#so they basically go to pre-contact worlds and collect information

[abyssalpriest]

Roleplay: Masks and Masses 7/5/23 - 27/5/23

An essay of a collection of thoughts from Leviathan on the nature of roleplay as partial possession and magnetic interplays. Under read more for length reasons

I was looking at a video of soldiers around the world being human. What an odd thing to say given human soldiers are always both human and soldiers, yet that is how my brain wants to say it. What is the distinction between "soldier" and "human"? 

I'm not the first to make this distinction and I won't be the last, but as a generalisation most of those who approach this inherent feeling of detachment between "soldier" and "human" see it as one of two things: the soldier is something to be revered like a god, or the soldier is inhuman in cruelty and self-detachment from the clutch. A panicked set of seabird chicks huddle against the cliffside away from the one who has claimed the sea. Humans sense something extra going on as if they were picking up on the scent of fungus writhing in the soldier's brain.

For every role, there is an opposing one. Roles are ways through which we interact with the world, it's interactive by nature as is well known, and there is always a relationship at play between the person(s) embodying the role and the often obscured cause of the role. Even in the case of a 'soldier' who swears he is one with no training and no master nor war to fight, he is identifying a relationship between himself and the idea of a war and attempting to cross a gap between his mind and those of fellow soldiers. At the heart of it though, the identity of a role is different to other types of identity in the fact that it is indicating a possession by an idea and a partial possession by another person. Like a bird flock twists and warps to the same tune...

Really what's on my mind is the role of the core identity to which and around which the identity of the soldier springs up. The soldier is possessed by his understanding of war and soldiers and by his leaders. 

Information is not only within the brain, and Calathea can take over the majority of that conversation as he is certainly drawn to doing so given he's already started talking about "locational information" with Dei, however, there is always a spectrum involved and so the parts of "locational information" that lie closer to the singular brain, or "the self" as people of this plane know it, are in my view and therefore I have to bite.

There are varying levels of possession as there are varying levels of everything. Everything is on a spectrum, multiple, actually, but regardless roleplaying is a more active way of participating in the "Collective Unconscious" or "Collective Species Information", CSI from now. All I mean when I say CSI is the hard to define collection of information, impulses, opinions, and instincts in the locational information that a species relies on for their species' 'persona', basically Collective Human Information would be a term for the "human-ness that exists outside of and within each individual human". The concept of humanity can be observed without being in the presence of a human, and a human can grow up as a human without being in contact with other humans, because of the Collective Human Information, but it is also highly involved in human-to-human contact. Not all species are as social as humans, but humans are not unique in how they socially reference a CSI for their species. The reason I say Species instead of Human is because my reaches in terms of roles extends outside of humanity. 

The purpose of a role at least in my own personal viewpoint is that it is an opportunity to surrender to something pre-made in the CSI in order to conserve personal resources, or to attain something the individual cannot attain by themselves. It is a method of exchange though, and roleplay is akin to what happens with purchasing and bartering, except the exchange is generally power - as vague a word as that is - instead of money. The role itself is like the marketplace within which two or more people agree to trade.

If you cannot build your own furniture, you trade with the carpenter for things you can create, find, or otherwise gather into your personal sphere of wealth. If you cannot create a cause, motivation, reason, etc that you might feel a need for, you trade with the CSI like a marketplace in exchange for your own resources. Generally with roles one person submits to and trusts (student, employee, soldier) the programming of the more dominant part (teacher, employer, leader), but there are of course roles such as partner where the role itself is the more dominant part, such as taking on the role of a 'goth' where the idea of goth-ness is more dominant than the individual goths are amongst themselves.

I don't think it needs to be said but in case it does, roles being subjectively understood doesn't counteract the underlying exchange, one person may think an apple is worth 30c and another $1, one person my think an apple is an apple and the other has a mislabelled pear, but there is still an exchange going on. There are disconnects - or maybe it's better to say there will never be complete replication - between one partner's understanding of the exchange and another's but that's inconsequential and an inherent feature of the programming of reality itself. Reality is built to have imperfections and hiccups - and very importantly disconnects between views and understandings - throughout everything and as such it can't be used as a counterpoint to dissecting what is and isn't 'real'.

What people gain from taking on a role can be what was already stated (and this goes for both submissive and dominant roles, as well as neutral): Becoming a citizen or volunteer or preacher gives you a cause, becoming a good partner or parent gives motivation, becoming a member of a religious congregation gives reason to your actions, and so on, but it also serves the purpose of tightening bonds between you and others, securing your place in the collective and ensuring others have a reason to protect you - and to keep giving you what you signed into the role for. It's a self-sustaining system similar to an auction house taking a portion of the auctions' profits, though obviously a role and a person are two very different types of consciousnesses. 

Problems arise when faced with the nature of trading while people are unaware of their own worth. We see that problem in today's world, surrounded by advertising for every little thing. Did you know you likely can make your own bread, grow you own food, make your own furniture? Yet there's a push to get you to exchange your money, time, and power for the bread, food, and furniture made by others who pocket the excess you give them. In the same way there are issues with roleplaying when people don't understand what exactly they're giving and getting. So many people bend over backwards to be good kids to parents who are wringing them for everything they're worth, so many people willing to be devotees to gods who barely show up. The people who optionally submit to the role, the devotees, should probably do better for themselves and actually consider what is happening when they become one.

What are you giving when you assign yourself to a role? What are you getting? How much energy are you expending for the people you're paired with through roleplay? How many parts of a job description have you taken on as necessary that could be discarded? For example, showing up around your kids is necessary as a father. Is defending them rabidly to strangers on social media at every turn in ways they don't even see, instead of conserving your strength and well-being and letting people have their negative opinions, a part of it? Being an employee involves showing up to work, being polite, doing what you're told, but does it require answering emails on a weekend and volunteering for paid over time in order to keep the role? 

Arguably the most important question though is: Who are you supporting and feeding when you take on a role? A soldier is not just supporting their fellow countrymen, but is also upholding the soldier role as it is and contributing to the perpetuation of whatever negative symptoms there are to that role, they contribute to the normalisation of everything they accept. They are also feeding the pockets of... Who, exactly? It isn't just a web of soldiers, countrymen affected by their actions, their direct leaders, etc. It's government officials, lazy people who get others to do their jobs and fight for them, and so on. I'm not talking about fields of cause and effect like the Butterfly Effect though that is another thing to think about, but specifically the putting on and taking off of the role of the soldier and who that immediately helps and hinders. Not "will this war later on have effects I should think about", but "when I become a soldier, who am I working for and what do they gain from me working for them" and in regards to things like normalisation of immorality "is this specific role actually what I want to be, or does it just happen to coincide with the benefits I want, connecting me to the people I want to be connected to, and an energy I don't mind inhabiting?" 

At the end of the day, people are drawn to things to fulfill needs and wants and they are drawn to things that seem to fulfill those needs/wants. Polarity snaps the person to fulfillment and declares that it knows what you need, determining for you that what you see in front of you is or is not equal to the thing you need. You have the power to identify the need before an identity has been put on it. "I need to become a soldier to protect my country": that's a need with an identity strapped to its face in order to get you to do something. What you likely need is community and cause, which in turn is an identity for safety, social contact, entertainment/enrichment, etc, though everyone is called to roles for personalised reasons. The identity will try its hardest to snap to that need and it will feel like "yes, I need safety, social contact, and so on, and I specifically want it through being a soldier because I'm drawn to that and that life", but are you drawn to that life and identity as a result of genuine thought-out following your needs through every opportunity, or do you want it because you want it? Want is a powerful, magnetic thing. Magnets are dangerous things that begin siphons, riptides to indulgences and you may not be the one indulging.

Personally, roleplay is comparable in its own ways to the water cycle. Water is upheaved from one part (many parts) of a society into a greater mass from which actual change can happen. Water, as ferocious and weighty as it is en masse in great pools doesn't fulfill its total purpose by staying where it is. Yes, water bodies sustain entire ecosystems, and yes, an entire body being drained would starve those ecosystems. Likewise if you take all the energy and products of a set of people you will drastically impact their health and drain their community and communal abilities. You kill almost everything except the water. Isn't this why we have entire workforces of people yet barely any communities here and now? Starved completely of their natural habitats. But a lake doesn't need all its water to function, and a natural flow between bodies of water and the land is actually much more productive and conducive to growth than land and water being divided. Just like a flowing economy sees more use out of its money when in flow rather than in the hands of those who hoard it, despite the total amount of money being the same, a flow between roles and peoples enabled by an unseen system enables more to get done with the finite resources available. A lake could sustain an ecosystem of its own, or it could, by giving a portion of its mass that barely reduces its own ecosystem, sustain several.

There is always more to be done with limited resources, or at least that's the technological mind's approach to it. A pile of earth can be clay, can be a house's clay roof, can be a hammer to build the house, can be a car which is a temporary portable house, can be a spaceship. A hammer can be a robot that builds, a robot that builds can be a robot that builds other robots that build... A pile of earth can also be distilled into medicines, fertilisers, made into books like those made with stone paper, made into paints, makeup, food... As long as someone knows what to do with that energy then there is something clever to be done with it, and that pile of earth is a concurrent part of a system in which it will be remade over and over again as things it once was a part of succumb to the inevitable dredge back home.

For (big) spirits, working with people often comes back to the idea of mass harvesting energy with which to do something, like great clouds sucking up water to move it someplace else. That's the exchange of gods and worshipers at least partially and simplified. It is worth noting with that analogy however that there is a draw of submission of energy that is not entirely in the minds of the one submitting, the Sun is the powerhouse that extracts the water upwards similar to a draw of a person seeing something they like and going for it. Roles are multi-sided by nature, all parties submit and all parties take, all communicate and control, and likewise, all are drawn to the role and pull the other in to it... Both experience a draw and give off a draw. Keeping in mind that given the role itself is a nebulous third party like a sort of eternally-foetal collection of ideas and such with (sometimes multiple) umblical cords between itself and each party, it also has its own set of and interpretation of gains and losses, or really it's more accurate to talk about them like attractions and repulsions, which means the role itself should also, to some degree, both be affected by and give off a magnetic draw. I say attractions and repulsions when there are neutralities involved, but in siphoning flows and magnetics it's generally those former two. But this is complex, because a role is a coagulated, knotted mess of different types of consciousness and Form-esque ideas, really it's like a manufactured Form that needs to be sustained like a living being, but it's hard to discuss because there's too much nuance about how it is not alive to actually get into it without spending forever on it. Made of consciousness, not conscious. All you need to know is that it has a draw as all things are magnetic in some form or another. 

Using 'magnetism' as a vague word for attracting, repulsing, and related neutral forces in a general sense, everything experiences magnetism including consciousness. Thoughts often cling to divisions as if spectrums don't exist, flitting between poles and parts on the poles as if there is no in-between. That's something Dei can get into as he's already started, specifically I'm pointing out that consciousness has a magnetic element in-built into everything. As above so below as they say and as such everything has a part in everything, reality in its entirety is a storybook told in a series of minute finite letters constantly rearranged and in specific orders and multitudes, like an infinite book of infinite words where no two words are spelled the same yet, again, all are written in the same repeating letters. One real thing can be more of one of the consituents of reality than others in the way a word in this metaphor can have more 'e's than another, more coinciding points of contact between the scattering lines of Creation's original output, like how magnets are more heavily Polarised than other things and yet Polarity exists in everything. Likewise, it's important to remember that there is a multitude of things at play in any simplistic situation. Really, if you think a situation is simple you're likely being magnetised to a singular view as if it were the only one, ignoring the spectrum at play as a result since the closer to a pole you get the harder it is to break away... Which means you are being highly influenced and unable to really approach the situation in an active way.

Sometimes I wonder what people get out of worshiping gods in singular, obsessively attracted ways. I think Dei and I have at least comparable questions along those lines regarding worshipers if you only look at the surface level words used, but my questions are mostly rhetorical because the answer is clear. It differs between every single person since no two words in the story are identical but the usual reason I see is way more magnetic than thought out. Looking down at people who have called me on their hands and knees wide-eyed and begging, they're not acting from a rational part of themselves because their rationality has been magnetised to the floor.

I told you there's something that joins the code and the encoding, right? Something that joins the logic to the action that isn't immediately apparent. Something joins the sensation of an empty stomach to the informing of the rest of the body that one must consume, something joins the need to consume with the act of moving hands and feet to move towards and create and consume food. That something is in-between poles but the process is sped up by magnetising input and output to the point that one feels a thing that needs to be addressed, follows a rhythm, and efficiency in the form of magnetism snaps the self to the outcome to get it fixed as soon as possible. Like with the dissection of "I want to be a soldier" into "I want social contact/etc", there is a need, an inner experience, that has to be mapped on to the outer world in order to fulfill the lemniscate order of nature - emphasis on needs to - and this is the function of efficient fulfillment. The deeper the hunger, the more most people give in to the magnetism since it's more effective at getting things done than ignoring it. Polarity is King after all, and a King is nothing but a director of resources and a head of a people making decisions for the masses, an efficient map of 'do's and 'do not's in order to get the highest and most powerful results done.

Energy is that which is given, taken, and sustained by mind. Physicality is that which is given, taken, and sustained by body. In the mind of a ruler they are pools of resources to be shifted around, delegated, consumed and played with. Watch who you delegate as ruler, or something. Ending this with any sort of lesson would require magnetising your consciousness to the idea of me as a teacher, a role I don't care to get into.

[seeds-of-the-garden]

Plance AU where Pidge is an humaniod alien that accidentally abducts Lance.

“I said I was sorry!”

“It’s all right son,” Sam says. “Your sister will take care of it - we’ll get your eyes adjusted when we get home…”

Her family’s conversation blends into the hum of the ship as Pidge stalks her way to the cargo hold. Matt probably mistook the Earthling for a cow for fun.

The Earthling lies in the middle of the bare space, groaning. Pidge echoes him, she’ll have to erase his memory now. He’s not a terrible looking earthling by any means and any less ethical scientist would have been glad to have him for a specimen. Her brow furrows at the weapon to his side, like a blaster but far less efficient. It’ll be something to test later on the long ride home.

She kicks the not-blaster out of the way before binding his ankles with metal cuffs. She holds his single pair of arms - another inefficiency of Earthlings - while her second pair locks another pair of cuffs around his wrists.

His blue irises open, and his expression contorts to confusion, realization, and fear. Without a disguise in place she recognizes her features are… alien to him.

He screams and tries to stand, only to fail.

Pidge huffs and grabs him by the back of his shirt. The sooner she can get him to the lab and wipe his memory the better.

The Earthling sucks in air faster than a terveyo fly. “You - you’re the ones taking the cows, aren't you? Holy crow I didn’t think aliens existed.”

Pidge doesn’t grace him with an answer. Earthlings are cognitive enough to problem solve. Soon. Soon he’ll be back in the field where Matt picked him up by accident…

His hysterics only worsen when he sees the lab.

“You’re experimenting on them. You’re experimenting on me,” he blabs. “Wait, I’m too young - too good looking! Let me go!”

Pidge tosses him easily onto a table and places sensory nodes to his temples. Just a few more doboshes…

“I-I’ll give you anything you want!” he begs. “I have - I have a peanut butter sandwich!”

Pidge pauses. Her mother has been wanting Earth produce… and peanuts are something they don’t have yet.

“...let me see it,” she tells him.

The Earthling hastily pulls a brown sack out of a side bag. “Just… please don’t take my brain.”

Pidge pulls out the food. It doesn’t smell of anything poisonous, so she takes a bite. For science.

Pidge doesn’t believe in magic, not for her people - that’s an Altean thing - but this taste… is delightful. Her senses are filled with joy she’s never felt before.

They need more of these.

The ship lurches, sending the precious sandwich flying out of her hands. She braces her hands on the table. Why have they launched into hyperdrive with the Earthling still aboard?

“Pidge, to your station! We’ve been spotted by a Galra cruiser!”

[writingwithcolor]

Rebellion in Ojibwe Society: Considerations for Pre-Contact Indigenous Peoples

@raconteuse3​ asked:

Hi! I'm writing a fantasy story with an Ojibwe-like culture, and I'm wondering what rebellion/counter culture would look like in a tribal culture pre-contact? One of my characters has a rebellious spirit, but I keep writing her in a very ... American-teenage-rebellion way, which I know isn't a phase of life in all cultures. To rephrase in snarky terms, "what were Ojibwe punks up to 500 years ago?" I haven't been able to find any helpful information, so I thought I'd ask here! Thank you!

Traditional disclaimer: not raised under traditional parenting techniques, not from that nation, this is primarily pointing out structural differences in Indigenous society vs Western from a reconnecting person.

Teenagerhood as we know it is modern

When it comes to the concept of rebellion, there is one very important thing to keep in mind: how recent and privileged the concept of “teenagerhood is a sheltered time you figure yourself out” is. In a lot of traditional societies, you started helping doing the adult work in childhood alongside your parents. By teenage years you were a pretty valued member of the community, and were beginning to work on adult honours, were looking to get married, etc.

Pre-contact parenting traditions exists in modern day, too. You can absolutely look at very modern, very connected Indigenous societies and notice the way they structure work and parenting is different. Parenting traditions are going under a huge revival as communities heal from residential schools, and these traditional techniques are being preserved.

So what is she even rebelling against? She’d be in a world where she’d be granted a lot of autonomy, be able to do basically everything an adult could by this point, and would have been guided by people working alongside her. The traditional avenues of rebellion like “you don’t know what it’s like to grow up now” and “I’m not a kid stop treating me like one” are harder to rely on.

It’s really primarily an industrialization invention to have teen years be the “in between” years we know them as today. In modern times, teenage years are considered the years you focus on your education to eventually get started as an adult in your 20s, once you have a job that is in a separate institution to your family.

In non-industrial societies where the primary work available is what keeps the community running, and extra time is spent creating beauty (art, stories, music), or advancing our understanding of the world (medicine, scientific experiments). There is far less need for a period of being sheltered where all you do is educate yourself in order to be an adult; I’d assume the primary structures of teenage years would be based around helping teach emotional regulation.

A note: the average hunter-gatherer, according to anthropologists, only “does work” (to survive) about 20 hours a week. There would be plenty of time to do fun things in society. 

And I’m sure somebody in the notes will mention it: yes, the fact that the average age was closer to 60-70 instead of 80-90 like we have in industrial society is part of it. But elders could and did live into their 80s pre-contact, so the point is less salient than you’d think.

Environmental controls didn’t exist

The other important thing to keep in mind is: there was only so much rebellion you could do before you ended up dead from the natural world.

Elders were those who had survived and whose wisdom you could use to help everyone’s survival. Counsel and collective leadership were often prized, along with young experience. Humility was often taught as a virtue because pride went out and got you killed, and greed would render the land uninhabitable.

