#not malice

[hellenhighwater]

May I ask you a potentially sensitive question (and please feel free not to answer if you'd rather not) but how did you come around to adopting Malice and Vice after your cat before them passed away. I lost my own cat, my baby boy, two years ago, and it seems an opportunity to have a new cat in my life has come up, and while I would love a new fluff in my life, I still have these feelings of ... wrongness? of sadness at the idea at the same time. I guess I'm asking, when you got your kittens, did you feel something like that? Is it something you wait to go away before welcoming a new pet into your life, or does it ever go away?

That's a really good, really hard question. I don't know that I can say anything objective about it. I can only tell you what it was like for me personally.

I love cats. I will probably have cats for the rest of my life, and I will adore each and every one, but none of them are ever going to be able to hold a candle to the Terror. She was just the best cat, and losing her was devastating. She was old, though, and I knew it was coming a while before it happened, so I had some time to start making peace before Nimitz actually passed.

There is nothing anyone could do or say that would have made that easier, and no new cat would have ever been able to replace her. I didn't want them to. I knew that losing Nim would gut me, and I decided that I would rather put that grief to work by taking in and caring for a cat that needed it. I had planned, actually, on an adult cat; Mal and Vice as kittens sort of fell into place accidentally. I didn't expect to feel less grief by having a new cat; I just wanted something to do with that feeling. I often find that I can't work through that kind of feeling until I've made something of it; I knew I wanted to make a home for another cat.

I still miss her. I think I will never not miss her; she was a phenomenal cat. I'm tearing up now, like I do every time I think about her for more than a few minutes. Taking in the kittens was almost...a tribute to her memory, I guess? The Terror was left on the street before she decided she lived with us; I think she would maybe appreciate the same being offered to other cats, now that she no longer has need of my home.

Malice is really nothing like Nimitz--there is a reason I mostly call her Meatball, but I think that for the rest of my life I will always have a black longhair, to keep just a shadow of the Terror of the Underbrush near.

[this-acuteneurosis]

So Im all here for the Pretty Ladies who dress nicely doing all the politics, wonderful court intrigue right here, are we gonna talk about in the back ground the majority known Male characters are in War killing dying thing? this story IS about the back room deals and others as main setting, (although we should tease you about dodging the wars in Star Wars sometimes just as a little poke.) curious cause the 4 main Male politco 2 are enemies in Rush and Palps. Kamino had a fem evil Senator! use??

Who wants to talk about ✨🌈Palpatine🌈✨!

There haven't been a lot of opportunities to talk about the structure and the influence of our main villain textually in the story, because Leia is kinda blind to her own bias, and also a lot of stuff that I have as part of his character just...doesn't come up.

So, keep two things in mind as I talk about DLB Chancellor Sheev Palpatine and pull back the curtain just a little.

His character is coming pretty exclusively from the OT and PT movies (with minor exceptions).

I'm taking advantage of a lot of silences and time period circumstances to draw conclusions about his character, so don't be surprised if I say something that isn't said out loud at some point.

Ready? Let's go!!

The OT features an overabundance of male humans in positions of power in Palpatine's government. This may have been balanced out slightly by novels that I haven't read or newer shows that I haven't watched, but the people Palps promoted to his special seats of power (Moffs, military leaders) are overwhelming human men. If we stretch canon to include the two Clone Wars cartoon series, the only women brought into Palpatine's plots are brought in by Dooku or other associates, not Palpatine himself. Of the three apprentices Palpatine has, two are human and one is humanoid.

I don't think I'm breaking anyone's brain to assert that Palpatine is sexist and racist. I know I'm not the first person to suggest or write this sort of character.

What I'm going to assert, beyond those points, is that Palpatine is only really impressed with himself, and assumes that anyone lacking qualities that he has is progressively less useful and important than him. So he's also, for lack of a better word, Force-ist.

(Ugh, nope. I still don't like it, but I don't have anything else.)

Palpatine absolutely has loyalists and panderers that are women. But as far as DLB is concerned, he's not promoting them, searching them out, or impressed by them. So women are going to be antagonists in this story more incidentally. On a small scale. Major antagonists are going to end up frequently being male and human. And I'm not going to try and change that.

Only tangentially related, but a little important because Leia comes into the Senate through Padmé's office, because of the prejudices listed above, I will pretty much die on the hill that Palpatine loathes Padmé. And he really loathes that he loathes her. That he has to have any feelings about her at all.

She's young. She's a girl. She isn't Force sensitive. He plucked her out and carefully curated her early political experience and was probably violently influential in her success in getting elected the first time. He had a tiny, fragile, 14 year old stumbling under the weight of the crown, ready to start his civil war and initiate the end of the Republic. She gets him elected. His plan is flawless.

Until it turns out that she has a spine, and humility. She has the courage to face danger and the grace to bow to another sovereign power. She trusts Jar Jar Binks when he suggests that the gungans have an army. Like this is somehow a viable plan for taking back her people, when Jar Jar isn't even slightly popular or powerful.

And she wins. Palpatine loses Maul, he loses Naboo, and he loses the opportunity to start a war. She sets him back a solid decade, at 14. On a hope and a the thinnest apology.

DLB isn't so much about creating a perfectly equitable Star Wars universe. I'm not equipped for that, and it wasn't the goal. This story is about a bunch of ladies doing politics and kicking Palpatine's plans to the curb because he was always vulnerable to the people he dismissed the most.

