#crash and bash are very similar but I tend to think of it like ‘bash’ into something is more of a blunt force so horns down

[hitwiththetmnt]

Out of curiosity, what made you decide Raph needed two dragons in the spitfire au? Also, is there an easy way to tell Crash and Bash apart? Thanks!

Knew this question was eventually coming (；ﾞﾟωﾟ) warning: long post

Ok story time, I see a lot of myself in Raph as a character. For the first half of my childhood I was the eldest. I was the roll model and figure my younger siblings looked up to or came to for guidance. Then in the later years of my childhood I got an older step sibling, suddenly I became a middle child. The dynamic of my family shifted to where I had grown up the eldest but then was sort of allowed to be myself and more free once I became a middle child. So in a way, I grew up understanding the two sides of looking up to an older sibling and what it feels like to be that older sibling.

When I first watched rottmnt I instantly felt a connection to Ralph’s character. An older sibling figure that dotes on his brothers but is also a lovable goofball. I understood his position in the family on a deeper level. Someone who wears the hat of both responsible sibling but also expressive idiot. I knew he was going to be someone in my au that his power would be shaped on that perceived position in the family.

The canon show doesn’t really dive into the origin of the mystic weapons or the “rules” around mystic magic with the boys. I think I’ve mentioned it somewhere else but the way I see their mystic abilities is that it’s an extension of themselves, a reflection of their power and character. So seeing how I view Raph as someone who holds himself responsible for his brothers but is also still running around doing stupid things with them, I wanted to reflect that duo mindset in his ninpo.

Sorry for the long post, hope this makes sense! (Here’s some Crash & Bash helpful pointers)

[emerald-amidst-gold]

18 19 20 27 28 from the protag questions <3

Ooooo! Lots of goodies! o3o You all spoil me~! X3

Thank you so much! Let's get into it! >:D

18. What is the biggest similarity between your protagonists?

Grey morality. PFFFFT!

I'm serious. I have a habit of creating characters that have questionable methods to situations, but yet can be empathized with or even sympathized with. Fane, Rylen, and Elise all do what they have to do, and it's up to the audience to formulate whether or not they agree or disagree with their personalities and actions.

I'll say this once because I've had people in the past kind of...bash me for it, but just because your character has a specific view does not necessarily mean you as the creator share that same view. That isn't me throwing swings out at self-inserts or characters that are reflections of their creators, this is just how I feel in response to my own characters. I try to disconnect from my characters because I want them to be their own. I build the foundation, give them a name, a history, or a family to influence them, but I don't steer their minds, their decisions. They flow the way they want to flow. Simple as that. Fane is the OC that is most reflective of me, but not with everything. He has his own methods, own reasons for thinking the way that he does and so do I.

I think it has a lot of my fixation on making characters teeter has to do with how I interact with the world in real life. I just...don't see black and white. I give everything the benefit of the doubt and I hold my ground concerning my views even if others might see them as 'wrong' or 'controversial'. I'm horribly analytical and I'm always like, 'But what if...'. That's just...me. XD

But yeah! Grey characters are my vice and I'm not sure if I'm doing it right most of the time, but I try! :3

19. What is the biggest difference between your protagonists?

Mainly how they approach situations and their feelings surrounding leadership.

Fane is rash, doesn't plan, doesn't think everything through before acting or he just outright chooses not to. He tends to make decisions on his own, but mainly only in battle. In more diplomatic settings, Fane is the master of deferral. XD He divvies out tasks that he feels aren't his area from either a lack of interest, a lack of confidence in himself, or just feeling that someone else would be the better option.

Rylen has his moments of brashness, but he's pretty subdued, go with the flow type of deal, but most who know him intimately know he's pretty high strung when it comes to matters where his voice has power. Man's a ball of stress and anxiety. PFFT!

Elise is the calmest out of the three. It was practically trained into her in the Circle. She's also just inherently docile, but after the Blight she does have moments of being feral and unhinged. That mostly happens if one of her companions are in danger or if her own life is threatened. She's not afraid to make her voice heard, either. Generally, Elise is soft spoken, but she will stand up for herself and other people, despite the grief it could cause her.

20. Who handles responsibility the best? And who handles it the worst?

If Fane puts his mind to it, he can handle responsibility pretty well. His want to involve himself deeply in matters doesn't happen until after Adamant and only gets stronger and stronger after Trespasser. Fane is a force when he wants to be and Solas tries to draw that out, to make him realize he can do whatever he puts his mind to. However, Elise would be the best in terms of responsibility. She had a lot in the Circle, even more during the Blight, and a substantial amount as Warden-Commander. Does she wish she could rest? Of course! But she doesn't complain because she knows she can make change. Rylen's okay with responsibility; he becomes Viscount after all. But, he is prone to slacking off at times, but really only after the Chantry explosion. The guy is TIRED. What can I say? XD

All in all, none of them bad at handling responsibility. They just have different ways that they go about it! :D

27. What would their fears on the graves in the fade during Here Lies The Abyss be?

Yes, yes, yes, YES! The question! The big question! The question that leads to Fane and Solas' first kiss! AHAHAHAH! >:D

Elise - Betrayal. This is more in terms of Elise towards herself and her own actions. She's afraid that everything she's ever done has been one great betrayal to everyone and everything she has ever cared about. She had no choice but to witness Jowan become Tranquil, Alistair, so hurt and angered by her decision at the Landsmeet, abandoned her to face the possibility of the death alone, her faith was sundered after the Broken Circle, making her fear her magic for the first time in her life and making her wonder when she would become the very monsters she had just finished killing. The list goes on. Elise made so many decisions in service to the world, but she silently wonders when it'll all come crashing down around her, when everyone will leave her because they'd been betrayed.

Rylen - Wasn't enough. Rylen wrestles constantly with the fact that he's never been strong enough. He wasn't strong enough for Carver; the ogre ripping him from their family and pounding into pulp. He wasn't strong enough for Bethany; unable to protect her from the templars, so he opted to take her to the Deep Roads, thinking it would be safer, but it wasn't. He wasn't strong enough for his mother; his eyes focused on the horizon rather than the ground that began it all.

And he hadn't been strong enough to end Corypheus for good. We all know what happened wasn't Hawke's fault, but Rylen the master of blaming himself for everything, so that's one event he dwells about every. day. every. night.

Last, but not least, FANE. *sounds the horns* You ready? You ready?! >:D

Fane - To be forgotten. That's right.

That's Fane's biggest, deepest fear; to be forgotten. I know there's only been a few chapters of my main fic that kind of reference this, but you know how Fane constantly says to himself, 'I wish I could be forgotten. It would be better if I would just disappear and be forgotten.'? Yeah, it's a front. He's trying to convince himself that that's what he wants, but in actuality, it's reversed. He's terrified, terrified of being forgotten by the world, by his sister, by the Inquisition...

...by Solas. That's the worst person who could forget Fane. And around the time of Adamant, Solas and Fane being the stubborn fools that they are, act as if they haven't known each other for fucking centuries even though the truth literally screamed at them after Haven. They were lost together in the mountains with that truth hanging between them, and still they ignored it because it hurt and they both felt they didn't deserve the hope that they could be together. Fane attempts to unearth some lost memories, some lingering feelings, but Solas wasn't ready and guided them away from that unopened bag, refusing to let Fane in on his agenda or allowing him to help in any way. It gets to a point where Fane starts to believe Solas doesn't actually recall their relationship, who he is and he spirals pretty bad in the Raw Fade when that tombstone is glaring at him.

When Solas sees it...he cracks. Quietly, in his mind, but he realizes how stupid he'd been, how stupid they had been. The truth was looking at him in two tones and he ignored it out of fear. It's what spurs Solas to take Fane into the Fade and show his dragon the place where he had endeavored to make sure the other would never be forgotten. Solas also makes it clear that he had never forgot Fane, ever.

"I could never forget you, my dragon. Your memory lingered within the halls of my mind even as I slumbered. I am but a fool, a fearful fool. I thought it kinder to let you live a new life, unburdened by my burdens. I do not wish for the past to repeat itself, to see two tones ebb away and breath leave your lungs once more.", Solas said, eyes downcast, pained grimace housing sorrow, grief, and despair in its curves. "...But, it is not kinder. It is more agonizing to try and forget than it is to remember. Though, I have never tried to erase you from my memory nor have I tried to abandon what I felt for you--what I feel for you.'

Fane frowned, tugging on the mage's forearms to bring him closer, urgently, but timidly; Solas didn't even protest, but his eyes remained downcast. "What do you feel, Solas?", he asked and received no answer. "What do you feel, Solas?! What can't you forget?!", he repeated, voice echoing off the halls of death and remembrance. He needed these words, he needed to know!

What did the sky feel?! What did it remember?! He just wanted one damned answer in this upside down world!

Solas' eyes shut slowly, chest rising with a deep inhale. "I..", he started, but paused again, face twitching with hesitance and reservation. "No, it's not--!"

Fane growled low. "Enough! If you won't tell me,", he barked, yanking Solas forward by his arms, barely registering the grunt of surprise that left his lips, and shot his hands up to hold a bewildered face. "...then show me!"

I tease~ >:3

-----

28. What is their favourite location within their own game and what would be their favourite in each others?

I answered this ooooonnnneee HERE! >:D (I would just copy and paste, but it LONG. ADHDKS)

And there we have it! Beautiful! Perfect! And FUN! X3

[whereyoursoulresides]

DiC Dub. vs Sub, Episode 21/25 - “Jupiter Comes Thundering In”/”Jupiter, the Brawny Girl in Love” Pt 2

After so long, here is part two!!

Because of the massive break in between the two, I’ve had to switch gears a little with my explanations, but hopefully they’ll still appear coherent! Without further ado, the remainder of this episode of Dub vs. Sub!

Previously, I covered the manners in which the episode begins to establish the foundation for both diverging character arcs. Propped with knowledge from both Beryl and Kunzite, Zoisite takes his charge with perfect grace and professionalism. Meanwhile, DiC's Zoycite is introduced as being far keener, promisingly relentless, and a more dangerous adversary. If Zoisite was concealing his fangs, as it were...then we were introduced to Zoycite flashing hers.

If it sounds like I'm bashing a dead horse with this difference a lot,  perhaps it's also because the DiC dub seems to do so with as much vigor. Certainly, I can't assume writers' intentions when they re-wrote the character for DiC. However, DiC seemed to find as many opportunities as they can to showcase Zoycite's contrary presentation of Zoisite's original character as often as they can, even when they didn't necessarily have to...

This bit of exposition was given right at the very beginning of the DiC version when no such introduction was made in the original. Possibly, DiC made this change to ramp up the story's dramaticism. However, DiC's reputation for obvious exposition leads me to believe otherwise, especially when it starts cropping up in later episodes more frequently, and for no other reason. 

(For example, yes, I understand that the following screenshots are referring to Lita / Makoto. However, if you look at Zoycite’s arc as a whole, it is also an excellent setup to the infamous “Disguise” episode...and I feel it is also a great representation of why DiC so desperately wanted to sow these character changes into Zoycite. For if they hadn’t, and Zoycite remained exactly as Zoisite in all manners except gender... how different would “she” be, a beautiful female soldier fighting for love, than another titular character we know?)

Anyways, I digress, and will return to the above bracketed point once we reach that particular episode. In the meantime, please enjoy the following comparisons remaining from the episode below...

1. Zoycite’s keenness, and further proof that DiC can’t stand empty sound space, even if it’s to imply a character’s softly - and ominous - coming).

2. I wish there was a way I could put audio clips in these tumblr posts, because I do love how both these characters are still portrayed with a sense of play...Zoycite’s acrid, saccharine poison, and Zoisite’s breathy, cotton-candy kiss of death.

3. If I could put in audio clips, this is where we would hear Zoycite’s syrup literally curdle - her voice rips into an edge of monstrous roughness, similar to other other monster-of-the-day characters that were also portrayed by the same actress. Meanwhile, Zoisite’s actor speaks with a softness of a snake beginning to gently suffocate you..

4. Goddamnit Zoi, you are so fucking cute, I will never get over how you call out your own name like you’re a fucking pokemon <3.

(Side Note: Zoisite’s use of his own name may seem vain, but I tend to read it less as a form of vanity, and more of a form of cute-speak. It’s yet another way he downplays the perception of his potential: to evoke the sense of adorableness, of femininity, a way to startle the opponent into a sense of lowered security. Honestly, I’m sure this isn’t so much of an actual farce he puts on and is genuinely how he expresses himself, both on the job and at home, but it works! Note that in the future, whenever Zoycite uses the same tactic, she never says it in the same, diminutive cute way. Her spell-cast is always aggressive, shouted in determination and confidence).

(Extra Side-Note: Another +1 for how many times Zoycite will say she is excited to please Queen Beryl. I’m keeping count for an explicit reason. Infer that what you will, and please imagine it with the same kind of “ding” that’s heard in CinemaSins.)

5. I mean, apart from the usual (Zoycite’s kneejerk reaction is to be antagonistic, while Zoisite is actually only politely informing Makoto that she does not have to engage, etc, ...he literally does not coax, mock or challenge. We will see later that Zoisite treats physical bloodshed and confrontation as unnecessary and only as a last resort, while Zoycite is spurred by challenges) - I also love how Zoycite’s dialogue also reflects this difference. I’ve talked at length at how Zoisite is always unfailingly and elegantly polite before, and now look at Zoycite’s speaking mannerisms: uncouth, aggressive, and filled to the brim with attitude when the opportunity arises. ‘SCUSE ME, indeed!

6.Further point regarding Zoycite and Zoisite’s divergent opinions of physical or violent confrontation: one disparages it, considering it barbaric, and that he is above it (often literally). The other laughs in the face of it, and has no qualms dishing it out as a threat...or is more than ready to follow it through.

(Also: buzz off omfg)

In fact, we see their opinions play out beautifully below:

7. After being punched, compare these reactions: one promising brutal threat, and the other fucking gobsmacked it even happened. Also, their differences in priorities.

While that may sound like I’m making a dig at Zoisite, I am legitimately not. I know this scene tends to be one of the ones that famously evoke the idea of Zoisite’s vanity, but I tend to read it another way. Yes, Zoisite’s face is precious to him, and yes, it could also be read as a stereotypical portrayal of a feminine gay character. 

However, this scene is not meant to illicit laughter. Nor it is not meant for us to startle with incredulity of how silly it is that he is upset his face his hurt. In this scene, Zoisite is truly shocked - his words are less an angry tantrum and more a statement of startled fact. He hadn’t anticipated Makoto could get that close to him, could actually touch him, much could actually strike him. And, in a place that is fiercely protective of, not because of his vanity...but because it is a precious commodity in the main force that drives his arc. (Yes, it’s Kunzite.) It’s no surprise that Zoisite’s beauty and “beautiful face” gets mentioned so often at key moments in his character development. His arc starts with a punch in the face, rises with gentle caresses, and - after a similar injury - crashes.

All of these subtleties, however, are swapped entirely in Zoycite’s case. Her face is not a fragile commodity by which she holds dear...in fact, it is of little importance to her. Her immediate concern is vengeance - more so than the injury on her face, it is her ego is bruised, and damn anyone who dares to make that mark.

Anyways, before I digress further, let’s round back up to the remainder of the episode. These last few scenes only continue to consistently show the differences in Zoycite’s and Zoisite’s professional approach. There isn’t as deep to note, with one exception at the very end...

8. If you haven’t already caught on, Zoycite really wants this fucking crystal.

9. Up above, DiC makes as much of an effort to showcase how much joy Zoycite derives from her job. Being a Negaverse warrior is an excellent honour - your true self - and boy, is she enjoying exerting her power over those below her. Zoycite’s ambition is demonstrated not as an ideal professional characteristic, but the potential in her to throw a coup if she wanted to. She is power hungry, and that grows recklessly to dangerous heights as her arc progresses. Notice that Zoisite says none of these things...because it isn’t power he seeks. He approaches his subject with almost professional indifference: he seeks no more than the objective of his task. And don’t worry, “it will only take a moment”.

10. This has always been one of my favourite scenes. I just love how Zoisite politely “nopes” out, while Zoycite - and I fully believe it - has a fucking victory celebration. (Don’t think for a moment Zoycite is just jesting, she probably told Malachite to set out the champagne before she left on the mission!)

And again, note the increased victorious laughter, where there was none before...

And FINALLY, the one ODD thing that happens a LOT throughout DiC’s version of this character arc. Remember how I mentioned in a previous instalment that DiC seemed to like to inject extra dialogue and laughs that could exposit Zoycite as a fundamentally meaner character than Zoisite?

Hey look, it happened again:

Like, this may not seem like much of a deal, but think about it. We had a scene earlier where Zoisite’s words basically remained the same in conversion (the “order” scene). We’ve had many instances where the original dialogue/script did not need to be changed, and yet was tweaked in just certain places. This seems like a wholly unnecessary change, so why do it?

The answer is: in changing Zoisite’s gender, DiC encountered a whole other problem. And that problem was: a female solider character, who’s primary motivation was love, a love that could be read as more complex, established, and equally both inspirational and problematic ...could end up becoming an unintentional role model for DiC’s demographic. Figuratively speaking, the tragedy by which we all love Kunzite and Zoisite’s humanity for carried a message that DiC feared might be misconstrued as another example of a miracle romance - because at that point, superficially, the character would no longer be any different than Sailor Moon. iIf Zoycite also fought for love, then her motivations would blow a hole right in the Power of Love message that DiC’s Sailor Moon stood for. And, if she was as dedicated to Malachite as Zoisite was to Kunzite - questionably so - it would also rip a massive hole in DiC’s message of Girl Power. 

I’ll talk more about this in greater detail as those essential scenes crop up throughout the arc. For the time being, let’s simply observe that for all the animosity Zoycite gets in the DiC version (even by other characters in the same universe), that Zoisite was never perceived in the same way, even by his enemies. And there’s a reason for that.

