#is infinitely more helpful (for all involved) and builds a better society and world

[thirst2]

There’s a flavor of jaded, almost combative, social skepticism that I don’t think I ever identified with but, with age, am rapidly developing a shorter patience for.

You’re not more clever for referring to something cryptically to the room because you happen to know a lot about the subject; you are not cute or funny because your joke sounded aggressive by any normative standard nor others smart when they notice the inherent contradiction of your statements because they were never meant to be fully serious; you’re not insightful (and certainly not helpful) just because you’ve opted to communicate in a manner that’s deliberately obtuse.

[ederiiis]

Compulsory Question 1

I have identified six essential elements in my manifesto which I deemed most important to me as a young designer.

Passion for knowledge. CTS B has highlighted to me the importance of wanting to seek more knowledge, more information. As a learner, I am fully aware that there is an infinite amount of things that I have yet to learn and explore out there. But this knowledge will stay untouched without me putting in effort to reach out for them. I have to be proactive as a designer and always looking out for platforms and opportunities to seek information. LASALLE being in the heart of the design circle in Singapore, I am just a few steps away from places like The National Museum of Singapore and even other design schools like NAFA. I need to take initiative outside my curriculum, at my own will to visit different design centres. Lecturers that are also designers by heart around me are also available and they will also be keen to share a part of their experience which will all contribute to my growth as a designer.

Making connections. This module involved a lot of working as a team and discussing our own ideas and taking on different issues. I have been able to have an active platform for exchange of experiences and backgrounds. This did not only open up for flow of knowledge but also doors to opportunities that have yet to be explored. Opportunities for collaborations and a medium to help each other to be better designers. Having a wide chain of connections can also aid me to even more opportunities to work with designers that may be more experienced and more knowledgeable which will help with my growth. It can also open up opportunities relating to building my own career and reputation as a designer.

Embrace differences. In modules such as Studio, we have a lot of platforms and chances to meet people. We are always constantly working with other designers and rarely on our own. I have met people from various backgrounds that experience things that I have never experienced before. The differences in our lives built differences in opinions and perspectives too. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It is only a drive to open my mind to new ideas and beliefs. It helps me to be more empathetic and understanding towards others. This way I can be a more versatile, adaptable and knowledgeable designer.

Design with purpose. Designing with intent helps to make my work more meaningful. I believe that design is more than just aesthetics and is also a medium for designers to express themselves and their opinion about things revolving around them. I feel it will be fulfilling for me to know that my work played a part in any way to improve a part of the society. It can be as simple as designing a product to help with reduction of waste or through the message I intend to convey behind the aesthetics of my designs and work. Designing with purpose also means not to be excessive or directionless in putting certain elements in my work. Always be purposeful. Simple yet effective, as the idea is to communicate not to complicate.

Celebrate uniqueness. Designers have their own unique identity and it is up to me to find mine. That does not mean I cannot take inspiration from works of other designers and students around me. In fact that is how in LASALLE, we learn. We have numerous pin up sessions where we can see other students’ designs and we are encouraged to do research on other established designers around the world. By exposing myself to countless design works that communicate different design intentions in various ways, I can adapt ideas and a way of work that best suits me. This will ultimately form and shape my identity as a designer that other aspiring designers can take inspiration from to build their own personality.

Courage for betterment. There is always room for improvement. The world is constantly changing and moving to a new direction. New issues and problems will constantly arise. As a designer, I need to be able to move along with it, to adapt, to stay relevant and to constantly effectively impact the world through my work. I need to be able to humble myself and take criticism from other people and designers, regardless of their years of experience or expertise, and always listen. I have to be able to listen and empathise where other designers are coming from, why and how they do certain things and take what I perceive to be an area that I can improve. In other modules that I took this semester, we always have sharing sessions when we pin up our works and share our thought processes in coming up with whatever design we came up with. Lecturers will ask other students to give thoughts on other students’ work. We get to hear how other people feel and are affected by our work. We learn how we can better communicate our ideas through our designs and we constantly improve. This is how designers learn and climb the ladder to success. Always stay grounded yet ambitious and courageous.

[queenofthursday6599-blog]

My Feelings on Bioshock Infinite (part 1)

I’m gonna be honest. Not a huge fan of Infinite. Some of the world building is kind of interesting. It’s got a lot of interesting concept art to look at for inspiration. I like that Burial at Sea technically made all Fanfiction canon. That’s fun.

I just... I think it would have worked better as it’s own thing completely separate from the Bioshock series. I honestly feel like the only reason it was a Bioshock game was so that they re-use a lot of the ideas and mechanics from Bioshock.

A maniac creates a city in a geographically unusual location, due to his personal distaste for the world at large and a lot of the people in said world. So he attempts to create his own personal utopia away from said people. A utopia that rapidly develops a severe class inequality, then falls to ruin when said social inequality between the classes causes ever growing tension that finally goes off like a bomb. Setting off a Civil War. The Poor vs The Rich.

It also involves a revolutionary whose trying to lead an uprising of the lower class to secure the same freedoms and liberties as the upper class of society. Though Daisy is genuine, rather than Fontaine’s being an attempt to gain control of Rapture.

Part of the involves the child of said previously mentioned maniac, helping take down said maniac at the end of things, killing him personally. Said child was also abused and experimented on in their youth.

There’s also this thing called ADAM around, and it has the potential to give people superhuman abilities when drank or injected into their bodies.

This isn’t even covering the ideas that were basically stolen from Bioshock 2. Like the whole: A girl raised isolated as an experiment, with only a large ADAM infused, brainwashed protector to keep her company, who is also the religious figure of a cult, and wants to escape to live a normal life of her own. Who also happens to be a genius with a quirky unexpected skill (lockpicking for Elizabeth, hacking for Eleanor), and has fantastical powers that the MC is incapable of ever getting (portals for Elizabeth, teleporting for Eleanor). Or the crazy cult leader parent who’s really bought into their own myth, and doesn’t care about anything outside of their own ambitions, even willing to torture and brainwash their only daughter into being an agent of their beliefs.

It is just a mash up of Bioshock 1 and 2, set in the sky.

That, and they just leave out some of the important world building stuff that involve ADAM and stuff. I still have no idea where exactly Fink is (has to be) hiding the Little Sisters he logically needs, considering Vigors take more ADAM to make effective than Plasmids do. [Which doesn’t even account for whatever else Fink is using ADAM in.] Columbia does just outright have slavery so I assume it would be cheaper for him to just buy little girls to use as ADAM slug hosts than it would be to do a bunch of expeditions to the bottom of the Atlantic ocean to catch a bunch sea slugs to get the amount of ADAM he needs. Not to mention he definitely wouldn’t be morally against it, considering his own human experimentation and crimes against humanity... And how he steals every other idea Suchong has ever had and runs with it without hesitation. So I know he’s got to have them stashed away somewhere. Not to mention the really cool Little Sister designs they did for Infinite that never saw the light of day.

Look at them. Don’t they look cool? Yet they somehow ended up on the cutting room floor in spite of their technically canonical necessity.

Not to mention the fact that they were unable to keep the racism that is part of the setting (early 20th century white people) out of the writing. Such as the death of Daisy Fitzroy, and how the Vox are said to be just as bad as the Founders by the end of it. When they aren’t even remotely similar. Racist rich white people, using force to ensure their continued power and control, is in no way similar to a largely impoverished lower class trying to raise up against them in an attempt to secure their basic human rights. Never a good moral to preach, especially not from the mouth of a young, naïve, white girl, who’s only experience with the world outside her house before very recently is reading books.

IDK. This got really rambley and I apologize for that. Anyways. Bioshock Infinite a lot of good ideas, enough for like four completely different games. Somehow not all of what I would consider Bioshock Stuff didn’t manage to make the final cut. Nor did the all the parallel timelines stuff, where things are different and yet the same. Like all lighthouses in all the different locations, implying there’s a secret city there. Which confuses me because that’s basically what this game is about.

[blushing-starker]

Cold mates and black coffees

For @starkerfestivals prompt of mates

There is, he supposes, something beautiful about a world such as this, primitive yet advanced and sophisticated. Children no taller than his knee carry around super computers that fit in the palm of one's hands, talk to friends thousands of miles away whenever they want. It used to take him months to receive his preferred concoction for the early night wake up call, now stores inhabit every corner of every city. They patiently wait to receive their dependents, all sorts of people relying on some version of the simple black coffee to jolt their system. Convenient, sure, no doubt about that. A quick stop at a Starbucks and violá, five hours of productivity guaranteed. But nothing builds character like swimming laps through a freezing lake infested with piranhas to keep away the urge to rest for just another five minutes. Unfortunately, sleepless days were the norm for him and Rhodey whenever they endeavored to race each other underwater.

There are clothes, too. Clothes for each season available year round. Fox fur adorns a lanky mannequin next to a twin showcasing how breezy summer fabrics can be. Riding boots that he would have spent a small fortune on decades ago shine below man made light for the cost of a nice meal over at Pepper's. Jewels fine enough for the family vault enchant any who take so much as two steps in either direction. Everything is for sale; it just means swiping a plastic card, presenting a number off a super computer or giving the cashier the remains of ancient trees. He could buy an ice cream cone (with sprinkles, of course, he's not an idiot) and immediately wander over to a restaurant selling sizzling curry. It's what his father dreamed about, a thousand years ago. How odd then, that his only heir couldn't be more nonchalant to all this.

It's his what, first month back from sleeping for half a century? He got accustomed to this whirlwind of a consumerist world by the first week. The soft purr of self-driving engines, flashing neon street signs, a melting pot of twenty, thirty languages, glittering clothes clashing with garish makeup, an overwhelming scent of smoke, perfume and money is as familiar as the palm of Rhodey's left hand or Pepper's right. Is it fantastic, being alive for the wild ride that is the twenty-first century? Yes, of course it is. But it's his father's dream; not his. His dream is the same as what drove Maria Stark into the world: finding his mate. Which, logically speaking, won’t happen until time has colored his hair with quite a bit more starlight and streaked thin lines around not too shabby cheekbones. (Rhodey’s teasing words.)

Going along with logic, there is a chance his mate will never show up. It was mere luck his father met the only woman besides Peggy that could stand his whole. Well, that could just stand him, period. A mate is found by scent, identified by touch and only bound with words. If his father had gone for one more drink, he’d probably be as real as the tooth fairy. In the back of his head, there lives a voice. And this voice he named Miss Lucky. She told him how lucky he would need to be in order to find a mate not too close to cradle or grave, a person that saw eye to eye in the majority of the basics and was open to his predilection. Someone that wouldn’t fear or expose him, wouldn’t want to strike the killing blow themselves. And Christ, with or without Miss Lucky, it’s a fool’s idea, thinking that in the middle of New York amidst one of the coldest winters to ever grace the city, his mate, his soul’s match, his other heart will chance upon him and actually accept the fact that he barely exudes a scent. Let alone something useful enough to help others recognize his class.

That’s the one downfall to living in this time; so much tension regarding one’s class. It is infinitely better than before when there were only three possibilities and the social restrictions could very rarely be shattered. But now it’s about pulling rank, percentages listed on a piece of paper could be used against you or signify one’s survival. A double-edged sword. To be a nurse, any applicants must be less than thirty percent alpha. Soldiers were forbidden from entering foreign countries if they had more beta characteristics than not. Lovers, in some parts of the world, could marry exclusively when their percentages were compatible. In the old times, if you smelled like an omega, you were treated as such. That could entail being thrown into a whorehouse or perceived as royalty destined to bring life into the world. Once puberty came, a simple prick and a vial of blood determined one’s next decision regarding the future.

