#not because I think they're unaware of the presence of side effects

[jaydude1992]

I saw your post in the pro Jedi tag after someone else reblogged it under that tag. Also, Palpatine being responsible for the fall of the Jedi and Republic is pretty much half the point of the PT.

1. Thanks for clarifying what you meant by NGO. That said, I still don't know where you got the impression the Jedi were ever meant to be 100% apolitical. They've always been tied to the Republic in Lucas's works. And I personally don't know if ditching the Republic would automatically make them more effective as overall peacekeepers, considering they'd be giving up their authority within Republic space along with whatever funding the Republic presumably provides them with. Someone's got to pay for their starships and operational costs, after all.

2. I don't see what choice the Jedi had regarding Anakin, seeing as Palpatine outranked them in the Republic hierarchy. And I don't know how exactly the Jedi were able to bring down the Zygerrians, but I wouldn't say they'd automatically be able to do the same with the Hutts without Republic support, since they're only several thousand or so strong and fighting against a criminal empire that controls a small chunk of the galaxy.

3. Didn't Sifo-Dyas commission the clone army on behalf of the Republic/Senate though? My understanding would be that unless there's something in the contract that allows it, they wouldn't be able to go all "our clones, back off Republic".

And I wasn't saying that the Jedi not getting involved in the Clone Wars would mean automatically letting the Separatists win. I was saying that it would likely result in more people getting killed by the Separatists specifically because the Jedi weren't there to protect them.

In regards to the lack of standing armies, my understanding is that the majority of them got downsized or disbanded because there hadn't been a major war within the Republic for a very long time when the Clone Wars rolled around. I do know from Attack of the Clones that some in the Senate felt the need to establish a standing army for the Republic as a whole, while the corporate bigwigs in charge of the Separatists were led to believe that combining their droid armies would give them an armed force greater than any other in the galaxy - unaware as they were of the clones - suggesting the Republic didn't have a particularly strong military presence for all its power back then.

As for why fighting in the Clone Wars became the responsibility of the Jedi, according to Lucas, that was the result of Palpatine drafting them into doing so, and the Jedi went along with it because people would die if they didn't. Plus they'd found out the Separatists were being led by one of their own who'd fallen to the dark side.

As I've said above, I'm personally not so sure that splitting from the Senate would do much good for the Jedi Order's effectiveness as peacekeepers. And I think I should also point out that the PT isn't meant to be seen as a complete picture of the Jedi and their activities within the galaxy. It's the story of how the Republic became the Galactic Empire, and how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader.

Finally, Naboo. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were initially sent there as ambassadors to negotiate an end to the Trade Federation blockade; they and the rest of the Jedi never expected they'd end up becoming combatants in the conflict back then.

when people go like

'oh, the jedi couldn't intervene in tatooine because it was outside of the republic's jurisdiction uwu'

I'm like: do you think that's a good reason?

imagine if doctors without borders was like that. like, jedi is supposedly a non-government organisation/religious order. the good of the galaxy should not be equated to the interests of the senate and the problem is that it was.

the jedi order became corrupt when they became attached to the republic as an ideal, the senate, rather than the republic, the people

obviously, the jedi storming into somewhere like tatooine and leading a revolution would be an absolute disaster, as social change (particularly something as drastic as a revolution) needs to be bottom-up to be successful. but they could have done something. get a few jedi in contact with the slave underground, be allies and coordinators.

the jedi order loses its way because they sacrifice their morals, again and again, for the supposed 'greater good'. it's utilitarianism writ large.

a good discrete example of the jedi order's flaws is when they negotiate with the hutts for hyperspace lane access.

they know the hutts are slavers and crime lords. that's not a secret.

but, they need the hyperspace lanes For the War

the jedi order keeps peace, yes. peace for who? peace for the billions of slaves? their idea of peace seems to be to maintain the status quo, even as the status quo became increasingly toxic.

the jedi order choosing to accept the clones, choosing to fight the war, it was the easy choice. it was the wrong choice. it was the path of least resistance.

but does that make it right?

no.

think back to the delegate of 2000 meeting:

“The moral authority of the Jedi, such as it is,” Bana Breemu said, “has been spent lavishly upon war; I fear they have none left for politics.”

anyway the jedi should decentralise and help the people, not the Senate

[dinosaurcharcuterie]

Both wife and me got a change to our medication regimen last week.

