#the stronger of claims

[alexanderlightweight]

So I've seen Alec accidentally courting Magnus before but would you be interested in doing Magnus accidentally courting Alec? Well. accidentally as in he wasn't aware he is hitting all of the traditional requirements for courtship, not that he hasn't desperately trying to work out how to get Alec to respond while non-stop flirting happens. I just think it would be funny if every assumes that with Magnus's age he is fully aware of Nephilim/Lightwood/Trueblood courtship when in reality, no clue!

so this is actually super funny because in my kelpie!au, magnus accidentally courts kelpi!alec for like 40 years without knowing it and then when he finds out he immediately goes to ragnor and cat for help because he's not letting alexander know it was a misunderstanding!

here is what i went with. i'm super focused on when alec goes to magnus to help with the trial for izzy and magnus goes 'you' and exploring the different ways that could go so i hope you enjoy!

lumine

-—

“What?” Alec asks, because he’s not sure he heard right and suddenly Magnus’ incredibly confusing actions make a bit more sense. “Magnus, I’m engaged. To be married.” He adds, because he’s already taken and Magnus just raises his eyebrow.

Alec swallows, unsure exactly how to deal with this because Magnus offering him a different political marriage after disparaging his first never crossed his mind. Unless this is what Magnus wanted all along and Alec just… missed the signs. 

“You’re not her’s yet.” Magnus mutters and the look he gives Alec makes it very clear that if he has his way, Alec won’t ever be bonded to Lydia. 

Alec swallows because he’s really not sure how to handle this now that he realizes Magnus isn’t just playing with him. Magnus can’t be teasing him or just cryptically playing with him, not if he’s saying he wants to magically keep Alec.

“I—” Alec starts, because he’s really not sure if he should be accepting this or if he should be trying to talk Magnus around to a different price.

The thing is, despite the rather mercenary approach, it’s exactly how Alec got himself engaged the first time and he finds that a part of him likes his now second option much better.

—

Magnus isn’t sure what part of his little act hooked Alexander, but he’s not upset.  His shadowhunter is looking contemplative and serious, thinking about this honestly.

Which is good. 

Because Magnus wants Alexander more than he can bear to admit and while he knows he won’t, every hour Magnus is increasingly tempted to destroy the Institute.

If there is nowhere to be married, then surely the wedding can’t take place.

Except Alexander is being so sweetly receptive to the idea that Magnus teased him with and Magnus is tired of trying to catch shadows in his hands.  This may be his last chance and Magnus feels selfish and hungry as he reaches out to trail his fingers down Alexander’s arm.

“You still have a choice, Alexander.”

Magnus pauses intensely confused because he knows that magic.

He’s felt that magic multiple times when overseeing dozens of various ceremonies through the shadowworld.

That’s binding magic, the kind that ties souls together in a magical union.  Alexander is gasping against him, looking wrecked and trying hard to keep on his feet as Magnus holds them both up.

If Magnus wasn’t expecting it, he can’t even imagine how intense it was for Alec.  It’s with careful hands and magic that Magnus lowers Alexander to his floor and carefully soothes him with magic.  His body eagerly accepts the touch and feel of Magnus’ power and his magic is quick to flood Alexander’s body with it’s own possessive claim.

Magnus gets his boy’s head into his lap, running fingers through sweat-damp curls as he hushes Alexander who is whimpering into his thigh.

“There you are,” Magnus soothes and he pets Alexander’s hair and murmurs sweetly to him. “Hush darling, just let it pass.”

Alexander whines, teeth clamping through fabric and into skin and Magnus bites back a hiss as he lets it happen.  Whatever ritual activated and tied their souls together, Alexander’s was not prepared for it. 

His eyes are glassy and he’s whimpering, soft pained little noises as he tries desperately to get more comfort and warmth from Magnus.  It means that Magnus isn’t sure how he’s supposed to leave Alexander to go try and help his boy’s sister. 

It’s with annoyance that Magnus has to summon several potions and while he hates doing it, he coaxes Alexander’s mouth open with gentle force.  The potions take affect quickly and Alexander grumbles, eyes blown but finally clear again. 

“There you are.” Magnus murmurs, relieved despite himself when Alexander leans into his touch. “Good boy.” He says without thinking and Alexander nearly collapses further into his touch.  He’s shivering from the simple praise and Magnus has to remind himself that they don’t have the time. “Tell me what happened for you?

“You didn’t mean it?” Alexander asks, voice soft with a pain that has no business being near him.

