#was it the land protecting itself from nuclear war? or was that just a thing Ruby stopped but unrelated to the woman as it stayed following?

[burntlikethesun]

I've seen so many different interpretations of 73 Yards and all of them are better than any hard, concrete answer or technical explanation that rightly were not provided. It's a ghost story.

[mariacallous]

When U.S. President Joe Biden defeated former President Donald Trump in 2020, Europe breathed a sigh of relief after four traumatic years.

A return to diplomatic normality would, many hoped, provide headspace for the old continent to recover from what had been a tumultuous period. European leaders and diplomats had been shocked by an American president who made policy decisions, from 2017 to 2020, that seemed driven by anger and had scant regard for how they impacted allies.

Multiple officials in institutions such as the European Commission and Parliament privately admit that they set alerts for Trump’s tweets on their phones while he was president, as his sudden swings were often the dominant news of the day.

The damage of Trump’s first term hasn’t gone away. The former president’s scrapping of the Iran nuclear deal, agreed under the auspices of the European Union, emboldened the anti-Western hard-liners in that country. Pulling out of the Paris climate accord created space for climate skeptic figures to gain influence across Europe at a time of soaring energy bills, and encouraged anti-green rhetoric to creep back into mainstream politics across the continent. And Trump’s comments on NATO led to uncertainty and disagreement about how Europe should be protected and who should pay for it.

European officials predicted that the MAGA presidency would leave exactly this kind of contrail, which is why his defeat at Biden’s hands presented an opportunity to Trump-proof Europe. The calculation that officials made in 2020 was that while Trump had lost the election, the divisions in the United States that led to his rise had not gone away. If he happened once, then Trump—or some other carrier of the torch of isolationism and aggressive hypernationalism—could happen again.

Trump-proofing, a term that gained popularity among officials and experts after the end of his term, meant different things to different people, but essentially boiled down to three points:

The first was to stop European security being reliant on the goodwill of the United States through NATO. The second was Europe developing a foreign policy that was sincerely independent from that of the United States, which meant divergence on issues such as China. And the final objective was a true diversification of economic partners, leaving Europe less vulnerable to trade wars with the United States. These objectives would be achieved through institutions such as European Union and NATO and would serve two purposes: to make Europe itself more stable and, in turn, give Europe a stronger voice on the world stage.

These are all complex problems that require sophisticated solutions—and funds. Over the past four years, global conflict, pandemic hangovers, and inflation have created even more obstacles. But the biggest obstacle to Trump-proofing over the past four years has been disagreement between European nations.

The result? As we count down the days till the U.S. election, few officials sincerely believe any meaningful progress has been made on these priorities. Bluntly, whoever wins the election, Europe is still stuck as the United States’ little sibling, fatally dependent on Washington for both military and economic security.

Most agree that defense and security are the most pressing international challenges for Europeans. The war in Ukraine revealed not just how ill-prepared Europe was for a land war, but also how divided European countries were on how to protect the continent.

For years, European leaders have talked about common defense policies that would consolidate spending, procurement, and even troop-sharing. The European Commission published its Strategic Compass, a plan that addressed some of these issues at the Brussels-level. But when push came to shove, some leaders were not comfortable moving away from the NATO model and spending more money on something that they didn’t believe to be a priority.

Ukraine forced European NATO members to take a hard look at themselves. What they saw was the brutal reality that Trump’s criticism—that Europeans weren’t spending enough on their own defense and relied too heavily on America—was true.

In the aftermath of Russia’s invasion, most European countries agreed to supply Ukraine with arms and money, as well as increase their domestic defense budgets. However, plans for common industrial and procurement strategies that would make Europe less reliant on Washington soon shifted focus to meeting minimum requirements to keep the United States engaged.

“NATO hasn’t functioned as a true alliance for years – it’s lopsided; American-dependent,” said Benjamin Tullis, the director of the Democratic Strategy Initiative, a Berlin-based think tank.

“In the long term, we need to return NATO to a mutually beneficial alliance,” Tullis added. “Right now, as a minimum, we need to meet our financial and military targets, whoever ends up in the White House. But we are not even collectively doing that.”

Even with a war on their doorstep, getting European leaders to agree on a defense policy has proven tricky. Hungary, in both NATO and the EU, has dragged its heels on almost every proposal to send weapons to Ukraine or impose sanctions on Russia. France has objected at various points to EU money being spent outside the bloc—including in the United States—even as stockpiles of European weapons and ammo evaporated.

“In terms of defense, we are a vassal state of NATO, which is a vassal state of America,” said a senior European diplomat who agreed to speak under the condition of anonymity. “When we saw that it would take 20 years and a lot of money to genuinely build up European defense, we gave up, and our strategy became ‘keep America happy’ because why bother blowing up something that benefits us when we can spend our money on other things?”

“Strategic Autonomy” is Brussels speak for diplomatic independence. In simple terms: By balancing diplomatic and economic relations between several allies, Europe can avoid overreliance on one partner. In even simpler terms: Find ways of working with both the United States and China so you don’t get squashed by either.

In December 2020, the EU and China finished their seven-year negotiations on the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment. Economic ties with China had been a key EU priority in the 2010s and became a central plank of aspirations for strategic autonomy.

One small snag: In the intervening years, the EU—along with the United Kingdom, United States and Canada—imposed sanctions on Chinese officials alleged of involvement in human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims. China responded by sanctioning members of the European Parliament, and the pact has been on ice ever since.

European countries are divided on the path forward with China. Lithuania, for example, caused a diplomatic stink—and a headache for the EU—when it allowed a de facto Taiwanese Embassy to open in Vilnius. However, many other Eastern and Central European countries are reliant on Chinese investment, while wealthy (read: frugal) Western European nations, such as Germany, see trade with China as a lucrative export market and as the cheapest way to reach their climate targets. Why build our own solar panels or electric cars when China has warehouses full of them?

Disagreement on Chinese engagement can even be seen in the fudge of Brussels’s formal position on China. The European Commission officially adopted a “de-risking” policy for security reasons earlier this year, but didn’t go so far as to “decouple”.

The EU has, for example, launched its own plan to rely less on China—or any other power—for semiconductors. And some European countries, notably the usually cautious Netherlands, are in favor of U.S.-style hostility toward China in the so-called chip wars. The difficulty, however, is finding sufficient commonality among 27 countries with different economics and priorities.

Even under Biden, the United States has taken an increasingly hard line on China. It is unlikely that this will change any time soon, and it’s expected that if Trump wins, he will put maximalist pressure on Europe to make a choice. That could get messy in a dangerous world where Europe’s economy remains sluggish but also relies on Washington for security.

Economically, meanwhile, no amount of diversification can mask the harsh reality that the United States is still Europe’s largest export market. No amount of EU directives can change the fact that U.S. protectionism hurts European countries. Under Trump, talk of secondary sanctions for companies working with Iran and threats of trade wars sent Eurocrats into meltdown. Major disasters were averted, but the United States is not a bastion of free trade. Europeans were extremely unhappy with the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, claiming that its subsidies for U.S. companies unfairly discriminated against European firms.

Europe does have tools at its disposal if a trade war kicks off, and it has used them in some cases—most notably the Boeing-Airbus dispute, during which each side accused the other of using subsidies to give its plane manufacturers an unfair advantage. Both imposed tariffs on other goods as punishment, but they ultimately resolved the issue in 2021.

Yet diplomats fear that in the current geopolitical climate, getting into a dispute of this scale would spill into Europe more than the United States. The United States has recovered far more successfully from the COVID-19 pandemic, which is still dragging on the European economy.

Many of these problems go back to Europe’s fundamental divides. There is a maxim in diplomacy that only a nation with stable domestic politics can have a meaningful foreign policy. The idea is that for foreign policy to be taken seriously, you need to know that it has the support of your own legislature.

In Europe, this is multiplied across the 27 EU member states, the non-EU countries that are reliant on the bloc, the European institutions, and NATO. If that wasn’t complicated enough, few European countries have stable internal politics. Recent gains from populist groups whose priorities range from being rampantly nationalist to overtly aggressive will have a knock-on effect.

It is not just the case that on issues such as defense, economics, and foreign policy, Europe has a binary divide; each country has subtly different positions on each issue. In many cases, because of the fact that many European governments are formed through coalition, those positions are not even consistent within their own governments.

“The EU’s inability to assert a unified leadership role on the global stage, particularly in response to crises like the Ukraine war, reveals a political vacuum,” said Velina Tchakarova, a leading geopolitical strategist based in Austria.

“As a result, Europe may find itself increasingly reactive to U.S. decisions rather than charting its own course, especially if Trump returns to office with a more unpredictable foreign policy. … Should Trump adopt a more isolationist or transactional approach, these divisions within Europe could deepen, weakening its ability to respond to global challenges,” Tchakarova added.

Division breeds inertia, which leaves vacuums that must be filled. And with the world looking so unstable, the United States is still the best answer to many of Europe’s toughest questions. Whoever ends up in the White House, Europe must make its case on Day One for Washington to remain interested and actively friendly. It simply doesn’t have the bandwidth to deal with upsetting the one constant truth that has played the most important role in stability for decades: Europe needs America.

[alcestas-sloboda]

As I said, here are some of the quotes of Dzhokhar Dudayev, the first president of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, taken from his various interviews and compiled with the help of his wife into a book "Лицар Свободи" ("The Knight of Freedom").

About the UN:

"The multi-volume UN resolutions lie on the shelves and are not implemented in relation to the nations. And since the day this organization was founded, we have not heard a single thing in defense of the Chechen people during the worst repressions. And in general, about all repressed peoples of the old regime"

About Budapest memorandum:

"Therefore, we need to turn to the UN to protect Ukraine, help it, protect it from sabotage. It’s better to let these nuclear weapons be in Ukraine than in Russia. They have absolutely no control over it there. If we come together with a common position and program, we can stop the nuclear disaster and the killing of peoples. The only thing we lack is unity"

About ruscism:

"To peoples of the former USSR I wish nothing. What they deserve, they themselves do. The peoples of the former, present, or future Union and, in particular, Russia, are sick of ruscism. And this is a very dangerous and serious chronic disease. Ruscism is scarier than all other misanthropic ideologies. And this terrible disease can probably be cured only by the most difficult tests. Russians are probably the only people on earth who do not believe in anything at all. Spiritless, immoral and hopelessly behind the level of human development. Not inclined to spirituality, and, accordingly, to morality. And this, unfortunately, on a massive scale. What is happening now... Chechnya is just an excuse. And at the root of it all lies the misanthropic ideology. And for this, you have to pay."

About peace between Ichkeria and Russia (compare it to Zelenskyy’s peace plan):

"But there can be peace between Chechnya and Russia only if these criminals are handed over to us. Either the world community will condemn them and bring them to justice, or they will hand them over to us. This is the first condition. The withdrawal of troops from the territory of the Republic, so that we can at least bury people, tally up the casualties and accounts - is also an indispensable condition. Another condition is the restoration of material and moral damages, once again inflicted on our people. And guarantees of the international community of security to the citizens of the Chechen Republic and its state integrity. Under these conditions, peace will come. Without them, we will fight to the last. Both Russia and Chechnya. Russia as a state will not be on our land. And it has no chance here. But we have"

The importance of NATO for the European security:

"In vain, the Russians think that now they will intimidate the world with their army, criminals, and nuclear weapons. Humanity can no longer be intimidated. Everyone has already been through that, everyone has gone through this hell of ruscism. Either Russia will disappear as a state, or it will have to turn to the world community. And for this, humanity must make efforts so that there are no blocs, no military confrontations in the world. Especially the Russian bloc. Only one bloc is needed - NATO, and it must be expanded. Let countries join a single military bloc to protect the interests of all peoples of the globe. And the weaker the people, the greater the protection should be. Then there will be calm and peace on Earth. It's time to kick Russia out of the UN. Humanity must protect itself from ruscism by putting itself in the shoes of the Chechens. In this way, they will protect themselves from future destruction"

One of the interviews given to Ukrainian journalists:

"How long will this war last?"

"This war will last fifty years. Perhaps there will be a temporary pause, but the war will continue. Its scale will expand, it will smolder for a long time, and the foci of smoldering will spread more widely. Probably, until Russia as a state does not disappear"

[nyxknocks]

If there are two things I love its monsters and nuclear radiation/fallout. Godzilla is and always has been a perfect marriage of these two hyperfixations of mine. I've seen this Godzilla a handful of times over the years and I love it every single time I watch it. (And, fun fact, strontium-90 was one of the isotopes released during Chernobyl though it's not the one that's mostly to blame for the tragedy that happened).

There are so many goofy things that happen in this movie that seem like plot holes but are actually what I feel like what people would really do in a situation like this. For example, they hypothesize that Godzilla was woken up because of the hydrogen bombs and their answer to fighting Godzilla off is... bombing them. You think a depth charge would do more damage than hydrogen bombs? Like, the whole thing is that Godzilla got stronger/empowered by the radiation. Goofy. Another small contradiction is at the beginning when the toothless elder explained that their oral history specified that Godzilla would come on land only if they ate all the available fish, but the villagers would offer a human sacrifice to get a better yield for fishing. It just shows the psyche of humans in an excellent but subtle way, I feel, that really makes the film not entirely fantastical. The humans act human and do dumb human things when faced with something so fantastical. (Also, I love the idea of these oral histories that are so common in human society [coming from a classics major] being used for a badass old mutated dinosaur. It's so close to magical realism I eat that shit up!!!)