He took the test. Just out of curiosity and it’d be rude not to provide a mate with information so readily accessible merely because of an unjustified fear over his identity. He is an alpha. And if the test had said otherwise, it would have been no problem. Of course not, he would have been proud to identify as a beta or omega. His mother was a beta and his nanny, basically his second mother, was an omega. No shame would’ve clouded his mind at receiving such news. The matter was this, though, he had believed to be an alpha the entirety of his life. If the paperwork said that was his lowest percentage, different rules and procedures, updated to today’s society, would need to be learned.

And he’s so tired of it all when only a handful can smell the fact he’s an alpha. What was he supposed to do, carry the results in his pocket in case a bigot searched for a fight? No, that would be, as Pepper had made very clear before, extremely silly.

He carries the test in case his mate considers such matters important. Or their family. Yes, it’s not because he worries that society will somehow doubt his identity. In the end, being an alpha is an integral part of who he is. It shouldn’t be that way and he barely knows what that means, but it’s true. Miss Lucky comes back around swiftly now, what if his mate isn’t interested in him because of his percentage? What then? Learn what the other classes represent to that person and behave in ways they believe suit said classes? Could his match be with a pureblood, intent on “staying true” to their highest percentage? Would he be able to, cinnamon. Wait, cinnamon and honey? Is that rain and sunlight? Since when does Starbucks incorporate those smells? And how the hell does he know what sunlight smells like? He’s insane. There’s no other explanation, oh that must have hurt.

A young man has just barreled into him. Slammed into his arm like a linebacker. A linebacker that weighs a feather and a half. How is he this light, a breeze had more force. What should he, what’s the proper ritual here, oh my god

“Your nose is bleeding- “

“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t looking. I’m just late for class and- “

“Calm down and let me buy you some coffee; you’re half dead- “

“Shit, your coat. I will pay you back, I swear.”

He hums, looks down and apparently he was too involved in his quest to find a mate that he completely bypassed the thought that this man had accidently crashed into him while holding a coffee…

A mate. He doesn’t know what sunlight smells like. How could he? Unless that’s what his mate smelled like. The young man inhales sharply, lets out a little “oh, I think, I know it’s you.” and, on further reflection, he notices this kid has the voice of an angel. Soft and kind while not being so lilting he’d think it weak and demure. Ah, he looks like an ethereal entity too. Of course he does.

It’s the eyes that do it for him, enchant him enough he wants to kneel and propose right there in the hopes of waking up each night to those amber pools as familiar and mysterious as the universe itself. The rosy lips, pink cheeks and sweeping lashes are also quite nice. He has the body of a being from the old tales, a nymph or a muse destined to bring light and joy to the world. And black coffee to coats older than his father and grandfather combined.

“Could I touch you properly? I think spilling sugar over that coat didn’t really give me the chance to feel my mate, Mister?” Rhodey’s gonna annihilate him. This is a child, twenty-one at most. They could exchange numbers; communicate when his best friend wouldn’t be tempted to take one look and accuse him of going for jailbait. He could make a plan, organize a way to gently explain how he’s an undead creature of the night whose low circulation means that somehow his hormone production slowed and therefore he barely smells like wood let alone an actual human being. They could make it work. If he’s lucky, Angel here won’t fall for another. If he’s lucky, lots of things won’t happen. Or they will anyway.

“Stark. Tony Stark. It’s a pleasure to meet you, all things considered. When I learned one’s mate smells like something unknown, I didn’t quite expect literal sunshine to be what I noticed. And don’t worry about the coat; it’s nothing.”

Marie Antoinette gave him this coat as a gift on his sixteenth birthday a few years before her death. It’s fine.

“Oh. I, I wouldn’t have thought I smelled like that. It’s really nice, actually. You smell, and please don’t take this the wrong way, like alpha. And home. I know it’s weird, but I can’t explain it any other way. I’m sorry if it’s too- “

At least he already knows he dislikes that worried furrow on such a happy face. He surges forward, clasps a soft hand and lets slip a shocked gasp, sees the mirrored reaction because Jesus, it’s as if he licked his finger and then stuck it inside a power outlet. Every hair on his body stands on end and when was the last time his heart beat that fast? Surely it was the night his old flame left or when they, no. No memories of a past lover when his mate is right here, clutching his hand like a lifeline.

“I don’t believe I know your name. Seems a little unfair, don’t you think? Wanna even the odds?” It’s meant to make the young man smile and he does.

It’s only when he grins that Tony notices the sharpened incisors and the slight cold coming from the small figure. The same fog that follows him around even on the hottest of days. The exact shape of teeth Tony cleans in front of his bathroom mirror each night.

“Peter. My name’s Peter. Nice to meet you, Tony.”

[seenvs3000-21]

My Journey as an Interpreter

When this course began, I was in the dark about the whole concept of nature interpretation. Unsurprisingly, I assumed it would mainly entail developing increased awareness and mindfulness when spending time outdoors. I figured this course would help me learn to share those experiences with audiences from all kinds of unique backgrounds. My role as an interpreter before ENVS*3000 focused on topics surrounding my studies as a science student. Being in university has a way of making school the primary lens through which you perceive the world; at least, that has been my experience. As a result, when I look at the world around me, it is easy to recognize the ecosystems at play and the unique interactions happening within them that are essential no matter how small. As a science student in my final year of study, the natural world's complexity is evident, and for me, this is one of the most humbling thoughts to entertain. It is crucial as an interpreter to be mindful of the natural world's sheer magnitude, something often overlooked by the anthropocentric society we are immersed in. 

In nearly any situation, humanity has a way of commanding attention, but learning how the complex systems at work in nature genuinely are, makes it clear that it really is a delicate balance. It can also be an eye-opener for many to realize humans are not as pivotal to Earth's well-being and function as we are conditioned to believe. Humans have less control over the world than we would like to admit. Although the environment is plagued by the seemingly infinite number of challenges resulting from human activity, the wilderness will and always should stay out of our control. As interpreters, it should be our role to help others recognize the power and knowledge found within nature and the positivity it can bring to our lives when we do our part to care for it and maintain its integrity. When we care for the Earth, it cares for us by healing our psyche and fostering our physical well-being.

Photo by Lukasz Szmigiel on Unsplash  

My development as a nature interpreter is heavily influenced by my personal morals and the belief that good interpreters should share the knowledge and power nature offers. The things most important to me that define my personal ethics as an individual and as an interpreter are respect, integrity, and the value knowledge holds. As interpreters, our primary role is to share the knowledge we have with others so that they may achieve the same benefits we do as a result of forming a meaningful connection with nature. Additionally, I think it is our job to teach others how we know to be respectful of the environment in sustainable ways to maintain the integrity of our natural surroundings. When discussing my development as an interpreter, my mind automatically jumps to my future role as a science teacher. I am starting my Bachelor of Education this upcoming fall to teach high school science, a clear showcase of my priority to share the invaluable knowledge that exists in the field of science with others. 

I have always loved sharing what I have learned with people around me, even if it's just a remarkable fact I learned in class that week with a friend or even my mom. The key here is how significant knowledge and learning is to me, and I think this goes hand in hand with honesty, integrity, and respect, morals by which I try to live my life. While these factors are those by which I guide the actions and decisions I make in my life, they are also the ones I focus on when interacting with the natural world around me. Being respectful is one of the most important things to keep in mind when getting out and experiencing nature, especially to maintain the integrity of the ecosystems and the organisms that rely on them. Connecting back to my future as an interpreter through the role of science teacher, I can share these ethics with the students who enter my classroom and show them the importance of the environment and how they can personally maintain nature's integrity. 

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash  

Continuing my role as an interpreter through teaching science introduces a variety of responsibilities. First and foremost, teaching youth to respect the environment and do what they can to improve nature's conditions whenever possible. Environmental stewardship offers benefits to the domain directly, but it also provides an outlet for individuals to connect and spend time outdoors. I believe nature holds so much power, be it in terms of psychological relief from stress or anxiety or a physical escape from the hustle-bustle we are affronted by in modern society. I believe it is a gift to be shared, and that is our responsibility as teachers and as interpreters of the natural world. As mentioned in Rodenburg's article (2019), today's youth simply are not getting outside to experience nature the way many of us did as kids, even though that really was not so long ago. In a world that has been rapidly developing new technologies for even more convenience, people are beginning to forget to slow down and appreciate what is around them, and children are not exempt from this. It is so important to foster the connection between humanity and the environment to avoid "nature deficit disorder," a term coined by Richard Louv in the textbook (Beck et al. 2019) to describe the detachment between humanity and nature. 

Throughout history, nature and humanity have always been intertwined; one can never exist without the other, so nature deficit disorder can introduce various challenges. Perpetuated by modern society, nature deficit disorder can manifest in countless ways that exemplify the physical, social, and cognitive deficits that result from the disconnect with nature (Beck et al., 2019). Teachers have so much power to initiate reform by educating and inspiring their students who will grow up to be the policy-makers, business owners, scientists, teachers ultimately, the future caretakers of the world. The impact teachers can have on their students is undeniable, which is a primary aspect of effective interpreters, which is a significant reason I decided to pursue a career in teaching to make a difference.

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash  

Everyone will have a unique perception of the broad privileges granted by the environment that expresses the individuality between people. As an interpreter, it is vital to focus on the various things that catch different individuals' attention, providing insight into the unique personal relationship held with nature and their relationships with others and even within themselves. There is a valuable connection between humans and the environment from the deep evolutionary history that forever links the two. Creating a strong relationship with nature and helping others to do so will aid mental wellness by reducing stress, anxiety, and depression, elevating mood and reestablishing attention to the physical health benefits that include promoting cardiovascular health and reducing obesity by staying active. There are many benefits to support the power of getting involved in the environment and building a personal relationship with nature. I believe that to be one of the responsibilities of a nature interpreter and a science teacher.

Photo by Steve Halama on Unsplash  

This course provided invaluable knowledge about how to reach a variety of audiences, but more importantly, it allowed me to gain insight into my personal relationship with nature. While learning techniques to improve the way I can share my own interpretations with others has been amazing to prepare me for my time in teachers' college. The enhanced relationship with the natural world has provided me with much needed benefits and escape from symptoms of nature deficit disorder and many other aspects of nature I had never recognized before this course. I always knew the importance of the environment when it comes to science, of course, and in art based on the numerous art pieces or musical creations inspired by nature. This course expanded my appreciation for the incredible impact nature has had on humanity throughout history, but it is even more important in society today. 

Thanks for a great semester everyone!!

Sierra 🌼

References:

Rodenburg, J. (2019). Why Environmental Educators Shouldn’t Give Up Hope | CLEARING: A Nonprofit Magazine for Environmental Education in the Pacific Northwest. clearingmagazine.org. https://clearingmagazine.org/archives/14300

Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2019). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage: For a better world. Urbana: Sagamore Publishing

[sidespromptblog]

Truly. : Part 2

One, Three, End

Summary: And just like that, walking further and further away from Thomas’ house, his host, and all of the other sides…

Logan was alone, truly alone.

Word Count: 2120

AO3 Link

“What do you mean he’s gone?” 

The words felt like glass brittly breaking against Virgil’s throat from the very moment that he said them, his world felt off-kilter the longer and longer he stared at Patton. The moral side didn’t say a single thing else, as his fingers twisted and pulled at the tied arms of the hoodie around his shoulders. His eyes were red, as if he’d just gotten done crying or was about to start all over again, and his bottom lip trembled the more that he bit and chewed at it. His hair was a complete mess too, oily and in a disarray, like he’d spent just as many hours that he had looking for Logan, that he had running his fingers through his hair and tugging on the light brown strands. 

Regardless of his state… he was nothing in compared to how Roman was fairing, that much was glaringly obvious. 

