteer for or be assigned to for the day.

Kitchen Patrol Tasked with preparing meals. This includes processing prey from carcass to meat, making all the cats feel as full as possible on the food they have on-paw, and general preservation. NEW Position: Head of Kitchen. Oversees these operations, ensures fair ration distribution, decides the communal meal for the day, works directly with the other two heads to provide building materials (leather, bones) and discuss hunting quarries.

Hunting Patrol Very similar to canon; tasked with catching prey or patrolling the border. NEW Position: Head of Hunting. Tasked with managing prey populations and overseeing the types of animals that are being brought home. Has the freedom to levy "limits" on species and organize big game hunts. Is also expected to keep tabs on the territories and populations of other predators, especially vixens and how many cubs they're having in a season.

Construction Patrol An expansion of canon's unofficial builder roles. Tasked not only with building itself, but weatherproofing based on the season, comfort of the dens, and collecting materials. NEW Position: Head of Construction. Oversees projects and manages safety. Works intimately with the Head of Kitchen especially, responsible for taking the skinned pelts and processing them into proper leather, and cleaning spare long bones (especially of rabbits) for use as beams and supports. In ThunderClan, they are also responsible for maintaining the spears.

Educator A cat in charge of giving all kittens all their basic skills and a simple introduction to history, before their mentor and the elders eventually take over. Teaches kits how to understand glyphs, the names of certain animals, the leaders of their Clan, etc.

Unofficial Jobs: Tasks that a cat chooses to do, sometimes also asking permission to do it professionally or permanently.

Chaperone The "perma-queen" position. Helps out in the nursery and attends the needs of the queens. Doesn't typically do a lot with the kittens themselves, between their Mi, the Educator, any Bas or family they have, and the elders. Raising kittens is communal, so the Chaperone focuses more on the parents themselves. (Chaperones are generally rare, as they are redundant if you write the clan as a proper social unit, imo...)

Trader A cat who brings things to the border or to gatherings in order to swap them for other goods. Becoming more popular as peace between the Clans grows. Not a "position" but more of a hobby, or a talent. The Clans are currently running on bartering, between borders.

Crafting Weaving, tanning, toymaking, instrument creation, etc. Not so much a singular position rather than a blanket of various hobbies Clan cats can do in their off-time, now. While Construction Patrol often has to do these as chores, they can be done just for fun or personal gain.

In addition, the Leaders, Deputies, and Clerics have significant expansions as well.

Leaders are now given 9 lives to USE, and are expected to function as "the ideal warrior." They are at the head of dangerous missions, patrols, and are brave responders to natural disasters. They are blessed by StarClan itself, carrying a piece of a star to display their holy rank.

The Deputy is now expected to be the one who handles the "busywork" in the Clan so the leader is free to lead by example. The final decision always goes to the leader, but the deputy has MASSIVE influence over the day-to-day functions of the Clan now.

And the Cleric is the healer and spiritual authority of the entire Clan, only outdone by the Leader itself. Only a Cleric is allowed to interpret signs and omens, with Clan Culture now having the concepts of blasphemy, dark magic, and demonic influence.

[m--rtyr]

The bees are getting to me, I think it's Aaron time!

yayaya

my babygirl

tw: brief mention to Aaron's childhood isolation, self-mutilation, infected wounds, werewolf hunting, werewolf skinning.

Aaron's family is descended from Judgement, directly, their family line follows the first born son from every generation up to Judgement's first and only son. As a result, they carry a 'curse', which is more or less a capacity for specific magic without the apt vessel to control it.

The Ultima curse is still linked with wolves, and is the origin of werewolves, because they're linked in some cultures to death and destruction and it fits.

He grew up kind of isolated from the rest of the village, though he was hunting from a young age and supplying them with a lot of food. It was actually because of his skills as a hunter, when a disease began to spread through the group, that he ended up leading Falconclaw. People were too weak to hunt for their own families, and he managed to pick up the slack, and would oversee gatherers in case any were attacked or something happened due to their illness.

Because in Falconclaw, power isn't distributed by title but by what you do with it, and Aaron took care of people so they repay him with trust and loyalty that he'll continue to do good by them.

not at all a parallel to aph/avra or anything.

He ends up dating Lily because the elders were pushing him to begin a family, as it will strengthen his leadership because sharing good genetics with the group is, of course, ideal for furthering the survival of the community. And Lily's parents were the previous leaders, so her blood was deemed strong too. No matches are forced, just encouraged, and both became fond of each other very quickly.

Everyone is aware of his power, of his bloodline, but Falcon Claw was protected by the relic of Judgement that they had, and they didn't see his powers as a burden for they came from the same source. He actually got the relic as a wedding gift from the elders as he didn't just have a village to protect now, but a family too. He was actually able to bond with the relic, and now he has his sword. yay!

He lived pretty peacefully in FalconClaw for many years, the people got healthy, they were just doing good. and then Zane became high priest. not only did FalconClaw's refusal to assimilate into an O'Khasian territory make the O'Khasian lordship look weak, but they had a relic and Zane wanted it, and so the massacre happened.

Zane did not get the relic he wanted, but thanks to Aaron he left Falconclaw very injured, which was new for him because he had never been injured in battle before. He never got so close to a battle again after that, deciding he would rather start the wars than fight in them.

He blinded Aaron before he left though. As a snarky little comeback to something Aaron said. 'I won't just watch as you kill my people' 'then you won't be watching anything at all'. blind.

Aaron didn't immediately go blind, he kept some vision, but it just got worse and worse as his eyes became infected, and he ended up removing them himself to ensure the infection didn't spread. He would've killed himself, if it hadn't been for Jacob also surviving, so he just learned how to live life blind and nomadic, teaching jacob too, kind of miserable he couldn't give Jacob the life he was meant to have, surrounded by people who would love him.

he killed werewolves for money for a while. He never told Jacob this, didn't want his kid to know how rough things were, the kinds of things he had to resort to. It was good because he got money for getting werewolves away from villages, and if any got particularly spicy with him he'd keep their pelts, which made for good armour and were warm when they were somewhere cold. He usually let the werewolves keep their dead to bury them properly, but sometimes werewolves were just assholes and they just got buried without their skin.

He did, potentially, keep track of the jury and bounce from town to town following them specifically. He knew he could kill zane, he'd gotten so close once, and he was stronger now. not to mention, for the same reasons he was willing to kill werewolves (he was one of the few people who could), he was just waiting for a juror to slip up and give him an excuse to drop them. He was working through a lot of anger at the time.

He follows Jeffory to Pikoro, where he meets Lucinda. He's been keeping werewolves away from the village for some cash, and she offers him money for certain organs. And she even patches him up if he's gotten injured, and she's not too mad about keeping an eye on Jacob either. she'd prefer not to, but if he dropped Jacob on her doorstop she would at least Jacob inside.

And then he meets Avra. and by that point he is actively in the story so it's not really backstory anymore.

but tadaa, aaron's weirdly long backstory post!

[literaticat]

I realize this may be a tough question to answer but when pubs buy a book for world rights, do they typically distribute in many places? I am an author with a big 5 UK pub for world rights who lives in the UK temporarily but I’ll be back in the US by the time my book comes out. Of course I’d love to see my book in the US.

OK soooo I am going to try and explain this simply, but it might get confusing, apologies in advance!

If your UK publisher has World Rights, that means they can:

1) distribute their version of the book (English language, UK cover, etc) anywhere in the world, AND,

2) license the book to other publishers to create versions of the book for that other territory. ie, a German Language version from a German publisher, etc. (This can include a license to a US publisher to create a US version!)

I bolded the word "can" above, because "can" is not the same as "will." They WILL likely distribute widely in the UK and UK-commonwealth countries, and try to license the North American/US rights to a US publisher, who would then distribute THEIR version widely in the US/North America.

It would be the same going the other direction, by the way -- and this actually totally makes sense. US publishers have a robust sales, marketing, distribution system already in place -- they have accounts with every bookstore in this country, etc etc. UK publishers have that for the UK... but of course they don't have it for the US, or vice versa!

So that's the ideal scenario -- UK publisher deals with the UK, and either their US arm or a different US publisher makes a US version to sell directly to the US market. Bing bang boom.

