#which i assume it would do to any word regardless if it's a variable

[northern-passage]

oh btw PSA for people using twine. don’t use the search and replace function it will break your game

[lepartidelamort]

Motivated Reasoning and World War III Analysis.

Everyone who supports the West or East also believes their side will win.

There is something of a troubling pattern in the various analyses of the emerging global conflict between the US/Israel and their vassals and China, Russia, Iran, et al.: every analysis appears to predict the triumph of the preferred party of the person making the analysis. Everyone who supports the global Jewish/homosexual movement claims America will win, while those opposed to this movement argue in favor of an inevitable American defeat.

Of course, you expect this sort of thing, everywhere. “I hope my side wins, but they probably won’t” is not a natural position for a human to take. In most such cases, a person intruded upon with that thought will either deny it, and claim, regardless of evidence, that their own side will win, or they will switch sides.

However, in most conflict analysis, you have some levity, with some individuals attempting to take a realist view outside of their own personal interests. In this current situation, I know of no one of any relevance in the sphere of analysis who is entertaining the idea that the side they support may lose the conflict. This is not simply the case with various commentators in the mainstream and independent media, but goes all the way down to individual commenters.

Having observed this situation, and tried to analyze the analysis, my conclusion is that the global situation is so complex and convoluted, with so many different variables, that any sort of algebraic analysis is completely impossible. Therefore, everyone looking at the situation has nowhere to go but with their own motivated reasoning.

The only thing you can say definitively is that the premise inherent in the arguments from Empire-supporters is necessarily false: these people claim, in so many words, that the United States and its Jews are an eternal empire, which will last forever. This is objectively false. No empire lasts forever, and the US-Jewish Rainbow Empire will not be an exception to that rule. Further, the US is currently exhibiting every indicator associated with an empire on the brink of collapse, from internal decadence to military overreach. Further, from a Christian perspective, God wins in the end. However, none of those things necessarily means that the US will not manage to defeat Iran, collapse the Russian government, and force the capitulation of an isolated China.

I am certainly of the opinion that the US empire will fall. That is not a new disclosure. However, I am also of the belief that it is important to constantly interrogate my own thoughts and opinions. Having done so, I am left with an admission that there are no guarantees, but nonetheless, there is no logical reason for me to stop believing that assuming I receive my four score and ten, I will live to see this Evil Empire fall. Given that there is no objective data that can prove that my reasoning is incorrect, and given that my reasoning is logically sound insofar as the data I do have and my own ability to understand it, there would be no rational purpose in letting waver my faith in the victory of good over evil coming before the middle of the century.

Andrew Anglin

[christ2525]

Picture Of Objectives

Depicting somebody is taking a touch of the spirit, divulging their privileged insights through their eyes, their story through their scars and their feelings of trepidation through their kinks. A picture isn't simply a photograph, it is considerably more, it is the picture of an individual with a spirit, with sentiments, with such a great amount to tell! Also, regardless of what camera you use, you are the individual who needs to know how to send this. What's more, the objective ... does it count? It is significant? As I would see it, and I believe that when you wrap up perusing the article you will concur with me, yes it is. It isn't so much that that it is crucial for utilize either, eventually, as I said you are the person who communicates and the individual depicted who counts. Be that as it may, the focal point can contribute or contort more than we envision. Indeed subsequent to seeing these imagesYou likewise feel that the targets have a remark for their central length, this post intrigues you, oblige yourself and read on, I will let you know which goals would be the most suggested for pictures. In any case, first I might want to underline "suggested", and I say this on the grounds that eventually, as I referenced previously, you snaps the photo and chooses how to send, how to make. In this way, in spite of the fact that I let you know that a fisheye, for instance, isn't among those suggested, you might need to make an alternate, unique representation and you are searching for exactly the misshaping impact created by the fisheye. All things considered you triumph ultimately the final word and who chooses, obviously. You definitely realize that the guidelines are to skip them, despite the fact that for this you should know them and know with what expectation you skip them. The main thing we will see is what components impact when a goal is pretty much suggested for the representation.

