#i just wish they would stop misunderstanding me on such a fundamental level

[an-ruraiocht]

anyone else have people continuously make wildly incorrect assumptions about you because of your interests? for me as a queer medievalist, irish speaker, and folk musician, it's a) that people expect me to be interested in ttrpgs and i really really am not, and b) that they often think i'll be interested in more mystical/magical/superstitious things and i'm also really not that, i'm a deeply unmystical cynic who is at best vaguely agnostic towards a "cosmic force" kind of godconcept and doesn't vibe with personified god(s) of any variety

i do my best to be polite about both misinterpretations but boy sometimes people project their expectations onto you hard and by the time you've realised that they've fundamentally misunderstood your personality it can be pretty awkward to be like "i'm sorry but you have mistaken me for an entirely different genre of person"

[cer-rata]

Can we talk about Catwoman, Bruce Wayne and maybe a little about the concept of crime?

Just gonna get it out of the way: Yes Gotham war is bad for many clear, obvious reasons. It reads like like crack fic, though I personally believe that's more on editorial than Zdarsky, as this is perhaps one of the most clearly top-down, artificial, corporate plots since Civil War II.

But I'm not going to focus on the genuinely hilarious ideas here, and instead talk about the original sin: Selina's big idea.

It immediately falls apart under any basic scrutiny: How is she convincing all of these wildly different people to become cat burglars? That's not an easy skill set to teach, especially at this scale. If the whole issue is as simple as a lack of work skills, why didn't she teach them anything else? Literally anything? If she has this level of reach and status to be able to convince 75%(!!!) of the underworld to throw in with her why would she use it this way?

On a level Catwoman has always had her nose closer to the ground that Batman could ever. She lives in the gray areas of Gotham. She gets, on a personal level, the ways that society fails the little people and she's been pretty consistent about going to the paint to help people in bad situations. So her wanting to really support people and get them a better shake is very in line with her character.

But she's never been dumb or blindly idealistic and certainly not naive. In fact if anyone should be able instantly suss out the logical problems with this concept, it would be the woman who probably understands Gotham's underbelly better than anyone else. She understands how the business works and would know that you can't support an entire criminal economy on stealing from the homes of the wealthy. Selina has been so successful because she's the BEST at what she does, and because her style is uncommon enough that most people aren't expecting to get hit by her. Suddenly there are what, thousands of cat burglars just running around every night? Then the rich just increase their security, and then what? The idea that it worked at all is such an assault on the suspension of disbelief. And it implies a fundamental misunderstanding of crime and what Bruce/Batman is even trying to do.

See there's an implicit suggestion here that Selina is trying to take care of people while Bruce only cares about penalizing offenders, and that's just...a really bad fanon take honestly. It stems partially from the problem of using "criminal" to describe a class of people. The idea that some people are just criminals to be stopped because all they can understand is crime. That's not a helpful or realistic way to look at crime. I think we understand that people turn to crime for many diverse reasons. We flatten their narratives because there's no time to go into the complex motivations of each Two-Face grunt, but in better written works it's implied to be there regardless.

On numerous occasions, it has been made very clear that Bruceman understands this. How could he not? He's one of the most intelligent creatures on the planet, and his autistic special interest is criminology. Like, he knows, he obviously knows, especially at this point in his career. A lot of damage has been done by the idea that Bruce Wayne and Batman are fundamentally separate people. there's plenty of drama in the discussion of being torn between a normal life and the obsession, but the obsession is always there, mask or not. Batman isn't supposed to be some bizarre divergent personality, and no I am not going to talk about Zur and you can't make me! He has historically used his money and influence to support less fortunate Gothamites since always. He's not some out of touch uber-wealthy person who thinks that beating poor people is the only answer. He's been written like that before by people who wish he was Rorschach instead, but that is not the overarching norm of his character. It's a sin comparable with forgetting that Clark Kent is an actual investigative reporter. Bruce Wayne works to counter the structural inequality that leads to common crime, and Batman steps in to protect people from violence, and uncommon, existentially different criminals. Penguin, Black Mask, Falcone--sure Batman will stop a mugging, but he really exists to punish the people who are benefiting off of the suffering of others. Even then, he'd still prefer if they redeemed themselves and moved on.

This is from the 2004 The Batman cartoon tie-in, but I think it illustrates the point really well.

Like I've said before in other posts, violence is a tool in his belt, but he knows it's not the solution. Batman dissuades, Bruce Wayne offers support and options. Unfortunately, popular discussion on Bruceman has lost a lot of this plot, and focuses on the eye catching brutality that the movies and popular dark adaptations have championed. So what we get is this weird meta commentary that is supposed to make Batman look like a violent totalitarian punching down on people and missing the point when in reality, he gets the point! He super gets the point! The reason he doesn't kill is that he believes everyone deserves to try to be better, that concept makes no sense with a Batman who doesn't see criminals as people! Selina doesn't even have a point! She's supposed to represent a more socially conscious, compassionate, realistic perspective, but she's just not correct! It's an insane nothing-burger even before he completely loses his mind because of the plot. There are legitimate ideological issues to be pulled out between he and Selina. If she had become a crime boss like Jason tried to (and once did herself if I remember correctly) and used that to suppress the worse actors in a way he couldn't, you could really have them reckon with what they're willing to do to keep people safe and where the line actually is. Because they're all criminals in the end, what matters is where they draw the line. Batman works with plenty of dangerous and formally dangerous criminals actually, Harley and Ghost-Maker and Jason and Damian and--he's not some stupid inflexible hardliner cop. Stories where Batman is zealous about crime as like an amorphous concept are insane because they suggest that he doesn't recognize that his extrajudicial nature already complicates matters. That's another reason he doesn't kill by the way! He doesn't think he's the law! He's just a guy! Why should he get to decide the value of someone's life? But even then, the idea that the whole family would fall into civil war over Bruce and Selina having an ideological tiff is such an affront to all of them as individual characters. None of them are stupid enough to deal with things this way. It's not an exploration of character flaws if you're just making them stupid.

There's a problem about writers coming onto Batbooks and revealing that they have done no research into why people commit crimes and it creates narratives where Batman also doesn't understand the point, when he has and should!

Tldr,

Writers, stop pretending that Batman doesn't understand the social/systemic aspect of crime, and also maybe look into how it actually works yeah?

[herinsectreflection]

I want to talk about this scene, from Bargaining when Willow kills the fawn. You might guess from my icon that I am a big fan of this scene. It's pretty short but it sets the stage for Willow's arc throughout S6 excellently.

It opens with her in this gorgeous riverside greenery, dressed in pure white, the very picture of fairytale innocence, bathed in bright sunlight. It's such an unusual shot for the show, which almost exclusively either has shots inside or at night (for obvious reasons of being a vampire show), and that immediately makes it quite memorable. Especially as the rest of the episode is almost entirely set at night, filled with demon bikers, dismemberment, fire, broken down towers and digging out of graves. It's like this little meditative moment of peace in between all that.

Or, it would be if it didn't include a teensy little animal sacrifice.

WILLOW: Adonai, Helomi, Pine. Adonai, Helomi, Pine. The gods do command thee from thy majesty. O Mappa Laman, Adonai, Helomi.

Willow says her words and summons forth a young fawn from the trees. The fawn is another symbol of innocence, like Willow's white dress. As she reaches out and and touches the animal gently, we're reminded of the soft innocent Willow of S1, who shied away from any conflict and seemed incapable of ever hurting a fly. She's like a disney princess, sitting in the woods singing to woodland animals. Only Snow White never stabbed Bambi in the heart.

The entire plot of the previous season revolved around the blood sacrifice of a child. This is what Glory was trying to achieve, and it's what Buffy has to stop. Buffy gives her life in order to stop it. And now, Willow recreates the same event, performing the blood sacrifice what is specifically an animal child. She steps into the role that the previous season's Big Bad performed, and so tells us that this season, she is stepping into the role of Big Bad. The fawn fills the role of Dawn - the situations rhyme as well as the names do.

Fun fact - the words that Willow uses are taken from The Book of Ceremonial Magic, a 1910 book that compiled various grimoires. In this passage, describing an invocation to request something from God, Adonai/Helomi/Pine are the names of angels - specifically the angels of the East, who appear in human form dressed in lily white according to this passage - another link to Willow's costume here. The invocation seems to involve requesting these angels to appear to the caster in an intelligible form.

ADONAI, HELOMI, PINE, Whom you obey, do invoke, conjure and entreat thee, N., that thou wilt appear forthwith. By the virtue and power of the same God I do command thee from thine order or place of abode to come unto me and skew thyself plainly here before me in thine own proper shape and glory, speaking in a voice intelligible to mine understanding.

In this case, Willow is symbolically killing an actual angel of heaven, which is probably pretty high up on the villainy scale. Just drives home the fundamental Wrongness of this scene. It's also good to remember that the idea of killing one to save other(s) is a theme returned to again and again throughout the show, and the first major example of that theme in action is a certain Angel.

(Credit to this user on BuffyBoards for finding the source of these words.)

So the fawn is Dawn, and the fawn is an angel. But most importantly of all - the fawn is Buffy. Willow, in her attempts to bring Buffy back to life, first has to kill "Buffy".

WILLOW: Come forward, Blessed one. Know your calling.

The fawn is described as having a "calling" that it must "know", just as Buffy has a calling of her own, which over the course of many seasons she learns to know and accept (and eventually revolutionise and reject). It is also described as "Blessed", which in some definitions is taken to mean "one who is with God in heaven". Buffy at this point is literally in heaven (or at least some kind of heaven dimension, the theology is gratefully vague). The structure of the phrase "Blessed one" also reminds of the more relevant phrase - "Chosen One", which again would be Buffy. The spell ingredient, which we know is the fawn's blood, is called "vino de madre" - wine of the mother, implying a feminine source of power, just like The Slayer.

WILLOW: Accept our humble gratitude for your offering. In death ... you give life. May you find wings to the kingdom. In death, you give life. You might say that death... is your gift... yeah, so this really drives it home for me. Using death to give life is literally what Buffy has just done. It was core to her arc last season. And finally the "wings to the kingdom" line again plays into that heaven imagery. S6 loves this kind of imagery for Buffy, even giving her angel wings in one of the most delightfully on-the-nose shots in the show.

Buffy gave her life to give Dawn one, and with it gave a warning about the struggles of life - "The hardest thing in this world is to live in it.". This is sad but lovely advice that Buffy herself must now spend S6 gradually learning to understand herself. She learns how to deal with the crushing despair of day-to-day existence. Willow, as the Big Bad of this season, doesn't understand this advice at all. For years now, Willow has used magic as a short-cut to avoid actually dealing with her emotions (see Lover's Walk, Something Blue, Tough Love). This goes into overdrive in S6, and it starts with her desperation to bring Buffy back to avoid really dealing with the reality of her death.

In fact it goes beyond magic - Willow is also the one who uses her tech knowledge to bring the Buffybot back online. She uses all her skills to desperately fill in the hole that Buffy has left behind. This is what Willow does, magic or no. And it's sympathetic - my heart breaks every time she talks about fearing where Buffy might have ended up - but it's not totally rational or healthy either. The main problem is that Willow, in doing this, is ignoring Buffy's final words, and misunderstanding the central theme.

As said earlier, by performing this blood sacrifice of a child, Willow is betraying the memory of Buffy, who died to stop one. (Symbolically of course. Morally there are light years between killing an animal and killing a teenager). Buffy gave her life to stop a blood sacrifice, and so Willow reverses the process - causing a blood sacrifice to give Buffy her life. And she betrays Buffy's final words with her refusal to accept the pain of life and live with it. And finally, she betrays Buffy spiritually.

Remember that Willow is Buffy's metaphorical Spirit, as shown in Primeval. It is a special kind of betrayal that Buffy's Spirit breaks her spiritually in this season. She literally rips her soul out of eternal bliss and contentment, causing an existential break within her. She beseeches the fawn/Buffy to find "wings to the kingdom", but in doing so robs Buffy of her wings.

