#physically meaning anything beyond would break the laws of physics

[thedanceronthestreets]

It's podcast tuesday and i want to fling john watson into the sun

[nevesmose]

Bandages on Broken Souls: A Nostramo Culture/Lore Post

Sometimes I think about the wee lower-deck people that were all covered in bandages in the Night Lords Trilogy. Why so bandagey? (Bandagepilled wrapmaxxers, not beating the bandage allegations, etc)

She glanced at the wretch, who was unhealthily tall and sexless in its overcloak, keeping its face behind stained bandages. Several others lurked close to the door, whispering amongst themselves. It was impossible not to smell their sweat, their stinking, bloodstained bandages, and the rancid oil-blood of their bionics.

Those ones. The attendants providing for Octavia's needs as a Navigator. Octavia's attendants.

It turns out ADB does tell us a bit later on:

The chlorine reek of them offended his senses, the way it rose in a miasma from their antiseptic-soaked bandages, as if such trivial protections could ward against the changes of the warp.

This is very interesting to me for a few reasons since it can lead to various interpretations about Nostraman culture, even though it's important to bear in mind that what we're seeing is the degraded situation after however-many thousand subjective years of dicking about in the Warp, Eye of Terror etc.

They believe, or at least Ruven the POV character here thinks they believe, that warp mutation can be defended against with purely physical items i.e. bandages and disinfectant. While it's easy to point to examples of people from all kinds of cultures in the setting using spiritual or metaphysical ways to protect themselves from the warp, I find it interesting that this doesn't seem to occur to the Nostramans.

In fact, unless I'm remembering it wrong (always a possibility tbh) other than a small mention in one of the Gendor Skraivok short stories about there being a secret Lectitio Divinitatus cult among the serfs, there seems to be very little spiritual/religious belief organic to Nostramo itself.

That makes some sense, I think. It is after all Space Gotham, a world of armoured groundcars and looming starscrapers where everyone is living under some form or another of very high pressure just to survive whether that means getting their next meal or keeping their position in high level gang politics. Whatever beliefs the original settlers brought with them to the Sunless World were, I imagine, ground away over time as generations passed and people had other, more visceral concerns.

There are a few scenes in the 1984 nuclear war TV movie Threads that take place in the period about 10-20 years after the bombs have fallen. It's clear that the by now rapidly deteriorating survivors of the pre-war world are trying as best they can to provide some kind of education for their post-war descendants, but this is extremely limited and relies on what they can gather together from whatever books, VHS tapes etc happened to survive the war:

"The skeleton of a cat! A cat's skeleton!"

And we can see that it simply means nothing to the children and young adults whose entire existence revolves around basic survival - mostly food and the things they have to do in order to get it.

This, in a way, is what I think happened to whatever beliefs in anything beyond the material that may have ever existed on Nostramo by the time we see it in the Crusade/Heresy era. It's a sad, stunted little world and I feel immensely sorry for the nasty, skeevy people it produced.

Another factor affecting this would of course be the Night Haunter. You don't really need to have a spiritual/metaphorical figure or system dispensing rules and justice when Konrad is actually real and inside your home making it brutally clear what his views on law-breaking are.

So, in my usual roundabout way, we come back to the bandages again. My view, as I've expressed before in my ramblings, is that Konrad didn't truly eradicate crime on Nostramo so much as eradicate the appearance of it.

There's a legend from Ancient Greece about a Spartan boy training to be a warrior which I'll post as a screenshot below since I think we could all do with a break from my writing style for a bit:

"He could steal and suffer and die rather than be found out" is the relevant part here I think. Much like the idea that snitches get stitches or the mafia code of omertà where one's value in society and life itself hinge on a mutual keeping of silence against any and all authority figures.

We know that even before Konrad arrived, Nostraman society functioned on a gang allegiance basis, so already fertile ground for a very insular and secretive type of culture. But then we add the Night Haunter to the mix and the numbers spell disaster for you at Sacrifice the social pressure in this direction ramps up massively.

It's also made very clear pretty much everywhere that Nostramo is a vicious, predatory society. There's a description in one of the Skraivok stories of Phy Orlon, the canonical smallest saddest uwu-iest Night Lord:

It astounded Skraivok how such a vulpine little thing had made it through the selection process. Even bulked by legionary gifts, Orlon still managed to convey the impression of feebleness. Towards the end, Nostramo had been providing only the dregs of the dregs. No wonder Curze had levelled the place.

Weakness was like the scent of blood in the water to the Night Lords. Legionaries like Orlon would always attach themselves to those they deemed powerful, for protection. That explained the ridiculous batwings welded to the top of his helm in emulation of Sevatar, and why he had appointed himself as Skraivok’s adjutant.

It's like prison or high school. Even the transhuman supersoldier Nostramans still function this way. What hope do ordinary people have?

Not much at all, I think. Just in order to survive day to day it'd be necessary to conceal any injury, weakness or deformity at the risk of having it being ruthlessly used against you by just about everyone.

So we come back to the bandages again. Told you I'd get there eventually. We see that the attendants are in fact completely covered in bandages Joshua Graham style:

‘Lord,’ they hissed through slits in their faces that were once lips. Their bloodstained bandages rustled as they shifted and lowered their weapons.

[...]

She raised a bandaged hand, as if she could possibly bar the warrior’s passage with a demand, let alone with her physical presence.

I can imagine the impulse to cover up and conceal any weakness applies very strongly to warp mutations of any sort. Curdled and degraded over millennia roaming the immaterium in the bowels of a ship with the changes becoming worse and worse the longer they go on, it would be plausible for this to develop into a need to cover up and disinfect every inch of oneself in order to maintain some pretence, however flimsy, of being a capable human being.

The saddest part of it for me, though, is that all of the attendants are like this. It's a situation where everyone is quite literally in the same boat, undergoing the same suffering, and yet they still retain this deeply-ingrained need to hide and conceal themselves from each other. It feels like even here, ten thousand years after its destruction, Nostramo's poison is still influencing them, still flowing through their veins to keep them separated, afraid, and deeply alone.

Oh wow, a few paragraphs from ADB somehow led to a great long wall of text. Congratulations if you've made it this far!

PS: This being ADB I feel obliged to consider the possibility of Ruven either lying or being mistaken. I don't think this is likely since he is a) also Nostraman and b) a sorcerer meaning that if there was any spiritual aspect going on he would more than likely have the requisite cultural/magical knowledge or experience to be aware of it or otherwise detect it. Ruven is a conniving goth thot but he has no reason to lie in that particular bit of his own thoughts.

[liliallowed]

so @leafwateraddict have me some ideas about ship children for the og LV triangle.

I don't really like ship children but like I don't mind making goofy fanon hypothetical scenarios.

I mean y/n does have seal babies in my ocean au. I thought it'd be a fun shitpost.

head canons below cut.

since y/n is gender queer and can be any gender (male or female, trans or cis, enby or anything beyond) I've decided I don't want to involve pregnancy.

it's just with souls.

anyways. so the souling is just there chilling but when it starts to mature and manifest a transparent physical form it starts dying cuz monster forms can't handle determination.

it's why there's never been a hybrid in history. cuz well... humans and monsters souls don't mix.

so like crimson uses their vessel to stabilize the souling. they're an exception to this worlds laws so their inherent nature is the glue needed to mix magic and DT.

it now has three parents. it's 10 percent god/anomaly. 10 percent human. 10 percent monster... and 70 percent dormant exp and LV condensed into a passive lil squishy bean.

crimson holding the child like the lion king: "I have birthed the antichrist. holy shit they're stats are crazy! who's a good strong baby? yesh you are. yesh you are. you're going to be a natural disaster wen u grow up aren't you? THEY INHERITED MY STATS! FUCK YEAH! I CAN'T WAIT TI SEE THIS LIL DEVIL GROW UP TO KICK ASS!"

and then the two snatch the child away from crimson cuz they're a fucking horrible (low-key abusive) parent that just... doesn't understand tenderness. (they're kinda like hand plates gaster lol 😂)

like it's not their fault they don't really understand how to love something for what it is instead of what it can be used for... or just focus on the new "perfect hybrid" like it's a work of art or a perfect specimen from an experiment...

but the child does have two loving parents that will kick crimson's ass whenever they're bothering da bebe.

anyways dust throws crimson out the window.

dust and crimson would argue over who's LV corrupted the child whenever they do something bad. (somewhere away from the kid. they never argue Infront of them.)