Central DISTANCE On the off chance that you don't have the foggiest idea what I mean by this term, I leave the accompanying rundown plot, since they say that words usually can't do a picture justice . If with the plan you don't explain by any stretch of the imagination, relax, here is all that you want to be aware of the central length of your focal point . Significantly, you realize that the proper central length for representations is somewhere in the range of 50mm and 135mm. Assuming that you glance back at the pictures toward the start, you can perceive how the face is misshaped under 50 mm. Central length plot The more limited the central length, the more you should move toward the individual you are depicting. This is a significant variable that you need to consider. You might be one of the people who take cover behind a "Television" for bashfulness, yet on the off chance that that is the main explanation you depict "from far off," your picture may likewise be somewhat "far" as far as the subject needs to see. To that end I suggest that you lose your timidity and if you have any desire to depict outsiders don't be guaranteed to take cover behind a zooming focal point, a grin will constantly assist you with conquering that modesty and get consent (quite often) from that individual. Different purposes behind utilizing a zooming focal point is the capacity they need to confine the subject from the foundation. This is a valid justification to utilize them, yet for that you don't have to stow away . FIXED Central Central can be fixed or variable. The proper ones are those that, as the name infers, you can't differ, with them you can't do any sort of zoom. The factors, then again, cover different central distances. The initial ones are more reasonable for the representation since they accomplish more prominent sharpness, are more radiant and permit a lower profundity of field, they are likewise less expensive . The detriment is that they are less flexible and that to reexamine you should move from the site (albeit the last option doesn't need to be a disservice). OPENING A truly significant component in a goal is the kickoff of the stomach. The more prominent the gap, the more noteworthy the splendor and obscure. Focal points with bigger openings permit you to additionally separate the subject from the foundation and spotlight on specific subtleties (you could in fact disconnect the eyes from the remainder of the face). Also, these sorts of goals for the most part work better with regards to center. On the off chance that you are not exceptionally acquainted with the term, you ought to realize what is shown by the number "f", however the more modest the number "f" (or profundity of field), the more noteworthy the opening. Suggested Targets Now that you know the main components to consider while picking a focal point for representations, I leave you a rundown with some of them. Assuming I name just Standard and Nikon it isn't on the grounds that they are the main brands, obviously, but since most clients have either. Assuming you are from Sony, Pentax ... you can look for a focal point for your camera with highlights like those recorded underneath. I connect you to a deals page, so you can see roughly the cost, in spite of the fact that assuming that you like any better you take a gander at a few destinations to look at costs and it just so happens, it might help you: How to base your material buy choices visual? Furthermore, as "to show a button", every one of them is joined by a picture made for that reason. Best Standard Goals for Picture Ordinance EF 70-200 mm f/2.8L IS USM . Indeed, this is a piece costly, obviously, it is substantially more flexible than those of fixed central. Here is an illustration of a picture taken with this focal point. Ordinance EF 70-200 mm f2.8L IS USM Standard EF 85 mm f/1.8 USM . With a ton of sharpness and an extremely delicate bokeh (obscure). Standard EF 85 mm f/1.8 USM Standard EF 100 mm f/2 USM . Its base centering distance is 90 cm (you can get very close ). Pack the facial highlights and permit the subject to stand apart well on the foundation. Ordinance EF 100mm f/2 USM Ordinance EF 50 mm f/1.4 USM . This Mario is known as the Ruler of Targets, would you like to know why he calls him that? Click on the connection and you will realize every one of its "benefits". On the off chance that your spending plan doesn't permit it, you might need to know the one called by the Ruler of the goals. Group EF 50 mm f/1.4 USM Ordinance EF 50 mm f/1.8 USM BEST NIKON Goals FOR Picture Nikon AF-S 70-200 F/2.8 FL ED VR SD2 Zoom . Equivalent to with the simple of Standard, costly however flexible. Nikon 70-200 mm f 2.8 Nikon 85 mm f/1.8G AF Nikkor . The 85 mmm is one of the liked by experts for representations. Nikon 85 mm f/1.8 Nikon 105 mm f/2.8 AF DC-Nikkor. A sharp objective Nikon 105 mm f/2.8 AF DC-Nikkor. Nikon 50 mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor . Generally excellent outcomes at a truly fascinating cost. I can't imagine an objective with such great quality that it costs less. Nikon 50 mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Up to this point the article today, however before I bid farewell I need to let you know that there are a lot more factors to consider while making a representation notwithstanding the goals. To dominate picture photography , you can't miss the last blog entry in which we let you know all that you want to be aware to get staggering representations. Assuming you thought that it is valuable, I would see the value in it on the off chance that you shared it on Facebook, Google + or Twitter. On the off chance that you suspect as much, another person may likewise think that it is valuable . Much obliged to you and see you sometime later!

[shadowcutie]

Here’s some resources to help you make text-based interactive fiction games!