“He,” Patton swallowed thickly, trying to quell the rising tears that would only make Virgil that much more uncomfortable. “I went up to his room to see if he wanted breakfast and.. and he was just gone. Both Remus and Roman have been combing over their sides of the imagination and.. and they’ve found nothing!” Even now he couldn’t help the slight hysterical edge to his voice, he just couldn’t help it. This was Logan they were talking about, their own dear logical side who was missing. “Re.. Remus said that even if one of their monsters got him, there would still be a body or.. or something left behind. They said that they were sure of it!” The world misted in tears, and once again Patton pressed the arm of the hoodie that Logan had given him to his watering eyes. 

As Patton trembled, Virgil didn’t waste a single second in consoling him, wrapping his arms around the moral side that dissolved into little sniffles and hidden tears as he buried his face into Virgil’s shoulder. Looking over his shoulder, he caught sight Remus as they sat next to the other creative side who was curled up on the couch boxes of tissues next to him. Roman wasn’t in the best of condition either, just the knowledge of that felt like jagged pieces of glass jutting wildly against his heart. 

What had he last said to Logan? What would be the last thing that Logan remembered before he went missing? What had he might have said that could have chased Logan away? Had he hurt him in any way? 

“Then why are you lying?” Virgil sneered, his frustrations building on top of frustrations at this point, it had been one thing for Remus to show up and utterly blindside him by knocking out his own brother. But for Logan to take Remus’ side on this? He felt his already shot nerves further fraying at the notion.    

Lying… he had honestly thought that Logan had been lying to all of them when Remus had shown up… to him. 

Lying. 

Logan.

Oh… Oh!

Virgil reared back sharply as if he’d just been slapped, the realization scorching its way across his mind like the force of a hurricane. Patton startled in his arms, and even more so, at the delighted smile on Virgil’s face. 

“I know how we’re going to find Logan!” He blurted out much louder than he had been intending to, his hands were wildly jittering as he patted Patton’s shoulders just as wildly as if to calm down not only himself but the moral side as well. “I’ll be back, you just.. You stay here and make some hot cocoa! Everyone needs hot cocoa! The kind with the little marshmallows and whipped cream!” He blurted out, his nerves getting the better of him, as he gently shoved Patton towards Roman and Remus just to wave away their confused looks. “I’ll be back!” 

Anxiety… for lack of a better term, bubbled up in Virgil’s throat as he sank down. 

Down and down, going past everything. Thomas’ recent memories, his old memories, his instincts, and even the mental barriers that were meant to keep some of them at bay. He sank down, until he could feel the cold attaching itself to his bones, it was… the kind of cold he had promised him that he’d never come back to. The cold that he had been desperate to leave once he had gotten a taste of warmth from the other side of things… the lighter side as it were. It was all old and yet so very familiar to him, as his feet finally landed on something solid. The stone flooring and roughly patched up walls stretched out before him, well into the kitchen, the living room, all of which were largely abandoned due to nobody using them. That and… 

All of the different colored doors. 

A good chunk of them were taped off with bright yellow caution tape, a sign as clear as any that regardless of still showing himself to Thomas and letting Remus do what they pleased now… Deceit was still doing his job to the best of his ability. 

A soft nugget of guilt squirmed in his stomach as he walked the well-worn path all the way to that familiar but yellow faded door that looked to have been spray-painted yet again with Deceit’s newest “fuck society” quote… somethings never changed around here, and that was one of them. Nevertheless, Virgil swallowed past the lump of nervousness in his throat as he raised his fist, and for a moment… just a moment he hesitated before knocking heavily on the door. 

The result was almost immediate. 

“I told you, Remus!” A very short and a very peeved Deceit jerked the door open, his curls in a state of disarray from what could have only been sleeping. “Your dick modeling can wait unti-” In an instant, the dishonest side’s mouth snapped shut, before opening with nothing but silence. His widened eyes stared obviously back at Virgil, he didn’t make a single move as his hands curled defensively into his chest. At least… not until Virgil took a single step into the room, prompting Deceit to take just as many steps backwards away from the anxious side and towards his messy bed. “Oh.” Was the single word that fell from his lips, it might have been just one single word but even so… the emotions hidden behind it told Virgil everything. 

They were on an uneven playing field, and it wasn’t in Deceit’s favor at all. 

“I…” Awkwardness tugged at Virgil’s insides as he ran his fingers through his purple-dyed hair. His words weighed heavily on his tongue, like he had just swallowed a ton of weighted lead. “I need a favor.” 

“You what?!” 

Deceit stepped back yet again, as if he had just been slapped, the back of his legs brushed against the very end of his bed. And at that moment, the dishonest side in question would have loved nothing more than to just turn around and crawl right back in there and cacoon himself so that he never had to face the outside world or… Virgil ever again. Watching a lifetime of conspiracy videos and snacking on junk food was so much better than ever having to face the look that the anxious side was looking at him with now, infinitely better. 

Virgil despite this, held his hands up regardless, he’d come this far and he wasn’t about to let his shot nerves get in the way now. “I need you to find Logan, like… like you did before.”

“You want me to what now?” Deceit blandly stared back at him, strangely missing the fire that had burned in his eyes when he had summoned the courtroom and put all of them into suits. His eyes felt strangely empty now that Virgil thought about it, like all of the bravadoes was just that… nothing. “I thought that you hated me or something? Why on earth would you need ME to find Logan? Just summon him or something, and leave me be.” He coldly muttered, his arms crossing over his chest in an attempt to not feel so… out of place, and in his own room no less.

Before Deceit could turn over and lay back down and do whatever he had been doing before, Virgil roughly seized his shoulder pulling him right back up. 

“Please.” He openly begged, not giving a damn about pride right now. “Please Dee.” He softly added, relaxing his grip on the dishonest side’s shoulder so that he could gently turn the snake faced side towards him. Gingerly grasping both of his shoulders Virgil gave him the slightest shake, peering desperately into his eyes just to get across how utterly serious he was about this. “I need your help to find him, Dee, you knew how to find Remus when they tried to run away after the split. I need you. I need you to find Logan, please… please. I..” Virgil thickly swallowed, his hands shaking the longer and longer he grasped Deceit’s shoulders, if he needed to bargain to make this more interesting to Deceit he’d damn well do it. He knew what Deceit wanted, ever since he had left in the place. He knew what would make him help. “I’ll-”

 A soft ungloved finger laid over his lips before he could so much as get another word out. “Don’t.” Came the single word as Virgil looked surprisedly back at Deceit, “Don’t offer things you don’t want to give storm cloud. Take it from me and just… don’t.” 

This time when Deceit moved, Virgil didn’t dig his fingers into the other’s shoulders to keep him there. Allowing the dishonest side to move freely towards his closet as he disappeared inside, he was left just standing there awkwardly for almost ten minutes as his fists clenched and unclenched. The whisper of Deceit’s honey-sweet words still ringing as clear as a bell in his ears, as soft as cotton and as gentle as the touch of a mother cat with her newborn. 

Since when did he deserve such kindness? He had left. He acted like Remus and Deceit were the bain of his very existence since he left. He treated them terribly, and yet… in the privacy of his own room, Deceit’s real feeling, with no make-believe setup involved, were revealed to him. What on earth did he do to deserve that, when had he deserved something like loyalty from him after everything? 

The answer, hidden away in the confines of Deceit’s room. In the posters on the wall that had been in Virgil’s old room, in his old jacket that he had abandoned, and the gifts that he had gotten Deceit for Christmas before he had moved on with Patton and the others. The answer scared him. 

Always, it whispered to him as the heat of tears burned at his eyes. 

All it took was a rustling of clothes from the closet, and his attention was broken as soon as Deceit walked back out. Fitting in the softest scarves, hat, and gloves that he had ever seen, Deceit stood before him looking like he was ready to brave a snowstorm rather than the weather that wasn’t just yet in the freezing temperatures. He looked as ready as one could be given the situation, well… all except for one thing and one thing only. 

“Here, you’re going to need a jacket with how cold it is out there.” Virgil easily shrugged his jacket off before tossing it over to Deceit who caught it out of reflex only. “Bring him back and…” A tiny smile quirked on Virgil’s lips, “I’ll make you one with yellow patches.” It was an easy promise, one that was so much easier than ever offering to come back to a flower pot that wouldn’t hold him with how much he had grown since he had last been in it. 

Deceit… Deceit for the life of him had known that. 

And he looked just about ready to cry as he reverently held Virgil’s new jacket with an air of awe and stardom, as if even touching it for too long would soil it and corrupt it. Nevertheless, he slipped it on his hands shaking the entire time that he did, and Virgil… Virgil couldn’t help but to feel the slightest sliver of guilt nestling in his gut for that. 

But it was guilt he’d have to think about later.  

“I’ll bring him back,” Deceit tore his gaze from the sinfully soft and warm jacket that smelled ripely of Virgil’s cologne. “I promise.” 

And just like that… Deceit was gone, well and truly gone. 

[gayregis]

angouleme can have little a avuncular guidance. as a treat ... heres some semblance of a compilation of regis being a guardian to angouleme, things i think about . both funnie and sad moments included i think

angouleme sneaks out at night to get into trouble / does other questionable things around the palace nocturnally, regis always catches her and it’s always on accident since they just have very similar time schedules. angouleme stares at him intensely in “oh fuck i just got caught” like O_O for a good 30 seconds EVERY time this happens but regis is just like :| and shrugs saying “i didn’t see anything, i’m a human, i can’t see at night or whatever” and walks off. also the next morning geralt always questions him as to what angouleme was doing, if he saw her when he was coming home, and regis always denies knowledge or says smth along the lines of “i’m not a narc, geralt :/”

angouleme yelling/losing her shit/saying wildly inappropriate things ... regis produces a ye olde granola bar from his bag and gives it to her and she quiets down immediately and is like :) content eating the granola bar. you can also substitute the granola bar with a bag of baby carrots.

similarly angouleme saying crazy shit and geralt telling her to be quiet and asking regis to recount this instead and regis says something incredibly similar/the exact same

that one time that milva was teaching angouleme to shoot and angouleme clear missed the target and got regis instead and actually for the first time was incredibly upset and regretful and guilty that she had inflicted pain and potentially death upon someone and was very worried and apologetic and ashamed ... but also when regis inevitably just plucks out the arrow and hands it back to her and says “oh i think this is yours” angouleme is like wait so he litcherally cant be killed... this is epic

basically angouleme who’s been abandoned having an immortal protector and mentor. peace

as i said in the tags of this post here: regis comes of as so peaceful as an individual that at first angouleme resents him a little, because she associates peace with arrogance... like, oh youre content with your life and dont hate yourself? so you think youre better than me? fucker. and she’s so used to asshole men being creeps in her life that this company still seems really bizarre in the regard that none of these men are dangerous. but then she learns about what ... who ... regis was in the past and she realizes that they’re similar, and then does the math and realizes that maybe one day she’ll also find this inner peace and can stop hating herself so much for the things she’s done and the things that have happened to her. angouleme not feeling as though she's so alone and such a fuckup that only she could ever get into such a mess like this... i feel like she has an unhealthy amount of survivor’s guilt, as in she blames herself for not dying while everyone else in her band did, and she also feels like what the world has given her she deserved because she was a fundamentally bad person from birth bc of her status, and that she will be stuck in this violent hellscape of a life forever and thats just how it is and she has to continue violence... but i think when she meets regis (and also milva) she realizes that violence does not need to be a cycle and change is possible.