“I’m just wondering if it means the same thing, darling.” Magnus soothes him, using magic to lessen the sting of his words as he presses cool, healing magic to Alexander’s temple.  “Nephilim change their ways sometimes and us warlocks don’t always notice.”

“You—” and Alexander stutters on his words with a groan. “You challenged the relationship between Lydia and I. You offered the better advantage. If I marry Lydia, I keep my Institute. If I marry you, I might save my sister.”  Alexander looks up at Magnus with a deep, aching longing, “my grace decided for me, Magnus. Family will always be more important to me than power. I thought I could protect them through Lydia, but I can’t.

Magnus did not know this was a thing but he croons in a proud, preening way that he knows drives Ragnor and Cat nuts.  It also settles Alexander, who looks calmer now that Magnus is acting so pleased.

“That’s exactly what I wanted.” Magnus murmurs and he lets his fingers play with Alexander’s hair as he slowly eases him to sleep with magic. “And you, Alexander, need sleep.”

And to also not be aware when Magnus storms the Institute. Because Magnus is not going to let something like the hubris of the clave interrupt his unexpected but completely necessary honeymoon.

[ninjautizm]

SOURCE DRAGON OF LIFE IS CONFIRMED NON-BINARY LETS GOOOOOOO

[leafsfromthevine]

yeah no zuko defintely did this (x)

[archonfurina]

"You- you're right. I can be better than him."

[s0fter-sin]

ghost stares at the ceiling, chest heaving in a harsh pant; sweat ice on his clammy flesh and soaked into the sheet he restlessly kicks away.

ears still ringing, his fingertips blindly drift down to trail along his vivisection scar. he half-expects blood to smear in their wake. his own line of solomon, who ordered him split in twain; half of him given to a grieving mother and half left with the grieving to be.

just for both his broken halves to be rejected.

what did it make him that his mother grieved him more than she loved him? that she begged to be relieved of him more adamantly than she begged to receive him? why did his worth spill out with his drawn blood? why was his pain lesser than hers?

his hand flexes, digging into the raised scar like it’ll part beneath his fingertips to plunge into his mangled insides. no one knows the cruelty of reforming the halved; his name, his being, not nearly as important as his body when he was stripped from himself. no one knows the pain of healing and understanding losing pieces of yourself means losing your value along with them.

how many more pieces did he have to lose before he was halved once more? before his very presence incurred grief so strong it was better to be rid of him than cradle his bloodied remains?

did the infant fight himself? did he age always at odds with himself; his halves never truly whole? he hopes he wasn’t, that he was spared the loss of self; the fear that one may be welcomed over the other.

who will he lose when the inevitable comes? when he’s ripped apart again? simon? or ghost? is it better to be cursed with choice just like his mother or live with an aftermath chosen for him? does it matter if in the end, he convinces himself there was nothing of him left to lose?

his head lolls to the side and the wild buck of his chest slows. he watches johnny beside him, his face lax with the rare peace of sleep; his cheek squished against the pillow, his lips pursed as long breaths escape him.

johnny. soap. never torn asunder but two all the same.

he carefully reaches out and ghosts his fingers along the jagged scar on his chin. even in sleep, he presses into his bloodied touch. he’s never fled his half-flesh, never shies away from his gore as it spills unbidden from his cleaved torso. he holds on where his mother let him go; cups his stomach to hold his insides in place and never minds the blood that drips through his fingers.

simon will never let him become his own solomon and cannibalise himself. he will never let him question which half of him has more value; which pieces he can afford to lose before he’s cast aside.

ghost’s soap. simon’s johnny. his.

whole, in any incarnation.

[tanadrin]

So when I see things like that EA guy's substack article about how AI energy use is fine and nobody should worry about it, and then I see another article about how coal use is ramping back up to meet AI demands for energy, and both are providing their statistics in the form of hard-to-parse visualizations ... this isn't really a question so much as complaint that someone has to be lying here, and I wish I knew who. It seems like it has to be the AI people, as they have the incentive, but ...

So I have a few of reactions to this.

It would be easier to debate the relative merits of two articles if you had linked me the other one, or at least given me some indication about what its title was, who it was by, and where to find it. Since you didn't, all we have is the bare claim that "coal use is ramping back up to meet AI demands for energy." Coal use for the United States as a whole has been steadily falling from 2007-2023 (the most recent year for which I can find data), and aside from small increases in 2010, 2013, and 2021 relative to the previous year, this decline has been almost completely monotonic.

