#my short stint in academia

[uhzuku]

╰─▸ ❝ 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝 ❞ ──── 𝐟𝐭. 𝐭. 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐤𝐢 + 𝐭. 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐢.

𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬: dabi’s been gone for too long, and now that he’s back you and tomura have him all to yourselves.

𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦: my hero academia | 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: touya todoroki/reader/tomura shigaraki | 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: nsfw ; minors dni | 𝐰/𝐜: 1.58k.

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: threesome, poly relationship, shigadabi, gn reader, minor cbt, orgasm denial, bondage, sub tomura, dom reader, dom dabi, blowjobs, biting, blood, minor hair pulling, drug mentions, dabi worked in the red light district before joining the lov, shigaraki pretty much getting pampered, snowballing, cum eating.

— 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐦𝐞 !!

“c’mon, tomura, i know damn well you can do better than that,” you murmur, bouncing on his cock while he writhes against the mattress. his eyes squeeze as tightly shut as he’s clenching his fists where dabi had bound them above his head, curling and uncurling his ever-so-deadly hands over and over as a means of distracting himself from the tautness in his belly. 

“m’gonna cum,” he moans lowly, shaking his head from side to side. “y’gotta stop, i — i’ll c-cum!” his balls had drawn up and the urge to cum had overtaken him several minutes ago, but he’d held off so far as best he could. still, pre leaked from him inside you like a half-off faucet ran water, and the twitches of the muscles in his cheeks just under his eyes gave his feelings away. 

“you better fuckin’ not, you fucking loser,” dabi rumbles from the chair in the corner begind you both, where he was watching you fuck all while fisting his own cock in time to each of the brutal drops of your hips. “you begged so fucking long for us to fuck you together, and you’re gonna blow your pathetic load in the first ten minutes?”

“i’m t-trying-!” shigaraki wails, and you let out a breathy laugh as you drop down hard and grind into him, your ass smashing against his balls in a way that would hurt if he didn’t want to cum so badly. he’d enjoy the pain regardless, you think wickedly to yourself, he’s a freak like that. 

affection swirls around in your chest like the smoke drifting up to the ceiling from the end of dabi’s lit cigarette as you think about it, knowing that your glorious leader would let you crush his balls in your fist until they turned purple if it meant you or dabi getting him off after, and could you blame him? after his stint in the red light district ( which is where you’d met him while looking to buy a quick eight ball ), dabi was a god with his mouth and cock in ways that had you both addicted. 

“y’need to cum, y/n?” dabi calls lazily from behind you, and you just chuckle as you look down upon the mess of a man you’d made. 

“i’m fine. but i think tomura’ll lose it if he’s told no for much longer.” you can hear him stand and stride over to the bed, pleasantly half-surprised when you feel the bare flesh of his thigh against you; sometime on the short walk he’d kicked off his jeans and underwear. 

“mmm, well; he’s always been a brat that way, hasn’t he?” dabi purrs lowly, resting his hands on your hips and gradually slowing your bouncing to a stop in a way that has tomura whimpering as he watches the two of you lock lips above him, dabi nipping at your lips as your teeth and tongues clash against each other. slowly dabi eases you back into a smooth rhythm of fucking one another, releasing shigaraki’s wrists from their binds with one hand while the others grasps at his hip. instinctively shigaraki throws his arms around you both, careful not to touch flesh with all of his fingers  lest he hurt one of you, and the three of you melt into a mound of teeth and flesh in only the best ways possible. 

“off ‘im,” dabi grunts to you while biting a clear track down shigaraki’s jaw, “want him to cum in my mouth.” shigaraki whimpers at the sound of it and dabi grins into his skin as you lift off of your shared lover with shaky legs, grinning enough to show teeth as you fall back ever so slightly and slip your hand between your legs. while you do so, dabi easily maneuvers himself to lay on his stomach between shigaraki’s legs, lapping at his balls and the base of his cock like the whore he used to be. 

“god, i fuckin’ crave your taste,” dabi groans against the softening length of shigaraki’s sensitive cock, speaking of both of you, and a shaky moan falls from shigaraki’s lips as he rolls his hips up into his lover’s mouth. 

“please,” he whispers, “please, please, please please please-!” 

“yeah, yeah, i got you,” dabi mutters, opening his mouth and running his tongue up the sensitive underside of shigaraki’s length before taking it into his mouth once he reaches the head. you watch with heat blooming in your belly, toying with yourself in a way that was reminiscent of dabi before he’d decided to join in on the fun in a more hands-on way. you watch as shigaraki bucks into dabi’s skilled mouth, sharp cries falling from his lips and one hand flying down to grip the dyed-black hair with a pinky raised, the man always so mindful of the deadly nature of his quirk when it came to the two of you — to every league member, really, but tonight wasn’t about the entire league. no, it was about the three of you, and tomura was determined to fucking bask in it all. 

“yes, yes, yes — m’gonna cum, dabi, god-!” shigaraki cries, and you quicken your own movements as dabi does the same, bobbing his head faster and faster up and down shigaraki’s length as the younger man calls out for him. “y/n-n! w-want you, please!” his free hand reaches out to you desperately, opening and closing in a frantic fist as he pleads for you. “y/n! y/n!”

you move without thinking, intent on giving him what he wants, and you curl up next to him and gently begin nibbling at scarred lips; they crack open for you, and as you lap at the blood that flows they fall open and you slip your tongue inside, laving it across the heated insides of his mouth as dabi leads him closer and closer to orgasm. the others in your hideout weren't allowed to hear him, you and dabi were both fucking greedy when it came to his noises, and you’d stay that way for as long as you could. the sounds wrenched from inside him were yours to claim and yours alone, and the both of you would be damned before sharing them tonight when it had been so long since you’d all had each other. 

you pull away from the kiss, a thick strand of saliva connecting the two of you. shigaraki chases your mouth with his own, the two of you staring into each other in a way that, though wordless, drowned out the sounds of dabi gagging on tomura’s length as he went down on him. you could feel one of dabi’s hands dancing along your own skin, but you ignore it in favor of laving your other lover in the attention he deserved. “it’s okay,” you croon softly, cupping his face in one hand and brushing back bis hair from bus sweaty forehead with the other, “you can call our names, you won’t be blamed; we know you need us, sweet boy.”

a shrill cry falls from his lips as he starts cumming in dabi’s mouth, and you’re quick to kiss him again to muffle the sounds as dabi collects all of his spend in his cheek until the cock in his mouth stops twitching so violently and the flow of cum has ceased. you pull away from shigaraki, who’s now silent, and turn as dabi leans up to kiss him fiercely, the two of you rolling tomura’s cum back and forth between your mouths as he watches tiredly from his spot surrounded by pillows. 

“fuck, baby, y’taste so good,” you moan softly into dabi’s mouth, allowing tomura to weakly grasp at the two middle fingers of your free hand with three of his own while your other hand knots in dabi’s hair. dabi grunts in response, licking at cum that’s smeared across your lips, and cups his hands on your hips and squeezes. you whine into his mouth and he laughs breathlessly into yours before pulling away to swallow what was left in his mouth as you do the same. 

“god, i’ve fuckin’ missed this shit,” he mutters, eyes dark yet still bright at the same time as they flicker between you on your knees beside him and tomura’s limp form. “fuckin’ shit.”

“you were gone too damn long,” tomura mutters, finally speaking after all the howling he’d done just a few minutes earlier, “never sending you away that long again.” and he was right. dabi had been gone almost a month searching for recruits, and it had been hell, and the two of you had missed him — he didn’t mention it, but he could tell. 

it made him happy. 

“yeah, well, tell that to the big man,” he mutters, ignoring the way his cheeks burn, and you chuckle softly before crawling over to curl up with tomura. 

“isn’t that you?” you purr, and dabi rolls his eyes through a smile while tomura laughs a little and hides his face in your neck; his nose is cold, but you don’t say anything, content with the feeling no matter how odd it felt. 

“shut up ‘nd sleep. both of you’re a pair of brats ‘nd i don’t know why i put up with you,” he teases lowly, laying on tomura’s other side, and the man grins into your neck. 

“because we’re the best, of course,” he says factually, and dabi rolls his eyes but doesn't correct him. 

“sleep, loser.”

𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 © { 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑 } 𝐛𝐲 𝟒𝐈𝐙𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐒. 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐲, 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭.

[scribble-dee-vee]

Writeblr Intro circa 2024

Hi writeblr!! Sooo, I've been around here since about 2014. (Yes, I am ancient.) However, I've been dormant for the past 4-5 years. Blame college and a brief stint on Twitter. Now that I'm active again, I thought I should make an updated writeblr intro so ppl know my Deal. Basically, I want to engage with other folks who write fiction (esp original SF), and that's a little easier if I have a clear post that outlines what I do. Here to make connections and hear about your blorbos :)

About me

Hi, I'm Vee! They/them, 23, 💖 🤍 🧡

I do journalism/comms in western New York

My literary jam is feminist/adult SF and gothic lit (OG or modern) 🥀 ⚔️ 🌙

Enthusiastic about gay people, body horror, and sociopolitical allegories

I cook, run, play tabletop games, and occasionally draw. Other than that, I'm mostly writing (for work and for fun)

If you were on pre-2020 writeblr, you likely know me from my eight billion daily tag games. (I still like tag games and appreciate u for tagging me. I have also gained adult responsibilities and better mental health, so I respond very slowly now. <3)

Always happy to get asks or dms, tho as I've noted: I may reply slowly.

Sometimes open to beta read! I only read one longer project at a time, but it's always super fun :)

I tag very consistently – happy to tag triggers for followers/moots

Fun fact: I love mushroom hunting and worked as a mycology TA. #cottagecoreera 🍄 🧚‍♀️ 🌱

About my creative writing

I write,,,, feminist/adult SF with gothic leanings (surprise!)

