#like having to exist for an indiscriminate amount of time knowing that these decisions will completely rewrite you

[albihypnostuff]

brainwashing chair but you take a buzzfeed quiz to find out what drone programming youll recieve

Like you get a brainwashing helmet forced onto you and instead of the spirals first you have to answer like 15 questions that seem completely unrelated to being a drone, like "Whats your favorite midnight snack"

[doukeshi-kun]

regarding beandaifuku

hello, people. as you may have known, i have deactivated my old blog (beandaifuku) since about a month ago or so. i really appreciate the love and support received for the blog and the memories created there. as it was my first time creating in tumblr, i am grateful that fun memories were created there, as well as the amount of friends i've made from there

i understand that it was hypocritical of me to delete that blog when i did say i will just keep it archived when i first moved here because i understand the feeling of having works you like deleted. firstly, i am sorry for that. so, i created a collection in AO3 where i have archived some of my works from beandaifuku to there. aside from that, i also have reblogged a few fics and works such as the headcanons to a side blog. you can visit them with these links

AO3 collection

@keshi-medley

as of why i deactivated the blog in the first place—it is mainly because i want to fully move on from it. the writing, the works—they are quite immature writings, so to speak. there are works that i am NOT proud of and i do not want to see it existing. i know it won't fully get deleted since some people did reblog the works, but at least it will just stay in that bubble.

i have archived some fics but i definitely will not archive ALL works or drabbles i have done. because then, what's the point of deleting the blog if i'm just gonna have all works stay up.

and honestly, i also don't see the point of keeping it up when i do not even use the blog anymore. the blog was also infected with (porn)bots liking and following. and quite a number of my fics were flagged unfairly with community labels. as of now, i am very comfortable with my not-so-new identity and blogs.

now, onto some other things.

i know some people probably noticed my attitude on vampire!nikolai AU. frankly said, i have 100% moved on from it. i lost interest with it. generally, i do not really reblog those posts about writers and readers discourse/opinions—usually about how readers should at least give some comments or appreciation for the works a writer has done. i never talk about it, but that doesn't mean i don't care. in fact, i was heavily affected by it in the old blog.

that happened with vampire!nikolai AU after its so-called hype has passed. i was still enthusiastic about it as there were a few people giving asks about it. but that enthusiasm was not reciprocated, which led me to lose interest about it totally. i have completely moved on and i have other AUs i want to explore and write about, such as my latest ongoing series, Trash Sugar Magic.

on a side note, just saying, one of the reasons i'm not sick of stalker!au despite it has basically ended a few months ago is because some people literally analysed the fic and its details—which is like my favourite type of discussion. trust me, your enthusiasm towards a writer's work will keep their enthusiasm alive too.

i really appreciate people who love and find joy in my old works. i definitely am. it was a hard decision for me to deactivate it either since i know people are still tuning in. matter of fact, i have contemplated it for months and started by slowly taking down/privating the stuff i have posted there. and for that, i am deeply sorry.

these are all the information i could share. i honestly do not want to talk about it and keep the rest of my reasons private. but i hope you guys understand and respect my decision. i have no plan of deactivating doukeshi-kun and/or cherikolya. the worst i do in this blog are just blocking people indiscriminately and deleting old insignificant posts.

tldr; i deactivated the old blog because i have moved on and i don't want to see the fics i'm not proud of stay up and my enthusiasm wasn't reciprocated which led me to lose motivation and interest to continue on with certain AU.

[ro-botany]

Today I was reminded that in Awakening, Validar gets revived by Grima in the game timeline. So like, does Validar get revived with a normal healthy body or is it some weird partial-risen stage? Does that mean that Grima can wholesale revive people and chooses zombies instead? It's just such a weird little detail that probably exists just for plot purposes, but it makes me wonder. Can't quite pin down what it is I feel for it to be true, but it has spawned Thoughts. Do you have any opinions?

Oooo, a very good question! I touched on Validar's condition very very briefly in a previous post about RKC and some possible reasons he exists, but to go into more detail... Largely behind a read more because Post Got Big(tm)...

Validar is a weird one. Within Awakening, he's the person who comes closest to getting a true and complete resurrection. And overall he's much more human-like in form and function than anyone else we've ever seen subjected to resurrection at Grima's hands.

But we know for a fact he isn't a Risen. He doesn't get the vocal distortion, speech difficulty, compulsion for violence, glowing eyes and general corpse-like appearance, or most other characteristics associated with Risen, which imo outright excludes him from the category.

BUT, critically, Grima is nowhere near full power at the moment they revive Validar. They're freshly weakened from time travel at that point! And given the apparent difficulty of any form of necromancy in FE, I'm hesitant to claim Grima could bring him back as fully human in their weakened state. It IS curious that they were able to get him that close, though.

There could be several reasons Validar's condition is even possible. It might have something to do with the blood pact; maybe it's just easier for Grima to resurrect people that have extremely close metaphysical connections to them. Or it might be that necromancy is something Grima is naturally talented at and they do objectively complex feats with it even when very weakened.

In either case, Grima—especially when at full strength—is capable of multiple tiers of resurrection, and very possibly even true revival into a fully human state. Risen appear to be on the easier end of the necromancy spectrum (Forneus managed to manually create some by himself, for one thing; and iirc one of Henry's supports has him conjure some Risen-like creatures accidentally?), and near-human deals like Validar are on the more challenging end. RKC is somewhere in between the two states.

The fact that Grima usually creates Risen instead of people when they're doing necromancy is, in my opinion, a conscious tactical decision. A monster that doesn't think for itself, and attacks people swiftly and indiscriminately, is a perfect tool if your aim is to spread chaos and destruction. Bringing back thinking people to be your soldiers may mean they can make more tactical decisions on their own, but it also comes with an amount of free will that may mean they fuck with your plans, especially if they weren't loyal to you to begin with. And besides, Grima already has the Grimleal to act as their commanders in the small scale. So it ultimately just isn't worth the extra effort to make their resurrected soldiers much more than violent automatons.

(Unless the soldier they're reviving is Chrom, of course. For him they will put in effort to preserve the soul. But notice how they don't make him anywhere close to human; which was absolutely on purpose, because we know based on Validar that they could've. I have FEELINGS about this.)

The decision to bring Validar back as close to human as he ended up being was also very tactical on their part. I can't imagine Grima likes the guy very much beyond liking how useful he makes himself. And they know exactly how critical his continued existence is to ensuring that the main timeline's Robin fulfills their destiny of becoming the fell dragon. They can't afford to let Validar die, nor can they get much use out of a garden variety Risen that looks like him, so as close to true resurrection as they can manage while running on fumes is what he gets.

---

As an aside, this aspect of Grima's powers always kinda makes me wonder about the time before they decided to raze the continent. When they were just around and being considered a god by the people of Plegia. Did they not do any necromancy in those days? Or were there circumstances that they DID use that power? Bring some human(s) back to life, either for some logical reason, or perhaps even as a favour granted to someone?

If they did I imagine that would've gotten them in shit with Naga, given the theories that powerful divine dragons are all capable of some form of necromancy but don't do it because it's deeply taboo...

But that's speculation outside of the scope of this post.

[solrovivrus]

The White House managed to get off its ass and do the bare fucking minimum for once. Now I need to reiterate something that the settlements in the West Bank are completely illegal. They are illegal under international law and nothing the US says or does will change that. Having said that this article states that the Biden Administration has “recognized” the settlements as “inconsistent with international law”(aka illegal). Now this is not necessarily new, the US has stated that the settlements in the West Bank are illegal since 1976, which has fallen under both democratic and republican presidents like Carter/Regan etc. However, the Trump administration changed this to say they no longer viewed the settlements as illegal in fact,

“Under an unrealized Trump peace plan, Israel would have been allowed sovereignty over all existing settlements and permitted to annex up to 30 percent of the West Bank.”

So it’s not so much that the Biden Administration is making a progressive step but rather returning to an established status quo. In fact he states he is going further ahead with his support for a two state “solution”, the merits of which are dubious at best and flat out ignoring the actual help Palestinians need at worst, but has not committed to reversing Trumps plan. This does not necessarily mean he is in favor or supports Trumps plan but it does lead to my main problem with all of this. It’s just lazy, bare minimum horseshit.

There is a lot to discuss about Bidens handling of the war but this whole thing really takes the cake of showing how while Biden does do things that on the surface seem like they could be helpful once you look into them, even a little bit, it just proves how lackluster his whole strategy is.

He claims that the bombings are “indiscriminate” and Israel must protect civilians at all cost, but then bypasses congress to send them more bombs. He claims he wants more aid and humanitarian assistance into Gaza, but vetoes a ceasefire for a third time and brings in another proposal that says a ceasefire will happen when it’s “practical”. It’s the same with this.

Everyday I look at the news, especially with what’s happening in Rafah, hoping that something will happen. Something, anything, to make this any better. To bring an end to the violence and death that has destroyed countless lives and scarred many others. And I read shit like this because it appears to be a silver lining, something good for Palestinians, something that gives them any autonomy and agency during this time. But all I get are basic table crumbs of shit we should’ve been doing from the very start, why is it that only now Biden has called out this very obvious illegal practice? Why didn’t he do that shit before all this carnage? Hell why didn’t he do this shit during his four fucking years as president?

The only thing keeping me from sinking further into rage is the fact that it is a shift. Biden is only doing this because he sees the pushback from protesters and knows that public opinion is turning. Israel’s response has been so overblown that it’s impossible to ignore the amount of injustice, and people are now more than ever seeing its true colors. So this push is small, and it sucks. I am not going to sit thanking them for basic table scraps. The Overton window on Palestine is shifting and we would be fools not to take advantage of it. We must do every single thing within our power to make more progress than ever.

It does not escape me that while Biden has nothing to be thanked for and has blood on his hands, Trumps plan fucking terrifies me. Its one thing to be frustrated by hollow promises, for Biden to expect a thank you for recognizing that the illegal thing is still very much illegal and punishing four people with economic sanctions even though 399 Palestinians have died on the West Bank with over a thousand more injured due to violence. Meaning that those who committed these crimes will most likely never answer for what they did. I hate that these are supposed to placate us, that this somehow makes up for everything. But the idea of Trumps plan, that not only would the recognition that the settlements are illegal not happen but they in fact would be actively supported by our country creates a pit in my stomach. It makes you realize that one small misstep and we could lose more than we have already lost. But I refuse to settle.

I don’t just want to have the settlements recognized as illegal, I want the West Bank and Gaza to have full autonomy over their personhood and over their land. I want justice for those who lost their lives and the lives of their loved ones. We have a duty to these people and to ourselves to never give an inch, to demand better, to demand more. Never settling for complacency. And we must also be strategic. We cannot assume that because things are bad that they cannot get worse. We cannot stoop to petty infighting when people are counting on us for our help and solidarity, doing whatever it takes to make things better for them. We must stand for Palestine liberation, we must never settle for complacency. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.

[bestworstcase]

OK, hypothetical: if Salem had gotten the staff before anyone else got the bright idea to use it, would she have left Atlas & Mantle more/less as they were in the geological+existing suspension spell sense? Not like there was any apparently pressing *need* for Ambrosius' mojo on her end.

oh this is a counterfactual that lives in my head rent free. i think it comes down to three questions:

1 - does salem want to destroy atlas itself, ie does she see the entire city as one of ozma’s creations?

2 - does she have a pressing need to use the staff herself?

3 - if the previous answers are no and yes, would she bother to first lower atlas safely beforehand?