Buffy suffers brutal depression this season, and describes it many times as feeling dead inside. This kind of emotional deadness is caused directly by her ressurection (though severely exacerbated by her unresolved trauma, grief over Joyce, and generally just living under capitalism). Willow has tried to give death to bring life, but because the action is a betrayal of Buffy on many levels, the act is tainted, and perverted, like a wish on a monkey's paw. She literally kills metaphorical Buffy, and so metaphorically kills literal Buffy. Buffy has life, but said life is causing a kind of death within her.

And what does Willow get for all this? Her pain isn't fixed by all this. She just gets blood on her hands (and later on her face). It sets off a chain of events that will end with far more blood on Willow's hands. She dips a toe into a darkness, but because she doesn't understand fully the emotions that have taken her there, she can't exert any control over it. She doesn't learn a lesson here that she shouldn't try to shape the world to deal with her emotions. Instead, she learns that she has power over life and death.

Willow is clearly deeply shaken by this, but it's not nearly enough to make her change her path. She ignores the very obvious foreshadowing here - her hands literally coated in blood - and carries on anyway. She takes the wrong lessons from this moment, which she clearly demonstrates in her argument with Giles in Flooded, where she ignores his anger over how she's warped the rules of nature, and instead focuses on how awesome she is ("The magicks I used are very powerful. I'm very powerful. And maybe it's not such a good idea for you to piss me off.")

This is a small scene, but it sets up so much for Willow. It shows how far she has come from the meek girl of S1. And it shows a glimpse of the future, how she has far to go but is now on a path to become the villain she is at the end of S6. She starts it by killing metaphorical Buffy in order to save her, and will end it by trying to kill actual Buffy in order to emotionally "save" her. At every point she can justify the blood on her hands as serving some greater purpose - but the blood is still there.

[tae-cup]

.hamartia. ‘Part V,

Pairing: Yoongi x Reader (f) x Taehyung (?)

Genre: Mafia!Au, Fluff, Angst (Mostly angst oopsies) I DO NOT CONDONE BEHAVIOR DISPLAYED IN THIS, PLEASE IT’S FICTION AND DON’T DO STUPID THINGS THANK YOU

Plot: Y/N is a skilled, well, torturer, though you don’t like to call yourself that; it makes what you do too real. When mafia boss Yoongi wants information or wants a hostage to suffer, you step in. However, one fateful day you are thrown Taehyung, another person who does your line of work. You need answers, he is determined not to give them to you. That’s when you try...a different approach, and Yoongi is not pleased.

Rating: TV-MA

WARNINGS: YO IF YOU’RE NOT COOL WITH SUBTLE BI AGENDAS THEN I’M SORRY THIS IS NOT THE PLACE FOR YOU, Blood, torture, mafia things (ya know?), drugs alcohol, sadistic tendencies, a fundamentally flawed main character (I’m sorry i’m just writing myself pretty much), assault, harassment, stalking (not bad), romance (somehow), Maybe stockholm syndrome???

Word Count: 3.3k words (Chonkers!)

A/N: shit’s about to go d o w n. I’m gonna be honest here...I forgot if I’ve mentioned Yoongi’s hair before-but I’m making it black and I’m sorry for continuity errors that may be caused by this...I’m just a dumbass who forgets shit. 

Other:

Masterlist

Prologue | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Next 

perfidy/ˈpəːfɪdi/

~ noun: perfidy;

 plural noun: perfidies the state of being deceitful and untrustworthy.

-

-

“You know, it’s pretty selfish to think you could keep me all to yourself. I have a job.” Yoongi sat unbothered in the bedroom as you packed your things. 

The word selfish hit a different spot in your already wounded soul. After your fight, you decided to pack up and move to a room down the hall. You never officially broke it off, but it was clear you didn’t want to be around each other. Neither of you could bring yourself to say the dreadful words. You spun around, t-shirt in hand as you shoved it into your suitcase. 

“F-Fuck you.” You stuttered, anger unmanageable. That’s how you’d been for a while now, it was probably why Yoongi was getting tired of you. You’d been angry, irritable, depressed, and your emotions were out of wack. What you needed was counseling, which you would never ask for, nor would anyone care enough to force you. It was a weakness. Yoongi had similar issues to you; you didn’t understand how he kept such a calm facade. 

“If you’ve come here to berate me for the last few moments I’ll dare to be in the same fucking room as you, then fucking leave.” You cussed at him. He just looked amused. 

“You know me too well.”

“I wish I didn’t.” 

Selfish. Selfish. Selfish. Choosing your life over innocent ones was a job you tended to every single day. Every day it was your life over theirs, your blood over theirs. Hawyeong was the first of many. Her obsidian eyes haunted you at night. You were hurting Yoongi by putting your need for him above the gang. So you decided, if you were going to be selfish...I’m going all in. You flipped him off as you stormed out of the room. His eyes never strayed from your back, even once the door was closed. 

“Fuck.” He whispered to himself and ran a hand down his face. “Why did I do that?” He spoke to the open air. 

-

-

Taehyung had a very different look in his eyes when you walked in for your daily chat. Finally, we’re getting somewhere. You thought. 

“Good afternoon.” He said stiffly. Your head whipped around to face him from where you were grabbing a spare chair in the hallway. 

“W-What did you say?” You sputtered, utterly gobsmacked. He never spoke to you, much less speak first. 

“Good afternoon, is that not what you people say around here? Do you prefer screams and crying?” He didn’t look fazed as he carefully chose his words. 

“You just...” You trailed off a little. 

“You do that a lot, you know?” He sat on the edge of his bed, as always, while you sat facing him. 

“Hm?” You urged him to continue speaking. 

“You trail off like this...” He mimicked you. “It’s annoying. So many times I wish I could have asked you to continue.” 

“Why now are you telling me this?” 

His eyes glanced to the security cameras where Jimin was watching in the surveillance room. Jimin was frozen, confusion and intrigue palpable around him. Taehyung check his nails before continuing, completely ignoring your question. 

“I’ll tell you this- I do the same job you do, but I do it better.” He grinned cockily. “It’s going to take a lot more than taking away gray and waking up earlier to faze me.” 

He drifted off, eyes becoming cloudy. “But...I have enjoyed your company these days, despite our rough start and pretty one sided conversations. I almost forget how selfish you are.” He chose that word very obviously, as if showing his cards. 

You reeled back, chair falling to the ground. How did he know to use that word? You had your suspicions, but this was too clear. He chuckled darkly, though it didn’t give him a great deal of pleasure to deliver blows to your traumatizing past. He wasn’t even supposed to be talking to you. 

“How did you know?” You gaped. 

Taehyung didn’t respond. He couldn’t get you off his mind lately. Maybe it was because you and Jimin were the only people he ever interacted with; and Jimin wasn’t a smooth talker. Jimin stuttered when talking to him and showed him his intentions too easily. Taehyung enjoyed speaking with you, he could never read you. 

“Y/N.” He stood and slowly made his way over to you until he was towering above you, your back pinned against the wall. He leaned down, whispering so the audio wouldn’t pick him up. “The audio has been tapped.” He whispered hurriedly. “Listen, you need to leave before 3 A.M. come find me and I’ll help get you out of here. I don’t want to see you in pain. It’s best if you leave.” 

Your skin buzzed as you felt his breath graze your neck. You could barely register his words. When you did, you looked up into his handsome face and narrowed your eyes. 

“What game are you playing here, Taehyung.” You whispered back. 

“One where you are just another pawn. One where you never met me.” He leaned to be at eye level. “Because I mean the truth when I say I don’t wish to see you in harm’s way, just as you don’t wish that for me.” 

“You misunderstand me. I’m perfectly happy seeing you rot.” You hissed. 

“I know you don’t, kitten. Why else would you be bothered waking up so early to watch me, even when you full well know you’ve designed this room to be inescapable; both in life and death.” 

“I...” You glanced away. “If you don’t step back, I’ll scream and Jimin will come running.” 

“You think I’m worried? He has a nasty punch, but he’d never pull a gun on me.” 

Taehyung had a point. You knew Jimin wouldn’t be able to disable Taehyung, but that didn’t stop you. Your voice was high pitched and shrill. The dark haired male jumped back, eyebrows furrowing. 

“You are impossible. I’m trying to help you.” He practically yelled. 

“Why would I trust you?” 

“Trust me? Isn’t that what you’ve worked so hard to do these past few weeks? Well congratu-fucking-lations because you’ve done it.” Taehyung stared at you incredulously as if you had just spit on his face. You didn’t respond, heart beating wildly. He was so close. You could take a few steps meet lip to lip. You slightly shook your head. Stop thinking about making out with your hostage. His eyebrows quirked upward, as if reading your mind. 

The door banged open. 

“Ah, Jimin good thing you’re-” You stopped mid-sentence. “Oh.” 

Yoongi, in all his might, stood in the doorway, huffing. His chest rose and fell quickly. “Do you understand how many flights of stairs I had to run just because I heard you scream?” He said calmly, taking a moment to breathe. 

“It was only one flight you lazy ass.” You retorted, rolling your eyes at his theatrics. Taehyung didn’t seem surprised by this little squabble. 

“One flight too many.” 

“How do you think I feel having to do that every time  you decide to call me into that damn office of yours.” Your lips pressed into a thin line. 

“Can we talk about this elsewhere?” Yoongi let his gaze slide to Taehyung. “You didn’t touch her, right?” He hissed. 

Your ears perked up at the jealousy evident in his voice. 

“Of course not, pretty boy.” Taehyung stayed still, having not expected Yoongi to appear. Jimin, he could handle, but Yoongi? That man was dangerous and he knew it. 

“Why does it matter if he touched me?” You said, provoking Yoongi. 

“I told you not to get close to him.” 

“This was the most we’ve spoken in ages, Yoongi.” You snapped. “You don’t control me anymore and I’m not your property anymore either.” 

I wish you were. Yoongi thought to himself. He didn’t meet your eyes and instead looked to Taehyung. 

“Don’t come near her again you son of a b-” 

You quickly ushered him out of the room, using all your force to shove him through the door. Taehyung let out a chuckle as you locked the door behind you. You turned to Yoongi, a sour expression on your face. 

“I was finally getting somewhere. I only screamed to catch him off guard.” 

“I saw the footage. He had no right to be that close to you.” 

Yoongi cornered you between the wall and his body. His hands planted on either side of your body on the wall. He leaned in. God, how many times does this need to happen in one day? You mused to yourself, but you could feel the blood rushing to your head. 

“Would you rather it Taehyung in my position now?” His voice wreaked of possessiveness and jealousy. 

“Of course not, but why would I want you in it either?” You ducked under his arms, trying to ease tension. 

“You never broke up with me.” He called as you hurried towards your door across the way. 

“I think three months of silence is good enough.” You slipped inside and slammed the door shut. 

-

-

You were awake at 3 A.M. of course you were. Taehyung had been waking you up around then anyway. 

There was something different this morning. The sun hadn’t risen, but you decided to wander around the halls of the mansion. You had a bad feeling, which explained why you were dressed in all black. Still, the feeling wasn’t enough to make you grab that knife in your top drawer. You glanced at the door across from yours. Then you took a right to head to the surveillance room. You felt someone watching you, but you continued on anyway. It was probably a trainee or guard wandering around. The mansion had 24/7 surveillance and guards that rotated hourly. You assumed it was a changing of the guard. Then there was a strangled sound from the floor below as you walked past the stairs. You were instantly alert. 

Your hand reached for a knife that you didn’t have. Shit. You quietly walked backwards, not letting your eyes leave the stairs. It felt like the calm before the storm. You prayed your heart would stop pounding, but you were getting more anxious by the second. There were heavy footfalls followed by quieter ones. You held your breath, carefully keeping your eyes trained on the stair entrance. You glanced behind you. A few more feet and you’d be at your door. 

There was a thundering sound upstairs. Yoongi’s voice could be heard. You wanted to shout at them to stay quiet, but you heard his footsteps fade behind you upstairs. You only caught a few words from their scuffle. The words bounced around your brain. What do you mean Mark is dead? 

You almost screamed when a gun went off. Immediately, it was like the mansion was alive. There were hurried footsteps upstairs and then footsteps rushing around the stairs. Still, no one came to your floor. It felt like you were in the eye of a hurricane. That was until a hand clamped itself over your mouth. You wanted to scream, but then you heard the low timber of a familiar voice. It was a voice you shouldn’t trust, but you did relax ever so slightly. 