If that DOESN'T happen for whatever reason -- like all the viable US publishers pass -- the UK version CAN be sold in the US. So US readers will be able to get the book on Kindle or Audible, or order physical copies. But it probably won't be stocked in a lot of bookstores the same way a US book might be unless the stores happen to have a relationship with YOU and order it specifically to stock -- simply because that UK publisher (probably) doesn't have US sales reps and whatnot to tell them about it and encourage them to order it!

Sidebar: You didn't ask this, but I think it must be said: If you had sold UK/Commonwealth rights ONLY to your UK publisher, that would mean they could NOT sell the book in the US. It would be on you/your agent to find that US publisher -- and if one could not be found, US customers would be unable to buy the book on Kindle, etc. They could still order a book from a UK bookstore -- but it would not be available in a regular way in the US at all. Likewise, if a US publisher only has North American rights -- they CAN'T sell it in the UK.

(That isn't to say you should always sell World or World English Rights! There are very good reasons to go for North American or UK only -- you just have to be aware that the rights/territory thing means something!)

[mistercrowbar]

Hey I saw you talk about Death Stranding and I was just wondering what do you think the gang would be like in a DS au?

oooooo very interesting my brain had fun with this. I will put the full thing under the cut but the tl;dr:

Aldiirn - Head of Distro with Bridges

Astarion - Prepper

Gale - Prepper

Karlach - soulless porter

Lae'zel - MULE

Shadowheart - terrorist

Wyll - freelancer

Aldiirn was part of the Bridges I expedition, a dedicated porter who did a lot of the legwork to get preppers to join the UCA and work side by side with Fragile Express. Things soured after the bombings, and with so many preppers turning away from unifying, Aldiirn left field work. His morale was low for a year or so but maintaining connections (and sorting boxes) helped him get his head back in gear. He took to management, becoming Head of Distribution for the Distribution Centre South of Lake Knot City. Aldiirn is delighted when Bridges II rolls through and brings familiar faces, plus new ones, back to the network, and South Distro is as bustling as the Knot Cities.

Astarion is trapped in a prepper bunker with Cazador who keeps the whole "family" safe underground. DOOMS sensitivity gives Cazador an advantage over the others who can't risk leaving without running into BTs, and of course Cazador keeps them fighting each other anyway. Every porter who made a delivery was a porter who ignored the situation and let Cazador keep prolonging the abuse. It isn't until Bridges II that Cazador's repeated refusal to join the network and a note in an outgoing delivery spark suspicions. A quest cumulates in a brawl and a trip to the incinerator. Most of the siblings leave for the Knot Cities, but Astarion ("The Decadent") and a couple others stay as the new owners of the bunker.

Gale is a prepper, "The Librarian," who focuses on preserving pre-stranding texts, scouring for ancient records about the Beach that could shed light on easing the stranding. He talks A LOT whenever porters drop off deliveries. I don't even have to give him anything special orb-related here because in Death Stranding, -everyone- is Gale and will explode the entire map if left dead for 48 hours.

Karlach was a porter working for Higgs and Fragile Express and was utterly betrayed by him when he bombed the cities and tured terrorist. She was enraged enough to try and fight him head on, but he tore her ka from her ha and left her broken and soulless. On meeting Bridges II, they try to find her ka, there's no way to reunite it with her ha. With the time her body has left Karlach offers all the aid she can to Bridges II to help kick Higgs' ass.

Lae'zel is from a MULE camp led by Vlaakith, who raid and plunder bunkers and even the distros. Her dreams of ascending and driving a big rig packed with cargo are torn asunder when she learns of Orpheus, the true progenitor of the camp who taught that the meaning of life is not in the cargo, but the act of delivery and connections.

Shadowheart is part of a terrorist camp deep in BT territory that refuses all connection to the living. She has a high level of DOOMS that frequently causes her anguish. She can make a choice to stay with her camp and attain a level of DOOMS that gives her powers rivaling Higgs, or connect with the outside and the prepper family she was stolen from.

Wyll was part of Bridges I and settled in Lake Knot City to work deliveries in the surrounding area. Unfortunately, he was caught up in the bombing plot and forced out of Bridges. He works as a freelance porter and keeps at it even when the Chiral Network allows enough data to be put together to prove his innocence.

[sonyaheaneyauthor]

Ukrainian journalists fear USAID cuts opened up space for Russian disinformation campaigns

Media workers across Ukraine have had to cut back on reporting following USAID cuts, while many fear that this is feeding into the hands of the Kremlin's disinformation campaigns.

Larysa Hnatchenko has been at the helm of Slobidskyi Kray, the Kharkiv region’s oldest newspaper, for more than 14 years. 

However, following the Trump administration's decision to slash 90% of USAID grants in January, she has been doing something she did not expect she would have to do, just to keep working.

Hnatchenko has been dipping into her personal savings to ensure the publication's survival — using her money to pay salaries, office rent and fuel expenses.

"On top of this all, we were already owed two months' money when they paused the funding," she told Euronews.

While most of Slobidskyi Kray's team left Kharkiv in February 2022 following Russia's full-scale invasion, they returned after the city's liberation, committed to continuing reporting.

The team began organising the distribution of 3,000 newspapers each week — for free — to humanitarian hubs located in 20 communities across the Kharkiv region.

"The goal of distributing the newspapers was not to generate a profit, but to ensure that people living in occupied territories and front-line regions got the news," Hnatchenko said.

"It's impossible to offer a subscription service in these areas, because people don't know where they will be from one day to the next due to the constant shelling."

"Many grandmothers would walk to humanitarian hubs by foot as they were determined to get the newspaper," added Hnatchenko.

This has now come to a halt due to a lack of funds. US grants previously made up 50% of the Slobidskyi Kray's funding — while nine out of 10 local Ukrainian outlets were also heavily reliant on USAID.

Hnatchenko fears that cuts to USAID are playing into the hands of the Kremlin, leaving many vulnerable individuals who are exposed to Russian disinformation, with no alternative news sources.

"It's a real issue, we can no longer afford to deliver our newspapers to areas which have no electricity or access to Ukrainian news. Many occupied and frontline territories also do not have Ukrainian signal but instead Russian signal, which is a trap," said Hnatchenko.

Opening the space to Russian disinformation

While Ukraine's media market has proven resilient, a report conducted by the media monitoring organisation Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) prior to the axing of USAID funding found that Ukrainian media outlets needed $96 million (€86.3 million) over a three-year period to cover their costs. 

“There are no current figures on how many Ukrainian media outlets have had to close down since the end of USAID, but we know that more 330 outlets have had to shut down since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” Pauline Maufrais, Ukraine area manager for RSF, told Euronews.

“Russian propaganda outlets rejoiced in the end of USAID because it weakens the coverage from Ukrainian outlets especially in areas which are close to the front,” said Maufrais.

In January, RSF published an investigation into the International Reporters outlet, which publishes Moscow's propaganda and sends its contributors — such as French citizen and naturalised Russian national Christelle Néant — to interview the local population in occupied eastern Ukraine, including Avdiivka and Mariupol.

The International Reporters outlet is just one of the many Kremlin-funded propaganda networks, which use foreign propagandists to justify Russia's invasion of Ukraine internationally.

"If there are fewer journalists in the Ukrainian media because there are not enough financial resources to pay them back, this means that less topics will be covered," said Maufrais.

“Since USAID cuts, media outlets are able to hire fewer freelancers, staffers have lost their jobs, but it also means that there is less coverage on the ground coming out from Ukraine."

"Some outlets are running with only a few weeks of financing left, while others have said they can online survive until June," Maufrais added.

Documentaries on halt

Vgoru Media, based in Kherson — a city on the front lines of the war which was occupied by Russia for a period of nine months — previously relied on USAID to fund 80% of its projects.

"We have had to cut big projects, such as our documentary telling the story of women who were kidnapped and tortured by Russia, as all the funding was from USAID," Ustyn Danchuk, head of video journalism at Gwara Media told Euronews.

"We had already made 60% of the film when the cuts were implemented — but we hadn't even been paid for that work," he explained.

