#like what you get w/ a lot of self-immolations

[suswous]

Realistically speaking, killing a healthcare CEO doesn’t fix the greater systemic problems with American healthcare, and Brian Thompson isn’t (/wasn’t lol) solely responsible for American healthcare or even just UHC’s particularly bad policies, because there’s a whole apparatus in place, and that’s often why people who consider themselves moral can do what UHC execs do, because they feel diminished responsibility; to some extent trying to kill ppl responsible would lead to like a whackamole, and I do think that would be immoral; I don’t think it’s possible to kill your way into a better healthcare system, and ultimately this isn’t going to fix American healthcare, certainly not in the long term, it’s just an act of violence which isn’t a sustainable method of change and can often make things worse long-term.

On the other hand: LMAO

[possibilistfanfiction]

I’m totally piggybacking off of the last anon but a lot of (not all!) the reception of Lorde’s album feels like a 2021 reiteration of the anger formerly emo bands would receive for putting out non-emo music after periods of personal/artistic growth, only it’s now getting woobified to sound woke? Don’t get me wrong, criticism has its place in art, but I can’t help but feel like a huge portion of the criticisms come from an entitlement to personal satisfaction rather than a well-intended look at the art for its own sake.

yes absolutely!

i think in addition to that/a variety(? lol) is first of all like. this weird pushback against artistic style shifting in general, but esp in a happy way (like you’re saying). not that SP is happy At All but it’s not quite as like … blue as melodrama. the grief isn’t as tangible or tight as teen angst (‘it feels so scary getting old’) or a breakup (‘i care for myself the way i used to care about you’) but i think it’s bc this grief is bigger, & messier, & so often ineffable in a lot of ways — how do u grieve a future u never got?

which gets at what i think is a rly specific issue w women who made art as V young ppl — this reluctance in critical circles to let their pov get more mature. lorde gave us the most brilliant & rent free gutting teen angst (pure heroine is still my favorite album of the last decade) & then one of the most tightly written, beautiful breakup albums of all time. both are also perfect chiasms which is fucking dope as hell

but i think to like criticize SP for most of the things i’ve read (what you’re talking about!) like … u gotta let women talk abt big stuff, & be messy abt it sometimes! i hadn’t heard a “pop” album abt the deep grief & angst of climate change, empire, the world at large, etc (in addition to relationships!) until ofc lorde! whomst else could ever! she uses the word sacrosanct!

ultimately tho i think lorde has always been concerned w feeling Too Much in the world at large, the violence & beauty of that, how deeply hurtful it all can be, how sometimes taking a breath means it’s winter & u rest. perfect summers have to end, every year. i’m more interested in a musically weird album abt like … the dissolution & disillusionment of the world than i am a breakup album.

also the path starts w this image of like a fucked up recluse & ends on (sonically too) one of the best moments lorde’s ever had in oceanic feeling where it’s basically like allegorical self-immolation in that she’s just leaving that painful life laid out in the first song. it seems like a different kind of closure at first but i think it feels at its core similar to melodrama (i’m a liability // you’re not what you thought you were). this time it seems to be a shift away from individual success on earth into communal peace, after the end of some sort of world we know, which makes sense for the album as a whole, & for the world too

anyway. love my girl, let ppl be messy lol

[phoebehalliwell]

okay but if bianca was already like....5/6/7 before chris was even born, is that the age difference in the "evil world" canon? or is it a weird thing with phoenixes + aging?

