#ill unify it later

[shisekibo]

[Story Translation] Chapter Five - Differing Thoughts [Episode Two: Part Five]

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- The Following Day -

Lono:

“..."

Ammon:

“..."

Flure:

“..."

dash... dash...

Lamli:

“Everyone! I brought some delicious cake and tea!"

Lono:

“Mr. Lamli..."

Lamli:

“This smells so good!"

Lamli:

"Look, look, Ribbons! It's cake! You love cake!"

Flure:

“...No, I'm..."

Lamli:

"I have enough for you two as well, Rose, Chef!"

Lamli:

"Which one should I have? I know... ♪"

Ammon:

“Lamli. I appreciate you trying to cheer us up, but..."

Ammon:

“We're not really in the mood right now."

Ammon:

“Just thinking about how much Mr. Haures might be suffering..."

Lamli:

"Y...You're right..."

Lamli:

"I'm sorry. I just couldn't stand how gloomy everyone is."

Lamli:

"So... What were you doing in here?"

Lono:

“We were thinking of a way to rescue Haures, of course!"

Flure:

“The only surefire way to make sure he isn't executed is to prove his innocence, isn't it...?"

Ammon:

“I've been thinking about that all day..."

Ammon:

“But I can't think of anything. It's a waste of time."

Ammon:

“If we don't hurry up, they might actually execute him..."

Lamli:

"No... I don't want him to die..."

Lamli:

"Mr. Hau really looked after me when I first arrived here."

Lamli:

"I was so immature. All I did was cause problems..."

Lamli:

"But Mr. Hau took me seriously regardless."

Lamli:

"The only reason I get by now is thanks to him."

Lamli:

"I still haven't been able to make it up to him yet. He's not allowed to disappear just like that."

Flure:

“You're not the only one..."

Flure:

“If I'd never met Mr. Haures, I'd never have been able to fight Angels."

Flure:

“I would have died during our first battle."

Flure:

“That's how much he helped me. How much he trained me."

Flure:

“I need him to be here. To see me become a real Butler."

Lono:

“I don't know... I'd still have gotten stronger without him..."

Lono:

“But I still keep losing to him. He's not allowed to die until I beat him up."

Lono:

“We're gonna save him and I'm gonna kick his ass!"

Ammon:

“You guys really do respect him."

Ammon:

“We live on the same floor. I know him better than most."

Ammon:

“He's stubborn and serious and a total perfectionist... But he can't do chores to save his life."

Ammon:

“He's a good guy. And he cares about us all."

Ammon:

“I can't believe he was in league with the Angels..."

Ammon:

“They could have at least come up with a better lie! He wasn't sly enough for that!"

Ammon:

“We'd all notice immediately if he was trying to hide something."

Ammon:

“At least, us 2nd floorers would have. 100%."

Lono:

“Now you mention it, he'd never be able to trick us."

Flure:

“Convincing the nobles of that won't be easy..."

Ammon:

“We're going to find a way together!"

Ammon:

“But... I've used my brain so much today, I can't focus..."

Ammon:

"We all need some sugar to get our brains working again!"

Ammon:

“Lamli, we'll have some cake."

Lamli:

"Huh?"

Ammon:

“We need to eat up and think of a plan as fast as we can!"

Lamli:

"Y-yes! You're right!"

Lono:

“Okay. I'll take this one."

Flure:

“Hey! I wanted that one, Lono."

Lono:

“Shoulda been faster then! What a shame!"

Flure:

“omnomnom..."

Lono:

“Oi! I can't believe you ate it!"

Flure:

“You should have been faster, Lono."

Lono:

“Grrr..."

Ammon:

“Oi! Lono, Flure! Don't be so improper!"

Ammon:

“Is probably what Mr. Haures would say if he was here."

Lamli:

“Hahaha ♪ Exactly!"

Ammon:

“I'm sorry, Lamli."

Lamli:

“Hm? For what?"

Ammon:

“I said we weren't in the mood, even though you went out of your way to buy us cake."

Lamli:

“Hmm? Did you say that?"

Lamli:

“I forgot already! Hahaha!"

Lamli:

“Anyway, let's hurry up and eat!"

Ammon:

“You're right."

Ammon:

“Hahaha. I feel like myself again."

Ammon:

“We'll think of something right away, I'm sure."

[lilacargent]

As im currently dealing with the loss of a loved one, this is my way of coping.

Grief

Grief is an interstellar concept. Almost every species in the galaxy has its own traditions and practices. Humans are no exception, like with most of their emotions their grief is all encompassing. Traditions vary from one culture to another, even people deal with it in different ways.

Kilare as part of a flocking species wonders about the human crewmates when one is lost in a battle. She knew the passed human Ellie very well. Turns out they grieve like a flock, huddled together weeping, almost giving into the urge to join she turns away, expecting this to last for a long time she leaves them be. When she checks next the little unit is drinking and laughing, she can hardly believe it, carefully stepping into the room “i am sorry, may i ask something?” The humans look up some still blotchy from crying, the human she knows as liz nods “you were all weeping just now, but you seem happy? Im confused…” fluffing her feathers Kilare backpedals “not to be insensitive, im just trying to understand your process.” Evan gets up and walks to her “that is okay, you knew Ellie well right? We are talking about her and how we miss her, laughing comes with the tears.” Motioning for the taller feathered woman to join the little group Moira makes eye contact and starts explaining “i know you are from a species that grieves as a group, if i remember correctly mostly weeping and spread ashes on the wind to join in every flight” impressed by the womans knowledge she nods Moira goes on “humans have many different traditions, but every one grieves their own way and time. Mostly in five stages, denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. No two people go through it the same or even through all of them. There is times we grieve as a collective, sometimes you need time and process as an individual. We are now reminiscing Ellie, but i already know im gonna have a cry later and ill never forget her.” Kamare could understand and respect that so she joined in. It soothed her soul.

It was years before she saw human grief again so up close.

When the Ri’ktil attacked they committed what humans called warcrimes without batting any of their eighteen eyes. The horror of the people quickly turned to fear. It was when they blew up a human colony Kimare saw the unified grief. Human governments trying to bargain with the Ri’ktil, families travelling to the floating remnants of the colony trying to find survivors, denying that what had happened killed everyone man, woman and child. A month passed and humanity had grown silent and passive, the Ri’ktal took this as victory and broad cast it to the rest of the species in the galactic counsel. A warning that they would stop at nothing and break them like they broke the humans. Kimare remembered her conversation all those years ago and realised that anger was still coming, she could almost seeing it brewing under the surface.

A month was what it took. A month for humans to start walking upright again. Not only humans on their planets but everyone, on every world and every ship seemed to have shared in the depression. So when the fog cleared the whispering began, then came the talking, when it turned to yelling the Ri’ktil took notice. It was too late for them though. Because humanity started screaming, unified rage became a spearhead of humans all over the galaxy, noone even considered not helping. The tsunami of humans that could not wait to tear their enemy apart surprised them, no matter their way too many eyes, this they did not see coming.

The counsel joined the humans in their fight, and quick as the Ri’ktil had invaded were they beat back aswell. The defeat of their enemies did not dismiss their grief. But instead of on a specie scale individuals began their own process. Four years later Kimare noticed a change, they had made a monument out of the destroyed colony, it seemed to signify an end point. Humans went there to process and make peace, they had accepted what had happened moved past it. But never forgotten.

