#were 26 and 35 years old respectively

[greatmuldini]

The events of 6 December 1890 were neither preordained nor were they premeditated. Nothing that transpired on the day was inevitable or irreversible: participants chose to stay in character, and to act out their roles in what would eventually be described by biographers and historians as the Parnell Tragedy (Jules Abels, 1966).

Everyone at the time would have been aware of the historical significance of their actions, if not the long-term consequences - excluding of course, the one female member of the cast who could not possibly have known what she was doing. By dint of this congenital deficiency she would also quite naturally be blamed for causing "Ireland's misfortune." Simple and satisfying in terms of its mass market appeal, feminine impulsivity does little to explain the supposedly rational decisions taken by the men around her in the name of patriotism and political expediency - which far from producing an amenable solution served only to exacerbate the crisis. Whereas the exact circumstances and full cast of characters have faded over time the larger-than-life figure of Charles Stewart Parnell still towers over the events of 6 December 1890 as the one man who could have had it all - and lost it all.

Sixty-four years later, the Fall of Parnell inspired an episode of the BBC's "experimental" television series You Are There which set out to present the known historical facts, faithfully, but with an added dimension unique to the new medium: actors would impersonate the key personnel as in a conventional re-enactment. While going about their "business," however, they would be interviewed by modern television reporters. The curious anachronism underlined the artificiality of the concept; it meant the programme was deliberately drawing attention to itself which would have been an unwanted distraction, for You Are There it was the defining feature. Neither the programme nor its - fictitious - journalists were interested in the exploration of alternative histories or in-depth character studies: the point was to demonstrate the possibilities of "live" television, ironically, in a simulated setting. Fact and fiction are trading places as the reality of 1890 becomes the subject of a 1950s fantasy, and the medium of the future interrogates the evidence of the past. For the actors it would have been a challenge to navigate between imaginative portrayal of a fully formed human being and the faithful rendition of the intrinsically incomplete historical record.

The historical record states that Charles Stewart Parnell was born in 1846. The son of a Protestant Irish landowner and an American mother was not naturally predestined to champion the cause of destitute Catholic tenant farmers; indeed, nothing in his early life pointed to any such leanings. As an aristocratic country gentleman he had nothing to fear and everything to gain from the firm imperial rule exerted by the British Crown over the Island of Ireland.

And yet it was Parnell, the English-educated man of pedigree, who emerged as the voice of the starving rural population. Having decided to enter politics for reasons that are still unclear, he found his calling as the Westminster MP for County Meath not in the defence of privilege but in the vocal support - initially for land reform and then increasingly for Irish nationalism ("Home Rule"). Over the next five years Parnell gained a reputation and a following as a fiery orator back in Ireland and a force to be reckoned with in the House of Commons, where is name became synonymous with the new parliamentary tactic of "obstructionism." If the English politicians could not be moved to act in Ireland's interest Parnell vowed to meddle in English affairs. And meddle - or obstruct - he did. After a century of inaction and neglect, the Irish Question seemed relevant again, if only because its proponents made it impossible for English laws to be passed. Parnell seemed to thrive on his tactical manoeuvring which he was prepared to carry to painful extremes, on multiple occasions – including arrest and imprisonment, at the risk of damaging his already fragile state of health.

By 1880 Parnell controlled both the radical grassroots movement in Ireland and the parliamentary representation of Irish interests in London. The position made him a frequent dinner guest in the homes of friends and allies, where on several occasions he also enjoyed the hospitality of Mrs Katharine O'Shea, the English wife of a fellow Irish MP, who was sympathetic not only to the cause but to the man who personified the struggle. Mrs O’Shea had a discreet arrangement with her husband, Captain William “Willie” O’Shea, the Member for County Clare and Galway: their marriage would exist on paper only for the benefit of Willie’s career; while he conducted his business in London she would reside at their official family residence and entertain important visitors. Parnell would often stay as a guest of the family - to recuperate after gruelling campaigns in Ireland, was the official explanation given.

For the next ten years the couple conducted an illicit affair that produced four children and saw the singled-minded saboteur of the political system lead a double life away from Parliament and in the company of Katharine O’Shea. The relationship was not as one might assume a tempestuous whirlwind romance but a curiously claustrophobic still-life of Victorian domesticity - an alternate, self-contained reality where Parnell and his "Queenie" could act out their fantasy of living simply as husband and wife. Their apparent longing for simplicity may also help to explain the ease with which they expected to lead two entirely separate and parallel lives, apparently unaware of or unwilling to acknowledge the inherent paradox and inevitable complication.

In the political arena Parnell was for most of the 1880s an extremely effective manipulator of moods and opinions, always weighing and adjusting the demands of Irish nationalists against the calls for the use of force from the British press, the public, and its politicians. Anyone looking for a core belief or deeply held conviction would have been disappointed by the vagueness of Parnell's own stated aims - which he used to great advantage because it allowed him to gain the confidence of the British side and the respect of his own following. As a small but significant minority, the Irish (or Home Rule) Party under Parnell's skilful machinations was able to make demands in return for the votes it lent to either one of the two dominant forces in 19th century British politics: the Tory (Conservative) Party or the slightly more reform-oriented Liberal Party.

Parnell’s elusiveness became his trademark: the less he said in public, the fewer appearances he made in Parliament, the taller he grew in stature. In 1887 he was accused of having endorsed the murders of two British politicians in Dublin. When the alleged endorsement turned out to be a forgery two years later, the popular reaction was one of relief and renewed admiration for the noble freedom fighter who had been so horribly maligned. By 1889, it seemed as if nothing could go wrong for Charles Stewart Parnell.

Home Rule seemed within reach when, in May of 1889, Katharine O'Shea learned of the death of a wealthy aunt whose fortune she was to inherit. The additional funds would have been a welcome boost to Katharine's finances had it not been for her husband's unexpected interference. Captain William “Willie” O’Shea chose this moment to strike, possibly to exact revenge, more likely to improve his own pecuniary situation. And thus, Captain O'Shea went ahead and contested the will, citing his wife’s infidelity, and his intention to divorce her. Surprised but hardly alarmed, the lovers welcomed what they thought would be an opportunity for them to make their relationship official, the sooner the better.

 From the very beginning their affair had been an open secret in political circles, but the Captain’s announcement put the fact of their adultery in the public domain. With their case not due in court for at least another twelve months (i.e. late 1890), Katharine and Parnell were powerless to stop the scandal from spreading, and their silence on the matter allowed grievances to fester. No public statement was ever published, nor did the couple make any public gesture of remorse. They did launch a half-hearted and unsuccessful counterclaim not to deny the adultery but to accuse Captain O’Shea of adultery as well, presumably to shame the Captain into withdrawing his allegation.

For an entire year the unresolved state of their private affairs overshadowed Parnell’s political battle; it affected his health and continued to corrode confidence among his allies in parliament and at home but most significantly among the ranks of the Liberal Party led by Prime Minister William Gladstone. Ironically, and with tragic consequences for Katharine and Parnell, the earliest and most vociferous condemnations came not from the Catholic Church (both Parnell and Katharine were Protestants) but from the other “Nonconformist” denominations outside the established Church of England, which was traditionally a preserve of the Tory (Conservative) Party. An influential group among the Nonconformists were Methodists, whose large working and middle-class following had found in Gladstone’s Liberal Party their political home.

When the divorce eventually came through in November 1890 (decree nisi), Parnell was branded a “convicted adulterer” but also won the legal right to marry Katharine after completion of the obligatory six-month waiting period (decree absolute). The salacious - and uncontested – testimony offered in the course of the trial was, however, fresh on the minds of his party colleagues who were meeting to decide on his future as party leader a mere fortnight after the court’s decision. Gladstone had already warned Irish MPs of the danger to their alliance, the implication being that the Liberal Party would lose the support of its Nonconformist base if it continued to cooperate with a “convicted adulterer.” The message was clear: Irish MPs had no hope of winning Home Rule with Parnell as their leader. They needed the good will and legislative might of a strong Liberal government - and Liberal voters had strong ideas about marriage and adultery. Gladstone did, in effect, issue an ultimatum to Irish parliamentarians: lose your leader or lose Ireland.

Party activists in Ireland meanwhile re-elected Parnell as leader of the Home Rule Party before news of the ultimatum reached their shores, creating an awkward situation which allowed Parnell to claim he had the backing of the party rank and file, while Gladstone faced the beginnings of a split in his own party over the very issue of Irish Home Rule.

Parnell promptly refused to stand down, declaring instead that he considered the matter of Mrs O’Shea’s divorce closed and that, far from being a friend of Ireland, Gladstone had betrayed their cause. Whether or not the accusation was based in fact [substance] hardly mattered in the greater scheme of things. It was Parnell's word against that of the Prime Minister, and a decision had to be made: should the Irish Home Rule Party defy Gladstone and keep Parnell as their charismatic leader, or should the convicted adulterer be deposed in return for English concessions?

On 6 December 1890, after seemingly endless negotiations, Irish parliamentarians convened another marathon session to break the deadlock without destroying the party, its leader, or their country. Obstacles proved insurmountable as Parnell himself chaired the meeting and overruled any motion calling for a vote. Members present at the meeting noted his increasingly autocratic behaviour with concern and were alarmed by the apparent disintegration of his mental and physical identity. What they were witnessing may have been, on one level, the self-evisceration of a disgraced politician, but the concrete struggle of the individual to control his own destiny, and the narrative about it, had gained additional layers of meaning that transcend literal explanations for Parnell's fate.

The extent to which he did control the mythology of his downfall as well as his subsequent (and posthumous) apotheosis is a fascinating subject for debate: was he drawing attention to the opposing forces behind his identity or trying to deflect attention away from his failure to reconcile the two when he claimed that Gladstone and the Liberals were the true enemies of the rightful Irish claim to self-determination? No longer was the crisis a moral dilemma but a question of national pride. The private transgression becomes an affair of state - no longer is it a moral dilemma but a question of national pride: if it was up to the English to dictate who is to be their leader, then Gladstone truly was the master of the Irish Party.

Parnell's rhetorical masterstroke elevated his imminent ouster as party leader to an affront of international proportions by blurring the very boundaries he had otherwise hoped to maintain between the private man and his public persona. It also drew an instant reaction from the assembled party colleagues. "Who is to be the mistress of the party?” put paid to Parnell's noble-minded aspirations and reminded those present once again of the sordid scandal and the root cause of their troubles. Unable to vote the party leader out of office, 44 of his fellow members stood up and left the room, 26 remained with Parnell. It is this moment You Are There chose to dramatize, for the sheer symbolism of the scene: the leader without majority, his party crippled for decades to come. The Liberal Prime Minister ruling unencumbered.

Parnell's story, the story of Ireland's struggle, could have ended here. Or it could have ended differently. If each of the protagonists had chosen a different course of action. Parnell, for his part, chose to fulfil what he must have thought of as his destiny: within hours of the party meeting that left him - it must be remembered - still nominally undefeated, he embarked on a tour of Ireland to speak at rallies and unite the crowds behind the candidates he chose to stand in by-elections. Any hopes of regaining the momentum lost in London were slim at best; the winter weather and Parnell's failing health reduced the schedule and, compounded by his ever more radical oratory, crowds became more difficult to control, and enthusiasm for the struggle was waning. But just as the chances of a concrete, real-life settlement were growing increasingly remote, the idea of the struggle captured the imagination of contemporary and subsequent generations, and Parnell became its idealized figurehead - not without considerable work from Parnell himself, who cultivated an air of steely nerves, superhuman strength, and emotional detachment in public while being fiercely protective of his privacy. The polar opposites that defined his existence, through their very incompatibility, presented an impossible conundrum: unable to reconcile the two, incapable of compromise, the Parnell machine was at a crisis point.

Campaigning in Ireland continued throughout the summer but none of the chosen candidates were victorious. Parnell and Katharine finally became a married couple on 25 June 1891, but their life together as husband and wife only lasted a little over three months and ended with Parnell’s death on 6 October 1891. They were both 45 years old at the time.