i mean,, i can’t think of a reason it wouldn’t be bc like. at that point we are still very much on track for a dark future chris has not made the change necessary to save wyatt as evident by the fact that when bianca drags his ass back to the future it’s still the dark future. so like. if we were to eliminate futureboy!chris from this timeline right now the future would carry on into the dark future where this age gap would still be there, and then obviously it’s still then in the altered/changed/fixed timeline bc like that’s the timeline we’re following. we already saw kid bianca and we saw chris y’know be born and exist. i don’t really wanna tinker with aging for phoenixes bc like. i feel like it just gets difficult defining the rules and figuring out how they apply all that how she ages into the future like this that and the other and then if you’re doing that you also have to take into account how they mentally age bc it doesn’t matter if bianca physically ages slower than chris so like idk they’re both physically 18 at the same time, she’d still mentally have 5 years on him which i feel like the only reason to change the way bianca ages would be to make this age gap less weird and that doesn’t quite do that if anything i feel like it makes it weirder if i were to add anything to the lore with phoenixes & aging it would be something to do with what happens when they die y’know like some “phoenix rising from the ashes schtick” and if i were to do that it would be like okay so this is just the origin myth i have in my head blah blah blah we have our og phoenix who’s a witch in salem and she’s just a normal witch seeing all these witch trials and is like ruh roh and this is an au where they actually like burn witches in salem but also an au where witches actually exist so let’s start there and she’s seeing all these women burned at the stake and idk maybe they got her coven or maybe someone ratted her out she knows the end is nigh so she goes out to seek some mythic phoenix and something something something or other idk she completes three great tasks and earns a phoenix feather and she fuses herself with the phoenix magic (thus giving her the phoenix mark) and then the witch hunters find her and burn her at the stake and uhh that hurts like a motherfucker an she ends up extra crispy and they’re like okay that was fun and idk everyone goes to bed for the night in their little puritan village as our lovely og phoenix’s charred body starts to slowly try to heal itself and basically drags it’s charred skeletal ass into the woods and lays there for three days and three nights as her body slowly starts to reconstitute itself blah blah blah give it a week and she’s basically a full human again and she finds that while she retained basic magic she lost her active powers blah blah blah she swears to get vengeance on those who wronged her and idk stick to the shadows somewhere along the lines she finds she can obtain new powers when she has her daughter (not her first bc she first was burned in the witch trials rip) her daughter is born with the same phoenix mark and no active powers and blah blah blah she becomes really really old as you do when you age something or other she’d like on deaths door and let’s say idk her house is burning down or something so she goes in to save something idk an heirloom or like her great granddaughter and saves her but like dies in the fire but wait what’s this once again a charred skeleton is trying to pull itself back together it’s the original phoenix and she’s now the same age she was when she was first “reborn” from the fire and so the first phoenix i’d say lived for probs a couple centuries just you know self immolate on her deathbed & be born again until she finally like tapped out you know lived a full enough life that she’s like okay this has been fun goodbye fr now But i do not think all phoenixes have this power (which uhh can really only be learned the hard way) i think maybe like three people tops (including our original phoenix) have this rebirth gift the rest like if you burn to death u burn to death end of story but this also then gave the phoenix traditions of a) burning their dead and b) a firewalk to symbolize the final steps into adulthood. and i do think there are some like really extreme crazed phoenixes (is that really the plural? okay google says the plural is phoenix or phoenixes or phoenices which are all fun imo) who do like think they’ve been blessed with this gift but it’s like. it’s all or nothing. you have to actually die in a fire to find out. so like. is it worth it? some people have said yes, but the answer is actually No. Okay All That Being Said yes i’d give bianca this gift bc she is Chosen she’s Special also i love her and think it’s sick as fuck so it’s like. she could have died in a fire when she was like a toddler or something blah blah blah and then let’s say when she was like idk six i guess she was stabbed? for some reason? we’ll say a demon and her mother, knowing that she was born with this gift promptly uhh lit her daughter on fire and then out of the ashes got a lil toddler again then that would put her at the same biological age and relatively closer to the mental age of chris as i image lynn would have wiped bianca’s memory a wee bit after all that But that is like A Lot bianca dying as a kid so i don’t think i’d do All That i’m just keeping them with a slightly under 5 year age gap (bianca’s a sagittarius born in 1999) and just give them the journey of Not knowing each other’s ages to bianca learning she’s like Five Whole Years older than chris and proceeding to tease him for being like a tiny baby child despite chris being like what 21 when he knows her she’s like oh sorry shouldn’t you be like studying for your sat or something? or idk they’ll be watching some movie made in like 2008 and bianca will be like oh didn’t this come out the year you were born? can you even legally drive? (no, he can’t, he does not have a driver’s license) bc like. it’s weird. they bridge the century y’know i think it really freaks her out that he was 2004 bc mentally she’s like okay you should be like 15? 16? but again it’s like i really want they’re relationship to be this slow burn so while they might meet when he’s like freshly 21 and she’s 25 going on 26 they probably won’t start dating for idk like 3-4 years so then they’re like what 25 and 30 which like. idk i don’t think is that weird. it’s like how in university undergrads will date grad students and there’ll be like a four year split but it’s not incredibly weird bc they’re both relatively at the same states in their life but like an undergraduate dating a high schooler is a major red flag bc they are both in insanely different places in their life like bro if ur dropping them off at their parent’s house & then driving back to your apartment you share w three friends like reassess. please. but i think in regards to chris & bianca and their age gap, when they meet they’re both relatively in the same “era” in life (is there where i mention chris is a college drop out bc he is) and when they grow they grow together

[heuristicallyinclined]

Nobody Knows

Chapter 2: Ah, here we go again

Part 2/? (Word count: 1,841 | Rated T | Past MSPA Reader x Mallek Adalov,  MSPA Reader x Mallek Adalov, Past MSPA Reader x Polypa Goezee, Background DaveKat)

AO3 Links: Part One  | Part Two  (This) | Part Three

Chapter Summary: MSPA Reader wakes up in an unfamiliar, terrifying place with unfamiliar, terrifying people. But what else is new?

Notes: Thanks for all of the support from the first chapter! I was really blown away by all of it. Enjoy some set-up before the inevitable angst.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

The first thing you notice when you come to is the chittering of machinery. Earth tech hums when it runs, maybe you hear a fan or two. Alternian tech chitters. Sometimes it even makes a soft screeching sound. You prefer not to think too hard about it. The next thing you notice is the headache you have. Your forehead is throbbing and when you open your eyes the room is moving. Damn, you have had your fair share of concussions, but this is new. In your infinite intelligence, you finally realize that this is because you are getting carried like a sack of potatoes over the shoulder of a stranger. Well, fuck.

Slowly and carefully, you crane your head back to get a glimpse of whoever is holding you. You see large horns extending horizontally and curving towards their face. Their uniform having some intricate repeating bronze pattern. Realizing this is an adult, you become very conscious of your breathing. Just extremely slow and even. Oh God. You have never seen this troll before in your life. You continue to glance around and notice you are on some sort of vessel. A door opens and your captor joins another bronze troll. A new stranger, maybe a friend? You stop yourself from introducing yourself so you can hear what they say. Now is not the time to be horny for platonic connections.

“So ! nearly tr!pped over th!s sh!t on my back from do!ng !nventory !n the cargo bay. Do you have any !dea what the fuck th!s !s?” Your captor asks with an excited lit, swinging you off of his shoulder and holding you by the back of the hood. You remain still, motionless, having perfected the art of playing dead to fool drones into not culling you. Not your most dignified skill, but definitely one of your more useful ones. Something thuds as it is set down to your right.

“()h gr()ss, d()n’t t()uch it with y()ur fr()nds.” Your captor chuckles while their colleague sighs in exasperated disgust. Ah yes, you didn’t miss this. Alternia has made you super self-conscious about your body in the weirdest ways just about as much as it has made you fear for your life. But one of those things is temporary. You know you’re cute, friendly, are incredibly resourceful and optimistic. You have nice legs! The clown pope said so! But you can still hear the sneer in her voice, “It pr()bably just wandered ()n b()ard during the last rest()ck and the change in gravity culled it ()r s()mething, I d()n’t kn()w.” She sounds a little pissed now, “Etiv()r just st()p playing with it and dr()p it in with the rest ()f the trash s() y()u can help me get the rest ()f the requisiti()ns delivered.”