So really, the likelihood of having her be rebellious in any way we’d recognize is slim to none. Traditional Indigenous parenting techniques are worlds different than American parenting techniques, and anthropologist after anthropologist has noted that kids in Indigenous societies—when those societies don’t have massive traumas that come from, say, residential schools and parents never being able to learn Indigenous practices—are way more well adjusted than Western teenagers.

If you’re dead set on having her be rebellious in some way: my biggest suggestion would be to read ethnographies of the Ojibwe that described their cultural practices and see if there were any social norms discussed around teenage rebellion; you could get lucky and find a gem of rebellion actively described, or you might have to read through a bunch and piece together a cultural context from them. 

But you need to do this research anyway, so look for particularly thick and comprehensive tomes. As I said, this can be found in modern day, so you’re not super limited by time period. If you really want to focus on “as it was”, you’ll be looking for writings between 1850 and 1930.

(I’ve read one ethnography that mentioned an avenue of rebellion among the Omaha, written in 1911. It described how arranged marriages for teenage girls were common, but if the girl could get her chosen husband’s family to treat her as his wife, then the father couldn’t force her to marry the guy he chose. But that relies on a patriarchal society, even if the idea of a patriarchal society would have looked different at the time)

Look for things published by universities; those will have the best academic rigour. I’m not super well versed in the modern anthropology programs because my education stopped right before I got to that point, but an edu with a heavy involvement in the tribe will be the best.

Historically your best sources, or at least a place to look for sources, are those who had close connections with the tribe and lived there for extended periods of time, or even better had tribal co-writers. An example of the former would be Margaret Mead, who wrote Coming of Age in American Samoa, and she kind of single handedly brought breastfeeding back to American society. Her work is highly debated, but the Samoans she worked with loved her; she lived with them for most of her life, from her 20s to retirement. An example of the latter is Alice Fletcher, who co-wrote The Omaha Tribe with Francis La Flesche.

Ojibwe, please comment: What does “rebellion” look like to you?

~ Mod Lesya

[uncommon-etc]

This was going to be called ‘a useful guide to writing LGBT+ characters in historic fiction’ but...

This now applies to everything over 30 years old, because of the drastic changes we’ve collectively gone through, and all of the progress that’s been made.

It’s awesome that there’s a renewed interest by writers of all stripes in filling the gaping void in literature where more queer fiction should be, but as someone who has encountered a huge amount of misconceptions and over-simplifications myself in researching how to accurately depict queer characters outside of a contemporary setting, I thought I’d put together three top-tips for other aspiring writers.

1. Dates of decriminalization are only half the story 

Here’s a map of decriminalization by country. Seems like exactly the kind of useful tool you might use to inform your writing, right?

Such maps should be taken with a pinch of salt, because they don’t show when anti-sodomy laws were introduced to those countries in the first place.

For instance, this map would imply that decriminalization was a fairly recent development in India, when the reality is that India didn’t have any laws against it until it was colonized by the British, and while the country doesn’t officially permit same-sex marriage, records of same-sex Hindu weddings go back centuries. Marriages between people from different castes were actually treated as more scandalous than same-sex relations between people in higher castes, and those who fall into the ‘third category’ (which includes trans, nonbinary and intersex people alongside effeminate gay men and butch gay women) were often given special status in pre-partition India. 

Colonizers usually failed to keep accurate records of the relationships and marriage practices they observed among those they colonized, except to remark on how barbaric and backwards they thought certain acts were, but there are always exceptions. Despite the high legal penalties for homosexual acts in the gulf states and across much of the Arab world, T. E. Lawrence kept detailed diaries during his travels in the middle east in the early 1900s in which he mentions witnessing not only sexual acts, but blatant gestures of romantic affection between the young Arab men he fought alongside. So, please don’t fall into the trap of thinking ‘my story features an Arab character, I need to make them very homophobic/uncomfortable around same-sex relationships.’

Polyamory and its role in Pacific Islander communities is frequently erased from history by those who sought to portray it exclusively - if at all - as one guy lucking out by having multiple wives. The reality is far more complex, with  Marquesas Islanders practicing Polyandry as well as Polygamy (i.e. women could have more than one husband.) Pre-contact indigenous Hawai’ians were probably one of the most sex-positive societies on earth, and while it’s important never to over-sexualise any minority group; ‘Sex between uncommitted individuals, paired individuals having lovers, liaisons, polyandry, polygyny, homosexual patterns of behavior, and such were all accepted practices (Malo, 1951, p. 74)’ 

Even in after Christianity spread to Europe and the Roman and Greek attitude to same-sex relations (which is a whole other essay I’m afraid) were drastically altered, certain practices are often overlooked...

In Sweden, in the early to mid 1800s, it became fashionable among the upper-classes for young unmarried people to take a same-sex partner, as a way to practice marriage without the risk of getting anyone pregnant. It’s part of the reason Hans Christian Andersen, (yes, the one who wrote the fairytales) got away with basically being openly bisexual. If he was seen kissing another man, people simply reasoned that he was being ‘childish’.

There’s a long-held joke in Finland about all Swedish men being gay, but it’s rooted in the fact that when Finnish women were sent to Sweden to learn domestic arts, attend high-society events, and eventually find a husband, they wrote home about how weird they thought it was that their new husband already had a ‘husband’, for practice.

In my mind there are far too many tragic same-sex love stories set in Europe around this time, won’t someone please write a charming rom-com about two guys who get away with it despite being increasingly more overtly gay because of weird customs like this?

I use the term ‘anti-sodomy law’ rather than ‘anti-gay law’ to keep things historically accurate, because the vast majority of European law in relation to homosexual acts never applied to women (something that was beautifully portrayed in the most recent season of Gentleman Jack), so if your character is a lesbian, her single biggest fear, from a legal standpoint, would be either being diagnosed with hysteria, or losing custody of any children she has from a previous relationship. There are no records of women being put to death on the grounds of having same-sex relations unless it was tied up in accusation of witchcraft. 

2. But in case you think the past was actually a rosier place to be gay than its usually portrayed...

So there was this one scene we all loved in the first season of Torchwood:

Basically, Jack and Tosh travel back in time to a tea-dance during WWII, where Jack meets the man whose identity he assumed when he left the time-agency. Even though he knows the other Jack will die the next day, the two of them have a connection, and they end up dancing together, in front of the other shocked guests, before the rift re-opens, returning Jack and Tosh to the present day.

The thing is, it would never actually happen.

It pains me to say it, but overt declarations of queer love in that era were few and far between, and when they occurred, they were severely punished. Many gay men with convictions for ‘public indecency’ in the 30s, 40s and 50s never did anything indecent, they were dobbed in by neighbours, colleagues, and jealous ex-lovers.

In fact, if you were a man of means, with a preference for other men in Britain before the outbreak of WWII (and before the nazis started raiding gay-bars) your safest route to not being arrested was to travel to Berlin, where hookups between men were generally ignored by the authorities amidst all the other chaos that plagued the Weimar republic.

If you want to write dramatic PDA moments between queer characters in pre-decriminalization times, be my guest, but don’t make them inconsequential, don’t cheapen the memories of those who were brave enough to risk arrest and literal torture through chemical castration by implying it’s not a big deal.

Quiet, subtle moments of affection can be just as effective, and far more believable. In order to write well-rounded, smart-thinking characters, it’s vital that you make them assess and contextualize their own relationships, and find ways around the obstacles of their times, rather than acting like it doesn’t matter.

A lack of appreciation for subtlety is part of the reason so many people missed the relationship between Captain Klenzendorf and Fred Finkel in Jojo Rabbit being intentionally queer-coded. Think about it, you’re two dudes who clearly have something going on, but you’re constantly surrounded by nazis, what are you going to do, french-kiss? Their constant close-proximity to each other, coupled with the little physical touches, and the moment one of them almost feeds the other one an iced-bun, make it pretty clear they’re more than just friends and colleagues. 

My hero Tove Jansson and her life-partner Tulikki had a secret passageway in the attic between their two studios in Helsinki, so that they could visit each other late in the evening without arousing any suspicion, but during their summers, they lived on an otherwise uninhabited island out in the gulf of Finland, where they were free to do as they liked.

If you want your characters to be free to be openly and unreservedly affectionate towards each other, take them out of society for a little bit and put them somewhere beautiful where there’s no-one else around. It’s part of the reason rural scenes in films like God’s Own Country, and Brokeback Mountain are so effective, they remind modern audiences that the relationship is not the problem, other people’s attitudes are.

3. Get your terminology right, even if it’s going to irk a modern audience

No-one would have called themselves, or anyone else ‘gay’ pre-1950s, unless they meant happy. No-one would have had access to the latest dictionary of acceptable terms and monikers for different LGBT+ identities. In an official context, gay men were separated into ‘inverts’ and ‘perverts’ (non-practicing and practicing homosexuals, though the invert label was generally only applied to those who sought help to ‘cure’ themselves, so it was pretty subjective). Pre-1950s terms in English were mostly innuendos (’he’s a friend of dorothy’s’, ‘he reads walt whitman’ and ‘he wears sensible shoes’ were all popular, alongside more well known ones like ‘he swings the other way’ or ‘he bats for the other team’). 

The term Bisexual was first coined (in the English speaking world) in 1859, but it wasn’t originally used to refer to those who experienced sexual attraction to men and women. Instead, the anatomist Robert Bentley Todd used it to describe those with primary or secondary sex characteristics that contradicted their assigned gender, and who would go on to be labelled hermaphrodites before we had much understanding of intersex people.

Please, I’m begging you, don’t write a novel about a magnificently bisexual Victorian dandy who goes around calling himself bisexual, not only is it not historically accurate, he’s going to get some funny looks and a possible ban from his local ‘gentleman’s club’. There’s a reason Lazlo Cravensworth in What we do in the Shadows, despite being one of the most bisexual characters ever written, never actually uses the word. You don’t need to, ‘show, don’t tell’ as the saying goes. 

Though the term ‘asexual’ is older than most people think (as is pansexual) it isn’t realistic to assume characters without access to the internet or the complete works of Alfred Kinsey will know or understand any of the terms we use for mspec identities today. If they acknowledged attraction to more than one gender, (or in some cases lack of attraction entirely) they would have been more likely to use ‘queer’ as a catchall, because the line between acceptable and deviant was squarely drawn over the perceived gender of the person you were said to be having relations with.

I see plenty of discourse regarding Arthur Conan Doyle’s work claiming Holmes and Watson have a queer-platonic partnership, I don’t disagree, but they would never have called it that.

One of my perpetually unfinished WIPs features an asexual character, and much as I desperately wanted, for my own sanity as a representation-starved ace, to have him say the word right from his introduction, it wouldn’t have been realistic, or contextually appropriate in the late 90s, so I had him discover the term twenty years later, as I did with most of my other LGBT+ characters.

This doesn’t mean a character thinking ‘I feel so broken and ostracized from everyone else, what’s wrong with me?’ it may just mean that although they know exactly who they are, what they want, and what they are or aren’t into, they don’t know there’s a word for it yet. H.P. Lovecraft remains a controversial figure in fiction, mainly down to the overt racism of some of his horror-stories, but his relationship history is interesting in that he married, but never had kids, then eventually separated from his wife who by all accounts he wasn’t very interested in. Because the word ‘asexual’ wasn’t ever used in biographies written in his life-time, I remember one introduction to his works describing his sexuality as ‘lazy’ which I found hilarious.

If you want to write non-binary characters, but are understandably aware of the fact that having someone state their pronouns in an interaction with another character wasn’t the done thing until very recently, here are several tips that could work in your favour:

- give that character a nationality/language background which uses gender-neutral pronouns as standard. If your character is Finnish for instance, and someone tries to say ‘he’ or ‘she’ they can correct them by saying ‘your language is so ridiculously gendered, I don’t like it, I’m sticking with ‘han’ for now’ (there are no gendered pronouns in Finnish, ‘han’ applies to men and women)

- take your cue from the way Jim is written in ofmd, A+, 10/10 splendid portrayal of an nb character in 1717. It feels natural and organic to their character development, without seeming forced or shoe-horned in as a ticked-box for representation.  

- give them a title that they worked to earn and are quite rightly proud of, the first few times they’ve corrected someone using the wrong pronouns by swapping in that title, the other character (and by extension the audience) will get the message.

- since the first use of singular ‘they’ in the English language dates back to the 12th century there’s nothing to stop you using it, but it would work better and be more believable on a character whose gender presentation is deliberately unclear or androgynous. For trans people prior to modern developments in gender-reassigment pronouns would have been chosen, like everything else, to pass as well as possible, because passing could be a matter of life and death.

None of this is designed to stop you writing joyful, blatantly queer love stories about all of the different ways, throughout history, that humans have formed relationships and experienced attraction. I have no desire to rain on anyone’s parade. As stated, we’re more likely to be written out of history entirely than we are to be written badly, but if, like me, you care about historic details and want to write the best, most believable story you can, please do you research.

[sfb123]

Sapere Aude - Part 8

Book: The Royal Heir

Pairing: King Liam Rys x Queen Riley Brooks

All characters belong to Pixelberry.

Catch Up Here

Series Description: I developed a theory of what I think will happen in TRH Book 4, and I was encouraged by some very lovely people to turn my theory into a fic, so here it is. Basically, Riley is recruited to join the Via Imperii, this series will follow her as she joins them to try and bring them down from the inside, and all of the drama and bombshells she learns along the way. Sapere Aude is Latin for “dare to know” it seemed like an appropriate title.

Rating: PG-13 Adult language, allusions to smut (but nothing graphic), discussions of death, conspiracy, blackmail, and other adult themes.

Warning: The Royal Heir Book 3 Spoilers all over the place.

Word Count: 2,314

Notes: Sorry. This was such a draining chapter to write. I tried to throw some fluff into the beginning, but overall it's a heavy ass chapter. Just remember, this is what you all asked for!

Shout out to my pre-reading possy, @texaskitten30 and @txemrn, and @twinkleallnight​ for my moodboard!

Tags: Meh, they're down there and in the comments. Maybe you'll get them, maybe you won't. Who the fuck knows anymore. If you want to be added or removed, let me know.

The royal family had a wonderful couple of hours together, after Riley and Eleanor returned from Valtoria. Eleanor gifted Liam a picture that she drew for him while she was away. Liam loved it, he loved all of the pictures his daughter made for him. This one would join the others, proudly displayed in his office so that he could brag about Eleanor’s talent to every person that wanted to meet with the King. Some royals made you ‘kiss the ring’ if you wanted something from them, Liam made you look at a gallery of his daughter’s artwork. He was such a proud father. 

They sat on the couch together as Eleanor told stories about her adventures with Uncle Drake over the weekend. Liam sat, listening intently with one arm draped over Riley’s shoulders, occasionally pressing a kiss to her temple. Not only did he know that she was suffering in silence with all of the information she had gathered over the weekend, but he had missed his wife. He missed looking at her, touching her, just being close to her. She missed it too, and made sure to stay snuggled as close to his side as she possibly could, they always found comfort in each other, and comfort was something that she desperately needed in that moment. 

Before they knew it, Drake had returned and picked up Eleanor to spend the night in Ramsford. Riley and Liam said their goodbyes to the pair and returned to their living room to talk. Riley took a deep breath to center herself.

“So I take it, you told Drake?” Liam turned to face her. 

“I’m so sorry Liam, I know you wanted to wait until we had more information before we brought anyone else into it. I just left that party, and everything was so horrible, and I couldn’t call you, and I was all alone and I…” 

Liam pulled Riley close, placing one hand on her cheek, brushing it with his thumb. “Hey, calm down, deep breaths. It’s ok, I’m not upset with you.” He kissed her lips gently. “If there was anyone we could trust with this, it’s Drake.”

She silently nodded and pulled out of Liam’s embrace, taking a seat on the couch and motioning for him to join her. “You’re going to want to sit down Liam. Please sit down.” Liam sat next to her, and she immediately took his hands in hers. Just rip off the band-aid. Get the big stuff out of the way first. “Liam, your mother, she’s alive.” 

She felt Liam’s hands clench in hers, and saw his body stiffen. Silence filled the room, and Riley let it happen. He needed to process this his way, in his time, she was just there for support. “That woman,” Liam refused to refer to her as his mother, and he certainly wouldn’t use her name. As far as he was concerned, there was only one Eleanor worth anything in his life, and she had just left with Drake. “died a long time ago. She was poisoned. You were given misinformation.”

“Liam, she’s alive. I met with her.” She watched his face go through every emotion possible before finally settling on hurt and sadness. 

“You met my moth...her?” A single tear fell down Liam’s face, he looked like a heartbroken child, and it tied Riley’s insides in knots. 

She looked down and nodded her head. “She’s in charge of the Via Imperii in Cordonia. She’s their president.” 

Liam shot up from his seat and began pacing the room. “She brought me into this world, deceived me, and used that deceit to plot my downfall? This will not stand. She has committed treason, she needs to be taken into custody immediately.”

“Liam, you can’t…”

“I don’t give a damn if they release the tape!” He bellowed, interrupting her. 

Riley had never seen Liam this angry, this hurt. She knew telling him was going to be bad, but there was no way she could prepare herself for the sight before her. She approached him tentatively and took his face in both of her hands, stopping him in his tracks and forcing him to look her in the eyes. “Liam, we can’t arrest her because then everyone will know she’s alive. We can hold Barthelemy because of everything else that was on that hard drive, but Godfrey would be released. We can’t let that happen, he’s clearly an enemy of the crown, a cell is the best place for him.”

There was another long silence, and then, Liam’s emotional dam broke. He collapsed to the floor, sobbing. Riley followed him, getting on her knees and collecting him in her arms, holding him close, and letting him cry. They stayed that way for several moments, Liam sobbing while Riley rubbed soothing circles on his back and pressed kisses to the top of his head, hoping the embrace would help relax him. 

He finally broke the silence, speaking through sobs. “I spent...my life...grieving her.” He pulled away from Riley, looking in her eyes. She felt her heart tighten at the sight of his red eyes and tear stained cheeks. “I spent my life thinking she loved me, but I clearly meant nothing to her.” 

“Liam, she loved you...she loves you. I could see it in the way she spoke about you.” She gently wiped the tears from his face. “Those letters, those journal entries we found, they were all real. She genuinely felt all of those things for you.” She watched the confusion in Liam’s eyes, he was clearly torn on how he should receive this information. She knew there was more she had to tell him, but she wasn’t sure if he would be able to handle it. “Liam, there’s more. I can wait if you would rather…”

“No, that’s alright. Please, continue.” He switched on his stoic royal facade and stood from the floor, extending his hand to help Riley up. 

Riley took his hand and stood, linking their fingers together before he could pull away. “You have a younger brother.”