Obviously this movie is a critique on what radiation does to society and the monsters the bombs were both specifically to Japanese society as well as civilization as a whole. It warps and mutates things that could, theoretically, be peaceful into abhorrent destructive monsters. Nuclear bombs, hydrogen bombs, etc. all of it are these massive giants that humans created in order to terrorize other humans, because there really is no other reason to create a bomb with these particular isotopes and elements, what have you, besides absolute destruction. You could argue that Godzilla themself is a physical manifestation of the United Status--a giant, irradiated monster that attacked Japanese society--and I think plenty of people have made that comparison. It's an easy one to make and its not something I disagree with necessarily.

Another way you could look at it along the similar vein of what I said above is that Godzilla represents the "what if" that Japanese society likely had during the war. What if the U.S targeted Tokyo instead of Nagasaki or Hiroshima? The other "what if" aspects that I think are very to-the-point in this is the conversations between the two diametrically opposed sides on how to deal with Godzilla.

You have the side that wants to just straight up kill them, which I think lends itself to the Japanese war-mindset that was victory above all else. It's not a strictly Japanese mindset either, because humans really do love killing each other just for funsies or for money. It's also a hypermasculine ideal (in my opinion) that the one with more weapons/is stronger will prevail. They show off their technology and firepower and it's all raaah I'm a tough guy. (This is further argued for when you think about how... someone, I forget who, said that Japan didn't win the war because they were technologically behind. You could argue that making this film is a way for them to get some of that face back like "look, see, we have technology and know how to use it too!" but this isn't something I fully argue for. I can just see how one could).

The other side is fighting for the scientific research aspect. It's specifically stated that it would be good to study Godzilla to see why they are so protected against radiation, which I imagine during the time of the war and afterwards is something the Japanese specifically would want to know the answers to considering they were BOMBED. Radiation was a fairly "recent" discovery too that was a whole ass wild card no one fully understood but played with anyway. Learning from Godzilla how they were able to be protected from radiation would do incredible from the humanist standpoint of protecting the population from greedy overpowered war machines as well as going the marvel route and making some badass superhumans. I could go on about how I feel about both of these view points and I think its a fascinating discussion that we're still having even though this movie is nearly what, 70 years old? Godzilla fucks so hard.

Technical Shit:

Obsessed with the first bit we see of "Godzilla" is the blinding white light of the people on the boat. Obviously, duh, that's the light from the bombs (I believe the term is Cherenkov radiation? The light that the bombs give off. But I'm not 100% sure). The sound design fucks SO hard. Even after multiple viewings of this movie and all the ones that have come after, the original screech of Godzilla is so chilling and powerful. There's a weird jumpcut around 52 min mark with Emiko that was jarring. I did not like that but also its an old movie so I have to give it grace. Similarly the audio throughout is often blown out which is another product of its time, but owie my ears. Again, I love practical effects SO much. They add so much more to a movie in my opinion and Godzilla as mildly silly as they look in this movie still cuts an imposing figure. The sheer destruction throughout. UGH! Chefs kiss. 15/10.

edit: didn't realize but realizing now the parallel between Oppenheimer and Serizawa. do with that what you will.

[huggingtentacles]

may I request an in depth analysis of:

Magma Whip Candlestick

Rogier’s Rapier, with special reference to affinities and weapon arts that aren’t dex or int related

I will answer this one but please one at a time.

Magma Whip Candlestick is a whip, and whips are good. You can't really go wrong with it. It's good dual-wielded, it's good in your offhand. But the damage is worse than the analogous Giant's Red Braid, and the weapon is a bit shorter as well. However, it makes up for it with it's Ash of War which is perfect area denial, and can even be used as a nuclear option in an invasion scenario.

The thing about this ash is that you can hold it for as much as your stamina bar/mind bar allows. When your opponent is within range, you can just keep hitting, which makes it extremely useful when your enemies are cornered. On top of that, the magma on the floor protects you from retaliation if you whiff. And don't get fooled, that Magma is not like your Magma Sorcery magma, that magma deals considerable damage you can't really ignore and tank through.

The drawback is the start-up animation. The initial swing of the Sea of Magma is kinda slow and doesn't cover a lot of area. It's the next hit that has a lot of range, but by that time the opponent has all the time in the world to retreat. That's why using the ash is the most useful for trades and cornered opponents. You can't really use it out of neutral and it doesn't combo with anything really.

In PVE it's a great source of area denial. If you have a large enemy who would get hit by numerous magma splashes, or a group of weaker enemies, it's really good to just slap away at them with the Sea of Magma. It's both fun and safe.

7.5/10 weapon

Rogier's Rapier is a thrusting sword, and thrusting swords are great. They're good in mainhand and offhand, they're great two-handed, they are quick and really effective. Rogier's Rapier range isn't bad, but it's no Cleanrot, and the damage doesn't compensate for it. What we're really using it for is the heavy attack: a really quick double-hit. More often than not, if a weapon has a fancy-shamncy heavy attack, it's probably trash in PvP. That is not the case for Rogier's Rapier. It's GOOD and I mean "you can literally replace the regular r1" good. It breaks poise really efficiently, staggering even the most poised-up opponents after patch 1.07. my favourite thing to do is to use it with physical affinities, because of the strong status build-up potential. Cold, Poison and Bleed are all ready good as well for the same reason. The particular ash of war doesn't really matter that much, though. When I use the rapier I prefer to rely on the weapon moveset itself, and the ash of war is just a nice addition. HOWEVER.

A nice touch about it is the 110 crit modifier, which makes Quickstep really really good. It has good synergy with this weapon in particular. Backstab fishing requires a lot of skill and pressure, but rogier's Rapier really rewards it well. On top of that, the strong attack is extremely good as a wake-up tool. If you time it right, at least one hit will land, which is all it takes after a crit with this weapon. Pair it with the Dagger Talisman and you got yourself a crit machine.

I think it's a weapon with a very high skill ceiling. It's good, and you might just put in the effort to learn it. It's not good for beginners, though. If you're new to pvp, use the cleanrot.

8.5/10 weapon

[rametarin]

Also, while I'm here: A Spicy opinion about the Obama administration, Russia, and policy

Here's a spicy tomalae for you: Russia invading Crimea in 2014 was not Obama's administration's fault. It was simply the point at which the US decided next time, it would not protect Russia from itself. Which is more damning and dangerous than threatening war (conventional or nuclear) ever would be.

Putin was planning on doing that anyway. Everybody knows the Soviet Union fucked Eastern Europe up, good. Everybody (that reads or watches) knows that Russia has had an absolute fucked up time developing through its Imperial phase, and the Soviet Union did not help that at all. Everybody knows, when it collapsed, it was an absolute travesty where it blew passed "capitalism" and just because cronyist kleptocracy, where only the mafioso and nepotist feudalists seized power and kept onto it, poisoning everything else with their reach.

"WELL, THAT'S JUST CAPITALISM FOR YA!" You can be taken out back and shot for your arrogance. Capitalism is just individuals and citizens being allowed to own property that the government and the rest of society is not allowed to arbitrarily take from them, "just because." Go fuck yourself if you think a person being allowed to own land and property and accumulate wealth is inherently the same thing as a crime family invisibly owning great swaths of land because they can position thugs to kill unorganized scores of people and acquire it. What Russia experienced in the fall of the Soviet Union was a speed run of state backed oligarchy and corporatism and made the state indistinguishable from the illegal mobs.

And those illegal mobs just so happened to be full of the white supremacist, Russo-supremacists they like to complain about. You know, "The Nazis."

From that sort of Russo-supremacist perspective, as much of Europe as they can grab "should rightfully" belong to Moscovian people. Which to them may as well be their holy land, and everything attached to it radiating outwards just their sphere of influence, control and property. Their back yard. And everybody that is not a Moscovian Russian may as well be a second class citizen, or slave/serf just defacto, by the fact they are alive, in their sphere, and not a "real Russian."

They historically have violently disrupted lives, cultures and populations in order to ethnically replace them in those regions and deport and depose those that were not Russian. And if they had the choice and chance, they'd do the same thing to Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, Poland and anywhere else.

This strain of thought, this culture, has persisted among some Russians and lived into the modern day through organization, identity and objective. It hasn't gone away. The desire by Russia for conquest and control lives on. And American intel has known about it, for some time.

They never really reformed this after the fall of the Soviet Union, it just lost the Communist or Socialist pretenses and went mask off for what it is. No high falutin' fantasies of space age human advancement, just shovel and sword conquest. The Soviet Union was responsible for more millions of people being killed or deported for not being Russian, than the Nazis EVER managed. Their pretenses were just never as overtly ethnosupremacist as the Nazis, and they had many progressive sympathizers, tankies and cowards defending their honor, so they never got the stigma for this they deserved.

With all this in mind, the opportunity for Russia to reform itself, wean itself off its shit, get itself back on track and start advancing, adopt more liberal positions socially and make better domestic decisions economically for a more high trust, high integrity system of trade and society.

We in the west wanted this. Really. We did. We understood that on the road up from the bottom, there are many stumbling blocks, setbacks, accidents, falling off the wagon and shit luck that causes a return to the old ways. And it shows in the US' and Europe's willingness to tolerate Russia's bullshit since the 90s into the 00s. We wanted better, we hoped better days and access and opportunity would cultivate a more open, free and democratic society, without the reliance on the old Soviet ideas and ways of doing things. Ways that would replace even the older ways.

We hit reset buttons on bad blood- repeatedly. We made excuses. We delegated, lightly. We wagged fingers where logically, sometimes, there should've been spankings. We gave constructive criticism when there should have been stern words, and stern words when threats of violence were appropriate. And the entire time, as Russia tried to upright and unfuck itself, and started succeeding, we stoically tolerated relapses into their old Russo-Supremacist ways.

Western intel kept up to date on Russian espionage and spying attempts internationally, noted the why and hows they were doing it. Found patterns. Noticed that Russia seemed to have interest in the middle east, and wanted a bully relationship with OPEC. Because they whom control the distribution pipes, control fuel for Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

We see this and what Russia was attempting to do with the near umbilical way they, and the complacent Greens and similar movements, created with Germany. German industry became very industrious and productive through its cheap and easy access to natural gas and fuel via Russian pipelines. And as a result of careful Green maneuvering, tried to make that the only viable fuel sources in the face of climate change. By making domestic German nuclear power a no-sell politically, they managed to force the coal mines back open... because Germany's industrial and economic future COULD NOT come purely from solar and wind.

"What shall we do for power?" Asked a German manufacturer.

"We'll have to manufacture only within our means, for the planet's sake. :^)" Replied a German green party member.

Germany as a country was able to rebuff that, but not the dogmatic ban on nuclear power. So as a result, you had a climate change activist entrenched wing that demanded no more fossil fuels, but would not permit nuclear power, so burning domestic coal and using Russian natural gas was the only compromise that could be had. Because the responsibility for the gas leaks and pollution was Russian, not domestic manufacturing, it didn't count, I guess.

In true Green fashion, I've noticed, they do not hold Russian or Chinese pollution to the fire, the way they do European and its former colonies. Funny that.

So Russia tried to knit a global fuel monopoly to give structure and vascularity to its empire. Which is largely why they were involved in Syria and Middle Eastern politics. They used proxies like Wagner to go into former French areas of Africa and sew revolutionary propaganda- which, ultimately, would up just having Russia take up where France left off, by proxy-proxies. They never stopped propping up South American dictators or regimes, like Cuba and Venezuela. If not for Russian food and fuel, Cuba would have collapsed worse than Haiti, a long, long time ago.

Russia would have preferred to keep things the sneaky route, over in the former Soviet bloc. It has argued, bitterly, since the Soviet Union fell and former countries it claimed for itself got free, that NATO "isn't allowed" near its former harem. That those countries are not allowed to have defense treaties or alliances, or be anything but neutrally aligned, or it would see that as a declaration of war.

And this is because Russia is very good at creating spies, for some reason. Infiltrators, saboteurs and assassins. They've tried to infiltrate Ukraine as a nation and put their guys into power, and through that corruption, steer Ukraine back towards the East- Russia.

Ukraine is not having it, and was not at the time. Ukraine's people wanted to veer towards the European Union, not the Russian Federation, and that was unacceptable to the old heads in Russia. Ukraine, they argued, was, "rightfully Russian territory, and its people were Russian, they just didn't know it yet." It's the same reason they started biting chunks off of and infiltrating Georgia.

What finally drove Russia to take the mask off, stop pretending it did not have ambitions about reunifying all of what landmasses it considers "rightful Russian soil," was Ukraine deciding it wanted to join the EU and NATO. After having Russia's infiltrators and loyal men rebuked and removed from power, Russia could no longer steer the country from inside the bureaucracy and government. It no longer had a means by which to stymie the operations of a sovereign, foreign nation. It could not STOP them from joining the EU or NATO, if it chose.

So it invaded Crimea out of desperation. Because you can't join NATO if you're currently at war or currently have a land rights dispute going on. If they joined, it would've meant Russia retained the warm water naval port and the strategic rights to Crimea. Which is rightfully Tatar Ukrainian, and if seized, would've seriously hampered Ukraine's ability to trade their number one economic export.

It's my opinion that at this point, this was the turning point. Internally, US intel decided this was the last fucking nail in the coffin. This was the point at which, there was no lying to oneself anymore. There was no waiting out the sickness. There was no avoiding it anymore. There was no good will left to be had. Putin was not just cheeky, he was not "acting in the interests of business," he was not just slipping into "old habits." This was straight up a simmering, fomenting initiative for conquest.