Etivor shakes you a bit in front of her. She doesn’t react. “F!ne Yleeda,” he draws her name out and huffs, clearly disappointed, “!’ll be back.” You get thrown back over his shoulder and you can hear a light growl come from him. She apparently does too, and mockingly chitters at him, dropping another box onto her pile. “Wait, what if that thing i-,” she starts, but Etivor isn’t having it and picked up to pace and is already gone. Bold move.

He slows down after a while and walks and as he does you pass by a window. You look for telltale moon colors, but you seem to be in the middle of nowhere with nothing particularly familiar in sight. On a spaceship. Full of adults. Neat. Well, mortal peril is always a solid way of getting out of your head.

He continues onward and you hear other trolls pass by you, all of them caught up in their own work or conversations, none of the spare you two too much of a glace. A door slides open and he sets you on the ground. You hear him step away from you and fiddle with the settings on what you think is the trash, and you'd rather not get immolated today, no thank you. It begins to clunkily whir to life before settling on a scratchy, chittery sound. Luckily, you notice you didn’t hear the door close. You get up slowly, quietly, and slink over to the door, the machine helping to obscure any sounds you were making. You don’t need to be stealthy for too long, just enough to get the door and you can just abs- and he is looking right at you.

You try to match the familiar look of wide-eyed "what in the actual fuck is that" that trolls have often graced you with when meeting you for the first time. His pupil skits widen slightly and his mouth is set in a hard, straight line. You both remain frozen and are locked in a staring contest. You stay like that together for a good ten seconds and you become intimately aware of how long ten seconds in total silence is. He blinks and as he starts to reach for you, you do the only thing you think to do. Blurt out some dumb shit and stick your nose where it doesn’t belong.

Were you also getting a pitch vibe off of that or was that just me, because I know you need to be professional, working here and all but I feel like if I wasn’t there you two would definitely have gotten into an argument? Are you two like a thing or have something going on there or…? You wiggle your hands noncommittally.

If you weren't terrified, you would be laughing at the look he is giving you. He immediately pulls his hand back and holds it to himself, aghast. His mouth opens and shuts as he struggles to figure out what to say before settling into a concerned frown. He steps back in confusion with an expression betraying he was clearly not prepared for you to be alive, or sentient, or fluent in Alternian, or immediately asking him about his love life. He is very clearly trying to unpack a lot and you are just trying to put some space between you and someone who easily has two feet on you and a lot of muscle, hopefully gained from things other than hauling aliens into fiery dumpsters.

“Uh. What. ! mean maybe? But ! don't, wa!t th-“

Because I feel like you were definitely trying to piss her off a little bit, like not enough to ruin her night or anything and fuck up her work, but like she'll be thinking about it, so I think that's smart, kinda leaving the ball in her court as you left.

He gives you the smallest, tightest smile as he uncomfortably, slightly nods, locked in place. He looks like he is trying to smile after biting a lemon. This man is deeply fucking uncomfortable which you can deal with much better rather than hostile. You need to keep this shit up. Fuck, WWGD?

What would Gorgor do? You think back to his tricks and techniques that you learned from being his partner. How to maintain control over a situation without dominating it completely or else a highblood could easily feel like you were overstepping and at best, get defensive and shut you down and choose another teal. You don't want to think about the worst case scenario. But you are not Tagora Gorjek and have not been playing four dimensional mental chess with people since hatching. Also death is more of a temporary roadblock at this point, so really, there is no sweep like the sweep you’re fucking in since you couldn’t escape it even if you wanted to.

You already overstepped by making this about quads so you just need to keep talking confidently long enough to fluster him into answering so that you can try to run off. An alien coming back from the dead out of concern for his personal life is probably doing it well enough.

Do you two have like a history from before this or did it start when you got your assignments here?

You are trying to convey an authority you don't fucking have. But as someone once taught you, image is everything and to fake it until you make it. You don't need to have your shit together, god no, but if religiously following a nineteen step east Alternian skin care regimen or parroting back bullshit you've heard like you're a goddamn relationship wizard makes people think you do, then bitch you better roll with it.

"We started working together l!ke a few wipes ago, but k!nda just started talk!ng," he says slowly and unsure, staring at you. You hum knowingly at him and he squints at you, perturbed. You place a hand on your chin and shift your stance to that of one in thoughtful consideration, the fact that you are closer to door thanks to it is not relevant. You look like you do this all the time, which you do. He glances around the room and pales.

God, he must be panicking worse than you are. He is answering. This is probably ideal. Okay plan time, so he and the other lady, Yleeda, are the only ones who saw you here. Wherever here is, and she thinks you’re dead so really you just need to have him be incredibly cool and then run into literally no other person on board the ship while exploring it, figure out where you are, and how you got here. Easy if you don’t think about it.

You were trying to get to Mallek and he is neither of these people so maybe he is on board somewhere on whatever place they restocked at. Maybe he does get to work with tech and he got to hole up somewhere with access to energy drinks that would kill anyone gold and below. This could mean you will never find him. Okay, you need to deal with one thing at a time.

Oh, so when you got started working on this ship? Is Yleeda doing anything to irk you back?

You ask this while stepping to look cool and relaxed against a wall, like all normal, cool guys do. Guys who are calm and not worried at all about incineration. Guys just trying to get a feel for where others are at so that they can give appropriate advice in appropriate situations that they are in. Those guys. You are them.

Your back finally makes contact with a wall. Or at least you thought it was a wall based off of how solid it was. You look up when you feel something grab your shoulder. The sound of the machinery that you thought would mask your footsteps definitely masked Yleeda’s entering the room. She stares down at you and then back up at Etivor, her gloved hand holding you firm.

Oh.

So that plan didn't work.

Notes: How quickly can one person get attached to fantrolls made up on the spot to act as plot devices? One author finds out.