Perhaps you mean this Register article, about how the lifetime of some coal powers plants is being extended because of data center power requirements? But that's not the claim you made. These are very different claims. "Coal use is declining more slowly" vs "coal use is increasing" no doubt sounds to some people like a small quibble, but I think it's really important, because this kind of sloppy equivocation between two substantively very distinct claims entails very distinct substantive consequences! The amount of power data centers have to consume to cause a coal power plant in one city to remain open longer than originally planned while other capacity is built vs the amount of power data centers have to consume to cause consumption of a resource whose usage has been falling steadily for sixteen years to reverse the trend of decline is a considerable difference. In short, if you saw the Register headline, and turned it into the claim presented in your anon ask, you are a liar misrepresenting the state of the world maliciously. If you simply heard the claim you present in your ask as-is, and repeated it, you were lied to.

If your response to the distinction between these two claims is "ah, what's the difference," and you continue to repeat the claim as you presented it in the anon ask, you are also a liar, and we can conclude that the reason you are confused about which claim is true is that you do not care to differentiate between true and false things. Someone like that would stumble through the world in a fog of confusion, not because the truth is hard (it sometimes is), but because they are uninterested in it.

The article I linked I found interesting because it provided very specific numbers, of the form you could check yourself if you doubted them. Again, you don't tell me which article you read that you felt provided a countervailing claim, is pretty light on numbers and pretty speculative on how future energy trends due to use of AI might look. Notably, a lot of claims about the future power needs of AI seem to be coming from companies promoting AI, and who therefore are publicly bullish about its widespread adoption, since they want to justify their investments in the technology to investors.

Andy Masley does not in any sense seem to be "an AI person"? He doesn't work for Google or Meta or OpenAI, or seem to have special background in this technology. My read of your ask seems to be that you think he has incentive to lie about the power consumption of AI technology, even though (again) he seems to provide a lot of numbers you could check yourself if you were so inclined.

You seem also to think that people who are opposed to the development of AI technology have no reason to misrepresent how costly the energy consumption of AI is. That is silly. People taken in by false claims have a strong incentive not to admit they were taken in by false claims! This might not be lying in the classical sense of "knowingly repeating something that is untrue," but I would not say that people who reflexively cleave to false claims because it would be embarrassing to admit they were wrong are being honest. Indeed, I think a huge amount of the misinformation that gets spread online and in-person is spread by people who are at best apathetic to the truth of the claims they are making, and who are more interested in winning individual arguments on a rhetorical basis.

If someone genuinely labors under confusion as to which of two sets of competing claims is correct, you can of course do the admittedly effortful task of trying to learn more, to see if you can achieve a little clarity on the subject. You don't have to look at two different articles, see that they seem to point in two different directions when it comes to a general conclusion about an issue ("Is AI very bad for the environment?") and throw your hands up helplessly and go "there is no way to know the truth here." I believe in you, anon.

That said, I don't think either the Register article nor the Masley article do point in two different directions. "People wildly exaggerate the energy and water consumption of AI" and "building or expanding a data center changes the local energy economy of a city, especially a smallish one like Omaha" are not even contradictory claims.

Unless, of course, you are not interested in building an accurate model of the world through acquiring information about it, but only in slotting each article you click on or social media post you read into one side or another in a rhetorical struggle, because you view everything through the lens of whether it will help you dunk on someone in an argument later. But those people are really annoying, so please don't be one of them.

[thetwstwildcard]

“Only a few find the way, some don’t recognize it when they do – some… don’t ever want to.”

"Yes, your majesty. I cut out my heart for you."

Full Name: Catherine Shire (Host), Alice Pinka (Body) Bea (Protector)

Gender: Female

Pronouns: She/Her

Age: 18

Sexuality: Pansexual

Birthday: November 13th

Star Sign: Scorpio

Height: 168 cm (roughly 5'6)

Eye Color: Amber

Hair Color: Pink Ombre to darker pink

Dominant Hand: Right

Voice Claim: Miyuki Sawashiro (Japanese) Natalie Van Sistine (English)

Inspiration: Alice from Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland", Cheshire Cat (animated)/Boris Airay from "Alice in the country of hearts" and Alice from "Alice: Madness Returns"

Homeland: Forbidden Forest (Rose Queendom)

Dorm: Heartslabyul

Year: 2nd

Club: Light Music

Best Subject: Flying

Worst Subject: Alchemy

Favorite Food: Anything with fish (also likes rose and strawberry flavors)

