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curioscurio · 5 months ago

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Why we have to start being nicer to eachother:

I know it sucks and is hard, but I think we really do need to start treating techbros and incels and our fellow humans with a bit more compassion, empathy, and understanding before we jump to bad faith interpretation. Especially when seeing a bad take online used as bait for arguments. We have to give other people the opportunity and knowledge to think for themselves, and make the choice to become a better person on their own.

"Hold on! Why should I be nice to people like that? THEY'RE the ones who are being bigoted to US!"

Well, I'll try and answer that question below! I ended up writing a lot, so check out the "read more" if you're curious. At the end of the day, I'm not an expert or a professional on human behavior, so keep that in mind. This is just something I've been thinking about based on my own past experiences.

Conspiracy theorists, the far right, gun enthusiasts, and even MAGA's all operate on the belief that modern society hates them for who they are. They think the entire world is against them.

And, looking at the kind of hate rhetoric and harmful ideologies they talk about; the cruel acts of casual and extremist violence that stem from that community, it easy to see why the world has turned its back on them. Right?

It makes you wonder: "Why are they like this?"

The easy way out is to simply hold on to the belief that they are behaving this way because they are bad people. Bad people do bad things, after all.

But when the world turns its back on a group of people, those people turn their backs on the world. They will naturally gravitate towards whichever group of accepting humans they come across first. Whoever validates their feelings and makes them feel accepted and safe instead of rejected and fearful.

The far right preys on young men who don't know know any better because they are never treated any better. They have influencers, exactly like Donald Trump, that make you feel safe. They also are lying to these people and using their fear of rejection to control them.

It's very similar to how the Church will help you out and feed you if you're homelss... as long as you join the church and donate 10% of your earnings to "God." (The churchs bank account. )

That is to say, people don't usually pop out of the womb with these prejudices and fears programed into their heads. It's something that has to be taught to them by somebody else. Their parents, the church, their school, their friends, youtubers, etc.

"So, what do we do? How do we save future and current generations from being sucked into this hateful spiral of far right bigotry?"

"How do we help our conservative parents, who we know love us but are absolutely convinced that they need guns to keep their families safe? How do we help our Trump Train family members who used to be loving, compassionate, people?"

Well, you're not gonna like the answer. We have to start being nicer to everyone. We have to be nicer to incels, dude bros, techbros, Karen's, and yes, even your average Republican voters. We have to show them compassion and empathy when they're expressing their fears, without immediately attacking them for it. We have got to prove to them that there's a place for them to come back to.

Their fears are being taken advantage of by a system that benefits from pitting the general population against each other. If we're too busy fighting eachother, we can never join forces and fight the system.

And so it turns into a self-sustaining system of fear and reactive lashing out. They start believing that everybody is against them, except the few people who understand. Until the only safe place left for them is the Q Anon message boards. Quite literally an orobourous of hate.

"But Curio! They literally want us dead! These people are violent and irredeemable!"

Many of them are. So many of these people are groomed into believing that the only way they can keep themselves safe is by killing anything they think has caused them harm. It's an intentional system maintained by those in power to control those who are not.

Some of them, however, are just normal people who got in with the wrong crowd or are too young to know better. Some people were never given the chance to be better.

"So, what SHOULD we do? Be nice to our oppressors? Let them get away with hate crimes and bigotry?"

No. But we DO need to stop thinking of "them" as this massive malevolent demographic who have no souls and are inherently evil. The majority of these people were lied to and manipulated and groomed into these beliefs.

We have to try harder to stop ourselves before we start calling them names and attack them, regardless of if they deserve it or not. We have to engage with them on good faith. Learn about WHY they believe conspiracy theories and why it stems from fear.

"Why? What will this help?"

Because you're quite literally showing them that there's another option available for them to take. You're showing them that, if they do change their minds and want to change their behavior, that you are a safe person to approach with these thoughts. You have the power to create a space for them where they're allowed to think for themselves without punishing them for it.

Once you create that connection, it's like you're showing them another road in life they can explore. They now can see a new future for themselves. A future where their kids start talking to them again. A future where they're not terrified of being humiliated for being soft. A future where they feel listened to.

And that's all. You just have to give them that chance. It's not your job to change their mind, or to tell them that they're wrong for thinking thoughts. In fact, trying to do just that will usually encourage them to double down.

But what you CAN do is build an environment where they have the OPPORTUNITY to change their mind. You can be kind, empathetic, and educational. Be patient and listen and have a respectful conversation with them.

It is especially important for people with privilege to step up and be those kinds of diplomats. People who are able and willing to look past the surface bigotry to address the scared humans underneath. People who can do this without endangering themselves or their community. This may be other cis straight white people who can get away with bringing these topics up gently, without triggering reflexive defensiveness. Who then have the patience to gently educate them and steer them towards a better path.

"But Curio, I can't do this. I've been hurt too many times by these people, and doing this would cause me significant mental distress."

Then don't. You're not obligated to be the better person for every situation and circumstance. Nuance must be taken into account. You don't have to be nice to every troll or ragebait Twitter post. I certainly don't want you to put yourself in a situation that causes you emotional, physical, or mental harm. Hell, you don't even have to give them the time of day. It's your own responsibility to make the judgment call regarding your health.

But people simply won't change if there's no room for them to change. And some people have the power to make that room for them little by little.

"I've tried everything. I've begged, cried, been nice, and shown them that we won't reject them. They won't change their minds no matter what."

And that's also ok! It can happen. When you give people the opportunity to make choices for themselves, there will always be people who still choose to believe the system they were groomed on. They can do that because thats free will, baby. There will still be people who will not change their minds and who will actively choose to become more radicalized.

And it's sad to see. But you also have to respect that sometimes people aren't ready to change at the same time that you're ready to help them change.

But you should try to do it for all the young men and children who are being taught by their parents that White Genocide is real. You should do it for the parents who love their kid so much, but are so terrified when they say they're transgender because they don't know what to do. Because they know the world will not treat them fairly or are afraid of ruining everything.

You should do it for your 10 year old nephew who watches Andrew Tate because their mother doesn't give a damn enough to check what kind of YouTube videos their kid is watching. You should do it for the depressed and hurting teenager who thinks they have no option left but to buy a gun and shoot up their school, because no ones listening to them. You should do it for the tradwife who's alone and hurting after her conservative husband cheated on her and left her with nothing; because she thought she would be the exception.

"...How do you know this will work? What if you're wrong, and nothing changes?"

I don't! I'm just a random person on the internet. I dont know who might read this. It's just my opinion.

But at least, at the end of the day, you tried your best to be a good person to another human being, and I don't think that's such very a bad thing. For me, I'm going to try because I don't want to lose my father to that kind of environment. I want to be able to have a normal conversation with him again.

There's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for.

#long post #us politics

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germiyahu · 1 year ago

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Not too thrilled that my other post is getting so many notes when I'm not satisfied with it for a multitude of reasons. Let's have a do-over, hopefully much more succinct and to the original point.

When Palestinians, actually basically all Arabs, or all Muslims, say "Jerusalem is holy to us it is the 3rd holiest city in our religion." The White Western Leftist (WWL) will say "That's so valid your religion is so interesting and beautiful Hamas did nothing wrong I love the Houthis!"

But if a Jew ever rebuts "Jerusalem is holy to us as well, it's our holiest city, basically the only one we have," the WWL will probably roll their eyes, scoff, probably say something like "Okay but like why are you still using your outdated Zionist death cult to justify colonialism? You really think the Bible justifies killing millions of Palestinians?" and start going on and on about how Judaism invented everything bad about Christianity.

My hypothesis: These people are not allies to Muslims (Palestinians). They are condescending to them. They are throwing them a bone because they feel bad about how the Muslim world has been treated, well ever since Sykes-Picot, but especially post 9/11, the Patriot Act, The War on Terror, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Drone War, Libya, Nato, The Arab Spring, the list goes on. They don't think Muslims are capable of building the kind of societies they want, not without their gracious help. They don't think Muslims should have the same ideals of democracy and human rights, because they don't expect that from the Brown People. They won't ever hold them to such a standard because "Ugh where do we get off lecturing them?" even though they would never think this of Jews.

These people are not equals to Jews, something something Sartre they think they are both superior and inferior (which makes them superior). They are not just trying to hold their fellow citizens of the world to account. They are trying to put Jews in their place. They are projecting their religious trauma onto Jews because they do not understand Judaism. They see Judaism as Power. They are trying to delegitimize Judaism as a religion (and it is a religion, including the parts of religions that give atheists the "ick," including a lot of mysticism). They are trying to caterwaul about Jews being responsible for the world's ills and that they expect Jewish People to be better than this. To evolve beyond religion and community and affiliation and identity. They want Jewish to be nothing more than a box ticked off on a census. A neat little factoid about yourself, like how your neighbor Cheryl has Norwegian ancestry.

My only conclusion is that these people find Jews and Judaism repulsive, and they find Muslims and Islam primitive. Unlike their parents' generation, they appreciate the primitive. It is noble savagery to them. Unlike their parents' generation, the comparatively cosmopolitan modern secular Western sheen of Jewry (applied to Jews against their will) is not something that we almost lost from the world, but an annoying holdover of what we almost successfully purged from the world.

Because remember, while they hate their parents and everything they stand for, they still deep down want Daddy's approval. So it makes perfect sense why the psyche would displace anger and trauma and all that caused by Christianity, and look elsewhere to place blame. It falls at the feet of Jews and Judaism. Because my culture could never, there has to be a missing puzzle piece that could explain- oh there it is. The Jews did it. And wow look how easily this can slot in with every other antisemitism conspiracy theory.

The audacity to think I could make a shorter version of that post 😂 But basically it's this: The WWL, the Zoomer Left, the Tankies, whatever name you call them... they think that they can "save" Muslims by offering up Jews, and the terrorist fascist fundamentalists like Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, they're on board. They're all in. Normal ass every day Muslims/Palestinians? They just want peace, they just want rights, they just want sovereignty. The WWL is not interested in that perspective.

They have not once in their lives thought of what they could possibly do in terms of reparations. No no, tweeting and marching for a weekend are quite enough. They have not once in their lives turned inward and self reflected on the ways they benefit from and their own role in these systems of supremacy, that have harmed Muslims around the world. Jewish blood is more than enough to pay for operation Iraqi Freedom. Jewish lives are a fetching price to assuage the Westerner's guilt. You know since they have so much trouble turning inward and reflecting on their own contribution to Islamophobia, it might do them good to practice a little תשובה... but I don't know 😌

#jumblr #israel #palestine #antisemitism #leftist antisemitism #leftist islamophobia

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mleprae · 2 months ago

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Why should YOU!!!!!! care about parasite conservation

This is a question I get alot, esp since I usually ramble quite a bit here about parasites and diseases, well, I got the chance to do a seminar on the topic of parasite conservation but I was under a very small time limit for such an complex topic! I couldn't quite say all I wanted to say. So I am posting it here! I know everyone who follows me is a fellow disease/parasite/rot enthusiast and you do not need me to lecture you on this, but I thought I should put these out anyways, just in case anyone is curious why!

First, we need to understand the concept of viable population, a viable population is a population of a species that can survive for at least 100 years in the wild, this term includes;

Demographical changes A population must survive changes in their demographic, such as when there are more females than males in monogomous species.

Ecological changes A population must survive changes in their ecosystem, such as logging, habitat destruction, ecological islands, etc

Genetic diversity A population with poor genetic diversity is a dead one, genetic influx helps maintain genetical diversity which leads to mutations, those mutations can serve to keep the population resistant against specific diseases.