In poetic terms, Parnell had committed the ultimate sin of the tragic hero: to think of himself as indispensable. In the eyes of his supporters, and presumably his own, Parnell had become the personification of an idea, an idea that without him was thought to be non-viable. Parnell and Irish Home Rule were interchangeable; the means and the end had merged into one. Much like the fatal flaw carried by every tragic hero in the history of human endeavour, Parnell's hubris made him both unique and universal, gave him superhuman powers and made him vulnerable - not in a simple case of crime and punishment but in the pursuit of a noble mission that is ultimately larger than the man who has internalized it as his own.

To paraphrase Hilary Mantel, we tend to fictionalize those who can no longer speak for themselves; in Parnell's case there is perhaps a greater need than with many of his peers to interpret where we cannot explain, and to speculate were we cannot know.

Indeed, so strong was the sense even among contemporaries of a catastrophic derailment of their hopes and dreams, and so great the loss of confidence in the political process, it gave rise to an entire subgenre of historical fantasies indulging in mostly wishful thinking: what if Parnell's campaign had been successful and he had lived to see an independent Ireland? What if there had never been a scandal? What if we could turn the clock back far enough to prevent all bad things from happening? This being a male-centric scenario we easily move on to imagining the hero going about his business without "distractions," and what might have been if Parnell and Katharine O'Shea had never met. The further the fantasy travels back in time, however, the more it will be about erasure of the past rather than an extension of existing timelines. As a work of fiction, it may well be a legitimate subject for philosophical or even psychological enquiry that can provide a temporary reprieve from the struggle. It can never be the solution. [Part 2 of 2]

[withahappyrefrain]

⭐ 60 Fun Meet Cutes ⭐

1) A and B’s coffee orders are identical. Confusion (and promised calls) occur.

2) A always steals B’s parking spot and normally they wouldn't say anything but not today asshole!

3) A and B are seated next to each other at the singles table for a wedding.

4) B owns a bookshop and A really needs this book because their book club meeting is in two days.

5) A is a doctor/nurse treating B for an injury, but B won't stop flirting.

6) A pretends to be B’s significant other because they can tell that creep is bothering B.

7) They meet at the dog park and their dogs won't stop playing with one another.

8) They meet at the dog park and B’s dog won't stop following A’s!

9) They're both at a party and notice the other is sitting alone on the couch so we join.

10) They get volun-told to do a karaoke duet by their respective friend groups.

12) A and B’s families have been trying to set them up for years. They meet by accident.

13) A runs a stand at the local farmers market that B loves (the owner being cute and sweet is a major plus too).

14) They grab the same book at the library.

15) “You have the wrong number, but stay on!”

16) A and B have been set up on a blind date together. Neither one of them expect it to go well, given their mutual friend's track record.

17) A and B both want the last pack of cigarettes. It's not even for themselves, but they'll certainly argue about it.

18) "Hi, I'm pretty sure I saw you on a dating app and while I swiped right, you did not and wow you're beautiful in person."

19) A’s a tour guide for B, who is currently supervising a field trip of twenty seven year olds.

20) A is B’s least favorite author but they don't realize until halfway through their rant.

21) "Hey, my friend is into your friend. But they're too scared to make a move, can you help me get them together?"

22) They're at the grocery store and A can't reach the item on the top shelf, so B helps them.

23) “Hey, so I helped your grandparent cross the street and they insisted that I meet you, their grandchild.”

24) It's our high school reunion and I'm like eighty percent sure we were lab partners and you have no idea what I'm talking about.

25) A’s friends insisted on going to a strip club for a bachelor/bachelorette party and A is really enjoying their time talking to B, the hostess.

26) An unexpected torrential downpour happens and they end up taking shelter at the same place.

27) “I'm your neighbor and I swear to God, if you don't turn that music down-

28) They’re both PhD students and their dissertations contradict each other's and boy, are they going to have some intense eye contact about it.

29) B is A’s child's new teacher and their kid won't stop mentioning that their parent is single.

30 “I'm so sorry, but my friends won't stop bothering me until I get someone's number tonight, it doesn't have to be your real one, I'm just so tired of their shenanigans.”

31) A is the hot firefighter who visits B’s classroom to talk about safety.

32) A and B are paired up for a roller coaster and one of them needs to hold the other's hand to get through the ride.

33) “Look, your date may not want to dance with you, but I certainly will!”

34) They're both celebrities and their fans ship them so A and B do an interview together for our respective press tours.

35) They're both on the bus and A is reading the book B’s been wanting so badly and they gotta know if it's good or not because the waitlist at the library is ridiculous.

36) They're at an art museum and have wildly different interpretations of the same portrait.

37) It's been arranged by their families for A and B to marry as a peace treaty. When they meet for the first time, they see why their families fought so much!

38) "Do you mind if I sit here? There are no other seats available."

39) A doesn’t know why their friend's girlfriend invited me to their coworker's nephew's bar mitzvah but they have a stain from the chocolate fountain and B is an angel with their Tide to go stick.

40) “If you don't fix your collar/tie/hat, I will do it myself!”

41) “The food in your grocery store cart looks so good, what are you making?x

42) A sees B at the Renaissance Fair and is determined to give B a rose.

43) They're both at the eye doctor and can't figure out which glasses to buy.

44) They end up sitting next to each other in a movie theater during a horror movie, and cling to each other for moral support

45) A owns a flower shop andBl B just needs the courage to go inside and say hello.

46) B’s dog somehow got out and A find it. Yes, it's late at night but from B’s voice over the phone, A knows they need to return this dog STAT.

47) A has always signed up to bring the dessert for their work's potluck. Who does B think they are taking their slot?

48) A’s friends signed them up for a dating app and set them up on a date with B without A’s knowledge.

49) B’s running an adoption event and A doesn’t even like animals but my God, is B so damn cute with them.

50) They're spies who have to pretend to be a couple for an assignment.

51) They’re professors who teach the same course but disagree over teaching methods.

52) A is B’s friend's asshole boss and B is just trying to drop off C’s lunch without strangling A.

53) A’s a witch who run a shop. B barges in, asking about the best curse to give someone (without killing them of course).

54) A is a hairdresser at a fancy salon and B shouldn't be spending $150 on a haircut but they need to talk to A.

55) A is a personal trainer and B is their my client and A knows they need to keep it professional but it's really hard!

56) A is the photographer and B’s the caterer for the worst wedding ever.

57) It's the county Fair and A has lost their niece/nephew, so they ask B for help.

58) A is having a horrendous case of writer’s block, B works at the cafe A has been staying at for the past few days and is very concerned.

59) Hades and Persephone AU bc why not

60) A is a tattoo artist and it's B's first time getting a tattoo.

[mirai-e-jump]

Masato Yano Photobook: TONE (translations and select pages below)

Publication: March 15, 2024

Masato Yano's 132 Q&A About 13 years ago, "Masato Yano's Style Photobook" was published with a Q&A. Now, a 32 year old Masato Yano answers nearly the same questions again.

1) What's your nickname? Yanocchi, Masanii, Masati

2) When were you born? December 16, 1991

3) What's your blood type? Type B

4) Your zodiac sign? Sagittarius

5) What size family are you from? I come from a family of 4

6) How tall are you? 173cm

7) Your shoe size? 26.5cm

8) What are some of your strengths? My jokes

9) How do you spend your days off? I'll drink the night before, go to the gym

10) What subjects were you worst at? Math and history

11) What are your favorite foods? Sushi and tsukemen

12) What's your assessment of your own personality? I'm easily obsessive and bored. I'm actually shy, but I'm trying my best so you don't think that way (laughs)

13) What are some of your weaknesses? I'm not good at remembering things like people's birthdays or names

14) What are you proud of? That I made my debut in "Shintokumaru"

15) What's your favorite color? Red and white

16) What type of woman do you like? Someone with a good core, someone who eats beautifully

17) What instruments can you play? None

18) What's your special skill? That I can guess who someone is just by their voice

19) What's your best feature? My double eyelids

20) What do you wish would disappear from the world? War

21) The first impressions that are often said about you? That I look scary

22) The person that you respect? Tsumabuki Satoshi-san and Fujiwara Tatsuya-san

23) What do you have a habit of saying? "~nanoyo" and "oh no"

24) Your least favorite type? Someone who only talks about themself

25) What's your treasure? The wallet I received from Tsumabuki-san

26) The ideal self that you desire to be? I want to be liked by many people

27) What's your "theme song"? Recently it's been that I'm the "most powerful king"

28) Your favorite artists? WATWING, the Carpenters, Eric Clapton, GENERATIONS

29) What do you do when you first wake up in the morning? Put on my glasses

30) What do you do right before bed? Put on the radio

31) What habits do you do unconsciously? Touch my nose, do things like suck on the end of a straw

32) What do you usually perform at karaoke? I tend to sing alot by SMAP

33) What foods do you not like? Shiitake mushrooms

34) What's your favorite thing to drink? Mets Grapefruit

35) What was the first CD you ever bought? Jet Coaster Romance by KinKi Kids

36) What do you like to watch and what's your favorite anime? Great Pretender, soccer games

37) How long does it take for you to bathe? 1 hour

38) What's your favorite season? I don't do well with heat

39) When do your emotions become intense? They don't

40) What are your hobbies? Muscle training

41) Do you cry easily? When I feel like it

42) Do you have a pet? What's it's name? I had one. It was a cat named Chaco

43) How many children do you want? I want two. A boy and a girl

44) What's the first thing you look at when entering a convenience store? The bento corner

45) What do you usually buy from a convenience store? Water and spicy ramen

46) What really makes you angry? Nothing much

47) What's the number one thing you want right now? Muscles! (laughs)

48) What have you been secretly interested in recently? The Korean language

49) What's the one thing you'd take to a deserted island? A lighter

50) How do you relax at home? Burn incense and listen to some records

51) What's necessary for world peace? Love

52) What do you wonder about? Why is there a Ladies Day, but not a Men's Day?

53) What would you do if the world ended today? I'd overdo things as usual

54) S? M? I wouldn't say I'm an M💦

55) What's your phone background? Currently it's King-Ohger (for the past 2 months)

56) What animal would you compare yourself to? Some kind of reptilian I guess

57) What are you into these days? Cilantro

58) What do you like to collect? Miniature food sets

59) What's your favorite scent? White musk types, Savon by SHIRO

60) What's something expensive that you bought recently? A vintage varsity jacket

61) How often do you go out shopping? At the very least I go out once a month

62) Can you cook? I do it often

63) What kind of present would you be happy to get from a friend? I'd be happy with anything

64) What would make a girl happy if you gave her a present? Aesop

65) What's your fetish? Legs

66) What would the ideal confession be? Saying it on the way back home after going out for meals a few times

67) At what age do you want to marry by? Hopefully by 40 (laughs)

68) What's something good you do for your body? I go to the gym

69) What's something you always have on you? Chapstick

70) What's the ideal spot for a date? A buffet

71) Which do you prefer? The sea or the mountains? Both the sea and mountains have alot of bugs

72) What scares you? Roller coasters, horror, cockroaches

73) When does your excitement rise? When my work goes well

74) What's your favorite place? Home

75) What's your favorite store? It's a secret ❤️

76) Are you a meat eater? Vegetarian? Are you a fan of cabbage rolls? I eat bugs

77) What's your favorite onigiri topping? Salmon roe

78) What do you usually get at a cafe? I don't go to cafes

79) What's something tasty you've eaten recently? The umeboshi Fukuyama-kun gave me

80) What have you been paranoid about recently? That a big earthquake will hit Tokyo

81) Where do you start washing your body from? My head

82) What's your favorite type of fashion? Things that give off an "American casual" feel

83) At what moment do you fall in love with someone? Sometimes it's not really apparent

84) What words make you happy to hear? "Your performance was good"

85) What's your favorite movie? Grave of the Fireflies

86) What person do you really want to meet right now? Ninagawa-san

87) What's something that's alittle luxurious? Sushi that doesn't come from a conveyor belt

88) How would you describe yourself with a single (kanji) character? "Think," because no matter what I do or say, I have alot to think about.