Both of us are experiencing unpleasant side effects.

They're fairly harmless and they're not the same ones, so we can still constitute one fully functioning adult if we work together, but they're still unpleasant.

[vickyvicarious]

Suddenly, I became conscious of the fact that the driver was in the act of pulling up the horses in the courtyard of a vast ruined castle, from whose tall black windows came no ray of light, and whose broken battlements showed a jagged line against the moonlit sky. I must have been asleep, for certainly if I had been fully awake I must have noticed the approach of such a remarkable place.

Jonathan, 5 May

As we travel on the rough road, for a road of an ancient and imperfect kind there was, I held down my head and slept. Again I waked with a sense of guilt and of time passed, and found Madam Mina still sleeping, and the sun low down. But all was indeed changed; the frowning mountains seemed further away, and we were near the top of a steep-rising hill, on summit of which was such a castle as Jonathan tell of in his diary.

Van Helsing, 5 November

This is a neat detail. Everyone seems to miss the moment when they arrive at the castle. They're all sleeping, and wake to find themselves suddenly in Dracula's lands. Even though the castle is such a dramatic landmark, it isn't something people see until it is right above them.

I think this could tie in neatly to the idea of vampires being unable to be put down on paper. At least in his notes, it seems Stoker toyed with the idea of making them impossible to photograph (the result coming out looking skeletal and dead) or paint (somehow always looking like a different person), and the idea of being unable to place Castle Dracula definitively on a map goes wonderfully with that. There is a general area they know of, but not specifics. I talked before about how both Jonathan and Van Helsing sense a change in the weather/atmosphere around them at a certain point in the Borgo Pass, not too long before the road that turns off towards the castle. That road is the last clear direction anyone seems able to give, what with the long, nightmarish journey during which all our characters seem to fall asleep. Jonathan fled away from the castle, but he was likely just rushing right through the woods for at least a while, and may not have been able to find his way back.

Today's entry both ties in and contrasts this in interesting ways.

Straight in front of us and not far off—in fact, so near that I wondered we had not noticed before—came a group of mounted men hurrying along. In the midst of them was a cart, a long leiter-wagon which swept from side to side, like a dog's tail wagging, with each stern inequality of the road. [...] We could distinguish clearly the individuals of each party, the pursued and the pursuers. Strangely enough those pursued did not seem to realise, or at least to care, that they were pursued; they seemed, however, to hasten with redoubled speed as the sun dropped lower and lower on the mountain tops. [...] Closer and closer they drew. The Professor and I crouched down behind our rock, and held our weapons ready; I could see that he was determined that they should not pass. One and all were quite unaware of our presence.

Mina, 6 November

Firstly, no one has any trouble seeing the castle itself anymore. Perhaps this is due to Van Helsing's precautions to prevent vampires from reaching it, or perhaps whatever usually stops people has been lifted by Dracula in order to allow the people serving him to get him there faster. (They have been able to get right up to the castle in the past, as well.) Maybe that effect was limited only to them but because the boys were all chasing someone they were able not to be led astray/put to sleep. Or maybe there wasn't anything supernatural going on with the sleepiness before at all, who knows.

But there's still that suddenness recurring here. Mina notices Dracula's group suddenly, and they're close enough that she's surprised they haven't spotted them before. There's some uncertainty whether the group knows about their pursuers (though it's possible they knew but were just trying to outrun them until sunset and didn't care otherwise). And Mina and Van Helsing are lurking unseen, until they appear before everyone suddenly just as they get close to the castle.

I'm not really sure where I'm going with this, but I just find it interesting.

[hoshi-u-love-me]

Twined and Intertwined

(Ch. 1)

Pairing : BTS × Reader × ?? / ?? × Reader

Genre : Sci-fi, angst

Word count:

Warning : absurdity. Das oll. Oh and reader w female pronoun.