Totally unprompted!  There’s certainly nothing going on in a certain forum right now (or rather an on-going issue).  Nope, I just thought it would be nice to share some resources.  ;)

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Twine

Twine is such an easy tool to use.  It uses its own scripting language Sugarcube (there’s also Harlowe and Snowman, but they don’t have the same functionality and creator support as Sugarcube does to my knowledge), Javascript, and CSS.

Twine is FREE!!!

Sugarcube literally gives you a save function (which does browser and save to desktop)!!!  Be the save-hoarding goblin you were born to be!

It’s criminally easy to make games with Twine.  They make it easy to make stats, relationships, and other info pages.  When setting up the paths you can literally see arrows pointing where they lead, you can move passages around visually so you can group them up by chapter/scene/etc......to be fair once your game gets BIG it can get messy and confusing.

I have coding experience prior to finding Twine, but I’m absolutely certain anyone can make great games with Twine.  If all your doing is making text-based ‘more story than game’ games, then you’ll be doing minimal coding (setting variables, if/else statements, using text boxes, etc) so you shouldn’t have any issues.

If you do have issues I’m 99% certain someone has had your issue before, and the answer is one google search away.

You can use Twine in your browser, just be careful to not mess with the data/cookies or you can lose your games (totally not speaking from experience)....archive your games often if you use Twine in browser.  You can also download Twine, so you can use it offline!

Links:

Twine

SugarCube v2 Documentation - Your new best friend.

With the Settings API you can add a mature filter, different style themes (great for light/dark themes and color blind themes...or just different themes to look cool), difficulty settings, volume control, etc.

HiEv’s SugarCube 2 Sample Code - An ever-expanding collection of code, tips, macros, widgets.  A good mix of fun and useful stuff.

^ Includes a great pronoun widget!!!  To be fair it’s not the most user-friendly widget at first, especially if you aren’t a coder, but in the long run a widget like this is a great tool for customizing pronouns.  It allows you to write a character in the code with one set of pronouns throughout the game ($They $are a great $person), the widget selects the correct word through an switch (aka a fancy if/else) statement when the character is assigned a pronoun......so when playing a female it would display as “She is a great girl”, a male would be “He is a great guy”, and nonbinary would be “They are a great person”.  You can add neopronouns this way too!

Chapel’s custom macros - Chapel has a lot of cool macros, but a lot of them are more advanced.  Very few have been useful for the kinds of games I want to make, but they may be useful for you.

r/twinegames - Twine has some older forums, which are still up (though not active) and have helpful answers on them, but the current forum is found on reddit.

w3schools - When it’s time to style your game, this will be your lifeline.  Even today, like...seven years after first learning CSS I still come back to w3schools all the time. !!!Twine has funky class/id selectors for it’s built in stuff so refer back to the SugarCube Documentation!!!

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Itch.io

Itch doesn’t take ownership of your content!

It doesn’t have DRM!

You can host your games for free, paid, or free with donation.

It does take a cut of your sales “The Company shall be entitled to a share of the revenue Publishers receive from Transactions which shall be calculated on the gross revenue from the Transactions“ (I’ve seen 30% but I’ve also seen “Lets you choose what to give them” so I’m not exactly sure how much their cut is).

THERE IS NO RESTRICTION ON CONTENT ASSUMING IT’S LEGAL (though if collecting payment you may be under different restrictions per the payment provider’s policy), so please make all the twisted, dark, disturbing, and/or sexual games you want!!!

Links:

Itch.io

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r/interactivefictions

r/interactivefictions is a good place for game recs, coding/writing resources, etc.

Links:

r/interactivefictions

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Tumblr

Tumblr is...well we’re all on here so we know how tumblr is like.

Great tags to look at: #interactive fiction, #interactive novel, #interactive game, #twine game, #dev log, #IF, #if game, #upcoming game, #promo post

Tumblr is a great platform, but as every creator knows...Reblog!!!  Reblog!!! Reblog!!!  The lifeblood of tumblr is reblogging.

I’ve found SOOOO many games I would never have known existed through if-creator’s blogs just because they reblogged a post from another if-creator.

@interact-if and @iorifd​ are doing great work!  They collect games, share helpful coding/writing tips, etc.  Go show them some love!  Interact-if runs the subreddit mentioned above, and iorifd is working on a database for visual novels and text-based games.

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IFDB (Interactive Fiction Database)

IFDB is a database for interactive fiction games.  You can add new game listings, write reviews, make game polls, make game recommendation lists, etc.

IFDB seems to like their parser games (parsers being where you type in commands like “go west”, “open door”, etc).

It actually has a pretty good filter and ignore system.