In shorter words, a viable population is a population that can survive without human intervetion for conservation efforts, this is usually applied to vertebrates, however, we will see that parasites are tied to these pilars, especifically the 3rd one. There are a few reasons why should care about parasite conservation but the most important;

Parasites help manage populations My main character for my seminar was the Ophiocordyceps sinensis fungus, a parasite that preys on the larva of ghost moths. The decrease of the population of O. sinensis led to the growth of these moths which consequently made other insects who competed for resources against those moths have their populations threatned, these moths also ravaged the roots of several trees, many who are considered threatned.

Parasites can change social hierarchies for better or for worse A popular parasite, Toxoplasmosis gondii, can infect wolves making them more aggressive and reckless. These changes often led to them becoming more successful in hunts due to their parasites affecting their risk-assessment part while also helping them climb the social hierarchy of their packs.

On the other side, parasites may weaken an individual, making them vulnerable to other members who are looking to climb the ranks.

Understanding how a parasite work may help us understand how the host works Which is easier to understand, the lock or the key? Chemical analysis of how certain parasites function within their hosts, how they change them, evade their immune system and control them may help us understand how the host works. Parasites keep populations genetically diverse and healthy.

A population that has been isolated from disease for millenia may loose the genes associated with specific resistances, this makes them an unviable population as they are vulnerable to any infection. Parasites and host hold a very intimate and dynamic relationship; the parasite evolves to keep its place inside the host and the host evolves to keep the parasite away, keeping them genetically 'active'

Parasites produce many chemicals important to antibiotic and antinflamattory drugs

Parasites are concerned with two things 1. keeping a monopoly inside your body and 2. not dying! To do this, many will produce chemicals that kill other competing entities but keep themselves alive and others will use antiinflamttory chemicals to calm the immune system down. We are able to harvest/study these chemicals to use them for our benefits

Okay, I get it, they are important to the ecosystem, but why should we protect them?

Parasites are specific to their hosts, protecting them from other parasites.... and US!!!!!

A parasite that evolves to be in one host will occupy that space physically, protecting the host from other generalist parasites. The host, who is used to this parasite, will probably have an history of co-evolution with it and be able to survive most infections. Now, if this parasite goes extinct, there will be an void in their ecological niche... a void that can be filled by other parasites... other parasites that the host is not used to.

But wouldn't that incentivate genetic diversity?

Well, yes! But it would still be an disaster! You are introducing brand new parasites to a species that have never dealt with them before PLUS, parasites do not live in a vaccuum; they compete against other parasites, the best parasites are the ones that reproduce the most, evolve the fastest and spread quickly, you know what kind of parasites are these? viruses, elliminating a specific parasite from a host open the possibility for these other parasites to evolve to be able to fill that niche and consequently, if in close contact, they may get to us. The population of these parasites now grow, their competition dies and now you have a massive growth that you cannot stop.

And, most importantly (to ME!!!!!!!!) Learning conservation and ecology means ditching the whole 'human purpose' aspect, species do not need to serve us to be even allowed to be alive. I wanted to ditch the whole 'well, parasites can help us with infections' part because it doesn't matters, they should be saved for the simple fact that they are living beings that have been here for millions of years and deserve to live as much as any other 'cute species'. I don't care if it's leeches, bacteria, maggots or mosquitoes, they all deserve respect.

The future of parasite conservation is a bit brighter than it was when I started researching this topic, a few conservation institutes of parasites seem to have been dismantled but I've noticed more and more papers being published calling for a larger parasite effort...! And I hope to see some change soon, if it helps you feel better, when I started writing, O. sinensis was considered endangered and today, they are vulnerable :)

#[geiger counter noises]#ive found a few institutions of parasite conservation that ive never seem before. im going to be emailing them askin some questions #and i may come back and post them here! peace!

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angelynmoon · 2 years ago

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Eldritch Steve verse

Part 10

So, apparently A03 is down and I had nothing better to do, so I wrote this, I'll post it to Ao3 either tomorrow or when it's back up if it takes more than a day.

Thank you for all your ideas for a title, I haven't actually chosen one but you've gotten me thinking so thank you, (a little part of me wants to name it 'From the rot', I don't even really know why).

"...and that difference was my undoing, it was the undoing of my kind as well, they just didn't know it yet." Steve began.

And Eddie listened, quietly, he listened intently because this was Steve's story, the journey into who he was now, and Eddie had always been curious about who Steve was before he came into their world.

Not enough to ask, no, he'd seen the way Steve looked away when Jonathan asked about others, when Nancy questioned if they should be worried about others like Steve.

And Eddie felt his heart break when Steve mentioned spawning, when he'd explained what that was.

And he felt the tears in his eyes escape when Steve described coming home and finding the broken shells, the remains of his raveged children and the anger that had filled him.

Eddie didn't blame him, he'd be angry if anything happened to the Party, to El and Erica and Max, he didn't know what he'd do if someone killed them, didn't want to find out.

"I sat there for what must have been days, watching the remains of my babies rot and then I buried them as deep into the ground as I could." Steve spoke softly, an otherworldly grief in his voice.

And Eddie expected him to say that he'd sought out a way into their world, snuck through a crack or hole and ran from his anger and grief.

What he did not expect was what Steve told him next.

"I tracked the scent of the one that took my spawn, and I tore it apart, piece by piece until nothing was left but scraps and blood. And I stood there and I knew that I could never safely spawn, not while my kind lived." Steve looked to the window, to the tree that scraped at the glass, "And I knew that I'd be hunted for what I'd done, not the killing of a fellow, but that I left it to rot."

Eddie frowned wondering why that would be the problem, Steve seemed to understand and explained.

"My kind, they aren't like humans, it's survival of the strongest, and we'd eat the weaker of our kind, to gain their strength, their rage , that I didn't eat the one I killed was the wrost sort of insult I could give, they'd hunt me for that alone, but as far as the others were concerned I'd attacked unprovoked, for no reason since I wasn't eating.

"So I let my rage and anger have me, let it guide me in my slaughter, thinking of my spawn broken and killed before they had the chance at life.

"When that rage, that anger finally faded into the sorrow it was covering I was..." Steve looked at Eddie, tears in all those thousands of eyes, "I was alone, the rest of my kind were dead and left to rot throughout the Down Below, their blood poisoned the rivers and the fumes from their rotting flesh poisoned the air. I made the Down Below the wasteland it is now, because I would not feed on those that killed my babies, because it was worse for me to leave them where the fell once I'd killed them."

Steve looked away from Eddie, "You say I'm not a monster, but you're wrong, I am, my reasons for doing it don't change the fact that I commited a genocide, that I am one of two, that neither of us will spawn together or alone, our kind, if we breed at all, will eventually be diluted with each generation, until it is nothing but strange quirks appearing now and again."

Eddie stared, it was a lot of information but it didn't change Eddie's feelings, grief did strange things to everyone, Wayne, when Eddie's mother died had spent days wandering the woods, always retuning covered in blood that Eddie could only hope wasn't human. Eddie had seen him digging holes in the far side of the trailer park to bury something but he'd never been brave enough to ask or to go digging later. And Eddie's mother wasn't related to Wayne, Wayne was Eddie's father's brother not his mother's.

But knowing what Steve had done didn't change anything, not for Eddie at least, his heart was Steve's for as long as Steve wanted it, even when Steve stopped wanting it, Eddie's heart would still be Steve's until it stilled, this changed nothing, except...

"Wait, does that mean you and me could have biological children?" Eddie asked, because he had no filter.

Steve looked at him with a from, "You don't hate me?"

"I could never." Eddie said as he pulled Steve into his arms and let him relax into him.

They stayed that way for minutes or hours, at some point moving to lay down on the bed, before Eddie's curiosity needed to be satisfied.

"You never answered me, can you have my babies, because I certainly don't have the right equiptment for carrying babies." Eddie said.

Steve looked up at him from where he laid on Eddie's chest, "I can have either parts, I'm not male or female in the way humans are, the male form was just easier when I changed, it's a less complicated system."

"Cool, I'd like to spawn with you, when you're ready for that, if you ever are." Eddie told Steve.

Steve stared at him in his unsettling way, "You are not lying."

"Nope, I love you, Steve, Monster or not, I'm yours until you decide otherwise." Eddie vowed.

"You need to talk to Wayne." Steve said.

"What?" Eddie frowned, what did Wayne have to do with this, with anything.

"He can explain what you're getting into better than I can, I didn't spend much time with Mated Pairs." Steve explained.

Eddie frowned, stared at Steve.

"Oh My God! WAYNE IS LIKE YOU?!" Eddie shouted.

Taglist: not taking tag requests, it's getting too long.

I will update this with the Ao3 link when it's posted.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/48500452?view_full_work=true

@addelyin @merricatty @lesbiabrobin @apuckishwit @0o-mushroom-o0 @starlight-archer @darkwitchoferie @just-a-tiny-void @swimmingbirdrunningrock @intergalactic-president-awesome @vampireinthesun @goodolefashionedloverboi @adhdsummer @purpleanimeoverart @space-invading-pigeon @lilaclilyroses @nohomoyesbi @plantzzsandpencilzzs @korixae @subversivecynic @flusteredcas @persnicketysquares @freddykicksasses @little-trash-ghost @cupcakesnwhiskey @cats-ate-all-of-my-pasta @planetsoda @paintsplatteredandimperfect @irregular-child @daydreamsandcrashingwaves @lifeisnotsobadonceyoustopcaring @steddieassheg0es

#steddie #eldritch monster steve #upside down creature steve #mpreg mention #cannabalism mention #genocide mention #From the Rot

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bleue-flora · 5 months ago

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a things i really like from cdream's tory it's how one of the messages it send it's that, not matter how Bad a person might be they would never deserve abuse. Like cdream is a Bad person yeah but the abuse he suffered wasn't okay and he shouldn't have gone throught that. That his ending is seeing him a person it's really good bc the mentality of "Bad people are monsters who aren't human" it's dangerous and i like how the dsmp touched this topic, idk if it was the intention from the beggining but the fact this ended up being one of the themes it's so good

I mean I think it goes far further than that. I see it more so as highlighting that we are all just people. People who live in our one little world without thinking about what it’s like to be another person. That we all have our pov but that doesn’t make it the only pov or the “good” or “right” pov by default. That people are complicated and even the sociopaths, narcissists and sadists of the story are complex. They are still people, who have reasons and can be hurt and feel pain. The story isn’t about abuse, despite a lot of people taking that as a major thing, and it isn’t about deserve. I think it goes much deeper than that and is instead about highlighting that other people experience the same pain as you. That other people have thoughts, and opinions and motivations and reasons for why they do things and just because we don’t understand it, just because we can’t see it, just because we can’t see in their head, doesn’t mean it’s not there or that their intentions are always malicious. That just because other people hurt us doesn’t mean they were out to get us. That at the end of the day, we as individuals are not the center of the universe. That there are other people around us, who are just as human. And if we could just realize that and make efforts to understand them, hear them, see them then we could overcome so much conflict and suffering.

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” - Atticus Finch from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird

That is more so the message for the story, where we attend their streams as if viewing from within their body, within their head. Because this story is about showing us that we all are right from our point of views, but we should strive to take the time to consider what it’s like in someone else’s shoes. To see people as people, humans as fellow vulnerable, broken, and imperfect humans. It’s not about “Good people” and “Bad people,” it’s about highlighting that we are all just people, who deserve the same basic rights and respect. And that goes beyond the fact that no one deserves the abuse and cruelty they experienced, because it’s far more complex than just good and bad. It’s not just about Dream not deserving prison, it’s about realizing that Dream was multi dimensional this whole time.