(it IS possible to use the staff without destroying atlas. you just need the time and means to excavate the plains adjacent to mantle first, so that you can lower the city before dismantling its energy source. not a viable option for the kids because they had neither the time nor the means and they primarily needed to get everyone away from salem, but in the event that salem captured atlas herself she would have no such limitations.)

the answer to #1 could go either way, i think. salem captured beacon and has been holding it against siege for nearly a year, and she planned to destroy haven—however, it’s clear that salem didn’t much care whether haven got blown up or not, because she explicitly frames that part of the plan as effectively a payment to secure adam’s loyalty, and of course she simply moves on after haven is rescued; what she really cared about was getting the lamp out of the vault. likewise her decision to hold beacon seems connected to her search for the crown—i am not convinced she would bother in the event that cinder had located and retrieved the relic during the battle—and she initiates her siege of atlas by promising to leave peacefully if they surrender the two relics in their possession. the kids do not believe that she can be trusted to keep her word, but 1. salem abhors liars, 2. she is two for two on leaving kingdoms alone after their respective academies were captured or defeated, and 3. during her siege of atlas, she makes a conspicuous choice not to attack mantle, which is completely defenseless. thus we can know for certain that salem is not interested in indiscriminate destruction and at minimum does not want to destroy mantle (otherwise she would have), and because it’s impossible to drop atlas without crushing mantle, i think on balance it’s likelier that salem would have kept her word. as it is, she breached atlas’s defenses and proceeded to sack the city, which is how sieges work and suggests to me that her aim was to capture atlas, not destroy it.

the answer to #2 really seems to be no. salem devotes a considerable amount of effort to trying to discover the lamp’s password so that she can use it (and she says that she has “questions,” plural, so she isn’t only planning to ask about the crown’s location) and appears to be preoccupied with the crown far moreso than the staff; by comparison her disinterest in the staff itself does feel conspicuous. there is also the practical consideration that anything salem knows how to make with the level of detail required to use the staff safely, she could almost certainly just conjure herself—and unlike ambrosius, HER magic is not limited to a single construct at a time. (this is one of several reasons why the take that salem getting the staff is effectively ‘game over’ feel so overblown; i think the list of things the staff could produce that salem—who has the whole power of the fountain of life and creation, remember—couldn’t is probably quite a bit smaller than people seem to generally assume.)

and the answer to #3 is really a question of how strongly motivated salem is to avoid indiscriminate destruction; is she simply not going out of her way to do things more destructively than is necessary, or is she committed to (her idea of) minimum force such that she will not tolerate destruction when it is unnecessary but convenient? and i don’t think we have enough data to support a solid conclusion either way, because we haven’t (definitively) seen her act in the latter scenario. (there are some arguable scenes in V8—the fight with hazel and her handling of cinder—but they’re too ambiguous to meaningfully generalize.) and secondarily one has to consider whether the convenience of using the staff without bothering to save atlas and mantle would be more valuable to her than keeping two cities and a communications satellite hostage, which is again unclear.

[llondonfog]

(breathes in the silver lore—)

ok i knew i wasn't going to be normal about this and i was right.

so we know that silver grew up very isolated, a fully conscious decision by lilia, away in the mountains outside of the castle where malleus and his grandmother live and the surrounding town. half of me wonders is this because of lilia wanting to get away from townspeople and live more quietly to himself after the war, or is this for silver's benefit? we know tensions still exist between fae/humans because while things are better, sebek wouldn't be getting away with saying such awful things so freely if it wasn't to some degree accepted back home. so is silver being raised away from potentially judgmental townsfolk? just things to wonder.

and then we get to silver telling us that lilia loves to travel and would spend an extended amount of time away from the cabin, which silver would be responsible for. HOW OLD??? HOW OLD WAS HE LILIA?? HOW OLD WAS ACCEPTABLE FOR YOU TO LEAVE A CHILD THAT FALLS ASLEEP INDISCRIMINATELY TO TRAIN, COOK, CLEAN, TEND TO YOUR FIELDS???? (i'm not even about to touch the fighting bears comment i'm still processing that!!!) you're lucky the cabin DIDN'T BURN DOWN!! WHY COULDN'T YOU TAKE HIM???

and that's!! that's what gets me! why couldn't he take silver!! what would have possibly prevented him from showing his son the world when it's something in comparison that malleus, his other ward, never had the chance to do thanks to his royal status? lilia is so proud of his experience with other cultures and being a worldly individual, WHY DIDN'T HE TAKE SILVER? (was it because he stole silver/knew silver was a prince and couldn't risk discovery hmm who knows)

like silver has such a happy face talking about his father and his travels, he's so PROUD of lilia and it absolutely breaks my heart. between being trained like a little child soldier and then being left alone, his standards of what equals love and affection are so low and then he's so damn devoted!! to lilia, he'd do anything for his precious father i just, i'm going to go cry now just leave me here to wallow in my tears

[somegremlin-archive3]

★   ༺   HC   -   Dogra   Magra’s   Origins  ༻   ★

NOTE:   This   is   ONLY   under   a   readmore   because   of   the   length   of   this   post   !

「 ★ 」   ⋮    Ａ Ｎ Ａ Ｔ Ｈ Ｅ Ｍ Ａ．   ⋮  ━━   it's   rather   hard   to   explain   Dogra   Magra.   It’s   NOT   a   God   like   Arahabaki.   But   Dogra   Magra   is   more   like   a   SENTIENT   DARK   FORCE   that   lies   within   the   doll.

                Dogra   Magra   existed   for   an   unknown   amount   of   time;   although   recorded   instances   of   it   have   exclusively   appeared   in   the   cult   so   not   much   of   the   world   actually   knows   of   its   true   nature.   It   is   not   known   how   Dogra   Magra   came   to   exist   on   the   plane   of   mortals   but   though   it   resides   primarily   in   A   DOLL.

                The   cult   thought   of   this   doll   as   a   GOD;   however,   it   was   little   more   than   a   malicious   intangible   being.   To   choose   who   was   worthy   of   being   bestowed   ‘   God’s   ‘   power,   cultists   were   put   under   dark,   torturous   rituals   in   an   attempt   to   imbue   a   person   with   its   power.   Many   died   in   this   process.   However,   once   a   person   survives,   the   result   is   not   a   complete   possession   but   rather,   a   painful   link   between   Dogra   Magra   and   the   person.

                Dogra   Magra   is   malicious   in   the   sense   that   it   thrives   off   negativity   and   bloodshed.   It   won’t   die   if   there   isn’t   any   but   it   will   take   whatever   chances   it   gets   to   manipulate   the   mind   of   the   human   that   it   is   linked   to.   For   example,   an   angry   person   can   soon   be   ravaged   with   hateful   thoughts   that   drive   a   person   to   commit   atrocities.   A   grieving   person   may   wallow   in   their   despair   until   they   are   overcome   with   it.   However,   no   matter   the   feelings,   the   result   is   usually   a   common   one   and   they   are   driven   to   use   Dogra   Magra’s   power   to   spread   their   pain.

                Dogra   Magra   CANNOT   fully   possess   a   human;   although   it’s   influence   grows   stronger   depending   on   how   twisted   and   driven   off   the   deep   end   the   user   becomes.   Most   users   were   cultists   already   brainwashed   by   its   power   so   they   were   granted   the   power   to   cast   terrible   hallucinations   upon   the   ‘   nonbelievers   ‘   that   ravaged   their   mind.   Some   users   were   so   powerful,   they   could   ‘   control   ‘   the   killings   that   the   receivers   committed,   sometimes   without   even   touching   the   person;   much   less   being   hurt   by   them.   However,   others   who   created   receivers   were   only   able   to   have   them   kill   indiscriminately.

Dogra   Magra   was   mainly   used   to   kill   people   who   thought   ill   of   the   cult   in   an   effort   to   kill   the   sinful   and   those   who   did   not   believe   in   Dogra   Magra’s   powers.   The   cult   grew   in   influence;   though   due   to   how   isolated   it   was,   most   who   lived   in   Yokohama   never   knew   about   it.

                Yumeno   Kyusaku   was   the   first   CHILD   user;   chosen   simply   because   the   cult   thought   their   strange   looks   meant   something;   although   their   strange   looks   are   just   simply   just   that   and   nothing   more.Just   like   the   rest,   they   were   put   through   the   painful   ritual   to   link   Dogra   Magra   to   his   body   and   they   soon   gained   their   ‘   ability   ‘.   They   were   quickly   taught   of   their   duty;   to   kill   off   the   ‘   bad   ‘   people   that   listened   to   their   ‘   Mommy   ‘   and   ‘   Daddy   ‘.   Dogra   Magra   was   ‘   GOOD   ‘   which   lead   to   the   child’s   confusion   about   religion   and   God   later   in   life.   

                Though   they   were   able   to   stand   the   rituals,   the   child   still   could   not   control   Dogra   Magra   as   well   as   adults.   They   were   violently   punished   for   failure   and   Dogra   Magra   grew   stronger   with   the   child’s   despair.   The   being   even   began   to   not   work   for   more   punishment   to   come   and   for   the   feelings   of   pain   to   INTENSIFY.

                And   it   was   much   easier   for   Dogra   Magra   to   influence   a   CHILD.

                Dogra   Magra’s   influence   over   Yumeno  amplified   desperate   and   violent   thoughts   in   the   child’s   mind.   Unlike   other   users,   Yumeno   did   not   make   the   conscious   decision   to   curse   their   family   and   the   ENTIRE   cult;   rather.   For   the   first   and   last   time,   Dogra   Magra   took   over   their   actions   at   that   moment   and   drove   them   to   curse   them.

                Afterwards,   Yumeno   managed   to   do   something   no   other   user   didn’t   and   mentally   suppress   what   had   happened   due   to   trauma.   For   a   while,   Dogra   Magra   remained   dormant   as   Yumeno   was   happy   with   Dazai   and   the   Port   Mafia.   However,   dark   thoughts   of   betrayal,   anger,   and   hatred   began   to   swirl   until   Dogra   Magra   seized   its   chance   and   cursed   the   mafia.

                In   the   present   day,   Dogra   Magra   is   still   active,   however   Yumeno   now   knows   of   its   existence   and   actively   TRIES   to   fight   it.   However,   when   emotions   and   dark   thoughts   are   high,   Dogra   Magra   can   show   its   presence   in   the   form   of   RED   EYES   (   signature   of   the   receivers   )   can   even   speak   in   words   that   definitely   do   not   sound   like   Yumeno   in   terms   of   words;   though   it’s   still   in   their   voice.   Scarier   bouts   are   when   they   don’t   even   realize   they’re   being   influenced   and   think   they’re   okay   with   it,   such   as   how   they   cursed   Atsushi   after   feeling   angry   at   Dazai   and   jealous   of   Atsushi.

                Yumeno   also   cannot   control   hallucinations   so   most   hallucinations   take   the   form   of   the   receiver's   pain   and   insecurities   (   ie:   Atsushi   hallucinating   about   his   past,   Kunikida   hallucinating   about   Sasaki   )   and   they   cannot   control   who   the   victims   kill.   However,   this   varies   from   receiver   to   receiver.

                One   more   sign   of   Yumeno’s   inability   to   control   Dogra   Magra   is   the   fact   they   DO   NOT   have   the   best   grip   on   it.   Sometimes,   strong   willed   people   such   as   Atsushi   can   break   from   the   curse   from   their   own   or   with   help.   Others   can   have   a   lesser   form   of   the   curse   such   as   how   Kunikida   only   hallucinated   without   going   on   a   rampage.   

                Yumeno   has   ONLY   managed   to   control   it   like   Lucy   can   with   Anne   of   Abyssal   Red   and   that's   it.

                Taking   away   the   doll   won’t   help   since   the   thing   is   sentient,   can   fly,   and   can   automatically   repair   itself   for   some   weird   reason.   However,   like   Arahabaki,   Dogra   Magra   can   still   be   suppressed   by   No   Longer   Human   and   can   also   be   controlled   by   All   Men   Are   Equal.   If   All   Men   Are   Equal   were   used   on   Dogra   Magra,   Yumeno   would   gain   a   much   better   control   of   the   hallucinations   and   probably   lose   the   bloodthirsty   part   of   Dogra   Magra.

[padalickingood]

Can we please have more Loch backstory? I'm v intrigued and would appreciate a readmore dump

umm yessss absolutely Lmao. There’s actually….kind of a lot to unpack with his backstory, so I’m not even really sure where to begin with it? Hence why I prefer answering specific asks people have XD, but I could TRY and do a quick abbreviated readmore of his backstory, KEYWORD TRY

I’m definitely going to leave out a lot of the meat of his story and kind of go over the basics so if there’s anything that you would like me to elaborate on please let me know!!

not sure if I should do bullet points or little paragraph info dumps so uh we’ll just see what happens here

Firstly there’s a lot of stuff that needs to be prefaced to kind of understand the basics (like specifically surrounding the politics of the city and what not) that I honestly feel like i’ve repeated enough to make a decent amount of sense??? but if you need a refresher it’s all  here   . otherwise i’m just gonna start saying stuff and hope it’s easy to follow!!

