#does this mean the subsequent events happened on actual independence day?

[hamsternamedmarinette]

Happy anniversary of the day the Powerpuff Girls broke everything

[night-unfurls-its-splendour]

Bridgerton & Selective Justification: A Rant

With a Particular Aside in Which This Author Questions if There Isn't a Double Standard at Play in Televised Historical Fiction.

Ok so the other day i posted complaining about how ludicrous the "Will Daphne marry Prince Friedrich?!" Plotline is to me and i referred to Daphne as a "commoner". I got two comments on that post of people saying Daphne *isn't* a commoner because she's a Viscount's daughter. I did respond but I'd like to go a little more in depth into it my thoughts on why this plotline verges on abject silliness to me, based on my (i will freely admit) *limited* knowledge of British aristocracy and the source material itself.

So if anyone reading this has a more detailed knowledge of the Peerage and how it relates to Bridgerton please correct me I'm eager to know more.

So to start out my understanding of the pecking order goes like this:

DUKE/DUCHESS = Highest ranking title in the peerage. Often bestowed on important members of the Royal family not in direct line for the throne. Worth noting is the fact that a Duke in British peerage is different than a Continental Duke. On the European Continent title Duke/Grand Duke can be associated with sovereign rule of an independent state, which has never been the case in England. Dukes and Duchesses are addressed as "Your Grace"

MARQUESS/MARCHIONESS = English equivalent of Marquis/Marquise. Very high ranking in the peerage, closely related to Earldom, but more important  since it has it's roots as the title of border (marcher) lords instrumental in a country's defense.  

EARL/COUNTESS = Referred to as a "count" everywhere else. The difference is the heavy germano-scandinavian influence on early medieval England. "Earl" is derived from the Nordic term for what could be considered a chieftan. Earls being only slightly lower in rank than a Marquess could be very rich and very important. The Earldom of Northumberland was one of the richest in 16th century England.

Now at this point we start to get into the lower peerage.

VISCOUNT/VISCOUNTESS = Addressed as "The Right Honourable". Viscountsies in England tend to almost exclusively be secondary titles held by Marequesses and Earls and passed down to their sons. Any son of a Marquess or Earl is a Viscount. The oldest son inherits the title of Earl plus all subsequent lands estates and incomes. The younger sons could also be viscounts wherever there are titles enough.

BARON/BARONESS = lowest rank of the peerage.

BARONET/BARONETESS = The only British title that doesn't land you in the peerage, the rank of baronet is (as I have heard it described) the barnacle on the bottom of the British aristocracy. It's basically a weird limbo between a Lord and a Knight that was invented by King James I in 1611 primarily as a way to jack up taxes so tbh its kind of a joke.

So Daphne's brother Anthony is a Viscount. He inherited this title from his father which likely means that their father was a second son. As you can see from this ranking list I just did, in marrying Simon, Daph married up. Way up. Not unsusual, given that her family has money and is well regarded.

Now clearly Bridgerton works differently than ACTUAL Regency England. Here, APPARENTLY if you just make a good impression on the Queen she takes a VERY PERSONAL interest in your life and she will marry you off to whatever Foreign prince she's related to who happens to be visiting. But here's where it's a bit wooly for me because there are two different contexts for the term "commoner" in England.  I think we all pretty well know how the European Royal marriage market  worked up through the 19th century, since we all like to make fun of them being inbred. Because there's a bit of a hang up not just about "Royal blood" but also Diplomatic marriage.

In the context of people with titles or peerages being nobles/aristocrats and any one without being a commoner then of course, Daphne is a noble. HOWEVER the context in which I used it in my previous post was ROYALS vs NOT ROYALS. It's perfectly acceptable to refer to someone not of Royal Blood as a commoner. In my replies I used Elizabeth Woodville as an example of a commoner. Now she DID marry a royal (Edward IV) and of course this was a few hundred years before Bridgerton would be BUT EVERYONE thought Edward was crazy for marrying her and she was not well liked because she was seen as at worst a gold-digger and at best an upstart. It was not only an uneven match but a purely domestic one which cut of England from potentially politically critical strategic foreign marriages. This is how royalty worked.

Naturally the strategic aspect of marriages was *slightly* diminished in the nineteenth century, but not really and it was still considered extremely important. Usually a young royal looking to get married was doing so at their family's behest and had a pre-determined pool they more or less HAD to choose from. Marriage to commoners of course  DID happen. It was called "Morganatic Marriage". Prince Augustus of Prussia had a morganatic marriage to a Polish aristocrat. One of Charlotte's own sons, Augustus Fredrick, had TWO morganatic marriages which kept him away from court because his wife could not be recognised due to their having married in defiance of the Royal Marriages Act of 1772, which requires all members of the  British Royal family to obtain the monarch's consent before marrying.

So I posed the very realistic question of "how would this choice to marry Daphne affect the Prince?" I don't know how morganatic marriages were looked on based on Prussian law but it seems likely, especially since Prince Friedrich is the direct heir that this marriage would have caused problems and i find it doubtful that Daphne would ever find herself addressed as "Princess".

I know that Bridgerton is fiction and that in being fiction it is pardoned  for not following courses that would be realistic in actual history. But at what point does "it's fiction" become an excuse for sloppy execution of world building?

The show takes the time to explain to the viewer (in one of the precious few moments of actual exposition) why there are black aristocrats [because the king married a black woman and things changed - which JUST IN CASE anyone is wondering, no Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was not in any meaningful way "bi-racial" irl, based on the research I've done.] With this kind of deviation from history in a Drama that does, without any official caveats in the marketing, claim to be set in England in 1813, the writers recognised that this needed to be qualified. And in qualifying it, they justify it. They take it beyond fiction into fantasy, but it is justified.

The reason they recognised it had to be justified is because they know that most of the viewers know this is not how it went in history and would hold them to account. So why isn't more care taken to qualify the Liberties taken with the REST of Recency Society?

They talk repeatedly about "Coming Out" into society, particularly regarding Eloise. And Eloise wears her hair down and wears shorter skirts because she's still considered a child because she isn't out. But the IMPORTANT, PRACTICAL parts of not being "Out" are COMPLETELY IGNORED. She and her younger siblings are OUT at SOCIETY EVENTS. CONSTANTLY. Eloise speaks when not spoken to. She speaks DIRECTLY TO THE FOPPING QUEEN (TO WHOM SHE'S NEVER BEEN PRESENTED, BUT I GUESS IF YOU'RE DaPhNe BRiDgErToN's sister you can do whatever you want). There are BABIES at BALLS in this show. For a story that's trying to sell you on the Strrrrrrictures of RRRegency Societeh they're TOTALLY NOT INCLUDING MOST OF THOSE STRICTURES except when the plot demands it.

Why, I ask, is this? Perhaps it is pure ignorance on the writers part. They don't qualify it because they don't know rules like this existed. In which case its just bad, sloppy writing.

OR

They do know about it and ignore it and don't bother to qualify it with a "Oh Daphne a match with Prince Friedrich is so advantageous how marvellous Prussia has recently accepted Morganatic Marriage ahahaha" because they think we a) don't know or b) don't care and ITS STILL SLOPPY WRITING. Which hey, most Bridgerton fans who swallow any swill where hot people catch feelings probably don't care, but that doesn't mean its not careless writing and it doesn't make it NOT condescending. Never write DOWN to your audience.

This show approaches (but by a hair's breadth doesn't reach) REIGN levels of bad in terms of historicity. And the writers of Reign, like the writers of Bridgerton never claimed to be making an authentic representation of history. But perhaps it's because BTon only has 2 actual historical figures (one of whom is SO UNRECOGNIZABLE from her historical counterpart in countenance and personality that they might as well have just made a composite character - "How much can you change a thing before it isn't that thing anymore?") Or perhaps it's the inclusivity shield  but it seems like Bridgerton is getting a lot more leniency than Reign did.

The pass I see given to Bridgerton is "its frothy fun" (and yeah okay these costumes are worlds more realistic to the claimed period than Reign was even with the jacked up, flat bustlines) BUT. SO. WAS. REIGN.

I don't even like Reign but I do think there's a double standard here and I would like to know why.

[semi-imaginary-place]

rewatching decadence part 2 because part 1 got too long

ep7: Getting to see the game Deca-Dence as a new player would with the opening cutscene, skipping the TOS, character creation and all was a good touch. Also the fact that Kaburagi could look like anything, but he wants to look like mid 40′s dad both times. I wonder who it was that decided Minato should vape. The conversation on the top of Deca-Dence is real interesting because its like only 20% of the actual conversation is spoken out loud and the other 80% left unsaid, so we have to guess what was left unsaid. Minato tells Kaburagi to not make things worse for himself, condoning his actions, but also vows to himself to help Kabu even though it is very dangerous for him. Kaburagi leaves after regretfully saying he doesn’t want to cause Minato more trouble, and yet his current and future actions are and will be doing just that. The obscuring fog in this scene adds to the sense of distance or disconnect between these two. Somewhere over the past 7 years they have fallen off the same page.

This episode again highlights how while for the Tankers this is life and death situation, for the cyborgs Deca-Dence is a game. We get a shot of some Gears lightheartedly discussing how fun the latest game event was, followed right after with what that event meant for the Tankers as we see a makeshift medbay in the streets filled with the dead and dying to really drive home the gap of compassion between the two groups. Minato is one of the few cyborgs we really see besides Kaburagi and the show uses him to show how cyborgs don’t think of humans as people. Humans to the cyborgs are just npcs in a game. Now anime and manga about videogames have been around a long time and were especially popular in the mid 2000s (mmorpgs especially) after which the genre dropped the “in a game” part but kept everything else which were today know as the isekai genre. Hot takes like “the videogame characters are actually people all along” aren’t new either, but Deca-Dence is one of the most successful in generating sympathy and compassion for the Other by flipping the script. Most of those series come from the perspective of the player and show the player coming to care about the npcs. This often isn’t done very well or comes off as patronizing, like the other characters act in service of making the mc look like a good guy instead of actually acting like fully realized people in their own right. (*cough* sao *cough*). In contrast to this, Deca-Dence initially starts from the perspective of Natsume who is human just like us the audience, and thus predisposing us to feeling with and feeling for her. So later when its revealed the humans of this world aren’t seen as people by the cyborgs or the the corporation that rules all their lives, it is granted greater weight in the context of all of us who have played videogames before and met npcs and maybe not cared all that much about them. Decadence places the viewer in the position of the npc, the Other.

Episode 7 is also the beginning of several letters exchanged between Kaburagi and Natsume. Its a presence that lingers long after the person has left and also acts as a contrast to the call/social networking apps of the cyborgs. In episode 5 we saw Kaburagi choose Natsume over following the orders of Solid Quake, but through to episode 7 he still believed in its system. Look even at episode 6 where he still believed that if he worked hard and played by the rules, the system would reward him and everything would be ok and compare that calm assurance in episode 6 to his mountain frustration in episode 7. He’s starting to see how thing are run in Deca-Dence makes life really hard and kind of terrible for the Tankers. This frustration at the system culminates at the end of the episode when he realizes the real human cost of perpetuating this system of oppression in how it hurts Natsume. I mean “Late stage capitalism made my adopted daughter Natsume cry, so I'm going to dismantle it.“ is a joke and pretty funny, but like, that’s what actually what happens. Both Kaburagi and Natsume further the theme of pushing the limits. Kaburagi realizes the limits of his society and why its time to break them down, while of Natsume’s side we see her struggle in the face of things much larger than her. Much like how the cyborgs are stuck in their lifestyles of working for Solid Quake, earning oxyone, and playing Deca-Dence, the Tankers are stuck in their role in society to leave their fates to the Gears and Deca-Dence. So Natsume asking everyone to take charge of their own lives and close that the hole is them stepping out of the comfort of what they’ve always done, which is leave it to someone else (deca-dence administration, gears, etc.). Natsume asks the Tankers to push their limits, the step outside of what they’ve always done and to believe in things they thought were impossible to do. We see Fei representing the belief a lot of Tankers that nothing needs to change, thus nothing should change and they will not act to bring change to their own lives. The Tankers live lives that are decided for them. The Deca-Dence administration controls their population, and the system eliminates any who would disrupt it. They don’t have a lot of control and are resigned to live like that, until Natsume comes along. This episode we see her do what she does the entire series, inspire people to be more. Natsume’s doing alright, she might not be where she wants to be but she’s taken steps in that direction. Where Nstsume is psychologically contrast Kaburagi who’s a bit of a mess realizing he can no longer live under the thumb of Solid Quake’s Deca-Dence system and is kind of floundering about. When kaburagi meets Natsume again... he is so awkward, I’m getting second hand embarressmen. and again the assault jokes have got to stop. The shot of the empty chair calls back to the first episode and another talk between Natsume and Kaburagi. I always love it when an anime plays the credits early.