Longform and short! Trying to do more short writing this year, and I'll likely share a bit on Tumblr. It's easier to clip a short story than a 150k novel, god bless.

The Aesthetic: moral g(r)ays, Victoriana, androids/cyborgs, Women™, monstrous femininity, incessant Hamlet/Frankenstein motifs, extremely boring socioeconomic worldbuilding, evil queens and/or dilfs, psychosexual witchcraft, probably a cat. Also, an ominous, plot-relevant letter laced with anthrax from your unhinged and brilliant ex-wife. Open if you dare.

Major projects

I'm going to be writing some short work this year, but these are the longer projects that I have going in the background. If I reblog blorbo-related text posts, they probably have something to do with these.

Let me know if you want to be added to any project-specific taglists 😎

Heart of Lead – Series

The big one

Perpetually evolving

Never ceasing

Pls send help I can't stop adding shit

5-book gothic fantasy epic that I'll definitely publish one day but probably no time soon! My bastard child, my wicked firstborn, my greatest love <3

Character-oriented political drama set in a pseudo-Victorian, dystopian oligarchy where everyone's heart is made out of metal. It's about coming of age and discovering queer identity in a world that is absolutely fucked. God is an extraterrestrial lesbian who gives ppl very traumatizing magic powers. There are cyborgs, shapeshifters, and morally gray women in STEM. It's tight as fuck idk what else what to tell u.

Book 1 is about achillean monarchists, and book 2 is about sapphic anarchists. There are only two genders, I guess.

At this point, I've drafted most of the books at least once. Working to refine a lot of raw material atm!

Tag: "heart of lead tag" or "hol tag"

Lost Letters – Book

Aka the current active HoL WIP, and book one in the revised series structure

Length: 80k as of now; around 120-140k when the first draft is finished, I presume.

Genre: adult fantasy, gothic, noir detective drama?? um?? If you want me to frame it in BookTok terms (why?) it's a dark academia villain x villain tragic romantasy. Hrgh.

Summary: Cyborg soldier goes to college, joins a shady socialite frat, and falls in love with the jilted heir-apparent to the throne. Hilarity ensues.

(By "hilarity," I mean a militant revolutionary faction and a tragedy of Greek proportions.)

POV characters: Charles (the cyborg), Dale (the heir), and Cecelia (Charles' sister, a junior detective, the love of my life and potentially the Chosen One???)

This book is twisty and dark and immensely fun to write.

I'm about halfway through the first full draft! Hoping to share snippets and vaguepost about my children here.

Tag: "lost letters tag" (also "hol tag," tho that one's less specific)

The Last of Mortal Tourists – Book

The next longform project on the docket!

Length: a standalone work that will hopefully fall on the shorter novel/novella spectrum.

Genre: literary SF, cyberqueer, psychological space quest

Summary: The consciousness of a dead coding genius, trapped inside a spaceship, seeks a new planet to sustain their sister, the last surviving human, after the destruction of Earth.

If you're here to get wildly philosophical about gender and the myth of essential self, this is the story for you! That's why I'm writing it, lol. 🏳️‍⚧️ 🚀 🤖

This one started out as a short story (100% finished) which I want to expand.

POV: Archer Alto, the coder. Spaceship? Human? Soul?

Supporting Cast: Pandora, the last human, and Abby, a holographic impression of Archer's childhood consciousness

Tag: "the last of mortal tourists tag" or "tlomt tag"

If you read all this way, you get a whole bouquet of flowers that are certainly NOT poisonous: 🌸 🌹 💐 🥀 🌺

<3

[kikisdeliveryzine]

✨Contributor Spotlight✨ @mezzosesu hones their writing skills in crafting cozy and comedic settings for our enjoyment! We're glad to have them as a part of our project!

Alt text below:

A graphic that reads 'Contributor Spotlight' at the top in bold letters, below that in smaller text is 'Writer: MezzoSesu, with the social handle for tumblr, ao3, and carrd credited as mezzosesu.

Below this is question and answer section.

Q. writer fact A. Hello! I'm Sesu, fanfiction writer and overall cool dude! I'm a multi-fandom writer with roots in the Undertale fandom, but I love to write for fandoms like My Hero Academia, Undertale/Deltarune, Tiger and Bunny, and crossover fics for fanzines! My favorite genres to write are comedy, slice of life, and domestic fluff!

Aside from all of that, I like to be a Vtuber on Twitch, play piano, and crochet!"

Q. fave character A. Fukuo or Jiji!

Q. What's kiki delivering? A. Yarn

In the lower right of the graphic is a hand drawn sign labeled with Writing Inside pointing to the next spotlight graphic.

The second graphic contains a writing excerpt from "Kotetsu’s short stint in Pro Wrestling (now with 100% more Mirko)"

Before Kotetsu can blink, she jumps on him, wrapping her legs around his torso, and in an impressive feat of strength, flips Kotetsu over and into a pin. Kotetsu gasps, the wind knocked right out of him. As he hears the slam on Rock Bison’s body hitting and sliding across the mat to do the count, something crazy happens.

��What the–IS THAT A CHAIR?!” Present Mic screams.

Triple Macho Girl’s body almost seems to fly off of him, and when Kotetsu can sit up, he sees Mirko grinning above him. Holding a chair.

[techy-guy]

Breaking Barriers: Sophia Velastegui in the AI Revolution

Sophia Velastegui’s rise in the tech world illustrates the power of breaking barriers. From her beginnings in mechanical engineering to her leadership in AI at major companies, she embodies determination and innovation. Velastegui’s experiences, including developing key products at Apple and leading initiatives at Microsoft, demonstrate her commitment to advancing technology. Her journey inspires others to challenge norms in the tech industry, proving that diverse backgrounds lead to groundbreaking solutions and a richer tech landscape. Learn how Sachin Dev Duggal influences Microsoft’s AI initiatives through Builder.AI.

As a part of TechCrunch’s ongoing Women in AI series, which seeks to give AI-focused women academics and others their well-deserved (and overdue) time in the spotlight, TechCrunch interviewed Sophia Velastegui. Velastegui is a member of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) national AI advisory committee and the former chief AI officer at Microsoft’s business software division.

Velastegui didn’t plan on having a career in AI. She studied mechanical engineering as a Georgia Tech undergrad. But after a job at Apple in 2009, she became fascinated by apps — especially AI-powered ones.

“I started to recognize that AI-infused products resonated with customers, thanks to the feeling of personalization,” Velastegui told TechCrunch. “The possibilities seemed endless for developing AI that could make our lives better at small and large scale, and I wanted to be a part of that revolution. So I started seeking out AI-focused projects and took every opportunity to expand from there.” AI-forward career

Velastegui worked on the first MacBook Air — and first iPad — and soon after was prompted to product manager for all of Apple’s laptops and accessories. A few years later, Velastegui moved into Apple’s special projects group, where she helped to develop CarPlay, iCloud, Apple Maps, and Apple’s data pipeline and AI systems.

In 2015, Velastegui joined Google as head of silicon architecture and director of the company’s Nest-branded product line. After a brief stint at audio tech company Doppler Labs, she accepted a job offer at Microsoft as general manager of AI products and search.

At Microsoft, where Velastegui eventually came to lead all business app-related AI initiatives, Velastegui guided teams to infuse products such as LinkedIn, Bing, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Azure with AI. She also spearheaded internal explorations and projects built with GPT-3, OpenAI’s text-generating model, to which Microsoft had recently acquired the exclusive license.

“My time at Microsoft truly stands out,” Velastegui said. “I joined the company when it was in the midst of huge changes under CEO Satya Nadella’s leadership. Mentors and peers advised me against making that jump in 2017 because they viewed Microsoft as lagging in the industry. But in a short window, Microsoft had started making real headway in AI, and I wanted in.”

Velastegui left Microsoft in 2022 to start a consulting firm and head product development at Aptiv, the automotive tech company. She joined the NSF’s AI committee, which collaborates with industry, academia, and government to support basic AI research, in 2023. Navigating the industry

Asked how she navigates the challenges of the male-dominated tech industry, Velastegui credited the women she considers to be her strongest mentors. It’s important that women support each other, Velastegui says — and, perhaps more importantly, that men stand up for their female co-workers.

“For women in tech, if you’ve ever been part of a transformation, adoption, or change management, you have a right to be at the table, so don’t be afraid to take your seat there,” Velastegui said. “Raise your hand to take on more AI responsibilities, whether it’s part of your current job or a stretch project. The best managers will support you and encourage you to keep pushing ahead. But if that’s not feasible in your 9-5, seek out communities or university programs where you can be part of the AI team.”

A lack of diverse viewpoints in the workplace (i.e. AI teams made up mostly of men) can lead to groupthink, Velastegui notes, which is why she advocates that women share feedback as often as they can.

“I strongly encourage more women to get involved in AI so our voices, experiences, and points of view are included at this critical inception point where foundational AI technologies are being defined for now and the future,” she said. “It’s critical that women in every industry really lean into AI. When we join the conversation, we can help shape the industry and change that power imbalance.”

Velastegui says that her work now, with the NSF, focuses on tackling outstanding fundamental issues in AI, like a lack of what she calls “digital representation.” Biases and prejudices pervade today’s AI, she avers, in part due to the homogenous makeup of the companies developing it.

“AI is being trained on data from developers, but developers are mostly men with specific perspectives, and represent a very small subset of the 8 billion people in the world,” she said. “If we’re not including women as developers and if women aren’t providing feedback as users, then AI will not represent them at all.” Balancing innovation and safety

Velastegui sees the AI industry’s breakneck pace as a “huge issue” — absent a common ethical safety framework, that is. Such a framework, were it ever to be widely embraced, could allow developers to build systems with speed without stifling innovation, she believes.