It's not the Obama administration's fault. The Clinton Administration, the Bush administration and the Obama administration all had to deal with this situation where they suspected Russia was just plotting its old tricks, but in submarine mode. They suspected it was acting in bad faith and on bad pretenses, but could not prove or confirm it, and there was still time for it to change. So they incentivized change as best they could from a position of power and as a nation with so much to give.

And Russia roundly rebuffed and refused it, in favor of the idea Russia wasn't just some pedestrian equal country to its neighbors or anyone else. It was a World Power(tm). Because, as you know, "Powerful nations don't sign treaties, they write them." When given the option to cooperate, it chose not to if it was not in its idealized self's interest. It would not compromise. Rules, it believed, were for other people to follow and be held to, not The Real Guy In Charge. Only power mattered, everything else was distraction or a tool to manipulate.

It's my belief that the Obama Administration is when WE decided to stop playing nice. How, you may ask? "But Ram, they didn't even try to fight the Russians off. They didn't even try and use more than harsh words and letters. They didn't even TRY to threaten them away."

Correct. And do you understand why?

If you want to see the true measure of a man, give him power. If you want to see the real character of a man, or a beast, give them the opportunity to act with impunity, when they think nobody is watching, nor does anybody or anything have the capability to stop them. When the Russian power structure thinks you do not understand their real intentions or motives or thoughts, they run ramshod all over you and count on you being confused and misinterpreting them, and sticking to the lies.

"Hahaha! Here, to show bygones are bygones, lets have a reset button pressing together! A ceremony to show that things are getting back to normal and we can be friends and trading partners again!"

"Oh, haha.. You got the wrong word. This says, 'Overcharge,' not, 'Reset'."

"HAHAHAA, SORRY MY FRIEND. OUR BAD. YOU KNOW THOSE MYSTERIOUS, UNKNOWABLE RUSSIAN WAYS AND WORDS OF YOURS. WE COULD NEVER POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND YOUR ROMANCE AND INTRIGUE OF YOUR LANGUAGE."

And they ceremonially pressed it together.

You cannot convince me this was not the most cold blooded, "I am going to Bugs Bunny and Daffy Fucking Duck all over you" diplomatic gesture by the Americans, in history. It's my belief they knew god damned well that this said, 'overcharge,' and not, 'reset', because it was a subtle way to say, "we are tired of your shit, and you have no idea just how much your regime will suffer, wither and die for what it is doing now."

That entire time I could only imagine that exchange as a subtle, barely comprehensible version of THIS scene from the movie Clifford (1991)

Where through the entire movie, this poor bastard has been putting up with this spoiled little bastard's shit, and now he's just ready to give that prick exactly what he wants.

And make him suffer for it.

You only need to listen to them lie and exaggerate and give bad faith takes in response at the UN assembly. Denials they were even on the border of Ukraine, accusations of threatening rhetoric or projection by Russia's enemies. Just straight up contradictions to reality about the invasion of Ukraine, even as the FUCKING invasion was happening.

In the past, when Russia was acting the floor, the United States glutted the global oil market with cheap oil for a while as a way to undercut the Russian, "We're a two-bit crook that own a gas station"' regime's profit margins. And also in the past, it was like kicking a cancer patient right in the tumors. They were still reeling from that well past 2014.

And then came the sheer audacity of Wagner operating in Syria, attempting to engage and fight American defended Syrian oil fields, during the Trump administration.

By the time Russia decided to go for another bite in 2020, I think the world was just about done pretending Russia wasn't plotting to gobble up everybody else, cowing people with the hopes they'd changed a thing. If the mask wasn't off by Russia conquering Crimea, then Russia Vs. Ukraine Part II was the last straw.

The US would no longer meet threats to cause trouble or antagonize with concessions, mollifications or what amount to bribes. It would allow Russia to make its own mistakes. And then reap the consequences for their own actions.

Russia called the bluff and invaded. And their doctrine and troops proceeded to get exploded, shot full of holes and slagged to glass by US anti-armor weapons, rocket artillery, western support, and more. And then most of all, massive sanctions put onto Russia as a country, Russian operators and oligarchs personally, and Russian interests.

Obama and the administration isn't responsible for Putin or Russia's invasion. It was going to happen. There was no dissuading them. And I argue: They shouldn't have tried. What was needed was for the world to see what Russia was willing to do in history, not affected or changed by appeasement or dissuading them, or handling them. Let them hang themselves with their own actions and force them to justify how a large nuclear nation violently taking over a sovereign nation's land is somehow, "self-defense." You don't get to invade another country and claim ownership of the territory as sovereign soil without being the aggressor.

It's my belief that the current plan is to hang Russo-Supremacism by its own ambitions and use this stupid conflict RUSSIA started to deplete the Russian military, and if need be, the fighting age population, using Russia's own willingness to sacrifice its fighting aged men on an utterly unwinnable and meaningless war. But they have to believe they have a chance of willing to voluntarily send so many resources into that grinder. They have to want to weigh on the side of believing they can pull a trick out of the hat and succeed, and take over Ukraine. They have to believe that the sacrifices will be worth the lost face and gained land.

And all the while, allow Russia's own actions to turn its sanctioned economy into a suffering pit, purely of Russia's own making as consequences of its own actions, legally, while the rest of the world takes its time investigating all the little cracks and crevices and creatives ways in which Russia is still managing to trade with other countries and transport the goods without interruption. And summarily seal those off, as violating international trade laws and regulations and authorities.

It's my opinion that the rest of the world has allowed Putin to incriminate himself and his intentions, lay them on the table, and ever so elegantly, without ever stepping foot on the battlefield themselves, are enabling Russia to make every mistake it can as a country, of its own accord, to burn itself out fighting this stupid war. Because the only thing keeping them there is pride, and sunken cost fallacy. And when you deal with a supremacist, autocratic regime like Putin's, that's enough to keep them there.

Russia's ground forces and economy are being bled away, and it's making way for big changes, I feel. Enough decades have passed. A more liberal and democratic Russia is going to be the results. Its ability to resist that change, also, will be ripped away. Partially by its own hand, unintentionally. Which is kind of the funniest part of it all.

If Putin had just kept his mask on and admitted defeat, this problem would still be lurking there in the shadows, always having existed, just biding its time, ready to pounce. But Putin's ideology was so threatened by the idea of losing Ukraine to sovereignty and independence, it risked a ground invasion in a sovereign neighbor rather than let the opportunity slip completely. But he didn't. And now the rope is on fire above and below.

[nerdarena2]

Which Was Your Favorite Character Of The Monsterverse?

How Was The Monster Verse Developed

 One of the most diversified forms of representation is “art” and we see it in various forms and various representations. One of the most prominent forms of art in the Japanese culture represents the essence of catastrophe in the fictional world i.e. “Kaiju.” Below is one of the most prominent Kaiju films of all time.

 Godzilla

 The story revolves around Ford and his family who stay in a small town near the Philippines. But an incident in the uranium mine leads to an event where ford losses his mother. This slowly and gradually unveils the journey of Joe finding Godzilla & the ancient MUTO’s eventually realizing them being ancient rivals. 

 Kong Skull Island

 The story circles around an air force pilot from the Vietnam war who accidentally lands up in the uncharted Skull Island. So a group of people makes an expedition to Skull Island where they witness a giant ape called Kong who is the protector of the island. As the island comprises a local tribe of people who are being protected by Kong from Skull crawlers. 

 Godzilla: King Of Monster

 It is a continuation of the movie Godzilla where Madison loses his brother in the San Francisco incident led by Godzilla & the MUTO’s. As the existence of Godzilla comes into the picture people slowly and gradually start putting their hands to grab this opportunity. Thus leading to the development of various other titans like Rodan, Mothra & Ghidorah. Leading to a battle between Ghidorah & Godzilla on the quest of becoming the ultimate titan.

 Godzilla Vs Kong

 The title and the story itself define the journey of two alpha titans who might come face to face one day. As Godzilla is one of the ancient predators who fed on radiation and became a source of unlimited power & kong is the protector of the precious things he values the most. Though humanity does take an unexpected toll on these alpha titans, will they both unite to fight with the actual enemy?

 Prime Characters Of The Monsterverse

 No matter how great your script or storyline be, it is the characters that add a strong essence to your screenplay. Below is one of the prime characters of the Monsterverse :

 Godzilla

 A Kaiju monster from the Japanese series, having its first appearance in the movie Godzilla in 1954 becoming a pop culture icon. Godzilla is a prehistoric sea monster who was been awakened and empowered by nuclear radiation. Thus absorbing all the nuclear radiation and embodying him with an ability to possess an indestructible power. If you are a true fan of Godzilla then you can find the action figures for the same at action figures and collectibles.

 Kong

 Either been termed as the king of “Skull Island” or just a giant Gorilla, Kong had made his initial debut in 1933. But it is depicted differently in various storylines either as a giant gorilla who is wanted by people for their limelight. Simultaneously he is being portrayed as the protector of Skull Island by saving the people of Skull Island from Skullcrawllers who hunt people for sport. If you are a true fan of Godzilla then you can find the action figures for the same at action figures and collectibles.

 Rodan

 One of the prime the most loyal ally of Godzilla, who assists him and the earth monster in the fighting of King Ghidorah. As shown in the Monster verse Rodan did stay in the volcano i.e. he was been termed as the Fire Demon though he doesn’t possess any fire abilities. If you are a true fan of Godzilla then you can find the action figures for the same at action figures and collectibles.

 Mothra

 The undisputed queen of the Monsterverse, one of the prime characters who has a peculiar connection with Godzilla. Mothra is typically represented as a colossal sentient larva that eventually transforms into a giant multicolor butterfly. She can form a symbiotic relationship with Godzilla where they can share their life force with one another to gain an edge in combat. If you are a true fan of Godzilla then you can find the action figures for the same at action figures and collectibles.

 Apart from the above anime action figures, there are many other action figures. If you are looking out for such action figures then Nerd Arena is a one-stop solution for such kinds of action figures. 

 To know more: https://nerdarena.in/collections/new-products/monster

[red-queen-on-the-heathen-throne]

I do believe that nearly everything you mentioned as evidence to a longer timeline tracks pefectly with a shorter one. More so in some cases.

The "Failsafe is unreliable and why was there no water on the Exodus Black" relies on a lot of conjecture. Besides, that ship is spread out over half of Nessus, having most of its useful systems and supplies destroyed seems the most likely outcome of a crash like that. There is also cosmic radiation to consider that would contaminate anything still available unless protected, say, by a space suit built for that purpose. So even if you found a six-pack of water on the ground, it wouldn't be safe to drink.

The nuclear exclusion zones could fit literally any timeline. The most common answer as to when the Chornobyl exclusion zone will be fully habitable again is somewhere around the 20,000 year mark. Radiation on that level is not a reliable benchmark to measure time for our purposes.

The thing about the Collapse stopping "everything" from happening is not something supported by anything I have ever come across. Even in an event that would directly cause the loss of access to all modern technology, we would still have knowledge of it. We would have history, and we would have not just the drive to rebuild, but also the ability. Stone-age level humans didn't just wait around for progress to happen, they made it happen. So a reasonably sized group of modern humans, even without access to technology, would have the ability to create an environment in which they could resume progress very quickly. They would want to, as well - they remember what they had. So even if, for a while, basic survival would have been the goal, once they found a safe space to stay, they would quickly grow beyond that. That's the whole point of, say, the colonisation of the Americas. You can start from nearly zero, with basic tools and few resources, and still grow beyond the "just survival stage" within a generation or two.

Which ties into Zavala's claim that he observed Safiya's descendants for "ten generations". That's just about 300 years. A generation is not that long, especially when you account for a lower maternal age due to lack of reliable contraception. But even by today's standards, that's three centuries at most.

And that is plenty of time for all the wars and battles to happen. Hundreds of wars with thousands of battles have been fought between the 16th century and today. A lot can happen in very little time. The most devastating war the world has ever seen happened in a span of six years less than a hundred years ago. Progress didn't just stop even in the most affected areas. People are generally really good at the whole "just keep going" thing. We're very stubborn as a species. And while there would have been much less destruction than after an apocalyptic event, it also took only years to rebuild in many places, even with a scarcity of resources caused directly by the war itself. Given all the times people lost everything and built it right back up, it's a huge stretch to assume that people would just... stop doing that, for any reason.

Last thing, the Last City being "massive". It's big, and visible from space. So are a bunch of greenhouses in Spain. The City doesn't need to be the size of a small country to achieve that status. Those greenhouses cover roughly 100 square miles. That's a third the size of New York's land mass, and that city holds around 8 million people in a very dense environment. For the Last City to hold the amount of people it would have to after a minimum of a thousand years, it would have to be ten times the size of NYC and just as dense. At that point, the more likely outcome would be settlement efforts beyond the City wall, simply because it's entirely unfeasible to produce enough resources for this many people with so little space all clustered in one place. The closest real-life example might be the Philipines and Manila. Densest city on the planet. The country overall imports about 25% of its food. The denser you go, the higher that number gets by necessity.

Yes, the Destiny timeline is frustratingly vague and mysterious, and that is 100% by design so the story writers and designers can just handwave whatever they want. But we have a lot of clues, and combined with real-world knowledge and events to compare, a timeline in the quadruple digits is so much more far-fetched than taking Failsafe at face value with her 500 years. The more we stretch the timeline, the more assumptions we have to make. I prefer making as few of those as possible, for my own sanity.