ep8: again the importance of the individual over the group with kaburagi’s lines at the beginning on why he’s taking down the gadoll factory. I’m just thinking about how kaburagi is certain minato kept his avatar. and everyone just agreeing that minato has that vibe. I really love the avatar retrieval part of the first episode. Its a heist sequence. I love heists!. They also did a good job with pacing and tension in that part. Still can’t believe the creators put a sex toy in this show but at least this joke is actually funny. Oh Minato pulled strings to get Kaburagi out of the poor jail. I missed that part. but now the two of them are not only on different pages, but on different books. Minato doesn’t see the tankers as people and follows the Deca-Dence system on what is good and what is bad, so he can’t comprehend why Kaburagi is throwing away everything the Deca-Dence system values for something the system has deems less than worthless. While Kaburagi has formed a moral compass independent of this system, he sucks at communication and doesn’t explain anything to Minato. Interesting how Minato views bugs as bad but has made an exception for kaburagi and probably did some mental gymnastics to do so. It reminds of those homophobic family members that make an exception for their gay family member. Minato never wanted anything but to be by Kaburagi’s side so he prioritizes Kaburagi above pretty much everything else which is why while he defends the establishment, he also breaks rules for Kaburagi. Their little convo continues the same dialectic, Kaburagi’s been inspired by Natsume to push the limits of himself and society, to choose how he lives instead of letting the Deca-Dence system tell him. Kaburagi underwent character development when Minato wasn’t looking and he can’t recognize him anymore but desperately wants to. Kaburagi moving forwards without him and him realizing that he was never as much a priority to Kaburagi as Kaburagi was to him, means that Minato’s really hurting by the end of the scene, and he doesn’t take it out on Kaburagi, he just leaves. ...if it isn’t obvious by now, minato is my favorite character. gotta love the gay robot having a mid life crisis. (i mean his feeling aren;t necessarily romantic, but you know the joke I’m referencing). Turkey just wakes up and chooses evil every day huh. I predict someone on tumblr with a history of unhealthy relationships is horny for turkey.

ep9: why does the reactor look like a cyborg core? Again. WHYYY does Donatello have a gun??? idiots let him keep a working gun. I love the contrast of the actual pretty gritty situation of the prison riot being represented with super cartoony slapstick animations. This probably saves on frames as well as keep the series from getting too dark, because if you think about it the labor camp conditions are pretty horrifying but its disguised with cartoony designs and wacky characters. Kaburagi and Natsume are doing very important plot things, but the core of episode 9 are Sark and Turkey. Through them we see the same conversation that has been repeated through out the series of conforming to society and staying in line, that things won’t ever change so you should just duck your head and follow order, or the “I’m comfortable how things are” versus you should make your own choices with live life how to want to, to push your limits. Turkey sees the Deca-Dence system as absolute and eternal and thus tries to play by the system and help it continue by selling out everyone else. Sark is passive and doesn't really have an opinion of his own, just following whatever the others are doing whether its Kaburagi stealing his avatar or Turkey in betraying everyone. Sark unlike Turkey isn’t malicious, he wants the best for everyone but also isn’t quite willing to put himself at risk for others. After seeing everyone be destroyed as a consequence of following Turkey however, his new resolve and subsequent suicide bombing is the only reason the plan ends up succeeding. For total destruction of the gadoll factory two things were needed: flipping the kill switch on all the gadoll in the dome, and destroying the reactor powering the factory. We aren’t told how Jill and Kaburagi originally planned to destroy the reactor (like was he just suppose to wander around until they bumped into it?), but Sark’s explosion is what allowed Kaburagi and Natsume to get away from Hugin. Without Sark, Hugin would have totally caught them. So it was Sark taking charge of his own life and pushing his limits that saved them all. That said, if the explosion was powerful enough to reach all the way up the giant tube and destroy the reactor, why didn’t it break the tube and why didn’t it destroy everyone left in the prison? ah well it makes thematic sense so I’ll let this pass.

So I’ve talked before about how Deca-Dence’s ending could be improved to build on some of the themes established in the first couple episodes. The problem is that this show isn’t pushing a narrative of collaboration and the power of collective bargaining, its pushing an individualist narrative about how each and every person can reach out and better themself. Now I don’t think these two themes are mutually exclusive, but it would take a very delicate touch as well as an attentive and thoughtful audience to successfully weave these two theme together into a nuanced whole. And if a rewrite were to happen with the minimal amount of changes, I think ep 10 is a good divergence point. The final little arc is about the rogue gadoll outside of the Deca-Dence system and the threat of total annihilation by solid quake, and while big kaiju fights look cool, they don’t quite deal with dismantling systems of oppression at the hands of your corporate overlords. So, I would have preferred something like the cyborgs and Tankers coming together to seize the means of production, destroy Solid Quake, and take its assets for themselves. The ideal rewrite situation though would for this all to be 24 episodes and the big gadoll to be the episode 12 climax while taking down Solid Quake happen in ep 23-24. And since we’re doing a rewrite, Natsume kinda drops off as the main character after episode 5 and I’d like to see her back at the forefront of the show.

ep10: If this show had leaned more into the futility of Natsume seeking to improve herself within a system that rendered it meaningless, it would have ended up much darker, but I also think it would have been richer. Ah poor Natsume, she’s at a low point since the context of what she has been doing has wildly changed, afterall, what’s the point of improving yourself if nothing else ever changes and what you do doesn’t matter. The letter writing continues and it is good. So I’m not going to question how the exit tunnel is still intact, but watching into robot kaburagi angrily drive a car and swear is really funny. I’ve been wondering for a while, the humans literally live in a fuel tank, how is there enough light to grow plants in there? Like as part of the post-apocalyptic aesthetic, a lot of Tankers have little house plants which in addition to being inside the fuel tank, are also inside their houses. oh yeah for any who didn’t get it. The reason as a child Natsume went into cardiac arrest and her chip was read as dead wasn’t because of the severity of her injuries, Deca-Dence’s system had deemed her too dangerous to live and flipped her kill switch.

ep11: on a thematic level I might be meh, but the writing and execution are what really pull the ending through. Everything is nicely set up from the mutated gadoll the victim of animal abuse several episodes earlier to fighting hugin in the factory being how hugin finds out about natsume. I think about Jill’s lines here, that no matter how hard you try to keep things from changing, you’re just fighting the inevitable. Also Natsume took Kaburagi’s switching bodies really well like seeing someone you care about die in front of you but then surprise they just got another body would give most people such whiplash. “our bodies are under the system’s control, but our core’s are independent of it” I’m still thinking about this. It makes sense given how the first generation of cyborgs where humans with mechanical implants, but cyborg’s cores are still such a mystery. The things you can’t control are a part of life too. In Deca-Dence bugs are uncertainties that the master control system doesn’t know what to do with. More than just individualism good, here we get a little more nuance to Deca-Dence (the show)’s theme. Jill was one of the creators of the Deca-Dence game (giant mech, control system, and all), and they tried to create perfect system where everything was under its control and order could be maintained forever, and this inevitably failed (the show tells us). Trying to perfectly order everything is to attempt the impossible, disorder will always creep in and those little individual differences should be celebrated. and is to the backdrop of an old Deca-Denca(robot) part that is rusting away, plants and animals overtaking it much like how the Deca-Dence’s currently enforced status quo of the game will fall away in the face of those it deems bugs. wait did we ever figure out what the bug was that jill left in deca-dence? mmmm I’m still thinking about Minato logging out because the system told him to but unwilling to let things end this way so physically going back down to earth in his real body. Facing the possibility of truly losing Kaburagi forever is what pushes Minato to question following the Deca-Dence master control system. He totally became a bug for Kaburagi. I doubt Kaburagi had any idea how much Minato wanted to hear the words “let’s fight together to the end”, but offered the thing he truly desires, Minato probably would have done anything. mmm he’s got it bad. there’s also that linking Kaburagi and Deca-Dence’s core takes two people and yet, Kaburagi didn’t bring anyone with him. Which is terrible planning, but allowed for this really great scene. that he knew Minato would come after him. And then the last thing me sees in Minato. Minato truly is ride or die. literally. He could have gone back to the spaceship so that he’d survive no matter what, but he choose to stay. If the plan succeeds then he will see it through with/right beside/literally inside of Kaburagi, and if it fails and Kaburagi is annihilated when Solid Quake wipes the dome, Minato will also be annihilated along side Kaburagi.

ep12: so kaburagi just straight up demands admin privileges and the governing sys is like “sure”. Yeah pretty sure the governing system convo was a season 2 hook to show the big wigs. The independent all governing system tells Kaburagi that all this, him and bugs are a part of the system’s learning process, to which Kaburagi responds that all that doesn’t matter since he’s going to do what he wants independent/regardless of the governing system. the context in which you do things doesn’t matter. Also I never pointed it out since its like the 4th wall of scifi, everyone is just trained to suspend their disbelief, but oxyone is total bullshit. A non toxic liquid energy dense fuel that can be concentrated into orbit range lasers. The tankers all helping Natsume push the spare part is a feel good moment seeing everyone working together. Its an unnecessarily scene for the purpose of including the tankers in the action, since the part wasn’t ever really needed and the writers didn’t have to have it severed by the laser to begin with. the Natsume montage overlayed with the music is very good. wait. i just realized, limiter release can be reversed. Afterall, Kaburagi released his limiters with his first avatar, and if he had still been fully connected to it when hugin killed that avatar, cyborg Kaburagi should have died too but he didn’t and just immediately logged in on a different account. Kabu-Dence releasing his limits here and literally giving all of himself to destroy omega is fulfilling both for his character arc and on an emotional level. This entire show has been about pushing one’s limits and making your own choices, and it culminates here’s in Kaburagi literally releasing his limiter, thus putting him in mortal danger, and then giving every last ounce of himself to the path he has decided. The destruction of the mech fortress Deca-Dence is also symbolic of the end of the game of the Deca-Dence mmorpg as we know it. wait wait did Kaburagi hold on just long enough to hear Natsume thank him. aaaaahhh and then the ed song plays!! and then the play the new mmo intro scene. Still real weird that they’re using a cyborg brain as a ball.

[allycryz]

#29, #36 and #41 for Nerys please? :D

From this ask meme

29. What is one of the most courageous things your character has ever done for a loved one?

If we’re talking canon events for WoL, I’d say a lot of the climactic battles count: fighting Nidhogg with the hope of freeing Estinien but knowing they may not be able to; dragging Thancred from the Praetorium even though they might not have survived; fighting Zenos even though every previous fight ended in defeat; facing Emet-Selch despite the light raging inside them

For Nerys specifically I would say braving the Echo loop to save Haurchefant in the Vault again and again, even as it took a toll on her. She was not going to stop until he survived, even though each subsequent loop drained her more and more. 

Rest under the cut!

36. Does your character have any medical conditions? Are they serious or minor? Do they affect their day to day life?

Without intentionally meaning to...I gave Nerys anxiety. Which is to say I wrote about her having those invasive, reeling thoughts so much and then realised that I was using her to vent about my own anxious brain. 

(Eorzea has so many healers, apothecaries, alchemists, etc. that I like to think meds are widely available and fairly affordable. Just like I take my meds as needed, so does she.)

41. Does your character’s family affect your character in any way?

I think Nerys is one of the first characters where I have actually written parents for her that are present, as opposed to not in the picture or vaguely offscreen. Which happened somewhat by accident–my initial thought was “oh I want her parents to have been polyam” which led to her particular clan/community being really open about different kinds of relationships.

Which then led to: I want Haurchefant to meet these parents (which is a fic I am revising currently). Which led to me actually building out the parents and their lovers, rather than keeping them offscreen.

Nerys has her love of stories and history from her father, as well as a similar sense of humor. Her mother taught her about foraging, cooking, staying safe in the outside world. They’re somewhat nomadic so they don’t like to hold onto many things, to make moving homes easier. Nerys is different in that she finds herself amassing a lot of clothes, armor, weapons, jewelry etc. but it does mean that receiving or giving gifts is not her primary love language.

Regarding her parents’ lovers: Her Aunt Jehanne is a powerful conjurer with a specialization in stone shaping. Running errands for her to gather more material definitely came in handy as an Adventurer doing much of the same thing. Her Uncle Vaquelin shares her father’s love of stories and song, he taught her how to sing and spoiled her a bit when young. Uncle Josse kept to himself, he wasn’t very social and did not like being around others as much as he could help it. If anything, from him she learned that some people want to be apart and that is alright. 

In the present timeline: she and her family love each other and would do anything to protect each other. At the same time, they are all very independent people who don’t need to see each other or keep in touch at regular intervals. The Shroud is dear to her, mostly because they live there still, but they also all understand that Ishgard and Revenant’s Toll are her home now. 

And she has to do a bit of intermediary work because the Fortemps are a Gift Family and her family is Very Not. But when her parents and Uncle Vaquelin do visit Ishgard at last, they get along with Edmont super super well. (At this point, they have reunited with Vaquelin and he practically lives with them. Her mother sees Jehanne every so often. Josse sorta disappeared off the face of the earth and every so often her father gets a letter)

[3rdgymbros]

𝓑𝓲𝓸𝓰𝓻𝓪𝓹𝓱𝓲𝓬𝓪𝓵 𝓘𝓷𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓶𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷

Name: Noelle Halliday

Nicknames: Ice Princess, Ice Witch

Name meaning: 'Noelle' means christmas. 'Halliday' is a seasonal surname originally given to someone born on a holy day, or a religious festival.

Gender: Female

Birthday: 25 December

Star Sign: Capricorn

Height: 147 cm

Weight: 40 kg

Age: 16

Eye Colour: Red

Hair Colour: White

Homeland: Christmas Town

Family: Mother, father, two older brothers studying at Royal Sword Academy

Quote: “I want to cry, but I can’t seem to shed a single tear . . . Have you ever felt this way before?”