89) How long does it take you to get up in the morning and leave your house? On a work day it takes 20 minutes. I usually don't go out on my days off (laughs)

90) What changes your mood? When I'm left out

91) What would you consider (if they did) to be cheating on you? If they did a deep kiss (laughs)

92) Are you sensitive to the heat? To the cold? I don't like either

93) Emails or phone calls, which is better? Writing is best

94) What do you frequently use on your phone? Instagram, Twitter, Uber

95) How old were you when you first fell in love? What kind of person were they? It was a kid who lived in my neighborhood when I was in my second year of elementary school.

96) What gestures do women do that make you feel excited? When they put their hair behind one ear

97) Are you enjoying work right now? I want to have fun (laughs)

98) What's your favorite TV program? Programs that only feature comedians

99) What's your favorite sport? Soccer

100) What's your least favorite sport? Baseball

101) Are you the type of person who likes park rides that cause you to scream? I don't do well with them, but if I'm asked to ride one, I will (laughs)

102) Are you good at athletics? I think I'm a good at it

103) What do you take photos of? Tsukemen and sushi

104) What's your favorite flower? Gerbera

105) What's your favorite event of the year? It's New Year's Eve, I'll have a party with my friends and we'll eat alot

106) What's your top 3 favorite stalls at a festival? Beef skewers is #3, grilled squid is #2, okonomiyaki is #1

107) What was your most stressful experience? Performing on opening day for Shintokumaru

108) Your favorite donburi? Beef bowl

109) Are you good with your hands? I wonder~?

110) How long do you sleep in a day? About 3-7 hours. I sleep alot longer on days when I don't work

111) Is your sleeping position good? I think it's okay

112) What's your favorite ramen? I love tsukemen. I have a "cat's tongue" though

113) What color would you compare yourself to? Purple

114) Do you like scary stories? I don't like them in any way (laughs)

115) What subjects were you best at? Gym and art

116) What club activities were you involved in? The soccer club in middle school and the dance club in high school

117) If you were reborn, would you rather be male or female? I'd still want to be male

118) What part time jobs have you had? A bread factory, an Izakaya, a festival stall

119) What do you want to do when you're 40? Meet fans at events

120) What were your favorite school lunches? Nanbanzuke, meat sauce

121) Have you ever seen a ghost? I might've (laughs)

122) What's something you'd like to try that you've never experienced before? Travel overseas

123) Where would you like to take a trip to? Hot springs, Korea, Italy

124) What's your favorite ride at an amusement park? The exploration based ones

125) How many times in one day do you send emails? Currently, I exchange about 30-50 LINE's a day

126) Were you the type of person who finished their Summer homework early? I always felt like I was rushing to finish it at the last second💦

127) Are you more likely to arrive early for a meet up? Or do you arrive late? For work I'm early, in my private life I'm late

128) If you want to go out with someone, how many years older are you okay with? I've never thought about it in terms of age

129) What's an essential item you need when traveling? Earphones

130) What do you do when you can't sleep at night? There are so many things that I'll just give up. I actually thought about this questionnaire when I couldn't sleep (laughs)

131) What do you think about while brushing your teeth? I imagine that there's red paint on my teeth, and then I'll imagine how I have to get it off

132) If you only had one week left to live, what would you do? I'd eat a bunch of the foods I like. I'd meet up with the people I like as much as possible. I'd leave a secret audio farewell message for everyone

[itasasubirthday]

ItaSasu Birthday Bash 2024: Prompts and Rules/FAQ

Banner done by @uchihasavior

Dates of posting: June 9th - July 23rd, 2024

Welcome to ItaSasu Birthday Bash 2024! This event is to celebrate Itachi and Sasuke's respective birthdays and content which features either of them. We are more than welcome to the Itachi x Sasuke (ItaSasu/SasuIta) ship, but ships featuring either of them in the dynamic are welcome. Come join us and enjoy the prompt fest. This post has the overview of prompts and rules/FAQ below the cut.

Prompt List

Prompts done by @likorys-shimenawa 

Prompt number, date, and prompt. Pick at least one prompt per day..

🍡 Set 1: Prompts 1-9, June 9-17

1, June 9: Nightmares / Sharing the bed

2, June 10: Uniform / Cross-dressing

3, June 11: First kill / First kiss

4, June 12: Blades / Training

5, June 13: Life or death / Shared mission

6, June 14: Kintsugi / Origami

7, June 15: Summons / Pets

8, June 16: Funeral / Birthday

9, June 17: free prompt day, break and catch up

🍡 Set 2: Prompts 10-18, June 18-26

10, June 18: Keepsake / Promise

11, June 19: Initiation / Embrace

12, June 20: Choking / Cuddling

13, June 21: Separation / Sightseeing

14, June 22: Sensory loss / Blind date

15, June 23: Night terrors / Illusions

16, June 24: Scars / Transformation

17, June 25: Memory loss / Anniversary

18, June 26: free prompt day, break and catch up

🍡 Set 3: Prompts 19-27, June 27-July 5 🍅

19, June 27: Hair cutting / Braids

20, June 28: Ceremony / Sacrifice

21, June 29: Loneliness / Festivals

22, June 30: Disguise / Dolls

23, July 1: De-aging / Growing old

24, July 2: Injury / Recovery

25, July 3: Failure / Promotion

26, July 4: Ghosts / Legacy

27, July 5: free prompt day, break and catch up

🍅 Set 4: Prompts 28-36, July 6-13

28, July 6: Bed-rest / Sickness

29, July 7: Kemonomimi / Storm

30, July 8: Panic attack / Teamwork

31, July 9: Arranged marriage / Soulmates

32, July 10: Paper lanterns / Fire

33, July 11: Butterflies / Needles

34, July 12: Wires / Puppets

35, July 13: Toys / Mind control

36, July 14: free prompt day, break and catch up

🍅 Set 5: Prompts 37-45, July 15-23

37, July 15: Betrayal / Vows

38, July 16: Team effort / Isolation

39, July 17: Children / Reincarnation

40, July 18: Stargazing / Exile

41, July 19: Change of season / Time-loop

42, July 20: White Day / Starvation

43, July 21: Cooking / Poison

44, July 22: Garden / Trap

45, July 23: free prompt day, break and catch up, event wrap up

Please click the jump for our rules/FAQ information. Send us an ask if you have a question. We hope you have fun!

Event Period

ItaSasu Birthday Bash 2024

June 9th - July 23rd, 2024

The event officially begins on June 9th and ends on July 23rd.

The Event

What is the event?

The event is an Itachi/Sasuke ship inspired prompt fest month style of event with a birthday theme. It is respectively for Itachi and Sasuke's birthdays on their own as well.

Do I have to sign up somewhere?

No. You can create works and post works at your will.

Is this a low stress event?

Yes. No pressure. Just posting Itachi/Sasuke or Itachi and Sasuke based content for everyone to enjoy.

How did the event start?

The members on the ItaSasu Discord server decided on the dates and put together a list of prompts. Prompts were randomly chosen and their dates. Originally, the idea of the birthday month fest was to celebrate ItaSasu during the time in between Sasuke and Itachi's birthdays. This year, we have opened things up for not only ItaSasu / SasuIta content but content that features either Itachi and Sasuke. This choice was made to give more options for creating works.

Where are all the places the event will be held I can follow?

Click here for our Tumblr.

Click here for our Twitter.

Click here for the ItaSasu Birthday Bash AO3 collection.

The ItaSasu Discord server

Server Discord link: https://discord.gg/sZAmmTMSDt

Do I have to be on the ItaSasu Discord server to join the event?

You do not have to be on the server. Anyone who isn’t using Discord can join in on the event and fill out the prompts. Participate in the way you want to participate.

I have a question that isn’t answered here!

Feel free to send an ask to this account or join our ItaSasu Discord server for questions you need answered for the event. In #events on the server you can discuss your work or ask questions.

Content

What types of media are allowed?

Anything you want to create is allowed. Fic, art, comics, icons, edits, moodboards, manips, headcanons, physical crafts, media, video, audio, etc.

What does “birthday” mean in the context on this event?

Birthday can mean anything from singing a cheerful happy birthday to receiving a wonderful present. It can mean something fluffy and sweet with characters coming closer together. It can be sad feelings someone forgot their birthday, or life isn't going quite right on a birthday. Birthdays can be full of memories. It is a nostalgic time of the year. Birthdays naturally lend different moods or surroundings as the year pass and things change overtime. Itachi and Sasuke have a relationship which hits these changes with their age and experience, so you can hit whichever side of the changes you want to tackle.

Do I have to use the birthday theme in my work?

It isn’t mandatory to use a birthday theme as a central focus alongside your prompt. But in the same vein as the theme, you can make your work completely birthday-themed with the listed prompts so it does take place during the birthday occasions, or you can give your work nods to a birthday theme in spirit. We are flexible on how this is done and how you want to handle your prompts.

Are OCs allowed?

Yes. Put your OCs in your work in any way you want.

Can I create works for just Sasuke or Itachi on their own?

Yes. You can create works for them separately.

Which ships are allowed?

ItaSasu / SasuIta content is of course allowed! Ships that include Itachi and Sasuke in some way are allowed as well. For example, you can create Itachi/Shisui or Sasuke/Naruto if that hits your fancy.

Are polyamory/threesome ships allowed?

Poly ships which include either Itachi or Sasuke or both of them somewhere in the relationship dynamic are allowed. For example, a poly ship could be Sasuke/Naruto/Sakura or Itachi/Sasuke/Shisui.

Can there be background characters and ships?

Yes. You can include background characters or ships that don't have Itachi or Sasuke in them. Itachi or Sasuke focused content or a ship with them should still have some type of content in your work.

Besides Naruto, can I include works with Boruto, AUs, or crossovers?

Yes, you can include them in your works, or other fandoms.

What will not be tolerated?

Hateful, offensive, or inflammatory content aimed towards other participants or the subject of the event. As long as content doesn’t bash or insult other participants for the content of their work (e.g. ships, characters, choice of tropes) and stays relevant to the atmosphere of the birthday bash, you can create for it.

Prompts

How many prompts do I have to use a day?

At least one prompt. We have only one prompt per line this time, so this prompt should be the one that is used in some interpretation.

Can I do more than one work per day?

Yes, of course you can!

Is there a length requirement?

No. You can create a work of any length.

Can I mix the types of content I want to create?

Mixing media types for separate prompts, or for the same prompt, is fine. You can write a fic for one prompt and create art for another prompt.

Is NSFW or trigger content allowed?

Absolutely! Do what you want with NSFW tropes, kinks, or triggering content. We do not have specific content restrictions or ratings for what you can create, so any type of ratings is fine to create.

Should I tag my work for sensitive content?

We ask you to tag your work appropriately for content like violence or sexual themes across the platform you post your works on. Warnings for triggers and NSFW count. Redirect to other sites for NSFW content that can’t be posted on Tumblr, give warnings in tweets, or put cuts on content that might need a cut, etc. The ItaSasu Discord server has NSFW channels for NSFW content.

Does my work have to be new for the event?

Ideally, your work should be a new work for the event so your work can properly focus on the prompts we have provided here. All content should stand as a full work for the event and does not need other works for the content to make sense. However, if you want to draw inspiration from another work, you can use WIPs you haven’t posted yet or separate the entry into a unique and standalone work.

What should I do on the free prompt/break day option?

You can use any trope, kink, or idea you have in mind that otherwise appeals to you for a prompt of your choice. This day is helpful if you aren’t interested in the other prompts on the list or you want to work on something that might not fit the themes for ships or characters. You may work on prompts you need to for other days as well, or you can take a break from working on prompts. This day is very lenient.