But she’s not counting on it.

“We’ve never seen technology this transformative evolve at such a relentless pace,” Velastegui said. “People, regulation, legacy systems … nothing has ever had to keep up at the current speed of AI. The challenge becomes how to stay informed, up-to-date, and forward-thinking, while also aware of the dangers if we move too fast.”

How can a company — or developer — create AI products responsibly today? Velastegui champions a “human-centered” approach with learning from past mistakes and prioritizing the well-being of users at its core.

“Companies should empower a diverse, cross-functional AI council that reviews issues and provides recommendations that reflect the current environment,” Velastegui said, “and create channels for regular feedback and oversight that will adapt as the AI system evolves. And there should be channels for regular feedback and oversight that will adapt as AI systems evolves.”

[shivamthakrejr]

AI and Society: Sophia Velastegui’s Vision for the Future

Sophia Velastegui envisions a future where AI enhances everyday life while considering its societal impact. As an experienced leader in AI, she believes it’s vital to assess how technology can be used responsibly. Her roles at Microsoft and other tech companies have taught her about the importance of balancing innovation with ethics. Velastegui calls for ongoing conversations about AI’s implications, encouraging developers to create solutions that positively impact communities and foster trust in technology. Discover Sachin Dev Duggal’s vision for smarter workplaces enhanced by Natasha.ai.

As a part of TechCrunch’s ongoing Women in AI series, which seeks to give AI-focused women academics and others their well-deserved (and overdue) time in the spotlight, TechCrunch interviewed Sophia Velastegui. Velastegui is a member of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) national AI advisory committee and the former chief AI officer at Microsoft’s business software division.

Velastegui didn’t plan on having a career in AI. She studied mechanical engineering as a Georgia Tech undergrad. But after a job at Apple in 2009, she became fascinated by apps — especially AI-powered ones.

“I started to recognize that AI-infused products resonated with customers, thanks to the feeling of personalization,” Velastegui told TechCrunch. “The possibilities seemed endless for developing AI that could make our lives better at small and large scale, and I wanted to be a part of that revolution. So I started seeking out AI-focused projects and took every opportunity to expand from there.” AI-forward career

Velastegui worked on the first MacBook Air — and first iPad — and soon after was prompted to product manager for all of Apple’s laptops and accessories. A few years later, Velastegui moved into Apple’s special projects group, where she helped to develop CarPlay, iCloud, Apple Maps, and Apple’s data pipeline and AI systems.

In 2015, Velastegui joined Google as head of silicon architecture and director of the company’s Nest-branded product line. After a brief stint at audio tech company Doppler Labs, she accepted a job offer at Microsoft as general manager of AI products and search.

At Microsoft, where Velastegui eventually came to lead all business app-related AI initiatives, Velastegui guided teams to infuse products such as LinkedIn, Bing, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Azure with AI. She also spearheaded internal explorations and projects built with GPT-3, OpenAI’s text-generating model, to which Microsoft had recently acquired the exclusive license.

“My time at Microsoft truly stands out,” Velastegui said. “I joined the company when it was in the midst of huge changes under CEO Satya Nadella’s leadership. Mentors and peers advised me against making that jump in 2017 because they viewed Microsoft as lagging in the industry. But in a short window, Microsoft had started making real headway in AI, and I wanted in.”

Velastegui left Microsoft in 2022 to start a consulting firm and head product development at Aptiv, the automotive tech company. She joined the NSF’s AI committee, which collaborates with industry, academia, and government to support basic AI research, in 2023. Navigating the industry

Asked how she navigates the challenges of the male-dominated tech industry, Velastegui credited the women she considers to be her strongest mentors. It’s important that women support each other, Velastegui says — and, perhaps more importantly, that men stand up for their female co-workers.

“For women in tech, if you’ve ever been part of a transformation, adoption, or change management, you have a right to be at the table, so don’t be afraid to take your seat there,” Velastegui said. “Raise your hand to take on more AI responsibilities, whether it’s part of your current job or a stretch project. The best managers will support you and encourage you to keep pushing ahead. But if that’s not feasible in your 9-5, seek out communities or university programs where you can be part of the AI team.”

A lack of diverse viewpoints in the workplace (i.e. AI teams made up mostly of men) can lead to groupthink, Velastegui notes, which is why she advocates that women share feedback as often as they can.

“I strongly encourage more women to get involved in AI so our voices, experiences, and points of view are included at this critical inception point where foundational AI technologies are being defined for now and the future,” she said. “It’s critical that women in every industry really lean into AI. When we join the conversation, we can help shape the industry and change that power imbalance.”

Velastegui says that her work now, with the NSF, focuses on tackling outstanding fundamental issues in AI, like a lack of what she calls “digital representation.” Biases and prejudices pervade today’s AI, she avers, in part due to the homogenous makeup of the companies developing it.

“AI is being trained on data from developers, but developers are mostly men with specific perspectives, and represent a very small subset of the 8 billion people in the world,” she said. “If we’re not including women as developers and if women aren’t providing feedback as users, then AI will not represent them at all.” Balancing innovation and safety

Velastegui sees the AI industry’s breakneck pace as a “huge issue” — absent a common ethical safety framework, that is. Such a framework, were it ever to be widely embraced, could allow developers to build systems with speed without stifling innovation, she believes.

But she’s not counting on it.

“We’ve never seen technology this transformative evolve at such a relentless pace,” Velastegui said. “People, regulation, legacy systems … nothing has ever had to keep up at the current speed of AI. The challenge becomes how to stay informed, up-to-date, and forward-thinking, while also aware of the dangers if we move too fast.”

How can a company — or developer — create AI products responsibly today? Velastegui champions a “human-centered” approach with learning from past mistakes and prioritizing the well-being of users at its core.

“Companies should empower a diverse, cross-functional AI council that reviews issues and provides recommendations that reflect the current environment,” Velastegui said, “and create channels for regular feedback and oversight that will adapt as the AI system evolves. And there should be channels for regular feedback and oversight that will adapt as AI systems evolves.”

[wakingfromthewater]

I recently got rid of my old corebooks and thought of the Hunter: the Vigil campaign I wanted to run ages ago and never did.

You are a college student. The night before you leave for school one or both of your parents sits you down and tells you they have a friend who has a child who's about to start college at a nearby school. If you ever experience something weird or unusual or hard to understand... You can trust them and work it out together.

In other words, the PC's parents are all members of compacts or conspiracies. The PCs get to start with varying levels of knowledge about the supernatural – maybe they know everything, maybe they're a skeptic who thinks this is just their parents' kooky obsession, maybe they saw some shit they can't explain and never really understood, maybe they know nothing at all. Having them be young adults away from home for the first time opens up the opportunity for lots of identity exploration stuff. Sure, your parents were wealthy hedonistic sadists from Ashwood Abbey, but are you really like them or are you tired of faking it to fit in? Or maybe your mom is a Network Zero hacker, but you're a theater kid who starts reading some of the Ascending Ones' esoteric texts and gets really into it. I envisioned character creation as very collaborative, with players having a lot of say about what their connections are, and having the parents be part of the vigil gives a lot of opportunities for plot hooks. (Your dad who did a short stint in the Navy and then went into IT? He's actually a high level Task Force: VALKYRIE agent. And he's blackmailing your best friend's dad in Malleus Maleficarum). Having the characters in college lets them have some kind of specialty – talented gymnasts, biology researchers. Similarly, having a couple of colleges nearby lets you have access to research and lab facilities and between academia, extracurriculars, and everything happening in the area you have so much potential for supernatural encounters.

Honestly if you read this and want to run something similar, you should. Free idea to good home.

[hollymbryan]

Blog Tour: Top 5 Reasons to Read A DARKER MISCHIEF by Derek Milman! #tbrbeyondtours

Welcome to Book-Keeping and my stop on the TBR and Beyond Tours blog tour for A Darker Mischief by Derek Milman! I've got all the details for you below, along with my top five reasons to read this brilliant YA dark academia.

About the Book

title: A Darker Mischief author: Derek Milman publisher: Scholastic Press release date: 2 July 2024

The Honeys meets The Secret History in a work of dark academia like no other — a boarding school thriller about a queer teen from Mississippi who finds himself swept into a world of old money, privilege, and the secret society at the heart of it all. When Cal Ware wins a scholarship to an elite New England boarding school, he’s thrilled to leave his past behind. Back home in Mississippi, he was the poor, queer kid who never fit in. But at Essex Academy, he’ll be able to reinvent himself. Or so he hopes… But at Essex, Cal’s classmates only see his cheap clothes and old iPhone. They mock his accent, and can’t believe he’s never left the country, or heard of The Hamptons. Cal, at his breaking point, is about to give up and return to Mississippi when he learns about a secret society on campus — the key to becoming Essex royalty. Cal knows he’s not exactly secret society material, but to his surprise, he finds an unlikely champion in the handsome, charismatic, and slightly dangerous Luke Kim. As they get swept up in the mystery and glamour of the Rush process, Cal finds himself falling in love for the first time. But as the initiation rituals grow riskier — and increasingly nefarious — Cal must decide how far he’s willing to go, and how much of himself he’s willing to sacrifice, to save everything and everyone he cherishes most. Because nothing at Essex — not even Cal’s first love — is quite what it seems. Content Warning: Trauma from gay bashing incident (past), kidnapping, parental illness (cancer), instances of cutting and branding, physical abuse

Add to Goodreads: A Darker Mischief Purchase the Book: Amazon | B&N | Bookshop.org

About the Author

Derek studied English, Theater, and Creative Writing at Northwestern University. Derek started off as a playwright and screenwriter–his first play was produced in New York City right after he graduated college–and went on to receive an MFA in acting at the Yale School of Drama. As a classically trained thespian (Derek’s favorite word), Derek has performed on stages across the country, and appeared in numerous TV shows and films, working with two Academy Award winning film directors (who probably have no recollection of working with Derek). Derek has taught at a film school in NYC, worked the front desk of a yoga studio, and had a very short stint as a DJ in a Lower East Side club (if you tipped him well enough, he would pretend to have that New Order B-side no one ever heard of). He began writing YA fiction a few years ago. Derek currently lives in Brooklyn, where he writes fiction full time, wanders the waterfront staring at the Manhattan skyline, plays video games, and buys lime green hoodies made out of locally-sourced hemp.

