#to be clear!! the quote marks aren't like. an actual quote

[frankiensteinsmonster]

It's tough being used to feeling incredible amounts of pain that when it becomes worse or more frequent you don't even mention it

And bc it's been going on for so long, when you finally do figure out it's not normal or start actually trying to talk about it the people around you get Very confused about why 'all of a sudden' you're being impacted so heavily and are now actively disabled. Like, actually this isn't new I've just spent years teetering on the edge without realizing how abnormal it is due to a variety of reasons I won't get into on tumblr dot com :')

I don't know how to describe the experience other than I feel a lot like a cat in pain, like you can read it in my body language, but my face says little to nothing and I'm not saying much at all about it until it is too much to bear.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

what's the one harry potter pairing u like that u mentioned in the tags of your hinny post?

Anonymous: Can I ask who that minor character you ship with Harry is? For some absurd reason my mind jumped to Stan Shunpike lol but it's probably not him.... Or is it?

Okay, so this is kind of a funny story. Like, my pipeline through hp pairings was a weird one. Like, I used to read a lot of Harry pairings, still do on occasion (some make more sense than others). None of them were ones I would point at and say: "that should've happened in the books"

One day, I was innocently writing a fic (canon divergence of GoF), and it was just for me, for funnsies, never posted it anywhere and not planning to. And I planned to pair Harry with someone there (honestly, I don't remember who because I didn't write the plan down) but when writing, Harry ended up with a different character. And it was so strange to me because that never happened.

Like, how do you write a ship accidentally?

But I did. I wrote Harry into a ship by accident. So I went back to the books to try and figure out why the hell would my subconscious decide that's the way to go.

I'll also preface it by all this being my subjective opinion and I do read other Harry ships in fics, this one just quickly became my favorite to write (and the only one I write). Also, I don't actually think this is a pairing that should've happened in the books, it's place is in fic and that's where I like it.

So, the character I accidentally shipped with Harry is... *drumroll*

Stan Shunpike!

Not really, it's:

Theodore Nott

Now, you might look at the name and go: "Who the fuck is that?"

And you'll be correct. Theo has 0 speaking lines in the entire book series. His name appears twice. He, himself, as a person, only appeared on page, like, 3 times in the background. The scene that gives the most information about him is other characters talking about him. He isn't even present.

That being said, I'm very good at extrapolating a lot of information from very little evidence. So allow me, to walk you through who is Theodore Nott and why I ship him with Harry.

Basic Information

So, let's start with the most basic overview before I pull out the quotes and go any deeper.

We know Theo is a Slytherin student in Harry's year. So he likely shares a dorm with Draco, Blaise, Crabbe, and Goyle.

Theo's father is both at the graveyard at the end of GoF and in the Department of Mysteries at the end of OotP, so we know he is a Death Eater. We also know Thoe's father was one of the first and closest Death Eaters to Voldemort, who waited for him during his interview with Dumbledore in 1967:

“Then if I were to go to the Hog’s Head tonight, I would not find a group of them — Nott, Rosier, Mulciber, Dolohov — awaiting your return? Devoted friends indeed...”

(HBP, page 444)

We also know the Nott family is "as pure-blooded as the Malfoys" according to JKR in an interview. We also know Theo's great-grandfather (maybe? the family relation isn't clear), Cantankerus Nott, is suspected to be the one who wrote the Pure-Blood Dictionary, the book that coined the term "Sacred 28" and made that list (which the Nott family are on).

The name Nott is potentially to be derived from the name Nótt, which is the personification of the night in Norse Mythology. So it has been theorized the Nott family have a Nordic origin. Possible, but it doesn't really matter for this post.

What does, is that he comes from a dark, Death Eater, blood-purist family similar to the Malfoys. Even so, Theo never took the Dark Mark and never joined Voldemort in the books.

Now, that we have the basic information out of the way, let's look at Theodore as a person.

All the details I could gather from the books

Alright, now we get to the fun part. That is, me going through all the relevant scenes that mention Theodore Nott and actually creating a character psychoanalysis out of basically nothing.

So, the quotes aren't organized in a particular order. I'm just going to explain Theo and then explain why all this makes me ship him with Harry.

“Well, I pity Slughorn’s taste. Maybe he’s going a bit senile. Shame, my father always said he was a good wizard in his day. My father used to be a bit of a favorite of his. Slughorn probably hasn’t heard I’m on the train, or —” “I wouldn’t bank on an invitation,” said Zabini. “He asked me about Nott’s father when I first arrived. They used to be old friends, apparently, but when he heard he’d been caught at the Ministry he didn’t look happy, and Nott didn’t get an invitation, did he? I don’t think Slughorn’s interested in Death Eaters.” Malfoy looked angry, but forced out a singularly humorless laugh.

(HBP, page 150)

This is a part of the conversation between Draco, Pansy, and Blaise, Harry overhears when he is hiding in their compartment at the beginning of HBP. I have a few things to note regarding this scene.

Firstly, throughout this conversation, Pansy, Blaise, and Draco all call each other by their first name. This shows closeness, they are all friendly and familiar enough to use their first names with each other. Theo, though, is referred to as "Nott" by all three in the compartment.

He doesn't actually sit in their compartment which is in itself a sign about how he isn't really friendly with Draco's group. Considering the group is most of his year from his house, Theo is likely very lonely, and it will be apparent from other scenes I bring up later.

Secondly, Theo's father is in Azkaban. We know Draco is bothered about his own father's predicament. He mentions it to Harry and bothers him over it, Theo doesn't though. Theo doesn't seem to be bothered by Harry or his father's incarceration.

The only conclusion I can draw from this is that the relationship between Theo and his father is not a good one.

(I know some fics like to have Lucius be abusive towards Draco, for some reason. But the books really don't back this up. Lucius loves Draco and Draco adores his father)

Theo, though, Theo seems to be the one with a very strained relationship with his father. Strained enough that he isn't bothered the man is in Azkaban. What I'm saying is that Theo's father likely abuses or mistreats him in some capacity.

If anything more was needed to complete Harry’s happiness, it was Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle’s reactions. He saw them with their heads together later that afternoon in the library, together with a weedy-looking boy Hermione whispered was called Theodore Nott. They looked around at Harry as he browsed the shelves for the book he needed on Partial Vanishment, and Goyle cracked his knuckles threateningly and Malfoy whispered something undoubtedly malevolent to Crabbe. Harry knew perfectly well why they were acting like this: He had named all of their fathers as Death Eaters

(OotP, page 583)

This is a scene at the end of OotP after Draco, Crabbe, Goyle and Theo's fathers were caught at the ministry and sent to Azkaban because they are Death Eaters. There are a few important notes about this scene.

The first, Hermione knows Theo, while Harry and Ron don't really. This means she likely knows him from the classes she takes and Harry and Ron don't — Arithmancy and/or Ancient Runes.

The second, he is sitting with other Death Eater children, but I don't think it's by choice. I mentioned in the previous quote how he isn't close to Draco and his crew. He sits with them here mostly because he doesn't have another choice. Theo doesn't seem to really have any friends, so he sits with the closest people he has to friends — kids he has known since he was young because their fathers were in the same circle.

The other note about this is that Crabbe, Goyle, and Draco are all mentioned as being threatening and malicious towards Harry because they don't like that their fathers are in Azkaban. Theo, though, Theo doesn't threaten Harry, he isn't part of their whisperings. As I mentioned above, he's likely happy his father is in Azkaban.

A pair of blank, white, shining eyes were growing larger through the gloom and a moment later the dragonish face, neck, and then skeletal body of a great, black, winged horse emerged from the darkness. It looked around at the class for a few seconds, swishing its long black tail, then bowed its head and began to tear flesh from the dead cow with its pointed fangs. A great wave of relief broke over Harry. Here at last was proof that he had not imagined these creatures, that they were real: Hagrid knew about them too. He looked eagerly at Ron, but Ron was still staring around into the trees and after a few seconds he whispered, “Why doesn’t Hagrid call again?” Most of the rest of the class were wearing expressions as confused and nervously expectant as Ron’s and were still gazing everywhere but at the horse standing feet from them. There were only two other people who seemed to be able to see them: a stringy Slytherin boy standing just behind Goyle was watching the horse eating with an expression of great distaste on his face, and Neville, whose eyes were following the swishing progress of the long black tail.

(OotP, page 445)

“The only people who can see thestrals,” she said, “are people who have seen death.”

(OotP, page 446)

The stringy Slytherin boy mentioned here is Theo. This scene proves that:

He takes Care of Magical Creatures

He saw someone die

Let's explore the second one for a moment. The fact Theo can see Thestrals means he watched someone die and was old enough to comprehend what he was seeing. We also know Theo's mother is dead. So it's likely the person he watched die was his mother.

I also want to draw attention to Theo's distaste towards Thestrals. He could likely see them carrying the carriages every year since 2nd year, it's not his first time seeing them. But it doesn't stop his displeasure with their sight from showing. Which says something about him. It means he likely recalls his mother and her death whenever he looks at the Thestrals. and these are memories Theo rather not experience.

We don't know how his mother died, but I'd hazard a guess it wasn't natural. After all, wizards have long life spans, they are more durable to illness and injury, and don't usually die from accidents unless very extreme or magical. And there was no epidemic of dragonpox (a disease that does tend to kill wizards) in the time since 1980 and the books. So, she was more likely killed at some point between 1985(ish) and 1991.

“No, I don’t think so, sir. I’m Muggle-born, you see.” Harry saw Malfoy lean close to Nott and whisper something; both of them sniggered, but Slughorn showed no dismay; on the contrary, he beamed and looked from Hermione to Harry, who was sitting next to her.

(HBP, pages 185-186)

First, Theo is an O student in potions since he is in the potions NEWT class, and was probably meant to be there even if Snape was the teacher.

Second, again, Theo doesn't really have friends. He sits next to Draco as the only other Slytherin in the class. Also, they share the circumstances of being sons of Death Eaters currently in Azkaban. Although both of them seem to deal with it quite differently.

Third, Theo joins Draco in making fun of Hermione's blood status, but he does not initiate it. Considering the environment he was raised in and is in, it makes sense he would make fun of it. Whether he's a blood-purist or not, he would want to keep his image considering he doesn't have many allies. Hanging out with Draco is survival, not friendship. They aren't even on a first-name basis with each other.

“Amortentia doesn’t really create love, of course. It is impossible to manufacture or imitate love. No, this will simply cause a powerful infatuation or obsession. It is probably the most dangerous and powerful potion in this room — oh yes,” he said, nodding gravely at Malfoy and Nott, both of whom were smirking skeptically. “When you have seen as much of life as I have, you will not underestimate the power of obsessive love. . . .

(HBP, page 186)

The final quote I have about Theo is from the same potions class as above. Both he and Draco are portrayed here as underestimating amortentia and its potential damage. It makes sense for their upbringing in the Wizarding World, which has no real laws or regulations regarding love potions that are seen as harmless fun more often than not.

I'll add Theo likely didn't witness a healthy romantic relationship. Considering his father is a Death Eater who is likely abusive and may or may not have killed his mother. With this as his reference to a marriage, it's clear why he'd look down on love and love potions.

Why I think Theo and Harry have potential

Okay, so now that we know who Theodore Nott is, let's talk about why I ship him with Harry.

I think Harry, in general, would get along best with a clever partner with the ability to be ruthless (Slytherins or Ron fall into this category). Because Harry isn't some golden savior; he casts unforgivables, and is very willing to poison Umbridge or Crocio Snape if he could get away with it. He needs a partner that won't be horrified by these thoughts.