Liam’s grip on Riley’s hand tightened as the tears again began to fall. Riley guided him slowly back to the couch, helping him sit down. She sat down next to him and stroked his hair as he sat in silence, staring off into the distance. “Is he…?”

“He was raised in the Via Imperii by your mother. He’s currently working in the Palace.” She took a deep breath to prepare herself to make the next statement. “Thomas is your brother.”

Liam’s head dropped forward, his breath hitching with every attempt to calm himself. There was a long silence in the room. Riley continued to rub Liam’s back in an attempt to comfort him, silently wishing he would say something. Anything. Yell, scream, break a vase. Then she could at least get an idea of what he was feeling, and do something to try to help. Suddenly, he stood from his seat and started walking toward the door. 

“Liam, where are you going?”

“I need to take a walk. Gather my thoughts.”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

“No, I need to be alone right now. You stay here, I’ll be back shortly.”

He never turns down my company, he always wants me with him. Is he mad at me? Should I not have told him? 

She heard the door slam shut and she looked up. He was gone. 

No goodbye, no kiss, no I love you. He’s never just walked out like that. What am I supposed to do?

She picked up her phone off the table and dialed Bastien, asking him if he was with Liam. He informed her that he was told to stand down. Riley ordered Bastien to follow him and keep an eye on her husband. She never gave Bastien a direct order, usually she would just ask politely, so he understood that this was a serious situation, and complied. 

Riley fought every urge she had to follow him out that door and stay by his side, regardless of him telling her not to. If this was how Liam needed to process, she wasn’t going to get in the way of that. She tried not to take his actions or words personally, given the atomic bomb she just dropped on him, but part of her felt like he was upset with her, and she didn’t want to be in his face to make him more upset, that was the last thing either of them needed. She had sent Bastien, and he would keep her looped in if something were to happen. 

It had been well over an hour since Liam had left their quarters. Riley had tried calling a couple of times, but his phone was going straight to voicemail. She had passed the point of letting him process, and crossed into worry and mild panic. She sat in bed trying to read a book, but what she was actually doing was reading one sentence over and over again. There was no way she would be able to concentrate on anything until Liam got back. 

Riley finally let out a long breath when she heard the front door open and close. She put down her book and prepared herself. Liam entered the room with his head down, even though she couldn’t see his face, she could tell how tired he was. He walked straight to his closet without looking up, or saying a word to her. She wasn’t sure what to do or say, so she figured it would be best to let him come to her first. 

A few minutes later, Liam walked out of his closet and headed for the bed, not making eye contact with Riley. He silently pulled the covers back and got into the bed. Riley was sitting up, watching his every movement. She couldn’t take it anymore, she had to break the silence. “Liam…” She said barely above a whisper, he turned his head and looked at her for the first time since arriving home. “I’m sorry.” She placed her hand gently over his. 

“Riley, you have nothing to apologize for. I am the one that wanted you to do this. You did nothing wrong. None of this is on you.” He smiled a sad, soft smile at her. 

“Fine, but you’re not allowed to blame yourself either.” He looked at her with a confused expression. “What you just said, telling me you were the one that wanted me to do this. I know you Liam Rys, better than anyone. You’re thinking about how you brought all of this on yourself.” Liam started to look down, but Riley wouldn’t let him. She held his chin between her thumb and forefinger, forcing him to look her in the eyes. “This is all on them, it’s the Via Imperii’s fault. That’s why we’re going to take them down. Together. Just like Anton, just like Auvernal, just like Barthelemy, just like any other enemy that has ever, or will ever come our way. We are the King and Queen of Cordonia, Liam and Riley Rys. We are a force to be reckoned with.” She never broke eye contact with him once, ensuring she got her point across.

Liam took a deep breath, removing his wife’s hand from his chin and bringing it to his lips. “You always know just what to say, love.”

“Years of diplomatic training. I need to be prepared for every possible scenario.” She winked at him, and he chuckled. She was relieved to see his mood lift ever so slightly. It was a start. “C’mon, let’s try to get some sleep. We can circle back to this nightmare in the morning, start working on a plan.” They both laid back onto the bed, and into each others arms. 

In the middle of the night, Riley’s eyes fluttered open. She was laying face to face with Liam, who was looking at her with worry in his eyes, gently running his hand up and down her arm. 

“Hey, are you ok?” She lifted her hand and ran her fingers through his hair. 

“Please don’t leave me, Riley.” Liam’s voice trembled as he looked at his wife with pleading eyes. 

Riley sat up straight in bed, confused by Liam’s statement. “Liam, never. I love you, you’re stuck with me for life.”

He gave her a sad smile that didn’t meet his eyes. “I just...there have been so many people that said they cared about me, and then left. Losing them was so hard. But if I lost you Riley, I don’t know how I would be able to continue on. You are the most important part of me, my everything. I don’t exist without you.”

Riley’s heart broke at Liam’s confession. After the way they left things before she fell asleep, she never would have thought that this would be a conversation they would be having. And it definitely wasn’t a conversation she was expecting to have at 3AM. She cupped his face in her hands and stroked his cheeks with her thumbs. “Liam, I promise you with all my heart, and everything I am, that there is nothing on this earth that could take me away from you. My husband and my daughter are the greatest joys of my life. A world without the two of you is not a world I would ever even want to think about.”

Without another word, Liam leaned forward and kissed her. He used that kiss as an outlet for all of the emotions battling inside of him. He gently guided Riley to lay in her back as he rolled on top of her. 

“Show me.” He whispered. 

“Yes, my king.”

Riley and Liam spent the rest of the night getting lost in each other, finding the comfort they so desperately needed.

Continue Reading

Tags: @txemrn @texaskitten30 @kingliam2019 @anjanettexcordonia @twinkleallnight @mile9213 @kittypryde-bipride @motorcitymademadame @kat-tia801 @bebepac @gkittylove99 @khoicesbyk @jessiembruno @queenrileyrose @athena-penrose @pixie88 @eadanga @choicesficwriterscreations @iaminlovewithtrr @hopelessromanticmonie @annarenee355 @burnsoslow @shewillreadyou @imturaxamara @gabesmommie1130 @cordoniaqueensworld​ @hopefulmoonobject​

[kimkitsuragi]

Final Cut News!

All right, so, by now most people are probably aware that we got a glut of new information about Disco Elysium: The Final Cut yesterday. However, so much content from so many sources can be a bit overwhelming, so I’m making a roundup of links to all the new articles, art, music, and videos I can find, highlighting the details that I personally find interesting.

(under a read more because this will be quite a long post!)

To start with, new official art of Harry and Kim has been released! This art was created by Anton Vill, who did the art for the in-game Thought Cabinet.

ZA/UM's Head of Publishing, Mikk Metsniit, also posted art of Martinaise in the official Disco Elysium Discord. This art has been shared in lower quality before as part of a promotional image for the collector’s edition of Disco Elysium, which will include it as an “illustrated fabric map”. The file Metsniit posted is named “Martinaise Revitalization ‘48.″ In-universe, a design studio previously made an attempt to restore Martinaise to its pre-war state, but ultimately failed. This piece appears to show the planned development of Martinaise--except it’s being swallowed up by the Pale. Fun!

Along with the first piece of art come two new songs by British Sea Power, which will be featured in the final cut:

Advesperascit, named after the city in Vesper-Messina where Dolores Dei was crowned Innocence in-universe. Apparently the name is Latin and roughly translates to “evening comes”

Ignus Nilsen Waltz, named after a prominent communist figure in-universe.

I think these songs will likely be tied to the new political vision quests, which are four new questlines that are each associated with one of the game’s four political ideologies. More information about them, along with other details, can be found in the following articles and videos:

Disco Elysium - The Final Cut Is Like Going From A Black-And-White Movie To Color, article from GameSpot’s Phil Hornshaw. In this article, voice over director Jim Ashilevi talks about adding full voice acting to the game and says that The Final Cut will feature 59 voice actors from countries around the world, chosen to reflect the backgrounds of Revachol’s diverse inhabitants. Lead artist Kaspar Tamsalu speaks about the political vision quests, saying that they will allow the player to meet new characters, learn more about the existing ones, and dive deeper into the politics, secrets, and history of Elysium. Tamsalu also says that The Final Cut will add the ability to fast travel and include Twitch integration, allowing stream viewers to vote on streamers’ decisions and even influence the build of the protagonist.

Biggest Changes In Disco Elysium - The Final Cut, video from GameSpot’s Phil Hornshaw, accompanies the above article. This is a fairly short overview of The Final Cut’s new features as detailed in GameSpot’s article. It includes samples of new voice acting, clips of new animations from the end of the game involving the protagonist and his coworkers (1:47, 2:05), a scene showing a new area added by one of the political vision quests (1:57), and a particularly funny voiced line from Kim (3:22)

‘Disco Elysium: The Final Cut’ comes out March 30. Here’s what’s new.  Article from The Washington Post’s Elise Favis. Includes more details about the political vision quests. According to developer Kaspar Tamsalu, these quests may be started after one in-game day, and are mutually exclusive so that only one may be completed in each playthrough. Jim Ashilevi talks more about the challenge of recording all of the game’s dialogue--more than one million words in total--without outsourcing the work to other studios. Ashilevi also says that he sees ZA/UM as an “art collective”, and “compares his team to the Wu-Tang Clan, in that each person has other creative endeavors, both personal and professional, outside of creating video games.”

Disco Elysium: The Final Cut even gives your horrific necktie a voice. Very brief article from PCGamer’s Fraser Brown. Not much new information in this article, but there is one interesting tidbit: apparently the Horrific Necktie’s voice will be provided by Mikee Goodman, who is one of the game’s voice over directors. Goodman also provides the voices of the Ancient Reptilian Brain, the Limbic System, and several other characters.

Disco Elysium is getting even more political, a long article from PC Gamer’s Fraser Brown. Lead writer Helen Hindpere talks more about the political vision quests, which she says ZA/UM was inspired to add based on fans’ enthusiastic reception of the game’s existing political themes. Hindpere says that the new quests can change the game’s map itself, allowing the protagonist to leave his own mark on the district of Martinaise. The quests will also allow for deeper and more serious exploration of the protagonist’s political views, which were often taken to humorous extremes in the original game. Each quest is different, with some being more wordy and some more visual. The Ultraliberal quest will allow the player to “build a personal brand”, while the communist quest “inspires you to begin a movement”. One quest also adds a new urban location to the game, which Hindpere says reminds her of Berlin. The quests don’t just revolve around a single topic, though; according to Hindpere, "You'll be talking about love, sexuality, hope, ambition, and even about certain geological features specific to our worldbuilding. There's an opportunity to get close and intimate with characters who have thus far seemed unapproachable. Let's say that once you share the same ideology many barriers disappear, allowing you see a different side of many important characters." There will also be a significant amount of new dialogue with Kim Kitsuragi related to these quests.

Disco Elysium PS5 Gameplay - 5 Things You Need To Know, fairly long video from PlayStation Access’ Ash Millman. This video provides some basic information about the game’s premise for new players and shows what the game will look like on PlayStation 5, with a user interface redesigned for the console. The video also includes clips throughout that show some new content, presumably from the political vision quests. Three of these clips seems to be connected: in the first of them, wires are shown that run from the battery of the protagonist’s crashed car to radio equipment set up on and around the statue in the center of Martinaise; in the second, Soona, the radiocomputer programmer from the church questline, can been seen climbing the statue itself to set up some more equipment; and in the third, Soona, Harry, and Kim stand near the modified statue, talking about attempting to contact the flying warship Archer via radio. There are also two other clips: in one, the statue has been splashed with multicolored paints, while in the other the protagonist is seen talking to Idiot Doom Spiral, a local drunk, about hiring him for an unspecified job. Millman also talks about the three different settings that will be available for the game’s voice over: “Classic Mode” will play the same as the original game, with only a few lines voiced, while “Psychological Mode” will provide voice acting for all characters except the protagonist’s internal monologue and skills. The last option, “Fully Voiced Mode” is, well, exactly what it sounds like. There’s also a brief clip that provides a sample of the Horrific Necktie’s new voice (1:26).

DISCO ELYSIUM - The Final Cut (Cuno Voice Example), YouTube video shared by developer Mikk Metsniit. Video is age-restricted. This video includes new voice samples for Cuno, a few of the skills, and Kim. Due to COVID-19, Cuno’s original voice actor, Dot Major, was unable to return, so Cuno is now voiced by Oli Dabiri. Lenval Brown, the narrator of the English language trailers, acts as the game’s general narrator and voice of all 24 skills. Jullian Champenois remains as Kim.

[purble-turble]

...King Red attacking MK's birth parents. Because he think it'll please MK to be rid of them and it also angers him that they had the most perfect person in the world as their son and they threw him away. (Some pictures of MK pre-coming out are burned, while others Red takes to place in his collection.)

Oooooh MK’s parents... I’ve had some ideas about what happens to them in King Red’s universe for awhile now and I thought I had already shared them, but going back to check it seems that I have not. So let me do that..

When Red Son was dating MK for that one month they were actually together, he learned probably near the end of it about MK’s parents. They were manipulative and terrible and ended up basically throwing him out as a seventeen year old and they never accepted him for who he is... MK tells him this kind of in hushed tones, looking more solemn than Red has ever seen him before, but he ends the explanation with a bright smile and a quick wave of his hand saying but that’s alright he’s over it! He has a new family now, one who loves him. And he’s got Red Son now too! But the idea that MK would be treated that way.. that the people who were fortunate enough to know MK and raise him, the ones who were supposed to love him unconditionally, the fact that they would abuse him and reject him?? It’s infuriating! Red definitely goes diving for more information, but MK won’t provide it. He really wants to put it behind him, and despite the fact that they’re terrible, he doesn’t want anything bad to happen to his parents. They’re his parents, yknow? Red does not drop it, he just stops asking MK. Instead he goes to Mei. She’s pleased to share with her best buddy Red Son that she knows who MK’s parents are (having been his friend since before he transitioned and left their terrible house) and she makes a regular habit of going over there and sneakily causing chaos for them. She tells Red that she’ll be more than happy to have him along on her next mission to break into their house and slash their car tires and steal their couch cushions.

Red Son is looking forward to pulling some pranks on MK’s parents, but before he gets the chance he is contacted by his own parents.. it’s time for their plan to go down. Suddenly he has more pressing matters to worry about, like keeping MK from being killed by DBK and PIF. Then he’s got MK as a prisoner guest in his palace and is focused on keeping him there and happy, and the thought of getting revenge against cruel, controlling parents slips from his mind... So he never does learn who MK’s parents are or where they live.. luckily for them.

Then, much much later, Demon King Red is brought a report from their surveillance of the Monkie Kid. Seems that a pair of older humans showed up at Pigsy’s noodles and started harassing him as he tried to get into the noodle cart. They called him Xiaotian and used the wrong pronouns and seemed to be upsetting MK... it was hard to say what they wanted, though there was talk of money and MK owing them, but the reporting demon says they mostly seemed to be there to intimidate the Monkie Kid. They were considering stepping in to help their king’s beloved but the pig chef chased the two humans off before that was necessary. As King Red listens he gets more and more excited.. the terrible mortals who tormented his darling MK through his childhood have made themselves known at last. His spy was diligent too- this one encounter contained more than enough information for him to find them. And so he does. He learns that MK’s parents are actually pretty rich. They’re an aristocratic family with friendly ties to Mei’s (explaining their childhood friendship) and they live within the city in a fabulous mansion.. but not for long.

Once he has an address King Red goes off on his own to confront them. Maybe when he firsts arrives they’re not home, so he has a look around. The manor is expansive and kind of garish in Red’s opinion.. like they’re trying too hard to show off their wealth. He already hates them but the arrogance he sees here from these mortals is just embarrassing. They may be rich by human standards but they’re still just peasants compared to himself, and his own palace puts this to shame anyway. Unlike his palace, however, he notices a distinct lack of anything related to MK. Red is sure to put his love for his darling on display wherever possible and the fact that his so called parents haven’t got so much as a framed photo of him on a side table is infuriating! After some searching he finally does find a trace of his beloved... in some boxes down in the basement. The king rifles through them, his heart feeling so full as he finds pictures of a tiny infant MK looking absolutely adorable in little orange pajamas~ (he thinks absently about how cute their own kids will be someday) but his excitement on finding such cute memorabilia drains pretty quickly as he continues shuffling through. The pictures get less and less cute. MK’s face looks less and less happy as he gets older. The orange clothes get replaced by pink and flowers and frills. He looks miserable... Red stops looking, he doesn’t want to see the rest. He takes the handful of cute early pictures and burns the rest of the boxes.

Shortly after, he starts to hear movement upstairs. He goes up to greet his in-laws and let them know exactly what he thinks of them.

MK doesn’t receive any remains in the mail this time around. Red doesn’t want his darling to ever have to think about those horrific humans ever again, so he doesn’t send him a reminder of them.. he just erases them from existence. Once he gets done with them (and believe me he takes his time) all that’s left is ashes. Then he turns his sight on the manor and burns that into nothing as well.. much more quickly and efficiently than he did with them though.

Word of his parents demise doesn’t take too long to reach MK, though. A huge, fancy house catching fire and burning to the ground with them in it is a pretty big news story... the second after he hears about it, though, MK puts it out of his mind. If he ponders on what must have happened he’ll go into a panic spiral and he can’t deal with that. He’ll just believe what the news reported: that it was an accident.... the alternative is too hard to think about.

[zrtranscripts]

Season 9, Mission 4: Out of the Past

Heist

~

[birds twitter]

AMELIA SPENS: Okay team, let's go over this one more time. General Bakari has sent Abel a distress call from a remote Tunisian base, Red Scorpion, which is probably home to red fungus and definitely home to one Ernest Van Ark.

PETER LYNNE: Oh, despite the fact that you, you know, um, what was it? Oh yes, blew him up with a rocket launcher, Five! That's... [laughs] It's typical! My luck. We get Janine back safe, and oh, who pops up but the devil himself?

AMELIA SPENS: Bakari wants a team to sneak something out of Red Scorpion. Our hope is that it's a red fungus countermeasure. To get there, our team needs to infiltrate New Agadir, a city in the middle of the desert, while posing as Death's Hand, a mercenary group whose greatest hits include assassinating a blue chip CEO using a neurotoxin-tipped knitting needle and overthrowing at least three heads of state.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: This is all so exciting! Proper Mission Impossible stuff!

AMELIA SPENS: Peter, remind me why you brought the new person along. It's Frances, isn't it? From the Hebrides?

FRANCES DEMPSEY: I wanted to try a run. Janine said I could come because it's a low-danger assignment, and because I promised to stop asking to be on the Tunisia team if she let me. I overheard Sam talking about the mission.