Humans didn’t forget when they grieved, they remember and accept.

~~~~~~

Tadah

[gascon-en-exil]

Apologies in advance for the tangent I'm about to go on but to give more context on why the Deer are the way they are from a story-perspective and characterization aside(the writers have said they decided to have more fun and be more out there with the Deer to create silly outcasts), the explanation for the Deer's role is something a lot of Japanese and Chinese fans have already picked up on but comes down to the DNA of the story and the writers adhering too closely to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms so the third faction was always destined to feel this way because of what they were copying in that Leicester is Wu down to the primary conflict being between Wei/Adrestia and Shu/Faerghus with Wu/Leicester being a third wheel. The original novel was a story about 3 Kingdoms but it was by no means equal. It's just that the author of said novel wanted to primarily focus on the tragedy of the heroic underdog of Shu struggling and losing against the overwhelming more oppressive kingdom of Wei. So the novel had a pro-Shu bias with Wei being the villain and Wu being written as more positively when they're with Shu but portrayed more negatively when they're against Shu. Although real life history wasn't quite so clear-cut as that. ------------------ Side-note 1: I would actually say the inspiration affects characterization pretty strongly too but moreso in Dimitri's case and Edelgard's case. Like Dimitri's Azure Moon arc can roughly be mapped onto Liu Bei(Emperor of Shu)("virtuous" lord in a homoerotic brotherhood goes mad with vengeance near the end, realizing where they went wrong after a close friend dies and stopping themselves as well as apologizing and later dying of illness) although Liu Bei's lust for revenge near the end was directed at the Claude analogue, Sun Quan, not the Edelgard analogue, Cao Cao. Edelgard's character picks up a lot from Cao Cao(Emperor of Wei) . Although Fire Emblem's Red Emperor archetype in general just seems inspired by Cao Cao and Oda Nobunaga, the Great Unifier of Japan. Claude's role being similar to an amalgamation of Sun Quan (Emperor of Wu) and Sun Ce although the writers have confirmed that character-wise he's meant to be the perfect fusion of Rajendra(a snake of a prince that was looked down on for being born to a slave mother and who adopts a masks so it's hard to tell when he's sincere or not but cares about his ambitions the most but still better than his incompetent, purebred, snobby older half-brother, Gadhevi, who was the basis for both Shahid and Lorenz) and Yang Wen-li(a friendly humble average joe that just wants to live his life and teach history but is a military genius general) Side-note 2: Koei Tecmo's version of Cao Cao used to be like the novel's version where he's a cartoon villain but they eventually started to take from real life history to tone him down and later on he became whitewashed and a lot of Cao Cao fans would say he's the true hero in their later games which was around the time when they started writing Edelgard. Sorry again for the giant wall of text. Just felt that it might interest you or others to know some how Koei Tecmo's history with Romance of the Three Kingdoms intersects with stuff like this if they didn't know.

Thanks for sharing. I've been distantly aware of those references for a while, but it's nice to have them all laid out for anyone interested in them.

[deadpresidents]

I don't understand why news stories about JD Vance keep mentioning that he's the most unpopular non-incumbent VP candidate since 1980. Unless they're talking about John Anderson (maybe? who knows?), that would've been the Reagan-Bush ticket, and they won! Maybe the VP choice really doesn't have that much impact on elections?

I think they're just using 1980 as a starting point, not as a comparable example. George H.W. Bush was an excellent choice as Reagan's running mate. He brought ideological balance to the ticket, was extremely qualified, and unified the party (he was Reagan's closest challenger for the nomination in the 1980 Republican primaries). The better example for a horrible VP pick would be, as I have seen mentioned in some places, George McGovern's disastrous choice of Thomas Eagleton in 1972, which ultimately resulted in Eagleton being dumped for Sargent Shriver eighteen days later.

Dan Quayle was a very questionable pick when he first was chosen as George H.W. Bush's running mate in 1988 because people just didn't know who he was. Even though Quayle had served in the House and the Senate up to that point, he had made so little of an impact that his selection was pretty shocking to many observers. I think the bigger problem with Vance, however, is that he's just plain unlikable. Even Quayle had a certain attractive quality to him because he was a youthful pick who brought a different kind of energy to that ticket once people got over the shock of him being picked. Vance hasn't added anything to Trump's ticket, and it's easy to argue that he's actually had a negative impact on the campaign, which is the one thing a Vice Presidential nominee should never do.

In retrospect, Sarah Palin was obviously one of the worst VP picks in American history, but she revitalized McCain's campaign in 2008 and there were moments were she really shined. If she had been actually qualified or prepared for the role she would have been a different story. I was working on the Obama campaign in 2008 and remember watching her give her acceptance speech at the 2008 Republican National Convention and we were all thinking, "Oh shit...they might have something here!" And then she started having to do interviews and it immediately became apparent that there was nothing under the charisma. We went from being scared that she might be good to being scared by how extraordinarily unqualified and ill-prepared she was.

There have been misfires on the other side, as well. Joe Lieberman was one of the least-inspiring choices of my lifetime. John Edwards, one of the slimiest American politicians of the 21st Century (which is quite an accomplishment), was as much of an empty suit under big hair as Sarah Palin was. And Tim Kaine may have been well-qualified for the job, but I don't know anybody who was excited when he was Hillary Clinton's choice. I don't even remember Hillary Clinton being excited about picking Tim Kaine. Kaine wasn't a net negative to Hillary Clinton's campaign, but I didn't think he added anything, either.

When it comes down to it, I think it's more likely that you're correct about the VP selection not having that big of an impact on the election. It's still an important inflection point in a campaign because it's the Presidential nominee's first big decision and EVERYBODY is paying attention. And, sometimes, it's an indication of the type of team the President is going to build around him when he does govern. But there hasn't been a running mate that really made a difference for geographical reasons since LBJ was nominated in 1960 and helped JFK narrowly win Texas. Yet, geographical balance is always one of the most-talked about aspects of building a ticket.

The most important thing is to pick somebody who is qualified to be President if necessary and doesn't take anything away from the ticket. Ideological, demographic, or regional balance is always good, but not necessary. One of the better tickets of my lifetime was Clinton/Gore and Clinton was a young, Southern Governor who decided to double-down and chose an even younger, Southern Senator as his running mate. Clinton chose someone who he thought could help him govern. And one of the other best tickets of my lifetime was a losing one: Romney/Ryan in 2012. There was more of a demographic/ideological/regional balance with that ticket, but Romney chose Ryan because he wanted an active partner in governing and Ryan had the legislative experience that Romney lacked.

Again, it's probably less important to the general election results than it seems, but the whole "Veepstakes" deal is always fun for political junkies, so we'll never stop talking about it!

[royalty-nobility]

Queen Charlotte (of Mecklenburg-Strelitz) (1744-1818)

Artist: Studio of Allan Ramsay (Scottish, 1713-1784)

Date: 1761

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Royal Collection Trust, United Kingdom

Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Sophia Charlotte; 19 May 1744 – 17 November 1818) was Queen of Great Britain and Ireland as the wife of King George III from their marriage on 8 September 1761 until her death in 1818. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Great Britain and Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. As George's wife, she was also Electress of Hanover until becoming Queen of Hanover on 12 October 1814. Charlotte was Britain's longest-serving queen consort, serving for 57 years and 70 days.

Charlotte was born into the ruling family of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, a duchy in northern Germany. In 1760, the young and unmarried George III inherited the British throne. As Charlotte was a minor German princess with no interest in politics, the King considered her a suitable consort, and they married in 1761. The marriage lasted 57 years and produced 15 children, 13 of whom survived to adulthood. They included two future British monarchs, George IV and William IV; as well as Charlotte, Princess Royal, who became Queen of Württemberg; and Prince Ernest Augustus, who became King of Hanover.