Cloudstrider Monuments

Okay, i was gonna write this a while ago but never did. So, my boyfriend and I were hanging out in the Hall of Heroes after we finished the Strider exotic quest. My bf realized it there seemed to be way too many monuments around the room, considering the few things we knew off hand:

The collapse was 1600 years ago. We know this tidbit from Petra Venj. In the lore entry "Refusal" from Forsaken, there is this line: "She [Petra] bites back the rest: how she wishes that back in two-thousand-and-whatever, when the Darkness hurled mankind off the height of its Golden Age to plummet sixteen centuries into barbarism, it had done just a slightly better job." So we know that Neomuna have been around for approximately 1600 years.

Cloudstriders live 10 years, due to the augmentations they go through.

There are only ever two cloudstriders at once.

Alright, with this knowledge, we decided to count up all the monuments in the room and around it, which gave us 480 monuments. This number might not be entirely accurate, but it gives us a good estimate. Now let's divide this by two (since there are two cloudstriders at once) and we are down to 240. If this is multiplied by 10 (for the max amount of years a cloudstrider could live) we get 2400 years.

2400 years of Cloudstriders. Now, obviously this doesn't take into account that cloudstriders can die on duty (like Rohan), but it seems that the Neomuni live in relative peace besides occasionally dealing with the Vex. This also doesn't take into account the early days of Neomuna. We don't know how many cloudstriders there are at once originally, but it seems like there have never been many. We also don't really know how new/old of a concept cloudstriders are. Was Strider, the first cloudstrider, around 1600 years ago or more recently? So yeah, if we think cloudstriders have been around for 1600 years and you minus 1600 from 2400, that's still a good 800 years. It seems weird that there would be that many Cloudstriders. But who knows.

Honestly, my bf and I probably just over analyzed the Hall of Heroes after we got done roasting Quinn for being a bad archivist and having none of this important archival material to Neomuna's history backed up. So take this all with a grain of salt. Except for the 1600 years detail. I think a lot of people don't realize that D2 takes place in at least 3600 CE (and it's probably a lot later than that cause of we don't know how long the golden age was).

[lazyliars]

Tubbo’s current trajectory is a completely sensible leap from where he was left in the aftermath of Doomsday.

Tubbo made New L’manberg to be an open, safe place, welcoming to all - no walls, built with wood, and a heart on the flag, just in case it wasn’t clear enough. (To be fair, Ghostbur did most of the building, but it was under Tubbo’s administration and with his clear approval, so for the sake of this analysis I’m counting it as being made close to Tubbo’s original vision.)

New L’manberg wasn’t perfect, but Tubbo’s vision for it was very close to what Snowchester is now, minus the nukes. Even the building scheme is similar.

Tubbo’s original idea for the governing forces of New L’manberg were an extremely equal one; the first thing he did when the dust had settled over the first explosion of L’manberg, was to assure Quackity that he would have a say in the future of L’manberg - same with Fundy. He also asked Philza to be a guiding force of earthly wisdom. He even granted Karl a token position - even after he had just fought against Pogtopia. Tubbo took every precaution to make sure he would not be a dictator.

Tubbo didn’t want to have control over the others, and tried to make sure decisions were made by the group and not just by his whims. Unfortunately, the pendulum would end up swinging too far the other way, and his own input ended up getting shunted aside, and resulting feelings of frustration would put more and more tension on Tubbo -- until he snapped, and exiled Tommy against the wishes of the cabinet.

After this, Tubbo clearly regrets going against his advisors, even if he still believed at that point that exile was the best choice. He steps back in most of the decision making.

The cabinet, mainly Quackity, took over controlling the flow of momentum. (Fundy was also culpable, but to a lesser degree - he spent more time supporting the other two, in line with his characterization; “seeking approval from an authority figure”) Quackity, compelled by the desire to hold control in a world filled with people who could kill them all on a whim, took to creating the butcher army. This is completely in line with his character, too; Quackity despises tyranny, a trait he’s had since before the election, when he opposed Wilbur’s one-party system.

(It’s ironic, then, that he finds himself as Techno’s foil in a lot ways - they both hate Tyranny, and see it most strongly in each other. Techno, the Tyranny of Government, rulers who control their citizens through ill-gotten power, exacting laws and punishing any who stand to challenge them. Quackity, the Tyranny of The Powerful, of individuals who believe that only the strong are worthy of walking in the light, while the weak are left to struggle and scrap in the darkness.

But that’s a topic for another day.)

It’s worth pointing out that when everyone started leaving, Tubbo did not try to stop them. Quackity with Mexican L’manberg/El Rapids, Fundy with Dry Waters, and Philza only owning property in New L’manberg.

I truly believe that this is the best example of how Tubbo was never Schlatt. Schlatt would have tried to stop them - violently, or manipulatively, or would have lashed out. Tubbo just sadly watched them all leave him, and earnestly wished them the best.

The only time he ever tried to stop someone leaving was with Philza’s house arrest (which Tubbo was comically bad at. Like, looney toons levels of bad, goddamn)  and that was more a move of national defense, as Phil was known to be working with Techno at that point. They also didn’t try very hard, or at all really, to catch him after he escaped.

^^^And all of the above was Quackity’s initiative. Tubbo cannot escape all of the blame for trying to execute Techno without trial, but it wasn’t his idea, and he was originally against it (to the point of threatening to demote Quackity iirc). He only gave in after making the snap decision to Exile Tommy, a decision made under extreme duress, with the threat of another pitched war looming over them like the sword of damocles, but one made against the advice of his cabinet, and one that netted him a lot of comparison to Schlatt.

Tubbo did his best with New L’manberg, and it blew up in his face. Every decision he made was under the blazing eyes of Dream, and every decision he delegated was into the hands of someone who’s ideals were steeped in a power grab.

So. A nation built to be open, peaceful, and welcoming to anyone. A cabinet full of strong-willed individuals who had their own desires and machinations to contend with. A god of chaos and destruction with his eyes set on this fledgling nation. And a first time leader fresh off the failures of the last two.

I’m not gonna say the line.

New L’manberg started conflicts with no means to defend itself against the repercussions; a conflict of interest between peace and control.

Tubbo learned from his mistakes, clearly, when he made Snowchester.

Tubbo started innocently, like he did with New L’manberg. A new place, a safe place, hidden away from conflict and violence. Supposedly safe from Technoblade, as it would have no standing leaders to become to Tyrants. It would be a peaceful getaway from the Dream SMP, and from the memory of his failures.

But Tubbo couldn’t forget - not with the final battle for the discs hanging over them. While Snowchester didn’t come into play in the conflict with Dream much, these plot-points intersect in meaningful ways, most notably in how Tubbo was ready to die for Tommy with zero hesitation, and how he now wants Tommy to come live in Snowchester more than ever.

Tubbo is terrified of losing what he cares about far more than he is of dying. Sacrificing himself for Tommy, or for the discs, it means more to him than living. But he knows that even his life wouldn’t be payment enough for the things he loves.

Sacrifice, giving, preservation. These don’t matter to gods.

Paranoia and fatalism, a feeling that something would come along and crush this new home, too. This is what fueled Project Dreamcatcher.

Tubbo was taught a lesson very effectively when Techno and Phil destroyed New L’manberg, but it wasn’t one they meant to teach. They meant to teach that power corrupts, that hierarchy is cruel, that cruelty will breed it’s own downfall.

What they taught instead was that Might Makes Right. They taught the strong will crush the weak. They taught that to build with wood, you must be able to stop the fire before it starts.

So Tubbo has taken those lessons to heart and decided that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure - there wont be another war because the next war will be the last war.

Nuclear weaponry is self destructive - it’s poison to the land, to the people, to even those it is not aimed at. It’s not preservation. It’s a threat of taking, taking life and land and everything else too. It is the promise of an eye for an eye. Of mutually assured destruction.

Tubbo will protect what he cares about.

Or nobody will care about anything, ever again.

[harostar]

How do you think of how AoT handles Anti Semitism, X Men fallacy aside. I've heard of how the reason the Eldians are so Hated was a result of reprehensible things there ancestors had done, and there religon with Ymir was sort of based on a Lie.

That would seem problematic at first glance, But I did want to learn more from someone who actually knew the series. Especially as I do know the situation in real life has complexities regarding Cycles of hate

You know, I had kind of set this Ask aside and been unsure about answering it. But I think I will give it a poke, as best as I can as someone that is one-degrees of separation from Jewish folks. So obvious disclaimer that I am approaching things from an outsider’s perspective.

The series stumbled heavily in choosing to so closely use allegories related to Nazi Germany and the Jewish people. I think a large percentage of the problem is because the Holocaust has become short-hand in public consciousness for Genocide and atrocities. Those images are scorched into the world-wide mind, and unfortunately touching on it as an allegory or using it as the basis for fictional discrimination is a very, very, very messy and difficult thing. ESPECIALLY when the creator(s) involved are not Jewish, and don’t understand the deeper aspects of Antisemitism that have been weaved into Western culture for centuries. 

Isayama borrowed from European history, used a historical atrocity to create a comparison in his work. He.......made many mistakes in doing so, because it’s a messy thing to do even when you ARE familiar with how much that hatred is woven into a lot of European imagery, stories, and beliefs. A Japanese audience is probably not going to pick up on those elements, the way a Western reader might for better or worse. 

I think that decision has muddled and tainted a lot of discussion around the series. Some people outright call it “Nazi Propaganda” and refuse to associate with people that read the series. I would argue that we are the audience have a lot of digest and discussion in terms of how the “Eldian Allegory” plays in comparison to the other themes of the work. 

Because the series would have worked MUCH BETTER had he not made the decision to base his fictional ethnic group on a real one. It was a mistake that casts doubt on a work that focuses so much on themes so opposed to a “Nazi” or “Fascist” ideology.

The atrocities of the Eldian Empire simply being exaggerations and demonizing, not matching a simple history of neighboring groups/nations fighting each other for resources and land. The idea of Ymir as a Goddess or a witch that made a deal with the Devil both being false versions of what was simply....a girl. An ordinary girl that stumbled across something Otherworldly, and gained a power that was exploited. 

The history of the series is simply about one group gaining an advantage over their neighbors. The Titans served as numerous metaphors throughout the series:

Dehumanization, especially in times of war

Gunpowder 

Chemical weapons

Nuclear weapons

The largest theme that emerges particularly in the final arcs of the story are explicitly Anti-War, Anti-Imperialism, Anti-Militarism, and Pro-Humanitarian.

Hatred and Bigotry are learned, they are things that people actively have to teach their children. The most powerful counter to Hatred is simply meeting other people. Our shared humanity proves that we are more similar than we are different. 

(This is beautifully illustrated in a flashback, in which the Survey Corps are infiltrating Marley. They end up meeting a group of foreign refugees, who welcome them into their camp for helping a child. Though the two groups do not speak the same language, they are able to understand each other enough to share in a communal meal and then party the night away. Even when we come from vastly different cultures and don’t speak the same language, we can find common ground. There is a simple joy in how people are people are people, no matter what differences we might have.)

In terms of the problematic elements, I would argue that Isayama did not intend anything Antisemitism about his work. In particular, he frames the allegorical Eldians as sympathetic with most of the cast coming from this group. The story centers on their plight and spends the most time in humanizing them. Ignorance rather than Malice. It taints the work, but also clashes with the major themes of the story. 

Indeed, our common humanity is such an important theme. Hatred and Revenge are empty, only leading to further tragedy. Eren represents those emotions and urges taken to the extreme, and that is ultimately why he becomes the Final Villain of the series. Because he allows hatred to consume him, and loses hope in the world. He can only see “Us vs Them”, and cannot see a path forward that does not involve Genocide. It’s a tragedy that warns us about letting anger consume us, and the dangers of surrendering ourselves to Violence being unavoidable. Eren can see the Future, and therefore he is trapped with the belief that there are no other paths forward. That he must follow in the footsteps of his future self, no matter what. 

It’s an ugly, tragic turn that transforms the series protagonist into a Monster. Into a world-ending monster that his loved ones must now deal with, because they have learned the lessons he did not.

The thing that separates the heroes in this story is Hope, but also a willingness to recognize the futility of revenge and hatred. As the final arcs progress, they are increasingly confronted with the option to look away from atrocities or to take revenge on people. Increasingly, they choose to take a different path.

The story of Sasha and Gabi is central in this particular theme. Sasha kills soldiers that Gabi knew, and attacked her home. But she cannot bring herself to shoot a child, even one that is clearly an enemy. Gabi is a child indoctrinated into Nationalistic, bigoted views. She kills Sasha as an enemy, but then finds her world turned on its head when she accidentally meets Sasha’s family. She’s forced to confront the reality that there are no Monsters and Devils, just ordinary people just like her that have suffered tragedies because of war. 

When given the opportunity for revenge, Sasha’s father refuses. He gives the “Forest” speech, comparing his daughter’s decision to become a soldier in war to letting her go alone into the forest. He accepts her decision and the tragic outcome, but also HIS responsibility as an adult to not pass burdens of Hatred and Revenge on to the next generation. He will not punish Gabi for being a child caught up in war. 

And this becomes an important moment for Gabi and for everyone else. She is not FORGIVEN for her crime, but these people make the conscious choice to spare her. Mikasa shields her from harm, Jean regrets hurting her in anger, they all make the choice to treat Gabi as a CHILD and not a soldier. To recognize their responsibility in doing better than the adults responsible for them. They were Child Soldiers, but they make the choice that the next generation SHOULD NOT be soldiers. 

The series deals heavily in Trauma, especially the ways that War destroys people. The physical, mental, and emotional cost to people are heavily on display throughout the series. The cast have suffered emotional and mental injuries that will never heal, and they struggle with wanting a better world for the next generation.

