#smart researcher

[honeydudedraws]

I'm back on my bull shit BABEY!! THE COOKIES!!!

[fearless-seagull]

Pushing my ART is a giant scary spider agenda

[reality-detective]

Remember this if it happens to you or you may be in a position to help someone else 🤔

[undertheredhood]

AU where jason todd goes back to school and gets a phd because while he was describing his multi-step plan to take over gotham and use bruce to kill the joker to talia she just said “oh, so you want to become a useless dropout just like your brother and father? talk about setting a bad example for damian.” which offended jason so much that he immediately re-enrolled to finish high school.

[alkalamity]

Hear me out. Ratiorine AU where Aventurine is a mer captured by a group of researchers and Ratio is the scientist brought on board to teach him how to speak and access his intelligence levels.

[fuck-hamas-go-israel]

Ethnic cleansing? Genocide? Apartheid?

Throwing around these buzzwords to describe the Israel-Hamas war because you’ve seen them on social media doesn’t make you right, and it doesn’t make you an activist.

It makes you ignorant, intellectually dishonest, and lazy for parroting biased talking points with no concept about what these terms actually mean.

What is apartheid?

Well, it was first used to describe the political system in South Africa and today’s Namibia whereby racism was institutionalised. This manner of governance meant that clear racial segregation would occur, in a manner that benefited the white race and would actively oppress those who had darker skin.

This meant that there were white-only spaces, white people would get prioritised when it came to education and jobs, and relationships/marriages between white peoples and coloured people were illegal.

Is Israel objectively an apartheid state? There are no laws that actively favour one group over the other. There is a sizeable population of Israeli Arabs that can thrive in the same way as the Israeli Jews can. There are laws against discrimination on the basis of gender, race/ethnicity, and sexual orientation.

Palestinians from Gaza are allowed to work in Israel through a work permit system. There are about 150,000 Palestinians working in Israel, most of which live in Israel and some come from Gaza/the West Bank. They aren’t denied rights institutionally.

Is it harder to get a job or education in Israel if you’re a Palestinian from Gaza? Sure, because of different governments. It’s like how it’s a lot easier for you to find a job in your own country (in terms of paperwork and bureaucracy) than overseas. But you’re not denied the right to apply.

Of course, if you have a history of violence, a criminal record, or your family has ties to terrorists, then it’ll be a lot harder to get an approved work permit. But that’s not apartheid. That’s common sense, and a regulation practiced by all countries that minimally desire to protect their own population from danger.

Ethnic cleansing and genocide

These two concepts can go hand-in-hand. Ethnic cleansing refers to the mass expulsion or killing of a group of people based on their ethnicity. Similarly, genocide is the purposeful killing of a group of people solely with the intention of annihilating them.

Famous examples? The Holocaust, of course, where the Nazi regime believed in the superiority of the Aryan race and decided to declare genocide on the Jews, Romanis, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, people with “Asian features”, and many many other groups. Anyone who they didn’t think was “pure”.

Their aim was to ensure that the Aryan race propagated without having “impure” blood affecting the bloodlines. They even started a eugenics programme called Lebensborn to ensure that more pure Aryan babies were born.

More recent examples? The Rwandan genocide where the Hutus attempted to wipe out the Tutsis on the basis of ethnicity. They mandated that Tutsis mention their ethnicity on state-issued ID cards in order for the Hutus in power to be able to identify them and then kill them.

Or the Yazidi genocide which happened so recently, in which ISIL killed, raped, and sent thousands of Yazidis into conversion camps on the basis of their ethnicity. They also took Yazidi women as sex slaves and raped and tortured them.

Or the Rohingya Muslims in the Rakhine State in Myanmar, and how there was a mass killing and expulsion of them from the country, forcing them to flee to Bangladesh to take refuge, crating the world’s largest refugee camp.

Or how ISIS killed thousands of people from Christian groups in Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and Libya because of their faith, leading the US, EU, and UK to label this as religious genocide and condemned their actions.

Has Israel been practicing ethnic cleansing and genocide on Palestinians all these years?

Well, the birth rate of the Palestinian population in Gaza, the West Bank, and in Israel has been steadily increasing all these years.

So, no. No ethnic cleansing, no genocide. They are free to have as many children as they desire.

The UN Genocide Convention

The United Nations has 5 actions that constitute genocide.