[starlightpen]

So here’s what’s been going on (art, Tumblr, New Year Planning)

I’m fully aware I basically fell off the face of this blog, let me explain:

Life got busy, I had to focus on getting it together and basically swore off the daily challenges for this year, and came back when it looks like Tumblr is going to self-immolate.

My take on it is that while it doesn’t look like it’ll affect me or this blog. (not a lot of my stuff has gotten flagged, if any) Tumblr is depending way too much on a broken system to fix a problem they’ve been aware of for a while.

P*rn bots have been running rampant for over a year, but despite users reporting and blocking them Tumblr didn’t seem to think it was important until it got taken off the app store. Until it affected them. And even when they took action, all it did was affect, not only n*s*f*w users who were being responsible and making sure their work didn’t reach minors or people who didn’t want to see it, but perfectly innocent users who got flagged for... some reason? The logic isn’t clear.

This has been a problem ever since Tumblr implemented their shoddy filtering system, and they’d have to have their heads pretty deep in the sand to be unaware of this. What makes this worse is that now there doesn’t seem to be a way to get flagging reversed, and it looks like a lot of blogs and posts may be deleted on December 17th. To rub salt and lemons in the wound, the p*rn bots have adapted by adding #sfw to their stuff, basically making Tumblrs efforts meaningless. This is just the peak of infuriating BS that staff has pulled ever since it got bought by Yahoo/Verizon, a downward spiral of bad decisions that started with ads that you can’t dismiss (even if they’re triggering/extremely inappropriate, I’m looking at you weird toxic romance comics) and ending with introducing a system that only really affects the userbase.

I’m under no allusions that this will kill Tumblr. Honestly, I hope that even if this cripples Tumblr the staff will learn enough to rebuild and maybe put some brains and effort into running this site. However, actions speak louder than words, and I fully intend to participate in the log-out protest on December 17th. If you’re interested, here’s how it works:

Completely log out of tumblr on the 17th, for 24 hours. From 12am Monday to 12am Tuesday. Don’t delete your account, don’t delete the app, just log off and don’t log on. Go onto other social media, raise a bit of a stink. The idea is not a mass-exodus, just a sit-down protest. You aren’t using Tumblr, you’re just holding on to your accounts while you complain on other sites about what a crummy job they’re doing. Then log back on and assess the damage.

Hopefully this will send a message. Maybe not. I’m already collating the alternate info for people I follow just in case they get lost in the implementation of the new system.

On that note, in case Tumblr does a massive hiccup and I lose this blog(or for people seeking brighter horizons)

I’ve been a lot more active on Instagram lately, so my account is yossdillo on there

I have a twitter I sort of use, that I may start using more in the future, it’s @ starlightpen

I don’t have a pillowfort or anything at this time, I’m looking at other options.

I do have a personal website, though: starlightpen.com.

(It looks like a business-y portfolio site because it is, however I’m looking at changing it later this week to be a general hub for my work, so keep the link saved because if something in my social network changes you can bet it’ll be there.)

Now on to the art announcements!

One of the things keeping me from posting was prep for a couple of actual offical art shows. Exciting stuff, and a way for me to vent my abstsract artist leanings. This has left me with images of quite a few paintings I’m proud of, and I’ll post these later in the week. Outside of that, there isn’t really a lot. I swore off the daily challenges and I’m mostly taking life one day at a time while I get ready for Christmas and try to reorganize myself. After the art show post, I’ll post when I can but I can’t make any promises. I can only thank people for their patience and assure them that no, I’m not dead.

-Liz

[eyecache]

K. Muthukumar’s Letter

Below is a four-page statement by K. Muthukumar (1982-2009) in protest against governmental inaction in the Sri Lankan Tamil war-genocide, before his self-immolation. Translation originally from TamilNet.

Dear hardworking Tamil people...

Va'nakkam! I am sorry at having to meet you at this juncture when you are hurrying to work. But there is no other option. My name is Muthukumar. I am a journalist and an assistant director. Right now, I am working in a Chennai-based newspaper. I am also one like you. I am just another average person who has been reading newspapers and websites of how fellow Tamils are daily being killed, and like you I am unable to eat, unable to sleep, unable to sleep and unable to even think. While his ancient land of Tamils lets anyone coming here, like the Seths, to flourish, our own blood, the Tamils in Eelam are dying. When we lend our voices to say the killings should be stopped, Indian imperialism maintains a stony silence and does not give out any reply. If India's war is really a justifiable one, they can wage it openly... Why should they do it stealthily?

The Indian ruling class is eager to annihilate a very large population by using the hollow excuse of Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in order to satisfy the vengeful and selfish goals of a few individuals. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were not the only ones charged with the murder of Rajiv Gandhi. The Jain Commission Report held that the people of Tamil Nadu were also guilty of this murder. If so, are you also the murderers who killed Rajiv Gandhi?

They say the British killed people in Jallianwallahbagh, but what are they doing in Mullaiththeevu and Vanni? Look at the children being killed there. Aren't you reminded of your children? Look at the women being raped? Don't you have a sister in that age? When Rajiv Gandhi was killed why where frontline leaders of the Congress not with him? Why did Jayalalithaa, an alliance partner, not go to take part in such a massive rally that Rajiv took part in? Such questions are not being raised, and they are not being answered by them either. People, please think. Are they your leaders? What is the guarantee that these people--who indulge in politics through their money and muscle power--will not target us tomorrow? If they turn against tomorrow, who will be on our side?

