#i may not know as much as id like about the colonies but i do know that they’re mostly fixated on preserving japanese tradition and culture

[kreachvera]

i should draw crows 8 siblings sometime <-delusional

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Trimax Thoughts Vol. 5 Pt. 2

I want to talk about Knives for a sec. Up to where I've read in the manga so far, we really don't have much of an understanding of him yet. I think I may have a slight advantage in having watched one of the shows before starting (I've watched Tristamp) because otherwise I don't know if I would quite get what to make of him so far.

I won't say anything about Tristamp here since I'm not going to assume everyone in book club has seen it, but I did draw a conclusion from it that, after reading volume 5, I am almost positive applies to the manga version of Knives too.

Knives treats Vash as if he were an extension of himself.

[ID: A panel from Trigun Maximum volume 5. Knives stands casually, holding a cup and smiling as he greets his brother in Vash and Hoppered's shared flashback to July. Hoppered thinks "It's him..." as Knives says "Hey Vash." End ID.]

Ok so first off I need to establish something because it's important. Listen. I have no doubt that Knives loves his brother. I do not doubt that. But his behaviour towards Vash is actively and deeply cruel. Knives is friendly up until Vash disagrees with him, and then his mood suddenly changes for the worse - he has gone so far as to specifically target people Vash loves just to break the ideology he disagrees with, shifted culpability from himself to solely on Vash several times, violated his autonomy, and has on a few occasions physically restrained him. <- That's. Really bad. I would argue that these behaviours are in keeping with uh... pretty textbook manipulative/abusive behaviours.

However, here’s the thing: these kinds of behaviours are typically perpetrated because the person wants power over the victim. I think it's easy to read that into it, but I honestly don't think that's Knives' intention at all. He wants Vash with him. If anything his little "Watch it!" when Vash shoves him away just after the colony ships fall reads as genuine confusion. He's incredulous every time Vash points his gun at him. After all, as Knives puts it: they're brothers. They only have each other.

If Knives wants power over anything, I'd argue it's power over Rem, not Vash. He sees Vash's suffering and believes it was her who "made him like this", disregarding his own accountability in both Vash's continued pain... and her death. I do have to wonder if his attempts to break Vash's pacifism is also an attempt to make Rem's ghost leave them both for good, because there is no way Millions "I thought I'd spare her but now I see she was just as flawed" Knives felt no sadness or remorse over her death.

[ID: A screenshot from Trigun Volume 2. Knives sits in the escape ship with most of his face shadowed. He is hunched slightly, with a difficult to read, rather blank expression. End ID.]

^He is totally not bothered by this, definitely a-ok with her death. /j

But here's the thing: I really do think Knives believes that without Rem's influence, his brother will think and act exactly like him; that she has "corrupted" him somehow. This plays out in the way he's almost eager to show Vash their Plant abilities, apparently completely ignoring that Vash is confused and terrified - there's a serious dissonance to their interactions, where Knives seems less uncaring then oblivious to Vash's obvious distress. A good first indicator is directly before Fifth Moon, where Knives realizes that Vash has blocked out the memory of July, and is more intrigued than alarmed by this. Idk man if that was my brother I would be. Concerned.

See, if you read Knives as wanting power over Vash, then it's kind of reminiscent of the older sibling who thinks they know what's best for the younger. Indeed, that is the role Knives seems to take on at times.

But Knives is not actually older. They're twins.

Zazie also has an intriguing line after seeing the lengths Vash will go to in order to protect those he cares for: "It definitely isn't in Knives' nature to fight for anyone." <- This is an odd conclusion to come to for someone who is supposedly doing everything for a new world that's safe for all Plants, including Vash. I'm choosing to take Zazie at their word since I don't think they would have any real reason to lie or really see the point in lying.

So, what this implies is exactly what I stated earlier - Knives makes little, if any distinction between him and Vash. The world is divided into "same" and "different", "family" and "threat". It unfortunately allows Knives to continuously undermine Vash's autonomy - it's fine to forcibly activate Vash's angel arm because it's "our" power. It's fine for the doctor to poke and prod at Vash's arm to get readings because Knives is supervising it. Vash will stick with him because they're brothers, right? Of course he will. And if he doesn't... well that can't possibly be Vash. It's Rem's corrupting influence. And that makes him violently angry as he attempts to destroy any last trace of her that persists in his brother. Because surely, without her, Vash would be just like him, right?

One last note I'd like to make is the way Knives keeps obscuring Vash's face when he forcibly activates Vash's angel arm.

[ID: Two screenshots from Trigun and Trigun Maximum. The first image shows Knives grabbing Vash's face as he forces him to activate his angel arm during the Fifth Moon incident. The second image is of the same during the July flashback. End ID.]

The thing is, you can't argue this is necessary to activate the ability. In the July flashback, Knives actually has his hand placed rather gently on the side of Vash's head... up until Vash tries to resist. That's when Knives slams his hand down over his face instead and shoves him onto the floor.

In the context of Knives seeing Vash as an extension of himself, it could take on a few different meanings. If he muffles Vash's screaming and crying, perhaps he doesn't have to see the clear distress on his brother's face. Maybe it's representative of stripping Vash of his personal choice in these scenes. Maybe because this is the truth of the matter - Knives does not want to see the person Vash is if that person is so wildly different from himself, to ruin the illusion of twin as extension instead of a separate person.

Meanwhile, Vash is trying so hard to be everything Knives isn't. Knives' face is shadowed in flashbacks to create distance between them until July reveals the destruction they both caused and Vash can no longer deny the harm he too is capable of causing. The twins cause me emotional damage man.

[that-one-paintbrush]

BFDI objects are a different breed to II objects. They can interbreed but both styles of reproduction are only available to the crossbreeds. II objects are live bearing and reproduce quite like squids and worms. I will not go into specifics but know that they do not mix genetic material from genetically different limbs to reproduce. They trade colonialism for the ability to choose their partner. This would have resulted in a smooth transition to society if not for the last defining feature of their reproduction.

It was said by Goiky scientists that it would be truly impossible for objects to produce a complete object. That it would be far too resource demanding for a creature to produce everything from wood to gold. But inanimate earth objects do just that. ( They can even, in rare occasions, produce fatal materials to the dam.) How they do this is by entering a state dubbed "hyperphagia".

Their brain shuts down as do many facilities to lessen strain on their body. The amount varies but is not linked at all to the individual personality despite legends and superstition. A pregnant object will undergo one of three types of trances.

Deep hyperphagia: a near complete shut down of higher reasoning. Almost animalistic, the object will be unable to properly understand simple mechanics like locks and faucets. Often they will become dirty and bruised. This state is the basis for many a horror movie.

Mild hyperphagia: a middle ground. An object may be able to reason and open simple doors as well as even be able to vocalize short words. They can reason and even plan somewhat. If provided proper facilities they keep themselves well and clean. This is noted as the most desirable outcome.

Sirenic hyperphagia: the most terrifying of the hyperphagia. Objects are able to reason, plan, solve puzzles, and masquerade as completely unafflicted. Most accidents occur when a sirenic hyperphagic object manages to fool a weaker willed object into releasing them. They will attempt to reason with others with the sole desire of fulfilling their objective.

All of the above states have one linking factor. The object enters a state wherin they try to eat as much as possible. Almost all of their nutrients during this time go to the arduous task of making the infant. The nutrients in question can include other objects. Cannibalism is expected.

There is ... one other state of hyperphagia. But this is running too long... Lemme know if you want more world building crud.

ohh shit this is so cool id totally love to hear more

and just to confirm youre talking about ii objects, right?

[purble-gaymer]

i need to talk about falspar before i explode

okay so here’s the guy we’re talking about plus information that will be important going forward:

number 1. he is genderfluid and uses any pronouns but primarily he/him

number 2. he is aro/pan (but he doesn't know the aro part for a while)

number 3. autism adhd and a healthy dose of rejection sensitive dysphoria

without further ado, here is my lore dump

(also: warnings for child neglect and drug use)

for the sake of structuring my thoughts i'm gonna pull from a couple songs that have been fueling all this. i know it's cliche to have mother mother in character playlists but you have to trust me okay. because it's ball cap and touch up and the album they're from is dear to my heart

let's talk about astrals. in case you thought otherwise, this is going to be very headcanon-heavy so i'm opening with my hardest hitter and that's astral reproduction.

option 1: mitosis. can only be performed once due to the unstable nature of void creatures

option 2: random birth as a result of the random collision of light matter particles in space

in the case of option 2, the newborn usually just drifts around until they get caught in a planet's orbit and pulled to the ground. in the case of either option, they imprint on the first creature they see. only really a problem for option 2.

falspar here is option 2. he landed on mekkai before the whole planet became industrialized, which happened gradually during his time there. (additional note before i forget to put it anywhere: mekkai's vernacular is derivative of german because german is like 'the science language.' he grows up speaking both common and this yet-to-be-named vernacular.) when he's eventually found, he ends up in foster care because astrals live for a really long time and most species on mekkai aren't able to take care of someone for that long. he has no memory of whoever he may have imprinted on, but it never mattered to him that much.