1. Killing members of a target group

Israel is targeting Hamas officials with the aim of wiping out the terrorist group and ensuring that such a deadly attack on Israeli soil doesn’t happen again. I suppose you could call it genocide against Hamas, but they’re killing Hamas because they’re terrorists, not because they’re Palestinian. Shouldn’t everyone believe in genocide against terrorists?

But look at Black Saturday. Look at Hamas’ rhetoric. They repeatedly call for the annihilation of Israel and genocide of Jews. When will the media start believing what they say, word for word, instead of trying to spin it into “hmm maybe they want to kill all the Jews because they’re freedom fighters!”

War has collateral damage. Of course the innocent civilians don’t deserve to suffer just because of the actions of their government, but there have been warnings given to the Palestinian civilians prior to Israel striking the areas. There are consequences of attacking a country first, and then having that country attack you back.

2. Causing people of the group serious bodily or mental harm

The UN refers to sexual violence as the prime example of non-fatal harm.

Sexual violence has occurred. Hamas have kidnapped and raped women and even paraded the bodies of half-naked women around. But I f Israel had done the same, it’ll be the first thing appearing on everyone’s BBC push notifications (without even being confirmed as true).

3. Imposing living conditions intended to destroy the group

Many people refer to the blockade that Israel imposed around the Gaza Strip as an example of this.

This blockade was imposed by both Israel and Egypt in 2005. Its aim was to prevent smuggling of weapons into Gaza, and isolate the reign of Hamas to the region. This was to ensure the safety of Israel and Egypt.

Did this blockade pose serious challenges to the Gazan civilians? Of course. But that’s a consequence of having a terrorist government. If you have a terrorist group running your country, don’t be surprised if neighbouring countries are extra careful about who or what they allow in or out of the borders.

Many authorities from other Arab nations have also expressed approval of Egypt’s border restrictions, and even encouraged Egypt to flood the terror tunnels that Hamas has dug under the city. As a side note, other Arab nations have not historically been very kind or welcoming to Palestinians. Syria has killed over 4000 Palestinians, and many Arab countries are now refusing any refuge for Palestinians. But no one cares about that because it doesn’t make Israel look bad. All they do now is use the images of dead Palestinians under the hands of Syria and reuse them to propagate fake news.

The blockade has been labelled as a human rights violation because of collective punishment. Many humanitarian organisations believe that the blockade has caused the Palestinian civilians disproportionate harm.

Contrary to popular belief, Israel isn’t disallowing humanitarian aid from coming through the borders. Fuel, food, hygiene products, clothes, and shoes have been coming through the borders regularly for years. The Gaza Strip also has electricity and internet access and water.

Do all these items reach the Palestinian civilians? Well, there has been evidence that Hamas has been intercepting a lot of the supplies sent by humanitarian groups. This is not surprising since the UNRWA tweeted that Hamas has stole fuel from hospitals in Gaza in order to launch more rockets at Israel (but quickly deleted it after realising that it goes against their agenda to paint Hamas in a bad light.) In addition, the returned hostages have mentioned that there are many aid supplies hidden in the terror tunnels by Hamas. Instead of giving them to the civilians, they are hoarding it for themselves.

There has also been video evidence that some people are reselling these aid items in stores at exorbitant prices in order to turn profits. This has been well-documented for the last 10 years.

Is blockading the region to mitigate terrorism a disproportionate response? Well, it’s like asking if heightened security and stricter border control at airports is a disproportionate response after 9/11. Is being cautious and worrying about the security of your country an irrational reaction to the constant threat of terrorism?

4. Preventing births

Gaza’s population growth rate per annum is about 1.99%, which is the 39th highest in the world! Their population is allowed to propagate freely.

Israel isn’t preventing births of Palestinian babies.

5. Forcibly transferring children out of the group

No, Israel hasn’t been taking Palestinian children and forcing them to convert/keeping young Palestinian girls as sex slaves. Like I said, if this was truly happening, all the news outlets would be so quick to publish the story before verifying it.

Can we trust the UN Genocide standards?

The UN is known for corruption and have been exploiting the Palestinian people by selling them the humanitarian supplies instead of distributing them for free, which they should because these supplies literally are donations.

The UN also has differing standards of what they would label as genocide. For example, they refuse to call what China is doing to the Uyghurs in Xinjiang as genocide, even though the situation does fit many of their own criteria.

Hence, to all of you out there overusing these terms without knowing what they mean, make up your own mind about things. No one can force you to believe anything and no one can force you to change your mind.