Children are another big theme. We have the cast start out as children, becoming Child Soldiers, and eventually reaching Adulthood. As they become the adults, we have a new generation introduced in Gabi, Falco, Udo, Sofia, and Kaya. The series gets a little heavy-handed with how Children are the Future, and people have a responsibility to not burden them. To not force their sins upon the children, to not teach them hatred or revenge, to not use them as tools. 

Zeke’s storyline contrasts with Eren’s in that each brother has reached a different conclusion about the central problem. 

Zeke wants to snuff out their own future, preventing more Eldians from being born. Their lives are suffering, so the kindest thing that can be done is to kill them or prevent them from being born. Life is meaningless, because living means suffering. 

Eren takes his hatred to its most extreme, deciding that to protect his “In Group” (the Island of Paradis) that he will destroy everything else. He has taken Dehumanization and Us vs Them mentality to its greatest extreme. He sees no future where people can do better. He refuses to even let them try. He has no hope, he sees only ugliness in the world.

In contrast, we have what has become the alliance. The surviving members of the Survey Corps, the surviving members of the Warriors, and an assortment of people from other nations. A motley group of people of different backgrounds, races and political alliances that are all brought together by a singular belief that the world is worth saving. That it shouldn’t be a Zero Sum game.

That the world is very cruel, but also very beautiful.

Hatred, cruelty, selfishness, greed, militarism, nationalism, imperialism, racism, and bigotry have led the world towards possible destruction. The Rumbling as a metaphor for Nuclear War, humanity destroying itself because it cannot look for a path besides violence.

The pure Destructive urge that is Eren, contrasted against the other two parts of that Golden Trio. 

Mikasa, the girl that was saved by a single act of kindness. The strongest of all, but also so very kind. A girl that has seen the ugliness of the world, but also the goodness in it. 

Armin, the boy with a dream. The intellectual that once asked if it was necessary to abandon your humanity to win, but has realized that our shared humanity is more important. The one filled with hope, even in the darkest moments.

And of course into this, we have Falco Grice. The boy that embodies the central themes of the story: a child soldier that has seen the worst of humanity, and has decided the best way to fight is by being Kind. 

[avatarfromtheashes]

A political map on a Mercator-projection just dropped!

A couple important worldbuilding points to know:

The current state of the Fire Nation is fairly recent starting from 18 years ago (officially splintering into 3 citystates: the first that retains the original royalty, the second that is ruled by a royal relative who claims the right as the true Fire Lord, and the third that claims to be democratically led but for the most part is a pirate state that operates more like anarchy). The seeds of instability had already been cast shortly after the end of the Great War when there were large population losses in the nuclear fireball(s) and the fallout when different surviving groups began to challenge the Fire Royalty’s claim to rulership, before eventually leading to the Royalty’s temporary victory over insurgents shortly before Avatar Niraq came into power and demolished most of their efforts.

The United Republic was unfortunately the most effected by the War, utterly decimated beyond several scattered settlements that turned into gang and turf wars. Under Niraq, it was easy to take the territory and use it as a secondary base of operations after the Northern Water Tribe, growing his influence over the span of 20 years to control the unstable world under a banner of peace.

The Air Islands used to consist of protected land in the north and south before the Great War and the northern islands had been caught in the crossfire after a temporary alliance with the Fire Nation when it had been targeted by the old Earth Republic, leading to mass evacuations southbound. Due to the damages and the traditional Air Nomad population shrinking as more Air Nomads chose to live in the Sky Cities, they never returned to try resettling in the northern wastelands and agreed to a treaty with the Order under Niraq that the islands would remain a protected land. Under the current leader, Grand General Varka, things remain tense between the Order and the Fire Nation as the citystates race to claim territories in their squabble for the right to the Fire Throne.

The Sky Cities were formed by migrant Air Nomads that either never joined the traditional Air Nomads led by Tenzin and succeeded by Jinora or evacuees from the northern islands, first built on rickety airships before exploding with expansion years before Niraq. The floating cities are a mixing pot of cultures, accepting migrants from everywhere, but you’d find the culture is still mainly influenced by the Air Nomads and coastal Earth people who share a common ancestor with the Foggy Swamp.

In the aftermath of the War, a few different waterbending groups found themselves displaced from the Foggy Swamp, the Southern Islands, and the Northern Water Tribe to escape the effects of the nuclear fallout and ensuing winter. They eventually formed underwater settlements after using preexisting submarine technology and expanding on it to build entire cities (albeit on a small scale) using water pressure differentials along the coasts of small islands in the Southern Hemisphere. The new Deep Sea Settlements remain a mystery to most, as they typically dislike outside contact beyond their close associations with the Southern Water Tribe and the Southern Air Islands.

While you might find traces of the Foggy Swamp long ways away from the actual swamp itself, no one knows what happened to it. It was never hit directly in the nuclear crossfire, but its proximity to Omashu made it unsafe to travel due to the radiation for several years. Almost all of the spiritual energy that saturated it has disappeared, including the Spirit Tree and the people along with it. For now, it is still considered an x-file, but some who frequent the Spirit World may know what happened...

Ft. The Vine’s flight path for book 1 under the cut.

[the-great-imagines-of-1812]

Through The Years Pt. 10

A/N: feedback is so so appreciated! THANK YOU SO SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO WAS KEPT THEIR PATIENCE WHILE I WROTE THIS! (also, this is kind of short, my apoligies)

tags: @a-girl-who-loves-disney @the-romanian-is-bae @bihoeofmanyfandoms​

@thicc101q

takes place during: The Avengers

Italics= flashbacks

~~~~~~~

NEW YORK, 1942

SSR HQ

“As you all know, a threat has risen. Commander Johann Schmidt has his eyes on something new; they call it the Tesseract. The power it holds is unlimited and unknown. If it falls into the wrong hands, especially in times like these, this is a war we won’t win. Meeting dismissed.” Dr. Erksine said, as all the agents seated around the table got up, desperate to go home. 

You had dozed out ages ago, and would’ve practically fallen asleep if it weren’t for Howard. He laid a hand on your shoulder and shook you. 

“Y/N/N, it’s time to go. C’mon. I heard your favorite radio show is on tonight.”

“Thanks, Howwie. It’s just, there’s something-”

“This Tesseract thing? I know were supposed to believe everything Dr. Erksine tells us, but this is a stretch-”

“Except it isn’t, Howard. I got a bad feeling about this one. You know how strong my intuition is.”

“I know. That’s what worries me.”

~~~~~~

PRESENT DAY, 2012

BRUCE BANNER’S LAB ON THE HELLICARRIER

The Hellicarrier is quiet as it floats across the night sky, and you absentmindedly type some data that Tony had given you a few minutes ago. You weren’t going to  lie; you were scared then, and you are scared now. It seems like history is repeating itself; some bad dude wants to get his hands on the Tesseract and if he isn’t stopped, a lot of people will die.

Only difference was, you didn’t have a brother this time. 

Blinking back the tears that were about to escape, you kept typing as Dr. Banner was scanning the scepter for gamma radiation, and Tony was solving several different equations and theorems and god knows what all at once. 

“Well, we’re going somewhere now. The  gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports on the Tesseract. But it's gonna take weeks to process.” Banner said, letting out a sigh, laying down the object he was using to measure gamma readings on Loki’s scepter.

“We bypass their mainframe and direct route to the Homer Cluster we can clock this at around 600 teraflops.” Tony replied from across the room.

“And all I packed was a toothbrush.” Bruce said, going back to the computer.

“You know you should come by Stark tower sometime. Top ten floors, all R and D. You’d love it, it’s Candy Land. I’m talking to you too, Auntie. Paris must be as boring as-”

“How- Tony, I can promise you its not. Paris is fine.”

“But Pepper and I miss you in New York. Think about it, will you?”

“Sure will, hun.”

“Thank you for the invitation, Mr. Stark. But last time I was in New York- I sort of broke Harlem.” Dr. Banner said. 

“Well I promise it’s a stress-free environment. No distractions, no surprises.” Tony says, while poking Bruce in his side with an electric current.

“Tony, leave him be!” you say, taking the current away from him. 

“Hey! Are you two nuts?” Steve says, scolding Tony as he walks in. 

“Oops. Jury’s here. Tell em your secret, Dr. Banner. Bongo drums, mellow jazz, bag of weed?”

“You think is is funny, Mr. Stark? Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship? No offense, Dr. Banner. You neither, Y/N.

“None taken, sir.” Bruce says, while still working on the scepter.

“Don’t worry about it, cap.” you say, while finally snatching the current from Tony’s hand and placing it down on the countertop to continue working.

“You- you don’t have to worry, capsicle. Last time I checked, you spent over 66 years stuck in the ice. You don’t know how anything works here. This little gadget-” he getsures to the comm in his hand. “will let us know everything S.H.I.E.L.D has been hiding from us since the beginning of it’s existence.”

“This is going to cause trouble.”

“Ding, ding, ding. We got a winner. Congratulations, you’ve just won a free box of popsicles. Or is that too cold?”

“What have you three been doing all this time?” Fury’s voice cuts in as he walks into the lab. “You’re supposed to be locating the Tesseract.” 

“We are. The model’s locked and we’re sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we’ll have the location within have a mile.”

“You’ll get your cube back, director.” You say, crossing your arms, after hopping to sit on the table with Tony. 

“No muss, no fuss.” he passes you the blueberry bag, then looks at the screen “What is ‘Phase 2′ anyway?”

At this point, Steve has had enough and decided to intervene. “Phase 2 is S.H.I.E.L.D uses the cube to make weapons. Sorry, the computer was moving a little too slowly for my taste.”

“Captain Rogers, we have gathered every part of information possible related to the Tesseract. This does not mean-” He’s interrupted by none other than Tony.

“What about this Nick? What were you lying?” Tony said, turning the computer so Fury could see it clearly. 

Steve takes one look between the two men, but keeps his gaze on Tony, and says “I was wrong director. The world hasn’t changed a bit.”

Thor and Natasha enter the room and Bruce asks them “Did you two know about this?”

“Dr. Banner, you might want to think about removing yourself from the premises.” Natasha said.

“I was in Calcutta, I’m pretty sure I can handle this, Ms. Romanoff.”

“Loki’s been manipulating you.”

“And you’ve been doing what exactly?” 

“Dr. Banner, You didn’t come here because I batted my eyelashes at you.” She fired back, crossing her arms. 

You hopped off the table, and on the hilt of the sword on your left side, if tensions just so happened to go to another level. 

“And I’m not leaving because you’re getting a little twitchy. What I do want to know is why S.H.I.E.L.D is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction!”

~~~~~~

NEW YORK, JANUARY 1943

SSR HQ

“Starks, Ms. Carter, General Philipps, should the case arise that we get our hands on this - ‘Tesseract’ - as it appears, it shall not, under any circumstances, be used for weapons of mass destruction. It goes against everything we stand for. Everything the SSR stands for.” Erksine says, addressing the group.

“But Dr. Erksine, The rise of facism in Europe is a threat to our national security, and if the SSR can not make weapons of not necessarily of mass destruction, but weapons to protect the country, how are we to protect the nation?” General Philipps said from across the table. 

“Excellent question, General. That’s were Y/N and  comes in. Y/N, if you will.” Erksine said, gesturing to you.

Straightening yourself up, you opened a file. “I’ve thought of this concept for the past couple of months- although just a concept, It would, has General Philipps mentioned, make weapons not of destruction, but of protection. This is why, I’ve decided to name the concept- S.H.I.E.L.D. Get it? A shield is supposed to protect, and that’s what this will do.”

“And what does it stand for, Y/N?” Peggy asks. 

“Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.”

“And it’s purpose?”

“To Protect and Serve, Dr. Erksine.”

“I like it, but we will discuss  it further on Monday. Meeting Adjourned.”

~~~~~~

PRESENT DAY, 2012

BRUCE BANNER’S LAB ON THE HELLICARRIER

“And I’m not leaving because you’re getting a little twitchy. What I do want to know is why S.H.I.E.L.D is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction!”

“Banner, calm down.” Natasha said cautiously. 

“No, Romanoff. He had every right to be mad and confused. With all respect, director, me and my brother did not start S.H.I.E.L.D so we could pull stuff like this.” you said.

“But we have a reason, Stark. It’s because-” Fury points to Thor “him.”

“Me?” Thor questions.

“Yes, you. Last year Earth had a visitor from another planet who held a grudge on a small town. We learned then that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned.” He finishes, diverting his eye to you, but saying nothing.

“Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies, as a signal to all the realms that Earth is ready for a higher form of war.” Thor booms.

“A higher form of war?” Steve questions.

“You had us in a corner, Thor, we had no choice. We had to come up with something.” Nick fired back.

“A nuclear deterrent. Cause that always calms everything down.” said Tony.

“Remind me again how you made your fortune, Mr. Stark?” Fury asked.

“I’m sure if Stark industries still made weapons you both would be knee-deep in-” Steve was cut off by you.

“That’s enough, Steve! Leave it alone!” you exclaimed.

“No, hold up capsicle, how is this about us?” Tony asked, in a tempting manner.

“Are you midgardians really this naïve?” Thor asked.

“Oh please, are you that immature?” Natasha said, looking between Thor and Fury. 

“Everyone, we’re a mixture for chaos. A ticking time bomb waiting to explode.” Bruce said. 

“You should step away, Doctor.” Fury said to Bruce, before being overlapped by Tony. “Why shouldn’t the guy let off a little steam?” Tony asked, putting a ahnd on Steve’s shoulder. 