Many Vgoru journalists left Kherson when it was under Russian occupation, fearing being captured and tortured. Since they have returned, they must live with the daily threat of missiles, as well as constant fear... MORE

[antenanotaic3]

I couldn't help myself but make some lore

Au belongs to @madamadamiu

So the Overcat:

-actually cleans himself very often and even likes baths....but he keeps getting into fights with other cats. Sometimes he even attacks raccoons

-due to his rough aspect and the fact that he's more of an outdoor cat, he was caught and taken to a number of shelters on several occasions; if only he wouldn't keep on taking off his collar~ (eventually Tarantulas will chip him)

-keeps lurking around and entering the shelter to cause chaos for some reason; Fortress protects the other cats as much as he can; sometimes Whirl finds his way in the shelter while Rung is distracted by the intruder

-hates clothing accessories with a passion beyond the understanding of man

-meows a lot and I imagine his adult meow is very deep (but not deeper than Magnus' lol)

-has a biting problem(Prowl is his favourite human target btw)

-he is a compulsive eater and his sleep schedule varies a lot; takes antidepressants

-he doesn't react to catnip

-his favorite sleeping spot is the couch; and he won't let anyone else use it

-sometimes brings prey to Tarantulas(who cherishes it and keeps it stuffed or in the freezer because he's a lil weirdo).

-on the few occasions he's been at Prowl's place(Tarantulas insists on bringing him), he kept his distance from the Constructikitties; the kittens seem to like him though.

-in the past: after Megatron left and took over(is that how it went?) the colony, Overlord was on his own for a while. He kept looking for him and found the colony but he wasn't accepted after he severely injured Tarn. Megatron avoided him also; he never liked his presence. Spoiler alert: that didn't stop Overlord from trespassing their territory

Tarantulas:

-he is a sketchy respected university teacher specialized in genetics and chemistry. [Overlord likes to show up during his video calls btw(he needs attention).]

-spends most of his free time in his basement, working on venom based hallucinogens and his spider silk project for the fun of it; Overlord almost drank some once, which determined him to lock him up at times

-occasionally takes part in research regarding creating more humane substances for catching or putting down animals, but he doesn't limit himself to domestic ones

-in the past: when him and Prowl were together, they had a puppy (Springer) for a short while, but Prowl was the one taking care of the dog's needs. Springer was given away eventually to an old acquaintance, Kup who is a police dog handler. Kup trained the dog and which then ended up being one of the doggies of the police department together with the Wreckers. Tarantulas is very normal about the development (he stalks follows one of the officers' Instagram account (Carnivac) to make sure the doggo is happy).

-he took Overlord in sometime after Prowl got the Constructikitties; initially, he intended to get a cat from the shelter but he saw this fluffy jerk roaming around and decided he was the one.

-although he knows a few things about how he's supposed to raise a cat, he prefers to 'experiment' things. "Would he like this? Would he wear that? What if I buy him living pray?"

-sometimes asks Prowl for advice, partly as an strategy to get back together with him(it doesn't work); Prowl wants to face palm whenever he hears about the things he does.

Bonus DJD:

-Tarn, Tesarus, Vos and Helex are adopted by Kaon.

-Kaon works at an electricity distribution company; that's in fact a shell company; he's a poacher who is specialized in hunting big cats

When at home(mostly):

-Tarn spends most of the time in his backyard where Kaon grows some catnip for them

-the four refuse to sleep separately, so Kaon had to buy a large dog bed since otherwise all four of them would just want to sleep in his bed.

-The Pet is one of those flippable plushies(on one side fox and on the other cat), and it's Kaon's childhood toy; he has become a cat chew toy. (I can hear Rewind in the corner, threatening me with compromising videos)

-Nickel is adopted later as an emotional support animal for the four; she can be very loud sometimes

-they all have a scratching problem but Vos is the worst

-speaking of Vos he has some growth related bone problems due to early nutritional issues; he's undergoing treatment

-Tesarus is highly irritable and is also responsible for breaking the most objects around the house; hates being sprayed as punishment but is unrepentant

-Helex likes a bit too much to gnaw on cables and Kaon is desperate to find some way to stop him; he likes sleeping on the stove, but again, nothing Kaon does seems effective; he hates baths the most

-the four can often be found play fighting with each other(Nickel doesn't participate); another activity they like to do together is chasing other cats away from their territory

When away:

-Kaon's job takes him to a number of countries; he also brings his cats along because he can't bring himself to let them with someone else(is it a good idea? Probably not)

-they sleep for the most part in his travel trailer, but they also enjoy sleeping on his terrain car's engine

-the four hunt small rodents and birds at time

-Tarn is very afraid of gunshots; they remind him of thunder

-Nickel is anxious about leaving the house so she refuses to leave the trailer

-Vos fell into a hunter's trap once while he was exploring and Kaon searched for him for days; thankfully he survived somehow, but some of his injuries will stay with him forever

-Helex fell into a river once was accidentally pushed by Tesarus; thankfully it wasn't very deep, however: new fear unlocked

-Tesarus enjoys bullying Pallas cats

-during travel, the DJD cats can have Kaon's bed; Nickel sleeps in the cupboard though

Other:

-sadly Kaon dies in a car accident and the DJD cats return to the street again. They attempt to start a new colony but they are caught and taken to Deathsaurus' shelter

[bestworstcase]

So, I was gathering reference for a map making project and when looking at the Vale World of Remnant video got reminded of this map and was curious if you had any thoughts on things:

This was its follow up:

i think about those red settlements all the time. (i have another post about this somewhere but it’s lost in the tumblr abyss. rip.) now, first thing, the placement of these settlements is clearly vibes-based—we know there are no settlements in the menagerian interior and there’s no green markers where the city of vale should be, etc—so their distribution is probably meant to give more of a general sense of where people tend to be in a world populated mainly by grimm, rather than the exact location of specific settlements. in any case, what’s up with quadling country those settlements on the “uninhabited” continent where salem lives?

third data point, from the great war spot:

which implies that battles were fought across the southern peninsula of the “uninhabited” continent during the great war; this does not make sense to me unless there were people there, so my thinking is that these red settlements must have existed at the time and their obliteration occurred during the course of the great war, which tracks with qrow noting many settlements were permanently lost due to the fighting and the grimm.

but that leaves the questions of 1. who were these people, and 2. why hasn’t anyone ever mentioned them?—because if this was an entire kingdom that got annihilated during the great war, you’d think that would merit at least a footnote in the great war episode. the two explanations that i can think of are:

#1, the red settlements represent a now-defunct faunus kingdom that is receiving the same treatment in history books that menagerie receives politically in the present—namely, the “four kingdoms… (and menagerie)” thing where the faunus kingdom is not only completely marginalized on the international stage but humans barely even acknowledge that it exists.

this would also make menagerie a much harder kick in the face, if the faunus already had a kingdom—a much larger one, even!—that was razed to the ground, ended up impossible to reclaim from the grimm, and got unceremoniously erased by human historians while the human kingdoms were like “stop complaining, we gave you an island!” about it.

however, i’d think this would be a bit of history blake knew, and there’s an obvious place in V4 for her to have brought it up because she talks about the history of the great war in relation to menagerie!

or,

#2, the red settlements were founded by vacuans displaced by the conquest and occupation of vacuo. this conveniently explains why they’ve never really been explained, if they were separate from vacuo by virtue of not being under mistrali occupation but also still, in a way, considered ‘part’ of vacuo because the people living their were vacuan—the settlements were destroyed or abandoned after the war, sure, but in the end the vacuans who lived there got to go home and have their own kingdom back. i think this is also more in keeping with the decolonial project of the vytal accords, with imperial territories being liberated and so forth. and you still get the whitewashing-history vibe of well, sure these vacuans lost their homes but they got a kingdom in the end so…

<- this would make the vacuo arc the natural place for it to come up in the story proper, because the vacuans would remember even if the rest of the world didn’t.

either way, the fact that the settlements are 1. located on the continent where salem presumably lives, and 2. color-coded red definitely implies some connection between her and them—whether that’s a legitimate connection or just ozma making an assumption that people living in her proximity must secretly be under her thumb remains to be seen, but it’s interesting. i do think it’s quite unlikely that salem herself is the one solely responsible for their obliteration, because the great war episode does show that there was fighting in that region; if she did attack them she did so under the cover of a level of destructive warfare that would have wiped them off the map anyway.

i’m also very interested in the menagerian-lime settlements on anima—it’s always been my assumption that that’s where the WF is headquartered and the idea of faunus-majority settlements in southern anima, protected by menagerie, compels me.