𝓝𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽 𝓡𝓪𝓿𝓮𝓷 𝓒𝓸𝓵𝓵𝓮𝓰𝓮 𝓢𝓬𝓱𝓸𝓸𝓵 𝓕𝓲𝓵𝓮

Dorm: Terrorwood ( a fandorm created by @terrors-of-nightraven​ )

School Year: First 

Class: 1-B ; Student no. 19

Occupation: Student

Club: Light Music Club

Best Subject: Potions, alchemy

𝓕𝓾𝓷 𝓕𝓪𝓬𝓽𝓼

Inspired by: Santa Claus from The Nightmare Before Christmas

Dominant hand: Right

Favourite Colours: Red, silver, white

Favourite Food: Milk and cookies, hearty food like stews and turkey

Least Favourite Food: Anything with peppermint

Likes: Cold weather, snow, the smell of winter roses, eating, rain, cute and fluffy animals, receiving affection (don’t be put off by her complaints), head pats

Dislikes: Hot weather, sweating, being forced to talk, being forced to perform in public by her parents, returning home for the holidays, insects, getting dragged into crazy situations, rude behaviour, fancy parties

Hobbies and Talents: Ice skating, ballet, singing, sewing, cooking, creating poisons, gardening, baking

Special Skill: Choosing perfect presents and being able to wrap them perfectly, non-verbal magic

𝓟𝓱𝔂𝓼𝓲𝓬𝓪𝓵 𝓕𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓮𝓼

Appearance: She has long white hair, elbow-length and curled at the ends. Part of her hair is braided, at the crown of her head, and she also wears red rose hairpins. Her bangs are parted to the right. She has red eyes. Many people have commented on how she resembles a porcelain doll. 

Style: Her casual attire is fairly fancy with muted or dark tones, full skirts, lace and frills. Many of her dresses are reminiscent of the gothic lolita style of dressing. Examples can be found here and here.

Makeup: None.

Body type: Slim of waist, and slight of frame, with a small chest.

𝓥𝓸𝓬𝓪𝓵𝓼

Songs to describe her: Doll by Lia, Human by Lia, Castle Walls by Christina Aguilera, The Loneliest Girl by Carole and Tuesday, Dollhouse by Melanie Martinez

Voice actress: Aiba Aina (specifically her role as Yukina Minato)

𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓸𝓷𝓪

Personality: Noelle is very conscientious and quiet compared to her louder, and more eccentric dormmates in Terrorwood. She is extremely reserved, and rarely speaks to anyone; though this changes slightly when she joins Terrorwood. She is mostly willing to talk to her dorm mates (or, at the very least, scrawl out notes for them to read if she does not wish to speak at the moment), and has even cracked a smile or two at their antics, watching from the sidelines but deigning to join in. When Noelle becomes focused on something or wants it, she will stop and silently stare intently for minutes until people realize what she wants. In addition, she rarely expresses much emotion, and rarely diverts from a neutral or a stern expression.

However, as she did not have many friends growing up, Noelle is actually a rather lonely individual, which translates into her cold personality, as well as her difficulties understanding how other people may feel. Once she warms up to people, Noelle places a great deal of trust in her friends, and is also very loyal to them; she won’t hesitate to hex people who harbour negative intentions towards her friends. She has kind and generous sides to her as well, as she is perfectly willing to help the people she is close to.

Alignment: Neutral Good

Strengths: Stoic, refined, reserved, industrious, scrupulous, conservative, serious, demure, solemn, generous, kind, well-bred, forbearing, patient

Flaws: Saturnine, impassive, haughty, cold, imperious, proud, anti-social, subdued

𝓟𝓪𝓼𝓽

The youngest daughter of the Halliday family, Noelle has the features of a porcelain doll and is so quiet that she can almost pass for one. Since young, she has had endless tutoring sessions, from etiquette classes to dance and music classes, all with the intention of moulding her into the perfect socialite. Overshadowed by her siblings, Noelle is often overlooked by her parents, who are also occupied with running the family empire. Noelle was often left to her own devices when she was younger, and as a result, grew up to be largely independent. She has two older brothers, both of whom currently attend Royal Sword Academy, though her relationship with them is neutral, and founded on indifference at best. The entire family was disappointed when she announced her decision to attend Night Raven College, but Noelle was determined and refused to back down.

Noelle hates returning home for the holidays. The house is too crowded, filled with relatives and cousins who all force her into making conversation, and she is expected to be on her best behaviour at all times. She knows what will happen if she slips up; in public, her hand will be grabbed and squeezed tight to an uncomfortable degree, behind closed doors, she receives a slap to the cheek and lecture upon lecture for bringing shame to the family name. Her parents may also force her to perform at charity events or for her relatives to exclaim over, which makes her endlessly uncomfortable; if she could, she would choose to remain at school.

𝓢𝓹𝓮𝓵𝓵𝓼

Noelle mostly uses ice-based magic, which allows the user to generate and manipulate ice and snow. However, if she uses her magic for too long, she can develop symptoms of hypothermia (eg shivering, a weak pulse, slow and shallow breathing, low energy levels ).

Crystal Ice Shield: The user manifests barriers in the form of snowflakes with various shapes and sizes. These barriers are strong enough to withstand incoming attacks.

Snowmen Friends: The user creates multiple snowmen, which can be directed to attack opponents.

Ice Floe: A massive chunk of ice is created and dropped it onto an opponent, crushing them under the weight.

Icy Shrapnel: Giant spikes made of ice are created and directed at a target.

Ice Flowers: The user completely encases the target in ice, which can potentially freeze the target to death unless the spell is cancelled. The countless icicles protruding outwards prevent outside interference.

Phantom Garden of Snow: The user fills an enclosed space with enchanted snow. Those who come into contact with the snow slowly lose their senses and start to move sluggishly until they eventually fall asleep.

Unique Magic: Naughty or Nice. Noelle judges a target as being ‘naughty’ or ‘nice’. If the target is deemed as being ‘nice’, their abilities and performance can temporarily be enhanced (eg their speed, intelligence, healing). If the target is judged as being ‘naughty’, the opposite will occur; that is, the target will find their abilities and performance impaired.

𝓣𝓻𝓲𝓿𝓲𝓪

- After finding out that she could play the guitar, Noelle was forced into the Light Music Club by Lilia, who promised her that she wouldn’t have to speak during the club sessions. She does perform on stage with the other members and has even sung in front of the school on occasion. 

- She used to dance ballet, but stopped her lessons. However, she still dances when her parents pressure her into putting on a show for their relatives during the holidays.

- Noelle is oddly affectionate and clingy when she returns home from school after the holidays. The first thing she does upon reaching the dorm is to run into the arms of the first person she sees; the dorm member will have their arms filled with a pale, sad-eyed girl struggling to hold back her tears.  

- The only other time Noelle is clingy and affectionate is when she overuses her magic and subsequently develops symptoms of hypothermia; wrapped up in blankets and lethargic, Noelle usually ends up clinging to Nyx and falling asleep on his shoulder.

- Out of boredom, Viktor taught her how to play poker, and Noelle turned out to be rather good at the game. She’s not as good as Viktor, but she’s still a champion in her own right.

- Noelle smells like cranberries, and the scent clings to her clothes and belongings as well. 

- She has a small garden. She grows a mixture of plants, ranging from poisonous plants, to herbs and fruits.

- She is in charge of cooking for the dorm, and is a good cook, provided that she does not mix the cooking ingredients with her potion-making ingredients. Her favourite person to cook for is Nyx, who falls upon her cooking with a ravenous kind of hunger.

- She tests her poisons out on herself to see their effects on the body firsthand. Thanks to this, she has built up an immunity to various types of poisons.

- She always has an abundance of money on her, and is perfectly willing to treat her friends to food at the Mostro Lounge.

- Whenever Viktor isn’t around, the duty of stitching up lost limbs usually falls to Noelle, who is good at sewing. Her stitches are neat and tiny and precise; considering that she is unfazed by blood and bodily fluids, this makes her a perfect choice.

[paintmearainbow]

What Is Love ?

Love.

Love means different things to different people. Some people say love is making your partner happy and seeing them happy makes you happy . But love, is actually a figment of our imaginations. In a way, love is selfish and makes us lose our independence. You make the other person happy to keep yourself happy, and you become dependent and vulnerable. It's a somewhat like a shared dream. And until one person decides to wakeup, and that dream, albeit fun while it lasted, becomes a living nightmare

1 YEAR AGO

For Harry and y/n; sneaking out of premiers and award shows,buying tacos and eating them at 3 AM was love. For them, love was dancing in the kitchen to Elvis and baking with each other. Love was watching horror movies in makeshift tents, snacking on caramel popcorns and cans of soda; all while making fun of Harry's "those dumb bitches" in the movie. Love was falling asleep in each others arms and reading each other books. It was dressing up as Disney characters and acting out scenes from their favourite animations. It was etheral, perfect. Almost too perfect too be true

People always said "Love will fizzle out. One of you will get bored." Harry and y/n didn't listen. They burned so fast, so bright and didn't realise that their spark too, like all blazed and sparks from lighted matches, had extinguished. One second it was burning so brightly, and the next, it was gone

..............................................................................................

"When was the last time you spoke to him ?" asked y/n's sister.

" A week ago" a distraught y/n replied. "He barely has time to even talk to me on the phone, let alone show me the sights and explore the places with him via facetime"

For a brief moment, she allowed herself to close her eyes and all the memories flashed through her eyes, like a movie roll, playing over and over agai

FLASHBACK

"Y/N !" exclaimed Harry, the golden flecks in his eyes dancing with joy. Oh how she longed to see him, feel him and be with him in real life , rather than on a screen. Yet she was eternally grateful for Harry for never making her feel left out from the tour experience, he always made sure to show her around, even if it was only on a screen, while giving tour guide commentary in a horribly fake American accent.

"You're in for a treat ! We're going to see the Louvre today. Come on an enjoy the sited with Harry's Tour Experiences"

Y/n couldn't stop laughing.

Being an art fanatic, she giving Harry detailed descriptions of the art, while all he did was turn it inti a joke. His put on accent stood out when he kept saying " Oh shucks ! Here's another painting of a few women and men fighting and eating." He termed an entire style of art; renaissance art as "men and women barely dressed fighting and eating". He made a few sly comments on how y/n would look lovely in that dress. It was so wonderful and each of these virtual trips was marked with his signature end. Going to a park, and eating the same food.

His laughter was contagious and y/n loved it. She wondered how she got so lucky, so blessed to have hazza in her life.

She never thought that this love, would eventually fizzle.

end of flashback

Now she was lucky if he spoke to her for 5 minutes. Even those 5 minutes were filled with her talking and him showing least interest in what she had to say. She doubted whether he even listened.

Today, however was a low blow. It was y/n' bday. had it been any other year. Harry would've made this day perfect. They had been together since they were 18. The first year, he bought her 18 gifts on her birthday. The subsequent year, he got her 19 and so on. He would make her breakfast in bed and wake her up with showers of kisses and a "Good Morning, Happy Birthday Darling."

Today however, at 7 PM , she was yet to have him acknowledge that it was her birthday. She was yet to have any sign of news from him at all. She illusioned herself, thinking that maybe he had interviews to attend.

Her sister, however, tired with y/n's moping, said" You're coming over with your friends to Club 22 this night or else I wont speak to you. I don't want you to spend your birthday moping around"

With great difficulty, y/n was persuaded by her friends to go clubbing. The loud music, the drinks and the dim lights were never y/n's scene. Yet, for the sake of her friends, she fixed up a smile on her face and tried to enjoy, trying her best to forget than Harry's call still hadn't come.

.......

It was 10 PM and the party was in full swing. y/n's friends were drunk, so drunk. Everyone around her was laughing, drinking and joking. Meanwhile, a new disturbing thought had settled in y/n's head. What if he got into and accident ? What if he's really sick ? She was ridden with anxiety and couldn't get Harry off her mind, until that one fateful message from Nezza, her best friend, Harry's PA, through whom they had met, sent her that message. When y/n's phone lit up and she scarmbled to see the text, hoping it was Harry, she did not know it would change her life permanently.

The text was simple. "I'm so so sorry honey; you deserve to know" It was attached with a single file of pictures.

She subconciously knew what had happened. She had seen all the signs, yet chose to ignore them, not wanting to get up from her dream. The reduced duration of phone calls ultimately leading up to a call a month, the regular excuses, coming home late, half hearted kisses, they all added up. For a split second, y/n wanted to think that it was something else; maybe harry was too drunk or had passed out in a bar.

The message to forever to download. It was so slow and painfully excruciating. It was like the calm before the storm. The slow before the fast. The light drizzle before the thunderstorm. When the picture finally loaded; her heart shattered ever so fast. The pain she felt was numbing, yet somewhere in her mind, she was gald that Harry was safe.

There was Harry, his arm around the small waist of the redhead, his fingers entwined in hers. The same fingers which ran through y/n's hair multiple times, were now woven in another's hand. She thought her heart couldnt break more.

Fate was not kind to y/n.

She swiped to see the next picture, and she wasn't sure how, or whether it was even possible, but her heart further broke. Harry was kissing her in the booth, their booth, in Alessandro's the place he had her first date with y/n.

Fate had evil plans for y/n.

Tears streaming down her face, the makeup for the night ruined, y/n looked around for her sister and friends but they were nowhere to be seen. The only thing glowing right now was her glitzy dress, the one she had been forced into. Unable to take it anymore, she ordered an uber and left.

Fate wasn't kind to y/n at all

The minute she left the club, she was blinded with lights, the flashes from the camera, and the shouts from the reporters

" How do you feel about Harry cheating on you on tour ?"