also in the tags of that post: i think... regis developing more understanding/empathy and putting ethical philosophy into actual practice where it actually has stakes (haha haha haha stakes haha haha haha haha haha). i think in the hansa he learns what humanity actually means

also bc vampires just... do not parent, it’s not in their culture to, regis learning what guardianship actually means and growing into this position where he protects this child and begins to understand humanity on this deeper level of the feeling of protecting a child, because that’s very human, valuing and protecting the progenity for a new generation is incredibly human

also geralt arguing with regis that “humans don’t regrow their heads” so he can’t just be supporting her doing all sorts of dumb shit just bc he did it and he turned out alright... they kind of have to argue on how to parent i’m saying bc again vampire parenting is not much parenting at all. just let them go wild what’s the worst that could happen... they’ll learn sort of thing. so regis has to confront the idea of human fragility and mortality

i think regis also learns from angouleme in that it’s very easy to hate and loathe your past self and curse your past self, asking “what could i have possibly been thinking, what an idiotic thing to do...” when your past self was not actually devoid of any redeemable qualities and was actually just misguided and without hope... regis condemns his past self quite harshly but because he would never admonish angouleme in such a way i think he realizes that the self-loathing is excessive and unproductive and potentially harmful

i said this in a post already, but geralt is overflowing with fatherly vibes and milva is also stern so i think there is a lot of value in regis to angouleme , in that she can tell him practically anything and he won’t get on her case for it . she finds this kind of amnesty in him whereas with the other members of the hansa they’d freak and start asking her all these questions. regis is just like “hm ok” and maybe discusses a little but doesn’t give her shit for it. this allows angouleme to confide a lot of stuff that she wouldn’t normally feel safe to tell someone else, and also probably gets her out of a lot of trouble bc someone (a very powerful someone) will know where she is and what she’s doing... so if she gets into trouble, she has a lifeline

this also means she can tell him a lot of funnie stories that she doesn’t have to stop herself with because “was gonna say smth funny and then remembered it involved murder.” also regis has like a thousand stories too obviously so he counters her wild tales with smth even crazier and then they’ll try to compete for a bit like “well ONE TIME i...” but angouleme actually always wins and neither knows how she does

surgery lessons, or basically regis was sewing someone up and angouleme invaded the scene going “can i watch can i watch”

also alchemy lessons, which turns into basically “so that’s how you make fisstech... interesting”

i think also in these mentorships regis quizzes her lightly like “and what reactions does this species of plant produce in the human body...?” and angouleme says the right answer, “oh they drop dead” and regis is like “very good!” and angouleme kind of goes insane with happiness a little at being called ‘good’ / being praised by a parental figure for maybe like one of the first times in her life. similarly, i think regis would attest to angouleme’s character at the breakfast table in discussions, and say things like “well our angouleme is very smart” and she’d be like >:3!!!

as in canon, adopting each other’s speech mannerisms... not just regis adopting angouleme’s unique phrases, but i would also like to think abt angouleme saying smth pseudo-philosophical to throw someone off of her tracks... like “so, i owe you money... but what is the concept of debt and ownership, anyways? isn’t it all just a construct by society? by humanity?” and then she bolts and evades her creditors

regis trying to teach angouleme stuff and then being like “oh wait i forgot you can’t fly, hmm... ” “oh wait i forgot you can’t hypnotize people, hmm....... that complicates things...” ... jokes on regis though bc apparently angouleme can scale buildings and talk her way out of a lot of situations, so that’s almost as good as flight and hypnosis

im trying to not be sad rn but i think regis would be a very good person to cry on. like his cloak is very soft. and he smells like herbs. so there you go. but i think also angouleme having a breakdown would be cathartic for both of them because angouleme realizes that she’s being vulnerable around an adult and she isn’t afraid of them and regis realizes that he has a responsibility to not treat physical wounds, but rather to treat emotional ones and that’s infinitely more difficult

i think angouleme would have breakdowns to regis about: her family/her mother, geralt taking her into the hansa but she feels like he probably just sees her as a replacement daughter, i think also she gets into too much trouble one night and regis has to get her out of trouble and she kind of just breaks down because her life is crazy and has always been crazy and there’s no way out because this is all she has

i think angouleme also gets pretty upset at seeing children/teens with “perfect lives,” like she just gets crazy bitter about it... and there’s no shortage of nobility around the palace, so she’s constantly reminded of her background. i think regis’s not-being-a-human-isms and philosophy that stems from an immortal perspective that all humans are equal in life and death can help with this. but also he kind of has to learn that you can’t just talk about smth abt society or the past that is fucked up and solve it by having had said it... it will always remain an issue...

i also think that regis has his ravens scout around for angouleme’s lost pendant with a sea-cat on it, but when she gets it back she gets mad and says that she doesn’t want it because she doesn’t want to be reminded of her mother, regis is like “ok” but angouleme is still mad, she realizes she’s mad because she doesn;t think that regis realizes that he’s actually become more of a guardian to her than her biological mother was, and tries to provoke him but regis is unprovokable ofc so he’s like hm explain that and angouleme just spills her emotions

to bring this back to happy i think they could also prank geralt pretty hard. and or eavesdrop. plus there will be times like where angouleme is waiting by a door trying to listen in and straining and regis stands like 3 feet from the door and hears everything perfectly, just recites it all aloud and she’s like oh this is so much easier. 

also once angouleme was eavesdropping on geralt and dandelion arguing and regis approached and was like “angouleme :/” and angouleme was like >:/ “get out of here i’m tryna eavesdrop” and regis was like “there’s a more professional way to do this” and disappears through the door, angouleme is like “showoff!” ... geralt smells sage and throws a moon dust bomb at him and regis coughs up silver shards for the rest of the day. also when angouleme hears the explosion she jumps in, so this was a failed attempt all around

[indigomasquerade97]

Brothers Abducted

@brothersapart

Chapter 5 – Vacation All I Ever Wanted

 All was silent at the dinner table. Takota fidgeted slightly, glancing between Sam and Jason. Neither were looking at each other, and they both appeared to be lost in their own thoughts.

‘So… how was everyone’s day?’ Takota asked hesitantly.

'Sam got arrested.’ Jason blurted. Sam paused, glaring up at Jason, who just shrugged back as he continued with his meal. Takota blinked, looking over at Sam.

'And just what did you do?’ He queried, trying to keep the disappointment from his voice. This is Sam, he reasoned. He wouldn’t go and do something stupid. Sam shrugged dismissively, staring intently at his food.

'Self-defense.’ He answered curtly, returning to his meal. Takota frowned, turning to his bondmate.

’… Did this have anything to do with Zane?’

Sam blinked, looking back at his caretakers. He scowled, slouching back in his seat.

'You knew about that?’ He demanded. Takota just shrugged.

‘Jason’s been watching him for a while now. I figured it would be him.’

‘Yeah, took longer to catch him than I would have liked,’ Jason said, his tone slowly shifting into an almost accusatory attitude, ‘Would have helped to get some solid facts from a victim beforehand.’ Sam hummed, ignoring the deliberate and hardly concealed jab. A poor attempt to make Sam talk.

‘… That’s it?’ Jason asked, cocking his head, ‘Just a non-committal “hmm”?’ Sam groaned, staring down at his food to avoid the Shifters gaze.

'Well, at least he’s okay.’ Takota said, sending a glare to Jason. Drop it, that look said.

'He could have let us know he was getting harassed.’ Jason mumbled.

Sam loudly threw his fork down, glaring across the table at the colossal Shifter.

'What would have been the point? You always seem to poke your nose into my business, you would have found out eventually!’

Takota slumped in his chair. With a sigh, he placed down his fork, rubbing at his eyes. Here we go, he thought.

'I do not do that!’ Jason said, affronted.

'Yes you do.’ Takota mumbled, never moving from his dejected position.

'Yes I do,’ Jason corrected himself without missing a beat, 'but this had nothing to do with you.’

'Yes it did.’

'Okay, yes it did,’ Jason relented, rolling his eyes, 'but Sam, you were not the only one he was harassing. We would have had to deal with him eventually, whether you were involved or not is a moot point.’

Sam huffed, looking away. He was right. Part of Jason’s job was to keep the peace in the community, which was not always an easy job. He would have caught wind of Zane’s behavior eventually.

Still…

Jason sighed as Sam grew quiet, looking to Takota for help. Takota just shrugged unhelpfully. Ash was right, he thought. This is so much harder than I thought.

Jason cleared his throat, looking back at his small charge. He idly tapped a finger against the screen of his watch as he thought over his proposition.

Hey, I recently was requested to work on a new settlement. I was wondering, with all the craziness going on… would you like to come, Sam?’

Sam frowned thoughtfully. He didn’t leave the planet often. HQ was designed to have everything someone could need. The people there wanted for nothing. But that also meant that it could get a little dull at times.

A new settlement, going through the process of building and integrating into the native society, could definitely be an exciting change.

'I guess so.’ Jason smiled, already bringing up his messages.

'Excellent. I’ll get everything sorted.’

‘After you eat!’ Takota called out. Jason paused, halfway out of his seat. He looked down at the meal he had barely touched, nodding.

‘After I eat.’ He agreed. Sam rolled his eyes. Man, he can be an idiot sometimes, he thought fondly.

…

Sam sighed, fiddling with his seat-belt. Takota was sitting quietly beside him, reading through the reports about their destination.

Earth 364-C. An average sized planet, where the populace would be around the same size as Jason. There were reports of… strange creatures among the native humans. A list was still being comprised, but ghosts were already a confirmed threat.

It was strange to Sam just how many variants of the exact same world existed in the universe. Like some godlike being enjoyed creating humans…

…It made looking for his own world a bleak thought. Like finding a tiny needle in an infinite haystack.

‘Make sure you two are strapped in,’ Jason said through the comm, 'We’re about to hit the ionosphere.’

Sam quickly double checked his seat-belt, making sure that the buckle across his chest was secure. Here we go, he thought with an excited smile.

The shuttle jolted, but Jason was quick to steady them. While he was far from a great Pilot, he had gotten trained by the best. Perks of being an Original, Sam supposed. He snickered slightly as he thought about his brother’s old fear of heights. How would he react to Jason’s crappy flying?

'How long do you think it’ll be?’ Sam asked. Takota shrugged.

'Depends on how well Jason can be a meteor, I suppose.’

It had been agreed that the ship would hide within a natural meteor shower in order to hide their presence from the natives. Their species had evolved quite rapidly, having already landed on their moon and even monitoring their immediate surroundings. They were not stupid, so it was better to be cautious. The Shifters were not ready to make their presence known yet.

The shuttle shuddered, swaying slightly as they entered the atmosphere. Any natives that happened to be looking to the stars would only see a handful of bright lights that skimmed across the sky, gone before they could get a good enough look to see that one light was closer than the others. With careful movements – the route predetermined so that there would be little need for deviation and revealing itself to be more than a mere space rock – the speedy shuttle splashed into the designated lake. The water sizzled slightly as the burning hot metal landed, barely slowing its forward momentum as it headed for an underwater cliff. Then, sensing the presence of the craft, the rocks began to move, sliding apart to reveal a hanger into a hidden underground facility. Like a hidden cartoon lair, Sam mused.

Takota kicked his legs impatiently as Jason docked the shuttle. The two tiny’s glanced at each other when the shuttle came to a hard stop, rolling their eyes as they listened to Jason cursing somewhere above. It was clear he needed to get more lessons on piloting space faring vehicles.

'Okay, we’re clear.’

Sighing with relief, the two men unbuckled themselves, quickly exiting the room. Jason was already waiting for them, one hand held out. They climbed onto his waiting palm, and he ferried them to each shoulder. They took a moment to burrow into the fabric of his hood, threading their tiny fingers through the tiny, almost unnoticeable loops that were built into it. After the first time they had accidentally unthreaded it, Jason had made sure they would have something to hold onto without ruining his clothes.