“You know damn well why!” Steve yelled.

“I’m starting to want you to make me.” Tony said, coming face to face with Steve.

“Big man in a suit of armor, take that off and what are you?” 

“Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.”

“He’s not wrong-” Natasha said, shrugging her shoulders.

“Thank you, Romanoff! Someone with sense on this ship.” Tony said, thanking Natasha.

“I’ve seen guys none of that worth ten of what you are. The only person you fight for is yourself. You’re not one to make sacrifice play, to lay down your life for someone else. You better stop playing the hero.” 

“Steve-” you began, now both hands on both swords, both of them on your waist.

“No! You better stop acting so cocky, Rogers. You’re a lab rat, everything special about you came out of a bottle.” Tony fires back.

“If you think your think you’re so special, put on the suit then, lets go a few rounds.” 

“I’m not afraid to hit an old man.” 

“Stop it you two! You’re acting like children!” You yelled, cutting both of them off.

“You are ALL acting like children, man up, all of you!” Fury said. 

Bruce kept his eyes firm on Loki’s scepter. It seemed to glow even more now, but all of you had to resolve the argument first. 

“Something’s coming. Something bad.” Bruce muttered. “I can feel it.” 

“Keep calm, Banner.” Natasha said, and both her and Fury put a hand of the holster of their gun.

“Dr. Banner, please-” You began. 

You were once again cut off, but not by anyone talking. Thor, Natasha, Bruce, Fury, Tony, Steve and yourself were knocked down to the floor, scattered all over the room.

“What the hell was that?” Natasha asked. 

“Engine’s been blown off. I didn’t want to say I told you so, Agent Romanoff.” Bruce said, while helping you up from the floor. 

“You alright, Tony?” you ask, as You help Tony up.

“Just fine, aunty. You?”

“Barely hurts, tones.”

“What the hell was that, Fury?” Natasha asked. 

Fury looks out the window before running out of the room.

“Agent Barton.”

[rametarin]

I feel like we in the west need to explain exactly why this is significant to our countrymen, because as jarring as it is to realize, the circumstances under which Ukraine exists is largely a tragic one created by the glorious destruction of the Soviet Union and compounded by an imperialist power that won't let it go.

We're dealing with a literal ghost of communism and imperialism trying to re-devour a state it abused for centuries and then REALLY exploited for bodies for the meat grinder in WW2 and then starved to death on some cultural puritainism and then some ideological stupidity for growing crops, that freed itself when the Soviet Union finally keeled over and fucking died.

A treaty was signed that said they could be their own thing separate from Russia, but they'd have to give up their nukes and their neutrality was assured so long as NATO didn't force them to erect NATO defenses there.

Russia's interpretation of this was that Ukraine was forced to be purely neutral and wasn't allowed to look westwards, and NATO was forbidden from setting up any bases there. That wasn't true. Ukraine was protected from being obligated to join NATO or the EU. It wasn't barred from access to membership in either, if it desired.

But Russia has a habit of thinking it's smarter than the wording of a document, the unknowable mysterious Russian soul, blahblahblahblah, so it interpreted the situation as Ukraine being obligated to be a defenseless animal unable to join any defense alliances, unable to allow NATO to set up defenses on its borders, unable to own nukes, and unable to stop Russian espionage, infiltration, corruption and manipulation.

I don't know how. Whether it was because of some spy game bullshit helped by the west, pure Russian brain drain and incompetence after the fall of the USSR making for obvious, pathetic, incompetent infiltrators run on pure inertia and violence making it obvious, or just plain cultural revulsion to Russian manipulation, Ukraine fought off the deeply ingrained corruption of its politicians and cleaned house, getting the Russian plants out of there and taking back Ukraine for Ukrainians. And they started looking westwards for economic and cultural affiliation with the Western States.

But one of the things about the EU and NATO; they won't accept nations whom are at war and in border disputes. So naturally, Russia decided to take the most sea integral part of Ukraine (first) and, knowing its game board to try and bring Ukraine back into the fold was running out of time, upended the board from the spy game and chose military action. Because if Ukraine is fighting with Russia for its land, either on the battlefield or in court (Russia has STILL refused to give back whole islands to Japan!) then it can't join NATO or the UN.

The US was part to the treaty that said so long as Ukraine gave up their nukes, they'd be protected from "anyone" (looking at you, Russia) from marching in and invading them. Russia believed as it also bore nukes, many of them, those rules did not apply to it by virtue of force. And this was technically true. Warring nuclear powers is something no one wants.

We can, however, make them hurt and suffer at the hands of a non-nuclear power until their hands burst off their wrists and their face melts off their bodies. And all we have to do is keep handing Ukraine beating sticks to break over heads. Every Russian soldier lost represents a demographic depression Russia in the long term cannot afford to soak up.

Russia oppresses far more than just Ukraine, and has for many centuries. This is not abstract, it is concrete. Russia as it stands today is counted the way classic empires in the past were counted; Imagine the UK also counting India and the rest of its empire into its landmass. That's the entirity of North Asia, for Russia. That wasn't all Moscovia at first, that was conquered. Through a combination of genocide and replacement, numerous indigenous people in what is now Russia have been dismantled, disassembled, deported, destroyed, and their homelands "Russified." When it comes to western powers that conquered and exploited its subordinate vassal states, Russia is in a league of its own, but we don't speak of it the way we do the Netherlands, France, or England, because a great deal of that history was muted in the retelling thanks to simps for socialism, whom believed the Soviets were a fresh page and salve to Russian imperialism.

And if that regime had its way, it'd do the same thing it did to Kaliningrad, to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. Bulldoze the people out, Russify and occupy, replace the name, make speaking the indigenous language illegal and punishable, and oppress opposition. And why stop there when you could have Russia from coast to coast, right?

Yall dog on Reagan and boomers, but in their hayday, when the ole anti-communist boys were alive and mentally sound, they knew a good thing when they saw it. You just wouldn't understand the happy backflips they'd be doing right now if you told them you could punch Russo-Supremacism in the throat by proxy by helping a sovereign nation formerly under the boot of Soviet communism 1v1 a depleted, incompetent, modern day Russia after it masqueraded as a democratic and capitalist nation for 33 years. If the people that were aging out when I was a child were alive to see this, they'd be embarrassed by our lack of ambition to send weapons, food and equipment. Say what you will about the rest of their beliefs, but when it came to Russian imperialism mixed with any other political ideology, they knew what was up. And I wish more of us state-side and in Europe cared.

The Ukrainians are tired, but they are the only people who are entitled to be tired by this war. We in this west are either inconvenienced or bored, but we don’t have the right to be tired, because we are not making any sacrifices”

Radosław Sikorski, Polish foreign minister

[ofstarsandfireflies]

And we’re back at it again! Thought I’d give something different a try this time

Terminator

A robot from the future travels to the past to kill the future’s hope.

Stephen remembered the day Ultron took over the world and killed anyone who tried to rise up against it.

Including the Avengers.

War had broken out between the machines bent on destroying what remained of humanity and the men who could still fight.

Stephen Strange was one of these men.

He and his group of New Avengers had been fighting for years to reclaim the time stone, and today they finally would.

While everyone else would keep Ultron’s Army busy, Wanda and Stephen, the last two magic users left, were tasked with stealing that infinity stone back.

And that was when they stumbled upon the device Ultron had created with it, and watched as Ultron himself stepped through the portal held within.

It had a back up plan.

With this device it could go back and take over the world at any point in time.

With this, Ultron could go as far back as it seemed fit, and as often as it needed, until it won.

They had to destroy it.

And before he could move to, something caught Stephen’s eye.

A photogrpah of Tony Stark.

Ultron had some ulterior motive for going back for Tony Stark and Stephen wanted to know what it was.

He pocketed the photo

The only way he would find out is to get to Tony Stark before Ultron could.

Maybe if he did, this timeline would erase itself, and the world would continue on, protected by the Avengers.

He turned to Wanda.

As soon as he stepped through, she would need to destroy the stone so it could no longer be used.

Ultron can’t use it to go back again.

And Stephen can’t use it to come back again.

And Wanda agrees, saying goodbye to him as he steps through and keeps her promise to shatter the time stone.

Stephen finds himself in a year not too long ago, racing in the opposite direction of the screaming crowds of people who wouldn’t live to see his time come to pass.

And that’s when he sees him.

Tony Stark’s Iron Man, suit battered and sparking, his thrusters spluttering as they tried to keep him airborne as Ultron flew after him.

A well timed blast had Tony falling from the sky, his suit managing to kick itself back into gear before he landed in a heap on the ground.

Stephen pushed his way to him, crimson ropes wrapping around Ultron’s neck and ripping him away from Tony before he could do anything more.

As Tony tries to get up, Stephen offers him his hand.

Without hesitation, Tony takes it, and Stephen helps him to his feet, dragging him with him to where he remembers the Sanctum used to be.

Tony’s full of questions but Stephen can only think to answer the first one he actually has an answer for, telling Tony how this Ultron and himself are from a possible future.

Tony is skeptical, but he has no choice but to believe Strange.

Tony’s fought bloody aliens of all things, time travel isn’t as crazy as he once might have thought.

Before they can reach the Sanctum and ask for help, Stephen falls through one portal and Tony through another, landing them in different rooms of their destination.

While Tony is treated as a guest and given a jacket to cover over his Iron Man armour, Stephen is getting grilled by the Master of this Sanctum, Daniel Drumm.

Master Drumm knows Stephen shouldn’t be here doing what he’s doing.

And Ultron shouldn’t be here either.

Stephen tries to tell them that they have to protect Tony when Ultron bursts in, Stephen just managing to escape as Sorcerers fight and die around him.

He manages to meet up with Tony and they get the hell out of there without being noticed.

They need a place to lay low and rest.

Pulling the hood of Tony’s jacket up over his head, Stephen transforms his cloak into a long coat, pulling the collar up high to hide in and rolling his eyes when he feels it brush his cheek affectionately.

Tony hails a taxi and pays in cash to get them a block away from Stark Tower.

It’s only when Stephen is starting to relax from the adrenaline rush of almost being killed that he starts to feel the pain from the hit he took.

Tony is on him in an instant, inspecting the wound and trying to distract him with more questions about the future.

He has to ask in a hushed whisper so their taxi doesn’t over hear them and kick them out for being nut jobs and bleeding over his seats.

But Tony finds himself answering Stephen’s questions instead.

He answers them as he pulls Stephen out of the cab, almost losing his footing if the coat hadn’t balanced him.

He answers them as he half drags Stephen into Stark Tower.

He answers them in the elevator to his private lab where he begins to patch up Stephen as best he can.

And Stephen hangs on to every word.

Stephen never got to meet his version of Tony Stark, but he wants this one to know he doesn’t blame him for creating Ultron.

His intentions were good, and Stephen knows a person is not the mistakes they make.

Even Geniuses get it wrong sometimes.

Tony can’t see how Stephen can think this after living in a future Tony helped destroy.

So, Stephen tells him that, even though that was true, the Tony Stark from his future never gave up fighting Ultron.

He was an inspiration to the people to get up and fight along side him.

To the few left with extraordinary abilities to come out of hiding and become part of something much bigger.

To him.

Tony Stark was a legend, a cause people rallied behind now and forever, and will always be a hero to them.

People loved him.

Stephen loved him.

And Tony, having tied off Stephen’s bandage five minutes ago, stops Stephen from pulling his robes back up, fingers lightly tracing the pale scarred skin, the only evidence of all the battles Stephen has fought and survived.

Because of him.

He wants to make it up to him.

So when he kisses him and Stephen doesn’t kiss back, Tony instantly thinks he’s overstepped.

But when Stephen finally kisses him back, Tony’s fears ease away.

Stephen can’t protect Tony like this.

Not against Ultron in a technological world.

If Ultron’s body becomes too damaged, he simply flees through network cables and wifi signals.

If they could get somewhere where Ultron couldn’t do that, and get their hands on a weapon that could do some real damage to that vibranium shell, they might have a chance of surviving the night.

The question was where the hell were they going to get those things.

Why, here at Stark Tower, of course.

With the highest security thanks to Ultron’s initial attack some years ago, and with Tony’s personal lab around them, Tony has exactly what they need to destroy Ultron once and for all.

Stephen is amazed.

Tony has something that powerful?

Tony pulls himself from Stephen’s side and walks over to a draw, showing him a large glass tube with different sized metal shards in it.

Adamantium.

And then they hear it.

Ultron is here.

Stephen can only watch Tony work in amazement.

It truly is a sight to behold, and even more so when Tony declares his work is finished.

It’s a glorified Nail Bomb to be sure, but one that will work on Ultron and tear his Vibranium shell to pieces.

Stephen had never seen anything so dangerous be constructed so quickly, and would have offered some form of congratulations had the elevator doors not opened and Ultron stepped out.

Tony grabs the bomb and Stephen tells him to throw it.

They can’t let Ultron win.

If he wins against them tonight, Stephen’s future will become a reality, only there won’t be an Iron Man to inspire the people to fight back.

So he has to throw it and throw it now.

And Tony can’t.

He’s not willing to risk Stephen’s life.

But Stephen knows he doesn’t belong here.

This world, this life, this Tony, all belong to the other him.

So he does the only thing he can think of.

He grabs the bomb from Tony’s hand and throws it at Ultron’s feet, spinning around and throwing himself on Tony to shield him from the blast as the Adamantium nails shoot out in every direction, many piercing through Ultron’s vibranium body and severing it in half.