AMELIA SPENS: Marvellous. Janine should add “make Sam keep a secret” to her bucket list. [sighs] At least you're not pestering me to let you go. I've already had to veto Jody's involvement. I need her here working with me to train runners on McShell tower protocol.

PETER LYNNE: [laughs] I bet she was thrilled about that.

AMELIA SPENS: Anyway, our problem is getting a team to Tunisia. The information in Bakari's transmission enabled us to contact the Maghreb Protectorate, a government which operates in what used to be parts of Tunisia, Libya, and Algeria.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Another government, that's incredible!

AMELIA SPENS: Yes, well, they're no use to us yet. They have no jurisdiction over New Agadir, and besides, our governments do not yet trust each other enough for them to provide assistance. Our team can't risk crossing Europe - too many unknowns - and our few ships are all either exploring or acting as repeater stations for overseas agents - too far out to be useful.

All we have left are small coastal merchants. I've found one scow captain willing to take people to Tunisia, but he's cautious. He wants the latest nautical charts. Pre-apocalypse, obviously. Not a lot of hydrographic surveys since Z-Day. You're approaching the London home of Horatio Brewer, famous British investor. Should have what we want.

PETER LYNNE: Are we sure about that, Amelia?

AMELIA SPENS: Fairly. Mr. Brewer was a keen yachtsman. Old Ministry intel says he planned to escape Z-Day by sailing to a second home on the Tunisian coast. Had all the prep work done, then his neighborhood turned gray. We think zoms got him, but he was keeping his preparation safe in a basement vault.

PETER LYNNE: Great. So basically, we're looting a dead man's travel plans. Lovely. Um, see that street across the park, Five? That'll be his, so better hurry while it's still light out. Come on, everybody. Run!

~

[birds twitter]

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Wow, this is a classy street. Look at the mansions. That one's got ivory cherubs carved over the gates.

PETER LYNNE: Neighborhood's in pretty awful condition, though. You've got overgrown gardens, smashed windows. No sign of V-types though, thank God. Dearg made me a prototype one-man burn cube, Five, sewn right into my chest. Anti-P-type measure. Got the trigger, but not massively eager to try it.

AMELIA SPENS: Maybe not, but it's the only reason I'm letting you near Tunisia.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: So Amelia, who exactly are these Death’s Hands people? Will they be tough to impersonate?

PETER LYNNE: Frances...

AMELIA SPENS: Oh, they're a nasty bunch. Former special ops, freelance since Z-Day. Bakari says they've been traveling the world as hired guns. Their rep gets them a lot of private security gigs. He's given us contact details for the real team, so we can lure them out of our operation’s way.

PETER LYNNE: Frankly, I don't think we should be trusting Bakari. This whole thing is probably a trap, which is why, Frances, Janine said that you can't – [zombies moan] Oh, God damn it!

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Uh, isn't that the place we want? Big Georgian house covered in ivy?

PETER LYNNE: Well, Amelia, there's a horde of zoms milling outside Brewer's house, so we can't make it to the entrance.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Well, we could gain entry by the house next door. Look at the big white mansion. Its roof's half collapsed, sloping into the road. We could clamber across it, jump to Brewer's roof, and get in through his attic window.

AMELIA SPENS: You know Peter, I'm warming to the new blood. Quickly then, off you go. I've got the scow captain waiting on tenterhooks. I need this deal closed ASAP. Run!

~

PETER LYNNE: Amelia, we um, we got in through the attic window, followed a ladder leading deeper into the house. Now we've found a sort of private antique collection? So we're in a carpeted hall full of artifacts in glass cases.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: They've got plaques. That's a Roman bust, Celtic coins, an Egyptian amulet. That's a Carthaginian pot from Tunisia. Shouldn't these be in a museum?

AMELIA SPENS: Ah, well, Mr. Brewer was a rather avid black market trader, made a fortune trafficking plundered historical artifacts. Actually, it might make a good impression if our little expedition returns some stolen goods. Grab the Carthaginian pot, Peter.

PETER LYNNE: Oh, burglary with Amelia, just like old times. So let's see. It's a classic. We've got the pot on the pedestal, so if I just lift its case - [alarm blares] Ah. I honestly didn't think the alarm battery would have lasted this long. Um, Five, grab that pot, would you?

[zombies moan]

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Uh, guys, apparently there are zoms in the house too, coming up the stairs behind Five. Six big ones in dark suits.

PETER LYNNE: Oh, that'll be Brewer's former home security. Alarm's got their attention. Hello! Still on the job, eh, boys?

AMELIA SPENS: Wish I could find staff that dedicated. No need to waste rounds, blueprint says there's a master bedroom down the corridor on your left. Brewer always left a spare key in the lock for his mistress. If you can lure the zombies in, you can trap them there. Run!

~

FRANCES DEMSPEY: Keep going, Five, there's the door past the amphora vases. God, how big is this house?

AMELIA SPENS: It was originally five smaller houses that were joined together behind a Georgian facade. Brewer felt he needed the space.

[door creaks open, floor creaks]

PETER LYNNE: Amelia, we're in the bedroom. There's a – ooh, four-poster bed, lovely. Uh, photos of Brewer and his family. Nice mustache. It's very Howard Hughesian. Um, Frances, you okay?

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Zombies! I forgot how scary they are up close. Didn't have them on Dearg. I'm actually shaking.

PETER LYNNE: Oh, uh, oh yeah, of course. No no no, um, it's okay, Frances. See, so the key was in the door and um, here's what we're gonna do. We're all going to get behind the bed. This room's really big, so when the zoms come at us, we'll then be able to circle around and lock them all in.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: The house isn't in the best structural condition. There are big cracks in the walls, and that creaking probably means the floor is compromised. If any more bodies start stomping in here -

[zombies growl]

PETER LYNNE: See, there are the zoms and they're... coming straight over the bed, so run for the - ! No, no, no! [shouts]

[floor collapses, glass shatters, PETER and FRANCES cough]

AMELIA SPENS: Peter, Five? What happened?

FRANCES DEMSPEY: The floor gave way under the bed! [coughs] The zoms were too much weight. It just smashed down through the house, took the zoms with it.

[house creaks]

PETER LYNNE: This house is definitely unstable. Yep, uh, sounds like the whole place is coming down.

AMELIA SPENS: If you follow the corridor outside the bedroom, you'll find stairs. Take them down to the basement. It's a reinforced garage, should remain intact if the house collapses. Plus, it's where that vault is. Hurry up, you don't have long to grab those charts, and they're absolutely vital.

PETER LYNNE: Oh, also um, there's a horde of zombies chasing us. Come on, run!

~

[zombies moan, house creaks]

PETER LYNNE: Yep, there's the stairs, Five. Straight down, down you go.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: The chandeliers overhead are really shaking. Five, look out!

[chandelier falls, glass shatters]

PETER LYNNE: [laughs] That was close! Chandelier smashed right through the stairs. Could have done without the glass shards in my face, to be perfectly honest. Um, edge around the hole it's left in the stairs. [house creaks, zombies moan] Oh, fantastic. Amelia, we just passed the ground floor and I can hear more zombies barging into the house. So that'll be the horde from outside, attracted to all the noise.

AMELIA SPENS: Just keep following the stairs down. There are exits in the basement, but you have to reach the vault first. Run!

~

PETER LYNNE: Yep, yep, yep. Five, close the door, close the door! [door slams shut] Oh, good. Amelia, we've made it. We're in the basement garage, and the stairwell’s collapsed behind us. Ooh, this is a huge concrete car park. There's tons of fancy cars. There's Bentleys, BMWs... a Model T? All right, just, could you give me a minute, Five? I've just got to pick some chandelier out of my face and eyes.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: That's amazing. Your wounds, the way they're healing. Enhanced cell regeneration? The scientists on Dearg talked about it. [gasps] This is what Van Ark did to you!

PETER LYNNE: Yes, it is. Not really looking forward to meeting him again. Rather pull my kidneys out, honestly. But Janine is not leaving me behind this time. I just got her back and I won't lose her again.

FRANCES DEMSPEY: Dearg was his, you know. I was trapped there for ages. If you're going to a Van Ark lab, I can help. And honestly, I can't stay in Abel. It's funny, when we got security fixed at Dearg, first place I wanted to see was where Alice lived. But being there... a lot of older runners, they look at me, they see her. It's hard.

That's why I really came today. I needed to get out. And I guess I started to feel... if I was going to be her ghost, I might as well run, like she did. I don't want to be a ghost, Peter, and I don't want to go back to Dearg. I want to see the world, find out where I fit in.

AMELIA SPENS: People, you should get moving. That wasn't the only staircase leading to the basement.

PETER LYNNE: Over there, Five, look. It's built into the concrete wall, huge round metal door. That looks like a vault to me. Come on, run!

~

PETER LYNNE: Amelia, we're at the vault door. Here's the C-4. Do the honors, Five. [explosion] [coughs] Okay. Okay, right. Uh, vault is a big gray room with shelves, lots of shelves. Uh, model yachts, dusty piles of... ooh, gold. Five, Frances, look for those charts.

[paper rustles]

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Hey look, found a massive file on a shelf titled Inventory. It's an index of Brewer’s deals and trade contacts. There's a whole chapter on Tunisia.

PETER LYNNE: [laughs] Gotcha! There's tons of nautical charts on this desk under the sextant. [dragging footsteps] Uh, what was that sound? Five, could you go and check behind the shelf of canned food? [zombie groans] Oh, good. Hello! Amelia, we've found Brewer. Looks like he locked himself in here after he'd been bitten, entombed with his wealth like a rubbish pharaoh.

[laughs] Oh good, we've also got a zombie wife and two zombie children in the shadows. Welcome, everyone. He's taken his whole family down with him. [more zombies growl] And that is going to be the rest of the zombies in the garage. So Five, Frances, we're gonna move towards the door. Need an exit now, Amelia.

AMELIA SPENS: There's a ramp on the west end of the car park, leads up to the surface. The shutters open from inside. Hurry, get the charts to safety, run!

~

PETER LYNNE: Okay Five, Frances, I think we've lost the zoms. Street looks clear behind us.

AMELIA SPENS: Well, I'd call that a success. Five even kept the Carthaginian pot. Now we've got the charts, I can have people heading to Tunisia in days.

PETER LYNNE: Janine's finalized the team. It's her, me, Five, Sam, Maxine, and uh, computer expert. Look, I-I am sorry Frances, uh, but honestly, you are safer here. We're going a long way from home, and trust me, Van Ark isn't to be taken lightly.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Wait a second, look at this. The folder I took, it's full of photos, Brewer logging artifacts he traded. Look at this Roman mosaic from Tunisia, the symbol in the corner.

PETER LYNNE: That is the endless circle from Mor Island.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: That's not all. Brewer's notes say he sold the mosaic to a military base code-named Red Scorpion in Tunisia before Z-Day. He says the commander of the Red Scorpion base scared him, told him not to record any names. Whatever that place is, it's definitely connected to the fungus, and they've known about it since way before we have.

~

[phantom-le6]

Film Review - Justice League vs The Fatal Five

Hello all, and welcome to my first review on Tumblr in the wake of Facebook scrapping its Notes functionality, thereby forcing me to shift platforms (a practice I hope I won’t have to keep repeating).  To kick off my use of this new posting platform, I’m reviewing one of the two new films I got for Christmas, or rather the two films that are totally new to my collection; the other films I got were better copies of films I already own.  Anyway, we’re taking another dip into the world of DC Comics direct-to-home release animation with a look at Justice League vs The Fatal Five.

Before we get in the review itself, however, quick bit of house-keeping for anyone who hasn’t read one of my reviews before. The structure of my reviews is intro paragraph or two, a plot summary for anyone who has seen the film before and wants to refresh their memory, then the review itself.  The plot and the review are both clearly labelled, so to avoid spoilers just scroll past the section headed as ‘plot’ to the one labelled ‘review’.  Got all that? Ok, then here we go… 

Plot (adapted from Wikipedia):

In the 31st century, Mano, Tharok and Persuader of the Fatal Five attack the Legion of Super-Heroes' headquarters for their time sphere. Star Boy, Saturn Girl and Brainiac 5 try to keep them back but fail. Just as the villains activate the sphere, Star Boy leaps at them and is taken along. Arriving in the 21st century above Earth, Star Boy triggers a boobytrap Brainiac 5 programmed, trapping the villains inside the sphere in a stasis field. Star Boy comes down in Gotham City while the sphere ends up in Metropolis. Star Boy discovers his supply of medicine, needed to stabilize his mind, was destroyed in his rough landing. As his medicine doesn't exist yet, Star Boy's increasingly erratic behaviour gets him apprehended by Batman and taken to Arkham Asylum. The stasis-locked time machine is picked up by Superman and brought to the Justice League's headquarters for analysis. 

Ten months later, Jessica Cruz is struggling with the trauma of her near-death by a murderer who killed her friends, making her afraid to leave her apartment. To add to her anxiety, she has been chosen by a Green Lantern power ring and Wonder Woman keeps trying to recruit her into the Justice League. In Gotham, Miss Martian is trying to prove herself to Batman for membership in the League, but her inexperience works against her good intentions. While trying to unlock the secret of the strange sphere, Mister Terrific accidentally brings down the stasis field, freeing its occupants. Superman and Mister Terrific fight them, but Superman is wounded by Persuader's axe and the villains escape.

 Star Boy's memory is jogged by a news report of the fight, and he breaks out of Arkham. The Justice League members compare notes about these mysterious assailants and discover they are time travellers; and from Star Boy's words, Batman deduces that they are after Jessica. When the three villains attack Jessica, Star Boy comes to her rescue, followed by Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Mister Terrific, and Miss Martian, who force them into flight after a hard struggle. In the aftermath, Star Boy and Jessica form a close friendship based on the fact that both of them are struggling with their mental health.

To find out more about their guests from the future, Batman instructs Miss Martian to telepathically link them (Batman, Miss Martian and Jessica) with Star Boy's memories, thus learning about the Legion. They witness a battle between the Legion and the Fatal Five, which ended with the capture of Mano's lover Emerald Empress and Validus; as there was no prison that could hold them in the 31st century, the Legion took them to Oa in the 21st century. They also learn that if Star Boy misses more than two doses of his medication, it will cease to work and prevent him being in the Legion. 

Upon their awakening, the League receives an ultimatum from Mano: Surrender Jessica or all American cities will be destroyed by bombs created by Tharok. The first bombings start in Metropolis, forcing the Justice League to move out. Left behind with Star Boy in the Watchtower, Jessica is contacted by Tharok through her ring, forcing her to surrender herself to the Five and enable them entry to Oa's prison cells. Despite interference by Kilowog and Salaak, Emerald Empress and Validus are freed, and when Jessica fights back, Persuader cleaves her ring in two. Afterwards, Emerald Empress has her Emerald Eye of Ekron steal the energy of the Central Power Battery, and the Five return to Earth to recover the time sphere. 

In the meantime, Star Boy discovers Jessica's absence and informs the League. The heroes proceed to the time machine's location, a secret US military base, where the Fatal Five force them into battle. Emerald Empress subdues the Justice League and then initiates her master plan to use the Lantern's power to destroy Earth's sun, wipe out humanity, and thus prevent the formation of the Legion in their time. On Oa, Jessica recovers her faith and determination, and by reciting the Green Lantern oath, she reassembles her power ring. Brought back to her apartment by the ring, Jessica flies to the base and prevents the Fatal Five from escaping back to their own era by bringing the whole base down upon them, killing the supervillains. 

Superman, Jessica and Star Boy race after the Eye, but are too late to prevent it from plunging into the sun. As the star cracks apart, Star Boy sacrifices himself by lowering himself into the sun's core and using his powers to reverse the fracturing. In the final scene as the Justice League members commemorate Star Boy's heroism, they are joined by the Legion who have come from the future to honour their fallen comrade. Batman also grants Miss Martian admission into the League for her bravery.

Review:

This film is basically an original story not adapted from anything in particular, and although it is done in the style of the DC Animated Universe that originally revolved around the Batman, Superman and Justice League animated shows of the 1990’s and 2000’s, it is apparently meant to be a stand-alone narrative.  Cast-wise, we get back the like of Kevin Conroy, George Newbern and Susan Eisenberg to reprise their roles as the DC Trinity (Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman) from the Justice League animated series, and well-known voice actors like Kevin Michael Richardson and Tara Strong also feature in this production. 

In terms of character, we’re certainly getting a bit of a different Justice League line-up while also getting DC’s future team the Legion of Superheroes worked into the mix, primarily through the character of Star Boy and the film’s antagonists the Fatal Five.  In terms of the League itself, the customary League core that is the DC Trinity is in place, but then we have no Flash, Miss Martian in place of the better-known Martian Manhunter, and Mr Terrific to add to the team’s diversity in place of using Cyborg.  Finally, we have Jessica Cruz as the team’s Green Lantern, and it’s the use of her and Star Boy in this film that makes this film stand out from any other DC films, because both of these heroes are neurodiverse. 

As fans of more modern DC comics stories, or anyone who has looked into this film’s behind-the-scenes extras, will know, Star Boy is a schizophrenic, but by the 31st century there is medication to manage the behaviours that this form of neurodiversity can cause, so it’s not an uncommon idea among DC’s writers to show Star Boy getting trapped in our time without this medication.  During the Justice League era between Infinity Crisis and Final Crisis (not long before DC did its new 52 reboot and decided to stick to buying pre-2000 Marvel lore), the comics did in fact do this as part of the Legion coming back in time to bring back Wally West, the then-Flash who had become stuck in the Speed Force with his wife and children during the Infinity Crisis. 

By the same token, Jessica Cruz is a Green Lantern who has crippling anxiety following a traumatic event, so she’s having to use a lot of willpower to overcome that anxiety and function like anyone else.  Given that Green Lanterns are chosen based on their ability to overcome great fear, not only does it make a lot of sense for someone battling anxiety to be chosen as a Green Lantern, but it also very effectively demonstrates a much more positive and healthier take on mental illness in the world of superheroes. Granted, DC isn’t being particularly original in this regard; Iron Man’s alcoholism in the comics and his PTSD in the MCU show that Marvel has at least one heroic character that they’ve been willing to showcase as a positive example of what people can do despite being mentally different to others.  Sadly, neither company has yet done a good, positive, accurate take on autism yet, but then if they did, I’d have less fodder for my novel writing. 

Putting two neurodiverse heroes at the core of this film really makes it a great one to watch just because for once it means the neurodiverse characters aren’t the stereotypical crazed villain types and the idiotic stereotypes that stem from such misuse of the mentally divergent in fiction get combatted a little.  Granted, it would have been nicer if DC and WB could have demonstrated this kind of pro-mental health attitude in its live-action film wing by not making the Joker solo film and doing something more akin to this film in its place. There is no doubt in my mind that DC and WB need to put more of the staff behind their animated films on DCEU projects if it ever hopes to seriously compete with the MCU. 