Also, Theo literally never speaks on page. Even when spoken to, his reactions are silent. I think this quiet and no need to talk, the ability to be comfortable in silence, is something that would be comfortable for Harry. Harry in the books finds himself annoyed with Ron and Hermione's constant banter on occasion, so I think it fits well.

Theo would also be comfortable around Harry without a need to play a certain part. Because Harry wouldn't care about that. He would honestly rather Theo forgo the pure-blood Slytherin act.

I feel like Harry and Theo, have a good potential to understand each other. Theo lost his mother and likely experiences abuse from his father. It makes them very likely to trauma bond over their crap life and shared experience. Two out of three only ones who could see the Thestrals in the entire class.

The other thing I feel they could connect over is being lonely. Harry spent all his childhood until Hogwarts basically being on his own. Theo stayed on his own. Draco at least has his parents, he has other students he's closer to, not that he shares everything with them, but he has some support network. Theo has none. And this is something Harry knows well.

Theo, I think, wouldn't expect anything specific from Harry. He doesn't even interact with him, not to mock him, and not to idolize him, he doesn't care at all. And we know how much Harry appreciates being thought of as Harry and not as the Boy-Who-Lived. Theo would allow Harry to be himself without some mold he wants him to fit in.

The fact Theo never becomes a Death Eater, even though he was in Draco's year and his father was a Death Eater before Lucius (and in better standing than Lucius with Voldemort) is so interesting. It's somewhat surprising Theo wasn't marked. It means he didn't want to be. It means that Theo Nott didn't want to torture and kill muggleborns or blood traitors, or anyone really. And he didn't want to swear his allegiance to Voldemort. This is just a fascinating fact to me and something I enjoy considering. What life experience made him come to that conclusion? Was it just his dislike of his father that pushed him away? Could he have been another Sirius Black (Gryffindor in a Slytherin family) under slightly different circumstances? I mean, Voldemort likely wouldn't force him to become a Death Eater, but would his father? I don't know what at all went down there, but I like that potential story.

We also know he wasn't part of Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad, even though some minor Slytherins were mentioned to be part of it. He just seems to be an actually decent guy (I don't care what Cursed Child says about him, I know he's there but I avoided almost anything to do with Cursed Child so I barely know the plot).

Finally, this is a character Harry doesn't have as much drama to get over with. Yes, sometimes I want to read overcoming drama between characters before it becomes a romance, but sometimes I want something chiller than that. And Theo is a really chill, safe, Slytherin option for Harry.

[maslows-pyramid-scheme]

Actually bathrooms shouldn't be gendered at all that's half the problem.

In communities that lack access to single-sex bathrooms, you witness an increase in the rate of sexual violence, physical health issues like incontinence, and mental health issues like PTSD. If women's health and safety aren't a problem to you, then by all means continue insisting that there's no need to provide them, but you should know these issues disproportionately affect poor women, disabled women, young women, and women from ethnically, linguistically, and racially diverse backgrounds (e.g. bathrooms in northern India are particularly unsafe for women).

I'll leave you with a quote from a book I read recently - Invisible Women, by Caroline Criado Perez:

According to the UN, one in three women lack access to safe toilets, and WaterAid reports that girls and women collectively spend 97 billion hours a year finding a safe space to relieve themselves [which affects their productivity, as women are more likely to be engaged in the informal economy, and their safety]. Local governments that fail to provide public toilets may believe that they are cutting costs, but a 2015 Yale study suggests that this is a false economy. [They linked] the ‘risk of sexual assault to the number of sanitation facilities and the time a woman must spend walking to a toilet, and calculated the tangible costs (lost earnings, medical, court, and prison expenses) and intangible costs (pain and suffering, risk of homicide) [against] the cost of installing and maintaining public toilets … [they found public toilets could save one town $5 million better off, which is a conservative estimate, as it doesn’t include the various health benefits saved from women having more regular and more private bowel movements (e.g. chronic constipation, cholera)]. Health problems arising from a lack of public sanitary provision are not restricted to low-income countries. Canadian and British studies have revealed that referrals for urinary-tract infection, problems with distended bladders, and a range of other uro-gynaeloogical problems have increased proportionately to [toilet inaccessibility]. Urban planning that fails to account for women’s risk of being sexually assaulted is a clear violation of women’s equal right to public spaces – and inadequate sanitary provision is only one of the many ways planners exclude women with this kind of gender-insensitive design. ... For women who try to escape from war and disaster, the gender-neutral nightmare often continues in the refugee camps of the world … [although] international guidelines state that toilets in refugee camps should be sex-segregated, marked, and lockable, [sic] these requirements are often not enforced [and] research by the Women’s Refugee Commission has found that women and girls in accommodation centres in Germany and Sweden are vulnerable to rape, assault, and other violence…

[tealfling]

Same anon, uh the ideas aren't anything too crazy or spectacular but they are

Rolan with a tiefling who wasn't raised around other tieflings and has no idea about tiefling biology having Rolan knot in them maybe even during their heat/rut. Potentially with Rolan explaining things to them while talking dirty.

The second is just wild magic resulting in someone getting tied up probs Rolan and misuse of magic continues.

Final one would be him masturbating because he saw Tav get entangled by Jaheria found it hot and he's not handling his pinning well. Maybe even steals a piece of clothing from their laundry basket or their scented body oil to aid him.

Anon, if you were looking at me the screen when I read this you probably would have seen my eyes dilate like a cat about to Zoomies.

So my HCs:

Alright, I'm actually very confident in this first one bc-- that's kinda how my tiefling Sorc Tav Coren is playing out. She's not a virgin, but she's an orphan that didn't grow up around a high population of tieflings. (Her first lover was some smooth d-k half-elf) So the knowledge she has to go on is her own tiefling AFAB body and a gist knowledge of male tiefling bodies-- in the same way you might get a sex education from hearing your friends talk at school. Basically hearing your friends talk about dinosaurs and going to a museum and seeing a dinosaur are two vastly different perspectives.

-> Rolan's insecure and probably shy - especially at the beginning of a physical relationship. But he is a wizard and thusly nothing but a wealth of knowledge. He will make sure his partner is well informed on his equipment and how it works, but I think it would take some time for him to intentionally knot a partner-- especially one that has not experienced it before. He'll take it slow and work them up to it. He's surprisingly sweet like that. And he will ask. He likes clear communication. But when he's comfortable (read: more confident) this can evolve into dirty talk

-> with that said: an established relationship during a rut/heat cycle (these will eventually trigger each other so they're simultaneous) the knot is implied. It's kinda the name of the game. We're talking: mating press, probably marked/bitten, and absolutely stuffed...with his knot of course. Even if they don't want children, they're playing the breeding game. To quote my buddy @faerunsbest LET THEM GET STUCK (btw, I am writing this is my Coren fic)

Now about Rolan being tied up.

-> I see Rolan as kinda up tight with a lot of his issues stemming from feeling a lack of control in his life so I personally don't see him being super comfortable with any sort of bondage. But he might be willing to try it in a trusted established relationship. Idk, I think Rolan on his own is a little too vanilla to explore that on his own

-> I do think he'd be willing to misuse magic. I mean what's the point of spells if you don't use them?? Amiright, Lia?

~Mage Hand, Alter Self, Invoke Duplicity, Darkness, illusion spells- the list goes on. I think the key with these is that they still allow a lot of control on his part. Mage Hand- who couldn't use another hand or two now and then? Alter Self: shorter nails, deeper ridges, no ridges, extra tail, no tail, feathers, various alterations to genitals- endlessly possibilities. Duplicates- self explanatory. Why have 1 Rolan when there could be two? I think he'd be really into watching his partner take him. Then there are the sensory spells...this could go on forever.

Ah, panty thief Rolan. @faerunsbest & crew were posting about that not too long ago.

Highlights: he would, but it would probably be later in his story.

However in Last Light Inn there would have been a wash room where a sweaty post battle Tav could have bathed and lots of opportunity for a particular undergarment to go missing. Along with a Rolan that's hiding off in one of the rooms, desperately fisting himself while holding the garment in question to his face. He didn't realize he was this bad off. This desperate. This is truly a low point for him in his eyes and he's going to probably go into some self degradation bc he's ashamed of himself. He's not going to give it back though.

@faerunsbest @kimberbohwrites @ladyofcrowsandcoffee @barbwillbrb Thoughts?

[origamiyoda]

Ive been trying to figure out a way to phrase this and I really can't and it's honestly just starting to boil down to me being kind of pissed off and complaining about my irl but it's like. Man. I don't know.

And again this is aimed completely at my IRL and jackasses I've met throughout my life. Nobody here nobody I've talked to about hunting before.

Its just kind of like. The Thing about hunting is like. You need to be respectful of what it is that you're actually doing. You need to understand that you're killing a real life animal and you need to do it respectfully and carefully. You cannot take that fucking shot unless you are absolutely certain you are on mark and it's going to be a clean and fair kill .

And I am saying this as someone who has accidentally Hurt an animal while hunting. While it wasn't my fault, the scope got bumped and fucked while moving around and nobody noticed, and we managed to track the deer and make a clean kill, I still Hurt an animal. And it was a legitimately traumatizing experience that has genuinely haunted me for the past 5 years .

You can't take hunting as something. I don't know. Trivial? Don't get me wrong, it's a hobby of mine I really enjoy even I don't talk about it alot (the. Stigma around it is a little. Weird idk) but it's also like. Fuck I don't know you're Not Aragorn you're not some cool elven ranger you're not a badass rugged outdoorsman. It's something that takes skill and time and work and you need to have a respect for it.

And I know this sounds fucking pretentious and at best I sound like a freak but like. I don't know I don't know!!!!! You cannot take that fucking shot unless you are absolutely one hundred percent certain you're going to kill that animal. That you can take the animal down with dignity and respect.

And i dont mean to be like ohh these fuckin treehuggers kids these days don't understand the HARDCORE and GRITTY WORK that goes into TAKING DOWN A WILD BEAST because people who talk like that are youtubers being sponsored by fucking Kryptek and driving brand new fuckoff huge trucks that don't haul anything. Do you understand.

To hear my irl today talk about it in such a lighthearted tone and. And I quote "Oh I've tried to shoot a deer a couple times lol I'm not very good at it [my family aren't] very good hunters hahaha" is like. Sickening? To me? Like genuinely stomach turning Sickening to hear. You cannot be running around taking shots at animals unless you know for a fact you can kill it cleanly and respectfully. It's sickening it really is.

And I do think people can learn to hunt and I think hunting is important for conservation efforts and I think it's a really cool hobby that I have and enjoy doing. It's just incredibly dangerous and horrifying to me that you could talk about it so trivially. It's not a game it's not something to be really taken lightly it's something that needs to be respected across all fronts.

Youre not going to stumble across a beautiful stag in a forest clearing completely broadside and you're not going to draw your longbow and make the perfect shot and peacefully kill the deer. you're going to sit in the cold and the mud and you're gonna be up before dawn and you're going to wait and watch and pattern the animal and wait and watch until you can make a clean and safe kill.

Whatever. I don't know. Nobody will care about this but it's something important to me and it's pissing me off. I've been hunting for almost half my life and it's like. It's important to me and I'm sick of it. I'm sick of it.

