#presumably because they're less than 30 years old

[opbackgrounds]

There's a lot of cool hints about the various species that we'll see in the future, but the most important thing from this paper that I haven't seen talked about much is that ostensibly all slaves are supposed to be criminals and non-WG citizens. This is what allows the auction houses to get around the World Government's abolition of slavery, making the illegal legal.

It also gives the Sabaody, with its close relationship with Mariejois, financial reason to have all sorts of random people declared criminals

[secretlywritingstories]

My horse's stables have been sold. It's been a long time coming really. They announced to us just over a year ago that they would be selling and now the time has come. But even with the long warning, it feels abrupt and it's messing with my head when I think about it too much.

It was one of the first things I saw this morning when I opened my eyes. Maybe that's on me checking my email that early, but usually it's comments from AO3 greeting me and those are wonderful to wake up to. This was not really.

And it's generally good news. It'll be another family who'll live there. The mother is a rider too, and they want to continue hosting boarder horses. So, it's entirely possible that I can keep Moneypenny in the stable that has been her home for the last 15 years and the place that has been my escape from the world just as long.

Ownership shifts on the 1st of December, which is sooner than I would like. They are going to renovate the stables, which they have been direly needing, but that also means temporary displacement of the horses. I don't know how they're going to go about it all. I don't really know what I am going to do about it.

It's still early days. The contract was signed just last night. The current owners and the new owners will have several meetings over the coming weeks to sort things out. And the riding tack shop is staying for the moment and the family are probably keeping their own horses (five horses, most of them youngsters and one sold abroad) on the property until they find somewhere new.

They strive to make it a smooth transition and it'll probably be fine. I am still facing the choice as to whether I want to look for somewhere else to board Moneypenny or I am going to stick around in the stable under new ownership. I don't love either option, but I do like the idea of staying in the familiar, if I can.

I love the nearby forest, I know every nook and cranny of the stable and the rest of the property. It's comfortable and easy. Moneypenny shares a field with another boarder, so she also has her usual partner if that person decides to stick around. She might. We're from the same riding school originally, and she moved her (old) horse to the stable just a handful of months after I moved mine.

Maybe it'll be good. We've been stuck in a weird transitional period where most of the boarders moved, we had a couple of temporary ones come in but the stable that at most housed over 30 horses went down to under 10. It didn't affect me that much because I was just hanging out with my horse, but there was a sense of life and community lost.

It might get restored now with new owners, a renovated stable and presumably new boarders coming too. I want to meet the owners to make my own judgements, but I am leaning towards staying. Change is such a bitch and anything with Moneypenny in particular makes me flare up so easily.

Spending time with her in comfortable and safe surroundings have always been something I run to whenever things get too overwhelming, whether with school, work og just inside of my own head. And this stable has been the backdrop of it for a decade and a half. A lifetime really. And Moneypenny is happy there. She could be happy elsewhere too, I know it. She's much less fussy than her owner.

And I'm happy for the old owners. I want them to have the freedom not to constantly have to take care of a stable. It's endless work. Day in and day out. I could not do it. I hope the new owners will be a breath of fresh air and bode good things ahead.

Change is coming, whether I want it or not. And it's healthy enough to be shaken up sometimes. Even if it makes me want to thrash around and pout.

[studymaniac]

That is interesting! Mind if I wade in and offer my thoughts? Let's explore.

My first thought is that it's an age/experience thing.

MB isn't great with details, but it does establish that the survey crew are A) very much adults and B) have probably been going on expeditions for a while. (I say this cuz MB remarks on how well they seem to like/know each other and how good Mensah is at leading them. This infers they've been a crew for a while). Ergo they've had more than one run in with the corporate rim. Pin Lee even complains about dealing with Rim law and their unethical practices. So they (except Gurathin, but I'll get to him) were raised on a peace and love planet; and then presumably dealt with culture shock when they realized how common violence and greed is in the Rim. Likewise, Gurathin probably had a reverse culture shock when he came from "elsewhere," saw Preservation, and realized that life didn't have to be like this. He's an immigrant who's integrating into Preservation culture. This may be why he's more vocal about things that go against that culture. Now Thiago was also raised on Preservation, but I did get a "I'm better than you" vibe from him that I've seen in many tenured professors. Though this vibe does come from the fact that MB is the POV and Thiago doesn't like MB. Thiago may also be acting a bit bitchy because he doesn't understand Mensah's PTSD and is blaming/taking it out on MB. Its easy to berate someone's questionable actions when you don't like them. Being raised on a peace and love planet doesn't resolve interpersonal conflict it just makes it less common. (See the predatory behavior in Amena's date. That still happened on Preservation)

TLDR: The Preservation adults have already seen what the Rim is capable of and have dealt with the distracting parts of culture shock off screen. So now they're at a point where they can nit pick MB's behavior/violence as an individual topic.

--

On the flip side, this is Amena's first survey. It's established that her age is somewhere between barely legal to have sex as an adult; and seriously looking at which college she wants to attend. I'm American, so to me, this means that she's probably around 18. (I am not having a discussion about legal age. I know other countries have different rules, but I'm not talking about teenagers being teenagers. I'm talking about how Amena's date is framed as being predatory but technically legal. So, at the minimum age Amena could be, an 18 year old being seduced by a 25-30 yr old creep is predatory but technically legal. That creep going after a 16 yr old should be a crime. Especially on a theoretical peace and love planet. Now back on topic-). She's young and inexperienced. So we get to see her culture shock moments as she talks to Ras and Eltra/sees thier racism. We see how dismayed she is at everything from corporate intellectual property rights to how they treat humans as assets, not people. She's definitely an interesting person for taking it all in stride. However, she might be giving MB a pass on the violence because of the overwhelming amount of everything that's going on.

Another part of this is the fact that MB doesn't pull out the violence at random. The both of them are in a scary situation. They just got abducted and brought to a secondary location (*insert John Mulaney gif here*). MB also confirms that the Targets killed Art before it makes them regret it. MB would never admit it (and it is the narrator) but there's no doubt that MB was visibly upset. The "Cool motive, still Murder" reasoning may not have even crossed Amena's mind. Preservation has Media. Mensah states how cartoonishly evil the Rim is depicted, and it can't all be intellectual debates. So Amena has probably read and watched a bunch of media that has Hollywood-like violence. She's never seen it personally (and we don't get to see her exact reaction to the lung thing, because MB is upset and distracted. She could have been puking in the background for all we know) but the progression of events would make sense to someone who's only seen violence in media. Protagonists gets abducted. Love interest is killed and one character goes ape shit.

I'll argue that this shows that Amena is a romantic. Especially because she gets invested in MB and ART's "relationship" after Art is revived. I mean, she's 100% correct, but still. She's smart but can get swept up in an emotional moment. It's how she fell for a creep, why she got upset at MB for interrupting the date, why she gives him a pass for avenging ART's death, and why she plays matchmaker. She’s ride or die because MB/ART is her OTP (to use fandom language).