Posting

Where can I post my work?

Anywhere you want! Tumblr, Twitter, AO3, FFN, Dreamwidth, etc. You can add your works to our ItaSasu Birthday Bash AO3 subcollection.

Can I submit my work to the Tumblr blog?

You can submit your work on the blog. You may send a message to us after a few days if we don’t post your work and make sure we received it, but we will do our best to post your submission as soon as we can. Submissions might close after the prompt period is finished and you won’t be able to submit anymore, so you’ll have to post those work entries without submitting them if that happens.

How can I make it easier to share my work?

Tumblr: Long posts can go behind cuts so it’s easier to share it. Put event tags in the first five tags. Submissions with NSFW content in the post may not be possible to post on the event blog since Tumblr doesn’t allow posting NSFW content, so please host that elsewhere and share a link to that content.

Twitter: Put warnings of important content in the first tweet of your thread, or at least somewhere that can be found easily if you post it in another tweet.

General: You should have content tags in place that can be seen.Include links to your works or tags. Art can have crops if you want to exclude NSFW in an image, and fics can have descriptive information like a summary or notes.

Where can I tag the event so my work will be retweeted/reblogged?

Tumblr: @ itasasubirthday​  

Twitter: @ itasasubirthday​

Post on the ItaSasu Discord server in #events or separate NSFW channels.

What tags should I use?

AO3: ItaSasu Birthday Bash, ItaSasu Birthday Bash 2023

Twitter, Tumblr, elsewhere: #ItaSasuBirthdayBash or #ItaSasuBirthdayBash2024

You can tag the prompt day such as #ItaSasuBirthdayBashDay1

Can I post early?

Please don’t post your works too early. Start posting works at whatever time is June 9th in your timezone. Or another timezone. Close enough.

Can I post my work late?

Late submissions are perfectly acceptable and encouraged even if you do them months after the event. We will still happily reblog/retweet your work as long as we see it after the event. We may see your works in the tags for the event at some point, but the best way for us to see your late work is to tag us directly.

Tags for @faneventshub

[frankendykes-monster]

Jilian Kirby, Jack Kirby's granddaughter, posted this writing by Neil Kirby (father/son respectively) in which he responds to the new Stan Lee documentary currently available to view on Disney+:

"The 13th century Islamic poet/scholar Rumi said, "The Ego is a veil between humans and God." In the Disney+ documentary bio of Stan Lee, the veil is lifted. Presented in the first person with Lee's voice providing a running narrative, it is Stan Lee's greatest tribute to himself. The literary expression of ego is the personal pronoun "I." Any decent English or Journalism teacher would admonish their students not to overuse it. So, the challenge is extended to anyone who wishes to count the number of "I's" during the 86-minute running time of Stan Lee.

I (oooops!) understand that, as a "documentary about Stan Lee," most of the narrative is in his voice, literally and figuratively. It's not any big secret that there has always been controversy over the parts that were played in the creation and success of Marvel's characters. Stan Lee had the fortunate circumstance to have access to the corporate megaphone and media, and he used these to create his own mythos as to the creation of the Marvel character pantheon. He made himself the voice of Marvel. So, for several decades he was the "only" man standing, and blessed with a long life, the last man standing (my father died in 1994). It should also be noted and is generally accepted that Stan Lee had a limited knowledge of history, mythology, or science. On the other hand, my father's knowledge of these subjects, to which I and many others can personally attest, was extensive, was extensive. Einstein summed it up better; "More the knowledge, lesser the ego. Lesser the knowledge, more the ego."

If you were to look at a list and timeline of Marvel's characters from 1960 through 1966, the period in which the vast majority of Marvel's major characters were created during Lee's tenure, you will see Lee's named as a co-creator on every character, with the exception of the Silver Surfer, solely created by my father. Are we to assume Lee had a hand in creating every Marvel character? Are we to assume that it was never the other co-creator that walked into Lee's office and said, "Stan, I have a great idea for a character!" According to Lee, it was always his idea. Lee spends a fair amount of time talking about how and why he created the Fantastic Four, with only one fleeting reference to my father. Indeed, most comics historians recognize that my father based the Fantastic Four on a 1957 comic he created for DC, "Challengers of the Unknown," even naming Ben Grimm (The Thing) after his father Benjamin, and Sue Storm after my older sister Susan.

Through the conflict between Lee and my father concerning creator credit gets glanced over with little mention, there is more attention paid to the strife between Lee and Steve Ditko, with Lee's voice proclaiming, "it was my idea*, therefore I created the character," Spiderman [sic]. In 1501, the Opera del Duomo commissioned a 26-year-old Michelangelo to sculpt a statue of David for the Cathedral of Florence - their idea, their money. The statue is called Michelangelo's David - his genius, his vision, his creativity.

I was very fortunate. My father worked at home in his Long Island basement studio we referred to as "The Dungeon," usually 14 - 16 hours a day, seven days a week. Most of the artists, writers, inkers, etc. worked at home, not in the Marvel offices as depicted in the program. Through middle and high school, I was able to stand at my father's left shoulder, peer through a cloud of cigar smoke, and witness the Marvel Universe being created. I am by no means a comics historian, but there are few, if any, that have personally seen or experienced what I have, and know the truth with first-hand knowledge.

My father retired from comic books in the early 1980's, and of course passed away in 1994. Lee had over 35 years of uncontested publicity, much, naturally, with the backing and blessing of Marvel as he boosted the Marvel brand as a side effect of boosting himself. The decades of Lee's self-promotion culminated with his cameo appearances in over 35 Marvel films starting with "X-Men" in 2000, thus cementing his status as the creator of all things Marvel to an otherwise unknowing movie audience of millions, unfamiliar with the true history of Marvel comics. My father's first screen credit didn't appear until the closing crawl at the end of the film adaptation of Iron Man in 2008**, after Stan Lee, Don Heck, and Larry Lieber. The battle for creator's rights has been around since the first inscribed Babylonian tablet. It's way past time to at least get this one chapter of literary/art history right. 'Nuff said.

Comparison of the origins for The Challengers of The Unknown and The Fantastic Four, both involving the teams coming together in an altruistic fashion after a near death experience in a plane/ship crash, as presented in Showcase #6 (1957) and The Fantastic Four #1 (1961) respectively:

*Spider-Man is a Jack Kirby concept that originated between Joe Simon and C.C. Beck named "Silver Spider." Ditko has commonly stated that it bared too much similarity to The Fly, a character Kirby previously worked on at Archie, hence the change of hands on the project to Ditko. So far the presentation page and six page story Kirby did have been hidden by Marvel, with this Ditko drawing being our closest approximate:

**Kirby is credited in X-Men (2000) under "The Producers wish to thank the following for their assistance:"

[ride-thedragon]

I see Laena casting discourse again. They really did age her up unnecessarily, and I do think it was to communicate how bad the whole picking child bride thing is while making her a suitable (young) match for Daemon. I genuinely remember the sheer disbelief that she was teen Laena.

Milly and Emily are Rhaenyra and Alicent from ages 14 to 20, respectively, somewhere in that timeline they become Emma and Olivia's versions of the characters. Nova is Laena from 12 to about 15, and then from 16 to 20-ish, she's played by Savannah, who then passes over to Nanna until 26, Laena is at best 26 when she dies. It's a less similar time frame for Laenor who , as much as I love young Laenor, should've been played by the same (teen) actor as he and Rhaenyra are the same age.

Back to Laena, I think they should've just casted younger and kept 1 Laena for youth and one Laena for adulthood like the other girls. Yes, she's younger but not young enough to need that much of a difference between episodes 1 and 5. I'm not promoting the sick comedy of Daemon and Youngest Laena, but that's the general point. You can't want to show the world we're in with Viserys and Rhaenys and then falter when it's Daemon's turn. Those actresses do not have a 4 year age gap. Even casting an older actress in both parts but changing their styling would make sense.

I'm not upset because I adore every Laena actor. They looked and found the prettiest actors they could, and they DIDN'T DISAPPOINT, but it was biased storytelling.

I think this was a case where hiring a young actress and allowing costumes and acting to tell a story would've worked beautifully.

Another way it would've worked was seeing as production and filming takes so long, hiring a young actress and filming baby laena at the start and teen Laena at the end of filming.

Are there no black 14/15/16 year old actors to hire?

I also don't like the fact that they cast Laena with much older actors when they are done with that initial point.

Nova is 14 now, and Savannah is 28. Nanna is 37.

They were 10/11, 25/26, and 34/35, respectively, while filming.

Respectfully that's insane.

They are playing 12, 16, and 26.

It's a clear oversight and is weird because yet again, they didn't consider the implication of a 16 year old black girl going after a 30+ year old prince. Or the idea of going from casting Laena with an actress younger than her age to two actresses a decade apart from her canon age.

Anyways: Casting 101

When 2 actors represent the spectrum of ages, your character is at (10 to 26), maybe cast between them for a teen version.

I don't like the inconsistent casting. I genuinely think the only reason I don't hate it more is because of the fact that the inconsistent costumes piss me off more.

No hate to the actresses again. This is about character continuity and not at all a reflection of their performances. They are our Laena's and the reasons we wish we got more of the character.

[varenykmeson]

The ages in Gungrave games and Gungrave anime do not match up: an unhinged rant

Hello and welcome to "Varenykmeson goes on a long tirade about discrepancies in ages of fictional characters".

Apologies for any mistakes (English is not my native language) and strap in because this post gets pretty long:

The games tell us little to nothing so I had to refer to the Gungrave Archives, copy of which I do not possess, and therefore had to scrape off all the following information from this video on YT and especially this page (approx. 7:00 time mark):

Even though the quality of the screenshot is pretty ... bad, with some desperate squinting you can dig up this information:

Beyond the Grave - Age: 29 (at time of death) Mika Asagi - Age: 14 Dr. T (Tokioka) - Age: Late 50's Bob Poundmax - Age: Around 33 Balladbird Lee - Age: Around 35 (unfortunately, the paragraph for Bear Walken is an accidental copy of Bunji's. Shame.) Bunji Kugashira - Age: Around 36 Harry McDowell - Age: 42 Big Daddy - Age: Mid 50's (at the beginning of the story) Maria Asagi - Age: 29 (at the beginning of the story)

Now, is that consistent with the information in the anime?

Well-

When it comes to Brandon himself, according to his tombstone in episode 15 he died at age 27, which is slightly off.

(also on an unrelated note, damn, the anime is taking place really far in the future and also guess we now have an official date for the infamous elevator incident :( )

Mika is mostly likely 13 years old (or 12 and approaching 13) in the anime as in episode 18 Bear and Lee say that Brandon has been dead for 13 years. Also, in episode 17 Maria says that "it's been our 13th winter here".

If we try to figure out Harry's age then things get slightly messy because from episode 26 we know that he is the same age as Brandon (he pulls out a 43 year old bottle of bourbon and says it was made the same year he and Brandon were born). However that contradicts the fact that Brandon died aged 27 and then is "dead" for the next 13 years, therefore Harry should be 40. To make things even "worse", when Harry pulled the same bourbon trick on Big Daddy in episode 15, which takes place shortly after Brandon's death, he claims that the bottle is 28 years old. Help.

Now this section might get somewhat unhinged.

In episode 7 Bob compiles a file on Bunji, which is also shown on screen.

The whole thing is full of grammatical mistakes and general nonsense, but the first line says "This man appears to be in his 15 years old and has the characteristic skin." (????), which,

well,

if that information is true then this is the roughest anime teenager I've seen in my whole life (and i've seen the Stardust Crusaders OVA).

Now, in episode 15 Widge tells Maria that Brandon was 17/18 when he worked for him and Gary, which means that in episode 7 (which as the name implies takes place "5 years later") Brandon must've been 22 or 23. If you pair that with the fact that he dies at 27 and returns 13 years later, then approximately 18 years have passed between Bunji's introduction in episode 7 and episode 17 (5 years of working with Brandon + 13 years during which Brandon is presumed "completely dead") in which the anime timeline arrives to the plot of the first game, and Bunji would be somewhere in his mid 30's.

