#make a post stating any updates made if any major sentence changing things happen. I simply don't want to credit them in advance bc

[goldentigerfestival]

Genealogy of the Condemned/Convicted novel manga first chapter is done and ready to go!

You can read it here and here (second link is recommended for the notes page specifically).

Things to be aware of with this manga:

This is a short manga of six chapters. It doesn't cover even the entire childhood arc, let alone the whole novel.

Some lines are taken directly from the novel, while others were similar but not identical, and others were changed to fit manga style dialogue bubbles.

Not everything in the manga is 1:1 with the novel, but it's all pretty close.

I hope you enjoy!

Translation by me.

Scans by @suguelya.

Cleaning by Jenners and myself.

Typesetting by me.

[recurring-polynya]

Do I mind if I ask how you approach writing longer fic? I've always struggled to write anything more than maybe two chapters long and I'm curious if you have a particular method to how you approach such stories.

Thank you so much for this ask! I absolutely love it when people ask me for writing advice because it makes me feel like a Smart Person Who Knows Things.

Before we start, here is one grain of salt to take all of this with: I have a naturally long-form brain. It is very hard for me to write something less than 1k. Short fiction is great, and there is nothing wrong with sticking to short things if that's what your brain likes to do.

So. You have decided to write a story. This is going to focus on "stories". Some people write fic that's more freeform or whatever, I am not going to cover that. What I mean by a story is this:

It starts

Some stuff happens

It ends

It is highly probable that your story contains a change of state, which could be that a villain is defeated, or a goal is reached, but it could also be that character falls in love with another, or someone learns to like broccoli.

I like to start out by completing the sentence, "This is a story where _______". This is basically like coming up with a summary for an ao3 post, except that it doesn't need to be catchy. Lots of different kinds of things could go in that blank! It could literally be what happens: This is a story where Ichigo goes back in time and punches young Aizen in the nose. It could be about what you want to explore: This is a story where Hitsugaya gets a better understanding of his zanpakutou. It could be about the vibe you want to achieve: This is an AU where everyone is in a punk rock band and has cool hair and outfits. The idea of this is to clearly define what you, the author, is interested in writing. Make sure it feels right! Maybe you pick the first one, but when you say it out loud, you say, "You know, I really just want Ichigo to go back in time so he can horse around with young Renji and Rukia and punching Aizen in the nose is just an excuse for that." That may sound dumb, but it's fine, actually! Most people don't read stories strictly for the plot, they read stories for the implications of those plots! Will my favorite two characters kiss? Will there be funny interactions between these two groups of characters? Will there be sick fights? Stories are excuses to have scenes. Sometimes, you will have a story where the interesting sequence of events is the draw, but the point is to know what you're about.

Once you feel happy with your "mission statement", you need to decide the bounds of your story: where it starts and where it ends. It may be easier to start with the end. In some cases, it may be obvious from your mission statement: everyone gets home, a villain is defeated, Kenpachi realizes the meaning of friendship. On the other hand, let's look at that punk rock AU. You've picked a vibe, but you don't really have a natural story arc. It has to have a destination, though, otherwise, it's not really a story, it's a recipe for 3 chapters of an abandoned fanfic. So brainstorm a little: Maybe they get a record deal? Maybe they win a Battle of the Bands? Maybe Byakuya accepts that the band is actually good and tells Rukia he is proud of her. Do not settle for a plot just because it works. Pick something that makes you excited! You're the one who is gonna have to write it!

I said that we needed to pick a beginning point, too, but I'm actually going to skip that for now. The next thing I do is think of all the Big Scenes I want to write, the ones you are hype to write, the ones that pop in your head as you think about the premise. Make a bullet list. They don't need to be in order. The descriptions don't need to be super detailed, but write down anything about it that is important to you. If there's a mood or a snippet of dialogue or a joke you want to make, go ahead and jot that down so you don't forget it later. What you're doing now is putting broad blotches of color on a canvas, filling in space and leaving the detail for later.

Once you are pretty happy with what you have down, try to arrange it in chronological order. Put your end at the end (if it wasn't one of your big scenes, add it now). The next task is figuring out how to traverse your scenes. You've already picked out where you want to spend the majority of your energy. The rest, I regret to tell you, is your slog writing. Now, it often happens that you will find joy in some of these scenes and your best writing may occur there, but that's serendipity. These are the scenes that you are gonna have to make yourself sit down and write, so you honestly want to limit them to just the ones you need.

So how do we do this? Look at the first thing on the list. Can you start there? If so, congrats, that's your beginning. If you can't, what needs to happen to get to there? Where can you start so that you can get to your first fun scene as soon as possible? There. That’s it. You’ve picked your beginning, good job! Now, go through the rest of your list, and add in things that must happen, even if you don’t particularly look forward to writing them. The characters need to travel from geographic point A to point B. Shuuhei needs to say something that Izuru hears and misinterprets. The Central 46 makes a new law. If you have a good idea of how these things happen, go ahead and write them down, but it’s okay if you don’t know yet. Fill in all the blanks so that if you think of each bullet list as a scene, you could read it as a story, start to end. Once you get writing, you might add more scenes, or move things around or whatever, but you should have a thing that functions as a story.

If you struggle with this, an alternative is a story with a very strong structure that is going to guide you though what you have to write.Here are two examples from my own stories Hold On, Hold On (which is only one chapter, but the principle is the same) is structured around the 5 stages of grief. Not Broken, Just Bent takes place over roughly a week, and I just decided what happened every day of the week. See You on the Other Side takes place in the middle of a bunch of canon events, which worked at mile markers.

Congratulations. You’ve just made a rough outline!

Special note for avoiding burnout!: I am a slogger. I will drag myself through the broken glass of an interminable plot to get to a single thirsty scene. That's why, at this stage, I try to look at the ratio of what I want to write to what I must write. It's gonna vary for everyone, but this is a hobby, and if looking at this proto-outline makes you feel deeply tired, maybe this isn't a good story to be devoting your time to! Can you carve it down? Can you chuck two scenes you really want to write and get rid of 80% of the slog? Or maybe you can't! In that case, just write that thirsty scene as a standalone drabble! Or just go work on something else! Maybe in the future, this one will come back to you and you’ll have a fresh idea or a renewed enthusiasm for it.

Another thing I sometimes like to do at this point is to write out some notes about my characters and their motivations and moods. Character A is homesick. Character B is so determined to defeat the enemy that they are having a hard time being sympathetic to Character A. Character C cares for both A and B and is trying to support them both. This is sort of background info that you want to keep in your head as you are writing. Depending on the type of story you are writing, this might actually be the main plot, or it might be happening subtly, but adding to the emotional impact of the story. It’s very easy for me to write these sorts of emotional arcs, but if you struggle with that, you may wish to go ahead and made a more detailed outline for that, too.

Now, it’s time to start writing! I am great at beginnings-- it is very often the case for me that the opening scene was one of my Big Tentpole Scenes. (Before you hate me too much, I make up for this by being double horrible at endings; just let me have this) Usually, I will start at the beginning and write linearly for as long as I can until I get stuck. Then, I will look forward on my outline and do the next chronological scene that I feel like writing. In general, if I sit down to write and there is something I have an urge to write, that trumps everything else. Inspiration is a precious commodity, and you should embrace it when it hits! You can slog any day. I will occasionally hold off writing a scene that I really want to, because I am saving it, like a prize for myself for getting that far. This is a very personal process of figuring out what motivates your brain and then giving your brain what it needs to be its most productive.

Eventually, you will run out of things you are excited to write, but the good news is, you’ve got a bunch of story now! Odds are that what’s left is going to be a lot of those connective tissue scenes, and you’re just going to have to do them, except that now, because you’re connecting two concrete points instead of two abstract points, it will be a lot easier. You can continue running jokes you’ve started. Maybe you invented a cafe in an earlier scene where your characters hang out and you can have them return there. Try to think of ways to make these scenes more fun, both for yourself to write and for your reader to read. 

Around this time, I like to start refining that rough strokes outline into what I will call an “as-built” outline. (This is an engineering term where you update your plans or models for something to reflect any changes that had to be made along the way). This is a great activity to do at times when you feel like you have writers block. I write down every scene I have written as a 2-3 word blurb, in order. I break the scenes into what I think makes logical chapters, and I will do a word count on those prospective chapters and write it down. As you do this, you will realize that maybe you can move a scene from here to there, which will make it 1000% easier to write. Things may be happening too much, or you’ve got the characters eating three times in the same chapter. If you have subplots and dangling threads, this is where you make sure they get closure. I know this sounds very headache-y, but you are so far along in the story at this point that it’s really not-- it’s a way to look at the problems you have left. Use some sort of formatting (I like to bold things I haven’t done and sometimes I put them in red) and it gives you a very visual to-do list.

You specifically mentioned multi-chapter fanfics and I admit that I don’t tend to think in chapters, I tend to think of the story as a whole and just break it up where it feels natural. The as-built outlining I described is very helpful in making sure that my chapters feel balanced. They don’t necessarily need to be the same length, but I like them to have the same amount of stuff in them. One chapter may basically contain one long scene, and other may contain many short ones. I don’t tend to, but you can certainly have a fanfic that varies between short and long chapters, that can actually be an interesting effect. But like I said, I always like to know what I am doing, and so having it mapped out, you can say “welp, this is what I’ve done, how do I feel about that?”

Polynya, you may be saying at this point, do you write the whole fanfic before you post any of it? and I regret to inform you, the answer is yes. A lot of people write as they go, and I have made one attempt at this and I didn’t like it. I don’t like locking myself in, I just need to be able write out of order and go back and change things. Here is the story of a little in love: someone gave me an AU prompt and I got mildly obsessed with it, and wrote 5 snapshots drabbles in that universe, ending with a slight cliffhanger ending. I probably should have stopped there, but I decided to keep going. I wrote out an outline of 5 acts where the first act was detailed to the degree of each chapter being specified. The chapters here were much smaller than I usually make chapters: 1-2k. I wrote act i and ii and it was actually great, and then I hit act iii which required a lot of set up for misunderstandings and a mini romance arc. I couldn’t wing it, but nor could I figure it all out with outlining. I write dialogue in almost sort of an improv “Yes, and...?” style, so until I do it, I don’t know what’s going to happen. So, what I did was treat the second half of act iii as a complete story in the process I describe above, wrote the entire rest of it, and then posted it. One might notice that the chapter lengths grew to 3-5k each. I have two more acts to go, and I haven’t decided how I am going to do them yet, but I suspect I will treat each of them as their own mini-stories.

(I will admit that in Heart is a Muscle, I tend toward chapters that are about 10k long, and this is honestly too long, someone should smack me. If you like punchy chapters, 1-2k is good. I think 3-6k is probably an ideal chapter length. Is this how long the chapters are in my latest fanfic? Absolutely not.)

Okay, so there’s one more step, which is quality control. I am habitual re-reader-- I read my fanfics-in-progress over and over and over while I am working on them. I understand that not everyone does this, but I am usually the primary audience for my own writing, and this is the actual fun part for me. Nevertheless, you should re-read your work at least once, to make sure it hangs together.

This is purely optional, but I recommend it: get a writing friend (if you don’t like re-reading your work, I recommend this even more strongly). If you can get a full-service beta reader, that’s great, but if you can’t find someone, or if receiving that level of critique stresses you out, it’s perfectly valid to just find a friend who will read your stuff and a) shower you with compliments, b) reassure you about parts you aren’t sure about (or suggest ways to help) and c) point out any huge problems you missed. When I am writing a long fanfic, it is a huge motivational factor for me to be able to send my beta chapters as I finish them. If you are already an established writer, and you have people who consistently comment on your fic, they might be overjoyed to get a sneak peak at your work.

And that’s it! That’s the way I do it, anyway! Some people are able to sit down and write a very detailed outline and the write it start-to-finish. Good for them, I say! I have tried this and it doesn’t work great for me. I will admit that some of my fics (especially my early ones) I just sat down and banged out whole-cloth like an insane person and they are generally better than the ones I actually plan out, but that’s not a reproducible process.

As one final mechanical note, I usually write in Google Docs, which I can access on multiple devices (I used to write a lot on my phone), has convenient sharing functionality, and I use the ao3 html formatting script add-in. I generally have two documents for a single story-- one is the outline, and any other notes I want to have handy. I’ll usually put a trashcan space at the bottom for scenes that got cut but I don’t want to lose. The other is the fanfic itself.

I hope this is helpful! Please feel free to follow up with other questions and good luck with your writing!

[aricazorel]

"Being alone with you is the best part of my day." prompt

pairing: Kaidan Alenko x Kori Reese (OC); set during ME3; word count: 1311

Major Kaidan Alenko made his way from the QEC through the war room. He paused at the doors to the security checkpoint. Sighing and rolling his shoulders. he attempted to push away the annoyance, frustration, and very real anger that he felt. All day it seemed that he had been dealing with nonsensical issues while not receiving any information he had requested.

He had expected an update from several groups of his students that morning. Waking up to a lack of information about their safety, whereabouts, or activities was disconcerting to say the least. He'd given them names and contacts both he and Reese had after he rejoined the SR-2. Unfortunately, none of them had heard a thing from his kids either. It was a hell of a way to start the day.

Later in the morning he had received an email regarding his inquiries about his mom. Since learning that she'd made it to the orchard, he'd received no other updates. Even using his Specter status he'd only gotten messages stating ‘status unknown.’ His father was still listed as MIA. Nothing had changed. Nothing new to be learned. Nothing to give Kaidan hope.

Kaidan shook off the thought as he finally allowed the doors to slide open. He passed through the checkpoint giving each guard a polite smile and a nod. He headed straight to the elevator hoping no one would stop him along the way. Surprisingly, he was successful. As the elevator doors shut behind him Alenko leaned against the back of the lift, resting his head against the cool metal wall. He closed his eyes attempting to clear his mind.

Suddenly the elevator came to a halt before reaching its intended destination of the crew deck. Kaidan frowned about to ask EDI if there were a problem when Joker’s voice came over his omni-tool instead of the intercom.

“Hey, Major? You got a minute?”

“Why is the elevator stopped?” Kaidan demanded, in no mood for any of Joker’s nonsense.

“'Cause I need to ask you something.”

“Joker, I've had a long day …and I'm off duty now …”

“Then you have a minute.”

Kaidan exhaled sharply. “Only because you had EDI stop the elevator.”

“It will just take a minute.”

The Major exhaled sharply. Why was he the lucky enough to be Joker’s advice dispenser? “I've already given you enough advice for the rest of our mission. Can you ask Cortez or Vega or Traynor or Shepherd? Literally anyone but me?”

“Those guys aren't in a relationship and even though Shepard is, EDI has already asked him about this.”

Alenko sighed. There was no fighting it. Maybe if he answered one more question he could have peace the rest of the night. “Fine.”

“You and Reese are together. You two made things work after a bunch of shit happening. You two fight and have different ways of doing things. But you're still together. How? How do you do it?”

Kaden scrubbed a hand over his face. He really was in no mood for dispensing dating wisdom. He received no news today on things important to him plus dealing with political BS from people demanding special favors because of his Specter status didn't help.

The pilot had been pinging his ‘tool all day for advice. Apparently EDI had cornered Shepard earlier in the day in the cockpit asking for advice. Now Joker was starting to seriously consider a possible relationship with this sentient AI.

Why go to him for advice though? Why when he just wanted to retire to his quarters and forget about most of the day's events?

“Joker, I'm not sure I'm the right person to ask for the exact things you just listed. Reese and I …We made things complicated when we didn't have to.”

“But you two are together now, man. That's gotta count for something. How did you do it? Overcome all that and you still want to be together?”

Alenko rested his head against the wall again. He took a breath. He thought of everything he and Kori had been through, everything they had done, everything they add said.

Staring at the grey ceiling the Major said, “Look, Joker, anything I tell you take with a grain of salt.”

“Okay. Fine. Just tell me—"

Kaidan sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day. “Sometimes you just connect with someone. You see something in them they might not see in themselves. Sometimes they see that in you. You can either decide to take a chance or you play it safe. You can choose to get to know them or ignore them. You can learn more about them, learn how much you have in common and what drives them crazy, or you don't. You can learn to trust them with more and more of yourself or not. You can build a foundation to a meaningful relationship or not. I've done both with Reese and in the end choosing to take that chance was the best choice of my life.”

“So …take a chance?”

“It's a gamble but it can be worth it.”

“Thanks, Kaidan.”

“You're welcome. Can I go now?” the second human Specter replied briskly.