(even if it's always felt like something was missing.)

so here's my first pull from ball cap:

I like the treetops 'Cause they're reaching just like me And I'm tied up in knots Like the brambles and the weeds

this stanza feels to me like it's from the perspective of a child. it feels like they're trying to fit in, or trying to understand why they struggle to fit in.

here's where some of that stuff i mentioned earlier comes in. all of it, actually, even if he didn't quite know all of it yet. 1, trans kid. astrals are born genderless and some ID otherwise later on. i imagine mekkai to be somewhat similar to human society, being so technologically advanced. something about colonialism and forcing the gender binary and now in the current day our young astral is very confused why everyone is trying to assign him an arbitrary label for something he doesn't have. of course it's too early for him to really question anything, but the confusion is always there.

2, welcome to my obligatory "you are aromantic" segment. wanna know how annoying it is to be aro in a romance-focused society? extremely! and that shit sticks with you forever unfortunately so you really have to try and unlearn it! this comes in more later and i'll talk about it then, but similar to point 1 there's the inkling that something is wrong, even if he doesn't know what just yet.

and 3, neurodivergent. here's where i insert my 'astrals are like cats' headcanon and tell you all astrals are autistic and there's nothing you can do to stop me. anyway, this is the bit that ties to this lyric the most at this point. yknow when you feel different and don't know why? or you do know why, and you're even more conscious about how you're just not like everyone around you? that's what this line is to me. reaching to understand your peers, but ultimately extending your arms and finding nothing in your grasp, just empty sky.

so, he starts not really fitting in anywhere. nowhere feels right. no one seems interested in him. he's loud, excitable, enthusiastic, but it seems to scare people off more than it invites them in. he moves between families a lot for the first few decades because, again, no one on mekkai is really equipped to deal with a kid who ages and matures ten times slower than the average person on the planet. this makes schooling especially bad--how do you even compensate for something like that? moving him up each year is far too fast, keeping him in the same grade for ten years is pointlessly excessive. it's complicated and he gets through it, but not without a lot of struggle. completing work always feels like a fight.

moving on: remember how awful it is being in your early to mid-teens? we're there now and all three things i mentioned before have only begun weighing on him more now that he's starting to understand them. societal pressure rolls around again! sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll being ostracized by your peers for not following the norm!

we can scratch that first one off the list because aro + terrified of emotional intimacy. the aro thing isn’t a problem but it is certainly confusing and he's like the equivalent of 16 at this point and has no fucking clue what any of that means. it sure as hell doesn't make him feel better about himself. second one's easy but we'll get to that in a moment. i only put the third one there for the joke but he probably does like rock. and the fourth is basically at the forefront of his thoughts the entire time.

this is about the time where he starts noticing things. a lot to do with his current family, mostly that...they don't really seem interested in him. no one ever has. he could never really make friends because they would all grow up and move on without him. his past family members cared about him, sure, but he always knew he would have to leave eventually, so he tried not to get attached. the longer he sits on this, the more sick of it he becomes. after a while he decides he's going to get someone's attention, whether it's good attention or not.

here's where the drugs come back. it's crazy what a little brain-altering substance can do. suddenly, you have no inhibitions, no fears, and falspar ends up with some friends for the first time. or at least, with people who don't find him unbearable to be around. he's not exactly close with any of them, but at least he's not alone, right?

here's another line that's relevant for this portion:

Oh, don't you know that beauty is only skin deep? Well, baby, baby, come on and skin me

his current state is a culmination of peer pressure, the weight of societal standards, and his refusal to really be vulnerable with anyone, only able to do so with great pain. this is a very confusing, very stressful period of one's life and everything that's happened up to this point is only making things worse.

but the drugs help. at least somewhat. he's able to talk to people. he can be normal for once. he goes along with his friends, and he's happy. at least, he's pretty sure he is. what starts as regular fun after-school activities starts to turn into some not-so-legal ones. but they're still pretty fun, he'll admit. the thrill practically gives him the same high as a smoke.

when his family hears, they aren't happy. falspar is, though. they start keeping a closer eye on him, making sure he gets home on time, and while he's still sneaking out with his friends from time to time, it's nice to know someone is wondering what he's doing.

it was nice for a while, at least. what he isn't ready for is after he became a legal adult, they asked him to leave. well, 'asked' is a gentle way to put it.

he manages to get ahold of a few closer friends who graduated recently and were living together in the next town over, and they invite him to stay with them. he's stressed at first, afraid of being a burden, finding a job as soon as possible to help out. after a few months, he gets more comfortable, and then...

freedom. for the first time, he doesn't feel...obligated to be one way or another. he works and helps around the house, and in the evening he and his friends hang out and smoke and play games and for once, he's happy. he really, really is, and the morning he wakes up and realizes it he decides it's time for a change. he cuts his hair and picks out a new name and he's finally started to understand himself.

i haven't said anything about touch up yet, so here's a bit from the bridge that i'm about to rip into:

I forget that I can remember when I was young, climbing up fences Scraping my knees, dirt on my cheeks Not one makeover queen bone in me

there's a stark contrast between falspar's younger self and who he becomes as he grows up. to address this stanza directly, there's the obliviousness that comes with being a child. there's no bigger picture, there's no pressure to be someone you're not, to pretend to be like the people around you for their approval. maybe something was off, but what did it matter? those problems seem so small now.

as he gets older, in comes the confusion, the isolation, the self-loathing. something was wrong, something, even if he didn't know exactly what, and it was excruciating. there had to be an answer, right? yet no matter how much he searched and fought, he could never find one.

and then, escaping all that, and being allowed to breathe freely. you have other problems now, sure, but all that weight is gone. somehow just the idea of being an 'adult' now opens up so many doors, and for the first time in, hell, maybe his entire life, falspar looks in the mirror and smiles back at the person he sees in it.

the repetition of the line "All my makeup, it has washed off" has two meanings in this context. the first, and more positive, being that he's able to do...anything, really. he can relax. unmask. he doesn't have to perform for anyone. he can remove the paint and be himself and for once he's not going to be forced to conform. it doesn't matter what other people think, you are alive, why shouldn't he be able to live authentically?

the second relates to his younger self again. this whole song feels like the buildup to a breakdown, eventually coming to a close with the constant repeat of "I need a touch up/give me the touch up," and one finally slam on the guitar, the exhausting aftermath playing out as it slowly fades to nothing. losing that mask is devastating, he can't be seen without it, he'll be cast out again, discarded, abandoned, and he can't let that happen, not now, not after everything. and once it's over, he's left alone, in the dark, too afraid to turn to anyone no matter how badly he wants to.

okay. this is getting really long and i'd love to add how he gets to the gsa here, but i think i've said enough. i'm done with the song analysis at this point, too, so i'll have to talk about it some other time.

YEESH feels good to get all that out of my system. if you've made it to the end of this, thank you so much for reading. it means a lot. can you tell i really really like this guy?

[anomaly-sanctum]

hello.

request.

may i see the flex bugs. and umbrella bugs.

- @wandering-insect

Ah, hello Wanderer! We can most certainly share pictures of Buzzwole and Pheromosa!

As you may already know about Absorption, who is our helpful Buzzswole who opted to stay at the sanctuary after recovering from a back injury!

They now like to help around with some of the heavy lifting! They are one of select few individual Ultra Beasts we consider safe enough to leave their species' designated biome!

[Photo ID - Absorption, the Buzzswole, flexing. They are partially turned away from the camera, showing off more of their back. In addition to one of the wings having artificial patches, there is a large scar across it's back.]

The "shiny" Buzzswole on the other hand, prefers their territory in our Ultra Jungle biome!

Like Pokémon, Ultra Beasts may also experience the rare "shiny" mutation that alters their coloring! "Shinies" are much more vulnerable in the wild on account of being more easily visible compared to their counterparts of typical coloration, and are sometimes known to have health issues! More often than not, some of our residents end up being shiny!

[Photo ID - Absorption standing several feet away from a shiny Buzzswole. They are having a flexing contest.]

As for the Pheromosa: Empress is a special Pheromosa, who prefers to be near the "Jenga" colony of Stakataka! This has been a most unique observation in the both of them, as in my observation and experience, Pheromosa tend to be very territorial and their territories are rather vast; they may only allow trusted individuals within their domain. Stakataka also do not always enjoy something or someone sitting atop of them.

She has some mobility issues, presumably due to an old injury. Most would not recognize this unless they are familiar with how far and how fast Pheromosa can travel.

She had actually gone uncaptured for a year in Alola, however, before she became a resident! This is mostly due to the fact that she stayed hidden and largely undetected, yet still stayed within a small range compared the typical size Pheromosa twrritories.

Now she is much more willing to be out in the open!

And, while Stakataka tend to be stationary for the most part, the Jenga Colony is considerably quite mobile! We believe they are helping Empress get around in longer distances!

[Photo ID - A Pheromosa sitting on top of a Stakataka brick with her legs crossed.]

We also have a shiny Pheromosa resident, who is rather shy! She does not mind visitors from a distant however, so one of our employees got this wonderful picture!