Otherwise, the film is largely just a good diversion; well-animated, well-performed, but not a huge level of plot depth despite putting two neurodiverse characters front and centre on the side of the heroes. Hopefully going forward DC and WB can address that on some future film, either animated or live-action.  For now, I’m going to content myself by handing down a score of 9 out of 10.

[nonhoration]

I wanted to create a quick list of my favourite media this year, but couldn't get the post to format nicely! So I'm just going to make lists and then link to my 2020 rating sheet which has all the reviews and nice pictures.

Books

I read a lot of books in 2020, so this is the hardest list to make. I made a New Year's resolution to read for an hour every day, and then I got pandemic unemployed... So this is the hardest to narrow down top 10.

10. Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice

Now, I read this pre-pandemic (my sister read it in April and it really hits differently now lol) and thought it was an interesting isolated post-apocalyptic story.

9. Penance by Kanae Minato

A group of children witness their friend’s murder and the friend’s mother orders them to name the killer before the statute of limitations is up. Girlboss the novel.

8. Where the Wild Ladies Are by Matsuda Aoko

This is a short story collection of modernized retellings of Japanese myths and I thought they were really fun. One is from the POV of a tree who has been assigned folkloric powers, and one is the story of a bald woman ghost who becomes a punk and is obsessed with Mad Max Fury Road.

7. The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

The haunted house segment in this absolutely slaps and this book also has the best final girl sequence I have ever read.

6. The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins

Trigger warning for literally everything but this book was amazing. I can't believe how many times you would get to a new part and find out "oh, that other part is worse now".

5. Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand

This is basically Buffy the Vampire Slayer but good. It takes a little while to get going but the ending was worth it.

4. Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace

I read this because it was hyped up on Tumblr and wasn't really expecting much, but this is absolutely worth the hype. Great story and world building.

3. A Mind Spread Out On The Ground by Alicia Elliott

This essay collection is by a Haudenosaunee woman about her experiences in both Canada and the United States. The way these essays are put together and the ideas woven together were sometimes really unexpected.

2. The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis

This is kind of a sci-fi western about a group of girls who escape a "welcome house" after one of them accidentally kills a client. The world is imaginative, the characters are great (and treated sympathetically when you wouldn't expect it).

1. This Is How You Lose The Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar

This is definitely not for everyone (epistolary f/f enemies to lovers sci-fi co-written by a poet) but I absolutely loved it.

Games

I didn't play quite as many games as I read books, but still a decent amount. I played all of these on either PC or PS4.

10. 11.45 A Vivid Life (PC)

This is a very short game where you dig out parts of your own body and decide the story about them. Gross sounds and sad stories, but I thought the idea was really neat.

9. Who Killed My Father Academy! (PC)

This game is kind of silly but I loved the concept (a character contacts you-the-player to explore all paths and get her to one where she can identify her father’s killer and survive) and the writing was punchy and fun.

8. Clarevoyance (PC)

This game was made to depict the myths and legends of the Acadian municipality of Clare in Nova Scotia. It was absolutely surreal to hear Acadian French in a game, and you could tell how much love went into making it.

7. Beyond Blue (PS4)

A game where you play as a diver and swim around scanning fish. Has some informative videos and an environmental message. Exploring the main character's sub as it changes over the course of the game was cool.

6. Assassin's Creed III (PS4)

This game is suffering from ridiculous amounts of feature creep and the modern-day story is stupid but Connor is my favourite assassin so far and I was really surprised at the relative nuance that it used to look at the American Revolution. The ending to Connor's story punched me in the face.

5. Buried Stars (PS4)

I was expecting this to be a murdergame a la Zero Escape, but it was more of a whodunit about Kpop stars. I was really surprised how much I liked this one.

4. Pendula Swing (PC)

This is a point and click game about a retired adventurer who has to venture off her isolated island and into the city when her magical axe is stolen. 1920s fantasy creature fusion.

3. Unavowed (PC)

An urban fantasy point and click from the dev of the Blackwell series. This is an extremely ambitious game and it didn't always hit the mark, but when it does, it's so good. Fun stories and characters, and multiple ways to solve the puzzles.

2. Gravity Rush 2 (PS4)

Improvement in every way over the first game - bigger area to explore, cool new powers, fun characters. Hurtling all over the place is so much fun.

1. Donut County (PS4)

This is a cute, stylish, reverse-Katamari game about gentrification. Simple and fun to play.

Movies

I watched 3 movies this year apparently and rated them all 4 stars lol, so Birds of Prey, Ready or Not and Happy Death Day were good.

TV

I watched a few shows, but then I got caught up in The Princess Weiyoung and it is very long so I watched a lot of TV but not many shows.

5. Firefly

I loved this show in University but it gets worse every time I watch it. Astoundingly tone-deaf about literally every issue.

4. Galavant

A lot of the jokes especially in the first season are a bit cringy now but the music still slaps.

3. Re:Mind

This show is very slow, absolutely baffling as a girl band vehicle and occasionally insulting in its themes but it is also NUTS at the end and I wish everyone would watch it so I can scream incoherently at them about the finale.

2. The Good Place

I am watching the second season now but I really enjoyed the first despite basically having already seen the entire show in gif format.

1. Miss Sherlock

Is the Stella Maris plotline stupid? Yes. Am I suing HBO Asia for emotional damage after the scene on the rooftop? Also yes.

[zachnovak]

So I don’t normally log onto this account much so I haven’t seen any of the many messages and such I’ve been getting on recent posts concern some dumb drama. In a nut shell, some adults who act more like immature children from the Mean Girls universe love to make crap up and I was the current target as I.... was breathing? I dunno. Apparently I’m the anti christ or something and they haven’t gotten over that their attempts to cancel me and even cause me to commit acts of self harm with continued targeted harassment and involving me in drama I know nothing about have all failed. Frankly, it’s because I literally don’t give a shit. I come to tumblr to RP, make my posts, and then hop on my PS4, switch, class work, gym time whatever. I don’t care about drama or what’s going on in the RPC as I know it’s a shot show filled with drama and people trying gossip girl type ‘takedowns’ of others just for breathing in when they were suppose to breathe out.

Because of that crap I literally just sign on to in the RPs I’m in then close the tumble tab. I do not have a personal, I do not check out any tags other than for the face claims I use to get pics or gifs, and I go out of my way NOT to know anyone’s personal blogs or their aliases. If we talk on discord great, if not, great as well. I do occasionally make my own group and put my current one on hiatus as the recent drama turned me off but going to reopen it soon. I’ve just been part of a couple of groups since and currently. However, since some people are interested in my past here because of the nonsense, here we go.

I was on an RP called alegendreborn which was one of my first RPs on tumblr. It seemed great and welcoming. I picked one of their skeleton canons and was happy to be there. I got along with people but didn’t know how to reblog properly as I was new to tumblr and three way posts were extreme confusing. Apparently my inability to properly reblog them pissed off some of the members. Because of that I only really talked to one person in the RP who helped me learn how to reblog correctly. Also, my character had a pre-established connection to another as a ‘best friend’ so we had a couple of threads. However, I quickly noticed the min of that character could go 3 weeks to months without posting but pass all activity checks and would focus on bubble RPing with the same three muns. When this person ignored our thread for weeks I sent them three messages four days apart each that reminded them of the thread which I was told they’d post. On the last message I told this person I was ending our thread and requesting that staff change my characters group in an event they were running as they put our characters in the same group and I no longer trusted this person to post in a timely manner to me. I was quickly ‘invited to leave’ and had multiple members message me on Skype to basically tell me I was shit and an awful person for trying to get a reply I’d been waiting 2 months to get. So I left and never looked back.

I later joined an RP called warofthenewage-rpg which again seemed friendly but much more basic lore wise than the previous RP. I quickly noticed a character who was almost EXACTLY like a skeleton canon I had on an RP I made on a jcink forums RP two years before. I messaged the player of that character asking if he knew of my RP he said he did but before I could presue anything he instantly wanted to plot my character with his. I did message the main about it but was later told they ‘never got it’. We plotted our character as a couple as the chemistry they were displaying in our first few threads was very apparent and we loved posting together and could pop out paragraphs of posts minutes after the other just posted. Eventually, that min begun to became very controlling of how and what I was posting. If my character had a thought of his that wasn’t postive or lovey, he’d berate the hell out of me on Skype and threaten to end our plot. Apparently he had also been complaining the his friends in the RP and told them I posted ‘too many actions’ and that it made him feel forced to react in specific ways. That telephoned to other members and morphed into I was forcing him to do exactly what I told him to post and poweplaying/god modding him. Now I come from forum RPs and there to post A LOT and you progress the thread with each post. This is done so you’re not 30 posts in and you’re characters are still at the door that one of them knocked on in the very first post.

Eventually, most members begun to refuse to speak to me because of the complaining he did which they’d snowball into some out of this world epic drama. The staff even begun to be hostile, use the gossip blog to belittle my character, and would pretend not to receive my applications when I tried for additional characters or my wanted ads but use the info to create a very similar character or ‘update’ an existing one. Well, about 2 months of members ignoring me or belittling me followed, staff made it worse and the mun I had a plot with decided to when not telling me I suck and no one liked me, he’d say we still had our plot but then took my character out of the equation and made another character take his place. Naturally I was upset as I had been through months of harassment, belittling, and treated like crap by everyone in the RP because of this guy only to in the end be thrown away. I resolved to move my character on. I only spoke to him and two other people in the RP and one of them had a character that was insanely into my character. However, the guy I had the plot with was insanely sexually attracted to the face claim so when my character and this new one had threads, he tried to tell the RP and even the other mun that I was forcing them into posting and into smutting which was engaged by the other person in one of our threads. I was harassed by that guy for days until I dropped that plot and basically used a ‘reset’ option for my character. However, that pissed off the guy and I again was relentlessly attacked by him on Skype. After months of the members ignoring me for (to my knowledge, no reason as I never spoke with 98% of the RP) or insulting me and out right telling me to kill myself, an attempt was made and I was effectively gone for almost two months for recovery.

Almost a year later I came back and begun to remake my old jcink RP here on tumblr. It took me about 5 months to do and I dug up codes from codepen and codrops to use in the theme. I also copied the aesthetic from the jcink RP’s theme and brought it over. The RP was very popular and seen as one of the best designed and story driven ‘mutant’ type RPs around. However, an admin from another RP became very bitter at it and me. This admin ran an RPH and had their own RP in the same genre in the past. They were revamping it and noticed our RPs had a similar aesthetic, apparently monchromatic themes AKA a them that uses shades of white, grey, and black for most of its coloring was only allowed to be used by that admin. The admin attacked my RP and claimed I had stolen their theme and coding and even went so far as going into my coding and pasting selective bits of it. I was asleep when she made the original post and woke up to dozens of anon messages ranging from calling me a thief to demanding I kill myself. All my members were harassed in the same way and she had contacted all the RPHs I had asked for a shoutout or was on their spotlights of to ‘inform them’ and then openly attack them if they didn’t remove any mention of my RP and signal boost her post. She even went so far as to harass and threaten RPs I was on, that I was one, or that had a character that sounded anything like any of mine. I even had an affiliation thing started but many of those I had been added to messaged me that they were being harassed and I told them to pretend they didn’t know what was going on. I’d take the hit for them and spare them farther harassment and leave their RPs if they wanted as I was on most of them.

During this time I was recovering from everything I was being slammed with be anons and the RPs previously mentioned going off as well in some pity attempt to get revenge for... not being liked on their RPs three and two years previously? I also was collecting evidence that many of the codes this RPH claimed she made and in stole were in fact on codrops and codepen. A good amount I made myself but a large chunk were from these resource sites with some heavy edits so they’d work better on tumblr. I even had evidence that many of her own coding templates had codes directly from these sites and others with no credit given to them and her claiming she created all the coding on her own. I submitted it to many RPHs and many of them saw the error and how this person was very toxic in the community and was making more drama than helping it. Some ignored it outright as she was popular and I was just a nobody. It took 3 years to recover from it in terms of my reputation and I again shut down my RP for a bit as I had made another attempt on my own life as that person and her friends continued to harass me and attack me on their personal or RPH accounts.

The last bit of drama came when I joined an RP called Corinth Bay. At first there wasn’t any and I had long since adopted my, sign on just to post and then bounce method of being on an RP. I eventually got to know one member named Shane. @inthenamexofthemoon I think we became pretty good friends as we talked everyday for basically the whole day. We had plots, enjoyed posting, and just chatting. I noticed that RP was heavily cliquey and wasn’t aware that Shane was a part of the admin’s clique. This group had multiple issues with member complaining their characters were being ignored and people were bubble RPing with the same people over and over. I myself had to constantly ask people if they wanted to plot or just post and even the main had to post up announcement about ignoring starters to make closed ones and expanding who they post with. I also had questions on much of the lore of the RP as other than the origins of each supernatural species, the lore was very generic and vague. I asked around and got a lot of different opinions on what could or couldn’t be done by each species and just went with what was common among them all. Shane himself helped me a bit and I went with his suggestions which apparently were completely wrong as the staff had to talk to me on ‘breaking lore’.

After that, I expressed openly how I felt the staff didn’t like me and my concern that given how cliquey the place was, if the staff didn’t like me I’d probably be ‘exiled’ from the group as a whole AKA no one would post or talk to me. Which did happen with the exception of Shane. Others I had spoken to had long left and told me stories of the awfulness of some of the members and staff. So I begun working on an RP of the same genre that I had half finished years before. Shane was kept in the loop every step of the way and pinned and loved all the lore I showed him which I did to ensure it was both in-depth and easy to follow but also wasn’t ‘bad’ IE, offensive if certain things are mentioned. He loved it and ensured me it was great and pinned everything I showed him so he’d reference it when making his characters. Eventually I worked on it so much that I kept only the bare minimum activity requirements for Corinth Bay but obeyed the rules of activity to the letter. However, the staff ultimately removed me despite even admitting that they knew I still had a couple of days before failing the activity check and had actually ‘not counted’ a couple of posts I made for an event going on as I should have replied to starters for it first but it wasn’t a requirement. Also they used a blog to post up starters as many RPs like to do now only they were also slow to reblog them and never used the starter tags so they’d get buried quickly on the dash with everyone posting picture posts and what not.

Ultimately I gave up on that RP, didn’t need the toxic environment and finished mine. Shane got very quiet though and didn’t reply to my discord messages for a couple of days. When he did he suddenly got a bit hostile and everything in my RP WAS ‘problematic’ and because of that he wouldn’t be joining. I had no idea what he meant as before he said it was perfect and awesome so I asked what he meant specifically. Eveutally he told me a little of what he meant. Apparently there was racism as In the witch’s page mentioning that voodoo and other cultural magical/practices was a form of magic some witches practiced was both racist and cultural appropriation. Although voodoo was indeed a magical/belief practice used as a magical practice I decided to just remove its mention in the end. He also didn’t like that in the lore, there were female characters that were ‘bad’ and that was sexist. This I choose not to change as it’s sexist to say women can’t be villains and felt as just an excuse. Especially since my lore included many powerful women, men, and gender less entities that were villains, heroes, and neutral parties.

Eventually after opening, I decided to message the people I had previous posted with telling them the RP was ready and I’d love for them to check it out. Those from Corinth Bay I messaged were either aware I was making one and wanted to see it or were people Shane and I hinted to it being made and they had at least a slight interest in it. Admittedly, I also messaged blogs that came on the ‘recommended blogs’ part of the dash. Only those that were inactive according to the last few IC posts that were showing in their blogs. I know this gets a mixed reaction from some as some view it as a horrible thing even if the blogs are inactive but many MANY people also appriecate it and the fact that someone read their blog and was very impressed with their writing ability and character. I myself receive many of these messages on my retired blogs and don’t see an issue with it myself. Even if I did I’d just block the blog that sent it and never think of them again like a normal person.

One of the members I DIDN’T even know who they were apparently didn’t like this and decided to make drama over it. To this day I don’t know who this person even is or was when I was on that RP and still don’t as everyone drops and makes new characters when bored on there. Shane went fully 180 on me and turned vile and petty which is clearly to save face with the people on that RP. He knows me from all our talks and that the bullshit he spreads is itself false but still was a bit of a pity bitch for a while. Apparently the friend @stephwuzhere @loganlcrmans of the admin that tried to cancel me also wanted to rehash that old drama but was quickly shut down. I had no idea who this person even was at first as again, I don’t follow any tags and go out of my way to avoid personal blogs and ones like RPH, RPT, and whatever unless just asking for a quick shoutout to my RP. I had no idea that this person was also very toxic and involved in targeted harassment, grooming, and identity theft of various people in the RPC just because she didn’t like them at the moment.

I have decided to stay away from this shit storm despite some of these people still trying to drag me into it even though I literally haven’t thought about them for months and barely even remember they exist. I’ll be reopening my RP soon and hope that these people who live their privlenged lives will eventually get over themselves and do some growing up. I say their are privileged because you must be if you can harp on drama for months and keep dragging someone you have no connection or knowledge of. The rest of us, adults, have things like work, bills, school, friends, and trying to destress from watching our bank account get more and more empty to care about pity immature online drama. Especially when it’s bullshit like ‘he dared to remind me he exists’. Please, grow up and do better people. There is life outside of the internet and when you get too old to be in the RPC which is apparently a thing now, you’ll see just how stupid you were to make so much drama for no reason other than being pity, stupid, immature, brats.

[justforbooks]

How to practice social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic

Not everyone can work from home or cease traveling. Here’s what you can do when circumstance forces you to be out and about during the COVID-19 outbreak.

In theory, never leaving home during the coronavirus pandemic is the most effective means of prevention. It reduces your chance of infection and quickly contains the disease’s spread. A recent study in Science found, for example, that this kind of distancing is even better than widespread travel bans or restrictions.

In practice, however, it’s not always possible to hole up. Your circumstances may not afford you the luxury of working from home or avoiding public transit. And sometimes life happens and you just need to get on a plane.

The good news is that tamping down the coronavirus isn’t an all-or-nothing game. There are still many ways you can practice responsible social distancing even when you have to be out and about in the world. In addition to the basics—don’t touch your face, and wash your hands often with soap and water for 20 seconds—here are some other tips, collected from half a dozen experts, to follow in different areas of your life.

The bottom line: don’t stress too much. It’s equally important to “keep some sense of sanity,” says Moses Turkle Bility, an assistant professor of infectious diseases and microbiology at the University of Pittsburgh: “Your mental health and well-being affect your immune system.” Do what you can and develop habits you can stick to, but don’t panic if you can’t do everything.