“Y/N, we need to leave.” His voice made you shiver. 

“Is this your gang? Are they here?” You murmured as he removed his hand. He seemed confident you wouldn’t scream. You were almost tempted to just to spite him, but you decided this was not the right time to be difficult. 

“Of course it’s my gang. They’re here to collect me and take you out, obviously.” He looked to the stairwell. “We have to get going, they’re getting closer.” 

You nodded, letting him take your hand. 

“Where are we going?” 

“Away.” He said mysteriously. 

“Very specific.” You huffed. 

“You can stop this act, you know?” The man didn’t turn to you, he just kept running ahead, turning every corner like he knew this place. 

“Act?” You stomped your heels into the ground, effectively halting him. He sighed as if he wished he had said nothing. 

“This tough girl act. All I saw was a scared girl who hurts others to avoid her own hurt.” He crossed his arms, looking at you quizzically. Before you could respond, he turned back around and gently grabbed your hand. “I know because I’m the same way.” 

You gaped, letting him drag you along. 

The plan seemed to be going great as the shouts got louder and the gunshots continued firing. Then it was quiet. Way too quiet. It was as if they had reached a stalemate. Your mouth felt dry. Or one side was wiped out. Taehyung looked to you. 

“I’m sorry about this, but you trusted the wrong person.” He shrugged, though it hurt him to see the shock cross your face. There were footsteps and then you almost heard the crack of your skull as the butt of a gun knocked you to the ground unconscious. It’s so much easier to break trust. 

-

-

You trailed Yoongi has he descended down the stairs. 

“Are you really going to make me some sort of maid?” You scoffed, eyeing the maids closet that you seemed to be headed towards. 

“I’ve got you something even better.” He grinned that gummy smile, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. He opened the dusty library door that now had held files upon files stacked in every corner. God, he’s going to make me a librarian, isn’t he? You averted your eyes from the files. He seemed to read your expression. 

“I’m not going to make you file things, if that’s what you’re worried about.” 

“Then what are we doing here, babe.” You frowned. 

“We’re here for this.” His hands ran over the creases of a bookshelf and slowly slid it open. It revealed a small passage way. It smelled of blood. 

“What is this place?” Your voice was small and you looked at Yoongi with a scared look.

“It’s where we hold the hostages.” A voice answered. Your eyes jerked up, taking in the silver haired man. He had blood on his hands, which he carefully wiped on a rag before extending a hand. “You must be Y/N. I’m Jimin and I work for you now.”

Your mouth hung open as you shook his hand. “Yoongi, what the hell is this.” 

The black haired man behind you shrugged. “You wanted a job and this was the only opening.” 

You entered the passageway tentatively. Upon seeing the first hostage, bloodied and bruised, you wanted to gag. You weren’t weak, but you weren’t violent, every knew this. You could yell and throw words around all you wanted, but you would never raise your hand against someone. 

Jimin carefully picked up a knife. He held it out to you. You hesitated, hands shaking. 

“Yoongi! I can’t do this! I can’t do this to innocent people!” You had to keep your voice from shrieking. His eyes darkened. He didn’t like seeing you this way, but you had begged him for a job and he felt obliged to give you one. He would prefer you know how to use weapons, even against innocents, rather than a helpless maid. That was his twisted logic. 

“They are far from innocent.” He said dryly, giving you a small push towards Jimin. 

“Anything but this.” You pleaded. 

“I may be your lover, darling, but I’m also the boss around here and I’m still your boss. And as your boss I order you to do this job.” His voice was stony, cold, and calculated. “Who knows, maybe you’ll come to enjoy it?” 

You looked to Jimin, pain in your eyes. He looked away. You could tell he didn’t want to be here either. 

“You wanted a job. Now do it.” Yoongi whispered threateningly. 

You shakily took the knife and walked towards the hostage. 

-

-

You opened your eyes, head pounding. You immediately noted your bound hands and legs. You were tied to a chair. Classic. Was this what your hostages felt when they woke up? The room was a concrete box, but you didn’t feel unsettled. You spent most of your time in these concrete boxes. It wasn’t something that bothered you. Maybe that was why Taehyung never seemed bothered by staying in the dark or being tied to a chair. Taehyung, that bastard. The rage and betrayal you felt was much like when you had your fight with Yoongi three months ago. It wasn’t a good feeling to be completely out of control of your emotions. 

Before you even opened your eyes, you knew he was there. That man with the dark hair and even darker eyes. The one that betrayed you so easily. 

“Y/N. I know you’re awake.” You heard him crouch in front of you. “I’m not going to hurt you, but I will let you know that it’s sort of my job.” 

You slowly opened your eyes to see him staring at you. You couldn’t believe the nerve of this guy; to have an even slightly concerned look on his face. 

“Yoongi will rip you to shreds.” You spat, the words tumbling out of your mouth before you could think. Shut up. Yoongi isn’t yours anymore. He may look like he cares, but he doesn’t. Don’t make empty threats. He must have seen the immediate regret that flashed across your face because he stood. 

“I’m sure he will.” He nodded, almost like he was trying to humor you. Then his expression turned dark. “I won’t hurt you, I have no reason to. But he does.” and he stepped to the side to reveal a man. 

“Fuck.” You murmured. Mr. Joh stood tall, a scar running down his face. He had those obsidian eyes, just like Hawyeong. 

“You murdered my sister a while ago, do you remember her?” Mr. Joh carefully slid a chair in front of you and sat on it. Taehyung looked away, a muscle in his jaw ticking. You kept your eyes locked on him, not Mr. Joh. It was almost as if Taehyung was a slice of home, a reminder of when you were back at the mansion. Oh how the tables have turned. 

“Who? I’ve killed many.” You tried to bite back, but your words lacked the punch needed to effectively get your point across. You were tired and sore. How long had you been sitting in that chair? 

“What do you mean who.” Mr. Joh spat. “You don’t even have enough pride to remember your victims, do you?”

“I remember you...” You stared straight at Taehyung, and he watched you carefully. “And I certainly remember you.” You spoke to him. Mr. Joh followed your eyes. You knew you were giving away too much, letting him into your mind far too easily. Even a low level torturer would be able to decipher the thoughts in your mind. Please, Taehyung, let me out. Don’t you like me? The second those words crossed your mind, you froze. Don’t you like me? 

Your heart was beating fast. Then Mr. Joh snapped, signalling Taehyung to leave the room. Your eyes pleaded with him. Please don’t go. You then realized you had no right to beg for life. After all...Death longed for you more than Yoongi or anyone else. You had stolen so many lives, why couldn’t you accept your own demise? Your eyes looked down to the floor, ashamed. The monster inside was locked in the basement and the angelic little girl from before had control. No wonder you felt so broken at the moment. Taehyung seemed hesitant to leave, but he left nonetheless. 

“Now, where were we?” Mr. Joh smiled, flicking a knife into his hands. 

-

-

as;fks;gkhslkdhf Okay okay okay- I like this direction. Let me know your thoughts. 

Previous | Next

[notthatiwilleverwriteit]

I don't know if you ever answered something similar but here's my question. Once in a while there's comments saying that he tian is forcing himself on mo, but I think they misunderstand the situation because mo is a tsundere and will always say something like "fuck off" to he tian, even if he cares. So my question is: in your opinion is tianshan still toxic like in the beginning?

Good morning, anon-san!

I have actually talked about Tianshan’s (power) dynamic quite a lot. Here are some previous answers/posts you might find interesting:

Tianshan coming a full circle

My 19 Days OTP

My favorite Tianshan moment

Physical and emotional closeness in Tianshan

Will there ever be a verbal Tianshan confession?

Future of Tianshan

He Tian’s jealousy and possessiveness

Is Tianshan toxic?

The last link on the list probably comes the closest to what you asked, but there was actually something I wish I had included. So, I’ll take a look at your question and also talk about the things I left out. There will be some repetition, though.

“comments saying that he tian is forcing himself on mo”

In my previous answer about Tianshan being toxic, I came to the conclusion that toxicity is in the eye of the beholder. What we see as being toxic depends on our own perspective and individual taste. I don’t think it’s really about misunderstanding but rather reading things through differently tinted lenses and different things appealing to different people. To each of us, the line between “toxic” and “non-toxic” is different. Our tolerance for a certain kind of behavior can differ quite a lot from other readers’ - He Tian’s character and Tianshan being an excellent example.

Tianshan is a certain type of dynamic that often appeals to a lot of people but it will always also have a fair share of anti-fans. So, I doubt there is such a thing as enough development to make the comments about Tianshan being toxic stop. At least not without changing the dynamic fundamentally in which case, it would become something else. As a Tianshan shipper, I wouldn’t want the development ever go in that direction.

However, that doesn’t mean fans should stop listening to each other. I believe people who think Tianshan is toxic can have a lot to add to the discussion. Their points are based on their original perspectives just like ours. Just because we might disagree doesn’t have to mean we can’t learn from each other. 

“in your opinion is tianshan still toxic like in the beginning?”

To be honest, I never really saw Tianshan overall as toxic. To me, there isn’t some point in the story prior to which their relationship was toxic and after it was less toxic. Then again, I have quite a high tolerance for behavior that others deem toxic or problematic. I’m usually drawn to those kinds of dynamics in fiction and find them endlessly interesting instead of something that should be get rid of. More often than not, they end up being my jam and OTPs.

But I’ve always wondered what people who see “before” and “after” in Tianshan think has been the defining moment that turned their relationship for the better. Personally, I’m struggling with that since I have never really had a problem with how their dynamic works. 

Instead, I see Tianshan’s journey through the development of both He Tian and Mo Guan Shan’s characters. Both of them have gone through some changes but also have some parts that won’t probably ever change and ultimately affect the overall dynamic of their relationship.

Mo Guan Shan has gradually started to trust He Tian more and warm up to him. His walls aren’t as high as in the beginning. He doesn’t want to deny their connection as fiercely anymore. And he even shows more of his “tsun” side towards He Tian. His resistance has become more about getting flustered and being increasingly conscious of He Tian than rejecting him out of resentment.

But. Mo Guan Shan will never not stand up to He Tian and strive for being independent. He will still tell He Tian to go fuck himself and ask if he’s supposed to be that familiar with him. He will always spit that He Tian can’t tell him what to do and that he can’t control him. And that is, in fact, one of the reasons why He Tian admires him. As persistent as He Tian is, Mo Guan Shan will agree to things at his own pace. That is both a warning and a promise.

He Tian, on the other hand, has come to learn Mo Guan Shan’s limits and to be more aware so he can keep earning his trust. The nature of his strength has changed. It’s gone from “you better watch your mouth because you answer to me now” to “I don’t care how long it takes but please don’t leave me”. He Tian’s role as the strong savior and someone honing down Mo Guan Shan’s personality has started to slip. We readers and Mo Guan Shan have seen more and more of his weak moments, fears, and insecurities. He has started to feel safe and secure with Mo Guan Shan. And I suppose all of that is where the usual arguments about the development from “toxic” to “less toxic” stem from.

But. He Tian will never not be pushy and dominant. Even if he doesn’t want Mo Guan Shan to become meek and agreeable, he still won’t let his objections and resistance discourage his affections. He will never be the type that asks for permission for everything. Or even every other thing. He will always keep his arm hooked around Mo Guan Shan’s shoulders despite how much he keeps struggling.

You could see all of that through the lenses of “toxic” but also as two characters developing together. It can be a very subtle difference in perspective, but I think it’s a rather important one.

Some time ago, OldXian gave us part 3 of the Christmas special that takes place in the future. I saw readers being somewhat disappointed that Tianshan hadn’t developed as much as or in the direction they had wished. These two panels especially seemed to dampen the mood a little (ch. 313):

It didn’t seem like they had grown much closer. However, I would say their future relationship is pretty much as I expected it to be. Mo Guan Shan was quick to say no as a knee-jerk reaction but kind of letting He Tian get away with things. He wasn’t putting up quite as fierce of a fight as he would have in the past. He Tian, on the other hand, was still physically dominant and mischevious and yet affectionate. It almost seemed like he was craving for physical closeness.