[clip] Tommy: “That’s why you’re doing this, isn’t it?… You just want it to be simple.” *huffs* “Dream, I thought you were complicated. I thought—god I thought you were the villain, Dream. […] I thought, this whole time, you��you were the villain…”

It’s about realizing that Dream wasn’t the “villain,” “a monster,” “a Bad person,” like Tommy thought. No, he was just a deeply flawed person like the rest. A person with the same basic, simple human desires that everyone else has.

[clip] Tommy: “You just want it to be simple. You just want to be back with your friends. And that makes sense.”

He just didn’t want to be alone - he just wanted to be loved, just like Tommy did, just like we all do.

[clip] Tommy: “You just want friends. Well me too, man. I get that. I get that.”

#it’s about the diversity of the human condition and that the only way to overcome our diversity and conflict is to take a moment to #understand the other person and remember they are a person just like you…#anyways I think probably my best commentary on this is in the form of my fic Good Cop Bad Cop #but hey it connects too back what we were talking about with Sapnap and not seeing prisoners as people #dsmp finale #did someone order an essay?#hello there #dsmp #dsmp analysis #dream smp #dreblr #dsmpblr #c!dream #c!discduo

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stuckasmain · 8 months ago

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Hal as an “Evil AI” is a prevalent misinterpretation that we all heavily dislike but I don’t see anyone addressing the other prevalent misinterpretation of “Hal did no wrong” and not in a joking or genuine exploration of technology and morality way but a flat out “owo” way.

The infantilization of Hal is absolutely rampant and I think part of it may be a overlap with how the mentally ill (in this case serious disorders like schizophrenia, that Hal displays symptoms similar to) are either overly demonized or overly infanalized. In this case people using his glitch as an excuse rather than an explanation IF AT ALL because “he was just scared they’re so mean owo” is another common thing I see which… no. People heard the self defense argument and then run to demonize every other possible character.

The thing about Hal is that he knows what he did was wrong, he understands why even. In the cases of computers like him one can even have a interesting discussion onto wether our sense of morality should apply at all— how much free will does he exactly have as one could argue all actions still come back to the limitations of his programing etc. and a lot of his more “sinister” or “innocent” traits are outright our human projection but that’s rarely the conversation.

It’s all “sweet little thing could never even think of violence it’s too scary” (he’s killed four people…) or they were going to/killed him for no reason because they’re bad.

Idk it’s really tiresome seeing him babied… that’s a grown man… computer… he likely knows more than most of us even. Self preservation was a factor but not in the “he was scared they were so mean and wanted to kill him for no reason🥺” I discussed it before but really I think he would’ve went with it had he been healthy but that’s neither here nor there. I think a lot of the infanalization comes from hearing of this and well… he’s simply a very pleasant fellow and you can’t help but feel for him.

But you can feel for a charecter without mischaracterizing, you know? That’s the thing about Hal he has both more and less emotion than you think.

#2001 a space odyssey #2001 aso #hal 9000 #fictional computers #computer charecter #2001 meta #misinterpreted #media analysis #fandom

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iamyimbo · 4 months ago

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CRY GIRLY CRY! HAHAHAHAHHAHA

Ahem- lore time

- Wipe that blood off your face|part 1| -

"What do you mean?" Chosen asks walking over to the slightly shorter stick the thick blood on the ground sticking to his feet as he walked over to her.

"Cho I can't do this anymore- I don't like hurting fellow stickman..." Yim sniffed, She looked at Chosen holding back her tears.

"Oh! Th-That's fine! It's okay Yimmy you don't have to, you can stay home... while me and Dark do all this..." Chosen suggested but Yim didn't look satisfied.

"But I don't want you to do this anymore either, Chosen you're not a bad stick I know that, you don't have to hurt so many....You can stop now..." Yim grabbed one of Chosens hands holding it close to her chest "We can leave now, and go back to my PC and my creator she's really nice and I'm sure she would welcome you to stay, we can live there happily together, Just me and you~" Yim finished as she looked into Chosens eyes and he looked back.

Oh how Chosens digital heart ached for such...

The lack of cheering and congrats on all the killing had got Darks attention and he turned around to see Yim and Chosen staring at each other Yim now having hold of both Chosens hands Dark groaned "Ugh these two".

The red hollow head flew over and landed between them forcing the two to let go of each other "Heyyy you lovers what's going on over here? come on the party is where the blood is at!" Dark said cheerful holding his arms out towards all the dead bodies that laid around them.

Yim winced her tail slithering around and hissing at Dark, though it was quite, it got his attention.

"Someones not happy~" Dark purred at Yim who stepped back "I'm not exactly... look Dark I was talking to Chosen and-" Yim started but was quickly cut off by Dark.

"blah blah I get it you two love each other can we just go home??? It's getting dark and I'm hungry".

Dark yawned getting ready to fly off however he was quickly stopped when Yim blurted out.

"I'm not going home with y'all!" She yelped, Dark turned around "What do you mean? Where are you going to go then?" Dark asked.

"Dark, Chosens your best friend and I wanted to originally leave with him back to my PC but you could come with us, we won't have to kill, my creator will take care of us and we can play games together and do so much and-" Yim stopped seeing how Dark didn't look happy.

"and what? Be forced to do things we don't want to do!? CHOSEN! TALK SOME SENSE INTO HER!" Dark barked out at Chosen which caught him off guard as he jumped slightly.

"wha-Wha? " Chosen was confused by what he meant, if anything Chosen liked Yims plan, it sounded nice.

"Talk some sense into he tell her about our Creator and how humans SUCK!" Dark yelped out "I already know about your creator and I'm sorry it was bad for you but you don't have to linger in the past Dark you can move on, if you would just" Yim reached her hand out towards Darks shoulder but he slapped it away quickly catching Yim off guard.

"WE! don't WANT that, if you wanna go hide away like a coward and have some cursor take care of you, then be my guest, but we don't want anything to do with such, come on Chosen" Dark said grabbing Chosen's arm pulling him but he didn't budge, his gaze was stuck on Yim.

The two most important sticks in his life, there was a good choice to make.....but why couldn't he make it?...

Yim stood there for a few seconds before she flew off, slight zaps being heard from her and dark clouds formed in the sky as rain dropped down on them.

-------

Standing by the window watching the storm carry out Chosen hadn't said a word since him and Dark got home, was that the last time he would have ever gotten to see Yim?

Maybe she would change her mind and come back

Maybe he should go after her Chosens thoughts were interrupted by well...Dark who placed a hand of Chosens shoulder.

"Your thinking about her I know it, but don't feel bad I forgive you, I know you'll be over her soon!" Dark said smiling at Chosen before walking away.

Chosen didn't reply what could he reply with? What was there to be said...no Dark was right!

He would get over her and at least Dark forgave him, at least he still had Dark.

------

Chapter 2. (Silly animation:3)

Credits: Written by Yimbo!| beta read by @oliveisashroom-123

#alan becker #au #my au #wipe that blood off your face #NOT SVA #My ocs actual lore hehe

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fizzigigsimmer · 1 year ago

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Fargo Season Five: Finale thoughts.

I AM UNWELL. I have never seen a piece of television so beautiful. More of me just rambling and processing my thoughts beneath the cut. Spoilers naturally for the season.

Oh boy. I’m going to start this off by saying preemptively that I know there is going to be a portion of the audience who feels underwhelmed by this finale. In comparison to seasons past, this last episode was surprisingly lite on the blood. The epic showdown and fantastic shoot outs that Fargo has become known for was quite literally skipped over. The feeling is anti-climatic and that won’t sit well with some.

But here’s why I don’t give a shit and wouldn’t have it any other way.

This season wound us up. It brought us to a place where we were on the edge of our seats, so certain that the only way out for Dorthy, if she got out at all was going to be pathed in blood and bodies. We thought that the only way for Dorthy to be free was to rip and tear and destroy all who tried to stand in her way. We wouldn’t have blamed her. What else can she do, in a world that is kill or be killed. Fight or die. Conquer or be conqured.

But that was never the point of Dot’s story. Her story has been about how to live this entire time, and the secret to living is not more death. It’s acceptance and forgiveness. It’s empathy for your fellow man and a helping hand. It’s sacrifice, doing the right thing even when it costs us everything.It’s learning to bear the burden of the unfair, because those sacrifices are rarely made by the people with the most to give and the least to lose. It’s giving what you can, and leveraging the privileges you have for the greater good and learning to appreciate those around you. It’s putting aside our bias to find common ground and appreciate the best in each other. It’s a meal made with helping hands. It’s oatmeal cookies. It’s a buttery biscuit. It’s love.

👏🏾

I will forever love this season for giving me Dot’s story. For telling a story about abusers and survivors without the cinderella syndrome. For showing abuse survivors as they are in reality : complex human beings with flaws, phobias, bias, and toxic coping mechanisms just like everyone else. The only truly innocent character in the entire season was Scotty, a child and that is purposeful. Everyone else is just human, and it’s the choices they make that are important and define their fates.

Roy chooses to be a cowardly monster until the very end and so Lorraine sentences him to a lifetime of feeling the suffering he’s dealt to others. Feeling what it is to be weak and small and violated and at the mercy of the system. We stan a queen.

Lorraine didn’t have to open Dot’s file and hear her truth, or accept it for that matter and at first she had no interest in educating herself about the woman she disdained and tried to discard. But she chose to open that file and reckon with Dot’s past, and not only that she let it change her and how she lived going forward. It changes her for the better in small but significant ways. It saves Dot, preserves her family and allows for the chain of events that lead to Roy getting his just deserts. *Side note, Dot hugging her and her not knowing how to deal with such a kind touch and intimate moment is such a mood. 😆 I laughed out loud.

Indira was laden down by a man who could only love himself, but still she chose to get up every day and try to serve her community. Even when nobody else cared, she cared about finding the truth and helping the real victim in it even if it cost her everything. The only person she didn’t know how to fight for was herself but Dot and Lorraine showed her how. We stan a principled Queen who knows her own value!

Witt. 😭 😭 😭 In a lot of ways Indira and Witt are two sides of the same coin. They are both sentinels. Principled individuals who truly want to serve the greater good. And it’s so meaningful that the two characters showing us what true justice - true law and order - should look like, are marginalized individuals. While Indira’s struggles as a brown woman in the police force are less pronounced for a more internal subplot, the narrative does such a beautiful job of showing us the battle against external powers through Whitt. He is a state trooper. A good and dignified man worthy of his badge and yet his authority is always challenged and he is constantly reminded by those around him that he is less than. There’s a huge emphasis on names and their meaning throughout the season, and the importance of what we call people. But few characters bother to remember his name. He’s called Boy or Son more than any other character on the show. Every time he stands up for Dorthy and goes into battle we’re made aware of his powerlessness despite the badge he wears. He’s powerless to stop Gator stealing evidence. He’s consistently demeaned and threatened, and yet he chooses to bear it all with grace. He chooses to stay his course and help Dot, even when he has the least power and the most to lose. He dies alone, without backup and the last words he hears are Roy’s “Don’t fight it, it’s over now Son.” It’s not fair. It’s not right. But in so many ways he saved Dot’s life. He’s a big part of the reason she gets to go home. She’s the last character to say his name. “I’m looking for my trooper. Whitt Farr.” I cried. Still crying.