Kalaignar [Karunanidhi]? Even at that point of time, he will make an announcement that the members of parliament will resign. Then, he will understand (?!) the Central Government. Then, he will once again request for a right decision, and pass a resolution in the Legislative Assembly--like actor Vadivel's comedy in the film Winner where he claims that no one has touched him until a particular month, a particular week, a particular time. People! A paper will not achieve anything! Now, the Election-time Tamil Kalaignar, who wants to be the leader of the worldwide Tamils and who desires to transfer all the money in Tamil Nadu to the coffers of his family, has hidden himself in the hospital afraid of bearing the brunt of people's anger. This paper tiger staged such major fights in order to get the required cabinet portfolios for his ministers, but truthfully, what has he done for Tamil or for the Tamils? He has himself admitted once, "Will the honey-gatherer remain without licking the back of his hand?" If we look at his puppet-shows, it looks as if he has done a lot of licking...

Law college students who have entered the field through your hunger strike...

As a fellow Tamil, I wish you all success. I also regret that I am unable to join you. Not only the Eelam Tamils problem, but even the protests seeking water for Cauvery, any protest in support of Tamil Nadu, you, and lawyers, are the first ones to fight. Even this time, only these two sections were the first to voice their protest even four months back. I have a suspicion that only in order to destroy your Tamil feeling, the Indian intelligence would have systematically instigated caste-feelings among you and paved the way for the skirmish that occured at Ambedkar law college. It is the caste of students that takes the initiative in people's revolutionary struggles all over the world. Likewise, even in Tamil Nadu, an earlier generation of students in similar circumstances took to the streets before the Indian repulic day and chased away national parties, including the Congress from the Tamil land.

So, an historically important juncture has again reached your hands. Normally, such things don't take place in world history. Like it happened last time, don't let selfish people steal the fruits of your labour. The DMK that came to power riding high on the efforts of your struggle, first made a law that students should not take part in politics. After capturing power, it blunted Tamil feelings, and turned the entire Tamil population into a petitioning tribe. Smash that tradition. Don't believe anybody who asks you to submit a petition. This is the juncture when we should burn the differences of caste and religion between us. Throw away your fasting and enter the field. In reality, the Indian military's role in Sri Lanka is not just against the Tamils. It is against all Indians. They tried the sexual techniques they learnt from Sinhalese soldiers with innocent Assamese women! They learnt the strategies of how to crush the Tamil Tigers from the Sinhalese and they applied it to crush the fighters in the north-eastern states! As if this were not enough, what do we learn from the fact that the Indian and Sri Lankan peacekeeping forces were deported from Haiti because of sexual misdemeanour? That the India-Sri Lanka alliance is not an ideological alliance, but a sexual one! So, because the alliance between the Indian and Sri Lankan armies is against the fundamental human rights of the Indian people, try to rally students and democratic organizations towards your cause on a national level.

It is possible for people to do all this. However, they lack the right leadership. Make leaders from among yourselves. Change this protest from law college students, to students of all colleges. Let your frenzy and people's fury change the history of Tamil Nadu. Thrash and throw away muscle power, money power and power craze. This is possible only by you. "We are Tamil students, we are the life of Tamil Nadu. If Tamils are allowed peace, we will read magazines. Otherwise, we will surge like volacanoes." Convert these lines of poet Kasi Anandan into your intellectual weapon. The police force will try to lay my body to rest. Don't allow them to do that. Capture my dead body, don't bury it, and use it as a trump card to sharpen your struggle. Students of the Tamil Nadu medical colleges who will treat me, or conduct my post-mortem, I should have done some virtuous deed to be cut at your hands. Because, while upper-caste medical students in the rest of India were fighting against reservation, you were standing alone and fighting in support of reservation in medical education. What you do to me can remain aside. What are you going to do for our brothers, the Eelam Tamils, from your side?

Tamil Eelam is not the need of Tamil Eelam alone, it is the need of Tamil Nadu also. Because of the fishermen of Rameswaram. There are laws in the world to protect goats and cows.

But, are the Tamils of Rameswaram and the Tamils of Eelam lower than cows and goats? The Indian media carries on a systematic campaign that Tamil fishermen who cross [maritime] boundaries are attacked because of the suspicion that they might be Tamil Tigers. Don't they ever read newspapers? Often, Taiwanese fishermen are arrested at Chennai because they lost their way at sea. If it is possible for people from Taiwan, which is thousands of kilometers away to lose their way, can't they believe the fact that the Tamil fisherman from Rameswaram, which is just 12 miles away from Lanka strays away from his route?

Brothers of other states who are living in Tamil Nadu...

You will have known from experience that Tamil Nadu is the only state where you can enjoy greater peace and protection when compared even with your home-state. Today, we are facing a major crisis. Our government is killing our brothers in Eelam by using our name, our Indian identity. The Indian government wants us to be isolated in this struggle. We don't want that to happen. So, please tell the Central Government that you too support our brothers who are fighting. It is my opinion that this will not only strengthen the hands of your leaders who are part of the Government at the Center, but is will also prevent the danger of a Navnirman Sena, or a Sena from being formed within Tamil Nadu in the future.

Youth belonging to the Tamil Nadu Police Force...

I have great respect for you. Irrespective of what other people did for the sake of Tamil, you are making Tamil live by using Tamil words in everyday contexts, such as calling employees as 'ayya'. I believe that you would have joined the police force with noble intentions of serving the people and weeding out anti-social elements. But, does the ruling class allow you to do that? By allowing you to commit minor mistakes, the ruling class hides its major crimes. It converts you into its trained henchmen, and makes you fight against the same people whom you wanted to serve. It is the Tamil Nadu police who guard Delhi's Tihar Jail. One of the oldest police forces in India, the Tamil Nadu police is one of the very best. But, are you given that respect by the Indian government? When Union Minister Chidambaram returned to New Delhi following his Chennai visit, Central Government security agencies have refused to handover his security arrangements at the Chennai airport to you. When asked why, they have derided your capabilities and said that they are aware of how you protected Rajiv Gandhi. While it is true that the Tamil Nadu police could not save the life of Rajiv Gandhi, it is equally true that the majority of those who died with him were only innocent policemen. Your dedication is unquestionable. But it was later exposed that this Indian intelligence had been careless even after coming to know that there were threats to Rajiv's life... Even if you have been against innocent people all this while, you are one of the pride of Tamil Nadu. At this historical juncture, only if you stand on the side of the people, you can regain the respect that you have lost among the people. Just once try to dedicate yourself to the fellow Tamils. They will carry you in golden plates. The feeling of gratitude among Tamil people is immeasurable. Because somebody spent his own money and built a dam, the Tamils on the Mullai river in Madurai built a temple and name their children after that man. All that you have to do is, when Tamil Nadu is boiling, you should refuse to cooperate with the Central Government officials, and you should reveal to the Tamil people who are the ones working for R.A.W and CBI. Do at least this. The people will take care of the rest.