"Did you expect this ? How do you react to Harry kissing a supermodel, younger than you!"

Y/n wanted to scream, but keeping her emotions in she pushed through the sea of people, got into her uber, gave her address and broke down.

She cried and cried. The uber driver tried to ask her what was wrong but she couldn't stop crying. she wanted the pain to go away. she wanted to cry. But most of all, she wanted Harry to tell her that it wasn't true and hold her in his arms and tell her it's alright.

But it wasn't. it wasn't alright. Far from it.

The next morning after an extremly broken sleep, y/n awoke. All the event's from last night wre remembered and her eyes started to water again. She switched on her phone to see the hashtag #y/ndeservesbetter and #harryandy/nareover trending. She also so 100 missed calls, voicemails and texts from Harry but chose to ignore them.

Y/n was raised to be strong. She spent most of childhood see her mom struggle to make meets end. She had seen the worst. She was strong. She went over to the mirror and saw her reflection and realised that she looked a mess. She took 3 deep breaths, washed her face, and masked her emotions, just as she did way back in high school, before she met Harry, before he changed her.

She went down and suddenly the apartment door opened. There stood the man who she loved, the man who had broken her heart, the one who still held her heart, no matter how broken it was.

He pleaded with her to forgive him. He begged, cried, said it was a one time mistake, and he regretted it, that he loved her; but y/n turned a deaf ear to his pleas. Their love had fizzled out, and she was blinded by affection not to realise it earlier. And as the saying goes " Once a cheater, always a cheater." Y/n wasn't taking any more risks. She put on a strong facade, made up her mind and left, leaving a crying Harry on the porch.

She wasn't over him, far from it. She was so broken, yet showed no signs. She had calm expresssion, yet her thoughts were chaotic. But she knew what was best and she knew this was the right thing to do. She had to take the lessons from this experience and move on, just like her mother had taught her. Dreams end, no matter how amazing it is, no matter how much you want to hold on and live it, and this, her perfect dream, had also come to an end.

So, what is love ?

A dream ? A nightmare ? Soemthing too good to be true?

Maybe all it is, is an illusion. A fairytale. Or maybe it is the truth, because truth teaches us lessons and so does love. i guess it's one of those things which just has no answers.

author's note

AND THATS A WRAP. I DO NOT CONDONE CHEATING. it's something which definitely shouldnt be forgive . this the first ever imagine I've posted on my new tumblr. Please send feedback. Hope you enjoyed it. Reblog. What are your thoughts? i would love to hear them. Send requests for more imagines.

i should be studying but eh.

keep dreaming

ashu.

(here's a random B99 gif for no reason)

[cat-with-a-tie]

A DenNor analysis of sorts

Hello, sweet chirping crickets! I’ve been shipping this ship for literal years now but have never plucked up the courage to actually interact with anyone or anything, so I’ve no idea why I’m doing it now, in the year of our Lord 2019, but hey, it’s never too late to get dragged back into aph hell.

I plan on posting a series of long ass rants that absolutely no one asked for in which I attempt to discuss the dynamics of DenNor and the Nordic characters in general, drawing mainly on Himaruya’s portrayal, historical facts, and my own headcanons, so welcome to the first installation of Stuff Nobody Really Cares About that I Wrote in a Fit of Boredom and Self-indulgence!

Before we start, if anyone’s reading this at all then please bear in mind that this is mostly just IMHO. And since there’s no correct way to ship a pairing (this cannot be stressed enough), my interpretation is just that—my personal interpretation, and it is by no means impartial because there’s definitely a healthy dose of my own preferences in there. Actually, I haven’t got any mutuals to talk to at the moment, so if my interpretation’s terrible, by all means go on and yell at me, I will love you to death for it.

In this post I’m going to rant about Norway’s personality (or his lack of it, thereof; don’t worry I’ll get to it later), with just a tiny segment on Denmark thrown in the mix, because hey, I do need to sleep.

“Anko” and its implications for Norway’s character

So, as most people probably already know, in the Japanese version Norway calls Denmark “anko”. In the Northeastern dialect he speaks, this is something like a diminutive form of “big brother” or “boss” (yes, Norway calls Denmark big brother!). In East Asian cultures, it is commonplace for younger men to address older ones (related or not) by honorifics ranging from super courteous to super casual, such as “aniki” in Japanese, “hyung” in Korean, and “da-ge” or “ge” in Mandarin. “Anko” also falls under this category, although it is still more casual than the more ubiquitous “aniki”. I struggle to convey its exact denotations in English, but all you need to know is that this is an affectionate way of addressing a man older than you.

But here’s a funny thing: Himaruya once stated that Denmark and Norway are “like classmates” （同級生）. Now, the Japanese term actually has a somewhat different meaning from the English one; “doukyuusei” does not strictly refer to people who are/were in the same class, but to people who belong in the same school year and therefore, in most cases, share the same age. This actually makes sense, because if we consider history, up until the 14th century or so the three Scandinavian kingdoms developed at much the same pace, so it would be reasonable to assume (despite Himaruya’s being abominably vague on nation mechanism) that the characters are of similar ages as well.

Why, then, does Himaruya have Norway refer to Denmark, who should be about the same age as he is, as “anko”? The thing is, aside from denoting age difference, this sort of honorific can also denote a difference in status. Even if someone is not significantly older than you, you may still refer to them with an honorific if you feel their status is above you or wish to pay them respect in an affectionate way.

So, consider this: Norway does not disrespect or look down on Denmark at all, in fact, he respects him enough to call him something akin to “boss” or “older brother”. Bear in mind that this is Norway we’re talking about, Norway of the onii-chan obsession! There’s no doubt that he sees a great deal of significance in this sort of thing, otherwise he wouldn’t be so bent on having Iceland address him as such. And he calls Denmark “big brother”. Just… just take a minute to let that sink in, will ya.

So this brings us to the main subject of my essay, and that is that Norway, for all his sass, is a bit of a doormat.

Now, before anyone starts yelling at me about how his people are perhaps the most fiercely patriotic out of all the Nordic countries, please let me finish my theory. You don’t get independence after centuries of being a glorified trophy bride and not feel the need to vent all that pent up frustration, after all.

First, if you look at strips such as the Denmark vs. Sweden frozen lake fiasco, you’ll see that Norway basically goes along with anything Denmark does, even when he’s actions are outright harebrained (and, to be fair, they often were). He might nag, and he might throw in a word or two of complaints, but at the end of the day Denmark calls the shots, and Norway seems pretty content to let him do so, even when sometime it’s him who has to bear the consequences of Denmark’s brashness (historically, during the many conflicts between Denmark and Sweden, many of which Denmark initiated, Sweden would often bypass Denmark and invade Norway instead, since its lack of military prowess meant that Norway could be used as leverage to force Denmark into accepting all sorts of outrageous conditions; meanwhile, any sort of military action Denmark engaged in was exceptionally taxing—no pun intended—on Norway due to its small population and frequent food shortages). 

Also keep in mind that compared to the strips set in modern times, Norway’s treatment of Denmark was considerably milder in the medieval era. My theory is that his attitude towards Denmark only soured after the chain of events that eventually lead to his independence in the 19th century, buuut that’s an essay for another time! Right now I’d like to discuss a personality trait of Norway’s that fascinates me a lot and directly ties into his tendency to be pushed around: his standoffishness.

This is a character inclined to keep on the sidelines and just watch things unfold, even when said events concern his very own person. He doesn’t seem to give a fig when Denmark and Sweden are fighting to the death—hell, not even when they are fighting over him, something that happened a lot in history.

Now, I can think of two main reasons for this passiveness, the first being that Norway, unlike Denmark, probably knows his own limitations to a degree that I believe must have been painful for him at times (not that he shows it, anyway). Although of course being able to see and communicate with magical creatures could result in one being a little less interested in the mortal realm, I find it unlikely that he was always this disengaged. He was once a Viking, after all, and up until the 13th century his kingdom was arguably the most powerful and expansive in all of Scandinavia.

But then, of course, came the Black Death. Norway’s decline in the late Middle Ages was in fact facilitated by a myriad of factors including civil war, incompetent politicians, and either a shortage or a surplus of kings, but having three quarters of its population decimated by the plague was perhaps the heaviest blow of all, and by the time the Kalmar Union took place the prospects of competing with Denmark or Sweden were pretty bleak.

From there on was what 19th century Norwegian nationalist poet Wergeland dubbed the “four hundred years of night”. Although most modern historians agree that Norway was far from destitute under Danish rule and may even have benefitted considerably from it, in terms of Norway’s development as a character, I reckon it could be said that he was, in fact, shrouded in night. The night in question, however, as opposed to being a symbol of Danish tyranny as Wergeland probably intended it to be, would be more of a metaphor for Norway’s own willingness to “fall asleep”, thereby shutting out a world in which he knew he has no say. In this way, he turned a blind eye on Denmark’s ill-fated endeavors, on Sweden’s budding ambition, on the animosity brewing between his two friends, and probably even on Denmark’s mistreatment of him.

During the Kalmar Union, he must have known that he was the weakest of the three kingdoms, and that it was better to just let things take their course instead of joining the fight for hegemony along with Sweden and Denmark. During the union with Denmark, he knew too that life would be far easier if he just went along with things; after all, he knew Denmark, he knew he was stubborn and that he would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. He also knew that Denmark meant well and that, despite everything, he cared a great deal for his family, as shown in the tax raise strip where Norway tells Denmark that “[it’s OK] because you’re trying your best”. 

It’s possible that Norway also derived some degree of consolation from Denmark’s affection, in that even though as nations they stood on uneven ground, as friends and as people he could still trust Denmark to have his best interests at heart. Also, by telling himself that he and Denmark were “in this boat together”, Norway could avoid the sense of relative deprivation that arose from being a nation in an unequal union, and subsequently avoid feeling resentment towards Denmark, whom he’s always cared for and perhaps even looked up to despite everything. His referring to Denmark as “anko” despite being roughly the same age as him can perhaps be interpreted as a sign of this (arguably unwarranted) trust.

So in short, a prolonged sense of powerlessness led Norway to become emotionally detached as a form of defense mechanism, while affection for his childhood friend made him reluctant to put his foot down when Denmark’s arrogance and blind optimism threatened to get out of hand. All this serves to expedite the standoffishness I mentioned earlier that is typical of his character.

Thus, if we accept the theory (note the italics) of Denmark once upon a time being abusive, I personally find it plenty believable that Norway would just, well, lie back and take it. In part because he cares deeply for Denmark and is dependent on him in a bit of an unhealthy way (there’s already a wonderfully insightful post right here on tumblr addressing Norway’s shyness and how his trust in Denmark sometimes manifests as crassness, so I’m not gonna go into that here), and in part because he knows being submissive is the path of least resistance. Taking whatever Denmark the person inflicts on him would still be far more ideal than going to war with or losing the support of Denmark the nation. So yeah, lie back and think of yourself, I guess.

In this regard Norway’s mentality is drastically different from that of Denmark and Sweden’s, which is that one should always fight a losing battle if the alternative is being trod on. He acts more according to strategy, while the other two act more according to pride and passion. The upside is that, being more pragmatic and knowing his limits, he knows better where and how to deploy his strengths; the downside is that he can at times come off as a bit of a pushover.

Incidentally, this is why I find WWII history to be so damn interesting in terms of the Nordic’s characterisations, because we get to see the Viking Trio seemingly go against everything that had until then defined their personalities. To be fair, this is way after all that fucked up shit with the treaties of Fredrikshamn and Kiel, which I consider a major turning point (or mental growth spur, if you will) for all five Nordics, so I reckon it all still kind of makes sense because of the wonderful mechanics of character development? But then again, that’s an essay for another time!

A bit on Denmark

I like to think of Denmark’s behaviour during his youth as the result of a misguided desire to “play house”—out of love for his family (arguably for Norway in particular) he wishes to keep them safe, and what better way to do that than keeping them all under his wing? Sure, I’m ready to believe at least some part of him was fueled by bloodlust and a thirst for power, as is often the case with nations, but in general he simply didn’t know better.

In the mean time, Norway’s docile compliance did nothing to curb this misconception; worst case scenario, it only served to fuel it, make Denmark feel like he really was the leader and that it was his obligation to be in charge for the sake of them both. I consider their relationship in this time period to be quite toxic, even though related strips show them to be closer than ever.

For me, a significant part of Denmark’s character development is him realising that the happiness of his loved ones should not have to depend on him, and that one can be loved without being needed (in terms of DenNor, it’s him learning to love Norway as an equal and not just someone to be protected/coddled).

For Norway it’s the opposite—he learns to regain control over his own life, to stand up for himself and to love Denmark without taking any bullshit from him.

[meta-squash]

books on the manic street preachers in order of quality:

everything: a book about manic street preachers by simon price - best one so far. very respectful. has lots of great information as well as anecdotes and articles. simon price was a friend of theirs (if you can call a journalist a friend) and a fan, so the way the book is written really makes them feel more like regular people and less like rock stars. in general it’s also just a very funny and entertaining read. there are sections on each individual member of the band as well as chronological stuff about the band’s history. downsides: it was published in 1999 so it only has info up to this is my truth tell me yours, and if you don’t like simon price’s writing style, then you’re screwed. some of the information is a little skewed considering the rumors and made up stories about the band that were flying around in the media in the early days.

triptych: three studies of manic street preachers’ the holy bible by rhian e jones, daniel lukes, and larissa wodtke. published 2016. this isn’t really a biography of the band. it does mention the band’s career, both the early days and more recent, but mostly it focuses on the holy bible album as indicated in the title. each person looks at the album from a different angle: the first looks at the album through the political/social context of its time period and influences, the second at its literary/media influences and references, and the third examines how the album (as well as the bands subsequent discography) deals with memory and archive, in context of global and personal history. all of it is really interesting and fascinating to read through. downsides: obviously, it expects you to know the basic history of the band and to have listened to the album; it also digs into certain philosophical and literary theories that i already knew from uni classes but other people might not, so googling may be in order.