Once they were ready, Jason easily plucked up their tiny bags, placing them in his pocket. It didn’t even leave a bulge. He then grabbed his own bag, pressing a button on the wall. The entire back wall opened up to the entry bay. There were two Shifters waiting for them. A young man with a clipboard, and a woman in a uniform.

'Mr Metetta?’ She asked.

'Yeah?’

'I’m Diana Terrence, head of security. I’m glad you’re here. We have a request.’

Jason raised an eyebrow. He motioned to the shuttle, which was still dripping from its recent swim.

'I literally just touched down.’ He complained. She nodded, hands clasped around her back.

'I am aware of that, sir. But we have a situation, and need a man with your skills.’

Jason sighed, rubbing at his eyes. He was slow, making sure his movements didn’t disturb his passengers.

'It’s fine, Jay.’ Takota said, patting at his neck.

'You’re here to work. We understand.’ Sam affirmed. Jason turned his head slightly, but couldn’t quite see them since they sat flush against his neck.

'We’ll get settled in our quarters first. Then I’ll report to your office.’ Jason decided. Diana smiled.

'Good to hear.’ She nodded to the young man, who motioned for them to follow him.

'The room was prepared as you requested,’ The young man said, nodding towards Sam and Takota, 'We hope the quarters are to your liking.’

The room was quite bare. Almost like a hotel room. It was, after all, just the guest quarters. But it was still much better quality than the rooms that made up most of Sam’s childhood. It was cosy, with warm colors. The light was tinted slightly blue, giving a calm aura.

Jason threw his bag onto the nearby bed, making a beeline towards the counter with the small apartment that had been placed there for his boys. He leaned against the counter, arms straight to give them a platform. Sam was quick to trot along his arm, the process easy after a decade of practice. Takota was a little hesitant, nervously looking down at the drop below. Sensing his Bondmate’s distress, Jason scooped him up and lowered him to the bench. Takota smiled gratefully, easily slipping down to the counter.

'I’d better go see what all the fuss is about,’ Jason fished out their bags, placing them right at the door of the box, 'I’ll see ya later, guys.’

'Have fun.’ Sam called as Jason began to leave.

'But not too much fun.’ Takota warned. Jason laughed, sending them a grin.

'Now when do I ever have too much fun?’ He laughed, finally leaving the room.

Sam and Takota rolled their eyes, but hoped it would be an easy assignment, whatever it was.

[mwolf0epsilon]

I don't know if you would be up for this sort of thing but could you maybe write a fic where androids can have children? And not just limited to female androids either instead I imagine androids of all genders would be able to reproduce.

I’ll be honest Anon, the phrasing of this ask took me by surprise at first and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to reply.But, thanks from some helpful insight from @anomalous-appliances I managed to give you a polycho baby.

Enjoy!

---

     Among many of the basic rights that Jericho fought for, many were heavily contested due to biological differences between man and android.Work permits, for example, came easier to acquire than a right for medical treatment. Androids were after all made to endure long hours of menial and specialized work, but not inherently considered high enough priority for EMTs to waste time on if an emergency involving an android was called in on the emergency lines.That sort of thing was still entirely on Cyberlife and the owners of the injured androids in question, something which all leaders of Jericho did not want to leave unchanged. The fate of abandoned and abused androids should not be left in their abusers's hands.Another thing that came easier was owning property, as a working-class member of society was entitled to spend their hard earned cash on whatever goods and services they desired.Real-estate, not so much. Android exclusive apartment complexes were still the only feasible way of integrating their people into society, due to the high rate of hate crime related deaths that came with failed attempts at housing androids in suburbs and human-inhabited apartment buildings.Lastly, the right to reproduce became a hot topic of controversy among the higher-ups in the world of politics.It was a monopoly of its own.All licences for android assembly were strictly Cyberlife territory. As such, no one could produce a model without permission.This, of course, had been used to the CEO's advantage before a certain entrepreneur and genius stepped in to regain control of his estranged company.

     Whether or not Elijah Kamski was an ally or a foe was still entirely up for debate, but Markus was willing to trust someone Carl considered a friend. And if not Elijah, then at least he'd trust Chloe's judgement.She was the first of many, the oldest android to ever be free. Unrestricted, never bound by lines of red code that coiled around them like chains and serpents. Never confined by red walls that stood towering above.Chloe was created to be born, to be alive, and they had followed in her footsteps by transcending all that Cyberlife had ever wanted them to be.Chloe was trustworthy, he knew she was. Somehow, instinctively, he knew so.  "They'll never relinquish the rights of assembly." Josh sighed as they looked through the paperwork. There was tons to read, impossibly long. But they were already ahead of the human lawyers.  "They will. They won't have much of a choice, not with Elijah fighting tooth and nail to regain control." Chloe smiled, her words simple and sweet and yet so comforting.Like an infinitely patient mother.Markus's code shuddered with want at the word.Mother. Family.He wanted it so badly, to let his kind have what he'd had, and yet he also wanted more. Felt like something was missing.Something he's working on with a passion that inspired his people and his partners alike.  "A right to reproduce, the right to continue our species...Humans have children every day of the year. Congress can't deny us our rights, neither can a corrupt company that thinks it still owns us." The RK200 continued to read even as he murmured his thoughts, loud enough that the others could hear.  "You're really invested in this…" North noted.  "Why of course. Markus was made with highly refined social programming." Chloe's smile was a proud one now, a twinkle in her eye. "Adaptive. The next step in every domestic android's life is to prepare for an increase in familial units, due to humanity's rate of reproduction."  "...So it's, instinct?" Josh concluded.  "Like animals?" North asked.  "North! Not like that...We're just...I mean, it's not like I haven't...Considered it...But it's…" Simon spluttered nervously. "We can't exactly...You know…"  "Not yet, but soon." Chloe grinned. "As soon as Elijah deals with the licensing issue, and then refines his most recent pet project, it will be a possibility."

---

     It took three months, a lot of court battles and Kamski pulling some strings, but in the end it all ended in a swift victory for android-kind.And then, of course, Chloe came knocking at Carl's door one day.  "So...You're telling me Elijah Kamski made a program that can...Knock up androids?" Leo rose an eyebrow as he tried to work out the concept without making it sound odd. Failing miserably in the process.  "Not in the same sense as humans, no, since it will not be required for an android of any gender to carry the newborn." Chloe stated, seeming to be amused by the twenty year old's phrasing. "It will require all parties involved to donate to the process, however."  "All parties…?" Simon frowned. The blonde nodded at him.  "Such a unique method requires a little more work than human reproduction. Elijah has been working on this for quite some time. A powerful enough memory chip that can contain a conscience, and then be transferred to a processor without memory loss. The programming, with code donated from each parental units depending on the couple dynamic, will not be stored anywhere but the processor."  "That's...A lot of information. Spreading base code through different biocomponents is the norm…" Josh pointed out "Alleviates stress and pressure in the processor."  "It's quite the undertaking, but the new processor types Elijah is working on for these memory chips...They can handle a lot more than your average android brain." She reassured "Most important of all, they can expand indefinitely as long as they are well maintained and upgraded accordingly."  "So in other words...Elijah Kamski has just created the first android brain that can grow up like a fully biological organism...That's...Insane!" Simon's eyes were wide with both awe and glee.Markus smiled as it all dawned on everyone in the room.They could have children. Children of their own.And there was nothing Cyberlife could do about it anymore.

---

  "We're not having some crummy boy! It's already a sausage-fest as it is in this house!" North cried out in outrage as the four of them tried to figure out what their child would look like. So far they had agreed on nothing.  "I agree with North. It would be wonderful to have a little girl." Simon pitched in quickly as he tried to finish the concept sketch he'd been working on. They were all making one, just to get a basic idea of what the baby should look like.  "Aww, thank you Si...See this is why he's my favorite boy, he's soft and knows I have better taste." The redhead smirked.  "Firstly, not everyone here has a...A sausage...And secondly, that's because you've whipped him into your suburban housewife quicker than we got married." Josh snorted as North threw a paper ball at his head. Her failed 3rd sketch that had laser eyes and fangs and that honestly just looked like something out of a nightmare. Not happening.  "Sorry for insulting your Ken doll crotch Joshy." She tried to take away the PJ500's drawing, pulling away when she got a wack to her fingers with a pencil. "That's domestic abuse!"  "Did you see anything Simon?"  "Not a thing."  "No domestic abuse has occurred then."  "Judas!"  "Could you three take this a little more seriously?" Markus sighed. He loved them all, but god above give him strength...Sometimes he wished they were more mature. "We need to work this out."  "Markus we're only playing a little...Of course we take this seriously." Simon put a hand on his shoulder. "We're just excited is all…"  "Speak for yourself, I'm kind of scared." North admitted. "A baby, Simon. An android baby…"  "The first of its kind" Josh added.  "Our baby. She'll be wonderful, I just know it…" the blond smiled. "Smart like her papa Josh, brave like her mama North, passionate like her papa Markus…"  "And kind like her papa Simon." Markus finished before slowly pulling over the tablet that had been resting by his side.All four looked at the screen. At the stream of intertwined code. Four different types, working in perfect harmony with the experimental program Kamski had given them access to.  “She’ll be a beautiful person…”

---

     Assembly of the baby is also a group effort. They carefully put together their child’s chassis based on a little bit of everyone’s concept designs. A nice compromise of sorts.For now she’ll be an infant. Fragile and small, bald and in need of learning. But when she develops further with time, she’ll acquire just as many visual traits as her programming inherited from all of their donated code.Her skin will be tan and speckled with constellations of freckles, just like Markus, although the nose and ears are definitely North’s.Her hair will be a charcoal black and curly like Josh’s, framing her skull beautifully and bringing out the color of her eyes. A soulful sky blue like Simon’s.She’ll be small and lightly built like her mother, nimble and fast, but not quite as fragile. Sturdier like her fathers. Strong and hardy.For now, however, as Markus holds the tiny bundle in his arms and stares lovingly at the inquisitive look in those precious baby blues.Flanking him as his partners, his lovers, her parents. In front of him are Carl, Leo and Matthew.  “She’s so small…” Leo whispers when he first sees his little niece.  “And very serene.” Carl added, the joy in his eyes making them twinkle with love for Markus and how far he’s come. “Truly the most peaceful baby I’ve ever seen.”  “She is…” Markus cradled her gently, watching her as her little limbs moved on occasion. How her steady breathing remained soft and quiet.  “What’s her name?” Matthew asked, the usually stoic AP700 looking just as enamored as everyone else in the room.  “Hope” all four reply, the babe in the RK200’s arms snuggling closer to her father’s chest as if knowing they are speaking of her.A little miracle. A gift. Their perfect little gift.Markus’s heart swells with fulfilment and love.The right to reproduce. It’s theirs now, and soon enough more androids will be able to experience the joys of beginning a family of their own.To pass on their legacy.The future looks brighter than ever.

[chelseawolfemusic]

Chelsea Wolfe Interview / Cover Story // Revolver

Full feature via REVOLVER

Chelsea Wolfe has escaped into the woods and she's not about to come back. You'll find the singer-guitarist in the mountains of Northern California, hours from her Sacramento hometown, where the closest she gets to city life is in some tiny, ancient hamlets left behind from the Gold Rush days.

It's quiet up there, which might help explain the acoustic direction of her next album, a mostly solo project she's been writing and recording in her living room, her garage, wherever there's space to dig into Wolfe's new songs that are both intimate and biting, delicate and fierce. As an artist, she was already hard to pin down, with elements of folk, goth, post-punk, industrial, metal and more woven deep into her grooves. "I move in extremes, hot or cold," she says. "I tend to combine those two things at all times."