[photo ID - A sideview shiny Pheromosa in an ultra desert-looking setting, the sunset reflecting off of her exoskeleton as well as some of the crystals around her.]

[mahoushoujotechsupport]

ok weeks later i am finally continuing my gwitch rewatch lolz. time for episode 12.... someone PLEASE tell tumblr to stop erasing my posts just as im about to hit post and not being able to undo it because i had the longest write up and now here i am.... rewriting again and trying to remember what i'd written. i'm gonna scream lmao

this part feels so awful now that the series is over and thinking back on ep 24. miorine just comes to, all to see the doors closed and hear suletta's screams and sophie's gunshots on the other side. no doubt in my mind this girl probably dealt with awful nightmares about suletta dying after quiet zero

i know prospera did use this as another XP level up for aerial, but jeez, imagine how much confidence she has in suletta and eri to be able to say something like this. like not just that suletta will go to aerial, but that together they can take on the attackers who at the time prospera didn't know shit about

lmao i dont think ive ever felt so confidently about something that id bet my whole life ln it

ad stella universe is crazy because i can only think the big liberatarian ancap society is some silicon valley fascist's wet dream because how else do you explain the business management girl knowing 1337 hacker skills

stupid asshole

sophie and norea are such tragic characters to me goddamn. like how often were they practicing their piloting to be able to be good enough to join on a mission like this? were they upping their permet score during practice too?

and why exactly is it them who pilot the lfriths instead of someone else from DoF? we never really get a clear answer on why it has to be the teenage girls when later on we see there's a ton of grown men around. i think given what else we know of ad stella, though, it doesn't matter much when we have asticassia as a school for the elite that basically serves for furthering earthian oppression be it by force (ie. see guel's original plans for joining dominicus) or just continuing to further the spoils of space capitalism

when you think of it that way, i don't see DoF any different than say palestinians fighting back against oppression from IDF forces. unless you're a racist fuck, you can't blame palestinian kids for throwing rocks at IDF soldiers, so i can't really blame norea and sophie for joining the fight

to quote fanon:

National liberation, national renaissance, the restoration of nationhood to the people, commonwealth: whatever may be the headings used or the new formulas introduced, decolonization is always a violent phenomenon.

- Frantz Fanon, "Concerning Violence," The Wretched of the Earth

i really do wish they hadn't just sidelined DoF entirely lol if you subscribe even a smidgen to anti-colonialism, its hard not to sympathize with them and shaddiq/grassley girls. and here theyre actually fighting for a just cause and are deserving of sympathy unlike 0079’s fakeout with zeon.

flipping the UC spacenoid/earth dichotomy so that earthians are the exploited class is just good shit when you consider what fuckers like musk want to do lol and its not as set in stone as exploitation only happens on earth either. mercury sounds like an abandoned appalachian mining town at this point with people lured out by jobs and then left to fend for themselves once permet was found elsewhere and their utility to the spacian capitalist class has run dry. and though i take this one with a grain of salt because we never get hard confirmation or denial, the elans were supposedly spacians (norea calls him a spacian even after finding out el5n’s not the real elan and he doesnt say one way or the other).

enough marxist ramblings, here's a cool shot of lfrith ur

whoever added this, i love them

as much as i don't trust bandai with sulemio unless they reverse the mess they've made for themselves.... i just want to fucking know more about notrette so bad!!!!!!!!!!!!

badass shot of lfrith thorn to go with the ur one earlier

snitch boy starts his snitch arc

the whole way guel killing vim plays out felt like it was gonna lead to something cool at the time... it makes me even more mad now knowing that it very likely is all an homage to zeta and kamille stealing the mk-ii and then later watching his mom die lol (ffs we even have the guel episode later on stealing its title from a zeta episode). guel's entire character just leaves such a bad taste in my mouth with everything thats happened recently

to think that 15 mins later she'd just be all ditzy over pancakeing a man after basically peeing her pants here

prospera shooting a gun at quiet zero >>> prospera shooting a gun at plant quetta

this show and this fucking pose, man lmao

AERIAL REBUILD is going to be stuck in my head all night because of this episode.... but look at how fucking cool she looks!!!

okouchi if this is a line you wrote, you, sir, are a troll... her face now is literally just :<

if you have the rebuild aerial and you don't have her posed like this, then what are you even doing?

i still feel like secelia and rouji for sure had no idea how powerful aerial's gund-bit gun was in episode 17. like norea is scared shitless here and tells sophie and olcott to get the fuck away. we have olcott telling us that even though it has school regulations on, it's strong as fuck

that said, i don't think guel was in mortal danger given that the school restrictions don't let them aim at cockpits or whatever, but it sure would've fucked up the darilbalde

oh this line hurts lol

i don't think i ever paused on this frame before lol i really hope peil hags master plan here wasn't just to have el5n get all rapey like he does later on. i mean, probably not and that was moreso el5n's desparate attempts to stay alive given he barely gets a chance to do anything before school shootings 1 and 2 bring everything to shit

comparing this frame versus suletta inside calibarn in ep 24 and suletta is still just a baby at this point in the show lmao she looks like a little teddy bear vs kakkoii ikemen suletta

paused on this frame and it honestly looks cool as hell lmao

and we made it to THE scene

you know, as i said in prior rewatch posts, i had been watching via GJM's fansubs at this point and was gonna wait for them to release their version of episode 12... however, that same suletta sunday i logged on to twitter and immediately got spoiled on this scene lmao so i needed to find out what the fuck happened and stopped waiting on fansubs (i did rewatch later on)

it really is such an amazingly well done scene though like goddamn lol

now that the show's over, i do kind of wonder if there could have been something other than this to become the spark of tension between suletta and miorine. with the exception of sophie (which arguably was more eri's victim than suletta's), suletta never kills anyone again in the show. her final fight ends up being against the gund nodes being commanded by eri lol so she just fights unmanned drones. it's an interesting decision considering the gundam franchise as a whole

i know it's meant to contrast against shaddiq's by any means necessary approach and prospera's willingness to do the same if someone tries to hinder her plans to help eri... but i really just can't get behind the whole violence is always bad no exceptions message behind the show. i do appreciate that shaddiq's plan basically still came to fruition and that it ends up being an in-world analogue to nationalization of industry. and it's really a cherry on top to have sabina call out whether that was for the best - not just that they nationalized industry but that nothing else was done to stop those who don't agree with what miorine did. history has given us countless examples of countries that nationalize various industries just for the united states military to come in and make some shit up and stage a coup and hand over said industry to whatever shithead capitalists were being piss babies about it at the time

lmao i know we're all mad about a lot of the yuri being left on the table because of bandai execs, but i wonder how much of the anti-capitalist message got left on there too. they really had a chance to make guel a real hero and he's just... not lol. episode 15 makes me mad not because it's a guel episode but because nothing ever actually came from DoF existing. like what was the point?

if they just wanted to humanize DoF a bit and introduce the kid that guel and kenanji run into later on, that could have taken half an episode given the insane pacing they chose to go by during the 2nd cour

regardless, i'll still savor little bits here and there

ok lmao i feel like my original post was way better than this and it took me double the time now to make this post but whatever. gonna try to get through some more eps this weekend

[glitterywolfkidexpert]

judgement day

"When the sun shall be darkened When the stars shall be thrown down When the seas shall be set boiling When the souls shall be coupled, ... When the scrolls shall be unrolled When heavens shall be stripped off, When Hell shall be set blazing, When Paradise shall be brought nigh Then shall a soul know what it has produced."

(Surah At-Takwir Q.81:1,2,6,7,10-14)

Like most, I fear judgement day. But in times like this it brings me solitude and comfort. What's currently happening in Gaza may be the most horrific thing we witness in our lifetime. I always knew how corrupt governments were, but I had only read about this in history books. For the first time, I'm truly paying attention and witnessing in real time how evil and corrupt the people in power are.

Protestors are speaking to politicians begging for a ceasefire, and these people that we voted in have the audacity to either ignore the protesters, or even look them in the eye and say "a ceasefire will never happen". Nearly 20k Palestinians living in one of the most densely populated places on Earth have been murdered since October 7th. The people who have the power to save them simply don't care, and are even in favor of this. Billionaires like Elon Musk have the ability to supply Gaza with internet access, and yet refuses to do so after being bought by the Israeli government.

Throughout history, the people of this Earth who have commited the most atrocious crimes, from slavery to colonialism to genocide - these people will never receive punishment in this life on Earth. The most evil people on this Earth are those with the most power and money, and therefore will not be punished in this life.

Allah (swt) is Al-Hakam, the bearer of justice, and he promises us that those who did wrong and did not get punished in this life will surely receive their punishment, and those who did good but did not receive their reward will surely be rewarded.

Those who have died in the face of oppression are martyrs, and Allah (swt) promises them Paradise.

"Do not consider as dead those who are slain in the path of God; rather they are alive and well-provided for in the presence of their Lord.” (Quran 3:169)

Also, Sa`id ibn Zayd reported that the prophet (pbuh) said: “He who is killed while guarding his property is a martyr, he who is killed while defending himself is a martyr, he who is killed defending his religion is a martyr, and he who is killed protecting his family is [also] a martyr.” (Reported by Ahmad and Tirmidhi. The latter considers it a sound hadith.)