Here's what you should do when you...

take public transit

take flights or long-haul bus and train rides

are sick

need food

work out

leave and come back home

have kids

What to do when you take public transit

Stagger commute times. If you can’t drive or walk where you need to go, consider commuting by public transit during off-peak hours. Spreading out commute times, even by a small amount, can help reduce transmission risk from overcrowded subways and buses, says Julie McMurry, an assistant professor in the College of Public Health at Oregon State University, who created the popular Flatten the Curve web page with tips to contain Covid-19.

Avoid surfaces. While in transit, avoid touching poles and handles. Some recent research in a pre-print paper suggests that the virus can survive on hard surfaces for up to three days, although there is still no evidence that it is transmitted in this way. You can also wear gloves or create other makeshift barriers to stay protected, but they should be removed as soon as you are back indoors.

What to do when you take flights or long-haul bus and train rides

Monitor the coronavirus stats of your community and destination. With help from the CDC website, educate yourself about places to avoid—up until the minute you board. Information is changing “so quickly, in the matter of hours,” says Lin H. Chen, president of the International Society of Travel Medicine and an associate professor at the Harvard-affiliated Mount Auburn Hospital. It’s also important to check your hometown’s statistics so you know if you could have been exposed to the virus. Reconsider your travel if the risk is high.

Stay six feet away from people (as much as possible). The CDC’s six-feet rule might not be possible if you’re waiting in line to get to your seat, but there’s no need to rush to your boarding-area queue or crowd around a coffee shop.

Wear a makeshift mask (if it gives you peace of mind). It’s still unclear whether wearing a mask in public will reduce a healthy person’s risk of contracting coronavirus, says Chen, but the extra protection doesn’t hurt. The caveat is if you’re not used to masks, you might fidget with it and thereby break a cardinal rule of coronavirus prevention: don’t touch your face.

Take a shower after you arrive. When you get to your destination, take a warm soap-and-water shower before interacting with people or lounging around too long in common spaces. “Soap and water is one of the best disinfectants,” says Bility. A bath is more comprehensive than hand-washing when you’ve been in contact with a lot of different surfaces. Avoid rewearing your travel clothes again until you’ve washed them.

What to do when you are sick

Stay at home. If you are sick (with something other than the coronavirus), reconsider whether you need to be out and about. The coronavirus is most threatening and more likely to result in complications when contracted along with another disease, says Fenyong Liu, a professor of virology at the University of California, Berkeley. With a weaker immune system, you will be more vulnerable. Exposing others to whatever you have, especially if they are immunocompromised, will make them more susceptible as well.

Wear a makeshift mask. But for essential trips, such as to go to the doctor, wear a mask or other makeshift barrier across your nose and mouth to protect others. Even a scarf or other cloth is better than nothing for reducing the spray of droplets when you cough or sneeze. Of course, the tighter the barrier the better, says McMurry. Do not, however, hoard surgical masks, which need to be reserved for front-line health-care responders. “That backfires for everyone,” McMurry says.

Call an ambulance. If you suspect you have coronavirus, call for an ambulance instead, says Liu. Traveling on public transit puts fellow passengers at too much risk. You could also contract another infection.

What to do when you need food

Get it delivered. Always opt for grocery or restaurant delivery if you have access to those services. It will reduce the flow of people circulating in-store and the chance of community spread. When the food arrives, wait for the delivery person to leave before you pick the package up. (Many delivery apps give you the option of specifying such instructions.) This minimizes delivery workers’—and the community’s—exposure to potential germs as they go from one home to another.

Use self-service checkout. If you have to go to the store, minimize contact with other people.

Decontaminate your packages. Once you’ve received your delivery or bought your food in-store, figure out a decontamination procedure. This might be overkill right now, says McMurry, “but it’s really important that everyone consider this a dry run.” Build the habit for when things get worse.

That means if you have a porch or other outside area where you can safely leave your packages, keep them there to air out for several hours. Again, experts don’t know how long the virus survives on surfaces, so the longer the wait you can afford, the better. Wear gloves or create a makeshift barrier when opening your package, and discard the outer layer. Or simply wash your hands diligently after you’re done handling it.

Wash and disinfect items before storage. After unwrapping the packages, use warm water and soap to scrub any washable items. While no specific studies have shown the effect of water and soap on the novel coronavirus, the combination is known to work against envelope viruses in general, says Bility. The soap damages the envelope and renders the virus ineffective. For other items that can’t be washed, use friction to wipe them down with soap and water or alcohol. The evaporative action of the alcohol inactivates the virus. (The EPA has also published a list of disinfectants that work.)

Opt for cooked over raw foods. Cooking produce is the safest way to guarantee decontamination, says Liu. But diligent washing with    can also be a good defense.

What to do when you work out

Opt for in-home or outside exercises. Forgoing regular exercise can be challenging for mental health, especially during high-stress times such as this one. So consider developing routines that avoid the gym. Gyms are breeding grounds for many types of germs, which could weaken your immune system, but the heavy breathing and confined spaces also heighten the risk of coronavirus spread. Jog outside; do yoga in your bedroom; find in-home, equipment-free alternatives.

Avoid peak hours. If you do need to go to the gym, try to shift your workout schedule. Just as you should avoid peak hours on the subway, staggering workout times can help reduce risk of transmission.

Avoid high-contact equipment. Also avoid gym equipment that requires long periods of handling, like weights, and opt for things that don’t, like treadmills. Disinfect the equipment before and after use, and don’t wipe the sweat from your face with your hands during your workout.

Shower immediately after. A generally good rule regardless, but particularly important for disinfecting your body. You want to minimize the time you spend with potential contaminants on your clothes and skin.

What to do when you leave and come back home

Run errands together and during off-peak hours. Try to get as much done as possible in one fell swoop. “You want to minimize the number of trips, then stay home for as long a period of time as you can,” McMurry says. Also, try to avoid crowds by going to stores and public places early before work or late at night. In general, reduce the amount of time you spend in locations where you don’t know the level of infection, says Bility.

Don’t mix “outside” and “inside” clothes. Every time you get home, change your clothes—and shoes—and wash them as soon as possible. If you have the option, you can also leave coats and other hard-to-wash items outside to disinfect in the sunlight. “This is especially true for people that are in areas of high risk,” McMurry says.

Create a dedicated reentry zone. That staging area for packages is good for humans too: in addition to changing clothes and taking off shoes, use this space to disinfect your phone and keys. Phones, in particular, can be hard to disinfect, so consider putting yours in a thin plastic bag when you leave home. Wipe it down with soap and water or alcohol once you take it back out.

Take a shower after every outing. Of course, jump in the shower right away if you can. Children especially have a tendency to touch their faces, so bathe them with soap and water. If you don’t have time, at a bare minimum wash your and their face and hands, says Lauren Combe, a registered nurse and president of the National Association of School Nurses.

What to do when you have kids

Don't exaggerate or panic. Explain coronavirus in an age-appropriate manner, says Mark Reinecke, a clinical psychologist and director of the Child-Mind Institute. But “maintaining a sense of perspective becomes critically important.” Don't freak out if your kid coughs or dwell for hours on coronavirus coverage. Your kids want to feel secure.

Demonstrate good habits. Teach kids how to cough and sneeze into the crook of their arm and thoroughly wash their face and hands while singing “Happy Birthday” twice, says Combe. If you’re tired of the same song, pick something else easy for kids to remember, like “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” and the ABCs.

Get creative with playdates. If their schools have closed, kids are prone to quickly develop cabin fever and feelings of isolation. Use technology creatively: give them permission to FaceTime or play video games with friends, Reinecke says. Online social activities can help maintain and foster friendships. You can also opt for no-tech solutions like board games and crafts with the family. If you do end up hosting a playdate, keep the group small, make sure the other kids are not sick, and don’t share utensils, says Combe.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[sendin52]

by Denny Hunt for GetWisdom.com

Introduction:

Karl Mollison is a research scientist and psychic medium and has discovered the means through which a tiny percentage of people throughout history have successfully made direct contact with God, Creator of All That Is. With this ability, he has done what any reasonable person in such an unusual and surprising situation would do: ask endless questions! Why is God invisible to us? Why is there rampant evil in the world? Are there dark unseen forces working against us? Why has God not intervened to stop it? Why do good people suffer?

His quest to find the secrets of the Universe led him to real answers for human suffering in the form of a Lightworker Healing Protocol. This protocol is basically a high level prayer to God, for healing; not just any healing, but deep healing from dark spirit infestation, karmic healing from past traumas, and well as emotional and physical healing. The direct contact with God in this case was, and continues to be, in service to healing and not just satisfying curiosity. This fact alone gives some credentials that should be considered seriously before judgment is passed.

Now, it seems, we are about to experience an event being called “disclosure” where allegedly the world’s governments will finally admit to contact with extraterrestrials or the ET’s themselves will make their presence known to humankind.  There are many scenarios and claims about this thing called disclosure.  Karl has asked many questions about this in his channelings with Source Creator.

This is one of them:

QUESTION:

Pres. Ronald Reagan, in a speech to the United Nations to encourage greater cooperation among nations, proposed the idea that if the world were faced with an extraterrestrial invader, we would come together to protect the common interests of humanity. This has been remarked on a number of times as perhaps a telling slip because he has been rumored to have been told there was a large fleet of vessels built by the U.S. military and capable of space travel, so he was aware of the long-standing collaboration of the U.S. government with extraterrestrials. Photos of his typed speech text show this comment was crossed out, which has been attributed to someone in his inner circle editing the speech beforehand, but he rewrote the remark by hand just prior to giving the speech and then delivered it in public. Was this done at the behest of the Extraterrestrial Alliance to test the waters about making disclosure of an extraterrestrial agenda, or was it perhaps divine inspiration to encourage planting a seed about the extraterrestrial presence being a reality?

ANSWER:

“Writers have disclosed that Reagan was told about the Secret Space Program, that creation of many spacecraft developed with the cooperation of the presumed benevolent extraterrestrials was a reality, and that the purpose was for protection of the planet from hostile alien invaders that could become a serious problem. So Reagan was primed with the party line, so to speak, that this Secret Space Program, which you know to be truly the Mercenary Army Program, was not only a helpful adjunct but critical to the future of the world, so he took this to heart and felt quite strongly that it would benefit the world to truly be aware of this. That was the reason for its inclusion in the text of the speech to begin with, as it was a divine suggestion to have this stated openly in order to make people aware, finally, of the reality of the extraterrestrial presence in the world.

So the fact he mentioned this, was not a desire of the Extraterrestrial Alliance at that point in time to make people aware that a Secret Space Program existed, and was far advanced, because they knew it would raise too many uncomfortable questions. This was a divine inspiration for him to include this comment because it was capitalizing on his humanitarian desire for world peace, and the fact that it was edited out was truly an attempt to avoid disclosing, even through inference, top secret information. The impulse for him to override this normal crosscheck to avoid a mistake was divine and the purpose, as you saw intuitively, was to instill the idea of an extraterrestrial presence in people’s thinking. Everyone who heard his speech and everyone who hears a replay of his speech today, is given a divine impulse to pay attention to its true meaning—that there is an extraterrestrial presence, the extraterrestrials are real, they are here, and it is a threat to the world that warrants the world coming together with a common purpose and goal of seeing these interlopers be removed.”

I like to use deductive logic or the law enforcement approach when they are investigating a crime; it is a method of inquiry where I consider motive, means and opportunity. It doesn’t always give me the right answer, but I can sometimes save myself some false moves along the way and also end up with the most plausible answer.

Let’s look at some of the more popular disclosure narratives and see what we come up with.

1) This version of disclosure deals with the possibility that the world’s governments, one or more of them, will finally admit that there are ET’s and they know about them and have interacted with them and obtained technologies. Disclosure will result in the dissemination of free energy technologies with the result being that the state will no longer be able to control the population in terms of labor slavery, taxation, monetary controls, and victimless crimes, etc.  It is kind of utopian speculation about what humans would do if they had free energy and transportation devices that unshackled them from the fascist oligarchs that run the world. A new type of technological freedom will spread all over the world. Manipulative governments and multi-national corporations would subside into the past and become irrelevant. Sober anarchism with the credo - do no harm would rise to the top like cream. In some versions, some form of dimensional ascension would follow.

2) In this disclosure narrative the claim is that ET’s are all benevolent and if they weren’t, they would’ve already eliminated humans so they could occupy earth unhindered.  Perhaps they are just respecting our free will while we work out the kinks. Enjoying the hapless humans as if it were a spectator sport. Rooting for them from the sidelines. Except if we get too far off, like using nukes, they would step in for more direct guidance. They are going to show up because the cabal has gone too far with their enslavement plans or population reduction plans and their disrespect for nature.  When they present themselves, they will let us come to our senses and accept their guidance and assistance. In some versions, some form of dimensional ascension would follow.

3) There are bad ET’s, good ET’s and some ambivalent/observer ET’s and they are all part of what some claim is this large collection of ET races that occupy this part of the galaxy and they are going to make themselves known to humans on earth due to a variety of factors depending on the version within this category of disclosure.  Then the onus is on humans collectively to decide how to navigate within this mass of competing agendas where some ET’s want us dead, some want to exploit us, some want to trade with us and some want to help us. Most of these narratives are quite complex because obviously there are factions of humans who will align with different factions of ET’s and then there might be a political free-for-all where the spiritual aspect is also in play and potentially influencing outcomes. Many proponents of narratives within this category are channelers and/or contactees who portray themselves as academic or providers of lofty and higher-level spiritual concepts. They often fancy themselves as teachers or those in possession of esoteric knowledge. In fact, entire religions and cults are often found within this category of disclosure explanations.

4) There are basically some good ET’s and then there are some bad ET’s and they are both going to appear in some fashion and for some good reason so that we can select which ones to partner with for spiritual/economic alignment and protection. This is a compelling narrative because it is very similar to our alleged history of good vs. evil and prosaic myths of spiritual conquests of light over dark; the good guy/bad guy stories that we never get tired of reading, seeing or hearing. In some ways this is a subset of #3, but I list it separately because of its obvious appeal and the likelihood that this narrative will gain prominence as things unfold. It also works nicely with the savior stories that we find in legends, myths and religions.

Most of these scenarios will put humans in an observer role.  We might have a role in what happens, but it will be along the lines of voting, where whoever gets to count the vote ends up deciding what actually happens. We are constantly checking our beloved smart phones to see what is supposedly happening and what is likely to happen next. One of these versions has to be true, right?

The last one we’ll consider is what we have learned at GetWisdom.com, i.e., the channeling work of Karl Mollison, where he is channeling departed people who have returned to the Light and/or Creator.  In this narrative we are told that there are no benevolent ET’s in contact with humans on the earth plane. They are all evil and have, as their next goal, the elimination of humans once and for all.  There is no particular reason to get rid of us, other than the fact we are unruly and considered high maintenance given the return on investment.  

These evil ET’s upon finding us here on earth again—yes, we were here once before and what we call the Divine Human Free Will Experiment failed the first time around—they set about to genetically modify us such that we would have a poor connection to our higher selves and no connection to our deep subconscious. This made us the perfect hosts for disincarnate evil spirits which infect us humans, AND for the ET cohort that currently runs the earth to control us in the manner they see fit. This cohort is comprised of the Anunnaki, the Arcturians (creators of the soul-less alien grey biological robots) and the Reptilians.  They have a tenuous and strained alliance to control the earth along with all the humans, which they use as a food source, entertainment, and as an energetic host for the evil parasitic entities that infest them and almost all humans on earth at this time. They are atheistic beings with ancient civilizations, incredible technologies and psychic abilities that dwarf most of what us humans can even imagine. Even their soul-less robots can make us fall in love at will and convince us of outlandish things with mind control capabilities and technologies that are quite beyond anything we could currently comprehend. The robotic alien Greys have a peculiar interest in us because they think they can crack the DNA code which will enable them to reincarnate.  This situation has perhaps bought us some additional time. One of these alien races has been engaged with us almost from the beginning of our Creation.  We were created on earth by Creator and the Divine Realm based on the DNA of four races of higher dimensional ET’s, including the Pleiadians and the Sirians. These higher dimensional ET’s have a hands-off policy and are letting this Divine Human Free Will Experiment play out in accordance with the Divine Realm’s rules for this earthly adventure.

So I would claim that this GetWisdom.com version of things is not really a disclosure narrative, because it does not rely on the government or the ET’s doing anything as we see in the other descriptions, 1 through 4 above. In the examples above, either the government(s) are going to admit or reveal something to the general public or the ET’s or some faction thereof are going to present themselves or let themselves be “discovered.”  What is claimed here is not a situation where we are going to wait to see what happens. In other words, we already know what is happening and why.

You could say, we are pre-empting disclosure.  We are giving you the low-down before it really happens. The problem with our version is that it appears to be uniformly bad news.  There is no silver lining in this advance warning. We’ll get to that later. For now, let’s look at these other disclosure narratives and see what they have to offer and whether they can pass the smell test.

1. There seems to be one consistent thing throughout human history; there is always the state or a controlling religion or an upper class oligarchy running the show. What would be the motivation for any of those to reveal something like free energy technologies? How would they be ‘forced’ or compelled to do something like that? How would they benefit?  Some in this camp have claimed that there will be some sort of event where there is a solar flash which results in a higher state of consciousness for humans; an ascension story that goes along with the disclosure.  Perhaps that is how these oligarchs come to their senses and decide that everyone should get access to free energy technologies. Does that pass the smell test?  Where do the ET’s fit in? Do they stand idly by as us humans get intergalactic toys, limitless abundance and somehow a more mature and egalitarian mindset in the bargain? I think there are some compelling aspects to this disclosure narrative, but you kind of have to ignore some other truths when looking at the current state of affairs and the seeming trajectory of human history.

2. If the ET’s are all benevolent what were they doing when the Soviet government was killing more than 60 million of their own people? Or what were they doing when the US dropped nuclear bombs on Japan? Or when Mao Tse-Tung was exterminating his population of Chinese citizens?  Or when the gas chambers in Nazi Germany were running at full tilt in 1944?  Is this just part of the free will experiment as defined by these same ‘benevolent’ ET’s? For me, this is the weakest disclosure narrative of them all. I am surprised that there are still so many people who believe that all of the ET’s out there are benevolent. Some say that this is like a hostage situation where these benevolent ET’s are not going to make their move because the evil human government would do even more damage to humans and the environment.  That doesn’t make sense to me. Does it make sense to you?

3. This might be the most intelligent and thus compelling of all the disclosure narratives competing for our attention and ultimately, belief. It seems to fit the ‘as above, so below’ credo from ancient and wise esoteric principles except for what seems to be only a few minor problems. Some of the more popular proponents of this disclosure scenario will explain that humans have been relatively unmolested by negative ET’s and that these ‘enemy ET’s’ will only present themselves in response to humans expanding into space and asserting ownership claims beyond the earth.  They couch the problems that will confront humans as simply ones of lacking knowledge as opposed to moral or spiritual issues.  The existing problems remain obscure in terms of their causes and the possible cures.  There is the enigma of “out there” representing a place where the answers reside because there is already an established ET community waiting for our mutual discovery.  So some of the big questions related to this ET and disclosure issue remain unanswered. Who can we really count on to have the power to see that truth and justice prevail? There is a danger not well defined and a promise equally obscure and we are left clinging to a source that is, at least, recognizing that there might be a problem.