One pierces through Tony’s leg, but that’s incomparable to the amount Stephen’s body protected him from as he lays still in Tony’s lap.

Tony calls to him softly and Ultron hears him, clambering over Stephen to get to him.

On a whim, Tony rips the five inch nail out of his leg and shoves it up through the jaw, watching those red eyes finally fade into darkness.

And just like that, Ultron is finally defeated.

And Tony is left all alone, cradling Stephen in his arms.

And a few years later, they meet again.

Quotes -

“Come with me if you wanna live.”

Stephen’s first words to Tony

“There was a nuclear war. A few years from now, all this, this whole place, everything, it’s gone, just gone. There were survivors. Here, there. Nobody even knew who started it. It was the machines, Sarah.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Defence network computers. New, powerful, hooked into everything, trusted to run it all. They say it got smart- a new order of intelligence. Then it saw all people as a threat. Not just the ones on the other side. It decides our fate in a microsecond. Extermination.”

Stephen tells Tony about how his future happened.

“Well, how are you supposed to get back?”

“I can’t. Nobody goes home. Nobody else comes through. It’s just him and me.”

Wanda and Stephen’s last conversation.

“Some legend. You must be pretty disappointed.”

“No. I’m not.”

“Kyle, the women in your time, what are they like?”

“Good fighters.”

“That’s not what I meant. Was there someone special?”

“Someone...?”

“A girl, you know.”

“No. Never.”

“Never?”

Just Tony trying to find out if he has a chance with his rescuer.

Protecting the Future -

Stephen can’t change this future.

But maybe he can change the past

Missed a Day? Catch up here!

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5

Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10

Day 11 Day 12 Day 13 Day 14

[politicaltheatre]

Empathy, pt.3

Let’s start with this: Jamal Kashshoggi was a man.

Do you remember him? He was a man, a human being, and like any of us he had hopes and dreams and memories.

He was also a journalist. After years of supporting the Saudi royal family and their authoritarian regime, he was murdered in 2018 for writing and speaking out against their abuses and, eventually, their war in Yemen. That was the version of him who fled Saudi Arabia, and the one who was marked for death by the Saudi crown prince he had once called a friend.

Last fall, the Saudi regime commuted the death sentences of the men it offered up as his murderers. Three months ago, an investigation confirmed that it was the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who had ordered his death.

We’re forgetting him. Even now, reading this, we are already forgetting. We can’t help it. At least, we tell ourselves we can’t.

In many ways, Kashshoggi was a lot like Alexei Novalny. Novalny hasn’t left the news quite yet. Like Kashshoggi, he supported the corrupt, authoritarian regime in his country, Russia, before turning against it. The attempt on his life, by poison, failed. Barely. He’s still alive, locked up in a Russian prison, a cautionary tale for those daring to oppose Vladimir Putin.

How long before we’ve forgotten him, too?

It’s a lot to ask of ourselves, remembering everyone around us. Sure, in some abstract way most of us try, “Good will towards men,” and all that, but we have the luxury of looking away and of not having to commit ourselves to thinking of others the way those two men did.

For each of them, it was an inescapable empathy for the suffering of they saw around them that compelled them to risk their lives to draw attention to it. They did so knowing the cost.

That cost - personal loss, imprisonment, death - is enough to keep most of us looking away. So much of what we do is to enable us to look away, to keep unpleasant reality at a distance. When others are already physically far away, it only makes it that much harder for us to do the right thing.

Looking out past our borders, the world today is filled with men, women, and children suffering, more than a few at the hands of authoritarian regimes, and of them far too many paying that cost for standing up against abuse.

The most present case this past week, because videos on social media have made it impossible to ignore in ways that it has been, has been that of the Palestinians.

The facts of this latest series of abuses against them should not be in doubt. During the last days of Ramadan, Israelis began forcing Palestinians out of their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah district in East Jerusalem. This was followed in quick succession by Israeli troops occupying the Al-Aqsa mosque following a confrontation between Palestinians at the mosque for Friday prayers and Israelis celebrating the capture of the mosque in 1967.

This was all a deliberate provocation, beyond the aggressive offense of what the Israelis were doing. The timing of it, during the Muslim holy month while right wing Benjamin Netanyahu struggles to cling to power, was intended to add insult to injury.

It worked. Clearly.

Hamas, ever eager for an excuse to be violent and to be seen to be violent, gave an ultimatum that would make Netanyahu’s regime look weak if accepted, Netanyahu gratefully rejected it, and Hamas began firing rockets, knowing that Israel would escalate and retaliate with a kind of brutality that can only be described as criminal.

The unpleasant reality is that both political powers rely on perpetuating the conflict between them, doing so at the expense of the people they claim to want to serve and protect. And those people pay the cost of it.

Note, please, how I have avoided referring to those instigating these atrocities as Muslims or Jews. That they use their religions and their histories as justification for violence and abuse should not be taken as representative of either religion. If anything, it should be taken as a kind of cruel irony, or perhaps an insight into how the abused, as individuals or groups, can become abusers themselves.

Zionism is not Judaism. It never was and never will be. It grew out of two things: the technology-driven late 19th century belief by Europeans, and their North American “cousins”, in their right to colonial domination of non-Europeans; and the centuries-old, routine and systematic attacks on Jews - pogroms - especially in Central and Eastern Europe that led millions of Jews to flee for their lives, many of them to the United States.

The establishment of Israel in 1948 followed the same pattern: that same, late 19th century belief in the right to claim or assign ownership of others’ land - no matter that it had once belonged to your ancestors; and the routine and systematic attempted genocide of all Jews in Europe - the Holocaust - by Europeans who chose to believe Jews not to be Europeans but some other, lesser race from West Asia.

That, of course, has been the assigned role for Jews the world over: they are accepted as insiders when times are good and scapegoated as outsiders when times are bad. To be Jewish - I am - is to understand that this never quite goes away. There’s always somebody having a bad day, always a big lie ready for justification.

Technically, it is true that Jews are Asian, in the way that Palestinians are also Asian, and that Egyptians are, too, but also African because different people have had different maps which they used for different purposes at different times.

Also true is that these things are only true due to the arbitrary drawing of continental lines on maps made by Europeans, from the ancient Greeks to those carving up the “New World” in the century after Columbus to the 1885 conference in Berlin carving up Africa for colonial exploitation.

This is not, strictly speaking, a European thing. Every culture has a tendency to see themselves as the center of the world. Just ask those living in China, or as they call it, Zhongguo, the “Middle Kingdom”.

The difference here is that modern day Israel was carved out of Palestine, a colonial “protectorate” which was itself carved out of the Ottoman Empire and awarded to the British following World War I. As a spoil of war, formerly-Ottoman Iraq, with its vast oil reserves, had greater value to the British. Palestine had ports on the Mediterranean - “the center of the world” - but was otherwise an afterthought.

Not, however, to the Jews fleeing Nazi Germany. We must remember that the rest of the world didn’t want them. Jews attempting to flee the atrocity they and everyone else couldn’t help but see coming were turned away by everyone else, including the United States.

This in no way justifies what was done in Palestine in the 1930s and 40s, it’s just to place it in context. By turning Jews away, by attempting to forget them and their suffering, the world gave weight and power to right wing groups within the refugees.

Starting in the 1930s, those groups began to engage in terrorism against Arabs to force their position into Palestine and against the British to force them out. Irgun Zvai Leumi (National Military Organization) and later the Stern Gang carried out assassinations and killed hundreds of Arabs and British with bombs.

After what the Nazis did to the Jews in Europe, memorialized in newsreels for all the world to see, who would take the Arabs’ side? Who could? The British were in no position to hold onto their colonial possessions anywhere, so they gave up and pulled out and in 1948 the state of Israel was born. Palestinian Arabs were forced from their homes and stripped of rights they had held under the Ottomans and even the British.

Again, this was not Judaism. As the name “Irgun” suggests, those terrorists were a right wing, nationalist militia doing what right wing, nationalist militias have done before and since, using an ethnic or religious identity to justify committing atrocities to take land and property.

After standing by and allowing the Nazis to do what they did, the world vowed never to forget; part of the price they were willing to pay - that they were willing to allow the Palestinian Arabs to pay - was to forget what Irgun and the Stern Gang had done, and to turn a blind eye to anything the Israelis did going forward.

There was a racist element to it, to be sure. This is part of the pattern of colonial withdrawal, negotiating a partition of land and possessions among the colonized groups, pitting them against each other, and then letting them fend for themselves. Nothing like creating a power vacuum to draw out the worst of us.

The British did the same thing in South Asia in 1947, pitting Muslim and Hindu groups against each other, erupting in spasms of violence before settling into a Cold War, complete with nuclear weapons. Even in their most secular eras, religious nationalism has defined the politics and leadership of each nation.

The result of this, naturally, has been an increasingly corrupt leadership exploiting religious hatred and mistrust to gain more power and wealth for themselves. It should be noted, yet again, that the political entities of Pakistan and India, though led by religious nationalists, do not represent Islam or Hinduism.

Their actions and failures do not represent those religions in any way. They are the actions and failures of men and women seeking power, seeking to acquire it and seeking to hold onto it. They are no different than the Netanyahu regime or Hamas, or our own right wing leaders in the United States.

For all of them, it is in their interest to cling to memory of conflict as a means of manipulation; in Israel and Palestine, nationalist leaders preach as if 1948 or 1967 are now; in India and Pakistan, it’s still 1947; and for America’s white nationalists, it’s either 1865 or 1965, take your pick. For the Serbs slaughtering thousands of Muslims in Srebrenica twenty-six years ago, it was 1389, the year the Ottomans conquered the Balkans.

The wars, cold or hot, can never end because time is never allowed to change. This, again, is a function of proximity. By freezing themselves in the increasingly distant past, the leaders and those choosing to follow them do not have to accept the changes facing them in the present. Their fantasy is to return to that idyllic, earlier time, when they possessed everything and did not have to be accountable to anyone.

And they will all fail for the same reason: in the present or near future, we will have reached a point at which we can no longer allow ourselves to ignore those suffering and in doing so forget them.

That is what we have done to the Palestinians. What has been done and what is being done now is in no small part because we forget them, routinely and systematically and purposefully.

The videos sent from Gaza of children being pulled from rubble should help us remember. They should. Ideally, they will have the same effect as those of last year’s Black Live Matter protests, but the people of Gaza remain far away. For many of us, it will be enough that the missiles and rockets have stopped.

Videos sent from India’s emergency rooms and crematoria should help us remember, but they, too, remain far away. Already, we’re starting to put India’s crisis behind us.

Will we remember either of them a month from now? Two? Or will they fade into the background, as the imprisoned Hong Kong democracy protesters have, or those dying of Covid-19 in Brazil, or those shot down in the streets fighting police brutality in Columbia, or those caught between warring factions in Ethiopia’s Tigray region? Or, for that matter, those half a century ago in Argentina who were simply “disappeared”?

What about the coup in Myanmar? Remember that? How about the ethnic cleansing of the Muslim Rohingya people, supported by the now-deposed and jailed regime of fallen-hero Aung San Suu Kyi? What was done to them was no different than what was done to the Armenians in what is now eastern Turkey by the Ottoman Empire in 1915. That genocide was recently recognized by President Biden, an act of official, international recognition that took over a century and which itself is already being forgotten. The Rohingya may have to wait as long to be remembered themselves, or longer.

The point of all this isn’t that we forget, try as we might, but that despite it we find ways to remember. That Biden recognized the Armenians came because they did not forget and did not allow that crime to be forgotten. 

If this sounds like what nationalists all claim to do themselves - always demanding that everyone remember this date or that insult - remember that actual justice never seems to be their goal.

Justice requires memory, full memory. For us to remember anything fully, we must take the good with the bad. We must recognize the good and bad in each of us and in each group and in each series of actions. We must understand that for the worst act done by anyone in the name of any group or religion, there remain those within those groups and religions who stand against it.

So, let’s end with this: George Floyd 

George Floyd was a man, a human being, and like any of us he had hopes and dreams and memories. He died one year ago today in no small part because we forgot him. 

We remember now, today especially, because of what was done to him on this date, but we should recognize the role that forgetting him and people like him played in the events that led to his murder. We as a society have looked away from the suffering of minorities in this country, and from the violence done to certain groups within our society.

The easiest thing to say, certainly as we watched that video and the countless videos of police brutalizing non-violent protesters all last summer, was that “all cops are bad”. They aren’t. Hard as it may be to hear, they aren’t.

They are, however, led by men and women who push an adversarial culture, who encourage violence and racism, who are corrupt, and who thrive on the failure of reform. And most of them, far, far too many, stand by in silence as men and women are murdered in that culture’s name. In that silence, they have failed us all.

If we want to change that culture, we need those who would stand for justice to stand up and speak. They are there, just as they are in Israel and Palestine, and in Pakistan and India and elsewhere: intimidated, ostracized, and struggling to be heard.

Of course, May 25th, 2020 wasn’t just any other day in America. It was Memorial Day. That is a cruel irony. Another is how little we do to honor that day. It was created to honor those who died for this country, to remember not only them but what they did and what they supposedly did it for. Instead, we grill meats and drink beer and forget our troubles for just one day.

Few deaths may have the lasting impact on this country that George Floyd’s has had and will have, and he died in no small part because he, too, had been forgotten. This coming Memorial Day, let us take a moment to remember him and all of the others everywhere in this world who have died and deserve to be remembered.