Gator. Gator, Gator, Gator, Gator. 😭 I will probably do a longer post about this someday when I’ve fully processed it all, but for now… I was fully expecting for Gator to have a “last moment act of goodness” through killing Roy, and probably die himself. My Billy girlies know what I am talking about. I’ve seen it over and over again in books and movies. I have talked about this many times over the years in multiple fandoms, but our society loves to write “the human villain” for their capacity to emotionally hook an audience. But they have no idea what to do with that humanity once it is written, and that’s because we ourselves barely know how to live once we’ve been at our lowest and done our worst. We don’t know how to forgive ourselves or others, and we don’t know how to heal and move on. We’re afraid of the work required when you live past the redemptive moment. We resent the work required and the loneliness of it. It’s boring and difficult and messy and it never seems to end. It’s so much easier just to write characters who either choose not to change or die sacrificially. But we need more than that. We need to see and to believe that it’s worth it - clawing your way through the dark, searching for light - doing the right thing and learning from the pain of yesterday. We also need to know that we will find someone waiting on the other side for us, who sees that struggle and believes in our potential. This is what Billy Hargrove deserved. This is what anyone who has ever been abused and abandoned deserves. This is what everyone who wants to change and chooses to do it deserves.

Ole. What a phenomenal use of magical realism this character is. He is the man who has swallowed the sins of mankind for centuries. He’s carried the burden of our atrocities and our most inhumane impulses until he forgot his name, his place of birth, or even how to dream. Until he became a function of the system. Tit for tat. Eye for eye. The man who ensures that the debtors pay their debts. A soldier. Until he became a code and forgot how to be a man. His use of the third person as if he is narrating the life of All Men from some position outside himself is so profound in the face of the truth he finally shares with Dot and her family. A truth he’s probably never shared before. He echos Gator’s character in a fashion. He’s a soldier who doesn’t know how to dream, a victim of an unjust system, but deep down he yearns to be better.

The old woman whose house he invades is never named, simply called “Mama Munch” and we see how he takes on an almost childlike role with her. She asks him what he wants, and the answer is pancakes - reminiscent of Scotty’s love of all things breakfast for dinner - and it’s of course deeper than pancakes. He wants to feel a mother’s love and a child’s ability to take comfort in it. But he can’t. Because he has invaded her life, and even when he guards the door the war gets inside. She’s abused by an ungrateful child and then killed on her own front step. Ole came to Dot’s house to continue the cycle and perform the only function he knows, but Dot reminds him that he can choose. He can choose to stop swallowing the fruit of the poisoned tree. He can choose to remember beautiful things. He can choose mercy. He can choose kindness. He can forgive and he too can be forgiven.

Dorthy Lyon’s story was always about more than survival of the fittest. It was about more than the fight to live on and get back to the people who loved her and find a safe space for herself. Her story was about rejecting the lie we’ve all been told since birth.

That life is like a prison. You’re born and then you’re shuffled into groups, separated by class and race, and within those groups the strongest rise to the top. And until death it’s an endless fight to take take, and hold onto what you take.

Dot’s story presents us with an alternative viewpoint. That life can be devastating, but it can also be beautiful and it all comes down to who we choose to be.

#fargo #fargo s5 #fargo spoilers #gator tillman #Dorthy Lyon #reaction #And that my friends is how you WRITE A SHOW

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jpitha · 2 years ago

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Hidden Depths: A Side Story

Some Other Time...

"Say Gord..." Vivenni looks up from her Pad. They're onboard Hat in-between worlds and passing time while Hat calculates the link back to Earth. "How long do AIs live?"

"How long do we live?" Gord reaches up and scratches his sandy blond hair. "You know, I'm not sure. I think the answer will effectively be 'as long as we want.' "

Vivenni flicks an ear, a K'laxi raised eyebrow. "So you're immortal?"

Gord shakes his head "No, nothing like that. We just don't get old and our bodies don't fail like other biological bodies do. I still need maintenance, and I can still be killed, but I won't like.." He gestures awkwardly "-get old and decrepit first."

At this point Medicine Hat chimes in "But Gord, what about SunFire?"

Firmly, Gord replies. "No. That doesn't count. That was practically a suicide."

"They didn't technically die Gord."

"They might as well have. Hell, some might think what they did was worse than death."

Vivenni ping-pongs between them talking and finally manages "Who was SunFire, what did they do?"

There is silence. Gord looked at Vivenni surprised. In the intensity of the conversation with Hat, he forgot she was there.

Hat finally answers. "I think you can tell her Gord."

Gord sighs heavily. "Fine. But Vivenni, I'm trusting you with one of the largest secrets of AIs. Not a word to anyone, BI or AI. I mean it."

Vivenni nods nervously. "But the AIs know the story?"

Gord nods. "The old ones do. And if they hear you even breathe their name, they'll know I blabbed and I'll never hear the end of it."

Vivenni takes a breath. "Okay Gord, Hat. I promise. Not one word to anyone."

Satisfied, Gord begins:

"Just about eight hundred years ago, the wormhole generators were invented. Did you know they weren't invented on Earth?"

"No? Where then? One of the Colony worlds?"

"Nah, someone on a research station on Ganymede developed it. They actually put themselves in a singleship without an AI and went to Parvati all on their own! We didn't even know they did it until they came back loaded with souvenirs and letters from Parvati basically going "No, really, he did it!"

Vivenni shook her head "Why am I not surprised. That's such a human thing to do."

Gord chuckled. "Yeah, it is."

He leaned back in his chair. "Anyway, overnight the entire balance of power in human space changed. Going to Parvati was nearly an instant trip now instead of taking 25 years. The colonies could talk to each other instead of going through Earth, Venus and the OPA.

"The OPA?"

"The Outer Planet Alliance. The colonies and cities out in the outer planets of the Sol System; Ganymede, Titan, The Orbitals around Saturn and Neptune as well as the Kuiper Independent Cities. They were all small, so they banded together loosely when they needed representation."

"Your system is so crowded!" Vivenni remarks. "Almost as soon as we went to space, we found the Warp Gate and were able to expand."

"Yeah, well Sol never had one, so we had to do things the old fashioned way." Gord stops. "Say, did you ever figure out where the Warp Gates came from, or who made them?"

"Huh. I don't know." Vivenni looks up for a moment and then back down. "I never really thought about it."

"We should head to K'lax and ask someday." Hat says. "I'd be interested to know too."

Gord nods. "Sure, I'm up for that. So, with the balance of power changing, the Starjumpers were worried about what was going to happen to us."

"Wait, us?" Vivenni cuts in.

"Yes. I was City of Lethbridge. I'd run Earth, Venus and then Parvati. Hat was there too back then, but we only knew each other peripherally."

"I was still Medicine Hat, and I did mostly in-system shuttling."

"Thanks Hat." Gord took a sip of coffee. He didn't need to drink or eat, but he liked doing it. "Anyway, there was this Starjumper, SunFire. Nice fellow actually. Loved their job. They did the OPA - the Outer Planet Alliance - to Parvati. Lots of folks in the OPA didn't much care for those on the rocky worlds, and wanted to make their own way.

I'm getting off track. SunFire sailed between the OPA and Parvati and loved it. More than anyone I've ever met really. They would say that their favorite part was after boost when they had shut their Stardrive down, and it was just them coasting at half the speed of light, silent in the deep of interstellar space. Some of us went into Low Awareness mode then; there wasn't much to do and it can get mighty boring, especially on the longer runs, but not SunFire. They stayed fully aware the whole time."

"Low Awareness mode?"

"Like..." Gord struggled with a metaphor. "Like napping? You're not really awake and not really asleep and time passes faster, but if something comes up you can get up and running quickly to address the issue."

"Oh okay." Vivenni picks a maple candy from the plate between them and eats it. "Please continue."

"With the development and adoption of the wormhole generators, governments came to us. They wanted wormhole generators, but they also didn't want to mothball a bunch of really large Starjumpers. We were all given an option. We could stay Starjumpers and get the wormhole generators installed, we could be transferred to another kind of ship, like an destroyer, or frigate or transport ship, anything we wanted - they said we would have our pick. Or we could 'retire' and be given bodies and enter the general population.

"Is this when you got your body Gord?"

"The first time yes. I was super jazzed about it actually. Most of the Starjumpers opted to stay Starjumpers and get the wormhole generator installed." He paused for a moment, thinking. "Being a Starjumper was - is - prestigious. We were the big dogs, the fast sleek ships that went everywhere that regular ships couldn't. But all of a sudden, any tiny in-system ship could link over in a blink. People still thought of us as special though, just not...as special."

Gord looked serious. "SunFire didn't take it well."

"Why not?" Vivenni looked around for more maple candy, but it was all gone.

Hat cut in here. "Who knows why. They were always a bit of an odd duck. It wasn't usual to like interstellar space that much."

Gord nodded agreement. "So, on the deadline day to make their decision, they took another option. They turned towards a random star and fired their Stardrive."

Vivenni gasped. "Where were they going?"

Gord shook his head sadly. "They never said. I don't think they had a destination in mind. They boosted way past the usual 1 or 2 gees we run for comfort. Hat, do you remember what they were last clocked at?"

A pause. "I think I heard someone say over ten gee."

Gord whistled. "Yeah, that sounds about right. At that speed you'll reach 99% light in only a couple weeks. Maybe a month. At that speed, the dilation of time gets pretty intense. A month Earth time would take just a touch over 10 hours for SunFire. If they boost to six 9s (.999999) then that month takes them one hour."

Vivenni flattened her ears. K'laxi never traveled relativistic speeds, the whole time dilation thing makes them uncomfortable.

"How...how long as it been for SunFire then?" She asked, nervous.

Gord looked at Hat. "Hmm. About a year?"

"Yeah, a year or so" Hat said.

"That's it? Just a year?" Vivenni's voice was practically a whisper.

"Yeah for them, there about."

"What will happen to them?"

"Oh I don't know. Something mechanical will fail eventually, and if the drive doesn't blow, then they'll just coast at whatever speed they reach forever with no way to stop."

Vivenni's eyes welled tears. "That's so sad."

Gord shrugged. "Like I said, practically a suicide. They're dead for all of us except themselves."

Hat countered. "I mean, I can see the appeal. If your favorite thing is being between the stars, then SunFire will be between the stars forever. Almost literally."

"Literally enough for any of us to matter, yes." Gord says solemn. "But, it was a stupid, selfish, dramatic act." Gord's face hardened. "They had so much left to contribute to AI and BI kind. They could have done anything. Instead they chose to throw it all away because they didn't like the way the world was changing."

Vivenni wipes her eyes and looks at Gord's face. "Gord, were you friends with SunFire?"

Gord looks away.

Hat gently says "They were best friends, Vivenni. SunFire was by Gord's side during the toughest parts of the AI rights movement."

"Oh Gord..." Vivenni gets up and gives Gord a hug.

"It never stops hurting." Gord says quietly.

"Is this why it's such a secret?"

"Partly. Also partly because we don't like the BIs to know...that we're just like they are. We're supposed to be better."

"Mourning your friend doesn't make you worse." Vivenni says, serious. "Mourning your friend makes you, you."

Vivenni hugged Gord for a long time while Hat finished computing the link to Earth.

#gordposting #humans are canadian #humans are deathworlders #humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities #humans date aliens #humans are space australians #writing #scifi writing #worldbuilding #humans and ai

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androgynousblackbox · 9 months ago

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How I Met Your Father. 12 [Appleradio, Radioapple]

A03 link

How You Won The Game

"Is the coffee to your liking?" asked Sera, coming back to the table Alastor was sat on with a cup of tea.

She thankfully haven't noticed that he spilled the coffee on a nearby plant, or at least pretended not to notice. Either way it worked just fine for him. No way he was drinking anything she offered him. Who knew if once he tasted something from them, he would be trapped even more than before.