---------

SO I guess I should start off by saying where he kind of sits right now in his story and kind of go backwards from there. Currently he is an exile of his home city of Elfenbein, effectively chased out of the city and left to die. Before that though he was the oldest son of one of the four most historic noble houses of the city of Elfenbein. He belonged to the house of rangers, with his father as the head and his step mother and 3 half siblings at his side. Loch was very much the bastard son of the family in most senses of the word. There were little to no expectations put on him aside from just being a good hunter and having a presentable presence in public. but he was also Ley’thas’ illegitimate son.

Before he married Dofrea he had a fling with a woman named Ranna. Their little fling wasn’t that long lived and eventually Ranna was forced out of the city after it being discovered what she was (psst...a werewolf). Of course she didn’t go without leaving a gift, the young infant Loch, with Ley’thas to care for.

Loch grew up in the noble life style of a Vallentin family member although he never really felt quite noble. His relationship with his father and step mother were strained at best in his youth and only grew worse as he grew up and his lycanthropy started to truly develop. The harshest years of his life were from his mid teen to young adult years where he endured a suffocating hold his parents had on him in their attempts to keep his secret hidden and ‘help’ rid him of the curse. In the end their attempts at ridding him of the affliction left him with nothing but deep emotional scars that he carries with him to this day.

Still he maintained his hearty attitude and looked to move forward. In his youth after his wolfy side started to really take root, Loch quickly formed an obsession to finding his birth mother Ranna, wanting to build a true connection with her in order to better understand himself. Through his desperate attempts at finding her he ends up getting involved in some less than kosher magics that eventually lead him to her. Their initial meeting was awkward and strained and the two didn’t exactly connect as quickly as he would have liked. Ranna’s attempts to distance herself from him was only met with determination from Loch to learn more about her. She reluctantly agrees to help him but so far they’ve only met less than a handful of times.

Aside from his rocky relationship with his family (which doesn’t even include his half-siblings yet) He was still very much an important member of the Ventis. As an actual family member he was able to climb up the ranks fairly easily and is renowned among other Vallentin recruits for being one of the best hunters…even though he would always split from the group. Regardless he did his job efficiently and without issue for the most part, and he actually prided himself on his ability to protect his city.

Loch has always been a protective person, but in his job description of killing monsters there is obviously a level of conflict within him. He would always do whatever he could to help people, but in that same vein he never indiscriminately killed monsters. His philosophy was to help those that needed it. The idea of simply killing something because it encroached on your space (which was essentially what The Ventis does) was never something that sat right with him. Even though he participated in Ventis hunts, he made a habit to make sure the creature they were after was either humanely lead to a place where it wouldn’t be any trouble or be taken care of if it truly only sought to harm others.

He doesn’t really think of himself as altruistic per-se but just someone whose there to help. Deep down hunting is in his blood and it’s a part of him that’s never really going to go away. One of Loch’s many faults is his addictive nature, specifically around fighting creatures and hunting and also his need to reconnect with his birth mother. All of those things tie into a major part of his person and drive him as a character (and ultimately could get him into a lot of trouble)

When he still lived in Elfenbein he had a few people he grew to knew as close friends. For the most part he wasn’t exactly the best at making friends, either being shunned as the illegitimate son of a Ventis family, not exactly having the best personality for making friends or just simply being ignored (which he kind of preferred). He had no issues with being unseen, it actually helped him get away with a lot more than his siblings at times and maintained his secret pretty well. Particularly after one bad memory with someone he was close to from his past he never really tried to make more friends.

of course sometimes people just enter your life and you don’t get to decide just how much of an impact they’ll have on you. At some point in his life (a few years before he leaves) he makes a habit of going to the lower tier of the city and frequents a tavern in his attempts to get the true pulse of the people and live a mostly average existence. The tavern owner, a young energetic and intense woman by the name of Laurel, ends up becoming one of his closest friends in the city. Loch quickly becomes a regular to the tavern and actually befriends laurel’s other siblings who work there as well. A particular sibling by the name of Rosen actually ends up being a bit of a kindred spirit to Loch as the two learn to understand just how much in common they have.

Unfortunately as life is want to do, the good times don’t last. A few years after he meets and grows close to Laurel and her siblings and he starts to actually get comfortable things start to fall apart. Eventually his father and step-mother discover his (what they deem) incredibly risky and careless behavior and Loch is left to face the consequences and endure the punishment laid out by them. Then not long after that (a few months) there is an attempt on his life. Unknown assailants armed with silvered weapons ambush him while his guard is down and Loch manages to barely escape with his life.

He barely manages to survive with the help of a stranger who finds him near death on the side of the road. After he recovers he makes the decision to leave Elfenbein behind, but more importantly leave the people he’s grown close to behind. And that’s when he start his search for ,honestly, a place to call home. and it starts with finding his mother.

———

welp! that’s scarily the spark notes version of his whole backstory. I hope you enjoyed! I didn’t really get into detail his relationship with his siblings and the nitty gritty of his parents cuz there is just…so much to unpack there. Also there’s the case of Alden and his close friend Rosen and Laurel who have had a huge impact on his life, but those are all honestly their own posts. So if you have questions about them i’ll be happy to share!

[brothersapart]

Knacks

Since Bittersweet Parting has wrapped up, bringing the second season of Brothers Apart to a close, it’s time to get in-depth with one of the more integral parts of the multiverse-- the knacks each borrower is born with!

For that, we’ll have to touch on the origin of the knacks, and it all starts with Celeste, or Saraqael, as her angelic siblings have named her.

More under the cut, because this will go in-depth on the background of Brothers Apart:

When Celeste first put forth her plan to Azazel, before the Fall, it stood in contradiction to ideas of his own. She was able to brush aside any plans of using demon blood to enhance the forms of humans, calling it a short-term and unsustainable drug that would accomplish half the goal for twice the strain on the humans. If her brother is to have a vessel, he will need his vessel to be stronger than any living human, to keep the darkness and power from overcoming them.

When she fell, her experiments and quest to prove this began, and the first humans to suffer her curse were the village of her host’s origin, including the witch Adriana, who framed Celeste as a witch to take the suspicion off herself.

Humans under the curse received instant boons in the beginning. More than a simple hex, the angelic curse she put on them combined waves of her Grace with the natural power of a human’s soul. They became stronger, their sense heightened.

To counteract this and to keep the angels from discovering her plan, she also used this curse to shrink them to nearly a twentieth of their regular height.

Hidden from sight and discovering that humans no longer considered them equals, the small folk developed their own communities and traditions, and so the curse began its work.

Originally, Celeste used the curse indiscriminately on both adults and children both. It wasn’t until a century had passed that she realized that while adults could possibly receive the boons she wanted-- stronger bodies, stronger vessels-- the amount of Grace she needed to use was multitudes higher than what she needed for children.

The children would grow into their power, the same way a tree that took in fallen Grace as a sapling or a seed would explode in growth.

By the time she curses Sam Winchester, she is an expert at the art. Giving him a minimum taste of her Grace is all it takes for him to grow many times stronger than Dean, a direct contrast to the fact that at only a few inches tall, it does him no good against his older brother.

Born vs cursed:

Kids born with the curse don’t always show signs of having a knack. Though the potential exists in every ‘borrower’ (A name given to them by one of the few humans to discover them decades back), it’s often overlooked or never manifests.

Cursed kids always show a knack because of the rapid way the curse works its magic on them compared to the slow growth of being born into it. They still might not notice, especially a knack that simply heightens their ability to slip in and out of a room undetected, but it is irrevocably always there, an advantage over the kids born small.

Types of knacks:

Disclaimer: Not all knacks have been discovered or quantified. This is an ever-growing list.

Knacks can be a trait of the borrower that’s been enhanced by the angelic Grace in them, or they can rise directly from the Grace, giving a borrower an ability seen in the angels with the exception of Flight, as they have no wings of their own. 

Borrower knacks have strict limits in power, as opposed to the angels, who seem limitless.

Telekinesis: The ability to manipulate objects outside of their direct reach. This can often cause a borrower to be mistaken for a ghost, moving objects in a house without touching them for a distraction. Walt Watch has taken the ability further, freezing two humans in place and later directing his power at himself to force his razor blade through Celeste’s neck despite her angelic invulnerability. This came close to burning out his knack.

Telepathy: Able to beam thoughts into the mind of a human, or communicate with the other borrowers from a distance without being overheard.

Invisibility: Though the borrower does not make themselves actually invisible in most cases, the invisibility knack allows them to camouflage and blend in to their surroundings. In Sean’s case, he can cause a cloud of distortion that hides himself and any of his friends that stand close enough.

Essokinesis (Reality Warping): Though reality warping seems too strong for a borrower at first glance, it tends to arise as an ability to change objects around them, often making a useless object into something useful, above and beyond a borrower’s regular mechanical prowess.

Pyrokinesis: The ability to manipulate fire in limited forms.

Enhanced Awareness: This can either enhance an already understood sense to supernatural levels, or give the borrower a ‘sixth sense,’ much like how Sam can feel if he’s being watched. His ability does not work on other borrowers, the angelic Grace around their souls keeping the perception from working on them.

Enhanced Tracking: Trackers, like Dean, are able to use their ability to track down their target with undeniable accuracy. There are limits, as Dean can only track down objects he needs. He is unable to apply this to people, and if he can’t conjure up that sense of need, nothing will happen. This is not limited by distance, though if he’s far from an object, he only gets a sense of what direction it’s in.

Supernatural Strength: Some, like Jacob, grow stronger than even other borrowers. This comes from their innate ability to turn their knack on their own bodies by instinct. These borrowers can rarely stretch their power beyond their body, but as a result, they can lift weights far beyond the limit of any others. Some borrowers only have certain parts of their bodies enhanced, giving that part a boost above and beyond even that extra strength.

Protection: Like the invulnerability of an angel, some borrowers are able to guard themselves from damage. They can be stepped on or fall from a high distance and receive only bruises. If you ever see a borrower ‘bounce,’ there’s a good chance they have this ability and don’t realize it.

Mental Manipulation: A knack that’s easily abused, mental manipulation can go from talking a human into ‘forgetting’ they ever saw a borrower all the way to digging into a person’s mind to control how they think. Highly dangerous. Adult borrowers have some immunity to this knack due to the angelic Grace, while children can be manipulated as easily as a human. Can also manifest as the ability to divert a human’s attention.

Time Distortion: The ability to slow down or stop time. A very strong knack that requires training to sustain for longer than a few seconds. 

Regeneration: The ability to regenerate wounds. Some borrowers with this ability have also been seen to extend their lives beyond the natural lifespan of their race, retaining youth.

Animal Empathy: The ability to form close bonds with animals. Often used on mice or rats, sometimes bats and birds. Even a few friendly spiders exist that borrowers have befriended. A strong user of this ability can even mentally communicate with the animals.

Static Electrokinesis: The ability to manipulate static electricity. A borrower with this ability might be seen with extra frizzy hair a lot before they realize that they’re doing it to themselves. If trained, they can zap on command and even stick to walls if they’re light enough.

Empathy: Empaths can sense the emotions around them, either from a distance or by touch, depending on the strength of their ability. The strongest empaths can share their own emotions with others, by force or by choice.

Psychometry: Able to learn facts about people or events by simply touching inanimate objects associated with them. Stronger users can do this with a glance. Learning how to slow the rush of facts and information is often a necessary survival technique for these users, so they don’t overwhelm their mind.

Prescience: A brief look forward in time, to parse through possibilities and see what can arise from certain decisions being made. 

Enhanced Stealth: A fairly common knack, borrowers with this are the best at sneaking into and out of rooms without being detected, even if the humans are up and active at the time. 

All these, and more! The knacks that borrowers use are as varied as the abilities humans have, and new ones are being discovered all the time!

Burnouts:

If a borrower pushes their knack beyond their breaking point, the knack will snap and render their ability useless. A sign that they’re approaching this point is a headache, often accompanied by a bloody nose.