[mariacallous]

Following the collapse, in early March, of the temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Israel essentially shut down all aid entering the Gaza Strip. The territory had already been facing a humanitarian crisis for nearly eighteen months. During that time, Israel allowed in a fluctuating, almost always insufficient number of aid trucks. The food and medicine that arrived on those trucks was then distributed by local groups across the Strip. In May, when the full blockade was partially lifted—after European leaders, and even the Trump Administration, warned of starvation—the old system of aid delivery, which was operated in part by the United Nations, was largely phased out in favor of a new organization called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which was set up in coördination with Israeli authorities to deliver supplies to Gazans at just four locations.

Before the G.H.F. began its operations, the United Nations and a number of humanitarian organizations warned that the new system would lead to chaos, with people being forced to travel long distances to receive aid, potentially leading to dangerous crowds and violence. And indeed, during the last several weeks, Israeli forces have killed scores of Gazans at these sites, and injured hundreds more, as the death toll among those seeking aid from the G.H.F. has surpassed a hundred and twenty people. (Israel has acknowledged firing warning shots, as well as firing further shots at people who ignored the warnings.) The G.H.F., whose decision-making structure is opaque, has already changed its leadership and temporarily shut down operations to reëvaluate its procedures. At one point last weekend, G.H.F. said that it could no longer continue its work because of threats to its staff from Hamas. (Hamas has denied the accusation, and G.H.F. resumed operations the next day.)

I recently spoke by phone with Salma Altaweel, who lives in Gaza and works for the Norwegian Refugee Council, a humanitarian N.G.O. I wanted to get a sense of how her organization was dealing with the new aid system, and exactly what had changed on the ground since it was put in place. During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we also discussed how she talks to her daughter about the current situation, her concerns about the G.H.F., and what Gaza needs besides food and medicine.

Can you tell me what your job consists of right now and what your day is like?

Yes. I’m working as the field-office manager in the northern part of Gaza City. [Someone begins talking to her in the background.] Excuse me, it’s my daughter. Sorry. And now, since the ceasefire collapsed, we are working in hibernation mode. It’s very hard to move in Gaza City. But we are still providing support to people. We are providing drinking water to much of the population in the central part of the city. And we are providing clothes, through e-vouchers, to hundreds of families. There is not enough cash for people to buy merchandise, so we have been giving out vouchers to families in need. We make arrangements with certain venders, and then beneficiaries will receive a code that they can use to redeem clothes. We also have some learning spaces that provide informal education to kids. Also, we have a legal section that is providing some legal support and offering consultations.

How is drinking water accessed?

There are still some plants here in Gaza City that are working to provide drinking water. Trucks are moving around, travelling to shelters and providing water to people inside, and outside, too. We are covering a good number of people. And there are some other N.G.O.s doing this. All of them are collaborating with each other to try to cover most of Gaza.

I know that even before the blockade began in early March, there was never enough aid reaching the people of Gaza. But there was some aid. Can you talk about how aid reached Gazans under that system?

Before the collapse of the ceasefire, U.N. agencies and international N.G.O.s were working to try to coördinate aid. Not all items were allowed to enter Gaza, but as you mentioned there were some items that were entering. Trucks would cross the border, and the aid would enter the warehouses of the U.N. agencies and the N.G.O.s. After that, each local organization had its identification criteria to provide aid to people. The people were receiving text messages so they could come and collect it from the warehouse of the U.N. agency or the N.G.O. with dignity, and without a crowd. Also, aid would arrive to different neighborhoods, and people were not forced to move long distances or go to an insecure place to collect food, or shelter items, or hygiene kits, or whatever they were allowed to take. The quantities were not enough to cover people all the time, but at least there was some food that was entering. The bakeries were also functioning at some points—not all the time, but sometimes there was bread.

Then, in March, Israel announced that there would be a total cutoff in aid. How quickly did things change?

Many of the bakeries remained functioning for one month after March, but they closed by early April, and starting at that time most of the stock from the markets was empty. So by May we faced real starvation. People were not eating for days because there were not any items entering. They have resumed allowing some items, but not enough.

After this new aid system started, the one with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, what did your organization do? And what’s been happening more broadly? The stories we read in the United States are that people have to travel to this small number of sites to get food, and it’s obviously been very chaotic. The Israeli military has shot people. How is your organization trying to operate within this new system, and how do you feel the new system is or isn’t working?

Let me just say that, for the last few weeks, relocation orders have been issued and are covering most of Gaza. The N.R.C. specializes in providing shelter, and people are being forced to relocate to other places without taking their shelter items with them. In most cases, people are forced to flee only with what they can carry. Often, people are only given a few minutes’s notice to leave. So they are in high need of items such as tents, bedding sets, and clothes. They are moving without any of those items because they aren’t able to. And they are finding themselves out in the street without anything. We are trying to provide them support, but unfortunately shelter items are not coming through—until now, Israel was only allowing some specific items, like food and medicine. The U.N. is trying to push to get approval for shelter items, but we are not able to provide support to people who are in the streets sleeping without shelters.

So, just to be clear, the people relocating are relocating because the Israeli military is giving them orders to relocate, not because they are relocating to get food?

Yes, they are getting relocation orders because of military operations.

What are you and your organization telling people in terms of getting aid, and getting food? Are you providing them directions to get to the nearest facility where they are handing out food?

No, we are not giving them any directions like this. We are trying to do our best to support them, but we cannot give them direction to go to these areas. They are so risky. They’re killing people on a daily basis in those areas. There is no humanity in these areas. Humanitarian principles are not being applied. So we are not guiding anyone to go there.

So, for obvious reasons, because of the way the aid is being handed out and because people are getting killed at these distribution sites, you’re not telling people to try and approach the sites in any way?

That’s right.

So what advice are you giving people? I’m sure you must get asked by Gazans, “What should we do?”

Yes. We cannot give people advice to go to these sites. I can tell you that most people are not going. Many of the people who go are looters who are accessing those very risky areas to get items and sell them in the market at very high prices. This is what I can see on the ground.

And I assume there’s been no coördination between the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and groups on the ground like yours?

No. No.

A few weeks ago, we were hearing very serious warnings about starvation. Has any of the aid that’s come in during the past few weeks been circulating on the ground and at least made the situation a little bit better? Or is it the same situation in terms of lack of food and medicine that we were seeing a few weeks ago?

I think a very limited quantity entered through U.N. agencies. And some of that was looted. [On Saturday, Israeli authorities said that about fifty aid trucks per day had entered the territory during the prior week. According to an Israeli official who spoke to The New Yorker, that includes aid delivered to the four G.H.F. facilities and aid brought in by other humanitarian organizations, who say that at least five hundred trucks per day are needed.] Because of all the starvation, the situation is not stable. Some people end up looting the aid. It was difficult to open enough bakeries when flour was looted. So, not enough of the aid is distributed. Some of the trucks have brought things that are not aid. This is on the commercial side. They are not essential items. They are like chocolate, cigarettes. Not flour.

Israel has allowed trucks with cigarettes to come into Gaza?

Yes, yes.

Is there a stated reason for this?

I don’t know. [When asked about chocolate and cigarettes entering Gaza, the Israeli official said, “I don’t know what you mean.” He later called back and said, “Commercial trucks have not entered the Gaza Strip.”]

So I guess your hope is that Israel starts allowing more trucks of humanitarian aid in, because the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation method seems to be failing?

Yes. We are hoping that they open things up, like they did under the previous system, and not only for food. Yes, we are in need of food, but also shelter items. They are not letting fuel enter. The hospitals are in need of fuel. So we have a real need to go back to the previous method.

If you feel comfortable, can you talk to me a little bit about how you personally are dealing with this? Your daughter said something a few minutes ago.

Yes, we are now facing a challenging time. For me personally, I try to push the mealtime as late as I can, so at least they are not sleeping while they are hungry. [Altaweel has three other children.] So I try to push the mealtime. You can only prepare one meal per day. A meal for a family can cost a hundred dollars. So most families are not able to prepare more than one per day. And people are not having meals every day—maybe for some it is every two to three days. They are not eating anything. There is no flour in the market. We are depending on other seeds like lentils and rice, and they all have very high prices. It’s very hard. My daughter, she is always telling me, “I want sweets. I want something sweet to eat.” But there’s no sugar. I can’t prepare much.

How old is your daughter?

She is seven.

What do you tell a seven-year-old about this? How do you explain the situation? How do you talk to her about it?