Charlotte was a patron of the arts and an amateur botanist who helped expand Kew Gardens. She introduced the Christmas tree to Britain, decorating one for a Christmas party for children of Windsor in 1800. She was distressed by her husband's bouts of physical and mental illness, which became permanent in later life. She maintained a close relationship with Queen Marie Antoinette of France, and the French Revolution is likely to have enhanced the emotional strain felt by Charlotte. Her eldest son, George, was appointed prince regent in 1811 due to the increasing severity of the King's illness. Charlotte died in November 1818, with her son George at her side. George III died a little over a year later, probably unaware of his wife's death.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

An idea I had to nerf the Butterfly back when I was trying to rewrite the show as a fic was to give the Butterfly the power to mimic other Miraculous powers (but not as strong/effective as the original), and then to have unification tweaked so that using two Miraculous at once gives the used a combined power.

Akumas come from unifying the Butterflies ability to mimic any Miraculous, and the Peacocks ability to create (explicitly non-sentient!!!) golems into making constructs that give powers to people

And I was debating on whether Emilies coma comes from something else, like just a normal illness, or if unification seems to negate the Peacock being broken, but Gabriel finds out later on that no, unifying a broken and non-broken Miraculous doesn't make you immune to the broken one, it just makes it take longer before you're affected

Giving the butterfly a limited set of powers to select from is a great way to nerf it! Anything that gives it clear limitations is a win in my book. And, if we had to have Gabriel dying in season five, having it be from the peacock is far more satisfying than what they actually did.

I'm really not cool with Adrien inadvertently killing both of his parents. It was more their own hubris than anything Adrien did wrong, but he was still directly involved in both deaths and that's an incredibly messed up plot point. Plus you know the show isn't going to do anything satisfying with it.

[prima-materia-ttrpg]

Primadelics and Social Combat

Hello, I'm back from a bit of a break as I was fairly busy doing things for the holidays and then got some sort of bronchial illness that I am still recovering from. However, I have not been idle, so now that I'm feeling a bit better I will share some concepts I've been working on.

More specifically, the more I try to write Potioncraft the more I realize that the name doesn't make sense and it should include other craftable magic items. I've also been thinking about the social encounter system in the game and how it would be fun if someone could make an argument good enough to hurt or curse someone, not unlike legends of the Filidh of medieval Ireland. I'll talk about that later.

Alchemical Crafting

So, this of course is not talking about Spellcraft, which I talked about in a previous blog post, but rather the process for making tinctures, among other things. I still haven't landed on a proper name for it unfortunately, but let's walk through why what was originally Potioncraft became what it currently is.

The process of making alchemical tinctures was called potioncraft, because tinctures are like potions in other games. I already didn't like the name because of that disparity alone, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that there had to be something before and alongside crafting tinctures, as all tinctures are are ingredients infused into a distilled alcohol that's been treated alchemically with a spell made for treating tinctures; usually to increase the effects of the ingredients already within the tincture.

Alchemically treating consumable or ingestable items can't have started with tinctures, they're only a few centuries old in the setting, coinciding with the advent of strong spirits. To that end, I decided food had likely long been alchemically treated to impart specific effects, as well as smokeable items. I then went ahead and extended this treatment to candles and incense, as it made sense that those would become natural things to treat. A cleric could use a censer that billows smoke which puts enemies to sleep. A ghost hunter could use a candle that attracts spirits. A doctor can finally recommend a cigarette that's good for your health (don't smoke this is a joke).

[Just a note, as I was reading this post back to my flatmate he suggested the term "Primadelic" to describe these items as a joke while chopping garlic. I looked up the etymology of psychedelic and found the delic part comes from the Greek "δηλείν dēleín" which means "to manifest" so it actually makes sense and is a banger I fear.]

The difference in mediums means there's only two things that unify them, being limited or consumable and being empowered by an alchemical spell. I do plan to have one crafting system that takes care of all of these things, so how do I make a system that encompasses such a diverse group of things?

Crafting

We have to zoom out a bit, because this is a secret that pervades through the entire game. It's all the same system. Crafting spells will mechanically be very similar to crafting tinctures and other items, with some quirks unique to the particular system and different skills used. This applies to everything from mechanical creations to crafting arguments. Spellcrafting requires the Spellcraft skill, primarily. If you want to create a sword that will be a different skill, requiring different things. Spellcrafting requires a focus, a sigil, and spellcrafting tools. Crafting a sword will require materials, a blade, and smithing tools. Tinctures require an alchemical spell, ingredients, and brewing tools. These will all be slightly different, using different skills and having different results and mechanics if you fail or succeed, but you can see the blueprint is largely the same.

Time for a segue into how Social Combat will work, and how to craft arguments with this same blueprint for the system.

Socialites (and intimidating soldiers) Apply Here

Another confession, my background in ttrpgs largely consists of games which have very lite or no narrative rules. Some of those simply consist of beating a number by rolling a dice, and others like LANCER give a little more oomph to social encounters with bond powers. Trying to write a social system has been very challenging, and I wouldn't have been able to figure it out if not for one of my friends essentially handing me an example system on a plate and saying it would be cool to craft arguments.

The concepts for crafting an argument involve using a school of rhetoric, an argument type, and a purpose for the argument. For example, using the school of logic and the intimidation type you could compose a logical intimidating argument to convince a king to do something about bandits. That argument might mention that the bandits are getting powerful and it stands to reason the king will start losing outer villages if he doesn't hire someone soon. Or, using the school of presence and the persuasive type of argument, you could convince someone they will be safe with you by puffing out your chest and standing tall. I will talk more about the schools and argument types in its own blog post when the time comes.

I've been playing around with a few mechanical ideas as to how the school and type play into the power of an argument, particularly with augmentation from the character's skills. If a character wants to make an argument pertaining to cooking for example, a higher cooking skill will benefit them, but the specific benefit that incurs eludes me because I still need to write the base mechanics for using the arguments.

Another concept I thought would be fun is the ability to deal psychic damage or otherwise making someone sick from a crafted argument once a character finds out how to pour themselves into their words well enough. This would be a feat that is fairly hard to achieve, but I enjoy the idea immensely.

Conclusion

Alright that's all folks. I'm going to focus on getting better so work will still be a trickle. If you read this far, thank you very much. Next post will probably be about the social argument system.

[accio-victuuri]

From this article about One & Only “The "easter eggs" that are not on the screen of "One and Only" are here”

Recently, Entertainment Studio talked to "One and Only" director Dapeng and starring Huang Bo, and shared the stories behind the scenes of 10 movies with everyone here.

"Passionate" is an adjective that is aptly used to describe the newly released movie "One and Only".

This movie focusing on street dance is dazzling, and the last 20 minutes of the national competition are especially hearty, making people's palms sweat;

Outside the shoot, every member of the "One and Only" crew is doing their best for the cause they love, and the soul of the group is burning. Dapeng took the main creator to run desperately across the country, dancing in amusement parks, singing at barbecue stalls, checking tickets in movie theaters, handing out posters in frog suits under the scorching sun, riding bicycles for publicity, taking trains for publicity, and promoting at scenic spots... Wang Yibo fell ill and returned to the team after only two days of rest to continue the roadshow. Like Chen Shuo in the film, everyone is desperate to give, just to get closer to their dreams, and their warm emotions are constantly transmitted to more audiences.