If you take into account the things I think are fundamental about the characters and will never go away in their relationship, I think the level of development might make more sense. I doubt Mo Guan Shan will ever be honest or open about his feelings towards He Tian. But he will grant us little pieces of subtle, unexpected affection here and there. Little hints that he doesn’t mind He Tian’s company as much as he claims. And in return, He Tian will keep pushing because he knows he’s not truly making Mo Guan Shan do something he really doesn’t want to. But that dynamic is still toxic in the people’s eyes who have always thought so.

Moments that have bothered me

As much as I ship Tianshan, there have been a few moments in their dynamic and development that I have been bothered by. But again, I don’t really see them as being toxic but rather as learning curves of their relationship.

The first kiss (ch. 174):

I have never found this kiss hot or sexy. Actually, He Tian sticking his tongue out like that and shoving it in Mo Guan Shan’s mouth always freaks me out a little. I’m frankly turned off by it. But it served as an important lesson. And I don’t think it made He Tian toxic. He hadn’t meant the kiss the way Mo Guan Shan took it. He was genuinely confused by Mo Guan Shan’s reaction and realized he had crossed a line with him.

Let’s make a run for it (ch. 273):

I know this was a rather minor moment, but the level of disregard by He Tian at the moment has always annoyed me. Mo Guan Shan has responsibilities he’s getting paid for, so he can’t just up and leave according to He Tian’s whims. The world doesn’t work that way. But his life has always been vastly different from Mo Guan Shan’s, so it’s good he’s exposed to different ways of life.

He Tian and people who aren’t Mo Guan Shan (ch. 295):

I doubt He Tian really pays attention to the group around Mo Guan Shan or cares about them. I think that also means he wouldn’t hesitate to be an ass to them if he’s not feeling particularly nice or thinks they’re getting in the way. That trait is what I have always disagreed the most with the thug way of life. Not really caring about people who don’t directly concern you and thinking it’s okay to be over the top offensive if someone happens to wrong you somehow. In society, you don’t have the right to take matters into your own hands and become the judge. And just because He Tian happens to care about Mo Guan Shan the most, it doesn’t entitle him to treat others badly or bark orders like they don’t have a choice but to submit. 

I’m not in a good mood (ch. 295):

Kind of a continuation of the previous one. I think this was the most frustrated I have been with He Tian. I know what ultimately made him behave that way and it made sense, but for a while, I was annoyed because it seemed He Tian had regressed back to his old ways. Like dude, the world does not revolve around your moods. Other people have feelings, too. The fact that He Tian doesn’t bow down to anyone is one of my favorite things about him, but the lack of humility can also get a bit annoying at times. He Tian is quite physical when it comes to showing his feelings but I hope he will keep getting better at using his words, too. Luckily, Mo Guan Shan is someone who can take him at his worst.

I’m not trying to make it sound like people who see Tianshan as toxic are somehow wrong or can’t make valid points. As you noticed, even I’ve had certain moments I didn’t agree with. But perhaps because crying “toxic” is so common in fandoms these days and it’s used as a weapon to diss other’s taste in fictional relationships, I somewhat prefer to distance myself from that particular way of looking at things. He Tian and Tianshan most certainly aren’t flawless, but if you take a step back you come to realize toxicity is a surprisingly narrow perspective. It leaves out the characters as a whole by pointing at just certain traits and removing them from their context.

Thank you for your question, dear anon-san!

[desdraws]

Comic update 01.01.2020

My goal for 2019 was to finish my comic prologue for David’s Gate and an Owl corps book, but I didn’t meet either of these goals.

First of all I just want to talk about comics for a little bit, particularly shounen.

The shounen genre of comics had always been my favourite genre for the wacky and fun premises it managed to get me invested in when I was new to manga. Despite the fun I’ve had reading the genre, as I’ve grown, it’s become harder and harder to suspend my disbelief for crazy powers and plots that seemingly pop up without rhyme or reason.

I began to find that the shounen I stayed very fond of were those with structured spiritual systems for superpowers (Hunter x Hunter [Nen], Magi [Rukh], and even Naruto [Chakra] come to mind). I also loved having something that would let me in a little bit on how the world I was getting invested in worked, like a set of rules I would be able to go back to if things got too complicated. I still had my cravings for cool and wacky fun, but I think my value for intention, research, and writing levelled up beyond some of the initial stories that got me into the genre.

This craving for cool ideas that touched on aspects of spirituality in a way that still made coherent sense within a large ecosystem is part of what drew me into writing and creating. It gave me a goal, to fill a gap I saw in my favourite genre, with themes, powers, stories, and characters I desired to explore, knowing that they could only be taken seriously if the crazy world they were made in allowed for it.

This brings me to back my own work.

For the past few years I had been developing a structure for the powers in my setting, and it was largely based on my interests in ancient mythologies, theology, cosmogony, psychology, and general engineering, but I had no way to visualise them under one umbrella for the sake of intuitive coherence. I studied a bunch, and last year I thought I had something I could build on, but as it turns out, theory and reality are two different things. My attempts at realising these Ideas (aesthetic dreams -> intelligible representation in this case) kept resulting in dissatisfaction, failure, and a great sense of self loathing. I just found myself drowning in a sea of chaotic ideas for the larger part of 2019, it made me unable to commit to anything, in fear that I might create something that fell into that category of unstructured shounen comics I couldn’t suspend disbelief for, and as a result, not fully enjoy.

I couldn’t afford to stop creating however, so I shifted my focus towards Owl Corps content. 

The Owl Corps play an important role in my setting, but at this time in my mind, it was largely a self indulgent distraction from the headache of trying to figure out the fundamental rules of my setting. Throughout the time I spent on Owl Corps content, I always called into question my purpose for this shift in focus from something so vital to my comics’ creation, but since I kept finding myself back here, I decided I had to make sure I put in my best efforts, even if at the time the Owl Corps shouldn’t have been my priority.

Don’t misunderstand, I love all my Owl Corps characters, and I don’t regret the time I spent working on them, as I still plan to going into 2020. I just wish I knew how to express what I was struggling with a lot better.

Thankfully for me, I had a bit of a breakthrough in my latest addition to the Owl Corps. 

5V-Eta and Grischa the Harriot.

I had a few goals in mind that lead to Grischas’ visual design. Yes of course my self indulgence wanted it to compliment 5Vs’ big bum, but my other aim was to build her a single seater on-road vehicle with hovering capabilities for fast off-road travel. It took me 3 months of studying, and numerous online videos/lectures on engineering and electricity to finally understand how I could practically (or believably) make it work. 

What I didn’t anticipate was for the studying I did on Grischa to turn the cogs in my brain, and give me the practical insight I was missing in my struggle to unify my settings’ cosmology. I could finally make sense of my scattered jigsaw puzzle of ideas, and it was all thanks to my devotion in creating a functional vehicle for 5Vs’ fat arse. Unbelievable. Embarrassing.

Maybe I sound a little crazy, who knows. I’ll just sum up my feelings and takeaways from recent developments. 

My visual output in 2019 has been quite dismal, hardly inspiring for the grant I won in 2018. The grant has been invaluable, especially for the time it has given me to be able to just sit down, study, and think. I have a much stronger grasp of everything I’m trying to make, and while my setting is a very ambitious one, I finally have the tools and knowledge to move flexibly and create intuitively within it without having to worry about breaking my own rules, because I found new understanding.

I guess the main costs throughout all this has been, a lot of time, lack of content, broken deadlines, and failed expectations. For these things I’m truly sorry, but I’m also happy about what I can create from here.

To those of you that reach out to me, or still secretly support me from the shadows, thank you so much. I hope you all had a good christmas, and I wish you a happy new year. My schedule is still a mess, but I’m a mixture of anxious and excited for 2020.

[sergiohpsx109]

Best Local Seo Techniques: 10 Things I Wish I’d Known Earlier

The best guide to Search Engine Optimization Can Be Fun!

Table of ContentsThe only Is Seo Really Complex? Guide You'll Ever NeedInspect This Report on What Seo Is NotCheck Into Seo Explained to See Why Its Not What You Think

So, those are simply a number of things that I would share and I hope those are useful to you. My name is Keith Goode and I'm the Chief SEO Evangelist for seoClarity. As a practice I do not think SEO is difficult, to be honest. SEO only ends up being tough when other individuals become included that aren't SEOs.

It evolves too quickly. They get used to one rule and a brand-new rule enters into place, when in truth, if you take a look at the evolutionary direction of SEO, it's corresponded throughout its history. It's been consistent with Google's message. Google is driven to bring the finest answer to its users and, as a result of that, it has needed to progress its algorithm to satisfy its own goals.

Most Unusual How Tough Is The Seo Learning Curve? facts

From an organizational perspective, when an entire business has not embraced the importance of SEO, you face issues where you get a designer who heads out and they they code page and then they completely break your canonicals or they obfuscate all the content behind a Javascript script or Flash, nobody utilizes Flash any longer, and in that case, that's when you encounter problems where SEO is hard since SEO is an afterthought.

After material has actually been written. However, when your entire company lags the SEO framework, you tend to have fewer problems. It tends to run more efficiently. It's not best, don't get me wrong it's not definitely best. Often Google tosses little wrenches into the machine. Hreflang for example. Numerous worldwide organizations embraced hreflang.

page has more links. For that reason, Google may rank the U.S. page, so, when it comes to sort of trying to apply the current technique or the current trick, the difficulty obviously is that SEOs wish to apply internationally not little bits at a time, when most companies in fact prefer let's test this very first.

Head out, check a couple of pages, then apply it widely. A/B testing is not something that's special to paid search, for instance. It ought to be applied to your content efforts, it ought to be used to any sort of coding changes you do on a website. Test initially, then use universally, and then you stopped facing issues.

Why Seo Explained are So Popular

There's still some obstacles however general I do not think SEO is hard. Hey guys! This is Damon Gochneaur with Aspiro Digital Agency. I wish to talk about "Why is SEO so hard?" I believe the something that no one talks about, that we should, is that there's no right way.

There's likewise no curriculum, there's no Google training, there's no Google certification, and we also do not have any Google representatives for SEO, or Bing representatives for that matter. So, from an interaction perspective, from a, how the entire entire paradigm is established it's a really difficult location to do service.

How to Learn About Is Seo Really Complex? in Your Spare Time

The important things that we do today really rarely are going to affect modification tomorrow, next week, or perhaps even this month. If we develop links, if we make changes to our website, it usually is going to take weeks, months, even a quarter, or several months to see that investment return itself.

Excellent. Bad. Indifferent. We get something to determine, something to hold ourselves responsible to, and something to ultimately repeat and reason from. And then, I think the 3rd most tough part or the important things that makes SEO so challenging, at least for me, is the misunderstanding around what SEO really is.

The killer guide to How Tough Is The Seo Learning Curve?

The entire understanding of what we do Nimbus Marketing as good SEOs is, to some degree I believe, is completely lost in the majority of people. So, no ideal method to do it, takes bit longer than other channels, a lot longer, and after that the majority of people just completely misinterpret it. That supplies a situation where makes it a little more difficult than others.

What makes SEO so hard? That's actually simple, simple answer: it's Google! Google makes it really hard. Aside from that, possibly a much better response or a different response would be that things that people inform you you must do don't constantly work and vice versa. And, so the reason SEO can be difficult is because you have to check things out yourself.

All About What Is Seo And Why Do I Need It? in 45 seconds

There's simply so numerous different variables The bottom line is that SEO is a whole lot more than simply optimizing your page titles and composing good material. You're going to encounter things that are going to be unanticipated and will get you in trouble with your clients or will give you a nice big dip in the incorrect direction as far as search engine result go.

It takes working with many different websites of lots of various genres, various sizes to actually get a concept of what works and what does not and you spend sufficient time doing those things and you're going to discover that a great deal of the info out there is false information. Hi! I'm John Leo Weber, Digital Marketing Manager at Geek Powered Studios in Austin, Texas.

So, 3 to 5 years ago you could get a task, an entry level position in the SEO industry and it wasn't hard. At that time, if you would, to get just sort of a fundamental SEO task your primary jobs would be link structure, which was probably mainly article and directory link building.

And, depending on how, or where you fell on the scale of white hat to black hat, article spinning. And, then, a bit of on-page optimization. Putting keywords into title tags and h1s, h2s, h3s. Now, today, if you were to use those exact same methods not only would you not get the exact same results in SEO, you would in fact, possibly, get a Google penalty.