Siblings:

Closely raised siblings often develop knacks that support each other’s. Sam and Dean are the prime example of this. One knows when they’re sought, while the other can find whatever they seek. 

Age:

The older a borrower grows, the longer the Grace has to work on them. This causes their knack to grow in strength even if they don’t train it. Sam notices this because he can start to differentiate between people like Dean, who are no danger to him and thus the sense he gets is ‘softer’ than someone like Gordon, a hunter actively trying to kill him. This makes Gordon’s gaze feel ‘sharp’ compared to Dean, and can cause Sam physical pain because of it. Walt’s telekinesis is far stronger than a young borrower could manage without training, able to suspend two full grown humans in the air without burning out.

Limitations:

As useful as knacks are, there are limits to what they can be.

Borrowers cannot change their size.

Borrowers cannot shapeshift.

Borrowers cannot fly or teleport.

Some of these limits arise naturally, as borrowers do not possess wings like their angelic source of magic, while others are limitations Celeste worked into her spell. She can’t afford to have her experiments switching back to human size.

If anyone has any questions, let me know!

[dolche-tejada]

"So, what you are basically saying is that a terrorist expressing his intentions to go on a murderous rampage in response to a hero trying to arrest him is perfectly reasonable and shouldn't be held against said terrorist. Do you realize how insane and faulty such an argument is ?"

I'm saying that justifying an attempted murder by using the reaction to it is fallacious. This is just the beginning of your answer and I can already see that you are off the mark, it's promising..

"My only point was that you were acting a little too much as if Jin and the LoV were just an innocent bunch of outcasts unfairly persecuted for wanting to hang out with their friends instead of, you know, a group of terrorists whose activities include murders, kidnappings and mass destruction."

A point you're pulling out of your ass by the way since my post was just about explaining how he never tried to help Jin as too many people claim to justify the lethal violence he used afterwards and how what he did was not rationally justified. So I confirm, you're caricaturing my words.

"For your information, I do know how to read, thank you very much"

Given the amount of bullshit you give out, there is a legitimate doubt.

"Indeed, but it's not accounting for the ones who are already on the loose, like the Re-Destro double who was slaughtering the Hero Commission at the time"

An example that doesn't work since Hawks didn't know he existed.

"Also, "saved by Dabi" ? Don't make me laugh. When, exactly, did Dabi try to save Jin ? When he indiscriminately attacked Hawks and him and nearly burnt him to death (a fate that Jin only avoided thanks to Hawks, mind you, so clearly, the only logical conclusion is that Hawks really wanted him dead...) ?"

First, Dabi clearly states that he knew Hawks would protect Jin out of reflex. Second, how does the fact that Jin was injured as collateral damage change anything about the fact that Dabi tried to prevent him from being killed ? Third, it was logical for him to use a wide-range attack to burn as many feathers as possible. Don't go twisting a neuron.

"Or when he was playing the man like a fiddle to put him in the exact position where Hawks would have no other choice but to kill him, only to use the footage of his death to further his personal vendetta ? Because wow, Dabi really did save Jin's bacon there."

Funny how you take your headcanons for concrete. Otherwise, can you explain me why he took the time to reassure and encourage Jin if his intention was to let him die ? Or why he was upset against Hawks when he heard Twice crying and feeling guilty ?

Or how the fact that he took the care to record the scene proves that he intentionally let Jin die ? Or why he acted so hysterically when he died ? You have a brain in theory, maybe it's time to use it ?

"Ah yes, the good old "I don't have anything remotely clever to reply to my interlocutor so I'll just throw senseless claims and belittle them as much as possible to make myself feel superior" school of rhetoric"

I had already answered your remark in my initial post so don't bother pretending I didn't have anything better to give sweetheart, it's not very credible.

"For the record, I did take the trouble - as you put it - to look at the end of your post. So let me put it straight : we are in the middle of a decisive battle, Twice is one of the top officers of the terrorist organization that the heroes are trying to take down, he has already proven that peace talks and immobilization tactics were ineffective (in a way that defies all logic)"

What a joke, Hawks just passively destroyed the clones and then sliced Jin's muscles in an attempt to deliver the coup de grace, at no time did he attempt to capture him directly. As here where he neutralizes a criminal in a few seconds without even having to look at him :

And to say that attacking and taunting someone while dominating the exchange is a peaceful talk, let me add that even if you are pathetic, you can at least make people laugh.

"one of his accomplices has explicitly asked him to cause as much destruction as possible, and yet you still have the guts to say that there was nothing solid indicating that Jin was a threat. Are you sure that I am the one who doesn't know how to read ?"

Except that the moment Dabi said this came after Hawks had tried to murder Jin so indeed, I confirm that he had no material evidence that Twice was planning to go on a rampage to try to justify himself. Before you respond to me, take the time to understand what I just wrote, it may help you.

"Because clearly, what Hawks did was the textbook example of a justified homicide and have nothing to do with preemptive justice. At all."

No, he just killed someone who was running away in order to prevent crimes that didn't happen, but that's not an act of preventive justice for sure.

"Really ? You did that ? Because all I saw you do is extrapolating on a subtext that isn't even here. We literally have access to the character's train of thought, and there is nothing indicating that what Hawks said to Twice is anything but genuine. Misguided ? Certainly. Deceitful ? Not even close.

So then, are you able to explain to me why he took the trouble to keep a device on him to record his conversation with Jin ? Or why he only activated it after Jin started to rebel, as well as how come he strangely victimizes himself while recording himself saying that it's the villains who don't give up that force the heroes to require certain extremes when he had no trouble countering Jin's quirk and Dabi wasn't there yet?

"But I guess that Hawks knows that he is a fictional character and could be falsifying his inner monologues in order to mislead the audience. That's not absurd at all."

Watch out, you'll almost discover the concept of "unreliable narrator".

"You are right. Hawks killed a popular villain in a last-ditch effort to prevent countless deaths, Twice killed an unnamed hero who had the audacity to try to arrest a pair of dangerous terrorist. How foolish of me to see any resemblance between those two men..."

Jin killed a man in a fit of desperation before dying, Hawks tried to kill him during their entire confrontation and finally succeeded at the last moment. No desperation in what he did, it was premeditated. So indeed, there is no equivalence.

"So why do you keep on acting as if Hawks didn't have any valid reason to attack Jin ?"

I said he had no justification for killing him. If you are unable to see the nuance, you can go screw yourself. I don't have time to be your teacher, although you need one.

"And yet, you are the one responding to an argument by changing the subject to focus on someone else's misconduct without directly refuting or disproving the argument in question."

It was not an argument but a sophism. Someone told me that Jin killed a hero and that Hawks was not entirely wrong. I answered that it doesn't justify his approach since this murder happened after Jin's and that what happened was the consequence. So if Hawks had handled the situation differently, it wouldn't have happened. And now you say that if the League had not acted, Hawks would not have had to act to try to refute my point. You change the subject with a counter-accusation, which is the very definition of a whataboutism but well, nice try anyway.

"Hawks ? An emotionless sociopath ? Now I'm the one starting to question your ability to read, because if there is one consistent thing about Hawks, it's that he cares too much for his own good"

I said he acted like one in that scene, not that he was one.

"acting as if Hawks was needlessly tormenting a poor, helpless man is - in turn - completely unreasonable"

I didn't say he was defenseless, that still distorts my words. And I thought I saw him taunting Jin about how he naively trusted him, I guess this panel isn't canon then ?

"Well, yes. It's not like that. At all. Sincerely, I don't know how can someone read his confrontation with Twice and come to that conclusion. You're trying way too hard to read between the lines to confirm your own bias, even when there is nothing there."

When there is nothing? So Hawks recording their exchange right when Jin attacks him after he acts like a bastard (and not from the beginning of the scene, strangely) to record Jin once he's enraged without context and saying that he likes him but that people like him who refuse to surrender force heroes to kill, I'm making it up ? And the fact that Hawks had the abilities to neutralize him without killing him in seconds like he did in his first appearance with a random criminal too ?

"Helping Endeavor fight against All For One's criminal empire and atone for his past wrongdoing ? Certainly. Protecting him ? I don't think so. Secondly, did you miss the part where Hawks gave Dabi the benefit of the doubt about what the villain said regarding Endeavor - Hawks' own personal hero - 's misdeeds and wait to get the whole family's point of view before confirming that the Flame Hero had his support ?"

He didn't even know yet that Dabi was telling the truth that he was ready to defend him anyway, even if Endeavor were to prove to be a child abuser.

"Also, "clearly the kind of person Jin loves, right ?" Well, the people he hangs out with include multiple serial killers"

So no relation to what Endeavor did, you know, making children to conduct experiments and abuse them, including one of Jin's comrades.

"and he has no problem working with scumbags like All For One and the doctor Garaki (or flirting with an underage girl, for that matter)."

Jin has never had any interaction with AFO. They only saw each other once briefly at Kamino, we don't even know if he knew that Shigaraki has a superior and it's common knowledge that AFO limited himself to tell the bare minimum to his associates, absolutely nothing indicates that Jin knew what AFO could do.

Jin and Toga act platonically towards each other, there is no scene between them containing a romantic/sexual tension in the whole manga. Their interactions are more like a sibling relationship with a huge age gap between them.

"He's got it worse than any member of the League baring Shigaraki. Poverty, violence, verbal abuse, neglect, he's been through it all."

That doesn't make him noble.

"And yet, in spite of all the hardship he faced, he still managed to come out as a genuinely empathetic individual"

Except when he didn't care to offer a chance of redemption to the other members of the League because he believes that only the "good people" according to his worldview deserve one, or when he completely ignored and didn't care about Jin's feelings.

"Even when he thinks that something ugly needs to be done, he'd rather put the entire burden on himself than letting anyone else sully themselves. With such a backstory, you would have expected him to become just as nihilistic and entitledly vicious as most of the LoV, and yet he still chose to put his desire to help people out above his own suffering. Really, what is not admirable about this man ?"

What a hero. A man capable of sacrificing.. Other people's lives. So it's not a personal sacrifice. But wait, he's doing this for the benefit of the greater number. Even if the idea that “greater number = greater good” is stupid, it completely disregards minority’s rights. So, what else then ? Ah yeah, he's willing to look like an asshole rather than let others be in his place, that it's beautiful. It's just a little stupid that he's unnecessarily tainted his reputation since he was perfectly capable of neutralizing Jin.

You remind me of the Itachi Wankers, you have the same lame defenses and the same idealization. But at least they have the excuse that Kishimoto is doing everything to make Itachi look good, intelligent and heroic, unlike Horikoshi who is doing so much to show Hawks as wrong that he visually portrays him as frightening and emotionless.

"But this response has already taken much more time than what I expected, so I will not elaborate on any further."

Yeah avoid it, you've written enough crap like that. If you were to throw me another stupid reply like this one, I wouldn't bother answering it, sorry.

"Insulting people when you don't know what to reply to their arguments will not help you come off as a particularly endearing or cleverer person."

Because you managed to prove me wrong ? You're mediocre as much in your way of reasoning as in your ability to understand a text or to argue so don't try to pose as better than you are, and keep your ambitions at the height of your means. :)

Hawks' scheme

A post that has absolutely nothing to do with the current events of the manga, I know, but recently I came across another genius who basically said that Hawks wasn't wrong when he killed Twice, the situation was tense, he was dangerous and then Hawks was generous enough to offer him help, help that Twice rejected so it was his fault. And so, I'm motivated to defend Jin, my boy, and to explain why his murder and Hawks' reasoning were not justified.

So the scene starts with Hawks... attacking Jin, revealing to him in the worst way that he has manipulated him from the beginning and that their friendship was a lie. Because it's obvious that attacking like that a psychologically unstable person, it couldn't be a stupid idea.. We see that he really put all the chances on his side to avoid that the situation doesn't degenerate, right ?

While taunting him a little by the way because after all why not ?

The principal argument for those who justify Hawks. So yes, he's offering him a new chance, but what exactly does it involve ? Hawks says that because Jin is a good person, he deserves a chance at redemption. But therefore, Hawks believes that there are people who do not deserve it. He takes the liberty of arbitrarily deciding who doesn't deserve help based on his affinity for that person. See for yourself, he offers a chance only to Jin and not Toga, Spinner or Shigaraki. However, heroes are supposed to save people, that is their job, and Hawks' reasoning that involves drawing a line to abandon those behind conflicts directly with that.