“Oh yeah sorry,” Joker’s voiced replied over the ‘tool, sounding a little sheepish.

The elevator continued its short journey to the crew deck as the pilot added, “I really appreciate this. If you need anything –“

“Ask someone else from now on.”

“Yes, sir.”

His omni-tool clicked off as the doors opened. He ran a hand through his hair as he headed to the cabin he now shared with Reese. Surely nothing else would happen.

Right?

As soon as he entered their quarters Reese smiled but didn't look up at him. She sat in the middle of the bed working on yet another mod for omni-tools. “I just told EDI you wouldn't be receiving any more calls or messages for the rest of the night.”

Kaidan groaned as he took off his boots. “Do I even want to know what it was about?”

“Some Alliance Admiral…McTaggert I think—wanting to make sure you understood the seriousness of his request,” the Lieutenant Commander said in a derisive tone. “I'm gonna guess it in fact isn't serious or important.”

Alenko flopped down on the bed beside her, his legs hanging off the edge while his head laid even with her hips. “McTaggert thinks I should use my Specter status to order the Normandy to retrieve some vital resources for the Alliance from his previous post. I checked with Liara. She says the vital resources are rare and very illegal cases of brandy.”

Reese glanced down at him within amused grin. He went on as he used air quotes for the last part of his sentence. “He wants me to retrieve alcohol because it will increase morale.”

The L3 snorted as she feathered her fingers through his hair. “I'm sure if you ask Liara could subtly have the Admiral investigated for misuse of resources or his position. His service record isn't that great. Mostly desk jobs with no real significance.”

He arched an eyebrow. “You already looked up his record?”

“Of course! What kind of paranoid girlfriend would I be if I didn't?”

Kaidan laughed. “Your paranoia has saved us a bunch of times. Plus you are just naturally thorough. And resourceful. And beautiful. And smart. And compassionate. And –“

“Okay, tech boy. Flattery will get you everywhere,” Reese chuckled. “So what do you want?”

“You. Alone. With me.” He replied simply as he rolled onto his side and wrapped his arms around her waist.

“You have me, Kaid,” she said as she leaned down to kiss his temple.

The second human Specter snuggled his face into her side as he murmured, “Being alone with you is the best part of my day.”

“Mine too, tech boy. Mine too.”

[elbracco]

LiS2 Fanfiction recommendation list - updated

I updated the ff list I made a few months ago. As before, if anyone has any suggestions to add, I’m all ears. I divided the stories into three categories (Post-ending, AUs and Missing Moments) and all the ffs on this list are either completed or still actively updated.

POST-ENDING

Blood Brothers: To Puerto Lobos - And Beyond! by SerratedCucumber, in progress. It starts as the brothers break into Mexico and follows them as they try to build a life for themselves. I swear that I hear Gonzalo and Roman every time that Sean or Daniel say something: the dialogue is that good. 11,000 words for now.

*

Lone Wolf: The One You Feed by zeldanerdster, in progress. This work follows the "Lone Wolf" path immediately after events unfold at the border. Following that, it will chronicle Daniel's experiences for as far as they take him in an effort to reconcile the various open-ended resolutions of Life is Strange 2. Because LW didn’t break our hearts enough. 20,500 words for now. Lone Superwolf by Dreamprism, in progress. The ff begins with Sean’s death at the border and aims to show how Daniel got from the car to the “six years later” scene. The fanfic is written from the perspective of Daniel Diaz, similar to how Sean shares his internal thoughts with the player throughout Life is Strange 2. 17,000 words for now.

*

Parting Ways: After by koldtbold, one-shot. Sean gets to Mexico, Daniel doesn’t. Sean has a lot to do and think about. What I love about this story is that there’s much bitter and little sweet, but like in the game there’s an undercurrent of optimism, a feeling that tomorrow can still turn into a better day. 6,000 words. When There’s Nowhere Else to Run, by Autumnyte, in progress. It begins right after Daniel yeets himself from the car and follows Sean as he tries to build a life for himself in Puerto Lobos. I told Autumnyte that this story feels like a blanket: it’s warm and comfortable. No matter what issues Sean has to deal with, there is a pervasive undertone of "tomorrow will be better" that I think really captures the spirit of the game. He is done running, and he can now start to look to the future with hope. 31,000 words for now.

*

Redemption:

The Bravest Wolf in the World by RoodAwakening, 2 chapters left. Ask anyone for reading suggestions, and they’ll inevitably point you to this story, for a reason. Sean finds out he can use his sketches to time-travel, much like Max did with her photos, prevents Esteban’s death, and has to deal with the consequences as he tries to navigate the new life he made for himself. Wonderful characters, a realistic depiction of trauma, and golden dialogue. I love this Sean, I love the people in his life, I love his interactions with all the characters. 160,000 words (!) for now. A Howl in the Night by Bracco, one-shot. Sean is in prison, and Daniel is free: it’s everything that Sean had wanted when he surrendered. That means he can be happy… right? 28,500 words. Tomorrow's Horizon by AlariOdonell, in progress. A mysterious stranger recruits a post-bay Max Caulfield with the promise to bring Chloe back to life and to right a few wrongs along the way, like those suffered by two brothers. I am very partial to this story because it ticks every box in my list of narrative kinks: a well-written OC, an incoming threat, superpowers, misfits teaming up, IC characters, action and fuzzy feelings... 52,000 words for now, updated bi-weekly. Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want by DarkJaden825698, one-shot. After his sentence, Sean reconnects with some old friends and says some things he didn't get to say when he had the chance. This story is a warm, fuzzy thing where everything goes well for a change. I may also be very partial to the title: that song is tied to some of my fondest memories, so extra points to the author. 4,000 words. Spirit Realm: Road to Redemption by Sombraguerrero, completed. Sean has served his sentence, abbreviated by a lack of success on the authorities' part to attain burden of proof on the supposed major crimes. The public has run out of patience and has allowed Sean and Daniel to try and pick up the pieces, with as much help as they can get along what is once again a rough road. 21,000 words. Stay Strange by DarkJaden825698, completed. Dr. Bright is assigned to Sean Diaz as his therapist in prison, and walks him through his trauma while trying to find him a lawyer to challenge his sentence. Crossover fic between LiS2 and The Bright Sessions podcast - you don’t know anything about the podcast? Me neither, and it’s not an issue. 32,000 words.

AUs

And All These Empty Streets by Riona, one-shot. After the apocalypse, Sean and Daniel have a run-in with Joel and Ellie from TLOU. I think that this is the story that made me realize how I love Sean and Daniel so much that I’m willing to read the weirdest AUs and crossovers so long. It flows really well and it feels natural. 2,000 words.

Riona has written a lot of stories that start from an unexpected premise and draw a little vignette. They are all different from each other and I loved them all. Check out her AO3 profile! Can you give me a hint by Idnis, completed. Teenage Daniel/Chris. If you like “mutual pining” and “dumb idiots in love”, this story will make your day. It’s just... fluffy and sweet and innocent, a tiny bit of teenage drama that Daniel and Chris deserve after everything they’ve been through. 22,500 words. Closer to the Heart by darkjaden825698, in progress. After the shooting, Sean waits for the police to arrive. He’s cleared of all charges and sent to live to Beaver Creek, where he must come to terms with what happened and rebuild a life for himself. A teen drama where nothing bad happens to the boys and they get to live normal lives? Hit me with it. 4,000 words. Double exposure by Riona, completed. It draws inspiration from *Your Name*: Max and Sean begin swapping bodies at random. If the premise doesn’t turn you away, it’s a beautiful bittersweet story about two people trying to help each other while their own worlds are falling apart. 11,000 words. Faithless by HollowK, in progress. Six years after the failed heist, Sean wakes up from his coma and has a brother to find. Exactly: oof. 6,500 words for now. I Took Both Roads, series by owlmug. AU where Esteban isn’t shot. Sean/Finn (with some Sean/Cassidy in the first story). It’s a coming of age story, and I really loved how the author mirrored some situations that are found in the game by giving them a new twist. I won’t lie, these stories hurt, because they made me think about what could have been. The characters are spot on, and the interactions of the Diaz family are golden. Bonus points for having Sean behave like a teenage brat at times, because the boy deserved to have temper tantrums and getting into fights with Esteban over stupid stuff. There are also a lot of beautiful images across the series, a lot of lines that feel raw and powerful, and a lot of healing. At times it’s like having a heart-to-heart with the author. Sometimes I felt that the sex scenes were too long, and some of them I found unnecessary, but that’s just my personal taste. I really liked all the four stories, but the last one is my favourite for sure because it follows Esteban’s point of view and it’s *chef’s kiss*.

 1.       A Way to Reappear (https://archiveofourown.org/works/19096837), 18,000 words. Sean’s POV

2.       A Piece of the Puzzle (https://archiveofourown.org/works/19386670), 26,000 words. Sean’s POV

3.       A Little left Behind (https://archiveofourown.org/works/19852561), 24,000 words. Finn’s POV

4.       (I’ve Been Going Through) a Change (https://archiveofourown.org/works/20562086), 28,000 words. Esteban’s POV.

If I Lay Here by owlmug, completed. Diverges from canon after episode 3. Sean and Finn try to track Daniel down. Sean/Finn, 46,500 words. I can repeat here most of what I wrote for the earlier series: wonderful characterization, beautiful imagery, touching themes, characters that find themselves along the way. Something that makes you go “Please, sir, can I have some more?” at the end of every chapter. i just don’t know how i’m doing (i’m so curious about you) by Larrymurphycansteponme, one-shot. Another High School AU, another wonderful coming of age story for Sean. I wish I could make it justice without repeating everything I said about owlmug’s series: spot-on characterization, a beautiful narrative about growing up and finding one’s way, wonderful imagery. It’s the story of what Sean deserved to have, and one of my favorite ever. 28,000 words.

MISSING MOMENTS

A Night With Misty Mice by That_one_internet_lover, completed. It follows Sean and Lyla’s concert night that is mentioned in his phone chat in ep.1. It’s the first fanfiction I read after my endgame heartbreak: it gave me all the happy Sean I wanted, and even a bit more. The dynamic between him and Lyla is exactly what I pictured from their interactions in the game, put into words by someone who knows what they’re doing. 10,000 words. Astray by Riona, one-shot. Daniel leaves Sean behind after the events of Wastelands. It’s probably more of an AU than a Missing Moment, since it was written before Faith came out and so it’s not entirely canon-compliant, but it’s still a very good window on Daniel’s state of mind after the heist. I’m eternally grateful to Riona for filling some of the gaps that the game left in the development of these wonderful characters. 1,500 words.  Fire and Floods by Riona, one-shot. Sean and Daniel go on the run, and this fic covers the first day of their journey. A spot-on dissection of Sean’s feelings after the shooting. 1,500 words. life is strange 2 poems by Spotsuns, an ongoing collection of one-shots. These stories have all the oooffness of the game. The stories in here hurt. In the good way, but they hurt nonetheless. Beautiful character studies, and some heavy-duty, post-ending feel unpacking. 11,000 words. Never Stop Shining by CorazonDesnudo, in progress. During his stay in Away, Sean receives a letter from Finn with an offer to help him and Daniel cross the border. It’s a chance to come to terms with a lot of things he didn’t really process before. 11,000 words for now. Torchbearers by Riona. Ep.1’s Sean and Daniel run into Max and Chloe among the ruins of Arcadia Bay. I can definitely see this story being a moment of quiet in the game. 2,600 words. What Remains of the Diaz Family by That_one_internet_lover, completed. Lyla sneaks into the Diaz household after the brothers have disappeared. Heartbreaking oofness ensues as Lyla walks through their memories and faces her own pain. 6500 words.

[ifeveristoday]

well, that escalated quickly

The first card of the Major Arcana, The Fool is generally a positive card indicating new beginnings. If it appears in your readings it could mean that you are on the verge of an exciting, unexpected new adventure. Your new adventure will bring you along a path which may require you to make a leap of faith but you will grow as a result of this new experience. This new adventure could be a literal new adventure, like travelling to a place you’ve never been before. The change this card can bring will usually be a welcome one. While the Fool is generally a positive card, its appearance in a reading can also indicate that you need to take the time to look before you leap. [x]

Even when reversed, the Fool is an indicator of newness; as well as the purity and open-hearted energy of a child. This is generally considered a positive card, with the caveat that it's important to take time to be sure that you are "looking where you're going." In reversal, The Fool can show that there is a need for a new beginning, but that there is some hesitancy about making it happen. [x] 

When the Fool card is reversed, you are encountering an unfinished side of yourself, a part still caught in the shadows of ignorance or immaturity. An emotional reflex or psychological attitude could be holding you back from responding authentically and naturally.

Release yourself from any dogmas or taboos so your natural truthfulness and instinct for right action can be restored. [x]

Light some incense and find a crushed velvet vest and let’s get to issue 16 of Buffy.

Spoilers, as always underneath the cut. Also long and semi-rambly so if you’re new to this tumblr...yeah. 

Short version: There’s a thing I’m not sure I like yet, the usual layer cake of THEMES and how it all ties together, and good character stuff.

Wow. So they’re really going there with Buffy and Evil! Xander. But it’s not like the comic hasn’t left crumbs of a potential -- something happening between them. Vamp! Xander’s first confrontation with Buffy was a crude sexual come-on, which she rebuffed very quickly, and then when he had his soul, there was an ambiguous hug between them in Hellmouth. Xander’s feelings about Buffy have always been pretty clear. 

And while I’m not thrilled that in the year 2020 we still can’t have a platonic relationship between Buffy and Xander (like, I joke about this being a Point to the reboot that Joss insisted on, but of course that’s just speculation. But come on. He totally would), it’s not like the comic was not giving clues, clunky though some of them may be. Buffy’s Slayer dream of Vamp! Xander and Vamp! Her, Robin’s oddly insistent interrogation of Buffy’s feelings for Xander, the dinosaur gift of Zeppo, and Buffy’s own ambivalence toward Robin as a real potential boyfriend. 

Issue 14 (which I still haven’t written a thorough post about) showcases (not explicitly written as such, but the characteristics are there) a PTSD-afflicted Buffy, who has lost both of her best friends in a matter of weeks. She’s not on good terms with her mother, Giles is still weird after his descent into magically induced MRA-ness and not exactly comforting her, and having to accept the reality of Kendra being a Slayer as well. There’s a lot of anxiety, jealousy, and survivor’s guilt thrown in there as well, and we all know Buffy’s favorite thing to do when she’s going through a lot of pain: ISOLATE HERSELF. 

And then here’s Robin, telling her he’s on her side and is a friendly face and Buffy seizes that emotional life line and decides, well if I can’t like myself (this is referenced in Issue 15), Robin will do it for me. It’s a lonely, but understandable grasp at something normal and not...the reality of her present life.

Except Robin realizes he can’t be Buffy’s emotional support almost-boyfriend, and that Buffy has a martyr complex where she can’t be just the hero but also the villain in her own story - she takes on all of the fault but none of the help and love that does exist in her life.

He tells her that one of her problems is that she just doesn’t like herself.

And it’s a hard truth for Buffy to bear but she admits it.

Issue 16 dips into Buffy’s mixed up feelings re: love and connection and the thread that ties it together is the tarot card Jenny pulls from her spread to read to Dolly, her cat.

Best reveal of the reboot so far, no I won’t take any objections. Her cat! Is named Dolly! Possibly after Dolly Parton, stealth producer of BtVS!

Jenny, lone human adult voice of Reason, pulls the upside down Fool and I’ve included three meanings of it up above. The reason why I think it’s a common thread for this issue is because in Buffy’s slayer dream where she’s riding Zeppo the Symbolism? What Symbolism Dinosaur with Xander (with some terrible punning), Buffy says that they can’t let Zeppo drive, he’s too young and doesn’t know how to get to where they’re going. Xander replies, “Do you even remember where we’re going?”

And prior to this Buffy worries that they’re going too fast and to slow down. 

This could signify a number of things - definitely new beginnings with Evil! Xander and the changed nature of his relationship to Buffy, Buffy’s personal fear that she doesn’t know what’s happening, only that it is too fast, and the fact they’re both so young. And for the moment, Xander will forever be this young. And with his reputation as being the ‘funny’ one, Xander could also be considered a Fool. 

He’s in a state of being unfinished - he’s never going to experience the trials of regular adulthood, the personal milestones a human being has. And Buffy is unfinished in that she’s not done growing up, but she is also the Slayer, which requires a level of sacrifice that other girls her age wouldn’t experience.