On the other hand the ages for Bob and Lee do not add up at all.

They are both introduced in episode 5 and the issue is pretty much evident right away as if we went by the ages in the book, they both would be younger than Bunji (33 and 35 respectively). Since Bunji is approx. 15 in the episode 7, here he would be a measly 10 year old and these two definitely aren't children.

Also, in the english dub Lee introduces himself as "Balladbird Lee, Esquire", which means this bastard is already a full fledged lawyer (however, in English subtitles for the Japanese dub there was no mention of this and he introduces himself just by his name).

As for Maria, we know that in episode 6 she is atleast 15 or 16 because Jester adopts her as an infant (shown in episode 3) and Big Daddy tells Brandon that it happened 15 years ago. However, in episode 25 Harry says that she seems to be same age or older than him and in episode 7 she tells Brandon that she used to view him as her "little brother".

I don't think there's been any mention of Dr. T's or Big Daddy's age.

TL;DR: help.

[plethoraworldatlas]

Immigrants helped build this country, a fact no amount of racism or xenophobia can erase. Immigrants, including children, work in fields and factories, driving our economy. A group of immigrant men were working late last Tuesday night, filling potholes on Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge.

At 1:27 am, the Dali, a massive cargo vessel, 948-feet long and laden with roughly 4,700 shipping containers, lost power and rammed into the bridge, causing it to collapse. Two survived the disaster, six died. Only two of their bodies have been recovered from the cold, murky water of the Patapsco River.

Their tragic deaths occurred as increased immigrant arrivals are being exploited by former President Donald Trump and his right-wing extremist allies to foment division and to boost Trump’s presidential campaign. Just hours after the bridge collapse, FoxNews host Maria Bartiromo, interviewing Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott, attempted to link the maritime disaster to immigrants at the U.S.’ southern border:

“I want to understand the threats or the potential threats that this country is facing right now given the wide open border, the fact that we don’t know who is in the country. The FBI is looking… to ensure there was no foul play.”

“While we’re being talked about as like this invading horde that’s coming to destroy the country, what does this story actually show us? That immigrants are filling our potholes at night so that we can have a smooth drive to work in the morning.”

This is the same dog-whistle racism that Trump invoked in 2015, launching his first campaign: “When Mexico sends its people…They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.” Trump continues his white supremacist ranting, saying at a recent Ohio campaign rally, “I don’t know if you call them people… These are animals and we have to stop it.”

Maximillian Alvarez, editor-in-chief of the Baltimore-based Real News Network, interviewed coworkers of the deceased. He said on the Democracy Now! news hour, “While we’re being talked about as like this invading horde that’s coming to destroy the country, what does this story actually show us? That immigrants are filling our potholes at night so that we can have a smooth drive to work in the morning.”

The six who died while working on the Key Bridge were hardworking men, from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.

Miguel Luna was a welder, a 49-year-old father and grandfather, a native of the Usulután Department in El Salvador, ravaged by the U.S.-backed Salvadoran military and paramilitaries in the 1980s. He played on the professional soccer team in the town of Berlin in his home region. His widow, Maria del Carmen, owns a food truck. Miguel was a beloved member of his community.

Miguel and another victim of the collapse, Maynor Suazo Sandoval, were members of CASA, an immigrant rights non-profit founded in 1986 to build solidarity with those impacted by the U.S.-backed violence in Central America. CASA wrote, “Maynor migrated from Honduras over 17 years ago, and he alongside his brother Carlos were active members in the activist committee of Owings Mills… Carlos said ‘He was always so full of joy, and brought so much humor to our family.’ He was a husband, and father of two.”

Details are still emerging of the other named victims, Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, of Mexico and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, of Guatemala. Their bodies were found inside a pickup truck, submerged in the river. Two more victims, also reportedly from Mexico and Guatemala, remain unnamed by their respective governments.

Details are still emerging of the other named victims, Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, of Mexico and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, of Guatemala. Their bodies were found inside a pickup truck, submerged in the river. Two more victims, also reportedly from Mexico and Guatemala, remain unnamed by their respective governments.

Millions of enslaved people also built this country, a point worth remembering as we mourn the immigrant laborers on the Key Bridge. The bridge was named after Francis Scott Key since, while watching the British navy bombard Fort McHenry in 1814, not far from where the bridge was built in the 1970s, Key wrote the poem that would become the national anthem. His poem has four stanzas, the first made famous as “The Star Spangled Banner.” Key was a slave owner, and denounced those who fled enslavement in 1814 to fight against the United States, for the British, who promised them freedom in return.

“No refuge could save the hireling and slave, From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,” Key wrote in his poem, words left out of the national anthem, but which nevertheless noticeably rhyme with “Land of the free and home of the brave.” This should be considered by those tasked with naming the replacement bridge.

The lives of Miguel and the five other workers have been cut short, but the hatred of immigrants, sadly, is alive, well and growing this election year. Pledges from President Joe Biden to quickly open Baltimore’s port to commerce parallel campaign rhetoric on both sides to “shut down” the southern border to people seeking asylum.

“Immigrants like Miguel are building bridges to connect communities, not building walls to divide them,” CASA wrote, eulogizing Miguel Luna. Let those words inspire an embrace of immigrant communities, an anthem we can all rally around.

[necromancers-incorporated]

Magnus Protocol Thoughts So Far (by episode)

EPISODE ONE: FIRST SHIFT

1. Alice and Teddy obviously quite close

2. Reference to app — Colin outright angry at someone

3. Alice created them???

4. Alice spoken about Sam a lot

5. WHATS WITH THE FOOD LENA

6. Lena on about importance of organisation

7. Never getting out of here Colin?

8. Gwen vs Lena go go go

9. Alice accusing Gwen of nepotism

10. Pub name is Steward

11. DID THE WORK STATION TURN ON BY ITSELF LIKE THE TAPE RECORDERS

12. Response one to one? Hm? Old response department??

13. Colin what do you know about Freddy!?

14. Norris = Martin's voice – strangely human

15. Figure in cemetery = stranger and/or flesh?

16. Email from H? Who is H? Suspicious.

17. Gwen likes her job? Hates it?

18. Enemies to lovers Gwen and Alice go go go

19. Gwen vs Lena again go go go

20. Get her ass Gwen go get that job girlboss

21. What does climbing the ladder entail Lena? Hm?

22. Camera zooming noises!!!

23. Colin does not sound pleased about the app

24. Colin and Alice clearly close

25. Colin speaks German and is vegetarian funsies

26. AWFUL TERRIBLE THINGS LAND PEOPLE THERE WHAT WAS GWEN'S HELP

27. RED CANARY RED CANARY GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT

28. Mag Institute in Manchester?

29. PICTURES DONT WORK AND PARANOIA

30. Burnt down 20 years ago hmmmm

31. ASYLUM OR PRISON HM?

32. Brutal pipe murder stains?

33. Camera not working? Distorted?

34. Got doxed hm interesting interesting

35. Yes. Yes they should. Keep canaries above ground please.

36. EYES

37. Aw Gwen checking on Sam

38. Chester = Jon's voice saying GET THE FUCK OUT

39. What do you know about the institute Sam?

40. Hah! Gwendolyn

41. Hmmm Alice talking about having victims...

42. Colin talking to the fucking computers who are you trying to find

43. GWEN BOUCHARD FUCKING *BOUCHARD

**EPISODE TWO: MAKING ADJUSTMENTS

1. Gwen why do you know all this shit

2. Hm how long have you been there Gwen?

3. Obsession with perfectionism

4. What the fuck do you mean Lena is firing people!?

5. Why isn't Gwen respected? Hm? Nepotism reference again?

6. Alice's brother in a band?? Dredgerman?

7. Sam why are you so curious hm!?

8. DO NOT FUCK AROUND AND FIND OUT DO NOT

9. Ink5soul definitely going to come back, love them for that

**EPISODE THREE: PUTTING DOWN ROOTS

1. A dot jmj error? Hm? Colin thinks it's sentient?

2. Alice and Colin buddies love that

3. Colin doesn't like central IT hm I wonder why

4. Why is he so against giving the computer a personality?

5. Colin is so fucking Scottish istg

6. Dr. Samuel Webber has a grief counsellor

7. 13 Marigold Drive (Webber's address), 12 Castle Hill Avenue (Gerald Andrews), Madie Webber is deceased

8. More paranoia nice

9. Community watch you say?

10. Hmmm corruption vibes...

11. I feel like the garden might come back later like Ink5oul

12. ALICE STOP PREDICTING YOUR OWN DEATH PLEASE

**EPISODE FOUR: TAKING NOTES

1. Sam what are you looking into hm!?

2. MAGNUS AND PROTOCOL WHAT DOES THAT MEAN

3. Why were other people looking into it?

4. Alice what do you know about the Magnus Institute!? WHAT IS STARKWALL!? MASSACRE? PRIVATE MILITARY SHIT!? WHAT

5. Why is Gwen so against naming the voices too? She knows something I'm sure of it

6. Augustus hmmm who are you

7. Go old man go, go murder your teacher slay

8. STRANGE MUSIC YOU SAY HMM LIKE THE CALLIOPE

9. BEING PUPPETED ABOUT HM? WEB MUCH!

10. Evil violin man in the woods he will return again

11. The face of fortune? Is Fortune a new entity or something?

12. Player and instrument roles are blurred hmmmm

13. Hmmm murdering students HOW

14. Violin = ye old Grifter's Bone

15. Violin more like violence (aka mass murder)

16. Ooh yay more eye gore FUN

17. I wonder what the nephew did with the violin

18. WHAT OTHER STORIES HAS AUGUSTUS READ

19. Gwen and Alice's vibes I eat that shit up

20. LENA WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU KILL KLAUS!?

**EPISODE FIVE: PERSONAL SCREENING

1. What the fuck is wrong with you Colin (affectionate)

2. CAMERAS CAMERAS CAMERAS PARANOIA EYES EYES BEING WATCHED LENA IM WATCHING YOU

3. WHY ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT KEEPING SECRETS LENA HM?

4. Sam what have we said about fucking around and finding out. Just gonna fill it out anyway ffs goddammit

5. Lonely you say? Interesting.

6. ONE MAN'S TRASH IS ANOTHER MAN'S TRERROR TMA EP 5 REFERENCE

7. Why are all the posts deleted?

8. Voyeur? Hm. Ha. Eyes.

9. 2009? The same year you started your horror blog?