TLDR: Amena is young, adapting to a dangerous situation, experiencing culture shock, and has watched media. Between this and possible adolescent romance ideals, she's chill with MB being violent.

---

Whew! That was a fun mental exercise. Thanks for posting!

Amena, Murderbot, and Violence

Thinking today about Amena and violence in The Murderbot Diaries.

Like, Amena is from Preservation, a planet whose murder rate is barely above that of an uninhabited planet, where finding an unexpected dead body is so shocking that they close the entire space station IMMEDIATELY. And the other characters from Preservation tend to...let's say look askance at Murderbot's murdering. There's Gurathin challenging whether Murderbot has the right to kill Mensah's captors or Thiago being really upset at the thought that Murderbot might have killed the raiders who were trying to kidnap and/or murder the survey crew. There's also the moment that Murderbot thinks about how it's never killed anyone directly in front of Ratthi, and how it wants to keep it that way, so that Ratthi will keep thinking the best of it.

And Amena was raised on this planet, and so far as I know hadn't really left up until the survey assignment in Network Effect, who suddenly finds herself kidnapped along with Murderbot. And Murderbot is losing it because it thinks ART is dead, and ends up ripping one of the Target's lungs out in front of Amena while messily murdering it.

And Amena's response is...shockingly chill? Like, I guess she's also in shock and scared and Murderbot is the only person on her side at the moment, but it's still an incredibly violent killing done right in front of her and she never really seems to blink at it. Later, the very second that Ras shoots Murderbot, Amena jumps onto his back and tries to choke him out. Like, that's her first and immediate reaction--and this is like 30 minutes after the "Murderbot rips someone's lungs out" thing.

And there is something touching about how "ride or die" Amena is with Murderbot even though she thinks it doesn't like her. And about how willing Amena is to deal with whatever is happening. How at the end of that day, when they've been in a space battle and kidnapped and Murderbot did some murdering and Ras died and Eletra was almost fried and Murderbot was having multiple emotional breakdowns...Amena is worried that Murderbot is mad because she didn't defend it enough when Ras & Eletra were being verbally mean. Like, THAT'S what she thinks might affect their relationship.

I don't know what I'm getting at, exactly, except that I think Amena is a fascinating character.

Things Amena gets upset about:

Murderbot interrupting her date with a predator

Murderbot forgetting to talk in stressful situations

Casual racism (bot-ism?) from Ras & Eletra

Murderbot & ART not talking

Things Amena does NOT get upset about

Murderbot doing the killing

[jupitersrising]

Survival of the Fittest Character Guide

Hi lovelies! This is a character guide for everyone mentioned in the Survival of the Fittest Universe. I've talked about the fact that there are a lot of OCs as family member since we literally have no idea who most of them are. I'll be linking this post on the ao3 series when the next chapter comes out as well. This will be updated as I add more side characters, but is made to make it easier in case anyone forgets who is who and how they're related because I know that can be difficult.

(Everything here is from my notes and is subject to change if necessary. A short description will be included with each character that may be subject to minor spoilers in the SotF universe. Some characters not yet mentioned will be included in the list, though they will not get descriptions. Any ages listed will be how old they were at the start of Camp [June 2015] OR how old they were when they passed away.)

Ben Pincus (16):

Family Relations:

Mother: Ann Pincus nee Moore (34)

Father: Colton Pincus (34/35)

Grandmother: Tracy Pincus (deceased)

Other:

Holly: Bluebird and previous "pet" (nearly a year) (deceased)

Greyson: Childhood bully (16)

(Dr) Sarah Martinez: Therapist before the start of the series (31)

Mikael Porter: Not yet mentioned (34)

(REDACTED): The girl in the car (assumed less than 10)

(REDACTED): Father of girl in the car (early thirties)

(REDACTED): Mother of girl in the car (early thirties)

The Man in the Hotel: Body found in one of the hotel's along with the note "I'm sorry, Julia" and a gun

Julia: A presumed woman the suicide note was left to.

Bessie: "Dino-daughter"

Darius Bowman (15):

Family Relations:

Brother: Brandon "Brand" Bowman (19)

Mother: Jennifer Bowman (mid forties)

Father: Fredrick Bowman (deceased) (early forties)

Other:

The San Francisco Wolves: Brand's high school swim team

Reese: Not yet mentioned

Chelsey: Not yet mentioned

Gerry: Not yet mentioned

Kenji Kon (17):

Family Relations:

Father: "Daniel" Kon

Mother: Ichika “Naomi” Kon (deceased)

Step-Mother: Candy

Other:

Kye Alabaster: "Friend" approx. 2 years older (status unknown)

Randy: "Friend" gave Kenji and Kye edibles on that day

Sydney Eston: slept with Kye

Yasmina "Yaz" Fadoula (17):

Family Relations:

Mother: Inaya Fadoula (56)

Brother: Hadi Fadoula (approx. 31)

Sister: Nima (11 almost 12)

Father: I don't have a name for him yet

Other:

N/A

Brooklynn Torres-Williams-King-Santiago (15):

Family Relations:

Father (Dad): Alexander "Ali or Alex" Williams

Father: (Nial or Pops): Nial Torres

"Mother" (Mom or Aunt): Kestley King

"Mother" (Mia or Aunt): Mia Santiago

(Yes the last name thing is something you can do, to my knowledge, its just not common to have more than 3 last names)

Other:

Brooklanders: YouTube/vlogging audience

Samanta "Sammy" Gutierrez (16): (this is a long one)

Family Relations (Gutierrez + Hernandez sides [also Wilson]):

Father: N/A Gutierrez

Mother: Rosa II Gutierrez nee Hernandez

Sister: Valentina "Val" Gutierrez (13ish)

Sister: Carmen Gutierrez (deceased) (early twenties)

Cousin: Angelina "Angie" Hernandez (20)

Cousin: Fidel Hernandez (21)

Cousin: Filipe Gutierrez (18)

Aunt: Lola Gutierrez

Uncle: Emilio Gutierrez

Aunt: Yadra Wilson nee Gutierrez

Uncle: Nelson Wilson

Uncle: Javier Hernandez (Fidel + Angie's Dad) (47)

Grandmother: Rosa Hernandez (83)

Cousin: Antonio Gutierrez (mid 20s)

Cousin: Pedro Gutierrez (late 20s)

Other:

Father John: Pastor

Alice: first "girlfriend" (16)

Bessie: emotional support cow

Daisy: Bessie's mother (deceased)

Tomás "Tommy" Cruz: Made fun of Carmen, Fidel beat him up in church services (17-18)

Daniel Nickleson: Scientist Sammy shot and killed (deceased) (27)

Patricia "Patty" Nickleson: Wife of Dan (28)

Elizabeth "Eliza" Nickleson: Daughter of Dan + Patty (Infant)

Carol Nickleson: Daughter of Dan + Patty (5)

Other Characters:

Mitch and Tiff: Antagonists (deceased) (mid-30s)

Hap: Ally (deceased) (early 40s/late 30s)

Dave: Counselor (26)

Roxie: Counselor (26)