But at the very least, do your due diligence and educate yourself before spouting tired buzzwords. Repeating misinformation doesn’t help anyone and can be very harmful.

[ninjautizm]

@chaellooo that's actually funny cause I drew something like this a few days ago! 😭

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

how much would it change things if Visser 3 was loved by yeerks and not just feared?

Oh lord. Humanity would lose.

Someone would persuade V3 maybe in #1, definitely in #4, to look into human morphers. From there they'd probably find Cassie first — she's one of very few suburbanites who can easily touch a red-tailed hawk — and then it's bye-bye Animorphs.

V3 would either get carte blanche to take humanity his way, or use his loyal followers to go rogue. Ax mentions in #46 that the yeerks could blow up Earth if they chose. So. Maybe V3 demands the world governments give him 10,000 bodies apiece in exchange for not blowing up Earth (and lbr the U.S. would). Maybe he just lands Pool ships near football stadiums and grabs their contents before blowing up the planet. Either way, the Yeerk Empire gets the roughly 1 million bodies it needs and then annihilates the other 99.9% of humanity.

[constantly-deactivated]

The NEW "smart meters" not only spy on people, but also making them sick, causing cancer and who knows what else. And can't opt out of it. 🤔

[slymanner]

this was smart <'3

[bayetea]

I'm a strong "percy would get a job in education/outreach to underprivileged kids in the future" truther but I don't necessarily agree with people who say that him taking on marine biology as a college major doesn't make sense at all

"why would he study marine biology he can already work with sea animals to his heart's desire" I don't know maybe because he wants to get paid???????? he wants a normal job???? percy grew up poor and unsafe. why is it weird that he craves stability with a career that enables him to do something that he loves? or maybe he wants to go into the system and help bring about lasting reform that will actually improve care for sea creatures??? yes he can save sea animals on his own time but think about it. is it better to abandon his life in the middle of the night to go help a trapped sea creature Every Single Time it happens or is it better to enter the system and make it so that capitalists stop polluting water or disturbing sea ecosystems for profit. his powers as a son of poseidon are a band-aid not a lasting solution to systemic environmental neglect and decay. he has an established precedent of caring for bringing about systemic change (see: turning down immortality) and for me this is no different (I just personally headcanon him wanting to bring change for disadvantaged kids but whatever)

to me this logic is like telling an exceptional artist that there's no point in going to art school to become a professional when they can already just do art on their own time for fun. like yeah....... if you're content with doing that as just a hobby. but what if you want to become an even better artist and learn new skills. what if you want to do it as a job that pays you and gives you health insurance and social security. then what

for me the main logistical issue of him majoring in marine biology has never been that he would never do that it's that the intersection of new rome college accreditation to the Actual Real world isn't all that clear/logistically sound. like I guess the mist can handle anything but what impact is new rome going to be able to have on the realm of mortals. this would be a nice thing to discuss actually (more in tags)

[figdays]

Hey guys! 

This isn’t my usual post but my friend is doing her honours and would greatly appreciate some volunteers!

Looking for volunteers to participate in a geology game experience for honours research! Participation just requires playing a short browser game and a survey. If you are interested, please go to:   https://tinyurl.com/qutgeogame

Only condition is to please play on a laptop or PC - touchscreen is not supported

[reality-detective]

Your Smart tv IS watching you watch it 🤔

[neversacrificesleep]

[b0nelessdoodles]

espresso needing to weigh the moral pros and cons of the research he wants to conduct and shadow milk is just floating there like DO IT

(he's gonna do it 'cause that stupid blonde jock likes him a whole lot for reasons he cannot understand)

[otomehonyaku]

DIABOLIK LOVERS Chaos Lineage ☽ Ebten WonderGOO Tokuten Drama CD ☽ The Vampire’s Everyday: Board Game Edition (Ruki, Azusa, Kino)

Original title: DIABOLIK LOVERS CHAOS LINEAGE ebten・WonderGOO特典ドラマCD「ヴァンパイア達の日常ボードゲーム編 ─ルキVSアズサVSキノ─ 」 Voiced by Sakurai Takahiro (Ruki), Kishio Daisuke (Azusa), Maeno Tomoaki (Kino) English translation by @otomehonyaku Click here for the audio (thank you to @karleksmumskladdkaka for providing the audio!)