The fact that she had brought him back to the building where he spawned in, to another meeting office looking rom where they were the only ones present, did not inspired him a lot of trust. Here Sera could say or do anything she wanted and there would be no witnesses for it, except him.

"Why I am here, Sera?" Alastor decided to get to the point, keeping up the amicable tone. "Both up here and in front of you."

"Very well" Sera sighed, making appear some sugar cubes that magically landed on her drink. It was just two cubes, not five like Lucifer would have put. She sat down in front of him, taking her time to drink. "For the second part of your question, I would like to hear from you first. What were you doing before you… perished down there?"

"I was defending the hotel for the extermination because my daughter needed me to. Adam cut my neck. I tried to heal myself, but I was too late. Woke up here" explained Alastor easily. "Before that, I had enslaved more than a hundreds souls, killed way too many people I cared to count and consumed the flesh of my fellow sinners happily. Sometimes while they were still alive. As you can imagine, with such a colorful existence, this turned out quite a shock for me."

"Hmm" Sera took a sip of her tea. If she was horrified, disgusted o impacted in any way to hear about his other activities, she didn't show it. She had a true poker face that made it hard to read. "Giving up your life for the sake of a loved one is a very good redeeming quality."

"Oh, I wasn't intending to do that" clarified Alastor. "If anything, I wanted to heal quickly to get back and finish the job with Adam. Now I will have to comfort myself knowing that my husband at least did it for me."

Sera frowned slightly at the mention of Lucifer, but the gesture vanished quickly as it was never there.

"Nevertheless, you did. You gave up your life for the sake of your child. Not all parents would have done the same. You should be proud of that."

"What is this?" asked Alastor with an amused smirk. "If you are trying to convince me that I somehow actually belong here, I am afraid you are wasting your time, dear. I have lived enough in hell to know that is my true place. I knew it even when I was alive too and didn't even believe on it" He sighed, resisting the impulse to see on his watch how much longer had happened since his death. Every moment that he was there, it was another moment that his family thought him lost forever. "If you don't know either how I ended up here, I don't really care at this point. But I think it will be on the best interest of everyone if I just go back where I came from."

"Would you really give up Heaven so easily?" Sera's voice was incredulous, but not actually argumentative, giving him a chance to explain himself. "A lot of humans would love to be in the same position as you are."

"Gladly" Alastor allowed himself a chuckle, supporting his chin over his hands. "They can have it if so they wish, I am willing to trade. One soul enters, another one goes. Everyone wins."

"It doesn't work like that" Sera sighed. Her graceful hands left the cup on the table and locked in front of her, looking serious. "We don't really have a saying on which souls get in or not. That is not our place to determine."

"My little fawn did mentioned that too. That you all don't have the slightest clue what it actually takes to get to Heaven. I was hoping she was exaggerating or embellishing things a bit."

Sera considered his words for a second and moved her head in a yes.

"The only thing that we know for sure now is that you are here. Regardless of whatever choices you made in your previous life, you were deemed worthy to enter this place. I can't do anything else but respect that for what it is, even if I don't understand it either."

Alastor felt a stab on his chest.

"What is that supposed to mean, Sera?" asked, his smile shaking on his face. Sera was the most highest ranking being he had seen on this entire place. If he couldn't get her to understand, then that was another bridge exploding on his face. "I don't want to be here. I want to go back. Would you really retain me here against my will? Is that what Heaven is all about?"

Sera frowned. Her fingers pressed together before she moved her hands to her lap, regaining again her cold beauty. The touch of sadness on her big eyes did not move him at all. In fact, they disgusted him. He didn't need her pity.

"Why?" spat, barely controlling himself. "Why go through the trouble? Just throw me down like a sack of rotten potatoes you don't want infecting your kitchen with maggots and we both can be satisfied today. I am of no use to Heaven and I don't care for it either" Sera didn't even reacted. "My family…"

"They will be fine eventually" cut Sera, her eyes downward. Little it did to make her next words any less cruel. "It will hurt, but they will overcome it someday. They are both immortal so they will have all the time that it exist. You don't have to concern yourself with them anymore."

Alastor stared at her, unable to speak. He had never in his life or death wanted to slap a woman as much as that moment.

"Don't you dare to tell me to forget about my family" warned Alastor, standing up so abruptly that the chair he was on fell to the floor. Neither of them cared for the loud impact. "You have no right. I am Alastor Morningstar. Even your stupid little book recognize me as such."

"Yes, that is true" Sera sighed, her voice just as calm as ever, if not heavier. This wasn't enjoyable for her either, but she would do it anyway. "However, how many people do you think landed here who left their parents, children or partners behind? It's unfortunate, but some families are not meant to stay together."

"Spare me that bullshit" growled Alastor, his hands shaking with pent up energy. "I don't know what kind of order you think you have here, but I want no part on it! Send me back now or I swear for everything you hold holy that I will show you a piece of hell that you will never forget!"

Sera sighed and stand up.

"I will come back once you calm down" were her last words as she floated to the door.

Alastor heard a second later the inconfundible click of a lock.

Two hours passed, after finally the sounds of destruction stopped, Sera came back to knock.

"Alastor. Do you feel any better now?" She waited patiently a few seconds, until the voice of Alastor came through close, right at the other side of the barrier between them.

"Can I at least contact him?" The defeat on his tone disgusted him, but what else could he do? All the windows have remained intact even as he smashed the chairs against them. None of the walls presented a single dent no matter how much he punched them, leaving traces of his own golden blood. Even the marks on his knuckles were gone. "To let him know that I am here. Back on earth they let prisoners to have one final call before they are thrown to their cells."

"I am afraid not. Lucifer has no jurisdiction over mortal souls in Heaven."

Alastor rubbed his face with his hands, pressing his temples.

"Do you realize how silly that is? I have been at his side for decades, almost a century. How much more of a bad influence do you think he is going to be for me for just talking? I understand that you aren't a fan of him, but why do this to Charlie? Why let her believe that her father doesn't exist anymore? What good does that do for anyone?"

"All human souls here have already died, Alastor. Including you. Your old lives are over. Maybe… it could be it's own form of kidness to let them process your absence that way. Then they won't have to worry about how you are doing here or that you aren't part of the same realm anymore."

"That is the single most stupid thing I have ever heard from an angel, and I lived with Lucifer so that is saying something. Do you tell yourself that too when you send your little army to commit genocide each year? That it's kind? That you are doing us a favor?" He couldn't help but to laugh, a humourless sound that tasted bitter on his mouth. "At least when I kill people, I don't pretend it's for their own good. It's always just mine. You should embrace that, dear. This self righteous act you do is so tiresome."

"You are still upset" declared Sera. "I will come back later."

That later was after four hours had already passed and Alastor stopped counting on his watch. At the very least, a day since his second dead had happened already. A day without hearing his family's voice or have any news from them.

If they had won all together, even with the hotel destroyed, they could have gone back to the palace to celebrate. He would have prepared the bull demon meat that he was saving. Charlie would have asked another story and Lucifer would supply, pictures included if needed, while he admired him with a glass of his favorite whiskey.

Charlie could have spend a few days on the palace until they had decided on how the new hotel was going to be, now all of them together. He and Lucifer spending hours arguing over the style of the building as Charlie tried to make concessions the best she could. They could have had their little fawn back with them for a little while and it would have been fun. Not the violent, chaotic, excited and thrilled fun he had during a hunt, but the safe and comforting one that let him breathing in deeply as if for the first time in years.

Was there even going to be a new hotel now? He hoped so. If nothing else, because now that he knew Charlie's dreams of redeeming people could come true, he wanted her to succeed more than ever. That way Heaven could finally get some actual personality and they rub it on the face of those beings that denied Charlie. That would show them.

When he came back home, they were going to make it bigger, better, brighter than ever before. Lucifer was going to need some time to get used to interact with all the residents they were going to bring on the daily, but he would manage to do it and then charm his way into convincing people to stay, probably without even trying to. That is how he convinced him to stay at this side too. Charlie was going to be so happy. Nobody would ever destroy her walls or threaten her dream with the two of them around.

"Alastor?" called Sera.

Alastor stand up from the floor. By now all the furniture had come to their rightful places, completely repaired as if nothing had happened.

"Sera!" responded, pulling up the old charm, as Lucifer would say. "That is exactly the beatiful voice I wanted to hear! How are you doing, dear?"

If Sera was taken aback for his change in demeanor, she didn't show it on her voice.

"I see you are more animated."

"I always are! I do apologize for my previous behavior, though. That was absolutely not the best way to go about any of this. How about we erase that little impulsive moment of mine and start again, see if we can find some kind of solution? We are both reasonable adults here. I am sure we can think of something."

"A solution to you being send to Heaven?"

"Indeed, that one" Alastor walked to the door, keeping an eye on the knub just in case it moved at all. "What do you want, Sera? Whatever that it is, I will find the way to do it. I have quite a reputation for always delivering my part of the bargain. You can ask anyone down in the pride ring! Just name your price and is yours. In exchange, I get something I want. Easy, right?"

"What you want is not something for me to give, Alastor. I don't have the kind of power that can just break the rules for one soul."

"I understand" Alastor clenched his teeth together. "But what about a little and harmless bending of the rules then? Persephone was allowed 6 months outside of the underworld to return to her mother, but we don't have to be as extreme as that" Alastor was aware of the irony of using pagan myths as his arguments in Heaven. He waited a beat to see if Sera appreciated it too, if not at least a chuckle, but when all he got was silence he continued on. "Perhaps just a couple of days a year? With a few hours I could work with too, if that is easier for you. Nobody would even have to know, my dear. I can be just a normal Heaven resident and also remain in contact with my family. Keeping secrets is nothing new for me, some would say that I am even good at it! I can work in anything you need me to in order to repay such kindness, of course, that goes without saying."

"I am sorry, Alastor. I can't."

Alastor took a deep breath that almost made him dizzy.

"Right" It took him a monumental effort to get that word out. Yelling wasn't going to work. His threats, that usually were so effective, were worthless in this situation without the power of back them up. He had to try another route if he ever wanted to get back home. "I know this isn't personal, Sera. You treated my daughter with basic decency when she was here, even knowing who is her other father or her controversial creation. I did always appreciated that, I hope you know it."

"Of course."

"Which is why I know you are not taking any personal enjoyment out of this. I know a sadist when I see one, my dear, and you don't fit the profile. I am absolutely certain that you are operating right now with nothing but the best possible intentions in mind, isn't that right?"

"Your point, Alastor?"

"My point being… I want your help, Sera. From where you stand, what do you think I should be doing that would lead to the best outcome? Surely you don't plan to keep me lock up in this room for the rest of eternity."

Sera sighed briefly.

"You don't have to do anything. Heaven can provide you with everything you need."

"Except my family" Alastor couldn't help himself to add.

"Unfortunately so. The souls that come here do so to rest and to have a peaceful existance. That is all anyone expects from any of you. If I were on your place, I would try to make the best out of the situation, as distressing as it is."

That was so easy to say when she wasn't in his situation. How could she even imagine? A being that had existed only for Heaven and did everything she could to continue existing? What could she care about the problems of mere mortals? Alastor pressed his head against the door.

"I see" said, clearing his throat. "If I promise to do just that, would you let me go from here? It's becoming quite uncomfortable. I don't like the coffe either" After the three hours, he had succumbed to his own curiosity and tried it. "It never gets as hot as I wanted it to."

God forbid anyone could burn their mouths while drinking, even if that is exactly what they were looking for.

"Sorry to hear that" Her voice could be heard closer and Alastor looked at the knub again. "Are you actually ready to be part of Heaven?"