"One and Only" is a film project born under the trend of the times to break prejudice.

"After the release of "Sewing Machine Band", the business of many local piano shops began to improve, because there were many children who went to learn musical instruments. This "One and Only" also carries the blessing of the entire Chinese street dance circle, from the preparation stage to the end of the shooting, the street dance circle is looking forward to and blessing this movie, I believe that this movie will definitely usher in a peak of rapid development of Chinese street dance after its release. They may be children and parents, or they may be people who have been prejudiced against street dance, but they will all fall in love with street dance and the people in the story. Dapeng said.

The best candidate for Bboy

In order to understand the real street dance culture, Dapeng did a lot of homework.

He watched street dance movies all over the world, and interviewed a large number of street dancers of different ages in various cities across the country, from three to forty and fifty years old. In April 2021, during the preparation of "One and Only" and before the start of "Keep You Safe", Dapeng asked all the Bboys he knew the same question-

"If I'm looking for someone to play Bboy, he has to be a well-known actor, he has to be able to act and dance at the same time, and his temperament can be recognized by the Bboy community, who should I go to?"

Dapeng got a unified answer, Wang Yibo.

At that time, Dapeng did not know Wang Yibo, he did not even have a script, and he met Yibo nervously through the brokerage company. In order to prevent his expression from being in place, Dapeng also wrote a letter in advance and handed it to Yibo.

Later, Dapeng received a reply from Wang Yibo and wrote a lot of words. Wang Yibo said that he is very happy to be invited to play this role, street dance and movies are his passion, so doing this thing is a superposition of love. He agreed to star in "One and Only".

With a specific object, the film began to enter a stage of rapid progress. Screenwriter Su Biao printed a photo of Wang Yibo and pasted it above the table, looked at his photo every day, and began to write the script.

The script grows from the double BO

The earliest "One and Only" stories tried different directions. At the beginning, the main line is the relationship between mother and son, about how a mother raises her children, and the "exclamation point" is actually derived from a plot in the early version of the script. When Chen Shuo was young, his mother took him to choose his favorite extracurricular class, and if he didn't learn well, he would put a cross or question mark, and only the street dance chosen by Xiao Chen Shuo himself was given an exclamation point. The exclamation point became a small code word between mother and son, and Chen Shuo finally used it on the stage of the national competition.

In the process of the development of the script, they want to write how Chen Shuo is getting stronger and stronger, then he must have a good coach. The coach's line is getting fuller and fuller, and slowly becomes the protagonist.

At the same time, Dapeng they are going to start looking for actors. An OG who can dance, his acting skills are also brilliant, and the only thing Dapeng can think of is Huang Bo. He had shown every script to Huang Bo before, but he didn't find a suitable opportunity for cooperation, but he didn't expect that Huang Bo agreed very happily this time.

"Brother Bo told me that he could finish his last job within a time frame and have a whole block of time to shoot "One and Only", which scared me. Because it is not even a complete script, only the outline of the story. He seemed to have been waiting for the role, and the invitation process went smoothly beyond my own imagination. Dapeng said.

"So we have the double BO combination. We project our impression of them into the script, maybe you can see that there is a part of Huang Bo's shadow on the characters, and there is a growth trajectory of Yibo, that is because these two characters can be said to be tailored for Huang Bo and Yibo, and the story is grown from them.

This time is different from my previous creative path, I used to write one draft, two drafts and three drafts of the script, and even the punctuation marks I felt very satisfied with before I went to find an actor, but in the end it didn't work, and I acted by myself. "One and Only" was unexpectedly smooth, and it was the most efficient film I created. ”

Chen Shuo and his mother

In the final film, the line between Chen Shuo and his mother was compressed, but it was still the biggest crying point.

"The two of them are still a bit alike, did you feel it?" Dapeng laughed.

Liu Mintao and Wang Yibo each did their homework for the role, and the first rivalry scene they wanted to shoot was the scene where Chen Shuo rushed to the wedding scene to find that it was his mother singing on stage, and he couldn't help but burst into tears.

The crew spent a while to set up the studio scene for the filming of this scene, and ran in a group of extras. As soon as the shout began, Liu Mintao and Wang Yibo quickly entered the situation, and both of them shed tears from their hearts.

Dapeng in front of the monitor was a little confused - a scene that took so much effort to prepare, the result was so easy? He said it would be okay or ... Do it again? But in fact, the first take is used in the end. The two actors have done a lot of homework before this, and their understanding of the characters has been very thorough, realizing the "one take" of this heavy emotional scene.

Uncle's wax figure

Living with them in the film is Chen Shuo's uncle, played by the bald Yue Yunpeng, a character with few scenes but dense laughter.

Because her mother's surname is Du, the team came up with a somewhat nonsensical shop name called "Madame Tussauds Restaurant". There are a lot of wax figures in the store, and authorization is required to shoot wax figures, so the crew first considered Dapeng's friends, Jia Ling, Zhang Xiaofei, Yang Di, Li Xueqin, etc., and also thought of world-class celebrity images such as Monkey King, Einstein, Bruce Lee, and Tyson.

Yang Di not only has wax figures, but he himself also came to play a moving wax figure in a nightmare, which is scary and funny. Li Xueqin could have had a wax figure in the shape of a female ghost in "Keep You Safe", but because it was not sure which of "One and Only" or "Keep You Safe" would be on first, the audience might not get this meme, so they could only remove it first.

"With wax figures and a little bit of my own thinking in it. What kind of people are those who have wax figures, they are all successful people. But my uncle has been sculpting a wax figure of himself, and the closer to the end of the movie, the wax figure becomes more and more complete. If you have a belief in your heart, no matter how ordinary and ordinary people are, you can shape your appearance like your uncle. Dapeng said.

Huang Bo backflipped, Wang Yibo hit closed, and the crew rolled up

For movies dedicated to street dance, the dance part must be burning and fried enough, and it must be able to bring a strong visual and psychological impact to the audience.

Dapeng spent a long time researching how to make street dance look better, he organized a group of dancers to the studio to test shoot, try various equipment and mirror movement, and also hired a new editing director, Zhang Yibo, who had cut "Young You", to cut the dance part, because Zhang Yibo himself is also a dancer.

Most of the members of the exclamation point are real-life top dancers, each specializing in different dances. Between "let professional actors learn to dance" and "ask professional dancers to perform", he chose the latter in order to save the dance. But I didn't expect that the dancers' performances in the final film were also very good, because most of the time Dapeng let them "play themselves", eating the hot pot scene, everyone talked about why they wanted to dance, which is the true voice of the dancers themselves.

And the two leading actors, Huang Bo and Wang Yibo, both showed the highest professionalism and did their best to exceed the required dance moves. In the original script, there was no Ding Lei on the scene, but Huang Bo felt that since he came, it was difficult to jump again. Wang Yibo also strives to jump to perfection every time, and finally jumps with closure.

"Yibo and Brother Bo are very serious, so serious that I don't think it's necessary, for example, Brother Bo has a flip, in fact, you can do it with a stand-in, and you can't see it, but he must do it himself. Spirits can infect each other, there is a competitive atmosphere in the crew, you want to do a backflip by yourself, what should others do?

For the last street dance competition, we filmed at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center for 10 days, and the shooting intensity was very large. The movie is cut shot by shot, but the actors can't jump only part of it, the movements are coherent, so jumping over and over again is a test of everyone's physical endurance.