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Please do not reuse or repost my translations elsewhere or translate my work into other languages without my permission.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Bet you didn't think we'd get to work on these so quickly! I want to give a HUGE thank you to @karleksmumskladdkaka for acquiring all of these rare CDs and sharing the audio with me for translation (づ>/////<)づ♡ This tokuten was hilarious and the bits where Ruki is trying to catch the Golden Bunny is just... his tactics might not have worked on the bunny (my own pet bunny would be equally unfazed) but I would've jumped straight into his arms. As always, enjoy listening and reading along! (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

[The scene starts with Kino aggressively tapping on his smartphone as he’s playing a game.]

00:00 Kino: And… I’ve cleared it! Ah, I’ve gotten tired of this game too… I should look for a new one to play.

[Kino searches the app store.]

K: Hm? What’s this? Huh? An app based on a board game? I’m not really into board games, but it’s been newly released, so I should download it just to check it out. Alright! It’s finished downloading. I’m gonna start it right away.

[Kino boots up the game.]

K: Oh! What an interesting opening to the game.

[The world starts swirling around Kino.]

K: Huh? What’s happening?! Why did such a strong wind start blowing all of a sudden? My body is being pulled into my smartphone by an incredibly powerful force. Ah… I can’t hold on… Ah!

[Kino disappears into his smartphone.] 01:13 [The scene shifts to Ruki reading in his room in the Mukami mansion.]

Ruki: Ah… 

[There’s a knock on the door.]

R: Azusa? What’s up?

Azusa: How did you know… it was me?

R: Because Kou and Yuma are both out today. You’re the only one here.

A: Ah… I see. Hey, Ruki. I’m sorry for… interrupting your reading, but…

R: What’s wrong? Is that a smartphone in your hand?

A: Yeah, it is… Kou told me to check out a smartphone game earlier… This game… was released recently… I thought we could play it, but… I don’t know… how to start the app…

R: I see. So that’s what you came to ask.

A: Yeah. Kou isn’t here either, so… Do you… know how to do it, Ruki?

R: Of course. I know that much. Give me the smartphone. So you just want me to download the game that’s on the screen right now?

A: Yeah, I think so…

[Ruki downloads the game.]

R: Hm. This should do it. It downloaded successfully. Now you just have to tap this button to start the game.

A: I got it. So I should tap here… right? Like this…

[Azusa boots up the app and the world starts swirling around him.]

A: Huh? What’s with… this strong wind? Is this… part of the game? Ah… 

R: No, that can’t be it… What’s going on? It’s like I’m being sucked into the smartphone…!

A: It’s happening to me too… Ah!

[Azusa disappears into the smartphone.]

R: Hey, Azusa…! …Shit!

[Ruki disappears along with him.]

03:55 K: Ugh… Ow… That really caught me off-guard. Hey… How long was I out? And where am I? It’s so dark that I can barely see what’s around me. Huh? There’s someone else on the ground, though. There’s two of them… Mukami Ruki and Azusa? Why are they here too?

[Kino tries to shake the Mukami brothers awake.]

K: Come on, wake up, you two. Hey, I’m telling you to wake up, damn it!

[Ruki stirs to life.]

R: Ugh…

K: Damn, you’re slow. Are you finally awake? And how about your brother?

R: Hey, Azusa. Wake up. Open your eyes.

[Azusa stirs to life as well.]

A: Ugh… Where are we? And why is… Kino here?

[Azusa sits up.]

R: Hey, Kino. Where are we?

And why are we here?

K: I don’t know either. When I woke up, I just kinda found myself here.

A: Earlier, we were… trying to play a game, though… What were you doing… before you got here, Kino…?

K: Me? I was just trying to play a game, but I was suddenly sucked into my smartphone. Before I knew it, I found myself in this strange place.

A: I see… So we were doing the exact same thing… The game you were trying to play… was it a… ‘game-of-life’ kind of game?

K: Oh, yes, that was it! You had to spin a roulette wheel. It was kinda like sugoroku (1).

R: I see… So that means that new game is likely the cause of all this. Besides, I’ve been wondering about that thing over there. Look.

A: Oh…? A gigantic… roulette wheel?

[Kino walks over to the roulette wheel.]

K: Oh! Look, look! If you look closely, there are squares (2) on the ground. 

R: Judging from those square spaces, we really do seem to be inside that game. I don’t know what caused all of this, exactly, but that seems to be the most likely explanation. Anyway, let’s stay put until we know more.