Doctor Wu: Antagonist, not yet introduced

Torvo: (deceased) Attacked Ben

Toro: (deceased) Ben attacked her

Allosaurus: Tried to attack Ben near Toro's field

Pteranodon: Dragged Ben off monorail

Baby Pteranodon: (deceased) claws + bones turned into knives

Like a dozen other dinosaurs to add (mostly irreverent)

[semimedieval]

in which we continue to pretend this writeup is helping me brainstorm 3.0 instead of well probably distracting me from it

in other words: lupus and ky break up, and glimmers of larger-scale narrative value are improbably contained within said very stupid plotline

first off: normal exchanges to have the morning you break up (for less than a day)

Ky wanted to stay underneath the covers, the morning air was cold, colder than usual. "Do you want my spare jacket?" Lupus asked, pausing above her. "Sure." She replied. For a moment warm happiness replaced the cold. She loved Lupus, kind and considerate. He handed it to her with a grin, then went to help Obsidian heat up the oatmeal.

then, believe it or not, obsidian and lupus are deeply cruel to each other for no reason, no reason at fucking all. i'm not going to paste in that dialogue cause it's devastatingly embarrassing

wait JK i thought their sniping at each other over the oatmeal was just the precursor to a bigger and more interesting fight but this is literally all we get before Just so you know, Lupus hissed. "Don't you dare complain to anyone about me. I never did anything to you," he continued. "I don't know why you hate me so much." That's Lupus, he's always the victim! whispered Obsidian. "Poor Loopy Lupus who has bad dweams at night."

OBSIDIAN IS BEING SIGNIFICANTLY MORE CRUEL THAN LUPUS HERE. We find out that lupus glares at obsidian whenever he "so much as looks at" ky, which has never been established before ever i'm not positive that ky and obsidian have even spoken onpage before the previous night. anyway lupus and obsidian share a bedroom so presumably the bad dreams are something obsidian knows about and is taking the opportunity to make fun of? OBSIDIAN, *YOU* HAVE BAD DREAMS! THEY WERE DESCRIBED TO US IN DETAIL LIKE 30 PAGES AGO!

Ky felt sadness grab her heart. She hated it when they fought. "Obsidian! LUPUS!" Chuji yelled "STOP!" They looked around. "Sorry," muttered Obsidian. Lupus said nothing, just smiled at the girls and turned his back on Obsidian haughtily. Ky's sadness turned to anger. "I agree. This is taking it too far." Quartz stood up and stood with the girls. "Third the motion. Obsidian, you should know better."

shoutout to quartz and chuji for correctly identifying that obsidian is equally if not more to blame for this complete nonsense. chuji runs off into the woods and starts setting fire to things which is a fair response to your boyfriend being an utter dipshit at least it is if you are sixteen years old.

ky of course says -

Ky spun around and ran, the opposite way of Chuji. "And Lupus," she called. "We're over!"

after all these posts being like "oh they're about to break up! the next post is the infamous lupus and ky breakup!" it happening this quickly when it does happen is catching me way off guard.

Lupus's heart seemed to stop, and he leaned on the table. 'We're over,' she had said. His heart was beating way too quickly. 'This is all your fault' he wanted to scream at Obsidian, but he knew this was what had lost him Ky in the first place.

both lupus's reaction to ky kissing him and to her breaking up with him are so unusually physically and emotionally detailed for posts on adventures of the extranei element powers rpg. the material reality jars you and makes it very hard to hate him.

Lupus ran north and Obsidian ran south, while Ky and Chuji had gone east and west. (sorry, I had to do that for comic effect) Only Quartz and Spark were left in the clearing. Chuji came out of the trees, her face blank "Holy ----." "Hello, Chuji," said Quartz, keeping her voice steady. "Ky's dumped Lupus and ran off because he was being a jerk and she felt betrayed, Lupus ran off because of that, and Obsidian ran off because he felt that it was his fault alone that the three of you were unhappy."

Quartz's theories that heterosexual love makes you crazy and evil are not getting disproved anytime soon it seems. I remember my 'four directions' bit vividly, and I do think it's a very funny adaptation that in 2.0 Obsidian and Chuji came out of the woods together and were like "we didn't like, actually run off very far from each other.

also, needless to say, let chuji say fuck.

Lupus collapsed on the ground, practically hyperventilating. This couldn't be happening... Only this morning, as he gave Ky his jacket, he had been so happy. Where had this hatred led him? He realized that being nice to Ky wasn't all of it, it was being an all-around good person. Monoceros had been nice to Loop's mother, hadn't he? "And Lupus, we're over" - the words echoed in his head, Ky wished Lupus could just be the old Lupus again, the one who laughed and smiled. Had she really just broken up with him? She felt tears well up, but pushed them back. This was not her Lupus. As much as she hated him at the moment Ky wished Lupus were here to comfort her.

they are so. i think if anything the utility of this breakup is not that there should BE a breakup in 3.0 (a fight, perhaps, in 3.6 or 3.7?) but that it correctly demonstrates what i have known all along, which is that lupus when he thinks is leaving ky is not calm and collected and regretful, he is screaming and crying and throwing up.

"Seriously, people!" Obsidian exclaimed. "Rim is in danger, and we still need to bring back Tozi. I'll go get Ky, Chuji gets Lupus."

Big words from someone who is kind of directly responsible for this but i'm glad SOMEONE'S thinking about the perils of going full soap opera mode. Not helping to convince me that This Is All Lupus's Fault For Sure is spark's narration.

Spark wanted to take Lupus's side, what with all her friends ganging up on him, but she just couldn't. Lupus had been wrong. Granted, Obsidian had done his part to make matters worse, but the real culprit was Lupus.

WAS HE????? cause the most aggressive thing HE did was throw a silly little snowball.

i was excited to read the "chuji gets lupus, obsidian gets ky" sequences because a) obsidian/ky is a secretly viable ship and i enjoy their interactions, and b) i didn't write them into 2.0 because i knew there had to be reasonable limits as to how much quartz could overhear or insert herself into. so this is something i haven't read since at the latest 2018 but perhaps as far back as 2016.

First, Chuji and Lupus:

She softly walked towards lupus. She crouched next to him "Hey." she said softly Yes? he asked blankly. "It's cool, If you wanna be grouchy be so." She placed an arm around him. "Don't be foolish, She's overreacting. Walk up to her, heck kiss her without warning." "There's more to it than that. But thanks for being so kind Chuji. I feel like everyone hates me. And now I've got to go apologize to Obsidian." He stood up shakily and walked with her back to camp. Her arm slipped off his shoulder "I had problems with Obsidian. I usually felt as though he was lost and selfish, but inside him, there's light. Ky needs to see your fire, not your ice."

"Walk up to her and kiss her without warning" is the worst possible advice you could give in this situation, and my dear sweet "no amount of anime will convince me consent is optional" 12 year old self (you are so cool <3) knew it too. lupus does do this (though at a point where ky is clearly in the mood again i would think, she's like hugging him or something we'll see) but partly because jack replied to my comment saying "YES! YES! THAT SHOULD HAPPEN XD"

fucked up ideas about how relationships work aside, chuji is kind of on the money here. i respect her for being the only person in the whole friend group who is being nice to lupus because boy does he need someone to be nice to him right now.