Sometimes she asks questions that I cannot answer. Sometimes she’s asking me, mostly when there are air strikes around us, “Why are they doing that with us, why they are killing us?” It’s very hard to answer the questions, and mostly I try to say, “Be patient, Inshallah, hopefully the situation will be better soon.” We are praying to God that food will enter. But she asks: why they bombed our house, what we did to them, why I lost all of my toys and all my clothes. Sometimes she’s crying, and sometimes she cries while she sleeps, because she has lost everything. But it’s hard to answer these questions for her.

What does your daughter do while you’re working? What do other kids do while their parents are working?

There are no schools. They’re spending their day at home, doing nothing. Maybe they’re playing with their peers in the same building, but that’s it. But they are feeling very bad, because there is nothing from their previous life that they can do.

When you think back to the way that aid was being delivered in the previous system, was the major problem that there wasn’t enough getting through? Or was the major problem that it couldn’t be distributed as you wanted it to because it was a war zone?

If we return to the previous system, it’ll be better in terms of food. But the problem is that all of the Gaza Strip is destroyed and it needs to be rebuilt and reconstructed, and if it isn’t things won’t be better. They were only allowing food and some lifesaving items to enter, but they were not allowing any other items for the reconstruction or rebuilding of our schools. There weren’t school items, or teaching items. So if we return to the old system, it’ll not be enough for us, because we are aiming to rebuild Gaza, and to live on streets without rubble. They also were not allowing heavy machines in to remove the rubble.

And yet, as you said a few minutes ago, the old system would be a huge improvement on what’s happening now.

It would be an improvement, but it would not be enough. 

[neodymiumcuilz]

UPDATES FROM GHAZZAH 🍉🍉

Journalist Tareq Abu Azzoum says -

"Hospitals are really struggling to deal with high rates of malnutrition as Gaza's health ministry continue to release medical reports that suggest that rise completely contributed to the ongoing ban of aid and supplies entry and many life saving medical supplies and nutritional elements to already a stripped population including the most vulnerable groups".

Dr Hannah Grace says -

"I think before coming here you see pictures but nothing can prepare you when you arrive Gaza is completely flattened from what I have seen, lots of the buildings are only half standing and many many of them are completely destroyed, and it goes on for miles and miles and miles so so it's just unimaginable really. So the doctors and nurses here are working so hard they're exhausted, they're working 24-hour shifts and many of them are living in tents themselves and then coming to deliver the best care they can to their patients when mass casualties happen the hospitals are completely overwhelmed, there's not enough beds there's not enough staff to treat them. Patients are on the floor, two patients or three patients to a bed, and the hospital is completely overwhelmed. There's not enough canulas not enough dressings not enough antibiotics. Many patients and small children are being treated for extremely painful explosive injuries and burns with no pain treatment at all because it's not available."

"Many of the injuries are explosive injuries needing surgeries, lost limbs, arms, legs severe burns to the chest and the face in small children, one 3 year old came in last week to our hospital and his whole entire family had been killed in an air strike on his home and the three year old was the only survivor and he had severe burns as well, so now he is left without a family. There's not the burn specialists here to treat him there's not the fluids there's malnutrition so there's no food for him to have. So meaning the burns will take much longer to heal, because his body is not able to survive on the nutrition he's getting."

"One of the most shocking and upsetting things I've seen is a lade that was 30 weeks pregnant she came in after being in an explosion in her tent, and shrapnel had gone into her chest and her abdomen and cut through the abdomen and cut through the unborn baby, so they removed the baby. And the baby, the unborn baby itself had been cut through it's abdomen and it's leg and did not survive."

Journalist Tareq Abu Azzoum continues -

"It's not just about the malnutrition it's about an unprecedented surge of casualties in fact resulted from the Israeli widescale military campaign that continues to really trigger massive repercussions not just on the humanitarian level but on the medical one as hospitals continue to battle to save lived and the very severe shortage of all kind of medical supplies available and the ongoing restrictions on its delivery to the territory"

68 people were killed just on Sunday alone and it seems to be an increased focus on Northern Gaza.

"It has beeb a very continued pattern across the Gaza Strip as the Israeli military is still pressing on with it's military offensive across multiple fronts in Gaza and over the past few hours we have heard a series of deadly explosions coming from the city of Khan Younis which has been an active epicentre for the latest ground operations."

More airstrikes on refugee camps in northern Gaza. Five civillians were killed after a drone struck the group of people who were walking in a very busy densely populated streets.

One Palestinian was killed and approximately 29 others were injured after they were approaching "aid" distribution centres. There has been a clean use and activation for drones and fighter jets in residential areas alongside the Eastern edges of the central areas. This is all unfolding at the moment as while Gaza is still suffering a very impending humanitarian crisis. Civillians have been told to move to areas designated to be safe, but all witness and testimonies say no place in Gaza is safe.

The mass killings of civillians isn't normal. Don't allow yourself to think that this is normal.

Dont get desensitised to the senseless killing of people with lives just as complex as yours.

[casualsnickers]

Rat

Elod is a Pikachu variation and he’s part of my PMD project (second generation). I’ve written some stuff about what makes his variation a little unique. Keep reading below if you’d like to learn more about him.

-------------------------------------

Riakan Pikachus are elusive creatures; they can be encountered but instead of foraging around in the tall grass until you find one, they’ll almost always jump out at you. Especially if you’re alone. They’re known as The Snatching Pokémon as they’re attracted to numerous, beautiful things. Some Pikachus are attracted to gemstones. Others, to music. Others still to old or rare items. It depends.

The more items a Riakan Pikachu accumulates, the bigger they grow with the largest ever documented standing at around 4 ft tall (not including the ears). They come in a variety of fur patterns, but most are brown to blend in with the forest. They are much fluffier than their Kantonian counterpart and are often likened to hares with their long ears and hunched-over statures. Make no mistake, they’re rats. Though they do not live in packs, if one Pikachu is disturbed, they will call upon others of their kind and viciously attack (and sometimes hex) those who disturb them.

 Riakan Pikachus have a tendency to steal things… valuable things. Sometimes irreplaceable things. In the past, this species was sometimes responsible for missing infants and children. If they find a human particularly interesting, they will try to ensnare their victim with its charm and lure them deeper into the woods only to never let them leave. There are some tales about the species being able to turn humans into pokémon or even into still-sentient, wearable items. Tales that are, unfortunately, true.

Trainers who find and successfully manage to tame a Riakan Pikachu will often find themselves with a zealous, easily provoked companion. Riakan Pikachus are very territorial creatures and will go to great lengths to protect what they consider to be their property, going so far as to “terminate” potential threats by transfiguring them into useless items or muddying their senses with hallucinations. They’re also known to pickpocket and sway other people into giving them things. As such, even if you were to tame a Riakan Pikachu, you can’t take them into cities.

-------------------------------------

As for Elod specifically, he’s a bit on the shorter side. While he’s an electric-type, he can’t wear pretty much any necessary explorer gear like a bag, a money pouch, or a map; they interfere with the distribution of his electricity. As such, Elod has found ways of getting around the issue by either magnetizing his items or dropping all non-conductive items when it comes time to battle. Due to these issues, he’s affectionately referred to as Watts (as he doesn’t produce a lot).

Elod doesn’t like to battle; he just wants to collect shiny trinkets and glittering gemstones which is what inspired him to become an explorer. He’s more of a follower than a leader and if he thinks it necessary, he’ll flee dangerous situations. It doesn’t mean that he’s weak, though. His electrical attacks- when unhindered- are incredibly potent and his persuasion checks almost always succeed meaning that he can almost always outsmart, outspeed, or overpower an opponent. He did get tossed around like a football when he was just starting out, though.

[sketchehm]

for mmau do u have any ideas for what stuff the guys were in charge of? like we know sapnap did a lot of fight ring stuff, q has his drugs and gambling, i think u mentioned before that spreen also has gambling stuff, but what about the other guys?

So! Actually this post list what some of the guys do, but I guess I should tackle what all of them do :3! Will try to keep it short and simple! These are also very generalized cause I...did not study up on the inner workings of a mafia family. Oops.

This will also just focus on mainly Team Mafia!

Rich: Don, leader and handles oversight on more major deals and trades that directly involves other dons and/or bigger turf wars. Does review everything but it's mostly just reports from Farfa which are mainly synopsis

Farfa: Consigliere, direct advisor to Rich and takes on most of the oversight and approval of deals/issues and organizes all the dealings from the Capos and is the one who actually goes out to meet for big trade deals and such in place of Rich.