33 1/3 the holy bible by david evans - published 2019. another book that talks specifically about the holy bible. this includes a lot more information about the actual instrumental and studio production of thb, which i thought was really interesting. it also analyzes the holy bible from the lens of wales and culture in the 90s and why it is such a welsh album. lots of talk about history and how thb reflects both history and the events current to its creation, which i thought was great. it does also briefly go into emg, but not much. downside: there were some points i disagreed with, but i think that’s more about how one reads the lyrics, not anything wrong with the book itself

a version of reason by rob jovanovich - was published in 2009. has some new anecdotes and new sources regarding the early days. however, it mostly focuses on richey and richey’s disappearance, so there’s not a whole lot on the band between 1995 and 2009, aside from summary and highlights of their career. he briefly mentions journal for plague lovers, but clearly finished writing and sent the book to print before the album was released, so there’s not a lot on it unfortunately. for a lot of the book he talks about actually traveling to various places in wales and england that were important to the band for whatever reason, and tries to retrace richey’s steps from february first, which is kind of cool. downsides: huge swaths of information are clearly taken straight from simon’s book and slightly reworded. there’s a bunch of random bits talking about non-manics things that are interesting but only tangentially pertinent.

riffs & meaning by stephen lee naish - published 2018. started off as a 33 1/3 project but ended up something else and so was independently published. mostly analyzes know your enemy, which is interesting because it is an overlooked album. it has some interesting analyses of kye songs, which is cool because that’s something we don’t see very often. downsides: most of the book is signposting instead of really going in depth with an argument, which is really frustrating because it leaves you wanting something more substantial. it jumps around a lot in its points and seems a little unfocused. also there’s a surprising amount of typos.

manic street preachers: nailed to history by martin power - published in 2012. honestly if you’ve read the simon price book or as many articles on the manics as i have, it’s mostly rehashing and summarizing information. a lot of it is rushing through highlights of their career. there are a few more anecdotes and more information regarding their later career. it’s good that it includes more on the manics post-richey and their successes and stories about that. downside: it’s definitely more of a perfunctory biography, not meant for people who have already read a ton of literature on the band.

richard by ben myers - i would not put this one at the bottom of the list, but i also don’t think it belongs in the same list as the others, since it’s not a biography. published in 2010. this book is fiction, but it is heavily based on richey and the band. personally, i enjoyed it. it’s an interesting exploration of how life in a band might affect a person, and an imaginative idea of what happened to richey after he abandoned his car. honestly myers gets nicky’s “voice” more accurately than richey’s, but i feel like it would be difficult to try to write as eruditely as richey did, and might alienate an audience. i read it the first time round totally ignoring its inspirations and reading it as pure fiction, and then the second time acknowledging that it was based in true life. both ways were very interesting and i really did enjoy the book. downsides: if you are offended by the use of real people in fiction, this isn’t for you. also, [spoilers ahead] the “ending” of the novel, aka all the chapters which take place after richey leaves his car behind, gets very weird and unrealistic and kind of silly. it requires quite a bit of suspension of disbelief, which kind of made me disappointed because i was hoping for something as realistic and introspective as the rest of the novel had been, and then it wasn’t. i was frustrated enough to try and write something inspired by his style, but with the kind of ending that i wanted/expected when i picked up the book.

withdrawn traces by sarah hawys roberts and leon noakes - published 2019. horrific, conspiracy-mongering trash. they literally say that richey predicted brexit at one point, that he might have known secrets about the illuminati etc, and that he might have been kidnapped by drug lords? it gives slightly more information on richey’s childhood than we’ve had before BUT that comes with a huge pile of salt because more than one person has come forward saying they were misquoted or never even said what was attributed to them in the book/that events that were included in the book didn’t happen. it also essentially ignores the band as a whole, even kind of insults them. it makes absolutely wild claims about richey and his lyrics and just him as a person. rachel edwards’ introduction says she wants to focus on richey as an artist and a person, not as a mysterious disappearance, and then the book goes on to do the exact opposite, focusing entirely on conspiracies and his disappearance instead of his art and friendships and stuff. at some point i’ll get a whole write-up of this book done, but lets just say i only finished it because i was hate-reading it, not because it was good. downside: this entire fucking book. literally it just sucks. the only good thing is you get to see some of richey’s sassy schoolwork from primary school taking the piss out of his teachers.

[youtiaoshutiao]

go go squid! eps 1-30 - thoughts

i’ve actually read the novel for this a few years ago as a teen and it was just alright in my estimation, it was cute overall and a fun read but i largely forgot about it in the past few years. checked out the drama out of curiosity as to how they’d adapt it. have watched up to ep 30 at this point and i’d say i’m rather ambivalent (though i’m still pretty engaged) so here’s some rambling about my thoughts about my watch so far.

Ngl, the first 7 eps were unbearable to watch imo. I have a super low tolerance for secondhand embarrassment when watching movies and dramas (which is why i can’t get behind some high school movies/dramas) and it was uttermost torture watching tongnian stalk her way (very incompetently too, i must add) to k&k’s resting quarters, even getting his identity wrong (despite being fully capable of baidu searching him given that she knew his full name + found out he was part of a famous team), intending to go to watch him the next day but not even thinking about buying tickets till she was actually at the event venue and then being all righteous about not buying tickets from scalpers... Worrying about causing a misunderstanding among gun’s trainees yet continually getting near him and hence causing a misunderstanding anyway... Though i knew that it was part of her character setup (high iq genius but nil experience in love?) but i couldn’t bear to watch all this unfold haha. Coupled with the very draggy endless flashback scenes and all the testosterone-pumped angst about solo (and now 30 eps in i’m very into Li Xian’s turn as han shangyan but my eyebrows were hurting watching him furrow his brow 24/7) i was almost prepared to quit but was told that everything would get better around ep 8.

And lo and behold... it did. As predicted, around ep 8/9 a switch flipped and i began to be more engaged and enjoy the drama more. I was trying to pinpoint what exactly changed my opinion and i think above all, it was the character of han shangyan that really captivated/held my interest. I started seeing gun not just as the typical 霸道总裁 trope that’s just meant to be confident and commanding and therefore hot but more as a very complex and well fleshed out human (more so than the novel i think, but i can’t really remember at this point as it’s been years, and anyway the novel is a pretty short book while this drama is considered quite long for a modern fluffy cdrama thus allowing more room for exploration).

I really appreciated seeing all the dualities to his character, e.g. his god-like status in his industry and being the idol of thousands and thousands of youth yet seeing how this celebrity status does not translate to being estimated highly by the people around him, and how it does feed into his ideas and perception of himself to a certain extent, though he is also adamant on doing what he deems right, not caring what people think. How he as a leader of k&k appears unflappable, in control, and is determined, eyes fixed on the prize; yet his softness and care for his boys and the elderly he employs and his past teammates shine through in quiet moments and little actions. He has lofty dreams and big goals and aspirations for the future of his team, yet he is also a man bogged down by tons of emotional baggage, stuck in ruts of nostalgia and guilt and unprocessed anger about the past and unable to let go of past enmities or relations. Even his small little quirks amuse/intrigue me, like his sucking on sweets whenever he’s bothered, like his weird obsession with that one Beyond song and playing it whenever he’s Brooding about his past (though it’s probably just the drama’s way of shilling Netease Music lol)

Reading Han Shangyan’s personality/character arc as such, I found myself very invested in what was happening to him/what he was doing/his interactions with the other characters in the story. Even the flashback scenes and SP team scenes that I found very droll initially and still do to a certain extent now held more of my interest as a gateway to understand HSY more. He’s definitely not a perfect character and is deeply flawed, but I appreciated that they portrayed him in such a manner as he definitely felt more real. (though when it came to how this comes into play with regards to his r/ship with Tong Nian, I had rather mixed feelings about it, which I’ll elaborate on further below)

Similarly, I also enjoyed the fleshing out of side characters like Mi Shaofei, Solo, Su Cheng, Xiao Ai etc. Mi Shaofei’s arc especially was very moving and wistful to me, seeing him have his dream of being a champion rekindled at the start of the drama and going back to be a competitive CTF athlete, yet having his age and his lack of practice cause him to not be in top form and doing badly, and eventually making the decision to retire. Seeing him express regret having quit together with Han Shangyan back in the day in a pique of anger and not having this arc resolve in a neat, fulfilling way - I really appreciated it and thought it illuminated quite a sobering reality that timing and circumstances may not always yield the best outcome, that actions from the past that you thought were the right thing to do may come back to haunt you, that you may regret your past actions, that you may have to close the door on certain things even if you really want it. And I really like Mi Shaofei’s personality as well, seeing how he has a good read on his friends’ temperaments and personalities and knows how to diffuse tense situations (especially when Han Shangyan is being prickly and abrasive), how he values the collective above himself, like being happy that SP team scores improved greatly even when the improvement came about due to his retirement. I’m glad that he now has a new path which he can work towards his original dream of being a champion, albeit in a different way that he had initially envisioned.

The main thing niggling at me/making me feel conflicted as I watch the drama is actually Tong Nian’s character/Tong Nian and HSY’s relationship. I don’t really know how to explain what exactly bothers me so much about this, but here’s a shoddy attempt:

In comparison to how well fleshed out Han Shang Yan’s character arc is, Tong Nian’s arc sadly feels very underwhelming in comparison, and I wish similar character development was afforded to her character. 30 episodes in, I literally know nothing about her inner thoughts, motivations, character etc that is not Gun-related gushing. And this is all the more a pity given that her character’s setup was so cool - being so smart and intelligent, being so advanced in a STEM field, also having such a successful online career out of her singing hobby - all these hint at such an interesting female lead, but ultimately feels like an empty shell of a person. There really is no scene where she exists independently, separate from Gun or Gun-related thoughts pervading her mind - e.g. even when she is pitching some cool project idea showcasing her computing skills to the police department, she’s hung up on Gun after breaking up with him; when she’s invigilating a class she’s still thinking about him; she’s coding some new game for him; she’s doing some debugging... but that’s because she’s devastated after he behaved in a shit way towards her; she’s at some tryouts to be the singer for the ctf theme song! she’s showcasing her singing! but somehow... the show still managed to make it all about how she’s heartbroken over him; she uploaded a new song! ... but it’s about how she’s in love with him...

The show tells me she has a life outside of her crush on Gun, but it doesn’t show it as such. Though I also understand that this is due to the drama being centered on esports and hence involving HSY more, and Tong Nian is an outsider to the esports scene and thus her own activities would not be featured as much. It is possible that should they have chosen to feature more about Tong Nian, it might have affected the cohesiveness and pacing and how tight the plot is. But but but... she is the female lead, after all?? I literally know more about Mi Shaofei than about Tong Nian, and he is a supporting character! And precisely because the show did such a good job of fleshing out HSY, whose job and aspiration and passion and friendship-related angst etc lend a lot of fodder to shape his character and that is totally unrelated to his romance with Tong Nian, Tong Nian’s character development seems really lacking in gravitas in comparison.

This sense of imbalance spills over to my perception of them as a couple. I definitely am not opposed to or feel squicked out by huge age gaps in principle, as long as there isn’t some power imbalance and no teenagers are involved. But something about the combination of Tong Nian being all about Han Shangyan (at least that’s how the drama portrayed it, even if it was unintentional) while Tong Nian is only one part of Han Shangyan’s life + Tong Nian’s almost worshipful sentiments towards Han Shangyan + the show’s tendency to highlight how much sleep or time she sacrifices to do stuff for him, on top of the huge age gap made me slightly uncomfortable...?

I think I felt it especially during the plot arc of the second break up. The events of this arc were standard asian drama angst fare - interference from well meaning but biased parent leading to melodramatic wallowing in angst and mean behaviour attempting to drive the other party away... If purely viewing this arc from the lens of character exploration, I think the (rather ridiculous) events in that arc like HSY promising Tong Nian’s mother to not bother Tong Nian anymore and all his subsequent shitty behaviour towards Tong Nian shed some light on HSY’s inner self abasement and 自卑感 and was fascinating in that regard. But then seeing how Tong Nian who definitely puts him on a pedestal just internalised all of that horrible behaviour and accepted it and even kept on excusing his actions or asking him if she had done something wrong or if he was mad at her about the cat (though i also was mad that she just got a pet as a gift without asking beforehand lolol) or if he wanted her to do anything... that was SO painful to watch. (Until he implied that he cheated on her, thankfully she drew a line at that!!) I felt like it was bordering on cold violence to some extent? Not that any part of the second break up was Tong Nian’s fault, but just the way the show portrayed Gun’s way of pushing Tong Nian away and Tong Nian’s subsequent response made it harder to just dismiss the entire saga as just pure asian drama typical noble idiocy angst and left a really bad taste in my mouth. And above all what made me quite exasperated was how in the end, HSY didn’t even apologise to Tong Nian about it, and even attempted (and was successful) to get back into her good graces by listing all the reasons why he should be pitied and hence activating Tong Nian’s ‘Han Shangyan is so pitiful and I love him and want to give him everything’ mode, and being so smug about it??