"excuse me!? THAT'S YOUR LV SIR. MY LV ONLY HAS PURE JOY. THE KIDS CRYING BECAUSE THEY INHERITED YOUR DEPRESSION LV."

while y/n has not one but three people to take care of. (they need a break)

it's like... a functional dysfunctioning family 😂.

as for the ship child. they're kinda like unprocessed uranium. it's not dangerous by itself.

so like they have the potential to be a world ending calamity but that doesn't mean they WILL.

sure they have an inherent talent in combat n stuff but if they grow up with love and safety? it's just like any other kid.

there's no "evil urge" they have to fight off. their magic just might be hard to control and unstable.

they might actually go become a healer or a doctor! develop green magic and follow their own passion regardless of their soul being basically a dormant LV condensed hellfire.

like... two of their parents might be world ending serial killers but like... that's not how genes work. you don't inherit your parents wrong doings. just a bit of their looks personality and like... maybe neurodivergency.

if they become evil later? nothing to do with how the kid will turn out.

it depends on how the child is raised. and with dust around drowning them in all the affection he can give I wouldn't worry about them turning out like crimson XD.

[thatonebirdwrites]

7-11 please! :D

You asked, and so you shall receive, joke or not. Mwahahahaha.

Post Any sentence from your wip

From the Anamchara WIP that I will finish eventually and post to AO3 (eh, more than one sentence):

“Jack, please, I’m okay —” Her words cut off as pain tore through her body. The phone clattered to the ground. Lena pressed her hand against her heart, the tattoo like a blazing furnace. ♻️A scrapped idea for your current WIP:

This is a scene I ultimately never included in Unraveling Realities because it wasn't really relevant to the plot, and I decided to adjust the timeline so that Kara didn't have to go off Super-ing while Nia and Lena waited for her return to continue the Great Irish Quest. In fact, here it is for your enjoyment:

Lena sits atop the hill where the cave entrance is, while she calculates the energy necessary to create a sphere that somehow deflects all objects. She recognizes this is a futile exercise, but it’s much better than panicking over something she can’t control.

The sun has already set, the sky a deep black tinged with violet, the horizon to the west a glow of red and orange, and stars have started to show. The moon's light reflects off the ocean waves in a shimmer. It’s distracting her, so she closes her eyes to try to focus on her calculations.

She comes to the conclusion that the required energy for her sphere simply is unfeasible. The problem mostly lies in making the light somehow see-through and able to deflect objects. This would require a molecular structure beyond anything she’s seen on earth. Perhaps the Nth metal could assist, but it isn’t see through. White Dwarf glass? Not flexible enough.

“Are you meditating or something?” Nia says.

Lena opens her eyes to see the woman drop into the grass next to her with a bag of chips. Food left over from their picnic lunch, which meant Kara hasn’t returned yet from her scavenging for their ‘big dinner’ as the super put it. “No. I’m calculating the parameters of my energy sphere. What I’d require to create one for others without the need for ridiculous reality-bending ‘magic.’” She makes quotes in the air when she says the annoying word.

“By sitting there with your eyes closed?” Nia stares at her. “Are you doing math in your head?”

“Yes?” Lena frowns. “I often do so.”

“In your head?” This seems to blow Nia’s mind for some absurd reason.

“Yes?” Lena crosses her arms. “It’s not that unusual.”

“You and Brainy,” Nia shakes her head, “it is totally. But okay. So you calculate stuff in your head. But why? Wouldn’t it be easier to just call up your magic sphere?”

Lena huffs. “Stop calling it that. And it’s not a feasible solution. What if I’m incapacitated?” When Nia opens her mouth to answer, she quickly heads it off. “Rhetorical question. Besides, there must be a limit to this energy. I cannot draw on it perpetually.” She taps her fingers against her knee and mentally reviews the laws of thermodynamics. “Nor can I create it from nothing. Energy cannot be created or destroyed. Breaks physics if so. Maybe its a pocket dimension?”

“So you can’t just accept it.” Nia pops a chip into her mouth, amused. “You gotta pry it apart and quantify it.”

Lena crosses her arms over her chest. “I’m a scientist, Nia. This… energy manipulation must have underlying proprieties, and I will find them.”

“Okay.” Nia shrugs. “What about my powers? They seem like magic to me. All that loopy energy I can shoot. Oh and walking in people’s memories? Dreaming true dreams? Are you going to make a science theory for that too?”

The thought intrigues her. “I could…”

“I’m just joking!” Nia laughs. Her fingers crinkle the bag, but her gaze shows interest, despite her words. Lena takes that as an opportunity for a lesson in physics.

“I mean, there must be a fundamental property underlying your powers.” Lena leans her arms against her knees. “Isn’t it related to a dream dimension?”

“Oh, yeah, to an extent.”

“How do you pull energy from that dimension?” Lena leans forward, eagerly going through possibilities in her mind.

“Uh, it’s unconscious. I just do it?” Nia frowns. “I do know that the true dreams are in that dream dimension. There’s symbols and imagery with a wealth of info. Trying to untangle it is enough to give me headaches sometimes.”

Huh. Lena adjusts her hypotheses with that tidbit. “So you dream yourself into that dimension? And pull data from it to see the future?”

“I guess?” Nia shrugs. “It’s not like I was taught the physics of it. Only basics. Brainy has gotten me up to speed with how to interpret what I see. Sometimes it’s pretty obvious, but other times it’s a confusing tangle of symbols.”

Lena’s mind races through the possibilities, while struggling to find a way to parse it for Nia to understand. “You know about electric fields, right?” When Nia nods, Lena continues. “On a quantum level, there’s probability fields. Until we measure something, a particle exists in all possible states. I suspect the dream dimension is just like that. It stores probable outcomes to various situations. You pull energy from that dimension when you shoot ‘loopy energy.’” She makes the quotes again around Nia’s term for her power. “For true dreams, perhaps your mind enters the dream dimension, pulls the most likely outcomes of an event, and translates it for your brain to perceive. The symbols and imagery likely is that translation.”

Nia stares at her, her chip halfway to her mouth. “I think I understand half of that.”

Lena sighs. “I was trying to make it accessible too.”

“Well, since you explained my powers. What about Kara’s?” Nia grins. “I bet that will be way harder.”

Lena shakes her head. “I already drafted a sixty-two page theorem on the physics of Kryptonian powers under a yellow sun. I had to add an addendum when I found out that those powers get more intense under higher energy stars, and then another addendum for unusual star spectra that depowers them.”

“Seriously? Color me impressed.” Nia whistles. “What made you do that though?”

Lena shrugs. “Boredom.”

“And you’re explaining my powers right now out of boredom? Or…” Nia leans forward, her hazel eyes roving over Lena’s face. “Distracting yourself from panicking?”

Lena winces. “Latter.”

“Well, you’re doing a damn good job. I think I learned more from you than I did in my science courses. I admit, I really like your probability explanation. Makes it seem like I'm sorting through the guts of reality to pull out information.” Nia holds out her bag of chips.

Reluctantly, Lena takes a handful, despite not being very hungry. In fact, she hasn’t had an appetite all day, and only ate because Kara and Nia both insisted she do so.

“Science education in America could be improved,” Lena agrees. She crunches a chip and sighs. “As fun as it is to posit these theories, it doesn’t erase the reality that I have no fucking clue how this energy manipulation I’m doing works. I do have some theories on how it could have been bound, but it likely won't align with what I wish reality could be.” She stifles a sigh and rubs her right eyebrow.

“Maybe Flo will answer all that?” Nia crunches another chip.

“Flo?” Lena frowns. "Her name is Florence."

“I know. Thought it'd be a cool nickname. Oh hey! Kara’s back!” Nia perks up with a wave.

🤔What’s a story you’d love to write but haven’t even started yet?

Answered already. :) The Star Wars crossover with Korrasami and Supercorp.

🤡How many Wips are you actively working on?

Supercorp: 2 Rojarias: 1 Korrasami: 1 - 2 (one is on hiatus tho)

🛠 Is there a scene or anything in the WIP you are struggling with right now?