Palpatine's plans had the Jedi and the Senate in a steel trap of lose-lose situations. But he loses, over and over, to kindness, compassion, forgiveness, and diplomacy. He's stymied by it. He literally can't plan for it. I've had all sorts of fun having Leia and Padmé do "mother-daughter" politics together, but I love that in RotJ Luke Skywalker looked the Emperor dead in the eyes and said, "No. No you can't make me do this." Like his mother would have. It had to drive Palpatine completely nuts. And it worked.

Anyway, all that to say, there's a lot of story left, and I'm not going to give away all of Palpatine's plans and plots. But part of how Leia got this far without any resistance was that Palpatine saw a short, unconnected woman from the outer rim, had no idea she could use the Force, and went, "Not important."

And he was very, very, very wrong. :D

[bonefall]

Forgor if I asked this. But a question about Millie's Radio Collar AU. Would something like an under the skin microchip be possible? Idk if they actually make those kind of tracking devices, but would a Clan cat notice something was in their scruff and have it taken out?

Microchips don't have GPS; they are a thing that is scanned when a cat is taken to a vet or shelter. You can't track an animal through an implant.

Or, certainly not in the 2000s when Millie was collared. I referenced the Sirtrack catalogue for the device she wears, the same product that was used for Meerkat Manor. It was absolutely top of the line at the time, that show couldn't have happened without the advancements put into that collar.

So... short answer is no. That's not how microchips work lmao

[kabaker-author]

5 things I love about writing

I was tagged by @gracechoreography. Time to write a bit about why I love to write!

The ability to give the characters in my brain a meaning and purpose. Building their world and their experiences by researching and studying. I love making characters who feel like they could be real people, even if they're something fantastical, like a ghost or an alien

The ability to go anywhere (and using my writing as an excuse to deeply research a time period, job, or whatever else I may be interested in!). It's productive escapism, because I'm also making and learning as I go along

Impacting others. Whether that means getting them to feel all the emotions, or giving them their new favorite story that inspires them to write, draw, and create, that's what I LOVE about sharing my work

FORESHADOWING. My favorite technique in writing! I LOVE putting in things early in my stories that references later events. That way, when someone goes back and rereads, they always have a "OH MY GOD" moment

As an artist AND a writer, I love drawing art based on scenes in my stories. I feel like it helps visualize what I'm writing better, and gives context to my readers as well. I love illustrated books, and I wish they were more common, not just in kids novels!

Oh yeah, I don't have many writing friends, so if you see this and wanna participate, go right ahead!

[eris-and-lokis-love-child]

So I looked into it. You have to have their last four of SSN or their driver's license, but it does give out personal info. But people did go after Brad Raffensperger AND MTG in this.

That is one way to drive home to them this is not acceptable. It is, however, also a felony, so don't be an idiot.

If you're in GA, still verify your voter registration, but I will say this actually looks like they were just fucking idiots. They also have actual eyeballs looking at each one.

So, while prev's post is funny, there are better options.

GEORGIANS(US)! Keep an eye on your voter registration. GA has set up a website where pretty much anyone can remove anyone else from the voter rolls!

[proxycrit]

Linktober day 11: rollin’ inn

After a day fighting a volcano, the heroic group stumble back to the inn to take a Long Rest. Unfortunately for Link, his sleep is interrupted by mournful ghosts partying it up in his brain.

(Mineru and rauru were the last of their kind ever since the already small insular zonai kingdom was decimated by a strange, flesh bending plague. A lone miner found the two children, and decided to take them in despite concerns of the curse.

He raised them. When they asked him to help fight the source of their blood family’s extinction, who was he to say no?)

More about this totk au! (It all started when zelda did not get teleported into the past, and then spiraled from there)

Patreon!

[wacuoms]

sacred time, eternal prayer

[crumb-crumblet-s-crumbington]

redraw

@/vinndas made a post about how different wekser and ethan r and how much ethan would absoluetly hate him and it got me thinking about the dynamic again

[assbestos]

was reading bad yaoi last night and I was jumpscared by mana sama and gackt. what are you guys doing in here

[talos-stims]

defrosting shrimp | source

[hellenhighwater]

Why does Malice look like a mob boss waiting to get out of prison so she can take revenge on everyone who wronged her?

[restingcorpse]

[saszor]

[ID in alt text]

gay people real 🌝

[kabaker-author]

Something a little bit different from my usual fair

If you happen to be participating in Artfight this year, yours truly will also be there, featuring the major Dr. Malice characters (and even the ones in the planned sequel!)

Give me a follow. I might just attack you back!

https://artfight.net/~k_the_kartoonist

[sakura11i]

[proxycrit]

LINKTOBER DAY 21: Water Temple

Sidon grapples the horrors of the water temple guardian while Link and Zelda beeline for the terminal.

And they got a weird rock out of the whole ordeal! What a win.

(The Water Sage is a doctor. Her last student had come to her with the intention to destroy a flesh plague, and she had readily agreed to invest all she has in his quest-

-until she has nothing left to give, except a defiled labratory, a destroyed body, and a lingering spirit chained by stubbornness and spite.)

Not that our trio would know any of this. The linguistic drift in the last ten thousand years is insane.

This au’s called familiar familiar! It’s a self indulgent totk au where zelda and link traverse the wild lands of hyrule post upheaval.

My patreon is here, if you wish to throw a penny at your local Unhinged Artist!