10. Oh they just found your address did they? Not raising any suspicions?

11. HA ITS THE SAME CINEMA THAT YOU THOUGHT WAS CLOSED HOW NORMAL

12. Adding "getting babadooked" to my vocabulary now

13. My guy is just insulting the cinema alright pal

14. Oh haha unintelligible hmmm. No.

15. ITS WHATS ON THE INSIDE THAT MATTERS IS IT

16. SAME OLD GUY DOING EVERYTHING

17. Stop it with the fucking "unintelligible"

18. SOUNDS FAMILIAR DOES IT HM I WONDER WHY

19. YES YOU FUCKING KNOW THAT ROOM OF COURSE YOU DO

20. Fuck off who is there watching you. I'll put money on the fact that it's Lena or smth

21. Oh, definitely not him posting that last message

22. More Alice and Luke, giving some real Tim vibes now. Living jn FEAR

23. Gwen stop lurking and being secretive

24. You're right Alice, something is very wrong.

**EPISODE SIX: INTRODUCTIONS

1. Aww sleepy Sam

2. Why are you warning him against the coffee Alice?

3. WORKED THERE FOR ALMOST A DECADE ALICE? SERIOUSLY?

4. Ah yes. The true enemy is the sun. Of course.

5. Sam is a cat confirmed (mlem)

6. NEW HIRE NEW HIRE NEW HIRE

7. Haha eating people. Fun. Christmas party episode?

8. Gwen is not pleased by the new hire, who is shocked

9. I've decided that Gwen = Jon, Alice = Tim, Sam = Martin

10. Fuck me I hate needles so much they freak me out god (haha phobias being played on now)

11. Needles is such a funky little guy he is trying his best and is so calm and chilled

12. Creepy creepy creepy

13. HOLES AND NEEDLES STOP PLEASE

14. Oh you grew up there? Are we gonna get some lore?

15. Ah. You are the reason it is unsafe.

16. WHAT DO YOU MEAN MARKED? MARKED BY WHAT?

17. Definitely feeding on something. Hahahaha. Stop.

18. STOP WITH THE NEEDLES IN EYES I FEEL SICK

19. Poor Needles no fear for you to eat :(

20. Needles is going to fuck me up

21. "You're clearly not well" STOP

22. This man has fear maths

23. Ha. Cuddles. No.

24. I feel very unwell

25. "Maybe they'll kill again" ALICE PLEASE STOP

26. IS THAT SCARY ALICE? HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN THERE?

27. Ha. Lena the big bird.

28. CELIA FROM THE CULT WITH MELANIE AND GEORGIE

29. WHAT'S WITH THE FUCKING FOOD LENA WHY MUST THEY BEEN EATEN ON SITE

30. Why do you know what's in the interviews Alice? Why do you know it changed?

31. Nightmares?

32. Gwen is so fucking mean I love her

33. "Four weirdos in a basement reading scary stories" my my isn't that familiar

34. Celia = Sasha

35. Hm yeah sure you won't get attached Alice

36. Food as a love language Sam

37. ALICE WHY DO YOU HAVE YOUR OWN HIDDEN FOOD

38. Sam with a crush on Celia funsies

39. Tall Alice confirmed

**EPISODE SEVEN: GIVE AND TAKE

1. Celia why are you asking so many questions about the voices?

2. REFERENCING THE FUCKING FEARS ALREADY OKAY (defo tma Celia)

3. Big sister Alice

4. HILLTOP HILLTOP HILLTOP

5. WHAT HAPPENED AT HILLTOP

6. This one is reading a lot like the old statements

7. No name? Hm? A...stranger?

8. Another stranger? Interesting.

9. Weird fucking donations. OK.

10. Ha! Teeth.

11. Are these the kids from Dr. Elliott's class?

12. Haha. No keys. That's not disturbing at all.

13. All for a good cause? I think the fuck not.

14. MOULDY FOOD PLEASE NO

15. Okay. Stop. Freaking out with this claustrophobia.

16. Gunshots? Excuse me?

17. Very very much like the old statements. Celia, want to tell us something?

18. HILLTOP ON FIRE IS IT? OH. I WONDER WHY.

19. OH MY GOD WAS IT STARKWELL IS THIS THE STARKWELL GROUP

20. YOU RECOGNISE CHESTER'S VOICE!? FUCK OFF

21. NOBODY IMORTANT NOBODY FUCKING IMPORTANT

22. JON! WHY ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT JON, SAM!?

23. GWEN WHAT DO YOU HAVE!?

24. OH YOU ARE SHOWING ALL YOUR CARDS RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW BITCH

25. LENA WHAT THE FUCK

26. Okay so she killed him in self defence.

27. WHAT SOURCE GWEN!?

28. Ah. Of course. It's all for the job.

29. Oh, Gwen. Don't get involved. Please don't.

30. EXTERNAL LIASON? REAL WORK?

[alkaliineee]

Is that COCO JONES? Oh, no, that’s JORDYN CARTER, a TWENTY-SIX year old MUSICIAN who uses SHE/HER pronouns. They currently live in PALMERAS DEL PARAÍSO in VIÑA DEL MAR, and the character they identify with most is JESSICA RABBIT from WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT. Hopefully they find their own little paradise here in el país de los poetas! 

BASIC STATS .

FULL NAME . jordyn grace carter

NICKNAME(S) . j.c, jo, jordi

AGE/BIRTHDAY/ZODIAC . 26 / july 25th / leo

SEXUALITY . bisexual

BIRTHPLACE . new orleans, louisiana

HEIGHT . 5‘9

EYES . brown

PEIRCINGS . ears. TATTOOS . leo sign on the inside of her middle finger.

FC . coco jones

FAMILY  .

FIRST LAST ( relation, alive/deceased )

james carter (father/alive)

nora carter (mother/deceased)

-- carter (brother/29-35/alive)

levi carter (twin/deceased)

-- carter (sibling/23-25/alive)

-- carter (sibling/21-22/alive)

OTHER CONNECTIONS   .

TBA

EDUCATION   .

high school diploma

LANGUAGES   .

english. french. spanish.

WORK   .

Position .

musician

coco jones discography claim.

tbd discography claim.

FAVORITE   .

ANIMALS. dolphins. lions. sea otters. COLOURS. purple. gold. blue. DESSERTS. pralines. beignets. bananas foster. apple crisp. strawberry shortcake. cronuts. DRINKS. iced lattes. vodka. tequila. iced tea. cold pressed juice. smoothies. FRUIT. apples. strawberries. blackberries. peaches. HOLIDAY. mardi gras. ICE CREAM. pralines and cream. strawberry. vanilla bean. salted caramel. MUSIC GENRES. r&b. pop. soul. jazz.  SCENTS. vanilla. amber. driftwood. cedarwood. SEASON. summer. SNACKS. apple slices with peanut butter. french fries. avocado toast. snoball. kettle chips. fish tacos. WEATHER. sunny.

AESTHETIC   .

what are words? here is her pinterest instead.

PERSONALITY   .

+ charasmatic

+ loyal

+ observant

- dramatic

- stubborn

- tardy

BACKGROUND .

jordyn was third born ( shy of second born by just a few minutes and you would never hear her claim to be a middle child; that was an energy she just wouldn’t accept, ) to a couple who made you believe in love just by seeing their daily interactions. their home was always one filled with the padding of little feet, boisterous laughter and sticky fingers and she couldn’t imagine growing up any other way.

her mother was a singer at a jazz club, her father a chef, and the passion they both held for their respective careers was the kindling to jordyn’s own passion for music and cooking. she always loved helping her parents and siblings in the kitchen; even if at times it made more work for them, and watching her mother sing was a core memory for her. if they were all good and had all of their homework completed their father would take them to see her perform on the weekends, the six of them tucked into a booth, jordyn’s eyes wide and gleaming with awe.

tw: cancer & death mention. no matter how much she loved the idea of singing, making a career out of music always felt too daunting of a task, even if she had the support of her family behind her; but that changed shortly after her mother was diagnosed with throat cancer, because then it wasn’t just her dream, but her mothers too. jordyn was sixteen when her mother passed, and while utterly devastated she wasn’t going to break the promise of following through with their dreams. after graduating high school she moved to LA with levi in tow, his own producer career stuck in his sights.

we are skimming over the beginnings of. her music career / life in LA because hello my brain, but we know the importants, she signed with a label, was doing gigs, working in the studio, doing all the fun LA girl things, runyon canyon, beach days, drinking overpriced smoothies; yadayada all that fun stuff.

tw: car accident, drowning & death mention. jordyn and levi always went back home for christmas; no matter how busy their schedules had become, it had always been a family affair and usually one of the only times they all managed to be together under the same roof, so they always carved out the week to be able to spend adequate time with their father and siblings. the year after they turned 25 was no different. until it was. they were driving and reminiscing the day before they returned to LA, no clear destination in mind when they were run off the road by a drunk driver, except it wasn’t just a road but a bridge. the car started to sink and when jordyn looked over, levi was unconscious and with seatbelts that wouldn’t budge there was nothing she could do, and the car kept on sinking beneath the surface. as luck would have it, a good samaritan saw them go over the edge of the bridge and when jordyn was hanging on to the brink of consciousness he came to the twins aid, breaking jordyn’s window and cutting her free from her seatbelt, he had managed to get her to the surface, the wail of sirens heard off in the distance, but by the time he went back to retrieve levi it had been too late. no amount of cpr could save him and a part of her died right along with him.

for six months she barely functioned, neither new orleans or los angeles were places she could bear to be without her brother, and while she had the support of her other siblings and her father, nothing was the same, so she packed up her apartment and booked a one way ticket far away in hopes that a fresh start would make her fractured heart hurt a little less. a year of therapy later and there are still days where she wants to hide in bed and never come out, but she also has an understanding that more than anything levi would have wanted her to be happy, and now that she’s living for the both of them she’s trying her very best to do by right by him.

HEADCANONS .

very much has a dual personality. her stage/public persona is very confident and outgoing, but those she loves and trusts get to witness a softer side.

hates driving. absolutely haaaates it. will do anything in her power to not be in a vehicle and when she has to her window is always rolled down, doesn't matter the weather and there's a good chance she won't be wearing her seatbelt.

LA made her a beach girly, though since the accident she doesn't get more than her feet wet.

loves cooking. it's something her parents were very passionate about, especially her father and it's just been something that's ingrained into her.

ambivert.

not a huge fan of the gym, it's just not the vibe, but she does love a good hike.

if you've made plans there is a 99% chance that jordyn Will be late, it’s just the way life is.

doesn’t love being alone, growing up with a built in best friend who was essentially attached at the hip didn’t give her a lot of time to figure out how to be lonely without it feeling really uncomfortable, so she tries to surround herself with people when she can.

big fan of having friends over for dinner parties bc it reminds her of home and she doesn’t usually cook a full on spread when it’s just her, so it gives her a great excuse to do a big thing.

calls her father and siblings at least once a week, even if that time is just spent on facetime doing mundane tasks, it lifts her spirits.

you will never catch her without her headphones, she’s always listening to something.

big on going out, usually accompanied by alcohol but she has been known to go to the club just to dance.

constantly taking photos of her friends and loved ones, documenting everything she can because you never know when all you’ll have to remember someone by are the memories.

will be added 2 as my brain produces more things but this is where we are ending it tonight.

WANTED CONNECTIONS .

bestie: this could be someone prior to jordyn moving to valpo or someone who she instantly clicked with since moving here, either way that's her ride or die.

girls girl: who doesn't want a group of baddies to brunch, shop and go out with !! pls give me !!

flirtationship: this could always progress into more depending on the chemistry and whatever, but someone to have a flirty fun time with!

outdoorsy-ish pals: someone who won't curse her for dragging them out to do an all day hike, or even other semi-active type things, beach days, aquarium dates, farmers markets, whathaveyou.

misc: neighbours, enemies, exes (friends or romantic idc), musician friends, party pals !! i'm sure there are more but my brain is dead, we are open to literally just about anything !!!

[wandringaesthetic]

A note about my Final Fantasy IV novelization and ages. For the purposes of my fic I'm going by the vibe I got from them when I was playing the game and using their guidebook ages as suggestions I can choose to accept or reject.

Cecil: canon age is 20. This is not the total nonsense some JRPG ages are, but it's imo a little young. For my purposes, he doesn't know his exact age because he's an orphan, but it's about 25. Still very young to be in the position he's in, but firmly an actual adult. Similar reasoning for Kain and Rosa's ages

Rosa: canon age 19. For parity, she's one year younger than Cecil for the purposes of my fic. She's 24. It doesn't really matter now, but since they all go way back this influences the way Cecil and Kain think of her. A little bit younger and more pure and innocent and in need of protection.

Kain: canon age 21. For my purposes 26. A smidge older than Cecil, which has influenced their dynamic. When they were kids and preteens he was that one hair older and wiser and cooler and stronger and then Cecil surpassed him in most respects

Rydia: 7 at the beginning of the story. Later 17. I am sticking with this.

Tellah: canon age 60. I'm saying a little older. 67? He's one of those guys who could equally plausibly be 60 or 80. Seems like he's been an old man for 20 years and could be an old man for 20 more years. This makes him having a daughter that's ~20 one of the more interesting things about him.