People of Tamil Eelam, and Liberation Tigers....

All eyes are now in the direction of Mullaiththeevu. Tamil Nadu is also emotionally only on your side. It also wants to do something else. But what can we do? We don't have a true leader like you have... Please don't leave hope. Such a leader will emerge from Tamil Nadu only in such desperate times. Until then, strengthen the hands of the Tigers. Because the 1965 anti-Hindi agitation was placed in the hands of a few selfish people, the history of Tamil Nadu has been dragged to the stone ages. Please don't do that mistake.

Dear International Community, and our hope Obama...

We still have hope on you. But, there is no guarantee that a sovereign republic will not torture its people through ethnic discrimination. It is possible to cite instances from America's own history. After all, boxing hero Muhammed Ali said, "The little white in my community would have come only through rape..." As long as you remain silent, India will never open its mouth. Perhaps India may break its silence after all the Tamils have been killed. Until then, are you going to keep looking at India's mouth? They say that the war in Vanni is against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. They say that the Tigers are using the people as a human shield. If that is true, why do they come into the safety zone declared by the Government and kill people? This one evidence is enough that irrespective of whether the Tamil people are dependent on the Tigers or on the Government, they are going to be killed for the sole reason that they are Tamils. Is this not genocide? If India, Pakistan and China are supplying arms, Japan is giving economic aid, and moreover India is bullying Sri Lanka and thus killing Tamils, why don't you realize that you are also committing the same murder by your silence and your blindness? Nobody becomes a terrorist simply by taking up arms. Our Thiruvalluvar has said: Arathirke anbucar penpa ariyaar / marathirkum akthe thunai (The ignorant say that affection is appropriate only to righteousness, but it will also inspire heroism to be restrained).

Jayalalitha says that the Tigers should lay down arms--as though the problem arose because the Tigers took up arms. In reality, the Tigers were formed because of the genocide of Tamils in Eelam, and they are not the reason for it. They are not the reason, just an outcome.

As long as Indian Government's involvement was not exposed, it kept saying that this problem was an internal affair and that India could not interfere. It also said that it was aiding Sri Lanka in order to prevent China, Pakistan and America from gaining supremacy in Sri Lanka. Yet, to kill Tamils, it joins hands with Pakistan that has killed scores of Indians and was responsible for the attack on the Indian Parliament, the serial-blasts in Mumbai and the recent strikes in Mumbai. If that is so, we suspect that Pakistan's terrorism in India is a mutually agreed-upon concept created by both sides in order to exploit and squander their respective citizens. Now, they say that the LTTE is a terrorist organization, hence the war. It says they killed Rajiv Gandhi. Rajiv Gandhi is not a councillor or a district secretary. When a Sinhalese attempted to kill him in Sri Lanka, he was not interrogated. One of my demands is that the Sinhalese soldier who tried to kill him earlier must also be included in the list of the accused and he must be interrogated again. The Tigers might have been sad with Rajiv, but they wouldn't have been angry with him. Because Rajiv was Indira's son. Indira, is next to MGR among the small gods who populate Tamil Eelam.

It has been clearly exposed that India is opposed to justice form the fact that it often changes the explanations that it offers. In such a situation, Sri Lanka said, Why don't you directly interfere, the Tigers are making use of the ceasefire to stock up weapons. Chandrika, or Ranil, or Mahinda were not gods in the past, they have not even behaved as human beings. Just because they agreed to the ceasefire in view of their compulsions, how could it be argued that the fighters should lay down their arms, or that they should not involve themselves in reconstruction activies. Only by bringing about the faith and confidence that you will behave honestly and truthfully, you can make the fighters lay down their weapons. No government in the past has honoured their promises. For instance, Ranil-Karuna. But the Tigers have not used the ceasefire to simply acquire weapons, but they have created a governmental administrative structure. Is this terrorism in the eyes of the world? India is trying to ingratiate itself by saying that it is fighting in order to save the innocent Tamils. Only sophisticated weaponry and spy planes from India are going to Sri Lanka; can they show a single paracetomol tablet that has gone from India? In such a state, they want us to believe that the Sri Lankan government will provide all the amenities for the people of Eelam, and that India will support this endeavour.

Now, they are attacking the ambulance of the International Commitee of Red Cross, are they also Tamil Tigers? They killed 17 aid workers from France, were they Tamil Tigers? China's tanks, India's spy planes, Pakistan's artillery... not only these kill our people, but the silence of the International Community also kills them. When will you realize this--after a people who greatly desire justice are totally wiped away from the face of the earth? If you are interested in adding us to the list of Aborigines, Maya and Inca peoples, each day one of us will come in front of you and kill ourselves, as it comes in one of our myths.... Please leave our sisters and our children alone. We are unable to bear this. We are fighting with the sole hope that one day we will watch them laugh whole-heartedly. Even if we accept for the sake of rhetoric that the LTTE should be punished, we must realize that both India and Sri Lanka lack the moral ground to hand out any punishment.

Justice derailed is worse than justice denied.

The International Community must condemn India and force it to immediately withdraw its troops from Sri Lanka, and be prevented from helping Sri Lanka through satellites and radars. Even unimportant discussions between the Governments of India and Sri Lanka should take place through the International Community. India should publicly apologize before the people of Tamil Nadu and the people of Tamil Eelam scattered across the world.