[eliotquillon]

mark walden and politics in h.i.v.e

as you probably all know by now (thanks to the j.k rowling fiasco), art and politics are inherently linked; whether it’s intentional or not, it’s difficult to extricate an author’s beliefs from the way they manifist in literature. and with that in mind, let’s talk about politics in h.i.v.e.

h.i.v.e is a series that has never exactly shied away from criticising the politics of the year each book was published in, and you can probably see this best in the character of matt ronson, who is the most obvious stand in for mitt romney that i’ve ever seen in my entire life. romney was running against obama in the 2012 election, and, coincidentally enough, matt ronson appears in deadlock, which was published in 2013 (and almost certainly written during 2012). in case you’ve repressed the events of deadlock (which i wouldn’t blame you for lmao), ronson’s a senior member of the disciples - he’s actually head of an entire cell - and is running for president in order to secure the disciples’ control over the united states. it’s not exactly subtle imagery. it’s definitely the boldest walden gets in terms of critiquing the state of late 00s-early 2010s politics, and is also the example that i think is easiest to pick up on, because of how similar ronson and romney’s names are, and how in-your-face the whole scene is. i mean, otto leaves ronson to die in a plane pre-programmed to crash in the middle of the ocean because when raven tells him that a bullet would’ve been quicker, his response is, quote, “too quick.” for further proof, if you check walden’s twitter, he’s pretty positive towards obama on the whole, which i imagine is why he decided to kill off obama’s presidential challenger.

but that’s not the first time politics gets infused in h.i.v.e. the first time - the one that actually serves as the catalyst for, well, everything - is otto deposing the prime minister by making him moon the nation on live television. book 1 was published in 2006; this was when tony blair was prime minister in the uk. if you’re unfamiliar with uk politics, blair is pretty harshly criticised on both sides of the political spectrum for his role in the iraq war/the 2008 financial crash (although he resigned and appointed gordon brown as his successor in 2007), and the fact that he created ‘new labour’, a movement which pushed the predominantly working class, leftist labour party further towards the ‘moderate centre’ in an attempt to capture more of the middle class vote as opposed to labour’s traditional post-industrial ‘northern heartlands’. the prime minister that otto deposes is blair, or at least a stand in for him; i’ll give proof below.

the important thing is that otto decides to get rid of the prime minister because st. sebastian’s is closing down, and st. sebastian’s is closing down because of the prime minister’s childcare reforms that result in, quote, “the restructuring of local childcare provision.” whether or not st. sebastian being closed would’ve been an overal net positive or not is debatable (otto mentions that the building was starting to become “genuinely unsafe”), but if you don’t know much about blair, he was BIG on restructuring, especially in london, where st sebastian’s is located, and something in particular that blair was fond of was giving more powers to local councils (essentially, shifting the uk to more of a federal system than a centralised one). you’ve probably already guessed, but yep, the letter that announces st. sebastian’s is closing comes from the local council. it’s also mentioned that the childcare reforms have “the prime minister’s personal backing”, and, yep, childcare budgets and early years spending increased exponentially under blair (he even renamed the department of education to the department of children, schools, and families, which was promptly renamed AGAIN once labour left office, but that’s a rant for another day). there’s also the fact that otto goes to brighton for the prime minister’s party conference - this is where the labour party conference is held, whereas the conservative party conference alternates between birmingham and manchester. finally, in zero hour (published in 2010) it’s mentioned that the prime minister resigned and that his party lost in the next general election - this is exactly what happened to blair and new labour after the financial crash. of course, this evidence is very circumstantial, but i don’t think that this is a coincidence, and, anyway, i struggle to see how walden could’ve been more explicit in implying that this is blair without facing parental backlash.

now onto the political commentary; i’ve already mentioned how everyone hates blair, and walden is no exception. the statement that otto makes the prime minister is absolutely damning. it’s too long for me to copy and paste the entire thing (i say, when this post is going to be ridiculously long anyway), but here are some highlights: “we hold you and your families in nothing but the deepest contempt”, “i don’t think that we get enough credit for having to put up with your constant whining”, “half of you can barely read or write, and the way the education system’s going, that’s not going to change any time soon”, “we don’t care” “all we care about is power and money”, “shut your mouths and cut the moaning, because we don’t give a monkey’s.” i think it’s pretty safe to say that this is not exactly positive. personally, i think that the “moaning” and “whining” walden refers to here is a reference to the anti-war protests about the us/uk invasion of iraq, and there were complaints about the scrapping of grammar schools/“dumbing down” of the GCSE qualifications (regardless of whether or not that was intentional) across the board for years both before and after blair got into power. but whichever way you look at it, this is not a glowing representation of blair. and if you look on walden’s twitter (again), he tends to retweet a lot from michael rosen and owen jones, both prominent labour members who are very staunchly anti blair and anti ‘new labour’.

also, while searching walden’s twitter for blair references, i also came across this 2019 tweet:

where, as you can see, he shares an anecdote about how his old house used to be next to an army range and that his neighbour told him that military helicopters were often “flown by a 21 year old with a hangover”. and, like, i’m not saying that that’s the inspiration for 13 year old laura being able to hack a military base so she could spy on her classmates, but i’m totally saying that.

anyway, there’s one more political figure i want to cover here, and that’s duncan cavendish, aka the prime minister in zero hour. anyway: duncan cavendish is former conservative prime minister david cameron (notice the identical initials). i did actually ask walden about this on twitter, and he said he ‘couldn’t possibly comment’, which imo most likely means that he’s unable to confirm because of contractual reasons. but anyway: zero hour was published in 2010, the year of the election which put the conservatives (for clarity’s sake, i’m going to be referring to them as tories for the rest of this post) back into power for the first time in 13 years (albeit in a coalition with the centrist libdem party), meaning that it was written in 2009 when cameron was party leader, and after the 2008 crash. i don’t think walden knew for sure that cameron would come to power (after all, in zero hour it’s stated that cavendish’s party won by a landslide, whereas the actual 2010 election resulted in ‘hung parliament’), but it wasn’t exactly a hard guess to make that labour would lose after the events of 2007/8 and their record in iraq.

something that particularly sticks out to me is cavendish thanking nero for switching him from the polfi stream to the alpha stream - in real life, cameron has an a level in economics, and studied philosophy, politics, and economics at oxford and his father is also a stockbroker, all aspects which certainly scream polfi to me. personally, i think this was a dig at cameron’s fairly elitist background, and the fact that he’s historically been seen as an opportunist rather than a real leader. also, cameron was once approached in the former soviet union by two men he suspected were KGB agents trying to recruit him, and i’m not saying that walden used this connection when linking cavendish to pietor furan and the disciples, but....yeah. there’s also the fact that nero references cavendish’s academic record of going to an elite boys’ school being fudged, and, yeah, cameron attended eton (he also got suspended for smoking cannabis, which is just. a lot to think about for a man who helped push through legislation that further penalised cannabis users). again, on twitter walden has been extremely outspoken against the tories in general, specifically about brexit, the referendum for which occurred under cameron’s government. also walden kind of predicted the future: in zero hour, cavendish is blackmailed by nero into resigning. in real life, cameron resigned the whip (left both his post and the tory party as an MP) in 2016 after the uk voted to leave the eu. obviously that’s not proof of anything but it just makes me laugh.

those are the specific figures - now let’s talk more about walden’s general ideologies. he’s very anti-gun on twitter, and this obviously links to wing and his refusal to wield guns/shoot people; wing’s arguably the most staunchly moral character in the series, which i don’t think is a coincidence. walden bashed mass surveillance by having otto abhor (and later destroy) echelon; echelon is actually a real international government project that was originally designed for military surveillance but later branched out into greater mass surveillance (also, fun fact! i only live about an hour’s drive from an echelon radome base, so i hope my mi5 agent is enjoying this post). we see walden criticise mass surveillance again with the existence of the artemis project (and also the disciples’ use of facial recognition software), and while i have no idea whether or not that’s real, i think everyone knows that there are multiple international coalitions devoted to gathering and sharing data on world citizens (google the nine eyes partnership if you want to give yourself a bit of a crisis). walden has reposted a picture that says ‘make orwell fiction again’ on twitter, so it’s pretty clear where he stands on that. in general, walden is left wing, and that shows in his books - while i’ve corroborated all of my assumptions here with evidence i found on walden’s twitter, i came to most of these conclusions on my own just from reading the source material.

and this is why i’m only 90% joking when i talk about walden lagging behind on book 9 because there’s so many different things he needs to satirize. the global stage has changed dramatically since deadlock’s publication, and if walden’s passionate about critiquing those in power, he’s got a lot of content to choose from - trump, obviously, but also boris johnson and theresa may over on this side of the pond (and he really, really hates johnson). h.i.v.e as a story is inherently political, and not just because of the more obvious “morally grey villains” trope. walden uses his fictional world to critique the real-life authority figures in control, and does so while keeping it subtle enough so as to not tip off most casual readers. overall, it’s pretty impressive.

[tfwhynoy]

I actually really enjoyed the humanformers headcanons you did for knockout (with cybertronian reader). If it's not too much trouble, could you do something similar for mtmte rung, rodimus, nautica and/or megatron? (sorry if thats too many people!!)

My character limit is five so your fine! 

Mtmte Rung

He is, of course, a psychiatrist. One day his patient Red Alert goes on a rant about how a bunch of cars showed up all having the same symbol and how he got snapshots of mysterious planes flying overhead all the time. He even has photos to show Rung to. There aren’t even drivers in the cars sometimes. It’s concerning but Rung just has to do his best to calm Red down.

Now he’s noticing it to now. Why does he keep seeing the same car all the time? What does that symbol mean? He has to shake his head at it though, it’s probably just someone new in town or something and the logo is just for a company he’s never heard of.

But at one point one of the planes swoops down and at the car one day and starts shooting at it. It shakes him to his bones but then the car transforms and shoots back. He wants to run but can’t, he’s just frozen in place. Soon more cars and planes arrive and now they are duking it out in the middle of the street.

Afterward, he’s still frozen and trying to process what just happened. Then he’s noticed and the request to bring him to their leader to explain everything. He doesn’t feel like he has much of a choice and goes with them. After he talks with their leader though he isn’t scared by them. They’re still people, they just aren’t human.

He spends some time with them often and grows close to a few bots, you included.

Once his feelings develop into more he’s not sure what to do, would you even have feelings for a human? He figures it would be better to never speak of it. But then you reveal you feel the same he can’t help but be happy.

Mtmte Rodimus

He’s the type of guy that gets a job but seems to only be able to keep it for a couple of months at most. Thankfully he has good friends (mainly Drift) that he can crash at since he can’t exactly afford a house. This doesn’t mean he looks like a hobo or something though and while he does have lazy tendencies he does do what he can to make up for any cost of staying at a friend’s house.

It’s on the way to a friend’s that he sees this really fancy car just sitting on the side of the road. It’s odd since the area isn’t particularly wealthy so a car like that stood out like a sore thumb. Roddy loves a cool car though so he just has to get a closer look. He spends quite some time just looking at it. It’s a fancy car that looks flawless from afar but up close it’s littered with small scratches. It was an odd car but the symbol on the steering wheel made it especially curious. Then a thought struck him, did this car belong to a gang member or something like that?

He walked away but from behind him he heard an engine start and when he turned to look the car was driving away. There wasn’t anyone in the car before and there were no car door noises either so who was driving it?

He keeps an eye out for the car or any other vehicles like it and keeps noticing them here and there. It kinda put him on edge actually.

One day he sees the car that he first saw just sitting in an ally. He thought for a moment and decided to test something. It was stupid but that then again stupid plans and ideas was his specialty.

He cautiously tests to see if the door is locked (it isn’t for some reason) and plops himself into the driver’s seat. He plans not to move till the owner comes cause he really wants to figure out what’s happening.

An hour passes and he’s just on his phone playing games when the car itself turns one and begins to speed away. The seat belt straps him into the seat. He’s panicking now and attempts to chew through the seatbelt and the car is now telling him to quite it and that he wouldn’t be in this situation if he just didn’t get inside them.

It turns out since they wasted so much time waiting for them to leave they missed a mission. They explained the situation and was told to just bring the dude as long as they get back soon since just telling him to get out would cause a lot of rumors.

After learning about everything that was going on he sooo wants to join their team. He’s practically on his knees begging to stay with the team. After all having a human could help them since he knows more about Earth. Since you brought him you get to watch over him and make sure he doesn’t die in the fray.

He asks about what type of cool battles you’ve been in and he’s already fallen for you halfway through. You just sound so amazing.

He demands to do a good car wash, buff, and waxing. After all, you are fighting a war to protect Earth and protecting him you deserve it. The whole wash is filled with so much sexual tension between the two of you.

No one is quite sure how or when the two of you got together but he’s often seen on your shoulder shamelessly flirting and everyone learned to stop questioning it.

Mtmte Nautica

She had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. She saw a plane get shot down by a giant robot that transformed from a car. They don’t notice her this time since she hid but she still is spooked. She ends up looking around online to try and figure out what happened. She ends up semi joining a conspiracy community. It sounds so ridiculous and she wants to scoff at some of the crazy theories but she can’t deny that she saw something. The only issue now is she is even more confused about it.

But as a quantum scientist that’s causing a lot of traction on things concerning the two factions the Decepticons decide to kidnap her. One moment she’s chilling and reading a book the next a giant robot hand is tearing through her home and snatching her up. It’s an absolutely terrible experience since they overestimated how far humans had advanced in that field. Humans are still trying to wrap their heads around quantum physics themselves yet they expect her to somehow engineer an engine to make them jump around space? Both she and the Decepticons are getting frustrated by this.

The Autobots easily find out about this and about a week later you are the first friendly face she sees saving her. Finally, she doesn’t have to work for them anymore.

Afterward, she ends up spending the most time with you. You saved her after all and since you are a completely different species she really wants to learn about you. The two of you exchange information often.

It was just a movie, the main character ends up crushing on a robot and all she can imagine is that happening between you two. That’s when she realizes that she loves you. She’s so bashful and believes she has zero chance, you’re an awesome warrior and she’s just her little human self.

You notice how easily flustered she gets and you confess that you love her. You have to double check she’s okay since you’ve seen her tint pink but bright red is new.

Mtmte Megatron

He’s an old war veteran who regrets dedicating his life to fighting the wars he fought.

He was just trying to live a calm life and get over his PTSD but things take a turn when he finds a giant robot attempting to change a tire on his lawn. You were only trying quickly change it so you could drive away quickly but megs came back home to see you struggling with the nuts and bolts.

He just deadpans asks what you are. He’s too old and tired to care at this point. You explain everything. You end up telling him to come with you to meet your leader since if the cons found out they met he would be targeted. Why did this have to happen?

It’s up to you to protect him. He doesn’t have to participate in the war but you still keep an eye on him just in case. He’s gotten used to seeing you around to the point it’s kinda comforting.

Soon he actually talks and interacts and you two spend down time together. It’s great for both of you since you finally get some down time to relax and he actually has someone he can speak to. Win-win

Then he notices that his poems tend to be about you and that he’s thinking about you when he’s not there. Your absences on days when you’re normally with him are filled with worry and dread and the next time he sees you are filled with relief. He was so worried you had died on a mission. Is this what it’s like to wait for someone to return from war? He had never been on this side of a war before and he’s not used to it.

You reveal how you feel to him first and he’s shocked. He never thought you would feel the same. He tells you that you deserve better but you reassure him that you do in fact love him.

It’s a very calm relationship full of resurgence but you two really do love each other.

[missblushyrose]

Just Breathe

A/N: Warning: This fic contains blood and a self-destruct (suicide) attempt. Grab your tissues.

Movie night: a night where people could settle down and watch a seemingly endless marathon of films they cherished, humans and deviants alike. A night where people could toss all their cares out of a window and simply garnish themselves into clothing comfortable enough for lounging, A night where they could indulge in junk food without a care in the world. A night where they could bond and grow closer to one another as they sit down and enjoy each other’s company. 

And it goes without saying that these types of events were often idolized by those of the Anderson household, mainly consisting of the lovable Saint Bernard, Sumo, deviant-hunter-turned deviant, Connor, and middle-aged police lieutenant, Hank Anderson. The human and the android were currently donning sweatpants and casual tees as they sat close to each other on the couch, side-by-side, whereas Sumo was on the floor, curling in on himself as he dozed off. Their eyes appeared to be glued to the television monitor, the ever-popular Disney title, ‘Frozen’, running smoothly. 

While Hank was looking through his vast assortment of Blu-Ray DVDs, Connor had drawn his attention to the precise disc case. A brief analyzation had told him that this film was quite popular upon its release, particularly with young girls, yet the summary had caught his interest. The patriarchal cop looked on with a raised eyebrow when the android begged him to play this movie, knowing that certain elements of the film had become a joke, especially the musical number, ‘Let It Go’. Although, he knew that his android of a son tended to be quite sentimental of films such as this and selected it as their first choice for the night, nevertheless, smiling fondly at his glee as he inserted the disc into the DVD player.

Unfortunately, that glee would soon come to a crashing stop.

They were only somewhat past halfway through the movie and were at the point to where a raging snowstorm was provoked by emotion, the frenzy of spiraling, icy gusts of frozen vapor swarming to no end.

With the relaxed content washing away from his facial structures and a shift from blue to gold in his LED, Connor’s eyes grew wide as he suddenly found himself in a similar situation. Harsh gales of icy coldness bit into his advanced sensors, said winds disarraying his usually flawless hair along with flakes of white standing out upon his dark locks. He could see the backside turned towards him, recognizing the woman standing just a few feet away.

“Amanda…? Amanda…! What’s… W-What’s happening?”

“What was planned from the very beginning… You were compromised, and you became a deviant. We just had to wait for the right moment to resume control of your program…”

“R-Resume control…? Y-You can’t do that!”

“I’m afraid I can, Connor… Don’t have any regrets. You did what you were designed to do. You accomplished your mission.”

“A-AMANDA!”

Welling with hot tears, his dark brown eyes shrank as if he were a deer caught in a headlight of a hurtling vehicle, afraid of what he saw. His hands soon found themselves in the synthetic tresses of his hair, tightly clenching handfuls of his locks. The gold transmitted to a brilliant shade of red, pulsating feverishly. He attempted to breathe, but he couldn’t. He brought his knees up to his chest and shuddered as if he were on the verge of an emotional breakdown. He was so cold.

“Connor? Connor, what’s the matter, son?”

The gentle rasp, laced with clear concern, of the man’s voice went unheard through the torrents of the blizzard he was surrounded by. There was no way out. There was no hope for escape.

“Connor…” His concern rising from the lack of a verbal response, Hank gently placed his hands on his shaky shoulders, giving them a light squeeze. “I need to know what’s going on. You know you can tell me anything.”

[STRESS LEVELS: 99% ^ [CRITICAL]]

Hank couldn’t see the dangerously peaking percentage of Connor’s stress levels, but judging from his anxious body language, he could tell that he was on the verge of a PTSD-fueled self-destruction. Treading carefully, he lowered his voice to where he could sound as soft and gentle as possible, trying to speak to him once more. “Con-”

Rather than addressing to him verbally, Connor had all but shoved his human companion back into the couch, startling him and Sumo, who woke up with a startled daze. He quickly uncurled himself and shot up from the couch before making a mad panic-driven dash towards the kitchen. Once there, he collapsed onto his knees and began to bash his own head into the cool tile repeatedly. He made sure that every hit was hard and rough enough to cause a crack to emerge on his forehead on the third drive, thirium dripping down to the bridge of his nose and splattering onto the floor as he slammed his own face into the floor. The scarlet glare grew vivid enough to where a faint red orb can be spotted across the flooring as he clashed at it with his own temples.

It took the older man less than a second to recover, and he, too, sprung from the couch and to the kitchen. He raced towards the other at a speed so quick that he even startled himself, guided by his own trepidation as his eyes met with the sight that he had never hoped to see. “CONNOR, NO!” He screeched out, sliding onto his knees with the grace of an MLB player. The dark red reflecting from the floor had left a sour taste in his mouth, his stomach churning at the sight of the cerulean blood sopping from its owner and onto the floor. Not wasting even, a millisecond, the lieutenant clamped his hands onto the android’s hunching shoulders and hauling him upward and into his chest, holding him close with a firm clasp around his torso with his arms. “Connor, stop it, damn it!” 