Next, Obsidian and Ky:

Ky used her powers to make a light based Lupus, laughing and reaching out to hold her. She extended her arms, but fell through the figure, on the ground, straight on her face. She sat up and watched the light slowly diminish. Was this what his heart would do in the end? Disappear from her grasp? Obsidian came up behind Ky. "We have to save Rim and Tozi," he said softly. "Um, Ky?" he added, feeling like he'd witnessed something he shouldn't have. Ky followed him to the makeshift-camp, her cheeks still a bit pink from him seeing her with the Light-Lupus. "We'll just pretend that didn't happen," Obsidian winked.

No adjacent miracles of unusual emotional intimacy here, just silliness. The wink is weirdly casual and supports the Obsidian Is Mr. Steal Your Girl Theory, which is not actually a theory we want to support but it sure is a theory the text accidentally keeps supporting, not least through obsidian's accusation that lupus glares at him every time he hangs out with ky. which we've only seen obsidian do to talk shit about lupus, so-

anyway everyone comes back to the clearing they've been camping in (a clearing is one of those generic ur-settings in extranei and in all generic fantasy like it) and lupus apologizes to both obsidian and ky. i have been lupus's #1 defender in this story beat so far, but let the record show that this is kind of a shitty apology, not to mention a very confusing one.

"I'm sorry for being mean to Obsidian, Ky. I guess I'm selfish, because I saw it from a selfish point of view. I thought that if I was kind to you, that would be all I needed to keep you happy. Hate me if you want, but know that I still love you."

though the last line remains true to the last breakup and for a long time after it. i think it takes lupus a long time to figure out for sure that ky's not coming back, and a long time after that to know for certain that he doesn't want her back what with what has happened, and an even longer time (maybe never) for him to quit imagining alternate universes where she didn't leave.

not that i would know anything about that.

on the way to the headquarters, lupus and ky try to resolve things and fail miserably. she says "we should still break up" even though it's clearly making her miserable. lupus snaps at her defensively and she PHYSICALLY PUSHES HIM AND CRIES OUT "GET AWAY FROM ME" which is. man. sigh.

ky thinks t his, which i'm not sure is entirely true. it might be a case of RP Mind Reading, ky getting bad vibes from lupus's "how would i manipulate everyone?" internal monologue.

Why was she mad? For starters, he had been snappy at everyone in the group, yet treating her like a princess. His jokes were snide and cruel, and he seemed distant all the time.

meanwhile, we check in with lupus. who is very sad.

He didn't see the point in staying, even. He wanted to run away. He wanted his unicorn back... He wanted, he wanted. You want too much, an inner voice told him. You want too much, you're unfair, you're snappy. You only really trust one person in the group. You're a spoiled rich kid who's used to people falling at his feet and him getting everything he wanted. Stopping his self-pity, he looked at Ky. She seemed so miserable, and part of Lupus wanted dearly to comfort her. But they'd never be that way again. He'd ruined everything. He began to run again, turning his face away from Ky's so that she couldn't see it. Finally, he was about a quarter of a mile away from the group. 'She needs to see the fire in you,' he thought. But was there fire in him at all?

'spiral of insecure self-realization' is one of the easiest things to write compellingly but i can still really see my writing of people's internal monologues improving. i don't love the way "you want too much, you're a spoiled rich kid" is treated as Narrative Truth... this is the problem with an unclear backstory, was lupus doted on or was his father predictably evil as a father figure not just as a feudal lord? we don't know and we never get to find out. monoceros is not treated with enough nuance elsewhere for "he was a good father but a bad ruler nicky ii style" to really feel compelling. certainly in epng lupus is made out to be a bad father, though admittedly in an "overprotective" direction rather than an "actively cruel" one. the point is, lupus did not have a charmed life or a perfect childhood, and just because he has not had the same kinds of tragedies happen to him as obsidian, doesn't mean he is a "spoiled rich kid" the way, say, takiea in epng is a spoiled rich kid. he has textually said that a) his mother died and he misses her, and b) his father openly talked about hating magic users and it made him deeply afraid. he ran away for a reason!

i say all this partly because in lupus's apology to obsidian he says "You've experienced more tragedy than me," which is both deeply condescending and not a very fair way to compare lives or experiences. It is clearly what Obsidian believes, but that does not reflect well on Obsidian. And my experiences with grief are limited and less insane than those of these fictional teens, but it would be roughly like Gabe telling Liam "nothing bad has ever happened to you because you grew up upper middle class!" or me telling Gabe "you've only lost grandparents, not closeish personal friends and mentors!" Or if Jane responded to any personal problem that E or Gabe or I had with "well at least your dad's not dead." All immensely cruel and insane things that it's impossible to imagine saying as a real person in real life. It's hard to conceptualize when you're 12 or 15 and your life has been fairly free of permanent loss, but grief tends to make you more compassionate towards the losses of others and not eager to compare them, at least it's so once you're past the "being really mad at everyone who knew stephen less well than you and is writing shitty poetry about him" stage.

again, it's maybe possible to imagine people having this reaction to takiea in epng because she really HAS had somewhat of a charmed life - wealthy without attached dehumanizing responsibilities, adored by both parents, a rich life full of hobbies - but lupus's dad is evil, his mom is dead, and he has nobody in the world besides the extranei. so maybe i think the obsidian and quartz that i feel attached to in my head would not rewrite that history into something dunkable-on. just a thought.

i did not mean to spiral into writing Very Long Lupus Meta on the clock. they're about to reach the headquarters but as a final note about lupus, ky, obsidian, and the tangled conundrums thereof, let's check in on the followup between ky and obsidian.

Obsidian caught up with Ky. "Just yesterday, you were talking about defining points of personalities," he said lightly. "Things have changed. I guess you were right all along." Ky replied. But still, it just didn't feel right. There was a nagging feeling she should go run into Lupus's arms and tell him how sorry she was, for everything. Ky was utterly and helplessly confused. "I'm not so sure," Obsidian replied. "Perhaps you yourself were right all along." He laughed. "How our views have changed. Don't worry, if you don't feel right with him, don't hestitate to tell him so."

Hilarious attempt at 'hesitate'. How did I nearly win the class spelling bee twice again? Anyway, the underlying feelings of all this are unsalvageable, but I can see why I included it in 2.0 because it's too iconic to our RP memories not to be. It's a fascinating study, as all of the relationships in Extranei are, in How Our Preteen Selves Are Imagining Relationships As People Who Have Never Been In One. infinitely rife for biographical analysis. limitedly rife with material for a 23-year-old to reach into and cherry pick compelling things from. obsidian has spent 24 hours dunking on lupus mercilessly only to change his mind when this dunking turns out to have unpleasant consequences. sometimes this is a true thing that happens. good thing that, in this roleplay, consequences never last very long.