Because the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon is always functioning with a bias towards his homeland China, he must not be given the power to take any decision regarding Eelam.

All the countries who have banned the LTTE based on the request from Sri Lanka should immediately revoke the ban and unconditionally release all those who have been arrested because they belong to the LTTE.

Members of the LTTE should be forgiven for their passport related mistakes, and they should be immediately released.

The industries which have been banned based on the allegation that they are connected to the Tigers, should be given the licenses once again, and they should also be adequately compensated.

Rajiv Gandhi's murder should be investigated by the InterPol and the real guilty must be exposed.

Pranab Mukherjee, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, Chandrika, Udayanakkara, Kekaliya Rambukawela, Basil Rajapakse, Mahinda and Fonseka should be subjected to narco-analysis.

While the International Community shall have the right to recognize Tamil Eelam which is going to be formed, only the people of Tamil Eelam shall have the right to decide under whose leadership it should be formed.

When the Tigers were weakened militarily, the Upcountry Tamils were targetted, and it is feared that in the future that area might be subjected to a major genocidal pogrom. So, a referendum must be conducted among the Upcountry Tamils to know whether they want to join Tamil Eelam. In this matter, the decision of the Upcountry Tamils shall be final.

Douglas Devananda, who was punished by the courts for firing at innocent Tamil people in Chennai under the influence of alcohol escaped to Sri Lanka before the period of imprisonment was completed. He must therefore be arrested and handed over to the Tamil Nadu police.

Everyone responsible for the murder of journalist Lasanta should be punished.

The Sinhalese journalists who have sought refuge in Tamil Nadu must be given adequate protection.

The Sinhalese couple who came as refugees to Tamil Nadu must be recognized as refugees, and the charges of passport-doctoring against them must be dropped.

The livelihood of families of Tamil fishermen shot dead should be secured.

With eternal love,

Your brother against injustice,

Ku. Muthukumar, Kolathur, Chennai 99.

Dear Tamil people, in the struggle against injustice our brothers and children have taken up the weapon of the intellect. I have used the weapon of life. You use the weapon of photocopying. Yes, make copies of this pamphlet and distribute it to your friends, relatives, and students and ensure that this support for this struggle becomes greater. Nan'ri.

[zanaakhabila]

Prompt #13:  Hunter, Hunted

FFXIV Write 2017 Prompt #13: Wounded Animal

Characters: M'Rana Akhabila

WARNING:  Contains darker themes below the line.

There's a side of Rana nobody seems to get to see but herself.

She enjoys her happy self.  Having fun with her friends, needling her sisters, enjoying their time together, and making Sheerah and Zana blush is always a lot of fun.  But those are for the fun times.  When the chips are down, and push comes to shove, she's not above getting her hands dirty at all- something that she's scared of how easy it happens to be for her.  She didn't even have to get close to someone- all it took was the summoning up of some aether, a few murmured words as she wove her magic, and then a burst of frost hitting the walking man, sending him down to his knees.  

He quickly regained his feet, and looked around, drawing his axe as he spotted her, coming out of the shadows, a terrible grin splitting his face.

“Heh, I know you... you're one of the Blue's sisters.  I didn't think any of you would have enough sense to come crawling in to offer her up... tell you what, you come with me, and we'll talk about it- I'll give you a quarter of the payment- hells, everyone knows Dulaque is good for the money!  You can live like queens on two and a half!”

Rana's face flickers for a second, into a sweet, satisfied smile.

“Oh, I'm so happy we could come to a wonderful understanding like this!  It makes me so happy to know you're planning something on my big sister Zana and all her friends!”

That gets him to lower his guard. Perfect.

“Heh, you're a hell of a lot smarter than she is, that's for damned sure.  Your big sister is a bit of a bitch, but when we show up at the Blush and hand over some gil we got for turning her sister in, well... she'll be the bitch for-”

Rana's face flickered again.  Her facade cracked.  Her grin struggled for a minute- and then just froze and crumbled as she looked down, and then slowly looked up.  

She was still smiling.  But it was more the kind of smile that one would find horrible, with bared teeth and fangs.  Her eyes were wide, irises glaring, and pupils so small they almost vanished into the green.

“...you're a baaaaad person, you know!  And the nice lesson I learned from big sister Zana is that baaaad people...”

Her voice suddenly hardened, ecoming a bit more deeper.  She stood a little straighter, raising her staff, already channeling more aether.

“...deserve to be punished.”

The next blast of Blizzard knocked the man off his feet, and she simply began the next cast, deliberately holding back on the power of her spells.  She was stalking him, simply toying with him.  As long as she held the distance, well... she had the power.

Taking a break from the ice, she added a bit of Thunder, the violet bolt sizzling out to play over his skin, adding to his cries.

“Bad.  People.  Get.  Punished. That's simply a law of the land, friend, and because you were stupid enough to threaten my sisters, threaten people they care about, well... you might say the Twelve sent someone like me to just go ahead and show you that this kind of thing isn't going to fly. Though you might, if I can find a high enough ledge.”

Finally regaining his feet, the man backed away from Rana, holding up his axe.

“Gods, get away from me, you thrice-damned psychotic mess!  W... why are you doing this?  I just wanted a bit of coin!”

The next blast of Blizzard hit him, and he was knocked to his knees again, and Rana felt the building need inside.  It was almost time.  The umbral ice inside was building, simply calming her... but that was always the calm before the ever-raging storm inside grew too hot to handle.

“...gil.  You and yours trapped young ladies and sold them off, Zana says.  That's her name, by the way- Zana, not Blue. You hurt them, trapped them, treated them like wounded animals, and all you have the GALL to say is that you were only in it for the money.  You sold off my sister's best friends and attempted to do the same to her, all for the gil it would give you so you could do get your insides wet and your wick dipped, hmm?  And you still wonder why someone like me is here, in front of you, and why you're the wounded animal backed into a corner, now.”