The rest of the guys are Capos! The most controversial part of Team Mafia in the underground is that there is no Underboss! With how long they've been running, an heir would've been expected by now, but there is none! It's their only kind of vulnerability you can say they have but it doesn't really work out cause Farfa could easily take over despite not being the Underboss in title. Also all of their main Capos *live* with Rich instead of their governed areas which makes Rich more protected than if he just had guards haha

Ok to continue

Spreen: In charge of general public image of the mafia/family. Basically makes them just look like some rich family/corp in the eyes of civilians (everyone knows they're mob lmao open secret) Also in charge of their territories casinos and drug markets in those areas.

Shadoune: In charge of forgein trading outside the city, such as with drugs and weapons. Will also foster forgein relations that would be beneficial for the family. Is also the member to mainly outreach to other families outside the spanish speaking territories within the city since they cross-over a lot with outside city relations.

Serpias: In charge of their territories red light district(the largest of the city and most popular). Lots of lower level gangs hang out there, provides lots of basic weapons and lower graded drug trades. Serpias is typically the person to snip rats in the bud since they usually always start out in his areas thinking it's vulnerable. (Jokes on them Serpias takes pride in protecting the workers there).

Conter: Helps Farfa a lot by organizing a lot of the territories soldiers/men to each district. He's more on the scene and meeting with lower level Capos and their soldiers and associates to make sure things are running smoothly and to handle any issues before they get too large. Also the main one to collect the protection taxes that are set in their territories as he travels around.

Cris: The main weapon arms dealer. Handles most of everything that involves weapons and their distribution throughout their territories. Loves it when they can get their hands on more....military grade stuff. Directly in charge of the many many warehouses they own filled to the brim with different types of guns, ammunition, bombs, ect.

Diffrent: Manages the treasury. Really good at setting reasonable protection taxes that doesn't leave businesses struggling to pay, making the family even richer. Also is the one who would eventually realize if any of their dealers are trying to pull one over them since he keeps up with the (black)market pricing of every kind of drug and weaponry to make sure they make the most profit.

Piru: No one knows what he does lmao. But he keeps getting in trouble and they have to always bail him out oops! He does tend to have a lot of intel and happenings of what's going on around the surrounding territories and gangs though. He does have pretty good relations with the runners between many different gangs.

Goncho: Mainly participates in larger on the field crimes the family may commit and takes the hit from law enforcement since he has a knack of corrupting them to let him and whoever is with him go scott free. Usually is the one who sets up a clean getaway for the others too.

Silithur: Handles even more behind the scenes deals and tradings using more unusual methods of communication to keep a level of secrecy from lower level gang activity and spies. Really good at encrypting their own buisness and dealings and plans. Mostly frequents the black markets to ensure their own men aren't participating in dealings their family shouldn't be associated with despite the rewards it may provide.

Vandal: Is retired in title due to a serious injury he suffered during a turf war. Mostly just helps out where he can throughout the family.

Bana: Was in charge of relations outside of the family.

And yea I think that's all of them!

[justapoet]

a key on the chain (take it with you and run)

“Annabeth Chase,” the man repeated, as if it meant something more than just a random name. “Isn’t that why you chose this house?” “Why, on Earth, would I pick a house based on whether or not this Annabeth Chase was my neighbour?” Percy asked. “To catch the cat!” the man explained, and Percy sincerely laughed. “What cat?” Percy asked, now wondering if he had drunk something that tasted bad or a bit out of the ordinary. He must have been sleeping, having those weird dreams some people claim have meanings but, in the end, were just a bunch of thoughts squeezed together in a juice jar. “The one with the key." OR, Percy wants a new beginning back where he came from. He moves to New Rome, a quaint neighbourhood in New York, where every single man seems to make a life out of chasing a yellow cat with a key around its neck. Whoever catches it, apparently, won't be denied the prize they all seek: Annabeth Chase's — the most beautiful woman around — hand in marriage. Percy doesn't get it, and much less wants to engage with such activities or with the mysterious woman. But it's a bit harder when she lives just next doors, and the yellow cat becomes a faithful companion of his.

Read it on Ao3

It was ironic, honestly, that he was standing at the door of his new house in New Rome, a quaint neighborhood in New York, New York, after he had decided to sell his house and get the hell out of the simple neighborhood he lived in Rome, Italy, for so many years. Ironic, to say the least, because Percy hadn’t even registered how the place was called before he had set foot back in the United States, his life all packed up in a bunch of luggage and Ms. O’Leary, his loyal companion, by his side.

And he should have registered it, probably, because it would be a responsible thing to do. But in the hurry he found himself in, and the crisis that was the catalyst for the sudden, brutal change of life and routine and choices, Percy didn’t think of much before buying the house and getting on a plane to sign the papers and get his keys.

Now, there he stood — in front of a small, dainty house, with brick walls and a wooden front double door and a large windowsill that gave it all a sweet, home-like air. It was the perfect definition of cozy, the front lawn mowed, and some flower bushes making it look even more graceful than he had first thought it’d be. The place seemed to come from a picture, those beautiful illustrations on books about fairies and magic and hope, and Percy wondered it that would be enough to settle his unsteady heart and calm his troubled mind.

Because the place was beautiful, and yet he couldn’t see or feel the hope of new beginnings that so many people had told him it would bring; he was standing in front of what now was his house, the boxes and furniture already inside for him to organize and distribute as he would like, and Percy could only feel tired. Not from his travels, not from having to put everything to a place — but he was tired, overall, and the weight of his choices and the paths he’d walked seemed to rest over his shoulder.

He was back in New York, and there was nothing really there for him. Not anymore, because he had decided to travel the world so many years before and, at some point, he had stopped keeping in touch with everyone he left behind. His mother, father, stepfather, stepmother, half-siblings and friends — he hadn’t talked to them in years. Long, long years that seemed to now taint his past and shadow his face and cloud his memories of what it was like to be with them, to be there.

And maybe being back should be inspiring. Perhaps being again in north American territory should give him the hopes and the energy to reach out and try to find them as soon as possible; but all he felt was dread. Dread, and dreadful fear that he had lost that part of his life — the one that made him who he was — forever, and because of his terrible choices and the terrible feelings that had settled in his chest so long before.

He was staring at his house, and Percy wondered how long it could take for him to feel at home.

Because it once was home to be in New York, and he had forgotten how it felt. It once was home to never belong anywhere, traveling around and meeting new people and meeting new cultures and faces and languages, until the moment there was nothing but emptiness and the everlasting feeling of missing someone, something, somewhere.

His family, and everything they meant. He feared their anger, despite knowing that was what he deserved, after all. After so long, after so much pain he was sure he had caused them through the years he never even gave a sign of life.

New beginnings should be scary, yes, and ultimately exciting.

Percy was simply terrified.

Ms. O’Leary, on the other hand, seemed thrilled about having new places to discover. Her tail hadn’t stopped moving from the moment they got out of the taxi — who charged him an absurd amount of money upon seeing the dog, but that was quite alright at that point — and Percy had opened the gate that matched the fence circling the property. She had barked and set off to run around, and Percy couldn’t help but chuckle.

At least one of them was excited enough for both.

Percy sighed, taking the key to his front door so he could finally come in and see the mess he’d have to face and make more of soon enough until he could properly relax and rethink every single step of his life. Ms. O’Leary had already made her way to the backyard, somehow, and he could hear her barking at something — probably nothing at all —, chuckling a bit more at his best friend’s happiness on stretching her legs.

He shook his head, rolling his eyes fondly at the mental image of Ms. O’Leary simply running in circles around the area he was yet to see. Then, he looked up again at the doors, and inhaled deeply.

And his dramatic entrance to an empty house as a metaphor for his empty life was rudely interrupted before he could even fit the key in the door.

“So, you’re the lucky one?” someone spoke behind him, and Percy snapped his head in the voice’s direction, turning his body around as well, key still in hand. A man stood behind his fence, a heavy terracotta coat hanging from his shoulders, a suit underneath it and a black Panama hat tucked to his head a bit too much. His face wasn’t sympathetic, and instead he stared at Percy as if he was a bug the man desperately wanted to step on.

Weird. To say the very least.

“Uh— Hello?” Percy greeted, unsure of what to make of the situation. “I beg your pardon; ‘the lucky one’?” he frowned, and the man seemed to snap out of whatever it was that crossed his mind.