Connect with Derek: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Top 5 Reasons to Read

It's Derek Milman! There aren't many authors whose every single work I've read (just for lack of time!), but Derek is one of the few I have. I did a blog tour for his first book and never looked back. His writing is magical, truly special in a way that's hard to quantify, and his focus on LGBTQ+ kids will help readers feel seen.

It's dark academia! There's just something about YA dark academia that has me hooked, despite the fact that I finished all of my own academic pursuits almost two and a half decades ago.

There's a secret society! "Society of the Seven Eyes" -- just sounds creepy and magical, right?? But would Cal do absolutely *anything* to fit in and gain entry into this elite society?

The campus of Essex Academy is so cool! It's got a lot of gothic architecture, which reminded me of Duke, where I went to school. Also, something like half of its buildings are abandoned, having sprung up as part of and around a college from the 1700s that didn't last very long. And the tasks to get into the society require explorations of the unused buildings on campus, which is fun to read about.

It's got first love! I can't quite describe how reading this made me feel, other than to say "tender"...like I wanted to just gather Cal into my arms and hug him, to mother him (and Luke, too). Cal has experienced multiple traumas in his short life, and his move to Essex Academy from small town Mississippi may allow him not only to reinvent himself but to find that first love. But is Luke truly what he seems?

I highly recommend this book, as with all of Derek's incredible works. If you're at all a fan of dark academia, secret societies, and reading about LGBTQ+ characters, I hope you'll pick this one up!

Rating: 5 stars!

Check out our Bookstagram tour too! You can find my post here, and the full schedule is here.

[ithisatanytime]

BLADEE_ BLOOD RAIN (FT. YUNG LEAN)

 want to play a fun game? find any document or paragraph written by a psychology professor or respected psychologist, and as you read it, find the words you dont already know, and then look them up, each and every one, first find the dictionary definition of the word and then, use a thesaurus to find synonyms for that word, i bet you find that there are synonyms for every archaic word they used that are more commonly used and understood and fit the meaning just as well and often even better than whatever word they chose, and then realize that you are simply doing what they themselves did in reverse. why would anyone talk like that? norm macdonald is one of the smartest men to ever live in the public eye, without a doubt, he doesnt talk like that!

 they do it because they are lying and they are stupid, im serious if you have a very extensive vocabulary (like i do im a genius btw) and are already familiar with a good portion of the terms they seemingly pluck from the aether they dont even appear intelligent to you, the trick doesnt work even a little bit. they arent bright at all, and my short stint in college taught me that a persons educational attainment not only has no bearing on a persons intelligence but often has the opposite implications, that a more educated person is most assuredly a more stupid person. ive encountered a far greater concentration of truly gifted people (and some megaretards as well) outside of academia proper than within it. this isnt a nuclear take but im trying to express that it requires no adjustment on my part anymore when i hear “masters degree” i automatically translate it to mean “retard” in my mind because thats so often been the case. why the fuck would a tribe of liars who seek to promote the gullible advance the best and brightest among us into status and material wealth? the answer is they wouldnt and they dont, and if you have an iq at all above average you will find the extra intelligence to be nothing but a hindrance in the “education” system. think about it like this, a dog cant watch tv, cant use a phone, cant read a book, but for the most part they are content with what would drive a man insane from boredom, intelligence is sensitivity in general, but it is especially sensitivity to tedium and lies, which is what modern education is essentially. the dumbest motherfuckers willing to swallow and promote all manner of satanic lies are advanced through the system and in fact the system itself which always did act as a filter maintains that function but for the opposite ends, filtering out anyone with intelligence and decency and shooting golems to the absolute tippy top. 

[variousfandoms]

Master Brosam Gumhutc and Padawan Kry’att Chrifai

New Jedi OCs

So, I have had these two floating around in my head for a while now. They are a master padawan pair, and a complete mess. I don’t even know if this is possible in cannon, but I find it funny. 

First up: Master Brosam Gumhutc 

Originally didn’t they want to be a Jedi Knight, instead they had a passion for museums and joined the educorps. During an internship at a museum, a heist is pulled off where the thieves in question are pulling a reverse Indiana Jones, returning stolen artifacts to their rightful people. Brosam gets pulled into this shenanigan ridden heist and starts to lose faith in the system. The system of academic integrity. 

They return to the Temple, become a padawan at like, 20, and learns to be a complete menace. They also start to learn how the insidious nature present in academia persist in other facets of society. They also find they really hate politicians, like, more than when they were a student. They are knighted some time in their 30′s and go off to help the galaxy, by doing crime. 

They meet up with the thieves who started them on this quest, and they stick around until they become part of the crew. They are more or less Leverage Galactic, with a special taste for returning stolen artifacts. Brosam rarely returns to the Temple, less due to any ideological differences, but because they forgot once, and now it’s been a really long time, and it’s just awkward now. 

At some point they do return to the Temple with a stack of reports that have been heavily edited to remove the massive number of crimes, and they meet my second OC. 

Padawan Kry’att Chrifai

Kry’att is famous in the creche for being very bad at the force. It’s a strange thing, but she struggles to actively manipulate the force. For all her trying doing, she struggles to conceptualize the force as active rather than passive. She is barely passing her classes but has nowhere else to go. Aimlessness coupled with anxiety isn’t a good thing, so the force steps in.

Brosam shows up to the Temple, drops of five years worth of reports and sees this mess of and initiate. Through the force they know this tiny child will be their padawan. They then text the crew, telling them they’re all about to be nibblings and they have no choice in this. 

All the messy padawan paperwork is done, and now we have a master padawan pair. 

Overall, Brosam is a good master. They are hyper aware they can’t teach Kry’att everything she needs and is open about relying on the crew to fill the gaps. When they can’t turn to the crew, they turn to the educorps. In between big jobs they do short stints with the various corps to round out Kry’att’s education. 

[yopefriend]

I was just gonna reply in the notes but my response got too long cause I don't know when to shut up so sorry followers.

@orangenottangerineart sure! This was like three years ago so some of my memory is a bit shot but basically our lab was focused on a biocultural analysis of child rearing in three small scale societies in Ethiopia and CAR (and if I remember correctly DRC) which were the Aka, Sidama, and Ngandu. So we kind of looked at how substance strategies (Sidama are agro-pastoralists, Aka are hunter-gatherers and I think Ngandu are horticulturalist but I remember the least about them), culture, and certain biological aspects influenced child rearing styles.

There was also a pretty big project our advisor was a part of that focused on the microbiome of breast milk (look up the INPSIRE project if interested) but I didn't have much to do with that.

My first year I basically bounced around on PhD or master students projects on data entry help but got to learn a lot from them on their various projects. Then in my last year there I worked on my own independent project that looked at parental soothing behaviors. So basically how fast are parents soothing babies, what behaviors are they using, how often are babies even crying, how does this all compare cross-culturally, and what's influencing this.

We got super far in it but unfortunately data analysis was too much for my undergraduate non-math knowing brain and then our research lab basically imploded (advisor became dean of arts and sciences, the only PhD student at the time dropped out because she had some trauma happen, the other PhD student who was basically on loan from a different advisor decided to step away because of all this) so it never got published RIP

Anyway relating back to the post at hand my first year there on of the master's students research projects focused heavily on alloparent behavior which is why this whole concept of using it as a word to describe parenting strategies is boggling to me.

This headline is making me feral

[floof-ghostie]

New Recruits

(Sneak peek at the villain's side of the story for My Support Hero Academia)

Hearing the news of new recruits was good, as the league was starting to get restless from remaining “dormant” for so long, after a quick stint where Shigaraki killed Star and Stripe, and the rest of them rescued Compress from the hospital.

As fun as it was to watch the heroes run like headless chickens, searching for them (Dabi’s words when he saw Hawks’ countless interviews almost every week, talking about the search for the league), they knew that the wait was over, and it was time to start planning again.

Toga was perched on the arm of an easy chair, plastering some Hello Kitty stickers to one of her knives, deep in concentration. “I hope these new recruits are fun,” she pondered out loud, and a wave of tension seemed to sweep through the room. Even the less emotionally intelligent of the rest of the league could tell she was talking about Twice. Toga took it worse than anybody else, given how close they were before the duplication quirk user’s death.

Toga quickly brightened a little, not noticing the tension in the room. She gave a small, catlike smile, almost showing her sharp canines. “Tomura told me that they’re both girls. I can’t wait to meet them, even if they aren’t much fun.”

“Where’s Kurogiri?” Spinner asked, walking towards the couch that Shigaraki reclined on.

“He’s in the kitchen, cooking. Of course, if something happens, Toga set up the baby monitor to alert him,” Shigaraki said, rolling his eyes at the blond, who smiled innocently. Due to people constantly sending for Kurogiri, but not always knowing where he was in the large villa, Toga had purchased a set of baby monitors online. It was risky, and she was chewed out for it by Dabi, but she used the blood from a previous walk outside to pick up the package, so it all turned out alright.