A/N : this is my first time writting again after my hiatus so please be gentle with me. I may be a bitch and ain't no bitch die from criticsm but I'm tired and overworked these past 2 weeks so a little sentiment would be nice.

🍃🍃🌸

"DON'T TAKE HER! PLEASE!"

"LET MY BABY GO! PLEASE, SHE'S NORMAL LIKE THE OTHERS!!"

As rare as it is, no one would be surprised if they heard screams.

It all started 2 years ago. The year a scientist manage to find a genetic development within Generation Zs that helps them cope, manage their emotions, and adapt to environment and situations far quicker and far more effectively.

The discovery lead to more thesis made and more thesis led to more tests conducted in the name of science and being widely known as the person who could produce a new evolution theory.

After finding out about the unique 0.2% that oddly enough were all born between 1990-1999, the UN decided to study them even further so they allow scientists to capture those and study them. And with every single person on the face of the earth being tested, it was not hard for the government to track them.

Today, another girl was taken away from her family.

The way she was captured was animalistic. A sniper with tranquilizer was placed on standby the moment her name moved to the top of the list. She was sedated on the spot. As she fell down the stairs, government personel barged in and took her away just like that.

No matter how loud her parents cried, how hard they tried to follow the speeding van, the unconscious girl was unaware of anything, especially her future.

When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was white.

White walls on every side, even the ceiling. The room was almost blinding. She sat up on the unfamilliar bed, scanning the unfamilliar room. Every furniture is white, even her clothes and the clothes placed inside the wardrobe on the right side of the door. Unlike everything else, the door is light brown just like the hardwood floor beneath her.

The bed is placed right accross the door, the frames are attached to the wall behind it. The bed looked more like a simple hospital bed rather than the usual bed (Y/N) had in her own room.

After taking in her surrounding, (Y/N) began putting 2 and 2 together and could only sigh as a single tear decider to drip down onto her blanket.

She took the test one and a half year ago, back when she was a mere senior in high school, back when her school was only a 'test to ensure the factuality of the new testing equipment'. She got her result a couple of days later, mailed directly to her. And within the envelope, at the very last page of the 5 pages result explanation, a bright, big, red, rectangular stamp that glared at her viciously : [ ANOMALY ].

Of course, like every other panicked teenager, she hid the result from her parents and said that her result came back and the result is the same as people like her. Which is technically not a lie. In all honesty, she did meant to tell her parents about her result, but she hadn't found the best time to do it.

(Y/N) knew that what happened was innevitable. But deep inside she had hoped that over time, the test result's significance would died down and scientists would've found another discovery that would make them busy enough to forget the whole anomaly thing. But it never happened. In fact, the news blew up and everyone made such great deals about it.

She stayed on her bed for a while, quietly sobbing at how stupid she was for not telling the truth to her parents. Now she won't be able to properly part with her parents. Neither party could bid their goodbyes for God knows how long. As far as she knew, none of the Stem members had actually been returned back home. There was this girl, Cassidy who lived near her and went to the same school with her, was captured earlier this year. Cassidy's parents were so devastated that both of them committed suicide after getting no news about Cassidy for 4 months straight. They had a nice fancy dinner and end the night with a nice glass of rat poison. Yum.

Truth is, no one actually know how the 'research' is done. The government kept the research to themselves more than they kept news about aliens from spreading out.

It appears that (Y/N) had been zoning out long enough to finally adapt to her surroundings and heard voices outside the door.

She knew she'd be living with people within the Stem, but it had never occured to her how many people there might be.

Bracing herself, (Y/N) stepped onto the cold wood floor and slowly reach the door and walk out.

As she walk straight through the bedroom door clad hallway and down the stair at the end of it, she found herself in the presence of 7 guys and a girl. They were lounging in the living room, 4 guys on a big couch, 1 with the girl on a smaller couch, and the other 2 were on their own couches.

"Oh, you're awake" the girl smiled.

(Y/N) smiled a little and nodded.

For some unknown reason her gaze dropped to her feet and tears began to stream down her face and drop to the floor.

"Oh you poor thing" the other girl stood from her position and hugged (Y/N) as she cried on her shoulder.