For the Korrasami Book 3.5, it's a scene that is a jump in time but I can't sort out how long of a jump and how much physical therapy will have improved the mobility of Korra and Asami. Also, I need Asami to return to Republic City for a few dramatic scenes, but Katara does not trust Asami right now due to the shit she pulled when she was supposed to be recovering with Kya in Republic City.

For Unraveling Realities, I'm a little stuck on Kara's realization that the DEO might actually be the Bad Guys, but how to reckon with the fact Alex leads it. How does that impact their sisterhood? Will it push Alex to leave the DEO? If she does, will the DEO turn into an even worse entity? It's a scene that will take place during their sister's night (after Kara and Lena's date night), and I've been just all over the place with it. I have a vision for this arc, but trying to iron out the details is giving me trouble.

A.K.A. dialogue is sometimes hard.

Thanks for the ask! :D

[leftmysoulbythesideoftheroad]

hi! i’m drunk, and i love one piece so much. here’s everything i love about the straw hats (that i can think of right now):

luffy is so incredibly loyal. once he decides you’re worth something, he’ll never change his mind, no matter what. even when nami stole everything he owned (except his hat) and told his crew she wanted nothing to do with them, he didn’t care. she was his friend, his crew, his nakama. he loves her, and he fought for her without even knowing why. that’s what gets me the most; he had no idea why she wanted arlong dead. he didn’t know why law wanted doflamingo dead or why robin was on the run. it didn’t matter. he loved them, and he fought for them. he put his hat, his treasure, on nami’s head and fought for her without knowing why.

zoro is strong but not just physically or even mentally. he doesn’t show it as openly as luffy, but he loves his crew. he made luffy promise that they wouldn’t get in the way of each other’s dreams, but he would gladly die for any member of the crew, even sanji. remember when he took luffy’s pain on thriller bark and refused to let sanji get in the way? zoro is luffy’s first mate, his right hand man. he understands his captain better than anyone else on the crew, and there is nothing more important to zoro than his principles. he doesn’t like to show it, but the crew means everything to him.

usopp is brave. my dad told me when i was a kid that bravery isn’t having no fear, it’s doing what you need to do despite your fear. usopp is braver than the monster trio in this way; he’s so afraid all the time, yet he keeps going. he fights and he lies and he protects his crewmates, and the whole time he’s shaking in fear, but he does it. his dream is to be a brave warrior of the sea, but he doesn’t realize that he already is one. he has been since he lied to those kids on syrup and decided to fight kuro to protect his village and kaya. he’s so, so brave, and he doesn’t even know it.

sanji is so kind. i’m so inspired by his belief in one simple thing: no one should ever have to starve. it doesn’t matter if he hates them, if he wishes they were dead, anything. all that matters is that they’re hungry. now that we know his backstory, we can see why he treats women and men so differently. everything is exaggerated in one piece, but as someone with an abusive father and a loving mother, i feel like i understand him so well. i too have treated women as better than me in my life because of my own trauma. i get it. i love him. out of all the strawhats, sanji is my favorite.

nami. where do i even begin with nami? i remember clearly the first time i watched one piece and how i cried a little at different flashbacks. but when it came to nami’s, i sobbed. i felt like a child who needed his mother, i felt my own heart break, i felt an overwhelming need to hold her and keep her safe. the way she acted at punk hazard, her inability to turn away from desperate children and her soft spot for female marines, made me fall in love with her all over again. nami acts selfish and uncaring, but she is so full of love that she can’t hide it. she reminds me of my own sister, the eldest who had the worst childhood out of my siblings. that strength born of trauma, that protectiveness for those younger than her, that adoration of loving parental figures. i just love her.

chopper is so determined to be good enough that he’ll turn himself into a monster just to make himself useful. sweet, innocent, loving chopper. his mentor/father was so brave and wonderful, so caring, and chopper learned everything from him. even doctorine was caring at her core, and chopper soaked it all up like the world’s most adorable sponge. he’s so cute. he’s beyond brave. his reaction to what was happening to those kids at punk hazard was so real and raw. he’s what a doctor should be—a bleeding heart, kind and caring to a fault. plus his “SOMEONE CALL A DOCTOR” running joke is so funny to me.

robin. again, where do i start? she’s so kind and friendly at heart. in a way, she can be very childish in how she thinks. cute. but she’s also dark, and i think she would have been that way even if ohara had survived. nothing will ever hurt me the way “I WANT TO LIVE” hurt me. whether watching it or reading it, i cry like a baby. all she ever wanted was a family, a home, and she found one when the strawhats declared war on the government to save her. she didn’t believe she was worthy of that love, but it didn’t matter because they loved her all the same. she betrayed and killed people to survive, and i respect her so much for coming through all of that with kindness still in her heart.

franky is a bit of a wild card to me. i hated him in the beginning, and it took me a while to get over what he did to usopp. but there’s something profound in what he went through for tom. he was ready to die, should have died to save his father, and he has no prejudice in his heart. i fully believe, out of all of the strawhats, franky would the most accepting of a queer bro. i also just love that he’s meant to be american and he’s pretty accurate lmao

brooke is another one that i don’t know how to describe. he’s been through so much grief, so much pain, and he uses his own misfortune to make his loved ones laugh. think about it. his “skull jokes” wouldn’t be possible if he wasn’t a skeleton, and he wouldn’t be a skeleton without the horrific events that led up to it. he turns his pain into humor to lighten the spirits of the those around him. there’s a strength in him that goes ignored too often. the man isn’t entirely sane, and i wouldn’t expect him to be. but he’s so full of love and joy, a true example of someone coming through trauma with love and kindness, making the best of a horrible situation.

i don’t know jinbei well enough to describe him, but i do know that he’s loyal and strong and extremely principled. he’s similar to nami and sanji in that way; there are lines he will not cross, but he knows how to make hard decisions for the good of the people he loves. out of all them, he seems the least “pirate” to me, in that i think he would be happier not being one at all if only the circumstances were different for fishmen. that’s all i can really say about him as someone who hasn’t finished wano (meaning maybe we get more characterization in chapters i haven’t read yet).

anyway, i love one piece and i love the strawhats, so here’s this.

[kazeofthemagun]

@shiroi---kumo asked the summoner:

"Black Wind?" He sounds hanging entirely upside down from his position in the sky practically buzzing with energy as he does so. "You haven't eaten much at all today nor have you drank much water." They've been walking for ages but the cloud seems to continue their trek in a very opposite form of travel. "You know I keep snacks on me for you. You need to eat you know. You should drink something. You seem very slow today." His voice is falling out of him at nearly a thousand miles per second as his entire form continues to buzz as he hangs. "Are you alright? Feeling ill? If you are, we shouldn't just keep trudging along. We should find a place to rest. I can carry you if you'd like. Would that make it a bit easier? It's no trouble I would be happy to do so. Really though you should be hydrating because if you pass out on me, I will fly us to the next town over. I understand the importance of the situation but your health is important to." Somehow, by defining the laws of physics, his hand is able to scourge in the traveling bag he keeps without it or it's contents falling to the ground. It's as if the bag itself has connected itself to his belt by way of strange magic. A bottle is produced, red and black in color. "Here. Water. Drink. You can walk and drink at the same time. You're talented I believe in you." The Cloud's voice continues to fall out him at break neck speeds except now a thin layer of teasing rests onto top of it. He's been feel rather wonderful since he had his Makea Meloni and that lovely little drink in the last town over....

If his sluggish gait wasn't already a dead giveaway of his condition, the nasty scowl certainly was.

It was not often that his head genuinely felt like a drill had been inserted into his skull, a piercing pain screaming behind his temples as it threatened to scramble his mental state even further beyond the damage Chaos had already done. At least, that was how it felt. He sincerely hoped a raging headache wouldn't actually contribute to his memory issues.

That was... not how that worked. Or was it?

There was a sigh, blue meeting jade without the need to turn his head - his Other was doing the thing again. Even his cloak was seemingly defying gravity, floating in suspended animation a good half a meter off the ground.

The prince was speaking but the former general found it difficult to fully focus and properly comprehend his words. Something about food and water - he squinted for a moment, before a low groan welled up in his throat.

"Yeah."

An acknowledgement without much substance behind it - if there was anything truly uncharacteristic of the Black Wind, it was speaking without meaning behind his words. The pain dulled his senses and the hotness present throughout his body was a clear warning that the part-machine of a Hunter had pushed himself too far. If even the Magun was heating up spontaneously, he must have really overstepped his body's boundaries.