Jenny pulling this card - well, there’s the unfinished nature of her relationship with Giles, they’re broken up but still pining over each other, and the fact that she doesn’t seem to have stayed in touch with anyone in the Scoobies? And her only confidante seems to be her cat. Which, no judgement, cats are good listeners.

Dolly is also a good detector of Ye Olde Supernatural Bullshit, as she senses something bad behind Jenny’s all of a sudden visitor, and Hulk! Giles a few issues back.

It is of course, Xander, who is gleefully pleased that it was that easy to trick Jenny into inviting him in.

Fade into black- sort of, as the next step is Xander playing mind games via text.

Right after Buffy has her weird dinosaur dream, she tries to google meanings of it, as well as sending Willow texts in a long chain of non replied thread, updating her about what’s been happening in Sunnydale in her absence. I noticed she used a similar - “I’ll be here for you” in her message to Rose, and I think that’s Buffy’s way of changing. She wants to be there for her people, instead of avoiding them.

And she gets a text (Miss me?) from Xander, which prompts her to run to Giles and Kendra. 

This is a neat(?) reference to how Xander got catfished by Drusilla when she texted him from Buffy’s phone. God, the way this sentence sounds out of context to an TV canon fan.

ANYWAY.

Buffy states that Xander died the night the Hellmouth closed, and they had a candlelight vigil and his parents barely leave the house - which makes me think while Hank Summers is a bastard in every ‘verse, Boom! has a good dad for Robin, Joyce and Eric for Buffy, and apparently good parents for Willow and Xander as well. Yay.

Kendra, who is more objective than Buffy and Giles can be regarding Xander, theorizes that Xander’s disappearance might not be death in a final sense, but rather his soul disappearing. Which causes the question, where has his body been this whole time? Also, I see that I Robot, You Jane easter egg, Jordie.

Setting Jenny’s house on fire, that’s what. Giles gets a similarly upsetting text on his phone, and they run to her house. Buffy and Kendra immediately throw themselves into save the cat (and Jenny!) mode and run into Evil! Xander. Quite literally - Xander grabs Kendra by the neck and throws her out of the window from the second floor - don’t worry, she survives.

We can’t be fridging the POC this early, after all.

Then it’s Xander and Buffy’s first glimpse of each other since Hellmouth, and standard enemy banter ensues - Xander says it’s just them and Buffy snaps that it’s only in his dreams. Then the staircase starts cracking due to the fire’s heat and Buffy’s thisclose to falling off when Xander grabs her, and in his human mask tells her that it could just be them together, if she wants it. Buffy takes Kendra’s advice to stop feeling and just think, and kicks Xander in a jump with both her feet aimed at his chest. Also she says she’d rather die than let that happen, which...I really hope aren’t famous last words.

The fool card flutters down and lands on Buffy’s forehead, reminding her that she’s on a rescue mission for Jenny. Who is nowhere to be found, but Dolly leaps into Buffy’s arms, and she carries her out.

Giles, Kendra and Buffy reconvene at Giles’s and try to figure out why Xander targeted Jenny. 

Giles, who started the issue being a concerned mentor has grown smaller and less confident toward the end as he asks Buffy and Kendra to find Jenny. Buffy vows that they’re going to make Xander pay. Giles sadly agrees and then leaves to show Dolly the garden.

Let me pause a moment to cry about the fact that Giles is showing Jenny’s cat the garden.

Kendra and Buffy bond, sincerely, for the first time since Kendra made her appearance. Sister slayers, fuck yeah! Also, I love Kendra’s characterization and I hope she stays for a long time. And not die.

There’s a thawing there as each switch positions - Kendra tells Buffy it’s okay that she feels the way she feels, as Buffy tells her, no, she’s right, Xander isn’t the boy she knew, and to treat him like he’s just a regular vampire.

Then she admits she’s not sure if she misses Xander, or if it’s something else, to which Kendra replies, “I think when you know, you know.”

And Buffy asks her like her and Rose - and Kendra confirms it.

Just as Kendra’s words end the issue, Willow - who could be OG timeline Willow, or an Alternate Verse Willow, comes into the light and holds Rose’s hand.

DRAAAAMA.

So. Xander and Buffy heading toward something, Kendra/Rose confirmed, Giles has now adopted Dolly, Jenny’s status: Currently Unknown.

And Willow?

Though with the Fool, there’s that meaning of new adventures and travelling to a place you’ve never been before. That sums up Willow’s current journey so far.

[finmaxfx]

Currency Trading: a Z Guide Detail by Detail for Novices

FOREX WITH FINMAXFX

FinmaxFX offers forex and CFD trading with award winning trading platforms, tight spreads, quality executions and 24 hour live support. Finmax is one of the leaders in the Forex market that unites traders all over the world. Finmaxfx provides its clients a the high-quality service and security, so important in the modern world. We offer multi-functional Metatrader platform, education and a huge variety of trading assets.

Strat with 5 unique Things 1) End up Smart 2) Learn, Know and Learn 3) the Trick 4) Trade sensibly 5) Maintain Carry on - Do Not Stop

On Final Notion This is a fascinating moment to invest in to currency trading for novices! It sounds you are a beginner and trying to find a much improved trading guide and also method not to to shed money again on currency and a guide to exchange in your favourite MT4/MT5 trading platform or anything you're using. If I am right about it and also you're interested to know about foreign basics, then you're a really wise guy who cares in exactly what exactly do matters. Anyways, you are no further talking let us start. Ou will wonder about forex should you not realize it's really a far larger than most of the stockmarket all around the globe. People deals , purchase bucks from this several guys - do transaction a few times occasionally plus they've their financial position better and improved using it. The Item in Actual Beginners Life However, the one truth is 95 percent of novices can not get straight back from their very initial few investment/deposit. It isn't wondering for me personally if you have stunned by looking over this. I could assure you, probably you've lost several bucks and started to search for the manner, the ideal means to commerce here. Well, here we proceed - 5 basics of Currency trading for beginners. I shall inform you everything exactly does thing for noobs just like you. However, if you are really trying to exchange forex and consented to hazard your dollars then continue reading .

1) End up Smart

Do not greed Wise guys hate being covetous. In case you found your self egotistical today, please be aware!! It never much easy! In case it then why your familiarity isn't known/trade here? Thus do not believe that it's too simple and you may catch a major level of cash from this. Many of hazard here, of course if you never contemplate it, then you're gonwont lose your own funding. Count your equilibrium Money counting forex You may earn 20 percent in maximum - whenever you are a normal dealer. The normal percentage is 10 percent of one trade. I-do 8 -- 1-2% based upon the financial industry. I know several guys who left 200 percent from several transactions. Were you aware? Subsequently what goes on - lost 300 percent on a single huge bulge. Regrettably they were covetous, and those guys do not enjoy forex today. Trading is really so much better! Show Patience and Maintain Calm Your Self While Trade Flake out if it's away You've to create yourself serene and eradicate the enthusiasm . A much I will say about you today, you are eager to hear from me personally. You will find quicker methods to catch cash from overseas. Do not despise mepersonally, there are not any means because of it. If a person told some thing similar to this, better eliminate him. It cann't mean that we want a great quantity of time for you and energy to master it. If you should be a quick student it's not going to require an excessive amount of time. But to begin with, you should end up gentle about that. Get ready together with at least three items -; I am not disappointed I affirm that the following move I understand well concerning both the money Marketplace

2) Learn, Know and Learn

Read forex and also learn forex Yes, learning is just really a have to know matters. You are certain to find yourself a couple tips in my next post about learning a facts. You have to have to understand why is candle motions. The way that it goes thaAAA-t high and overly ---------o down. There are various things to effect on Meta Trader's candlesticks/bars are works to it. Since you can imagine, economy/financial facets do matters matters. Do Not Complicate and Be Choosy About Learning I am not permitting you to explore economics at university today. Nevertheless, you have ta understand about a nation market. Inside my sentence - you need to simply take your attention US & EU market. Because maximum business/economical objects processed by those nations. And China is ample too. At some chain - you have ta understand about China, Japan, Russia, Great Britain, along with European states conditions. Notice here I did not mean to the market. You have kindly look into all those significant country's political stability, moves not to mention stockmarket trends. Elect to know that you're trading pair's various countries market and also their currency/bank/economic policy and also their behaviour relating to it. You have to keep your attention updated regarding financial conditions changing your choice made by authorities or needed a arrangement between other significant nations.

3) the Key of Learning

Talking secret a technique Have you any idea the money speed's fluctuations and drop unexpectedly or flew up? The precise reason is cryptic however, the best fact is monetary autocracy. Yeaha bank may choose which speed is that they truly have been trading set to now. The trick isn't shown yet, let us explain some thing before becoming about it. Common Compared to Maybe Not Being Shared Despite the fact that you set a commerce into a trading application, you're going for inch side between two. The majority people get it done too. But when the majority people on precisely exactly the exact identical side, the financial institution decides to produce their benefit. Guess then? They shift it out against majority trending therefore people folks are able to lose their bank and money, able to catch it. Therefore whenever you are at a frequent side in trading then you will shed money. No thing you purchase or sell, in case you should be in ordinary side - you are gont shed it. Whenever you get rid of money, you want to find out, the way to regain your lost money in forex currency trading. That is the component in currency trading that matter most.

4) Does your Trade Wisely

Sensibly do the job Demo Trading is Wonderful You could want some demonstration trading, also it is going to offer you trading period experience. First couple weeks - create experiments after a second and decide to make an effort to learn some thing with an alternative kind of experiments. I could say from potential every corner of this room and produce your own plan. If you triumph on demonstration trading afterward do not experiment too much friend, if you do this too much then probably you are wasting your own time. Have a judgment about Which Happens On Your Trade Keep your significant note I did not indicate it'd function as ultimate strategy, however it might possibly be a measure in your own journey to the sea of forex currency trading. After completing a commerce or perhaps even a couple of transactions - do not neglect to investigate the transaction and also you need to take decent note . However, -- care of one's things in market movements. What exactly was your thinking and everything you did and undoubtedly the thing that is the outcome? Create Efficient Chart Forex efficient graph Ordinarily, a Trading Software initially provides choices to personalize and also a better comprehension of the marketplace. Also many of plugins and tools available to spell out and make own strategy on your own. Opt for the efficient one for you personally and browse on their manual, documentation touse precisely all available functionality. In other hand - different sort of colours, shapesand elements will allow our brain an easy capturing capability therefore that it may help while we're actually gambling. Stop Loss and Take Profit Stop loss simply take benefit As I already told, becoming greedy is overly bad. Now I will create yet another warning relating to trading. You ought to make use of stop-loss whilst setting a brand fresh commerce. In the event you utilize SL also it induces your equity losing do not stress - that the theory simply did not do the job with your own moment. Later you may win if you've got sufficient experience. Do not Trade Real In case you are a Beginner Yeah, do not trade real with out a fantastic trading experience as effectively rather than realizing marketplace facts. Put simply Forex Fundamental Analysis - without even having capability with all the investigation you shouldn't exchange a demonstration trading.

5) Maintain Carry on - Do Not Stop

Keep carry on runDo Not Become a LoserOh, ho! Your theory did not get the job done? Can it happen ? Oh! That is a truly terrible thing. In cases like this, what you are gont do? I'll imply, do not stop to a neglect. The prover" collapse may be that the pillar of victory" isn't that unworthy. It is worth needless to say - in the event that you know as it's does. Are you aware what the key is? Have a Rest.Yeah, it is going to create your self serene so when a brand fresh beginning, your memory will soon likely probably be trendy. It may continue to work based on the purchase.Stepbystep Trading requires one to begin with out of principles. Can you really do it ? Otherwise don't waste your own time and effort in certain progress things. End your fundamental knowing then launch it . Make a streak of sequence before putting your transactions.Experiment frequently along with your own plan and remember on your excitements. In the event that you are doing it regularly you will end up a proficient dealer, since you realize - clinic makes you what.You will combine with some great forex forums to examine your trouble.As previously stated three things within a commerce -- in the event the thought did not do the job only compose the neglect note and attempt to explain the reason why?The devil is banks plus also you also ought to earn a separate practice in this circumstance.Learn How to Take Threats Obviously, you wont exchange demos for that very existence. After a excellent successful experimentation -- you may possibly want commerce real. In the event you opt therefore -- then you are going for a danger. You ought to be conscious you are losing money, and also losing risk is really for profiting. Is not? Without risk, there isn't any enterprise. Thus, be prepared to just get a probability.On Final Notion Do not allow the enemy provide up you. Some times - it might explain to you that chances are against you in the event you should be about the phase subsequently have a rest but perhaps maybe not for quite a while. Get straight back with an awesome mind and commence to explore why this happens, as said - take notes and put in on your own plan or produce a fresh one. Simply do not give this up, that really is greatly crucial.I inquired prior to a transaction is knowledge. Atleast fundamental knowledge is required for trading. Thus, those are the 5 must-do Know things special guide for Forex beginners. Hope that it helped you a small bit. In case it can help then why don't share it with the others and allow them to understand it? Share utilizing bellow share tools someone got some fantastic help! Love!!

[darlingsdontdie]

New Yandere, Whump, and Dark Shipping Blog: Requests FAQ

Hey! So before I start writing and creating, I thought I'd get some common questions answered and out of the way! If you are concerned about your request or are unsure of its content, please first check this post before directly messaging me.

Request Content

Q: What kinds of requests do you fill?

A: I will fill almost any type of request! But here are some specific options with set structures and examples.

Headcanon Requests (bulleted, length depending on ask, ex: "Can I get headcanons for Requested Character with a short girlfriend?")

Scenario Requests (bulleted, LDOA, ex: "Can I get a scenario for if Requested Ship were getting married?")

Drabble Requests (prose, LDOA, ex: "Can I request a drabble about RC being worried when their darling is sick?")

Playlist Requests (list of songs, 1-5 song limit, ex: "Do you have 4 songs for a jealous RC?")

Graphic Requests (edit style, 1-4 images, ex: "Could you make a graphic for yandere RC with this item or quote?")

Aesthetic Requests (moodboard style, image with 6-9 sections, ex: "Can I get an aesthetic for dark!RS?")

Prompt Requests (list of brainstormed dialogue and short sentences, LDOA, ex: "Do you have dialogue prompts for RC kidnapping their darling?")

Plot Bunny Requests (short prose paragraphs or bulleted, LDOA, ex: "I want to write about yandere RC surprising their darling but don't know how or why. Are there are any plot bunnies you can give me?").

New! RP Idea Requests (selection of 1-4 short rp-style bios/plots/starters, LDOA, ex: "Do you have any yandere rp ideas for Requested Fandom ocs?")

New! Fancast Requests (moodboard or edit style, 2-9 images per RC/RS, ex: "Who would you cast as yandere RC(s)?")

New! Faceclaim Recommendation Requests (bulleted list of names with short explanations or reasons, LDOA, ex: "My yandere OC is tall, has dark hair, and soft features. He acts friendly but is the violent type. Can I have a few fcs?")

Requests that don't specify will be answered with a bulleted list or possibly a short paragraph. There may be times I'm willing to fill some requests but not others due to time constraints, but that doesn't mean I won't ever fill them!

Fandom requests involving AUs and crossovers are welcome (ex: "Headcanons of how yandere Naruto in a wild west AU?" or "Headcanons about what would happen if yandere Ten and yandere Crowley fell for the same person?"), as are original requests based on existing media (ex: "Can I get headcanons about a popular girl type who has a Breakfast Club experience and ends up going yandere for the criminal?" or "Can you write a drabble about a yandere whose story is like this music video?").

Q: What characters do you write for?

A: I'll write for any character that I am familiar with, with a few exceptions for characters I'm aware of but uncomfortable with. To get started, here's a list of fandoms that I have a solid handle on!

Anime (Naruto, Ouran High School Host Club, Death Note, Hetalia, etc.)

Western Animation (Archer, Castlevania, She-Ra: Princesses of Power, etc.)

DC and Marvel Comics

Star Wars (no New Trilogy - Originals, Prequels, Clone Wars, & Legends only)

Other Major Film Franchises (Pirates of the Caribbean, the MCU, James Bond, etc.)

Harry Potter and related properties

Percy Jackson and related properties

Hunger Games and related properties

Twilight and related properties

A Song of Ice and Fire (willing to try TV canon but much more familiar with Book canon)

Crime Dramas (Barry, Good Girls, Hannibal, Mr. Robot, Revenge, etc.)