[pavlovianpanic]

so, i guess i should probably clarify a bit about what curses i'm referencing and how i handle the creature aspect of until dawn because the two coincide so heavily.

to start, i like until dawn, as in i am a fan of until dawn, so i can love it for what it is while quietly correcting a few things. that being said, i actually like to take out a lot of what they've established to leave a more confusing narrative. a purposefully confusing narrative for both us and the characters.

something i like about horror is leaving some things unclarified, leaving the audience guessing, even leaving the characters wondering what just happened. it follows the idea that we aren't quite sure what we were dealing with ... but we had a hell of time along the way.

so, the curses: i split it into two ways — the land itself was already cursed, which i leave sort of vague, but that's what we see affecting people pre-disposed (the miners, for example) to this curse before the main cast comes into the picture.

additionally, the washington family already came "pre-cursed" of something else entirely; their greed (thus, their hunger — it's never enough). i'm more focusing on the washington family here than the overall lore, which i don't really want to start getting into and rewriting as a whole.

i leave it to imply that this could have either started with robert washington or already existed in their bloodline long before robert was even born. the culmination of the washington family coming to the mountain sort of "marked" this family for life.

even if they could escape their own generational curse, they can't escape what's been activated for them. there's a really great quote from bsi by elizabeth where she says "what i have done cannot be undone. i cannot stop what i have put into motion." <- i think that's very applicable here. the events of what has been done before them will continue to unfold long after them. this quote can literally be used for any of these characters, from robert to josh to matt to mike to any of them.

this is why, while hannah is experiencing a creature transformation (thus what we see), she is also suffering "a hunger" that pangs from her own cursed line — that hunger of greed, of envy, of needing more, and of doing anything to survive. she is a survivalist. hannah isn't just falling to something outside of her control, but also something internally imprinted on her DNA.

which is what i have also happen to josh in his creature!verse. a transfer, if you will. it makes sense that the good older brother should take the pain of his sister. they share this same curse, this same "source", thus the same possession (being possessed by their hunger, their own innate and taught need for more).

aesthetically, i like the idea of a body essentially starting to shift into a super predator — the teeth, the jointed limbs to run on all fours, more animalistic. it's the distorted corpse aspect i'm featuring, the thinning of the hair, the loss of skin pigmentation (as the user has technically died, more they do not control their own body, thus it's almost vampiric), glassy eyes (thus shifting their vision into that predator vision we see in-game), the lengthening of the nails — which is where josh is sort "caught" between the two, once again ushering him into a new era of duality (as duality is a huge character arc of his, basically his whole arc arguably). again, i'd argue this is almost bordering into vampire territory. just not twilight vampires and more ... 30 days of night vampires? almost?

i've considered if they can even go out in sunlight, we only really see them at night ever, but that would be stretching more into comparing what lore was established over what i'd like to keep or edit. i'm not here to rewrite until dawn, just to be clear. i do have some inferences that josh is sunlight-avoidant in that verse, though.

as for why or where or even when this curse began? we don't know. that's the beauty of it. we're just as clueless as the cast, which also would make it much more difficult to fight them, which goes along with relying a lot on that diary for information. it's a transference of basically "here's what works, what doesn't, here's what we know" kind of vibes. trial and error. but as for the source? again, it's a cursed land. no one from "that time" is alive to give good faith one way or the other, so i imagine it's just a lot of rumor and speculation.

they're called creatures, monsters, and sometimes my characters might even call them vampires because ... they have no idea what is even going on. they're ignorant, and that's kind of the point imo. even josh's family is shown to disregard the land to build their dream vacation home. not even their real home, a vacation home. so ... in general? this cast? is not made up of respectful people. just look at how they treat and talk to each other if you need more evidence of that.

[edgyedgelord]

I'm supposed to be writing right now but I want to say something that I tell myself. I hope it helps you too.

Art isn't just a hobby. It can be a job. It's not a perfect job, but it's still a job that makes you happy. Not many other career paths can say that. Warning: This is a tangent post made by an anarchist. If you don't want to read a long novel length ramble about why money is a corrupting construct and capitalism is made to break poor people move along.

I've noticed in my 21 years on this planet, nearing the 22 mark as spring approaches, that jobs are often given a value. If you're a doctor you've got a high quality job because you went to school, got a degree, and get paid a lot. But what about nurses? They work in the same place and went to school for a certification, some a degree as well, but they aren't paid as much and are treated poorly. Why? Well because they're not doctors. They can have the same amount of knowledge, sometimes more depending on who the doctor is, but their job is seen as lower just because of the pay and general view of it in the eyes of society.

Most of the people who will tell you all this and which job is the most valuable and what to go for actually don't know much about the inner workings. Go ahead, ask someone who's told you something like this if they've done much research outside of watching a video on social media and reading random posts without checking the validity behind them.

Another things with doctors, nurses, construction workers, all these jobs everyone tells you to get instead of something you'd actually enjoy is they don't face the fact, or rather they choose to just accept the fact and do nothing about it, that those in charge are gonna kick. you. around. until you give up or give in. Those who give up usually didn't even want the job in the first place. Those who give in always dreamed of this job but once they're in it that blind optimistic veil is torn away.

Zom100 is an anime that opens with a guy going into an office job where he works for a company that produces commercials. He's a writer for the scripts and helps with casting and went in expecting to make tons of friends, meet stars, and even falls for the secretary and wishes to confess to her one day. It starts off all bright and colorful since that's how he views the world in his eyes. After going out drinking with his coworkers after their first day of work is done, everything stops. The happy smiles and attitudes of his employees vanish as they return to work and our protagonist is met with the horrible work grind culture he's walked into. Yet, he stays optimistic in the hopes he can stay strong only to finally break after a year of working at the business. He stumbles home from exhaustion to his now trashed apartment full of garbage bags, trash covering the floors, just looking like a dump because he's to exhausted from working and staying at the office days at a time to be able to clean up.

I love the first episode of Zom100, although only the first episode, because it does a FANTASTIC job at giving a message I live by. "Do not settle for treatment that is less than what you deserve." It shows what happens when you go for the give in option of what I mentioned earlier. If your boss is dumping work on you but not anyone else, call them out. If you're being harassed in the workplace and there is a clear bias because of your gender, race, or anything else, call them out. If your pay is far less than the amount you work, call them out. If they refuse to make any changes despite you having concrete evidence because they will lose the money they have to spare, quit and call them out.

The older folk in my life have told me time and time again that "You work for bad people to pay worse people and then die." (Not a direct quote but it summarizes what they say.) These people come from a time where there was an even worse imbalance in power and they had to give in to live due to the many things going on in the world at that time that made living conditions horrible if you weren't already super rich. It isn't like that anymore though.

The economy and people in power is still messed up yes we need to work on that but that isn't what this post is about.

Glitch Studios is an animation studio aiming to give independent animation a place to shine and has been doing so with MASSIVE success. It's thanks to them that indie work is finally getting looked at by bigger studios. Personally, I see this as a sign that art is finally getting a more proper place in the general view of society as a proper career path. Only issue is it's focused on animation.

I'm not an animator, I'm a writer and lover of comics. Would I want some of my stuff adapted into animation? By fans out of love for the works, yes, as an official adaptation for profit? No.

It's not a smart move marketing wise or profit wise but that's the thing. I'm not some old white guy sitting on a throne of gold bars in a big evil company business building, I'm a 20 something at a desk in a dusty apartment room surrounded by goofy posters and plushies. I don't care about money, I care about making things I and others love. I think that's what people have forgotten recently when it comes to working in this world. You can work and work and work and pay rent and be able to buy that new outfit to wear at your family gathering to show off but how long will you be happy from that? Small moments of joy is fine and treating yourself is fine too, but what do you do to make yourself happy while still fulfilling a purpose? Do you feel like you fulfill a purpose? What did you want to do, not need to do.

Working retail is seen as your go to starter job or just what you go to when you need to pay the bills. It's not a shameful thing to do, nor is any job when you just need an income for necessities. But, what if that's what you want to do? You don't want a giant house, you don't want a fancy car, you don't want Gucci clothes, you enjoy the simple job and lifestyle. That's fine. No matter if your parents say you're throwing away your potential, no matter if the world says you need to run a company, no matter what people say it is okay to have simple goals and a simple life.

Minimalism is the practice of only having what you need for what you want to do. This is the video that first got me thinking about it.

It's something I think people need to be taught about more. Now I'm not saying you shouldn't go and sell off everything you own, but maybe at least think "Do I really need a $200 phone from a popular brand that doesn't even come with a charger? Do I need it? What parts of it validate the cost?"

Now here is how this all ties back to my overall message with this tangent.

I want to make indie comics because it makes me happy. It makes my friends who have helped me shaped the stories, characters, and everything else happy. And, overall, I hope it makes others happy too. Not to mention, I can't exactly think about signing up with some popular publishing company because of how loudly of an anarchist I am and how diverse I make my work.

Why I'm making this post is because I want to get you thinking about this too. Are you happy with whatever job you have right now? Are you fairly treated? Is this what you want? Are you brainwashed by societal norms made by the big companies that you need whatever big and fancy phone or computer set up you're reading this on? If you said no to any of this I suggest looking into your own personal rights as a human being and standing up for yourself, think about forming a union if need be. If your issue is with buying expensive things you don't even need feel free to trade them in or sell them and get what you need and can be happy with while having extra money left over.

Remember, you don't need to be make a billion dollars each week to be successful. Happiness is from what you do and what makes you happy, not your bank account amount or how many bedrooms you have in a mansion. Most of all, happiness is what you choose to make it not what some old jerks who think Trump is a sane man say it is.

[sophieinwonderland]

Ugh, not to resurrect the whole McLean thing but we've been very offline recently so we only just found out about it, there are so many things we can say about the video but we're just going to mention this one thing that we haven't seen anyone mention in any of the posts we saw. At around the 56:35 mark (we watched the video on their website, we don't know if the YouTube re-upload has different timing) he says, and this is a direct quote, "people, even with a trauma history, that are presenting in this way with imitative DID, probably don't need the types of classic trauma treatment that we offer, because they probably don't have PTSD", just straight out saying "you might be traumatized but you're not actually traumatized, because I said so" (note: in case it has to be said, by "imitative DID" he means any presentation of plurality that he personally doesn't think is valid, which would be clear to anyone who watched the video in good faith). That was probably the most egregious claim in the video, and that's a very high bar

Sure, it's possible to experience trauma without developing PTSD, but a broad statement like that is clearly intended to downplay the trauma that such people have experienced, to say that they're not traumatized in a way that actually matters so no one has to pay attention to anything they say about trauma or make space for them in spaces for people with trauma or provide them with support for dealing with their trauma

Just adding that it's also possible to have PTSD from past trauma and later recover from it, which he could also be referring to.

Either way, I completely agree.

This is such an absolutely bizarre thing to say, just asserting that people with trauma histories probably don't need treatment for PTSD.

And all of these assumptions are based on... what, exactly? How they behave online???

It really comes off as if this person has only ever interacted with trauma survivors in clinical settings, and so has decided that the way people act in front of a therapist is going to be the same way they act around their loves ones, in front of their friends, and even on camera when appearing to the world.

There are a ton of famous people, especially in music and film, who were traumatized by abusive parents and growing up in the business. And with a lot of them, you wouldn't know it by seeing them on camera in a public interview.

Just because you aren't seeing PTSD symptoms on camera doesn't mean they're not there, and saying that people who have trauma histories probably don't have PTSD or need PTSD treatment is really gross and dangerous.

[osterby]

Constructing effective searches is a skill that was taught to me by librarians at the public library and by my father (a programmer), which I then honed on my own as I explored the internet as a teenager. Up through like 2010ish, this was an essential skill for doing anything at all on the internet.

And then Google got better.