Despite experiencing the atrocities of the world, the people of Palestine are always resilient, and always praise Allah (swt). No matter how much money, land, or control the people in power and the oppressors have, they will never win because they do not have Allah (swt), and in the end they will be the losers. And those who have been oppressed will win because have Allah (swt) and we know what he has promised us, and we know that this world is insignificant and that in the next life we will be rewarded.

[askelectrochromic]

what is the Krikani language like? i like the description of Cheloan glyphs as analogous to Hanzi or Kanji (being able to identify the ``spicy'' character) but id love to know about the Krikani writing system

(im not expecting you to write a whole conlang of course but was curious if you had a general shape or feeling to it in mind) ^^;

SableGear0: You know, I haven't actually given it much thought yet. I probably should, though. My first impulse was to say "they don't have a written language" (for reasons I will discuss in a moment) but that seems impossible; they're a sapient species capable of space-travel and manage huge military systems, they probably have writing since not all communication can be person-to-person. So, organic rambling solution-finding and some links and images under the cut.

Generally I conceptualize Kriken as a (semi-)eusocial hive organism that are passively psionic, to keep in touch with the greater hive. How much direct communication happens psionically I'm still not sure; whether it can be used "conversationally," or if it's merely a "vibe" they share with local Kriken that's strong enough to pick up on the "vibe" from the core colony sometimes. The fact that they have a spoken language probably means its closer to the latter.

If the psionic communication is powerful enough, then maybe they wouldn't need to write? But then how would you do something like label the controls on a starship or make maps? You might have to devote someone to memorizing what all the labels would be and then telepathically ask them what you're looking at. Which isn't totally unreasonable, if we consider them highly specialized hive organisms. Maybe they do have "librarians" that keep this stuff in their minds and can be asked/accessed on a whim. This would be an extremely alien way of keeping track of information. While I kind of like it, it seems maybe a bit too weird for the Metroid series as we know it. Arguably, Metroid has kept its aliens fairly (socially) tame, giving us a lot of written logs throughout the Prime series. Though the ones we've gotten the most lore on are Pirates and Chozo, which aren't great benchmarks since they were respectively "the bad guys" and "the good guys (mostly)."

Being insectoid, Kriken might also communicate via pheromones? But pheromones and what/how Kriken eat have been stumping me because... well, their heads aren't really attached.

Trace has no neck. And while in some renders it looks like that tiny teardrop of a head is resting on the body, the in-game model and wireframe show pretty clearly they do not touch. Hence why I go with psionic; their heads float for spooky psionic reasons. This also means that while their heads may be a sensory center (headshots still work in Hunters), I doubt it's where they stick food when (if?) they eat, so it being a chemosensor feels a little unlikely, but I digress.

Anyway back to written language. I suppose I have to ask myself, what would a written language look like if it was invented by ants? Or bees? Ants is a tough one mainly because I don't actually know much about ant organization. My impression is that they build and tunnel fairly organically, just wherever is easiest to go and/or smells like it has the most food. When I think about bees, though, I think about bee dances, and how that might be adapted into a written language; a system abstracting the orientation and movement of the body into markings that can be re-read at any time so that worker doesn't have to bust down and dance it out every time she wants to relay some information to someone new.

And thinking about that, I think about Phyrexian. This conlang shows up in the Magic the Gathering universe, and knowing what I know about Phyrexians (an all-consuming hivemind-like culture that take creatures and turn them into half-mechanical abominations to serve their own purposes), it seems like a decent fit.

The shape of these is really what I was going for but the cultural implications match up too. I was thinking of the cross-strokes being similar to the directional facing if you were to write down a bee dance, the extra marks indicating other movements like stops or the frequency of a waggle.

It also looks like something a bug might make if you dipped it in ink and let it walk around on a paper, so that's neat. Scratching marks like these out would be fairly quick and easy for a Kriken, since they only appear to have a crab-like manipulator and a single combat claw, and I've stuck with that design choice in describing them because it's more interesting than "oh and they have normal hands too".

So there's your answer, I guess. Written Krikani probably looks kind of like Phyrexian; branching strokes off a central line that stem from an ancestral system of gestural communication (and I like the verticality so I'll probably keep that too). Simple, efficient, and easy to replicate.

Thanks for the ask! This was a bit of a brain-teaser.

[ivenvs3000f24]

9: The Weird Stuff (the most amazing thing I know about nature)

As every student of biology knows, classifying living things is simple. You got your prokaryotes and your eukaryotes, which feature plants, animals, fungi and protists. And everything that has ever lived and is currently living fits neatly into one of those categories, right? Umm… not quite.

Nature is messy. Nature is weird. And I would love to talk about some of its strange creatures that I’ve encountered, both in person and through school.

First up, we’ve got the leaf slug. Also known as a leaf sheep, Costasiella kuroshimae is a herbivorous mollusk found in oceans throughout southern Asia.

From Randi Ang/Getty Images

I think my botany prof mentioned this species in passing one time, and I’ve been enamored with them ever since. Why was my botany prof talking about a species that is clearly an animal? Because they display a type of symbiosis called kelptoplasty. Leaf slugs spend their lives grazing on green algae, which they only partially digest. This partial digestion allows them to maintain the intact chlorophyll within their cerata (those little green spikes on their back) and utilize them for photosynthesis. The BBC describes them as “solar powered slugs.”  Photosynthesis isn’t just for plants.

And not all plants perform photosynthesis. Meet the ghost pipe.

I took the above photo while on a walk at Turkey Point. My partner and I were fooling around with Seek, the plant ID app associated with iNaturalist, and decided to see what the weird white flower by the side of the trail was called. And it’s weird.

Ghost pipe doesn’t have any chloroplasts at all. Instead, it acts like a parasite on nearby fungi to drain them of nutrients, as well as stealing energy from other nearby photosynthetic plants. This strange way of getting food means that it can grow in dark environments and doesn’t have any colour. It’s definitely a plant, but it’s got a very unique life strategy.

Last up, I really want to talk about slime molds. Which, although slimy, aren’t technically mold.

The above photos features (what is likely) “dog vomit” slime mold that I encountered at the RBG’s Arboretum. I’ve also seen slime molds in wood chip piles and dark forest soil. Despite the fact that molds are typically fungi, slime molds are classified as protists. Protists are essentially the “we don’t know” category of biology. If it's a eukaryote, but can't be called a plant, an animal or a fungi, then it's a protist. Slime mold are a type of ancient amoeba that is mostly famous for being much smarter than you’d expect of an ancient amoeba.

Slime molds spend most of their lives as single celled organisms but form massive moving colonies to eat and reproduce. They inch very slowly, but surely, towards their goal. These colonies have a fascinating type of intelligence that allows them to find the fastest route to food and problem solve along the way. In experiments, they’ve recreated various public transit systems and usually find the most efficient way to get through a maze. The journal Nature also describes some studies that may indicate they keep time as well.

The more I learn about ecology and biology, the more I appreciate the weirdness that nature has to offer. Categories are human made after all, and there will always be organisms that surprise us and challenge our expectations.

Note: Although I knew most of the information in this post from past research, I did consult some sources to make sure I was accurate, and learned some new things along the way 😊

Leaf slugs: Caballar, R. D. (2021, March 25). The “sheep” that can photosynthesise. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20210324-the-odd-sea-creature-powered-by-the-sun

Ghost pipe: Ghost pipe. (n.d.). Nature Conservancy of Canada. Retrieved November 9, 2024, from https://www.natureconservancy.ca/en/what-we-do/resource-centre/featured-species/plants/ghost-pipe.html

Slime molds: Jabr, F. (2012). How brainless slime molds redefine intelligence. Nature, nature.2012.11811. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2012.11811

[t4tboblin]

feeling crazy 🤪 thinking about bb pokemon au. here are bob, linda, tina, gene, and louise's teams, in that order. explanations under the cut :) feedback is welcome id love to hear yalls thoughts

Bob in my head, he never really did any battling or anything, pokemon are just sort of a thing that exists around him. so i tried to reflect that with his "team"

camerupt: his "starter"-basically a gift from his dad when he started the restaurant. its absolutely ancient and lives in the restaurant kitchen; it gets up in the morning and plods over to help heat up the grill and lies there all day, then in the evening gets back up and goes to lie in its bed. too old to go upstairs. same vibe as your 10 year old laptop that you only use for one specific thing but by god are you using it. subsists on grease. bob has offered it other food. it jsut likes grease.

vanillish: aka the ice cream maker. linda suggested they get a working pokemon for the restaurant and this was the result. pokemon make bob nervous a little bit but he was like. the dad who says you cant get a pet and then ends up obsessed with the pet. hes an objectmon lover at heart :') he doesnt really consider it "his pokemon" but hes definitely the closest to being its trainer. it sleeps in the walkin and seems to love it, so.