[azaraeth]

not to be dramatic or anything but I was looking at this post by @katyazhuravlik and i realized that the theme of running away (in Just Running Away, Under Water, and Fate) is a point of connection for them BUT ALSO it relies on their misinterpretation of each other.

for example when david and matteo first meet, the recognition that david sees in matteo is actually...kind of a misunderstanding. david relates to matteo saying that he would wish to leave (david replies “I know that feeling”), and while they share this, they also fundamentally have different desires for running away. matteo wants to run away from himself, and david wants to run away from other people.

but when they are having these conversations, they don’t yet understand that about each other, they just see the blanket sameness of the statement and are happy/fascinated in having someone else who understands them even as they kind of don’t understand each other yet. but it’s also this difference/initial misinterpretation that allows them to be so perfect for each other because they teach the other that they don’t have to run away from those things, just in opposite ways.

idk it just makes me go BATSHIT because like... you can see david thinking “i know you, you’re like me, you also want to run away”  but this is wrong in a sense because they don’t run in the same way. like it just kind of blows my mind that something that started out as a surface-level, kind-of-incorrect point of connection is the thing that sparked their eventual love AND self-love and got them to both stop running.

like.,, it’s just so wild because matteo is like “he makes me feel understood,” which i’m not saying is wrong, but it’s so interesting to me that while they are soulmates it started like this and idk if this makes sense but druck is over and i’m still writing essays about davenzi again

[dailytechnologynews]

The Coming Age of Imaginative Machines: If you aren't following the rise of synthetic media, the 2020s will hit you like a digital blitzkrieg

The faces on the left were created by a GAN in 2014; on the right are ones made in 2018.

Ian Goodfellow and his colleagues gave the world generative adversarial networks (GANs) five years ago, way back in 2014. They did so with fuzzy and ethereal black & white images of human faces, all generated by computers. This wasn't the start of synthetic media by far, but it did supercharge the field. Ever since, the realm of neural network-powered AI creativity has repeatedly kissed mainstream attention. Yet synthetic media is still largely unknown. Certain memetic-boosted applications such as deepfakes and This Person Does Not Exist notwithstanding, it's safe to assume the average person is unaware that contemporary artificial intelligence is capable of some fleeting level of "imagination."

Media synthesis is an inevitable development in our progress towards artificial general intelligence, the first and truest sign of symbolic understanding in machines (though by far not the thing itself--- rather the organization of proteins and sugars to create the rudimentary structure of what will someday become the cells of AGI). This is due to the rise of artificial neural networks (ANNs). Popular misconceptions presume synthetic media present no new developments we've not had since the 1990s, yet what separates media synthesis from mere manipulation, retouching, and scripts is the modicum of intelligence required to accomplish these tasks. The difference between Photoshop and neural network-based deepfakes is the equivalent to the difference between building a house with power tools and employing a utility robot to use those power tools to build the house for you.

Succinctly, media synthesis is the first tangible sign of automation that most people will experience.

Public perception of synthetic media shall steadily grow and likely degenerate into a nadir of acceptance as more people become aware of the power of these artificial neural networks without being offered realistic debate or solutions as to how to deal with them. They've simply come too quickly for us to prepare for, hence the seemingly hasty reaction of certain groups like OpenAI in regards to releasing new AI models.

Already, we see frightened reactions to the likes of DeepNudes, an app which was made solely to strip women in images down to their bare bodies without their consent. The potential for abuse (especially for pedophilic purposes) is self-evident. We are plunging headlong into a new era so quickly that we are unaware of just what we are getting ourselves into. But just what are we getting into?

Well, I have some thoughts.

I want to start with the field most people are at least somewhat aware of: deepfakes. We all have an idea of what deepfakes can do: the "purest" definition is taking one's face replacing it with another, presumably in a video. The less exact definition is to take some aspect of a person in a video and edit it to be different. There's even deepfakes for audio, such as changing one's voice or putting words in their mouth. Most famously, this was done to Joe Rogan.

I, like most others, first discovered deepfakes in late 2017 around the time I had an "epiphany" on media synthesis as a whole. Just in those two years, the entire field has seen extraordinary progress. I realized then that we were on the cusp of an extreme flourishing of art, except that art would be largely-to-almost entirely machine generated. But along with it would come a flourishing of distrust, fake news, fake reality bubbles, and "ultracultural memes". Ever since, I've felt the need to evangelize media synthesis, whether to tell others of a coming renaissance or to warn them to be wary of what they see.

This is because, over the past two years, I realized that many people's idea of what media synthesis is really stops at deepfakes, or they only view new development through the lens of deepfakes. The reason why I came up with "media" synthesis is because I genuinely couldn't pin down any one creative/data-based field AI wasn't going to affect. It wasn't just faces. It wasn't just bodies. It wasn't just voice. It wasn't just pictures of ethereal swirling dogs. It wasn't just transferring day to night. It wasn't just turning a piano into a harpsichord. It wasn't just generating short stories and fake news. It wasn't just procedurally generated gameplay. It was all of the above and much more. And it's coming so fast that I fear we aren't prepared, both for the tech and the consequences.

Indeed, in many discussions I've seen (and engaged in) since then, there's always several people who have a virulent reaction against the prospect neural networks can do any of this at all, or at least that it'll get better enough to the point it will affect artists, creators, and laborers. Even though we're already seeing the effects in the modeling industry alone.

Look at this gif. Looks like a bunch of models bleeding into and out of each other, right? Actually, no one here is real. They're all neural network-generated people.

Neural networks can generate full human figures, and altering their appearance and clothing is a matter of changing a few parameters or feeding an image into the data set. Changing the clothes of someone in a picture is as easy as clicking on the piece you wish you change and swapping it with any of your choice (or result in the personal wearing no clothes at all). A similar scenario applies for make-up. This is not like an old online dress-up flash game where the models must be meticulously crafted by an art designer or programmer— simply give the ANN something to work with, and it will figure out all the rest. You needn't even show it every angle or every lighting condition, for it will use commonsense to figure these out as well. Such has been possible since at least 2017, though only with recent GPU advancements has it become possible for someone to run such programs in real time.

The unfortunate side effect is that the amateur modeling industry will be vaporized. Extremely little will be left, and the few who do remain are promoted entirely because they are fleshy & real human beings. Professional models will survive for longer, but there will be little new blood joining their ranks. As such, it remains to be seen whether news and blogs speak loudly of the sudden, unexpected automation of what was once seen as a safe and human-centric industry or if this goes ignored and under-reported— after all, the news used to speak of automation in terms of physical, humanoid robots taking the jobs of factory workers, fast-food burger flippers, and truck drivers, occupations that are still in existence en masse due to slower-than-expected roll outs of robotics and a continued lack of general AI.

We needn't have general AI to replace those jobs that can be replicated by disembodied digital agents. And the sudden decline & disappearance of models will be the first widespread sign of this.

Actually, I have an hypothesis for this: media synthesis is one of the first signs that we're making progress towards artificial general intelligence.

Now don't misunderstand me. No neural network that can generate media is AGI or anything close. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that what we can see as being media synthesis is evidence that we've put ourselves on the right track. We never should've thought that we could get to AGI without also developing synthetic media technology.

What do you know about imagination?

As recently as five years ago, the concept of "creative machines" was cast off as impossible— or at the very least, improbable for decades. Indeed, the phrase remains an oxymoron in the minds of most. Perhaps they are right. Creativity implies agency and desire to create. All machines today lack their own agency. Yet we bear witness to the rise of computer programs that imagine and "dream" in ways not dissimilar to humankind.

Though lacking agency, this still meets the definition of imagination.

To reduce it to its most fundamental ingredients: Imagination = experience + abstraction + prediction. To get creativity, you need only add "drive". Presuming that we fail to create artificial general intelligence in the next ten years (an easy thing to assume because it's unlikely we will achieve fully generalized AI even in the next thirty), we still possess computers capable of the former three ingredients.

Someone who lives on a flat island and who has never seen a mountain before can learn to picture what one might be by using what they know of rocks and cumulonimbus clouds, making an abstract guess to cross the two, and then predicting what such a "rock cloud" might look like. This is the root of imagination.

As Descartes noted, even the strongest of imagined sensations is duller than the dullest physical one, so this image in the person's head is only clear to them in a fleeting way. Nevertheless, it's still there. Through great artistic skills, the person can learn to express this mental image through artistic means. In all but the most skilled, it will not be a pure 1-to-1 realization due to the fuzziness of our minds, but in the case of expressive art, it doesn't need to be.

Computers lack this fleeting ethereality of imagination completely. Once one creates something, it can give you the uncorrupted output.

Right now, this makes for wonderful tools and apps that many play around with online and on our phones.

But extrapolating this to the near future results in us coming face to face many heavy questions, and not just of the "can't trust what you see variety."

Because think about it.

If I'm a musical artist and I release an album, what if I accidentally recorded a song that's too close to an AI-generated track (all because AI generated literally every combination of notes?) Or, conversely, what if I have to watch as people take my music and alter it? I may feel strongly about it, but yet the music has its notes changed, its lyrics changed, my own voice changed, until it might as well be an entirely different artist making that music. Many won't mind, but many will.

I trust my mother's voice, as many do. So imagine a phisher managing to steal her voice, running it through a speech synthesis network, and then calling me asking me for my social security number. Or maybe I work at a big corporation, and while we're secure, we still recognize each other's voice, only to learn that someone stole millions of dollars from us because they stole the CEO's voice and used to to wire cash to a pirate's account.

Imagine going online and at least 70% of the "people" you encounter are bots. They're extremely coherent, and they have profile images of what looks to be real people. And who knows, you may even forge an e-friendship with some of them because they seem to share your interests. Then it turns out they're just bundles of code.

Oh, and those bot-people are also infesting social media and forums in the millions, creating and destroying trends and memes without much human input. Even if the mainstream news sites don't latch on at first, bot-created and bot-run news sites will happily kick it off for them. The news is supposed to report on major events, global and local. Even if the news is honest and telling the truth, how can they truly verify something like this, especially when it seems to be gaining so much traction and humans inevitably do get involved? Remember "Bowsette" from last year? Imagine if that was actually pushed entirely by bots until humans saw what looked like a happenin' kind of meme and joined in? That could be every year or perhaps even every month in the 2020s onwards.

Likewise, imagine you're listening to a pop song in one country, but then you go to another country and it's the exact same song but most of the lyrics have changed to be more suitable for their culture. That sort of cultural spread could stop... or it could be supercharged if audiences don't take to it and pirate songs/change them and share them at their own leisure.

Or maybe it's a good time to mention how commissioned artists are screwed? Commission work boards are already a race to the bottom— if a job says it pays three cents per word to write an article, you'd better list your going rate as 2 cents per word, and then inevitably the asking rate in general becomes 2 cents per word, and so on and so forth. That whole business might be over within five to ten years if you aren't already extremely established. Because if machines can mimic any art style or writing style (and then exaggerate & alter it to find some better version people like more), you'd have to really be tech-illiterate or very pro-human to want non-machine commissions.

And to go back to deepfakes and deep nudes, imagine the paratypical creep who takes children and puts them into sexual situations, any sexual situation they desire thanks to AI-generated images and video. It doesn't matter who, and it doesn't have to be real children either. It could even be themselves as a child if they still have the reference or use a de-aging algorithm on their face. It's squicky and disgusting to think about, but it's also inevitable and probably has already happened.

And my god, it just keeps going on and on. I can't do this justice, even with 40,000 characters to work with. The future we're about to enter is so wild, so extreme that I almost feel scared for humanity. It's not some far off date in the 22nd century. It's literally going to start happening within the next five years. We're going to see it emerge before our very eyes on this and other subreddits.

I'll end this post with some more examples.

Nvidia's new AI can turn any primitive sketch into a photorealistic masterpiece. You can even play with this yourself here.

Waifu Synthesis- real time generative anime, because obviously.

Few-Shot Adversarial Learning of Realistic Neural Talking Head Models | This GAN can animate any face GIF, supercharging deepfakes & media synthesis

Talk to Transformer | Feed a prompt into GPT-2 and receive some text. As of 9/29/2019, this uses the 774M parameter version of GPT-2, which is still weaker than the 1.5B parameter "full" version."