Edward: I'm agreeing with his canon age of 24

Yang: 35. I would have maybe thought a little older (40?) It doesn't really matter though.

Palom & Porom: they are NOT 5, they are NOT. That is NONSENSE. They are 12. They are so 12 years old that you WISH they were 5 years old.

Cid: 54. Yeah, that's about right.

Edge: Canon age is 26, and this is the canon age that bewilders me the most. He's OLDER than Cecil? He has such teenager energy. He is 16 and you cannot convince me otherwise.

FuSoYa: ????? ancient/ ????? ancient

[tdp-fandom]

Shipping Poll Results: 1. General Stats

Next: Favorite Ships (Part 1) · Shipping Poll Main Page

Thank you everyone for waiting! I would like to start with the general statistics.

1.1 General Information

The poll was open from June 1, 2023 til July 22, 2023 and gathered 216 responses. The links to the poll were shared on Tumblr, Twitter, Reddit, Discord (several servers), Instagram, Dreamwidth and later Mastodon.

Please note that with 216 responses, the margin of error is 6.7%, which means that not all of the results will be representative of the fandom as a whole or statistically significant. More on error (link to an explanation I wrote for the S3 shipping poll).

1.2 Where People Found the Poll

Vote breakdown for this question

211 responses out of 216

Tumblr - 77 votes (36.5%)

Twitter - 53 votes (25.1%)

Reddit - 52 votes (24.6%)

Discord - 26 voted (12.3%)

Instagram - 0 votes (0%)

Dreamwidth - 1 vote (0.5%)

Through a friend - 2 votes (0.9%)

5 people skipped the question

Mastodon was not included as a choice.

Discussion

Tumblr has always been the most active hub when it came to the fandom events I organized. Reddit used to be more active in the past. Instagram varied but I didn't expect to get zero responses. This was probably due to changes on Instagram itself, which removed the ability to view new posts. I will probably not post any future events on Instagram.

1.3 Participants' Age

Vote breakdown for this question

207 responses out of 216

13 or younger - 3 votes (1.4%)

14-17 - 36 votes (17.4%)

18-21 - 57 votes (27.5%)

22-25 - 41 votes (19.9%)

26-30 - 38 votes (18.4%)

31-35 - 22 votes (10.6%)

36-40 - 4 votes (1.9%)

41-45 - 4 votes (1.9%)

46-50 - 1 vote (0.5%)

51+ - 1 vote (0.5%)

9 people skipped this question

Discussion

With a small sample size, these results are very likely unrepresentative of the whole fandom, meaning that while the majority of the participants in this survey fall in the age group between 18 and 21 years old, they might not be the actual majority of the active online fanbase.

Moreover, as one participant pointed out, having fixed groups instead of separate ages might skew these results even further.

1.4 When the Participants Joined the Fandom

I can immediate say that I must've worded the options badly, because I got a large number of manual input answers, some of which correspond to my suggested options. For this reason, I made my own pie chart which accounts for that.

Note on the vote options

By "After S1" I mean starting from the release of season 1 until the release of season 2. Thus the hiatus was included in the option "After S3). I will try to word the options more clearly for the next poll.

I didn't originally have the option "Before S1" and added it because three people mentioned that in their responses.

Vote breakdown for this question

212 responses out of 216.

Before S1 - 3 votes (1.4%)

After S1 - 69 votes (32.7%)

After S2 - 29 votes (13.7%)

After S3 - 69 votes (32.7%)

After S4 - 28 votes (13.3%)

Don't remember - 13 votes (6.2%)

4 people skipped the question

Discussion

It appears that seasons 1 and 3 were the main times when people joined the fandom. It makes sense for S1 and 2, since they were released very close to each other (September 2018 and February 2019 respectively) but S4 came after a three year hiatus. I really expected more people to join the fandom after it aired, especially since the poll was held 7 months after its release.

1.5 Relevance of Shipping

Vote breakdown for this question

213 responses out of 216

1 out of 5 - 20 votes (9.4%)

2 out of 5 - 34 votes (16%)

3 out of 5 - 58 votes (27.2%)

4 out of 5 - 64 votes (30%)

5 out of 5 - 37 votes (17.4%)

3 people skipped this question

Discussion

Unsurprisingly, most people taking a survey about shipping do actually care about shipping. However, I'm also glad to see that people to whom shipping isn't as important also took their time to take the survey. Overall, of a scale from 1 to 5, the participants would rate the important of shipping as part of their fandom experience as 3.3.

Next: Favorite Ships (Part 1)

[urbanxfantasy]

Turning NaNoWriMo Prep questions into a meme: 51 Questions You’ve (Probably) Never Asked About Your Characters

1. What does your character do when they think no one’s looking?

2. What’s the one thing your character would save in a fire (beyond the necessities)?

3. Who’s on speed dial?

4. Your character gets turned down for their dream job. What’s their second choice?

5. What would they tell their ten-year-old self?

6. Where would they want to go on a first date?

7. What’s the best advice they’ve ever received?

8. What’s the worst advice they’ve ever received?

9. What’s one physical detail they’d change about themselves?

10. When was the last time they were held? By who?

11. What’s their favorite thing about their favorite season?

12. Their wallet gets stolen. What do they do?

13. Prioritize: Love, money, power, knowledge?

14. What’s something nobody knows about them?

15. What’s in their fridge?

16. What (creature, object, substance) are they most disgusted by?

17. What’s their second worst habit?

18. What are the victory conditions for their life?

19. In the end, your character fails to save the day. Assuming they survive, what do they do?

20. Your character is charged with a crime they didn’t commit. What do they do?

21. Your character is charged with a crime they did commit. What was the crime?

22. How would you describe your character’s life in one sentence?

23. What important statistic would they want displayed above them?

24. What’s the first thing they would buy if they won the lottery?

25. What profession do they most respect?

26. What childhood injustice did they never get over?

27. How would they handle having a panic attack?

28. Your character is burdened with an inconvenient superpower. What is it?

29. If they died and could come back as any person, animal, or object, what would they be?

30. What’s the best meal they’ve ever had?

31. Where would they stand at a dinner party?

32. Who would they invite to the dinner party?

33. What makes a perfect day for your character?

34. If given the opportunity, would they want to know how and when they died?

35. What’s the one thing they’ve always wanted to do? Why haven’t they done it yet?

36. What do they tend to joke about?

37. What’s off limits?

38. Whose wedding would they cross the world to attend? Whose funeral?

39. What impossible choice did they make that turned out to be the right one? The wrong one?

40. Your character has someone to hype them up. What would they say to get everyone excited about your character?

41. What recurring dream does your character have?

42. What is the meaning of life to your character?

43. If your character wrote a NaNo novel, would they be a planner, pantser, or plantser?

44. What book does your character pretend to have read?

45. Someone takes undeserved credit for your character’s work. What do they do?

46. What controversial belief or view does your character hold? Why? Do they hide it?

47. Your character is at a theme park. Where do they go first?

48. What’s your character’s favorite name?

49. What’s the biggest compliment they’d give themselves?

50. How does your character feel about bugs?

51. If your character could hit a reset button on their life, would they?

[doberbutts]

a lot of the characters in Engage are 16-18 barring a couple in their early twenties and a few characters that are obviously supposed to be Old because they've gone full grey, but i think it's almost weirder that out of those two of them are 35 and 40 and the absolute oldest out of them is 60. it's like the character designers don't understand how aging works

Yeah that's my point- your player character is 17/18 and I'd say the bulk of the cast is roughly within that age range so fine.

But then some of them are 20-40 and also look like that age range while others are 30-60 and are fully gray and acting like they're senior citizens. And... that's sort of the point, if all you saw was the character portraits, would you be able to correctly guess who is within the appropriate age range and who isn't? Jean and Anna look pretty close to Framme and Clanne in their portraits which is why it took me until Jean said Clanne was older than him to realize just how young Jean is- I would have guessed they were also little kids otherwise.

But then Seadall, who I romanced, is 23 and again by portrait doesn't really look that much older than Alear, who is 17. And Kagetsu and Zelkov, my second and third choices, are 26 and 28 respectively, and also don't look like they're TEN YEARS OLDER than my player character. Not to mention inappropriate that my 17 year old protag is potentially dating someone who is 11 years their senior.

Like I said. Game devs doing this need to decide if they're catering to kids or to adults, because appealing to adults' taste is all well and good but you CANNOT then have a minor protag or even younger, totally inappropriate for their age, minors also be romanceable. Appeal to the kids OR appeal to the adults, don't try to do both.

[itasasubirthday]

ItaSasu Birthday Bash 2023: Prompts and Rules/FAQ

Banner done by @uchihasavior Dates of posting: June 9th - July 23rd, 2023

Welcome to ItaSasu Birthday Bash 2023! This event is to celebrate Itachi and Sasuke's respective birthdays and content which features either of them. We are more than welcome to the Itachi x Sasuke (ItaSasu/SasuIta) ship, but ships featuring either of them in the dynamic are welcome. Come join us and enjoy the prompt fest. This post has the overview of prompts and rules/FAQ below the cut.

Prompt List

Prompts done by @likorys-shimenawa Prompt number, date, and prompt. Pick at least one prompt per day.. 🍡 Set 1: Prompts 1-9, June 9-17

1, June 9: Nightmares / Sharing the bed

2, June 10: Uniform / Cross-dressing

3, June 11: First kill / First kiss

4, June 12: Blades / Training

5, June 13: Life or death / Shared mission

6, June 14: Kintsugi / Origami

7, June 15: Summons / Pets

8, June 16: Funeral / Birthday

9, June 17: free prompt day, break and catch up

🍡 Set 2: Prompts 10-18, June 18-26

10, June 18: Keepsake / Promise

11, June 19: Initiation / Embrace

12, June 20: Choking / Cuddling

13, June 21: Separation / Sightseeing

14, June 22: Sensory loss / Blind date

15, June 23: Night terrors / Illusions

16, June 24: Scars / Transformation

17, June 25: Memory loss / Anniversary

18, June 26: free prompt day, break and catch up

🍡 Set 3: Prompts 19-27, June 27-July 5 🍅

19, June 27: Hair cutting / Braids

20, June 28: Ceremony / Sacrifice

21, June 29: Loneliness / Festivals

22, June 30: Disguise / Dolls

23, July 1: De-aging / Growing old

24, July 2: Injury / Recovery

25, July 3: Failure / Promotion

26, July 4: Ghosts / Legacy

27, July 5: free prompt day, break and catch up

🍅 Set 4: Prompts 28-36, July 6-13

28, July 6: Bed-rest / Sickness

29, July 7: Kemonomimi / Storm

30, July 8: Panic attack / Teamwork

31, July 9: Arranged marriage / Soulmates

32, July 10: Paper lanterns / Fire

33, July 11: Butterflies / Needles

34, July 12: Wires / Puppets

35, July 13: Toys / Mind control

36, July 14: free prompt day, break and catch up

🍅 Set 5: Prompts 37-45, July 15-23

37, July 15: Betrayal / Vows

38, July 16: Team effort / Isolation

39, July 17: Children / Reincarnation

40, July 18: Stargazing / Exile

41, July 19: Change of season / Time-loop

42, July 20: White Day / Starvation

43, July 21: Cooking / Poison

44, July 22: Garden / Trap

45, July 23: free prompt day, break and catch up, event wrap up

Please click the jump for our rules/FAQ information. Send us an ask if you have a question. We hope you have fun!

Event Period

ItaSasu Birthday Bash 2023 June 9th - July 23rd, 2023 The event officially begins on June 9th and ends on July 23rd.