Links:

IFDB

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Obviously this isn’t the end all be all of dev tools or hosting platforms for interactive fiction.  Ink is a scripting tool similar to Twine I’ve only heard of recently that might be interesting to you.  Ren’Py, although primarily a visual novel engine, can be used to make text-based games.  The only other hosting alternative I know is DashingDon, I THINK they only host ChoiceScript games and I don’t think you can sell through them, but it’s a good place regardless.

Cheers! :D

[possessivesuffix]

Limits of Uniformity

The notion of a “uniform proto-language” does need some sanity checks regardless. Namely, how uniform can any language variety be even in principle? What is the actual uniformitarian fall-back point on this? (Reminder: the uniformitarian principle is a key guideline of all investigation of prehistory, which states that we can only assume “kinds of” prehistorical states whose existence is known to us today too.)

Areal uniformity is the one type that we can write in by definition, once we recognize “a proto-language” to be quite possibly just one among several areal variants (as discussed in the previous post).

Some languages, usually small ones with some hundreds of speakers in just a handful of towns or clans can be also areally uniform altogether, but this is probably not the sociological setup to assume for proto-languages that have later expanded into families of hundreds of thousands of speakers. Latin is again the one notable exception, not the rule. Maybe a few more could be assumed for families that have expanded “far but not wide”, e.g. Proto-Oceanic or some of its daughter proto-languages; Proto-Inuit perhaps.

Sociolectal uniformity is not an especially tough nut either. This can exist in languages, but does not at all have to, and only seems to come about in various hierarchically stratified societies. Latin very likely had variation of this kind, and e.g. Proto-Indo-Aryan almost certainly did, too. “Genderlectal” differences could be another axis, but this is again not at all required to assume and I’m not aware of any cases where this would be clearly reconstructible. (I would have a hypothesis to pitch on this re: the fairly odd relative terminology of Proto-Uralic, but more on that at some later time.) So this is, while perhaps an underappreciated possibility, probably not a major problem in proposing a uniform proto-language.

Phonologically uniform varieties certainly exist. Phonology is fully structural: anyone’s idiolect either has or does not have any particular phonemic contrast. Variation across a language can be also usually described by some smallish enough number of these that it’s just about mathematically guaranteed that there will be multiple people who share the exact same phonological system. E.g. 10 binary phonological isoglosses only allow for a maximum of 1024 different phonological systems (in practice variants also are not distributed entirely randomly). Hence it’s always valid to aim for reconstructing an unvariable proto-state from variable daughter systems. In practice this is the strongest method of linguistic reconstruction also due to the additional fact that regular sound changes at least exist (while no such thing does in morphology, semantics etc.)

Morphological and syntactic (”grammatical”) uniformity seems similarly existent at first, but beyond “core grammar” these actually start leaving a lot of corner cases. Irregular formations and idiomatic constructions exist, and rarer ones probably aren’t known across an entire speaker community. Worse, it’s possible for different speakers to analyze the exact same construction as either fossilized or incipiently or residually productive, or indeed productive in different ways. Are e.g. happy and hapless two separate words, or two derivatives of a common root lexeme √hap-? Is /wʊdəv/ a single word, a word with a clitic would’ve, two words would have — or even would of? We do not have single unique answers to these even today. Some reconstruction of (some sub-variety of) Modern English by future linguists would not need to be able to do so either.

So we have to allow for some grammatical variation in any language variety. All variation is only finitely old here as well, but the point where all attested grammatical variation converges to a single form could be far deeper back in history than phonological uniformity. Trying to strive for uniformity would be somewhat analogous to trying to reconstruct a last common ancestor form of hands and feet (some undifferentiated sea worm body segments, 500M+ years ago) instead of a common ancestor population of modern humans (300K years ago, with hands certainly distinct from feet). In a more explicitly linguistic example, I have in a recent paper argued that variation in modern Finnish in the morphology of the verb ‘to stand’ (two competing stems seis- versus seis-o-) is in part inherited all the way from Proto-Uralic already.

Lexical uniformity is a simple case again, but now in the other direction. This simply does not exist as soon as we look at more than one person’s idiolect. Every adult speaker knows tens of thousands of lexemes, and some of these are used so rarely that there is pretty much no chance that any two speakers end up having the exact same lexicon, let alone the exact same semantics for each word.