Historical Drama (Vikings, The Tudors, Les Miserables, The Borgias, Downton Abbey, Peaky Blinders, Taboo, etc.)

Science Fiction and Fantasy TV/Lit (Star Trek TOS/AOS; Doctor Who, New Who only; Merlin; Good Omens; Lucifer; Galavant, etc.)

Horror-Thriller TV/Lit (American Horror Story, The Haunting of Hill House, Hemlock Grove, Alias Grace, etc.)

Sitcoms (familiar with Friends, all the Michael Schur products, Community, That 70s Show, Jane the Virgin, Schitt's Creek, Superstore, IASIP, and others)

Teen Dramas (Teen Wolf, Pretty Little Liars, Freaks and Geeks, Glee, etc., but no Riverdale)

Chinese and Korean Dramas (A Korean Odyssey/Hwayugi, Meteor Gardens, A Love So Beautiful, What's Wrong With Secretary Kim, Romance Is a Bonus Book, My First First Love, Black, etc.)

Video Games (Assasain's Creed, Portal 2, Fire Emblem, AFK Arena, Professor Layton, etc.)

Something that's not here can still be requested - I'm familiar with a lot of media and do my best to keep up.

As I implied above, I am also happy to write for original characters. Whether that means you telling me about your own OCs, or me creating my own characters for you down the line, either is great.

I will NOT be writing RPF or RPS. I do not approve of real person shipping and real person fiction makes me uncomfortable - if that's what you're looking for, there are a huge number of other blogs that will cater to your needs directly. Which leads me into...

Prohibited Requests, and Non-Yandere Content

Q: Will you fill every request you get?

A: I'll fill requests that interest me and that I feel comfortable posting, and that will probably be most of them! I am really excited to get started. But I still reserve the right to refuse a prompt - I'm writing for free, so no one is entitled to have their ask filled. If I choose to deny your prompt, I will answer privately and, if the issue is with content, update the blog so it's made clear that the type of prompt is not taken.

Q: What is and isn't allowed to be requested?

A: To be honest, most stuff is allowed and some stuff isn't. There's a lot of ground to cover here, so I've divided it based on the nature of the concern.

Q: Do you accept NSFW/SFW requests?

A: I'll do NS and SFW work, but I've got more experience with SFW content. This doesn't mean I do it exclusively, just that I won't think to go NS unless you mention it. Specify for NS and it'll be included happily!

Q: Do you accept violent requests?

Violence against non-SO characters and dub-con is okay always, as is situational or over-the-top violence, even murder, involving SOs (ex: "the yandere and their darling are soldiers on opposite sides of the war" or "the yandere saws off their darling's legs so they have to carry them everywhere").

However, there is some tricky area with violent fantasies. If I think the content strays too close to serious physical domestic abuse, then I'll likely deny the request. This is partially why I prefer requests that get violent to focus on non-SO targets, so if it doesn't matter to you, that's almost guaranteed to get a response.

Non-con I can mention and discuss in headcanon posts and possibly prompt lists, but I will not be writing drabbles or scenarios for non-con prompts.

Q: Do you accept kink requests?

A: It will depend on the type and whether I feel morally and psychologically comfortable with it. For example, hypnosis, size kink, gender stuffing, BDSM, roleplay, etc., are all currently accepted because they don't seem to affect me in a negative way. I am willing to do ships for cousins and step family, as well. However, I will not under any circumstances deal with r*ceplay, p*dophilia, fetishizing of trans people or people of color, or inc*stplay, and I will not be doing ship work for anyone more closely related than cousins, including but not limited to siblings, parents (blood or adopted), or aunts and uncles. None of this is negotiable. I am willing to consider AUs where two characters aren't family, or non romantic yandere behavior between family, but even then, the request's on thin ice. Anything super unhygienic or illness related is probably something I won't be interested in not as a rule or for moral reasons but just because it can exacerbate my anxiety and OCD. I also do not fill prompts related to minors at all, be it explicit/adult/sexual content or otherwise. Requests for characters who are minors will have them aged up unless otherwise specified - in which case you will promptly be blocked.

Q: Can I request a dark imagine that is not yandere related?

A: Of course! Just make sure to be specific about what you want from it.

Q: Can I request a ship or character imagine that isn't yandere or dark?

A: Yes, though I won't promise it'll be what you're looking for. I fall towards horror, thriller, and angst when I write, regardless of my intentions.

Q: Can I request something that's not ship or character imagine related?

A: Sure, I'd be honored, but again, I don't promise to fulfill every request. This blog is intended to be stress relief, self indulgence.

How to Make a Request

Q: How do I contact you for requests?

A: Asks, messages, replies on my original posts, and even more casual things like tagging me in yandere or writing related posts are all great ways to interact with me!

Q: When do you accept requests?

A: Requests will be opened or closed depending on how busy I am and whether I'm caught up on them.

Currently, requests are closed. However, I've decided that requests are reopened on my days off. The days should be listed in my bio.

Q: Do you accept anonymous requests?

A: Yes, I do! I also will not publish asks from users unless the user specifically clarifies that they are okay with it, just in case the user sent the ask from their blog on accident. User asks that aren't specified as safe to publish will be responded to privately when the request is filled.

Q: How will I know my request is filled?

A: As stated above, anonymous asks and user asks clarified as safe to publish will be published with a response. User asks without any clarification will be responded to privately. Anonymous asks asking for privacy for any reason will not be published. Messages will also get a reply. Users who send requests that are kept private will not be tagged unless you ask me to. Users with published asks will always be tagged in the final post, but it is totally okay to ask me to change or erase the tag! Other than this, checking for posts is up to the requester.

Other Kinds of Interaction

Q: Is there anyone who you don't want interacting with your blog?

A: Anyone complicit in nazism, racism, transphobia, homophobia, misogyny, xenophobia, pedophilia/MAPs, or any other politicized violence against a people is uneqivocally not welcome to engage with my work. I also have a zero tolerance policy for true crime fans who support or absolve serial killers. Please respect this - anyone who doesn't will be blocked. Anyone who pushes the issue will be reported.

Q: What about kink or otherkin blogs?

A: Honestly, I don't know much about either community. As of now, I'm fine with interaction. I'd ask that I not receive any kin related requests, because I am not familiar with the concept, community, and issues accompanying. Kinks can be requested but as stated above, are not guaranteed to be filled. Please don't bring discourse or discourse related requests here. I am not equipped to or interested in getting involved. If that changes, I have a main and other side blogs. This blog will never be a place for it.

Q: Are you okay if we interact with you or send you asks and messages that aren't requests?

A: Absolutely! I would love to talk with you. I am always interested in discussing any of the topics covered on this blog, or anything else for that matter! I pride myself on trying to be not just nice, but kind, and hopefully that comes through in every interaction. However, I'll expect the same courtesy from anyone who'd reach out to me, or use my posts to communicate to others for that matter. Anyone who doesn't will be, you guessed it, blocked. Anyone who pursues it further, yeah, will be reported.

Q: You have a lot of rules about requests and interaction, but you don't seem to post much and you aren't very active. Is this all just awkward and formal overkill, or is there a point?

A: I've explained all of this clearly, in as an accessible way as I can think of, because I want to eliminate the potential for drama, confusion, and other misunderstandings.

Online communities tend to be chock-full of plenty and I do not, nor does anyone who visits, need another reason to be tired. I'm not detailing all of this upfront because I expect to be very popular, or because I like listening to myself talk for paragraphs on end. I don't want a theoretical lack of information to be used to hurt either myself or others, though some of it shouldn't have to be spelled out in the first place.

But considering how ridiculously easy it is to misinterpret each other online, and how much of a disadvantage neuroatypical people like myself are when things are left just implicit rather than made what you could argue as exhaustingly explicit, I figured a crazy FAQ was a small price to pay for a peaceful environment.

TLDR: it certainly might be overkill, but that doesn't mean there is no point to it.

Q: What should requesters and followers call you anyways?

A: I'm fine with my username. If you're going for a different vibe, Red or Darlings sounds nice too. If you can come up with something catchier, feel free to try!

💀💀💀

On that note, I also may be slow going when it comes to requests. All I can do is promise to put a lot of thought into my replies, even though speed is not guaranteed. Any other questions can be asked directly, and I would be more than happy to answer them!

[flarebossmalva]

the catghost post, pt. 1 [intro saga]

i said i was gonna talk about catghost, and then it turned into attempting to explain catghost by summarizing it, and then it turned into multiple posts because there’s a lot of material to cover and i want to do a thorough job. watch the intro saga first because this is a good series and you should check it out for yourself before listening to me ramble about it!

CWs for part 1: murder, images of dead bodies / skeletal remains, other disturbing imagery (including a couple jumpscares), one image depicting animal death (it’s near the very end of the post)

Alright, I’m posting with decent grammar so you know it’s serious. If you’re just here looking for a brief overview of the series, here’s my crack at it: CatGhost is a multimedia ARG comprised primarily of YouTube videos and accompanying minigames. It’s ongoing, and I plan to update this post as the series itself updates. On the surface, the videos resemble other YouTube cartoons, following the tried-and-true formula of two characters comically tormenting a third; however, something else is clearly going on below the surface, and it quickly becomes clear that these three are tied together by very dark circumstances. Much of what’s really going on is still unclear, but enough has been revealed that I can talk about it without constantly resorting to pure guesswork.

This is part one, covering the Intro Saga (first three videos and their associated games). Like I said, I wanted to be thorough and if I didn’t split it up into separate posts this would get way too long. It’s already too long.

CatGhost 1, “Birthday,” opens with flames filling the screen, then a ripple effect playing over the title card, which I mention because that’s gonna make a whole lot more sense in a minute. We then see our main cast, Elon (cat), Naarah (ghost), and Gideon (hedgehog). Gideon is asleep and the girls are making fun of him. From their dynamic, it seems Naarah’s pretty young and Elon is sort of a big sister figure to her, which means they’re probably close in age. Gideon is 48; today is allegedly his birthday, though he seems unaware until the girls tell him so. Gideon seems generally confused about whatever’s going on and just wants to go back to sleep, but the girls want to take him out to someplace called “Party Country,” and eventually they end up threatening to curse him if he doesn’t comply. The threat seems pretty real as the girls’ voices turn demonic and their eyes glow. Gideon gives in, though it’s unclear if he even realized he was in any danger. 

Next scene, Gideon is presented with his birthday cake, which is... pretty wonky-looking, to put it gently. Pecking order for the trio gets further established when Naarah intimidates Gideon into saying the cake she made looks fine and seconds later Elon comments that the cake isn’t very good. Naarah defends herself and says that it’s hard to bake a cake without hands, to which Elon sympathizes and says that her paws aren’t much good either. Naarah says “I miss having a body.” The girls were human once, and seem to remember it clearly. Gideon, on the other hand, interjects saying he has no idea what they’re talking about. Whatever circumstances have bound these three together, Gideon seems to be the only one with no awareness of what’s going on.

Party Country turns out to be an arcade cabinet. Gideon is encouraged to play, but he seems completely apathetic about the game (Gideon seems completely apathetic about most things) and dialogue implies he may not even know what a video game is. Naarah calls Gideon “Dad” at one point while she and Elon bully him into playing, a detail which could lead one to guess a major twist way in advance but which I actually never noticed until just now. Gideon gives in and starts playing, declaring that the game (which we can’t see yet) is actually pretty fun, but the girls continue to tell him to play as if they can’t see that he’s already complying. We then cut to the game, which I’ll talk about more below, but suffice it to say that unless your definition of “fun” is all about talking to fucked-up skeleton ladies in some haunted woods, this is not a fun game:

Afterwards, Gideon wakes and assumes he dreamed the whole thing until he sees the ugly birthday cake Naarah baked. He waves goodbye to the viewer, breaking the fourth wall; an odd thing for a character who shows so little awareness of his surroundings to do.

The game associated with this episode is the same game shown in the episode itself. It’s pretty simple; you play as Gideon and can move left or right through a gloomy-looking pixelated forest. There are two NPCs and a small number of objects to be interacted with, all of which can appear randomly. For now, we’ll focus on the two NPCs. Both are skeletons, and both wear simple dresses of the type peasant girls might wear; one is tinted red, the other tinted blue, with the blue skeleton being notably smaller. When interacted with, the red skeleton will say “It burns! I can’t feel my skin,” or “Trapped like a fly in a jar,” or “I have taken on my new form.” The blue skeleton will say “It’s cold here, I can’t breathe,” or “I have to save him, he waited for me,” or “She lured me into this place.” Is the fire/water motif from the episode’s opening starting to seem relevant? Oh, and there’s more. One game object is a sort of upright stone with a hole cut into it near the top; I’ll be calling this object “Key” as that’s how it identifies itself. Key can be interacted with by typing questions, to which it will give an appropriate answer based on words/phrases it recognizes (like Tool in Petscop, incidentally). If we ask Key certain questions about our main cast, we can learn a lot about the story.

Ask “Who is Elon,” and Key tells you, “Temptress.” Asking the same question about Naarah returns “Proselyte,” while Gideon is “Judge.” If you ask what happened to any of the main cast, you’re told “Vanished.” However, asking for death dates yields results; Elon and Naarah both died in 1650, while Gideon died in 1672. Ask where each of the main three are, and you learn Elon is “In a jar,” Naarah is “Immersed,” and Gideon is “In a dark place.” Given all that, I think we can put the basic setting together:

Elon, Naarah, and Gideon were all human once. They lived during the seventeenth century in what is now the northeastern United States. Naarah must have been a preteen or young teen at the time of her death; Elon was likely a young adult in her late teens when she died, and the pair met their respective fates at or around the same time. Gideon lived into his late forties before dying, which speaks to a life of relative comfort for the time and place, befitting a judge. The animosity between the girls and Gideon seems pretty clear: Gideon sentenced both of them to death for witchcraft. Elon, represented in-game by the red skeleton, was burned at the stake, and her ashes were subsequently stored in a jar. Naarah was drowned by being tied to a chair and immersed in a large body of water (this was a common execution method for suspected witches, and the presence of a chair hanging from a rope in the game supports this); her remains are still underwater. Gideon was most likely given a traditional burial after he passed away of, most likely, natural causes. The wrinkle is that Gideon seems to have been right — Elon and Naarah are witches. Elon (the Temptress) taught Naarah (the Proselyte) the craft. Now all three appear to be stuck in the world of the show, which I guess is some sort of weird limbo, and only Elon and Naarah know what’s going on or who they used to be, probably because they are witches. 

We can also take some more guesses at what might be going on based off the interactions the main cast have with each other. For instance, Elon’s the leader of the group and generally takes charge, but it’s clear that at least some of that confidence is an act and she doesn’t really seem to be pulling the strings here. The two have plenty of reasons to hate Gideon and could easily use their magic to put him through hell, but instead they don’t go beyond pushing him around and making fun of him — Naarah even bakes him a cake, which she complains about the difficulty of doing. This could imply the three have been trapped in the afterlife with each other ever since dying and the girls have finally gotten tired of exacting less petty revenge. It could also mean that deep down they’re fond of Gideon and don’t really want him to come to harm, which is a strange relationship to have with the man who ordered your torture and execution. Later videos will shed further light on the dynamics between the three, but for now we’ll leave it at that.

One more thing before I move on — asking Key any question containing the word “murder” will trigger a jumpscare. Initially, this was of what appears to be Naarah’s corpse, but it’s since been changed (we’ll talk about that change later). Here’s the original jumpscare showing Naarah:

CatGhost 2, “Knock,” is more straightforward and thus will take me less time to summarize, thank god. Elon and Naarah are telling knock knock jokes. Gideon completely fails to understand the joke, and possibly completely fails to understand the concept of jokes, and the girls get so pissed they put some sort of curse on him and he winds up locked in a dungeon-like room. The door bears a large ornamental mail slot that looks like some sort of gargoyle’s face, with the slot as its mouth. Gideon is instructed to write a knock knock joke that’s actually funny and slide it through the door if he wants to be released. His first attempt is rejected (it doesn’t even have a punchline) and so Gideon tries to think of another. Cut to the words “2 years later” and Gideon’s still trying to write a funny knock knock joke — this series isn’t above the typical cartoon tropes and I love it. He finally comes up with one (Knock knock / Who’s there / Anita / Anita who / Anita get through this door!) and triumphantly slides it into the mail slot, which then grows larger until it takes up nearly the entire door, the “mouth” gaping wide. Gideon stares at it and is seemingly hypnotized. Disturbing images tinted blue and red flash across the screen, before the camera pulls back and Gideon is shown still in a trancelike state as the girls look at him, confused. Naarah says he’s been staring at that door a while, and she and Elon seem mildly concerned, but decide poking him with a stick would be more fun than helping him. Credits roll.