[totally-not-an-awkward-okapi]

First off, disclaimer: This is less theory and more exploration of possible answers to the question of when Sigma’s accident occurred. Specifically, what do they mean for the larger world of overwatch and for Sigma?

The Facts

Sibren De Kuiper is 62 years old.

Zarya’s gravity well, which originally came off an armored vehicle in battle, is a creation of or based on the work of “The Tobelsteins'”, and Sigma can recognize it as such.

According to Reinhardt and Zarya’s hero pages, the Omni Crisis started over 30 years ago.

Orisa’s says it was over 20 years ago.

Michael Chu claimed it was 25 years ago, "give or take a few years."

Sigma was “close friends” with Dr Harold Winston, visited him on the moon, and met Winston during that time.

Winston is 29 years old, meaning that Winston was born during the war. Ignoring what that could mean about the gorilla project, that means Sigma’s accident has to have taken place during or the Omnic Crisis.

Sigma knows Dr Harold Winston is dead. (“Give Dr. Winston my regards.” is his elimination quote against Winston).

Dr Harold Winston died during the Gorilla Uprising. In emails directly before and during the accident, he says “We think of them as teenagers, but they're much more than that.”

Winston escaped the gorilla uprising, which killed Dr Harold Winston, sometime after the war. We know this because the stowaway Hammond landed in an established junkertown. We know junkertown was set up after the Australian omnium, which was gifted post war, was destroyed.

6 years before Winston’s recall, the Lucheng Interstellar Corporation began constructing a new space station, presumably the Interstellar Journey Space Station.

Overwatch was disbanded 7 years ago

The unknown emergency failure on the Interstellar Journey Space Station is listed as breaking news along side Soldier: 76 being sighted in Dorado, Tracer and Winston reappearing working together, and Mei “returning to the Himalayas.” (No explanation for what that means! Is Mei from the Himalayas? What is she returning to?). Which places it before the Overwatch 2 cinematic, post RECALL, and during the events of HERO.

The Speculation

During the War?

At most Sigma’s accident could have taken place less than 29 years ago.

This leaves him with the most possible time spent detained. Oof.

The Tobelsteins' work makes more sense to be a wartime invention (or, even more likely, application of a preexisting invention).

This might also help answer why the experiment failed- it was rushed by war. (There are potential reasons it was rushed outside of war, especially since Siebren doesn’t directly describe it’s application as a weapon until after he gets scrambled. Plus, he could have just been cocky. His lines definitely read as overconfident pre-accident.)

This is just wild speculation, but then why wasn't he utilized during the war? The organization that contained him seems shady enough to do it, and he’s a powerful asset. Was he just considered too unstable for usage, even against bots? Maybe if the war was winding down and they didn’t want to risk it? Or, save him for some nebulous future fight?

This would also mean that someone informed him of Dr Hammond Winston’s death post accident or that the gorilla uprising happened during the war and Winston didn’t escape until after.

The Height of Overwatch?

Gives more than enough time for Sibren to meet a young Winston and for the moon uprising, especially given that 6 year window.

Earliest possible date for the accident to have occurred on the Interstellar Journey Space Station, but wouldn’t explain what the more recent catastrophic failure was. It’s possible the Station is just deeply unlucky, but it doesn’t make a ton of sense thematically.

The biggest problem with this explanation is why wasn’t Sigma brought into Overwatch? What happened that was so shady he needed to be hidden away from the organization that collects freaks and geeks like him?

During or after the Fall?

A much shorter period of time, but it does have all the same reasons as the height and excuse Overwatch’s unawareness of his existence. They where a little busy/dead at the time.

Recall and beyond?

Doesn’t make a ton of sense but is possible, the hair loss and color change could just be stress.

Gives the most possible time for the previous events to happen

Minimizes the time spent detained (good for him?)

Reintroduces the element of being a wartime push for why he was (possibly) rushed.

Could potentially be the reason for the catastrophic failure reported on the Interstellar Journey Space Station- given this was a fairly recent event according to the signs around Lijiang Tower.

To support that idea, unless the International Space Station changed it’s rules about the heights of crew members or was replaced with a larger version, Sigma is far too tall to be allowed up on it.

(This doesn’t necessarily mean it wasn’t a international or government station, but it should be noted.)

[queersatanic]

The Al-Jazeera article talks ends on how so much focus is on punishing offenders rather than actually providing for their targets, and this is another example of how permanently mutilating offenders in the name of justice probably makes victims less likely to be listened to.

Like, most of the people Catholic priests abuse, including in Louisiana, were themselves devout Catholics. If the church comes to you with hush money payments and can additionally say, "The Lord says to forgive. You wouldn't want Father Cortez to be mutilated would you? We can move him to a position where he'll never hurt anyone again," that's even more persuasive than it would be otherwise.

State Rep. Delisha Boyd said she was doing this in part because her mother was at age 15 the victim of statutory rape by a 28-year-old. Her mother was then dead by 30 from the stress of raising a child on her own that young.

But it might be worth thinking about whether her teenage mother would have wanted to castrate the 28-year-old man, or if that would make it even less likely for people like him to be punished.

Like @everentropy was saying, of course parents of white girls dating Black men, or queer couples, will be targeted disproportionately. But are parents going to be more interested in seeking criminal prosecutions against their own white family members if it means they're permanently castrated?

Rep. Boyd is Black, and presumably both of her parents were. But if the 28-year-old had been white, and her mother and mother's parents had sought prosecution, do we think that a jury in Louisiana would greatly desire to punish a white man "with his whole life ahead of him"? Or would they have yet another excuse to say, "You know, those girls mature more quickly, and it takes two to tango"? Etc.

The idea that if we just hurt the right people enough, we will be able to have order and security in society is a fascist one, but it's not just a fascist one. Rep. Boyd seems to just be a liberal Democrat.

But liberalism is bad enough when it's build on the idea that some people are fundamentally and of their substance "good" while others are fundamentally and of their substance "evil" and must be treated accordingly by the violence of the state.

Baton Rouge, Louisiana – Louisiana has become the first state in the United States to impose surgical castration as a criminal punishment. The new law, which came into effect on Thursday, allows the court to order surgical castration — the removal of a man’s testes or a woman’s ovaries — as punishment for adults convicted of first or second-degree aggravated rape in cases involving child victims under 13. Some states already impose chemical castration, a reversible procedure, as punishment. But only Louisiana mandates surgical castration. The measure comes amidst a spate of “tough-on-crime” legislation passed this year by Louisiana’s conservative supermajority and signed into law by Republican Governor Jeff Landry, who took office in January. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @vague-humanoid

[hellomynameisbisexual]

There are at least as many bi and pansexual people in the world as lesbians and gay men combined, at least according to surveys of western countries. But bisexuality is poorly understood - leaving bi and pansexual people feeling that their sexuality is invisible or invalid.

In Episode 1 of the new season of BANG!, people who are "attracted to more than one gender" share their experiences, and Dr Nikki Hayfield highlights some particularly damaging, often "biphobic", stereotypes.