On the penultimate days of filming, they told me that Chen Shuo (Wang Yibo) had an uncomfortable ankle, but he didn't tell me that I only learned about it after several people. Although there was a team doctor on the scene every day, I told Yibo at that time that the movie is edited, and it doesn't matter if a certain time you dance is not so perfect, as long as a few moments are good, and then we can make up for it through other angles.

But he just has to be good from beginning to end, he is too demanding of himself. On the last day, he should have filmed the scene in a closed position.

In order to live up to his efforts, in the end, in the choice of editing, you can go to watch, I try my best to ensure that his performance is a complete camera, not cut. ”

An avid group performer

Dapeng used to watch many group performances in film and television dramas, such as a group of reporters mechanically pressing the camera shutter, and a group of wooden audiences under the concert stage, they would feel very dramatic. The main creator may pay more attention to the protagonist, and the supporting role is just a human flesh background board. This time filming "One and Only", Dapeng felt that the atmosphere creation of the competition scene was the top priority, and it was the key point for the audience to have a sense of presence and thus believe in the story.

No matter how big the scene, Dapeng requires every group audience in the audience to react with passion and commitment.

"Every day I try everything to liven up the atmosphere on the spot," Dapeng said, "The whole voice is dumb, if I can't do it, I will want my sister to go up, and if she can't do it, I will go up to others, and take turns to drive the atmosphere."

One day at 11 p.m., everyone started to get sleepy, and I felt as if the atmosphere was going to fall, so I rushed into the crowd myself. I said, look how I play an avid hip-hop audience. When you go to drive the atmosphere, everyone will be infected by you, and the atmosphere of the game can be more enthusiastic. ”

Dapeng, who did not star in his own movie for the first time, played a fanatical live audience, and he also set his "black photo" as a Weibo avatar

Prepare the last scene as if it were a movie

The last 20 minutes of the hip-hop competition were constantly reversed, and the climax was stacked, and wave after wave raised the atmosphere. How was this scene designed?

"We prepared the last scene as a movie. Although it is an action scene, it also takes on a lot of narrative functions, so that the game is always in suspense, there are constant reversals and accidents, and each round has ups and downs. Before filming this competition, our crew stopped work for a few days, and there were meetings every day, and various departments coordinated how to shoot this game.

Fortunately, we have the best dancers in China, the best dance consultants, the members of the coaching staff of the national team, and they give a lot of ideas. For example, someone was injured on the spot, how to persist with the injury, and impress the judges with spirit, such as the music suddenly stopped, the team's creativity..."

In the end, the exclamation point won satisfactory results with the comprehensive strength of the dance company, Chen Shuo's personal efforts, on-the-spot adaptability, team soul and creativity, etc., and I believe that it will definitely bring unexpected surprises to the audience.

Making a movie is very simple, it is a group of people who go all out for one thing

Chen Shuo in the play and Dapeng outside the play are both inspirational examples of struggle.

Recently, Dapeng turned out an old photo, which was a photo of his back with Wang Yibo at an event in Sina when he first stepped into the film industry nine years ago. At that time, he must not have imagined that one day they would collaborate on a movie.

In the ten days we filmed the National Street Dance Competition, every day burned to the fullest. About one day at the end of work, I found a room, and when there was no one, I cried there myself. It's not sad, it's reluctant to finish filming this scene. Even if this group of people gathers at another event in the future, it is not the feeling at this moment, and I miss the time I spent together. ”

"I thought later, maybe that's why I prefer to make movies. Life is hard, but making a movie is much simpler because it's simple, and everyone is desperately trying to give it their all for one thing.

Have you noticed that Yibo has become more smiling in this crew? Because that's what a twenty-four-five-year-old young man should look like, but he is Wang Yibo, and I know the pressure he faces, so in the crew, I try to make him find more security and trust. I believe that he was also very engaged and happy not to talk about the outcome of the final movie, but only about the summer they experienced together. ”

"This time I am also immersed in the directing work, I hope that this film can have a breakthrough in my career, because it is different, with such a powerful Bo Ge, Yibo, and such a group of the best Chinese dancers, everyone likes actors, I think it will become my best work so far." Dapeng said.

As the exclamation point recruitment slogan writes, "Keep working hard and you'll succeed!" This sentence is also true for each of the creators of Dapeng and "One and Only".

( Note : I removed some parts and paragraphs that focus more on DP and his past works. what is left here is about the movie, wyb and chen shuo. )

[mountainfrogs]

ok ill start with keroro actually. specifically how He of all people got the Keron Star which is like. The Thing for all of keron. highly revered, very powerful, the symbol of Keron itself short of the supreme commander. Why tf does he have it. Who is he.

Invaders are by their nature, soldiers! Warmongers, offensive. They take over planets. They fight and kill. great. Some of canon, least in the beginning, mentions he used to Be this but coming to pekopon changed him. A serious cool invader who only likes toys and eating junk food? tf.

ofc, then you find out that he had apparently Always been like this, and he only supposedly got by through family nepotism.

imo most of that is hearsay, or propaganda, or rumors. Everyone ended up fucking off their respective ways after academy training for the next 8 thousand some years, no? Everyone has all of these expectations and visions, but i hc that the truth is that Keroro is...well...both! Both a clown, and an intelligent leader. When he has the means to be.

He wasn't really a Huge Hyperintelligent Serious Asshole before he came to earth with a fearsome rep - but neither is he a huge idiot dickhead the way later manga and early anime like to show it tbh.

The guy is a clown! He's always been a clown. The guy doesn't like to fight! But he can somehow forge alliances by Breathing. He has a Heart, for all that he's a bit of a dense jackass. He befriended the Angol tribe - an actual race of planet destroyers and otherwise a giant fucking threat to Keron. And it's clear by the progression of the anime, as well as the movies, that he's a lot smarter than people give him credit for.

He Unites people, and when push comes to Actual Shove he can and will actually murder someone for the sake of his folks.

this? these two bitches be co-existing. They are the same people. He is both Clown and Actual Serious Murder Machine.

tbh i hc that keroro is, when the humidity isn't fucking him up, friendly and thoughtful and charismatic with a love for toys ofc, but retains a very sharp edge that isn't afraid to get serious. He can Think and he can Process. He's Intelligent. He can actually sit his ass down and process and do his work like he's meant to and hold decent conversations that don't revolve around gundam or some other silly thing. He can function very well as an adult just fine. I think here of episode 262B in particular.

He's a Lot of things. Not many people saw the complexity. But the Supreme Commander did, and the Keron Star did, and that is what the Keron Star Needed and that is what the supreme commander Saw. a right and proper leader, with Actual Heart, a combination that nobody else really possessed. A person who can get things done without being so forceful or harsh, the way most of the military is designed to be. A unifying body.

its just that the fuckin humidity scrambled his brain so now he's kinda...like That, as he is in the show now.

So what people expect when they think of the holder of the keron star is not what they get - because the holder was not based on pure strength, and his environment is Also not good for his health. he's essentially kind of drunk and heat exhausted like. all. the time. so everyone is like ????

but there's a reason he has it.

[itsclydebitches]

I think RWBY is the only story I've ever seen that literally had two separate, factually true creation myths directly informing how things got the way it was in the modern day... while being completely irrelevant. Seriously, what does this DO for anybody involved? How does this loredump about the Brother Gods help?!

Ruby early Volume 9: My mental health is in shambles and that's due in large part to my belief that I'm solely responsible for stopping this immortal, all-powerful witch. Since no one is going to correct me about the erroneous belief that I'm the Chosen One, maybe we could... talk about how to defeat Salem?

Blake: No. Let's worry about that later :)

Ruby mid Volume 9: Okay so my mental health is getting even worse due to a number of factors, but one crucial piece of this puzzle remains the fact that we have no plan for once we escape the Ever After. Shouldn't we be re-evaluating our priorities? What does it matter if this, that, or the other thing occurs if Salem destroys everything the moment we get back?