Some weaker sense of “core lexical uniformity” could exist, but this depends on how exactly we define “core lexicon”, and is probably not a good idea anyway. Synonymy could be again stable for thousands of years and cannot be usefully reconstructed away; while if we look at divergences only, in some small list of words, we will probably end up at a point when “a” proto-language has already split into dialects that already clearly differ in their distribution, phonology, grammar and overall lexicon. Even core lexicon innovations will happily spread between lineages. The French loanwords animal, fruit, mountain and person are now universally known across English but arrived into the language in the Middle English period, clearly into multiple dialects in parallel. (This has already been taken into account in current lexicostatistic methodology in the form of a rule that all known loanwords should be discarded from analysis, though I am afraid this is probably too weak of a corrective move.)

Lastly lexical phonology might be the most challenging issue. By this I mean what phonological form do individual words have, even if they’re identical etymologically, morphologically etc. Examples from historically recorded languages show that these follow the exact same principles as grammatical or lexical variation. Forms like aks versus ask can coexist for millennia, and hence it’s not a good idea to try to reconstruct them all away. They probably do go back to some more or less regular sound change ultimately… but the way they end up in variation is mainly due to dialect mixing or analogical levelling. If some variants like these later on separate off into different varieties (ok, ask / aks have been at least partly sociolectally separate in English all along — maybe a better example would be something like dreamed / dreamt) they might give off the impression that there has been some phonological change to reconstruct as happening after the proto-language. Really this phenomenon seems to allow taking off quite a bit of load from the bin of “irregular sound change”.

There is also one telling sign for these: these never involve variation in the makeup of the overall phonology. People who use the form ask will still call the tool an axe, while people who use the form aks will still wear a mask (or at least will not turn this into ˣmaks). But this is only a hint, and it would be still hard to really rule out other hypotheses like a Proto-English **aksk that ends up being simplified in two different ways in different dialects / sociolects. And if we were to indeed assume the existence of a variety that had an early but regular metathesis rule — how far back would we put it, how many words would we assume to be later innovations or loans from a non-metathesis variety, and for that matter, could we even work out the direction of the metathesis without English-external evidence?

(I don’t even know what the real answer is. Sure enough it’s from West Germanic *aiskōn- and so ask initially appears to be more archaic, but e.g. the similar wasp ~ waps is instead from PG *wapsō. Do we require two metatheses in different directions, or one metathesis plus some hypercorrections against it, or one metathesis followed by one back-metathesis…?)

This should primarily serve as a warning against going into too small details when reconstructing the general scaffolding of historical phonology. My own rule of thumb remains that one example is no example, two examples are a pattern, three examples are required to call something an actual sound law.

---

In any case we can see there will be still quite a bit of variation that should be allowed to perhaps have occurred in a “uniform proto-language”. The target is some realistic amount of grammatical and lexical coherence plus a uniform phonological system; and it may not even be too much of a problem if we still end up with multiple variant forms of some individual words. Hypotheses for explaining any remaining variation are always worth exploring, but we don’t need to nail all of them down in one specific way.

[thoughts-on-bangtan]

Which member do you think is the most supportive of VMIN?

Admin 1: For a change I’ll be the one that’ll use comparatively few words since I don’t have that big of an opinion. As much as I enjoy joining in on the jokes about how Jimin is the president of the Namjinists (due to his April Fool’s Day joke tweet from years ago and other such things), I’ve never given much thought to who among the members might be the most supportive of vmin.

But perhaps I’d say it could be Hoseok due to his general fondness of both Jimin and Tae as individuals but also as them together, how he said his favorite song off of MOTS7 is Friends and even sung it during the FESTA karaoke with the iconic (very suggestive and heavy on the implications) hip thrust during Tae’s “hey, Jimin, oneul” part. I’m sure you know exactly what I mean. Also if we consider that Jimin and Hoseok were roommates for a long time, I guess it wouldn’t be too far-fetched of an assumption to make on my part that surely they had a number of deep late night talks over the years, and chances are Jimin would’ve sought out advice from Hoseok during one of them, perhaps even confided in him about his feelings for Tae (regardless which ones, both would be valid and something you’d talk about with a close friend).

Another option might be Namjoon, since he’s the leader and thus certainly the person who would have to know about such developments within the group for obvious reasons, but also it seems like Namjoon sought out consolation and advice from both Jimin (like that scene in BV4 around the bonfire off to the side from the group) and Tae (like the story he told at 5th Muster Seoul (?) about how he was kind of sad/feeling off so he talked to Tae before the encore and what Tae said made him feel better), meaning they are more than close enough to bring up certain topics with each other. So, based on that, it doesn’t seem too much of a stretch that he would stand up/look out for them if need be in conversations with BH etc.