4. This is the one that might emerge as the leader due to the conditioning that humans have already received over many thousands of years. We call it the savior programming. The probable timeline might look something like this: humans muddle through the next several years with earth’s governments falling into abject idiocy in their attempts to create the ideal Orwellian society to serve the ruling elite, with each turn exposing their hand and their intentions for the global population.  This continues until a crisis like a hot world war breaks out or a ‘citizen’ revolution or a pandemic similar to the current COVID-19 one takes a more significant chunk of the human population out of commission either through death and/or economic destruction and then that would be the turning point for disclosure. Then, the ET’s arrive with a developing offer to assist in a planet-wide recovery, either with or without the cooperation of various so-called governmental institutions (such as the US, Russian and/or Chinese intelligence/military’s) cooperation. That might be what everyone will call disclosure.  Some alien race appears to save us from this mess. Maybe these benevolent ET’s are working with a human faction of white hat operatives to assist?  From that, any number of explanations and demonstrations may follow for the sake of convincing the skeptical. The demonstrations of prowess in technology and healing might make a convincing case that some sort of alliance would be the smart move and the need for this alliance would likely involve an evil ET cohort that may be portrayed as the backing for the old elite and Satanic power brokers and their controlling influence on all of the institutions that have failed human kind. There are other plausible scenarios that could be used that would be equally as convincing. Take your pick.  

All of them in one form or another have been nurtured in our media, in Hollywood movies and in the great science fiction novels and our legends and myths going back to before Biblical times. The fact is that the ET’s have been operating on our planet all through history, without helping us in any way, but rather causing untold harm. Who else is carrying out the countless abductions of humans through deception or without their consent? If it is the dark ET’s who already have the Earth in its grip, would they allow benevolent ET’s to displace them when they have humanity as hostages? Do we want an alien war in our midst?

The unfortunate fact, and this is being demonstrated as I write, is that a majority of the earth’s population can be made to believe and do some things that are demonstrably self-destructive and damaging to their long-term survival.  We have been dumbed down to the point of being easy targets for any number of disclosure scenarios.  This is a green light for any of the above described disclosure schemes. Almost any of them could be made to work.

Disclosure, in practically every one of its forms, is a psy-op.  There is really no clearer explanation.

Right now, the price of disclosure is the final, successful and terminal blow to humanity and the Divine Human Free Will Experiment. The second great failure, if you will. The Divine Realm tells us that the purpose of disclosure is to lull us into a false sense of security, to trust ET’s who have been corrupting and subjugating us for centuries from behind the scenes, and allow them to operate out in the open. This is a modern Trojan horse deception, and if we accept their offer, we will be choosing sides with the interlopers. Because the Divine Realm must allow free will, this will mean the undoing of humanity.

This outcome can be changed, but it will take many more people involved in REAL healing and not lip service to benign and empty platitudes, or political schemes of any kind or appeals to our imaginary space brothers or any of the other scenarios predicated on our savior programming installed eons ago.

One of the most telling questions you can ask yourself right now is “Why am I here?” Do any of these disclosure narratives attempt to give you that answer? Is that question even related to the idea of disclosure? If there are ET’s, irrespective of whether they have positive or negative orientation, does that have anything to do with why you are here?

What we have been told by the Divine Realm is that you are here and I am here and everyone else is here to solve the problem of evil and that we are using an extreme version of a free will environment to do that. We are here to heal our perpetrators; the ones who have subjugated us for thousands of years. That sounds even more outlandish than all the disclosure narratives combined, but I am convinced this is true.  It is really the only truth claim that can be used to make any sense out of what we are seeing.

The key to doing this and the chance we have to do such a thing in the face of such overwhelming odds, is our ability to form a partnership with our Creator and with all of the beings in the Light (or Heaven by some accounts) or what we call the Divine Realm. That is our origin and birthright and that is the secret weapon, if you will, that has enabled humans throughout history to survive such horrendous tragedies in history.  

But now we have to do more than survive. We have to heal our perpetrators to the point where they will take their evil away from earth. This will give us a respite and a chance to heal ourselves. This will create a future, for the first time in human history, where we can thrive and grow and reach our full potential as Light Beings incarnated as Divine Humans.  This reality is not currently conceivable to us.  We can only dimly see what this might be like.  Words will fail to do this reality any justice whatsoever, but that is our potential destiny.  

Remember at the beginning of this article where I wrote, “secrets of the Universe led him to real answers for human suffering in the form of a Lightworker Healing Protocol. This protocol is basically a high level prayer to God, for healing”?  This is what we can use to heal these sociopathic ET’s and their complement of dark discarnate spirits that also infest us.  We are love-based beings. Most of us know this intuitively. In our natural state we do not fight and create wars and willingly kill each other. This is an external disease that can be eradicated once and for all. Even the most extreme cases and most depraved beings can be healed enough to save humanity from the consequences of disclosure and its inevitable fall-out.

[crestelina]

How to unblock or reactivate a blocked or suspended Amazon account

As you should know if you read our insights fairly frequently, Amazon is one of the largest and most popular online marketplaces in the world and ... it is very difficult today to do without your own presence on Amazon!

Of course, with this we don't want to tell you that you should give up other sales channels in order to bet everything on what Jeff Bezos offers you. In fact, we believe that it is essential How To Get Ungated In Jewelry to keep up one's “institutional” and commercial website, and to support it with a diversified range of communication, promotion and distribution channels.

However, we also want to remind you that today, due to the way the online retail market is structured, it is very difficult not to think about your active presence in Amazon.

On the other hand, with more and more vendors bringing their business to this gigantic virtual mall, it won't have escaped you that the competition has certainly gotten tougher than it was in the past.

The consequences of such an evolution are numerous. Today, for example, it is increasingly difficult (but not impossible!) To stand out from its competitors. And it is increasingly important to focus one's attention on the right positioning activities within the marketplace and the promotion of one's products on this platform.

But there is another consequence we want to talk to you about. As a result of the multiplication of the number of sellers on its sales platform, Amazon has established increasingly stringent rules in order to defend its credibility.

One of those rules is the one we want to talk about today: Amazon suspends sellers who don't meet company standards. And if you don't meet Amazon's standards, there's nothing worth being surprised if your account gets suspended. But what to do? What are the solutions you could take to put things right?

 Why has Amazon suspended your account?

Before understanding the different ways to revoke the suspension of your account, it is important to know why your account was suspended and your Amazon selling privileges were revoked.

Understanding why Amazon has blocked your account will not only help you find the best solution to solve the situation that has arisen, but it will also prevent you from ending up in the same consequences in the near future. Very often, in fact, the account on Amazon is blocked due to the unaware behavior of the seller, who does not realize that the conduit he has put in place in good faith actually violates the provisions of the rules of the same marketplace.

In short, the suspension of the account on Amazon can be a nuisance, but it can also be a useful moment of growth, given that you could discover previously ignored information, and that will guarantee a more peaceful stay within the marketplace in quality of seller.

That said, there are some assumptions that could lead to Amazon account suspension. Below we wanted to outline the main ones, it being understood that there may be others that, although marginal compared to these, could be for you and constitute the determinant that led your account to suspension.

Performance as a seller is dropping

The first reason that could lead to the suspension of your account is a visible decline in performance as a seller, with the accumulation of poor ratings.

Remember that one of the reasons Amazon is so successful and thriving over its competitors is because its customers believe in its authority and trustworthiness as an online marketplace. No wonder Amazon suspends sellers who threaten its image as a trustworthy company!

And that's why when sellers receive a high volume of negative reviews, Amazon is on high alert to monitor how the seller is really doing and possibly suspend their account in case things get worse.

At this point, if you feel that your account is suspended precisely because your performance as a seller has deteriorated, you should take a further step and ask yourself what are the determinants of such deterioration in the quality of your service.

Again, there is no short and quick explanation. However, the most common reasons sellers fail to keep up with Amazon's sales metrics are:

frequent cancellation of orders;

late shipments;

Negative customer opinions and reviews.

The metrics you should keep in mind don't stop there. However, start with these to make sure you have at least reached the minimum goal set by Amazon, which is:

less than 2.5% for the order cancellation rate;

less than 4% delay in shipping;

Less than 1% defects in the goods.

Having these metrics at hand and constantly monitoring, and avoiding going below the minimum thresholds that are established as quality standards, we are sure that you will be able to protect yourself from account suspensions, at least for these reasons!

Restricted products are on sale

While you can sell tons of products on Amazon, that doesn't mean you can sell everything (quite the opposite). The marketplace has specifically outlined different types of products and brands that are prohibited from their website.

Therefore, as a seller, you would do well to take a look at the items you intend to sell, and try to figure out if they are on Amazon's list of Restricted Products:

Animals and products of animal origin

Cars and motorbikes and sports with motor vehicles

Composite wood products

Cosmetics and skin and hair care

Currency, coins, vouchers and gift certificates

Food supplements

Drugs and devices for the use of narcotic substances

Electronics

Explosives, weapons and related items

Export Controls

Food and home care

Hazardous materials

Jewels and precious stones

Laser products

Lighting

Devices for burglary

Medical devices and related accessories

Offensive and controversial materials

Pesticides and pesticides

Seeds and products derived from plants

Electronic equipment recycling

Sexual well-being

Surveillance equipment

Tobacco and tobacco related products

Other restricted products

As you can see, the list of products that are subject to restrictions is quite long.

Be careful though. The fact that your product is among the restricted product does not mean that it cannot be sold. Instead, it means that you have to be very careful to respect the specific rules for that particular category of goods. Do you want some examples?

Let's imagine you want to sell "Tobacco and tobacco related products".

In this case, Amazon does not prohibit you from selling any product that falls into this category, but does allow certain tobacco- related products, as long as they do not have any cigarette or smokeless tobacco brands or logos, such as:

Ashtray

Cigar cutter

Cigarette papers

Hookah

Humidifiers

Lighter

Tobacco pipes

Collectables that do not contain tobacco

Certain smoking cessation products approved for sale over the counter, such as nicotine gum and patches

Also allowed are “Collectables that do not contain tobacco”and” Certain smoking cessation products approved for sale over the counter, such as gum and nicotine patches”.

On the other hand, in this category are prohibited offers:

Tobacco or any product containing tobacco, such as “Blunt wraps”, Cigarettes, Cigars, Snuff, Nicogel, Smokeless Tobacco, including dissolvable tobacco;

Electronic cigarettes and related products (regardless of the presence of nicotine), such as Electronic cigarettes, Vaporizers not containing tobacco and nicotine (also called "vitamin Vape" and "aromatherapy pens"), electronic hookahs, E-liquid juice, electronic cigarette juice, smoke juice, or similar liquids for refilling electronic cigarettes, electronic pipes, electronic cigars, nicotine nebulizers and similar products;

Accessories for such products, such as new and replacement cartridges, atomizers, batteries, clearomizers, smoke juice or similar liquids for refilling electronic cigarettes, nasal sprays or nicotine inhalers;

Smoking cessation products that have not been approved for sale in the United States, such as Tabex;

Smokeless tobacco products, such as chewing tobacco, soluble tobacco;

Products, including but not limited to hats, t-shirts and lighters with brands or logos of cigarettes or smokeless tobacco;

Devices for the use of narcotic substances.

Now, given that such specific and profound rules apply to each category of product that you can sell on Amazon, we cannot, for reasons of brevity, report all the examples from the list above in this in-depth analysis.

However, we can support you in two ways.

The first is to remember that you will only need to log into Seller Central Amazon and search for "Restricted Products" within the "Program Policies" in the support section, in order to have the details of what you can sell and what you cannot sell on Amazon .

Secondly we want to remind you that in case you want to operate within a restricted category, there are 6 basic rules that Amazon has provided, namely:

before publishing offers in some categories you will need to ask for and obtain a specific pre-approval from Amazon;

for some sales categories you may also be asked for additional information and / or guarantees before the publication of the product sheets;

if you are enrolled in the FBA service, not only do you need to make sure you comply with the restrictions, but you also need to consult the FBA product restrictions page, because not all products are eligible for that service (more on that shortly );

some products are subject to additional regulations depending on the states in which you want to sell;

if you intend to publish international offers, then you must take the responsibility and responsibility of verifying that the products offered comply with all applicable laws and regulations (for this control activity we recommend that you contact a consultant);

If you sell to the US, products claiming to be “FDA Cleared”, “FDA Approved” or products that include the FDA logo in associated images must meet additional requirements.

Considering that we have just mentioned it, allow us a small comment on the problems of inconsistency of the products sold with the FBA service.

In other words, your product may also be eligible for sale on Amazon, but you may not be able to ship it with FBA. Some excluded products are:

Alcoholic beverages (including non-alcoholic beer);

Tires;

Gift certificates, gift certificates and other instruments of stored value;

Products accompanied by unauthorized marketing materials such as brochures, price tags, or other non-Amazon stickers;

Products that require preparation but have not been prepared in accordance with the FBA Prep and Packaging Requirements;

Batteries in bulk packs;

Damaged or defective items;

Products with labels not duly registered with Amazon prior to shipment or not corresponding to the registered product;

Products that do not comply with any agreement entered into between Amazon and the seller;

Illegally replicated, reproduced or manufactured products;

Products deemed unsuitable by Amazon for other reasons.

A specific mention will then be considered for dangerous goods, which we will discuss in separate detail.

Fake products are for sale

Another very serious reason for suspension of your account is related to the sale of fake products. Counterfeit products are a serious blow to Amazon's image as a reliable marketplace. From DVDs to beauty products, from electronics to shoes, Amazon wants to sell only original products. So, if you are selling (even unwittingly) counterfeit products, it is reasonable to think that sooner or later your account will be suspended.

For some time, however, Amazon seems to have taken its problems with counterfeit products seriously, and has repeatedly revised its policy in this regard.

Today the marketplace claims that

It is the responsibility of each seller and supplier to purchase, sell and manage only authentic products. Prohibited products include illegal copies and pirated copies of products or content, counterfeit items, illegally replicated, reproduced or manufactured products, products that infringe the intellectual property rights of other parties. Sellers and vendors of inauthentic products will incur suspension or removal of the Amazon selling account (and any related accounts).

Not only. In fact, if you resort to FBA, know that

Amazon also reserves the right to destroy any unauthentic product stored in its fulfillment centers at the seller's expense.

You have two accounts

Another reason for account suspension that many users are unaware of is related to ownership of two accounts.

Duplicate accounts are not tolerated on Amazon. Furthermore, the company does not allow users to create a new account when the original one has been suspended, as this would be too easy to circumvent market obstacles.

It is also for this reason that for some time Amazon has introduced an algorithm that can detect this particular activity, and which in turn can help deactivate the "secondary" account.

Anyway, this is the "basic" rule. It is however possible Amazon agrees to two accounts, but it is good that this exception is expressly approved by the marketplace with express authorization. Additionally, Amazon only gives the green light to two accounts if:

in the request, include the commercial reason for which you need another seller account in addition to your first one;

have a separate bank account for each Seller Central account, with Amazon clearly stating that it does not approve multiple Seller Central accounts that use the same bank account within the same country;

if you are selling in multiple countries (e.g. Europe and the US), then you can use the same bank account for your Seller Central accounts, as long as the accounts are linked through Amazon Global Selling;

each account has a separate email address;

the products and services sold in each account are different;

Performance metrics are in good standing.

Once authorization for a double Amazon account has been requested, the marketplace will provide a response within 2 to 3 business days.

How to reactivate your Amazon account

Now that we've briefly summarized the main and possible causes of suspension, it's time to take a look at the steps you need to take to get your account back up and running.

It is certainly good to remember the fact that there is no single path to reach the "goal". And precisely for this reason it might be advisable to make direct contact with the Amazon staff and, perhaps, get a good consultation from a specialist.

In any case, below we wanted to summarize what we believe may be the main steps you should take in order to reactivate your account on Amazon.

Find out the reason for the suspension

Knowing the root of the problem so that you can get to the right solution is certainly the first step you should take in order to be able to take a profitable path that, in the end, can really lead you to the reactivation of your Amazon account .

To do this, we advise you to read the suspension notice that will have been sent to you by Amazon: within it you should find useful content to be able to determine what went wrong and, from here, you could certainly understand what you could do to be able to correct the shot.

Reading the note that Amazon has sent you will not always be a sufficient element to be able to have all the clarifications you need, but we still believe that it is quite useful to get the first cues on what you need to do.

Generate an action plan

Once you understand why Amazon has suspended your account, we recommend that you… don't get discouraged. We know very well that having your account suspended is certainly not the best thing that can happen to you, especially if a large part of your business is linked to Amazon. And even if you don't have all of your turnover (or a good part of it) focused on Amazon, we are also sure that you will certainly not be pleased to have had such a negative "evaluation" from the marketplace!

It is precisely for this reason that, after digesting the regret of having seen your suspended account, you must regain your strength and move on to the counterattack. You must let Amazon know that you are a trustworthy seller. This is how you structure your action plan, which should state the following:

the main clear and practical steps on how you intend to address the problem;

a strategic plan showing how you will prevent this from happening in the future;

A list of positive elements that show why your role is important within the marketplace.

In short, try to structure a real plan, with which you intend to demonstrate your credibility and your reliability and, recognizing the error or conduct that led to the suspension, undertake some design steps to suggest that you will no longer fall into the incongruity that led to the suspension of your account.

Make a request to Amazon

Once you have a good plan of action in place (it is essential to do this in a timely manner, but do not rush - if you have any doubts, have someone more experienced than you read it and, perhaps, a consultant who specializes in these situations) you can send a request to Amazon to get your account restored.

Your request to Amazon can be made through several basic steps.

First of all, go to the Seller Central section of your account, navigate to the performance tab and choose notifications from the drop-down menu. Then, locate the suspension notice you received and click on the "appeal" button, which will allow you to send a request to Amazon, with which you want the marketplace to view your position and your "defense thesis”.

It is very important that, by filling in the form in question, you can clearly indicate what your action plan is (see the previous paragraph). So try to summarize what happened, and how you plan to stop it from happening again. Once you are convinced of what you are about to do, send the request by clicking on the confirm button.

Advice

Before proceeding with the final phase of our in-depth study, allow us to open a small parenthesis: Amazon receives many requests to restore the account, and therefore is ready to read anything and ... it has become increasingly selective in choosing what to readmit to reactivation and what not.