In the olden days, you had to put recipe "french toast" in the search bar, quotes and all, to get a bunch of french toast recipies on the first page, but Google improved and was able to give reasonable search results to people to entered how do I make french tost?, with a question mark and a typo and without quotes.

This was a good thing, it meant that casual users (including your granny and your kid sister) could use a search engine and get what they were looking for without having to understand how computers think and without having to isolate the keywords themselves. And french toast recipes are a very simple example, Google's improvements also meant that people could use natural language to search for images, news articles, and location- or time-relevant information; you could search pictures of cats, what were last week's sportball scores? or weather warnings near me and get what you were acutally looking without having to use special search parameters.

This was a meaningful improvement that meant that a lot more people could use search engines, and thus the internet, effectively without having to learn special skills, but it also meant that the average internet user who was just here for recipes and cat pictures and sportball news no longer had the special skills needed for searching a lot of more specific websites. If you want Ever Given/Suez Canal fanfic, you can just type where do I read evergiven fanfic? into Google and the first result is the ship tag on AO3.

But if you want to search AO3 itself and narrow down that tag, you can't just type questions and requests into the search bar, you will have to teach yourself how to actually use a search.

The same is true for places like Twitter, Youtube, any wiki, Amazon and other online stores, your local library's website, The Internet Archive, Pixiv, Deviantart, all those image boorus, heck, even Pornhub. You can even search the backlog of that stupid Discord server that makes you join because they forgot what a wiki is. Some (like AO3) have very good search functionality and extensively tagged content, others are janky and bare bones or fiddle around with your keywords on the back end and mix in suggested crapola, but they've all got search functions that you can learn to use to find the specific thing you're actually looking for. (Tumblr is excluded from this list; no amount of searching skills will save you from their inability to index their own site)

I feel like I need to end this with a simple lesson on how you, too, can put together a better search query, but it really has been over two decades and I don't really remember how I learned all this in the first place.

But to give you the basics: 1.) Approach it as searching for where a specific word or phrase appears, not as requesting a type of thing. eg you are searching AO3 for instances of the tag trans!Jaskier, you are not asking a robot for Witcher fic where Jaskier is trans,

2.) Take some time to explore a website's advanced search page. Click around and see what the options are, read the tooltips (if you're on mobile, long pressing on something will usually bring up a tooltip that mousing over on a desktop does), check out what kinds of things get autofilled where, and if there's no good tutorial and the descriptions aren't very clear, just fool around with searches until you figure out what does what.

3.) Many search boxes, even on fancy modern websites, will accept a few basic boolean operators. If you're not sure if a website you use a lot takes them, it's worth testing it out. "Boolean operators" sounds like scary programmer-speak, but they're actually pretty easy. Here are some of the more useful and easily remembered operators.

- the minus sign is probably the one I use the most often, and is something that more websites seem to accept. It simply excludes the minused word. french -toast will turn up "french vocabulary practice" and will not show you "Grandma's best French toast recipe". Use this one to list all your squicks.

Enclosing something in quotaton marks will search for that exact string; "french toast" looks for things that have those exact two words in that exact order.

AND will search for things that have both the terms: french AND toast searches for anything that has those two words, in any order. The phrase "a toast to the French army" and "Grandma's best French toast recipe" will both show up with an AND search.

OR essentially performs two searches at once. french OR toast will turn up any mention of either word, you'll get "hot buttered toast" and "french vocabulary practice" with an OR search.

The asterisk is a wildcard. Trans* will turn up any word that starts with those five letters, including "transgender", "transsexual", "transition", "transcontinental", "transmission", and "trans*" itself.

And finally, AO3 has a lot of their very own search operators that let you narrow your search by pretty much any criteria you can think of https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/10851

thinking about that post of people assuming ao3 has an algorithm and also about how bonkers persistent the view is that ao3 is social media lite. like with startling regularity I get comments saying something along the lines of "it's probably weird to comment on a fic this old--" no it isn't!!!! this is an archive I am literally just assuming you searched for a selection of specific tags or sorted by kudos or looked back on my pseud or any other number of completely normal ways to use an archive site ?? kill the tiktok ghost in your brain and comment on old stuff it's NOT weird

[damiano-mylove]

To Kiss is To Love

Pairing: Vic De Angelis x GN!reader

Wc: 1k

Cw(s): Negative self talk in the beginning, stretch marks, lil bit of self hatred, and an atrocious amount of swearing, tell me if it sucks

Summary: Reader is extremely self-conscious about their stretch marks, so Vic takes action

Masterlist

They were on parts of your body that you arguably hated the most. They gave unflattering detail to places that didn't need detail. Your inner thighs, your outer thighs, you stomach, your chest. There were even stupid fucking stretch marks on your back! Like a teenager who just hit a growth spurt! God, it was embarrassing, and it made you hate your body only that much more.

Now, here she was, the vision of your life, the girl you wanted to marry, tracing her fingers over those dark fucking marks that you detested so fully and truly.

You shouldn't have taken your shirt off, but it was just so fucking hot in this fucking flat, that you had virtually no other option. It was take your clothes off or sit in the freezer. It was a decision of embarrassment and taking your shirt off was the victor.

"Why do you keep doing that?" You finally asked on an advert break. Vic looked at you through furrowed eyebrows. Your eyes darted to her fingers on your stomach. "Tracing my stretch marks."

"I dunno, they're nice."

Her response had you scoffing. Nice? Fuck, she really must've wanted you to love her if she could say that about one of your biggest insecurities. You could barely believe that she said that out loud. Why would she say something she obviously didn't mean?

Well, Vic doesn't say things she doesn't mean.

"What do you mean 'eugh'?" Vic immediately asked, sitting up now. You shrugged.

"They're ugly as fuck, not nice," you rebutted. Vic's jaw clenched a bit and you could physically feel the room getting a bit warmer.

"So you're saying my stretch marks are ugly too?"

Aw fuck, you fumbled the bag with this one. You should've just shut up and taken the fucking compliment. Did you? No. Instead, you make Victoria feel like you don't like something about her. The one girl in the world who has shown you time and time again how much she loves you, how much she'd do for you, just how limitless her love spanned for you.

"No, no, yours aren't ugly," you quickly answered. Vic raised her eyebrow. "Mine are. Yours only add to your amazing good looks."

Vic stood up from the couch, and knelt in front of you. You couldn't possibly look away without making it seem like you weren't trying to be an asshole. "They're not ugly. All they mean is you either were big and got small, or you were small and got big. Nothing wrong with either of those, Y/n."

You couldn't help but smile. "Did you just quote Katt Williams to me to make me feel better?"

"Did it work?" Vic asked, eyes dancing with light. You nodded a bit, which had your girlfriend a smiling mess. Without warning, she stood up and took your hand, hoisting you from the couch.

Wordlessly, Vic guided you to the bathroom and sat you down on the edge of the peach coloured tub. Vic rummaged around in her cabinet of potions and serums, until she came out with a tall, clear bottle. Within the bottle, was some amount of orange-pink oil. The words Bio-Oil were written in big white font on the front of the bottle. Vic handed it to you to inspect.

"It reduces my stretch marks," she told you. You handed the bottle back to her. Vic grinned, "Do you want me to put some on you?"

Heat poisoned your blood, not not from the heat wave. This time, the heat was from embarrassment, from love, form the blood rushing to the tips of your ears like a kid in year 5 who has a crush.

"Y-yeah, actually. That sounds...nice." Suddenly, that word didn't feel like lead on your tongue. It felt as it normally should've. Vic smiled so graciously as she unscrewed the white cap of the bottle.

In front of you, once again, Vic knelt down. Before she poured any oil on her hand, she planted a soft and smooth kiss to one of your dozens of stretch marks. It made a certain amount of nerves explode in your stomach and even more heat rush to your face. Knowing what she was doing to you only egged Vic on further. She kissed another and another. Then on one, she licked it and blew cool air against it, making jitters and tingles erupt everywhere on your body.

Before any protests came from you, Vic began with spreading the oil against your skin, making you flinch at the temperature. It was a ridiculously cool substance, that smelt like a mix of cooking oil and lavender essential oil.

Vic left no mark untouched. They shone in the harsh bathroom light, slick with the nice smelling oil and with Vic's fingers splayed upon you. Your heart beat like its never beat before and you felt as if you'd just eaten a full meal. You were fucking wrong. You were so totally wrong about Vic, about your stretch marks.

"Okay, now don't wipe it off, but it'll be drying for a minute or ten," Vic laughed as she capped the bottle.

No time wasted, you stood up and pulled Vic in by the waist, with tears brimming your eyes. Your lips connected with hers like fireworks. She tasted of her strawberry lip balm and of the grapes you both had been snacking on earlier. Softer than pillows, her lips were. They moved like the perfect puzzle piece against yours, like this moment was made to be.

Around your shoulders, Vic wrapped her arms, only bringing you closer together. When the kiss was broken, it was some time before either of you said something. There you both stood, in the bathroom, that smelt of lavender, breathless, admiring each other.

"I'm lucky to have you, Victoria," you whispered. Vic laughed lightly, her eyes crinkling in such an attractive way that made heat bloom once a-fucking-gain. "I love you. I love you so much."

"I love you even more," she replied, pecking your lips lightly. Once again, she had your hand in hers. "C'mon, show's probably back on."

[trannydykepuppybot]

Clarification: I am not an expert of any of this. When I hear something that requires context that I do not possess, I look it up on Wikipedia. I also use it for spelling. That is my only source outside of the actual audio and video of the trial as provided by the UN's YouTube channel. Bite me.

Part two of South Africa's case: Tembeka Ngcukaitobi SC addressing Israel's genocidal intent.

Genocidal intent is evident from the way in which Israel's attack is being conducted. Systematic direction into "safe" areas which are then attacked, attack on civilian infrastructure, various points that Hassim already made.

Extraordinary feature in this particular case that Israeli leaders have systematically and explicitly declared genocidal attack. Soldiers repeat these statements.

Intent is routing in believe that the enemy is not just Hamas, but is embedded in the fabric of Palestinian life in Gaza.

In televised address, Netanyahu declared war on Gaza. Quote: "Israel has started clearing out the communities that have been infiltrated by terrorists," warned of unprecedented price to be paid by the enemy.

Israel controls Gaza, entry, exit, and movement within Gaza and exercises command over Gaza.

Netanyahu edged soldier to "remember what Amalek has done to you." This refers to God's command to Saul via Samuel for the total destruction of the entire group of people called Amalekites.

1 Samuel 15:3 Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys. (New International Version) (Also, I chose to provide this myself. Ngcukaitobi does not quote the entire verse, just the worst part.)

Repeated by Netanyahu in a letter to Israeli armed forces.

(translation cuts in awkwardly mid-sentence) "'...has done to you' says our holy Blible and we do remember and we are fighting. Our brave troops and combatants who are now in Gaza or around Gaza or around Gaza and in..." (cuts out) (Please note that this is a translation which sounds like it's being done via TTS, and that punctuation is inferred.)

Knesset (Israeli parliament) deputy speaker has called for the erasure of the Gaza strip from the face of the Earth.

Defense Minister said in situation update to the army that as Israel was imposing a complete siege on Gaza "there would be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. Everything would be closed, because Israeli is fighting human animals."

He instructed troops Gaza border that he has released all the restraints and that Gaza won't return to what it was before.

"We will eliminate everything. We will reach all places."

(Brief interjection, this guy isn't amazing about making it obvious where quotes start and stop. I could just be dumb. I'm being careful to only put in actual quotation marks where I am certain he is quoting, and am transcribing him directly when I am uncertain. Just keep that in mind.)