For this episode, much of the worldbuilding is in the form of freeze-frame bonuses and background details, meaning you have to pay close attention to catch everything. When Gideon is teleported to the cell, images flash onscreen showing an inverted cross and the word “EXCRUCIATE,” all tinted red (the color generally associated with Elon), as well as what appear to be human bones and a girl’s face, tinted blue (the color associated with Naarah). In the cell with Gideon is a skeleton, though he seems not to take notice. One wall reads “Wild Partes of the World,” which is a complex reference I won’t attempt to explain in full (the phrase has been quoted and quoted again across multiple books) but in context within the rest of the story refers to early seventeenth-century Virginia, which must be where our main trio lived as humans. Text is shown written in the Theban alphabet, a substitution cipher based on the Latin alphabet and generally associated with witches and occultists. When Gideon is hypnotized by the door, he sees a judge’s podium, a jar (presumably the one containing Elon’s ashes), and a hanging chair (as was used to execute Naarah). Images of graves are shown, inverted and flipped upside down, along with a similarly distorted picture of a row of houses. During the end credits, the background appears to be lava with yellow flashes moving across it; putting all these yellow flashes together results in this image:

Audio during the intro, when reversed, is of a voice saying “I don’t know. I don’t know where it’s at. I think they’ve been looking for it for a long time, but… sometimes it seems like we’re just never going to find it.”

The accompanying minigame features the door from Gideon’s cell, complete with its ornamental mail slot (browsing the wiki, because of course there’s a wiki and of course that’s how I’m getting images for this post as well as checking for stuff I missed, it seems fans call this the “Horrible Beast door”). The door can be interacted with by knocking on it using tap code; if the right words are input, the game will display a corresponding image.

“Megalith” produces an image of Key, the stone you can question in the previous minigame:

“Libation” shows Gideon’s unfortunate-looking birthday cake:

“Trinity” shows the shadows of three people, what appears to be a man and two girls, most likely our main trio:

“Excruciate” shows what is presumably the stake used during Elon’s execution:

“Proselyte” shows what must be Naarah’s skeleton, along with the chair she was bound to, laying at the bottom of a body of water:

CatGhost 3, “Window,” opens by showing that same body of water, although there is no sign of the chair or of Naarah’s remains. We then cut to an outhouse in the show’s typical animated style. Elon is inside, preening, when a noise outside startles her. She checks and discovers a small hand mirror, with Theban writing on it reading “For Elon,” though the text is mirrored and upside down. Elon seems confused and flips the mirror open, whereupon she sees a black-and-white image of a mysterious woman, her face completely in shadow save for her glowing white eyes. When the woman raises her head and makes eye contact with Elon, the cat gets so spooked she drops the mirror and flees. Elon runs back inside, entering via the Horrible Beast door, and is greeted by Naarah, who’s acting suspiciously and asks if Elon saw anything interesting outside. When she’s asked point blank if she’s the one who left the mirror there, Naarah denies it and blames Gideon, and even though it seems obvious that she’s lying, Elon doesn’t question her further. She confronts Gideon, who is chopping wood and seems enthusiastic for once, and tells him — I’m only paraphrasing slightly here — not to use witchcraft to fuck with a witch, or else [colorful threat omitted for brevity’s sake]. At the end of this rant, she briefly shapeshifts into some sort of demonic chimera, with a snakelike body, horns, and quite a lot of teeth. Gideon, who as usual has no idea what she’s on about, is suitably terrified.

Elon, back to her regular form, goes back inside and picks up what appears to be a crayon drawing of a blue girl hugging a taller red girl, accompanied by Theban that reads “From: Naarah, To: bestest best friend.” We can presume Naarah is the blue girl and Elon is the red girl, of course, but of interest is the small form next to the house in the background. It looks like it could be a dog, and, given later events, it almost certainly is a dog.

The drawing had been resting on a large object covered with a cloth, and Elon, curious, pulls the cloth free. Underneath are three mirrors, angled so they all face towards her, and the strange woman from earlier (some fans call her “the Watcher,” which I’ll go with for now) is reflected in each one. Elon is frozen in place as the three Watchers advance towards her, and she begins to cry. The Watcher points a finger (from here on there seems to be only one of her, not three) and Elon begins levitating as the background glitches out. She’s tugged towards the Watcher, and when the outstretched finger touches her forehead, the screen goes white.

Then we’re back to the pixel graphics from the first minigame, in the same dark woods as before, but Elon and Naarah aren’t skeletons — they’re living girls. Elon is pale, with long red hair and blue eyes; Naarah is quite a bit smaller, with brown skin and dark blue-tinged hair in pigtails. Interestingly, Elon wears a blue dress and Naarah’s dress is red, despite their typical color associations. Elon stands over a crying Naarah, her expression sullen. After a few seconds, the credits roll.

This time, the “minigame” just shows a static image of a mirror. Well, almost static — the clock resting on the dresser below the mirror moves in real time, matching the time set on the player’s computer. At exactly three AM system time, the Watcher appears in the mirror, which is then overtaken by static, and the scene changes to Elon and Naarah as we saw them during the end of the last video. Initially, it seems to be the same as before, with Elon standing over Naarah as she cries, but this time there’s dialogue. Here, have a transcript I stole from the wiki because it was easier than typing it up again myself:

After this, the mirror becomes static once more; if you wait three minutes, this image displays for a single frame before the game closes:

So, yeah, I think it’s safe to say that’s a dog in Naarah’s drawing. This also seems to explain why she’s crying in the scene we just saw. Why the dog was killed (sacrificed on an alter, looks like) is a mystery I’ll tackle when we cover the later sagas.

Also, in the interest of equality, this time it’s Elon who jumpscares you if you type “murder.” Typing doesn’t do anything else in this game, though.

That concludes the Intro Saga! This post is already really long and I’m not going to bother giving closing thoughts at this point especially considering the series is still ongoing. Stay tuned for the next installment, coming whenever I get around to it!

[orbemnews]

The Coronavirus Is a Master of Mixing Its Genome, Worrying Scientists In recent weeks, scientists have sounded the alarm about new variants of the coronavirus that carry a handful of tiny mutations, some of which seem to make vaccines less effective. But it is not just these small genetic changes that are raising concerns. The novel coronavirus has a propensity to mix large chunks of its genome when it makes copies of itself. Unlike small mutations, which are like typos in the sequence, a phenomenon called recombination resembles a major copy-and-paste error in which the second half of a sentence is completely overwritten with a slightly different version. A flurry of new studies suggests that recombination may allow the virus to shapeshift in dangerous ways. But in the long term, this biological machinery may offer a silver lining, helping researchers find drugs to stop the virus in its tracks. “There’s no question that recombination is happening,” said Nels Elde, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Utah. “And in fact, it’s probably a bit underappreciated and could be at play even in the emergence of some of the new variants of concern.” The coronavirus mutations that most people have heard about, such as those in the B.1.351 variant first detected in South Africa, are changes in a single “letter” of the virus’s long genetic sequence, or RNA. Because the virus has a robust system for proofreading its RNA code, these small mutations are relatively rare. Recombination, in contrast, is rife in coronaviruses. Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center led by virologist Mark Denison recently studied how things go awry during replication in three coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid. The team found that all three viruses showed “extensive” recombination when replicating separately in the laboratory. Scientists worry that recombination might allow for different variants of the coronavirus to combine into more dangerous versions inside of a person’s body. The B.1.1.7 variant first detected in Britain, for example, had more than a dozen mutations that seemed to appear suddenly. Dr. Elde said that recombination may have merged mutations from different variants that arose spontaneously within the same person over time or that co-infected someone simultaneously. For now, he said, that idea is speculative: “It’s really hard to see these invisible scars from a recombination event.” And although getting infected with two variants at once is possible, it’s thought to be rare. Katrina Lythgoe, an evolutionary epidemiologist at the Oxford Big Data Institute in Britain, is skeptical that co-infection happens often. “But the new variants of concern have taught us that rare events can still have a big impact,” she added. Recombination might also allow two different coronaviruses from the same taxonomic group to swap some of their genes. To examine that risk more closely, Dr. Elde and his colleagues compared the genetic sequences of many different coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2 and some of its distant relatives known to infect pigs and cattle. Using specially developed software, the scientists highlighted the places where those viruses’ sequences aligned and matched — and where they didn’t. The software suggested that over the past couple of centuries of the viruses’ evolution, many of the recombination events involved segments that made the spike protein, which helps the virus enter human cells. That’s troubling, the scientists said, because it could be a route through which one virus essentially equips another to infect people. “Through this recombination, a virus that can’t infect people could recombine with a virus like SARS-CoV-2 and take the sequence for spike, and could become able to infect people,” said Stephen Goldstein, an evolutionary virologist who worked on the study. Updated  Feb. 5, 2021, 12:18 p.m. ET The findings, which were posted online on Thursday but have not yet been published in a scientific journal, offered fresh evidence that related coronaviruses are quite promiscuous in terms of recombining with each other. There were also many sequences that cropped up in the coronaviruses that seemed to come out of nowhere. “In some cases, it almost looks like there’s sequence dropping in from outer space, from coronaviruses we don’t even know about yet,” Dr. Elde said. The recombination of coronaviruses across totally different groups has not been closely studied, in part because such experiments would potentially have to undergo government review in the United States because of safety risks. Feng Gao, a virologist at Jinan University in Guangzhou, China, said that although the new software from the Utah researchers found unusual sequences in coronaviruses, that doesn’t provide ironclad evidence for recombination. It could simply be that they evolved that way on their own. “Diversity, no matter how much, does not mean recombination,” Dr. Gao said. “It can well be caused by huge diversification during viral evolution.” Scientists have limited knowledge about whether recombination could give rise to new pandemic coronaviruses, said Vincent Munster, a viral ecologist with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who has studied coronaviruses for years. Still, that evidence is growing. In a study released in July and formally published today, Dr. Munster and his collaborators suggested that recombination is likely how both SARS-CoV-2 and the virus behind the original SARS outbreak in 2003 both ended up with a version of the spike protein that allows them to deftly enter human cells. That spike protein binds to a particular entry point in human cells called ACE2. That paper calls for greater surveillance of coronaviruses to see if there are others that use ACE2 and may thus pose similar threats to people. Some scientists are studying recombination machinery not only to fend off the next pandemic, but to help fight this one. For example, in his recent study on the recombination of three coronaviruses, Dr. Denison of Vanderbilt found that blocking an enzyme known as nsp14-ExoN in a mouse coronavirus caused recombination events to plummet. This suggested that the enzyme is vital to coronaviruses’ ability to mix-and-match their RNA as they replicate. Now, Dr. Denison and Sandra Weller, a virologist at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, are investigating whether this insight could treat people with Covid. Certain antiviral drugs such as remdesivir fight infections by serving as RNA decoys that gum up the viral replication process. But these medications don’t work as well as some had hoped for coronaviruses. One theory is that the nsp14-ExoN enzyme chucks out the errors caused by these drugs, thereby rescuing the virus. Dr. Denison and Dr. Weller, among others, are looking for drugs that would block the activity of nsp14-ExoN, allowing remdesivir and other antivirals to work more effectively. Dr. Weller likens this approach to the cocktail therapies for H.I.V., which combine molecules that act on different aspects of the virus’s replication. “We need combination therapy for coronaviruses,” she said. Dr. Weller notes that nsp14-ExoN is shared across coronaviruses, so a drug that successfully suppresses it could act against more than just SARS-CoV-2. She and Dr. Denison are still at the early stages of drug discovery, testing different molecules in cells. Other scientists see potential in this approach, not only to make drugs like remdesivir work better, but to prevent the virus from fixing any of its replication mistakes. “I think it’s a good idea,” Dr. Goldstein said, “because you would push the virus into what’s known as ‘error catastrophe’ — basically that it would mutate so much that it’s lethal for the virus.” Source link Orbem News #coronavirus #Genome #Master #Mixing #Scientists #worrying

[pretishaarts]

CONSENT IS SEXY

In the UK, 1 out of 5 women will experience sexual assault during their life time. Sucks, right.

In 2017, the Crime Survey UK, reported that 20% of women have experience sexual assault since the age of 16, which is equivalent to 3.4 million women. Approximately, 85,000 women from the ages of 16-59 have experienced rape, attempted rape or sexual assault, meanwhile only 15% of those who experience sexual abuse report to the police. These statistics clearly shows that women of all ages have been taught to feel frightened to stand up towards sexual abuse of men they do not want to engage with, as a result this has led women to post-traumatic stress disorder and emotional responses such as depression, anxiety, guilt, anger etc.

When I first considered writing a manifesto based on sexual consent, a friend of mine asked me who would the target audience be and what level of understanding do I want them to gain after reading this? I answered “everyone.” However, my manifesto is for women, reason why I say women is due to the way society views us. Being a woman myself, I observe the way men degrade us on a daily basis for things that were gifted with, from our knowledge to our sexuality. Therefore, it’s my responsibility to stand up for women and by doing this, I will be discussing about cultural change that we need to help tackle sexual abuse. My aim is to help girls/women become aware of sexual violence that occurs all over the world, meanwhile providing ways to prevent it from happening.

There’s a large number of individuals who are unaware of the meaning consent that have experienced sexual assault in their lifetime. Majority of these victims, blame themselves for the wrongful incident thinking that it’s their fault which isn’t the case at all. I believe that majority of us are told the definition of sexual assault quite briefly rather than in detail, for instance “If you say no but they continue without your consent, then its rape”. However, they’re numerous ways that a person could be assaulted and what bothers me are the number of victims who aren’t aware of this, which leads to predators getting away with it.

Historically, rape culture was entirely normalised in the western world during slavery. Slavers experienced sexual violence on a daily basis, however they didn’t consider their abuse as rape under the logic that their oppressors couldn’t rape someone who consistently wanted to have sex which is totally false. In many cases, rape was only rape if only the victim was a white woman. If black men were accused of sexually assaulting white women, they would face harsh consequences such as lynching or imprisonment. On the other hand, white men wouldn’t face any legal punishment for the same crimes against black women. Black women sexuality has made them unrapeable and unworthy of protection, slavers didn’t have the authority to stand up for themselves without being threatened, abused or murdered by slave masters.

If we compare rape culture during slavery and today, many changes have occurred culturally and politically. According to legal systems in 19th century rape was non-existent amongst slave but currently sexual abuse is recognised and illegal in many countries no matter what race you are. Beliefs have also changed as more people understand that sexual violence is wrong and whoever commits this unjustified act deserves to be sentenced. Although we’ve seen many improvements, culturally, legally and politically, we still have a long way to go in order to see a huge difference especially in third world countries. India is known to be the most dangerous country for women, having the highest rates of sexual abuse experts say that ‘a woman is raped in India every 16 minutes.’ Women are often seen as possessions or objects rather than human beings, which suggests that cultural change doesn’t occur in India quite often. Legally, the system continuously fails women in India by giving little legal assistance to victims.  Moreover, there's hardly any support shown towards rape victims, leading them to fight a lonely battle against their abuser where justice isn’t delivered timely.

The economic, social and cultural contribution of creative industries are key factors of many societies and their policies. There’s various confirmation that precarity, competition and the lack of regulation within these industries is aggravating inequalities with respect to gender, race and class. These cultural patterns create and reproduce the way we think towards sexual abuse, whether it's worth fighting over and what should be accepted as the norm. In order to prevent sexual abuse, this will require action at the individual, educational and governmental levels, starting with public discussions to inform society that sexual abuse is never okay. Organisations can inform others about inequality in different aspects that will help influence culture. Many prevention will help create cultural patterns and reproduce how we think and feel about sexual abuse. Social media has a large impact towards cultural change i.e. Twitter and the prevention of sexual abuse. It’s very accessible for finding information and keeping updated with the latest news, therefore, individuals standing up online for what they believe in, spreading awareness and creating petitions allows us to understand that there’s a shift in cultural change within society as many people become aware of what's right and wrong. This helps create a culture of respect politically and legally by ensuring that the law enforcement takes sexual abuse a lot more seriously.