Yang: Ruby, that's evil Ironwood talk. Stop it :(

Ruby end of Volume 9: You know what I've learned this Volume? None of it matters. My grief, my mistakes, the burden of sought-after leadership when you're entirely ill-equipped to manage this situation... it's all meaningless. I've been taught over and over that attempts at self-improvement are morally reprehensible distractions because true heroes accept themselves exactly as they are, growth be damned. So now that I'm facing the creator of our Gods, someone with unimaginable power, knowledge, perhaps even the ability to stop Salem herself... I'm going to ignore that! Why would we try to fix things? Why unify and ask for help? Why find a silver lining in this horrible journey? My job is to be the individual savior who wins through the power of slashing things with my scythe, a role I can once again fulfill now that I've stopped trying to improve myself. So goodbye, Blacksmith! Goodbye, Ever After! No need for your long-winded exposition dump to amount to anything. We've done exactly what we came here to do, which is leave :)

[kisaraslover]

Do Mokuba and Kisara have any activities that they like to do together? Is Kisara more of a gal pal to him, or more like a big sister?

hello! so sorry for the late reply, if its any consolation i opened it on my phone and hallucinated my response multiple times before going "ill reply on my laptop later"

to me its definitely a case of "you cant just slap on Traditional Family Dynamic on all platonic relationships" Kisara the woman isnt motherly or nurturing, i know most people want her a "big sister" figure to Mokuba but her themes are social outcast, benevolent yet lonely, angry yet merciful, self sacrificing but hard to connect, shunned and worshipped woman of unknown origin. shes pretty much a wet pathetic meow meow on the surface. that much is impossible to miss so no matter how or when they meet Mokuba would be the one looking out for her. in the soft ways a young boy who grew up too fast tries to care for someone older than him.

think about it. shes scaredgirl core even when all the logical signs in her speech and her actions point to her being calm, coldblooded, levelheaded person, her body language is caving into herself, turtlenecking, backing out until she hits a wall, her self preservation hard to miss. Mokuba would immediately take notice of it (he used to too. though now its Fake It Till You Make with the kaiba bros) and regardless of how calm she might seem i can see him very subtly caring for her in small ways. he'll be more animated and loud if shes embarrassed, he'll step in front of her in a crowd so she can follow, in all joke fights or general seto bitching, him and kisara are a unified front. tho their win rate against him is crazy high theyre never NEVER above dramatically hugging each other, sinking to their knees, begging this tyrant to stop abusing his two very soft and kind family members (guilt tripping older siblings on how they used to treat you is always morally correct. im the older sibling its fair ok)

from there its easy to see him turning to loving her really deeply. while her connection to seto is significant and mokuba is happy for it, kisara herself is a fun, strange little lady, always down for his shenanigans, easily excitable about trying new things. mokuba, as the self proclaimed jack of all trades kaiba brother needs to try out many hobbies, learn about all subjects on earth, taste all arts he can and kisara is a wonderful partner. shes down to earth and humble in a way that puts things into perspective (she has that effect on both kaiba brothers lol. world wont end if you lose this game. there there) and mokuba would enjoy the chilled out nature of her because the kaibas are EXTREME.

anyway so the boyish ways he carefully regards her go both ways, she would be very attached him (dragon!) but she'd not care for the ages at all. she'd be like "OMG MY BEST FRIEND MOKUBAAA!!!" in her mind whenever she spots him. if all goes well and she is given a happy ending, she only enjoys companionship later in life. i like to imagine her having meaningful and rich relationships with different types of people as an adult but it WOULD be missing something important. monkeying around. silliness. and the eternal youth swagTM of mokuba kaiba would be her precious childhood silliness she missed out on. she would get to experimentally Commit To The Bit. her smart humor and his sharp wit, when they get together, leaving behind only the dumbest bits... their chemistry.

best trios are ones where all the members feel like the thirdwheel and knowing how seto-kisara and seto-mokuba are its only fair kisara-mokuba is LINKED for life.

[hunkygreenbean]

I've noticed a few camps of Mangione detractors that I feel like I need to point out and address.

The "Leftists Hypocrisy" Camp--Those that believe leftists are hypocrites for cheering on the CEO's death while also being against mass shootings and/or guns. I think we all can see a big moral difference in mowing down innocent unsuspecting school children vs. killing a man who made deliberate choices that harmed the ill and disabled all for his own profit, right? These types of folks can be found on the liberal-far right side of the political spectrum. They believe killing anyone for any reason is always bad, regardless of the context. They're the ones that think peacefully marching along a designated police route with Harry Potter puns on posterboard is how systemic change is enacted. The flaw in their logic is that peaceful avenues a) have already been tried and have been violently stamped out by the police state and b) peaceful protest only works when your oppressor has a conscious. They fail to see that our lives to these billionaires are only as valuable and worth protecting as long as it enriches their pocketbooks. The oligarchs that rule over us don't see us as human beings, but as assets they can liquify, bodies that they can exploit. TLDR this camp is blinded by pacifism and moral absolutism.

The "Centrist Haters"--Those that believe Mangione should not be celebrated as a class unifier because he's a libertarian/centrist/mid right/crypto bro. They have fallen prey to the boxes the billionaire class has drawn up for us, to keep us divided and weak. Believe it or not, there are Republicans and Libertarians out there who are actually happy about Mangione's deeds. Class solidarity does not end at the people who are ideologically opposed to you or even those opposed to your very existence. Even the most shittiest scumbag MAGAt that you can conjure up in your head deserves universal healthcare. Those in this camp cannot acknowledge the existence of bad people who do good deeds. If the class unifier is not a perfect Marxist anti-establishment leftist, their objectionably good deed that aligns with our values is thrown to the wind. These people await the "perfect" assassin, one who not only hunts down CEOs but one who is in complete ideological agreement with them. This is how the billionaire class wants us; divided and laterally aggressive. If we're too busy purity testing CEO hunters, then ultimately we will cease our efforts to enact systemic change because no one is perfect.

The Radfems--A subset of group 2 but separatist flavored. Similar to group 2, they are purity testing Mangione based on the fact that he is a cis man whose centrist/mid right ideology has led him to say some misogynistic things about women on his social media. Additionally, they mock male attracted women for making satirical edits and fanfics about Mangione, claiming that libfems and straight women have such low standards. But they're outraged for all the wrong reasons. The Mangione case shows us that at the state level, they could easily track down missing and murdered women. Police easily have the resources to track down rapists, pimps, and all other manner of abusive men, but choose not to as these men are not a threat to the status quo a.k.a. protecting property. As a feminist myself, it boils my blood that the feds have spent all these resource trying to find this 1 man over the 5,000+ missing & murdered Indigenous women, the 64,000+ missing & murdered Black women, the 36 trans women that have been murdered this year, and the 15,000 women & 50,000 children that are trafficked in the sex industry every year. They have the resources to do all this shit, but because rapists don't constitute a threat to the billionaire class, they won't do shit. This has shown that the safety of the 1% will forever outweigh the real danger that women face every single day. Direct your feminist rage towards the pigs, not Mangione.

[mariacallous]

With the benefit of long memories, we can confidently say that never in the history of the Palestinian-Israeli tragedy has the situation been as dire or perilous as it is today. But never has there been greater clarity about the essential components of a future peace settlement.

What sets apart the recent atrocious events—the horrific Hamas attack on Israel that killed over 1,100 people and the ongoing, belligerent Israeli response on Gaza, which has killed over 25,000 Palestinians—is that they have reopened deep wounds for both peoples: for Israeli Jews of the Holocaust; for Palestinians the Nakba, or “catastrophe.” Both peoples are in psychological turmoil, and emotions are exceptionally raw.