Oh, well.

White Cloud was still hovering over him like a mother hen - a silly spectacle, considering it was the Wind who normally took on the role of the guardian. The first two questions passed by with nothing but silence from the elder, before the man of the dark gales simply raised his hand and tapped at the side of his skull. A clear kind of code.

Hurts.

At the very least, he did eventually take the swordsman's suggestion, sitting down on a nearby rock. There was a borderline feverish confusion in ocean orbs, and the cause only seemed apparent to one of the two Unlimited.

What was an ocean without water, after all? It seemed the moon was here to bring in the life-giving tide.

Kaze blinked once, receiving the bottle without complaint. The playful sass accompanying White Cloud's actions went by without commentary - verbal or otherwise.

Only after he took a swig of the liquid did he realize just how parched he actually was. Saving up water because his Other needed a higher intake was one thing - actively neglecting his own needs was another. A series of long swallows followed, the Wind finally allowed to attend to his body's pleas. Seems he had somebody to thank for that - stubbornness was not necessarily a virtue, after all.

"...Appreciated." He rumbled, the look of pain in his gaze subsiding somewhat. "...I have been forgetting many things lately."

Oh. That sounded more ominous than he had intended. Still, was it not the truth?

He was forgetting to take care of himself. Just because his body could run longer on less did not mean it was as unbreakable as he would like it to be. And, if he was down, that would just mean he would not be alert and awake to protect White Cloud.

"Hrrmm." A frustrated growl, followed by a pinch to the bridge of his nose, as though the massaging motions could somehow do away with the pulsating ache and the dense fog that had overtaken his senses. It wasn't too long before the gunmage relented.

"Yes, let us rest for a while." Were he to keep walking, he might actually faint.

[rhytmrocket]

on the limits of mahou tsukai

mahou tsukai is the player character in the minigame of the same name, the first game of set three of rhythm tengoku. he is an apprentice wizard who uses the power of waltz to make flowers bloom and make children happy (character album, stage 3). this much is canon, this much we know. but how far can this “waltz magic” go?

we know that when an input is slightly offbeat, mahou makes a mistake and summons a monster, presumably made of plant matter, which eats the budded plant. while the head of the monsters may be interpreted as a globular flower, such as an allium, a fruit or berry, such as the false strawberry, or a predatory plant, such as a flytrap, any plant matter interpretation suggests that our wizard friend has power over more than just the flowers we see in-game.

the question is, what are the limits of his power?

now, this explanation is basically entirely my own headcanon, as there’s not much canon to go off of (as with any non-returning character from tengoku) so, just keep in mind that this is from the deep caverns of my mind and said caverns alone.

i believe that mahou can create and control any living, organic matter in the taxonomic kingdom Plantae.

or, has the potential to. he is, canonically, an apprentice.

well, what do i mean by this?

let’s start from the back. “living, organic matter in the taxonomic kingdom Plantae,” any organism classified under kingdom Plantae is affected by his magic. this includes moss, ferns, angiosperms, and gymnosperms— basically anything you’d identify as a plant. algae are an edge case, but i personally exclude it as i was taught that algae are classified under Protista, not Plantae. but, i would understand if one were to count algae, as they do perform photosynthesis and were classified as plants until just recently. living organic matter, now, any matter that already fits the set criteria would be organic by definition. however, i choose to make a point to only include living matter. i do not think that he can control dead plant matter— he can’t revive dead plants or make them grow regardless. dead plants are dead organisms— dead and buried, they are dead. mahou knows phytokinesis, not necromancy. going on from that, he has no ability on processed plant matter, like paper or planks. those are dead, and processed far beyond recognition, so they’re out.

ok, we’ve got our definition of what’s within his domain, now what about “create and control”?

“control,” easy enough, he can make plants germinate, grow, flower (if a flowering plant), produce fruit, cones, spores, etc (if applicable), and he can make them do so in most any possible manner, such as grabbing, wrapping, decorating, whatever you can think of.

“create” does break a few laws of physics, but it’s magic and i think it’d be more fun if he could make a little flower in his hand so sue me.

so, he can summon and manipulate any taxonomic-plants that are alive. he has the potential to, at least, he’s not a professional. and, being a non-professional, he doesn’t have 100% complete control over his powers

time to talk emotions!

i think him as a very sentimental person, very emotional. and as we all should know, emotions can be difficult to control. you know what this results in?

use your imagination.

i actually have this little headcanon that the plant monsters when you hit a “barely” are because of a loss of composure from the wizard, from being off-beat. a sudden panic, i see it as.

i sure hope you imagined something cute and silly and wholesome and not something absolutely monstrous and terrifying! that’s my job!

so, that’s my take on the limits of mahou tsukai. in theory, he’d be quite the powerful person— plantae is a large kingdom. with some honing he’d be quite intimidating. but, he’s not quite there yet, i believe. he can’t just create a whole tree from the ground, for instance, and he still spawns those plant monsters when he makes a mistake. big oversight plz patch

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

@admiral-craymen replied to your post “If we are to have a rational conversation about this, I need you to stop using the word "free speech"”

"Freeze Peach"

No, it's not that. I don't want to have a conversation about this at all tbh but let me try and explain. "Free speech" is a term we use when talking about whether or not the government can restrict what you say (or write, etc.) legally. That doesn't mean that any kind of speech is protected, even by some non-governmental entity like Wikipedia. It means there are very specific rules as to how free speech can be restricted in certain situations (say, for instance, inciting violence) – these are called "legal restrictions on free speech."

When someone says something like "free speech isn't absolute," they usually mean one of two things: either that the legal restrictions are more stringent than many people think ("It might sound nice to say 'anything goes,' but if your speech advocates violence against others, then the law has every right to limit it") OR that the legal protection extends beyond its original meaning to other kinds of restrictions ("Wikipedia should censor information because it contains truth claims"). The first case is legitimate and the second is not; neither case involves an unrestricted right to say whatever you want with no consequences from anyone. ("You can say anything except advocate murder.")

The problem here is that people conflate these two cases. They imagine that the US Constitution guarantees us an absolutely unfettered freedom to express ourselves legally without regard to social norms, which is simply false. This leads them to conclude that since Wikipedia does enforce social norms, their actions must violate our constitutional rights somehow, although it's impossible to specify exactly how, and therefore the site must be shut down immediately until it figures out how to adhere to the letter of the law and the spirit of the founding fathers at once. Thus the question of whether free speech is being violated is confused into a matter of whether a website has failed to exercise some form of moral authority over us.

This justifies itself by appealing to a supposedly fundamental human need to be told off for saying something wrong. But if a thing is true, why do we care? And who decides what's true anyway? If you start taking truth-claims seriously, you end up back where you started, asking "who enforces the rules of logic?" Is God really going to smite me if my reasoning is invalid? No, he probably won't, unless he wants to. So maybe the real sin is to break community standards of reasonableness rather than breaking laws of physics. Sure, you could always appeal to divine judgment after the fact, but is that worth it? Better ask yourself whether or not your behavior will actually affect others beforehand, rather than waiting for a chance encounter with Jehovah. Or better yet, just take responsibility for yourself instead of relying on someone else to tell you how to act.

Anyway, that was long and rambling and possibly confusing, sorry! Just wanted to clarify. In general, I am suspicious of arguments based on simple principles that would require huge changes to society or require centralized control, e.g., abolish the police, give everyone a computer so they can self-publish books, build giant solar panels across the desert so energy prices fall below $1 per gallon, etc. These schemes may be morally desirable in some way but often seem impractical at best and horrifying at worst.

[satellitesoundwave]

⭐️⭐️

Dealer’s choice! I decided to go with Your Own Hands but couldn’t narrow it down to just one bit. So here’s my commentary on two sections instead lol

From #13:

The machine’s base is a vast crucible, stout and steep sided. Pipes conveying in heat encircle the sides. The superheated air above it shimmers, transparent patterns twisting in the air as the molecules writhe. Pooling inside the cup of the crucible is a pool of liquified obtenteum.

Bathed in the fuel’s toxic green glow is Averruncus' heart; an octahedron bigger than a mech, hovering in the air as if it is beyond the purview of physical laws that everything else has no choice but to obey. Each of its identical faces is roughhewn like stone, and a shade of black that seems to swallow all light that falls on it and give nothing back.