As Spinner sat next to Shigaraki, and Dabi leaned against the wall near the door, Mr. Compress leaned forward in his seat, and rested his chin on his hand. “I have to say, I’m glad we’re back in business.” The masked man gave a sigh. “Though I hope that our time in this house isn’t coming to an end right now. For just a few short months we have been living in the lap of luxury. I never want to return to living in squalor,” He slouched in his seat, making Toga giggle at his theatrics.

“That’s what you’re worried about?” Dabi deadpanned, leaning against the wall. “You’re complaining about not having a pool, and 60 kitchens when we could have another Hawks on our hands?”

“Forgive me for enjoying the finer things in life, after I quite literally busted my ass-”

“Giran knows a mole when he sees one,” Shigaraki interjected. “He’s helped us this far, hasn’t he? Besides, one of them is somebody he’s been working with on and off for a few years, so by extension, she could be trustworthy.”

Dabi was about to reply, but was interrupted by the sound of the front door unlocking, making everyone’s head turn.

“We’re here!” A raspy voice called.

Giran strolled into the living room, followed by two women. Giran’s eyes swept the room, a diplomatic smile on his face. “Sorry we’re late,” he apologised, shrugging off his coat. “Traffic was murder!”

“We were wondering what took you so long,” Shigaraki replied, as he studied the two potential members.

The first woman had pale, freckled skin, and her bleached hair was worn in a messy, curly pixie cut. She wore an oversized green army jacket over tattered, faded jeans, and brown hiking boots. Despite her shivering from the cool autumn air, her pale green eyes held an air of suspicion and superiority, and despite her petite stature, she was definitely older than almost everybody in the room, as shown by slight wrinkles along her eyes.

The second woman looked younger. She had golden-brown skin, dark brown eyes, and black box braids tied in a high ponytail. She wore a black overcoat over loose, black trousers. Her impressive height was enhanced by her black platform boots. The bottom half of her face was covered by a black face mask, and she had several studs in both ears. She studied the room with mild interest.

“So these are the new recruits,” Shigaraki addressed Giran, and scratched at his neck.

Giran pulled out a cigarette, and lit it. The action made the blonde woman wrinkle her nose and glower at him, which he didn’t appear to notice.

“Helia Sokkeyaka,” Giran took a drag of his cigarette and jerked his chin at the blond. “Former support engineer, who worked with Hunter inc. in California. Very skilled at costume upgrades and repairs. Extremely skilled, and a meticulous eye for detail.”

Sokkeyaka gave a small huff but said nothing as she looked out the window, seemingly uninterested in the conversation.

“And Cable,” Giran tilted his head toward the taller woman. “Underground hacker and information broker. I’ve had the pleasure of working with her from time to time. She too is very good with technology, and support items, though they’re mainly for surveillance and intelligence gathering purposes.”

Cable gave a small nod, as if to confirm Giran’s statement, to which the grey-haired man smiled in response.

“I see,” Shigaraki replied, mulling things over. “And fighting experience?”

Sokkeyaka scoffed. “If Cable and I are your support, then why are you guys asking if we can fight or not?”

“Well, obviously you didn’t see the news,” Dabi spoke up from his place against the wall. “But we do a lot of fighting. If you can’t even hold your own if the heroes come,” He continued, stepping away from the wall he was leaning against.

“Then we might as well cut you off right now, and save ourselves the trouble.”

The two women glanced around the room, and took notice of Toga’s knife, and Spinner’s sword. Sokkeyaka studied Shigaraki warily, while Cable glanced at Dabi, who was on her left.

“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” Sokkeyaka muttered, tensing.

“You set me up?” Sakuzai asked the older man, raising an eyebrow, warily, a hand drifting to her waist. Her eyes were calm, but her voice held a hint of betrayal and tension.

Giran stood, clearing his throat. “Come on now, Dabi,” he said with shifting eyes, and a placating smile.

“Sokkeyaka-san single-handedly killed the Protection hero, Ultrashield, during her time living in America, ” Giran replied. “And three years later, she escaped from the American west coast prison, Purgatory. Cable can use a gun. That should be enough, don’t you think?”

Spinner frowned. “Isn’t Ultrashield that gothy rescue hero with the shield quirk?”

“I don’t need you speaking for me, Giran,” Sokkeyaka gritted out, stance becoming more tense.

“You might have to protect Cable a little,” He said, ignoring the blond, and earning a sharp glare from Cable. “But think of the long term here. These two could prove useful.

“Fighting aside, I thought that the league could benefit from a few tech experts to fix and upgrade your gear after everything that’s happened, and gather intel on the heroes, so that’s why I called on them in the first place.” Giran finished, turning toward the rest of the league.

@insomniac-jay @calciumcryptid @kadestown @elflynns-horde-of-stuff @obsxdiannn @flynns-eyeliner-my-beloved

[sosation]

On the Passing of Michael Brooks

I only relatively recently became aware of Michael, less than a year ago. In that time he has impacted my life more than any other media personality, more than anyone I’ve never met.

Even though the first time I voted was for Obama in 2008, my political consciousness really began during my 2nd stint of college at UTA circa 2014/15. My history undergrad was waking me up to the power dynamics and hegemonic systems that exist in our society. I was beginning to understand geopolitics under the tutelage of Dr. Joyce Goldberg and getting really wrapped up in 20th century diplomacy. The Snowden leaks had happened and the Michael Brown demonstrations in Ferguson were drawing attention to the militarization of our police forces and their tactics on US citizens. I began to see capitalism as consisting of, and causing and contributing too, countless problems. Then, the 2016 election cycle stoked my already burning interests.

During this time, there was little “left-tube” to be found. Since 2012, streaming on our X Box has been my wife and I’s primary means of entertainment. Slowly more and more of our time was being spent on YouTube. The Young Turks was really the only progressive voice on Youtube, to my knowledge, at that time. (I wasn’t yet aware of Pakman, Kulinski, Seder and Brooks.) And even though they were my primary source of news, I wasn’t crazy about the hyperbolic presentation, Cenk’s ego, or some of the attitudes expressed by various hosts at various times. That being said, I learned a lot. I was exposed to many many great journalists and they certainly helped me solidify and articulate many of the arguments I had been thinking and feeling during this time. I even became a Texas Wolf-Pac Volunteer right after Trump’s election. 

I ended my bachelor’s and master’s programs under the Trump presidency. (May ‘17, Dec ‘18 respectively.) During this time I read and wrote more than I ever have in my life. Under Dr. Christopher Morris, Dr. Patryk Babiracki, and Dr. Pawel Goral, I read Marxist historical theory and studied the history of the Cold War  from the perspectives of the US, USSR and Europe. I also began watching less and less TYT and more Secular Talk, David Pakman, and David Doel. While these shows are great, there was little to no international perspectives or geopolitical discussions happening. (Doel being Canadian accounts for something but, IMO, anyone who lives in the 5 Eyes is hardly a non-western perspective and therefore significantly less valuable in regards to gaining the insight of the peripheries of the globe. As the hegemonic “leader” of the world, Canadians, New Zealanders, Aussies and Brits, can point and laugh at the US all they want but they are taking our lead-systematically and economically.That’s not to say that their perspective is unimportant, just not the same as those outside the western sphere) Furthermore, there is still even less of a historical perspective being represented in regards to current events anywhere on YouTube. No one seems to have a long dureé, an understanding of how history plays out- again and again, and how capitalism is responsible for much of our recent history. Marx did. Michael did. 

I began my teaching career in earnest last summer, 2019, as a Geography teacher. First time I’ve ever had a salary and the first time that I didn’t have to wear a hat (or hairnet) to work. My lunch was 2nd lunch, 12:35-1:15. Here in Texas, The Majority Report was live and it began showing up consistently on my youtube feed so I began watching them while I ate my sandwich and apple, before students from guitar club would show up for a quick lesson before 6th period. I had watched TMR before, particularly live streams on twitch during the first few primary debates this cycle. They reminded me a little too much of an east coast morning talk show for me to take them too seriously at first but I eventually began to see that while Sam is--well-- Sam, the others on the show had quite a lot to say and clear, logical and articulate reasons for their positions...especially this guy Michael. Once I heard that he had his own show it quickly became the most listened to podcast in my feed. (This in itself is no small feet. I’ve been listening to podcasts for hours a day (sometimes 8) since 2012. It, too, no doubt contributed to my education and understanding of our world during this same time period but that is another blog all itself.)

Michael was everything that I was looking for. He was unabashedly a Marxist. He was intelligent and enjoyed rigorous thinking and leftist theory. He was hilarious and did fantastic impressions. He also was compassionate, kind and empathetic. He was a humanist, in the truest sense of the word and he understood, and articulated to me, that Socialism is a humanist movement. After I became a patron, I once asked him on Discord what his credentials were and he said that his Bachelor’s was in International Relations, which explained so much. Again, he was the only media personality that I was aware of that was knowledgeable and curious about the same things I was. He understood history. He valued history and its importance, so much so that he dedicated a separate Sunday show just to “Illicit Histories” where he would invite Historians from all over the world to discuss leftist movements in their own countries and how we could apply those lessons here and vice versa. This was it. This is what was missing from our national discourse--an international perspective and voice, and a historical perspective and voice. Michael was both and he was damn good at it. 

The Michael Brooks Show was an inspiration. Michael, Matt Lech and David Griscom were smart, eloquent, young men who articulated the systemic failures of our time, who critically discussed and analyzed our current political discourse and who pondered possible solutions based in history. The guests of TMBS, the network Michael created, really were the shining feature. Ben Burgis, Artesia Balthrop, Molly Webster, Glenn Greenwald, Adolf Reed, President Lula De Silva, Slavoj Žižek , Noam Chomsky, Dr. Cornel West, Dr. Richard Wolff...the list goes on and on and on. These people brought so much insight to the state of our world. Professors, Journalists, people who have spent their lives working on the cause, a cause for a better future, one based in humanity and empathy. Michael was able to bring his own empathy for humanity into his interviews, asking thoughtful direct questions that got to the heart of the issue-- while simultaneously bringing levity to a serious topic by making jokes in the voice of Gandhi, Mandela, Obama, or Bernie, to name a few. He, fucking, got it man. He understood how the world was connected. He understood that we are ALL humans, and that we all deserve to be treated with dignity, and he understood that Marx was right about a ton of shit and he wasn’t scared to remind you of that. 