The unknown girl gently stroke her hair, whispering words of reassurance until one of the guys came to the both of them.

(Y/N) pulled away to look at the guy standing next to her, he had a warm smile but sad eyes. He then pat (Y/N)'s head ever-so-gently with much care before engulfing her in a hug, "it's okay, we're here for you" and with that, came another wave of tears.

It took a while for (Y/N) to calm down, but when she does, the guy led her to the couch and sat her right next to him. He gently let her head lay on his shoulder, despite it being so big, she found it rather comfortable.

"I think an introduction is much needed right now" one guy said, he was sitting accross of them with the previous girl next to him.

"I'm Jongin, I'm 25 and I got admitted to this Stem last year" he said. Despite him smiling kindly, he still look rather intimidating. Perhaps it's his eyes, or his big body that just screams "confidence" all around.

"I'm next!" Another guy exclaimed, he jumped a little in his seat in excitement, "I'm Hoseok! Jung Hoseok! But you can call me J-Hope, most of my friends call me that back home! And I'm also 25 like Jongin! I got here around 7 months ago!" He smiled so big that it was impossible for normal human being to not smile after seeing him smile

The guy next to him raised his right hand as he smiled, his dimple was so deep that it was the first thing noticable when you look at him, "I'm Namjoon, I'm the same age as Hobi and got admitted around the same time as him"

Namjoon then nudged the guy next to him, "what? Oh, my turn," the guy looked rather unbothered, but he was willing to talk, "I'm Yoongi, 26, but I guess you can call me Suga... I was admitted here 6 months ago" his introduction was short and simple, perhaps he's one of those people who talk only if it's necessary.

"I'll go next!" The girl grinned, "I'm Chungha, I'm 23 and I was moved to this stem around 2 months ago" the girl explained.

(Y/N) furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, "moved?" She asked. Chungha chuckled at that, "I'll explain it later, after everyone finishes introducing themselves"

"Which means I'll go next" the last one fron the group of 4 guys spoke, smiling happily, letting his lips form a really cute heart shape, "I'm Taehyung, but you can call me V! I'm 24 years old, and if you ever need someone to cheer you up, you can just come to me and we'll do stuffs together!" "Hey, no fair! If I knew you were gonna say that, I would've said that first!" Hoseok whined at the younger guy.

(Y/N) chuckled at them both bickering.

"Hey, come on! I wanna introduce myself too!" The other guy sitting alone protested, stopping the two guys from bickering even more.

"I'm Jungkook, Jeon Jungkook, 22 and I was admitted here last week, so... I'm probably the only person who could relate to you the most right now" he smiled. "Don't trust him, the first time he got here, he was scared of Chungha simply because she's a girl. Jungkook is scared of girls" Yoongi smirked as he said that, making Jungkook blush as he glared at Yoongi.

"And lastly, I'm Seokjin, or Jin for short and I'm 27" (Y/N) craned her neck a little to look at the guy she's currently leaning on, "out of everyone else, I was admitted here the longest, about a year and a half ago? I was one of the first ones to be admitted in the mass admission" he smiled. But behind his smile, lies an uncomfortable sadness that only lingers for a split second before it changed back to his mask.

"What about you?" Jin asked.

(Y/N) shifts her gaze to her palm as she speaks, "I'm (Y/N), I'm 20 years old, and I... I don't know what else to say" she blushed.

Chungha squealed in her seat, "oh my gosh, she's adorable! She's like a little bunny!" That made (Y/N) blush even more to the point it was really visible.

"Anyways, since you're new, perhaps we should explain to you what's going on here..." Jongin started.

"You know about the researcher's thesis about us, the anomalies, right?" He asked, (Y/N) nodded as a simple answer, "so... essentially, what they're trying to do here is split the the said characteristic into a real being through surgery, they basically took something out, I don't know what exactly though..." (Y/N)'s eyes widens in horror. But before she could say anything, Jin had grabbed her hands in his, "no, it's okay! It's not as bad as it sounds! I survived the surgery!" He said.

Without saying anything else, he tugged (Y/N) up onto her feet and guided her to a room on the first floor.