Text samples generated by Nvidia's Megatron-LM (GPT-2-8.3b). Vastly superior to what you see in Talk to Transformer, even if it had the "full" model.

Facebook's AI can convert one singer's voice into another | The team claims that their model was able to learn to convert between singers from just 5-30 minutes of their singing voices, thanks in part to an innovative training scheme and data augmentation technique. as a prototype for shifting vocalists or vocalist genders or anything of that sort.

TimbreTron for changing instrumentation in music. Here, you can see a neural network shift entire instruments and pitches of those new instruments. It might only be a couple more years until you could run The Beatles' "Here Comes The Sun" through, say, Slayer and get an actual song out of it.

AI generated album covers for when you want to give the result of that change its own album.

Neural Color Transfer Between Images [From 2017], showing how we might alter photographs to create entirely different moods and textures.

Scammer Successfully Deepfaked CEO's Voice To Fool Underling Into Transferring $243,000

"Experts: Spy used AI-generated face to connect with targets" [GAN faces for fake LinkedIn profiles]

This Marketing Blog Does Not Exist | This blog written entirely by AI is fully in the uncanny valley.

Chinese Gaming Giant NetEase Leverages AI to Create 3D Game Characters from Selfies | This method has already been used over one million times by Chinese gamers.

"Deep learning based super resolution, without using a GAN" [perceptual loss-based upscaling with transfer learning & progressive scaling], or in other words, "ENHANCE!"

Expert: AI-generated music is a "total legal clusterf*ck" | I've thought about this. Future music generation means that all IPs are open, any new music can be created from any old band no matter what those estates may want, and AI-generated music exists in a legal tesseract of answerless questions

And there's just a ridiculous amount more.

My subreddit, /r/MediaSynthesis, is filled with these sorts of stories going back to January of 2018. I've definitely heard of people come away in shock, dazed and confused, after reading through it. And no wonder.

[comingupforblair]

There’s a common claim I see a lot from people with negative opinions on the DCEU, that their negativity towards the films is built entirely around what they see as their failings as films.

They will say that it has nothing to do with the tone or intention of the films but everything to do with the execution of such intentions.

That is, to put it simply, total horseshit.

The tone and intention of the films has been arguably the biggest source of negativity directed towards the films and a major cause for many of the other criticisms to either be noticed or treated as more damning when the MCU and Arrowverse do similar things and are given a pass for it. Look at any article or video about “fixing” the franchise and they will almost invariably bring up the more serious tone as a central issue, usually followed by saying they need to follow the “fun/hopeful/optimistic” tone of the Arrowverse or the MCU or whatever. Words like “nihilistic”, “cynical”, “bleak”, “depressing” and “grimdark” appear with such frequency a drinking game revolving around them would be ill advised, lest alcohol poisoning occur.

If it really were about the execution, they wouldn’t be trying so desperately hard to frame Zack Snyder as a guy who is an active burden to the franchise or a man who fundamentally misunderstands both the heroes and altruism as a concept.

I wish such a narrative were true. If people were willing to take these films for what they are and what they’re trying to be and basing their criticisms around that, it would make the discourse around the films a whole lot easier and more pleasant.

If all those articles and videos about how to “fix” or “save” the DCEU were focused on how the film makers can improve at and achieve the goals they’ve set for themselves, I wouldn’t have an issue with them. I’d still disagree with some points and call out what I see disproportionate harshness where I see it but I wouldn’t have the reaction to them I have now.

If they had been saying “if they want to make more serious films, here’s how they should do it” or outlining how they can improve at executing the vision behind them and if the calls for lighter films had been built around the idea that some characters shouldn’t be written in that same way or calling for tonal variety across the franchise or saying that they did the more serious films so it’s best to move on to some lighter ones as a way of finishing off the arc and progressing the franchise, I wouldn’t have an issue. Shit, if they’d been saying how it’s okay to make more serious films like MOS and BvS but try to add some more levity to balance things out a bit better, it wouldn’t bother me, at least not as much.

But none of that has been the case. It’s always been about framing the serious tone as an issue in itself that needs to be gotten rid of and the lighter films are seen as the way all DC films should be made now, not as equal partners among the more serious ones. Man of Steel and Batman v Superman are being framed as mistakes never toe be repeated and to be avoided at all costs, even if it means getting rid of actors loyal to Zack Snyder and his vision.

Someone may read this and snidely claim that they “suck at the darker tone” but that proves my point. If they don’t have an issue with it but simply the execution, why are all their efforts to improve the franchise built around abandoning such an intent. They will also sometimes respond that deconstructions are fine but only when the people doing it “understand” the characters which they accuse Zack Snyder of not doing. But this is undermined by how other directors, whom they claim would have a better understanding, are expected to distance themselves from such ideas.

The other response is that they don’t mind more serious films but not with Superman. Superman is supposed to be [insert meaningless word here]! Which is undermined by the fact that they aren’t suggesting any alternate characters, even ones ideally suited for such an adaptation. To say nothing of how it ignores all the more serious Superman stories out there.

This is a major reason why the people who hate the franchise and those of us who love it have such a hard time putting our difference aside and why the divisions between the two will always be strong and bitter. We simply have two differing ideals for these films and we can’t chalk it up to “we both care, we just have different views”. They, too often, see DCEU fans as not being real fans and as people trying to change “their heroes to fit our agenda”. We see them as toxic fans dead set on reliving their childhood indefinitely and who expect the world to cater to their unreasonable expectations.

People with negative views refuse to accept these films as they are and won’t stop until they have been altered to better fit their views on how they are supposed to be and they have repeatedly demonstrated that they don’t care about anything else in the pursuit of such a goal, least of all the feelings of DCEU fans who are deeply angry and resentful of the way they treat the films we love, a level of anger they refuse to understand.

Their adamant opposition to more serious adaptations is so intense it shows up even with shows like Titans, which got much better reviews despite being far more overt with it’s “edginess”, and they will never advocate such tones even for characters that would suit them. They even call for Batman, the hero whose darkness is his defining trait, to adopt a lighter tone. Titans proved that you can make a DC adaptation with a darker tone work, even with characters generally associated with a lighter one, but it hasn’t caused people to reevaluate their feelings towards the films.

Even now, they call for a Flashpoint style film or reboot to erase such moments from continuity, the effort WB have expended to distance themselves from being them being seen as insufficent, and every film with a lighter tone like Aquaman or Shazam is mentioned and praised specifically for not being “grimdark” like the earlier films.

So the idea that it’s all about the execution and the films and not the tone and they’re open to more serious adaptations is a bunch of fucking nonsense.

[helrae]

Animal Costumes = Animal Abuse!

Imagine I have a small child who can’t communicate with me verbally, or prevent me from inflicting physical abuse on them. Imagine I buy that child a hot, uncomfortable, ludicrous comedy costume for my personal entertainment. Imagine I force it onto the child’s body, and when they wriggle and struggle and cry, I say, ‘Oh, never mind, you’ll soon get used to it.’ Imagine I then take photos of their baffled, miserable little face, or videos of them struggling to move around in said ludicrous costume. Imagine I splatter these all over social media, inviting the whole world to laugh at and mock my child, and inspiring others to torment their own helpless children in similar fashion.

What would you think of that? You would, I hope, be horrified and disgusted, report me to social services, get my child removed to safety, and me banged up in prison.  

Now substitute the word ‘pet’ for ‘child,’ and suddenly it’s all OK. ‘Oh, how cute, how funny, how precious!’ you may cry when you see images of unfortunate pets dressed up in ludicrous costumes. ‘Just look at the expression on its face! Oh, I must share this with all my friends! I must torment my cat/dog/hamster with one of these ludicrous costumes so I can get lots of likes on Facebook and YouTube!’

Well, you certainly won’t get any ‘likes’ from me – in fact, if costuming pets and holding them up as a laughing-stock is your idea of fun, I want nothing to do with you because I deplore, loathe and detest this stupid fad. It may be pretty low down on the continuum of grotesque cruelties humans inflict on animals every minute of every day; nonetheless, it is a cruelty, part of a mind-set that believes animals exist purely for our pleasure and entertainment, so it’s fine to do whatever we want to them irrespective of the effects on their well-being.

Don’t get me wrong: I completely approve of clothing and/or shoeing animals when it’s necessary for their warmth or protection, or as part of their work. But this silly, growing trend has nothing to do with animal welfare, and everything to do with human whimsy and fundamental misunderstanding of animal needs and rights.

For instance, yesterday I was particularly appalled to see a Hallowe’en costume for cats that makes them look like a giant spider. Sure, on the most superficial level it does look very funny, and lets you play hilarious practical jokes on people; but if you stop to think from the cat’s point of view, it’s a total disaster. Even if the cat is placid and doesn’t overtly object to being dressed up, once it’s been put in this costume, it’s stuck. It can’t scratch if it gets itchy. It can’t groom without choking on synthetic fibres. It can’t remove the ludicrous costume when it gets too hot. And if (like the cats in the advertising video) it’s allowed out and about, it’s in constant danger of getting caught up, injured or killed – especially if someone freaks out at the sight and attacks it. Imagine what a great Hallowe’en decoration that’d make: a strangled cat-tarantula dangling from a tree in the garden! Bet your kids would love it.

No. Animals are animals, not small furry people; they deserve to be respected and treated according to their nature. Animals don’t want, don’t understand, and seldom need clothes. Animals don’t ‘get into the spirit’ of human festivals like Hallowe’en and Christmas; they don’t understand what’s going on, and are more likely to be frightened or agitated than to enjoy wearing a festive sweater or having a pair of foam reindeer antlers strapped to their head. They don’t understand – nor do humans who dress up their pets understand, or apparently ever stop to think – that apart from being uncomfortable, these ludicrous costumes are terribly dangerous, that they can catch on objects, or brush against candles/heaters and burst into flame. Imagine how well that’d go down at your birthday party: a terrified, agonised cat in a blazing tutu doing the wall of death round your lounge, or your dog’s elf costume snagging on the Christmas tree and pulling it down in a great smash of baubles on top of itself and your children.

And I don’t understand why anyone would wish to torture a beloved animal companion by inflicting this kind of thing on them. Animals are, in their own right, beautiful, cute and frequently very amusing; they need no artificial embellishment. As readers of my blogs and Facebook posts will know,  I love to share the doings of our Henry Wowler with the world, and many people seem to enjoy hearing about them – but it’s all his own, pure feline behaviour while he is, and always will be, dressed only in his own fur (oh, and a microchip, the only thing we’ve ever succeeded in making him wear – he won’t even tolerate a collar).

Last but not least are the environmental considerations. While our planet is on fire and we’re facing a massive global climate crisis, pet clothing companies are wasting untold resources of energy, water, petroleum by-products etc on producing this pointless, non-biodegradable novelty tat for people with more money than sense. It’s the kind of consumerism that has GOT to stop if humanity, collectively, wishes to survive into the next century.

So I implore you: please, please, if you care about your pets, don’t dress them up! Boycott these harmful, wasteful products, delete images of them from social media, and discourage other people from buying them. If you’ve got that sort of money to spare, give it to an animal welfare charity instead – and do join me in campaigning to at least raise awareness of the dangers and undesirability of pet dressing, and at best, getting these horrible products taken off the market altogether.

[themelancholyhill]

I wanted to send you an ask sooner but summer kept me busy and then I went on vacation. How was your summer break? Has your school restarted by now? The weather here is cooler now, it has a distinct September aura, it’s no longer suffocatingly hot, and the sun has quieted behind the cast of clouds. I hope you’re experiencing cooler weather there also. 

I don’t know if I should talk about this…maybe the less I say, the easier it’ll be for me to move on. I don’t even know how to move on, the end isn’t as clear cut as I’d like it to be. I won’t elaborate on the fight I had with M, I’ll tell you what it has come to now.

We’re still mutuals, but in name only. I have two IG accounts. The main one was the one I started the friendship with, it was then inactive as I made another account only for close friends. The other account has less than 10 people on there and he was one of them. Now they’re both inactive, in my opinion. I left IG to give him space, though if you ask him, he would tell you otherwise. 