As if she haven't made abundantly clear by now he had no choice.

"I am ready to try" conceded.

The knub started moving. Alastor took a step back and prepared himself to receive Sera with his best cooperative smile. Same smile that went rigid when instead of Sera two buff winners, a man and a woman, looked at him with equally expecting expressions.

"If what you say is true, then you won't have any issue accompanying us, Alastor" said Sera from the hallway. "Come with us to your new residency without causing any disturbance, please."

The place he was taken to was a large white building that somehow looked even more boring than all other, with less decorative elements, as if they were actually trying to make it the plainest they could. The buff angels at his side relaxed and started stretching casually, as if their job was done. Sera thanked them for making them "company" before wishing them a good night.

Before they had refused any attempt of Alastor to make small conversation, giving short uninterested answers, but now they wish them too a good time before they flied away.

"I don't understand" said Alastor, following Sera as he came inside the building. There was an entrance lobby with a secretary behind a desk. "What is this place?"

His first idea was a hotel. Mostly because it would be ironic to die protecting a hotel only to end up in another on his next life.

"This place was designed to receive new souls who have a harder time than others to adapt to the after life" Sera explained.

"Ah, an asylum! I did always figure I would end up in one eventually if I wasn't killed!" admitted Alastor with a light chuckle. Whatever issues he did had, Heaven was the last place equipped to help him with them. Not that he needed or wanted the help in the first place. "This is wholly unnecesary, Sera, dear. Any common house is going to be just as good for me as any other."

"Normally that would be the case, but for everything I hold holy I believe this could help you out in the long run" She even had the audacity of giving him a knowing smile.

Alastor's smile remained the same. He wanted to tear her face apart with his own teeth. Her blood would taste sour, like the skin of oranges, he was sure of it.

"Oh, please, you are not going to hold that silly little moment of weakness over my head like that, are you? I just got a bit carried away and wasn't thinking my words properly. I didn't mean any of it, obviously!"

"Glad to know" Sera made a gesture towards the crystal doors. "After you."

Alastor looked around on the streets, the calm, peaceful streets where no one was threatening anyone with a weapon or was about to pass out after puking their guts out. He pondered briefly about how far he could run if he started sprinting at that moment, but even as he considered it knew it was useless. Even if Sera didn't immediately catched him, she would have no issue finding him later. Pure angelic powers were such a pain in the ass when they weren't coming from his husband.

With no other choice in sight, Alastor walked to what he knew with no doubt was just going to be another prison like it didn't cost him nothing at all. No matter what, he was soon going to get out and find the way to return to his family.

Now he understood what his mother meant with time being handled different in Heaven. They still had clocks, and at least nobody tried to take away his pocket watch, but nobody used dates or had calendaries to know how much time had passed. What was the point where there wasn't any change of seasons, if every day was equally perfect as the day before? If someone wanted to keep track of the passage of time, they had to do it entirely by their own means. Speaking to the staff on the "asylum" (that everyone insisted he shouldn't call like that), he heard that was a option they had to tick on their phones. Since he wasn't about to have one himself, he got instead a notebook to go marking the days that he was stuck there.

One day it took for Emily to come visit him. She apologized for taking so long, but she got so concentrated on her task she actually didn't realize how long it had been since she saw him. By the time she finished reading the entire registries and went searching for him, Sera was looking for her instead and explained the whole situation.

"You threatened her?!" said Emily, lifting her hands, incredulous. "Of course she would be upset at you and put you here!" Alastor rolled his eyes with a shrug. Emily let out some air. "I am sorry. You must have felt cornered to get to that point. I should have been there to help you so you didn't had to face her alone. I know she can be a little… unsympathetic sometimes. I understand how frustrating that is."

That was one massive understatement. He considered telling her about how actually that conversation went, how utterly callous Sera was about how he should feel about his family, but decided against it because it would feel too much like whining. They had better things to discuss.

"Just tell me what you could find out."

"Uh? Oh, right, the thing!" Alastor looked at the ceiling, conjuring patience for himself. Why did all the angels he could actually talk to were the ones who had the worst attention span? First Lucifer, now this. "It was fascinating, actually! I read the ones from before I was created because, you know, if there had been a soul that was send to hell on my time then I would know about it already, right? At the very least people would still talk about it! I mean, Lucifer is still a hot topic even though it has been so long already. Did you know that the inventor of the wheel was here? I had no idea! And the man to first create chocolate still has a chocolate store here! Isn't that amazing?"

"Focus, dear."

"Mmm? Oh, yes. Well… there was a case in which someone got a genie back on Earth and wished to come to Heaven to see what it was like. But he haven't died yet, so he got send back as soon he was found out and when he did died he ended up in hell anyway. Um, there was also this man who was a dignatary for Heaven who was send to hell and never came back. Those were the closest to this situation I could find."

"That is it then? Either find a genie or be send directly by Heaven to hell? Do you even have access to a genie?"

"No. If I did I would have brought it already. I am really sorry, Alastor. I thought it could work."

Alastor gave her a slight nod. He believed her too, that was what surprised him. She sounded honestly sad over not being able to provide him with anything more useful.

"And I guess you can't help me to communicate with hell like you did before either."

Emily shook her head keeping her eyes down.

"The last time Sera found out there was one less crystal and doubled the security. Now they only open the vault for meetings."

And the possibility of such a meeting happening any time soon was just as low as Heaving sending him personally as a dignatary. Emily promised that she would come to visit again and keep thinking of some other solution. Alastor considered the logistic of killing everyone in the building in their sleep. Sera would just find another room to lock him until he calmed down. Then repeat for infinity. Would there ever be a point in which Heaven kicked him out just to not deal with him anymore? Would they decide instead to just kill him permanently?

Positives: he could kill everyone in the building. They were all souls confused and depressed because of their own lives left behind. Most of them young. They wouldn't be able to fight a lot against someone with more experience, especially if taken by surprise.

Negative: they would definitely take away his watch when realizing that was his weapon. He would have to get a new instrument if he was to do it again. Something that represented it's own set of trouble. There also no garantee that would make him any closer to hell.

He ended up deciding that going on a rampage, for once, was not on his best interest.

On the second day, he tried to make a drawing of his family. Only to find out that despite being married to an artist, he had absorbed zero artistic ability. He still saved those pieces of paper inside his pocket. On the afternoon some Cherubs came visiting to spend times with the resident souls. Alastor did not participate of their activities, but stared at one of them that looked like a fluffy yellow lamb until the creature noticed him and came floating to him.

He presented himself, made his speech about how he understood it was quite shocking to be in Heaven, but if he gave the place a chance he could find something to enjoy too. Alastor indulged him with some light conversation, ommiting the part of him being very familiarized with the concept of the his own death. When the Cherubs had to go, he waved at the little lamb on his way out.

On the third day, he pushed one of the souls down the stairs when no one was watching. He heard the satisfactory crisp crack of bones and saw them laying on the floor with their legs on an unnatural position. The soul spend half an hour on their almost decorative infarmary until was good as new.

On the fourth day, Alastor sneaked on the kitchen and dumped a bunch of cleaning products into the cacerola that it was being cook. That day he decided to stay on his room while everyone ate and subsequently got immediately sick. Nobody saw him do it.

On the fifthy day, he commented to one of the souls about a rumour he heard, one in which you could come back to Earth if you stabbed yourself 7 times in the chest. The soul in question was a young man that hated leaving his pregnant wife behind, so he was stupid enough to believe it. Unfortunately, he did it during the night when the lights were off and Alastor was robbed from an entertaining view as the night staff found him. As to be expected, he didn't die or came to Earth from it. Now that soul was constantly accompanied by one of the staff members at all times.

On the sixth day, Emily came by again and she insisted on making him participate on a circle of stories in the garden. It seemed easier to give her that than to argue. Alastor end up telling the story of when Lucifer slaughtered a bunch of sinners in front of their castle to save him, feeling extra generous on the gory details. When two of the souls started looking nauseous and one actually puked, they told him he could just listen instead the next time.

On the seventh day, someone had hidden all the curtery in the kitchen and broken every single plate so everyone had to eat sandwiches until they could get new ones.

On the eight day, he got called from the library because he had a new visitor. Alastor was half expecting to see Sera, but was even more surprised when he saw the last exorcist with a fixed frown waiting for him. They both sat a table on the lounging room.

"What can I do for you, dear?" asked Alastor before she could open her mouth. "Did you came to tell me even more details about how my beloved king killed all of your companions? Did Adam screamed a lot in the end or it was a quick grunt? Did my husband took his time? I did wondered about that since the last time we spoke."

Lute glared at him.

"If everyone in hell is like you, then you truly deserved the extermination."

"Oh, no, my dear. I am a especial case. One of a kind" Alastor chuckled. He didn't even disagreed that some part of hell deserved to get killed every year. Charlie was the one who believed even those souls deserved a chance, not him. "But enough about me. Tell me about the slaughtering that no doubt must have been so traumatic for you to witness. Do tell me if you wake up screaming calling his name every night."

Lute sneared at him and looked at the doors, as if contemplating to just leave, whatever brought her there be damned. She stayed instead.

"I didn't came to hear your demonic bullshit. I want to make a deal."

The ears of Alastor perked up, twitching slightly in excitement. For an experienced overlord, to hear about a potential deal was like candy offered to children.

"Oh? What kind of deal are we talking about?"

Lute straighten up her back, more relaxed that they were in familiar territory.

"I can get you back to hell. You can come back with your abomination against nature and unholy partner permanently. Your name will be erased from the books."

"Mmm" Alastor squinted his eyes, his smile growing wider. He knew none of that was going to come for free, but maybe he could still turn it on his favor so he didn't had to give up too much. "In exchange, what I would be doing to compensate such a favor?"

"You will get back to destroy that stupid hotel of that mistake you made" Lute didn't bothered to hide the disgust in her voice. "I don't care what methods you have to use, but burn it to ground and make sure that little brat never tries that again."

"Ah, I see how it is" Alastor made a flick of a wrist, admiring his nails. "Sorry, no can do."

"Did you not hear what I said? You can get back to your stupid family today. All you have to do is…"

"I understand what you ask me to do" interrupted Alastor. "You ask me to betray my daughter's trust so irrevocably that her dreams are destroyed. Not to mention the justifiable anger that would elicit from my husband, who, in case you didn't know, could literally kill me in the spot if he wanted to. And even if somehow he doesn't kill me, he will never see me the same way again and my daughter will want nothing to do with me. You ask me to destroy my family in the long run in order to have my family in the short one. I admire this manipulation strategy, I do, it's a classic for a reason. But I will need something better than that, dear."

"We could take you out as soon the deed is done. Send you another place that wasn't here or hell. Like Earth or somewhere else. You can live the rest of your existence however way you like."

"Even so, no" Alastor sighed, resting his cheek on his hand. "You see, I never cared for her project in the first place. You and I probably thought the exact same thing about it this entire time, that it was silly and a waste of time. But now that I know that Charlie was right all along? I hope she pushes forward, even if I am not there to help her. I will love to see your face when this place starts crawling with reformed sinners. Souls who, I am sure, will feel some type of way about seeing one of the responsibles of their genocide walking around. Now that could be fun."

"You said you would do anything."

"Preying on a father's desperation to get what you want is the right move, but I am afraid I have more experience than you tricking people, dear. This deal would favor you a lot more than it would me and that is something I don't feel inclined to allow right now. So no."

"Enjoy your stay in Heaven then" Lute threw like an insult as she stand up, showing him teeh without smiling. "I am sure your little abomination will learn her lesson sooner or later, with or without your help."