(I feel like I come off as being rather inconsistent here lolol, earlier gushing about how much I love HSY’s character and now ranting about him. I think I just feel very confused about what to feel when watching the drama, and partially I think it’s because the entire romantic plot and all the events of the drama... require some suspension of belief and are not really very cohesive or well plotted, in the sense that it doesn’t seem to flow organically together with the characters’ emotions and responses? i.e. the character’s emotions/motivations/thoughts don’t correspond to their subsequent actions and the other characters’ subsequent responses to said action doesn’t seem proportional at times. So at certain plot points like how HSY got back together with Tong Nian so easily I’m not sure if I’m supposed to feel outraged or just take it in my stride?? I’m not sure if I’m making sense)

Oh, another thing that bothered me was this weird machoism (?? not sure how to explain it) that I sensed at some parts. An example off the top of my mind would be the entire sequence of HSY and Mi Shaofei going out together after Mi Shaofei announced his retirement, with Tong Nian and Yaya trailing at their heels. Once again, from a character development angle, I enjoyed the dialogues between MSF and HSY, between MSF and Yaya. But seeing MSF and HSY pass their coats to Yaya and Tong Nian then embarking on some bromantic tension-filled run together, while Yaya and Tong Nian are left hovering around waiting for them to return and holding their coats; or seeing MSF and HSY give each other Meaningful Looks and then downing a whole bowl of alcohol in some testosterone-fuelled display of Manly Sorrow and Solidarity as Tong Nian and Yaya watch from the sides, worried... Then having Tong Nian and Yaya each attempting to comfort their respective men... idk, i think coupled with the fact that the show is centred around esports, and most of the esports characters are male, and a larger proportion the main female characters we see are not directly involved and are more on the sidelines, it just gives off the sense of like, the men in this drama having their struggles, their aspirations, their sorrows be forefront and central in the plot, while the women are just there to fawn over them and support from the sidelines and tend to the guys’ emotional needs and baby them when they are being grown children. I’m definitely not explaining this well enough and I’m not sure if my impression is valid or I’m just being a hater or being subconsciously misogynistic and projecting or something lol. I’d love to hear what anyone thinks heh.

Thankfully, that part of the plot is over and now the romance part of the drama seems to be settled and the drama I’m assuming is gearing up towards winning the championships. This is promising haha because personally feel like the esports plotline is more captivating than the romance. I sense that now that Tong Nian/Gun are a properly established relationship and both are fully on board the dynamic might change a bit so I shall see how I feel about their relationship in the last quarter of the drama!

With regards to the cast, there was all round quite solid acting imo. I thought Li Xian seemed to be overdoing it with the frowning and grouchiness initially but I think it was alright after a few eps. His microexpressions and meaning-loaded gazes and quirked-lip-smiles are pretty affecting. I watched some interviews of him and he seems really different from Gun in real life so that’s quite impressive. Plus I love his slight slouchiness when portraying Gun in the more personal scenes where the facade of gruff boss!han shangyan disappears lolol. For all my problems with the way Tong Nian’s character was portrayed, Yang Zi does a great job in her role too. I think her crying scenes have always been on point and it was no different here. Special shoutout to the actors for Mi Shaofei, Solo and Xiao Ai, who portrayed their roles really well I think!

Lastly on a random note, I’m quite amused by how the soundtrack copiously borrows from the Suddenly This Summer soundtrack, but I’m not complaining because the OST is pretty evocative and whimsical and makes me hugely nostalgic for STS :)

[iwannafuckyexiu]

A TEASE A DAY BRINGS YOU CLOSER TO YOUR DEATH  004

DAMN OCTOPI AND OLD MAN hei hei hei, development on fighting yes.

"I'M—COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!" the door glides to the side and All Might comes sauntering through with a peculiar pose, and instantly, the class livens up with thrill.

"KYAAAAA!"

A fangirl (or fanboy?) squeal resounds in the room, mingled between the sound of the students chatting and All Might speaking.

"Izuku was that you?"

"No, it was me."

—an actual conversation that happened, between Izuku and someone.

"So class, I'm your Foundational Heroics Studies teacher!"

"WOOOOOO!"

"We'll be building up your hero foundations through various trials," he explains as the students restlessly move and talk in the background — in which he pays no mind to, "and the first will be the battle trail!"

"Now, go get changed into your hero costumes that you should have given in the blueprints to before the school year began."

"And don't forget that from now on ..."

"You're all heroes!" jabbing his fist in the air, All Might tells them.

、、、

"Woah, her cleavage I'm—" coming out from the changing rooms and setting foot into the battle trail grounds, Y/N's eyes can't help but wander around at everyone's hero costume — first setting eyes on the rock-n-roll girl's revealing clothes that divulge literally half of her boobs.

"The hero course is amazing! " a kid that looks like he's stolen a gisaeng wig exclaims a distance away whilst he makes an effort to look under girls' skirt by pretending to crouch on the ground, rooting about for something he's lost (his sense of shame).

"I second that," Y/N dips his head along to agree before something else deflects his focus away again, "like damn, his abs wow—"

"Oh shit, Izuku you look fuckin' good with that spandex suit."

"Iida, were you inspired by Gundam or something?"

"Man, Uraraka rocking that astronaut suit."

"She definitely looks like the type of girl I'd go for — independent, adorable and pure." If he's fully straight, of course.

"Eh? Your costume's white?" Denki pinches the shoulder patch of your costume, scrutinising up and down at it, inquisitive. Cocking a brow, he lifts his head towards Y/N and questions unsurely, "wouldn't it be ... too obvious at night?"

"This?" Y/N signals at his costume by tugging it, he chokes on his saliva a little as he tries to explain the reasoning behind the colour scheme, "it's because I aspire to be like Kaito Kid."

The bay of his lips yanks into a sardonic smile, continuing his sentence, "—a dumbass thief who wears white even at night and still doesn't get caught."

"Thief?"

"I mean—like, the part where he doesn't get caught," clarifying before Denki envisages too much, Y/N chortles and bristly slaps his back with his palms.

"Ohh."

All Might then comes into everyone's view, brawny and Herculean as always, he gives a concise explanation of what the class will be doing for their lesson today. Everyone vigilantly hearkens on him to not miss even a single word, eyes riveted on his towering outline.

"We're going to be doing a two-on-two team battle!"

"One team will be the villains who will guard a nuclear weapon they intend on deploying and the other team of heroes have to stop them."

"If the heroes manage to capture the villains or reach the nuclear core before time runs out, they win! And vice versa for the villains."

The students set about hurling never-ending questions at him, in which All Might answers most with effortlessness and proficiency. And subsequently, after the Q&A session, All Might fetches out a box from probably his universal pouch and begins having the class get assigned to groups by consecutively taking out a note that has a letter labelled on it.

"Ay, I'm with you guys!" he parades the note in his hand as he saunters towards tail guy and the pair of levitating gloves in the air. "Anyways we haven't really spoken right?" Y/N curls his lips into an amiable grin, he lends a hand forth to their direction.

"Well, I'm L/N Y/N and my quirk's mainly on jumping around and escaping so ..."

"Ah, I'm Hagakure Tooru!" Warmth spreads through his palm as she holds his hand, the girl zestfully introduces herself as well as shaking Y/N's hand at the same time, "my quirk is—my quirk is, well ... basically my form."

"Wait are you uh ... you know," questioning as he points at the area between the gloves and the shoes, prudent not to touch her skin by a fluke, Y/N exempts his curiosity from his mind that has been incinerating for quite a while.

To Y/N's embarrassment, Tooru's actually rather frank and open, she doesn't mind much about the fact that she's undressed before a horde of people. She hoots with laughter and says with no burden, "Hahahhah, yeah!"

"Brave," Y/N asserts the title of 'even shameless than the grape kid in a good way' to her internally whilst he poses up a big thumbs up for her.

"What about you?" Hagakure twirls to the tail guy — from the looks of the direction her shoes and gloves are pointing towards — and questions him.

"Ojiro Mashirao and my quirk is my tail."

"It looks sturdy and strong!" Hagakure chirps up, she bends lower to the side to observe the rattling tail even closer.

"I bet it can just swoop people away in one lash," Y/N adds and makes a 'whoosh' din from his lips to mimic the situation.

"Ahah," to the two's praises, Ojiro only humbly chuckles and evades commenting by stating, "but it looks like everyone in this class is very capable."

"True."

All Might selects Team A and Team D to go for the first round of the battle trials, Team A with Izuku and Uraraka being the heroes and Team D with Katsuki and Iida acting as the villains. Izuku's entire body literally wavers for a second when his eyes meet with Katsuki's crimson irises that are igniting in the enthusiasm to fight.

This is going to be a heated battle, with Izuku and Katsuki on opposing sides — Katsuki is most likely going to be aiming the majority of his offences towards Izuku, but the latter is not going to back down this time at the looks of his determined posture. But Iida and Uraraka are not to be underestimated too, with Iida's admirably logical mind and Uraraka's quirk — which can be a deciding factor to their victory or defeat.

Not bothered to sprint over to Izuku, Y/N only yells from his spot, hands cupped around his mouth, "Good luck, Izuku!"

"I'll get you a tub of All Might endorsed ice cream if you win!" he adds, triumphant with the bashful expression he received from Izuku when he feels shrewd and bitter gaze. The point of his ears burn up as he faces the gaze and he mentions, "And you too, Katsuki!"

"The latest Playboy magazine!"

"The one with Midnight posing in it!"

"FUCKING SHUT UP! " and Katsuki finally hollers for him stop talking, in which Y/N just grins at him with rascality, disregarding that his face may be a bit flushed from the recalling the event yesterday.

In the surveillance room whilst the heroes and villains enter the battleground, armed and mostly prepared. A voice passionately commentates on the fight as if it's a football match whilst it happens live.

"And they get ambushed by Katsuki around the corner!"

"Ooh! Izuku counterattacks and Katsuki is down on the floor!"

"Uraraka runs away! She heads towards where Iida is!"

"Back to Izuku, he also runs from a pissed off—I mean angered Katsuki!"

"And Iida brightens up Uraraka's day by performing his act of a villain!"

"Oh oh oh! Uraraka giggled which attracted Iida's attention!"

"And he—mmphMMfph!"

"Please shut up Y/N, we want to watch in peace," the owner of the hand (Y/N should mention that it is well cared for and very smooth) speaks into Y/N's ear from behind — bad idea.

The sudden tickle along his ears ripples shudders down Y/N's spine and on his natural tendency, he clenches his jowl. And tragedy occurs.

Albeit the gnaw wasn't as nasty as Denki thinks, it still hauls out an unpleasant yelp from his lips. Jerking his hand that already has a flushing teeth mark on it by the side, face distorted into a twisted yet hilarious expression, he turns to ask the creator of the mark, "Don't most people lick instead of straight on biting the hand?"

"Instinctive reaction."

"Instinctive," Denki repeats after him doubtfully, one hand clutching the other that's still slightly throbbing in pain.

"Nice job, Izuku! And you too Uraraka-chan!" Y/N swings his hand in the air, waving at them as he shouts at the green and pink silhouettes from afar.

"Despite the hero team winning, does anyone know why Iida is the best player of this battle?" All Might questions the class all of a sudden, and complete silence welcomes him. But eventually, a familiar girl with her familiar cleavage strides forth, lifting her arm up to answer.

"Yaoyorozu?"

"Ooh, it's that girl again!" Y/N whispers to Denki beside him, "her hairstyle stays the same no matter what." Denki raises a brow as he eyes the girl standing out from the crowd, and nods in agreement.

"Bakugou and Midoriya's attacks were too reckless, as they were large-ranged and should not be used indoors. Uraraka didn't keep her guards on in the middle of the fight, which could've been a weak point that the villains can swing at, and her last move was too absurdly dangerous as it's a warhead she's going for; even if it isn't real, she should take it as if she's personally on the scene," Yaoyorozu explains in depth in front of everyone,"All those make Iida stand out with his great adaptation to the situation as well as his development of a counter strategy for his opponents — which should be the most logical thing to do to maintain safety of citizens, the warhead, and himself."

With that utmost intricate explanation, All Might commends her for it, giving her a big praise and thumbs up — because he really didn't presume that she'd observe so much and be able to fully put it in complete sentences.

"Yaoyozoru-chan's explanation just makes me want to go try myself now!" Tooru exclaims as she convulses in excitement, eagerly wagging her gloved hands around.

"And next is Team B versus Team I!" All Might declares.

"... ahahahah, I swear I didn't mean to jinx it."

As Y/N ambles in the direction of the towering structure with Tooru and Ojiro, they begin discussing their battle strategy against the hero team. Y/N waves for them to close in and says, "come closer." Tooru and Ojiro follow suit.

"So you know the ice guy," Y/N starts in a hushed tone, levelling his finger at half and half boy who is a great span away but unmistakable with his exclusive costume, "he's probably the main one we should defend the most — not saying we shouldn't look out for the octopi guy but yeah."

"Why?" Tooru asks even further like the curious person she is.

"The quiet ones are always the strongest," to her question, Y/N answers in an unfathomable manner with his hands latched behind his back. "I mean, look at shy boy Izuku," he holds an example with the broccoli head who's very likely the most unexpected person within this class of freaks.