Likes: Riddle, "trust falls", her found family, having the freedom to use magic, exploring music (outside of classical music), getting to be her own person, being needed, having a purpose, being dorm security

Dislikes: Her brother (aka Che'nya), her mother, any memories of when she was a child, Chase Shard, being limited or underestimated, being the butt of the joke, having her flaws be pointed out, having someone look too closely at her beastfolk features, happy/functional families, that she cares so much about people's opinions and her need to run away before anything gets too serious

Personality: The stray cat of Heartslabyul. If you show her an ounce of kindness she'd be willing to die for you. While she's all smiles, there's a certain sadness in her eyes where her "happiness" doesn't reach. Never one to double check herself in the mirror, she's never one to talk about her childhood. Blindly devoted to Riddle and will do whatever he asks of her.

Unique Magic: Wildcard: Allows her to randomly mimic the UM of someone who she's knows the UM of (within reason). For full body shifting UMs (ex: Jack), she can only change certain body parts such as her arms and legs. She can also grow wings, horns, claws or sharper fangs though these mimics do hurt her. For people with magic out of her range (ex: Malleus), she is unable to mimic. Her UM is essentially picking a card from a deck face down and guessing the face. She can only mimic those who she knows the intricate details of their UM of. While mimicking, their voice doubles hers and she takes on their eye color

Trivia

Twin sister of Che'nya though she hasn't seen him in around 10 years

Met Riddle and Trey while they were children where she snuck out one day. She was caught by her mother and as none of the boys "stood up for her" (because they were scared children), she initially wanted to hate Riddle and Trey (still dislikes Che'nya)

Is very protective of Riddle

Ran away from home at age 12

She is a tsundere when it comes to men/masculine presenting but women/femme presenting can fluster her/she's softer towards (in the forest is was like 90% males so she's not used to women)

Che'nya does not know she's his sister as Catherine is an alter to Alice, though he does eventually regard her as his sister (Catherine always called Che'nya her brother even when she hated him)

Her knuckles are scarred due to breaking mirrors as she can't stand to look herself in the eye (only sees Alice and hates to be reminded that "she's not real")

Was betrothed at a young age for social status but he doesn't know who or where she is now

Magicam famous

The body is Alice, who has been "asleep" since she ran away. Bea is the physical protector and the only one to change out with Catherine (though she mimics her) while Catherine is the emotional protector.

Her DID is revealed post OB when she awakes and instead of Catherine it is Alice.

Her mother was very physically and emotionally abusive to her as a child so she's usually on edge

Due to her childhood she memorizes how someone's footsteps and breathing sounds along with their scent so she's quick to tell the slightest change in someone. She can tell slight body language changes (from learning to anticipate what her mother would do)

Is "security" in Heartslabyul to stop people from sneaking in. Her magic pen is actually a collapsing baton since she often pins someone down when sneaking in.

She does a complete 180° when Riddle is around, when he's gone she much more laid back and joking but as soon as he's near she's more serious or cold to others (since her two cards are the joker and the jack of hearts)

While she can use magic, she's quick to physically fight instead.

[c0zyrainfall]

The way they're out here thinking Damian needs a 3 v 1 fight in order to beat Anya lmaooo

[miriadalia]

If leaks for part 3 turn out to be true (and I'm pretty sure they will), Tory will be the only one of the main cast not to compete in any other dojo than Cobra Kai and I love that from her 😌

[muninnhuginn]

Love the steady recontextualisation that takes place in Flower of Evil. At first you think Ji-won's trust in Hyun-soo is because she's perhaps naïve or is in denial and just wants to believe in him. The circumstantial evidence consistently mounts against Hyun-soo, but she still seems to believe him innocent to the point of stubbornness.

But as you see more of their history, you start to realise that he has in no way "fooled" her. Every instance of him "faking" being the family man is actually just... him learning the relevant social cues because he wants his family to like him. And he may wrap it all up in justifications that he needs her as camouflage but, the fact remains, as someone living under an assumed identity? He did not have to marry a cop. He chose to do that. So it follows that all his practising smiling, his observation notebooks, they’re him making an effort to bridge the gap and learn to show the affection he wants to be in the relationship, despite him not realising himself that his feelings are genuine.

But Ji-won liked him long before he had learned these cues. Back when to the surface observer he was off-putting and abrasive, she saw the kindness in his actions rather than in his expressions and his distancing. She liked him for him. And yeah, she appreciates him making the effort, but that wasn't why she fell for him.