Below the octahedron the obtenteum withdraws, repulsed, pressed flat to the crucible and rising up the sides like liquid in a centrifuge. It is flowing up the crucible’s walls like waves on a vertical shore.   

Okay, so, I reallywanted the causality-breaking-machine itself to feel unnatural and wrong. What it does is so implausible, like everything depends on cause and effect to exist at all. While plotting out YOH I found that trying to consider what that disruption would do to pretty much anything straight up hurts to think about if you try to do it too in-depth lol. I decided to lean into that and give the machine an appearance that also communicates that this thing should never have been able to exist to begin with.

It was partly inspired by the vibe Tarantulas has in SotW’s too. Stuff like the way that his hybrid organic-Cybertronian nature, and the wonky shape and distinct font of his speech bubbles, frame him as an aberration in the narrative. An intruder into the story. Averruncus is very much Tarantulas’ creation, and I wanted to communicate that by sharing the feeling of wrongness that its creator is marked by – Tara’s hybrid nature inspired the sentence “As the octahedron rises above the lip of the crucible it contracts like an organic heart, the sides dropping back down to squeeze out the liquid,“ as well, actually. Organic imagery where you would expect a more mechanical simile. Also kinda gross, which is a good fit for Tarantulas’ vibe too.

The other big inspiration for Averruncus was the gravity drive from the movie Event Horizon, because that thing looks cool as fuck. I saw EH for the first time while writing Your Own Hands, and the gravity drive had a real impact on me.  Mad kudos to all the people involved in designing and building it, I mean just look

so the gravity drive ended up being part of the creative foundation I built on to design Averruncus’ appearance as well

I also wanted to talk about snippet #2, because the stuff in #2 is actually the very first thing I wrote for YOH; I was originally going back and forth on whether I should sign up for the Big Bang, and decided to mock up a little section of the idea I’d picked out to potentially do for the event to get a feel for what writing it would be like. A lot of the approach I wanted to take to the theme and these characters got nailed down in that trial run (which also made it very exciting that this was the scene ashals-dream chose to illustrate). The section's too long to quote the whole scene, so I’ll do some choice bits:

This time he has relocated to a beach. His lure lies nestled on the sand, signalling while he investigates the nearby rocks, captivated by a tenacious little specimen of Niebla Effusa.

Lichen. The composite of fungi and cyanobacteria – or fungi and algae, of course – that possesses characteristics neither of these individual species do in isolation. Two individuals with one form, like an inversion of the typical Cybertronian’s nature for a single individual to have two forms. He longs to collect samples, but they would only go to waste. There is no time left for passion projects.

This is the point where I started to feel like I’d gotten Tarantulas’ pov nailed down. It felt right that he is constantly assessing the world around him through the lens of a scientist’s curiosity, and in an environment it’s the things that appeal to the curiosity which receive special attention from the narration (the composite nature of lichen is something I learned about from Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake, which is a great read. Highly recommend)

Whipped onto the rocks by the buffeting wind, waves crash onto land, reaching for the sky until they dissolve into white foam that falls to fleck Tarantulas’ carapace with salty droplets. Prowl is too distant for the fine mist to reach him.

Distance is something I’m often thinking about with these two. The psychological/emotional distance between them is something of a blind spot for both Prowl and Tarantulas; they each think they have a particularly good read on the other, and in some ways they do… but there are key places where they really don’t, and neither is self-aware about those deficiencies. It gives the two of them a knack for unintentionally taking the absolute worst tact with each other – like how chronologically later in the fic Prowl manages to, from an interpersonal standpoint, completely fuck up in the way he saves Tarantulas’ life and be taken by surprise by the fallout. By noting the physical distance between them in this first meeting, I was hoping to gesture at that interpersonal disconnect too

“And what is it that you need, Tarantulas? Why have you been playing this game?”

Tarantulas walks up the dune, leaving the lure in the sand. He won’t need it again. Prowl is going to say yes. It truly is his only option, this time.

He walks right up until he can see himself reflected in that cold blue optic, until the muzzle of the blaster presses into his chest. There is nothing to fear from the gun. There isn’t a weapon in the world capable of making a difference to him anymore.

“This time, Prowl, I need your help.”

A physical distance that Tarantulas is the one to close, in the same way it’s his decisions later on that puts them on a path where closing that emotional distance becomes possible, and turns them away from repeating their damaging cycle but with Prowl as the person consequences splashed back onto this time around. Also, here’s the first place I decided to bring in the emphasis on Prowl saying ‘yes’ that comes up several times across YOH, to tie it into that thread from SotW.

I also really enjoy Tarantulas’ bring completely unconcerned about walking right up to the gun here. He might have decided that he’s okay with having to die in order to get causality stabilised, but he knows that until then Averruncus’ intervention means that he cannot be killed. Tarantulas’ confidence in the face of a deadly weapon is drawn from the total confidence he has in his own work

[bjrdy00]

For awhile now I've been a huge fan of speculative biology and as an extension world building and like any fixation of mine I wanted to try my hand at making something of my own, so I did! This is the first creature that I've set in stone for this project of mine that I hopefully will continue to work on, it's not perfect per say but I'm very happy with how this janky creature turned out.

A bit of explanation:

Spark of life. Probably the most interesting thing about this creature/world is a fantastical approach on life itself, the very act of being alive in this world is taken into a physical form via a special fragile ball called a spark of life simply put when this ball in socketed into an animal they are alive and kicking and when they don't they just lie there motionlessly even though their body is in a state where they should be alive because the spark is gone they aren't. This all leads to some horrifying assurances such as a creature being mutilated beyond repair but still alive since they have their spark and the ability to resurrect an animal by socketing another creatures spark into them. I realize that this is no way scientifically accurate to anything but that's kind of the point, this isn't the first time I've tried my hand at speculative biology but every time I try to make something it always ends with me realizing I have no idea how biology works, getting frustrated and deciding to take a break, then forgetting about the project. By throwing the laws of nature to the wind and just trying to create something weird and interesting I think I'll be able to create something way more fleshed out than I could otherwise.

Nasal vents. Instead of a nose or a larynx in their throat (Had to look that up) the animals of this world have nasal vents near their brain that give their bodies a large, constant supply of oxygen which has allowed them to reach large sizes despite their copper blood which is bad at carrying oxygen, notice the green coloured innards. This of course leads to the problem of them not being able to stop breathing in which leads to them "swallowing" things they don't want to such as dust, parasites, stray partials and the water from the river they're drowning in.

Neck mouth. A very flimsy mouth that's attached to the neck, I don't really have an explanation for this I just thought it would look cool. I was inspired by animals of "The eternal cylinder" on this, it's a cool game if you like weird creatures like this. 10/10.

L E G S. The animals of the genus this creature is in are hexapods meaning that they have 3 pairs of legs, this creature specifically walks on the front and back legs leaving it's middle legs free to hold things which it uses to pick up and run with it's young when their herd gets attacked, would this creature become sapient (Which I am considering but not sold on yet) they would have an interesting time using tools as their arms are on the very bottom of their bodies.

And that's all! I'm not to sure of my ability to keep going with this project but I certainly hope I do! At least compared to my other failed projects which have nothing to show for them it at least has 1 thing to show for, which is better.

Anyway take care!

[echthr0s]

Trying to do WoL QotD on Bluesky (which seems to really be the place for it, there's so many over there) is a nightmare. I'm sure Twitter natives are just used to character limits but I am DYING... especially since I need to incorporate various contexts that have already been long-established on this blog. For example, there was this, for which I tapped out a condensed answer for Bsky's purposes but you know I can't thrive without being able to ramble at length:

So obviously the answer to this one is 100% yea for Dayir, to the point where I feel like a broken record going on about how much radical love, deeply spiritual and intensely physical love, is the whole of the law for her. It's how she gets things done in Eorzea and beyond.