To the outside world, Rose and Sam* look like any other straight couple. They're in their mid 20s, affectionate and obviously really into each other. The thing is, they're not straight.

Sam identifies as pansexual and Rose is bisexual. People define each of these sexualities in different ways, but for Sam pansexuality means that he's attracted to people irrespective of gender (as in, it's not important) and for Rose bisexuality means she's attracted to people "across the spectrum of genders".

For those shouting "but bi means two!", some people still use bisexuality to mean they're into just men and women, but others have broadened the definition as a response to the increase in trans identities and in resisting binary understandings of gender.

Both Sam and Rose came out in their early 20s, both had same-sex experiences and attractions in their teens and, initially, both put them down to teenaged "confusion" or "acting out".

As Sam tells me in this episode of BANG!, "Heterosexuality was expected of me and that's why it took quite a while to realise I wasn't that. It's why my parents still don't know [I'm pan]… I wouldn't be disowned or anything, but it would confirm that I'm the sort of black sheep, and that I'm less of a man in some way, and that doesn't feel good."

Rose grew up with an openly lesbian aunt; her family environment was welcoming of queerness. But she thought bisexuality meant 50 per cent attracted to men and 50 per cent attracted to women, and that the label didn't fit her because she's attracted to men more of the time.

That's until she turned 21 and stumbled across a Tumblr post.

"It said, 'you can be 70 per cent attracted to men, 30 per cent attracted to women' and I was like 'Oh! I think I could be not-straight then!'"

Soon after, Rose came out to her mum.

"When I told her… she was like 'Oh, I think I'm bi too!', I was like, 'What?! Why didn't you tell me! That would've really helped my coming out journey if you'd told me'," she laughs.

Rose's mum explained she had tried to come out as bi to some lesbian friends in the 1980s, but they told her she needed to "pick a side". This kind of discrimination from within queer circles makes bisexuals particularly vulnerable to social isolation, with many reporting that they feel "not straight enough" for straight circles and "not gay enough" for LGBTQ+ communities.

Rose and Sam are part of an open and supportive friend group, but even so - people close to them make incorrect assumptions about their sexualities because they are in a male/female relationship.

"We have had a friend who we know and love so much come up to us really drunk… and be like, 'You're just so straight! Look at you two!'... and I was like, 'No we're not!' It was sort of a funny situation but also… I don't think it's a funny joke to be like 'you're straight, haha!' Because you just don't know," she says.

Dr Nikki Hayfield is a senior lecturer at UWE Bristol, whose research explores bisexualities, pansexualities, asexualities, and LGBTQ+ sexualities generally. She's also bisexual herself.

"People do tend to take our relationships status as a signifier of our identity, and so it's much more difficult for bisexual people to be out about their sexuality, because their partner… doesn't indicate their sexuality in the way that it does for heterosexual people or for lesbians and gay men," she says.

"Bisexual people find that even if they've been explicitly out about their bisexuality, to say their friends and their family and their work colleagues, when they're in a relationship all of a sudden it's as if they didn't make that declaration of their bisexuality, and they find that people around them assume that they're 'gay now' or they're "straight now'."

Author and columnist Emily Writes was happily married to her husband when she came to terms with her attractions towards women. While her husband was incredibly supportive, coming out to some of her friends and family was trickier.

"A lot of people saw it as 'Are you getting a divorce then? Which I thought was really odd because that never crossed out minds… We have a really happy marriage and I don't see how that changes anything," says Emily.

As someone with a public profile, Emily copped the same social media flack as bisexual celebrities like Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus: That they are claiming queer sexualities as a marketing stunt. Another common biphobic trope.

"When I see somebody being like 'Oh now she's gay coz it's cool.' I just have this thing in my head where I'm like 'I've been gay! I've been gay! The whole time I was gay!' She says. "It's this thing around bisexuality or queerness, that people want you to perform it for them and if you don't then are you allowed to say that you're queer or bi?"

Here's why this stuff is so important:

- The Youth '12 survey, of 8,500 New Zealand secondary school students found young people who experience "both and same sex attraction" (gay, lesbian, bi and pansexual students were lumped together in this survey) are more likely to be bullied.

The majority of them had deliberately self-harmed. 18.3% had attempted suicide in the past year.

- Also - the proportion of them experiencing significant depressive symptoms has increased from 27 per cent in 2001 to 41.3 per cent in 2012. Opposite-sex attracted students had no significant change.

- Several overseas studies also suggest that bisexual people are at a higher risk for poor mental health outcomes than both straight and lesbian and gay people.

What can we do to help?

Sai, Charlie and Emma are students at Wellington High School who identify as pan and bisexual.

"Just normalise it. As much as you can," says Emma. "A lot of TV shows are having a lot of casual background queer characters and not making their queerness who they are… Let's hope it continues."

"I do think the term "it's just a phase' is so strange," Charlie says. "Because, if it is a phase why can't that person, like, live in that phase and be comfortable with that?"

"People are a lot more quick to shut it down the younger you are because they're like 'oh you don't know any better'," says Emma.

"It's just people with ideas about what things should be, having a go at people who don't fit their expectations, just like it happens with just your regular old homophobes," says Sai.

"I guess I just wish I had bi parents, then I'd know it was a thing. Or just bi people that are open and in my life,"

Rose, the bi woman in a relationship with pansexual Sam, has some good advice, too.

"Until I meet this new person coming into my friend's life, I'm not gonna presume what gender they're going to be, that's just putting my friend in a box... I kinda just assume everyone's bi unless they tell me otherwise."

* Rose and Sam are not their real names

[yahoo-shutdown-corner-blog]

2018 NFL Preview: The Bills ended that playoff drought, but they're still rebuilding

Yahoo Sports is previewing all 32 teams as we get ready for the NFL season, counting down the teams one per weekday in reverse order of our initial 2018 power rankings. No. 1 will be revealed on Aug. 1, the day before the Hall of Fame Game kicks off the preseason.

(Yahoo Sports graphics by Amber Matsumoto)

We want improvement to be linear. A rookie quarterback bursts on the scene with a great season, and we believe he’ll be an MVP candidate the next year. It often does not go that way.

And when a team breaks through and unexpectedly makes the playoffs, as the Buffalo Bills did for the first time since the 1999 season, we imagine the next step being forward, not back.

The Bills are realistic. Breaking the longest playoff drought in the NFL was a great accomplishment in the 2017 campaign, but building a winner is a long process. The Bills went from seven wins in 2016 to nine last season. That doesn’t mean an 11-win season is next.

“We had nine wins this year, [and] we’re trying to get more, but it doesn’t always happen for various reasons,” Bills general manager Brandon Beane said, according to the team’s transcripts. “It’s a competitive league.”