klefki: object mon. symbolizes his love of object mons. i think maybe his keys got haunted one day and he just went. well. this might as well happen. its very chill

applin: the most "pet-like" of any of bob's mons, applin snuck into their produce one day and instantly won bob over. it sits on his shoulder or on the counter while hes working. also come on. he has to have a food mon on his team.

pidove: bob doesnt HAVE a pidove but theres one that always hangs around near the restaurant and he likes looking at em

tandemaus: Tandemaus

Linda she actually started a Pokemon Journey TM as a kid but ended up going home after getting her first badge. she loved the experience though!

emolga: her starter. likes to perch on bobs head. he likes to complain about it. but shes a cuddly sweetheart so its hard NOT to love her

scrafty: one of the mons linda caught on her journey. frequent accomplice when she was hellraising as a child. surprisingly good at keeping the kids out of trouble now

morpeko: she actually got it from trading her shinx back during her journey ("ha! sucker! those things are a dime a dozen") but the shinx was shiny :') but morpeko is a perfect fit for her (gets mad when it doesnt eat vs "mom has to eat every 15 minutes or she turns into a monster"). first of her pokemon that bob managed to win over

oricorio: a gift from her parents when she was in high school, long after shed come home from her journey. shes never changed its form and may or may not know she can even do that

zigzagoon: she doesnt actually have one, but theres a colony in the alley that she loves watching. theres a few galarian zigzagoon in there too, but in my mind The King is hoenian

tandemaus: Tandemaus

Tina by far the trickiest one for me. she doesnt want to be a trainer, but she does think contests are kinda cool

Munna: her first mon. bob and linda got her to help with her night terrors. also helps her remember good dreams so she can write about them in her diary/eff

Mudbray: i think tina starts volunteering at a pokemon daycare and this is one of the eggs that pops up. the trainer lets her keep it, but it has to live at the daycare ("for now!") because a Horse is not fitting in their apartment

Ponyta: tina's dream partner pokemon is a galarian rapidash. as much as i would love to see her dream come true im not convinced it will. however i can say with confidence that she'll have her very own ponyta one day :)

Hitmontop: reference to her capoeira era (rhyme unintended) also i like the idea of tina getting into martial arts in general

ralts: she wanted to catch a Dance-related pokemon to impress jimmy jr buuuuut she couldnt find a kirlia so. ralts. itll evolve someday! and then be really cool! but she kinda likes how awkward it is. its sweet. no shes not projecting. leave her alone

Drifloon: i like the idea of her zombie-fixation carrying over to ghost types. she found drifloon down by the pier and thinks its cute. bob thinks its definitely killed children before. but its very well behaved so the balloon stays

Gene definitely not a trainer either LOL if anything he wants to do pokemon musicals. all his mons are pretty much just performance partners

Loudred: his first mon, gifted to him as a whismur. bob and linda regret it significantly more now that its. not that. basically a standin for his megaphone

(Shiny) Eevee: aka Ken. he finds him walking home from school one day and hides him in his room for... longer than youd expect. by the time bob and linda found out it was way too late to kick ken out. something something trans-coded trainers having eevees

Spoink: also gets brought in off the street; gene just has a way of befriending stray mons. its a great match for his energy

his other three mons (Squawkabilly, Kricketune, and Chatot) he meets when hes older. i imagine grown-up him would have a whole flock of chatot living outside his apartment. linda hates kricketune though

Louise shes gonna be. the very best. like NO ONE ever was. fairy is the perfect type for her-cute, kinda weird, ridiculously strong

Igglybuff: as a wee one she saw wigglytuff and was obsessed and begged and begged her parents for one. she was significantly less impressed when she saw its first form but thats ok, theyre still buddies. and once her DUMB PARENTS will let her battle, shes gonna evolve that sucker into the wigglytuff of her dreams

Mimikyu: not her first pokemon, but definitely her partner. she finds it creeping around the apartment and demands to keep it. come on its cute creepy and powerful, shes eating that up

Ribombee: she gets him "second hand" and sneaks him into school with her. louise likes that hes a weird bug.

Togepi: a gift from her family on her 10th b-day-or at least the egg is. she watches that thing like a hawk and when it hatches she is DELIGHTED ("this must be what childbirth feels like!" "mm. yeah. pretty much the same.")

Morgrem: she catches this sucker in high school and they get into all kinds of mischief

Tinkatink: come on, shes just a little guy. look at her. louise cant just leave her out in the cold. no of course she isnt going to let her hit rocks at people or whack her parents toes. she'll be a perfect saint, honest.

[puppyluver256]

[Image Description: Two fan-made Pokemon that are bug and flying evolutions to the Pokemon Eevee.

The first Pokemon is a fox-like creature with slick green fur, big red insectoid eyes, large ears with tan insides, and long brown insect antennae. Its shoulders and back legs are coated in honey, presumably from the hive attached to its tail. Small brown bees hover around the hive. Lime green text outlined in green to the right of the image reads "Hunneon".

The second Pokemon is a fox-like creature with pale blue fur, big green eyes, long wing-like ears with blue tips and dark blue insides, blue on its paws, and a long blue-tipped feathery tail. Light blue text outlined in blue to the right of the image reads "Aereon".

End ID.]

-----

Hunneon - Honey Pokemon - bug The hive on its tail houses a colony of bees that produce vast amounts of honey and see the Hunneon as their comically oversized queen. While it is rare for a Hunneon to be stung by its own bees, it has happened on occasion, and is usually a result of neglectful care of the Hunneon itself. / Hunneon can supplement its diet by sampling some of the honey crafted by the bees in its tail hive, and it often encourages its bees to let its Trainer and friends to have some as well. Regardless of whether or not it eats its own honey, its fur is often sticky from errant drippings.

Aereon - Soaring Pokemon - flying Its sleek feather-like fur allows it to be incredibly aerodynamic while in flight. Their ears are their main source of thrust for flying, and can be manipulated with such precision that they can stand in for hands. / With its large wing-like ears, it can take to the skies and soar at speeds rivaling many bird Pokemon. It takes a while after evolving to figure out what to do with its legs while airborne, however.

More Cantessy Pokemon! I thought we wouldn't get to these ones for a few months, but then I remembered that I Am In Control Of The Art Queue, so here we are! Now I will admit, these were kinda motivated by playful spite toward a certain Poketuber's claims that there can never be any more Eeveelutions after Sylveon due to type patterns or whatever, and cuz I enjoy the guy's content I have to insist that it's only playful spite and not genuine spite. And hey, if he's correct then I'll never have to worry about GameFreak rendering my Eevees null and void! :D So here's Hunneon and Aereon, the bug and flying type evos respectively. Aereon definitely came to me a lot easier, Hunneon took a bit longer because I had no idea how to make a bug fox until the idea hit on me that it could cultivate bees and become kind of bug-like itself as a result. These guys both evolve by friendship much like Espeon and Umbreon, and now Sylveon too I guess since affection and friendship were merged, but what other condition would make them take one of these paths rather than the official ones? Weeellll...you remember those silly partner Eevee moves from Let's Go? I friggin' love those, they're adorable, so I'm bringing them back and making new ones for my evos. You get Hunneon if your Eevee knows the move Stingly Swarm, and you get Aereon if it knows Windy Wave.

Now as you may know if you've been paying attention to my Gym Leaders' teams, I have way more than just these two Eeveelutions to share. How many, you ask? ...Yes.

Reminder that if anyone wants to suggest moves for any Cantessy Fakemon to learn and some physical stats where I haven’t yet figured them out, feel free to throw ‘em at me :3 Links to their info pages will be provided in the replies!

💖🐶 Check out my pinned post for ways to support my artwork, among other things! 🐶💖

~If you like, please reblog to show your friends! Likes are appreciated, but reblogs let more people see my content! If you have something to say, feel free to give feedback in tags/comments/replies as well!~

Pokemon and related concepts © Nintendo/GameFreak Hunneon, Aereon, the Cantessy region, and artwork © PuppyLuver Studios

[igonecrazy]

I wanted to say this to someone: the thing about the narcissistic thing in the Loki episode that bothered me, was that you can have narcissistic tendencies but not be a narcissist. So while Loki has probably had narcissistic tendencies, many of us have though, I don't think he's a narcissist, not really. So I think narcissistic tendencies is the better wording for it.

And I feel that word is thrown around too much.

Idk, I know I could say this to you. And I get frustrated when people see a character showing narcissistic tendencies but call them a flat out narcissist.

Hi babie!(っ˘з( ･ั﹏･ั) yes, you can come here and tell me..and I hear ya..

And yes! I too have major problem with Loki being enforced the title of narcissist by people who probably don't understand it or probably are throwing the word around lightly, which I think was a thing of the past given that we're in 2021 now..but of course it's not🤦🏻

I've done a little bit of googling around which I think the creators didn't bother to do..imma try to break this down..