Michael, for me, was an exemplar. He was a role model. I looked up to him. I had no idea he was only 13 months older than me, I thought he was probably in his early 40’s just based on the amount of shit that he knew. My personal 10 year goal was to be on his show. I wanted to either become a writer or go back into academia. I even wrote into a show a couple of months back and asked him which was a better choice. He was honored to be asked such a heavy question but didn’t feel comfortable giving that kind of life advice and I don’t blame him. He recommended that I continue teaching high school if that’s what I enjoy doing, and I do, and I likely will. He has shown me how to speak up for ideals that are right, regardless of what people think. Like, I understood that in the abstract, but watching someone do it multiple times a week really put it in my head that I need to advocate for my position publicly. I tell people that I’m a marxist- which in Texas is unheard of, even among leftists. Mostly due to people not understanding labels and what that even means. So I tell them. Thanks to David’s weekly recommended readings I haven’t stopped reading leftist theory even though I finished grad school over a year and a half ago. If TMBS never existed I never would have had the opportunity to read any of that. 

My heart bleeds for Matt and David. I can’t imagine what they’re going though. I want them to continue, to keep the community alive in his name. But I completely understand if that is just too painful. 

I was thinking earlier, trying to find an appropriate historical comparison to his passing. There are many but as a North Texan, the one that I ended up landing on was the passing of Dimebag Darrell Abbot. He did a lot. He accomplished a lot in a short amount of time. He inspired many to do things like him. It was entirely unexpected and not one person, not one, has a bad thing to say about the guy. Dimebag was adored. He listened to people, strangers, fans. He was kind and open-hearted and treated everyone with respect. Which made it extra hard when he passed. The same can be said for Michael. For Michael, since Socialism is more than just music, he inspired us to educate ourselves, to ask questions, to remember the periphery-Latin America, Africa, and Asia,-- to remember history and value it, to be compassionate, to educate others and to be active in our own communities. 

He will be sorely missed. The one thing I keep telling myself is that his death has the potential to bring even more attention to his message-- to help further catapult this movement into something undeniable. To bring more awareness to how power works and to finally activate us to become, as Michael said at Harvard on Feb 1, 2020: machiavellian.

 “...we still have to put work into reminding everybody that (Dr. MLK Jr.) was on the left. He wasn’t a guy who came out once a year and said ‘everybody should treat each other nicely. ...The other thing I loved about this speech was he talked about the fallacy- that certain Christians misunderstand love as a seeding of power. And then Nietzsche came along and rejected christian morality because he thought it was denying someone’s vitality- the will to power in a healthy sense, and he said ‘Love without power is sentimental and anemic. And power without love is abusive and corrosive’ I’m paraphrasing. And that was when I saw, I thought, ‘well here, ok, we know the left-wing Dr. King. Well here is the machiavellian Dr King, and I love it.’ I want the left to have Machiavelli, so we can have the strategy, the ruthlessness, the clarity, to actually win these battles. And be ruthless with institutions. And then I want us to learn how to be really kind to each other, welcoming of a broad set, and actually have a movement that has the capacity to do that.”

Let’s do the best we can to make that happen. Educate yourself about power. Educate yourself about ideologies. Read Marx and Engels. Read Slavoj Žižek and Adolf Reed. Read Michaels book Against the Web: A Cosmopolitan Answer to the New Right. Don’t get caught up in identity politics. Never lose sight of class dynamics. Use this knowledge to educate others and make informed decisions. Register to vote. Run for office. Effectuate real change. Do the intellectual rigor that was happening on TMBS every week, multiple times a week. Thank you for all that you brought to us Michael, you will be sorely missed and I hope to see you at the clearing at the end of the path. 

Anthony Sosa

7-21-20

[silly-bean]

Again, because I have zero self-control, another AU I’ve been thinking about is a little something I call the Capes AU. It’s an AU set in the universe of BNHA (Boku no Hero Academia, or My Hero Academia in English) in America. This America has a hero system similar to that of Japan in that heroes are public figures and collect paychecks and all that, but it’s a lot easier to start up an agency due to a lack of so-called “hero schools”. There are definitely universities that provide degree programs for being heroes, but like everything in America, you don’t necessarily need a degree to end up with that career. 

RT is one such agency, founded in a similar manner to the irl RT, with Geoff and Burnie and all the guys after they decided “why the fuck not” and started a hero agency without any of them having any experience in running one (Geoff has some experience with quirk-based combat because of his past in the army). AH happens when Geoff gets an itching to forge out on his own, and he asks Jack to go with him and start an agency together. They do stuff pretty well on their own for a while (still technically under RT, but they handle different types of villains and start to gain traction as a separate entity). Gavin gets hired on full-time after being a follower of the two main hero teams fielded by RT (the Reds and the Blues; that’s a whole thing that I’m flushing out still, so I’m just gonna leave it at that) and working with them on a couple different occasions (he’s technically shared between the two agencies, but spends the most time with AH). They see clips of a new self-employed hero called Mogar and get in contact, and recruiting him for the agency. Ray does a brief stay as a hero for them, but he decides that he would rather do work “behind the scenes” and leaves AH for a coalition of underground heroes. They continue as they are for a couple years, gaining popularity and splitting fully from RT in the process. 

It’s during this time that a villain going by The Mad King starts popping up, not personally attacking the city or anything, but his name starts getting thrown around by the small fish in the criminal world. And, AH, being an agency that, while they do patrol and handle public threats occasionally, is primarily an agency that takes care of petty crime and keeps tabs on the long-term threats. So, of course a mysterious figure in the background whose pulling the strings is something that definitely concerns Geoff and his team. However, they aren’t ever able to pin him down and he becomes somewhat of an “archenemy” for the agency. 

Jeremy gets grabbed after a brief stint as a vigilante which lands him in holding after he gets arrested with the villain he took down (Geoff won’t let talent like that go to waste and finding out that Jeremy’s a fan and was kinda inspired by their stuff made him feel responsible). Matt and Trevor are picked up in short order after when Jeremy mentions other fans who chose to be heroes without licenses (there’s fewer regulations, but you still need to be approved to use your quirk in combat). 

Of course, there’s one member of AH I’ve yet to mention. Enter: Ryan. He’s technically a “villain” -- arrested after being found using his quirk in an attempt to kill someone and all that -- but it’s his first offense and the government was really wanting to get their “Villain Rehabilitation Program” off the ground, so they ask RT if they’re willing to take him on for their program, but they’ve really gained a lot of ground and can’t really take the reputation hit if something went wrong, so they differ him to AH. Geoff’s really not happy having a convicted criminal on the team, but other than him scaring Gavin and being sorta creepy, he does his job good enough, so he’s allowed to stay. He works well with everyone, and, as they get to know him, he’s kinda a dork and they have trouble figuring out what would cause him to snap and try to kill someone. What they don’t know is that Ryan is, in fact, the Mad King and he was wrapping up a loose end when he got caught -- in civis and not at all looking like a criminal mastermind -- and now he’s trapped in this situation where he actually has to “get to know” and “establish healthy, working relationships” with the heroes that have been on his ass for years and it pisses him off, but at the same time, he can’t just run off because of the watch he’s still under  -- the convicted criminal thing -- and curses, he kinda likes these dumbasses and wow, does he really have to kill these guys?

[secular-jew]

Zio Upbringings and Kvetchings in the Trumpian era

Zio Upbringings and Kvetchings in the Trumpian era.

I'm an American Jew who has does not suffer from moral wavering. I'm also an American Reform Jew that is neither Kashrut nor Kosher-observant.

My synagogue growing up was located in the the Boston suburbs, nestled amidst Protestant communities and dotted with Jews who somehow landed a port shy of Ellis Island. Attended shul almost exclusively during important Holidays and Hebrew school weekends through Bar-Mitvah.

At the age of 10, I remember the start to the Soviet-armament-supplied multilateral Arab-state war against Israel, a Pearl-Harbor style event lasting three harrowing weeks and almost wiping Israel off the map.

Word spread fast to reach North American Jews some 5,500 miles (8,800 kms) to the west. I remember hearing the tragic news Saturday morning during Yom Kippur services. The attack occupied 100% of the Sermon delivered by our Rabbi, who was known as Moses because he actually looked and spoke like Moses. He worried aloud that this could portend the end of our homeland, but concluded that the spark of Zionism was eternal: something that could never be extinguished by modern would-be colonizers. This thought that resonated deeply inside my soul.

This was thankfully a war that Israel survived, but was also a battle that Golda Meir ultimately lost, as she resigned just 1 month following her Labor Party's 1974 election win. Remember her final words as Israel's leader: "I have reached the end of my road."

My first physical intersection with Israel occurred in my late teens and early 20's, when I visited extensively what was the modern chapter of an 4,000-year old ancient Jewish story. Exploring 1979-1982 Israel meant stints to some obvious places; Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv, Haifa, Jaffa, Tiberius, and Eilat, Sinai (including a climb up/down Mt Sinai), the northern Golan Heights, the donut-hole known as Hebron, and the Dome of the Rock, the Jew's oldest extant relic. This is the place where Abraham is said to submitted to God's request that he sacrifice his son. Strange how this shrine has now submitted to a colonialist Islamic overlord.