07:10 [Kino is already spinning the roulette wheel.]

K: Huh? D’ya say something?

R: Hey…! Why did you spin that wheel?

K: Why? Because I felt like it, of course.

R: I just told you to stay put!

K: Oh, it’s alright! You’ll overexert yourself if you get pissed off at me for such small things.

R: If that’s what you think, aren’t you better off not doing those things? Don’t put this on me!

A: You two… now’s not the time to fight…

[A countdown signal goes off.]

K: What’s that sound?

A: It sounds like… something has started.

R: Be careful. It sounds like something’s coming towards us.

[A very large spider comes towards the boys.]

K: Ah! What’s up with that giant spider?! It’s gross!

A: It’s huge…

R: Damn… We’ve been hauled into this unknown place and now we’re being attacked by a gigantic spider? These are some strange things happening… Kino. This is your fault. You take down the spider.

K: What? Why me? Get off your high horse and stop ordering me around. I’m not your little brother.

R: We’re in this situation because you were careless enough to spin that roulette wheel. This is your responsibility, so you should do something about it…

[Ruki and Kino’s bickering fades to the background as Azusa tries to appeal to the spider.]

A: Those two…

[The spider roars.]

R: [In the background] So, that means that you’re under my watch now.

A: [To the spider] I’m sorry… They ended up ignoring you.

K: [In the background] Ha, I get it! You’re just a little weakling, then! That’s why you always order people around!

A: [To the spider] They just kind of… started bickering, and… 

R: [In the background] Heh! 

[The spider roars again.]

A: What should I do…? What can I even do…?

[Azusa walks around.]

A: Ah! 

09:00R: Speak for yourself! You’re looking for excuses because you’re actually not confident that you can defeat that spider!

K: What? D’you think you can just make fun of me?

[The spider roars again.]

K: [To the spider] Hey, shut the fuck up! Take this!

[Kino attacks the spider.]

R: You should stay quiet while people are talking. Good grief, you have no manners.

[Ruki attacks the spider, killing it. Ruki walks over to it.]

R: Finally, you’ve gone quiet.

A: Ah… so you’ve defeated the spider.

R: Yeah, well, this clearly isn’t a place for leisuring. We should look around for clues so we can get out of here as fast as possible.

A: Ah, about that… Look at this. The spot that the roulette wheel landed on… it reads… “a large volume of spiders will show up,” “dispose of them rather than complaining”...

K: A large volume of spiders? So that’s what that spider was just now?

R: I see. So in this realm, whatever is written on the spaces will become reality.

K: Wow, that’s cool! So that means we’re playing a sort of sensory experience game here?

A: What’s written on the spaces… will actually materialise… But this space… doesn’t say anything about one gigantic spider… But we haven’t seen more spiders, either…

K: Aren’t they just talking about bugs? It’s a common occurrence in newly released games. And we’re inside the game right now, so that could explain it.

R: I see. Whatever the case, we should not stick around much longer. We’re getting out of here. Now.

11:05 A: But… how?

R: I have an idea.

K: Well, it doesn’t take a genius to come up with an escape plan. If we’re inside a game, we’ll just have to end the game, won’t we?

A: So, that means…

K: Yep, we just have to clear the game.

R: However, whatever is written on the square spaces seems to actually occur inside this game. Clearing it is not going to be easy.

A: Ah… actually, when you two were fighting earlier… I found something. Look. Come over here.

[Azusa leads them to a different spot.]

A: Look at this space. 

K: Huh? What’s this?

R: It says “Find the Golden Bunny for good luck. You may proceed to the goal immediately.”

K: Well, then, we can clear the game if we find that Golden Bunny, right?

R: I suppose so. Well done, Azusa.

A: Yeah.

R: However, I don’t think we’ll be able to find that bunny so easily…

[Lo and behold, a bunny hops by.]

K: Huh? Was that…?

R: The Golden… Bunny.

[The Golden Bunny happily hops away.]

K: Oh! Stop standing around. Let’s catch it! Come on, you two!

A: Ah… alright.

R: Kino, let’s work together. I’ll lend you a hand this time so we can get out of here.

K: Heh, get off your high horse. But, well, alright. I’ll join forces with you to escape this place. Don’t stand in my way, though.

A: Yes! Let’s all work together, then.

R: Great. We’re going after that bunny!

[The three run after the bunny.]