That being said, regardless of how we interpret vmin and their bond, I think it’s safe to say that all the members are endlessly supportive of them, just like they are with any other duo within the group, though it’s easy to see that they do highlight vmin at times as something…special. A bond that’s noteworthy, stands out, even within a group as close as they are.

Admin 2: Chances are that what I think and am about to say might be a bit controversial. At the same time I’d like to note that this is only my personal opinion and theory, and not some kind of proven fact, yes? Perhaps no one will agree with me, but after putting many thoughts into this and looking at different content and events that have transpired over the years, as well as some other factors I’ll explain later, these are the conclusions I’ve drawn when it comes to the members and vmin. Furthermore, I don’t want to negate/comment on other ships since those don’t really play any role in this the way some might assume.

I think it’s important to remember that BTS basically exist in two version (though they are closely intertwined):

1: the idols on screen, who stand on stage, who share their music with us, who film content and who, to a certain degree, play a role, keep up an appearance that’s part honest and part mystery.

“I think V can show parts of Kim Taehyung and parts of V, but Kim Taehyung can’t show V. Kim Taehyung is Kim Taehyung. Kim Taehyung is someone who’s still filled with a lot of curiosity and he’s inquisitive about a lot of things. There are so many things he wants to do. Also I think there’s so many things he is curious about.” – Tae, Break the Silence: Persona

2: the real-life humans with private lives, private friendships and personalities that are similar but not quite the same as what we know and see.

Both of these are real in their own right, and both of them influence each other in more ways than one. So, when we look at vmin in the context of both, the question of support and showing certain things and how those affect version 1 and 2 are tricky, multifaceted and much more complex than some imagine or present it as. Because the moment we assume private life vmin are real, that sort of swift in dynamic ultimately also affects their work and demands adjustments from all parties involved, especially the other members. A large portion of what they do and say on screen or anywhere that we can see it is, to a certain degree, planned or has been discussed prior.

More below the cut since this kind of got long:

In one of the Break the Silence episodes Namjoon spoke about how with the more recent tours they haven’t been really able to do as much “free style” stuff (as in moving freely around stage and being silly, that sort of thing) between songs with choreographies, as opposed to how it used to be in the early days, since much of the show is perfectly timed and planned down to every little detail and every single light surrounding the stage. Much the same way everything else sure is, too. Look at RUN, even there you can notice them looking at printed out pages that surely contain a short storyboard of how the episode should more or less go in general terms, since that makes editing and keeping things cohesive much easier, especially since BTS are seven people, therefore seven moving independent variables.

Keeping all of this in mind, I’ve come to the conclusion that, in my opinion, the biggest vmin supporter is JK, followed by Hobi and Namjoon. I don’t mean, by any means, that completely idiotic theory some have created that one ship hides another, because that isn’t at all what I am going for with this. Of course Tae and JK are T*ek*ok (a subunit name they’ve after all created themselves though that context of that moment has long been changed by people) and Jimin and JK are J*ko*k, and depending on the demand (from a PR point of view as well as those of fans) and situations, those ships are utilized/highlighted in certain ways to achieve certain things. With this I don’t mean to belittle the actual real-life bonds between the real-life members, merely the “fantasy” versions created in large parts by shippers.

But that isn’t what I mean. Let me explain.

There are several situations that I think support my theory/opinion, past and more recent, but for the sake of fresh memories that we’ll all be able to recall, I’ll use more recent ones. During their vlive when BE and Life Goes On were just released, the one where they wore PJs, had pizza and that cardboard cutout of Yoongi, there was a moment when Tae was supposed to put lipstick on Jimin. He pulled Jimin close with his arm around his shoulder while Jimin giggled and playfully pretended to try and push him away or stop him from doing it, despite seemingly holding on to his top to keep him close anyway. While that was happening, the other members checked what they were doing and notably JK, upon seeing what vmin were up to, moved a few steps away closer toward the cameras and stood as though between vmin and said cameras while holding that silver screen thing used for lighting in photography (I’m not sure how it’s called). Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but seeing as Namjoon, who carried the Yoongi cutout, joined him, it seemed like they were trying to hide vmin, which of course didn’t work out since the producers simply switched to a different camera.

This might be me going temporarily delulu but toward the end of that sequence there was a moment where we couldn’t see much of vmin save for the tops of their heads. At some point Tae made a move with his head which some (including myself) have interpreted as a potential smooch (as in an actual one or just him pretending/doing the motion of it, that’s up for debate) which caused Hobi to break out in loud laughter.