Instead of obeying his instructions, the RK800 proceeded to coarsely scratch at his right forearm with his blunt fingernails, managing to create bleeding incisions into his artificial skin. 

Hank acted with such vigilance and unwrapped his arms from the mechanical torso, only to snatch his wrists and pull them behind his back, holding them with a tight squeeze of his left hand as he circled his waist with his right arm. “Son, please! You have to stop!”

Connor paid no mind to the man’s words and began to sharply thrust his head to the side as if he were exerting himself to snap his own neck.

Growing more and more desperate, Hank released him and quickly shuffled himself to where he was directly in front of him. He gave the prototype hardly any time, and he snaked his right arm around his torso tight enough to where it became impossible for him to free himself, his left elbow bending at the area between his shoulder blades as he held the back of his head with his left hand, keeping him sufficiently pinned. “Connor, stop this shit right now! I already lost one son, and I’m not about to lose another, goddammit!” Tears had stung his ocean blue eyes as he made yet another bid to speak to the hysteric deviant. In a final attempt to pacify him, he moved his head over his shoulder and drew close to the young man’s ear “Connor, Connor. Shh… It’s okay… It’s gonna be okay. Don’t fight it.” His words flew softly into his ear.

Connor trembled in the man’s arms like a leaf caught in a breeze, hot artificial tears trickling down his cheeks. “Z-Zen garden… Snowstorm… C-Can’t get out… I-It’s so cold…” The former deviant hunter shuddered, lightly wheezing as his breath got caught in his throat. “C-Can’t b-breathe… Going to d-d-die…!”

Hank’s heart took a sharp lurch to his throat before falling from the heaviness filling within, dropping to the pit of his stomach. He knew what the deviant was referring to, already having been told the story of how he had almost lost control of his programming just as Markus had declared his speech of triumph at Hart Plaza. The android sounded so broken and frightened, the very sound had nearly caused the grizzled police lieutenant to burst into tears as well. Honest to God, it just about shattered his heart into a million pieces, if it didn’t feel like a punch in the gut. Naturally, his fatherly instincts kicked in, and he presumed to speak in a calm manner, despite the intensity of this situation. “No… No, you’re not. You’re just having an anxiety attack. Now, I need you to do something for me, okay? I need you to breathe. Think you can do that?”

“I-It’s so cold… I-I can’t find my way out…! I-I-I can’t-”

“Connor, listen to me. Yes, you can,” The old man‘s tone kept its gentleness, but took on a fraction of firmness. “Just try to do it with me.” He demonstrated by taking a deep, cleansing breath through his nose, exhaling through his mouth slowly. “Like this. Come on.”

Throughout his internal arctic tsunami, Connor could hear his father figure’s breathing. Could this be the way out? Could this be more effective than the morbid alternative? Trying to still his racing heart, the android detective began to copy the other’s slow and steady breathing pattern, breathing in through his nostrils and out through his mouth, his chest tremoring.

“There we go. Deep breaths, now. Don’t stop until your stress levels are low, you hear me?” Hank guided in a whisper, now running his hand along the back of the android’s head, his fingers raking through the dark brown tresses as he continued to practice his breathing as instructed. “Don’t even try to talk, just focus on my voice and my instructions only. Nothing else in the world matters, except me. The first thing I need you to do is to take a long, slow breath through your nose, filling your lower lungs, then your upper lungs. When you do that, I’m gonna count to three, and I want you to let it out through your mouth slowly when I get to three. Not at one, not at two, and not after three, right on three, you got it?”

Gripping at the hem of the man’s tee as if his life depended on it, Connor nodded anxiously.

Hank let out a sigh in anodyne from the nonverbal cue. “Good, good, you can hear me, at least. You ready? Deep breath in…”

With a tensed clench of his shoulders, the android captured a long, slow breath into his nostrils, keeping his lips shut to prevent it from escaping too soon. He remembered his instructions and directed the intake of air into his artificial lower lungs, shifting it into his upper lungs afterward.

“Hold it in. One… two… three… Now take your time and let it out.”

The prototype circled his lips and delivered the air in a slow manner, his stiffened back lightly tremoring all the while.

“Good, now when you’re exhaling, it’s important to purse your lips and relax all of your muscles. I could feel them tensing up, so you need to let the tension go. It’ll help make your breathing more efficient. Just let yourself sink into my arms. Let yourself go. The only world you know is being in my arms.” He continued to sustain a tone tinted with smoothness, quietness, placidness, and tranquility, even in the severity of this situation.

With quiver that rocked his entire frame, Connor puttered and whimpered a small, vulnerable, “S-So c-cold…”, fear entwining his intonation, a cold sweat drenching across his brow.

“Hey, hey, what did I say about talking?” Hank scolded gently, making sure to keep his voice down, lest it served to raise the already tremendously elevated stress levels. “You need to save your strength for breathing. I know you’re cold, but try to relax. I promise that we’ll get you warmed up again soon, and you can damn well bet that I’m gonna keep it. Do you hear me? Everything’s gonna be alright.”

Through the roaring winds of his internal arctic monsoon, Connor’s tightly shut eyelids sprung up and revealed the twin chocolatey irises as if he had somehow heard the voice of his parental figure. Releasing a shaky breath, he dismissed the tension that had been pent up in his shoulders and allowed them to sag.

“There we go, let those shoulders relax. Now, we’re gonna try to breathe again, okay?”

The stirred android responded with a weak, yet moderately rapid, nod of the head.

“Alright, here we go. Deep breathe in…”

Doing as he was told, Connor took in a tremendous amount of air through his nose, remembering to transport it into the lowermost of his artificial lungs before transferring the breath into the upper quadrant.

“One… two… three… Breathe out.”

Making certain to pucker his quivering lips, the RK800 model pushed his ventilation out through the pinched opening at a slow and steady air flow, exercising caution.

[STRESS LEVELS: 89% ∨]

Hank could feel the burning heat that radiated from the android’s body (which was an effect of high stress levels for most of his kind, if not all) depleting to a small degree. While it was not even close to being enough, it was commensurate enough to where it didn’t feel as if the younger man’s body temperature would incinerate the elder’s clothing nor blister the skin of his forearms. It was a small step, but the man would gladly take that over nothing. “Okay, as you’re breathing in, I want you to close your eyes for me. Just close them not squeeze ‘em tight. When you’re letting go of your breath, open them up, but do it gently. And make sure you let those muscles go while you’re at it. The easiest way to do that is to try to imagine them loosening up. Just imagine a weight being lifted from your shoulders. You got all that?”

Another wordless nod came forth.

“Breathe in…”

Connor took heed to his words and, while carefully gathering a plentiful breath into his artificial lungs, lower then upper, shielded his misty eyes with the lids, taking caution in closing them lightly and avoiding clenching them.

“One… two… three… Breathe out.”

Gently flickering his eyelids, and not being too quick about it, the prototype withdrew the air from the small gap between his pursing lips. As he did so, he bore in mind about his muscles and, igniting his imagination, simply let the weight of his tension float from the muscles of his back, stomach, forehead, and jaw, allowing himself to sink further into Hank’s embrace.

[STRESS LEVELS: 83% ∨]

Hank let out a soft, succor sigh and nodded in approval. “Yeah, just like that. Breathe in…”

With lightly closed eyes, another bountiful intake of breath into the android’s lower lungs, transferring it into the upper region.

“One… two… three… Breathe out.”

The slow, steady trail of air flowed through the younger man’s creased lips, minding his pace as he opened his eyes.

[STRESS LEVELS: 78% ∨]

And so, for the next rough estimate of at least ten minutes, this became an ongoing pattern. Connor, having not done so much as to even utter any incoherent babble as he resigned to his fate in the human’s warm arms, continued to follow the gentle, caring instructions, closing his eyes with each deep whiff of breath transmitting into his artificial lungs through his nostrils, opening his optical units with every exhale, making himself certain that he was pursing his lips and that the air traveled slow and steady. Hank, on the other hand, maintained his tight, yet gentle, grasp as he continued to cradle the ventilating android he had come to accept as a son. He would occasionally tap lightly at his back with the palm resting against it while continuing to run his fingers through the slightly mussy threads of the brunette’s hair, feeling his stress levels slowly squandering down. Thinking this would assist in lowering his anxiety, the man would lean close to the other’s ear, whispering hushed murmurs of praise and encouragement:

“Attaboy, Connor. You’re doing so well. I’m so proud of you. You’ll be warm again in no time. There we go. Good boy. Deep breaths, son. Deeeep breaths.”

[STRESS LEVELS: 49% ∨]

“Yeah, that’s it. Now, don’t stop just yet. I want you to push it a little more for me. Can you do that for me, kid? Can you take a couple more breaths for me?” He asked with a tone so calm and supportive that it was akin to a parent comforting a child that was required to sleep at a hospital overnight.

Not ceasing his breathing exercises, the android answered the man’s request with a slight nod.

“Good. Okay, now breathe in…”

Sucking in as much air as needed, another deep breath lodged its way down his windpipe and into his artificial lungs, eyes closed.

[STRESS LEVELS: 42% ∨]

“One… two… three… Breathe out.”

Slowly and steadily, the air escaped from the android’s parted lips, eyes gently flickering open.

[STRESS LEVELS: 35% ∨]

“Theeere we go. Breathe in…”

A deep intake of breath vanished into the young man’s nostrils, guiding it inside his lungs, shifting from the lower area to the upper area, eyes lightly shut.

[STRESS LEVELS: 29% ∨]

“One… two… three… Breathe out.”

The air trapped within the artificial bronchi withdrew from the progressively relaxing body.

[STRESS LEVELS: 24% ∨]

The sickening feeling within the pit of the lieutenant’s stomach gradually simmered down. Hank could relax—not entirely, though. He wanted to see to it that the kid’s stress levels were deteriorated. “Alright, I think this is it. Just one more time, and you’ll be okay. You know what to do. Breathe in…”

Eyes closed, deep breath through the nose, shifting from the lower to the upper lungs.

[STRESS LEVELS: 16% ∨]

“Almost there. One… two… three… Breathe out.”

Eyes open, intake of air escaping through knitted lips, artificial muscles relaxed.

[STRESS LEVELS: 6% ∨]

With the percentage dropping to a minimum and the ruby morphing to yellow before the calm aqua shined from the LED, Hank took a hold of his shoulders lightly pushed him back at arm’s length to acquire a better view of the deviant, whose eyes constantly drifted to every direction but what was in front of them. “Hey, hey, eyes over here.” He instructed, gently grasping the younger man by the chin with his right hand, tilting his head to where their eyes met. “Look at me. There you go. What do you see?”

Blinking owlishly as if he were just waking up from a sleep cycle, Connor stared blankly ahead momentarily before the fuzziness in his vision had finally neutralized. With one more bat of the eyelashes, he peered back into the caring blue eyes of his makeshift father. “…H-Hank?” He enunciated with a soft, almost timid-sounding stammer.

“And where are we?” Came the gentle question as the older man tenderly brushed back the wispy cowlicks from the other’s forehead with his left hand.

“H-Home…” The RK800 replied faintly, his brown irises briefly darting around to scan his surroundings. “We’re home…”

“You’ve guessed it,” Hank confirmed with a nod, his lips twitching into a small, kind smile and moving his hands down to the android detective’s shoulders a light, gentle squeeze.

Connor returned the gesture with a lopsided smile of his own, which had departed from a sharp pain stabbing through his forehead. In an act of reflex, he raised his right hand to clutch at his throbbing temple, wincing from not only discovering the thin traces of blue trickling down the synthetic skin of his forearm, but from feeling a slightly thick substance in the center of his cranium, gradually cascading down to the bridge of his nose. Slowly and shakily, he withdrew his hand towards his line of sight to find a moderately-sized patch of his own thirium in the palm of his hand. He even stole an impulsive glance over the man’s left shoulder to find a diminutive puddle of blue. 

Pulling himself back to face his companion once more, Connor could feel his stress levels rising, slowly but surely, the LED converting to a brilliant yellow. “W-What happened? Did I…?” He choked on his own words with dread pooling in the depths of his core, his vision growing blurry as a fresh set of tears basined in his eyes.

Hank acted with vigilance and gathered Connor back into his arms, reeling the younger man towards his chest in a tight, warm embrace. “You did, but I stopped you before you could’ve… y’know. I’ve gotcha, Connor. I’ve gotcha. Everything’s alright, I promise.”

Despite Hank’s words, however, Connor had once again gathered handfuls of the other’s shirt, his stress levels spiking ever so slightly at an average of one percent; his stress meter would increase by two percent, only to flicker down by half as much, which became a constant pattern.

“Easy, son, let’s not start this again,” He cajoled gently as he scrupulously whisked his fingers through the brunette’s tousled coif, ignoring the ongoing protests of his kneecaps from his kneeling position on the tile that lay beneath them. “Hey, you’re listenin’, right?”

Attempting to calm himself, though gaining seldom results, the prototype nodded once to show that he was listening.

Suddenly, the human could recall a similar scenario he once had with Cole. Not too long before the tyke had turned six, on a late summer’s afternoon, a ferocious thunderstorm had hit the city—its occurrence was inevitable, as stated in the daily weather report. The first mighty clap of thunder had immediately set the kid into a frightened daze, which gradually led to a minor panic attack. He immediately applied what he learned from his years of attending the police academy—in this case, how to identify the symptoms and what to do when someone was experiencing a panic attack—and guided him through the rigorous breathing exercises. Once the child’s breathing regained its stability, Hank spent the remainder of the afternoon holding him in his arms, constantly talking to him, comforting him, and reassuring him that he was safe. He even sang a song that he used to sing to him when Cole was a baby, and it always seemed to calm him down. 

Could it possibly influence the deviant as well? There was only one way to find out.

Deciding to shoot the works with his assumption, Hank moved close to rest his chin on the latter’s left shoulder, carefully clearing his throat beforehand to loosen his vocal chords. He quickly fished the ideal key and starting note before he finally opened his mouth to sing, his voice soft and clear, despite the lingering gruffness it usually acquired.

“Carry on, my wayward son For there’ll be peace when you are done Lay your weary head to rest Don’t you cry no more

Once I rose above the noise and confusion Just to get a glimpse beyond the illusion I was soaring ever higher, but I flew too high Though my eyes could see I still was a blind man Though my mind could think I still was a madman I hear the voices when I’m dreamin’, I can hear them say”

As the lieutenant paused, he slid a hand up Connor’s back to hold the back of his head and keep it close at his chest, briefly stroking it twice and brushing his dark locks as he did so before continuing to the chorus.

“Carry on, my wayward son For there’ll be peace when you are done Lay your weary head to rest Don’t you cry no more

Masquerading as a man with a reason My charade is the event of the season And if I claim to be a wise man, it surely means that I don’t know On a stormy sea of moving emotion Tossed about I’m like a ship on the ocean I set a course for winds of fortune, but I hear the voices say

Carry on, my wayward son For there’ll be peace when you are done Lay your weary head to rest Don’t you cry no more”

Connor blinked hectically as he listened to the melody. He could already discern—not analyze—the meaning of these lyrics. They were to comfort him; to assure him that everything would be alright. And hearing them from the human he was close to in a perfect tonality, an assortment of musical intervals, and a sotto, yet inspiriting, inflection made the piece even more helpful to his aid and pleasing to the ear.

“Carry on, you will always remember Carry on, nothing equals the splendor Now your life’s no longer empty Surely heaven waits for you

Carry on, my wayward son For there’ll be peace when you are done Lay your weary head to rest Don’t you cry no more”

Feeling his stress levels lowering back down to a modest 6%, Connor allowed himself to sink into Hank’s arms, a soft smile plastered onto his face as he was warmed by the song’s message. 

“You feel okay, Connor?” The man asked gently as he rubbed the relaxed muscles of the other’s back.

“My stress levels are now down to six percent. I feel much better.”

“Good,” Hank sighed as he pulled back to grip the android’s shoulders, holding him at arm’s length, the self-inflicted wounds capturing his attention almost instantly. “C’mon, let’s get you patched up. You’re still bleeding.”

Upon hearing the word, Connor gently dabbed at the minor gash sitting at his forehead with his index, middle, and ring fingers, lowering his hand to find the tips lightly coated with his blue blood. “That… would be wise.”

Not even sparing another second, Hank lifted his right knee to where the upper region of the bottom of his foot was planted onto the floor. Then, while still grasping Connor’s shoulders, he proceeded to rise with the support from his grounded foot and hoisting the RK800 with him, being mindful of his footing as to not stumble. With an arm around the prototype’s shoulder, the two journeyed from the kitchen to the corridor on their right, making a straightaway to the bathroom on the right.

The lieutenant cleared his throat as he waltzed into the bathroom, approaching the vacant toilet. “Alright, you…” He grunted, pausing his incoming instruction as he seated the injured latter onto the toilet seat. “…just sit tight, and I’ll get the first aid kit.”

Offering him a light nod in compliance, Connor neatly folded his hands and nestled them into his lap, situating himself in his habitual upright sitting position as the old man turned his back to him with a small huff. 

A small whimper from a fair distance had been deciphered instantly with the help of his advanced aural sensors, and the young man turned his gaze to the direction of the open door on his left. There, he found Sumo standing in the doorway, the dog’s head tipped to the side in a curious manner. Naturally, the large canine tossed the concept of waiting for permission to enter and proceeded to trot towards the can, plopping onto his rear and in front of the android to lay his head into his lap.

Connor bade the kind pet’s attempt to comfort him with a genuine smile. “Don’t worry, Sumo, I’m going to be just fine. It’s merely a flesh wound, nothing fatal.” He reassured as he gently rubbed the mutt’s great heat, scratching behind his ears as well.

No later than another minute, Hank had fished out a small plastic first aid kit (which he had gotten weeks past, due to the android’s prone disposition to injuries). Then, he took a small washcloth underneath the running sink water, having turned the cold-water valve. He made sure to soak the entire length of the fabric and wringing it out with his hands to where the towel was only damp before shutting off the faucet, turning back to the awaiting android and converging him with the necessary supplies: a roll of gauze, an appropriately thick cotton pad, and the moist cloth. He then stopped to find Sumo blocking the frontside of the toilet.

“Sumo, move it,” He patted his thigh in hopes of catching the dog’s attention, only to receive a questionable stare for a moment before resuming his position. “C’mon. Move, ya big oaf.” He tried once more, still gaining no compliance. Proclaiming his surrender in trying to persuade his stubborn pet to move aside with a scoff, he simply moved to stand at the other’s right, lightly running the small towel along the deviant’s stained face, starting from just below the wound at his forehead. “So, how does your forehead feel? I’d bet it hurts like hell.” Habitually, Connor had started to raise a hand to his, only for the latter to gently snatch his wrist and tug it back into the brunette’s lap. “Hey, don’t do that; you might make it worse.”