It's even something that Jin, about to be impaled by Hawks, won't hesitate to throw to his face. He voluntarily abandons people who need help, human beings.

And that's not all, what was supposed to happen to the other members of the League if Twice had to surrender ? Given Hawks' merciless violence and lack of empathy, Twice could reasonably have thought that surrending meant leaving them to heroes like Hawks who would kill them. And we, readers, can see that this is true. Mirko tried to kill Shigaraki in his sleep, X-Less and Present Mic left him dying on the floor knowing that his heart wasn't beating anymore and Endeavor tried to burn him alive before he knew he could regenerate and then tried several times to kill him without even hiding this intention.

So if we summarize, Hawks manipulates, betrays, isolates and attacks Jin, taunts him for having trusted him and then forces him to choose between surrendering (and thus letting his friends die) or fighting and potentially get killed by a man he considered as a friend. Jin's reaction ?

No fucking shit, he rebels in a burst of anger and sadness ! Who could have foreseen that ?? Well... Hawks. Because although he has a sincere sympathy for Twice, sparing him was never part of his plan. Long before their confrontation, Hawks was already preparing for the worst by imagining the damage Jin could do, like an army of High Ends.

Check this out, he literally records the conversation from the moment Jin rebels and so the authorities can hear him say he did his best. He victimize himself and make it seem like he was sincerely trying to help Jin, but he puts all the blame on him : "It's Jin who is too stubborn and forces me to use lethal force".

Not only does this show again that he is a manipulator who twists the facts, but it also points that he knew the plan was going to go off the rails. Because it's just not possible to think that Twice could agree to surrender on these terms.

Hawks managed to justify killing Jin. He could really try to negotiate with Twice and the League. He could have even asked other heroes to accompany him (like Midnight who had the perfect counter to Jin's Double), he could have knocked him out quickly and escaped with him but no, he knowingly arranges the situation so that Jin chooses to fight and takes care to offer proof that he has no choice but to kill him. Without even having to talk about the fact that heroes are not allowed to kill, there is just no way to rationally justify what Hawks did.

Not even the "Twice was too dangerous" argument. That's preventive justice based on assumptions, "common sense" consisting in taking one's prejudices for evidence. Concretely, there was no evidence that Jin was planning to go on a rampage if Hawks did not intervene. No matter how obvious it may seem, there was nothing solid to back it up, which is why preventive justice is so ridiculous.

[yes-these-obsessions-are-healthy]

Ooh I made one of these :V

So this is the second character I ever made in Inquisition. My first one was me bumbling around not really understanding everything, and Folia became My First DA:I OC™  and the one I have put most of my gameplay and emotional energy into.

I’m not really good at these sorts of things, cuz I’ve never been someone who has their OCs all planned out or even knows “who” they are. They’re as much of a stranger that I’ve come to learn about as anyone else.

As you can see here, here, and here (taps indiscriminately against computer screen with lecture wand), my Folia is a very chill person who at the same time does not have much patience for Chantry dogma, stupidity, rudeness, or the holier-than-thou dribblings of Orlais.  

Brief explanation of character relationships:

Solas caught her attention immediately, and while she was a bit confused by his snipes against her people and culture, she found his description of the Fade and the nature of spirits to be utterly entrancing. To speak “out of world” for a second, Folia is the character whose values most closely mirror my own, so the fact that Solas and Folia got along so easily has implications that I kind of cherish, you know? Folia was heartbroken and distraught when Solas told her that her vallaslin were slave markings and asked him to remove them. When he gently pushed her away, she was once more distraught and confused. She believed him when he said he would explain things later, and she carried that promise with her to the Exalted Council. When the revelation of who Solas was, his plan, and all that had happened to her was laid out before her, she was once again shocked but adamant in her love for him. All she wanted was to be with him and begged him to give up his plans, that she was heartbroken--but not angry--that he had deceived her. Really, all she wanted to know was if he truly, truly did love her. The aftermath involved a tearful kiss goodbye, a sharp rending pain of her arm being removed from existence, and a solemn declaration that the Inquisition had ended (Solas had only been the final hammer that convinced her that the corruption of the Inquisition was inevitable; she had similar convictions before the Exalted Council began). 

Cole immediately became someone she doted on. The “red” in his bar is not romantic but familial love. She, Solas, and Varric dote on him constantly in their own way, and she is always encouraging Cole to tell her what he feels. She finds his mouthful of riddles to be intriguing rather than annoying, and is very protective of him because even before she discovered his true nature, she sensed that there was something special about him that not even Solas was able to identify. She ultimately made the decision to help him become more of a spirit because she believed that it was the Compassion spirit’s sorrow that drove him to take on Cole’s form, but that ultimately he was a spirit at his core and should return to that state.

Blackwall was someone she flirted with to the point that it became second nature to her. Unfortunately, her eyes were firmly set on Solas, and yet Blackwall and Folia ended up in a relationship that she herself didn’t realize she signed up for. She told Blackwall she would support him as he supports her and that they should remain good friends. Upon learning of his true identity, she was shocked more than anything but, in contrast to Solas, immediately acknowledged his attempts to make up for his past, hence why he has remained among her preferred party members.

Dorian was someone who immediately charmed her. He was everything her clan mentioned when railing against the upper echelons of far-off Tevinter, and yet he managed to make all those things a positive. His wit made her smile, his slightly ridiculous complaining made her laugh, his flirting was a fun distraction that she allowed herself to indulge in; Solas was an intellectual at heart, someone who chose his words carefully, and was thus not nearly as fond of playful ribbing and innuendo as Dorian. Before making her choice, Folia had seriously considered pursuing Dorian as a romantic partner. That is, until she learned he was, in fact, only interested in men. While slightly saddened that Dorian would never see her ‘in that way”, she warned him to never stop with his teasing or banter, ever, because in a way, it seemed almost safer to do so now that they knew they could never break each other’s hearts.

Sera proves especially trying for Folia, who tries to exemplifies politeness, courtesy, and understanding (things that Solas has often complimented her on),  Folia is not a devout worshipper of the Elven gods but still gives them the same amount of respect as one would of any relic of their own culture. She does not particularly like Sera’s insistence on causing chaos without thought of the repercussions and most certainly does not like her badmouthing her peoples’ culture and beliefs: She took special offense to Sera calling the temple of Mythal a place of demon worship. Ultimately she does not appreciate Sera hiding her head in the sand when undeniable proof of the complex nature of spirits, the Fade, and magic are made plain as day. It’s one thing to be scared, Folia thinks, it’s another to be willfully ignorant and wave off actual truths because they don’t mesh with your static “comfortable” world view. The fact that she insults Cole a lot is also a strike against her in Folia’s mind.

Vivienne is someone Folia attempts to be civil to but much like how she feels about Sera, she does not like blunt rudeness towards the Dalish or Cole, at all. Honestly, Folia feels a bit pathetic because she tries her best to help Vivienne when she can, but just as she thinks Vivienne is coming around, the lady says something nasty about Cole or Blackwall’s attempts at redeeming himself and helping people. People who cut others down for their own self-esteem are tiresome to her. Honestly, she does not know why she recruited Vivienne in the first place, but she knows it would be rude to send her away.

[janisurstemostrespectedtrade]

Janis Urste Reliable Advice For Making Money With Forex

Janis Urste Professional tips provider. Many people are becoming more interested in forex trading because it is a way to make some extra income, in today's challenging economic times. Although it is true that forex traders can make large sums of money in a short amount of time, forex traders can also lose money. For these reasons, it is important to research forex trading and learn how to be a successful trader before investing any money. Follow the advice in this article and you'll be on your way to becoming a successful forex trader.

The best Forex traders are the traders who check their emotions at the door, so remember that allowing your emotions to get involved could mean that you lose your investment. When you become attached to any type of trade or allow your emotions to weigh on your decisions, you will almost always fail to act logically. This is bad for business.

When looking for a reputable Forex brokerage firm, one of the easiest and quickest things you can do is to check their reputation. Look for firms that have verifiable offices that have been in operation longer than just overnight. Also, look into online reviews of the firm. If you see that others have had unfair dealings with the office you are considering, you'll most likely want to look for a different firm.

In the Forex market, you should mostly rely on charts that track intervals of four hours or longer. With technology these days you can know what's going on with the market and charts faster than ever. However, a significant drawback to the short-term cycles exists in that they can fluctuate uncontrollably. Additionally, they can also be misleading because they tend to reflect a high degree of indiscriminate luck. By sticking with a longer cycle, you can avoid false excitement or needless stress.

Avoid making lots of small trades on the forex market. It is not just your investment account that has a finite limit; you also have a limited supply of patience and endurance. Beginning traders wear themselves out placing tons of small trades that ultimately have little benefit. Conserve your attention and focus on making fewer, better-researched, more profitable trades.

Janis Urste Most excellent service provider. Learn about fundamental analysis, technical analysis, wave analysis, and complex analysis. These are the four primary ways of forecasting the forex market and building your currency trading strategy. By learning about each of these you are better prepared to develop multiple successful trading strategies to avoid losses and improve gains.

When you are researching Forex brokers and companies, watch out for fake reviews. Many brokers and brokerage companies pay people to write positive reviews, and these are hard to distinguish from real reviews. If a website features only positive reviews, you should also find another source of information on the company.

Before committing to an investment one should have previously studied the expectations for that investments growth or decline. By researching when to buy and when to sell one can better their returns. By buying when the investment is not doing good but expected to start doing better in the future one can get in at a lower price and get out with a profit.

When you begin trading, it is important to learn as much as possible about this new world. There are many books and blogs that you can read, but you also should make good use of the resources offered by your broker. Contact your customer's service with your questions and if your broker is not useful, consider changing to another one.

Keep up with any announcements or speeches made by key financial figures, like the executives from the Federal Reserve Board. What they say can carry a lot of weight in the financial world and can influence behavior in the Forex market. When you understand the implications, you can make smart choices with your trades.

Keep your eye on the country's interest rates. When the country has a rising interest rate, its currency will become stronger because more people will move their assets there to get a higher return. Conversely, a decrease in interest rates means a weaker currency. These movements will influence this currency's activity in the forex market.

When looking at charts, you should try to make predictions. Note these predictions and compare them a week later with the new charts. If you are close every time, consider yourself a skilled trader. If you are off, try and understand why and analyze the situation in retrospect, so that you will recognize the same kind of situation later.

The safest and best position for people wanting to learn more about Forex trading is start with a small account, and allow it to grow by adding to it from its own profits. This is far less risky than assuming a large account will generate more profits merely by virtue of its size.

Minimize your losses in Forex trading. Everybody loses some money when trading. In fact, some of the most experienced traders may lose more often than they win. However, they keep their losses small by setting a loss limit and stopping when they hit it. The key is to try a trade but stop and move on when you see it isn't going to be successful.

Risks that you make in the foreign exchange market, if any at all, should never exceed 2 percent or 3 percent of your total account. Risking more than this amount is a definite setup for market failure. Risking up to 50 percent is unthinkable, as if your risk does not pay off, you would need to earn twice as much as your initial investment to break even.

Janis Urste Best service provider. As was stated in the beginning of this article, forex trading is a way to make a lot of money in a very short amount of time. Because of the risks involved in forex training, before starting, it is wise to know the right way to trade forex. Apply the advice from this article to help you become a succesful forex trader.

[shirlleycoyle]

We Asked Def Con Attendees Why People Are Still Getting Hacked

This year’s Def Con—the world’s biggest hacking conference—was more sprawling than ever. Held annually in Las Vegas, the conference has grown over the last 27 years from a small gathering of hackers huddled into the Alexis Park hotel to a nearly 30,000-person swarm spread across multiple hotels on the Strip.