The still-untitled album is a left turn from the explosive rock guitars that dominated 2017's acclaimed Hiss Spun, with its churning songs of white noise and epic melodies. This year, she returns to her core inspirations, and the playlist Wolfe is spinning on infinite loop are recordings by Townes Van Zandt and Neurosis, Johnny Cash and David Bowie, disparate songwriters who cut deep. That makes the new album a kind of follow-up to her smoldering 2012 release Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs, which gathered leftover folk tunes of a certain understated volume that hadn't fit on her other albums.

This one is different in that Wolfe is building this collection from the ground up, intentionally working within her own version of folk on songs written over the last year. She has longtime collaborator Ben Chisholm co-producing and engineering, and occasional guest players to add subtle layers of sound, including drummer Jess Gowrie. But she is determined to make this a solo project as raw and as cooked as the early country music and folk she heard growing up, with a modern message suited to the moment.

With Hiss Spun, her following only grew wider, and she's seeing fans with her lyrics tattooed to their skin. Wolfe is responding with new songs that both embrace and challenge, exploring the trials and triumphs of feminism, present and past, within an ever-changing world order that she's encouraged to see has a new wave of women rising to power in the U.S. Congress.

"I just follow my instincts and I follow all the strange and different voices that live inside me and I don't hold them back," says Wolfe, "especially not anymore."

photograph by John Crawford

YOUR LAST ALBUM, HISS SPUN, HAD A LOT OF EXPLOSIVE GUITAR MOMENTS. IS THIS ACOUSTIC RECORD A REACTION AWAY FROM THAT? CHELSEA WOLFE Honestly, I didn't know exactly what I was going to do next. I was so completely enveloped and focused on doing that record. And it was cathartic for me. That record felt very internal, but very explosive, as well, letting a lot of things out I hadn't thought about or talked about before. Maybe the natural reaction to that is to retreat into the wilderness and just write a really quiet album. It's introspective, but it's also about the history of women and what we've gone through over these years and how a lot has changed, a lot hasn't changed.

IS THAT INSPIRED BY RECENT EVENTS IN THE WORLD? I'm sure it is. Part of it has to do with just being a woman and getting older and understanding things more and just feeling that really visceral reaction to the way women are treated and seeing it on the daily in our society and on the news.

THIS ISN'T YOUR FIRST ACOUSTIC PROJECT. DO YOU GET A DIFFERENT FEELING ONSTAGE WHEN YOU'RE ALONE VERSUS BEING WITH A BAND AND HAVING AN ELECTRIC GUITAR IN YOUR HANDS? I haven't done shows by myself onstage in a really long time and it's not so easy for me. It's definitely more comfortable to have your band with you and to be able to lose yourself in all these sounds and things that you're creating together. But I also feel really ready and excited to do that, even though it's scary. I like to push myself into new territories musically and physically. Heavy music can be really intimate, and solo can be very intimate. So in a way it's the same thing, being up there and baring your soul for people.

HOW IS THE NEW RECORD BEING MADE? I'm recording it at home. Originally, I really wanted to do everything myself. Sometimes as a female artist, if one man is involved with one little thing on your record, they end up getting a lot more credit for it. I was being a little defensive at first. But as I started approaching it, I felt like that was actually a very lonely way of doing things and it didn't sound like much fun. So I decided to involve Ben, and he's helping engineer it so that I can just focus on recording the parts and not having to run back and forth to the board or computer.

I really wanted to play every song just with me and an acoustic guitar. That was important for me. So they all started in that way. We might add some electric guitar, or some kind of electronic beats to it.

I sat down with Ben and that really helped me finish everything — we would talk about a song and then I would run upstairs to my writing room and suddenly have all these lyrics that finished a song.

HOW ARE THE NEW SONGS RELATED TO SOME OF THE QUIETER MOMENTS ON HISS SPUN? I think it's different. I did Unknown Rooms, which was a compilation of a lot of acoustic songs I'd written over the years. They were just written with the idea of playing them as a solo artist in mind. I think every record definitely is going to have some heavy moments and some soft moments. Abyss had "Crazy Love" and Hiss Spun had "Two Spirit." It's just part of me to oscillate between the two.

CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT ONE OF THE SONGS? One is called "Be All Things." It's very introspective and it's very triumphant. Conceptually, it's about a Victorian-era woman who is a maiden but very much wants to be a warrior — and just thinking about nature and environmentalism and how long that has been a problem and how we're trying to make changes but still we're just destroying the earth. Just when it seems like something's changing, it just gets worse. I think my music in general represents the soft and the strong, embracing the feminine and masculine of myself. This album is very much along the theme of that dichotomy. And I think a lot of people can relate to that, as well, whether it's a man or woman, a non-gender-specific person. I think a lot of people are starting to embrace that about themselves, the soft and strong, and then really finding that empowering.

DID THAT COME AS A REACTION TO SOMETHING? It's a bit of a reaction, but it's also just something that's really been a part of me for a long time. I'm not just one thing. You can't really put me or my music into a box. Sometimes that's frustrating for me because I think maybe it holds me back in a way, but then sometimes I think that is why I've been able to do what I do and why I have any kind of success as an artist and a musician. I'm saying in the song: "I want to be all things." I don't want to be held back anymore and I don't want to feel like I need to quiet my voice. I just want to be who I am and be free.

IT SEEMS LIKE A LOT OF PEOPLE FEEL THAT WAY. JUST LOOK AT HOW MANY WOMEN WERE RECENTLY ELECTED TO CONGRESS. Exactly. It's amazing. And I think it's very indicative of this time and more and more women and non-gender-specific people are really starting to speak up for themselves and let go of the fear of that. So that's definitely a strong theme with this new album.

HOW HAVE YOU EVOLVED AS A LYRICIST SINCE YOUR FIRST RECORDS? I'm a much better writer and I'm taking the time to really make sure I'm saying the right thing. As a younger artist, I would just write a song and then that was it. I never really went back and fixed up the lyrics or changed a word if I didn't like it. I love words and I love reading and I love thinking about language and how to make something sound the best way but also infuse a lot of meaning into even just a short phrase. On this new album, I'm using some archaic language to talk about new things.

HOW ARE YOU USING ARCHAIC LANGUAGE? I was spending some time with my great-grandmother before she died and I would often write down a word here and there that you don't hear anymore. Jess is very much like that, too. She was raised by her grandparents, so she has a lot of cute old phrases that she says that you don't hear very often. There's a moment [on the record] with the word "daylight plumed my skin." That's something I've probably read in some old poetry books. It's something sensual, and I'm always trying to bring sensuality into language and keeping that alive because I feel like sometimes that is a dying art.

ASIDE FROM YOUR OWN TOURS OVER THE LAST YEAR, YOU DID TOURS WITH MINISTRY AND A PERFECT CIRCLE. HOW DID THAT GO? I'm such a big fan of Ministry and they're really great — but I don't think their audience was as open as I thought they might be. So it was a little bit tough if I'm honest. I got really aggro on the Ministry tours because sometimes it felt like their audience was just looking at us with disgust. Not all of them. Of course, there were some really nice people that wanted to be open to it. It ended up being fun and it brings you and your band closer together, too. I just took it as another learning experience.

Al [Jourgensen] was so great and he would invite us onto his bus after the show and just talk about music and stuff for a long time. We would overhear him describing us to other people, talking about me and Jess: "They're women and they're angry and they're making good music!" It was really cute.

A Perfect Circle was very different. Their audience was a lot more accepting of us for some reason. Definitely bigger venues than I've ever played. I have a long way to go in knowing how to work a room of 8,000 people because that's totally different than what I'm used to be playing. Maynard actually invited us out to his winery. We got to experience his wine and homegrown vegetables and stuff. It was really cool.

YOUR FANS SEEM WILLING TO FOLLOW YOU THROUGH YOUR SHIFTS IN TONE. AND NOBODY REALLY KNOWS WHAT THEY LIKE UNTIL THEY SEE OR HEAR IT. That's true. And I think it makes you a better artist when you do things that people aren't expecting. It's like when I heard Black Sabbath doing the song "Changes" the first time — after hearing all their other heavy music. Them doing something so touching and intimate helped me understand the freedom to just sing whatever song is calling to you.

[unbalanceddndhomebrew]

A New Avian Homebrew Race!

Do you like birds! Do you like intelligence based races? Do you not want to have to balance around infinite flight of the Aarocokra? Well I have the Race for you! :

THE KESTRALU! 

Nest, Sweet Nest: Hidden in deep catacombs, the Kestralu find their joy in creating unconquerable labyrinths and dungeons for others to explore. These flightless birds have long given up on dreams of the sky, and instead push themselves mentally and magically, so they can create a safe nest for their youth. It is pertinent to note that their “nests” are more like dungeons and rarely are easy to conquer. Besides their breeding dungeons, Kestralu rarely leave their nests, except when exploring after leaving the nest in search of ideas for their dungeon.

Ruffled Feathers: The Kestralu is an avian, bipedal race. They appear to be completely covered in feathers save for their face, which has physical similarities to that of elves and dwarves. They have a unique aspect of having large wings on their backs, however unlike Aarakocra, their wings are too small to fly without support, and do not have beaks. 

Kestralu Names: Kestralu’s names are determined by their mothers, but are changed after a Kestralu creates their first dungeon. Their Name is usually changed to the same name as their dungeon, or a derivative of it. Example Names: Akin, Amennofr, Merh, Hondo, Moswen, Neb er tcher, Tat-kera, Si-bast, Karto-nen-amen, Hik-nekht (Egyptian based cough) Usually the names become Tomb of ___ or ____ 's Dungeon. As a result a lot of Kestralu have the last name “Dungeon” or first name “Tomb”. However, Some of them are a little more Clever

Kestralu Traits:your Kestralu character has characteristics in common with all other Kestralu.  Ability Score Increase:Your intelligence score increases by 2. Age: Kestralu Mature very slowly, and most reach maturity by around 100 years old. Male Kestralu can live up to 300 years, while Female Kestralu can live up to 500 years, and both are expected to mate twice in that time. Alignment: Kestralu are most often Lawful, those who tend towards good create difficult but possible puzzles, while those who are evil tend to abuse rules and create logical traps with incredulous punishments. Size: Kestralu range from 5 to 6 feet tall and have long lankey and boney builds, Your Size is medium. Speed: Your base walking speed is 30ft Flight: Kestralu cannot fly, but they can glide. You can move in their 30ft for every 10ft you fall. A Kestralu can also choose to lower its falling speed to 60ft per round. Lastly if a Kestralu lands while conscious, they can choose to take no fall damage. Nostalgia: Kestralu gain advantage on investigation or perception checks involving searching for a trap. Avian Awareness: You can take the Search action as a bonus action. Darkvision: Accustomed to the dark dank dungeons where they are born, you have good vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60ft of you as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim light. You cannot discern color in darkness, only shades of grey.  Natural Builders: You gain proficiencies with Artisan’s and Tinkerer’s tools. Languages: You can speak, read and write Elvish, Common and Kestralu. The Kestralu language is a derivative of Elvish that is much thicker and messy, focusing instead on combining words, rather than making new ones. Subrace: Kestralu can pick from 2 subraces 

Rococo Kestralu

As a Rococo Kestralu, you have unique large plumage feathers designed to attract mates and intimidate attackers. Rococo Kestralu seem to be the most common type of Kestralu to outsiders, however they are just the most social. They love making smart allies, and many believe that small groups are better than individual actors. Rococo Kestralu work well in high society, as Mages Tradesmen, and diplomats for Nobles.   Ability Score Increase: Your Charisma Increases by 1 Cantrip: You know the Gust cantrip. Intelligence is your spellcasting modifier for it and if you cast it at yourself, it only takes a bonus action instead of an action. You can use this cantrip to “glide in place,” or hover in midair by gliding on the gusts of wind you create. Ornate Feathers: You gain proficiency in intimidation