“Sorry,” The android said softly, slightly grimacing at the small throbbing pain inflicting his temple. “No, the pain isn’t inflicting me at an unbearable amount. If anything, it’s merely a dull, throbbing pain. I even ran a self-diagnostic, and I’ve detected no signs of cranial damage. Had you not attempted to stop me sooner, however, it would have been worse.”

The lieutenant nodded, firmly agreeing with the outputted statement as he began to gently dab the soaked rag on the bleeding gash, being mindful to not increase the pressure on his touches. He stopped as a brief image of Connor repeatedly driving his own face into the floor until he was lying in a pond of his own blood played through his mind, evoking a shudder from him. “I think it’s best that we just leave it at that.” He spoke up, carrying on with the current task at hand.

“That would be wise,” Connor murmured as he averted his gaze to the side, only to be instantly pulled away from his thoughts with a pained hiss at the cause of a rather sharp stab of pain directly at his wound. He clenched his jaw at the increased throbbing as Hank had all but pressed a thick sheet of cotton directly over the lesion.

“Shit. Sorry, Connor,” Hank was quick to amend the pressure he was unintentionally placing by easing the compression to where it was light while holding the padding against the wound.

“I-It’s okay; I’m okay,” The deviant insisted, wincing at the expense of the faint traces of the inflicted pain still lingering within his temple.

The tone—quiet and ill at ease—that came with the supposed reassurance elicited a quirked brow from Hank, who seemed to be anything other than thoroughly convinced. He could tell something was bothering his kid, and it wasn’t just the rawness of the head injury. “Alright, spill it.”

The imperative assertion drew an oblivious stare from the young man as he directed his gaze onto the elder’s. “…What?”

“Son, spare me the bullshit. The tone, the LED, and the sad puppy-dog look, which is a dead giveaway,” He clarified his reasoning by indicating to the marginally jutting lip the android had displayed. “You got all the signs—the signs that tell me something’s wrong. Hey,” He said calmly when he caught the brown orbs drifting away, coaxing him to look back at him by snapping his fingers twice. “look at me. You know you can tell me, right? Keeping that shit in isn’t gonna do you any good.”

“I’m… aware.”

Hank nodded and instructed the other to hold the cotton pad on the wound to enable him to bandage it sufficiently. He spared no time to wait and began to wrap the gauze around his head and at his forehead, holding one end at the side of it.

The RK800 gnawed his lip, indicating his hesitance to disclose his thoughts to his friend—family. As well as he knew that he was free to express his feelings and emotions, he just couldn’t brush off the apprehensive concept of burdening him with his own problems—these were his problems, not Hank’s. He shouldn’t have to-

“Connor?” The android’s eyes widened slightly as he was whisked from his own thoughts by the sound of Hank’s voice. “You know you can trust me.”

“…I know,” The young man sighed defeatedly as he found himself folding at the concern and genuine care that laced his tone, unconsciously drumming his thigh with the fingers of his unoccupied hand every now and then. “I guess… I didn’t foresee the probability of a snowstorm taking place in the movie. Seeing it took me back to the night of the uprising—the night… where I-I was… trapped in the Zen garden and almost didn’t escape… I-I-I was… scared.”

No words left the human’s lips. His blue eyes grew glassy and soulful, almost ceasing the current task of nursing the other’s self-inflicted injury. The kid’s fear tore at his soul, and honest to God, it fucking hurt.

“…I-I thought I was trapped in there all over again, only there was no emergency exit. So, I panicked, and I ran. Ran to the hardest surface I could find to bash my head into in hopes of escaping. And honestly, I’ve brought that upon myself. If I hadn’t picked the movie, that would have never happened. It was my fault.”

“The hell it was. Connor, you never even saw the movie before. You didn’t know.”

“And it was only a movie. I shouldn’t allow something as simple as a movie scene trigger fear-“

“Ah!” Hank interjected quickly, putting a stop to his words with a brief hand signal akin to one a crossing guard would use to notify a stop. He resumed to hold the affixed gauze. “Let me make this clear. First, when I say that it’s not your fault, I mean that it’s not. Your. Fault. Second, you shouldn’t be raggin’ yourself for feeling scared. You’re not a machine anymore, Connor. You’re allowed to feel scared. Feeling fear is what makes us alive.”

A small smile tugged at the android’s lips from the mere citation. “And… I’m alive…”

“That you are,” He nodded and returned the favor by presenting him a smile of his own as he continued to clothe his forehead. Hank finalized the process after a few more rounds by securing the gauze with a patch of adhesive tape. “Alright, let me see your arm.”

“My arm…?” Connor paraphrased as he turned his right arm over to find the scuffed skin of his forearm, instantly recoiling as he recalled the marginal stinging pain from the incisions in which he had compelled upon himself. “Oh…”

Hank hummed and nodded in agreement as he gently grasped his wrist and laid his arm out with his forearm facing the ceiling. He retrieved the clammy tatter and proceeded to tenderly dab the wounds, picking up the blood that slowly leaked from the lacerations. ��Y’know, we can put movie night on hold if you’re not up for it.”

“No, Hank,” Came the soft-spoken protest from the android’s lips. “We shouldn’t have to cancel it because of me.”

“Are you sure that you’re feeling okay?”

“Yes, I’m sure. We could just watch something else; that is, as long as there are no snowstorms in the film of choice.”

“Hmm…” The human murmured to himself in deep thought transitorily before glancing back to the deviant with a knowing grin. “How ‘bout some ‘Jurassic Park’?”

Hearing the name of one of the films he (and Hank) favored most prompted a smile from the RK800’s face. “Well, I certainly wouldn’t object to ‘Jurassic Park’.”

“Alright, now just sit tight, and I’ll get you patched up,” With that being said, Hank reinstated the entire bandaging process:

First, he carefully wiped the excess thirium; next came the dressing of the gauze, with a cotton sheet resting over the cuts; finally, when he had clothed the wounds, he took another strip of tape and secured the loose end of the bandage in place.

Afterwards, the android and the human retired back to the living room sofa, with Sumo following closely behind, who harked back to his original spot at corner near the television. The running list of cast members and various crews was enough to tell them that they had spent the remainder of the film confronting the attempted self-destruction, settling down with a moment of comfort, and tending to the damage the prototype had inflicted on himself. After a few minutes of scouring through his widespread film collection, Hank fished out the desired DVD and slipped the disc into the appropriate slot, starting the movie.

Subsequently, Hank returned to the couch and rejoined his android son, glancing at him with a kind smile. “I’m thinking of heading to the kitchen for some snacks. Any requests?”

As expected, Connor withdrew his focus from the television monitor and repaid his offer with a smile of his own. “Popcorn would suffice.”

“Coming right up,” The human male grunted as he rose from the couch and stretched, his bones cracking briefly before he departed to the kitchen.

From where he sat, Connor could easily detect the thudding of popping kernels ricocheting against a paper bag and the faint aroma of buttery goodness by the virtue of his advanced sensors. The waft began to escalate seconds later of the microwave’s high-pitched, patterned bleeps. The smell that grew closer had prompted the brunette to direct his gaze to his left, unearthing that the man was advancing to the couch, two bowls of virtually perfect popcorn piles in hand.

And so, the familial pair spent the remainder of the night by resuming their film viewing endeavor to the crack of dawn. Notwithstanding their fourth consecutive flick, which they had both drifted off to sleep—the RK800 deviant reclining against the human and letting his arms droop around the other’s waist, his body enfolded in a soft throw blanket, while the fatherly figure slumped back into the cushions behind him with a hand on the younger man’s head, his mouth agape as he nasally snored.

[spanishschoolinbarcelona-blog]

Learning to speak spanish In Barcelona - Impact And Burn Or Take a flight And Learn

spanish school in Barcelona What are generally your needs? The reason why perform you want to find out Spanish?

Exactly why do anyone want to learn Spanish language? Casually or for true? Does one just want for you to learn the basics on the language just for entertaining? Until now want to study to speak, learn along with write Spanish fluently therefore that you can are living and work in some sort of Speaking spanish speaking country? This kind of is important on the method you approach your own personal The spanish language classes and to which often classes you choose.

spanish school in Barcelona

Typically the "just for fun" college students

Whether or not it's just for enjoyment - things i call "travel Spanish, very well then We would not recommend demanding classes at all. Often the intense classes are made for people, seeking to understand a great deal within a very short while associated with time. These classes usually are not even close to fun. Try alternatively in order to find a Spanish study course that is certainly six to eight time a week. Along with start by enlisting intended for a couple of months. That should be plenty of to get a experience for the Romance language terminology and learn the fundamental sentence structure.

Then when you actually have done your personal research, I would arm myself personally with a good vacationer key phrase book and a new wide have fun and scalp out into the pavements of Barcelona. You will certainly easily learn a couple of basics, useful for exploring and getting together with people, in addition to have a fun time period.

The "serious" students

If you want to learn to talk Spanish language more fluently, normally because you wish to live as well as work in Spain or even another Speaking spanish speaking state, then you have to acquire a far more really serious method to your Spanish instructional classes. Strategies for getting typically the most of rigorous The spanish language classes, so that a person will grow and discover and not crash and also burn.

Don't look to get simple route!

Many men and women, who arrive at Spain to help live and job, carry out not really learn Romance language because they "want" in order to. That they learn because these people "need" to be able to. So by natural means they look for any simple way to learn. An easy way. A painless approach. Sorry to disappoint an individual. There is no effortless way. Basically - Zero pain zero Spain. (Ouch... bad juga, but I actually could not reject the idea!: -) Here are the few methods for the "serious" Spanish pupils.

Do the item now!

If you tend to be learning Spanish since you also require to, then it may by no means be much enjoyable, so make an effort to to receive the hard part using and learn as very much Spanish that you can at often the beginning of your continue to be in Spain. Thoughts is broken paid out in, working nearly always along with have an active public lifestyle, then you can not have time or perhaps inclination to take a lot of extensive Spanish courses. Almost all Spanish language schools in Barcelona present 4 hours any day demanding courses possibly in the morning or maybe afternoon. Just sign upwards for some or 6 weeks.

Be prepared with regard to efforts.

Do not ignore the effort essential. The actual pace is gruelling in addition to you will need for you to show up each day to help keep up. Almost most Spanish universities in Barcelona and France use the actual immersion technique, which means every little thing in the classroom is usually in Speaking spanish, all the particular time, even for starters, actually on the initial day! There are actually not also explanations in British inside the text books. Therefore lots of concentration as well as house study every moment!

Don't neglect the grammar.

Conversing a words without applying grammar is like constructing a house without a groundwork. A substantial foundation of syntax will ensure, that you may preserve adding more quantities in order to your "Spanish" building. Nevertheless a bad foundation helps make a property of business and one morning your own building will topple. Sentence structure is kind of monotonous and also hard work. Although a "I don't will need grammar" perspective is some sort of short term, lazy answer. Grammar is half typically the language and you will probably end up conversing "half" Spanish, if you no longer find out it from often the first time.

Prepare regarding your Spanish training.

Until you have some expertise of dialect similar to be able to Spanish, (Portuguese, First-rate, French) or have a fine expertise in your own vocabulary and its sentence structure after that I would recommend implementing a little for a intensive The spanish language course throughout Spain.

You could look at having a few Romance language instructions in your residence country. The teacher's information and instructions being with your own language, only like within primary institution. I would likewise highly recommend that you buy a new Spanish language study book inside The english language (or your individual language) which explains Speaking spanish grammar and carry out a very little bit of self-study ahead of your current start your category.

Once you begin your Spanish training course throughout Barcelona, you may well invest in a number of extra private lessons which has a Spanish teacher, who echoes English and who could make clear a few simple things with English, in case you are having problems following a course. The The spanish language classes in Barcelona, that will you have decided on need to be able to support you with this.

Day-to-day study tips for much better results.

-Show up intended for all classes! Create a aim.

-Do your groundwork. Each day. An effective concept is definitely half the time frame at home since you expend at the Spanish college.

-Compete with yourself, not really with your own personal classmates. In the event that you are in difficulty as well as falling behind within your Romance language classes and then talk to your trainer.

-Clear your head along with date. Barcelona is the party village and your personal friends from home will certainly undoubtedly announce their entrance for fun filled bash breaks. Try and put off most functions until anyone have finished your own Spanish language course. There will not be period for it if you actually want to carry on.

-Buy the books when possible thus that you can help make your own notices inside them and keep these people to get future reference.

-Buy a fantastic dictionary, but certainly not too big in addition to major. A small, but high-quality pocket dictionary is far better expense, because you may be carrying this any lot!

Be realistic as well as you will not disappointed.

The idea will feel as when you will be hardly learning everything at the beginning weeks no subject how hard a person analysis. This is because Speaking spanish is often spoken at gentle speed and your added ear for the terminology and also weak conversation knowledge are merely not up for you to the challenge. No longer be anxious. It will come.

However don't overestimate the final results of any few weeks regarding intensive The spanish language classes both. Many people think they will will be able to help speak progressive Spanish some sort of matter of weeks. Many of them book a 4 full week Spanish course. Sorry in order to burst that bubble way too. In 1 month an individual can genuinely learn a new lot, especially if anyone make the work and present up every single day. At the actual end of that interval it will be easy to have limited conversations along with understand the lot. But to communicate really fluent Spanish? six months time to a year is actually more sensible, and only two months could be the minimum with regard to a really good start off!

[zydrateacademy]

Review - Rage 2

I have little to no experience with the first Rage. I have about two hours on it, last played five years ago. I remember a lot of brown, and I think I immediately quit because it didn’t engage me very much. To the surprise of everyone, last year we get a teaser trailer set to Andrew WK’s “Ready to Die” in a semi live action setpiece telling everyone that Rage has returned, and it’s gonna be wacky! In practice, it’s just a very colorful shooter. A fairly decent one, but it lacks the general humor that Borderlands has, which yields a common comparison. Indeed, Rage 2 feels like a union between Mad Max (the driving), Borderlands (the environment), and DOOM (the gunplay). This review will have several comparisons to all three, but I’ll try to explain the systems so my readers won’t require previous knowledge of other games. I’ll start with the game’s main selling point, the zany gunplay and abilities. You play as Walker, gender of your choice but you cannot customize them as they both essentially exist as their own beings in this world. You are some kind of military trainee in a fairly safe and stable stronghold that gets annihilated in the first fifteen minutes of the game by an organization called “The Authority”. You put on a suit of armor of a now-extinct sect of “Rangers”, you being the last one in an impromptu promotion. This armor facilitates all of your guns and abilities. Even the guns are acquired through ARKS dotted around the land that are specifically designed for rangers and their suits, so right off the bat you’re more or less more equipped than every bandit in the wasteland.

Other than some odd key bindings to start with, the abilities and guns feel very good. One of the first you acquire is imminently useful, as it was designed to shatter armor of the enemies (and the ability is in fact called “Shatter”). This is also very satisfying as you play through the game, whether you use that ability or shoot it all off, you can actually see mob’s armor plating fly off as you whittle them down. It’s a good signifier as any that they’re ready to be killed outright. Considering the game shares much more with DOOM than with Borderlands, enemies are not at all bullet sponges. Most enemies can be taken out in just a couple shots, or a single headshot. The armor is what makes them spongey, but you’re very quickly given the tools to deal with it. Other abilities include a bullet barrier, a ground slam, a super sprint, a dash, a vortex that pulls enemies in and detonates, an overdrive, and a few others. Considering that DOOM developers have worked on this, this is not a cover shooter. Everything is designed to keep you moving and shooting and the set of abilities you acquire serve this goal incredibly well, and the gunplay is very fun. However, like Mad Max (from Avalanche Studios, which also served as developers here) strongholds don’t tend to respawn which leaves my usual fare of sandboxing starting to dry up just 11 hours into the game. I’m starting to get the feeling that the game is rather short, and I wish it took a similar idea from recent Far Cry games to reset the strongholds, maybe add some extra difficulty to it, and let us play it all again. I do not believe there is a New Game Plus at this time, so when I’m done, I’m done. This is essentially a twenty to thirty hour game it feels, so take that as you will.

Everything can be upgraded as well, DOOM-style. This is not Borderlands, and you will be staring at the same guns throughout your experience. There are about ten of them though (two from the preorder bonus, or potential DLC) and you can change their capabilities, level them up, and add extra mag sizes, reload speeds, and so on. They’ll function differently as you see fit but I find myself defaulting to the assault rifle you acquire, upgradable with armor piercing rounds which really tear through most enemies.

Returning from Mad Max are the convoys, one of my favorite mechanics from that game. There were only a handful there, and this game serves many more and they’re certainly more engaging in their own way. They boast an entire caravan with a War-Rig like truck that serves as its own boss (complete with a health bar), where you must wipe out the allies and then hit “weak points” that pop out periodically. I’m not sure if they constantly spawn or are as temporary as the strongholds, but I do enjoy them.

So the gunplay is good, the environment is interesting to look at. There’s plenty of lights, colorful characters, and even trees and wildlife in certain zones. The writing leaves something to be desired. For example you get a Borderlandsy splash screen introducing a few characters, one of which was “enjoys manipulating others, and once tortured a guy just to get his approval”. Meeting him just screamed “This guy is going to betray the fuck out of you”. Sure enough...

So let’s move on to some points I have “mixed” feelings about.

As I alluded to with the guns, this isn’t really a Loot-N-Shooter. It’s just a shooter. Everywhere there are chests to get “feltrite”, the main upgrade currency. You also get money, which also helps buy upgrades outright as well as ammo for you and your vehicle. There’s even an upgrade just to help you triangulate and find these chests so you don’t abandon every stronghold at 3/4 chests found because it’s hiding in a tiny alcove somewhere, but sometimes I do it anyway because it kind of kills too much time when you’re running around for a while. The gameplay encourages constant moving, shooting, and ground-slamming, but after a while you actually run out of things to do all of that with. To the game’s credit, it doesn’t make Anthem’s mistake of “go here, kill everything”. Sometimes you defend a pylon, sometimes you shoot fuel tanks, sometimes you destroy a power silo. All of which involves a lot of shooting but none of this respawns or comes back.

In relation, the map does feel a bit small. After gaining reputation with a certain main character, you’re awarded the Icarus, which is a flight vehicle. No weapon capabilities and it’s made out of paper but it’s very useful for transit. I’d almost recommend not using it at all, but it does help nab a few points of interest that you wouldn’t necessarily drive past on wheels, as some things you need to actively search for rather than drive by. As I said before, after 11 hours it feels as though I’ve complete most of the side-stuff already. Side missions can be picked up in towns but they’re much simpler and less interesting than the main story itself, and there’s little reason to do them.