Mostly Narcissists are said to have a "grandiose ideas about their own abilities and importance. Such persons think that they're exceptional and react with rage or humiliation if others don't recognise this fact." This one is psychological def..but here's the thing....in a human exhibiting these traits yes they would be a narcissist, but Loki isn't human, he's a Jötun, who grew up as a prince on Asgard, both of which are factually in this fictional context superior races compared to humans. So when Loki says "I'm a god you dull creature" he means it.. factually, given he's going to live 1000s of years, is naturally born powerful and durable and resistant to strain and damage in his own small body..weighs a lot more than a human of the same size.. because he is.. infact not a human ..so while a human would be narcissist saying that..Loki was just having a terrible day and just wanted it to end and be done with whoever had control over him..when he fights with Thor and says I'm better than you..he's again saying it factually because the only thing Thor is better than him at is brute strength and you need more than that to be a King.. if you compare Loki to humans..sure he might seem like a narcissist to you, but he's not a human..he's a fucking God..which is to say he is a being of a superior species..but when you put him in Asgard and look at him, he's just the smarter wiser little prince who never fucking got his due in Asgard because he was a sorcerer and Asgard values brawn over brains.. in Asgardian context Thor is a fucking narcissist but he's never labeled as such even tho two seconds before Loki fights Hulk, Thor is fighting the Hulk for the same damn reason!

Another important marker of Narcissism is lack of empathy...............WHERE IN THE FUCKING HELL DID LOKI LACK EMPATHY!! BOY HAS TOO MUCH OF IT! HE TEARS UP EVERYTIME SOMEONE GETS HURT! His own line of "I don't enjoy hurting people. I..uh..I don't enjoy it. I do it because I have to, because I've had to." This little soul teared up when he read about the destruction of his..what had been his home for so long and who had been his people for so long even though we know he wasn't afforded the same courtesy in return, especially by his own brother and so called friends and his jackass dad..

They think..by they I mean the show creators and the writer, they think they understand Loki and what his story has been but good gawd never has his story been about a grandiose idol who gets his feathers ruffled when he's not acknowledged. They were writing for the MCU Loki, for the tortured soul who had just escaped the clutches of Thanos after being captured after a failed su**ide attempt..There's no consistency in what they've written..

Loki is the scapegoat..like @latent-thoughts said..he's not the one asking for undue attention, he's a fucking neglected kid who just wants someone to honestly acknowledge what he can do and not in a backhanded way like Thor or his friends did sometimes..Odin never fucking acknowledged him, but he looked up to that man who was his "father"..he just wanted to prove himself to his father that he may be the adopted frost giant but he was just as fucking good if not better than Thor..and Thor 2 just kinda proves that he was better, he sacrificed himself for Thor not knowing he'd live and not believing Thor would do the same for him....the beginning of Ragnarok proves he was the better king..Asgard was less colonial and more into the arts and people were happy under his reign..he gets all up excited around Mobius because for once someone is listening to him and paying attention to him and what he says without him having to prove himself..

And good gawd! Let's reiterate that this being..who is of a superior species grew up as the Prince of another superior species, excells in combat and sorcery and is way more intelligent than humans can comprehend, has seen the universe, been around different places on the Yggdrasil without an infinity stone, has read more in more languages than humans can comprehend..if he calls himself smart..THEN YOU SHOULDN'T GO oooohh look at this narcissist (눈‸눈)

Another thing that pops up under narcissism is someone who loves or desires their own body sexually............imma stop y'all right here he hasn't actually said he did.. Mobius bless that lil ahole soul I like him even tho he's a bit of a dick just assumed he did.....and also....like again..this is a shape shifting sorcerer......if he hasn't had a threesome with his own clone and someone else..then I'm calling that a waste of power (⌐■-■)

Anyway..the whole point of it is, Loki is made the narcissist for the same things Thor is appreciated for..yet again..This was supposed to be about listening to Loki's side of the story and not enforce the pre-existing ideas about him on the people who actually care about him..this series was, as I'm starting to feel, made for your everyday ma*vel fan and not particularly Loki fans, who have been picking up crumbs about this character since the first time he showed up and tried to talk down Thor from starting an unnecessary war with an opposing kingdom in an effort to show their dad that Thor's not ready and accidentally found out he was adopted..(ب_ب)

[adragonsoulants]

And I got a second thing that happened on that very warm and windy Saturday ;)

While I was waiting for my burner to heat up so I could melt the plastic tubs I was watching the bugs and something cought my eye.

A beautiful dark amber queen ant! I swooped her up and placed her in a tube inside, still with a male elate hanging on too lol.

Because of it being very early in the year for nuptial flights in my area it was quite easy to ID her as "Prenolepis imparis" other wise known as the "Winter ant" or "False honey pot ants." And they're Polygynous 👀

So I grab a tube incase I find more and head back outside and like immediately find another one!! She still has her wings but that isn't a guarantee that she isnt mated. I later find a third queen and tell myself 3 is enough and bring them inside and try to combine the two tubes.

Some pictures of that attempt

So I left em be and went back outside to go finish making the new isopod tubs.

And a little bit later... There's another queen just like right infront of where I'm working. I couldn't resist and took her inside just on my hands

You can see their beautiful orange in this picture.

It took some work but I eventually managed to get all four in the same testtube set up

Two of them with wings and two without... I know for sure that atleast one of the winged queens is mated sense I witnessed it. The two wingless ones are most likely mated while the other winged one may or may not be, I did try to put a male that I had cought in with her but I believe nothing happened.

So I guess we'll see what happens over the next few days! They're in a tube in a box in a warmer place in my room, albeit this species doesn't really mind cold spaces either.

So I want to talk a little more about this species as they're fairly unique in their behavior. They're called winter ants for a reason because they actually prefer to be active when it's colder out. They will have essentially 2 "hibernation" periods through out the year, but they'll never actually hibernate, they remain active in their nest living off of fatty repleats!

From what I have read these ants are really quite chill and don't do much (but I've also heard they're escape artists too). The queen(s) will lay eggs only in batches through out the year and only about twice a year, early summer and late fall. Colonies grow slowly because of this.

Diet wise they're largely just opportunistic scavengers, loving their sugars, already dead bugs and animals as well as they apparently really enjoy licking worms... And will remember where one dried up and died and revisit it every time it rains.

Wild

Welp here's to hoping the queens don't kill eatchother! From what I have heard, the best time to introduce them is before they go into the founding stage and start laying eggs so hopefully this works!

(one little update, I checked in on them Sunday night and they were all still alive in the tube!)

[ljf613]

Colonization & Imperialism in ATLA

One of the things I’ve noticed in fandom complaints about the ATLA comics-- namely, “The Promise”-- and subsequently, LOK’s worldbuilding, is the way the narrative handles colonization. 

I see a lot about how what the Earth Kingdom chose to do with the former colonies is “none of Zuko’s (or Aang’s) business.” (I also see people talking about how Katara would never support colonialism, in any shape or form, no matter the circumstances.) 

And I just.... don’t vibe with those ideas? At all? 

Like, I definitely have problems with the comics-- especially “The Promise,” where all the drama centers around Miscommunications of Epic Proportions and could have been resolved in Part One if all the characters just sat down and listened to each other (not to mention that Aang would never have agreed to make that promise, nor would Zuko have asked it of him (Sokka would be a more obvious choice, but that’s a different discussion))-- but I never had any issues with their worldbuilding. 

I love the idea of Yu Dao, and the fact that the narrative acknowledges that a new kind of world has new kinds of problems. It makes sense to me that we can’t always just “give back the land we took.” And I found the idea of the end solution being  “give the people who live there their own country” really cool and empowering. 

So I want to talk about why I feel this way. About what kind of real-world parallels can be made here. About some little-known bits of world-history that compare. 

(Please note that for this meta I am only going to be discussing the relationship between Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom. As far as I am aware-- and I could be wrong-- there is no real-world genocide quite comparible to what Sozin did to the Air Nomads, and most of the people alive in ATLA were not actually around for or involved in that. And the relationship the Fire Nation has with the Water Tribes-- and that the North and South have with each other-- is worth a whole separate analysis, and doesn’t deserve to just be shoved into this one.)

(Disclaimer: While this is in response to some of the interpretations I’ve seen on this site, it is not meant to discount or invalidate those fans’ views-- I’m just trying to show my take on it. I am a firm believer in the power of active discourse, and the value of looking at the same scenes through different lenses, rather than just getting one opinion and accepting it as Absolute Truth.) 

The main thing I notice in general ATLA discourse-- and not just on this topic, but in any sort of meta about the Fire Nation, colonization, and global impact-- is that the fandom mostly compares the war and its after-affects to real-world Imperialism, the Age of Imperialism, New Imperialism, and Colonization. 

And I understand why that is. In the grand scheme of world history, that era is still fairly recent, and we are still dealing with the afteraffects from it. It has shaped the Western World’s worldview on every level. (Not to mention that the Euro-centric way we’re taught history means that this piece of world history is the one we’re most exposed to, and so have the most understanding of and room to analyze/criticize.) 

However, there are a few issues with sticking only to this perspective. 

First off, the Age of Imperialism was a direct response to the Age of Exploration. This was the period of time when white Europeans sailed around the world acting as though they were discovering new places and pretending that there weren’t already existing civilizations there. 

[ID: Two dots meme, edited so that Guy A says “i’ve discovered a NEW WORLD,” Guy B replies “you didn’t discover ****,” and Guy A insists “i’ve discovered it” / End ID.] 