One big mover and shaker who has a major influence towards spreading awareness of sexual abuse would be Tarana Burke who’s a well-known activist and the founder of #MeToo movement. MeToo is a movement against sexual harassment and abuse in today’s society, which started in 2006 to help raise awareness. The movement is globally recognised and has successfully made an impact to cultural change throughout societies and adjudicative systems, meanwhile uplifting survivors of sexual abuse by letting them know that they’re not alone. Tolerance, silence, acceptance and victim blaming take hold and become the norm. With the MeToo movement, it helps challenge the cultural ground rule that women have no say in who is in their intimate life. The MeToo movement has definitely been the start of cultural change within the creative industries and working environments by determining professional standards. The movement has made organisations reconsiders their policies and guidance by stating what is unacceptable and the consequences you’ll face if you violate these rules stated. This allows women to feel confident enough to speak up on unethical, unprofessional and discriminatory behaviour that we are exposed to. Even though this strategy is very encouraging, there's still a lot of development that needs to happen. However, the movement has made a massive impact in attitudes, behaviours and the contrast in culture especially in creative industries. MeToo movement managed to investigate an abuse of power that has empowered wider discussions about inequalities as many are now confident enough to speak out when we see inappropriate behaviour.

Another method that can be used to spread awareness and condemn sexual abuse within the creative industries would be art. Using art is a very effective way to speak on issues that happens across the globe, this can be expressed through music, shows, poetry, drawing and etc. An American neo-conceptual artist, Jenny Holzer reclaimed the concept of ‘Lustmord’ to discuss rape. Holzer addressed the sexual abuse against women during the Bosnian War in the 1990’s by creating texts from the perspectives of a victim. Holzer writes each line of the poems on women skin and photographs them individually, ‘I want to suck on her to make her respond’ reads one. She ensured that the poems were never read in full to complicate the identities of the victim, observer and the offender, making it difficult for her audience to detect which perspective each line came from.

It’s my duty that through this and other attempts, the next generation of women maintain the power that they own in order to have access to complete freedom by owning their sexuality, fighting for their equality and speaking out without being back lashed. I will be applying this to myself by creating a platform where myself and other women can speak on the harsh reality that we face as rape victim as this allows us to deal with trauma in a healthy way. In conclusion, I strongly believe that sexual abuse is an important issue that we should be well informed on as millions of people have been in this predicament globally. For sexual assault to stop it all begins with what you understand, your morals and what you could do to prevent it from occurring.

LINK TO VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/450350632

References:

https://rapecrisis.org.uk/get-informed/about-sexual-violence/statistics-sexual-violence/

https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2019/discussion-paper-what-will-it-take-promoting-cultural-change-to-end-sexual-harassment-en.pdf?la=en&vs=1714

file:///C:/Users/preti/Downloads/Hennekam_et_al-2017-Gender_Work__Organization.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_sexual_slavery_in_the_United_States

https://www.dw.com/en/what-is-behind-indias-rape-problem/a-51739350

https://exhibitionfem.wordpress.com/2015/02/24/lustmord/

[anshulkumarpandey]

A Meeting with Irom Sharmila

"Irom Sharmila is in Delhi. Please do come to Manipur Bhawan today at 5:30 PM." A terse facebook status update by one of my friends informed me of only the second visit by Irom Sharmila, the Iron lady of Manipur, to the national capital. To students like me, people like Irom Sharmila are a great source of inspiration. While those who claim to be Gandhian capture public imagination one day and fizzle out the next day, this woman on the other hand has been continuing her indefinite fast against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) away from the media glare in the remote state of Manipur for the last 12 years. She has been awarded by organizations and countries abroad, but back at home, she remains relatively unknown by a media whose sight is restricted only to events happening in Delhi and Mumbai.

Sharmila last came to Delhi in 2006. Back then she stayed here for six months and sat at Jantar Mantar to continue her (by then) 6 year long hunger strike. As she started attracting editorial comment and significant news coverage, she was picked up from there by security agencies, force fed and transported back to Manipur after being booked under IPC for attempt to suicide. I was not here in Delhi back in 2006. But I was here now when she was coming back for the court hearing of the case lodged against her and I was determined not to miss the opportunity.

Manipur Bhavan, located near Assam Bhavan on Kautilya Marg in Central Delhi, bore a deserted look as I arrived there. There was a solitary guard standing outside smoking a cheap cigarette. I went up to him and inquired about the event. "The event is already over. Some students just left" he said in an attempt to shoo me away. "No No" I insisted "This event is taking place at 5:30. Irom Sharmila is coming. You know Irom Sharmila?" "No. I don't know her. But there is no event at 5:30. Are you sure you are not confusing Manipur House with Manipur Bhavan?" In confusion, I called up my friend who had posted the status update who in turn gave me the number of another person who was accompanying Irom from the airport. After speaking with him I got to know that the event was scheduled in Manipur House and not Manipur Bhavan. Heaving a sigh of relief, I began looking for an auto to go to Manipur House. But to my dismay, there was some auto rickshaw union strike due to which no auto wallah was ready to drop me to the desired destination. Finally, I woke up an auto wallah who was sleeping inside his auto and coaxed and cajoled him to drop me. At last he thankfully agreed and I was able to reach the venue in time. Having dropped me to the guest house, the auto wallah parked his auto outside and slept again. A couple of media vans and half a dozen students loitering outside the gates of Manipur House assured me that this was indeed the venue. To confirm, I just asked one of the students whether he too was waiting for Irom Sharmila. He replied in affirmative. I strolled inside the guest house to pass my time somehow while the cavalcade made its way from the airport to the venue. I checked the time: 4:30. I loitered around, made small talk with some of the media persons already there and started messaging all my friends and others who might be interested in meeting her. Sitting under the statue of Bir Tikendrajit Singh, erstwhile Prince of the Independent State of Manipur who was hanged by the British in 1891 for rebelling against the queen, I tried to order my thoughts and think of the one question I would like to ask if I got an opportunity to speak with her.

As we waited, more media vans started trickling in. Some local news channels were already present when I arrived around 4:30, but soon the national media came calling. Times Now, NDTV, ANI etc. all rolled in their swanky OB vans. Meanwhile, news reached that the cavalcade had started from the airport for the guest house. I looked at my watch again: 5:45. Just started? Why such delay? Someone informed me that Irom had to wait for more than an hour at the airport while transportation as being arranged for her. This stuck me as odd and insulting at the same moment. Had it been a VIP, VVIP or a media celebrity, there would have been a jet of swanky cars and heavy security 2 hours beforehand at the airport. Yet, Irom Sharmila was no VIP or media celebrity and hence she had to wait at the airport because the administration here hadn't bothered to make sure that all the arrangements were in place. Still lost in such thoughts, I saw the guards at the guest house requesting everyone to move out of the premises as they had to close down the gates. No one was allowed inside. Not even the media. 

We all sat outside as media persons kept trickling in. One well known anchor came and asked in panic "Has she arrived yet? Thank god! I would have been so screwed. Can somebody get me some water?" I kept speaking to my own group of bechara student people who were present here out of a mix of sheer respect and curiosity. As the media persons fixed their cameras on their tripods, rolled out python length cables and shouted at and jostled with one another for some space, we heard a group of people arriving while chanting slogans. "Long Live Sharmila!" "Repeal AFSPA!" chants filled the air as these motely group of 10-15 people made their way to the guest house. The media immediately thrust their mikes in front of their previously agitated and currently intimidated faces.

I strolled around, listening one moment to the questions the media persons were asking to those protesters, going back to my group the next moment and then strolling away towards the road to look out for the cavalcade the very next. It was around 6:30 that finally a couple of Meru Cabs took the turn towards the guest house and someone shouted "She is here!" and there was a huge commotion in which cameras was uprooted from their tripods and space was made for the cars to pass and students were pushed to one side and gates were thrown open that we saw Irom Sharmila, with a tube attached to her nose for feeding, sitting shyly in the rear seat of the second car, sandwiched between two intimidating plain clothes police women. As soon as the cars entered the guest house again, the gates were again closed and everyone who had wandered in was forcibly pushed out. Cameras were on tripods again now as she got out with some difficulty from the car and glanced shyly once towards the cameras before going inside.

"That's it? Isn't she going to come and speak to us?" One of us asked. Others murmured indistinctively. The crowd outside the gates was now divided into two camps: the optimists and the pessimists. The Pessimists were obviously in the majority. "She won't be allowed to come and speak to us. We should have known this earlier" one of the students whispered in my ear. "Let's wait. Don't jump to conclusions" someone else replied. Meanwhile, some of the protesters succeeded in speaking to one of the main guards accompanying Sharmila. Being from Manipur, they all spoke rapidly in Meitei, the local language, while others like me waited for the conversation to get over. Finally after about 15 minutes, the conversation got over and I, like others, crowded around Rojesh, the person who was speaking to the guard. "He says that they are going to force feed her and that it may take some time. Only then will she be allowed to speak to the media." More wait.

It was around 7:30 that the weak figure of Irom Sharmila finally appeared on the entrance of the guest house. There were shouts and chants in which media persons pushed everyone behind (again) and kicked and jostled with each other for the best possible shot. The gates were to remain closed, the guard informed us. There was a small table and a chair that was set up behind the gates from where she was to address the Press Conference. Finally at around 7:45, the Press Conference started.

One thing that I noticed about her was her extremely frail and weak state coupled with a girly giggle that came out every two sentences. One normally expects political activists as being serious and angry, but here she was, 12 years on the hunger strike and yet unchanged by the circumstances around her. I won't go into the details of the Press Conference as it has been widely reported in various media outlets and elsewhere. But I got to see firsthand how some irresponsible sections of the electronic media misquote people. During the course of the briefing, Sharmila said that "the attempt to gain political legitimacy by the use of army in Manipur is very terrible". There was a journalist standing right next to me who was tweeting at the same time. He tweeted "Irom Sharmila says that the use of Army in Manipur is very terrific". Almost instinctively, I grabbed his hand and said "Terrible. She said Terrible." The guy was looking at me for some time while he sent out the tweet.

The Press Conference ended about half an hour later. As the media persons dispersed, we students and other non-accredited people finally got an opportunity to speak to her. There was a lot of laughter, a lot of smiling faces and people wished her best of luck. Finally, I got a chance to speak to her. "You are a huge source of inspiration for people like me. What advice would you give to people of my generation?" Her eyes lit up. She smiled and giggled while answering. "The People of younger generation are the future political citizens of this country. They should set an example for others through their conduct. They are my only hope for change." I smiled back. Others murmured in agreement. Finally, the guard shouted "Okay. Enough. Now she has to go back inside."

Feeling happy for having met her but miserable for the state she was in, all of us dispersed for the night. The autowallah who dropped me to the venue slept soundly in his auto outside.

[ittousagi]

Help Us Get $624 More for Rent

Since first posting this last plea for rent help (here: Please Help Us Get $800 for Our Rent!) we have received a couple of donations. Thank you for those.

But we still need another $624 ASAP to pay our rent and avoid being kicked out of our apartment.

You recall, emergency car repairs and client vacations in late July devastated the savings we normally use for rent payments, so we need your help collecting (now) an additional $624 to pay our rent to let us stay in our apartment.

In July my partner made a multi-stage fundraiser, which has been updated and is quoted below the --read more-- break. But in short we need the above-mentioned $620 to pay our rent or we will be kicked out of our apartment in about ten days.

So please ask your family and your friends to help us with this so that we can get out of our immediate emergency. You can donate to us by sending them via PayPal to  IttoUsagi@hotmail.com, or directly to me at https://www.paypal.me/AaronVSteimle

Here is my partner’s original (ongoing and updated) multi-stage fundraiser:

Help Us Survive the Summer!

Hello all! If you’re reading this, it means a) you are awesome human beings b) that times are rough and my partner and I, for various job-related reasons (and non-job reasons, like tires being slashed in the night), are not going to make it through the rest of this month and into August without help.

Now, in the spirit of attempted brevity and clarity (and because technical errors caused me to lose the original version of this post), I am going to give the current goal and donation info, along with a handy, albeit not terribly handsome, thermometer graphic below. Details will be under a “read more” cut since explaining the state of the residential care industry and what being a Direct Support Professional (DSP) is like definitely takes more than a sentence or two. So -

Current Goal: $944

Current Deadline: before August 1 (rent due date)

Total Goal: $1,298 (includes rent and utilities, including deferments on power bill)

Donate: via Paypal using ittousagi@hotmail.com as the e-mail address

Also, thank you so so much for the boosts and donations given already.

Note: I have to update this graphic manually, so - last update: 3:32 pm on Wednesday, August 2. Progress $320/$944

This explanation is a bit hard to give because I cannot give details (privacy for clients and company mandated not naming and shaming the company, although they all have pretty similarly bad working conditions for the DSPs), but welcome to, Wow this is really kind of terrible even before the possible changes to insurance coverage in the United States (by which I mean if those changes go through, literally everyone who uses a DSP for whatever reason will have a “pre-existing condition” and thus can be denied insurance and thus be denied access to a DSP).

Now, the situation we’re in is because of both immediate happenings and because of continuing problems with the industry (I am counting on y’all being too lovely to do the why don’t you get a different job response because long periods of unemployment are terrible, as is the recovery from them).

For the immediate happenings, one care client and their family are basically not in need of services for two weeks spread over two different paychecks (the second/final one for July and the first one for August). They are not dropping services, simply doing things and causing results that are not at all atypical for working as a DSP (making up an example, there are no provisions in the way employment, including wages, work as a DSP if, say, a client/client’s family want to retain your services but go on a two week vacation out of state). A second client has dropped services altogether, so a new, well-matched client needs to be found and that is causing a further dent in pay. It is also a harder proposition because serving that new client also has to be compatible with the current, continuing client, both in direct scheduling matters (start and end time and drive time) and in other matters (for example, there are no-scent policies for DSPs and on top of that a client may have a no smoking rule, so a client who regularly smokes indoors is going to cause issues if the client directly after them cannot have lingering cigarette smoke brought into their house on the DSP’s clothes).

On less immediate happenings (pretend I included the slashed tire in stuff that’s happening immediately or just happened), the DSP field has and has had major issues for quite a while now. A statement of the impact on people served by DSPs due to industry wide problems can be found at this link. And, to make a vast understatement, that information is very very accurate. My partner and I are living it right now and will end up contributing to the employee turnover rate if we can’t at least get through upcoming bills.

There may be some exceptions that are a little less bad, but in our particular case (and I can’t even comment on the size of this company because that is actually kind of enough to figure out which one it is, since I’ve also mentioned we’re in the U.S.), there is no kind of reimbursement for travel or a pay rate that accounts for the gas costs (and car maintenance costs) involved in the job. And those costs are not simply driving to and from each client’s house (although that can add up on its own). Depending on what services a client and their family need and want, a DSP might drive them to the grocery store, drive to the grocery store and buy the groceries for them, drive the client and a visiting relative around town (or around a multi city metro area), drive them to therapy, drive them to a cinema to meet up with friends or to go with just the DSP as company (with the DSP potentially then having to provide the ticket cost themselves so they can physically stay with the client), or whatever else they may want and need. Again, with everything coming out of the DSP’s own pocket with no reimbursement and with no wage to match.

And that is just the matter of gas costs (and wear and tear on your own personal vehicle, with only your own personal insurance on it). Even sticking to bare bones everything (and ignoring worn out clothing that is literally falling apart, food, etc), the necessary costs of getting and keeping the job also include phone service (for basically being on-call all the time and also for logging arrive and depart times even though paperwork done on your own time for no pay is also required), auto insurance, and internet service (all e-mails must be noticed immediately). And, again, the job does not account for any of that. Or even the need to just meet survival needs.

I don’t know if I’ve said enough or too much but I am really, really hoping people will be understanding and kind and help us make it through the month (because, hey, being housed is also a requirement for getting and keeping the job and also often for being able to use food banks, which are often very not compatible with standard job schedules and certainly not back to back care clients). Thank you to any and every one who has read this far and given us this much time already. Fingers crossed and thank you again.

The $624 will help cover the rent and what will likely be about $100 in late fees. We need this money as soon as possible; the sooner we get it, the less the late fees will be. So please help us collect $624 ASAP to pay our rent!

Once again, you can send the money via PayPal to IttoUsagi@hotmail.com or send the money directly to me at www.PayPal.me/AaromVSteimle.

Please share this post with as many people as you can and help pay our rent!

Thank You!

[emptyxhere]

Rules for mobile users

[[here’s a google doc for the updated list of rules, applicable for all my blogs]]

anything under this cut is from my outdated rules.

[rules updated: 07/28/2019]

–STUFF YOU SHOULD DO–

• No godmodding. No sending (implied or explicit) homophobic/transphobic/bigoted messages to me or my character either.