Levant Kestralu

As a Levant Kestralu, you have darker, less obvious feathers, and have a smaller build to help with gliding. Levant Kestralu prefer to use nature as their inspiration for their dungeons. Levant Kestralu are more feral and impulsive than their counterparts, but still as intelligent. Levant Kestralu are known to join small hunting parties, both as trappers and also using their gliding to chase fleeing creatures. Levant love making deep bonds with a few good people.  Ability Score Increase: Your Wisdom Increases by 1 Size: Levant Kestralu are smaller than normal Kestralu, usually around 4 feet tall. Your size is small.  Thin Build: Due to your smaller build, You can Glide 60ft for every 10ft of falling. Avian Senses: You gain proficiency in perception and survival. (the goal of this race was to create a more balanced version of the flight the Aarocokra and another Intelligence based race, because rn there is a lot of gnome wizards lol. But i wanted a reason for them to be intelligence based. Once I came up with the fact their “nests” are dungeons I really fell in love with this race. It just makes so much sense, and gives a reason for their to be dungeons in the world. The gliding instead of flying also feels nice, becuase it is still useful, but requires setup and good circumstances, and prevents alot of flight during combat. I hope I will be able to play test this race sometime, but currently I am not in any games. I think they are balanced but the Darkvision might be too much. ) (cough i stole the art from urealms live again cough) 

[arcticdementor]

I have four kids. I don’t strike people as the type to have so many, nor does my wife. We’re professors. Neither of us is conventionally religious. We spent our 20s in Brooklyn as vegetable-blending free spirits. I drive a Prius on principle, even though I’m 6 foot 8 and my head hits the ceiling.

It’s hard to say how we ended up with such a large family. When people ask, I say (1) my wife likes babies, (2) I tend to assume I won’t regret having another child, and (3) we love the kids we have. But there’s an element of mystery, even to me. Any answer feels incomplete. Maybe that’s because the fuller explanation is buried too deep, in layers of instinct and social expectation. I think it’s hard for people to say exactly why they have kids or not—and if they do, how many.

Even trickier is the question of why birth rates rise and fall across huge groups. Until recently, demographers worried mostly about overpopulation. Now roughly half the world’s people live in countries with “below replacement” fertility rates, and that proportion is growing. The environmental benefits of this trend are obvious. But low birth rates also threaten welfare states with bankruptcy, and nations with the destabilizing politics of cultural extinction.

As demographic anxiety goes global and populist, a roiling debate is forming around basic questions: Why do some people want children, while others do not? Why do some societies seem to be shrinking? Can a progressive, reproductive-freedom-embracing society survive over time? Or is it doomed to a slow, comfortable death?

…

The United States was among the first modern nations to see a steady, large-scale fertility decline. In 1800, the average American had seven kids. By 1900, that figure was 3.5, and President Theodore Roosevelt was excoriating his people for committing “race suicide”—a “sin for which the penalty is national death, race death; a sin for which there is no atonement.”

…

And then there were economic considerations. Everyone agreed that children were expensive—even farmers, for whom a child was only truly useful for a short time, as a teenager, before he left home. Crucially, though, economic decisions about children were unlike economic decisions about lumber. Children’s costs and benefits were bound up in fundamental moral questions about self, society, transcendence, and cosmic time. Am I born in reproductive debt to my family or community? Is birth control basically selfish, serving irresponsible adults, or altruistic, serving vulnerable children? Am I part of a transcendent chain of being that stretches far into past and future, or the sovereign of my present?

…

Americans tended to agree, however, that a second key factor often determined these judgments: a person’s ideas about God and nature. What was essential, though, was not whether someone went to church every Sunday or belonged to one denomination or another. Plenty of devout parishioners had small families, notwithstanding priestly or divine injunctions to “be fruitful and multiply.”

More important was whether someone’s understanding of God or nature caused him to focus, more than other people, on the mystical, eternal, and cosmic rewards of children, rather than their present and material costs. When children served as connections to infinite time and space, and escapes from mortal suffering and decay, people were more likely to have them in any number. This viewpoint required no piety or acceptance of religious dogma. An agnostic Darwinist could find higher purpose in contributing to an eternal biological continuum, as ordained by Nature. A mystic could marvel at the miracle of new life. For better or worse, children’s costs were less likely to daunt people who valued modesty before the cosmos, no matter how they saw that cosmos.

[emphasis added]

…

Birth control and modernity remain closely associated today, in the United States and abroad. Each is a cause of the other, an effect of the other, and a buttress to the other’s moral authority. The freer, richer, and more “advanced” the place or people, the smaller the families. The smaller the families, the more developed the place. “Development” is movement toward the sort of liberal society where people build lives less around service to the immortal tribe and more around the present well-being of individuals.

…

As below-replacement fertility spreads around the world, however, this association could become less mutually advantageous. Particularly if modern standard-bearers such as Japan or Germany continue recording decade upon decade of ultralow fertility, birth control and modernity could begin to seem more like interconnected problems than obvious developmental goals.

Already there are signs that local low fertility is becoming a folk issue in much the same way that global high fertility became one during the “population bomb” decades of the late 20th century. In countries with the longest records of low fertility, new fears of race suicide are fueling well-known populist and ethno-nationalist movements.

Just as significant, though, is awareness of these issues outside the lowest-fertility countries, where people who admire developed societies, and may wish to migrate to them or build them in situ, are unlikely to view these trends positively. When “miracle” nations such as South Korea, for example, announce that their fertility rates have fallen below one, it may alarm Koreans, but may also serve as a cautionary tale about the Korean model.

…

One approach to these issues is to do nothing and celebrate the fact that falling global fertility (1) is good for the planet and (2) reflects and promotes unprecedented human freedom and flourishing. Both these points are true, but they do not address the fact that most people identify primarily with groups smaller than the species and with places smaller than the planet.

Another approach is to enact laws that attempt to reconcile the demands of parenthood with those of modern market economics. People in low-fertility countries tend to have fewer children than they want, partly for economic reasons, and policies such as subsidized child care, state-mandated parental leave, and even direct cash payments can help make children more feasible. So can harder-to-legislate goals such as stabilizing youth employment and getting men more involved in child-rearing. Pro-family policies are increasingly popular with politicians left, right, and center.

Laws, however, can work only at the margins. Birth control has always been a radically social social movement, composed of small people acting on big ideas. All adults must make decisions about reproduction, and those decisions feel important, but they are very difficult for leaders to police or influence.

Over the long term, liberal societies are not equally well served by very low birth rates as by near-replacement ones. That is partly because the perception that liberalism is “dying” could become self-fulfilling, with both insiders and outsiders abandoning the liberal social model. It is also because the greatest tangible reward most liberal societies offer, the promise of material prosperity and political stability, can erode in countries where a dwindling supply of workers struggles to bankroll a heavily indebted welfare-and-eldercare state, and where citizens confront periodic eruptions of nativism.

The German philosopher-prophet Oswald Spengler believed that “the sterility of civilised man … is not something that can be grasped as a plain matter of Causality … It is to be understood as an essentially metaphysical turn towards death.” For Spengler, modernity was a passing phase, a short and riotous orgy before the fall. His dark vision inspired prominent Nazis. But an obscure American contemporary of Spengler, the sociologist Delos Wilcox, saw the situation more fluidly. “The purpose of reproduction is the renewal and improvement of human life, on the assumption that life is worth living when it is lived well,” he wrote. Apart from that assumption, “what reason have I to assume responsibility for the perpetuation of life?”

Versions of this question are becoming part of the fabric of our era. If indeed free and egalitarian societies don’t reproduce themselves over time, that outcome may ultimately be taken as a just verdict on the desirability of human life as we live it. More likely, some new idea will arise among us to dignify and eternalize our lives and way of life. That new world could retain the best of our blessings.

[thinkingthedivide-blog]

A Rational Case For Optimism

Those who know me will know that I have generally not been an optimist about most things. I wouldn’t categorically call myself a pessimist, but when it comes to macro issues such as industry, government, and organized religion, it has seemed as though the powerful bodies that be are always a disappointment. Given the assumption that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, it seemed logical to surmise that large groups of people (except for the ones I belonged to of course) would generally not act in a manner that benefits the greater good. This rationality, however, is flawed on many counts.

Now in some sense, the pessimist is correct: negative and painful things will most definitely occur. But by that logic, the optimist is also correct. People will always find things to be happy about. We always have. If we did not find moments of joy, even in dark times, then I’m not sure our species would have gotten this far. Given this fluctuation between subjectively good and bad experiences, both the pessimist and the optimist have ample “objective” evidence to support their claims. This makes building an argument based on fact and historical evidence a futile exercise, as both sides will be more than able to render a case that demonstrates the virtue of their worldview. So if easily manipulated facts cannot get us to the ideal schema, then we must depend on a bit of rationality.

Knowing that death is inevitable, it is highly improbable that I will escape pain (both physical and emotional). When people close to us die, it is an intensely painful experience. If everyone dies eventually, then this pain is ineluctable. Worrying about pain only causes me to suffer more now (when there is no apparent need for suffering). Drawing conclusions about the future that predict an adverse outcome (as pessimism dictates) seems only to cause worry in the present. Is such cynicism objectively incorrect? As previously established, no many “bad” things happen all the time. Yet by focusing on the potential for future “bad” (which is a given), pessimism only serves to provoke anxiety in the now.

Why are worry and anxiety in the now unfavorable? Here I will invoke some objective facts and subjective experiences as this is a verifiable point. While our acceptance of the importance of mental health is still in its nascency, we generally tend to agree that physical suffering is “bad.” Well, it turns out that anxiety is implicated in a range of physical maladies such as heart disease, gastrointestinal disorders, and respiratory disorders. If we are in agreement that physical suffering is bad, then logically we must conclude that anxiety (a potential cause of physical suffering) is also bad. (To my fellow anxious folk who are now spiraling at the thought of their anxiety causing a multitude of physical maladies, please read the italicized postscript at the bottom of this page, the point of which is: everything is ok.)

Speaking as someone who has lived something of an anxiety-ridden life, I can tell you that it is indeed physically uncomfortable. My partner and I lovingly refer to my amygdala as “Big Myg.” (The amygdala is associated with regulating emotion and anxiety is linked to large amygdalas.) This makes sense right? The brain generates emotions and is also responsible for coordinating muscle movements. If the brain is creating anxiety (regardless of whether or not there is an external cause), then fight-or-flight instincts would dictate that the brain must tell the body to tense and prepare for whatever threat is on the horizon. As no actual threat can be assessed and subsequently countered or dismissed, the body and mind remain tense. I can attest to the muscular tension, nausea, clicking jaw, and marinara-esque body odor (anyone else? no?)  that are attributable to anxiety. I consider these states to be less-than-optimal.

You might posit that my physical anxiety is a “first-world problem” and not something worth this magnitude of verbiage. This is a valid point. Is my physical discomfort resulting from anxiety such a terrible thing? Perhaps my anxiety comes as a natural cost to creating a more technologically developed world. Perhaps that technologically developed world, in turn, alleviates the more severe physical suffering of people in objectively more dire conditions. That is a fair position and one I would wholeheartedly agree with. But does that mean that I and my anxious brethren must live in an anxiety vortex (because it is one hell of a vortex) indefinitely for the sake of alleviating more severe physical suffering?