- Daniel Ward

[lavenderhyrdrangea]

Moon River 2.0

If you prefer to read on ao3 the link is here

Butch had undoubtedly sprained his ankle; the mild caution in his step had given it away.  Dedicated to making matters worse, he  kept his usually flippant mouth shut about  the pulled joint even with Grayditch, by then, miles behind them.Viola deferred his much needed chiding in favor  of hammering her fist on the door to her  happy place, a dream land where she didn’t have to deal with his screw ups.

Frustrated was too gentle a word to describe her feelings about their predicament.  Sure, no one wanted to admit that the first thing they did when they saw a fire ant was shriek then ragdoll fling themselves in the opposite direction—But that was the most common reaction. Those incendiary pests made even the most skilled Wastelanders wet their pants, so a trembling valutie was no surprise. Most people understood that.  But Butch? No, not him. Of course not. Most blowhards had a problem admitting to their shortcomings and he was no exception. He was a dummy and thought that his wounded pride mattered in the Waste.

Instead of pressing him for a confession, she opted for the sit back and watch method.  If he wanted to suffer in silence like an obstinate little turd, then far be it for her to break her back trying to lend a hand.

With the way his nostrils were flared his breaking point had to be soon.

“Whys the crapshoot settlement got to be so far?”

“Yeah, got to admit—I don’t remember the walk being this long.”

“Map’s probably all wrong. Makes stuff appear to be where it ain’t.”

Viola stopped. Not hearing her steps behind him, Butch followed suit and glanced over his shoulder.

“ If the directions and the destination don’t match then maybe you’re on to something.”

He raised a brow, urging her to go on.

“Maybe Megaton got so sick of hearing you whine about it that it got up and ran.”

Butch gave a hard roll of his eyes and went back to walking, no, shuffling ahead.

“I ain’t got no time for games, girl.”

“Girl, Nosebleed, Poindexter, Wet rag. I love the  variety, but I’m sure you know I’ve got a name,” She started walking again and met his pace, “and a gun.”

She’d been threatening him with a bullet ever since she was old enough to traipse the lower parts of the Vault with Sister Beebee. Much like her single barreled friend’s Bbs, the constant shots she and Butch fired at each other could pierce through skin;often times it did. Arguments ended with balled fist and gnashed teeth. He tried to steal her sweet roll so she spat on it. He yanked her hair and called her ugly, so she got a hold of some hair removal product, walked right up to him and poured it all over his head. He ran a rumor about her and Freddie, so she told Wally about all the trips he and Susie took to closets when they thought no one was looking.  

The only reason why she hadn’t tried to kill  him was because he would try to do her in the moment he saw her coming.  Of the little pre-war history she had been taught, she remembered that something called the Nuclear Deterrence Theory followed the same  notion. One nation  would hold off on blasting another to bits for fear of a full and equal retaliation. Given the fact that they were trekking through radiated rubble, a couple of somebodies screamed “screw that” while pounding on their respective shiny red button.  Regardless, her and Butch’s civility with one another had always come down to survival, and that sentiment doubled once they no longer had the Vault’s fortified walls to protect them.  

Butch looked as if he was going to say something smart but it came out as a grunt instead.

“I think that thing back there bit my ankle.” He croaked.

“If that were the case you wouldn’t have a leg and I would’ve had no choice but to leave you to die.”

Before he could spit his usual venom, Viola offered him her shoulder to lean on. He seemed startled by it. This wasn’t the first time he’d been injured but it was definitely the first time she’d voluntarily offered to allow him to use her as balance as oppose to him just pressing his weight on her after getting fed up with the tough guy act.

He eventually gave in after she reminded him of the type of mutants that stalked around once the sun set. They made some advancements. And by some that meant none at all. She considered finding a raider camp and telling Butch to hang back while she took care of them.  The shot gun was empty so it wouldn't be an easy task. She rarely used her sniper rifle though it would be useless in close quarter combat, plus there was a reason why she didn't use it much.

She had a bat and rusty pipe. Using them in each hand would…

“Hey, Nosebleed?”

“ Whatever it is,  shorten it. Trying to figure out where we’re sleeping tonight. ”

“How long did you know about my ankle?”

“You’re an open book, Deloria.” She snorted. “Wide open.”

“Did your old man teach you how to spot stuff like that?”

Viola chewed the inside of her cheek as she eyed the dilapidated overpass ahead of them. No respite.

“Sorry.” He said sheepishly.

"No, you're good."

It wasn't like she hadn't done something similar. During her first day of her little vault rescue mission, she'd asked him about Paul.

The next few minutes of silence was unnerving. She'd rather hear Butch's mouth than to go down the rabbit hole that was her father and the pain he had inadvertently caused those in the vault.

“Why do you ask? You’re not one one to care about my home life unless it’s for ammunition.”

“Just thinking.”

“Quit that will you?  The Wastes are as  hellish enough as it is without the universe folding in on itself.”

“ Oh ho ho! You’re a real  walking stand up show ain’t you? You’ve really missed your calling. Maybe you should drop the guns and plant yourself in the Rudder. That place is rough, they could use a clown.”

If anyone was a clown it was the guy limping the way home.

She peered across the large expense to the left of her. Maybe they would be more likely to find a camp if they veered off the main path.

"I get it. Scarecrow has a  brain now and wants to think and be serious."

"What do you think our lives would be like right like if the door never opened?"

Huh.

" The GOAT  sorted that out  didn’t it? You'd be a hairdresser and I'd be in Vault Management.”

"Barber."

“That’s not what the GOAT said.” She playfully sang.

"Forget that stupid test. If I say I'm a barber then I'm barber." He sounded like he would've shouted that if he had any energy to do so.

"Looks like you’ve got an answer to your half of the question."

"No, wait. I'm not a barber."

"You sound very confused. I’m guessing the great Oz put that brain in backwards or something."

" Forget everything. Act like the door never opened and the GOAT never existed. Where would you be?"

Viola fell into silence again, in search of an answer to his question. With putting nearly all she had into surviving the Wasteland, she only ever had time to think about lost friendships and broken bonds not the normal, ground level what could have beens. Where would she be? Not helping Butch for starters. Also, working with her father as receptionist for his medical office. After that she might have taken a part-time job helping around at the diner. There wasn't much variety in the Vault, and with certain jobs being limited to only one or two people what little options she had dwindled even further.

Butch had taken the reigns of the conversation after she had assigned herself back to searching duty. He gave a response she didn't think she'd hear: An officer.

"Don't go shooting me funny looks," He said, eyeing her as she gave him a sidelong glance.

She decided to leave that as it was, looking for a resting place and holding a serious conversation as he called it proved to be harder than she thought.

Their trek eventually led them to an abandoned campsite. There was blackened wood and a smoky aroma that indicated there was a fire not too long ago, a backpack with some sugar bombs, and canned pork and beans inside, and a note with barely legible scrawl stating to a Ben that a Ricardo, she learned from the closing statement, was going to go ahead to the old scrapyard without him, and that he should eat something before meeting up with him later and that if someone had taken the food before he got there it was his fault for not hurrying. She wouldn't touch the food left for Ben, however, the  junkyard peaked her interest. Most of the items would be picked over but Viola discovered a while ago that few Wastelanders knew that if you accumulated enough junk you could earn a decent amount of Caps.

She’d been deciding whether or she should drop Butch off at Megaton and get Dogmeat first, or try to make the quick stop to the Scrapyard before Megaton when Butch started taking dinner out from his backpack. The rotten smell of Yum Yum Deviled Eggs was enough to keep her present.

She picked up the conversation where she left it. “You rebel without a cause  types wouldn’t even waste the spit it would take to put a fire out if the thing burning happened to be some type of authority or institution. I doubt you’ve experienced any type of growth since you’ve stumbled out of the Vault.”Her gaze trailed over the length of his frame,taking in the relative newness of the jeans and white Tee he procured from Seagrave, shocked that they weren’t filthy yet.   “Imagining you willingly wearing another uniform is enough to induce  a fever dream.”

“Says you. I’ve grown plenty,”

“In the ego department, maybe.” She muttered at first then brought her voice back to a level tone.” Is this  some type of kink in your psyche? You hate what you secretly desire?”

“You calling me a boot muncher?”

“I’m saying that your sudden  judicial interests are suspect.”

“ They’re untouchable. People don’t mess with them. If someone’s stupid enough to push their luck they’ve got  three other officers there to back them up.” He managed through half chewed up deviled egg chunks.

She added her own items to their little spread: Muttfriut, Peaches,and Pinto Beans.  With his eggs and Sugar bombs they  almost had the four basic food groups, albeit the poor man’s version.

“So,” She paused, thinking, “you wanted to be a big man with legal backing, huh?  Gives credence to that one saying.”

Notwithstanding the obvious dig, He asked easily, “Yeah? What saying?”

“Bullies seek out positions of authority. Typically, the guys try to be officers and the girls go for nursing jobs. I’m a little surprised you didn’t get that as a result on the GOAT.”

Butch’s lips quirked into a stupid grin. “What’s all that make you miss Vault Managament?”

“ I’m only a partial bully and that’s thanks to you.”

“ Everything’s my fault. Right. I forgot.”

She shrugged. "You said it. Not me."

The conversation lulled as they fell to the rest of their meal. Gingerly holding a piece of Muttfruit under the fading sunlight, Butch shifted from his lazy supine  position to a full on crouch and put his nose to it. With that litmus test out the way, he nibbled on it like a molerat, sampling bite after bite, until the  full flavor zinged on his tongue. He spat the chewed mush  past his puckered lips.  Viola had gobbled down her cheekful of sugar bombs to free up space so she could tease but went for a subtle side eye last minute. Leave it to Butch to turn his nose up at something good for him.

“People move for them, you know?” He  admitted, jumping back into their intial conversation. More so to not have to take another bite than eager a need to continue their chat.

Narrowing her eyes, she said, “So you fantasize about the badge because  you have a naive fantasy about power and control.  Is that it?  You’re idea of  law  enforcement  and people in leadership explains your past behaviors a bit too well. ”

“Christ, way to miss a point. That ain’t it at all. Security has guns and stuff.”

“Weapons intimidate.  Intimation  can lead to power or control. Use your head for something besides hair gel for once.

“No, no,no-You brought up the badge, right?  That’s it.  That’s all it is.”

“I’m still not sure about what ‘it’ is.”

Butch huffed.

“Say I draw pretty picture.  Cogs in a circle. A winged sword jabbing through. You’d think..?

“Oh, an inkblot test almost.”

“A what? Quit stalling, Nosebleed.”

“The Brotherhood of Steel.  Resourceful. Altruistic. Tech-savvy. A bit frigid when it comes down to the more human side of things. Order, Structure, Chain of command—That’s them. Forming an order  and plotting ahead is smart of them. I don’t like their...well, steel but I respe--”

Butches eyes went wide and he pointed. “There.”

Viola chewed on that for a bit.   " I think I get you." She said, nodding.

Butch’s expression grew soft for split second but smoothed out and eventually went back to it’s normal wise guy grin.  

" How come I'm the only one sharing?"

" I honestly don't know what my answer would be."

" You never wanted nothing?"

She rolled the deviled egg she pilfered before Butch demolished the rest of them between her fingers.

"I remember wanting to do things that would make my father say that my mom would happy."

"And being a receptionist would have done that?"

"It did. He would tell me all the time that she would be happy that I'd taken to the working around the office. I think my mom and my dad valued my safety. That's what made them both happy. But out here safety’s luxury."

"Well, you’re not dead, stiff as a board, but not dead. I’d say you’re doing a good job of keeping yourself safe."

"Not for long. Not with all these curve balls."

They each took their turn taking watch as night fell and passed. Viola made Butch promise to wake her in case something happened and either through guilt or some form of pride he asked her to wake him if she ever got too tired.

A blinding sunlight woke Butch up.  Since she’d been out of the vault longer than he had she’d already adjusted to the wastelands rays, and simply took her pair of shades from her backpack and tolerated it on her skin.

"Wish we had something to drink." He said with sleep thick in his voice.

"I brought some purified water from home."

"Something stronger."

"That's not a good idea outside of any settlements," She shot him a withering glare," for you, I personally don’t think that's a good idea at all."

Butch grumbled, "Gimme the water then."

Butch took a three huge, loud gulps.

"I thought of something Mr. Brotch said."

Butch's crumpled his face up like she just told him she spat in his water. "Why?"

"I talked to him after the GOAT. I wasn't happy with my results—“

"—He never told me nothing like that."

"That's because he didn't like you. Look.  He told me the whole thing was a joke. And if  it is actually is joke, and we we could forgo those results then why not here?"

"What?"

"No one really knows who we are out here. As long as we're not blowing towns up, we can do anything. And if we get bored we can do something else."

"Something tells me the Officer thing is a pipe dream."

“You don’t have to be an Officer. That’s not what you want. Just make some noise and people will associate you with it. I know I do.”

"Yeah, I like that. And you can make your folks happy then."

“Yeah.”

Viola decided to take Butch to Megaton first. They gathered their belongings from around the camp and continued their journey. This time Butch leaned on Viola from the start.

“Hey.” He said a little too quietly.

“Is your ankle bothering you?”

“Nope.”

“What is it then?”

“Would you really have left me behind if I lost a leg?”

She let silence past so he would sweat some.

“No, but I would’ve given you one heck of a nickname.”

For the first time she made him rumble out in that snorting laughter only his friends back in the vault could.

“Nerd.”

*                                                  *                                                         *

A bit sentimental are ya? You might like my Young Justice(animated) fic, Game Plan, starring Wally West, long roads and glaring insecurity.