"Ohhh."

"So ... maybe Hagakure-chan you hide on the window ledge near the warhead, Ojiro you defend the thing down below, and I'll chase the heroes down?"

"Yosh!"

The two stay on their guards in their area whilst Y/N leaps onto a window sill in the vicinity of the entrance to the building. He sits on his haunches there, spying for the hero team that may be closing in. Their figures venture towards the structure containing the warhead, Y/N prepares to prance down on them when he sees octopi guy back off and ice boy raises his arm up as his icicles gradually disperse into the entire building.

"Oh shit, don't get stuck in his ice!" Y/N screeches into the intercom hastily, before vaulting over the frosts heading in his direction and dashing to the warhead for more enforcement.

"Too late, we're already stuck."

Muttering obscenities under his breath, he laces his fingers through his locks, dark brows furrowed up. "Can you guys try to get off?" He waits for a second then the intercom hisses and Ojiro's neutral voice comes through from it.

"No."

"Then I'll try my best to stall 'till the timer rings," Y/N proposes as he wrings his hands to get them ready for battle and rake over his sleeves and costume to make sure that the weapons are there.

Y/N slinks around, making sure not to remain on any surface of the place too long to avoid being frosted. And as he discerns the single hero, half of his body in rime whilst he steps forth into the room that contained the warhead. Y/N casts off the closest wall with the tip of his feet, hands reaching below to seize his hidden weapons, he propels an abundant of slim needles at the boy with one hand, then slashes at him with his dagger in the other!

"I hope I don't land a cut on you, don't want to hurt that face and body!" Y/N tries to maintain a laid-back and mellow tone but the taut-lipped smile on his face sells him out.

The ice boy doesn't respond and neither does his face — just as aloof and distant as always. He dodges the dagger cutting through the air and at him by sliding to the side with his ice-make slide and he winches up a hand to solidify the needles in the middles of the air in ice. With the simple flick of his wrist, keen icicles materialise and speed across towards Y/N on the roof beam.

The latter's features fade dim as he springs off the beam and pounces forth to ice boy, leg hefting higher to give him a direct kick to the chest. But ice boy retaliates, grasping onto Y/N's ankle with his right hand. A crisp tingle soon sprouts up Y/N's leg, he curses at the wonderful sensation whilst he attempts kicks ice boy forty-five degrees in the head with his other leg like a whirlwind.

Attempts, keyword there.

A deafening ring chimes throughout the entire structure, indicating either that the time has run out or the hero team has won. Y/N's head snaps towards the direction of the nuclear warhead they were supposed to defend, and octopi guy perches beside it, his some of his tendrils still clinging to the missile.

Clearly, the hero team has earned their victory.

"Damn it!" Y/N slaps his thigh in frustration on the way back to the surveillance room, "sorry guys, I couldn't stall enough time."

"It's fine, we couldn't too!" Tooru pats his back, a cheery grin tied to her lips, just as upbeat as she always is even after their loss — which Y/N responds with his own smile.

Back to the surveillance room, Y/N stares at the ceiling in lack of interest whilst All Might expresses his comments on their performance during the fight (but he still has to listen to avoid All Might suddenly going like: "what do you think about yourself?"). His eyes drift in the direction of the sulking (??) wheat head, glinting in mischief.

After the next teams step out of the room and onto the battlefront, Y/N lurks behind the horde in front of the cameras and prowls towards Katsuki by the corner of the room. He puts a hand on Katsuki's shoulder.

"So, brothe—"

"Fuckin' screw off," Katsuki interjects Y/N before he begins talking bullshit, shrugging off the hand on his shoulder.

But Y/N takes no mind towards Katsuki's annoyance, saying, "It's okay man, I lost too! And not gonna lie, you have shit teamwork but you just gotta cooperate man."

Seeing that Katsuki's still unmoved, he adds with the arch of his brows, "I'll still get you the Playboy magazine? The one with Midnight and Mt. La—"

"I don't want to play with your measly games right now," Katsuki slowly utters, the veins streaming along his neck poking up, he rolls his eyes. It seems, that he's rather more fearsome when he's impassive, keeping in his rage, than directly shouting at you, letting out his anger.

"Alright, I'll leave you to it then," Y/N gives in, he swivels around, ready to leave when he remembers that he has to say something, "a-and about uh y'know ... that. I swear it was because you turned your face."

"So it's not my fault!"

And he runs away.

Katsuki jerks his head towards the direction he ran away to, clicking his tongue.

"Tsk."

、、、

"Heyy, you were really good just now uh ... yeah!" Y/N shrieks on the streets as he pursues ice boy who's just some distance in front. Propping onto ice boy's arm for support, he coils down to his knees, heaving in and out deeply to catch his breath."

"Todoroki Shouto."

"So that's your name!" Y/N hops up then he grins with roguishness and grapples an arm around Shouto's shoulder — in which the latter tenses up at, "it's a pretty good fit for your quirk and personality — cold on the outside and hot on the inside."

"Oh."

"Well, I'm L/N Y/N," he says into Shouto's ear, his breath lightly prodding against the latter's skin. "Do you wann—oh shit, I'm late for my shift," Y/N catches a glimpse of the clock placed within a store and realises, the excitement on his face droops. He licks his lop anxiously as he tells Shouto, "Sorry, looks like I can't walk home with you now."

"But here," Y/N fishes out a piece of card and pen from his uniform pocket, he hastily scribbles on it then hands it to Shouto, "have my number." Shouto's hand hovers mid-air for a while before he takes the card into his palms, but his eyes and face remain the exact equable expression the entire time.

"You can call me if you have any problems — not saying you can't call me anytime but yep just call me!"

Y/N spins around on his heel to leave but all of a sudden he turns back again, putting on a greasy smirk, "And don't worry, I'll have your number too if you call me."

And he sprints away because he's five minutes late to his job and he needs that cha-ching for a living.

"...hah."

Shouto wedges the piece of card in his pocket and continues walking along the streets.

、、、

"Hey, you!"

An old man with some lengthy ass beard stops Y/N by the side of a dojo, he's attired in a set of aikido uniform just like the others within the dojo.

"Ah?"

"Yes, you!" the old man points at Y/N with his finger and says.

"Uhuh?"

"You know how to fight without your quirk?"

"Yes?" Y/N answers, uncertain as it has been a while since he's engaged in conflict without using his quirk or even fight with the other rascals on the streets.

"Then get in! We need one more person!"

"Why ...?"

"To spar in pairs!"

"Do I have to pay?" Y/N shifts his head closer to ask the old man since he isn't gonna do shit that he has to get hurt from and pay for it!

"No."

"I'll do it then!"

Y/N plods behind the old man as they enter the dojo, the old man — or dojo master — questions him some basic shit while he searches for something in the storeroom, "Have you fought someone before?"

"Of course," sneering at the ridiculous question, Y/N creases his arms across his chest and continues waiting for the old man.

"Okay then, now put these on," the old man tosses him the thin stack of clothes, which Y/N supposes should be the uniform, "be quick because it's your turn soon."

"Okay, okay!"

Now donning the sheer uniform from the old man, Y/N steps forth to the matted ground and goes into preparation stance, arms guarding the chest and feet firmly planted on the floor.

Before fighting the guy just opposite him Y/N turns to ask the dojo master, "Do I just fight him with any way?"

"Do you know any martial arts at all?" the dojo master questions him in return, sitting by the side with his legs folded below his knees and hands laying atop his thighs. Y/N shakes his head then does the dojo master continue, "then just do whatever you want as long as you either knock him out or get him out the square in the end without using your quirk."

"Alright then," a grin seething with enthusiasm rises along his lips as Y/N cracks his knuckles and stretches his neck.

Y/N charges at the man opposite him and glide to the right to give him a blow to his side. But his opponent reacts, he instead bends to the side to dodge the kick then hoists his arm up and strikes for Y/N's head. The latter ducks down so the punch misses, yet the man raises his leg up at full speed almost immediately, chopping it down straight at Y/N's shoulder!

"Ah! TSSSSSS!"

By instinct, Y/N's hand rapidly clasps onto the man's ankle and jerks him down by force. When the man's on the ground, Y/N copes with the ache on his shoulder whilst he straddles the man's waist and locks his arm the neck, other hand compressing the man's free arm to the floor. A foot remains fixed on the ground as Y/N's other leg straightens out, so as to when the man struggles, he just twists his legs around to keep the man secured in his grip.

"Stop stop stop!"

"Am I not supposed to do that?" Y/N loosens his arm around the man's neck and twists his head to gaze at the dojo master who has halted the match.

"No, but I'll let it past. Just don't do it again."

Y/N gestures an 'ok' sign to the dojo master, getting upright to his feet, one of his shoulders sags to the side as he rubs the bruise for a brief few seconds.

And another round begins.

"Woah, that was intense," limbs spilling across the floor, Y/N's chest swells up and down as he remarks. Droplets of sweat gradually pool in the region just below his head as the remnant of the adrenaline from before gradually lulls down.

"Kid, get on!" the dojo master calls whilst he kicks Y/N's limp body, "your turn again!"

With wide eyes, Y/N lifts his head towards the dojo master's direction in a rigid fashion, body too sore to move and voice too hoarse to yell at him, "Wait what again?!"

"This is child abuse!"

"Shut up, I'll get you supper after!"

"Yes sensei!" instantly, Y/N's eyes flare up in the shape of donburi comically and he's well and up again, ready to fight!

Turns out, after two hours, his stamina is now completely vacant and so is his self-confidence in his combat skills.

"I just realised how rusty my sparring skills are," Y/N mutters on the side, head dangling down as his hand reaches up to knead at his temples, back slumped against the wall right behind.

"Yeah, so you better keep coming."

"Oh sure—wait what no," his lips slightly agape, he pinches the bridge of his nose, firmly rejecting the dojo master.

"I'll treat you to dinner every week on this day for you to come."

"Deal."

"Ay old man, why though?" Y/N remembers to ask him whilst he helps clear up the dojo with the dojo master after the night sparring lessons have ended.

"I've seen you fight around the back alleys here before and I thought you had potential."

"Oh, I've always thought that too until I realised not really."

"Just practice more and increase your speed then you'll be fine."

"Oh okay."

"So keep coming."

"Alright alright, don't need to keep repeating!"

TO NOTE

i'm already out of ideas in five chapters lmao what

NOT PROOFREAD

[emblem-333]

In Retrospect, William Jennings Bryan and the Election of 1896

What we are currently seeing in the infancy of the 2020 Presidential Election is the focusing of the electorate on economics rather than foreign policy or a less pressing issue, like “honesty” and “integrity” which usually dominate campaigns. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are the favorites to win the nomination in a hotly contested Democratic primary that isn’t yet finished fielding potential candidates. But these two specifically have declared unapologetic warfare against Wall Street. They put in simple terms explaining why the middle class is in its dilapidated state is the aristocratic class hoards all the capital amassed by the proletariat. While centrist candidates Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand dance around whether they’ll dismantle the private insurance industry, Sanders is the only one decisively saying yes, he would go as far to implement his Medicare-For-All legislation.

There are many imitators, but only one O.G. What we’re seeing is the beginning stages of the fruits of the labor the Sanders 2016 campaign planted turning over the establishments apple cart and paving the way for likeminded, younger representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and IIhan Omar to carry on the mantle for his various causes like Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt did for William Jennings Bryan. Championing the cause for the downtrodden middle class and poor masses left behind by an oligarchic United States.

Before William Jennings Bryan the Democratic Party was made up of fiscal conservatives laissez-faire style of economics, strict adherent to the gold standard and primarily the party of big business. The Republicans of the late 19th century weren’t different in anyway besides treating black people objectively better than the Democrats. Though in this era Jim Crow laws ran rampant in the south and the GOP did little to resist the disengagement of blacks. Any progress accomplished by the Union winning the American Civil War, the subsequent Civil Rights Act of 1866 and 1875 and the concurrent Reconstruction Era in the South became undone completely in this time period of the 1890’s.

Just like their predecessors both parties kicked the can down the road when it came to the plight of blacks. As both parties stomaches fattened as a result of getting cozier with Wall Street, the railroad industry and the gold standard, the southern and midwestern farmer wasted away thanks to rampant inflation and bearing the brunt of the various panics and depressions in the 1870’s and 1890’s. Historians rather assume flatly Reconstruction ended because of the American people’s and the Republican Party losing collective interest in protecting blacks in the Deep South, when in actuality the Panic of 1873 cost the U.S serious capital and thus by 1877 federal troops were withdrawn from the Confederate states.

Debates ragged on whether the United State should do the unthinkable: become the first country to abandon the gold standard for a currency system favoring silver. The topic arose multiple times since the 1870s. You’d find silver leaning men in both the Republican and Democratic parties. Populist James B. Weaver won 8.5 percent of the popular vote campaigning on the free coinage of silver. But the movement truly came of age under the man William Jennings Bryan. The 36-year-old former Nebraskan representative commanded the Democratic Party and held a tight grip around its throat from 1896 up until his retirement in 1915. In those sixteen-years Bryan transformed the Democrats from a party of fiscal conservatism to pro-labor with more emphasis on aiding the yeomen farmer. While Bryan himself would never see the White House, his likeminded followers Woodrow Wilson and F.D.R carried the torch for him.