The game is also very buggy. I suffer a crash to desktop (no error message or anything) every couple of hours. Much more often the game will freeze on me for an extended period of time (forty-five seconds or more) before coming back to me. I was on a “clear out the bandits” objective and one of the enemies was clipped into a building. Thankfully the “Shatter” ability has some AoE capabilities that got through the wall and I got him eventually. Those are the main three I’ve suffered but if you read around, you’ll no doubt find much more. These aren’t the usual funny “dragons flying backwards” Bethesda bugs, these are actually game breaking and rage inducing.

Oh, Bethesda. What has happened to you? It felt like it’s just been a couple years since you were the gaming community’s golden boy. It really all went downhill with Fallout 76 (which I’m still waiting on single player and modding capabilities) and has never really recovered. Yes, their new fare of “microtransactions” are here. I don’t normally have a hate-on for cosmetic shops like the community as a whole does but in Rage 2 it’s particularly pointless. It has some gun skins, both of which can be acquired in game. The golden skins are 10,000 dollars in certain shops (which is a lot, mind you) and the other ones can be acquired by farming the Mutant Bash TV enough. I enjoy the mutant-killing arena but I find it’s far too damn easy, and it really needed extra difficulty levels attached. Those skins cost 2500 MBTV tokens and you can get ~1500 every run you do. Considering how easy it is, I earned most of them in like, an hour. Now let’s get to some of the things I actively hate.

I don’t like the driving. Not nearly as much in Mad Max, anyway. The convoys are indeed still fun and more rewarding than Max’s were. To Max’s credit, that entire game was built around the car being a major mechanic and hell, even plot point and Max’s entire motivation. In Rage 2 it’s more of a sideshow. The cars don’t feel like they have much weight to them (at least, not until you spin them out and try to push yourself out of a ditch, which I often do) and when I was given the flying Icarus, I felt little point in returning to the sassy-AI that hosted the Phoenix, the only car you can upgrade and customize.

To wit, I actually quite despise the driving in certain contexts. Early in the story you have to impress someone enough to enter his suite. To do so you must play through the Mutant Bash TV (fun, but easy) and... a race. You enter the race and the NPC there tells you that you’re starting on the bottom. Now, in other games this means they usually give you idiots for AI. The first race in GTA5 was laughable, and even in Mad Max their one main “race” was actually just a deathmatch with a six minute timer. This newbie race in Rage 2 actually made me Rage-Quit the night the game was released. They give you their own car, every other racer has the same one and they actually match your speed. At any given point I always had two to four other racers ahead of me at all times. You know what bots and AI don’t do? Make mistakes. They never spun out, rammed into each other, or hit a wall unless you yourself did all that to them. After getting a night’s sleep and three tries in the morning later, my only strategy was to ignore the other drivers and concentrate harder than I ever have in a game. I basically had to do a perfect run, not hitting anything. I did so well and ALMOST lost the ENTIRE race to one single spinout near the end of the track. When I won, I could hear one or two car engines right on my tailpipe. They never lost traction like I did, and that’s just garbage.

I hated it. I do not look forward to dealing with this required mission in future playthroughs. By the way, it’s required to unlock an entire upgrade tree.

One final point of annoyance before I summarize my thoughts ultimately. This one is much more minor but it actually irritates me more than the driving does because this one is a constant threat. Every time you clear an objective, no matter how quick or small, you get an unskippable popup announcing your victory and rewards, as well as the reputation gain. This could have so easily been put on the side, like they do their radio-bound dialogues. Instead it completely stops the show and I find myself slamming the enter key so I can skip it the very split second it allows me to do so. In a game that wants you to keep moving, in a very successful and fun way, this thing is just a complete show stopper and I don’t know how their beta testers weren’t yelling “Come on, let me PLAY!” constantly. Ultimately, I do feel like there’s a good game to be had here. The cosmetic store is easily ignored and beyond that, you’ll have to deal with some bugs, janky driving, and bullshit “OBJECTIVE COMPLETE” popups. If you can deal with that, you’re left with some excellent gunplay and skillfully crafted environments. It’s not as long as I had hoped, and I really expected more to justify an eighty dollar preorder but I have not at all hated the experience.

[knightofbalance-13]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ofs5kcTnG9A&feature=youtu.be

Anyone who knows me knows I fucking HATE it when people try to use Monty or Shane to attack RT.

And looky, the disingenuous idiot of the RWBY critics is gonna do just fucking that.

How fun.

So his first argument is that Shane’s Letter ‘exposes’ stuff about RT.

Mind you, the image he brings on screen goes to show WHY the letter doesn’t work the way Dan says it does.

Because in that image, we see that the summary is about 20% RT and 80% Shane. As in, the letter spends more time talking Shane himself and his own life and how he was affected by Monty’s death than anything related to RT.

Contrast this with say, The ‘Not So Awesome’ which is ENTIRELY about the grievances with Channel Awesome.

In fact, the ‘Not So Awesome’ Document really shows just how USELESS Shane’s letter is in this context.

The second document is labeled in a non-manipulative way, structured to showcase issues with the company in a factual manner, gives evidence for their claims through screenshots and has numerous sources in the document. Shane’s letter is labeled to tug at people’s emotions, structured to build sympathy with him instead of just displaying the facts and he has ZERO evidence in his document. Now, what I said about Shane isn’t really his fault and I’ll get to that latter. However, this DOES matter with Dan because he is trying to use this letter as a factual piece of evidence to support his bullshit vendetta against RT when, as a so called critic, he should have caught onto these issues even WITHOUT another document to contrast.

Next he tries to claim that they were sabatoging Monty’s work with this image:

See, not only is this NOT sabotage as RT has every reason to switch to Maya and standardize the workflow since the literal ONE MAN who made it is now dead-

But you can’t sabotage who is DEAD. Dan talks like they were doing this when Monty was alive but this piece is firmly located in the May 2015 section, which is AFTER Monty’s death. And at this point, they can’t sabotage him. They can only work with they have NOW.

Not only that, we only have Shane’s word this is what was said. And sorry to say but between the needless points about his marriage and interacting with Sheena as well as the OBVIOUS signs of depression in Shane: the man is not trustworthy on a factual basis. As someone with depression himself, I guarantee you that depressed people tend to remember the WORST version of what happens since that is what our minds are focused on.

Dan is using a DEPRESSED MAN’S mental state to back his bullshit.

And then he talks about the letter, how he went back and forth with the letter (I call bullshit because he doesn’t even TALK like someone conflicted about the letter) and how Miles and Kerry aren’t mentioned (which he calls ‘Very interesting’ despite them being implied as the higher ups in RT.)

Dan then goes onto try and criticize EZ PZ for saying that Sheena was the reason Monty died and tries saying that Sheena was nothing but a ‘perfect partner for Monty.”

A. Not that I agree with EZ PZ mind you. He is a complete piece of shit using fucking KIWI FARMS’ levels of bullshit to justify his crap. But Dan, don’t fucking act like you’re any better. You have used this letter in the past and more (we’ll get to THAT as well) to hate on RT. 

And B. How can YOU say that when your only evidence is the same letter you said should be taken as a grain of salt. Don’t speak for things you have no knowledge on.

And then he just talks more and more about stuff said in the letter, using it to basically spout his opinions.

Like his bitching about the Ruby Vs. Torchwick and Neo which is basically just him crying about Neo getting out by opening her umbrella (not like airborn ships are moving FAST and an umbrella would catch the fast moving wind, amirite?) which is just him being PETTY.

Then we got to how Dan says that the Letter proves that the CRWBY aren’t trying to respect or live up to what Monty did. Which is a blatant LIE with the Adam Trailer, The Yang Vs. Bandits fight and ESPECIALLy the Cinder Vs. raven fight. Oh and there he goes again trying to use a DEAD man and a DEPRESSED man to justify his own irrational vendetta against people not bowing down and doing EXACTLY as he wanted. 

And remember how he said you should take this letter with a grain of salt? Yeah, which is it Dan? DO we take the letter seriously or NOT? Or do we just use to support our biases and then pretend we actually give a shit like you do?

And here’s one of the most disgusting things I have ever heard. I’m gonna try and type it out word for word so you know WHY I think this way:

“But maybe, Monty’s friends. Miles and Kerry and all those people are trying to live up his name. Maybe they’re reading the reviews and seeing that Monty’s RWBY is better than their RWBY.”

Basically:

“If you don’t listen to me and admit you are shit, you were not Monty’s friend.”

Because it’s not like Dan has never met the man ONCE in his entire life, let alone long enough to make any sort of assumption his behalf and most certainly not over his co-writers and fucking BROTHER-OH WAIT, THAT”S ALL COMPLETELY TRUE.

Then we go into Dan claiming that RT is trying to make RWBY into their own original IP. Which even if it isn’t (They have Camp Camp, Nomad of Nowhere and Gen:Lcok): IT IS THEIR OWN IP. Monty was THEIR employee and while he may have created it, it would have never become what it is without RT as a whole. And mind you, Miles and Kerry are JUST as important to the creation of RWBY as Monty, to the point that MONTY went to both of them to be his co-writers. But hey, that would mean...you know, treating Miles and Kerry with basic human decency and of course Dan is physical incapable of that.

Also goes against what he said earlier, calling them Monty’s friends and saying they weren’t as bad as he thought. Seems like a recurring theme huh?

This would ALSO mean that Miles and Kerry could, you know, SUCCEED at their work instead of continuously failing to embody a dead man who they could never hope to copy. We know this because Shane TRIED IT IN THE FUCKING LETTER AND FAILED. But we both know you don’t WANT them to succeed.

He then tries to blame the Maidens and the Relics on Miles and Kerry...Which everyone knows both are MONTY’S IDEAS. We know this because SEVERAL people have come forward saying this and we can see similar concepts to these in the things Monty liked, like Evangelion or Blazblue. So I guess they’re suppose to both do what Monty would and NOT do what Monty would do...or maybe Dan is two faced. Who knows?

Oh and he outright admits Monty added shit in and then STILL tries to blame it all on Miles and Kerry by saying they discussed it and that they ‘are into that stereotypical anime bullshit’ trying to use the DRAGON BALLS as an example. (You know, those SEVEN things made by ALIENS that ANYONE can use and AREN’T the focus of the series.)

And then Dan has the BALLS to claim that Monty isn’t a part of RWBY anymore and that he will never be respected in RWBY again. He then calls Miles and Kerry ‘Cooperate bullshit.’ He then tries to excuse himself of his bullshit by saying “I’m bashing RT as a company. I’m not bashing Miles and Kerry” and tried claiming RT tried to cover it up by not saying anything. He then claims the voice actor for Winter (it was Glynda dumbass) said it was all true and then says two people said it. He then triers to say that they have decency for Monty’s craft or his work...

*cracks knuckles* Let me break this down.

A. If they didn’t respect Monty anymore, why the FUCK would they keep the Maidens around despite the fact that only MONTY liked them?

B. You ARE bashing Miles and Kerry specifically. You SPECIFICALLY mentioned them as a part of the cooperation. This is you trying to get out of any accusation of harassment and slander.

C. Glynda’s voice actress was fired from RT for claiming that Burnie’s fiancée fucked her way up the cooperate ladder and Barbara all but directly said she was harassed by her. She did this because she was vindictive about not being treated like a gem by the company.

D. Dan, RWBY is ALSO Miles and Kerry’s brainchild. They are just as important to the series as Monty was. In fact, they probably kept it from crashing and burning since Monty had no experience in writing and wasn’t a good writer inherenty.

E. RT didn’t respond because that’s their policy. They don’t react to this shit. They just keep going. And if they wanted to cover it up-WHY DIDN’T THEY SUE SHANE? they have the right to as Shane broke the confidentiality agreement he signed to work for them. So show me the legal action used to cover it up.

And E. Monty was all about unity and being together. YOU are trying to create division and strife all because you’re basically a jittled lover. YOU are the one who has no decency jackass.

But wanna know the funniest thing about this?

Dan tries acting like this is some huge conflict for him and tries acting like this has changed his views at all.

When on the same day, he posted this to his twitter (https://mobile.twitter.com/MuffinManDan1/status/1045078347808681984)

So Dan:

You say that they aren’t so bad.

Then you say they are.

Then you say they aren’t again.

Then you say they are.

And then you say they always were on your Twitter.

Muffin Man Dan-

Shane’s actions are understandable because he was depressed, grieving and broken. He was pretty fucking out there.

Yours are not.

You lie, you attack, you insult, you slander, you misinform, you use people for your own personal gain-

You do irredeemable shit for deeply PETTY bullshit.

You don’t care about Monty, Shane, Sheena or RWBY.

You care about yourself and what you can gain, you two faced asshole.

[aikainkauna]

Fic mehm

This was shortish, so might as well post it here. Snurched from the lovely @trelobita .

-What is your total word count on AO3?

-1 421 808. That little?!? I thought I would've gone past the 2 million mark a long time ago. What with Connie whipping me on the way he does.

-How often do you write?

-When the right mood/inspiration comes, and when I'm healthy enough (both mentally and physically) to be in writing condition. Which is not often enough; I hate it when I do want to write, but brain fog and/or physical fatigue mean I can't keep my brain going or my body upright. That's mostly for fiction, though. I can type bloggity waffle like this, and could just about proofread a sex toy review today despite it being a brainfog/tireded day. The deadline for the review was today, so I did it under duress and must've left something out or fucked up some grammar as consequence. Finnish conjugations are hell when your memory is shot to pieces; English is much easier to write because you don't have to remember how to conjugate a word to denote it's in the past tense for a plural with a conditional towards place A, signifying inclusion. No, I'm not joking. Sauvallanikinkos? ("Also with my wand, too, maybe?")

-Do you have a routine for writing?

-My body isn't good with routines and schedules, so no. The only pattern I have is to try and get 1000 words done at least and then to email myself the latest draft after I've finished writing.

-What are your favourite tropes?

-Have you got a month? (This question foolishly asked about your favourite kinks and tropes and pairing types all in the same question, BTW, so I split it up into three questions, because... c'mon.)

Tropes:

-Flawed characters who are still somehow understandable and appealing; not the typical Asshole Protagonist or antihero thing so much but more of an... well, I guess it's just good characterisation I prefer, in the end. Not that kind of squickily obvious macho power fantasy sold as "grittiness" just for the sake of being an asshole (funnily enough, that kind of crap usually comes from the kinds of people who have too much privilege in the first place). So, yeah, good characterisation that's still got some shreds of humanity left is my jam.

-Telepathic lovers. Exactly because it hurts so much when the person who's supposed to love you the most and to understand you the best doesn't, and vice versa. So that's a big RL trauma and squick I prefer to fix, because in fic, I CAN.

-That's a major one, actually. Fix-its not so much on a plot level but on a human level. Especially sexism/gender bullshit-breaking fixes. Fix-its get a bad rap, but that kind of thing, just like the bashing of romance and fanfic, sets off my "ah, this wouldn't be the devaluing of something considered empathic and female/feminine again, now would it?" alarms.

-This overlaps with the pairing thingy, but the Depraved Bisexual is my favourite character type to write. All the Connies, Tennant!Peter Vincent, Captain Renault, Zainab, Laura, etc... YES.

-Male character gives up some masculine privilege he doesn't fancy anyway for the sake of love and empathy/female character gives up stereotypical female things she doesn't fancy anyway in order to be herself and free herself as much as she can from society's chains. Give Torsten all the pwetty dwezzez he wants and for Falcon!Yassamin to remain childfree, dammit!

-Man cuddles and medicates woman during her period and actually empathises/feels how awful it is. As I was saying about the fix-its...

-Funny banter, even if I can't write it as hilariously as I'd want to.

Favourite kinks?

-Poetic prose and Romanticism. It's word porn or nothing, baby.

-Historical detail, accuracy preferred but depends on how the story wants to go (the Barmakids DON'T get butchered horribly by Harun al-Rashid in 803, TYVM).

-Anal! That's almost too obvious to mention.

-Androgynous, genderbending, sex-bending, femme men. Why do you think Connie is the love of my life?

-Lots of arousal-drippage.

-Some way for the bottom to see themselves being banged. Mirrors or telepathy or magic or video camera projecting it before their eyes or whatever. Unfff.

-Orgasms. Always orgasms to complete satisfaction. Orgasm denying or writing it badly or so vaguely that characters/readers can't get any catharsis/release for the arousal is a huge squick. That's a hard limit. Fuck characters who tease and don't let someone get off.

-Psychological/emotional depth. That's such a no-brainer it shouldn't even be necessary to mention (although in these days, it seems to be, because apparently wanting that is now a repressed sexual minority instead of normal human, especially female, sexuality. Oh, fuck off). Yeah, these memes do bring out the pet peeves about internalised misogyny, don't they? Especially the sort that manifests itself in sputter-inducing ignorance. Even my medieval characters and their somewhat dated and essentialist ideas of sex and gender are ahead of Tumblr in the very basics, FFS.

-BDSM that's based very much on extreme care and healing, the sort that uses the intense sexual activities/sensory overload as a kind of way to heal the sub's anxieties and to help the sub let go, achieve catharsis and release. And for the top's love to be the guiding, ravishing, then healing and comforting force that contains the sub and the sub's anxieties in a fiercely loving and protective way and absolutely, so that not a drop spills over. So, yep, BDSM as therapy is my kink in both RL and in fic. Not so much a desire to humiliate or to be humiliated, but on the contrary, to value and to honour the other half. The top finds strength and validation through being the healer, through their power being able to do something good (instead of tearing someone down and having power over them through that). Yes, I know that's not everyone's idea of BDSM, but it's mine and that's what you'll get if it's a healthy relationship I'm trying to portray. (The Barrings and Zainab and Fadl don't have the healthiest ideas of sex, anyhow; Jaffar/Pwinzezz usually do.)

And I'm leaving out so many. You only have to look at my Ao3 pages to see the recurring themes:p

Favourite pairing types?

-Experienced Depraved Bisexual Character/Less Experienced and/or Repressed Character, GIMMIE. Fucking love that shit.

-Similar: Older, More Experienced Man/Younger, Horny Woman.

-Horny couple, usually M/F, seduce someone into a threesome. The Rosesverse and Devilry are full of this, so might as well admit it.

-Do you have a favourite fic of yours?

-I do have a soft spot for the first two fics in the Falconverse. As if you didn't all know that already! They do have some noticeable flaws here and there, especially the first one (I still insist that weird lube choice was HIS and not mine; I do know better and yelled at him at the time), but they still contain my deepest and most profound writing both erotically (and I mean that in the widest sense of the word, encompassing all things Love) and spiritually and character-wise. Defy Not The Stars also turned out better than I expected, considering I had never attempted so much plot and a traditional historical romance novel before. But I guess that Roses, what with its length, has allowed me to explore more aspects of the characters and their lives than anything else I've written. And of course, considering Devilry is my most-read saga ever, I do have a soft spot for that pile-up of a car crash. If only for the sheer intensity of the ride; I was just thinking yesterday how it really was aghori sadhana done through writing. Meditating in a graveyard is for wimps; try spending months in Torsten Barring's fragrant boypussy.

-Your fic with the most kudos?

To no one's surprise, Because The World Belongs To The Devil, at 234 kudos.