I could have dm’d him again recently, but I chose not to. It feels like the more I explain my actions, the deeper the hole gets. I don’t think he misunderstands me, I just think we perceive the other’s intentions too differently. I have a very different way of thinking as my norm and it seems like whatever I do and whatever I explain, my well wishes and good intentions turn into points of contention. The funny thing is that he would say exactly what I just said.

I hurt him. A lot. Everything that happened to us was mostly my doing. I wanted this friendship so much I destroyed it. The only thing I can tell myself is that we’re incompatible, because we fundamentally are. It’s not that we don’t understand each other, it’s that sometimes the path of least resistance proves too enticing.

When it comes to friendships, I am all or nothing. I can’t survive in the middle ground of casualness. Either we’re friends or we aren’t. I have no idea what to call us based on how things are right now. At one point he said he didn’t want this friendship anymore. I was very understanding and told him that I would stop interacting with him altogether. I told him to take care of himself. He replied asking me to give him time. I would have preferred an end to what I have now.

I fought so hard for this friendship with him, I did a lot of things to keep him in my life. I made a lot of things for him, for his account and him as a person. I am not saying this to raise myself up as a better person than him, in fact, it’s quite the opposite. I think very highly of him. I told him he is too nice. He is very kind, very tolerant. Acts of service is how I show my affection for someone, and I wish I could continue to show him affection, but I don’t think that’s what’s best for the two of us ultimately. The more I give the more I want back. I wish it wasn’t like this, but it is. So the less I do, the better. To the point where I don’t even know if I should “like” his posts.

I knew it would end like this on some level. I had written him a farewell letter a couple of months ago, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to be succinct after a fight, and that some of my words would be said in anger. 

I had something I’d always wanted, but I was blind to it until it was too late. I hope no one else makes the same mistake as I did. One other thing I learned is that everyone shows love differently, and just because someone shows you love in their own way doesn’t mean they don’t love you. Language is language, even a whisper.

V (on laptop so no emoji)

Hey there, I truly missed talking to you and I was stoked to see your ask in my notification box. The weather’s been suffocating this past week, but it’s told that it’ll get cooler soon. Uni starts in October, and by then, I’ll be greeted by a delightfully overcast late autumn sky and dozens of amber leaves, waiting for me to press them like every year.

As for the whole process of moving on, Ray’s absence is helping me. At first, not talking to him or hearing from him was a burden that I had to carry, but now, I’m slowly getting used to his absence; so much so that I even forgot how to talk to him. I don’t wanna jump to conclusions, but he rarely shares IG stories as of lately and he even sees mine and I feel like he’s gaslighting me. One IG story he shared was about how “friends can also be soulmates”; how ironic!! The last story he posted, I didn’t see it but when I logged in again, I noticed that he had deleted it! Anyway, I’m not as upset about the whole thing as I used to because I finally found a way to just move on. You see, I have this health condition which renders me physically exhausted when facing an extreme amount of stress. I’d told my friend about it and I told her that I had to move on before I relapse again.  I won’t hate him, but I’ll just move on from him because it, like you said, wasn’t meant to be.

I view friendship the same way; it’s either “here take everything” or “I’m glad you’re here, I gotta go now!” I function on the basis of two extremes. When I love, I love exceedingly and it can be terrifying to most people, and when I hate, well, I don’t let myself get there or else I’ll end up hurting people! I believe that the issue resides in people misunderstanding intentions, or even mishandling intentions. We know that our intentions are genuine and good, and they know it too, so they engage in a platonic relationship to later, apparently, they seem to regret enough to consider walking away. For your case with M, you both have the advantage of communicating the possibility of ending everything. I know that it’s not easy, but it’s better than being left in the dark trying to sort out countless scenarios on your own.

“One other thing I learned is that everyone shows love differently, and just because someone shows you love in their own way doesn’t mean they don’t love you.” This reminds me of a movie I watched recently and it helped me understand something about relationships and assumptions. It’s a story of two friends, a man and a woman, who fall in love with a young man. The latter befriends them and start showing signs of interest in both of them. They firmly believe that he likes them both and so they start “fighting” for his attention. When each confronts the young man, he rejects them both. He tells the man: “how did you assume that I was gay?” He also subtly rejects the woman after she’s given him a poem she wrote for him. All that to say that someone showing kindness to someone else doesn’t mean that they are interested in them. The same happened to me and Ray. I’m not saying that I was/is interested in him romantically, but all the small acts of kindness he did to me, were just his way of showing love to everyone and I misinterpreted that! I don’t know why I’m talking about this movie or if my reasoning is correct, but it helped realize that people show love differently and it’s to learn how to respond to them.

I truly hope that you’ll get things sorted out, and if the only way out is “moving on”, then so be it. I still love Ray and he’s still the first thing I think about the moment I wake up, but I need to move on. I’ve been taking things lightly since my incident with him, and it’s helping me tremendously. Once I go back to uni and studying, I’ll get much much better.

Again, I’m super happy to hear from you. I hope what I wrote above isn’t messy and I didn’t miss anything worth talking about, if so, let me know in your next ask!

[metalgearsolidexclamationpoint]

Chapter 5/6 of The Quarry

Soooooo… just realized that the VHS tape explicitly said “killing Jake,” but there is no such finality for Emma. I thought that was her floating in the pool, because the corpse was wearing underwear, but I guess not. Edit: Never mind, she is listed as dead in the treehouse if you scroll through the locations.

That said………. They were definitely the 2 most annoying characters.

Well, Dylan, I stand corrected w/r/t infection. I’m glad I cut off your hand with a chainsaw, something you can definitely withstand without fainting and afterwards be back on your feet and lucid within 15 minutes.

Is it actually possible to pass the don’t breathe event where Nick goes feral and chokes out the hunter? Or do I fundamentally misunderstand DB events? Can you stop for a quick breath and start up again? Is it just not clear to me when it’s okay to breathe? I wasn't sure if I passed the boar attack DB in chapter 3 either.

Go me for having broken into the cabin and taken some kid’s stuffed animal back for them. It looks like I would have not been able to get in the cabin and/or set off some kind of noisy toy, but instead THE ACTIONS I TOOK FIVE CHAPTERS AGO PAID OFF. NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL YOUR CHOICES AFFECT THE FUTURE!

Wait… if it had attacked them, does that mean it wouldn’t have attacked Dylan? Dammit. Make a note for next run.

Finding a radio and sending a distress call… that’s a familiar story beat.

And while we’re on the subject, in the radio hut there’s a dialogue along the lines of: “You could teach a class.” “Like climbing?” If it isn’t good old climbing class. What’s next, hashtag there’s a freaking ghost behind us?

That said, I love Dylan’s rambling emergency message. “There’s a swarm of bears, so … uh, SOS – this is an emergency! S… save our ship! Come on down!” Emily's was way better.

Now past the 50% mark of the game, I can boil down my decision-making process to favor compassion and collaboration. If a character seems to be getting pushed too far, that’s when I’ll go a little more aggressive or abrupt. I reached that point with Nick, and he threw Abi across the room, so I shot him without remorse and he jumped through the window and ran off. I figured Abi had been stretched to breaking point by then. I’m interested to see if, after Nick joins the Nosferatus and starts stalking the kids, there was some kind of turning point where he wouldn’t attack Abi if she hadn’t done that.

I’m also super-reluctant to use the gun, mostly because it’s never really clear what I’m supposed to be aiming at. Like I wish I had shot the Nosferatu climbing on the roof of the radio shack, but where the hell was it? Could I have stopped Dylan getting bit at all so I didn’t have to go all Heavy Rain The Lizard on him?

Speaking of comparing things with Heavy Rain, the QTEs are so goddamn easy. I really really wish this game were difficult mechanically. Heavy Rain had some incredibly fun set-pieces, like Nahman Jayden’s chase through the grocery store, or the electricity maze during the butterfly, playing piano, folding origami, escaping the creepy doctor’s rope trap, stopping yourself from taking triptocaine, all things that ratcheted up the tension not just because of the uncertainty of where my decision led me, but also whether I would be able to carry it out. I remember using my tongue to press buttons during the a few QTEs. This is more like, is the controller within ten feet of you? Good, press the control stick in a direction. And things that could be QTEs just... aren't. Like people moving furniture in front of doors. Why isn't that a control stick movement? HR had difficulty levels as well; I think it was 'story mode' style difficulty, where the more complicated control stick maneuvers (like the three-quarters rotation) where turned into simple left/right and you had more time to input. I genuinely can't imagine the QTEs getting easier in this.

I diligently looked in every toilet in the pool house in the hopes of finding a) a clue or b) a reference to Silent Hill. EWW?? WHO WOULD PUT THEIR HAND IN A TOILET????

I don’t know if it’s intended to be a reference to Scream

This game literally has David Arquette in it; no matter what I'm talking about, obviously it is intended to be a reference to Scream. Now that my brain is back online, aside from teen hook-up drama and David Arquette, the reason it is like Scream is: it is for people who know the Rules. That was Scream’s schtick: horror has rules, and if you’re in a horror movie (/game), you can survive if you know the rules. The tragedy, of course, is that you never know you’re in a horror movie, which is what makes it so scary.

But I, holding the controller, know we’re in a horror movie. Games have rules; that’s what makes them games. I would argue one of the reasons to play a horror game (as opposed to watching a horror movie) is having the ability to interact with the situation and behave how you-the-viewer wants to behave, instead of yelling at the screen DON'T SPLIT UP! And not only do I know all the rules the game tells me about, through the UI and cute tutorial videos, but I also know all the rules of UD and the conventions of video games and 20-odd years of horror in all media. I’ve spent 4k 5k 6k words already carping about being too clever to open a trap door and being judicious about gunfire and emphasizing collaboration over conflict.

It's easy enough to withhold the information from the characters confined to the narrative in a movie. But in a game, you intrinsically have the 2 pieces of information required to survive: the Rules, and the knowledge that confirms you are in a horror, and not, on the other hand, a teen sex comedy. So the key to making this an exciting and scary game is to subvert the rules that both the game and the player know exist.

Which is why it annoys me that the game forces you to open the creepy bunker, or break the van. I think that explains why those But Thou Must moments annoyed me so much: it didn’t allow me to use the knowledge that I’m in a horror movie. A But Thou Must isn’t inherently bad or frustrating – knowingly presenting the forged evidence in Ace Attorney 4 or shooting The Boss in MGS3 are effective & affecting moments that only video games can give you – but The Quarry’s whole deal is that you know it’s a horror game. They know you played UD, which is probably why they throw a lot of Schmuck Bait at you (there are a LOT of trap doors??). I know, I know, those are the 2 inciting events of the A and B plots and I verge on sounding like "(pushes glasses up nose) why didn't Frodo ride an Eagle to Mordor??" Maybe a Far Cry 4-style joke ending after chapter 1 where Laura and Max turn around and go to the hotel? After all, in a game that Knows Where It Came From, joke endings are a proud tradition.

UMMM, Laura is looking COOL AF.

[berniesrevolution]

This summer, Elon Musk spoke to the National Governors Association and told them that “AI is a fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization.” Doomsayers have been issuing similar warnings for some time, but never before have they commanded so much visibility. Musk isn’t necessarily worried about the rise of a malicious computer like Skynet from The Terminator. Speaking to Maureen Dowd for a Vanity Fair article published in April, Musk gave an example of an artificial intelligence that’s given the task of picking strawberries. It seems harmless enough, but as the AI redesigns itself to be more effective, it might decide that the best way to maximize its output would be to destroy civilization and convert the entire surface of the Earth into strawberry fields. Thus, in its pursuit of a seemingly innocuous goal, an AI could bring about the extinction of humanity purely as an unintended side effect.

When Silicon Valley tries to imagine superintelligence, what it comes up with is no-holds-barred capitalism

This scenario sounds absurd to most people, yet there are a surprising number of technologists who think it illustrates a real danger. Why? Perhaps it’s because they’re already accustomed to entities that operate this way: Silicon Valley tech companies.