At Def Con 27, Motherboard saw Lightning chargers that could instantly hack a device, shirts that defy the surveillance state, superhuman game cheats, and attendees who bought their conference tickets by selling nudes. Between Def Con and Black Hat, its more corporate cousin, Vegas became full of people working in an industry that feels like it’s at a pivotal moment: There’s more money pouring into cybersecurity than ever, but we continue to see high-profile (and devastating) hacks. At the same time, cybersecurity as an industry is no longer made up of lone coders and small, grey-hat hacking groups; it’s a gigantic industry with startups worth billions of dollars. As the industry matures, it’s becoming clear that it must be held accountable for a lack of diversity and a sometimes toxic and misogynistic culture.

Motherboard sent four reporters to Def Con. We spoke on panels, gave talks, and reported on what we saw there, but we also asked about two-dozen attendees two simple questions:

Why are people still getting hacked?

What is one thing the cybersecurity community needs to do better?

The responses people gave us were as varied as their expertise—some people we spoke to are red team hackers, others work in public relations for sex toy companies. But taken together, they revealed a pattern of opinions across the infosec community. People are hacked because they’re human, and we need to be more inclusive of the diversity of humanity to solve these problems.

Answers are edited for length and clarify. Some respondents spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of their work.

Why are people still getting hacked?

“I think the first question, put like this, is the modern equivalent to: why are things still getting stolen? People will always get hacked, the question is whether we can reduce the amount of hacks without causing too much external pain. I actually think hacks in general are mitigated relatively well but there are exceptions of course. (US local government networks are an obvious one.)” – Martijn Grooten, editor of Virus Bulletin

“I think people still get hacked because most hacks these days that the public encounters work to exploit the human side of the equation and are not all that technically sophisticated, and we haven’t prepared people for that reality. We need to help people not treat all threats as equally likely, and remind them that hackers aren’t magic wizards; they use a logic on how hard they want to work to hack you that you can use to make decisions… I think because our mental vision of a hacker is still a guy in a hoodie doing very complicated, high computing power-required cracking of very secure systems, and not a person copying and pasting a bunch of passwords to see which ones work.” – Kate Rose, digital security professional and maker of Adversarial Fashions

“Because we don’t concentrate on the easy stuff. People need to use password managers. People need to you know segment there they are their social media profiles their email accounts and stop mixing everything together and just concentrate on the basics. Because you don’t want to be low hanging fruit.” – a Red Team operator at iiNet

“Because they don’t update their shit. And they use [passwords] like ‘1234’ and really basic stuff. It’s really bad.” – anonymous

“It’s lack of understanding and education around cybersecurity. Seems like populations are vulnerable because of lack of access to information due to resources, or generational differences in access to technology (I.e. vulnerable seniors). Beyond that, I wonder if people have a nonchalant attitude when it comes to their personal security because it seems so inevitable that you’ll be at risk. It isn’t clear how you can prevent it, and everything is getting hacked or your personal info is at risk all the time.” – Rachel Johnston, communications professional for sex toy company Lora DiCarlo

“There’s too many bright people in the world for infosec to be dominated by any single group of people.”

“If ‘security’ is the ‘state of being free from danger or threat,’ then cybersecurity is a fantasy. We don’t get to be free from danger. That’s not the world in which we live. We simply cannot find every problem. Many organizations can improve their defenses by focusing on basic fundamentals, but to make that happen, organizations need to not only identify failures, they need to either prove the real world risk and impact posed by the failure, or verify that existing controls provide sufficient risk reduction. Today, answering these two questions is incredibly difficult.” – Evan Anderson, Randori Director of Offense

What is one thing the cybersecurity community needs to do better?

“There are two parts to this. The first part is to diversify. There’s too many bright people in the world for infosec to be dominated by any single group of people. However, to do this the infosec community needs to get back to its roots of finding intelligent, curious people and training them in house instead of poaching experienced people from other firms. Does it take longer? Of course, but it has benefits such as company loyalty that can’t be overlooked.” – Brian Pendelton, professor and Def Con 27 goon

“I think that there’s a huge disparity between African-American representation at a higher level. You see African-Americans from the help desk to the system admin level. But when you start to go up to CSO, CIO and all those levels—senior level positions you don’t see large representations of African-Americans so I think that as an industry we could strive to do better as much as we’re doing for women which is very great. I also think that we can make that same effort for African-Americans.” – Brandon Robinson, senior sales engineer at Proofpoint

“Our community has a history of showing up like a bull in a china shop and not only does that turn people off to our message, it damages our credibility with the very people we’re trying to protect.”

“Be less toxic, more inclusive. I try as much as possible but there are a couple of people in the industry who are big rock stars, who don’t make anyone else [feel] welcome.” – anonymous A/V company employee

“The cyber security community needs to educate in a way that is accessible to laymen folk. The resources should not be daunting or scary but realistic and honest. It’s hard to make a case for using increased security to someone who feels they would never be a target but the reality is everyone is a target to indiscriminate attacks.” – Moheeb Zara, AWS

“Exercise finesse and learn to prioritize the needs of others, whether business leaders, consumers, or policy makers. Understanding what makes them tick and how they think is the only way we can build tools and teach skills that will stick. Our community has a history of showing up like a bull in a china shop and not only does that turn people off to our message, it damages our credibility with the very people we’re trying to protect.” – Melanie Ensign, DEF CON press goon department lead

“Anyone with the power to make decisions on what authentication technologies the rest of humanity gets saddled with, need to watch people outside their peer group try to use what they build. Most will not successfully check all the marks for secure usage of anything because the thing they’re logging into will not make it anywhere near what the vast majority of humankind would consider easy. Certain elements in the hacker community have long scoffed at everyone else for not having the time, money, or experience to personally deal with working around bad design in the patchwork of the poorly maintained, disjointed systems they depend on. The responsibility should instead shift to technology makers to design authentication mechanisms and other security features in a way that everyone else can actually use.” – David Huerta, Freedom of the Press Foundation

“They need to engage better with the people around them. There’s something very insular about people who work in cybersecurity. There’s maybe not a huge overlap between cybersecurity and people with an overabundance of social graces…. [but] cyber security is everywhere and it applies to everyone. And that means that people in tech need to be able to relate better to people who aren’t in tech and explain why it’s important. If there’s anything I would wish I could convey to everyone here it would be like this is important. This is fun. This is awesome. Convince other people to care about it.” – anonymous

We Asked Def Con Attendees Why People Are Still Getting Hacked syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[martin9395]

Call A Medication Rehab Facility Today And Adjustment Your Life Forever

A medication rehabilitation facility is an integral part of our neighborhood. It is a sign of our willpower to conquer our pain and torment with hard work and perseverance. This discomfort and also torture is typically an outcome of substance abuse, which typically leads us into a troubled and also miserable life. You can not allow drug abuse obtain the very best of you. You should rise up to the event and end up being the man or lady every person in society expects you to be.

 You ought to know that life is not a wedding rehearsal. We do not obtain a second chance which is why we must constantly strive to be much better people, for our purpose as well as for our households. It is time for you to rise up and face your challenges head on. Medicines will only numb your sorrow and also postpone your pain. It will certainly not fix your issues. Actually, substance abuse can lead you right into a lot more economic, spiritual, emotional, physical and also mental problem. A rehab facility can aid you to finish your addiction science based drug rehabs.

 - Just How a Medication Rehab Facility Will Aid You to combat Substance Abuse

 Drug abuse is common among our youth. The initial point a rehab center will certainly do is to present you to a team of individuals that are undergoing the very same troubles as you are. You no longer require to combat this alone. You can combat drug abuse with people who understand what you are going through and also want to go the extra mile to ensure that you stop. You will certainly likewise obtain a chance to make close friends as well as meet fascinating individuals. In addition, you will currently have people you can speak to that will certainly not evaluate you. To put it simply, you will certainly discover on your own in a secure pair of hands at a rehab facility.

 A rehab center will likewise make you understand the reckless nature of your bad practice. It will certainly let your family, buddies and associates speak with you in a way that is respectful and acceptable to you. You will finally reach listen to out your siblings as well as parents without them yelling at you. Similarly, it will certainly be time for you to allow everyone that respects you recognize specifically how you feel concerning the scenarios that you locate yourself in. The caring individuals at the rehab center will develop this secure speaking setting where everyone. This environment will certainly be a family counselling session that allows you to understand your family members's feelings as well as the other way around. Actually, you can state that this is a possibility for you and also your household to start over as a joined and also indivisible family. Do not miss this opportunity science based drug rehabs. Call a rehabilitation facility currently.

 - A Drug Rehabilitation Facility Will Conserve Your Life

 Thousands upon hundreds of drug abusers pass away daily. Do not end up being a statistic. Rather, live your life to the max. Endure your youthful days in full happiness, start a family members and afterwards age as well as boost your stock of knowledge. Life does not need to finish so quickly. A medication rehab facility will certainly save your life and also offer you a chance at a regular life. All you have to do is to grab that phone as well as telephone call. Life has its minutes as well as this is your minute to alter the training course of your fate. Time and also tide wait on no male yet you can constantly count on a rehabilitation facility to take their time and also listen to whatever it is you have to state. This is since individuals at these centres often understand that the distinction in between life as well as death commonly rests on that single telephone call undergoing. You require to call a rehabilitation facility today. Change your life for the better.

 There are so many dangers to encounter in the world of drug abuse. First, the medicines are harmful to your body and also second, the physical violence that comes with it is simply appalling. Third, promiscuity typically accompanies drug abuse. This indiscrimination can lead to STI's such as HIV/AIDS. Also the needles that you share while infusing medications can cause STIs. Finally, the vicious world of jail awaits you if you take place to run away all of these other threats as well as all of us recognize jail is not a good location to be. Adjustment your life, realize the folly of your ways as well as call a rehabilitation facility now.

 - A Medicine Rehabilitation Facility Will Assist You with one of the most Attempting Minutes of Your Recovery

 Teen Medicine Rehab - Exactly How to Make an Informed Choice

 There more than 1 million young adults that depend on illegal drugs. There is a nearly equal number that are alcohol-dependent. Not every one of these teens need inpatient treatment or teen medication rehab. However to stay clear of that, two things need to be achieved: a complete cessation important misuse and a shown amongst the teenager's family of open and also enhancing ability to speak about the problem and also locate options.

 But that's less complicated stated than done. And, if you are the moms and dad of that teenager, what should you do if your doctor suggests inpatient teen drug rehabilitation?

 Fortunately is that there is an advantage to this sort of suggestion. Many kids-- almost 75%-- that require teenager medication rehab never ever receive it. So consider the suggestion not as something to be dreaded. Check out it as a chance, a "wake-up call," that you can resolve to aid your youngster.

 So feel excellent that your child has a chance to get the teenager medication rehab that they require. As well as by helping them quicker instead of later on, their brain and also their subconscious (which is still forming as well as maturing) will certainly improve considerably. This will certainly improve their lifestyle much right into the adult years science based drug rehabs.

 So just how can you make an enlightened decision about teen drug rehab that functions and is cost effective?

 To start with, get numerous referrals or referrals for teen medication rehabilitation from your doctor. Then scan the internet sites of these centers. Also one of the most basic info serves at this phase:

 Where are they situated? Location is most critical because you are not mosting likely to simply leave your youngster and go away. It is crucial that you play an essential function in your teenager's medication rehabilitation. You must prepare to visit your youngster on a regular basis. Not only that: numerous teen medicine rehabilitation facilities will certainly not accept your teenager in the first place unless you devote to getting involved actively in their healing. In the future, your youngster will certainly be OKAY would certainly to spend weekends in your home-- as recovery warrants it. So locate a center that is close to residence.

Just how much do they bill? Take an energetic role in learning all the costs entailed, whether you have insurance coverage for teenager drug rehabilitation or not. Knowing all the expenses aids you make notified comparisons in between one center and also another. Also, it will help you much better recognize what is most likely to be covered by insurance coverage and/or Medicaid. Also, know that some programs promote your obtaining aid that will certainly cover the distinction in between what is covered by insurance policy and also what is not. So inquire about what is available in the method of monetary support.

What kind of certification does the center have? Seek a facility to be approved by the Joint Commission on Certification of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO) or comparable body. You must not consider a teen drug rehabilitation center that is not recognized. Likewise ask about licensing. Ask if the facility is licensed by the state, e.g., the Dept. of Health.