• Assume the majority of this blog’s interactions will take place over social media. However, I’m still interested in doing face to face interactions for this muse, upon request, or if you send in an ask meme starter prompt! If you’re not interested in blog-style roleplaying, that’s alright. This Frisk is connected to the player known as Zenith (@xceancyes) so some lore stuff might happen on this blog if you want to follow along with online shenanigans.

• In any face to face interactions: if you start getting bored with the roleplay, feel free to drop it and/or end it. We can always start up another thread in the future.

• Please don’t over-pester me for replies. I promise I’ll get to them. Feel free to drop me a reminder after at least a week of no replies, though. In return, I usually give you a week too, unless otherwise specified in your own rules, until I remind you if it’s your turn to reply (or more often, I chicken out and trust that you’ll eventually respond/want to drop it and end up never bringing up that particular thread ever again). You’re always free to start multiple threads with me, that is greatly encouraged because I love having lots of threads with people.

• However, please let me know if you want to drop a roleplay thread! It can give me major anxiety when I’m waiting for a response that’s never going to come, and I wonder if I did something wrong and assume that’s why you’re not replying anymore :’) I’m not forcing you to let me know if you want to drop a thread, you can drop it without saying anything too. But I personally really appreciate being told about that sort of thing.

• Don’t reblog a f2f thread you’re not part of. This should go without being said, of course. Personals will be immediately hardblocked, and rp blogs will receive a warning.

• Please know that any in character post is okay to reblog or reply to if we’re mutuals! But out of character posts are not okay to reblog, unless stated otherwise, or it is a promo or art I’ve done.

• If you can trim your threads, please do! It’s fine if you can’t, though, because I will most likely trim the thread for you. If you don’t trim threads with other people, however, I’ll be less likely to follow you since I don’t like scrolling through long posts.

• Please don’t claim any of my art as your own. If you post it somewhere, the least you can do is credit me by at least including a link to my blog or something. Bonus points if you ask me first before reposting my art, but I understand if you’re anxious because so am I :’)

• That being said, if you’re following me, please let me know if I’m doing something that’s making you uncomfortable or is breaking one of your rules!! I do read the rules pages of everyone, but I’m human and forget things, and I’m not a mind reader either ;~; I care, so please tell me if I’m ever doing anything bad

—

–STUFF YOU SHOULD KEEP IN MIND–

• I am of age to do smut, but Frisk is definitely not! They are a baby!! No smut in this house.

• This blog is not a spoiler-free one.

• I’m alright with roleplaying nsfw in general, minus smut. Gore, violence, and generally dark roleplays are cool with me. It should be, considering this is a genocide Frisk anyway. I love angsty things just as much as I love fluff ;w; Plus, their first instinct to seeing a monster now is to kill them, so they’ll probably fight any monster muses on sight. Speaking of gore, you’re more than welcome to fight/harm/injure my muse to any extent! You don’t even have to ask! If you want to do a rp where they die, however, please dm me first. (this rule is for f2f interactions)

• I prefer not to interact with personals. Personals in general are allowed to follow me though! However! Personals are not allowed to reblog roleplays, in character posts, or ooc posts especially if I say in the tags that I’m going to delete the post later. Only things that are tagged with my “reblogs” or “musings” or “art tag” tags are okay to reblog. Headcanon posts are not okay to reblog unless I say otherwise.

• Like spamming is okay! I very occasionally lose roleplays, and getting lots of notes from likes are never a factor for that, for me personally. If I lose a roleplay, it’s mostly just because I forgot, so that’s really a “me” thing. And I like it when people like my posts! It lets me know that you like my blog and the stuff I post, and it makes me happy :’)

• If you are an OC, I will assume our muses have never met unless you plan ahead with me what their relationship is like.

• That being said, characters who have already interacted in canon will know each other. Unless the roleplay takes place in a different point of time and we are staging their first meeting, of course.

• Frisk will be pretty meta sometimes. They are aware of who Players are (they’re definitely not fond of them considering what their’s made them do), and they know they live in the game world. Although they are not aware of alternate universes and things of that nature yet.

• Like I said above, Frisk is connected to the player known as Zenith. He was the player who controlled their adventure three years ago.

• Frisk is nonbinary on this blog. Although, I don’t care if you refer to them as a boy or a girl (Frisk has no preference). Their order of preference for pronouns is they/she/he, although they will definitely like you more if you use exclusively they/them pronouns. I respect all headcanons about Frisk’s gender, and same goes for any Krises and Charas. If you play a KFC kid, gendered or not, I will use the pronouns they want used, and I do hope that you use they/them pronouns for my Frisk. I personally will default to using they/them for other Krises, Frisks, and Charas unless specified on your blog. No discourse about this, please.

• Doubles are welcome to interact too! I’m also cool with interacting with and following multiple blogs who portray the same character other than Frisks as well!

• This blog will not have mains. Of course most of the monsters in their timeline are dead, other than Flowey, Asgore and Sans(?), and any monster who managed to evacuate.

• Regarding face to face interactions: I’m pretty lenient with short replies. Don’t feel pressured to match the length if my reply gets long! Multi-para (usually 2-5 paragraphs) is my go-to for roleplays, so I usually do long replies by default.

• Adding onto that, I honestly don’t mind one-liners. Of course, in crack/online roleplays it’s fine but I’m okay with it in serious roleplays too. I prefer it if you don’t give me one-liners, but hey, as long as I’m still having fun with the roleplay anyway, it’s cool with me! I understand not being able to think of anything to write, so just as long as you don’t give me one or two words as your reply like ‘He smiled.’ or ’*laughs*’, I’ll be cool with it. Put at least some effort even if you’re only gonna give me one sentence, otherwise I’ll drop the rp once it becomes a repeat offense.

• I will not change the formatting of my roleplays to fit yours. I’m comfortable with sticking to only paragraph style roleplays, thank you very much. Feel free to keep formatting your own posts though, because I think formatting looks really cool! I just don’t want to format my posts, however. I do not currently have any icons for this blog, and I will not go all out with formatting my own posts with all that cool ‘small text’, and indents, and bolding and all that. The most I ever do with my formatting is italics for emphasis on certain words.

• I tend to move f2f roleplays from asks onto its own post. If I send you an ask meme and you answer it, I’ll respond by making a new post, tagging you, and linking to your reply. Until formatting on asks are fixed, I will answer any asks sent to me in a new text post rather than asks.

• I accept any sort of asks! If they aren’t answered after a while, either I don’t know how to answer it or I might be drawing it out and I am a very slow artist- Sorry-

• Feel free to tag me in any of those tagging memes! I don’t mind and I think they’re pretty fun to do! ^^

• Adding onto the above rule, you’re more than welcome to send me those chain asks like “send this to 10 roleplayers you think are really great!” because it’s super duper nice that you would think to send one to me! But don’t expect me to send them to other people, because I won’t :’) my anxiety won’t let me, so I’m sorry-

• If I follow you, that means I’ve already read all of your rules. I might not send the codephrase, though, because most of the time I get very anxious over having to send things like that. I’m very sorry–! But if I follow you then chances are that I have definitely read them before following- If you choose not to trust me on this, I understand.

• I generally follow every rp blog that follows me, but I might not follow some people back for a few reasons. Some might be for the type of content you post on your blog. I will interact with most people (unless you wanna rp gross things or you’re a mean person,,,, like your muse can be as much of a dick as you want, that’s no problem but don’t be gross to other people as yourself) and if I do roleplay with you, I will be more likely to follow you as well.

• Adding onto the above rule, however, please respect that it’s nothing personal if I ever unfollow you either! It’s not that I hate you or anything, but if you haven’t followed me back and you’re a private rp blog, or if we’re mutuals but never really roleplay, our muses just don’t click, you spam stuff that I don’t want to see on my dash, or you’ve become inactive for years and/or don’t interact with me anymore, there’s nothing wrong with that! We can still be friends but I prefer to have all the people I follow be potential rp partners. Feel free to follow me on my personal, @briightskies if you still wanna keep in touch but not rp :’)

—

–ABOUT THIS BLOG–

• This blog is OC and crossover friendly! I love OCs and have many of my own tbh, you’re all more than welcome to come interact with me!!

• This blog is semi-selective with blog post interactions. I’ll mostly just interact with people I’m following, but I’m definitely open to interacting with other rp blogs too. Regarding f2f interactions, I am non-selective!

• I’ll also interact with fandoms I’m not into either, as long as you have a good about section for your character, which also indicates how you portray them (any headcanons or AUs you have that aren’t canon, or whether you portray them as canonly as possible, unless they’re OCs of course since a regular about page is a given) and I’ll probably look up other things about that fandom in its wiki if I don’t know what something is anyway.

• I really shouldn’t have to say this, but I feel like I’ll need to anyway. I will not be shipping with this muse! They’re not in the best mental space for relationships at the moment, and they are also Too Young to be dealing with anything more than small crushes at kids their age.

• This blog might contain triggering content. I will tag common triggers and such, but don’t be afraid to tell me if you have something you want me to tag! I promise I’ll remember to tag it from then on. I do not have any known triggers myself. Any trigger warning tags will be written as “tw; ____” with a semi-colon, not a colon. If I feel like something should be tagged as a trigger but I’m not sure what to tag it exactly, I’ll just tag it as “tw” as a sort of catch-all tag.

     Requested tagged triggers:

 none at the moment

• I will only talk through the IM system ooc. If you send me a message through there, I will not respond with ooc brackets ((these things)) because I will automatically assume you know that you’re talking to the mun. I do not do roleplays or ic interactions on there.

-

Thank you for reading this really long list of rules! It means a lot if you did!

There’s no password, because I’m also anxious with those for other people’s blogs as I said above. But if you would like to interact with me, you can shoot me an ask directed to my muse, or @ them or something!

[alex51324]

Trump’s Russia Problem, Part Trois

A while ago, I posted a primer on Trump’s Russia Problem.  Then, at the beginning of March, I posted an update.  Now it’s March 23 (just past Day 60 of the Trump Administration) and a lot has happened this week, so it’s time for another update!

What happened when FBI Director Comey testified before the House Intelligence Committee?

The biggest thing is that he confirmed that the FBI is investigating not just Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, but the possibility that the Trump campaign colluded with that interference.  (Link is to NPR video and commentary.)  Here’s the money quote:

“I've been authorized by the Department of Justice to confirm that the FBI, as part of our counterintelligence mission, is investigating the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. That includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government, and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia's efforts. As with any counterintelligence investigation, this will also include an assessment of whether any crimes were committed. Because it is an open, ongoing investigation, and is classified, I cannot say more about what we are doing and whose conduct we are examining.”

This is an extremely cautious and qualified statement, and in one sense it doesn’t tell us anything new:  it’s been widely reported that this investigation exists, and it stands to reason that Team Trump’s links to Russia would be part of it.  However, it is extremely unusual for the FBI to publicly confirm the existence of an open investigation of this nature--and one reason it’s so unusual is that the average person in the street is likely to interpret such confirmation as indicative of wrongdoing on the part of the subject of the investigation.  (For instance, during the campaign, Kellyanne Conway commented that she didn’t know many honest people who were under FBI investigation.  She was speaking of Hillary Clinton.)  

Director Comey and the Justice Department certainly know that confirming the investigation, and confirming that the possibility of collusion is part of it, looks bad for Trump, and yet they did so anyway. (You may recall that Comey made a similar choice during the campaign, regarding the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails, and it looked bad for her, too.)  We all have to make up our own minds why we think that choice was made--every pundit in America has offered their own reading of the tea leaves, but there are only a handful of people in the country in a position to actually know, and they aren’t talking.  

Other things that happened in the course of Comey’s testimony include:

He indicated that there is no evidence supporting Trump’s claim that Obama wiretapped him.

Republicans members used their questions to attempt to shift the emphasis to who had leaked information about this investigation, rather than engaging meaningfully with either Russia’s activities or the possibility of collusion by Team Trump.  Some liberal pundits suggested that this was a good sign, as they at least were not openly defending or shielding Trump.

During the hearings, Trump (using the @POTUS account) tweeted that Comey had just confirmed that Russia did not influence the election, along with a related video clip from the hearing.  That tweet was then read into the hearing, and Comey was asked if he had intended to say what @POTUS was saying he said.  Comey responded that he had not.

OK, I’ve been hearing the name “Manafort” a lot--who’s he, and what did he do?

The big news about Paul Manafort is that the AP broke a story that he had a $10 million a year contract with a Russian businessman to “Influence politics, business dealings and news coverage inside the United States, Europe and former Soviet republics to benefit President Vladimir Putin's government.”

Manafort was Trump’s campaign chairman from April to August of 2016.  Lately--as in the last few days--Team Trump has been attempting to minimize Manafort’s involvement with the campaign, saying he played a “very limited role.”   Manafort resigned from the campaign in August when it was revealed that he had secretly lobbied in DC on behalf of a pro-Russia, pro-Putin political party in Ukraine.  

There are a few reasons this job Manafort had with the Russian businessman is important (all details/quotes from the AP story, linked above):

The businessman, whose name is Deripaska, is known to the State Department as  "among the 2-3 oligarchs Putin turns to on a regular basis."  Even though Manafort’s contract is with Deripaska (he’s in aluminum), and not the Russian government, when Manafort offered his services to Deripaska, he said that this arrangement would “greatly benefit the Putin Government”--the quote is from a document where Manafort was pitching this deal to Deripaska.  

The contract began in 2006.  We don’t know when it ended--an associate confirmed Manafort was still working for Deripaska (and thus, indirectly, for Putin) in 2009.  He could have still been working for him in 2016.  He could still be working for him now.  

Manafort said during the transition that he’s still in contact with Trump (though he had and has no official role in the transition or the administration).  

As one Congressperson, Jackie Speier of California, points out, this information "undermines the groundless assertions that the administration has been making that there are no ties between President Trump and Russia.”  A charming understatement, n’est-ce pas?

The reason we don’t know when (or if) Manafort stopped working for Deripaska is because he never registered with the Department of Justice as a foreign agent.  Failing to register such a relationship is a felony, punishable with a prison sentence of up to five years.  

This final point has caused a great deal of excitement, as progressive and even moderate commentators weigh the likelihood that Manafort would vastly prefer to spill everything he knows over spending five years in federal prison.  

Okay, and Nunes, didn’t he do something this week, too?

He sure did!  Representative Devin Nunes is chair of the House Intelligence Committee, which is handling one of the three major, known investigations into the Russia Problem.  He was also involved in the Trump campaign and transition.  

Today he gave a bizarre and rambling press conference  (actually two of them) in which he announced that he now knew that  “the intelligence community incidentally collected information about U.S. citizens involved in the Trump transition.”  “Incidentally,” in this context, means that the communications were intercepted as part of surveillance of foreign officials--in other words, these conversations were monitored and recorded because of who the other person on the phone was, not because of the Trump officials.  

It is not at all clear why Nunes decided to hold a press conference about this, or why he thinks its important.  Trump has stated that Nunes’s comments “partially vindicate” his claim about wiretapping.  They actually do not, because if the collection was “incidental”--and Nunes says it was--that means it wasn’t Trump, or anyone on Team Trump, who was tapped:  it was whoever they were on the phone with.  Calling (or being called by) someone whose phone is tapped does not transfer the tap to your phone.  

The Slate article (linked above) points out that there is a shady investigative  practice called “reverse targeting,” where an investigator who wants to know what a US person is saying to a foreign person, but can’t get a warrant to tap the US person’s phone, will get one for the foreign person instead, because that type of warrant is easier to get. Nunes did not say that he thought Trump or Trump’s associates had been reverse-targeted, but that may be what he was trying to imply.  

Nunes did say, however, that he believed whatever surveillance occurred was conducted legally--which, again, makes it difficult to tell why he thinks it’s important.  He did not give details on who was involved in these intercepted communications (either the Trump people or the foreign officials), what they talked about, what agency was monitoring them, why they were being monitored, or how he found out about it.   

What’s even more important than what Nunes found out--or what he said about what he found out--is what he did with this information.  He did not share it with the rest of the intelligence committee--Nunes’s Democratic counterpart on the committee said he has no idea what Nunes is talking about.  Instead, he gave a press conference, briefed Trump, and then gave another press conference.  

Let me put that another way:  Nunes, after getting new information about an ongoing investigation being conducted by the committee he chairs, information which he believes is game-changing, chose to brief the subject of that investigation on what he had found.  He also teased this information and its purportedly game-changing nature to the press.  