The room was near the glass door leading to the garden at the back. And it's the only room on the first floor other than a bathroom, dining room, and the kitchen.

"Okay," Jin stopped once he got to the door and looked at (Y/N), "what you're about to see is really unnatural but real... I hope you won't get freaked out by it" he bit his lip in anxiety, he was giving both him and the girl time to prepare for her reaction.

Jin then proceed to slowly open the door to reveal what's inside.

"Holy shit..."

[cassandrasimplex]

I'm way more hung up on that line joking/speculating about half-orc ancestry than I should be, but.

He's tall for a wood elf, okay. He's also broader and more heavily muscled than most wood elves. We know he was teased about that as a child. If Tav comments on that in a neutral way, he says, "You've shown more restraint than most" by not bringing it up before. He's so resigned to it being a Thing. He knows it's going to come up in conversation eventually and the only question is when.

All the men on my father's side of the family are 6' or taller, up to 6'8". My second husband is 6'4". Going anywhere public with any of these men is a lesson in why it used to be considered rude to make "personal remarks" (about someone's body or appearance). Everyone has to tell them they're tall, as if they might have been previously unaware of it. Everyone. It's like a compulsion. The boring ones just say something like, "Holy shit, you're very tall!" The clever ones try to say something original, but unfortunately, it's all "How's the weather up there?" stuff -- it might be the first time that person has said it, so they think it's new and original, but it will still probably be the second time that month the tall guy has heard it because they literally can't leave the house without being reminded that their body is considered unusual. It gets really old, and there's no polite way to put a stop to it, because it's not a few repeat offenders; it's everyone, everywhere, all the time, making one remark each that they usually don't even realize is rude and can't imagine adding up the way it does.

Halsin stands with his feet half again shoulder width apart. Okay, this is a particularly brilliant little mocap thing. The thin tall guys in my family don't do this, but the broader ones do, almost all the time, almost without exception. I asked my husband about it once; he said he's already taking up that space side-to-side anyway, and planting his feet so far apart makes him look a couple of inches shorter than he is. The effect makes him look -- or at least feel like he looks -- less enormously looming. Other people subconsciously react to him as though he's posing a physical threat just by existing at the size his body grew to. If he can look even a couple of inches shorter, he feels less put under a spotlight all the time, and other people are less uncomfortable around him.

Halsin can and will throw down when given reason, but he's far too kind-hearted to be happy with constantly making others uncomfortable. They gave him body language even in his base pose that reflects that. But in doing so, they also gave him body language that accurately reflects how someone stands and moves when they're tired to death of being singled out for their size, to go along with the dialogue that references the same feeling.

Halsin has been reminded every damn day of his life that he's weird for a wood elf, and likely bullied for it as a child. (I think there's even a line referencing that but can't bring it to mind immediately.) But a druid is a druid, regardless of species, height, or build. And as a druid, Halsin is known for having "the presence of a bear". He spends a lot of time as a bear.

Nobody is surprised when a bear is large. Nobody teases him for it. (One of the character selection lines we don't get reminds us of the infamous foolishness of poking a bear.) Nobody asks a bear how the weather is up there, or if he can see clear to Canada on a nice day, or whether it's harder to breathe at that altitude. Nobody tells a bear the only thing he's good for is heavy lifting, or fetching things down from high shelves.

And then the line about half-orc ancestry -- you can read that as "People used to be cruel to me about this, so now I beat them to it by making the joke myself," or you can read it as something that might actually be true (and explain other things as well, like the body hair he dresses to hide despite not having much liking for clothes) and something he's sensitive about it or used to be ashamed of. But in either case, you end up with an old childhood bruise that likely made referring to himself as an elf a risky thing to do, inviting speculation or mockery about not ~really~ being one.

He's never been allowed to feel like he fits in as an elf. He's always felt at home as a druid. 😭

Today in "let's pick apart every line Halsin speaks in the entire game"...

Halsin, looking in the mirror, says "not bad, for a druid of my vintage."

Druid. Not elf.

He seems to consider being a Druid more of his identity than being an elf, and I find that fascinating.