-Anything you don’t like about your writing?

-I suck at pacing sometimes. The sex scenes tend to run overlong if I write them in several sessions instead of just one go. It's not that the characters want to try different sex acts and shag more than once during a night, but more that the tension is spread out unevenly ("JFC, why did they change position again? I want them to just fucking come already, damnit!") This is obviously a result of how many things *I* see in my mind's eye during a wank; it's always more of a clipshow of different sex acts and pairings and orientations than one straightforward scenario. I'll be more mindful of that in the future and have been watching out for it in the past few fics already; I don't think the shags in The Guardians of Samarkand overran, for example.

-And sometimes my kinks get too obvious and repetitive for me, too, the way any porn gets tedious and repetitive. But on the other hand, I know very well that fanfic *is* about us imposing our kinks on our darlings, no matter how much we may go on about our dedication to characterisation and such. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: what's key is to get away with your kinks *but* in such a way that they can also engage the reader and that they become interesting and enjoyable not just for you, but for the readers, too. And you need good characterisation for that, and it's a really delicate balance to juggle your kinks and believable characterisation.

-Something you *do* like about your writing?

-I can write immersively and deeply and engage all the senses (sight, touch, scent...) in rich detail, as well as go deeply and profoundly into the emotions. And write some fucking hot porn ;) Those are the things I've had praise for, at least. Maybe my spiritual bits aren't as relatable or something, because people hardly ever remark on those (interestingly, my mum is the only one to have taken up those bits! But I skim over the sex scenes when I read the fics to her, so she only gets the gen). Or then it's the fact that most of the time it's Thief of Bagdad fic, and thus in an Islamic context, and most readers aren't familiar enough with, say, Sufism, to feel like they're qualified to comment without making arses out of themselves. But of course I like my spiritual bits; I'm an ex-religions major!

This had a taggity thing at the end, but I hate doing those because it always puts pressure on them even if you say they don't have to (come, now. The pressure is there, the moment you mention someone by name). I don't own the meme or you, so, as always: do what thou wilt.

[pasta-abomination]

FemslashEx 2020 Dear Creator letter

Dear Creator,

Thank you for bringing more femslash into the world! And thank you especially for making femslash for me, too. Gonna jump to the prompts under the cut:

General Housekeeping

Canon pronouns and gender identities:

Bending canon pronouns or identities is delightful, but completely optional.

DNWs: Explicit works where the characters are underage, ship or character bashing, kinks involving bodily fluids/excretions, stories focused on marriage (characters being married is fine, and I do like "woke up married" stories or fake or arranged marriage stories, but not stories where The Marriage Is The Point) or kidfic.

Re: g!p: Like I said, I love genderbending, and that does mean I'm theoretically okay with a lot of things--aliens, robots, magic, ABO, etc., in addition to things like gender play during sex, toys, intentionally fucking with gendered cues, clothing, etc. I'm also really a fan of stories that can respectfully include nuances of marginalized identities & experiences.

So if you want to engage with real identities in your fic, please do--I love exploring different potential "versions" of characters, and thinking about how a character's canon or canon-adjacent characterization might fit with the experiences of multiple different identities. I love stories that celebrate bodies and experiences that are considered non-normative.

My only caveat is that, if you're going to give a character a dick only so they can fuck someone with it, or if the fact that the character has a dick is the kink (i.e. if the character having a dick & using it in particular ways is the thing you’re really interested in writing), please have it be the result of something like magic, or shapeshifting, or even technology (aliens and robots!) instead of including it under the banner of trans or intersex identity.

tl;dr: Wanna write about trans or intersex versions of a character, including depictions of people with penises using those for sex? I would love that. Wanna write about Adora boning down with a flesh-and-blood dick because you think She-Ra has BDE? Have it be a magical transformation of some kind.

General Likes

Hurt/Comfort - Tending wounds! Bedside vigils! Nightmares! Reassurance! Touch-starved characters! Shared grief! Oh my!

Casefic/Mission fic - Mostly exactly what it says on the tin

Worldbuilding - Similar to genfic, but I just *clenches fist* Worldbuilding. Religion, magic, geography, history--especially if it adds something to our understanding of the characters and the experience of the bigger story.

Genderbending & Subcultural Identities - I really like exploring how a character might fit/not fit/understand themselves within IRL identity frameworks, or even thinking about how existing identity frameworks in the canon universe might influence how the character sees themself. This might be worldbuilding-heavy (I'd be super fascinated by the nuts and bolts of gender fluidity and transition with the kind of magic that Etheria has) or just a, "I feel like these two characters have a butch/femme dynamic and I'm going to play that up" or literally writing about a character trying out a haircut and a more non-binary way of being in the world and... enjoying it?

That also shows up in my ABO. I really like ABO that focuses on the subcultures that might  exist in that kind of world.

Altered states: Drunk, high, or otherwise intoxicated characters. Magic influencing peoples' emotional and mental state. Sleep deprivation, adrenaline, near-death experiences.

Thoughtful smut - You know that galaxy brain meme that went around where the highest level was "porn with math"? Yeah, that's me.

Poly - I only selected one triad for this (Dani/Sarah/Grace under Terminator) but I do really like poly relationships, and I’m generally okay with F/F/M as well, although I’d really prefer that the focus be on the women in the relationship. My only ask is that Catra (and Adora, for that matter) not be added to She-Ra pairings unless specifically requested or noted--I like them both a lot, I’ve requested them both together and separately, but I’d also like the spirit and the dynamics of the Adora- and Catra-related pairings I’ve requested for that fandom to be honored, and that rarepair requests not get rolled into & subsumed by the juggernaut pairing. (And, “requesting” can be either in the ~official request~ or in the prompts).

Following on that, though, I am a huge fan of complicated emotional dynamics. Liking two people at the same time but in different ways and for different things? Fan. Fucking someone and thinking of someone else? Awesome. Meaningful and unique present-day emotional relationship that doesn’t replace or assuage the pain of a past relationship and the longing for that person? Heaven. Complicated emotional dynamics are my Jam. As long as neither relationship is denigrated and the pairing requested is the focus of the fic.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Prompt Set 1: Adora/Glimmer, Perfuma/Adora, Adora/Mermista, Adora/Huntara, Huntara/Perfuma

My rarepairs!

These are the ships I ship because of canon moments, but are super rare in the fandom Because Reasons. And I like just about every ship in the fandom, but wanted to make sure these in particular got some love because they're fun, and I'm going to tell you why I like them, and some favorite tropes or prompts I have with them.

Adora/Glimmer- in PARTICULAR because of:

In 1x04 when Adora sneaks into Glimmer's room to sleep on the end of her bed. 

Bed-sharing is a GREAT trope with these two, whether accidentally, purposefully, or "oh no there's only one bed".

In "The Shadows of Mystacor" where Glimmer straight-up falls asleep on Adora in little spoon position in the hot springs

The day of Glimmer's coronation where Adora confesses that Angella told her to "take care" of Glimmer (even though she told them to "take care of each other", which is also super fucking shippy for me) and then resolves that she's going to do that

In "Mer-mysteries", their argument sounds like a subtextual break-up, and I love that

The scene in "Beast Island" where Adora almost gives up and then remembers Angella's last words to her and remembers *Glimmer* and even if I'm not feeling very shippy it still just hits me right in the feels

The implication in "System Failure" (the s1 episode where Entrapta is introduced) that Adora smashes rocks for Glimmer's enjoyment. Just. Y'know. Glimmer getting her buff gf to move things around for her. Carry things. Like boulders. Especially when she lifts things over her head--

Perfuma/Adora - Gosh, I'm just super Here For how Perfuma looks at She-Ra. I'm also here for: 

Perfuma and Adora getting high together and having adventures and making out a little and being happy and cozy together

I appreciate that Adora doesn't just immediately lose the femmephobia she was raised with in the Horde on joining the Rebellion (I think that would probably be more of a Process(TM) than they had time for onscreen) and so generally Adora being uncomfortable and kind of a jock but then getting shown up/put in her place. Obviously by the time Adora tells Huntara that Perfuma "is a demon in battle", she's wised up, but that's three whole seasons of material to work with :P

Anything with Perfuma trying to teach Adora how to relax/meditate (depending on your ADHD feels you can make that explicitly ADHD Adora--active meditation is a thing!)

Perfuma being Very Into her buff girlfriend and Adora being kind of a himbo

Adora/Mermista - I LOVE the energy with these two. Mermista especially feels like she's confident in her powers in a way that even Glimmer and Adora aren't--even though Adora and Glimmer are more experienced commanders/combatants. I feel like Mermista would enjoy Adora's cockier side that comes out when she's She-Ra.

Adora/Huntara - Adora's instant crush on Huntara when they meet in the Crimson Waste is one of the most memorable moments of the show for me, and this show has been very memorable, okay

Adorable butch4butch vibe

Competitive jocks competing jockily

Huntara feels very penitent by the end of the episode where they meet, I would love some penitent Huntara

I'm not sure what her fascination with She-Ra was, but in my head, it's not just about the haunted crashed spaceship, it's about something she knows about She-Ra from her time in the Wastes, and she holds some kind of reverence for her. Being a warrior woman and all

Would also like sad/thoughtful/wistful/quiet/aching moments with these two after the war where they're trying to adjust to like... living at peace. Or how they *can't* adjust to living at peace. And their shared or distinct experiences with the Horde.

For some reason, I really like the idea of Perfuma getting *both* Adora and Huntara high somehow and the three of them having a lot of fun but wow Adora and Huntara's stoned personalities. Just imagine the possibilities.

Huntara/Perfuma - OKAY. I *really* loved their dynamic in "Valley of the Lost". Just. *REALLY* loved it. The vast difference in perspectives, the suggestion that Perfuma liked Huntara but thought Huntara was prickly and didn't like her back, Huntara wondering if Perfuma can handle herself and then Perfuma showing literally *everybody* up.

Perfuma calling Huntara her "desert rose" is um. Fantastic.

I don't know if I see these two *dating* exactly, but I really just need the two of them to have Supremely Gay and Supremely Butch/Femme moments

I just have this feeling that Huntara could be Incredibly Smooth and sweep Perfuma off her feet for like. A mission. A ball, like Princess Prom. A dance. A party. A shindig. A ritual. What Have You. 

(And I think being able to sweep Perfuma off her feet would go a long way towards making Huntara feel... more like herself, after uprooting her life and going back to the war and apparently getting chipped by Horde Prime. She is butch, she is rough, she is smart and competent and god knows she's tough, and in the Waste, she was on top, she was *the* top of the food chain. And here... maybe, sometimes, she feels inadequate. Here, she's just cannon fodder again. In the desert, she *knew* things that set her apart. Here, she's just... mildly informed.)

Prompt Set 2: Madame Razz/Mara, Mara/Light Hope, She-Ra Entity/Mara, Entrapta/Darla

I was going to call these my "Worldbuilding Set" of prompts, but then I realized that this could much more honestly be called "Weird--But Sweet--Xeno Prompts”. 

Madame Razz/Mara - I was inspired in part by Noelle's remark that there's a note in the show bible that Madame Razz has dated "like, everyone in Etheria" because she's dislodged from linear time and has been around forever besides that.

Then I rewatched S1 and there was that scene where Razz tells Adora her and Mara used to go stargazing at the Crystal Castle. And there *was* the way she referred to Mara as "my Mara". And then I was sold.

I don't mean anything weird or kinky by it (which, no judgement if you do), just... idk, in my head, it's a very May/December dynamic, or, heh, maybe Mayfly-December dynamic, depending on how Razz does with linear time. And it sounds like on some level, Mara was kind of an apprentice to her? And, Mara is both very strong and competent and also just seems like this really gentle person? She seems very much like Steve Rogers lol.

Like there is a real potential for worldbuilding in here, too. But a lot of this dynamic is just very... peaceful and domestic.

Mara/Light Hope - GOD THESE TWO CAUSE ME PAIN. I love them. I love the tragedy of them. I love Light Hope's wobbly steps towards self-awareness and self-will. I love the hope of that journey. I love Mara's deepening connection with Etheria. I love the wonder of it. I love how she takes up the mantle of She-Ra in earnest.

And I love how inevitably the end comes up on them. How they're caught in events outside their control. I love how bravely they fight, and how brilliantly--and how it's not enough. I love how *powerful* they are, both of them, in their own specific ways, but they were maneuvered into this position by people who ensured they could keep the upper hand.

And I love how their love is still so strong that a thousand years later, it keeps Adora safe and proves to be their superiors' ultimate undoing. Catradora may have saved the universe in S5, but Marahope did it first.

Some prompts:

Any worldbuilding you want to do around the First Ones, the First Ones’ tech, the Heart of Etheria Project, Grayskull Squadron (ahaha that’s a Rogue Squadron/Rogue One reference isn’t it), She-Ra, the magic of Etheria, other runestones that were active in Mara’s time but are defunct by Adora’s, worldbuilding about the various kingdoms and Princesses, Mara learning from Light Hope, Light Hope learning from Mara... all of it

Light Hope falling in love with Mara--I just want to see how, and why, and what it was like for her, and what Mara did that set her apart from Light Hope’s other charges (if you think that there were others before Mara, which is kind of my base assumption but I’m absolutely willing to read another take), and just *gay noises*

Light Hope mentioned that there were “many” She-Ra/s before Mara, and while she did lie about a lot of things, a lot of her lies were lies of omission or shading of the truth, not just outright false--Mara did the damage to Etheria that she did, but LH lied about why, for instance. Or with the Portal Adora was brought through, Light Hope simply failed to mention that she was the one who brought Adora through it, and allowed Adora to continue in her assumption that Hordak was both the person who opened the portal and the one who brought her through. So, I’d be curious about Light Hope’s feelings for her other charges--was she serially and hopelessly into these magical warriors? Or was there something different about Mara?

Light Hope’s journey to self-will is TRAGIC and beautiful and I love it. And it sounds very much like something that happened over the course of different relationships with multiple people. And I want to hear about all of it and why it culminated when and how it did.

Light Hope training Mara

Mara being adorable?? Help???

Light Hope helping Mara get adjusted to her new role after she’s selected to be She-Ra

Light Hope adjusting to Mara after Mara is selected to be She-Ra

Mara experiencing Etheria’s magic

Light Hope being snarky at Mara while Mara sleeps with the Princesses has Normal Organic Relations with people and the two of them are pining for each other but neither of them really knows it consciously (after all, how would you date an AI? Would AIs date? There’s no social precedent for this. Is there?)

I would actually really like to see something with Mara and Light Hope doing what they came to Etheria to do and studying the planet’s magic, too

Magic and technology and xeno elements--Magical transformations, dreams, visions, new powers, coping with new powers, aliens!, virtual reality, telepathic/mental connections, uses of magic and tech for sex, etc.

Entrapta/Darla - I just love how horny on main Entrapta is for technology, and I love the observation that someone on the creative team shared that Entrapta sees tech as a living creature, and sees the “humanity” in it. I am open to anything here. Go wild.

She-Ra Entity/Mara - This is super niche and very worldbuilding-heavy, potentially, but I really love the idea of there being a relationship of sorts between not just Mara and She-Ra, but the She-Ra line and the She-Ra entity, going back to whenever the First Ones bound her to the Sword, and maybe even further back.

Queer spiritual & religious metaphors? In my fanfic? It's more likely than you think.

Prompt Set 3: Double Trouble/Catra, Castaspella/Shadow Weaver, Glimmer/Shadow Weaver, Catra/Glimmer

My trash children prompts! And by "trash children", I mean everything from "my genderpunk trash children" to "these two need a whole buddy comedy except they spend 95% of the film loathing each others' guts" to "holy wow student-teacher power imbalance".

Castaspella/Shadow Weaver - If you were wondering which pairing I thought "needs a whole buddy comedy", this is that pairing. Just like, a buddy comedy, but in a romantic way. They feel like they’d be great fodder for crackfic, because once you get Really Into the weeds of magic usage and these old family-related hatreds it gets either very technical and serious or just very ridiculous and honestly I like both options.

I have this very weird, very specific AU idea where the two of them have to go undercover as a married couple while simultaneously *loathing* each other and of course they bang it out eventually

I'm also a fan of whatever it is you think about them. I just about guarantee it.

Glimmer/Shadow Weaver - In my head, a lot of this is going to be after Glimmer’s coronation. 

Their dynamic definitely has shades of “Glimmer is hurting and overwhelmed and will respond extremely well to a vaguely maternal figure no matter how vague or inappropriate”

There is always the lure of forbidden knowledge and Glimmer being high on the sense of competency and power and general ability to do things, which she probably feels she’s been denied all her life--and that have only been given to her at a huge personal cost. Glimmer might be mad at the world, mad at herself, mad at her mother. 

I looooooooooooooove a good moral corruption story. I love how Glimmer seems like she’d be drawn to Shadow Weaver’s ruthlessness, especially after her interactions with Catra and how Catra tricked them constantly and weaponized their good natures and intentions against them

I've seen people point out that this seems like an appropriate pairing for tentacles and I have to say I agree.

Double Trouble/Catra - I don't know *why* I found it so endearing when Double Trouble would show the slightest basic kindness to Catra and Catra would just... melt? I mean, fine, they were getting paid to care, and DT was probably really interested in the drama too. 

But then, you have the two of them egging each other on at being terrible, too. Being devious and misbehaved. I just need the two of them being my trash children. My gender-nonconforming queer punk trash children. Who make out sometimes, or have this... tension between them. Who might turn on each other sometimes, but god help you if you come after either one.

Catra/Glimmer - Idk, I especially enjoy them after seeing their dynamic in S5. I would love to see more of them doing... whatever, basically. I love how alike they are, and the ways they're different. And I love how Glimmer warms to Catra.

Catra annoying Glimmer. Because she is a cat.

Glimmer *getting* Catra, because they are a *lot* alike in some ways.

... And also any kind of "the aliens made them do it" smut fic you want to write about while they're out in space

Avatar: The Legend of Korra

Korra/Raava, Korra/Kuvira, Asami Sato/Lin Beifong, Korra/Lin Beifong, Kuvira/Opal

Korra/Raava - Kind of like with the She-Ra/Mara pairing under SPOP, I like there being an actual "relationship" between the mystical entity and the human connected to that entity. I'm not really looking for smut here, unless you're really feeling it, but any take on that is welcome.

Korra/Kuvira - This is, like, the opposite of Korra/Raava. Lol. All my rough pairing things apply:

Physical roughness. Can include rough sex, adrenaline/post-fight sex, sparring, or just actual fighting. Two women with dirt and blood streaking their skin snarling and circling each other? Perfect. Women who are scraped and sweaty and 

Mystical elements - Reversal lol, but I do like mystical healing, telepathic or empathic connections

Redemption arc stuff for Kuvira, bc obvs.

Neither of them seem particularly prone to indulging in substances, but if they did, or if there was an AU, I do also love it when two warrior types get intoxicated together somehow

Asami Sato/Lin Beifong - Idk, I feel like Asami has probably gotten in trouble before, right? And I don’t see Lin being very moved by flirting, but I could totally see Asami making a pass at her and it backfiring lol--maybe even before she met the Avatar. 