“My apologies. Welcome to New Rome,” the man spoke again, now taking a few steps to walk past the open gate and offer his hand in greeting. When he was close enough, Percy, still incredibly confused, shook the man’s hand.

“Percy Jackson,” he offered. “Thank you.”

For the welcome. Not for whatever it was that had happened before.

“Luke Castellan,” the man replied in earnest, his handshake firm before Percy let go of it. “First time in New York?” he asked, and Percy couldn’t quite pin down what it was that seemed so off about the sympathy in his tone.

“In a couple of years, yes,” Percy limited himself to say. Then, his curiosity got the best of him. “What did you say about me being ‘the lucky one’, may I ask?”

Luke’s smile seemed to tighten. Percy decided that it was best to be careful.

“The house,” Luke said. Percy frowned.

“Why? Is it better than the others?” he asked, looking back at the house behind him. When he looked at Luke again, the guy had an eyebrow raised.

“It’s beside Annabeth Chase’s house,” he spoke again, his tone implying that the fact was somehow obvious. Percy was sincerely beginning to think the conversation couldn’t possibly get weirder.

Rookie mistake.

“Who?” Percy could only ask, tilting his head to the side.

Luke frowned, then. Now, he seemed genuinely confused. Percy wanted to say that he had no right to — what, on Earth, was that man talking about?

“Annabeth Chase,” Luke repeated, as if it meant something more than just a random name.  “Isn’t that why you chose this house?”

Percy’s face was probably odd to look at, now that he was sure it was completely contorted with his bewilderment. His mouth was slight open and twisted, and he couldn’t narrow his eyes more before completely closing them.

“I chose the house my realtor offered me,” Percy said. “Why, on Earth, would I pick a house based on whether or not this Annabeth Chase was my neighbor?”

“To catch the cat!” Luke explained, and Percy sincerely laughed.

“What cat?” Percy asked, now wondering if he had drunk something that tasted bad or a bit out of the ordinary. He must have been sleeping, having those weird dreams some people claim have meanings but, in the end, were just a bunch of thoughts squeezed together in a juice jar.

“The one with the key,” Luke spoke again, and Percy could really wake up right then. He moved his arms and hands in exasperation, completely lost, and shook his head, eyes wide as he tried to understand what the man could possibly be talking about.

“Do you seriously not know?” Luke asked, and he seemed truly surprised. Percy would need an analgesic for the building headache on his temples.

Percy shook his head in disbelief yet again.

“Man, I just got back from another continent. I do not have the most single idea of who the hell Annabeth Chase is, what a cat and a key mean or how the house I now own has to do with it.”

Luke stared at Percy, who just stared right back as he tried to get his point across. After the better part of a minute, the brunette man seemed to have accepted that the newcomer really didn’t know what the hell he was talking about, and his gaze turned apologetic.

“Okay, then. I’m sorry, man,” Luke spoke, putting his hands in the pockets of his coat. “It’s just an ongoing competition for Annabeth’s cat and their key.”

Percy frowned again.

“Competition?” he asked. Luke nodded.

“It’s a thing we have around here,” he began, and Percy tilted his head. “The house beside yours belongs to Annabeth Chase, the most beautiful woman in the neighborhood. Dare I say, and any other person, the most beautiful woman in New York,” he explained, and something in his tone, again, seemed to put Percy on edge. Luke looked at the house he was talking about, the glint in his eyes with something much more distorted than what someone might mistake for affection. “Every single young man in the neighborhood had offered her their hand in marriage, and desperately wanted to wed her,” he told him, and Percy visibly winced. Luke didn’t notice.

Marrying someone for looks? Asking for their hand in marriage because they look pretty?

The discontentment was clear over Percy’s face. He was definitely going insane.

“She refused one by one, and yet they came back to ask her again. Expensive gifts, poems, songs; they tried to convince her with everything, anything they could buy and hand her,” the man continued, and Percy felt a pang of sympathy for whoever the woman was. What a tragic thing, to be seen as one more object those men could be handed and pay for. “One day, though, Miss Chase grew tired of all men knocking on her door and proposing ridiculous things. So, she made a challenge — whoever caught her cat and the key on the cat’s neck, would not be denied her hand in marriage. Since then, there’s been a whole thing trying to catch the animal: cages, traps, the most unhinged plans seen. No one could ever catch it.”

A wave of satisfaction rolled in his ears, and Percy made his very best not to let it trespass to his expression. He sympathized with the woman, and somehow was intrigued by her presence and the plan she had made — it was odd how she knew that the cat wouldn’t be caught, and yet a high risk to take if she didn’t want any of those men by her side.

Something, Percy thought, that no one could possibly blame her for. One needs to be pathetically vain to try and win someone’s heart as a prize, and not ever think about treasuring it as it should happen. And agreeing to go after a cat instead of just, perhaps, asking this Annabeth out and trying their luck by being normal people? Percy didn’t think that he would like a single soul in the neighborhood.

“They stopped coming to her house,” Luke carried on, taking Percy back from his thoughts and judgements. “And, to this day, everyone tries to catch the yellow cat with a hanging key and earn her love,” he concluded, and looked at Percy again, who was trying his best not to roll his eyes in front of his new neighbor. Those men could be trying to earn anything, but not her love. “We were all curious, then, as for who had taken the house closest to hers.”

Percy blinked, shaking his head.

“I have nothing to do with chasing cats and hanging keys, man, I can tell you that much,” he said. “I just got the house.”

“We all see it,” he said.

“And I would much rather the accusation stopped, Mr. Castellan, for I have no intention to add ‘trapping a cat’ to my routine,” Percy spoke, a little more serious. “I have nothing to do with this odd contest of yours, and I intend to keep it that way,” he explained.

Luke seemed a bit convinced. And a bit too smug for Percy’s liking.

“You’re a first, then,” the man said, and Percy arched an eyebrow. Luke sighed. “My apologies for the accusations, Mr. Jackson. The subject just tends to get on our nerves.”

“I figured,” Percy said. “If you’ll excuse me, Mr. Castellan; I’ve had a long day.”

The man nodded.

“Of course. Have a good afternoon,” he complied to Percy’s farewell, touching his hat and then turning around to leave the property. Percy watched him go for a few seconds, and then decided that it was too much to process standing at his doorstep.

He was intrigued, to say the least, about the whole scenario he had just been presented to. A woman with whom he couldn’t help but sympathize, being chased and wanted like some sort of prize for someone’s ego and pride. A cat that seemed to outsmart a whole neighborhood — though, after the whole story, Percy couldn’t believe it was that hard to do it —, and a bunch of grown adults who didn’t have anything better to do but to watch every person’s moves and doubt their smallest intentions.

Amazing. And he thought he’d find some peace by being back at his childhood town.

Read the rest on Ao3!

[formerly-windblume]

Happy National Cat Day! In honour of today being a day to appreciate our feline friends here’s something sweet featuring Grim who was given to us by the TWST Cat Distribution System! He chose us as our human so consider yourself lucky to have been chosen!

Join the TWST Discord Server for more shenanigans

𝕃𝕖𝕥’𝕤 𝕤𝕖𝕖 𝕟𝕠𝕨, 𝕀 𝕓𝕖𝕝𝕚𝕖𝕧𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕥𝕒𝕝𝕖 𝕘𝕠𝕖𝕤 𝕒 𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕥𝕝𝕖 𝕤𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖…

Grim - Furry Friend (Head Canons)

Despite not wanting to be called a cat, Grim does act like a cat in more ways than one.

Meows at you in the middle of the night for tuna, he doesn’t care if you are asleep- he wants tuna right meow and he will get it.

Chases the disappearing red dot (laser pointer) and will vow to catch it! Spoiler alert he can’t catch it.

Brings you his k1ll- even if it is just a toy mouse. To Grim you are a lousy hunter and you need his help, be lucky he is so kind to even bring you his k1ll!

Gravity tests random objects on the table- nothing is safe from his paws.

He has randomly cleaned his behind in the middle of class because he was bored and didn’t want to listen.

Grim has fallen victim to the toe beans squishing- you see kitty paws and you squish them lovingly. He just doesn’t care anymore.

Grim is surprisingly good with children, during the Halloween festivities at Night Raven he would soak in all the attention from the children who pet him and gave him scratches behind the ears and on the chin. He became a purr box.