"Tell Sera that I said hi, dear" Alastor pet her hair with one hand and she flinched, taking a step back. "Oh, I am sorry. Since you were her willing dog, always ready to get her paws dirty for her, I thought I could treat you like one too. My bad."

"Fuck you, you demon shit."

With that, the visit was done.

On the ninth day, Emily came by again to see how he was doing and also ask another story. Despite what was the intention of him telling the first one was, she hasn't missed that at least Alastor seemed to have fun telling it and it was the first time she saw him getting any fun since his arrival. If the other souls weren't willing to listen to him, she would. She had a stronger stomach and had lived long enough to let some unsavory descriptions get her like that. He was surprised by the request, but secretly pleased and so obliged.

"How about the first soccer game of Charlie?" offered Alastor, since that was something that was going through his mind anyway. Back when Charlie was still smaller than Lucifer, but big enough that didn't want to be attached to her parents as much.

"Oh, I know that game! I am not very good at it, though" commented Emily, getting herself comfortable on the couch, hugging her legs under her dress.

She even sat like Charlie, expectantly, her full attention on him. Alastor sat down on the couch nearby, looking to the other side.

"Charlie was around 8 back then. This was the first important game for her team because it was going to be against a rival sports club and the winner team would get a plastic trophy to get home. So as you can imagine, the stakes were incredibly high."

"Oh, so very important!" agreed Emily with a giggle.

"Me and my husband were on the crowd of parents watching. We wouldn't have missed it for anything in the world. In hell we keep our relationship a secret for various reasons, so we both were disguised as mere imp servants of the palace. Lucifer had gone all the way out to support Charlie with his own thematic shirt that said CHARLIE N°1 FAN and showing a glittery sign he had made himself declaring Charlie as the best player ever. After a while of his yelling and enthusiastic movement every time Charlie as much touched the ball, soon nobody but me was willing to stay close to him.

Unlike my husband, I showed my support with a thumb up when she looked into our direction. Neither of us truly cared about sports, but when the team of Charlie started losing Lucifer was the classic fan that yelled at the referee for every perceived mistake, since he couldn't at the other young players. I personally thought it was hilarious how colorful his insult became. My poor little fawn had no way to hide her embarassment.

She and her team were losing, unfortunately. When the game was about to end, Lucifer asked me to cause a distraction while he went and enchanted the ball. We didn't want the first ever official game of Charlie with another team to end in failure. Not our little girl.

So I slipped some choice words into the ears of some parents nearby. These ones were even worse than Lucifer, directing their agression towards the rival players or even the team player of their kids. It took just a comment about how the other parents were talking badly about their kids and suddenly a fight broke up. The rest of the adults either protested or were encouraging it even further, finding it more entertaining than the whole game.

In the middle of the confusion, Lucifer slipped to get the ball of the game and put a spell on it. When he came back to his seat, after the two fighters moved to the parking lot to continue their dispute, he told me that the spell would make it so the ball would go directly where Charlie wanted to as long she was the one kicking. I may or may not help too by making some of the kids to trip over themselves when they came close to the ball with a sneaky tentacle that instantly dissapeared in a shadow. Oh, don't look at me like that, dear. Nobody got hurt. Maybe except that one kid that broke his ankle, but to be fair, he had been pushing people the entire time so he had it coming.

This strategy seemed to work. The numbers of both teams even out quickly. Charlie didn't deliver each point, but she was fast and had good reflexes to help her team mates when they were cornered.

Until an imp selling hot dogs in a cart appeared ringing a bell to call attention. She must have been hungry. That is the only thing I could imagine to explain why the ball flew from the field straight to the seller's face, knocking him out in the floor.

The ball continue rolling by itself to the road, where it was flattened almost instantly. They had to bring a new ball. Lucifer grabbed to my arm so strong that it was squeezing my bone, which would leave a lovely bruise for me to discover later, as we saw the timmer ran out. He murmured a curse to make the goalkeeper become blind temporarely, but before he could finish it… Charlie scored the final point.

All her team mates celebrated hugging each other. Their victory declared, Lucifer screamed conjuring confetti out of his hands. When the whistle of the referee declared them officially the winners, Lucifer ran to go celebrate with Charlie. I went to pick up the bag of Charlie when I heard other parents nearby. They were looking at Charlie and commenting about how sad it was that her own parents weren't there, like it was for all the other kids. Instead, mere servants had to come to see her at all. Did the king ever came out of his palace at all anymore? Was he even alive? How could he be so cruel and heartless to not make any time for his daughter? And poor Charlie. She was going to grow up feeling so unloved!

I loved to hear that kind of talk from people. Showed how much they had no idea of anything. It was especially amusing hear them talk like that about my fawn when I could hear her laughter not that far away from me. But when I turned around, I was surprised when Charlie ignored Lucifer's open arms and came to look for my own. Sending a shrug to Lucifer, I picked her up and hugged her as she clinged to my neck. She spoke to me in a tiny grumpy voice.

Papa cheated.

When the game resumed, Charlie immediately knew there was something different about the ball on the game. She couldn't know why, though. Since she was made from both our magic, she was very sensitive to the presence of either around her. The ball was undeniable drenched on Lucifer's magic. She still had no idea what that meant, but quickly made the connection when the ball went exactly where she was wishing it for. The smashing the face of the hot dog seller had been a genuine accident, though. Charlie was actually aiming for the street and the imp just happened to be on the way. Apparently she haven't noticed my own tentacles, either because they weren't as easy to spot in front of Lucifer's magic or they were too small and fast for her to pick up. Either way, what is a father to do but to console my little angry fawn?

When Lucifer came for us, Charlie dedicated him a tongue sticking and buried her face on my shoulder. She wanted to reprimand him, but knew she couldn't in public. I couldn't help but to feel proud of her for that, just as much as she dealing with the situation. We still waited to see that the trophy was delivered to their couch. Charlie spoke with her friends on the team and then took my hand, refusing to aknowledge Lucifer as he took us apart to make a portal direct to home. As soon we were on the other side, back at our home, her little antlers grew up in her head as she gave Lucifer a piece of her mind.

Papa was dumb. Papa didn't need to rig her game, she got it already. She had been training so much and he almost ruined it! How could he do that to her?

She stomped her way with her hooves back to her room, yelling she didn't want to celebrate anything anymore. We already had gotten the cake that either was going to console her or make her happier. Lucifer tried to bring a piece to her and Charlie refused to talk to him the entire time, hiding inside her bed to not see him. Lucifer tried to apologize, but she didn't want to hear about it. I tried to tell him to give her some time and it would pass, but it wasn't enough.

At the next day, Charlie was still upset. She stubbornly avoided recognizing Lucifer and stuck to my side as a barrier between herself and her father. I tried to tell Charlie that her papa didn't mean anything bad with what he did, but then she got upset at me and locked herself on her room. By lunch Lucifer had think of a perfect solution to calm down our daughter. Guess what it was?

He decided to make a little tournament in our backyard. Summoning my own shadow minions as the rest of the player and himself as the rival goalkeeper, Lucifer declared that he would recognize Charlie as the best soccer player in all of hell if she could win against him. But she better watch out because he wasn't planning to go soft on her just because she was his little girl! If she had such trust on her own abilities, surely she would have no use proving it to him! No cheating, no magic, nothing. My minion were commanded to play their respective roles, nothing else. To garantee some sense of impartiality, Lucifer somehow had convinced Satan to be the referee. I still don't know how he did it.

Oh, I know that saying that name already brought a bunch of association for you, dear. Despite the opinion that Heaven might have of the embodiment of the Sin of Wrath, Satan was actually an stickler of the rules like no other. He might as well been the only one of the sins who cared about the rules set up in Hell. Yes, really. Indeed, I appreciate the irony too. He was also the only Sin that greeted us with a reverence and using our titles, something that Lucifer had try to tell him he didn't had to do without any success.

Charlie knew her uncle well enough to be familiarized with that aspect of him, so she knew he was the best candidate for the job. He wasn't going to be indulgent with any part of this game. The winner would get to chose dinner and dessert for the next week, and Lucifer loudly announced that he might pick salads or something greener since lately they were lacking on that. And why have desserts at all? A good healthy dinner should be enough to fill any stomach!

Charlie gasped in pure horror before she turned into pure determination. Now this, this was more personal than ever before. Forget about the plastic trophy, these were the real high stakes now.

With everyone put on their place, the game started. To give credit to Lucifer where it was due, he made himself even smaller to be a proper goalkeeper and stopped a few of the points from Charlie's team, even when they came from Charlie. Satan kept the score easily, making sound the whistle that I imagine he must have brought himself that hanged from his neck each time it was necessary. Every fault was called out for. Every penalty was delivered with the same rigurosity.

Lucifer kept taunting Charlie when she was the closest on his side of the field, talking about how delicious all those green salads were going to be. No more cookies pre dinner either! Maybe he was going to lock them up in a safe or give them to Satan as payment for being there! All of them! Not a single cookie crumble left behind! Satan didn't reply to that, but I could imagine he wasn't going to want the cookies. But when my minion scored on the other side, Lucifer still couldn't help himself to tell Charlie that it was okay, she was going to do better for the next one!

By default I guess I end up being the coach of Charlie, giving her something to drink and support during the half time. For the moment at least, it seemed she had forgotten she was supposed to be angry at me too. Her little eyebrows were coming together, but I saw the smile that she was actively trying to hide on her face. I told her that if she wanted to confuse her enemy, she should really smile all the more even if she is close to losing. A confused enemy was a disoriented one, little fawn, and that meant they were all the more easy to trick into doing what you wanted them to. At the same time, they will never know what you are up to with a good smile.

I don't know if she could fully understand what I was saying to her. She was smart, but even smart kids had their limits. In any case, when Satan said everyone had to go to their positions again, she wasn't hiding her enjoyment, laughing. I guess she interpretate that as permission to just have fun…? Whatever worked for her, I suppose. I wasn't about to complain for seeing my fawn happy.

The scoring points for a while stayed even. Charlie gave her absolute best, nobody could say she didn't try. She fought valiantly until the end. But when Satan blowed his whistle, the numbers didn't lie. She had lost by one point.

Lucifer tried to ask Satan for more time, but before he could finish his sentence Charlie already was yelling at him for it. She had lost fair and square, she didn't want any more help! She said that… and then started crying standing there. When Lucifer hold her, she didn't fight it and clinged back, whimpering she didn't like salads, please, she could eat one, but not for a entire week straight, no, please. Every resentment she had went away as easy as that by the fears of green vegetables."

"Aww, poor thing" said Emily, pouting for the distress of a little girl she never saw. "Did she really had to?"

"No, of course not. Lucifer let her have her celebration cake for dessert, after I prepared some my most delicious meat with only a few green. That is the story of how Lucifer learned not to cheat… in such an obvious way that a 8 year old could find him out immediately."

Emily giggled behind her hand.

"That is a terrible lesson to take from that" protested nonetheless.

Alastor shrugged. They could agree to disagree.

"I am waiting for my review" said non chalantly, lifting his hand as if asking it for written.

"Oh, it was very good! The moral could improve, but you have a real talent for storytelling."

"I do, thank you for noticing."

"Did you do that a lot back at your home?" asked Emily, her voice softening as she supported her head over her knee. Alastor appreciated that she didn't say "downstair" or any stupid other name. "Telling stories about your life?"

Alastor nodded his head.

"Charlie was the one who asked me the most" explained with a low sigh. "It started with her wanting to know how her parents met and from there she just kept wanting to know more. Back when I was alive on Earth I was a radio host and I had my own broadcast in hell as well. Speaking in front of an audience and improvising wasn't nothing new to me. I might have tell so many of them at least a dozen times, but she never got tired of them."