When it comes to their relationship, she’s not the unreliable narrator here; he is.

[the-judicial-assistants-notebook]

whatever you do, don't think about how lana saw herself in edgeworth, ok? don't think about how she wanted to distance herself from him the moment they met because he could possibly see through the sl-9 plan and ruin everything, but she couldn't because he was kind, if not a little awkward, to her terrified sister in a case where everyone else's only concern was securing a conviction. don't think about how she brought ema to the prosecutor's office (because she damn well wasn't going to let her sister face this alone) with her hackles raised and her defences bolstered because she'd heard about the "demon prosecutor" and his ways just to realise he's nothing but a young man, trying his best to survive under the weight of his mentor's shadow and ensure justice is served by whatever means he can. don't think about how she felt later, when she was under gant's thumb and knew for a fact that all those rumours surrounding von karma's perfect record were, in fact, true and that he was using edgeworth's faith in him to fulfill his own goals. don't think about how she felt when she had to begin doing the same. or what must have gone through her head when she entered her office one morning to find a case approval form waiting for her on her desk: the state v. miles edgeworth. don't think about how she knew, once she saw the name of the prosecutor assigned to his case, that she was signing his death warrant. don't imagine what she rehearsed saying to his sister or her realisation, after his miraculous survival, why he had been so understanding of her own. don't wonder, as she did, ineffectually, if it was his competence or her fondness for him that led to his car and knife being chosen to cover goodman's murder — a second attempt at his permanent removal — and whether it was affection or guilt that made her stand by the corpse, waiting readily to be caught in his stead. don't think about how she finds out, eventually, that he is gone, in a jail cell so far from remorse, gratitude and closure that she can only sit and turn in her head distorted thoughts about luck and fortuitous third chances. don't.

[justajsworkshop]

idk who needs to hear this but go ahead and just fuckin spiral to let it all out, and then when you're done, dust yourself off, remember who you really are, and claim your fuckin desire anyway.

decide every spiral only proves you're fulfilled. like, you make the rules here, remember? every doubt is evidence of fulfillment. every shitty emotion is evidence of fulfillment. every time you fall out of the state means you're fulfilled. why tf does any of the above have to mean you're unfulfilled when you!! are!! god!!

god, all this loass dogma is driving me insane. you're not following the law. you ARE the motherfuckin law, baybeeee. so, release all those feelings. cry it out. scream into a pillow. rage journal. process this shit in healthy ways. and dump all these bullshit conditions to your fulfillment while you're at it, too. and when you're done, choose to still have it all NO MATTER WHAT.

[uncanny-tranny]

Trans people 🤝 transsexuals 🤝 transvestites

Being siblings in arms against those who'd rather bury us (and being mad hot while doing it)

[bonefall]

oo snowkit becomes snowcarve?

He does!

In StarClan, you can use the names and appearance that you could have had, if you died young. It's very rare that you get permakits or permapprentices. I lifted from the COTC story about Smallstar and his siblings.

(Though, in BB those kits actually survive and it's MAPLESHADE’S kits who lead to the law on protecting children, Darkstar's Commandment, the Queen’s Rights. Smallstar is the leader of WindClan and xey're super chill. Xey own a lovely shawl.)

So Snowkit chooses to appear as Snowcarve, an Honor Title he would have earned for the creation of a full written Clan cat language, expanded from the simple glyphs. I'm not sure if he's a popular patron, but I do know that Bramble and Tawny invoke him sometimes.

Unfortunately though he's more invoked for general guidance by the two of them, not for possibilities like I think he'd like. He watches over them though, like a guardian angel. A lot of cats secretly have those.

I'm not sure who he follows around more often though. I think he LIKES following Tawny more because she's a better listener to his omens. But he feels like Bramble NEEDS him more, y'know?

Also notably, Snowcarve was technically their uncle, but the relationship is best described as "1st cousin." Rabnir in Clanmew, a familial role about somewhat distant but parallel growth, seen also with Brightpaw and Swiftpaw.

[metukika]

i wonder if teru's gullible. i mean he seems to know that claw is bad news, but claw seems pretty straight forward about being evil. he also believed pretty quickly that reigen is claw's boss and psychic. or maybe he just goes with anything that aligns itself with his perception of the world.

[whateverthought]

Why did Renly fight Stannis for the Throne? If he stood behind the belief that bastards shouldn't inherit, should he not stand behind Stannis being Robert's heir? Is he just soo ambitious he wanted to usurp his brother? Whats the vibe?