Israeli army coordinated stated in address to Hamas and residents of Gaza that Hamas has become ISIS and that the citizens of Gaza are celebrating instead of being horrified. He concluded that human animals are dealt with accordingly. "Israel has imposed a total blockade on Gaza. No electricity, no water, just damage. You wanted Hell, you will get Hell.

Systematic dehumanization of both Hamas and civilians.

Minister of Energy and Infrastructure called for the denial of water and fuel as "this is what will happen to a people of children killers and slaughterers."

These are unambiguous admissions of intent.

Heritage Minister said that "Israel must find ways for Gazans are more painful than death."

Just because they aren't all army doesn't mean they aren't powerful and significant voices.

President of Israel has signed bombs destined for Gaza, having previously noted that the entire population of Gaza is responsible and that this rhetoric of civilians not aware, not involved, is absolutely not true. "We will fight until we break their backbone."

Minister of National security repeated that Hamas and civilians are equally responsible. "When we say that Hamas should be destroyed, it also means those who celebrate, those who support, and those who hand out candy. They are all terrorists and they should also be destroyed."

Again, these are all unambiguous statements by powerful officials of intent do destroy.

"It is simple. If the statements were not intended, they were not have been made."

This rhetoric is clear to Israeli soldiers and informs their actions and objectives. Israeli soldier were recorded by journalists dancing and singing "We know our moto. There are no uninvolved." "They (we) obey one commandment: to wipe out the seed of Amalek."

The actual video is shown, with English subtitles:

I'm coming to occupy Gaza

and beat Hazbollah.

I stick by one mitzvah (commandment),

to wipe off the seed of Amalek.

to wipe off the seed of Amalek.

(Group singing without lyrics.)

I left home behind me,

won't come back until victory.

We know our slogan,

there are no "uninvolved civilians."

there are no "uninvolved civilians."

(More lyric-less group singing, video ends.)

Soldiers also filmed singing "may their village burn, may Gaza be erased."

There is now a trend of soldiers filming themselves committing atrocities. One filmed himself detonating over fifty houses. Other soldiers were recorded singing "we will destroy all of Khan Yunis (city in Gaza, capital of Kahn Yunis governorate) and this house. We will blow it up for you and for everything you do for us."

(Video of Israeli soldiers, location marked Shejaiya (neighborhood in city of Gaza), Gaza Strip, text reads "Israeli military detonates more than 50 buildings in Shujaiya." Israeil soldier has fingers in his ears, there is a pop that is probably louder in person, and takes them out. Handheld camera pans over dirt mound to large explosion cloud. A helicopter can be heard overhead. A man speaks Hebrew, subtitles read "Shujaiya neighborhood gone. Nahal Oz (kibbutz near Gaza, a target of Hamas attack in October). With God's help, you will have this..." Now from a different camera, the same large explosion cloud from a different angle, camera zooms in as cloud grows. Man speaks Hebrew, subtitles read "This is the 828th brigade, peace to Shujaiya." (Word for "peace" used is "shalom, could also be hello or goodbye. I do not speak Hebrew, but am Jewish and know the word. I'm not sure if there are subtleties to the language outside of context that can help determine this. Any of the three would make sense. This isn't important anyways.) Different camera, same explosion, man speaks Hebrew, subtitles read "Amazing. 30 houses. 749th battalion." Another angle, similar to the second one, possibly the same, man speaks Hebrew, subtitles read "Here, the victory begins." For nine long seconds he does not speak. Someone whistles in the background. Over a wall and across an open field, the cloud grows The wind blows across the microphone. The dust is so dense, it appears to be solid, like a plie of tight, dirty gray wool, expanding outwards into the open sky. Buildings can be seen in the distance, on the edge of the cloud, between it and the camera. They look tiny, not just from the distance, but from their proximity to the huge blast. It's hard to tell if they even are buildings. One looks like a house, right on the edge of the explosion. It is only one story. It looks as though it would take seven or eight of them stacked on top of each other to be able to look over the cloud. Maybe nine. Faint voices are singing in the distance, on the camera's side of the wall. Man speaks Hebrew, subtitles read "Long live Israel."

Army commander stated that the army had done "in Beit Hanoun (City in northeast Gaza) and did there as Shimon and Levi did in Nablus." He stated that the entire Gaza should resemble Beit Hanoun.

(The story of Shimon and Levi in Nablus goes as follows: Hamor ruled the area of Nablus. His son, Shechem, raped Jacob's daughter Dinah and then asked to marry her. Shimon and Levi, her brothers, told Hamor that Shechem could marry Dinah if him and all of his subjects got circumcised. Three days later, while all the men of the city were recovering from their late circumcision, Shimon and Levi killed entered the city, killed every man, and robbed the city of everything including women and children.)

(Beit Hanoun itself is believed to be entirely depopulated and destroyed.)

An Israeli shoulder filmed video in front of the ruins of Al-Azhar University – Gaza with the caption "once upon a time there was a university in Gaza, and in practice, a school for murderers and human animals."

Soldiers consider this language and these actions as justified do to them being government policy.

(95-year-old Israeli army reservist Ezra Yachin, a veteran of the Deir Yassin massacre (1948, village of about 600, ≥107 Palestinian villagers dead, 12-50 injured, may have been cases of mutilation and rape) was encouraged without censure to speak to soldiers ahead of the ground invasion. He said: "Be triumphant and finish them off, and don't leave anyone behind. Erase the memory of them. Erase them, their families, mothers, and children. These animals can no longer live. If you have an Arab neighbor, don't wait, go to his home and shoot him. We want to invade, not like before. We want to enter and destroy what's in front of us, and destroy houses, then destroy the one after it. With all of our forces, complete destruction, enter and destroy. As you can see, we will witness things we've never dreamed of. Let them drop bombs on them and erase them."

A soldier boast in a video online that the army destroy the entire village of Hibbert Arzhar (weird one, searched around and found a tweet mentioning this same video but not the actual village when I look it up) He said for two weeks they had worked hard to bomb them village and executed their mandate.

Any suggestion that senior politicians did not mean what they said, or that the soldiers did not understand the meaning would be without merit. The level of destruction, mass targeting of family homes, and the war being a war on children all demonstrate that genocidal intent is understood and in practice. Their stated intent is the destruction of Palestinian life in all its manifestations.

Members of the Knesset have repeatedly called for Gaza to be wiped out, flattened, erased, and crushed on all its inhabitants. They have deplored anyone feeling sorry for uninvolved Gazans. They repeatedly state that the are no innocent, no uninvolved, that the children brough it on themselves, and that death should be the one sentence for everyone there.

Lawmakers have called for merciless bombing, some advocating for the use of nuclear weapons, and a Nakba that will overshadow the Nakba of '48.

A famous singer repeated Netanyahu's Amalek reference. "Gaza must be wiped out and be destroyed with every Amalek seed. We simply must destroy all of Gaza and exterminate everyone who is there."

Another called to erase Gaza, not leave a single person there. Journalists and commentators state that "the women is an enemy, the baby is an enemy, the pregnant women is an enemy." That "it is necessary to turn the strip into a slaughterhouse. To demolish every house our soldiers come across. Exterminate everyone."

Even just Israel's intentional favor to condemn, prevent and punish such genocidal incitement is a violation in itself of the genocide convention.

Genocidal rhetoric is being normalized.

Israel knows what is happening. It knows about the destruction of infrastructure, the deprival of food, water, shelter, medicine, and general aid. It keeps targeting essential infrastructure. It said so.

Many perpetrators of atrocities have protested that they were misunderstood, that they didn't mean it, and that their own words were taken out of context. The distinctive feature of this case has been that genocidal speech has been repeated explicitly throughout every sphere of state.

Inciters of genocide include the prime minister, the president, the minister of defense, the minister of national security, the minister of energy and infrastructure, members of the Knesset, senior army officials, and foot soldiers. These aren't fringe statements, they are policy. The government faces criticism for allowing any aid into Gaza on the basis that it's recanting on its promise to starve Palestinians.

Everyone knows what they're saying. Everyone knows what they mean. It is everywhere.

Finally got around to watching the ICJ hearings on Israel. Will take notes on my blog.

[movie-magic]

Loki: Every MCU Easter Egg In Episode 1

Loki has officially begun on Disney+, and Tom Hiddleston comes bearing plenty of Marvel Easter eggs in the premiere episode. Here's what we found.

The premiere episode of Loki is burdened with glorious Marvel Easter eggs, from potential future villain teases to skulking Skrulls. Even before the considerable success enjoyed by WandaVision and Falcon & The Winter Soldier, MCU fans were eagerly anticipating Tom Hiddleston's return as the God of Mischief. Now blessed with his own Disney+ solo series, Loki has all of time and space to bother, and the premiere wastes little time throwing Hiddleston from the Avengers' frying pan into the TVA's fire.

After using the Tesseract to escape The Avengers in Avengers: Endgame, Loki is swiftly picked up by the Time Variance Authority - a seemingly omniscient organization overseeing the entirety of time and space. Evidently not ones to take prisoners, Loki's fate at the TVA looks grim, but Owen Wilson's Major Mobius intervenes, handing the silver-tongued variant a reprieve. In the opening episode, Mobius successfully digs to the root of Loki's dastardly ways, breaking him down to (presumably) build him back up, all with the aim of enlisting Loki's services as an ally to hunt down an especially vicious variant murdering the TVA's Minute Men.

Loki's premiere is predictably heavy with exposition, and relatively limited in scope, mostly taking place within the walls of TVA HQ. Nevertheless, Michael Waldron (creator) and Kate Herron (director) pepper the 50-minute installment with an array of references to the Marvel comics, MCU history callbacks, and hints of the multiverse madness to come. Here's every Easter egg we discovered in Loki's "Glorious Purpose."

The Avengers Intro Sequence:

Loki's introductory scene is somewhat of an Easter egg itself, retelling the famous Tesseract heist from Avengers: Endgame. Much of the footage here derives straight from the 2019 box office behemoth, meaning no other MCU stars filmed additional footage or recorded new dialogue especially for Loki. With that said, a few extra Tom Hiddleston moments are spliced into the existing footage to show events entirely from Loki's point of view. The villain's Steve Rogers "search and rescue" gag is zoomed-in, and there's a closer shot of Loki waving goodbye to Hulk in the elevator, as well as fresh reaction shots during the Stark scuffle in the lobby.

An Iron Man Callback:

After commandeering the Tesseract in New York, Loki finds himself falling from the sky above Mongolia's Gobi Desert, landing unceremoniously in the sand below, and this scene might trigger a sense of déjà vu for longtime MCU fans. In 2008's Iron Man, Tony Stark escapes capture by creating a rudimentary suit of hi-tech armor. Flying to safety, the genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist also lands roughly in a remote desert. There's a symbolic correlation in how Iron Man marked the beginning of the MCU, while Loki is now ushering in a whole new chapter, and both begin with their protagonists in matching predicaments. Both characters also crash while evading incarceration, though only Loki immediately finds himself in chains once again.

"Burdened With Glorious Purpose":

As a man who rarely shuts up, Loki has plenty of wry MCU catchphrases, and one of his most famous would be "I am burdened with glorious purpose" from The Avengers. Disney +'s Loki premiere leans heavily into the line's popularity, with Tom Hiddleston repeating the quote on several occasions throughout the episode, the phrase becoming less sinister with every utterance.