[Yahoo Fantasy Football leagues are open: Sign up now for free]

The Bills were a weak playoff team. They were outscored by 57 points, the fifth-worst point differential for a playoff team in NFL history. They ranked 21st among 32 NFL teams in Football Outsiders’ DVOA per-play metric, and 20th in Jeff Sagarin’s analytics rankings for USA Today. The Bills were outgained by minus-0.6 yards per play, one of the worst marks in football, significantly behind the 0-16 Cleveland Browns’ mark of minus-0.2. The Bills benefitted from a 5-2 record in games decided by seven points or less, a plus-9 turnover margin and a light schedule. Oh, and a miracle Andy Dalton-to-Tyler Boyd touchdown that was a highlight for the ages.

The Bills didn’t proceed like they had arrived. In fact, the roster got turned over a little more.

The Bills traded quarterback Tyrod Taylor, who the new regime seemed eager to dump from Day 1. In came free agent AJ McCarron as the temporary starter. A couple major trades put them in position to draft Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen, a risk that will define the Sean McDermott era.

The offensive line was decimated. Tackle Cordy Glenn was traded, center Eric Wood retired and Pro Bowl guard Richie Incognito retired, un-retired, and then was cut loose before a weird public meltdown. That’s a lot to lose from one unit.

The skill positions are still surprisingly thin — if LeSean McCoy misses any time, it’ll be ugly — and the defense is good but not great. If you looked at the depth chart, you wouldn’t guess this was a playoff team last season.

Like many clubs near the bottom of these rankings, the quarterback question looms over everything. Buffalo is smitten with Allen, one of the most divisive prospects in recent draft history — either you love his otherworldly physical talent or you don’t see how he can succeed in the NFL after being average in the Mountain West Conference. And he wasn’t cheap: The Bills traded Glenn to move up nine spots and then sent that pick, their second-round selection and another second-round pick acquired in last year’s Sammy Watkins trade to move up to No. 7 for Allen.

“You’ve got to have a franchise quarterback,” Beane said before the draft. “That’s one of the main jobs of a GM is to find a franchise quarterback, it’s a quarterback league, I’ll say it every single time. You have to have one.”

The hope in Buffalo is that Allen’s amazing physical gifts lead to NFL success. If you built a quarterback on “Madden,” you’d build Allen. But he needs a ton of work. In a perfect world he’d sit and develop for a year, but that seems unlikely when McCarron is the only quarterback ahead of him. Allen is the biggest piece of the Bills’ rebuilding project.

And make no mistake: Even with last season’s success, it’s still a rebuild.

Buffalo Bills first-round pick Josh Allen poses with his jersey after the draft. (AP)

The grade mostly depends on your opinion of Josh Allen, and there are extreme views on both sides. I don’t love the price Buffalo paid for him or the situation he finds himself in, which we’ll talk about in a moment. I did love the Tremaine Edmunds pick, the second of Buffalo’s two first-round selections. The incredibly athletic Virginia Tech linebacker has a chance to transform the Bills’ defense, and perhaps do that soon. Star Lotulelei was the big-ticket free-agent addition, and he fills a role as a big and active defensive tackle. Pass rusher Trent Murphy, signed from the Washington Redskins, could pay off. I’m not an AJ McCarron fan, but the Bills didn’t pay much for him. The losses on the offensive line will be tough to overcome. The offseason moves were fine, though there’s a better chance Allen is a bust than a superstar.

GRADE: C-

While Sean McDermott’s first season also included the impossibly bad Nathan Peterman-for-Tyrod Taylor switch, you can’t argue with the overall results. Before last season people wondered if the Bills might be tanking, and McDermott took them to the playoffs. McDermott maximized his roster. We’ll see if that carries over, but it’s a nice start for the new coach.

The Bills rely heavily on LeSean McCoy. They need to because who else is there? Kelvin Benjamin doesn’t get enough separation to be a legit No. 1 receiver, Zay Jones was a disappointment as a rookie and presumed third receiver Jeremy Kerley doesn’t scare anyone. Tight end Charles Clay is fine, but he can’t carry an offense. If McCoy goes down the backup is Chris Ivory, who is 30 and fading fast. Buffalo’s quarterbacks are unproven at best, and the offensive line lost its three best players. Aside from McCoy, there likely won’t be one above-average starter on offense. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the Bills finish near the bottom of the league in many offensive categories.

Even if you didn’t like Josh Allen, who couldn’t even make first- or second-team all-Mountain West last season, you probably agreed that his best scenario for him was to sit and learn, then be surrounded by a good supporting cast when the time was right. Buffalo doesn’t check either of those boxes. AJ McCarron could hold the starting job all year, but pressure will be intense to put Allen in the lineup. And if Allen starts at some point this season – it’s a great bet he will, and we probably can’t rule out Allen for Week 1 – he’ll be surrounded by an offensive supporting cast that is as thin as you’ll find in the NFL. Allen is an intriguing prospect. He’s big, athletic and has amazing arm strength. But there has to be a fear that all of his deficiencies will be magnified in a less-than-ideal situation.

It’s LeSean McCoy in a landslide. Recall the rundown of offensive skill position talent above. Now imagine that offense without McCoy. He is still a great player, but he turns 30 this season and has a lot of mileage on his tires. And the Bills can’t decrease his workload. McCoy’s 59 receptions were 10 more than any other Bills player last season. He had 287 carries last year, 203 more than any teammate. One of these years McCoy is going to start hitting the wall, and the Bills aren’t prepared for that day. The Bills have some very good players on defense, like Tre’Davious White, Micah Hyde, Jerry Hughes, Lorenzo Alexander and even Vontae Davis, a reclamation signing, at cornerback. But McCoy is all the Bills have on offense.

From Yahoo’s Andy Behrens: Writing a Buffalo fantasy blurb just feels wrong. That fact that we’re presenting any level of fantasy spin on this flaming mess of an offense is, frankly, irresponsible. This team has conveniently paired the league’s worst receiving corps with a dreadful collection of young QBs. It’s an offense to avoid. Here’s hoping LeSean McCoy can escape from Buffalo while he’s still a productive, dynamic runner. Shady’s yards per carry dipped last season (from 5.4 to 4.0), but that wasn’t entirely on him. McCoy finished third among all backs in evaded tackles (97), which tells you there’s still life in his soon-to-be 30-year-old legs.

Unfortunately, it looks as if McCoy will be the featured runner for a team that averages 14-16 points per game. Guys like that don’t generally deliver RB1-level stats.

[Juggernaut Index: Fantasy outlook on the Bills.]

[Yahoo Fantasy Football leagues are open: Sign up now for free]

The Bills were the only team in the NFL last season that didn’t have one player record more than four sacks. Jerry Hughes and Shaq Lawson tied for the team lead with four each. The Bills need a lot more from them (or someone) this season, especially 2016 first-round pick Lawson, who has been a disappointment. There have been reports his roster spot could be in jeopardy. Rookie Tremaine Edmunds was seen as a possible situational pass rusher before the draft, but the Bills have him at middle linebacker. If the Bills’ pass rush improves, it’s probably because Hughes bounced back or Lawson emerged.

CAN ZAY JONES BE THE PLAYMAKER THE OFFENSE NEEDS?