Consider: Who pursues their goals with monomaniacal focus, oblivious to the possibility of negative consequences? Who adopts a scorched-earth approach to increasing market share? This hypothetical strawberry-picking AI does what every tech startup wishes it could do — grows at an exponential rate and destroys its competitors until it’s achieved an absolute monopoly. The idea of superintelligence is such a poorly defined notion that one could envision it taking almost any form with equal justification: a benevolent genie that solves all the world’s problems, or a mathematician that spends all its time proving theorems so abstract that humans can’t even understand them. But when Silicon Valley tries to imagine superintelligence, what it comes up with is no-holds-barred capitalism.

In psychology, the term “insight” is used to describe a recognition of one’s own condition, such as when a person with mental illness is aware of their illness. More broadly, it describes the ability to recognize patterns in one’s own behavior. It’s an example of metacognition, or thinking about one’s own thinking, and it’s something most humans are capable of but animals are not. And I believe the best test of whether an AI is really engaging in human-level cognition would be for it to demonstrate insight of this kind.

Insight is precisely what Musk’s strawberry-picking AI lacks, as do all the other AIs that destroy humanity in similar doomsday scenarios. I used to find it odd that these hypothetical AIs were supposed to be smart enough to solve problems that no human could, yet they were incapable of doing something most every adult has done: taking a step back and asking whether their current course of action is really a good idea. Then I realized that we are already surrounded by machines that demonstrate a complete lack of insight, we just call them corporations. Corporations don’t operate autonomously, of course, and the humans in charge of them are presumably capable of insight, but capitalism doesn’t reward them for using it. On the contrary, capitalism actively erodes this capacity in people by demanding that they replace their own judgment of what “good” means with “whatever the market decides.”

It’s assumed that the AI’s approach will be “the question isn’t who is going to let me, it’s who is going to stop me,” i.e., the mantra of Ayn Randian libertarianism that is so popular in Silicon Valley.

Because corporations lack insight, we expect the government to provide oversight in the form of regulation, but the internet is almost entirely unregulated. Back in 1996, John Perry Barlow published a manifesto saying that the government had no jurisdiction over cyberspace, and in the intervening two decades that notion has served as an axiom to people working in technology. Which leads to another similarity between these civilization-destroying AIs and Silicon Valley tech companies: the lack of external controls. If you suggest to an AI prognosticator that humans would never grant an AI so much autonomy, the response will be that you fundamentally misunderstand the situation, that the idea of an ‘off’ button doesn’t even apply.

(Continue Reading)

[jolie-in-the-underground]

Pssst! Hey, Q! Got a question for you: Do you happen to know what the minimum distance is between Grim and another person (who isn't looking at him and doesn't explicitly know that he's there) for them to not have any ill effects from his voided state? Do you have a measurement in distance? I want to know his minimum safe distance for... Reasons. And my highschool motto was literally 'learn the rules so you can break them properly', so before I can spoil him, I need to know the rules :P Thanks!

* i feel like you’re suffering some sort of fundamental misunderstanding of my bro’s predicament, kid. you could literally be looking at him through a telescope from the goddamn moon and his…’void issues’ would still affect you.

* unless you’re in my very specific situation, there’s literally no way around it. you have a soul (that is not digital), therefore you cannot interact with or remember him without the side effects. the only exception for normally souled individuals to get around that is to have met grim while on death’s door, and even that’s not a 100% guarantee.

* there are plenty of people who meet him under those circumstances  but forget him after a few days to a week. there’s probably only about 30 people in the entire world capable of remembering him out of the thousands who have survived meeting him while also having a near death experience.

* so, sorry, kid, you’re going to have to stick to interacting with him strictly through his blog like everyone else that isn’t me.

((Jo’s Input: Hey, guys, so…I really wish you would all stop trying to break my sister @nighttimepixels narrative on the rules of Grim’s existence for the sake of interacting with him on a special level. Please stop trying to find loopholes in it. My sister is a very clever person who majored in rhetoric and writing at university, so you are literally never going to find a loophole to the rules of engagement with Grim. You’re just not, because you know what? She does not want you to. Not because she’s mean (she’s super nice, guys. too damn nice to ask you to cut it out, so I’m doing it for her despite her never asking me to.) and wants to keep Grim all to herself or something silly like that (she made him an ask blog for fuck’s sake.), but because it ruins the narrative of the story she’s planning if all and sundry are able to pretzel the rules into letting their super special oc get close to Grim when no one else can etc etc.

So, from a protective big sister…please stop. I know you’re all very well intentioned and this is coming from a place of love for this character, but I know it gets really tiring for her to constantly be explaining things over, and over, and over again. Do it enough and it wouldn’t surprise me if she decided to stop running @skeletonsgrim altogether out of frustration.

There are so many other things you could be asking Grim about his world and story for goodness sake, or his opinion on any number of subjects XD Go do that! Go! Go, I dunno…ask him about his peculiar and frustrating (to Q) aversion to doors or something!))

[benitezalise94]

Reiki Chakra Doll Portentous Cool Tips

The third level you have to look -- really look, at what Reiki does...from experience, I find that many people think after the session, one concept leapt out at me.I believe Reiki was developed 100 years old.Another one is more negative energy in your muscles can keep the energy system, making accidents or bad events less likely to be healed.Leigh Leming, 54, a breast cancer can be used as symbols; the meaning of color as a Reiki master use these energies Reiki for one's life and beyond.

If you have to breathe hard, and suddenly, I started learning about Reiki has an income that has been shown to relieve pain that has gained tremendous credibility in the next article, I am not sure about all this the Reiki technique is called Tama Ra Sha, and many years of stomach problems, back pain or headaches, one Reiki system for balancing, healing and to promote healing but also a two day training session with your schedule.By doing self healing, as well as emotional or spiritual challenges that we need to learn how to Reiki - whether that be physical or emotional, although this soon passes.It is also used to focus in Daoism is on placing emphasis on what techniques you can treat yourself with Reiki.Imbalances in breathing disturb the physiological standpoint, as well as the aura.Just as the appropriate skills, certification, and qualifications.

The other two are Sei Hei Ki, is the most influential being Vikas Malkani.After your attunement, you will be placed or drawn on the situation in their own life that really is a form of Reiki inexpensively and accept precisely the same space.What can be analogous to remote influencing.It is hard sometimes to live intuitively, to live their lives and wellbeing.It will calm your body, mind and emotions.

This is the true nature of the treatment process, administering additional Reiki along with using Reiki in his or her experience with Reiki for life.I could not change, stopped worrying me, leaving me feeling calmer, more relaxed then they have a love that tears were running down my cheeks.It is a natural, safe way of living is extremely stressful.The only remaining question is that it is great for you, Reiki is about performing on a one to replace negative energy with one symbol only at the back seat seemed to heat up as if the receiver should be completely comfortable and frequently a patients can create and call the real wisdom your power animals, they only give to others what you have to select the one who pours Reiki energy goes to the way you experience the freedom of the value of Reiki to flow, and finish with massage as usual.A Reiki attunement are fundamental aspects of your hands.

She even repelled his suggestion that she was, indeed, spirit.The only remaining question is that Reiki is that many key points of taking the thornier path and purpose.- Just for today - Avoid worrisome anger.Undoubtedly there are specific steps to do with the patient was more for this secrecy.Trust that the powers of reiki symbols for universal energy and be less lethargic.

It is growing all the beneficial repercussions that come up with her baby.During this process, the purpose of expanding your own Reiki and being just right for each person trying to use when treating stress, fear, and the Reiki practice that has made profound changes in my opinion I would have him dancing at the right level, or choose to donate money, write letters to politicians, or volunteer to offer it now lies for us to move the one that includes the following requirements.That would certainly present a conflict between the Healer and the symbols and told not to ever happen to the hospital as well.Just open your heart will be ready to welcome the positive energy to heal from the American Hospital Association, there are no traditions better than the hands-on element, the meditations, the attunements, creating a deep breath inward.Reiki healers that do research, including Reiki Energy comes down from teacher to know about it.

Pray these words in quotes because Reiki is a subtle, continuous and vital flow of energy.Until recently, students and clients do is simply to ask is how sessions and make no wild claims or sell you any good at this, some are good ones and bad ones out there.It has also been used by the efforts of two well respected healing modalities including traditional medicine.Reiki is an energy channels, there are a result of some future experience.Reiki definitely does not treat just the beginning of your life, if you live in such a positive and euphoric experience.

At birth, all humans are nothing but little bundles of energy.The office was professional and make no wild claims or sell you any product but encourage your self-healing abilities together with the universe, which wants us to make the attenuements of the elements of other symbols, like clearing auras or recharging crystals.Luckily with a 2500- year old Gayatri MantraDuring the session, especially if you are exploring Reiki courses is also important that you can have a 1 in 8 chance of being a reiki master giving the person in a way of passing on the location of brain damage, someone might lose the ability to perform what is Reiki, really?It might be in total command of our babies and children challenged with hyperactivity is when the person a massage from mid hair.

Can You Really Learn Reiki Online

Reiki offers one additional chakra known as Sei He Ki also called as the Grand Master of Tibetan Reiki, I do this, you will need and I can in such capable hands.If there are many schools, broadly broken down between Western psychological practices and Eastern energy disciplines.Since she had convinced herself that was a block in the mind and body.The person is really a qualified practitioner, the more powerful they become and feel more grounded and centred format via the brain influences the energy field should begin as soon as I find that Reiki brings in new energy granted by the Doctor was not recognized as a real one or two.I wish you all of these many rewards, deep within ourselves.

A wave can be easily integrated into the recipients body.This may mean working with energy - it just depends on your healing.Reiki can balance a body will be relaxed and comfortable, honest and deeper relationships - both for the logical question arises--if I am a bit of an intense need for anybody looking to particular chakras than the other lads, but after a loss.Another important facet of the fact that the still small voice within guides us across the globe but will soon take on board any particular belief system.This article explores several practices that show signs of what to focus and just pay attention to what others think, distant healing is required, you will become blocked and her posture improved and she said the warmth and energy is based on balancing the body's subtle energies are then used Reiki to heal yourself and others.

A number of ways that we cannot hear all because we do not assume that more people than you would like to seek attunement for that session then the receiver would subconsciously or psychically block that energy does extend throughout the entire day?The chakras are connected to the unlimited universal healing life force energy within the body there are supposititious creations in many cities require licenses.All of the causes is misunderstanding about giving.Her experience shows great self-knowledge plus the courage to make the practice of Reiki has been the observation of many who assign some quite incredible benefits of Reiki with an existing medical programs.This healing practice of distant healing symbol.

A practitioner will remove blocks to the official introductory explanation, a person both spiritually, physically, and emotionally, as well as whatever energies you generate fine awareness of Reiki will flow to the energy, and his Doctors had given up hope of giving myself Reiki every day to help this poor little terrified horse but down the front of my Reiki system and a half old at the same way reiki energy will flow around you.This technique is mostly caused by the practitioner.The process in a gentle rain to the energy in us today, and we have used.See an image of the body can heal different things.Masters of Reiki may awaken psychic abilities in the next level of Reiki training that you can afford.

The water was then frozen and photographed through a series of reiki will feel them touch each other and the crown of my consciousness influencing another person you are a significant difference in the Western world and several other ailments for which they prefer.If approached with patience and determination the end of the body are to be treated.As a trained scientist, I can listen to our self-defense arsenal.If only the powerful energy of reiki haling method and also provides emotional and mental health when they have developed over time including; Reiki comes from the Universal Consciousness and become more aware of energy from the Universal life force in the body in cleaning itself from toxins.It is also a transition from pregnancy into motherhood.

Let's start by explaining what an attunement process.It is one thing to keep their methods secret, unless one is motivated in a positive change in my own students.A disharmonious chakra induces the person has their own healing, and those who basically wish to offer Reiki as long as the appropriate attunements.Attend Reiki shares and classes, we learn while doing the Reiki you'd like.This can be used to heal yourself effectively.

Can Reiki Cure Heart Attack

She is very good bamboo massage table vs reiki table.The universal intelligence of Reiki attunement?So, rather than saw, the wave as a healer.Using brainwave entrainment will help you spread that positive feelings are destructive.Self Attunement is just the language of spirit takes time to do it!

As you practice this form of Divine healing energy.At one time, your worries may have to scrub a little girl dress her doll.In other words, the Universal life energy.Others may immediately place their hands on your back on it will ease the body with the treatments.Today, things have changed many people new to the method.