The TVA:

The addition of the TVA to MCU canon was confirmed ahead of time via Loki's trailer and, sure enough, the paradoxical pen-pushers play a prominent part in the premiere. Although their motivations and methods are somewhat altered from the source material (as well as their aesthetic, which now sits closer to The Umbrella Academy's Commission), the TVA hails directly from the Marvel comic books. They were introduced by a 1986 issue of Thor that featured several time-hopping agents, one of which picked a random Earthling up for jaywalking.

A Skrull At The TVA:

Given their propensity to shape-shift and assimilate the forms of other races, it's not surprising that a Skrull might be lurking around the TVA's front desk. One of the MCU's green aliens can be spotted in the background as Loki gets marched in, and though it's not clear why the Skrull is present, the distinct lack of guards would suggest they aren't a variant. A timely reminder that Secret Invasion is right around the corner.

The Time Twisters:

As you'd predict, Loki tries running away. With minimum effort, Hunter B-15 (played by Wunmi Mosaku) clicks a device, and Loki is pulled back to where he stood moments earlier, effectively making escape impossible. These time twisters appear to be standard issue at the TVA, and have a vaguely similar counterpart in the Marvel comics called the Retroactive Cannon. Far more lethal than Loki's little clickers, these devices would rewind a person completely until they were unwritten from history. Like The Algorithm in Tenet, but less confusing.

Life Model Decoys:

For someone who spent many, many years unaware he was actually a Frost Giant, Loki probably shouldn't be shocked that some people don't realize they're secretly robots. Heading through the TVA's airport scanner, Loki passes the test with flying colors, though he remains perplexed by the idea someone could be unknowingly cybernetic, Loki's line is a nod to Life Model Decoys, which have appeared in both the Marvel comics, and Agents of SHIELD. These lifelike androids can mimic mankind so perfectly, the LMD itself isn't always certain of the truth.

Secret Wars?:

Whether you've accidentally arrived late for work, or just escaped a group of costumed vigilantes by seizing a glowing blue cube from the beginning of time, being labeled as a variant is confusing stuff. Luckily, the TVA has put together a short animation to fill quantum criminals in on the basics. The helpful Miss Minutes finally provides an explanation of the MCU multiverse, revealing how, long ago, separate timelines fought an inter-dimensional war for supremacy that almost resulted in total annihilation. Since then, the TVA has strictly maintained one single reality - the Sacred Timeline *echoes*. The history lesson bears some similarity to 2015's Secret Wars comic event, in which conflicting universes came together in Battleworld (the setting of the original Secret Wars), and attempts were made to streamline Marvel's sandbox.

The Time-Keepers:

The TVA's infomercial also confirms the organization are led by three Time-Keepers, who oversee the combined reality and dictate the proper flow of history. This big-faced trio were first introduced in the late 1970s, created from the sole remaining survivor of the previous universe's destruction. The mysterious overlords performed much the same function in the comics as they do in Loki, and possessed virtually complete mastery over time.

Kree And Nova's Attack On Titan:

As the animated exposition rumbles on, Miss Minutes (voiced by Tara Strong) uses "starting an uprising" as an example of something the TVA might potentially frown upon. The corresponding image shows two armies clashing, with the blue folk on the left appearing to be Kree, and the force on the right possibly the Nova Corps. Based on the spiky ruins in the background, the battle is taking place on Thanos' home planet of Titan. In Guardians of the Galaxy, Ronan confirmed the Kree and Nova Corps were at war for 1000 years - was the TVA involved somehow?

Nexus Events:

This week's lesson from Miss Minutes explains how stepping off one's designated path can create a "Nexus event," and spiral out of control to spawn countless alternate timelines that trigger another war. This word has cropped up several times in the MCU, first as an internet facility in Oslo (Avengers: Age of Ultron), and then as an antidepressant drug during one of WandaVision's fake commercials. The latter was most likely a reference to the Nexus of All Realities from the Marvel comics, which is essentially a gateway between every possible timeline. The TVA's Nexus events could take their name from the very same source.

The Timeline Diagram:

Throughout Loki's Disney+ debut, the TVA repeatedly use diagrams of a single flowing timeline with branches shooting off to represent unwanted deviations. MCU fans might recognize this from Avengers: Endgame, where the Ancient One drew something extremely similar while explaining the consequences of time travel to Bruce Banner. Perhaps Ms. One has visited the TVA herself once or twice?

Devil In The Church:

MEPHISTO. There, we said it. When Mobius asks a young girl who committed time crimes in 16th century France and the child points to a stained glass window depicting the Devil, Loki knew exactly what it was doing. WandaVision dropped several hints that Marvel's own Satan would appear, all of which proved fruitless, and Loki seems to be heading down the same hellish vein. Alas, there could be a simpler explanation. Mobius claims to be chasing an alternate version of Loki, and it's highly likely the child has mistaken the God of Mischief's famous horned helmet for the demonic horns of Lucifer.

Ravonna Renslayer:

Though her name isn't mentioned in Loki's premiere, Gugu MBatha-Raw's TVA judge is actually Ravonna Renslayer, who made her debut in a 1965 Avengers issue. In the comics, Renslayer is a human from the far future, most often a villainous figure associated with Kang the Conqueror. She certainly isn't a legal official sat behind a desk. One would imagine Marvel Studios has something more interesting in store for Renslayer further down the line.

Explaining Endgame:

During his TVA interrogation, Loki quite rightly points out that it was not he who meddled with the timeline. T'was those pesky Avengers who penetrated the Quantum Realm and disrupted the natural course of events in the aftermath of the Battle of New York; Loki merely picked up the Tesseract that fell at his feet. Unfortunately, this excuse falls on deaf ears, as Gugu MBatha-Raw confirms the Avengers' ambitious time heist was entirely sanctioned by the Time-Keepers. This exchange more or less clears up every single timeline wrinkle in the MCU, including Steve Rogers' reunion with Peggy, and Gamora from the past staying in the present. It's not altering time that irks the TVA; it's altering time in a manner the Time-Keepers haven't permitted.

Loki's "Wooing":

After Owen Wilson saves Loki from being "reset," the pair sit down for a more friendly conversation, but when Loki warns Mobius that cooperation isn't an option, the TVA officer retorts with, "even when you're wooing someone powerful you intend to betray?" Loki has betrayed a fair few people during his time, and Mobius' accusation could easily apply to Odin or Thor. Most likely, however, Mobius is alluding to Thanos here - a powerful figure Loki tried buttering up with intent to usurp him once the universe was brought to its knees.

Josta:

While not strictly a Marvel reference, it's worth noting that Mobius is a big fan of an ice cold Josta. Viewers of a certain age might not recognize this soda brand, but Josta is a genuine Pepsi product that was available in the late 1990s before being discontinued. An early variety of energy drink, there's evidently a few perks to hunting down timeline criminals. In Mobius' case, this includes sugary contraband.

Loki's Greatest Hits:

In a twisted version of It's A Wonderful Life, Mobius tries to change Loki by examining his choices in the past, present and future. Unlike the jaunty 1946 holiday classic, Mobius has access to a handy hi-tech screen which displays Loki's "greatest hits." The footage begins with the God of Mischief's defeat and arrest in 2012's The Avengers - perhaps not an entry Loki himself would've picked for the highlight reel. The screen next switches to Phil Coulson's death (which Loki definitely would pick), before moving on to images of civilian deaths from the Battle of New York, the gala eyeball removal scene, and the dictator speech, all from The Avengers.

D.B. Cooper:

More an Easter egg from real-world history than Marvel lore, Loki reveals the truth about D.B. Cooper - it was Agatha Loki all along! In 1971, an as-yet-identified man boarded a Boeing 727, held the aircraft ransom for $200,000, then parachuted out with the cash. Mobius' dive into Loki's past reveals that, thanks to a lost bet with Thor, the God of Mischief descended from Asgard to pull the plane heist himself as some kind of stunt. From Loki's hairstyle matching the real D.B. Cooper artist's impression to the smattering of bank notes left behind, there's an impressive attention to detail in this scene.

Infinity Stones In The Desk:

The Infinity Stones... Thanos would give his own daughter just for one. Entire worlds brought to their knees by their power. Humans turned into Gods at the merest touch. Gary from the TVA's HR department using one as a paperweight. Threatening Casey with a fishy demise, Loki finally gets his hands back on the Tesseract, only to discover even Infinity Stones are useless within the TVA's jurisdiction. To Loki's immense surprise, Casey's desk draw is chock-full of discarded Infinity Stones, most either of the Time or Reality variety (no surprises there). The scene essentially confirms that the power of these fabled jewels has led to more than a few timeline variant incidents over the years, but perhaps also undermines the once-unstoppable power of the Infinity Stones. Well, the Infinity Saga is over.

A 3rd Millennium Kang Hint?:

In its final scene, the Loki premiere might just be hinting at the future villain of Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania. The MCU will soon introduce Kang the Conqueror, a major comic book baddie played by Jonathan Majors, and "Glorious Purpose" could represent the first step toward his arrival. Called out to 19th century Oklahoma, TVA agents find a piece of technology hailing from the 3rd millennium. Though it might be a coincidence, Kang hails from the 31st century, and is known for using advanced tech in his dominion of the timeline. The mysterious hooded figure is more likely a Loki variant than Kang himself, but since Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania and Loki both deal in temporal themes, it wouldn't be strange for the Kang foundations to be laid on Disney+.

- Screen Rant

Loki releases new episodes every Wednesday on Disney+.

[oveliagirlhaditright]

I know some people aren't fond of Sokai because they don't get much screentime together, comparitively speaking. But I'm really at a loss whenever I see people say that the two of them getting together in Three came out of nowhere, or that there's no romantic interactions between them. Their mutual feelings have been heavily implied since the first game, and most scenes between them have been mildly romantic at least. I am confused, absolutely befuddled.

Da Nile isn’t just a river in Egypt. And I do think denial is a lot of it. These people didn’t want SoKai to happen, for whatever reason, so they convinced themselves that all the romantic scenes between them aren’t romantic at all.

But aside from shipping wars--which is definitely a reason some refused/refuse to see SoKai--a lot of fans also wanted this series to just stay friendship, since there is romance in literally everything else and some saw it as a breath of fresh air, that this series hadn’t fully gone that way (and these people would also deny there was any romance between Sora and Kairi in the series)... until III. 

And usually to justify that idea, these people would use this quote that Nomura said about how he doesn’t care that much about romantic relationships in his works: that he doesn’t really think about it, and rather thinks fans can have fun imagining things like that for themselves. But that one quote was taken way out of context, because as I understand it... Some random person was asking Nomura about Sephiroth from FFVII’s past loves, when he was exiting a bar. And it seemed to me that Nomura said this as a polite way to try and exit the weird encounter. Especially since VII wasn’t his game. He has a bit of writing credit there, but it’s 99.9% Sakaguchi’s baby (the OG FFVII, that is).

But I never bought this argument--and for good reason, it would seem!--because even before Nomura made SoKai full-on canon in KHIII, there were all the hints to them and he was also making a freaking Romeo and Juliet game with Versus XIII. Yeah...

Some have also tried to argue that SoKai was “dropped”. And for those who say that it was dropped after KHI... they’re just wrong. So very wrong. It’s in CoM, it’s in II, and it’s in Days, and even BbS, arguably (with the spell Aqua put on Kairi’s necklace and definitely with Blank Points). As for the people who would say it was dropped with Coded and DDD... I could kind of get where they might have been coming from there, sadly... but even in those games, Kairi was always mentioned in some way and you could tell that Sora cared about her (even if, at least in Coded, it was more their friendship than their romance). In Coded, Data Riku tells Data Sora about the real Riku and Kairi’s pain from KHI, and Data Sora says he would’ve saved them both and found what was hurting them and made it go away. And in DDD, Sora sees a lot of visions of Kairi (most of the few scenes we get from Kairi in DDD at all are because of him). And Young Xehanort even says that they used Kairi to get Sora to the Islands the night they fell, or something, because they knew that where she was, he’d be.