A second example is day two of MOTS ON:E when it was time for Dynamite. Usually vmin just walk past each other doing something funny or interacting in some way, but on that day instead Jimin pulled Tae closer, enough so that their foreheads touched, and they looked at each other in quite a meaningful way. At the same time JK stood right behind them, since he’s the one that opens the song, and watched what was happening. Just like with the above example, he stepped toward them and put his hand on the back of Tae’s head in a gesture that I interpreted as a form of safety measurement that IF vmin were to potentially do something…risky, he could intervene by quite literally pulling them apart/stopping them. This moment of course has been twisted and manipulated in many different ways to, for example, showcase some supposed jealousy or alike, but I think that’s just plain stupid.

I’d also like to show you a few other pictures that I think show us the kind of dynamic he really has with vmin, how he watches (over) his hyungs with affection and support, so to speak:

(the following pictures, left to right: JM, JK, TH)

The sole fact that three maknae ships can exist simultaneously, while vmin might be the likely one to be real, in my opinion shows that everything between the three of them must be more than okay, that there’s harmony and understanding between them, everyone knowing their place/role exactly, that there’s no jealousy or other negative emotions involved. Even more so when we consider the stakes that come with it all, at the top of it all being money, not only for the members but also BH (including everyone who invested money in stocks, as well as all their employees that need to be paid). And the fact that BTS aren’t rookies anymore, but instead they have a big and very relevant role in a broader sense when it comes to influence, power, and fame.

Look at how professional they are when it comes to being idols and everything that entails, including shipping. Just look at how despite Tae’s Weverse comment to that one shipper, and the conversation in In The Soop, they played their roles so convincingly that no one who is in favor of that ship is willing to believe them or consider that perhaps they were wrong. But, this is more of a topic for another post, so I’ll leave it at that.

Looking at all these moments, bigger and smaller ones, gestures that some didn’t even notice or did but interpreted in a completely different way for their own reasons, it brought me to the conclusion that JK is their biggest supporter.

Just like Admin 1 said, I also think that Hobi and Namjoon are big supporter as well. Although I can’t for the life of me remember the piece of content where he said this (if anyone knows, please do let me know), I recall a moment where Namjoon spoke to Tae and said that he’s his responsibility, which made me wonder if that perhaps meant that Namjoon gave his vote of confidence about Tae (and vmin) to BH or agreed to keep an eye on him/them to keep them in check. But that’s just a thought/theory.

At the end of the day, whatever our opinion may be, we have to remember that we know very little about their private life, a tiny percentage if even, so it’s important to stick to/pay attention to/based our opinions on the original material and what the members say, instead of taking into account edited videos on YT or opinions influenced by others agendas, but that, too, is something to be discussed in a different post.

Thank you for this interesting question!

[comrade-meow]

Bad data generates bad research; bad research generates bad treatments; bad treatments generate bad outcomes. The physiological differences between males and females are vast, and stamp their mark on every organ of the human body, not just the genitals and gonads. Ignoring these differences will muddle our data, blur our understanding of physiology, and hinder the discovery of new treatments for diseases. Females are much more likely than males to have autoimmune disorders. Males are more likely than females to develop Parkinson’s disease. Males and females may present with different symptoms preceding a heart attack. Males and females metabolize drugs differently. Blatantly ignoring sex as a variable hobbles the process of scientific inquiry and limits the types of questions that researchers will ask, thereby limiting the answers they get.

About this story: last November I came across some anonymous tweets from a person claiming to be a medical student at an American university where professors were teaching that sex is a social construct. I decided to try to find out if these claims were real, and I contacted the Twitter user, striking up a conversation with “C”. We agreed to meet on a Zoom call, and that C would show me C’s student ID, with their name and the name of the school covered, and that we would then do a written interview. C’s desire for strict anonymity is well founded in my eyes, due to the damage that could be inflicted on C’s career prospects if they were caught speaking to a publication about the ideological lies being peddled and the culture of fear at their institution.

On our thirty minute Zoom call, I met a highly intelligent, critical-minded, and determined young person who was expressing deep concern over the ways that gender identity ideology is distorting the teaching of medicine and the repercussions this may lead to in our next generation of doctors.

C held up their ID so I could see their picture on what was clearly a medical school ID. C told me their school can be categorized as “top tier.”

The irony of using “they/them” pronouns for a single person is not lost on me. I find it interesting that due to the tyranny of gender ideology, I must adhere to one of their tenets and accept the use of the plural pronoun for a single person whose sex I know. But the fact that I have to do this is because any information about C could potentially be enough to raise suspicion (just read their words to understand the climate of intimidation they witness in class everyday), and the knowledge of an individual’s sex is still a crucial identifying feature, no matter what the gender ideologues want us to believe.