But then there's also the fun fact about how all of Osiris's shards tend to "spotlight" some specific facet of its complex being. Ishan very much exemplifies the ability to face deepest darkness and know it well, but to remain uncorrupted by it. (Whether Osiris remained uncorrupted is what we call "a matter of debate", BUT.) Fun fact again, Zenos would have borne the mantle that Dayir wears but the whole time-fuckery shit with Dayir resurrecting in the late Sixth Astral kind of broke the system (everyone say "thank you, Emet-Selch"). To undigress, the fact that Emet-Selch -- who knows enough that he can reasonably be held responsible for his results -- basically created Dayir means it's possible he angled for these results. This was the facet of Osiris he wanted to bring forth. This is what would save the world. This is what would save him.

Ishan's "focus" being what it is, he is both averse to but very well-suited to the complexities of loss and grief -- which, of course, makes one well-suited to experience love without fear. He... doesn't fully realise this, is the thing. He thinks he's afraid of loss, he thinks he'd rather just be alone -- in fact, he thinks he's made for loneliness, that this is his lot, and anything else is just a temporary diversion. The thing is, he's a dirgesinger for a reason. He can express pain and grief and sorrow with such bittersweet depth and stark honesty because that's how he feels it. And it never breaks him. He is always steadfast and present and open-eyed. If your suffering is too heavy, he'll carry it for you. It won't even occur to him not to. But he's just really bad at seeing himself, as a lot of people are -- he can't see this strength, this empathy, this incredible emotional intelligence, for what it is. He just knows he doesn't feel the same lightness and happiness and frivolity that other people seem to feel in love, and thinks that means he doesn't love properly, or isn't suited for it. The people that love him, however, love him exactly because they feel their darkest selves are safe with him. It is a gift beyond measure, to be able to provide that safety.

[kakopotmos]

it is late and i am awake because of course i am, so let me ramble a minute to explain how Noah and Noa work :

Noah Kaneshiro is dead. he died in his real world and entered Twi.sted W.onderland in that moment where his soul was escaping his body. his death is 100% related to his ED, as expected. now, he fucks up during Cycle ZERO, and makes a deal with Malleus (@wishkept) to be his for life, but he doesn't mean it. he's being sarcastic. but to Malleus, it was a promise sworn on his name. so when Malleus curses Noah to be his, he ties it right down to Noah's weak soul. and when Noah dies in that lifecycle, instead of his soul moving to the great beyond, it moves to another cycle, another branching path.

but though his soul remembers the curse, and it has been carved into the nature of the world, Noah does not retain his memories. it is like starting over for him. it is not a TIMELOOP, it is a branching path. it just happens to run adjacent to Floyd's (@sweetlybite) timeloop. in branch b or cycle ONE, Noah's life is no different from cycle ZERO, with the exception of many feelings of deja vu. but the law of the world gets snagged now and again, which allows moments of Noah to awaken in the coffin with fraying memories of the past. the sooner he realizes he is in some sort of loop, the sooner he is marked for death. this is a failsafe that the law of the world has set in place, one Malleus placed, to keep Noah from breaking his promise or seeking a way out.

cycle 42 is a vital cycle, however, for Noah and Noa. at this point, Noah was never given a default physical gender, for the world just kept swinging him between two extremes because of his own views on his body, so it was constantly trying to compensate for him being in the right body, to make him accept his new post-death existence in Tw.ist. as the world was summoning Noah into being, the was a so-called glitch in the matrix where the world did not register that it had already begun to write one Noah into existence, and so started to create a second Noah in the same confines. in creating this copy, the law of the world would be thrown into a bit of a crisis. Noah is not like Ortho, after all, a boy who already existed and very much died, whereas the android is a separate being. no, Noah and Noa were two instances of the exact same person down to the very essence of the soul.

this meant that everything about Noah's existence was doubled, effectively meaning the world was accommodating for two of the same branching path, two of the exact same curse, two of the same soul ... and this had to be rectified. one instance of Noah had to be eliminated and it didn't matter which one it was. and as far as Noah and Noa were concerned, they were identical twins who just saw their existence differently. Noa was all the emotions that Noah had locked away during his youth in an attempt to save himself from the harshness of his reality. she was something worth protecting when he felt like he was nothing but a doll to be put on display.

Noah was changing, and he would protect his heart.

cycle 42 marks the rebellion of Noah Kaneshiro and the birth of Noa Kaneshiro, the heart beyond the veil. it also marks the world's sudden interest in purging Tw.ist of Noah Kaneshiro's now cancerous existence.

throughout the following branches, the following cycles, Noah and Noa exist through parallel lives, rarely appearing in the same cycle. if they do exist in the same cycle, their deaths are usually some of the most horrific among all the incidents prior, as the world attempts to eradicate their existence. (this was not news to Noa, as she had been long able to remember her past life and the curse Malleus placed upon them) however, Noah was rarely able to look at the truth, as his apathetic view of the world often let him choose a path to the end that would take out anything unnecessary, including relationships he had built up.

around cycle 100, by means unknown, Noah Kaneshiro would awaken in the coffin with the memories of his every lifetime. his every life and death. one could assume it was caused by time merely briefly folding in on itself, at the center of the mobiusstrip. but this incident would cause a shift in Noah, all the trauma falling upon his shoulders, all the anger and violence brewing under the surface, the constant contact with blot and magic, and being tainted by Malleus' magic would allow for the worst outcome : Noah Kaneshiro would Overblot. it would be an ugly affair that caused enough havoc that the world would effectively have to reset, changing the nature of Noah's curse along with it.

this was deemed the only way to save the world at large by the seven most powerful mages, though they could not force Malleus' hand to have him free these two instances of the same life. that was out of his hands, though he watched over Noa as well, knowing that the same time Noah had Overblotted, so had she.

after this, killing one of the instances of Noah seemed to become top priority, though in Malleus' eyes, they were not two of the same person anymore, they were, rather, just a mirror of each other, separated by time and space.

cycle 149 would put an end to the world seeking to remove the cancer that was Noah / Noa Kaneshiro, as Noa would change the deal between them and Malleus, imposing a new contract where she would be his ever more if he let Noah, the original contractee, go. this also meant that the twins would have to be cleaved in two, existing not as a whole stretched between time and space, but as two halves of the same whole, now left empty.

for Noa, it is a sacrifice she is willing to make, although she keeps a trump card up her sleeve, should her deal with Malleus turn unfavorable. but her love for Noah, for herself, is great enough that she is willing to play for a little longer.

for Noah, he is allowed to awaken once more, as if from a nightmare, flung into the usual state of affairs at NRC, no longer the universe's favorite punching bag. and he keeps Malleus at a distance, as though he knows better ... he also addresses Malleus solely by name, even when it is not given to him.

but what about Grim, you may ask, well they love Grim very much, which always makes it hurt when Grim hopes they'll be around for at least a century ...

[mvsicinthedvrk]

"...Realistic, about my wife, dying?" he says monotonously, though there's a repeated and visible twitch at his temple. Why the fuck would Shae even put that thought out into the world? Then it nearly gets worse, when she takes his throwaway comment-- meant to prove how insane her suggestion was, by the way-- and actually tries to consider it. "You're not in a coma," he snaps. "I'm not in a coma, no one is in a coma!" Just because they haven't seen anyone from the Mountain around doesn't mean they aren't here, or won't appear here just as suddenly as Hilo, and Tar, and Shae, and Wen, and Andy, and Lott Jin did. They're not on the brink of death. They're physically fit, their minds are sharp, and there may be some bumps in the road in terms of recollection but that doesn't mean they're all trapped in some kind of hellscape here. He circles back to the subject that had brought them to this inane point in the discussion in the first place: "Do you know who's not here? Lan. We're alive, he's not. And so, we're here, he's not. Get that through your head."

What she points out is not entirely untrue. Why would Hilo ever be eager to prove himself wrong? Why would anyone? But in this case, he hasn't tossed a piece of jade at the imposter because ultimately it wouldn't matter. He exhales a breath through a clenched jaw, before attempting to work through it aloud for his sister's benefit. "If-- beyond all logic and reason and laws of the universe-- it was our brother," which is difficult enough to even consider, "he would have said so. And if the man didn't-- which he didn't-- then he's got no memories. And if he had no memories, Shae, how the hell would handing him a piece of jade prove anything?" It's not as though it'd break the spell, bring his memories startling back to life, happy reunion all around. Hilo would bet his life that it'd be nothing more than a pretty rock, in the hands of someone who doesn't remember what it does; not that it matters at all because there are no memories to remember when the man is not Kaul Lan.