Another issue, is... Even though I think SoKai’s the most obvious thing in the world--and that Nomura has pretty much hit us in the head over and over again to say that it’s canon... moreso than any other author of a couple that I’ve ever seen--I honestly think some just can't see it, because they don’t say “I love you”, or kiss, or anything like that. So many people have been told those are the markings of love, or whatever--which is such a flawed idea--that without those things for SoKai, they’re like, “Whaaaaaaat?! These two had romantic feelings for each other?! I had no idea!” I don’t get how. At all. When, for example, these two wanted to do the traditional romantic thing from their culture, of sharing a fruit that binds your destinies, but it is a thing, I think.

But, yeah: Sora and Kairi definitely have romantic scenes all throughout this series, and it’s really hard to say “no” about that. Even TV Tropes, back before KHIII, had Sora and Kairi listed in their “canon couples” categories and had it explained as, “Anyone with eyes can see that Sora and Kairi are in love with each other and are canon... well, as canon as a ‘no touching’, no saying ‘I love you’ Disney game gets, anyway”. 

I actually think it’d make more sense for people to try and say that these romantic scenes exist, but even if they do... Sora and Kairi have no chemistry there (and I’ve certainly seen people say that before. Though usually the people who say there are “no romantic scenes” won’t, because if they did then they would be admitting there are supposed to be romantic scenes)... and I don’t agree with that at all. But I’d at least understand that, more than people saying Nomura didn’t try to make romance scenes with them at all... when he clearly did.

Edit: Their young age may also have something to do with it. Like, for instance, I remember when Final Fantasy Peasant was getting into the series for the first time... And at first he was seeing the Sora and Kairi stuff as romantic, too, but the chat told him he was wrong by being like, “Pez, they’re fourteen”. So he started believing it was just friendship, too. And when he then got to the scene in CoM when Larxene says to Naminé, “It won’t be too long before Sora forgets Kairi completely! And then he’ll be all yours to do what you-” he said, “Now see, if it weren’t for you guys, I would be reading all of this as romantic.” And it was clear he wanted to, because it was. And then when KHII rolled around, and we got the scene of Sora imagining himself dancing with Kairi, he was so happy, and was pretty much like, “I told you guys! What was all of this ‘Sora and Kairi aren’t romantic’ crap?” And he titled the video “The SoKai Ship is Real”. LOL

[jongdality]

me thinkin' about how i've grown up with exo and watched as they lived and learned and developed as professionals and humans, overcoming the struggles of a poor debut concept and scandal after scandal with their tenacity and love for each other

Then thinkin' about how Kyungsoo, a somewhat aloof, awkward and weird boy who decided to be bold and try out for SM after old people at karaoke competitions told him to and he made 8 brothers for life who love him dearly and support him and his antics and his acting career and call him cute no matter how much he says he isn't good at anything and that he's boring and Manly and how he has starred in a full-ass movie and is partially credited as breaking the "idol-actor" stereotype and writes love songs with chanyeol on the DL that chanyeol reveals on his lives and wrote the lyrics to a lovely, comforting song for us before leaving to join the military so he can become an even bigger star in multiple films once he gets out

Then thinkin' about how bbh, an outgoing boy who flicked lights on and off to make his friends giggle, met a friend for life, kjd, on the very same day they both were to audition to get into a group that was about to debut, how he worked hard to break down barriers in the group and became the moodmaker, and how people thought he was bad at dancing because he hadn't had time to train but actually every solo dance he's been given he's slayed to the point that he became the CENTER FOR CBX, how he worked hard to learn piano in a very short amount of time to play The Answer for his EXO-Ls, how even after an early scandal in which is privacy was invaded he still looks at us with such love and protection and is NOW an amazing solo artist who texts the exo group chat saying he misses them so much

Then thinkin' about Suho. Kim frickin' Joonmyeon. The underdog of the entire group. Born rich, charismatic and well-educated, could have been ANYTHING but CHOSE to train for SEVEN YEARS due to his love of music. You guys. When Baek and another member got into trouble for cussing while playing video games sometime in 2012-2013 and a sasaeng threatened to reveal the voice clips of them cussing purportedly to apink members, joonmyeon texted her personally, so cold, so professional, "are you blackmailing us? If you release the clip you won't be forgiven" big fuckin dad energy, worked so hard on his singing and dancing yet still asks not to be given too many lines or placed center too often, gives up his seats for his members ALWAYS, accepted their first awards show win alone stoic and professional as the boys broke down in the back room after the news of kris leaving broke, now has multiple solo songs and acts and is literally set to be higher-level management at SM due to all his hard work, definitely puts out that goofy mom energy but is actually extremely intelligent, protective and the go-to guy for all the members and this para has no point i just think kim joonmyun deserves everything

Remembering that chanyeol has a famous sister and is a multitalented instrumentalist that didn't actually need to become an idol, but he did because he wanted "brothers", how he skyrocketed an entire foot from debut til now, how he's all teeth and ears and big anime eyes and legs and he's confident and happy after years of struggling w his weight and self-image, makin music and writing lyrics and modeling for tommy hilfiger and riding scooters in paris and despite the fact that he can't dance he tries, despite the fact that he didn't audition to be a rapper he became one of korea's best, how he turns into a little kid every time he's around any small animal and just tries to cuddle and feed it as he coos in his Low Man Voice, his tough raps but then his soft exo station song SSFW, and now exo-sc with his bestie and ACTING!!!

Thinkin' about Xiumin. Xiumin who came in as a vocalist and ended up being one of the best dancers in the group (even tho he hits the highest notes!!!). Xiumin who is the oldest and wisest but is still willing to throw that ass back to havana to make cbx laugh. Xiumin who is korea's pick, who kids and ahjummas alike fall for. Xiumin who is beautiful and quiet and humble and supports his brothers from the sidelines, who is so loving and caring, who released an adorable solo that matches him so well and is now winning fckn awards in military training for being so goddamn amazing. Xiumin who attends TVXQ concerts and supports all of his fellow celebrities. Mark's dad. Amazing man. Says he has no friends outside of exo but literally everyone loves him. Dedicated his formative years to the group even when he wasn't spotlighted like he deserves to be and-

Lay. That's it. That's the paragraph. He came in not speaking Korean and is now one of the top-grossing musicians in all of China. Breaking barriers. Learning languages in a matter of months. Solo albums out the wazoo that he composed. Coming back to wish Kyungsoo goodbye even though he hasn't been on a stage with them in years. Didn't leave, although I'm sure he was mistreated just as much as the members who did. All of exo loves him so fucking much.

Kai. Kai who could have been a professional ballet dancer, could have been a full-time model, debuts as the SCREAMO BOY in mama. Gets made fun of for his skin complexion. Is shy and embarrassed for the first 2 or 3 years of exo interviews, and is still pretty shy and introverted. But boy became the fucking IDOL'S IDOL. FANCAMS GOING VIRAL LEFT AND RIGHT. SUSTAINING INJURIES, CRYING WHEN HE MESSES UP AN EXTREMELY DIFFICULT DANCE ROUTINE TO "I SEE YOU". Is such a perfectionist to the point of pushing himself into constant injury, and besides that has had his personal life broadcasted all over the news MULTIPLE times even though he's so shy and withdrawn irl. People cry to meet him, now. Front and center of every exo dance. A dancing god and the reason half of NCT auditioned. I cannot emphasize how proud I am of Kai, who is only a few months older than sehun yet has had to grow up so fast as the face of the group. Solo during the olympics with plantar fasciitis. Model who stuns at every Gucci show in new and experimental designs.

Sehun. Oh fuckin' Sehun. Ran away from recruiters because his mom told him not to talk to strangers, and now he's modelling for every major fashion campaign, is on the cover of vogue, has his dream dog and certifiably has the biggest dick of all exo members. Became a main dancer through hard work and practice even though nobody ever talks about how hard osh works bc he's sort of overshadowed by kai. Insecure about his singing voice but makes crowds go wild every time he even croons out one beautiful, dulcet line. Babied by junmyeon, kissed and coddled by all the exo members, still has Big Baby Energy but is debuting in a group with his fellow chaotic neutral yeol and looking all sexy with his swooped back hair and his 0 follows on insta. Sings in We Young and raps his little heart out. His solo during concerts still shake my very uterus and im pretty sure he's gay. That's how powerful ohs is, and he can only go up from here.

And finally my baby boy kim jongdae. Chanyeol once said Jongdae is so nice that he comes off as stupid and that is absolutely positively true. Boy is the manifestation of the john mulaney quote "you could pour soup on my lap and id apologize to you". Is a ray of fucking sunshine whose only goal as he was singing in that video from high school was to "become a singer". It's his passion. It's the reason he LIVES. He prays to jesus before every concert but worships music. One of THE best vocalists in the game with the cleanest and most controlled voice, sings in the shower, sings in the car, sings while walking to pet some deer, sings because he loves it and now he's a soloist with his own album out and another in the works, and not only that, he dances his feet on fire in CBX and exo routines and remains steady to hit those high notes. Duets abound because everyone loves him. Will tell a bitch to back off when talking about his private life bc he's probably a husband with 6 happy, healthy children at home. Started out as the nervous boy chasing a dream on that fateful day with bbh and became the nation's pick, sings CONSTANTLY, yet is still so humble he opens up a yt channel just to cover other artists' songs. MCs for Baekhyun's solo and shows up to all his performances to monitor. Heart of gold. Smiles when he's hurting. Deserves this solo career and deserves the happiest life this world can provide him.

Words aren't enough to express how grateful I am for these men, how proud I am and how much I just want them to know that we know how hard they've worked to get as far as they have. Compare them to any other group, even other SM groups, and it's clear that their passion, drive, skill and professionalism is unrivaled. They are all born artists and musicians down to their core, and with that, they're all kind, sweet people who are who they are because they debuted as 18, 19, 20, etc year old men 7 years ago and have grown up together, suffered together, celebrated together and loved together. They've switched up sounds, concepts, gone experimental, have created some of the most beautiful ballads and harmonies music has ever seen, and they strive for nothing but the best. ALWAYS. They have never disappointed me, and they never fail to inspire me every time they show the fruits of all their labor (as well as multiple creative people and teams that come together to create EXO) onstage as one.

Exo we are one, saranghaja.

[robustcornhusk]

okay no, now i get to complain about the overall book.

i get the sense that each chapter was written separately from the others; the most egregious being the chapter Non-Dairy Dairy, which was literally a previously-published article with a few paragraphs added... but also like.

Why, though, has [Lappé's] Diet for a Small Planet been updated and re-released for its fifth, tenth, twentieth and now fiftieth anniversary editions instead of Dick Gregory's Natural Diet for Folks Who Eat? Why has the concept of "white veganism" had such a strong cultural hold?

[the cover for the new fiftieth anniversary edition of Natural Diet for Folks Who Eat is a really nice piece of design, imo. to be clear the author knows about the fiftieth anniversary edition of the book, too, just it's sorta besides the main point of the quote]

and then, at the very end:

The future is possible, as has been imagined by the hippies at The Farm, by Frances Lappé, by punks and anarchists, by vegans and vegetarians, by fighters for food justice.

what, did you forget? you were arguing that it was an influential book in its own right, and you forgot about it?

i went to take a look at Natural Diet for Folks Who Eat and, well.

maybe the nutritional claims made aren't going to hold up to modern knowledge.