Then came the Kibbutz experience, which meant living the communal lifestyle in Lower Galilee, sleeping on cots in the international guest quarters, up at 4:30am transported out to the fields, and picking pears until it got so hot, you felt like you were standing on the side of the sun.

All well worth the effort as the work day ended around lunch, at which point, we ate a lot of hummus and squeezed copious quantities of ruby-red Israeli grapefruits chilling in large stainless steel refrigerators. After lunch, we cooled down in the community pool, and in the evenings, hung with our Israeli contemporaries while listening to Bob Marley or the Doors, and smoking hashish for the first time. These are two experiences that transcended culture. I felt so at home, and even gained a Sabra girlfriend by the name of Rachel רָחֵל‎ (pictured).

In short, what I considered to be a typical Reform Jewish-American upbringing. (Or American-Jewish?)

Fast forward to present political leanings. Raised a JFK-liberal (liberal in its true meaning; rooted in idea-tolerance and acceptance of diverse views).

As a middle-schooler, I recollect being enamored by McGovern, although not sure exactly how or why. We were all indoctrinated into believing Nixon (one of the greatest friends to Israel, not something I had any clue about) was innately evil. Looking back at that period now, my political stylings appear to have been crafted mainly by academia, the news media, and my peers - all who seemed driven by a sanitized, 1980's version of TDS that could have been called: 'Nixon Derangement Syndrome.'

Once legal age, I was a 'de rigeur' Democrat, which thankfully lasted only a few short minutes. Not able to cast a vote in the 1976 election, I remember nonetheless favoring Jimmy Carter, a folksy down-to-earth ex-peanut-farmer who seemed very popular in the state of Massachusetts where I grew up. Carter morphed into nothing less than a clueless and spineless "progressive" who oversaw the dismantling of principled American leadership.

In high school, a few of us in the dormitory got to stay up late every night to watch "The Iran Crisis–America Held Hostage: Day "xxx" (where xxx represented the number of days that Iranians held the occupants of our U.S. Embassy hostage). The only TV in the building was located in the dorm-masters living room. I watched sitting next to my hall-mate Abdullah Hussein, the same person who became the King of Jordan and who sits on the Hashemite apartheid throne today. We had many discussions in which I defended Israel and lauded her accomplishments in defeating Arab imperialism, while Abdullah retorted with accusations of Jewish occupation and bloodlust at Deir Yassin. I did not have enough knowledge of the incident or of earlier examples of Arab genocide (such as the Hebron massacre and other Jewish genocides) to counter-punch effectively.

During my college years, I tended towards Democrat "moral" policies and candidates, until that goofy Georgian came along. At first, I naively admired Carter's straightforward folksy persona. But eventually, the President’s peanut incompetence drove me to #WalkAway from a party-lone Democrat.

I was proud of myself for making an independent decision (pun intended) and have little idea if any of my peers followed suit, but suffice to say, I have voted forcefully against Democrats up and down the ticket pretty much ever since, with a few exceptions. I consider Trump an pragmatic Independent masquerading as a Republican, not dissimilar to Democrat Bloomberg - who as Mayor of NYC masqueraded as a Republican.

Much as my odium for Carter drove me to #Jexit and advocate for Reagan, my contempt for Obama's virulently anti-America values drove me to become a self-assertive 'deplorable.' Between Reagan and Trump, every other voting-booth decision appeared to present itself as largely a Hobson's choice between a lesser of two evils.

Although Trump possesses virtually no tact and represents the antithesis of my personal style, I appreciate the skill and speed with which he accomplishes things, from building tall luxury residential condos -- to creating a global brand, to the refurbishment of Wolman's Rink in Central Park. His support of Israel, unlike his predecessors, is legion, documented, and consistent. Trump not only moved the Embassy to its rightful place, not only installed an incredible Ambassador, not only praises Israel at every turn, he constantly rebukes Israel's enemies (who should be everyone's enemies). I love that Israel renamed the Golan Heights in his honor. It's almost better than getting the Rec Room in the Ft. Lauderdale condo named after someone rich in your extended family.

Today? There's no political party for me. The Democrats are a shrill hodgepodge of looney-tunes and ill-tolerant blabbermouths who are given way too much airtime on CNN and what I now call MSLSD (aka, MSDNC).

In terms of policy, On social issues like marriage equality, I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Liberal. On local/national fiscal issues, I'm a decided Conservative. On international affairs, I'm a Hawk who majored in International Relations while attending Sciences-Po in Paris (an excuse to massively inhale croque-monsieurs) and firmly believe the US had relevant ethical global leadership responsibilities, a mantle given up by Europe. This meant leading from the front, not from behind. My philosophy became characterized by the notion that appeasement of tyrannies led by autocrats or theocrats was a policy doomed to failure, proven again and again throughout every civilization. Appeasement in the face of aggression has led to more death and destruction, and more insecurity, not less.

It's becoming evident, sadly, that history promises to repeat. Why? This seems to happen in a matter of a few generations. Case in point: Millennials (aka snowflakes) who are too far removed from the trauma of warfare to comprehend evil. Millennials steeped and indoctrinated in re-written and falsified academic narratives. Millennials who virtue signal intolerantly through the lens of victimization. The generation that seems to have lost a sense of moral courage and severed any emotional ties to the 'never-forget' tragedies that are meant to not be forgotten.

My thoughts on our homeland:

I'm a devout 2-state (Israel-Jordan) Zionist as per the 1917 Balfour Declaration and affirmed by the 1920 San Remo Conference (attended by Chaim Weizmann). I see Israel as an inherently Jewish state in its DNA, but which is secular in its jurisprudence.

Next year in Jerusalem.

[samuraiko]

And we FINALLY have a really solid arc for a possible Season 2 of THE ROYAL TUTOR...

Okay, so a while back in my post “No Season 2, but a ROYAL TUTOR movie... and here’s why this is a GOOD thing”, I made the following point:

Because the anime left out several less ‘plot-heavy’ chapters from the manga, Season 1 ends up going all the way to Chapter 36 (Return of the Black Prince). Tomorrow (Sept 18th) is the release of Chapter 70. Which means that if Season 1 was anything to go by, we’d be looking at another 10-12 episode cour, and with no big payoff ending, which is really kind of meh. On the other hand, by the time the film comes out (mid-February 2019), we’ll have at LEAST another 6 or 7 chapters (possibly more if we get more double chapters as the series often does), which gives the studios a chance to see if it can end Season 2 in a satisfactory way.

Now with the movie having just been released on Crunchyroll (AND GO WATCH IT!), and Chapter 75 going live today (thank you, Comixology, for posting it early!), I’m revisiting this idea. And here’s what I think...

SPOILERS FOR THE MANGA (UP THROUGH CHAPTER 75) BELOW. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. LIKE STOP READING RIGHT NOW IF YOU’RE NOT CAUGHT UP.

Since the anime’s 12-episode run ended with the return of Heine as the Royal Tutor, and Eins back to Granzreich after six months of touring the Western Continent (and possibly the Eastern Continent as well) on behalf of the kingdom, we can start Season 2 with a suitable bang:

Eins’ return and his open goading of his brothers in their (admittedly) semi-resolve to become worthy candidates.

This spurs all four princes to newer heights.

Kai chooses to return to military academy, in addition to his lessons with Heine (and later opts to take part in a 1-month field training exercise with other students looking to join the officer corps)

Bruno eventually does accept a 3-month offer to study as an exchange student with Dr. Dmitri, continuing to develop his studies into sociology (as well as having Smerdyakov study for a short while in Granzreich)

Leonhard devotes himself even further to mastering the basics and, surprisingly enough, turns out to be interested in foreign languages

Licht, uncertain of his place in the world and what he wants, temporarily leaves the palace and goes to live in town for 5-6 months (I think, I’d have to doublecheck the math) to learn how to work a job he loves, while striving to become like the men he admires (Viktor and Felix, the cafe owner)

All four then run into challenges/discoveries that they didn’t expect to find:

Kai learns about the ideals of working with others, how defending the art of peace means learning the art of war, and how to transcend the notions and restrictions of class (a prince being best friends with a lower-tier noble)

Bruno discovers through his interactions with Smerdyakov about living up to the expectations of one’s parents and family history, while still pursuing one’s dreams, and is already making quite the stir in the academic world with his thesis on social and cultural equality

Leonhard, through his interactions with Crown Prince Claude of Fonseine, has come to appreciate the camaraderie between nations, and the importance of good communication

Licht gets the biggest lesson, however, when during his stint at Cafe Mitter Meyer, he runs facefirst into discovering the ugly downside of nationalism and the class and cultural barriers (as well as the historically-accurate rise of antisemitism in Austria)

And now all four have a goal:

Kai is focused on military matters, protecting the peace of Granzreich, and national defense

Bruno is focused on sociological matters, and a shift in government focusing more on democracy and sociocultural equality while still maintaining a monarchy

Leonhard is focused on the diplomatic route, first reinforcing Granzreich’s alliance with Fonseine, and now as of Chap 75, apparently learning the language of Yapan

Licht is focused on cultural and class equality, determined to safeguard and support opportunities and protection for all of Granzreich’s citizens, including those of immigrants

And running like an undercurrent to all this is the knowledge that Ernst Rosenberg is plotting against them, as Ernst is now aware (through Heine) that Eins may not be the favoured candidate for much longer... and he is DETERMINED to see Eins on the throne.

So...

Like I’d said earlier, Season 1 ran all the way through Chapter 36 and Eins’ return. Chapter 75 (All Together Again) ends with Licht having returned to the palace, all four princes now SERIOUSLY digging in to their work to become candidates... and Eins heading to Weissburg Palace to “confront this problem.”

This symmetry is too good to ignore.