When the cannons eventually fall silent, the reckonings will begin. Hamas is currently enjoying a spell of popularity among traumatized Palestinians, but will it ever be forgiven for the death and destruction it recklessly—and almost certainly knowingly—provoked? Caught woefully off-guard on Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have the country behind him in pursuit of Hamas, but for how long will he be able to stay the course once a semblance of normality is restored?

Sooner or later, after decades of suffocating Israeli occupation, there was bound to be a seismic explosion, but not necessarily in the form it took. Hamas could have chosen instead to emulate the largely nonviolent border protests it had itself orchestrated some five years earlier, but to greater effect this time in light of its resourceful thwarting of Israel’s electronic surveillance barriers. Had they come unarmed in their thousands to explain and not to kill, Palestinians’ pleas for freedom and equality could instantly have been broadcast across the land and further afield and could have had a profound impact on the political climate in Israel and fostered new political currents.

By choosing a violent path instead, Hamas instantly nullified its long-term strategic goal to be accepted by world governments as a legitimate interlocutor in any discussions about the future. While the group might claim some tactical benefits, Oct. 7 will be seen as a massive act of self-sabotage when the dust settles.

In its vindictive reflex response, the Israeli war cabinet likewise abandoned the strategy that had been pursued for years of bolstering Hamas’s rule in Gaza to forestall the prospect of a Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza under a unified leadership. The new aim—to destroy every vestige of Hamas—was not the outcome of rigorous strategic thinking but a spontaneous lashing out by the supposed guardians of Israel’s security.

The new goal is not just ill-thought-out. It is also unattainable, although it is not beyond Israel’s leaders to keep moving the goal posts to enable them at some point to declare victory. Rather than destroying Hamas, the relentless battering of Gaza and its entrapped inhabitants is more likely to act as a recruiting sergeant for the organization. This, in turn, is Israel’s own act of self-sabotage.

Israel also had choices. In the light of the new era in which the state had acquired official relations with a growing number of Arab countries, a robust, inclusive, regional response could potentially have been swiftly devised. The outcome would almost certainly have been less destructive and more effective than Israel’s unilateral military response. It might have avoided the deaths of thousands and led to the release of the Israeli and foreign hostages captured by Hamas on Oct. 7.

For all this, the prospects of a new peace process emerging from the ashes of the present wretchedness may, ironically, have been enhanced by recent events, for two main reasons.

First, the common fallacy that the Palestinians are a defeated people and that the Palestinian issue could be sidelined has been exposed as the nonsense it always has been. Second, the related illusion that the conflict could be managed or contained has been shattered. It cannot be. It has to be resolved, for otherwise there will be more explosions with the resulting toxins continuing to overflow into the rest of the world. There is no way of resolving this conflict without Israel fully ending its decades-old occupation of the West Bank and the siege of Gaza, so that the Palestinians may be free to exercise their self-determination and live in freedom and dignity.

Since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, every seismic explosion of violence related to the conflict has sparked moves toward peace, even if, in some cases, they ultimately failed to reach fruition: The 1967 war itself prompted a steady evolution in Palestinian attitudes toward accepting a Palestinian state alongside Israel instead of in place of Israel; the 1973 war led to the Egypt-Israel peace treaty six years later; the First Intifada in 1987 culminated in the Oslo Accords in the 1990s, which, at the time, were widely believed to herald a new era of peace based on two states; and the Second Intifada in 2000 triggered the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, with its offer to Israel of full recognition by all 22 members of the Arab League, in exchange for Palestinian statehood on the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

As for the future, the wheel need not be reinvented. Peace between sovereign states can only be achieved through a cooperative relationship between the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant. This is the only course of action to end the current nightmare of violence and brutality.

All the vital ingredients for such a settlement and peace in the Middle East were set out in the aforementioned Arab Peace Initiative, which has also been endorsed by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. It urgently needs to be revived—and revised if warranted—and energetically promoted from within the region to the Israeli and Palestinian people who, in the wake of Oct. 7, both need credible assurances of their safety, security, and acceptance in the region that—in the end—is their home.

[ausetkmt]

A 12 year old school student died after he was allegedly made to run in extreme heat despite asking for water.

Californian Yahshua Robinson was allegedly forced to run in 36C heat after wearing the wrong clothes to gym class. He collapsed and later died after running, on the same day his mother, a teacher, issued a warning about dangerous weather conditions.

Yahshua said he felt unwell before he collapsed students in the boy’s class told his aunt Amarna Plummer, according to NBC Los Angeles.

Plummer said: “He was reaching out to the teacher, saying he needed some water.”

Image: ABC 7 WS)

Emergency responders rushed to Yahshua’s aid, transporting the boy around 16 kilometres from Canyon Lake Middle School to Loma Linda University Medical Center – Murrieta, where he was pronounced dead at 12:55 p.m, Riverside Sheriff’s office said in a press release.

The 12-year-old’s family is now looking for answers following their child’s death.

Plummer said: “Why would you have a child in his clothes – he didn’t dress out – running a field?”

Image: ABC 7 WS)

Temperatures in Lake Elsinore reached a high of 36 degrees, according to the The Weather Channel. The boy’s aunt revealed Yahshua’s mother, Janae Robinson, a gym teacher at a neighbouring district, that same day, warned school officials about the intense heat.

Plummer added: “She informs the administration, ‘Do not let any children go out today for PE’ And what happened? She gets a call he passed out on the field.

Image: ABC 7 WS)

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department confirmed they responded to the school after receiving a report of a minor needing medical aid and are investigating the tragic death, according to a statement released by the department.

A statement by The Lake Elsinore Unified School District said: “In this difficult moment, we are deeply saddened to confirm the passing of one of our students due to a medical emergency on one of our LEUSD campuses.

“Our hearts are with the family, friends, and our school community.” The 12-year-old's fundraiser is currently at $49,859 of it $100,000 goal (

Image: ABC 7 WS)

In a GoFundMe page set up by Plummer, she writes that: “The void Yahshua leaves behind is profound” after he collapsed in the “sweltering heat.”

“Janae & Eric Robinson and their three other children are trying to come to terms with this devastating reality. The agony of losing a child is indescribable, and as we wait with heavy hearts for the autopsy results, we are reminded of the unpredictability of life.”

The fundraiser is currently at around $50,000 of its $100,000 goal. Experts say children are more susceptible to heat related death (

Image: ABC 7 WS)

As the family waits to receive the autopsy report determining Yahshua’s death, US Environmental Protection Agency experts have shared the dangers of heat-related illness in children

Most children have a smaller body mass ratio to surface area and are at greater risk for heat-related death than adults.

Children are also more susceptible to dehydration than adults because fluids leave their bodies faster in heat and when exercising, the organisation also shared in their June report.

Flushed skin, deep breathing, little or no sweating, dizziness, fatigue, headache, or loss of consciousness are all signs of heatstroke — and if a child is believed to be suffering from the heat-induced illness, they should be placed in a cool environment and should seek medical attention.

[mademoiselle-red]

One interpretation of the Mulan legend I would love to see:

A Mulan story set in the 5 Hu Tribes and 16 kingdoms period, which is when the original Mulan poem originated

Instead of making her a Han-coded character, how about a Mulan who is in born in a rather new and small kingdom founded by Di, Xianbei, Jie, Xiongnu, or Qiang elites facing various neighboring threats?

After all, the Rouran wars were fought between the northern Hu kingdoms and the Rouran tribes. The Han-dominated kingdoms to the south didn’t really have much to do with it directly.