The Event

What is the event? The event is an Itachi/Sasuke ship inspired prompt fest month style of event with a birthday theme. It is respectively for Itachi and Sasuke's birthdays on their own as well. Do I have to sign up somewhere? No. You can create works and post works at your will. Is this a low stress event? Yes. No pressure. Just posting Itachi/Sasuke or Itachi and Sasuke based content for everyone to enjoy. How did the event start? The members on the ItaSasu Discord server decided on the dates and put together a list of prompts. Prompts were randomly chosen and their dates. Originally, the idea of the birthday month fest was to celebrate ItaSasu during the time in between Sasuke and Itachi's birthdays. This year, we have opened things up for not only ItaSasu / SasuIta content but content that features either Itachi and Sasuke. This choice was made to give more options for creating works. Where are all the places the event will be held I can follow? Click here for our Tumblr. https://itasasubirthday.tumblr.com/ Click here for our Twitter. https://twitter.com/ItaSasuBirthday Click here for the ItaSasu Birthday Bash AO3 collection. https://archiveofourown.org/collections/ItaSasu_Birthday_Bash The ItaSasu Discord server Server Discord link: https://discord.gg/sZAmmTMSDt Do I have to be on the ItaSasu Discord server to join the event? You do not have to be on the server. Anyone who isn’t using Discord can join in on the event and fill out the prompts. Participate in the way you want to participate. I have a question that isn’t answered here! Feel free to send an ask to this account or join our ItaSasu Discord server for questions you need answered for the event. In #events on the server you can discuss your work or ask questions.

Content

What types of media are allowed? Anything you want to create is allowed. Fic, art, comics, icons, edits, moodboards, manips, headcanons, physical crafts, media, video, audio, etc. What does “birthday” mean in the context on this event? Birthday can mean anything from singing a cheerful happy birthday to receiving a wonderful present. It can mean something fluffy and sweet with characters coming closer together. It can be sad feelings someone forgot their birthday, or life isn't going quite right on a birthday. Birthdays can be full of memories. It is a nostalgic time of the year. Birthdays naturally lend different moods or surroundings as the year pass and things change overtime. Itachi and Sasuke have a relationship which hits these changes with their age and experience, so you can hit whichever side of the changes you want to tackle. Do I have to use the birthday theme in my work? It isn’t mandatory to use a birthday theme as a central focus alongside your prompt. But in the same vein as the theme, you can make your work completely birthday-themed with the listed prompts so it does take place during the birthday occasions, or you can give your work nods to a birthday theme in spirit. We are flexible on how this is done and how you want to handle your prompts. Are OCs allowed? Yes. Put your OCs in your work in any way you want. Can I create works for just Sasuke or Itachi on their own? Yes. You can create works for them separately. Which ships are allowed? ItaSasu / SasuIta content is of course allowed! Ships that include Itachi and Sasuke in some way are allowed as well. For example, you can create Itachi/Shisui or Sasuke/Naruto if that hits your fancy. Are polyamory/threesome ships allowed? Poly ships which include either Itachi or Sasuke or both of them somewhere in the relationship dynamic are allowed. For example, a poly ship could be Sasuke/Naruto/Sakura or Itachi/Sasuke/Shisui. Can there be background characters and ships? Yes. You can include background characters or ships that don't have Itachi or Sasuke in them. Itachi or Sasuke focused content or a ship with them should still have some type of content in your work. Besides Naruto, can I include works with Boruto, AUs, or crossovers? Yes, you can include them in your works, or other fandoms. What will not be tolerated? Hateful, offensive, or inflammatory content aimed towards other participants or the subject of the event. As long as content doesn’t bash or insult other participants for the content of their work (e.g. ships, characters, choice of tropes) and stays relevant to the atmosphere of the birthday bash, you can create for it.

Prompts

How many prompts do I have to use a day? At least one prompt. We have only one prompt per line this time, so this prompt should be the one that is used in some interpretation. Can I do more than one work per day? Yes, of course you can! Is there a length requirement? No. You can create a work of any length. Can I mix the types of content I want to create? Mixing media types for separate prompts, or for the same prompt, is fine. You can write a fic for one prompt and create art for another prompt. Is NSFW or trigger content allowed? Absolutely! Do what you want with NSFW tropes, kinks, or triggering content. We do not have specific content restrictions or ratings for what you can create, so any type of ratings is fine to create. Should I tag my work for sensitive content? We ask you to tag your work appropriately for content like violence or sexual themes across the platform you post your works on. Warnings for triggers and NSFW count. Redirect to other sites for NSFW content that can’t be posted on Tumblr, give warnings in tweets, or put cuts on content that might need a cut, etc. The ItaSasu Discord server has NSFW channels for NSFW content. Does my work have to be new for the event? Ideally, your work should be a new work for the event so your work can properly focus on the prompts we have provided here. All content should stand as a full work for the event and does not need other works for the content to make sense. However, if you want to draw inspiration from another work, you can use WIPs you haven’t posted yet or separate the entry into a unique and standalone work. What should I do on the free prompt/break day option? You can use any trope, kink, or idea you have in mind that otherwise appeals to you for a prompt of your choice. This day is helpful if you aren’t interested in the other prompts on the list or you want to work on something that might not fit the themes for ships or characters. You may work on prompts you need to for other days as well, or you can take a break from working on prompts. This day is very lenient.

Posting

Where can I post my work? Anywhere you want! Tumblr, Twitter, AO3, FFN, Dreamwidth, etc. You can add your works to our ItaSasu Birthday Bash AO3 subcollection.

Can I submit my work to the Tumblr blog? You can submit your work on the blog. You may send a message to us after a few days if we don’t post your work and make sure we received it, but we will do our best to post your submission as soon as we can. Submissions might close after the prompt period is finished and you won’t be able to submit anymore, so you’ll have to post those work entries without submitting them if that happens. How can I make it easier to share my work? Tumblr: Long posts can go behind cuts so it’s easier to share it. Put event tags in the first five tags. Submissions with NSFW content in the post may not be possible to post on the event blog since Tumblr doesn’t allow posting NSFW content, so please host that elsewhere and share a link to that content. Twitter: Put warnings of important content in the first tweet of your thread, or at least somewhere that can be found easily if you post it in another tweet. General: You should have content tags in place that can be seen.Include links to your works or tags. Art can have crops if you want to exclude NSFW in an image, and fics can have descriptive information like a summary or notes. Where can I tag the event so my work will be retweeted/reblogged? Tumblr: @ itasasubirthday​   Twitter: @ itasasubirthday​ Post on the ItaSasu Discord server in #events or separate NSFW channels. What tags should I use? AO3: ItaSasu Birthday Bash, ItaSasu Birthday Bash 2023 Twitter, Tumblr, elsewhere: #ItaSasuBirthdayBash or #ItaSasuBirthdayBash2023 You can tag the prompt day such as #ItaSasuBirthdayBashDay1 Can I post early? Please don’t post your works too early. Start posting works at whatever time is June 9th in your timezone. Or another timezone. Close enough. Can I post my work late? Late submissions are perfectly acceptable and encouraged even if you do them months after the event. We will still happily reblog/retweet your work as long as we see it after the event. We may see your works in the tags for the event at some point, but the best way for us to see your late work is to tag us directly.

Tags for @faneventshub Twitter link to info: https://twitter.com/ItaSasuBirthday/status/1647045526020317185?s=20

[ukrfeminism]

5 minute read Numerous opportunities were missed to recall a sexual predator to jail in the days before he stalked and killed law graduate Zara Aleena in east London, a watchdog has concluded.

Probation inspectors say a series of “concerning” errors were made surrounding killer Jordan McSweeney’s release from prison, including a miscalculation of the risk he posed to the public.

LBC revealed in November that McSweeney, 29, had been recalled to prison just two days before he attacked the 35-year-old in Ilford on 26 June 2022.

McSweeney was handed a life sentence and jailed for at least 38 years following Aleena's murder.

Police said within hours of him being recalled, officers attended an address linked to McSweeney to arrest him, but he wasn’t there. 

Now, in a damning report, the chief inspector of probation says he should’ve been called back to jail four days earlier, after he missed a second probation appointment.

Justin Russell said: “The Probation Service failed to take prompt action in respect of recalling him to custody. Once that decision was made, there were also delays in signing the paperwork to initiate the recall.”

He told LBC: “While it is impossible to say whether he would’ve been brought back to prison before Zara was murdered, what we can say is that if he had been recalled earlier the opportunities for police to arrest him and bring him back to custody would have been maximised.”

McSweeney had only been released from prison nine days before he carried out what a judge described as a "terrifying and ruthless" attack, just minutes from Zara Aleena’s front door, leaving her to die on a nearby driveway.

A court heard the killer grabbed her from behind before he repeatedly kicked and stamped on her head and body, before sexually assaulting her.

The attack lasted nine minutes and resulted in 46 separate injuries. Ms Aleena was found struggling to breathe and later died in hospital.

Mr Russell’s review found McSweeney’s risk of causing serious harm was underestimated and that it should’ve been escalated from ‘medium’ to ‘high’ based on information surrounding his history of violence and behaviour while in custody, including the possession of weapons

He had 28 previous convictions for 69 separate offences dating back 17 years including burglary, theft of a vehicle, criminal damage, assaulting police officers and assaulting members of the public while on bail. 

He also had a history of violence towards ex-partners and was handed a restraining order for an offence against a woman in 2021.

Other inspections of local probation services in London have also found inaccurate classifications of risk – with around seven percent of medium risk cases found to have been underestimated.

Mr Russell told LBC: “Clearly the balance between medium and high-risk assessments isn’t as accurate as it should be. There are high-risk people who Are being missed and assessed as being medium risk.

“Two-thirds of the murders that are committed by people on probation are committed by people who have been assessed as medium-risk. That has to be a worry.”

The report comes just a week after the watchdog laid bare another litany of failings by probation officers before Damien Bendall murdered three children and his pregnant partner in 2021.

The inspectorate said the Probation Service's assessment and management of him, "fell far below what was required", and he was handled by officers who weren't sufficiently qualified and experienced.

Two members of staff faced disciplinary action over the case.

The Ministry of Justice says one member of staff has also faced disciplinary action in relation to the handling of Jordan McSweeney’s release from prison.

But concerns are being raised that recommendations from reports into the probation service aren’t leading to any major changes.

One key issue that is yet to be addressed is an improvement in communication between prisons and the probation service, while staffing levels are also causing major issues with officers complaining of workloads being “unmanageable”.

Susan Hall AM, chair of the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee, told LBC: ““We need to support a large-scale recruitment campaign, because when you are so short of staff and the churn is so unbelievably high, you’re never going to get officers working at their best.

“The Probation Service is vital as one of the cogs that turns to try and get people back into life after criminality and when it goes wrong, it can go horribly wrong, as has been evidenced here.”

Andrea Simon, Director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said: “This grave and appalling failing on the part of the Probation Service constitutes yet another way in which the criminal justice system is catastrophically failing to protect women and girls and prevent further violence and abuse. 

“No one wakes up one day and decides to murder a woman. There are almost always indications and often prior contact with the police and the criminal justice system, which begs the question of why these incidents aren’t taken seriously, and why more isn’t done to intervene and save women’s lives? 

“It is simply inexcusable that the government doesn’t invest time and resource into prevention work, including managing perpetrators and preventing offending from happening in the first place. It is deeply shameful that Zara’s death, like so many other women’s, was entirely preventable.”

The Probation Service says it has accepted all the Chief Inspector’s recommendations in both McSweeney and Bendall’s cases and put in place robust action plans, to strengthen probation practice and better protect the public.

Prisons and Probation Minister Damian Hinds apologised to Zara Aleena’s family for the failings made by probation officers.

He said: “We are taking immediate steps to address the serious issues raised by the Jordan McSweeney and Damien Bendall cases. This includes mandatory training to improve risk assessments, implementing new processes to guarantee the swift recall of offenders and we have taken disciplinary action where appropriate.  

“We are also investing £155 million a year into the Probation Service to recruit the thousands more officers who will deliver tougher supervision, protect the public and ensure these sorts of tragedies can never happen again.”