                       “I’m not being cruel.” Spiteful, sure. She can’t claim not to have spoken out of spite, regardless of the potential truth to her words. Her intention had been to get under Hilo’s skin, and— okay, perhaps she’d been a little cruel. But: “I’m only being realistic.” Unlike before, Shae manages fairly well to keep her voice levelled; all thanks to the realisation that she may have toed across the line and needn’t dig herself in any deeper. Besides, what part of what she’d said is so impossible to believe? It’s not an altogether terrible theory, unlike what her brother tries to make it out to be. Half-died, huh? “Who knows? Perhaps I ended in a coma, and my memories are still stuck in limbo, somewhere,” she counters. “What about you? You don’t have all of your memories, either. Who’s to say the Mountain didn’t attack the Kaul Estate? Haven’t seen any of their kin around— we may all just be on the brink of death.”  

It’s all said a little too casually, however: they were fine now. Whatever had happened at home, clearly it didn’t much matter here (especially since even Lan had returned from the dead). “If you’re so convinced Wen will tell you the truth, why haven’t you asked her to fill you in?” Other than their three children, Shae’s yet to learn of anything Hilo or her hadn’t personally experienced. It’s unlike Hilo, she thinks, not to want to know all there is to know, just so he can keep an advantage. Less than an hour into their conversation, and he’s already lost his cool— she can’t say she’s surprised. Even in the face of his anger, Shae keeps a straight face, doesn’t flinch. For now. “What you want doesn’t matter?” She scoffs; this time the sound is meant for him. What Hilo wants doesn’t matter— more like: what Hilo wants is all that matters. It’s almost ironic that he genuinely seems to be baffled by the words. “Of course, if you want to prove that this Lan is nothing but an impostor, you could’ve simply handed him some jade; test his reaction. But you’re not all that eager to prove yourself wrong, are you?”

[zalupivochka]

well, I apologize for the verbiage.

i didn't think it would come to this, but i should speak out. i'm russian. we are forced to shoot at our brothers simply because they are under a different flag. vladimir putin has been terrorizing the country for many years now, for the last 4 years it has become something completely beyond the boundaries of reality. every year it becomes more and more difficult to enter a university here, get an official classical education, the absurd laws that violate human rights come out every month. when i was born, he already was stepping into the post of the board for some years, IN MY LIFE I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANOTHER ACTUAL RULER OF MY COUNTRY. now there is a new wave of immigrants from russia because people have lost at least some hope for regime change - huge processions are constantly taking place, whose scope is hushed up by the media.

did you know that once people came out in the number of around 150k people (and speaking of just one place)? it was on bolotnaya square in 2011. it hasn't changed anything. in recent years almost every month thousands of people take to the streets, and then to no avail end up in a paddy wagon, where they can take away all means of communication. after that, if they are released and not sent to jail or another colony of strict regime, they will be fired from work, expelled from universities, deprived of parental rights.

all sanctions, except for a quarter of the last ones, hit the people, which is why life is becoming more and more unbearable, big cities with their own cultural layer become a newly created ghetto. now we have reached a new milestone - slavic peoples are clashing with each other, because of groups of fanatics without their own brains and just inhumans, filled with hatred for everyone in principle, and from that and calmly supporting entire genocides, russian people are now responsible for what they hardly relate to. recently, a large number of people have been detained in protests against the war. the situation is not changing. a lot of people have simply lost faith in everything. they don't believe propaganda, they don't believe honest sources, they don't believe anyone.

now, probably, we will finally lose everything. they threaten to close the latest independent news channels and platforms, turn off the entire internet, and propaganda in educational institutions will increase. the borders will be permanently closed, but the worst thing is that the government has simply dishonored us all. the constitution does not work for us, therefore we are not considered as people. you know, my friend is about to be expelled from the university because one day he and his bro were sitting on the roof of the building to take a photo, BECAUSE FROM THERE HE COULD HAVE SHOT PUTIN.

we are tired of being pitted against people like us. we are tired of hearing lies. we are tired of being beaten by the alleged guardians of the law. we are tired of countries imposing sanctions, which are bad only for the people, not the government. we are tired of seeing the grotesque at meetings of state duma bodies.

it took me two days to write this chaotic post (for which i apologize), because i am afraid that the riot police will break down my door; because my dad does not want to participate in this militaristic circus, which the government is forcing him to; because my mom, who works in medicine, does not want to see people like her in beds with torn bodies; because my little sister doesn't want to listen to propaganda about how it is necessary to create violence against people at school every day.

take care of yourself. be careful with both physical and information warfare. stay human. hatred breeds hatred.

[carlislespotatocellar]

i had a little too much fun with it

Hydrodynamic Habits of Our Spartan Swimmers

by Angela Weber

Rumors have been floating around since our swim team’s latest defeat to rival Bulldogs to explain them away—an anonymous source, a junior, mentioned several, each reaching further and further into the bizarre. Bizarre does not necessarily mean untruthful, as it turns out.

      “I’ve heard a few people mention this, and I’m friends with someone on the team,” the anonymous source reports. “He does it for sure. See, a few months ago, one of the Bulldogs’ swimmers—Mason’s his last name, #5; the MySpace blog is still up—set up a page to taunt our swim team. It was dumb stuff mostly, but…well, if you visit the page, you’ll see it.” (The editorial staff of The Spartan Scoop have determined that the contents, freely accessible on the Internet, do not meet our current publishing criteria, as we are a high school newspaper. We apologize for any inconvenience.

      Martin Haller, the only sophomore on the team, was happy to comment. “It was right around Halloween. You can see the correlation, I’m sure. They started calling me ‘Hollow’, and it grew from there. Someone got a photo from the yearbook and blew it up, commenting on how…hydrodynamic we were.”

      This, of course, begs the question that has been repeated more and more frequently the more the Internet is incorporated into our everyday lives: what impact does it have on our mental health, especially as adolescents?

       In this case, the impact has been significant.

       “I know a few on the team who do pack a little extra, but not naturally.” Daniel Romaroz, senior, has been on the swim team since he was a sophomore. “That site really got beneath their skin. It was in direct correlation of the site’s creation when it began.

      “It can be easy to say mean things online, especially when their reaction is hidden by a screen,” Romaroz continues. “I saw the impact. If you don’t believe me, look at the swim times. They’re dragging, and it’s because of the extra weight.”

      But is it possible that the weight, instead of at their core, is on their shoulders? A quick chat with Mr. Molina, who teaches Physics along with Biology and Statistics, says it is a possibility.

      From last October to the first week of January, our swim team’s average times have decreased, on average, a whooping seven seconds. In a sport where milliseconds matter, this is beyond significant. “Due to the square-inversion law, any addition that isn’t muscle mass and therefore impacts output energy would drag at a rate of about 0.09, thereby increasing the total factor by about 63% in this example. That’s the equivalent of strapping body armor to yourself and competing. What this means, however, is that there is no physical way that anything that small, unless it had density beyond belief, could slow down our swimmers like that. This is in their head and their hearts.”

      Peter Gaelin, a junior on the team, had some words of encouragement after hearing Mr. Molina’s thoughts on the matter. “It doesn’t matter what we look like in our uniforms, really. Every single one of my boys are fantastic athletes and even better people. One idiot on the internet won’t ruin my fun, and they definitely cannot break my passion for the sport. If someone says I’m too small, I’ll point to my swim times and say, ‘I’m more hydrodynamic than you.’”

it really is such a shame that we never got to read Angela's exposé about speedo padding on the swim team :/

[itsstrawberrymochi]

Hi, I love your content so I wanted to request something! Could you do headcanons with the hashira’s x gender neutral reader(- muchiro ofc) where they find out that the reader self-harms? If this makes you uncomfortable at all please delete it!

Kny pillars reacting to their s/o who self-harms

Awww thank you anonymous that means a lot to me hope you enjoy this also thx for reading my request rules when you said minus Muichiro ^^

Characters: all pillars expect Muichiro

Warnings: Mentions of self-harm and suicide

Note: if you or anyone you know is doing this activity please seek help with people you trust , it may seem that self harm is the best distraction but it’s really not, it’s only a temporary relief and you don’t deserve to always go through that pain ❤️

Giyuu

🌊- Now it took him a while to notice this

🌊- Don’t get him wrong, Giyuu loves you and all but he just assumed the injuries were from a demon after all that’s what you told him you had to no reason to lie right?