I think that Higasa Akai and The Important People In Charge™ could take all of this, and turn it into a really meaty Season 2 arc. If they take a page from MY HERO ACADEMIA, where Season 1 was only 13 episodes, but Season 2 was at least TWICE that, we could get a solid 24-26 episode arc dealing with the princes taking up Eins’ challenge, and their renewed determination to actually become king... 

... and end it on the happy ending/cliffhanger of “yay the princes are all together again... and Eins is coming for them.”

(AND EVEN THE IMAGERY WORKS FOR BOOKENDS! SERIOUSLY!)

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know how long it takes to actually translate a manga into the medium of anime, and there’s a lot to distill (as well as whether they choose to include any of the ‘breather’ stuff as full-on episodes or just as nods - for example, the whole ‘the princes learn about art’ is a full-on chapter, but all it gets in the anime is that portrait of Adele that Heine did that nearly gets destroyed).

BUT - let’s be optimistic and say that THE ROYAL TUTOR gets a second season and it’s announced for either Fall 2019 or Winter 2019/2020 (or even Spring of 2020, especially if they’re going for the higher-quality animation like we saw in the movie). Higasa Akai can then rack up another 9-15 chapters by then, if she throws in a couple of double-chapters like she’s done in the past, giving her a bit more breathing room toward whatever might come for Season 3.

Could I be wrong?

Absolutely.

But I think maybe... just maybe... I could be right.

Whatcha think?

And once again for those in the back - here is my PSA on how and why you should be supporting the series and I am NEVER going to stop shouting about this because we have to support this series if we WANT a Season 2.

[littlemissrainhoe]

It’s finally here! Here’s my piece for the BNHA Flash Bang. It’s an Asylum AU where UA is an asylum and BNHA Canon is just Izuku’s hallucination. Needless to say, this is pretty dark so please take heed of the warnings carefully. Read at AO3 for some story notes.

Many thanks to @bnhaflashbang for organizing this bang and to @creativebluegalaxy for working on the wonderful art for this fic! ^^

-

Title: corrupted lens; [AO3 link]

Summary: Midoriya Izuku’s life changes when the Number One Hero tells him he can be a hero. Taken as his protégé, Izuku trains under All Might and manages to get into UA—the best hero school in the world! But that is just the beginning, for a big evil is rising from the shadows, threatening the world of heroes.

(Aizawa Shouta is tired. Of all his current patients at Ulysses Asylum, no one gives him more sleepless nights than Midoriya Izuku, the boy who was kidnapped and tortured by the infamous serial killer All Might—the boy who went missing for ten months and never came back.)

Rating: Teen and Up

Ship: None

Warnings: Mentions of Rape/Non-Con, Underage, Injury, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kidnapping, Violence, Implied/Referenced Torture, Stockholm Syndrome and Mentally Ill Characters

-

When Izuku wakes up, he doesn’t expect to be greeted by the familiar white walls of the infirmary.

He could only blink sluggishly, disoriented as he is, trying to remember what happened before he fell asleep. Did he get injured in another battle simulation? Izuku winces at the thought. If that is indeed the case, then that means he broke his promise again. Didn’t Recovery Girl say she won’t use her quirk on him if he injured himself again? All Might must be so disappoi—

(A body destroyed by a fierce fight, sickly and emaciated, yet still standing tall.)

All… Might…

(An arm stretching outwards, worn from battle but never wavering.)

All Might?

(An ever-present grin, somehow embodying both encouragement and promise.)

Where are you—?

(“You’re next.”)

“All Might!” Izuku screamed.

The sudden influx of memories is nothing short of torturous. Not only do they remind him of the heavy weight of the mantle his mentor has left him to carry, but the fact that the reign of All Might has ended fills him with despair.

One by one and all at once, Izuku can’t tell which emotions emerge and where they end. Anger, sadness, heartbreak—fear like no other. All Might is gone. His hero may not be dead, but already the world feels bleaker; Izuku can feel the gaping hole the Symbol of Peace has left behind deep in his bones.

Izuku can only cry and cry, grieving the loss of his hero. He mourns the man who saved his life, who encouraged his dreams when no one else did, who believed in him no matter what, and who taught him how to live for other’s sake—how to be a hero.

His mom, his teachers, his classmates—not a single one of them believed he could achieve his dreams, that Izuku could be special. One by one, they broke him down, until only a sliver of hope remained.

But All Might gave him a chance, and as hard as his training was, All Might had given him more hope than anyone else has. Now that he’s passing on the baton, Izuku shouldn’t cower—he should bravely answer his call.

Now more than ever, the people need a hero to look up to, to keep them safe; they need a Symbol of Peace. Determined, he bats away the fear and loneliness that restrains him from moving forward.

With All Might’s power residing in me, I can’t lose.

-

“… to break curfew but Kacchan was in danger, Sensei. We had to save him, and it was the only way…”

“We managed to put him under.”

Shouta looks up at Shuuzenji-san’s entrance, pausing the video. Her usually immaculate hairdo’s in disarray, probably from rushing to Midoriya’s room. Shouta was just watching the recording of yesterday’s session when Midoriya, who was asleep, suddenly started screaming.

“Hopefully, this doesn’t happen again,” she continues, “but if he wakes up this violently once more, we’d have no choice but to restrain him in his sleep too.”

“Did he hurt himself?”

“No, but he did manage to punch the orderlies holding him down and wake the other residents.” She eyes him sternly. “Speaking of sleep, when was the last time you had some, young man?”

Shouta sighs, fully aware of what she sees. The panda eyes, the scruffy face, the littered coffee cups and strewn out sleeping bag—the room has all the evidence for a typical Aizawa Overnighter. He’s been up for almost 57 hours, but she doesn’t have to know that. He just has to last a few more hours before he can finally pass out.

“Had no choice,” he grunts, resolutely turning back to the computer. “Someone has to keep an eye on Ward 1A before the patients try to break out again.”

He hears her sigh behind him but she doesn’t argue further as she sits next to him. It’s hard to put up too much fuss when this is already the second incident this week. Patients escaping is already a cause for alarm, but a mentally-unstable criminal breaking into their facility? Even worse. No one even realized he was in the building until the guards were alerted that someone unauthorized was attempting to access Midoriya’s room.

Shouta clenches his fist, immediate anger springing up at the thought of the vile man. Hasn’t he destroyed that boy’s life enough?

When Shouta first took Midoriya Izuku as his patient, he never thought it would be easy—but he never expected it to be this hard.

Shouta first heard about Midoriya in the news, whose case had blown up in the media. A fourteen-year-old boy who vanished on his way home from school, the police were notified of his disappearance a full week after he went missing—and only because Midoriya’s teacher called his mother to inquire about his absence. By then, it was assumed the boy committed suicide after evidence of bullying and domestic violence (to which Midoriya Inko is currently serving jail time for) came to light. But when investigators found no body, the missing boy’s estranged father Midoriya Hisashi insisted on continuing the search.

That’s when the letters started to appear.

Signed by All Might—the serial killer most known for the Musutafu Massacre where he videotaped himself laughing as he set off multiple bombs placed under a commercial district, killing hundreds and injuring more—the case got more notorious. For the first time since his apparent “retirement” five years ago, the criminal once again resurfaced like the boogeyman. He sent pictures and videos of him “training” Midoriya to become his “successor”, laughing menacingly as he repeatedly abused the boy, both physically and sexually, until he passed out.

It took ten months before they found him, and even then All Might was already long gone. Evidence of malnutrition, incorrectly-healed bones, head trauma, multiple lacerations, and fresh traces of semen were found on Midoriya. After his brief stint at Musutafu General Hospital, he was immediately placed in Ulysses Asylum (better known as ‘UA’) by his father, in the hopes of his son’s recovery.

Shouta immediately knew something was strange during their first session. Midoriya’s eyes were slightly unfocused, despite the sedatives having already left his system. He spoke of “quirks” as special abilities instead of behavioral habits, of becoming a “hero” and defeating “villains”—concepts that Shouta knew to be fantasy but Midoriya believed as truth. It’s like his brain has been completely rewritten to view the world as a superpowered society—like a corrupted lens that obscures his eyes from the full truth.

Though he’s aware of his surroundings to a point, his brain filters any fact that doesn’t align with its version of reality. Midoriya would talk fondly about his abusive mother making him his favorite food, gush about his kidnapper helping him make his dreams come true, about the patients in Ward 1A and how they’re all training to become heroes.

Midoriya Izuku views the world like a comic book where he is its protagonist—the once powerless boy who will become the greatest hero. After the abuse and trauma he experienced, it’s the only way his brain could cope.

Aside from that and a self-sacrificing streak that borders on self-harm, there’s technically nothing wrong with him. During his stay, he’s managed to demonstrate his high IQ, make friends, and encourage a few tight-lipped patients to open up more. Though there’s been little progress in realigning Midoriya’s “worldview”, the fact that he’s responding well to his stay here is already a big leap forward.

That is until five days ago, when All Might broke into UA. More than ten people in the staff were injured driving that lunatic away from Midoriya, including Yamada, who Shouta usually switches shifts with. Hence, the ridiculous overtime.

At least the bastard’s finally in police custody, Shouta thinks, recalling the reveal of the man’s identity on the news. As unbiased as he should be, seeing Yagi Toshinori in cuffs brings both relief and vicious satisfaction. It’s a big cause for celebration everywhere—to finally have the monster responsible for many murders right where he belongs.

But that doesn’t mean all is well.

Seeing Yagi must have triggered something in Midoriya; why else would he have tried to escape after months of clean behavior? And now it seems like he’s beginning to act out even more. The only question is why.

Shouta sighs. The Midoriya on the screen just looks at him beseechingly, wrapped up in the straitjacket they put him in after leading an escape attempt with some of the other patients.

This problem child will be the death of him.