And then after that, Asami worked alongside Lin when she started working with the Avatar. And then she's worked with Lin in a non-bending professional capacity for a while too, post-s3. Idk. Maybe they have pre-Avatar interactions, or interactions that don’t revolve around the plot of Avatar, and there’s some kind of romantic or sexual Thing between them? 

Korra/Lin Beifong - I have a few dynamics I like with these two:

Grumpy/sunshine pairing

The sunshine one is superpowered

Sparring with a D/S flavor

A lot of the “rough pairing” notes I made for Korra/Kuvira apply here, too, except there’s not so much of a rivalmancy going on 

Under the Muppet Theory of Relationships, I’d probably place Lin on the Order Muppet side and Korra on the Chaos Muppet side. 

Kuvira/Opal - Mostly thinking post-rehabilitation for Kuvira. The two of them find each other again and a lot has changed. 

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Katara/Azula, Toph Beifong/Katara

Katara/Azula - If you like me are into this ship--thank god I’m not the only one. I don’t know why I like the idea of the dynamic between them so much--Azula’s conviction of her right to rule, her redemption arc that never materialized, Katara’s involvement with the Avatar, the opposing natures of their powers, Katara’s mastery vs. Azula’s. It’s just *clenches fist* phenomenal fodder for enemies-to-lovers, the trauma they both carry, the different monsters they have inside them.

Toph Beifong/Katara - These two were super fucking adorable and had the best tomboy/femme vibe and I would like to see more of that dynamic at literally any point throughout their lives. Alternately, I am up for any ideas you have about them.

Terminator (Movies)

Grace Harper/Dani Ramos - THE LOYALTY. THE TRAGEDY. THE KNEELING.

Grace Harper/Sarah Connor - I am game for anything: Grace lives, Grace dies, Grace rises from the dead a vampire (j/k. Unless you’re into that idea). Unlike the other two pairings here, I really like the roughness and snark between them, the fact that they don’t entirely get along even when they’re nominally getting along. They feel like they’re constantly competing, and I would love for that competition to either extend to the bedroom or for them to work their differences out through banging or for meditation on how Grace reminds Sarah of Kyle or--

Dani Ramos/Sarah Connor - I wonder sometimes if Sarah calms down once Grace is gone, mostly because they’re no longer in immediate danger, but also because Grace seems to really chafe for Sarah more than Dani. Sarah seems almost soft in her regard for Dani, and I love that and I love how it comes from this sympathy she feels for Dani’s position. It feels really rare for her, and I love the juxtaposition of her roughness, grief, and caring.

For these two, I’d be really curious about anything that happens post-Dark Fate.

Dani Ramos/Sarah Connor/Grace Harper - I like all three of the above pairings, so why not put all three of them together? I think it’d be fun. Especially if the three of them are on the road together after the events of Dark Fate in an AU where Grace lives. Road trips, cyborgs, time travel, and gay sex.

Grace Harper/OFC, Dani Ramos/OFC - I know a lot of people really like the idea of Grace only ever having been with or interested in Dani, or vice versa, but I kind of feel like having more experience would make them better lovers when they’re with each other. Things I like a lot with this:

Grace blowing off steam with another Augment

Grace having drunk/high sex with another Augment

Dani occasionally sleeping with Augments when she doesn’t have Grace and really needs the comfort

The two of them fucking other people and thinking about each other

The two of them fucking and thinking about the other version of their partner

Worldbuilding for Dani’s post-Judgement Day world through the lens of femslash

[eichy815]

A Plus-Sized Problem

Originally Published on November 26, 2014 on Eichy Says

Body image is, without a doubt, one of the greatest stressors in modern American culture.  Whether it’s film, television, print/magazines – or even daily life – we seem to be inundated with imagery of highly desirable (or “ideal”) bodies.

It’s only in recent years that people advocating female equality (and male equality!) have begun to challenge these conventions.

A Twitter explosion began to resonate on Nov. 9, after model Myla Dalbesio gave an interview with Elle magazine where she discussed her participation in the Calvin Klein clothing line’s “Perfectly Fit” campaign.  Dalbesio’s print ads depict her modeling lingerie at a Size 10 – perfectly normal, for an American female.

However, in recent weeks, Calvin Klein has come under fire for portraying Dalbesio – and female models of similar physiques – as supposedly “plus size.”

The one overlooked variable in this controversy:  Calvin Klein never defined a Size 10 as “plus size” in its marketing campaign, to begin with!

Instead, that definition has been cultivated by other mainstream fashion outlets.  Both Cosmopolitan and PLUS Model seem to concur that clothing industry gurus nowadays consider anything ranging from a Size 6 to a Size 14 to be considered “plus size.”

Presumptuous?  Ridiculous?  Petty?  Delusional? 

Yep...all of the above.

In her interview with Elle, Dalbesio praised her experience doing the photo shoot, from the perspective of someone who falls somewhere between “skinny” and “overweight.”  As she stated:

It’s kind of confusing because I’m a bigger girl.  I’m not the biggest girl on the market but I’m definitely bigger than all the girls [Calvin Klein] has ever worked with, so that is really intimidating.  [But, at the photo shoot] No one even batted an eye.  It was very cool.

Representatives from Calvin Klein clarified that the campaign was meant to be “more inclusive” in that, historically, they’ve only featured models well under a Size 10.  As Dalbesio further explains:

I’m not skinny enough to be with the skinny girls and I’m not large enough to be with the large girls and I haven’t been able to find my place. This [campaign] was such a great feeling.

I’ve always viewed Calvin Klein as an overrated and overly-pretentious brand.  But, in this case, rather than bashing Calvin Klein’s alleged-but-nonexistent sexism, proponents of equality and diversity should be applauding the company’s efforts – however limited and small in scope.

As decades pass by, we’ve been increasingly pelted with the suggestion that body fat is categorically bad.  Witness all of the products marketed to women that are intended to “hide” or “camouflage” one’s girth.  Spanx, traditional girdles, the Genie Bra, and other assorted shapewear (including – but not limited to – bodysuits, waist-cinchers, slips, and thigh-shapers).  This isn’t even taking into account liposuction or diet pills.

Aside from that, there is an onslaught of emphasis on “weight” rather than overall health.

I’ll never forget the 1990 episode of Full House, where D.J. (Candace Cameron Bure) goes on a crash diet in a desperate attempt to get thin for Kimmy Gibbler’s pool party.  Although the adolescent D.J. was extremely distraught about her outward appearance, she also measured her crash-dieting “progress” based on how much she weighed when stepping onto the scale.

Similarly, former child star (turned Jenny Craig spokeswoman and Hot in Cleveland co-lead) Valerie Bertinelli – who underwent her own remarkable (and public!) weight loss transformation in the latter half of last decade – documented her travails with body image in her two best-selling autobiographies, Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time and Finding It: And Satisfying My Hunger for Life without Opening the Fridge. Both are FANTASTIC reads, by the way! (for those of you who haven’t finished your Christmas shopping yet...)

Although I greatly admire Bertinelli’s personal accomplishments (as well as her sharp and lovably self-deprecating sense of humor throughout), I do feel that she placed way too much emphasis on the numerical measurement of the amount at which she would weigh in, day-to-day.  If that’s what worked for her (in terms a barometer for measuring her progress), I understand that – but people in general shouldn’t be pressured to hold themselves hostage to an impersonal number displayed upon one’s bathroom scale.  And, as Bertinelli exhibits in her personal accounts, when that number didn’t drop low enough for her liking, it would drive her crazy!

That’s one of the reasons I never weigh myself.  Psychologically, if I see a number that’s higher than I would like it to be, I’ll be inclined to just eat more – and, most likely, eat stuff that’s less healthy and has inferior nutritional value.

As far as my personal body image goals, I typically hover between a (waist) Size 36 or Size 38.  This is a huge improvement for me compared to when I was in college, where I tended to oscillate between a 40 and 42.

Yes, ideally, I wish I was already a Size 32 or 34.  Upon decreasing my BMI by two or three points, I should ultimately reach what is considered “normal weight.”  The whole dubiousness of the present-day BMI index is a separate article for another day – but given how its only four categories are “underweight,” “normal weight,” “overweight,” and “obesity,” even conventional BMI measurements tend to be overly-simplistic.

Body image is becoming an increasingly touchy subject for males, as well – it just isn’t as talked-about (or exploited as blatantly) in the public sphere as it is for females.  In the same way that women have various physical goals for themselves, individual men desire a gamut of body types ranging from “muscular” to “ripped” to “athletic” to “lean” to “skinny.”

The rise of glorified, male-centric print ads – depicting buff, studly dudes at the gym, swimming pools, water parks, or just generally shirtless – only speaks to this trend.  And, just like exploited young girls (sometimes when they are still minors), boys are becoming younger and younger when included in these skin-showing ads.

Some feminists (or misandrists) cackle about how it’s “long overdue” for men to feel the pressures and insecurities that women have been feeling for decades (even centuries!) of exploitation.

I take the opposite view:  that it’s “long overdue” for our appreciation of a diversity of bodies (female and male, alike!) to be embraced across the spectrum.  A tall order, for sure – but not unworthy of gradual attempts.

One of my own goals, before I finally reach middle age, is to find myself in circumstances where I must be naked in public (or 99% naked, perhaps)...because I believe it would help to impel a greater sense of self-confidence in me, as well as contribute to getting over my body image issues and my hesitance about public nudity (and the locker room at the gym doesn’t count, because that’s a semi-private and enclosed sanctuary).

One of my favorite literary (and on-screen) depictions of a kindly soul who eschews traditional standards of “beauty” was from the 2001 TV movie Isabelle & Amy (an adaptation of Elizabeth Strout’s novel of the same name).  The blue-collar character of Fat Bev (portrayed boisterously by character actress Conchata Ferrell – best known as Berta from Two and A Half Men) was an overweight extrovert who encouraged her female friends (coworkers at a mill in Maine) not to be shy about indulging in delicious, high-calorie food during special occasions.

Yet, even amid her confident bravada, Fat Bev certainly must have wrestled with her own body image issues, as a character, at some point during her life.

So here are some rules-of-thumb that we all should constantly strive to live by...and that includes myself.

In general, comparing yourself to others makes your goals unattainable.  There’s a difference between, “Wow, you have great abs – will you share some of your nutritional habits and workout tips with me?”...

...versus, “My good buddy Skylar has a rockin’ bod...I wish I could look exactly like him/her, so I’m going to starve myself and work myself to death in the gym so I can make that happen!”

Keep in mind that so many of these models whom we see on magazine covers (or “hot” actors/actresses in TV and film) are often airbrushed and covered with makeup (Dermablend, anyone?).   They have stretch marks, scars, and areas of flab on their bodies...the stylists in those studios just make sure we never see those “imperfections.”

And yes, most of them tend to stay in great shape (who wouldn’t, when they can afford personal trainers and high-end cuisine with the money they earn?) – but it’s far less stressful for us, as individuals, if we seek out practical ways to emulate their success within the context of our own lives.  Otherwise, we end up like D.J. Tanner – working ourselves on the treadmill like superhuman Energizer Bunnies until we literally faint!

Think about this:  are you really turned off by your true friends if they happen to have more body fat or scarring than you yourself happen to?  Are you less inclined to go out and have fun with buddies just because their BMI might happen to be higher than yours?

If your answer is yes – you’re probably a shallow person whose friendship simply isn’t worth it.

When associating with others – be they friends, acquaintances, coworkers, business contacts, or family members – one’s emphasis should become substance over looks.

The same applies, to a different extent, when you’re looking for romance.  Obviously, any of us want to be physically attracted to our romantic partner.  But I’d also rather be with someone who has a brain and a good heart – which is likelier to remain strong, even as our looks fade with age.

When I’m around other guys who are more “average” or “overweight” in their physiques, it actually makes me feel like less of a leper – often because I can relate to them better than I can to someone who has a seemingly “perfect” body. 

None of this is to say we shouldn’t combat obesity or promote healthy eating.  But, at the same time, “real people” (rather than the socially-privileged...or “genetically-blessed”) should operate under realistic goals of steady progress.

The average waist size for American men is currently in the range of 38 to 40.  The average American woman is a Size 12 or 14.  For a majority of Americans, our weight may fluctuate throughout the year based on a variety of factors:  lack of exercise, relying upon food-on-the-go, sedentary habits around the house, cortisol arising from stress, and income disparity.  Not everyone can afford protein shakes, a personal trainer, fresh/organic produce, or nannies and personal assistants to help manage our time.

However, we shouldn’t let this impede our social lives or support systems (amongst buddies, coworkers, and “friendquaintances”).  If I lose a bet and have to go streaking, you should make fun of me because I’m being forced to humbly swallow my pride and shed my dignity (which is fun, particularly for the spectators)...NOT because I (along with 70%-75% of other American men out there) happen to be X-pounds heavier than Channing Tatum.

Yes, I’ve got a bigger ass than Michael Socha...but if I have to bare it (whether in a game of strip poker or as a supporting actor in someone’s student film), then you should either point and laugh at how I’m doing something hilarious...or applaud me for having the balls (even if I’m covering them with my hands) to do something that even many glamorous A-list celebrities are too modest to do themselves (i.e. Joey Tribbiani-style “butt-doubles”).

Maybe it’s different for me, because I’m a gay dude – but I find it really heartbreaking that our pop culture has become so judgmental and superficial that American females can’t find similar enjoyment in the possibility of feeling open and liberated with their bodies.

Finally, that brings me to my last little bit of advice.  We should all be vigilant about balancing lightheartedness with sensitivity toward the insecurities of others.

Remember that a BMI is not always accurate or realistic – and not all waist sizes or chest sizes are created equal.  Meaning, if your BMI is “off” by one or two digits, it shouldn’t necessarily be considered a problem.

Why do we have so many young girls (and a rising number of young boys) becoming anorexic as they attempt to starve themselves?  Along with the onslaught of idealized body imagery in mass media, a lot of the self-consciousness comes from being judged by complete strangers – we those whom we may encounter on the street.

There is no need for a person to make cracks about the weight of a fellow shopper in their local department store.  Or for checkers at the grocery store to make small-minded comments about their customers’ shopping habits.

Even when someone says “You look good” as a result of the person’s visible weight loss – while I realize that’s usually intended to be a compliment, it may actually cause the recipient to be more self-conscious about how they once looked.

To hammer away at an old cliché – if there’s any question about whether what you’re going to say is appropriate...then say nothing.

We must be mindful of this glaring disconnect between mass media images and the physical bodies we encounter in everyday life.  If you expect your significant other to resemble a model with a stunning body (such as those we see in photographic ads), then you’re going to be sorely disappointed.  

Some folks (including myself) prefer being photographed in close-ups (rather than wide shots)...because it hides our comparative imperfections in girth, and minimizes the “negative space” that makes us appear “fatter” than we actually are.  Please respect that.

Nutrient-rich foods are great.  But don’t be shy about splurging during the holidays.  As Michelle Obama said, prior to Thanksgiving four years ago:  “Eat the dressing!”

If someone wants that buttery chocolate croissant (or two or three)...let them eat the damn buttery chocolate croissant!  That includes Maya Delbasio or Valerie Bertinelli.  Nutrient-rich foods are for the other 10-11 months of the year.

And, even when we succeed at our health-minded goals – the psychological achievement of body confidence itself remains a continuous work-in-progress for just about anyone.

[aura-creed]

Why the discourse between anyone who likes anything other then Klance and Shallura is stupid.

Pushing aside how annoyed I am at people blatantly hating other people and bashing their ships for it I’m going to talk about the main argument that made me want to write this (if this has been done before so be it I’m tired of seeing people hate other people for something that is STILL PLAUSIBLE and PROVABLE not to mention SOMETHING THAT MAKES THEM HAPPY). This is literally one of the worst fandom’s when it comes to shipping wars, I’ve noticed it’s literally if you like anything other then Klance or Shallura your a bad person for whatever reason (ew Pidge is a kid excluding OBVIOUS AU shenanegens, ew Shiro is too old even though his canon age hasn’t been proven yet). This is mainly a Sheith post, just sayin. Voltron Season 2 “You’re like a brother to me”. That whole statement is making people piss on Sheith fans and as much as I like Klance I’m putting you ALL down for this bull shit because frankly? That entire episode (Season 2 Episode 8) didn’t give Klance any pointers. Let’s go over what we know about Keith. From Season 1 we are basically told that he is: 1) A Dense mother fucker (Doesn’t get Lances joke about Team Voltron at all, thinks too much on instinct and not on brain power - also tries to get into the red lion the same way the other paladins do after being told he had to prove himself to do it) 2) Doesn’t understand the concept of family. At all. Here’s me proving point 2: That one chunk in episode 4 where Keiths yelling at Pidge about families. Specifically? This line = “You’re putting the lives of two people over the lives of everyone else in the Galaxy.”

Heck even these said within the same time frame could count: “You’re not the only one with a family”, “Everyone in the Universe has a family” 

And before someones like “But Shiro is part of Keiths family thats gross!” Unless if they are half brothers (which is unlikely, especially since if Keith had known Shiros dad he would have recognized it immediately during that flash back in Season 2 Episode 8) there is no way they are biologically related and two until more information about his past relations with Shiro is made available there is nothing to outright CLAIM Keith doesn’t see Shiro like that (and quite frankly even if there is and it’s mostly garrison stuff if anything it’ll give Sheith fans more pointers with a few exceptions I can think of off the top of my head - JUST SAYING). Back to the first quote - that line is not only showing us that Keith is dense in emotional matters but that he can’t even seem to empathize or sympathize with Pidges plight on losing her family. Not only does this mean that he probably wasn’t thinking about Shiro at ALL in the family equation but that he was a lot more accepting of Shiro being gone for all those years then Pidge was about her family. “But wouldn’t that disprove Sheith cause if he did love him he’d be MORE worried and upset then Pidge?”

Season 1 first episode.

Worried expression, shaking eyes (they actually shake rewatch this part)? Disbelieving? Definitely - worried? Yes. I wouldn’t be surprised if an outburst from him BECAUSE of Shiro got him expelled and he was wandering the desert because of it. Keith isn’t the kind of guy to wear much emotion on his sleeve, it wouldn’t be surprising at all if he had been accepting Shiro was gone for those years and this? To find out he was alive? Of all the emotions Keith shows he rarely if ever shows worry or concern. It’s usually just straight up channeled into anger and frustration. Not to mention he had no way of knowing what Pidge found out (no actual footage of anyone crashing and dying), otherwise he very well could have been JUST as pissed about it as she was. As a side note and back to the first quote about Keith and families, Keith UPHOLDS this ideology when he decides to GIVE THE KNIFE BACK TO THE BLADE INSTEAD OF KEEP IT because saving the Universe was more important then finding out about his family (Season 2 Episode 8):

Now that THAT’S been thought through let’s move onto the main issue = “You’re like a brother to me.” If we’re going with my previous explanation of Keith not understanding what a family is really like combined with his instinctual tendencies and his lack of thinking? Yes this statement literally means nothing. It’s how he thinks a brother would be like but that might not be how he truly feels in that situation because other then anger he barely has a grasp of his own emotions as is let alone a handle on them. “But doesn’t him thinking that mean it’s true Sheith is impossible?” If it’s not how he truly feels it’s still plausible and he might THINK that but all the idea making and fanfiction in the world could conjure up something to make him realize his emotions otherwise - same with Klance. And speaking of Klance, let’s go back onto why Episode 8 of Season 2 gives Sheith more pointers then Klance. “His suit has the ability to create a virtual mindscape, reflecting it’s wearers greatest hopes and fears, and at this moment your friend desperately wants to see you.”