What is their treatment ideology? Does the facility deal with individuals of every ages together? Or are teenagers maintained separate? Research study suggests that teen medication rehabilitation has a higher price of success if the adolescent clients are strictly divided from grown-up patients.What concerning the 12-step model: does the facility register for that? If so, understand that there is a spiritual part to this kind of therapy. Are you certain your youngster is responsive to that? If not, it might have an unfavorable influence on their healing. Discover if there is an alternative offered.Will there be allowances produced the academic requirements your teenager will have? Just because your kid is in teenager drug rehabilitation does not imply their education should be sacrificed.What regarding their psychological needs? Is there mental treatment offered? Exactly how typically would certainly your youngster meet with a specialist? What sort of objectives would certainly this treatment have?What type of parental engagement is urged? Exists a regular "Family Day?" Does the teen drug rehab facility provide support as well as support for the entire family members?

How much time will therapy last? Find out how much time the ordinary household treatment keep may last. Obviously this will rely on the center-- and your child. Is it determined in weeks or months? You'll also intend to find out the amount of teens are commonly being treated at any type of one time. Regarding group therapy, exactly how big are the groups? What type of policies does the teenager medicine rehab facility have-- especially, what regulations (if damaged) are grounds for being dismissed from the facility?You may additionally want to inquire about the accessibility of aftercare, i.e., what sort of assistance does the center offer after your child leaves the inpatient program? This is probably most essential of all in determining your teenager's lasting success. It is popular for there to be at the very least one year of active participation by your teen in the form of outpatient therapy, both one-on-one and in a group setup. Once more, this is an additional factor to pick a teen drug rehabilitation facility near your home.

What is associated with the admission process? This is when your teenager will certainly be reviewed for the seriousness of their condition and for the most ideal level of therapy needed. Sometimes this involves your kid undergoing psychological and/or clinical screening. In addition, some basic decisions will certainly be made about your kid's degree of treatment, e.g., outpatient, partial hospitalization, and so on. Keep involved-- discover what steps are complied with in this phase. This includes figuring out what all the costs are (e.g., charges for urine testing, and so on) and determining what your insurance policy carrier will certainly cover.

That gets on team? What certifies the team at the teenager drug rehabilitation center to function there? What education level, history experience degree, and so on. Does the facility have clinical personnel available in instance of personal injury? The number of team exist in relation to the clients? Is the rate of turnover high or low?Do you really feel comfy with the market makeup of the team available? Are they conscious multiculturalism?

Various other essential factors to consider

If this hasn't been made clear as much as this factor, you need to check out the teen medication rehab centers that get on your short list prior to you make your choice.

 All the pictures on the planet, all the internet sites, may assist you tighten your options down, but ultimately you need to be on website to make a final decision. As well as consider the center the means your youngster may look at it also.

 Some things to try to find:

 Is the facility well preserved?

Exist places for citizens to go and stay energetic when the weather is bad?

How do the dishes look?

Just how do the communications in between adults and also teenagers seem? Observe the tasks throughout a whole day, if you can.

Are class well stocked?

Maybe crucial of all: Get in touch with the moms and dads of teenagers that have actually finished from the center. Invest some time in speaking with them concerning just how it went. There are some challenging questions you need to ask, but it is worth it. As an example: did their child experience a regression after leaving the teen medicine rehab facility?

 Holistic Drug Rehabilitation - A Beginner's Guide

 Medication dependency affects the whole variety of human experience-- both the physique as well as the psychological being. That stated, too many medication rehabilitation centers simply pay attention to component of the problem: the physical effects of drug abuse. Yet the truth is that-- for medicine rehab to be successful-- you need to deal with the entire spectrum of issues as they remain in reality. This is what holistic medication rehab deals. Holistic drug rehabilitation is all about addressing all the reasons for drug abuse. And also this is why the appeal of alternative holistic medicine rehabilitation has actually been on the growth.

 In alternative drug rehab, your mind as well as spirit are treated similarly with your body. This involves correct nutrition, spiritual therapy and also finding out basic meditation strategies. By assaulting all the possible causes of dependency, success is accomplished more quickly, effectively and the results last much longer. In many cases, addicts begin to feel real relief within a few days of beginning holistic medicine rehabilitation.

 Make no mistake: these type of strategies require to be grounded in unbiased science in order to succeed. Any kind of alternative medicine rehabilitation program need to include medical professional and also nursing treatment on a 24/7 basis. Furthermore, there should be an abundance of accessibility to specialist psychologists.

 However alternative medicine rehabilitation additionally frequently includes subsidiary treatment procedures including massage treatment, as well as treatment by acupuncture medical professionals as well as herbalists. Lots of all natural medicine rehabilitation programs concentrate on discomfort administration without relying on prescription medicines which are frequently addicting themselves.

 When these strategies are applied in an orderly method, the internet advantage can be very cleaning and effective. Alternative medication rehabilitation is a means to assist addicts obtain an inner tranquility that they might never have actually really felt before.

 For More Information their website

[gethealthy18-blog]

5 Reasons to Choose Organic

New Post has been published on http://healingawerness.com/news/5-reasons-to-choose-organic/

5 Reasons to Choose Organic

A few months ago I found myself having a really interesting conversation with my parents. We were down in Santa Cruz, which is basically the mecca of the organic food movement. With an innovative organic farming program at UCSC and many vegetables (and berries!) being grown in the region and surrounding areas the conversation of organic food not surprisingly came up.

The last few years have been a crash course for me in learning about the organic food movement. Prior to this education I figured I’d be fine choosing the “clean fifteen” and buying organic from the “dirty dozen”. It never occurred to me that the choices I make with my wallet have larger implications. Our legal right to vote in municipal, state and federal elections is incredibly important, but the votes we make everyday with our purchasing power are not to be diminished.

But back to that conversation…

My Mom was saying that growing up all of her vegetables came in a can and I’m fairly certain my Dad didn’t know green vegetables existed until he met my Mom at 18. The fact that they can now go to a grocery store or better yet, get fresh produce delivered is a huge leap for them from their upbringings. And I’m 100% in support of this. Having access to fresh produce is imperative, organic or not. That being said, there are so many reasons to choose organic and as I discovered in speaking with my parents, these reasons can get lost in the confusing messaging and conflicting resources available.

What I’ve found is that each person differs in their organic why. Everyone has their own why and individually and together they all make extremely valid reasons for choosing organic. However, the more I learn about these reasons, the more I realize how there is a HUGE lack of communication from advocates for organics and the general public. It’s not that this information isn’t available. It is. There is conclusive evidence for each argument to choose organic but taking that information and interpreting it in an easily digestible manner is not available. Not to mention the powerful lobbying groups on the other side whose sole aim is to demonize organics for no other reason than to increase their own profits. But I digress!

So in today’s post I’m sharing 5 reasons to choose organic along with evidence-based research helping to support each cause. The leaders in the organic movement including the Organic Farming Research Foundation, California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF), The Organic Trade Association (OTA) among many others deserve the credit, but if I can be a conduit to communicate their messaging, I will have done my job well. My hope is that at least one of these reasons will speak to you, but if not I just ask you to do what you can within your means.

I also want to take a second to thank Earthbound Farm for sponsoring this post. Earthbound has been 100% organic since its founding 34 years ago and today grows 30,000 certified organic crop acres. I was given the opportunity to visit Earthbound’s organic farms in the Salinas and Carmel Valleys and learn more about the organic movement. Earthbound is a company bringing organic produce to all but more importantly, spreading the message of why organics matter. Whether you choose organic for the taste, the health benefits or for the health of the planet is up to you but they believe you have the right to all the information to make the decision that is right for you. I could not be more proud to align The Healthy Maven with an incredible mission-driven company. More on them below.

5 REASONS TO CHOOSE ORGANIC

1. The Taste

I can never fault anyone for letting their tastebuds make the decisions. A really interesting fact I learned on my trip with Earthbound was that one of the reasons it’s believed that organic food tastes better is because the produce is allowed to grow at it’s own pace rather than having that growth sped up by synthetic fertilizers. Think of it like slow cooking. We all know food tastes better when it’s been slow cooked. The same applies to the growing of fruits and vegetables. Research has also shown that organic food has up to 69% higher levels of antioxidants, which contributes to its more delicious flavor (source).

2. Your Health

I’m convinced that organic food is better for your health. The commonly used herbicide Roundup (also known as Glyphosate) has been classified as a “probable human carcinogen,” by the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (source) and the insecticide chlorpyrifos has been associated with developmental delays in infants (source). A recent ground-breaking study in France showed that eating an organic food-based diet was associated with a reduced risk of cancer (source). In addition to the lack of pesticides, organic produce has has been shown to be higher in nutrients, such as Vitamin C, iron, magnesium, and phosphorus (source). The reality is that while a low amount of pesticides may not be extremely harmful to us, long-term exposure in everything from our food to our body care products will have an impact on us.

3. The Health Of Our Soil

Continued exposure to pesticides and fertilizers degrades the quality of our soil to a point where it can no longer be useful. Organic farming on the other hand, actually improves the quality of the soil (source). Think of soil like you think about your gut. Having a healthy gut has an enormous impact on our immune systems and the quality of our health. One of the best ways you can care for your gut is by ensuring there is a good balance of bacteria. Having good bacteria is so so important. Same goes for our soil. Our soil has it’s own microbiome and persistent use of pesticides is like long-term use of antibiotics. It not only destroys the bad bacteria, but it also destroys the good bacteria. At some point there’s no bacteria left to allow the soil to care for itself. It becomes dependent on chemicals to keep it functioning and eventually even that won’t be effective.

According to the soil scientist Dr. Elaine Ingham:

“If we lose both bacteria and fungi, then the soil degrades. Overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides have effects on the soil organisms that are similar to human overuse of antibiotics. Indiscriminate use of chemicals might work for a few years, but after awhile, there aren’t enough beneficial soil organisms to hold onto the nutrients” (source)

4. Climate Change

There is actually evidence that choosing organic is helping to prevent climate change, as well as reverse it. Research shows that organic farming has a lower net energy footprint compared to conventional (source). Because most energy is produced by burning fossil fuels that release carbon dioxide (the most common greenhouse gas), lower energy use means less climate change. There is also evidence that organic practices, with their focus on improving soil quality actually store more carbon in soil.  On average, organic farms have 44% higher levels of humic acid, the component of soil that sequesters carbon over the long term than soils not managed organically (source). So the soil is effectively “eating up” the carbon that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere, reversing the impact of climate change (source). While many of us feel helpless in the effects of climate change, one opportunity we all have to help reduce or mitigate its impact is to support organic.

5. Offers Better Conditions for Workers

To be honest I hadn’t really thought about this reason to choose organic until my visit to Earthbound Farm. Meeting the farmers and hearing about why their farmers and farm workers chose to work on an organic farm rather than conventional really hit home for me. Many talked about their history working on conventional farms and their fear of exposure to pesticides as well as the impact on their families. Farmer Larry talked to us about how he wouldn’t hug his kids when he got home from work until he’d showered and changed his clothes for fear of exposing his kids.

Earlier this year Monsanto (the makers of Roundup) were sued and ordered to pay a school groundskeeper $289 million after his years of exposure to the chemical led to a terminal cancer diagnosis (source). Dewayne Johnson used the weed killer up to 30 times a year to treat the fields at the school he was working at. Now imagine what this looks like for the farm workers who are out in the fields day after day being exposed to Roundup or similar chemicals. Choosing organic is not only about what’s best for your body and the health of the planet, it’s also what’s best for your fellow citizens and especially those that work the fields to provide the produce you eat everyday.

Some other questions to ponder…

After my trip with Earthbound, I got a lot of questions about organics and Earthbound in general. I’ll first direct you to this post where I answer a lot of your organic questions, however some came up a couple times that they’re worth repeating or digging into.

Can organic feed the world?

In a simple answer: yes. But there’s a more complicated answer for why. There is an interesting dynamic in the organic food space around big organic vs. little organic. Many people associate organic with that cute little farm stand at your weekly farmer’s market. While I’m 100% in support of this and supporting your local farmers, these types of farms are a) not producing a high enough scale to feed the world and b) not accessible to everyone. Earthbound’s farms may not be small, but having gotten to know their farmers they are equally as passionate about farming in a way that nourishes the soil, not just to grow a crop and profit.