I’m hesitant to bury any second-year player, especially one that set an FBS record for career catches. But Jones showed nothing last season, then he had a terrible offseason. The low point was a bizarre incident in which he was bloody, walking around a Los Angeles-area apartment building naked and had to reportedly be restrained from jumping out a window. Then, in May, Jones had knee surgery that knocked him out of the rest of the Bills’ offseason program. He also had shoulder surgery in January. Jones had just 316 yards last season. Buffalo needs him to take a huge step in Year 2, but that doesn’t look like a great bet.

Nobody saw a playoff berth coming last season, so maybe it’s best to not rule that out. The defense was good at creating turnovers, and McCoy is a do-it-all offensive star. It’s hard to imagine AJ McCarron or Josh Allen being a top-10 quarterback this season, but both have their positive attributes. Many of the players who took Buffalo to the postseason are back, and another playoff berth has to be possible.

I don’t want to rain on the Bills’ parade, but the worst-case scenario is really bad. The quarterback situation is not set up for success this season, and Josh Allen probably will play before he’s ready. If LeSean McCoy isn’t a superhero again, who else makes plays? If McCoy misses time, it might be one of the worst skill-position groups we’ve seen in a while. The offensive line is one of the worst in the league. The Bills don’t rush the passer well. I like the secondary, but creating turnovers isn’t necessarily a repeatable skill. It would stink for Bills fans to see their team follow up a playoff berth with a huge step back, but a huge step back could happen.

Maybe I’m not seeing the positives with this roster, the same that earned the Bills a wild-card spot. But I can see how it can all go sour. I envision a punch-less offense being led by Josh Allen before Thanksgiving (or much sooner), and him struggling because he’s not ready. The defense is solid but not good enough to overcome an offense that’s a LeSean McCoy injury away from Kelvin Benjamin being its best player. With a few bad breaks, the Bills could end up in play for a top-five pick. That might not be the worst thing in the long term. This is still a team that’s in the middle of a long build.

32. Cleveland Browns 31. Indianapolis Colts 30. New York Jets 29. Arizona Cardinals

– – – – – – –

Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab

[violetdisasterzone]

ooh good question! I don't believe there's an explicit answer as to when in PIDW's canon/post-canon that extra happens, or what age Bing-ge is during any PIDW event, but we do have some relevant info that could answer some things.

Bing-mei and Bing-ge are identical (Shen Qingqiu is still a dumbass though don't worry). When Bing-ge first appears, Shen Qingqiu is shocked at the fact that he's injured and doesn't pay attention to his face

But Shen Qingqiu failed to notice [Bing-ge's change in expression]. All he could see at that moment was the fresh blood drenching Luo Binghe's face and body. vol. 4, ch. 22, pg. 13

At one point Shen Qingqiu also thinks this, but it's more in reference to Bing-mei's scars than his overall appearance

In the end, he and Luo Binghe were too unfamiliar with each other's bodies. That was why it had taken him so long to figure out what was wrong here. vol. 4, ch 22, pg. 35

Then there's the fact that Ning Yingying, Ming Fan, and Liu Qingge also all saw Luo Binghe and didn't notice anything amiss.

And then of course, there's also the fact that we are literally told they're identical

Within the Bamboo House were two identical people with the same exact face. Other than one being dressed in white, the other in black, there was not a single discernable difference between them vol. 4, ch. 22, pg. 34

A look of disbelief flashed over that impossibly familiar face, and in that instant, Shen Qingqiu actually found it all somewhat unbearable. vol. 4, ch. 22, pg 46 (this page and the next are soo sweet they make me want to cry ugh)

In terms of age, at this point, Bing-mei would be about 25 years old. 14 at the start of svsss > 17 at the Immortal Alliance Conference > 20 at Jin Lan City > ~25 when Shen Qingqiu comes back to life. And then this extra is immediately (almost exactly 2 weeks, according to the first two pages of the extra) post-canon.

Bing-ge's age is a bit less clear though. In PIDW, he also goes into the Endless Abyss at 17, but after he finds Xin Mo and breaks his own seal with it, "he single-mindedly cultivated and enlightened himself to otherworldly techniques before heading back to Cang Qiong Mountain Sect" (vol. 1, ch. 1, pg. 11-12) after a total of 5 years in the Abyss, making him 22. It was at this point that he presumably captured Shen Jiu. We know Shen Jiu was then tortured horribly and eventually died of his wounds. Though I can't find out exactly when he actually passed away, if that's specified anywhere, presumably it was before the conclusion of PIDW. So that gives us some relative understanding of this extra based on a couple things:

First, during the punishment protocol after the Zhao Hua Monastery drama, the scene is a destroyed Qing Jing Peak, so we could assume that Bing-ge has already destroyed Cang Qiong, which happened after Yue Qingyuan died (see qijiu extra, vol. 4 ch. 24). And if I had to guess, I'd say that happened no more than a decade after Shen Jiu's initial capture, so Bing-ge would be around early-mid 30s (already older than Bing-mei). Second, in that scene Bing-ge is surprised to see Shen Qingqiu in the dream realm, not surprised that he's alive (vol. 3, ch. 18), so Shen Jiu hadn't died of his wounds at that point yet. Again, the main problem here is that, to my knowledge, the actual amount of time between all of these events is not specified. But it's still relevant because of this quote from the showdown extra:

The original's expression suddenly gentled as he looked at Shen Qingqiu. "Shizun, do you blame me for making things too painful last time?" Luo Binghe went wide-eyed. "Shizun, you've met him before?" If an encounter in the System counted as a meeting, then that was a yes. vol. 4, ch. 22, pg. 42

So, we know sort-of where this occurred in relation to some PIDW events. It's possible, of course, that a significant amount of time had passed between their first interaction during the punishment protocol and this extra, and it was just such a memorable experience that Bing-ge had been thinking about it the whole time or watched it happen when he was sifting through Shen Qingqiu's memories while he slept. But, unless I'm missing or forgot something, there's really no way to know for sure.

As for both Binghes being immortal: we know that Heavenly Demons are resistant to poison, illness, injury, and are nearly impossible to kill. Exhibit A: Tianlang-Jun being "sealed beneath a great mountain, trapped for all eternity" (vol. 1, ch. 1, pg. 11). That being said, we know that Airplane-bro didn't actually have a good understanding of cultivation novels and the correct stages and traits of cultivators and "immortals." From what I understand, immortality for cultivators is more like a conscious, continuous effort of cultivating and keeping yourself young, which brings the ability to live wayyy longer than regular civilians, but not necessarily actual immortality outside of ascension. It wouldn't be a stretch to apply those same ideas to Heavenly Demons. And there's also the Holy Mausoleum, which houses the bodies of deceased Saintly Rulers, so some of them had to have died at some point. But I do think it's likely that Binghe will look around the same age for a long long time.

op I am so sorry I dumped this all on your joke post 😭 if you read all this I hope it answered you lmao

hang on everyone. In the extras, is bing-ge:

about the same age as bing-mei hence why sqq couldnt tell them apart

older than bing-mei but immortality so its not visibly apparent

older than bing-mei and it is visible, sqq is just a dumbass