🌊- When he found out the truth he got extremely sad, he also got mad at himself for taking so long to notice

🌊- When he finds out he wouldn’t dare shout at you or make a scene out of it, instead he’ll calmly approach you and ask what’s the matter

🌊-If you don’t tell him right away he won’t pressure you to do so instead he’ll wait until you’re ready to talk

🌊- He’ll just sit next to you calmly in silence for hours and hours until you’re finally ready tell him

🌊- When you tell him the reason he would start to try and find a solution for the problem so you can feel better

🌊- He would also pull you in a soft hug and just let you cry on him while listening to you tell him what’s wrong

🌊- Giyuu would alway try his absolute best to make you feel better and he’s very serious about the cutting/harming and does everything in his power to try and make you stop

🌊- He’s extremely afraid that one day you’ll go beyond self-harming and he doesn’t want to lose you

Rengoku

🔥- A literal angel that was sent from heaven

🔥- Rengoku would immediately notice that you self-harm, he is extremely observant when it comes to you so he’d be quick to realize

🔥- Like Giyuu he wouldn’t pressure you to tell him what’s the matter but he’ll wait until you’re ready to say

🔥- Rengoku would make sure you know that it’s not you vs the problem but rather you and him vs the problem

🔥- He’ll make sure you know he’s there for you and whatever problem there is you don’t have to go through it alone

🔥-He also isn’t the type to give you words such as “ it’s ok this problem will pass” or “you’ll get over ”, but rather say “ Don’t worry my little flame we will find a solution to the problem no matter what”

🔥- If you’re feeling helpless or upset and feel like self-harming again he’ll drop everything he’s doing to talk to you and try and calm you down

🔥- Rengoku would allow you to talk to him whenever. He would never tell you to go away or say he’s too busy. He’d also let you talk to him for hours it doesn’t matter to him just as long as you feel better

🔥- There are often occasions where you would be laying on his lap and he’ll gently rub your back as you cry and rant to him

Shinobu

🦋- She’ll notice right away, she’s a medic so she can tell the difference between real injuries and self- inflicted ones

🦋- She would become heartbroken to know you were so sad you felt the only way to feel better was pain

🦋- She would make all the butterfly girls leave and go to another room so she can talk to you in private when she found out

🦋- Even though some scars are already healed she would kiss every single one of them

🦋- She does it because she wants to ‘kiss it better’

🦋- She would place bandages and medicine all over the new cuts so they can heal properly

🦋- She is very patient with you, she understands that you won’t stop your self-harm just like that so she’ll take her time talking to you and helping you get over it

🦋- She would alway check up on you and whenever she does she always has some tea or your favorite food ready to talk and listen to you

🦋- She always encourages you to tell her you’re true feelings and never makes you feel emotional or dramatic for it

🦋- If she knows she’s going on a really long mission and won’t see you for while she’ll ask Kanao or one of the butterfly girls to check up on you but if you don’t want them to know about it she would keep it private and she’ll just constantly send you letters instead

Mitsuri

💖- When she found out she talked to you as soon as she could

💖- She found out during a pillar meeting when your sleeve accidentally lifted up showing all the unnatural scars

💖- She had waited after the pillar meeting, when you two were in private to talk about it. She knew you clearly didn’t want anyone to know so she was sure no one was around

💖- When she asked you about it she couldn’t help but break down crying, Mitsuri would blame her self for your self-harming and feel like she did something wrong to you but you’ll explain to her that it wasn’t her fault but she’ll still cry because you were hurting all this time and she didn’t know.

💖- Her number one method of helping you heal is showing you lots and lots of love and care and showing you she is there for you

💖- So that basically means more sweets, more tea parties, hugs and kisses,more l love you, her complementing you all the time etc

💖- She had also bought you a bunny, so if she ever went on long missions you’ll always have “ someone” to talk to.

Sanemi

☁️- At first he would be kind of angry. Angry at himself for not noticing and angry at you for not telling him

☁️- Genya was the one who had told him , Genya being your worried younger brother in law couldn’t stand by and watch you do this to yourself

☁️- Sanemi’s first thought was to yell at you for doing it but then he thought you’d probably be afraid to talk to him about it if he did

☁️- He’ll burst in your room and yell “Y/N I KNOW YOU INTENTIONALLY HURT YOUR SELF”

☁️- You expecting him to yell about it prepared for more but when he reached you he just shoved your face into his chest and pulled you in for a soft hug

☁️- He’ll then say he was sorry you had to go through all this pain alone and sorry that he wasn’t there for you

☁️- He’ll allow you to cry on his shoulder for as long as you’d like

☁️- He wouldn’t care that you’re messing up his slayer uniform nor how long you’re crying for

☁️- While you’re crying he’ll reassure he is now and will forever be there for you and he’ll also reassure you and you can tell him anything

☁️- This wasn’t the only time he allowed you to cry on his shoulder,after the one time you cried he wouldn’t easily dismiss the matter but instead constantly bring it up to make sure you’re getting better

Obanai

🐍- He’s a very observation person especially when it comes to you so he’ll notice your self-harming rather quickly

🐍- He was very patient with you, so the first time he asked and you didn’t tell him he waited until you were ready, like Giyuu he didn’t force you to talk about it.

🐍- When you two did talk about it he never judged you or made you feel bad for doing it, he never called your self harming ‘ attention seeking’ or called you dramatic for doing it

🐍- instead he’ll empathize with you and try to understand why you’re doing it

🐍-Obanai is definitely not one to show physical affection, he rather shows he loves you through words of affirmation BUT If you ever need him to hold you or hug you he’d be more than glad to do it

🐍- He’ll alway hold on onto you and assure you he’ll try and help you solve the problem

🐍- You’ll also have Kaburamaru to be your support snake he’ll alway wraps hisself around you or rub his head on your check to try and make you feel better

🐍- Obanai always try his best to make you feel better and he will near you every second of the day he’s right next to you to because he wants to be a constant reminder that you’re not alone

Uzui

🔊- It was own of the wives that told him about it

🔊- Uzui would immediately blame himself he would think you were probably upset that he was giving one of his wives e attention than you

🔊- He’ll then immediately go to you and apologies for it but then you’ll explain to him that’s not the reason. He’ll then feel relieved but immediately worry knowing there’s something making his love sad

🔊- He is the type to not assume what would make you feel better but would ask you how he could help. He’d ask if you want to talk about it with him, if you wanna talk to someone else maybe one of the wives, if you wanna be left alone, if you want a support animal ( yes willing to get you a cat/dog/lizard etc to make you feel better 😌)

🔊- He would kindly ask for you to give him the weapons you use for self-harm, he refuses to do it by force because that’ll make matters worst, if you don’t give it to him the time he’ll constantly ask for always in a soft and calm voice

🔊- If you’re a slayer he’ll even go as far and take away your sword he’d only give it back if he’s sure someone else is going on a mission with you and they can watch you or if he’s going

🔊- He would also get all of his wives to separately talk to you and try to make you feel better

🔊- Uzui allows you to cry on his shoulder if you ever need it and he’ll gently pat your head or rub your back

Gyomei

🪨-He would cry as soon as he found out

🪨-Like Shinobu he would be extremely heartbroken and his heat would weep for you

🪨- He absolutely hates the fact that you hurt yourself and would always cry thinking about it or if he hears you did it again

🪨- If the reason you are cutting yourself is because you don’t feel like you are good enough he would remind you of all your good qualities and there are lot

🪨- He’ll also wrap his arms around you and cuddle you as you cry because he knows how much you love it

🪨- Gyomei, if you allow it likes to gently rub all your self-injury scars because he believes you deserve comfort for going through all that pain

🪨-He wound often call them battle scars he does it because he believes that you did in fact went through a battle with many problems and you won

🪨- He is very gentle and patient when it comes to your self-harming , when he speaks to you about it and gives you advice it’s always in a soft and calming voice and whenever you rant or cry about how you feel he’ll patiently wait there for hours and let you speak, he’ll only speak when he knows that you are done, he wouldn’t dare interrupt you

This was my first time writing Uzui and Gyomei hope I did good, also this was my longest ever request so I wouldn’t be surprised if it has grammar errors sorry for that 😭