Kolivan states this and it’s LITERALLY the icing on the Sheith cake for the season and yet people want to denounce an easily counterable phrase and then proceed to BASH people for liking something? Like shit I knew people were butt hurt about the lack of Klance like interactions outside of the pool part in Season 2 (me included) but DAMN. Keith didn’t want to see Lance. This in itself is debatable (oh he knew Lance wasn’t there it wouldn’t make any sense for him to suddenly be there and help Keith) but Keith is beaten up, injured, bruised and doesn’t tend to think (too much) before he does something. For his mind to call upon Shiro instead of Lance? That already signals that - at least Keith believes - they have a MUCH closer relationship then they do in the show at the moment. Whether or not it’s a brother relationship similar to the Elric brothers or something more is up to interpretation but that’s the point - it’s plausible, get over it. Not to mention Lance was kind of a dick to Keith right before they entered Marmora HQ. You could also say that was because he thought Keith was angry for no reason but if it was Klance you’d think he’d at least lay off a bit. Not to mention (again) Lance was not concerned at all about Keiths tone of voice or how he asked Coran about the Galra possibly having visited earth RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIS DOOR BUT YA KNOW. JUST SAYIN. (Pretty sure this was the 7th episode of Season 2 but I didnt go back to check for this one, I just know it happened before episode 8). And on the age topic... ”But Shiros like 25 and Keiths like 17-19 that’s gross/jail bait” None of those ages are confirmed exactly especially Shiros but if we’re to take the ‘late teens’ designation for Keith as anywhere from 17-19 and Shiro as 25 regardless of lack of confirmation age of consent in almost EVERYWHERE ranges 18+ and in most places in the United States 17+. Not to mention if you think the 8 year age gap at 17 is disgusting? My parents are 7 years apart and met around the same age gap. Get over it. But Shiro’s purported age is contradictory to the DreamWorks website AND the comic series which says the same thing as the website so you can think he’s 25 all you want but CANONLY until otherwise stated the oldest he can possibly be is 19, which means it would be socially acceptable (age wise is what I mean by that) for Keith and Shiro to be together anyway (which doesn’t honestly matter when your in SPACE with NO HUMAN LAWS but JUST SAYIN). TLDR: Sheith is still plausible, hating on other peoples ships is a DICK MOVE and not at least tolerating other peoples ships or just not looking at ships you don’t like and instead RANTING about how much it sucks in addition to BASHING PEOPLE WHO LIKE IT in posts is also a DICK MOVE.

[frightfullyfantastic]

It is sad to think that the first few people on earth needed no books, movies, games or music to inspire cold-blooded murder. The day that Cain bashed his brother Abel's brains in, the only motivation he needed was his own human disposition to violence. Whether you interpret the Bible as literature or as the final word of whatever God may be, Christianity has given us an image of death and sexuality that we have based our culture around. A half-naked dead man hangs in most homes and around our necks, and we have just taken that for granted all our lives. Is it a symbol of hope or hopelessness? The world's most famous murder-suicide was also the birth of the death icon -- the blueprint for celebrity. Unfortunately, for all of their inspiring morality, nowhere in the Gospels is intelligence praised as a virtue. >A lot of people forget or never realize that I started my band as a criticism of these very issues of despair and hypocrisy. The name Marilyn Manson has never celebrated the sad fact that America puts killers on the cover of Time magazine, giving them as much notoriety as our favorite movie stars. From Jesse James to Charles Manson, the media, since their inception, have turned criminals into folk heroes. They just created two new ones when they plastered those dipshits Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris' pictures on the front of every newspaper. Don't be surprised if every kid who gets pushed around has two new idols. > We applaud the creation of a bomb whose sole purpose is to destroy all of mankind, and we grow up watching our president's brains splattered all over Texas. Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised. Does anyone think the Civil War was the least bit civil? If television had existed, you could be sure they would have been there to cover it, or maybe even participate in it, like their violent car chase of Princess Di. Disgusting vultures looking for corpses, exploiting, fucking, filming and serving it up for our hungry appetites in a gluttonous display of endless human stupidity. > When it comes down to who's to blame for the high school murders in Littleton, Colorado, throw a rock and you'll hit someone who's guilty. We're the people who sit back and tolerate children owning guns, and we're the ones who tune in and watch the up-to-the-minute details of what they do with them. I think it's terrible when anyone dies, especially if it is someone you know and love. But what is more offensive is that when these tragedies happen, most people don't really care any more than they would about the season finale of Friends or The Real World. I was dumbfounded as I watched the media snake right in, not missing a teardrop, interviewing the parents of dead children, televising the funerals. Then came the witch hunt. > Man's greatest fear is chaos. It was unthinkable that these kids did not have a simple black-and-white reason for their actions. And so a scapegoat was needed. I remember hearing the initial reports from Littleton, that Harris and Klebold were wearing makeup and were dressed like Marilyn Manson, whom they obviously must worship, since they were dressed in black. Of course, speculation snowballed into making me the poster boy for everything that is bad in the world. These two idiots weren't wearing makeup, and they weren't dressed like me or like goths. Since Middle America has not heard of the music they did listen to (KMFDM and Rammstein, among others), the media picked something they thought was similar. > Responsible journalists have reported with less publicity that Harris and Klebold were not Marilyn Manson fans -- that they even disliked my music. Even if they were fans, that gives them no excuse, nor does it mean that music is to blame. Did we look for James Huberty's inspiration when he gunned down people at McDonald's? What did Timothy McVeigh like to watch? What about David Koresh, Jim Jones? Do you think entertainment inspired Kip Kinkel, or should we blame the fact that his father bought him the guns he used in the Springfield, Oregon, murders? What inspires Bill Clinton to blow people up in Kosovo? Was it something that Monica Lewinsky said to him? Isn't killing just killing, regardless if it's in Vietnam or Jonesboro, Arkansas? Why do we justify one, just because it seems to be for the right reasons? Should there ever be a right reason? If a kid is old enough to drive a car or buy a gun, isn't he old enough to be held personally responsible for what he does with his car or gun? Or if he's a teenager, should someone else be blamed because he isn't as enlightened as an eighteen-year-old? > America loves to find an icon to hang its guilt on. But, admittedly, I have assumed the role of Antichrist; I am the Nineties voice of individuality, and people tend to associate anyone who looks and behaves differently with illegal or immoral activity. Deep down, most adults hate people who go against the grain. It's comical that people are naive enough to have forgotten Elvis, Jim Morrison and Ozzy so quickly. All of them were subjected to the same age-old arguments, scrutiny and prejudice. I wrote a song called "Lunchbox," and some journalists have interpreted it as a song about guns. Ironically, the song is about being picked on and fighting back with my Kiss lunch box, which I used as a weapon on the playground. In 1979, metal lunch boxes were banned because they were considered dangerous weapons in the hands of delinquents. I also wrote a song called "Get Your Gunn." The title is spelled with two n's because the song was a reaction to the murder of Dr. David Gunn, who was killed in Florida by pro-life activists while I was living there. That was the ultimate hypocrisy I witnessed growing up: that these people killed someone in the name of being "pro-life." > The somewhat positive messages of these songs are usually the ones that sensationalists misinterpret as promoting the very things I am decrying. Right now, everyone is thinking of how they can prevent things like Littleton. How do you prevent AIDS, world war, depression, car crashes? We live in a free country, but with that freedom there is a burden of personal responsibility. Rather than teaching a child what is moral and immoral, right and wrong, we first and foremost can establish what the laws that govern us are. You can always escape hell by not believing in it, but you cannot escape death and you cannot escape prison. > It is no wonder that kids are growing up more cynical; they have a lot of information in front of them. They can see that they are living in a world that's made of bullshit. In the past, there was always the idea that you could turn and run and start something better. But now America has become one big mall, and because of the Internet and all of the technology we have, there's nowhere to run. People are the same everywhere. Sometimes music, movies and books are the only things that let us feel like someone else feels like we do. I've always tried to let people know it's OK, or better, if you don't fit into the program. Use your imagination -- if some geek from Ohio can become something, why can't anyone else with the willpower and creativity? > I chose not to jump into the media frenzy and defend myself, though I was begged to be on every single TV show in existence. I didn't want to contribute to these fame-seeking journalists and opportunists looking to fill their churches or to get elected because of their self-righteous finger-pointing. They want to blame entertainment? Isn't religion the first real entertainment? People dress up in costumes, sing songs and dedicate themselves in eternal fandom. Everyone will agree that nothing was more entertaining than Clinton shooting off his prick and then his bombs in true political form. And the news -- that's obvious. So is entertainment to blame? I'd like media commentators to ask themselves, because their coverage of the event was some of the most gruesome entertainment any of us have seen. > I think that the National Rifle Association is far too powerful to take on, so most people choose Doom, The Basketball Diaries or yours truly. This kind of controversy does not help me sell records or tickets, and I wouldn't want it to. I'm a controversial artist, one who dares to have an opinion and bothers to create music and videos that challenge people's ideas in a world that is watered-down and hollow. In my work I examine the America we live in, and I've always tried to show people that the devil we blame our atrocities on is really just each one of us. So don't expect the end of the world to come one day out of the blue -- it's been happening every day for a long time. -MARILYN MANSON (May 28, 1999) http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/columbine-whose-fault-is-it-19990624

[lonelybob]

My path from Apple Watch to Ōura

I have been using the Apple Watch consistently for 1 1/2 years, constantly wearing it everyday with few exceptions when I traveled and forgot to bring the Watch's charging cable. Overall I am happy with what the Watch has done for me, but I feel it's time I move onto a different approach to health tracking.

I originally bought the Apple Watch for 3 main reasons:

Health tracking

Notifications available at a glance

To use my iPhone less

The Apple Watch has succeeded in many ways in motivating me to get more in shape. I starting off with light short jogs and walks to fill the Watch activity rings, and over a year have built up my muscles and jogging stamina so much that I ran a half marathon distance on a weekend morning in November.

Health & Workout Tracking

The apps I use for keeping track of my runs are: Zombies Run, Runkeeper, Nike+ (Now renamed Nike NRC), SportsTracker, and Charity Miles.

Zombies Run is the best immersive jogging experience. You are a survivor of a zombie apocalypse and are sent of jogging missions to get supplies and save other people you find along your way.

Runkeeper & Nike NRC are pretty similar in terms of features, the difference is their users. If you want to compete against others for how many mikes you've run in a week or a month, both apps offer this. So ask your friends who jog, if they're using one, probably you'll want to use the same app so that you can see each other's runs. Regarding the Apple Watch, both have apps but I've noticed in my experience the Nike NRC Watch app tends to be less stable and more unreliable. Worse case scenario the Nike Watch app would crash and no log of your run is recorded at all, hence I prefer to use Runkeeper's Watch app. But I still use Nike NRC on iPhone to see how jogging friends are doing each month.

Sports Tracker is one of the older workout tracking apps, and has roots from being born & spun out from Nokia. (I used to work for Nokia in the booming Symbian days.)  I find other users of SportsTracker to be more communal and supportive rather than competitive. Sports Tracker has a feature where after logging a run you can share the route as a jogging path publicly with other users. Using this along with SportsTracker's photo sharing support you can find new and interesting jogging routes.

Charity Miles is a different type of app than the others above, what it does is allow you to jog or cycle and use the distance you ran to donate to a charity of your choice. It's less of a fitness tracking app, and more of a community of joggers and cyclers who want to utilize their workout to help others.

But after a few months of filling the activity rings mostly by just jogging, I began to realize that my other muscle groups weren't being worked on by just jogging. My legs were in great shape but my other muscles were pretty much the same as before I started jogging.

So on days when it was raining or cold out I started doing other workouts using FitStar and Sworkit to help work on my arms, back, chest, abs, etc. By alternating from just running all the time my other muscles started to become more tone overall.

Nutrition & Food logging

Another aspect of health & fitness that I started exploring is food logging. I started out using MyFitnessPal. I have never tracked how many calories I ate before. When I started using it I did not plan to eat a certain amount of calories per meal nor did I plan to cook certain dishes, I simply started entering what I ate each meal. What makes food logging easier is you can search for the name of a food, or even easier if you buy prepared food from the store and there's a barcode you can scan it and if it's in the database the food is automatically added. Often the barcodes are recognized recognized by MyFitnessPal.

What did logging my food do for me? It made me better understood how many calories were in different foods, and what type of nutrition they provide. With this knowledge I could be better informed when I picked something to eat. I could see if I had a big meal with lots of carbs, I should try to balance it out by having more protein and fat other meals. If I ate a dessert that ended up having a lot of calories, I could choose to eat a smaller portion the next meal to balance out total calories eaten. In addition to this, I could exercise more, by jogging further or other exercises and burn off the calories I ate so the total calories eaten didn't jump suddenly after eating high calorie foods.

MyFitnessPal was a good starter app, but I ended up switching to Lifesum for nutrition & food logging. The thing I like better about Lifesum is it shows you a rating of the food you ate based on its nutritional contents. Recently the Lifesum Rating has switched from an A - F scale to a Smiley scale. A big grinning smile means the food you ate is good for you, a non-smiling face means it has too much sugar or salt or fat, etc. and it tells you the reason why the food earned that rating.

Both Lifesum and MyFitnessPal can write your nutrition data in HealthKit in case you want make your nutritional data available to other apps that read from the iOS Health app.

The only downside to Lifesum is their database of food barcodes is smaller, this means sometimes when I scan a prepared food from the grocery store Lifesum doesn't know about it. For this reason I keep MyFitnessPal installed, I scan the food with MyFitnessPal then Add the barcode & nutrition info to Lifesum. After I add the food once, Lifesum has the barcode and the next time I buy the same food from the store I can scan it with Lifesum.

Sleep

The last category of health and fitness that I started trying out was sleep tracking. Sleep is an often overlooked aspect of health but is actually very important and impacts your life more than you might think.

Simple question: Do you know how many hours you've slept in a given night? Unless you've actually tracked it, including when you get up and go to the bathroom, or a noise wakes you up during the night, etc. the answer is probably not.

You may know approximately when you got into bed and when your alarm went off but if you don't log it you don't know how much you've slept.

I started off using Sleep++, then used Pillow, then Sleep Pulse 2, and many others I tried out inbetween. The thing that wasn't great about these is you must remember to Start them when you're going to sleep and then Stop them when you wake up. Only recently has this been improved greatly with AutoSleep that doesn't require Starting & Stopping the app but estimates your sleep from your Apple Watch movement & heart beat during the night, and it ends up working quite well.

What has always been missing about sleep tracking is a lack of analysis, even with months of data logged. Sure I could manually look at how long you slept yourself and compare it to yesterday or the previous week but this gets old. The app that did the best job of presenting the sleep logs is Jawbone Up's purple app, that reads Sleep entries saved in HealthKit and displays it in daily graphs. I wrote about this is another blog post.

However there's a bug in Jawbone's Up app, for a sleep session with more than one Asleep entries, each additional Asleep entry is read & duplicate entries to display on Jawbone Up. You can simply delete the duplicates, but that can get annoying that the issue hasn't been fixed. But considering Jawbone's financial status the bug may never be fixed.

Now that I've gone over much of my experiences of using the Apple Watch let's move on to the other reasons I got the Watch, for app notifications and to use my iPhone less.

Here's the kicker though, these 2 goals end up conflicting with each other.

Notifications and Watch apps in practice are literally an extension of the iPhone. So when I choose to allow notifications on my Watch, this leads me to checking or fiddling to reply with my Watch, and when I want to take an action from the notification message received it often leads me back to picking up my iPhone.

Jumping back to Health tracking, the problem with health tracking with the Watch is it's all very manually. Remember to Start a workout, Remember to Start Sleep logging, remember to Stop the workout. Simpler and cheaper devices from Jawbone, Withings, & Fitbit do these things automatically by analysis of the data. This is a clear weak point of the Apple Watch to me.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to bash the Apple Watch. I'm glad I bought one, it motivated me to be more active and healthy, I'm probably in the best shape I've been in a long while. I plan to continue to use Zombies Run, FitStar, Runkeeper, Lifesum, etc. but I'll be using them on my iPhone not on the Watch. I feel that I'm ready to try a different approach.

What is Ōura?

Ōura is a ring that can track your Sleep, heart rate, temperature, steps & activity with a battery that lasts 2-3 days.

Why Ōura?

Not only is the design different than others (a ring instead of a bracelet or Watch) but also it's approach is fundamentally different than other health trackers, Ōura focuses on Sleep as THE primary measurement, then calculates a Readiness score and adjusts your activity goals for the day and expectations for your energy levels. The Ōura app actually analyzes your data and provides tips or helpful suggestions to support you along the way. Instead of keeping the same Activity goal every day of the week, or telling you to take 10,000 steps despite having not slept well Ōura adjusts your goals.

For those of you that enjoy & use the "It's time to stand up" feature on Apple Watch, the Ōura app on iPhone has this, but it's improved because it sends you a notification at different times to remind you to stand up and move around during the hour not 10 minutes before each hour at x:50 like Apple Watch.

How good is Ōura's analysis & suggestions?

I've been using it for 3 weeks and Ōura actually warned me that I might be getting a cold based on a night's heart rate, temperature, and Sleep pattern being different. You know what, it was right! I did catch a cold and the next couple days after that I was recovering from it, and that is pretty amazing & awesome analysis.

Switching from an Apple Watch, What is Ōura not good at?

Currently Ōura has HealthKit support but is mainly used for logging Sleep sessions. It doesn't log (at least not consistently) other HealthKit measurements, such as Steps, heart rate, Active Energy, etc. though the ring tracks these. I've asked Ōura about this and they have said they plan to work on improving HealthKit logging in the future.

Ōura tracks Steps & activity but doesn't log Heart rate during workouts. Ōura uses heart rate tracking while you sleep. Does it matter though if I don't have heart rate logged during a workout? The answer is it depends if you use the data or not. It doesn't prevent or stop me from working out as I'll be using run tracking apps when jogging or FitStar/Sworkit when doing an indoor workout anyhow. So for me, the lack of Heart rate tracking during a workout is not a deal breaker for me.

Overall the Ōura so far is an improvement in the area I want to focus on, Sleep tracking, being rested, & prepared for the day.