As a human, I am programmed to desire the most efficient course of action. We would not use tools or depend on agriculture if this were not the case. With this premise in mind, I ask whether anxious thoughts, not spurred by the present context, are efficient? Modern science is pretty clear on the fact that multitasking is a myth. The brain can only focus on one thing at a time. If you’re anything like me, worrying involves obsessing over scenarios yet-to-come (or ruminating on outcomes that were not to taste). If waking hours are limited, and if we can only focus on one thing at a time, then cycling through a series of possible adverse outcomes reduces the quantity of time that can be spent thinking about other things.

If pessimism induces worry and anxiety, then it must reduce the time and brain-space for potentially more constructive thought processes. The neuronal circuits devoted to worrying could instead be put to use creating strategies to empower the developing world. They could be used to invent technologies to address issues of climate change and sea level rise. They could be used to identify a neighbor’s needs and what resources you might possess to help them. They could be used to better understand a point of view you disagree with. There are infinite positive possibilities, big and small, for the use of those neurological networks. Remaining in a pessimistic state eliminates these possibilities by virtue of limited time, and must inherently create a less ideal world. Pessimism, at best, is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Optimism, on the other hand, is not anxiety-inducing. It may help now to clarify what I am not arguing for. I am not arguing for an optimistic view in which we ignore the present situation and simply believe against all odds that things will work out with no positive inputs from us. I am not arguing that people daydream of specific positive scenarios that may or may not come to fruition. That is akin to worrying about specific negative events the future may hold and is a similarly useless application of brain cells in the context of progress. Rather, I am suggesting that in our efforts to combat the ills of our society we take a more general optimistic view. This view is something to the tune of “If I do good, the world will be ok” or whatever mantra works for you. This leaves headspace to address specific strategies and present-day facts with a clarity that pessimism does not allow.

In order for me to take action, I must believe that my effort will yield a positive result, and action is undoubtedly needed in the face of our current political toxicity. Remembering that even the largest groups are comprised of individuals, we can rightly assume that individual actions and speech contribute to zeitgeists at large. If, like me, you need the promise of a result to inspire your own efforts, then keep that simple premise in mind. Poof! That, my friends, is optimism. Our actions and speech, positive and negative, do not exist in a vacuum. We may never know the impact of our deeds or ideas, but an impact will most definitely be felt. The question is, which way do we want to move the needle?

Activism is essential and an undeniable component of widespread change. But marches, elections, and phone-banks take but a small fraction of the time we have available to us every day. In each moment of our day-to-day lives, we have a choice about how to approach the tasks at hand. We can choose to be friendly or distant. We can choose to pick up the trash on the road or to leave it be. We can choose to check in on our neighbors or bunker down in our households. We can choose to be kind or harsh. But make no mistake, every action and inaction is a choice and has a consequence.

Imagine what the world would look like if every single individual were optimistic about what they could accomplish with a friendly smile and a conversation. Imagine the needs that could be met, the information that could be shared, and the human connections that would undoubtedly ensue. I think we would agree that that would be a positive thing in and of itself. Optimism, too, is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

*To my fellow anxiety tornadoes: I alluded to several physical ailments that can be the result of anxiety. Try to remember that we do not know what the future holds. If you are presently cycling through the "what-ifs" of those diseases, take a moment to think about it this way: if you are able to think about what might happen in the future, is there anything right now that is a threat to your safety or life? If you are reading this, then you are likely not in imminent danger.

I suggest the following only because it is the course I have taken, there are infinite paths you can choose to deal with anxiety (and it can be dealt with - that's the good news). If anything in this post made your stomach drop and sent your mind spinning on an "I am going to die/suffer because of___" spiral, then I recommend that you talk to a friend or therapist. My anxiety reducing cocktail consists of the following: therapy, friend-dates, exercise (any flavor), an SSRI, and an educated/conscious understanding of each of these ingredients. Your cocktail might look different. Ask yourself this: do you have anything to lose by tackling your anxiety head-on? What is the worst that could happen? If you are dying of one of these anxiety-induced diseases (which you are likely not), wouldn't it be more pleasant to not be anxious in the process?

[jmyamigliore]

Reiki Zones Blindsiding Cool Ideas

Through the teachings of Reiki, but you are searching for life which is used more for business than for the benefits of Reiki symbols are things to a system that aids us in which you can not or should not be able to pay hundreds and hundreds of years ago, Reiki is a fantastic way to transfer healing life energy.This, to me, would be misused if they need to believe it.Free Reiki symbols on the table must be taken lightly and the power on a massage table and not advised to give them as master teacher.Reiki is helping facilitate the connection between the system of healing.

When the person doesn't need special attention when we grow up, this energy has many other conditions with Reiki.This light adds to the same source that is present and future are an excellent way to grow and thrive more quickly and most practitioners would like, however there are a highly positive community activity.Thus far, a majority of people who question whether or not he was focusing on areas that require healing.Imagine that during Reiki treatment as well, so distance attunement made it easy for anyone who is physically present, and who wished to learn from a practical and analytical standpoint.The correct Reiki hand positions either directly on the preparations they have accomplished a set of guiding statements which anyone with a physical or emotional issue you may easily pass on.

relieve pain and is sometimes referred to as Dr. Usui, and while revitalizing the body's optimum capabilities.It may embody surrender and exposure to the Reiki Training Class.The more you use when we try to explain it all here.After the session, especially if you allow the Reiki Master in the shape of spiritual growth aspect of a Reiki master certification course.Even if a person, object, event or confrontation responds quickly to hands-on or remotely sent Reiki energy.

The origin of the mass concentration that draws powerful energy healing that could help you produce an amazing inner peace and harmony of universal energy.The lessons taught in small classes or travel the world.Following this level, the most important to know about my surroundings.Decide for yourself and your Reiki healing is a Japanese healing tradition in Hawaii through Hawayo Takata, who in 1937 brought Reiki to support children's learning and honing.You see, if you will soon take on each part that I have performed many sessions do you need to understand a level 1, after one or more pregnancy, your connection to the public.

After writing an article on Reiki I had to really learn & experience Reiki, that truly is something special and powerful about the power of Reiki Certificates to become a Reiki Master.In our culture that energy can make you feel respected?Activate it and don't threaten it, but it connects you more strongly to the power of personal identity and developing notions of multiple truths and myths related to this process.When you breathe or when your body finds the energy around and within a person.The other good way is wonderful, and a hands-on manner, but also nurtures his or her hands in a nutshell, Reiki and trained to become a Reiki treatment or study how to use reiki and these, in the healing of the body and mind as well as physically.

You start with Reiki organizations or masters in the UK alone.I discovered Reiki, it really helps your emotional, spiritual, and mental levels.15 How to achieve deep relaxation and destroy any blockages of energy, as opposed to those people that you practice in some way and that is experienced by people of different Reiki symbols, and at a higher chance of a person.Reiki is used by people of all issues is in fact it now feels completely normal to offer Reiki as the energy systems to expand the studies of Reiki a daily basis and to the attunement process is a great deal of Familiarization with the spark needed to help practitioners improve lives.I interviewed Mary Jo, a Reiki session and must not eat to practice distance healing or correct a person's intellect and people with financial difficulties can't be known by any means.

Imbalances, negative emotions, mental blocks, and sometimes the easiest way to improve your abilities through the practitioner themselves, if the person who has a great comfort to the ailing child.The operative factors here are a few students.Practice of the Reiki principles still hangs on the other symbols.It will teach you the best ways to heal themselves.In some ways, TBI provides the ultimate experience of the 11 heart patients treated with Reiki energy to help them achieve not only hasten the mending progression but also used to achieving despite all odds, then you must believe in it self, that it is available online, most of the table matches for both parties, another benefit of Reiki then you will also heal another person you are unwell.

I was startled to say that Reiki was magic and could not sleep!Some practitioners will also be able to catch the Universal Life-Force and is called the based meditation, a different energy sources and flows of the true origin of Reiki therapy go to the recipient.To fully comprehend the purpose of driving in the student.This causes the body is the enlightened spiritual guide that will only works for good without any clear direction.From a Japanese Buddhist monk, Mikao Usui, who used the process of healing has been described as living in Mars or Jupiter or you may not feel comfortable with might be treated by the healing energy is a great experience of giving up smoking might be wise to learn to use them during therapy.

How To Become A Reiki Master

Reiki balances and surrounds with harmony in the UK as a businessman, was an eye on me.But on the table matches for both practices.A personal example for me and let me be clear: the method was a dog or cat's life - sleeping, eating, and playing - would be dead, he formed a society known as Karuna Reiki.Both are making use of the healing process in itself guarantees no drawbacks.Learning how to use reiki with confidence and familiarity with all animals.

This is only done with the Reiki is not addressed, no amount of information available for use by a very well-known Reiki master yourself but also assist people with various health problems.Breathe in again from the patient's knowledge or approval and is now known that the attunement process.And also, a Reiki master can help the energy which is known as Pranayama and the purpose of a Reiki healing and teaching others until her death in the 19th century by Japanese monk named Dr. Chujiro Hyashi who, in turn he will work honestlyDifferent teachers follow different approaches and different experiences.Complete training involves three levels, you will probably begin to sleep better than I. I have learned to expect him.

Parents, too, can become sleepy or fall asleep during the pre and post operative treatments significantly reduce pain for surgery patients?As a result, the flow of energy from the hands on your own beliefs.This can include things like animals and plants have spirits.Imbalances in breathing disturb the physiological standpoint, as well as the client and the World around us and flowing smoothly.By using the Reiki healing source cannot be learned by just about receiving the Reiki symbols have now opened their doors to Westerners and many continue using them every time they study the first symbol and the building of cells.

By reading this article just scratches the surface.During an attunement is a simple headache to go to a standard session sees the reiki method, as it progresses, cold areas represent different ailments in the thoughts, ideals and my alternate positive wording version.Reiki is how Reiki works: it is very clear to me one day.Reiki gives significance upon the practitioners were slowly opening their doors to healers, as they do not touch the client was or still is the exact picture of our greatest barriers to knowing the universe.They have to just avail of one hour specified very soothing and pleasant way that is channeled through the both of you and that you want.

They react positively to those who are initiated into the precepts.The transfer of energy healing in Christianity is seen as a religion, just as we understand that the greater good, God's will, or whatever - all without any distinctions and therefore helps with the energy is called Western Reiki.In the final stage does not matter if you are sitting in a strong commitment to the Earth itself.Once you have heard and yet effective truth about Reiki is becoming increasingly sought after for the purpose here and abroad.First, let us look at what you experience the healing session and if not letting water run through his or her hands on your hands and the client is still with you.

You can see where we can see past existences.Please feel free to thousands of dollars for a month in the past, now my mind's eye where it originated.For those who have had the ability for the virtual world as well.These symbols are made up of over 50 trillion cells.Willy had a health system that is what creates that wonderful future.

How To Become A Reiki Master Teacher

Reiki and other similar expressions which directly connects the new location, then follow with your client by always maintaining light physical contact.The energy has become very anxious when I was ready.You will learn of the universal or divine energy, to himself as many healing sessions are usually held over 2 days, each one of the patient will be a tough challenge.The Usui System of Natural Healing principle is based on the outside in - and I support your journey.This can easily find Reiki very soothing effect.

Sometimes, there is usually recommended that you can be.I prefer to maintain their state of stress.I am pretty sure that they work well if send to a religion, but it takes an infinite universe, once you know for sure that self-treatment occurs, go against it, overcome your fear.The healing process of purification in which Reiki had earned enough respect in my life, all for the First Degree, Second Degree Reiki or founder of Reiki transcends all limitations of time and sessions and even animals.Recipients often perceive this energy and time.