Purrs for you when you’ve had a rough day, he wants to make sure his (henchman) human is going to be okay and will purr for you. He will even offer your face a spot in his warm belly so you can have kitty belly time.

Scratches trees to mark his territory.

Hides in empty boxes and claims them as his.

Likes to have his back scratched, like right where his tail is. If scratched there he will purr, smile, and raise his bum in the air while curling his tail happily.

Hisses and growls over bath time.

Overly dramatic with nail clipping day.

Grim gets the 2am zoomies, he sounds like an elephant running through the hallways.

He fought his own reflection once…

Scared of cucumbers, do NOT put them behind him unless you wish to have a surprise hairball in your shoe.

He has brought you live prey and has left live prey in Crewel’s classroom just to mess with him.

You have nearly been late for class because feline law states that you are forbidden to move unless the fur ball moves first and allows you to leave.

Biscuits and purrs 100%-

You know how cats do those chirp sounds when they are watching birds from the window? Grim does that too.

Sunbathes and gets that wonderful warm kitty smell. Cat people know what I’m talking about-

[phoebosacerales]

Smoke clouds and deforastation in Brasil - Mundane Astrology

Disclaimer: This post was mostly written in the beginning of September 2024. It was a very scary time and I just couldn't finish it until now that I'm better.

I don't know if you got the news that South America got covered with smoke clouds since at least the beginning of August, as huge areas in the Pantanal and the Amazon are burning. I promised to make posts based on the suggestions some of you made, but this is all that's been on my mind lately, because I'm smelling fire every day even as I live in a coastal city that's nowhere near them. I have a bit of a cough since June when I had a cold and then the cough persisted. Some days it was gone, but since the smoke clouds it's been consistent. I've never seen anything like it, an entire country and neighboring countries covered in smoke. To be clear, the fires are not natural, they are criminal acts, they are started for land grabbing and also probably as retaliation for the environmental protection policies of our current left-leaning government. This is also greatly done on indigenous lands. It all started after months of brutal attacks on the Guarani Kaiowá in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, all the while threats like the Time Frame thesis are still being pushed. It's making me feel like how we all felt in those days in the beginning of the covid pandemic, when we thought we were just going to stay home for 15 days, but a sense of doom was slowly creeping, because that number just kept getting bigger until we didn't know anymore. It's been making me feel sad, angry and fearful.

Smoke in São Paulo and Goiás. The Sun looked like that for days in my town as well.

I won't talk about Brazil's chart in depth¹, but it's important to talk a little bit about the ruler of that chart, which is Saturn in Taurus in the 4th house and the Moon with Aldebaran, the star of the bull's eye. This country is marked by its agrarian issues and the inequality in the distribution of land ownership in Brazil is one of the most pronounced in the world. The largest portions of land remains in the hands of a very tiny portion of the population, who are the richest and major producers of agribusiness, while they destroy forests and invade indigenous territory. That Saturn in Taurus in the 4th shows how the project for this country at the declaration of independence was still a perpetuation of colonization, and also how we were supposed to be a peaceful people, just meant to work, to be enslaved and tame like our cattle. Brazil still has a reputation of being very festive, happy and peaceful, even as we are built on so much violence².

From outside people mostly see Rio de Janeiro and beach culture as the postcard of the country, but that disguises the greater countryside culture of deep Brazil, which is incredible but not as marketable for tourism, and it's actually hard not to see it tainted with the violence of agribusiness. As it's obvious from our very strong barbecue culture, Brazil is a leader in the export of meat and soy, and the latter is actually because it's greatly used for cattle feed. When you hear about deforestation in the brazilian part of the Amazon, or about the destruction of any natural area of this country, it's always criminal fires started by powerful landowners trying to expand their areas of ​​agribusiness, especially for soybean plantation and for livestock, perpetuating the genocide of indigenous people, who are the most interested in protecting nature, but still don't have their lands demarcated and their rights protected without the threat of extermination.

Because of all of that, whenever we see the 4th house greatly activated for the year it's scary. The 4th house is about the forests, land and indigenous peoples. Looking at the Solar Ingress into Aries for Brasília, the country is ruled mainly by the Sun and has Mercury as the co-ruler this year.

The Sun was scorching the earth in the 4th house. In 2020 we also had the Sun in the 4th house and that was a historic year in terms of huge fires and deforestation too, when a third of the Pantanal biome was burned, so it checks out that the Sun in the 4th unfortunately signifies these things for this country in these times. Besides, Mars is the 4th house ruler, and it's in the 2nd house affecting resources, and we'll definitely see a rise in food prices because of what's happening pretty soon, which are already high. I consider its placement in Aquarius important, as Ísis notices often the recurrence of air signs in charts for fires, because they help it spread and thrive, especially the fixed air sign. The Moon in another fire sign in the 8th house doesn't help at all.

However, the IC is in Pisces with Venus and Saturn, while Mars will eventually reach them. Three weeks after the Solar Ingress, Mars met Saturn at 14° Pisces. One of the most important conjunctions to watch for in Mundane Astrology is the Mars-Saturn one, which is famous for signifying calamity and disease. Soon after the conjunction, the Full Moon in Scorpio came with those two in the 4th house. That's when we had the historic floods in Rio Grande do Sul, one of the most horrible environmental disasters we've seen. I've written about it here. The mix of fire and water signified a year with one of the worst floods and at the same time one of the worst droughts ever.

But now we're in the winter, thus we need to open up the chart for the Cancer Solar Ingress. It has the same rising sign, but this time Saturn is much more angular, and also stationary and about to go retrograde. Saturn on the IC is the co-ruler for the winter trimester.

Saturn is closer to the IC, making it a lot more powerful. He's stationary and about to go retrograde. Pretty soon he'll reach 15° Pisces where the fixed star Achernar is at and where it had its conjunction with Mars earlier in the year. Achernar is the alpha star of the constellation of the river Eridanus, which tells the myth of Phaethon, who drove the sun god Helios' chariot too close to the Earth and burned it. He gets striked by Zeus with his lighting bolt and his body falls into the river Eridanus.

Mars is still ruling the 4th house representing land and forests. He's in Taurus with the fixed star Hamal, the head of the Ram, which has his nature. So even though it's in Taurus, Mars is still very much himself. If we imagine the planets moving through the chart, we soon understand that Jupiter is going to square Saturn at some point, and Mars will do the same.

After the New Moon in Leo is when the fires got really wild and we got the smoke cloud covering almost the entire continent. On August 14 there was one big trigger for this: the Mars-Jupiter conjunction at 16° Gemini squaring Saturn. Nothing more symbolic of a continent-sized cloud of smoke above our heads than Mars-Jupiter in an air sign on top of the MC. As I've said, these are not wild fires, they're being coordinated, some were on caught on camera, that's why we see the 12th house activated, as it indicates hidden enemies and criminal activity.

Things got worse with the Full Moon, which was at 27° Aquarius, the exact degree of that Mars of the Aries Ingress chart. And this is where we're still at. I'm still smelling fire most of the time, especially at night for some reason, because I guess at night the air changes or something, I don't think anyone is trying to explain this enough. The sky looks like it's completely clouded, but the Sun is orange and its light is direct. I'm still coughing.

Aftermath

This is a very scary thing to just throw at you, so for anyone who cares about environmental issues I'll leave some more links about research that were made, measures that are being taken until now, things you could look up, follow or read about, etc.

278.3 thousand fire outbreaks registered in 2024;

The government strategies that are being taken;

Mídia Indígena - An indigenous communication collective from Brazil;

Articulação do povos indígenas do Brasil, an association of entities representing indigenous people;

About the struggle for land in Brazil and MST , the largest popular movement in Latin America, which is aimed at land reform;

Ailton Krenak, legendary indigenous leader of the krenak people, environmentalist and author of "Ideas to Postpone the end of the World", "Ancestral Future", "Life is Not Useful" etc;

Davi Kopenawa, yanomami political leader and author of "The Falling Sky: Words of a Yanomami Shaman";

Marina Silva, the current Minister of Environment and Climate Change, a very important politician in our environmental politics;

Ministry of the Indigenous Peoples, presided by Sônia Guajajara.

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¹ We mostly use the 1822 chart of the Declaration of Independence, although there are other important ones.

² Zé Ramalho captured our Taurean project pretty well in song: Admirável Gado Novo.