The power was starting to rage, and now, it was close to unstoppable.  Her next Blizzard spell knocked the man to the ground, and nearly froze him through.

It was time.

She mentally triggered the skill Cocobuki had told her was called Transpose, and she immediately shifted from the calming effects of Umbral Ice to the raging power of Astral Fire.  The awakened aether surged through her body, and the grin she had been sporting became utterly feral.

“I only have three words left for someone like you.  You know what they are?”  

Her fangs bared.  Her tongue licked her lips, even as she started weaving the aether.  As it peaked, she sent it out, with a whispered sentence.

“Die for me.”

The fire slammed into the downed man, and he only managed one scream before he was immolated, and the fires reached for the heavens.  It was a fitting end, she decided- after all, didn't the bad people burn in the abyss?  She was just giving him a taste of what awaited him, indeed.

Taking a bit of a breath, she moved away from the flaming mess, simply adjusting her clothes and calming down, feeling the astral fire leave her body and relaxing, slipping the mask back into place.  She looked down at the flaming mess... and simply gave a girlish giggle.

“That's what baaaaad people get!  Now big sister Zana is safe!  Yay!  I'm going to the Quicksand for some fun!”

Humming a happy tune, Rana ventured off into the wilds of Thanalan, her mind already on her first drink and her first partner.

[twelvegrimmyplace]

By Jonathan Heaf

The star-wrangling DJ takes Kanye's meltdown and Bieber's moods in his stylish stride at Luca

Is Nick Grimshaw still cool? This is, after all, precisely the reason why he was hired by the BBC in 2012 to host The Radio 1 Breakfast Show, taking over from the old, unfathomably uncool Chris Moyles. He certainly looks pretty cool as he hops from the back of a cab outside our lunch destination, all teeth and sports luxe.

Navy suede bomber, blue tailored trousers, black Vans and dark shades. He's trendy yet clean, sort of Shoreditch via a bath, if you will; a hipster who's made some decent wedge. The idea that authenticity (what young people think of as cool nowadays) can be upgraded for Joe Public via a little luxury befits our location, Luca, on St John Street in Clerkenwell. It's run by the same team who run The Clove Club, a restaurant that brought sophisticated food - rather than just triple-cooked chips with aioli - to Shoreditch several years ago. This is their attempt at a posh Italian.

We begin by talking about Justin Bieber. Grimshaw and I - only school kids call him "Grimmy" - have something in common in that we both adore gossiping about famous people we've interviewed. Bieber, Beyoncé, Beckham, he's done the lot. I tell him my worst interviewee by far was Christina Aguilera during her Stripped period. She was wearing so much fake tan that she left a trail of brown radioactive sludge wherever she perched. At the time, I remember thinking she resembled an enormous melted orange crayon.

"I've done Bieber every year since he was 14, so I've probably had deeper conversations with him than I've had with my own family," he chuckles. Is he a terrible brat? "He used to be. But then every teenager is a dickhead, aren't they? This year he came into the studio for a prerecord and he was monosyllabic and disinterested. I stopped the interview and asked him what the problem was. He told me he was hungover. So I got him a pint and a Nando's. Celebrities are just dogs who need petting. Show them some love and they'll be humping your leg before lunch."

Speaking of which, we've ordered already: shaved fennel with pear salad and carpaccio of Hereford beef with oyster emulsion to start; for mains we choose pasta entrées: garganelli with pork sausage, tomato and anchovy (for him) and tiny pheasant milanese swimming in a peppery, sepia-coloured broth (for me). We drink lager and pale ale and agree the food is, although refined, broadly unexceptional.

Getting back to the gossip, I want his take on Kanye West - meltdown or precision press strategy? "Kanye might be having a nervous breakdown or he might just be really bored." He's bleached his hair, I say. Like with Britney Spears, extreme grooming is always a cultural cipher that indicates a celeb is one sad-face emoji short of self-immolation. "I like Kanye, or I like his music. I asked him once if he got lots of free stuff sent to him and he took it as an insult. 'Do you think I'm cheap?' he shouted. 'I drink champagne all day. Do you?' No thanks, Kanye. It gives me dog breath."

You can see why stars like Grimshaw. He's brilliant fun, smart and utterly self-deprecating. "What I do isn't work - it's talking to myself in a room really early in the morning." He doesn't take talent, or himself, too seriously, thus he's able to sweetly pop celebrities' ego bubbles and talk to them like a normal person, something the swarming teams around megastars all too often are unable to do.

"I hate a kiss-ass," he agrees. "Any celebrity that comes into the studio at 7am in the morning to be grilled by me and tells me how happy they are to be here is lying." His realness has meant he's been able to make friends with some of those he's encountered along the way, Harry Styles, for one. Has he heard from Harry recently? "Sure, we texted this morning. He's worried I won't like his new solo record. He recorded it in Jamaica so I am praying it's some awful white-man reggae."

Cool? Yes, Nick Grimshaw will always be cooler than his employers -always has been, always will be. That's why he didn't fit in with Simon Cowell on The X Factor: "Everyone told me not to do it as it was so naff. Simon had weird energy: very Machiavellian." So what happens when he eventually leaves The Radio 1 Breakfast Show? Where do DJs go to die? The pub? "I'm doing an internship," he confesses proudly. "With Es Devlin, who designs huge stage sets for Adele and Beyoncé. I've been using a glue gun! I've always liked three things: music, nice shoes and good lighting. I've ticked two of those boxes, so why not the last?

"I've reached a point in my life where I know all that celebrity stuff is, ultimately, nonsense. What I need to think about is this: am I happy, am I healthy and am I being nice to my family? I guess it's about being present." Which is the least cool, but most honest thing Nick Grimshaw says all afternoon. GQ