Therefore, your goal in this case will have to be to make your appeal stand out through some peaceful trick that will prevent your request from being considered as that of everyone else and, in particular, that of sellers who have less credibility and reliability of your facility.

But what are these "tricks" you should adopt in order to improve your chances of success?

In the first place, to ssicurati to indicate the reason for the suspension. Do this clearly and explicitly, avoiding beating around the bush or not addressing the problem. Only in this way does Amazon know that you are fully aware of the problem and that you are ready to take all responsibility for it. If, on the other hand, "pretend nothing happened", be vague or, even worse, write a reason for the suspension that is different than what was actually indicated by Amazon as the cause of the suspension itself, it is possible that Amazon is not worthy of particular attention your request.

The second piece of advice that we want to give you is to and lencate the good results of sales that you've got. In this way you will help to paint a solid picture in your image as a seller and… you will also generate the impression of a good convenience to reconnect on the part of Amazon. Remember that when you get more sales, Amazon gets more sales too. Therefore, if you list the good results you have achieved, you will certainly put yourself in a better light in the eyes of Amazon.

The third tip I want to share is to be very direct as you outline your plans for how to provide Amazon customers with a better shopping experience in the future. Again, it is good to be direct, specific and very transparent. It is good that Amazon has in mind that you are clear about what you want to do and how you want to achieve the results you have set in your head to achieve. In short, don't expect Amazon to do the evaluation and analytics work for you. It is you who will have to propose solutions to Amazon, and certainly not ask Amazon to formulate them for you!

A fourth idea you find on this page is related to the style you will have to adopt. Always try to be clear, direct, decisive and professional, but always keep a positive tone. In the conversations you will have with Amazon, try to be proactive, never aggressive or too defensive. A neutral and encouraging tone of exposure will certainly help to be able to find a full harmony with the marketplace and with its team that takes care of evaluating the requests for reactivation of the accounts present in it.

Finally, we recommend that you ask for help. Even if many entrepreneurs, and especially those who manage small business ventures, believe they can do everything themselves, you will soon realize that even for less structured and less complex e-commerce, time is never enough. Why, then, try to find collaborations?

It's very simple! Our experience suggests that, unfortunately, many of the account suspensions that we have been able to evaluate occur for the simple reason that the entrepreneur underestimates certain aspects of his business, such as the need to be punctual and timely in every informative contact or device. With its customers (and we are not referring only, therefore, to the need to ship the goods on time).

Therefore, consider hiring a virtual assistant to help you keep track of your emails, page content and social media profiles. The good news is that there are many credible companies where you can get virtual support for cheap, and so you won't have to worry about Amazon suspension at all, at least as far as customer service issues are concerned.

Speaking of customer service, also remember to consider the possibility of signing an agreement with Amazon for the FBA service. In this way, some of the more complex and energy-intensive activities, such as those related to logistics and customer service, will be incorporated directly into the marketplace and you will have more time left to dedicate to your core business!

Conclusions

Hoping that the above information will be useful to you in order to improve your relationship with Amazon when it comes to account suspensions, we can only leave you reminding you that being suspended from Amazon can be difficult to digest, but as a good entrepreneur as you are, you should take the bull by the horns and react in a positive way, going to take this unexpected event as a useful element to improve your business.

Rather than pester yourself that you were suspended from Amazon, and rather than deal with how much revenue you are losing as a result of that decision, ask yourself if your company has what it takes to get back into the game. So ask yourself, making a full examination of conscience, if Amazon actually "did well" to suspend you and what are its reasons. And, above all, try to understand how you can run for cover by showing the marketplace a serious plan of action with which you will make Jeff Bezos' company understand that you have learned from the mistake and that you want to get back on track with renewed authority and credibility. Within its own platform.

[liathgray]

Anyways, here’s that essay

Please keep in kind this was not written to be consumed by people familiar with the source material, it was for a class. It’s focused on weird stuff and was meant to compare and contrast the Judas Contact storyline and season two of Titans.

Okay, here we go.

In 1984, a four-part story was published as an arc in Tales of the Teen Titans titled as The Judas Contract. Since, it has become one of the most influential and well-known stories to come out of the DC publishing company for its bold story choices and permanently changing characters who had been around for decades, as well as introducing death as something that can occur in the present, not just in the mechanics of a backstory. It garnered four separate adaptations, the most recent of which being the second season of Titans, a loose live-action version of the titular team. Between the two, there are many small plot and character details that do not line up, so for the sake of simplicity, pedantic plot elements will be removed from the comparison, instead focusing on individual motivation, the importance of the setting, and how characters are impacted and changed by the actions in the narrative.

The Judas Contract proper follows a team of pre-established young heroes being unknowingly spied on by their newest superpowered member, Tara Markov. She works alongside Slade Wilson, a mercenary and personal rogue of the Teen Titans, feeding him important information in order to fulfill his contract to kidnap them, hence the title of the arc; there is a Judas among them. The contract is almost completed until Slade’s son, Joey, enters the picture, determined to prevent any more death at hands of his father, emotionally conflicting Slade enough for Tara to feel betrayed and collapse the cavern they had been in, killing herself in the process. In the end, it is her story alongside the former Robin, Dick Grayson, who is inspired to take up a new vigilante identity as a result. Titans, has the same basic idea of there being a mole in the group and the evolution of Dick from Robin to Nightwing, but the surrounding plot and progression are entirely different. The Titans had existed previously, but broke up due to a series of events involving Slade, starting with the murder of a teammate, and ending in the death of Joey. There’s much grief and trauma surrounding this, so when years later Dick decides to reopen the team’s old headquarters to house and train new young heroes he stumbled across, his old friends are a mix of angry, re-traumatized, and reluctant, especially with the re-emergence of their aforementioned enemy. In the place of Tara, there is Rose. Daughter of Slade and, again, the spy on the team who, unlike Tara, has a change of heart and reveals her betrayal in an attempt to warn her newfound friends.

The most striking element of both is the use of character, and in what direction the agents go in, especially in light of the overarching themes that they share; that of redemption, recovery, guilt, and betrayal. In the comic, the focal point for all of this is Tara. She is continually treated well by her teammates whom remain compassionate to her, despite her brashness and tendency to get violent. They know little of her, yet still welcome her into their home and personal lives. It is revealed to the audience early on that Tara is working for Slade, which makes each interaction she has with those she is deceiving all the more upsetting, even distressing to watch. Tara’s particular flavor of trauma deals with abandonment, something she acquired after being forced out of her home country, which later developed into malignant narcissism. She becomes very attached to the idea of being in a position of power and finds comfort in the presence of Slade, as he was the first person to justify her being alive. Tara, in the end, fails to redeem herself, instead the illusion she had built of stability and power came crumbling down after she spends ally after ally until there is no one, and she has no power left. Though it’s somewhat cynical, the idea here is that these cycles of betrayal and neglect cannot always be broken, that’s the point of this character; sometimes people are just too dysfunctional and if they are not willing to put in the work to get better and heal, they just won’t.

Rose, Tara’s counterpart, goes through a very different metamorphosis, despite the setup being similar. Her initial motivation was revenge for the brother she never knew, having been told it was the Titans who killed him when in fact it had been Slade, though it wasn’t intentional. Slade, however, blamed the Titans, specifically Dick, thus Rose believed him and was willing to participate as a double agent. When she encounters them for the first time, she is met with sympathy and understanding, people who didn’t value her as a weapon, creating incongruity with the story she was fed of elite fighters and master manipulators. Upon learning the truth about the circumstances under which her brother died, and who exactly killed him, she backs out. Rose realized she was lied to and manipulated, almost immediately grasping the gravity of the situation and seeing how hard she was pushing people whose greatest crime was daring to care about the very person she thought she was avenging. Later, she tells her newly acquired love interest the truth, following it up by saying, “I’d take it all back if I could. But I can’t.” (Zhang). Where Tara failed, Rose succeeded; she got rid of the poison in her life and recognized that she was the bad guy, alongside seeing the humanity of those she attempted to sabotage.

The theme of redemption and recovery doesn’t stop with Rose. It is furthered by all the other existing characters, young and old. On the basis of new beginnings for the second generation, and moving past the collective trauma and fear associated with teamwork for the first. More so than anyone else, this idea is present in the journey of Dick Grayson. In the original story, he is motivated to save his friends from an ugly fate while in the throes of a very real identity crisis involving the title of Robin, which he had recently discarded, believing that it was time for him to grow past the role and create a legacy entirely his own. Which he does do; he rebrands himself as Nightwing, rising to the occasion and overcoming the difficulties of abandoning a role that represented his culminative childhood and heritage to do save the people he loves. It is very much about the conquering of his external obstacles.

This is not the case in Titans, it is largely about his spectacular fall from grace and the struggle of building himself back up from rock bottom. He had kept a secret from all his closest friends about the death of Joey; he told them Joey was murdered before he found him, when in fact, he wasn’t. Joey died trying to protect Dick from Slade, and Dick felt so much guilt and shame in having been partially responsible that he lied about it for years. When his teammates find out, his worst nightmare comes true: they leave him. He is with next to no support, devoid of the family he fought tooth and nail to keep together, and is left in the tomb of his last chance to remain stable. While Rose and Tara had to redeem themselves to other people, Dick’s story is a redemption to himself, not anyone else. He stops doing things for other people and imagines himself of deserving the loneliness of, in essence, being re-orphaned. In a desperate attempt to find forgiveness, he seeks out Slade who, instead of offering the sought after peace of mind, says, “I sentence you to live alone (…) Forever knowing that your Titans family lives and breathes somewhere out there in the world, but you can never be with them.” (Morales). His lowest point is monumentally more devastating than his comic counterpart; he isolates himself entirely, going as far as to get himself jailed to carry out the self-imposed punishment, expecting to be abused and killed alone in a prison, the prospect of death barely startling him. In moments like this, the tragedy of the character hurts so much more because the audience knows that if he gets knocked down, he may not get back up, he has every reason not to. Which is why it is so earnest and exhilarating when he does. Dick was broken down to his factory parts, every mistake and bad trait not only was put on display, but magnified. He was made to confront those things before being able to piece himself back together, only then could he take on a new identity as Nightwing. Seeing him fall again is tangibly damaging to the character, so seeing him climb his way back up, scratching, clawing, slipping up, and struggling all the way, it’s all the more satisfying when he reaches the top.

A large part of this fall and rise, or in the case of The Judas Contract, the lack off a fall, is to do with the setting. The comic has all their main characters living in relative harmony or with their own spaces. When they are not off stopping cults from destroying political landscapes or battling supervillains, they are at home, going about their daily lives as somewhat normal people with jobs and relationships. It exemplifies that they all have a decent grasp on who they are, and even if they don’t, they have a bed to go back to and a support system to rely on. This is an established team with a running headquarters, lovingly named Titans Tower, the scene is only a part of the narrative as the backdrop, as a story punching bag that ultimately doesn’t matter, and that is all it needs to be. The story is much more interested in the series of events taking place, otherwise known as the act. Everything that goes down becomes a spoiler because there are so many plot points to cover and twists to reveal, thus the scene becomes story fuel, which in turn fuels the act, fueling the actors. There is less of a fall because they all have a home to turn to; it is built around the idea that the primary agents are at least somewhat realized people, with lives of their own. They react to the world around them as it throws obstacles, and the idea is re-enforced by the irrelevance of where the action takes place, wholly opposing the priorities of its live-action adaptation.

Not to say that Titans doesn’t jump from place to place, in fact it shifts its characters around quite a lot, but those moves are reactions to and influenced by the primary setting. The Titans operate out of, again, Titans Tower, but instead of a home and safe place, it is a monument to their old team’s sins. A ghost town that continues to haunt them, bringing back their darkest times and motivating nearly every move they make. When they first arrive, it’s tense, they’re subconsciously expecting the worst and prepare to bail at the first signs of trouble, which they eventually do. It is their return that sparks the entire story moving forward, and the presence of a looming shadow built from mistakes colours their reactions and triggers a sort of trauma response. Conversely, it is a beacon of hope and rebirth for the younger members. It is the first place wherein they have been allowed to be themselves, even at their worst, then collectively learn to get better as a group, a family even. The motif of past and present, trauma and recovery, informs the presentation of Titans Tower, making the growth visible in ways it previously hadn’t been. Using the setting as story plays into how Titans is structured; it drip-feeds the audience information, allowing the plot to meander so each development can happen and be processed before the next major plot point kicks in, and if they lose the setting, their home, there’s nothing else, thus the consequences are much steeper.

Throughout its two seasons run, Titans has been unapologetically divisive; deeply flawed characters with a universe quite different from that of the comics. It was not designed to make audiences comfortable, often forcing them to look at the worst parts of characters they might have previously idolized and showing the amount of hard work that has to be put into self-betterment. It is highly character-driven, mostly following interpersonal relationships and intimate growth. Barely anyone feels self-assured, often scrambling for any sense of identity. Though everyone goes through their fair share of change, this is ultimately Dick’s redemption story to himself. It departs from the source material, which often showed readers the best parts of people, that the downfall of heroes comes from outside sources while overall making a cynical statement about the cycle of abuse regarding Tara. These are heroes who know who they are and have no problem in the actions they make, whereas in the adaptation, almost every conflict is generated internally by lies and secrecy. The adaptation removes the halo from these supposed heroes and allows the emotions to be a bit dirty and muddled, creating an equally satisfying but very different take on a classic comic story.

[thegoldenlark]

Profile: Larkin Ode

THE BASICS –––

Server/World: Mateus - Crystal

Age: 25

Race: Miqo’te 

Gender: Female

Orientation: Demisexual / Heterosexual

Marital Status: Single

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE –––

Hair: Raven black & shoulder length, straight by nature though often wavy as a result of the Sworn’s tendency to braid it on duty  

Eyes: Brilliant emerald, doe-like 

Height: 4 fulms, 10 ilms

Build: Pixie-like, but athletic/muscular - Emphasis on form & posture 

Distinguishing Marks: 3.72 inch scar that adorns her permanently blushed cheeks / Also brightly freckled across the nose and cheeks

Common Accessories: Her sword & shield which are also now swapped out for an axe occasionally / a long, white ribbon she ties around her waist and in a bow at the small of her back

PERSONAL –––

Profession: Sultansworn Paladin & Ex-Free Paladin [ would return to this upon leaving the Sworn ]

Hobbies: Training early in the morning, watching [ and painting ] the sunrise, painting, sketching, finding the best coffee or pancakes in the city

Languages: Common

Residence: Apartment in The Goblet

Birthplace: Unknown

Fears: Being unable to protect the innocent and defend those who she took the Oath for / Losing another close to her / Becoming bound by chains once more 

RELATIONSHIPS ––

Partners: None

Companions: Kazuki Matsume (deceased), Sophie Viras (alive), Novak Svetatsch (alive)

Children: None

Parents: U’lanell Tia (Father, alive), Unnamed (Mother, alive)

Siblings: None

Other Relatives: None

Pets: Her Chocobo, Hughes

TRAITS –––

* Bold your character’s answer.

Extroverted / In Between / Introverted

Disorganized / In Between / Organized

Close Minded / In Between / Open Minded

Calm / In Between / Anxious

Disagreeable / In Between / Agreeable

Cautious / In Between / Reckless

Patient / In Between /  Impatient

Outspoken / In Between / Reserved

Leader / In Between / Follower

Empathetic / In Between / Apathetic

Optimistic / In Between / Pessimistic

Traditional / In Between / Modern

Hard-working / In Between / Lazy

Cultured / In Between / Uncultured

L O Y A L / In Between / Disloyal

Faithful / In Between / Unfaithful

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION –––

Smoking Habit: None

Drugs: None

Alcohol: Socially - Though never too much, as she’s cautious about being impaired in case something were to go wrong or someone were to be in need of aid.

RP HOOKS –––

SWORN TO PROTECT: Larkin Ode swore to protect under the Oath at a young age, and has upheld that promise for as long as she can remember now. If you are a Paladin or have worked in any field that would warrant the Sultansworn or Free Paladin to work around you, you might have encountered Larkin’s protection or work alongside her in some capacity. 

TRAINED TO UPHOLD: In her ode to the promise of protection, Larkin serves as a trainer to new recruits of the Sworn and the Free Paladin who enlist her skills. If you have ever sought out the skills of a Paladin trainer, Lieutenant Lark might have been the one dispatched to you!

THE MASKED FIGHTER: In her time learning to fight as a Gladiator, Larkin fought in The Sands under a mask and an alibi. If you were a Gladiator or went to The Sands for entertainment at any point, you might know her fighting style or recognize her small stature from her time spent rising through the ranks there.

SWORN TO DEFEND: And protection is something she provides very well. In her time at The Sands, Larkin made some extra cash serving as a bodyguard for hire. It wasn’t much, but it made her what she needed to survive.

GATHERER: Larkin is a gatherer by nature - She had to be. She’s wandered Eorzea before her time serving her people, and will sometimes take time off of work to gather for those who are in need. She also makes beautiful flower crowns with the flowers she collects!

COFFEE & PANCAKES: Can you make coffee? Can you make pancakes? Can you make… Both? You’ve already gained Larkin’s friendship. Seriously. It’s that simple.

WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR ––––

RP! So insightful, I know - But I’m highly open to pre-established ships (anything from friendships, you knew her from The Sands, you’ve seen her defending the city and spoken to her on duty a couple times, etc.) to strangers establishing a relationship of any kind (except romantic), etc. - But let’s talk it out first! I will never go into an RP with an assumption of any kind. Let’s let that go where it will/discuss where we’d like it to go first !

Plotlines & long-term relationships (of any kind) are a favorite of mine, but I am not one to turn down any form of roleplay. One-offs are totally fine with me, short slice of life is great from time to time, and anything else you might have in mind!

Friends & contacts in game! I’m still relatively new here, and I’m very slow to do content; So any new contacts would be great, and I’m always up for running content with friends too! ♡

OOC DETAILS –––

I live in EST & am usually around to chat, even if just through Discord!

I’m a bit socially anxious so I love when people approach me, but I’m going to do my best to reach out to others too.

I am a full time student and I also work a full time job in esports, but both of those things allow me to be flexible with Discord especially - So the more communicative we can be, the better! I try to do my best but patience with me is really really appreciated.♡

I do ERP, but limited as I and my character are demisexual (there’s gotta be some relationship building! Angst! You know, the heart wrenching stuff).

I’m working on my screenshot and gif skillz, so that’ll hopefully develop as time goes on! Thanks for reading down this far! ଘ(੭*ˊᵕˋ)੭* ੈ♡‧₊˚

CONTACT INFORMATION  –––

Discord: Will usually give upon request ♡

Discord and Tumblr DMs are the best way to contact me~ @mooglemeet​

[UPDATED - 11/25/2019]