Playing the ultra-boring, but simultaneously fun “Campaign Trail” choose your own adventure game on AmericanHistoryusa.com I played as Bryan and in order to win I toned down the radical rhetoric somewhat. Instead of advocating on the unlimited free coinage of silver, I pivoted to a moderate stance of coinage at a 30-to-1 ratio to allow the treasury time to adjust to the effects of bimetallism and to avoid another run on the hoards of gold the U.S held. Taking home 248 electoral votes and 51.8 percent of the popular vote Bryan steals Illinois from the establishment candidate William McKinley to secure the presidency. The is the text the game reads upon victory.

Congratulations! You have won the 1896 election.

"The Great Commoner" will soon be President of the United States! Nobody with your political views has ever sniffed the Presidency, let alone won it, and with that in mind your supporters are rioting frenziedly in the streets. The sweetest speech of all will be your victory speech tomorrow in Lincoln, Nebraska. Prepare to enact your reform agenda and most importantly the free coinage of silver.”

Yup. I sure will. If only the game allowed you to be president after securing the Oval Office then I can try out this radical departure from the norm. But, alas, somethings are meant to be left to the imagination.

So, Jennings Bryan is President. Instantly the United States financial sectors panic and rally around opposition to halt Bryan’s measures. In the midterm election of 1898 the Democrats, fully taken over by Silverites, wrangler control of the House from the Republicans and a moderate, but nonetheless, radical change to our currency system is implemented. By 1899 the United States is off of the gold standard. Soon, Japan, Great Britain and France follows. Albeit reluctantly. This is how it happened in real life. Only the United States was the last to be brought to heel eventually in 1933 when Franklin Roosevelt did what Bryan dreamt of for so long.

Even in defeat Bryan’s hold on the party became so strong he purged the gold standard Democrats out of the party solidifying his silver coalition of politicians sympathetic towards the farmer and laborers. No reason to believe this doesn’t happen if Bryan is elected President. In fact, it probably happens sooner than it did in real-life.

Bryan was a staunch advocate of a federal income tax, which fully was realized in the certification of the sixteenth amendment in 1909 under William Howard Taft. Initially, Bryan opposed the creation of the Federal Reserve, which happened under Woodrow Wilson. Bryan worries the Fed it gave bankers too much control of the monetary system. The bill was promptly rewritten to suit Bryan’s needs and he voted for the creation of the Federal Reserve. I think this still happens in a timeline which Bryan is election and probably sooner. Swept into office amidst populistic fervor unseen since the days of Andrew Jackson Bryan, though a novice, most likely utilizes the bully pulpit and we see Henry Teller lead the charge on the Republican side and we are witnessed to the most eventful first term of a U.S President in the country’s history.

Bryan calls for the direct election of senators once in office, subtlety supports women’s suffrage and usually this is the part in alternate history articles where the radical, moralistic protagonists falls for his idealism. Except this is all happening during the Spanish-American War and Bryan could have been blind, deaf and dumb while serving in office and the U.S still decisively runs the imperials out of Cuba and the Philippians. Only Bryan had little interest in cultivating an American Empire. An anti-imperialist and pacifist, Bryan saw war as necessary but never actively sought a fight. He saw the United States as the moral arbiter in the Cubans fight for independence. If elected there is no subsequent Philippine-American War and no further bloodshed. The United States gains serious credit among future generations.

Hawaii is not annexed and probably never really is. For all the good I can say about Bryan he was an anti-imperialist, but since he and his party didn’t want to absolve any country not made up of predominantly Whites. Hawaii therefore becomes the smallest independent country on Earth... until a later administration absorbs it or some other imperialist country, like Russia, Japan or Great Britain does it. Most likely Japan. So Bryan inadvertently washes away U.S military involvement in World War Two.

The war carries Bryan to a second-term of the presidency... only to be cut short by a bullet months after his inauguration. His vice-President former Silver Republican Henry M. Teller succeeds him.

If the United States were to abandon the gold Standard, thirty-five-years prior to Japan were the first to do it, this helps the farmer and for a brief time the country recognizes Jefferson’s dream of a country built and supported off the backs of the Yeomen farmer. Again, for a brief time. The loss of their vigorous champion Bryan farmers cannot find a suitable replacement to rally around and this allows for the big business friendly, gold standard leaning Democrats to repopulate the party nominating New York judge Alton B. Parker. A moderate trust busting advocate for labor, Parker benefits from the meteoric rise of Theodore Roosevelt and swings into the presidency since both of the main parties are fractured in the aftermath of Bryan’s effects on the political scene.

No Roosevelt means no William Howard Taft. Meaning no splitting of the Republican Party in 1912. With neither close enough to sniff the presidency Wisconsin senator Robert La. Follette is nominated in 1912 and defeats Democratic Speaker of the House Champ Clark and becomes America’s first President to serve two consecutive terms since Ulysses S. Grant. Since Wisconsin is populated with German immigrants, La Follette interferes into World War One on the side of the Central Powers. Theodore Roosevelt is given the role of Secretary of State and the German Empire crushes the Allied Powers at the Marne near Paris with the help of the United States.

A victorious Germany means no rise of Adolph Hitler. No Third Reich. No Holocaust. Great Britain’s awesome power is greatly diminished, never to recover. The ninetieth century is the German century. As it originally was supposed to be.

Back to the gold versus silver debate. I am sorry.

Eventually the gold standard is readopted and the silver versus gold issue goes on until Richard Nixon flatly ditches gold in favor of neither metal backed currency. Still you see Bryan’s ideas infecting the parties for decades after his death.

Instead of Bryan’s ideas manifesting themselves in Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt, they do so in Robert La Follette. The U.S becomes an economic power house rather a military one. Perhaps we’re all better off because of this.

[tremendousllamawitch]

15 hints to improve your SEO situating

Do you need your site to show up in the main query items on Google? With these tips that I give you beneath you can improve your SEO or natural situating , so when somebody enters Google your watchwords and topic, your site is the primary spot where the client clicks.

The importance of the abbreviation SEO is Search Engine Optimizers, whose strict interpretation is site design improvement . It is tied in with improving the situation in which web crawlers present our site when a client makes a question. Along these lines, so as to streamline the site and cause it to show up among the first in the rankings, we should consider various angles , which, did accurately, will ensure a decent situation for our site.

To put it plainly, Google will put the best website pages in first position . What's more, how does Google realize which pages are the best? In this rundown of tips , you'll find what strategies Google uses to discover how.

On the off chance that you need to find out additional, I leave you this super seotips control , strongly suggested, by Bruno Vázquez-Dodero .

In spite of the fact that this appears glaringly evident, I needed to feature it. Google significantly punishes " copiotas ", to place it in a benevolent manner. It finds that there are at least two copy substance and will punish the subsequent who has entered that data on the Internet.

Be that as it may, you might be thinking "however I can't post literally nothing rehashed on my site?". Envision that you have been met and you need to duplicate it actually on your site. For this situation, Google would punish you, so the arrangement could be to take a screen capture and enter it as a picture on your site.

To be obvious from when Google will punish us, it is 20% . On the off chance that in a post we present a popular expression from a creator, there will be no issue, since it will be under 20%. In any case, you know, be cautious with entering more than that 20%.

Another way that Google needs to realize which site pages are the best is the time spent on the site. On the off chance that it distinguishes that your clients invest a great deal of energy in your site, it will profit you by improving your situation in the rankings.

What would we be able to do to keep clients from leaving the web rapidly? Basically, that our site is upgraded and we have great substance , exactly what they request, obviously. Yet in addition, we can build the time with recordings and pictures , for instance.

Since as clients, we are for the most part in a rush, and when we examine a page or post, we possibly stop on the off chance that we see something that grabs our eye. In this manner, on the off chance that we use infographics and recordings, there are more opportunities for the client to stop and increment the time spent on our site.

The more your substance is shared on Social Networks, the better your SEO situating will be. Make it simple for your clients, place catches of interpersonal organizations in obvious territories of your site, and obviously in your blog articles, so that in the event that they loved what you have composed they will have it simple to share it. At the point when you compose great substance, your clients are appreciative for the important data you have given them and need to impart it to their whole network.

I should specify the instance of Google+ . It is the same old thing that the Google interpersonal organization has not exactly gotten on with clients, along these lines, the web index incredibly benefits those of us who use it. In the event that we share our blog entries and pages on Google+, it benefits us enormously for our situating.

 As an account I will disclose to you that when I began this from pages and interpersonal organizations, I made a profile in Google My Business for my mom's store, where all the data that is entered is connected to Google+. I entered their site, which at the time had a poor SEO tips positioning (I think it showed up on the 6th page of the query items). The following day, I was at number one.

Moreover, remember those individuals who you realize that your substance may like, think of them an email or private message independently , don't expect that they have seen your distribution on interpersonal organizations.

I'm not catching this' meaning? That from our site we connect to different destinations, interpersonal organizations, different posts, and so on. Both inward and outside connections . And furthermore that our site is connected from different locales: different web journals on our topic that you find fascinating our substance, different sites that suggest us, all our informal organizations should prompt our site, and so forth.

Be that as it may, be careful with this. It is significant that these connections are acceptable , it is good for nothing that a website page in another dialect, with pernicious substance, infections or with no substance connects to us. Indeed, if Google finds a colossal measure of connected substance, from places irrelevant to our topic, it will punish us.

You need to consider the messed up joins , since it might not have been broken the first occasion when we composed it, yet that site has changed space, has vanished, and so on. In this manner, we should break down the volume of broken connections and right them . An excellent instrument to break down what number of broken connections are on our site is Brokenlinkcheck .

Clearly, on the off chance that you need to situate yourself with specific catchphrases, these ought to be in numerous pieces of your site or blog. Where? Most importantly, in titles and captions , in the initial 200 expressions of the content , all through the content in intense or italics , in the meta-depiction , in the title and elective content of the pictures , and obviously in the url (They should be short and well disposed).

Notwithstanding being in numerous parts, you should dissect the amount you are going to rehash them. Preferably, these catchphrases should rehash 0.5% all through the content. There are various apparatuses that ascertain your watchword rate.

In any case, what words do we pick? Obviously, personally identified with your subject, yet we should complete an investigation of catchphrases to examine which words have a higher inquiry volume, since those will be simply the ones we use to position. One device you can use to dissect watchwords is the Google Adwords Keyword Planner.

This is imperative to make our clients simpler and increasingly charming to peruse , and don't flee from our blog when seeing so much content together. Consequently, use captions, strong, italics, line separating, photos, and so forth. This will ensure that it is an effectively searchable book and fast to peruse.

Another approach to pick up perceivability and SEO situating is to make posts in which we name different bloggers, individuals or organizations , for instance rankings . Also, obviously, that these are experts in their part and with many work relations (remember that you are suggesting them).

Clearly, this is one of the most significant perspectives for SEO situating . In the event that you compose and share just business content from your organization, they won't share it, they won't associate, and so on. So Google will comprehend that it's anything but a decent substance, and it won't position you.

 Despite the fact that from the start you believe that it isn't pertinent for your organization to compose a blog , reconsider it, it is a simple method to create significant substance, make yourself known and position your image .

Another extraordinary method to become more acquainted with and position your image or blog is to compose on different sites as a visitor . There are various web journals that permit you to compose on them, following a few rules that demonstrate you. Along these lines, you make yourself known and these websites, which have a huge number of devotees, share you and assist you with situating yourself, since by leaving the url of your blog you are increasing inner connections.

I'm not catching this' meaning? It adjusts impeccably to any gadget , be it portable, tablet, digital book, pc, TV, and so on. This has gotten one of the most significant prerequisites that Google shows to have the option to situate yourself well, since at present most clients explore with a portable or tablet. So if our site isn't responsive, they will leave quickly, producing a high ricochet rate.

A helpful instrument to investigate if your site is responsive is Screen Fly , in it you can change gadgets to perceive how your page would be shown in every last one of them. You should investigate that the catches are not very little, that the photographs likewise adjust and don't possess the whole screen, that you don't need to utilize your fingers to broaden on the grounds that the letter is little, and so on.

To ensure a decent SEO situating you should compose ageless substance , no breaking news. Since flow news will quit getting look in a brief timeframe, and in spite of the fact that you get an enormous number of searches immediately, at that point it will be useless substance, since it is outdated.

Likewise, on the off chance that you need to situate yourself by composing news, you will rival significant brands of papers, magazines, and so forth that they will stop you.

Moreover, despite the fact that we compose immortal substance, we should consider the updates that may happen after some time. For instance, on the off chance that you make a positioning of the best versatile applications, you ought to know about whether any quit working, change its name or quit being the best.

Before I demonstrated that it is energetically prescribed to put recordings on our pages and web journals since it expanded the time spent on the web. Be that as it may, from which stage do we connect the recordings? The perfect is YouTube , on the grounds that being from Google this will help situating in your web search tool.

In like manner, it isn't prudent to transfer recordings legitimately to our site , in light of the fact that this will hinder the activity, the stacking pace and decline the extra room.

Another stage to connect recordings would be Vimeo , another informal organization that is right now on the ascent and that many lean toward contrasted with YouTube.

The extraordinary puzzle, how to get a quicker stacking speed from our site? The primary concern to remember is the layout we use, trailed by what number of modules we have introduced. We should investigate in the event that we truly use them all, or on the off chance that we like to supplant one that hinders the heap a great deal for another that is increasingly fruitful.

The other principle reason that makes our site load gradually are the pictures , we should upgrade them to the most extreme. Spot pictures with the specific pixels they need, pictures that gauge close to nothing yet are of acceptable quality , and so on. An incredible online apparatus to decree