---

weirdly, the author's own blog has much better writing (re structure, having a point, etc) than their book, at least in the handful of posts i looked at. i also understand that they have/had a podcast, and i would speculate that the process/prep/editing/etc for that could have influenced their writing style in a way that's fine for shorter pieces and fucking sucks for longer pieces, but i haven't listened and don't plan to.

[tangent: cynically, i wonder if the reason that more podcasts don't have transcripts is that they just look fucking awful in transcripts. in the ones i've read, there's a lot of superfluous-in-writing language, phatic bits, etc.]

they do have a post about beans. for whatever reason they didn't stick it in the book as well. it reads a little too much like an advertisement for a certain brand.

For big food personalities, using beans from companies like Rancho Gordo is a mark of pride that is loudly proclaimed in a way meat or other foodstuff origins are not [...] One company that’s trying to make beans cool but not too cool is Primary Beans. [...] Because while smaller-batch beans have become cool in culinary circles as a rarefied product, that’s not the demographic Sykes [the fonder] wants to appeal to: She just wants dried beans of high quality to be more accessible to anyone looking to bring new beans into their diet, and has some standard guidelines for sourcing. (At $7 to $11 per pound, depending on the bean, they of course are still fielding complaints [)...]

... so the same price as rancho gordo and similar. it comes across to me as credulous, like they're just believing the marketing.

My pantry is packed with nice Primary Beans (because they sent me some; they don’t yet ship to Puerto Rico)

so it was paid (in product).

---

from a review of the book in the atlantic:

One of the pleasures of reading this book is that it prompts us to think about nature’s variety and abundance, and about how that abundance can show up on our plates.

did i miss a chapter or something? is my copy of the book 25 pages shorter where the author actually talks about some good fucking food?

---

re lionfish, i wanted to link to the wikipedia page for perverse incentives.

okay, fine, i'm reading No Meat Required.

What is compelling about making the default decision? Nothing, at least not to me. [...]

i worry that the blurb is going to be accurate to the spirit of the book but at least it's short!

[butwhyduh]

The inheritance pt 2

Avenger cast au

Warning: cursing, hint of smut, death.

Word count: 1886

Summary: Tom Holland is informed he's inherited a fortune from his grandfather he never met. He and many members of his family go to the family estate and learn that they will compete to win the estate. For @uglypastels movie challange. The quote will be in the next chapter. Sorry.

"So we call the cops, right?" Elizabeth said pacing.

"Good luck. The signal is always terrible and the storm has made it impossible," Zoe told them crossing her arms.

"We drive into town and tell them," Chris suggested.

"The bridge was about to overflow on the way over," Benedict said. "Didn't you notice? Its probably flooded by now."

Tom hadn't noticed. The thought that he might have to spend all weekend with a dead body never once crossed his mind. For a second he thought about Jacob actually being right about his family. Who would have guessed?

"So we are stuck? What are we going to do with him?" Anthony asked.

"I'll wake up my father," Laura said leaving the room. Tom hadn't moved from his spot and realized he still held his glass and sat it down. He looked around the room in shock.

Everyone began pulling out various devices and indeed there was no signal. The storm raged outside. Christopher and Sebastian carried the body into the dinning room and closed the door.

The body was cold to the touch and pale but appeared to be unmarked. No one said anything. The room was thick with apprehension.

"Did he have a heart attack?" Jacob asked almost hopefully.

Bendict removed Jeremy's hat and his head tilted to the side where a dark blue strip shone around his throat. A gasp filled the room.

"He was- He was killed!" Anthony said. He stood from his chair and began pacing. "We are trapped with a fucking corpse."

"Probably all weekend, unfortunately," Don interrupted Anthony's pacing. The group stared at him.

"What the hell do you mean?" Chris asked sharply. Christopher put a hand on his shoulder.

"I would like to know as well," Mark said.

"The road floods in a spot in high rain. If it stops now the road might be open tomorrow. If it keeps raining, who knows? You can stay in a guest room. There are plenty" Robert said shrugging.

"What are we going to do with him?" Chris H said. He peered at the body. "He can't stay there all weekend."

"I would advice against moving him," Don said. The group looked at him. "Messing with a crime scene and all."

"Well we can't leave him there. In the fucking floor of the dining room," Christopher said loudly. "Take pictures or whatever. But I'm moving him to the cellar. It'll probably freeze tonight or get close so he won't... you know."

Don shakingly grabbed his phone and snapped a few pictures before Christopher and Sebastian carried him out of the room and down to the cellar in the kitchen. Laura looked away when they walked by. Elizabeth stared at the body. When the two men returned to the room, Sebastian noticeably paler, Don began talking again.

"I hate to bring this up now, but the will must be delivered this weekend. The reason being, is that it is on an automated system that will automatically close for 10 years if not found this weekend. So as a group, you must decide to either wait 10 years, or go forth with it tonight," Don said to the astounded group.

"Who's going to say yes?" Robert said bitterly.

"Who's going to say no?" Benedict responded.

"We'll write it down, anonymously. And I'll tally it up and we'll decide," Don said. He pulled out a piece of paper and ripped it up for all of the people who might receive the inheritance. They each were handed a paper and Tom stared at his.

Did he want to go ahead with this 'game' after someone died? Could he really pass up an inheritance? Jacob sat near him warily. He certainly wasn't going to decide. Finally Tom wrote his answer down and gave it to Zoe who was counting them silently.

"I need a drink," Robert said as he turned in his paper. He poured himself a scotch.

"Of course you need a drink. You always need a drink," Benedict muttered.

"Strong words coming from a man who drank at least of bottle of Bordeaux," Robert quipped. "You always did take after mother."

"And how is that? Let's talk about mother. She's only been dead for 15 years. Not that you stuck around after you got out of school in the first place," Benedict said slamming his wine glass down. The room watched the 2 quietly.

"I'm sorry but we all didn't get shipped off to a fancy English boarding school for gifted kids. I was here when not in military school. I needed to leave for my health. Something no one else cared about," Robert said taking a drink.

"You could have come back when she got sick. When mother was dying. Take care of your mother," Benedict retorted.

"I wouldn't talk to highly of taking care of your parents. Neither of you were there for your father. You know, the man who died to bring us all here tonight," Sebastian interjected.

"Okay, guys let's get along," Zoe said. "I've tallied up the numbers and the majority have voted to continue with the hunt. So I guess that's what we'll do..."

"God help us all," Elizabeth said taking a drink.

"So the paperwork is very clear that the first clue will be given at 8 am tomorrow. So enjoy your evening and I will meet you in the morning. This evening has been... difficult to say the least. I will try to call out early in the morning. We can't do anything now," Don said before leaving the room.

Tom looked around, unsure of his next move. Jacob looked at him. His eyes showed deep confusion. Tom pinched his eyebrow and breathed deeply. His throat felt tight from the stress of it all.

"Let's get some sleep, man," Tom told Jacob. The pair left for their room.

"What. The. Fuck?" Jacob asked Tom as he shut the door. "There was a dead body. A literal dead human in the fucking vegetable bin now."

"I don't know. I have no fucking clue. I've literally never seen Dad like this. I thought he was going to fight Benedict. So do you have any signal?" Tom asked laying on his bed.

For the next 30 minutes they tried to get some form of communication but found nothing. Finally Tom laid face down on the bed. It was getting late. And the stress of seeing a dead relative he never knew was... a lot to say the least.

The room to the right, and next to Jacob's bed, began to make noise. A rhythmic noise. Jacob scrunched his nose up at the thought.

"Who is fucking right now?" Tom asked covering his head with a pillow.

A feminine moan filled the air. The two men looked at each other. They knew who it was. The moans turned to gasps and yells of "oh god" with the distinct sound of a headboard slapping the wall. The sound of a male grunting was added to the noise.

"Jesus, how can someone be having sex after seeing a dead body," Tom groaned. "Who does that?"

"Murderers," Jacob said wiggling his eyebrows. "Sex maniacs? Horny ghosts? Your cousin Sebastian and his wife?"

"Please shoot me."

"I wouldn't say that too loud around here. Plus, they aren't banging against your wall anyways," Jacob reminded Tom.

The sounds hit a crescendo and then died away. Jacob lightly clapped as Tom rolled his eyes. With the noise stopped they laid down and tried to sleep.

Tom drifted off fitfully. His hands were clenched around the blanket and he slept in his shoes. Jacob snored softly.

Tom opened his eyes to find himself back in the dinning room. "What the hell," he gasped. He was alone. The electrical lights were replaced with actual candles on every surface. Tom heard the ticking of a clock in the corner. The red walls garish in the flickering light.

He walked out to the hallway and down a set of stairs into music room. A soft piano played in the corner. Tom felt himself freeze as it played by itself. He rationalized it by thinking it was an electronic one like they have at hotels.

A soft voice sang a song he didn't recognize through an arched doorway. "Hello? Is there anyone there?" Tom followed the voice. As he got closer he realized it was nursery rhymes being sung.

The archway led to a tightly spiralled staircase down surrounded by plants. Tom must have walked into a greenhouse. He looked around the lush greenhouse lit by streaming moonlight before looking down the stairs. He knew the voice was down there but he was nervous to follow.

Steeling his courage, Tom followed the woman's voice down the dark staircase. The tight iron stairs wound down into a rather plain hallway made of stucco or cement. More candles poorly lit the hall. It was a stark contrast to the ornate upstairs that had beautifully painted, wallpapered, and embossed walls. The air felt humid and cool down there.

The hallway was narrow and it reminded him of world war 2 bunkers he had seen. The woman's voice sounded close as she sang about little ducks. The path sharply turned to the left and it opened into a wine cellar with rows of bottles stacked tall. There were multiple rooms attached with more wine and spirits. His father and Benedict couldn't hurt this stock no matter how hard they tried.

"Hello? Where are you?" Tom asked certain he heard her voice now. Bottles at the far end of the room fell to the floor. "Are you okay?" Tom asked walking towards it.

Bottles in the far back began crashing to the floor. Tom could see there was no one with him. The bottles slowly started crashing in line towards Tom. Tom gasped and ran to the stairs as his heart beat out if his chest. He leaped up multiple stairs at a time as the thunderous sound of the bottles followed him.

When suddenly he was awakened by the sounds of screaming. Tom sat up in bed. He held his racing chest. It was a nightmare. That's all it was. He was laying in a bed in his grandfather's estate. He relaxed visibly.

Another scream pierced the air and Tom jumped to his feet. Jacob sat up suddenly. They looked at one another as a third scream, this time more of a mangled cry came.

"What was that," Jacob asked.

"I haven't a clue," Tom said searching for a weapon. He found an old umbrella in the closet and he opened the bedroom door to the hallway. Jacob scrambled to his feet to follow.

An attractive blonde woman pressed her face against a tall thin man man with curly hair and glasses. On the ground lay the woman Tom's grandfather had labeled the one who got away. Tom froze in fear. His arm still raised with the umbrella.

"Woah," Jacob said.

"Is- is she dead?" Tom asked tensely. He finally lowered the umbrella.

"I'll check," the unknown man said. The woman moved off of him and wrapped her arms tightly around her chest with wide eyes. He bent down and touched The woman's neck.

"What is going on?" A groggy Sebastian asked opening their room door. The man on the ground almost jumped from his skin.

"Good Lord," the man exclaimed. "She...err. . She's dead."

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