If you have access to local farmers and the money to afford buying your food from them, please do support them! That being said, there are many people in this country who don’t have this accessibility or the funds needed to support small-scale farming. Large-scale organic companies like Earthbound Farms make organic accessible to everyone and are able to produce large enough yields to feed us all. Big organic is not evil and organic does not mean small-scale.

What about the packaging?

I got this question a lot after my trip with Earthbound. To be honest, there isn’t an easy solution to this. What I will say is that when it comes to choosing which products to pick, you’re actually better-off selecting clamshells rather than plastic bags (in terms of baby lettuces). Earthbound’s clamshells are made from 100% PCR plastic (so it’s reused) whereas bags are made from virgin plastic (creating more waste). I know companies like Earthbound are working on a solution to the packaging issue but for now know that everyone is doing the best they can.

But organics still use pesticides right?

Yes, but there’s a difference between synthetic chemicals and natural ones. Using Roundup is not the same as spraying with neem oil – an oil from a type of tree that acts as a powerful insecticide. The standards of organics only allow for 24 naturally-derived pesticides, whereas conventional uses over 1000 types of synthetic pesticides. These natural pesticides are also a final resort after trying things like crop rotation and physically picking off insects. To learn more about what’s required to receive organic certification, check out this page by the USDA.

What if I can’t afford organic?

This is a tricky one, but I’ll say this: Do what you can. There are so many reasons why organics are more expensive. It’s somewhat driven by lower consumer demand, lack of government funding for organics, the need to compensate more workers, among many other reasons. I sympathize, I really do. That being said, we as a society undervalue how much money we should be spending on food. Most countries in the world spend a large chunk of their budget on food, but in the US we expect our food to be dirt cheap. Until we collectively shift our values, everything will seem expensive. The organic premium is actually pretty small. In salads, it’s typically 10-20%… So it’s not just on farmers to drop the prices, it’s on us too.

Do you eat 100% organic?

People ask me this all the time. The true answer: No I do not! Would I like to? Absolutely? But there’s a lot of things out of my control. In our home, we mostly buy organic produce and meat and do the best we can with non-perishables as well as body care and home products. Out of the house, it becomes a lot trickier. I will say that if given the option, we always choose organic. That being said, there’s a lot out of our control and though I dream of a world where we don’t have to ask “is this organic?” I don’t stress about it if it isn’t. Like I said, do what you can with what you have access to.

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Earthbound Farm. I was offered a trip to experience their farms and was compensated for my time, however all opinions expressed are 100% my own. Thank you for supporting the brands who help make THM possible! To learn more about Earthbound Farm and the incredible variety of organic produce they grow, visit their site here.

Do you choose organic? What is your “why“? 

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[dentalinfotoday]

Without a doubt, natural alternatives to mainstream commercial toothpastes are usually a better choice for your oral health. However an all natural solution is not always what it seems.

Our mouths are similar to our guts in that they house a living, breathing microbiome of bacteria. Our oral microbiomes contain both good and bad bacteria. The key to a healthy mouth, teeth, and fresh breath is finding the best balance of these bacteria. This is not accomplished by continuously and indiscriminately killing bacteria in your mouth with mouthwashes and toothpastes.

Contrary to what most of us have been told for the majority of our lives, it isn’t a good idea to blast the bacteria in your mouth with products such as Listerine mouthwash, which claims to ‘kill 99% of germs.’ When you use products that kill bad bacteria, those same products can also harm good bacteria.

Being the health-conscious person you are, you’d probably prefer to see ‘peppermint oil’ on a tube of toothpaste over ‘sulfuric acid monododecyl ester sodium salts.’ While I’m going to have to agree with you on that one, this does NOT mean the safer sounding ingredient isn’t powerful and capable of leaving a lasting negative impact on your health.

In fact, some essential oils have been found to be as powerful as chlorhexidine – the flagship ingredient in many prescription mouthwashes – well-known for its ability to crush your oral microbiome.

Additionally, high amounts of essential oils can damage gum tissues – similar to chlorhexidine. Studies have found mouth rinses with some essential oils to be damaging to healthy gums and in some cases, they can prevent gums from functioning normally.

Essential oils can match the effectiveness of manmade chemicals such as Chlorhexidine.

We tend to think because an ingredient comes from a natural source (and we can pronounce their names!) they are safer than the manmade, mystery ingredients inside so many of our products. But essential oils have been used for hundreds of years for their powerfully antibacterial properties.

Essential oils have long been used in cleaning products, to disinfect wounds, and to treat infections precisely due to their effectiveness in killing microbes. Some believe essential oils may be the next ‘antibiotics’ as many bacterial strains have become more and more antibiotic resistant.

So, why then would we think it’s a good idea to add essential oils to our toothpastes?

I’ve seen many an article explain the importance of the oral microbiome and beneficial bacteria, only to immediately recommend using toothpastes containing powerfully antibacterial essential oils.

Are essential oils beneficial in toothpaste and other oral care products? Or have we overlooked the strength of this important natural ingredient?

Essential oils are highly concentrated

There’s a reason that tiny bottle is so expensive.

Essential oils are highly concentrated derivatives of their respective plant. Here’s how much plant life you need to make a standard 15 ml bottle of your favorite essential oil:

315 pounds of rose petals

30 pounds of lavender flowers

75 lemons

1 pound of peppermint plant

Many essential oils carry serious warnings due to their potency. They should be considered pharmaceutical grade and used with the same care you would use a drug.

I’m not trying to scare you away from essential oils at all here, I love my essential oils. I just want you to be aware that they are powerful and need to be used responsibly. As a general rule of thumb, any time you’re using essential oils they should always be diluted and you usually only need a couple of drops.

Essential oils in the mouth kill beneficial bacteria

The problem with many natural products is there isn’t nearly as much funding for research when compared to pharmaceuticals. Most of the studies on the effects of essential oils on the oral microbiome are examining their ability to kill oral pathogens or how effective they are in comparison to conventional ingredients (such as chlorhexidine).

One study found that tea tree mouth rinses were effective at killing bacteria and volatile sulphur compound, known to cause bad breath. It seems like good news until the same study concluded that tea tree oil was as effective as chlorhexidine.

Remember nasty chlorhexidine? It’s a disinfectant that kills both beneficial and harmful bacteria of the mouth. Tea tree oil has long been used for its antibacterial properties and is probably not great for your oral microbiome.

That being said, many of the conclusions of available studies tend to consider essential oils effective if they kill bacterial or fungal infections.  The better studies, measure the effectiveness of various essential oils in a variety of concentrations and their effect on specific organisms in the mouth.

While we are hearing more about the gut microbiome and the delicate balance needed among the bacteria there – the oral microbiome, inextricably linked to the gut microbiome, is not being discussed.

There are claims that some essential oils are capable of killing only the bad bacteria and leaving the beneficial. However, there is a serious lack of research comparing the effects of essential oils on beneficial and harmful bacteria. What research does exist on the subject, does not support this claim. Essential oils can damage healthy gum tissue and kill microbes indiscriminately.

I do think that in the case of harmful bacterial or fungal overgrowth, such as candidiasis, essential oils could be an effective and safe as a short term option. My concern with essential oils in oral products is daily exposure that could lead to a disrupted microbiome.

Essential oils to avoid during pregnancy

Using essential oils during pregnancy is a topic of contentious debate and in need of more research all around. Due to their therapeutic potency, there are valid concerns for essential oil use during pregnancy. There are a few essential oils that carry warnings from ancient folklore but due to the delicate nature of pregnancy, a better ‘safe than sorry’ attitude has been adopted for many essential oils (peppermint and clary sage are two of these).

The National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy (NAHA) recommends pregnant women avoid the following essential oils:

Aniseed

Basil

Birch

Camphor

Mugwort

Parsley seed

Pennyroyal

Sage

Tansy

Tarragon

Thuja

Wintergreen

Wormwood

I bring up essential oils and pregnancy mostly because toothpastes are a source of essential oils that many pregnant mothers don’t consider and the concerns demonstrate the medicinal power and efficacy of essential oils.

Factors that contribute to essential oil safety

‘Essential oils’ is a blanket term that can be misleading when discussing safety and effectiveness. There are thousands of essential oils available on the market. Additionally, the production of essential oils is not regulated by the FDA and so therefore they vary in purity. With these variables in mind, there are four important considerations when it comes to essential oil safety.

Species of the plant and its therapeutic use – Some oils are great for certain health factors but terrible for others. An example of this is fennel oil is great for improving colic in infants but can cause seizures in people with epilepsy – two dramatically opposing effects of the same oil.

Quality of the essential oil – This should be a given. I urge you to only use high-quality essential oils from trusted sources. When it comes to your natural toothpaste, sticking with a better brand is usually a better bet.

Application method – How you use an essential oil will influence how much you should use. Using essential oils in a diffuser is generally safe and there aren’t as many limits. Once you start applying oils to your skin, your mouth or begin consuming them, the amount you should use significantly decreases. In fact, using essential oils orally (such as in toothpaste) has the lowest recommended dosage when compared to dermal or internal use.

Chemical composition – For many oils, the compounds contained in the oil are what give it its therapeutic properties. Many of the compounds have been isolated and studied while others could use more research.

Should your toothpaste contain essential oils?

It’s important that the sources of your essential oils are always high-quality. When it comes to your toothpaste ingredients, it’s tough to know where their essential oils are coming from. Also, most of the essential oils toothpastes are antibacterial, such as:

Peppermint

Tea tree

Wintergreen

Spearmint

Clove

But this isn’t always the case.

Some essential oils found in toothpastes are not very antibacterial and totally acceptable, such as Aniseed (anise). Surprisingly Cinnamon oil has the most potential bactericidal properties and is found in many toothpastes.

The biggest concern I have for essential oils in toothpastes is how potentially powerfully destructive the antibacterial properties can be in a toothpaste.

The concern behind essential oils toothpaste is warranted

What’s confusing for consumers is that we don’t know the exact concentration of the essential oil, the therapeutic dose of the essential oil nor how much essential oil is used per tube of toothpaste, but we know that just one drop can pack a major antibacterial punch.

Check your toothpaste ingredients to see where on this list essential oils falls – the lower on the list the better. While this isn’t a hard and fast rule for knowing exactly how much essential oils are in your toothpaste, it can help you when you’re making a decision between two tubes.

I want to add that if you’re using a brand of toothpaste where the worst ingredient is essential oils, you’re doing much better at taking care of your mouth than most of the country. Commercial toothpastes like Crest and Colgate are packed with all sorts of nasty chemicals. I’m constantly telling my patients, “Oral health is about progress, not perfection.”

That being said, the concern behind essential oils in toothpaste is warranted. In an effort to improve your oral microbiome and dental health, you may have chosen and equally damaging product.

Chocolate lover’s DIY toothpaste without essential oils

I’ve seen many dental health success stories in patients who focus on diet and lifestyle over quick fixes. Through focusing on a nutrient dense diet, reducing inflammation, and promoting good oral microbiome health, you’ll have better oral and overall health.

I’ve created a DIY toothpaste with all this information in mind and it has been wildly successful – I’m excited to share it with you!

My Chocolate Lover’s DIY Toothpaste combines all the essential elements for cultivating a healthy oral microbiome and mouth.

I first designed this toothpaste for my family and patients but I was hearing such great feedback, I just had to share it with you. This toothpaste:

Promotes remineralization of your teeth

Includes cacao which contains compounds that reduce cavities and strengthen enamel

Nourishes your beneficial bacteria with probiotics and prebiotics

Gives your mouth a neutral pH, which will leave a wonderful aftertaste

Plus, it tastes amazing!

I’d love to hear how you like this toothpaste – share a photo of you and your family using it with the hashtag #ChocolatesLoversDIYToothpaste and tag me @askthedentist on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.

In the comments below, let me know your experience with an essential oils toothpaste, which essential oils did it contain and what did you think?

Dr. Mark Burhenne

The post Essential Oils – The Potentially Unhealthy Ingredient in your “Healthy” Toothpaste appeared first on Ask the Dentist.

from Ask the Dentist https://askthedentist.com/essential-oils-toothpaste/