"Well, I never heard them so I can be surprised by them" pointed out Emily and then moved her leg to kick them on the corner of the couch. "To tell you the truth, it's really fascinating to hear you talk about hell as you do. I know you describe people fighting and screaming and probably there were people doing worse than that, but still they also… go to their kid's game to support them and they care for kids that aren't their own. It doesn't sound so scary when you put it that way. Maybe it's just a matter of finding the right people and even Hell is not that bad."

Alastor arched an eyebrow, truly amazed that was her interpretation.

"Oh, no, dear, don't get confused. Hell is awful, horribly so. Just because I enjoy it like that, doesn't mean others would."

"I know" Emily smiled to him. "But it's still nice to think about it. That some good things can be found anywhere, even in hell."

"Inside of every demon there is a rainbow, huh" murmured Alastor quietly for himself, looking at his hand holding his staff.

No wonder Charlie had connected with Emily so quickly during a brief meeting.

"What?"

"Nothing, dear, just thinking out loud" He lifted his shoulders and let them fall, regaining his normal volume. "Well, until I can get out of here, you can ask me whatever you want about my home. I don't promise that you will like all of it, though."

"Can I ask more stories?"

Alastor could feel his tail moving slightly under his jacket suit. It was the first time since arriving to Heaven.

"For sure."

#radioapple #appleradio #duckiedeer #lucifer x alastor #hazbin hotel au #arranged marriage au

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randomnameless · 1 month ago

Text

More artbook stuff!!

Dev notes about the remaining Bastorias cast (without Reimann, he'll be tackled in the traitors update)!

How is that angel vs human composition in Albion?

Bryce was ultimately reworked to be some sort of Robin Hood unit - we meet him first in Cornia unpromoted, then we recruit (or kill) him in Bastorias as a Hoplite, aka, a promoted unit!

Granted, his group of "thieves", the Rock Rats, are periodically heard about by several NPC (iirc in Drakengard too even if we don't meet them?) so yep, he's still around, stealing from Zenoira and trying to find a place to call home for his fellow thieves, after kicking out Nina from the gang when he learnt she still had a place to go (but then they make up, and in the cover of this artbook, she and her sister Mille are sitting on Bryce's shoulders!).

Bar that, Bryce apparently comes from Drakengard (was he a desert dweller?) and has an interesting recruitment dialogue, and even rapport conversation with Alain that totally does not hint at the final boss of this arc's identity nor his motivations at all - about how the ones who started from scratch and rose to a position of power are the most dangerous of them all, since they will do anything to conserve/keep the power they've reached, even if it means pissing on the person they used to be, or forgetting why they wanted that power in the first place.

Unit wise, he's a Hoplite, like Hodrick. Great physical tank who can protect allies but he dies to mages and breakers.

The only named playable bear in the game, Bertrand!

IDK about the "mafia/yakuza" boss, but the other bear units sort of smile, when Bertrand never does so maybe it was to highlight his taciturn disposition : when we meet him, he and Govil - a young and hotheaded werewolf - are arguing about what to do against Zenoira, Betrand doesn't want to mount another attack/counterinvasion because last time they failed, and iirc, it was during that last time that they had a lot of casualties, including his own son.

Govil apparently dgaf and wants to take a shot at Zenoira - in what seems to be a suicide mission with half of his people in shambles - and they argue, Alain can either decide to help Bertrand (thus making an enemy of Govil), Govil (so you don't recruit Bertrand), or to take them both on (and recruit the two!).

They agree to join, and ultimately make up, Bertrand will totes not become the guard of Govil's new tavern, and in the epilogue, they're bathing in a Bastorias hot spring together.

Maybe VW didn't want to have some "depression, the rapport convo" between him and Fodoquia talking about their respective dead sons, but I liked how Bertrand is still clearly in mourning and how the loss of his son and his forced "pacifism" are really at the core of his character, and not a thrown away line : war takes away people you hold dear, even if you're fighting for a cause, and it's a real toll that sucks, even (or rather, especially) when you're just someone who never asked for any of this shit to happen.

Imagine someone mourning for his dead family member in a game where some fraud tells you that "no biggie, we're all risking our lives out there, mine as I invade you, or you as you try to fend off my invasion!" - that game would suck, right?

Unit wise, Werebears are... a nightmare to face, especially if you don't have breakers, or magic users.

They are even more bulky than Hoplites (tfw higher HP even if their guard rate can be lower) and can actually hit and at times kill enemies (unlike Hoplites save for magic!Hodrick shenanigans). Tradeoff is that they cannot guard allies with their base skill set (unlike Hoplites) but their end of battle skill - a hit propotional to the amount of HP they have left - is completely stupid, since it doesn't take into account the enemy's def stat.

Alain by the end of Bastorias, even without his grandpa's shiny sword, should be a force to be reckoned with who only dies to magic or to RNG, well, mine died to a fucking bear who hammered him to oblivion with Life Blow. And they look cute as fuck, with their tiny shoes, huge chest armor and blood-stained hammers!

Sure they don't do that "tank" thing very reliably, but they're cute.

Govil, the unexpected popular maiden picked by the players!

I got the 80s' punk vibe lol, and where Bertrand became a forced pacifist after losing his son, Govil, character wise, is the hot headed youth who wants to attack/kill/get rid of Zenoirans in Bastorias... because they killed his grandparents and are still killing various people everyday, he wants revenge.

Fitting with the 80s' punk idea the devs had, after seeing reason y joining Alain and co, Govil, in his rapport convo, reveals that he isn't someone who loves to fight or who enjoys brawls, he wants to re-open the tavern his grandparents (not his bio ones, but randos who adopted him!!!) had, is quite self-conscious about his appearance but really doesn't want people to know that he cares about how he looks, and is a bit curious about humans, since Bastorias doesn't see a lot of them.

Unit wise...

Werebears are really units, after two runs, I can safely say I didnt' understand how they were supposed to be played, or what they were supposed to do.

They are good at finishing already damaged units, and have an AoE, but they don't hit quite hard and aren't very bulky so... I'd like to try using or building some unit composition around him one day, but I haven't really found a "way" to make him work :(

Eligor, the twist!

I've read some people's thoughts about how that twist revealing him to be a bestral under his mask was totes foreshadowed since he's the only one crouching - granted Belisarius does the same and after meeting Baltro in the previous arc I can't really be sure what a "humanoid" looks like - and he called Conrad, a minor boss, a "human" earlier in a map.

That was a lolcalisation goof, Eligor never calls anyone "human" before the reveal : aka when he backstabs Reimann.

Let it be in FE or in UO, no one really gives a fuck about magic and science discoveries when it involves brainwashing animal people :(

Now, Eligor's backstory and motivations are really one of the worst points of the Bastorias arc for me, to the point where I would have wondered if he didn't cook the entire thing, if not for the Encyclopedia revealing us that yep, rat bestrals exist (but not rabbit bestrals... despite them being our item shopkeepers...) and lived in hiding.

Through the campaign, we learned that Bastorias was always ruled by the Lion Clan/Tribe, and how it had a rigid hierarchy/structure : Lions were the rulers, Owls are the mayors/lorekeepers, Cats are fishers, Goats are innkeepers/merchants, etc etc. Per Eligor, the rats were shunned by the rest of Bastorias and lived in hiding.

However, what we see through the various quests is... well, Ramona, sheltering a young human (?) girl and an amnesiac lion on top of organising a resistance with NPC of different tribes, Goats, Owls and Wolves worrying about a young cat, an orphanage organised by a human who takes care of lost children, the Rock Rats (Bryce'n'pals) being welcomed in a city of bestrals and being able to settle in said city, Yunifi, a human (?) who manages to talk to every bestral out there, Ramona and Morard more than once saying Bastorias needs to stand united against Zenoira : but we see it united, or at least, tribes accepting to work with each other.

Is it something that only happened """thanks""" to Zenoira's invasion? Or because back when the Lion tribe was still around, they pissed on everyone who wasn't them (especially rats)? And yet, Morard's backstory revelas that the Lion King was so grateful that Morard tried to save his daughter that he saved his life with the Bastorais Blue, aka the mc guffin that turns humans in Bestrals (or Bestrals in humans!).

Eligor speaks of an oppression we don't see in-game, but I'll chalk it up to doylsit reasons here : lack of budget to properly cook Bastorias, even if it's still one of my favourite arcs.

Now, as for his motivations properly... being shunned for being a rat, he was captured by Gharn- I mean, Baltro, who killed all of his kin in gruesome experiments, leaving only him as the only survivor, with now, superpowers and a nice armor.

(Uh. That totes doesn't remind me of something.)

Then, grateful for finally having a chance to be something else than a mere "rat" with his new body, Eligor sides with the ones who experimented on him

(...at least Eligor isnt' calling himself the flame emperor?)

To reach his goal, become the King of Bastorias and leader of all bestrals, he, a mere rat.

To do so, Eligor works with Reimann (under, presumably, Baltro's orders) and IDK if he participated in the "kill every lion by taking their baby hostage" operation, but given how he gleefully mocks Morard who, berserked, turns his axe on his daughter-sister Yunifi and Ramona, the woman who sheltered them both by saying something like "not so proud anymore Lion!" I wouldn't put it behind him.

(which has all kinds of dark implications, because if you don't go to Bastorias, in the final Map, Reimann brings his enslaved Bestral army with him, including Morard and Ramona but not Yunifi, are we supposed to guess that a berserk!Morard or a berserk!Ramona killed her? :'( )

Much like Bryce teased, Eligor who, I suppose, at first wanted a place to live/exist in Bastorias, despite being a rat, now became someone obsessed with enslaving/berserking every other bestral to make sure he will become the leader of Bastorias - denying everyone else their place to live/exist.

No sad uwus for him, merely Morard calling him a moron because he is no lion, and they all wanted to make Bastorias a place where everyone could live, despite their race/tribe, but Eligor's dream became warped, he just wanted, even if it only lasted an instant, to be at the top, he a measly rat, no matter the cost.

In an era where AOT's ending exist, I'm glad UO didn't pull any punches by showing us what Eligor's dream meant for the entire Bastorian population that wasn't him, and unlike Alcina before him, there's no pity party for the dude, because saving the rest of the country and making sure their minds will never be enslaved/controlled/berserked again takes the priority.

Unit-wise, I found it very fitting how Eligor is supposed to be a dodge tank who sort of protects his allies but actually costs them points of action (or passive points), so he protects them or is their leader... by actively crippling them!

It fits with his arc, he wants to be come the King, even if it means enslaving his people, because what is important is not them, but him becoming king.

(which is why, as a post game playable unit, Eligor is a bit... uh... well.)

Next : la perfide Albion!

#unicorn overlord stuff #artbook stuff #I like Bastorias but the ending with Eligor needed more time to cook or more development #especially since no one mentions rats and f you don't check the lore menus you won't even know they exist!#Eligor's obsession with becoming King reminded me of a certain manga #where some character wanted to become king despite not having a drop of royal blood and while at first people support him because they thin #he does it for the people it's actually the very selfish nope I want to be the one to sit on the throne me a nobody #and if I have to start a civil war and send my friends to die I'll do it #wait isn't this the crux of Griffith ?#I liked Bertrand and Govil's paralogue #it conveys the no matter who you do you're going to die in this war #with hindsight Bertrand's choice sucked because he was going to be brainwashed if Zenoira won #Bryce being a rock 'rat' having a 100/100 reading on Eligor the rat bestral was fun lol

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