Now, I’ve mentioned this in passing, but the world of ATLA doesn’t appear to have had an Age of Exploration. There’s no vast “undiscovered” land masses, the four nations have always known about each other, and they all have a shared language. 

The whole foundation for the Age of Imperialism was “oh, look, there are all these ‘unexplored’ lands with resources ripe for the picking (who cares about the indigenous people, they’re just simplistic savages who don’t know what’s best for them), let’s see which European country can grab the most land first.” 

This was a race. This was sudden. This was Europeans coming in and taking over while viewing the natives as bothersome pests. This was about multiple major world powers competing over resources. 

This was not 100 years of active warfare between a single conquering country and the very people they were trying to conquer. 

The parallels don’t hold up. 

Secondly, by focussing only on this one kind of historical narrative, we ignore any others. 

I will admit that I have used the word “imperialism” in reference to the Fire Nation a time or two. However, upon further reflection, I realize I didn’t really mean imperialism, which is actually a fairly modern concept. What I feel the Fire Nation is really an example of is centralism and expansionism-- two ideaologies that have been a way of life for conquering empires throughout history. 

(I am in no way qualified to explain the differences between these concepts-- I recommend doing your own research if you’re curious.) 

The Persian Empire. The Greek Empire. The Roman Empire. The Byzantine Empire. The Mongolian Empire. The Russian Empire. The First French Empire. 

You could take any of these (or numerous others) and make an interesting analysis between the similarities and differences between their behaviors and that of the Fire Nation. And maybe I’ll do that someday. 

However, I started this to talk about Yu Dao and all of the other so-called colonies (I really feel like territories would be a better word, but, again, that’s a whole ’nother discussion), and I’d like to focus on that. 

FYI, here’s a basic history refresher: If two countries are at war, and then they decide to end the war, neither country is required to return captured territories. They can make a treaty and agree to do so, but there is no obligation to. The Fire Nation didn’t just march in and say, “this is our land now”-- they fought for it. They captured that land. Just because the war is over doesn’t mean they need to just give it back. 

Like it or not, that is the way the world operated for thousands of years, and so that is the interpretation I’m working with here. 

In any case, “The Promise” actually presents this as a three-way conversation. There’s Zuko (and, by default, the Fire Nation), Kuei (and, by default, Ba Sing Se and the Earth Kingdom), and the people of Yu Dao themselves. 

(My understanding of the Earth Kingdom’s style of government is that it’s made up of a large collection of different ethno-cultural regions who all answer to Ba Sing Se.) 

I’ll let Sokka explain it: 

[ID: Comic panel from Part Three of “The Promise.” Sokka and Katara are talking, both in obvious states of agitation, while Suki and Toph are looking at something in the background. Sokka is saying, “Let me see if I got this. The protestors and the Earth Kingdom Army want the colonials to go, the Fire Nation Army wants the colonials to stay, and the Yu Dao Resistance just want their city to be left alone?” Katara responds, “Yes!” / End ID.] 

The people of Yu Dao don’t care about the war. They don’t even really care who’s in charge. They just want to be left alone. 

This speaks to me on a very personal level, so I’m going to make another real-world comparison here: 

My ancestors first came to America to escape from the poverty and opression they were experiencing in a place known as “White Russia”-- that is, Belarus. To be clear, I am not talking about the country “Belarus,” but the region, which includes the modern-day countries of Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia and Moldova, as well as parts of Poland and Russia. 

I looked up White Russia, trying to find out how much information someone who didn’t grow up hearing stories about what it was like (that is, most of the people reading this,) might have. I didn’t find much. Most of what I found talked about political ideologies and such-- things that your average poor peasant, struggling just eke out a living, didn’t have much energy to care about. So let me paint a(n oversimplified) picture for you. 

Imagine you’re a poor shoemaker in a small town on the Russian border. You spend your days hard at work, trying to earn a living to support your wife and nine children. You’ve never left the town you were born in. One day you get the news: Russia and Poland are fighting again. Your two oldest sons (ages 15 and 17) are forcibly drafted off to fight in the Russian army; you never see them again and have no way of knowing if they’re dead or alive (they’re probably dead). Poland wins-- this time. Congratulations, your town is now part of Poland. 

Does suddenly being Polish make a difference to your life? Not in the slightest. Two or three years down the line, you’ll go back to being part of Russia again. This is the third or fourth time you’ve seen your town switch hands, and you can’t say you prefer one government over the other. It doesn’t really matter who’s in charge-- you’re still faced with crippling taxes, forced drafts, and various other forms of oppression. (It doesn’t help that you happen to be part of a persecuted minority.) 

(This is why I have many ancestors who may never have left the town they were born in, and yet records show that they were born in one country, got married in another, and died in a third.) 

This is the kind of worldview through which I am looking at Yu Dao. (Obviously, it’s not an exact parallel, but neither is the standard “colonizers vs oppressed natives” lens.) 

My ancestors eventually got fed up with the treatment they were receiving from their respective governments, and left to build a new life, in a new place. But the citizens of Yu Dao don’t have anywhere to go. The only two real world powers in this story are the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom, neither of which has ever before expressed any true interest or concern in the actual people of Yu Dao. 

The Earth Kingdom didn’t really care about the city before the war-- they were just another poor, struggling town, whose citizens were barely able to make ends meet. And while the Fire Nation may have helped the place grow into a bustling town, they also established a hierarchy that did not serve in the citizens’ best interests. 

And so, in “The Promise,” these citizens’ frustrations come to a head. “Enough,” they say, “we don’t want to be used as a pawn in your games anymore.” 

And Zuko and Kuei (and Aang) actually listen. They say “we need to start thinking about these people as people, not as symbols of one side or the other. It’s time to give them a say in their future.” 

And a new country-- a new way of life-- is born. 

(Is it perfect? Absolutely not. But it is constantly evolving and changing, trying to do better, be better. And that’s more than you can say about most of the other countries in this world.)

[jackalgirl]

Telling vs. Showing

I had posted an excerpt from the Turkey City Lexicon a while back, about "Telling Not Showing", which is one of those things that writers are recommended not to do.

Violates the cardinal rule of good writing. The reader should be allowed to react, not be instructed in how to react. Carefully observed details render authorial value judgments unnecessary. For instance, instead of telling us "she had a bad childhood, an unhappy childhood," specific incidents--involving, say, a locked closet and two jars of honey--should be shown.

I was thinking about this the other night -- and I stress that it came to me by itself, please please don't anyone think I'm calling you out on this, because I am not -- and thought it might be fun* to provide an example. Stick around (under the cut) if you're interested.

* I lie. Aethel and Felix told me to write this, and woke me up early to do so. Fine. I'm done, you two, may I please go get some more coffee? Thank you.

Telling

Felix found Aethel in the galley, reading one of Max’s books. He made a face, wondering why she was reading it. When he’d first met her, it probably would have never occurred to him to ask her why — she’s weird and more than a little scary — but he had come to understand that she put all that weirdness and scariness to service in the way she cared for people, and he knew she cared for him, so he sat down and asked anyway. She looked, he thought, a little relieved to be interrupted, which did not really surprise him. She was very much willing to tell him about it, and in fact confirmed his suspicion that she found the text…how did she put it? Tedious. But she was reading it to better understand the way the people in the Order think, so she was determined to read it anyway. Good luck with that, he thought, and got himself something to eat out of the fridge.

versus Showing

Felix found Aethel in the galley, a book open before her on the common table and a line between her eyebrows. It must be one of Max’s books, he thought. He sat down and she looked up. Perhaps he was imagining it, but it appeared to him that she had a look of relief on her face. “Watcha readin’, Aethel?” He asked her. When he’d first met her, it probably would have never occurred to him to ask her a question like this — she’s weird and more than a little scary — but he had come to understand that she put all that weirdness and scariness to service in the way she cared for people, and he knew she cared for him, so in this particular moment, he hadn’t hesitated. “One of the vicar’s books on Scientism,” she said, confirming his guess. He made a face. “Ugh. Why? You’re always arguing with him about it.” And driving him nuts. Another point in her favor, actually. “It’s important to him,” she said. “And what’s more, it’s important to this colony. It would be foolish for me to dismiss it. I want to understand it better.” Felix gestured at the book. “Is that helping?” Aethel let out a sigh. “Alas, no. It is tedious.” “That’s why I like serial books,” Felix grinned. He tilted his head. “Why is it, ah, tedious, though?” “The author uses words like a collector,” she said. “But not like an artist.” Felix tilted his head and his expression must have told her he didn’t get it — I don’t get it — because she leaned back and looked thoughtful for a moment. “Do you remember the Sprat Fancy party in Byzantium?” She asked. Felix felt his face screw up again. “It was awful.” At first, Byzantium had impressed him. It was so clean! But eventually he realized it was as full of trash as the rest of the Colony — just higher-class trash, is all. Plus, the people there were always looking down on him — worse than the crew of the Groundbreaker, if that was possible. Or worse than the crew had been, before I helped Aethel fix the heat. Now they liked him well enough. But in Byzantium, nothing the crew had done had changed the Byzantines’ attitudes towards them. Their disdain is baked in, Aethel had said at the time. And speaking of baking, Aethel said, “do you remember the food?” “Ugh. Do I ever. The prettiest food you ever saw. Tasted like shit, though.” “What would those people have thought of a Boarst Pocket?” Aethel asked. “Ha!” Felix drummed the table with his hands in amusement. “They’d hold up their noses, for sure. Something that plain and simple?” “And yet, it is delicious?” “Yes,” Felix spoke with the conviction of a dedicated cultist. Aethel nodded. She tapped the pages in front of her. “This book is like the food in Byzantium. It is concerned about its appearance, and about all the different colors it can show you — it is very pretty. But it tastes like shit.” “So why are you eating it?” Felix asked, then remembered she’d answered him earlier. “Because you want to understand the system,” he said. She nodded. “I think of it as reconnaissance,” she said. “At some point, I’m going to have to deal with Order people who are higher ranked than Max. I need to understand what they think — or at least, what they’re telling people they think, which may not be the same.” “I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they all turned out to be a pack of hypocrites,” Felix said. “I’ll bet it’s all a show for power.” “Perhaps it’s not all a show for power,” Aethel suggested. But then she relented. “But yes, I tend to think that in the end, that’s the Order’s primary goal.” All that talk about Boarst Pockets made him want one, so he got up and got one out of the fridge. “Would you like one, boss?” He said, waggling the packet, knowing her answer in advance: “No thank you, Felix,” she said politely. He chuckled to himself. I don’t get how she can like spratwurst and not like boarst. Some things just defied understanding. I hope she has better luck with that book.