Numerous Democrats--plus Republican Senator John McCain--have pointed out that Nunes’s actions, particularly his briefing of Trump, cast serious doubt on the integrity of the investigation, and strengthens the calls for a Select Committee or Independent Commission to conduct this inquiry, in place of the Intelligence Committee. 

CNN reports that other Democrats suggest that Nunes’s antics were a sideshow orchestrated by the White House as a distraction from the Comey hearing and Manafort revelations. Further complicating the picture...

Adam Schiff also dropped a bombshell:

Schiff is the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee--Nunes’s Democratic counterpart.  He said today that there is “more than circumstantial” evidence of collusion between Team Trump and the Russian interference with our election.  

Schiff, along with Nunes and six others, are in a unique position to know.  They make up the “Gang of Eight,” a group of lawmakers who get special briefings on classified matters, above what other Senators and Representatives get.  The Gang is always, by design, equally split between the parties and the chambers:  it includes the majority and minority leaders from the House and the Senate, and the chair and ranking member of both intelligence committees.  (Committee chairs always come from the majority party; the ranking member is the other party’s leader in the committee.)

And the reason I told you that is, the fact that Schiff didn’t know what Nunes was talking about in his press conferences indicates that whatever he found out wasn’t part of a Gang of Eight briefing--he must have gotten it through some less-official channel, in other words, a leak.  However, if the evidence to which Schiff is alluding was Gang of Eight stuff, that means Nunes saw it too and might reasonably have predicted that one of the four Gang Democrats would say something about it.  

Backing up a bit, Schiff had said on Sunday that there was circumstantial evidence of collusion--this was in response to a question about an Obama-era intelligence official who stated that he hadn’t seen evidence of collusion.  On Monday (3/20), Schiff appeared on the Rachel Maddow show; when asked to elaborate on what he meant by circumstantial evidence, he talked about how, if one looks out the window in the evening and does not see snow, and then look again the next morning and does see some, that constitutes circumstantial evidence that snow fell during the night.  Rachel glossed this comparison as meaning that circumstantial evidence could be a strong indicator that a certain thing had happened, and Schiff concurred that that had been what he was trying to get across.  Direct evidence, he explained, would be if one actually witnessed the snow falling.  

Today, (3/22), during a Meet the Press Daily appearance, Schiff described the evidence as “more than circumstantial.”  When asked if he meant direct evidence, he said “there is evidence that is not circumstantial.”  He did not offer a snow-based metaphor (or any other metaphor) to elucidate what kind of evidence he meant.  

Schiff also emphasized that Nunes’s press conferences and his briefing to the President, “throw great doubt in the ability of the both the chairman and the committee to conduct the investigation the way it ought to be conducted,” and called for an independent commission.    

[adventures-of-mum]

When two become three

I wrote this about eight months ago but hadn’t ever posted it.  I know this because I refer to Lorcan as a ‘tiny person’ which he most certainly is not anymore! (Another blog on that coming soon…) I’ve reread it and decided not to update it- after months of lockdown parenting and the impact on mental health, relationships and family life that has had for many people, it still feels relevant today.  

-----

Miscarriage, stillbirth, side effects of pregnancy, the physicality of birth, tearing, episiotimies, blood loss, haemoroids, cracked nipples, crying, exhaustion, finding the days hard, finding the nights challenging, feeling guilty about pretty much everything- however monumental or trivial, life-changing or a minor issue for a day or a week. All of these things have been covered in conversations with my friends over the last year or two. In my experience (of course within my own little bubble of existence) the general message from health professionals, from friends and family, and from charities working with pregnant women and new families, seems to be that we need more conversations about more of these things. We need openness and honesty and vulnerability and real life stories and conversation starters. 

We need people to know (before it potentially happens to them) that it is estimated that one in four recognised pregancies end in miscarriage (Tommy’s statistic) and that the National Childbirth Trust suggests half of new mothers suffer mental health problems during pregnancy or within the first year of their child’s birth. We need to know that other people have found things tough and we need to feel we can reach out and talk to whoever we think will help- however major or minor we consider what has happened to us to be. 

Whether it’s a whatsapp group pinging messages between mums at three am or a conversation with a health visitor; whether it’s laughing at cartoons drawn to depict the realities of parenthood or calling a charity set up to support parents with babies who cry excessively- there are many different formal and informal support mechanisms and networks for new parents. Sharing the highs and the lows with friends has been a constant source of humour, support and solidarity for me. As many of my friends’ children turn one, I’ve been sending ‘congratulations’ cards to the parents (the kid gets a birthday card too, obviously). It’s all about raising each other up in the good times and the tough times. But there’s one topic of conversation that is deeply connected and fundamental to all things parenthood, that feels like the last taboo’ of baby related conversations. One subject that has only come up a few times, and with one exception, only when I’ve raised it. That subject is relationships, and the impact that having a new baby can have on your life with your partner. 

I would imagine that many people reading this will think ‘oh yes of course’ but I wonder how many people have felt truly able to share that with a friend or have sought relationship help. Acknowledging it’s needed and being brave enough to reach out and prioritise you as a couple is a big deal, in a world now full of ‘big deals’- the main one being the new tiny person in your life who is taking up every last bit of energy, thought and love. The irony is that it is absolutely no surprise that relationships take a hit. Everything you once knew is up in the air. Change and disruption abound. For months and months you are both exhausted. Your experiences are both challenging but really different too. There’s hardly any time to have a proper conversation, it’s snatches of speech just before bed or during a feed. The ‘side-effects’ of birth that can take a long time to heal along with tiredness and hormone overload deserve their own verse in Flight of the Conchords song ‘Business Time’ (if you don’t know what I’m talking about click the link or give it a search for a dose of hilarity). You are both in love with this new being in your midst, but in your own different ways. If you have a fairly traditional set up with a primary care-giver and a full time paid worker one person’s life has changed minute to minute whilst another person is still doing the same thing as they were before the baby arrived, eight hours a day. Relationships with other family members change and require their own renegotiation- this has the potential to have a knock on effect on the two of you as well. 

Frayed frustration and ragged resentment can quickly build up if communication channels stop flowing or empty of compassion. Words and sentences that used to mean one thing, or could be said in jest or in good faith, now need to be stated clearly and explicitly. It’s easy for people to get the wrong end of the stick when they’ve not slept and are experiencing upheaval and doubt. Where previously perhaps things could go unspoken, now they may need to be said. To share an honest example, pre-baby I was fairly confident in my husband’s opinion of me as a pretty decent human most of the time (apart from when I put the wrong things in the recycling- I’ve finally learnt now). But my husband thinking I was doing a good job as a new mum wasn’t something I just assumed he thought- he didn’t marry a mum, he married me, and as I muddled along I needed to be reassured. He was used to his confident partner in crime not needing such reassurance, so I started to silently wonder if he wasn’t really noticing the job I was now doing or worse still, he saw but didn’t think I was doing it all that well. I needed to know he appreciated all the effort but didn’t want to ask for affirmation. He assumed I knew I was doing just fine. We figured it out eventually but not without some harsh words, frustration and tears. 

Even if you spend all day with your baby you’re often playing catch up- they grow and change so quickly. One minute you’ve mastered breastfeeding and the next your child eats three massive meals a day. We finally started using our reusable nappies and now it’s time to start thinking about buying a potty. Songs and sounds that make him laugh one day get a hilarious if rather bored ‘you don’t really think that’s still amusing do you?’ face the next. If you’re not with your baby all day then the chances are it’s going to take you longer to adapt and catch up with these changes which means both parents and baby are potentially on a different baby page at any one time. It’s not easy. We have had a lot of tears, we have said hurtful things we did not mean and we have both been more frustrated with each other than ever before. We have grappled with our new and changing family dynamics and the different pressures we are both under. We have both needed looking after at the same time, where previously we may have needed support from each other at different times. It’s easy to lose sight of the compassion and kindness we need to keep showing each other. And it's easy to think you’re the only ones feeling like this. 

Even when it’s been really tough, we’ve still been communicating one way or another and eventually we have found our way out of the trees together and have marvelled once again in joyous admiration at the little person we created together. We have found ways to pause if tensions are rising and are now quicker than ever at saying sorry, giving hugs and kisses, expressing our feelings and showing our appreciation for each other. We are by no means perfect, but who is? It’s always a work in progress, but what isn’t? 

If I have brought up relationships with other friends with babies I have learnt that people have had similar or other challenging experiences. One friend said her and her husband hadn’t realised how everything needed to be explicitly said in order to avoid confusion and misunderstanding in the foggy daze of early parenthood. Another said she was used to supporting her partner far more than the other way round- so when she needed support the change in dynamic really threw them both. But aside from the times I’ve started these conversations, I have noticed how this has not been a subject that’s been willingly and openly discussed- post natal depression, exhaustion, frustration with babies and the associated guilt, have all been talked about more openly, freely and frequently. 

Perhaps the frayed tempers and teary misunderstandings are unique to Mark and I, but I’m going out on a limb and saying I don’t think this is the case. So why does this conversation topic remain somewhat off limits? Are we now ‘allowed’ by society to say that parenting is challenging, but not allowed to acknowledge an obvious knock on effect of those challenges? Is there shame attached to acknowledging that family life isn’t always idyllic, even though surely we all know this to be true? Are we embarrassed by the part we’ve played in conflict at home and don’t want to tell people something that makes us appear less than perfect? Whatever the reason I know that in the last decade I have stood in countless marriage ceremonies and made a commitment to help support those getting wed, if they need it in the years to come. I know I love my husband with all my heart and that I have wondered if we are the only people experiencing exasperation with each other, despite this. I know that I’d hate for people to feel they were alone in the challenges that becoming parents can throw up for couples. And I know that just like in relationships, talking about these things is key. Noone needs to share the gory details if they don't want to but we all need to be honest about the efforts needed to maintain a relationship when both people are exhausted and when life has just changed- forever. There’s no shame in acknowledging that things can be tough at times and there’s far more chance of resolving things and of growing stronger together if you do.. 

[filosofablogger]

This is the sixth installment of mine and Jeff’s project, and in case you’ve missed any of the previous posts, we will also be publishing a Table of Contents in just a few minutes that we will keep updated and link to at the end of each future post.  As I mentioned last month in the introduction to the project, as situations change, we will roll with the punches and adjust our focus.  The last 9 days have brought about great change … Trump was acquitted by the Senate, basically being told that whatever he chooses to do, they have his back.  He turned the State of the Union address into a three-ring circus, fired a military hero and a devoted ambassador for no reason other than they did their duty by speaking the truth under oath, has interfered with the rule of law in the sentencing of Roger Stone, has proposed a budget that rewards the wealthy while punishing the disadvantaged, and who knows what tomorrow brings.

The point being that … in the hundred or so comments I answer each day, I sense your frustration, your discouragement, and believe me … Jeff and I have both been there in the past several days.  But we cannot allow ourselves to focus on the negativity, cannot allow ourselves to lose hope or lose sight of the goal.  If we stop fighting, then we lose automatically, without ever knowing if we might have made a difference.  So, join us in picking ourselves up, dusting ourselves off, and going on to fight the good fight for just short of nine more months.

A few weeks ago, I tried to answer the question, “Where do we go from here?”  I concluded that the goal is two-fold:  vote Trump out of the Oval Office and begin to heal the ‘great divide’.  Neither of these goals are going to be easy, folks, and the GOP and others’ propaganda machines are going to make it even harder.

The GOP, or Republican Party, has been actively working to skew the odds in their favour since before the 2016 election.  The Russian interference that triggered Robert Mueller’s investigation was not, as Trump would have you believe, a ‘hoax’ nor a ‘witch hunt’, but was rather a coordinated effort on the part of Russian President Vladimir Putin to launch a propaganda machine demeaning and denigrating Hillary Clinton, while giving rise to Donald Trump.  The Russian propaganda machine has not taken a break since the 2016 elections.  According to FBI Director Christopher Wray …

“That is in some ways an even more challenging area, not the least because it never stopped. It happened in 2016 and it’s been continuing ever since then. It may have an uptick during an election cycle, but it’s a 24/7, 365-days-a-year threat.”

Election security bills were passed by the House of Representatives, but have since languished in the Senate, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refuses to even bring them to the Senate floor for consideration.

But it isn’t only foreign influence that we have to worry about, for much of the propaganda comes directly from the GOP and a plethora of conservative groups.  Consider this example:  The day before the February 3rd Iowa caucuses, Judicial Watch, a conservative advocacy group, put out a report claiming that “Eight Iowa counties have more voter registrations than citizens old enough to register.”  It was a lie, one quickly debunked by Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, but not before the lie had been spread via Fox News’ Sean Hannity and other right-wing media sites.

Voter fraud is a recurring myth favored by right-wingers, but there are other tactics, such as finding a chink in a candidates armour, real or made up, and using it repeatedly, embellishing on it, to denigrate that candidate.  Of the top candidates, we’ve already seen what Trump’s accusations against Joe Biden … accusations that have long since been debunked … have nonetheless played a role in Biden’s polling plunge.  Bernie’s chink, of course, is that he is a democratic socialist, which will play well with those who do not even understand the concept of democratic socialism.

Politics has always been a dirty game … smear campaigns, mudslinging and outright lies are certainly nothing new.  But, with the rise of social media, these tactics are magnified a million-fold, and every time you log onto Facebook or Twitter, you are likely to be exposed to some form of disinformation.  Facebook collects data on you, based on your friends, what you post, what you comment on, and any personal data you include in your profile, and then they use that data to target what advertisements you see.  My advice is to include nothing in your personal profile, and to use a strong ad blocker at all times, but especially when spending time on any social media site.  There is an app called Facebook Purity that will quite effectively block any and all ads, along with other annoying things Facebook throws in your face.  I highly recommend it.

While, after the fiasco that was the 2016 election, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook promised to do a better job of monitoring political ads and false accounts, he backtracked last year when he plainly said he would allow false and misleading ads to continue on the platform, arguing that his company shouldn’t be responsible for arbitrating political speech.  My earliest memories are of political advertisements in newspapers and on television in the early 1950s, and more recently social media has become the platform of preference, but this year there’s yet another venue … your cell phone.  Yep, folks, this year, according to Trump’s campaign manager Brad Parscale, texting will be at the center of Trump’s reelection strategy.  I highly recommend you install a call blocking program if you don’t wish to be disturbed multiple times a day.  Mine is set to block all calls that don’t come from a number on my contact list, and since my contact list includes only 4 people, I no longer get many such calls.  I do, however, see a list of the ones blocked, and I notice the number has increased of late.

Besides being a major annoyance, though, the disinformation campaign, the propaganda machine, poses a significant hurdle to a fair and honest election.  You are savvy enough to know, if you see an ad or what appears to be an actual news story saying that Elizabeth Warren has a harem of young males she keeps locked in the attic of her home for her personal pleasure, it’s fake.  But some will believe it.  Remember Pizzagate, where the rumour was spread that Hillary Clinton and John Podesta were running a human traffiking and child sex ring in the basement of a pizzeria, Comet Ping Pong?  Someone believed it enough to go shoot the place up!

Remember my post from yesterday with the Founding Fathers singing a song to the tune of American Pie?  Creative use of technology, wasn’t it? Well, that was harmless, but some aren’t.  Take a look at this simple, doctored photo of Stacy Abrams that was used by her opponents in the Georgia 2018 gubernatorial race …

Just as social media has increased the spread of disinformation, technology has taken it to a new level.  I would ask that you take just a few minutes … 8 of them, to be precise, to listen to this interview on NPR radio (there is a transcript attached, if you prefer to read the interview)  with McKay Coppins, a writer for The Atlantic, about an article he published earlier this week on the topic of the GOP propaganda machine.  It is very enlightening, and if you would like to read his entire article, which is lengthy, but well worth the time, you can do so here .

As Mr. Coppins said in the interview, even he found himself questioning what was real and what wasn’t, so I think it’s important … nay, crucial … for us all to be hyper-aware of the information that bombards us from all directions most every waking moment these days.  If something sounds off … check it out, don’t just assume it’s correct, even if it’s from a credible source.  Let’s all help stop the flow of propaganda … this election will be enough of an uphill battle, without people being manipulated.

Next week, Jeff will be back with Part VII of our project … stay tuned!

Discord & Dissension — Part VI — Disinformation This is the sixth installment of mine and Jeff’s project, and in case you’ve missed any of the previous posts, we will also be publishing a Table of Contents in just a few minutes that we will keep updated and link to at the end of each future post.