13:15 A: Haa… haa… Yes! We’ve caught up with it! Hehe. [To the bunny] Hey… you look… pretty tasty. Come on… don’t be scared. I’ll do you a favour… and catch you!

[Azusa tries to catch the bunny but it gets away and Azusa falls.]

A: Oh. Ow…

K: Jeez, don’t just try to grab it like that! Cornering it will only scare it away. You’ll never catch the bunny that way!

A: Sorry… Ah, Ruki… It’s coming your way!

[The bunny hops over to Ruki. Ruki and the bunny have a staredown.]

R: Well. Hey, you! Bunny. Come here. I’ll be nice to you. Now, jump into my arms! 

[The bunny—unlike the translator—is unfazed by Ruki’s tactics and it runs off.]

R: That’s strange… Why didn’t it jump into my arms?

K: What?! Did you seriously expect that to work? Oh, the two of you are completely useless.

R: Hey, Kino! It’s heading your way! Don’t waste this chance. Catch it!

K: What? It’s easy for you to order me around! Did you forget your own failure so easily? This pisses me off. I might be stubborn, but I’m going to fucking catch you!

[The bunny hops by Kino.]

K: Take this!

[Kino throws himself on top of the bunny. Ruki and Azusa run over to him.]

A: Kino!

R: Kino! Hey, did you catch it?

[Kino holds up the bunny.]

K: I did it… I caught it! I did it!

A: What a relief… Now we’ll be able to go home… We were able to catch it… because we all worked together.

R: Yeah, we did. It’s not so bad to help each other out.

K: Whoa, now. It’s thanks to my efforts that we’ve got the bunny. The two of you didn’t even do anything. Stop that sappy talk.

15:18A: This bunny… is pretty docile… and fluffy… 

K: It really is. It’s pretty cute with its little twitching nose.

A: Yeah… how cute. Hey, Ruki. Can’t we keep a bunny at home?

R: That’s not a good idea. I’d be the one constantly looking after it in the end.

A: It’s okay. I’ll take good care of it. So… please, Ruki?

K: Do you two always have such dull conversations? A Golden Bunny, though… They’re pretty rare. It would be nice if there were more of them.

[Something starts rumbling in the distance.]

A: Hey… Do you guys… hear something?

[An army of bunnies appears and heads for the boys.]

K: Are those… Why is there a horde of Golden Bunnies?! And why are they all coming our way?

R: Kino, you fool… Because of your careless remark—

K: Ah! Did I do that?!

A: Is this… also a bug? Hehe. There are so many bunnies…

K: Why do you look so happy about it? This is bad!

A: [In the background] Hehe… So many…

K: Agh! I can’t—The bunnies are trampling over me—

R: Fuck! How did it come to—Agh!

[The boys are buried under all the bunnies.]

17:11[Kino shoots upright in his bed.]

K: Ah! I thought I was going to suffocate. But… Huh? I’m in my own bed. Does that mean that wave of bunnies was… only a dream? Well… Of course it was. I wonder why those Mukami brothers were in my dream, though. It felt awfully real. Hmm…

[Ruki and Azusa also wake up in cold sweat.]

R: Ah… The bunnies?! They’re gone…

A: We’re in… your room, Ruki.

R: Apparently, we just fell asleep in my room somehow…

A: Yeah, but… I had a… strange dream.

R: Me too. A bad dream. I saw a giant spider and gold-coloured bunnies. It all sounds like a wicked joke, I’m sure.

A: Same for me… I also saw golden bunnies… Come to think of it… For some reason, Kino was also there…

R: I see. So you saw him too, Azusa… It seems a little too strange to be a coincidence for the two of us to have the same dream.

A: It does… But it was a really strange dream…

R: It was. It felt strangely realistic, too, but it was only a dream, after all.

A: So the giant spider… appeared in your dream too…

R: It did. It was a pretty rude one, at that, because it kept trying to interrupt our conversation.

A: Yeah… but, Ruki…

[The conversation trails off…]

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

双六（すごろく）: Sugoroku is a Japanese board game kind of similar to backgammon and snakes and ladders, where you have to move all of your pieces to the other side of the board as quickly as you can. Sugoroku often incorporates elements from real life—like religion, politics, etc.—into this ‘race’ for storytelling purposes and more exciting play. You could liken it to the Game of Life too, in my opinion.

マス目 （ますめ）：Squares; square-shaped spaces like the spaces you see on the board of a board game.