I liked writing this, because it gave me a little epiphany for another scene (the "Sprat Fancy" party) and an opportunity to put Sprat Fancy magazine into the actual fic, as opposed to it remaining as something of a joke.

[ Image description: cover of "Sprat Fancy", showing an adorable pink-splotched, white sprat from above, looking up at the camera with her gorgeous black eyes. Text reads: "Sprat Fancy Magazine - your guide to Halcyon's Fancy Sprats" and "Volume 22, Issue 8, 2 bits" with article leads: "Sacred Beasts: The Role of Sprats in the Faith", "Refuge: Keeping your precious sprat safe from marauders (and hungry neighbors)", "Ooo La La! Jolicoeur Haberdashery releases an all new line of fancy sprat fashion! Get a sneak peak of the latest on the Byzantine spratwalk!", "Place Your Bets: Your comprehensive guide to this season's All-Colony Fancy Spratstravanaza - who's in? Who's out? You may just be surprised by this year's contenders!" and a corner flag: "Ask Doctor Sprat". The cover image is captioned: "'Bakonu' by Captain Pearl Jenkins. With this large beauty take 'Best in Show' from Lord Reginald Kim III?" End ID. ]

Sometimes, having to write stuff out like this (especially between major scenes) is really daunting, because it generally doesn't come to me all at once like the major scenes do. I know, right from the get-go, that this is going to be a time-consuming process (I call it "sausage making"), and it's scary when I don't immediately see a clear way forward or understand how it will turn out. But I find that once I get going, the characters are happy to cooperate. And it's always worthwhile, because most of the time, I get some kind of revelation or epiphany (as above) that makes the story better, or maybe it's just neat and makes me giggle. But that's reason enough.

This is part of the pros of showing versus telling, in addition to giving the reader more to discover, understand, and react to on their own (rather than simply telling them how to react, which is what you want to avoid). The obvious con is that it takes so much longer. I would think that telling would be useful in contexts where you just don't have the column space, or are limited in the number of words you can provide. And I think it could also be useful -- used judiciously -- if you're deliberately trying to hide something from the reader.

But if you've been telling instead of showing because the amount of work you can see in front of you daunts you (or you just can't envision how it's going to go), I can only say: give it a try. You'll be surprised at what the characters are just waiting to tell you, if you only give them the chance.

[renee-writer]

The Diary of Life Chapter 28 Healing the Past

A03

A/N

Dear gentle reader, I live in Scotland and have never been to North Caroline except to drive thru it.  Some of the locations maybe off a little. Ok I am a trained American Nurse.  HIPPA may apply here.  But most of the birth and death records from that time would be on computer.   Also, not sure of North Carolina law about moving bodies.    Please be kind.   From @ladymeraud

 

He woke to the feel of Claire in his arms. It is something he will never tire of. In no hurry to leave his comfy nest, he wakes his wife with kisses and they slowly make love. Only then to they get up and join the others.

 

Over breakfast, they discuss plans for the day. “As I don’t have business with Ian until tomorrow, how would you like to come with me to find my relative?”

 

“Where do we begin?”

 

“At a hospital called Brougham. That is where she died. They may know where she is buried.”

 

“Let’s go.”

 

They borrow one of the SUV’s and head out. Jamie lowers the windows and enjoy the wonderful southern air, so much warmer then that in Scotland.

 

The hospital looks like an old colonial home, probably it’s first use. Jamie steps out and opens the door for her and they walk into together.  Approaching the desk, Jamie tells the lass standing there, “I am seeking information on a relative of mine that died here in the late 1700’s.”

 

“That was quite awhile ago. What is the name?” The lass, who’s name tag reads, *Leery” asks.

 

“Janet Murray.” She nods and enters it in the computer.

 

“Date of birth?”

 

“Unknown but she we as in Boone Co and came from Scotland.”

 

“Found her. Janet Murray, late of Boone County, late of Lally..” she frowns.

 

“Lallybroch.” He spells it out for her.

 

“That is it. Seems she thought evil spirits were after her, something about a sister-in-law. She died of pneumonia.”

 

“Does it say where she is buried!”

 

“She was buried on the grounds.”

 

“Wonderful. Can we get a copy of her records?”

 

“Yes, just need to sign a release and I will need to see your ID.” He presents his Scottish drivers license and passport and then signs. Leery prints out a copy and hands it to him. “Let me know if there is anything else you need.”

 

Claire, not liking her tone answers, “ Thank you. My husband and I will.”  The lass curtly nods and hurries back into the office behind the desk. Jamie misses the whole exchange, busy with the papers he had been handed.

 

‘Janet Murray, admitted with delusions. Claims to be tormented by evil spirits. She refuses all nourishment. She will be held as a danger to herself.

 

‘Mrs. Murray is excepting food and water but still refuses to talk about the source of her torment. Still claiming it to be ‘spirits from auld Lucifer, himself.

 

“A breakthrough with Mrs. Murray. She claims her sister-in-law is a witch that put a spell on her Brother.  “Sent him tae jail after he assaulted the English” She spit at this. That is all she would say this day.

 

‘’Mrs. Murray talked more about her family today.  Her son moved here and after her husband’s death and ‘that evil woman turned my brother into a devil” she came here to join him.  More trouble came when he married a Quaker lady named Rachael.. “A heretic who allowed Indians on the land” A fight with her son brought her to us.  She claims her troubles come from a spell her sister-in-law placed on her.

 

‘Mrs. Murray has taken ill. A fever, congestion of her chest, and she can’t tolerate food and barely is drinking.

 

‘’Mrs. Murray died today. A sad occasion. She had been our guest for almost two years. With no family willing to claim her, we contacted her son but he wishes nothing to do with her, we believe her brother to be in Paris but with no name, she will be buried on the grounds.

 

Mrs. Janet Murray

Admitted March 7, 1770

Discharged due to death March 23, 1772

Buried Lot 17 Row 7.

 

“So sad. She really hated her brother’s wife.” Claire softly says.

 

“Aye. Hate controlled her. That was her true evil spirits. Hate and the inability to forgive. I pray she can find peace at Lallybroch. If we can even move her.”

 

“I guess we need to ask Leery.”

 

They head back to the desk. “We would like to take her back to Lallybroch and bury her beside her husband. Is that doable?”

 

“I don’t know. Let me call the administrator down.” They are soon sitting in his office.

 

Jamie explains the situation. *We believe she would rest easier there. I would like a priest present at the dis- intermittent and we will have a ceremony there when she is re-interned. I’ve a private plane so it would be no problem to transfer her remains home.”

 

“What you wish to do for your relative is wonderful. As this a state run facility under the dept. of health, we can bypass the court order that would normally be needed. You will just need to sign some papers and tell us when you want her.”

 

“My wife and I will be here for two weeks.  At the end of that time. I will call you with the exact date and information on the priest that will be here to bless her bones.” He fills out the paperwork and shakes his hand.

 

“Would you like to visit her grave?”

 

“Yes thank you.”

 

It is a small stone with Janet Murray 1772 on it. Jamie stands, holding his wife’s hand, and prays over it. “You are coming home Janet. Finally.”

 

He calls Ian as they leave. “We have found her. Can you find a local priest to bless her bones at the dis-internment?”

 

“Our parish priest will. I will give him a call.”

 

“Thank you.” He then calls his dad. He explains all. “Will you see a grave dug next to Ian’s and arrange for a full Catholic burial service?”

 

“I will.it is a good thing you are doing son.”

 

“Thank you dad. I just pray it starts to heal the past.”