So let’s suppose Mulan lived in a small Xianbei Kingdom facing a hostile southern kingdom controlled by Han elites, an expansionist Qiang Kingdom to the west, and frequent raids from northern Rouran tribal coalitions in the north

Like the Rouran, Mulan’s people were also from the northern grasslands but due to the climate changes that started in the late Han dynasty and continued into the Jin dynasty, northern tribes like hers gradually migrated south, forming new kingdoms in the lands that comprised the northern territories of the old Han & Jin dynasties, which then drove the Han elite south.

Two or three generations ago, Mulan’s people made that similar migration south and the Rouran tribes moved into their old territories. Now the Rouran tribes are also migrating southward, and thus becoming an existential threat to Mulan’s little country

And this is when the Khagan of the original Mulan poem decided to raise an army to first deal with the threat to the north. The plan was invade the Rouran territories, find their armies, and annihilated their entire combatant force (all adult men and boys higher than a horse’s back) and thus destroy their ability to pose a threat to the Xianbei Kingdom for the an entire generation

Why go to such lengths? Because the Khagan is planning a western campaign next, to invade and conquer the Qiang Kingdom. He believes (rather correctly with the hindsight of history) that if he doesn’t expand his new and small kingdom, his bigger neighbors will invade and swallow him up. But he can’t risk an attack on his northern borders while he fights a war in the west, so he needs to deal with the Rouran first.

And so Mulan and many others like her answered the Khagan’s call and fought on his northern campaign. They were successful. The Rouran would not have enough men for any southern campaign for at least one generation.

And after Mulan retired from the army and returned to her village, she took up weaving again, but her peace did not last not for long. A few years later, the Khagan ordered all military age men back into service. It was time to conquer the Qiang Kingdom to the west. They were successful again.

And once again, Mulan would return to her village and take up her weaving. But the next year, she would be called back to her Khagan’s service. Now that he has unified most of the northern lands under his rule, he’s got his eyes on the prosperous but militarily complacent Han kingdoms south of the Yangtze river

And so Mulan joins the southern campaign, led by the Heavenly Khagan himself. But this time, it’s a complete disaster. The enemy army is stronger than expected, Mulan’s navy struggles with the unique geography of the Yangtze river, their supply lines are mismanaged, there is illness and mutiny.

After the defeat, Mulan survives the chaotic retreat and returns to her village. A few months later, she hears about the emperor dying in a mutiny against him. Her country, now spanning three times its original size when she was born, becomes embroiled in civil war.

Many, many years later, Mulan is now an old woman, a respected weaver and veteran in her old village. There is a new Khagan on the throne, and he is raising an army for another northern campaign, this time against a different enemy, a different kingdom. Mulan gives her father’s sword, now her sword, to her grandson and watches him ride from the village to answer the Khagan’s call.

And a hundred years after her death, her story would be sung by her people, who will have spread and mingled with other tribes and ethnic groups throughout the Sui and Tang empires.

[tunaafishyy]

Enkanomiya Enigmas - Part 1

A look into some of the strangest comments made by Enkanomiya’s residents

Note: this post is incomplete, I’m just starting the new year by clearing out some of my old drafts… maybe I’ll go back and fill these in better one day :)

Draft last updated 2022-12-26

In the Beginning…

Eboshi: Before Byakuyakoku fell into the deep sea, the whole world had a single unified culture.

Eboshi: Later, a great war broke out, in which the heavens capsized and the earth was ripped asunder. This land was then plunged into the dark ocean depths.

Eboshi: However, the heavenly order seemed to not wish for those who remembered all this to remain on earth. We searched for a road of return, but there was none to be found.

Eboshi: Much, much later, heaven’s powers of prohibition would gradually weaken. This did Watatsumi Omikami manage to fall into this place.

Out of Heaven’s Reach

Eboshi: They are primordial elemental beings, unbent and unbowed by the power that came from the heavens owing to their living deep underwater.

…

Eboshi: Watatsumi Omikami, due to ill-fortune, fell into this place, beyond the jurisdiction of the heavenly order.

Holy Soil Phenomenon

Eboshi: The Holy Soil phenomenon is, in fact, the expansion of their habitat. That means that the primordial elemental power of the three realms is growing stronger.

Eboshi: Only by using Watatsumi Omikami’s life force to awaken its second servant could we convert this raw, raging elemental power.

…

Tsumi: According to what I have read, the fundamental purpose of the Watatsumi Goryou Matsuri is to use the serpent god’s life force to awaken its second familiars: the Sangacorallia.

Tsumi: They are creatures that break down raw, primitive elemental energy into the milder elemental energy of the human realm. The giant coral is a symbol that the Sangacorallia have been awakened by the serpent’s blood.

…

Tsumi: Things are even more complicated than usual this time. The darkness from the Void Realm seems to be surpressunf things in the Light Realm and the Human Realm, causing them to come to a standstill.

Tsumi: You may need to use the power of the Bokuso Box to dispel the darkness and allow the ecological transformation to continue.

Orobashi’s Sacrifice

Eboshi: Unfortunately, by making contact with us, it also grasped a truth that came before it’s own existence. Thus, it was forced by heaven to sacrifice itself.

Eboshi: The truth behind this sacrifice had to remain unknown to all. Only this could the people of Byakuyakoku be allowed to live under the rule of The Seven.

Forgetting & Discovering the Truth

Eboshi: Due to the phenomenon known as Sinshades, the “past”, “history”, and “truth” of Enkanomiya would endure even if left to their own devices.

Eboshi: As such, a great effort was expended, not that we might remember but that we might “forget”. Lady Sangonomita was of this view.

Eboshi: The trial to obtain the branch was intended to limit the number of people coming after us who could know the whole truth of the matter.

Eboshi: As for me, I supported leaving records of the truth. As such, Watatsumi Omikami permitted me to add another trial path that, if passed, would lead to knowledge of our secrets.

Eboshi: “In the faintness of everlasting night, beyond the rushing of the river Styx, within the sinless flow of heavenly light.”

Eboshi: Release the seal on The Emanant Skylight. Then, you may ascend to the Gate of Heaven and access the site of the trial.

Vishaps

Eboshi: They are actually very intelligent, and they are adept at evolving. They would even evolve into different elemental forms throughout the history of their war against us.

Eboshi: I would not be surprised at all if they have learned language or perhaps even evolved into lizard-people of a sort.

The Traveler

The sinshade of Clymene, caretaker of the Sunchildren, recognizes the Traveler’s garb.

However, she then goes on to say that she was born in Enkanomiya (post-sinking) and that she’s never seen someone from outside of it.

For Clymene to have seen it, but to also never have left/met an outsider, implies that the Traveler’s Outfit existed in Enkanomiya.

She also makes a comment about not having seen it in awhile. This could be due to her either being a sinshade and not having perception of time, or the outfit being a carry-over from Enkanomiya’s society before it sank, and thus was as common post-sinking…

??? (Clymene): Hmm? How strange. I have not seen someone in your garb for a many long years…

??? (Clymene): From your mannerisms, you are not from Byakuyakoku either. Are you some guest from afar who fell into this place?

Traveler: That’s more or less correct…

??? (Clymene): To think that there were ways to access Byakuyakoku from the outside world… Shocking news indeed.

??? (Clymene): I was born here, and I have never seen anyone from the outside world.

Memories

Clymene: It has passed through the hands of every Sunchild, and the memories it has inherited are enough to fill the gaps in their souls.

Clymene: … Even though these memories are double-sided.

Traveler: Double-sided? Memories have sides?

Clymene: of course. In this case, the memories are two-fold. On one hand, you have your own memories, and on the other, you have others’ memories of you.

Clymene: Thus the gaps are being filled by both the Sunchildren’s own memories, imprinted upon the bridle… As well as the memories of them as the children who were blamed by Byakuyakoku, of those who became children of sin.

Clymene: my own memories are insufficient, and so I had to supplement them with those of the people of our nation.

Clymene: and it is thanks to these transgressions that have been laid upon them that they have now been remembered by Byakuyakoku, and can now leave their afterimages behind.

Clymene: Thank you, Traveler. My greatest wish now lies fulfilled. Yes, I… can finally be with those children again… I can finally… be at ease.