C and I agreed that I would offer people on Twitter an opportunity to pose their questions directly and that C would respond in written form. Out of the many responses, the medical student chose what they considered some of the most representative and important of the questions. These are their answers below, beginning with a short message they wanted me to share.

-Sasha White

Thank you, Sasha, for having offered me this valuable opportunity to answer these questions. Before we start, I would like to clarify my stance on basic issues regarding sex and gender identity, so that people can keep these in mind while reading.

Biological sex is not a social construct – male and female are distinct material realities which have significant implications for medical and surgical treatment of many different conditions. These physiological differences are relevant on the levels of clinical practice, research, and policy, and absolutely must be acknowledged in order for physicians to best treat their patients. All patients should be treated with compassion, respect, and high-quality medical care, regardless of their professed gender identity. I remain agnostic as to what it truly means to have a “gender identity”, but will respect the wishes of my future patients in regards to their social presentation and pronouns. I believe that dysphoric adults should be able to pursue transition. Physicians should be aware of relevant aspects of trans healthcare, including hormone therapy and surgery, so that they can better advise trans patients on how medical treatments may impact their gender-related care, or vice versa. It is possible and desirable for us to have a healthcare system which is inclusive and respectful of transgender patients, in a way which does not pretend that biology is arbitrary or merely a social construct. Despite my liberal beliefs, the loudest voices at my institution would falsely accuse me of blowing transphobic dog-whistles, hence my anonymity. This hostile climate is corrosive to an inquiry mindset and critical thinking, and will ultimately be a disservice to the scientific community and to future patients, trans and otherwise.

IDD64 @IDD64 asks: “What happened to “nobody’s saying sex isn’t real”?”

This is actually what compelled me to speak out about this practice in the first place. Well-intentioned non-medical people often assume that medical schools are teaching something like, “Gender identity can be fluid and varied, but biological sex is real, binary, and relevant in medical contexts.” This idea is around five years out of date in the most progressive of institutions. I have been told multiple times in several classes that biological sex is a social construct – not just gender. Granted, I can speak only for my institution, but this change has been frustrating and disturbing to witness.

Robert Woolley @RandomlyBob asks: “Do any of the required textbooks also avoid using those words? If not, might you ask those professors if they think the books are either inaccurate or offensive?”

Our curriculum is constantly subject to revision. Around two-thirds of our written materials have been updated with this new language. For the one-third that has remained out-of-date, our class has received multiple apologetic, itemized emails from course instructors in which they provide corrections, beg for forgiveness and patience, and avow to “do better”. In class, we have been given multiple histories in which the patient’s sex has been deleted, even for cases involving disorders which can manifest differently between the sexes. The words “female” and “male” are being erased and replaced.

Born a space baby @ggynoid asks: “What’s the dynamic like for class participation? Do people start with pronouns? Do people tend to agree, disagree? What’s the female-male ratio in the class typically on these sort[s] of classes?”

When school first began, we were heavily encouraged to include pronouns in our Zoom names and email signatures; around 70-80% of the class did so. Most students and professors would start off verbal introductions with their name and pronouns, though that has subsided since we all have grown to know each other.

A vocal minority of students are loudly in favor of the most extreme aspects of gender ideology, while the majority seem to be vaguely supportive in a nonspecific way. I think that this comes from a mixture of naive goodwill and fear – they are trying to be good allies, and this is the only way they know how. Additionally, it is heavily implied that to ask critical questions, even in a way which is ultimately patient-centered and supportive, is perpetuating bigotry, so they just nod along. A silent minority seems to be secretly skeptical. I have met four or five students who have disclosed to me in private conversation that they disagree with one or more aspects of this dogma but they are hesitant to come forward in group settings. I am sure that more exist, but they are hard to find. None of these people have been transphobic.

The female-male ratio is approximately equal, with slightly more females than males in my class.

David Poole @MrDPoole asks: “Do you think the people telling you these things actually believe it or are they being forced to do it?”

I think that a very small minority of our professors actually believe that male and female bodies are interchangeable with the exception of genitalia and gonads. There are definitely more woke students than woke professors, and the most radical of students are far more radical than the wokest professor. Most of these professors are very fearful of saying the wrong thing, so they delicately couch their language by referring to “XX and XY people” or other such euphemisms, even though that can lead to inaccuracies.

The social consequences for misspeaking are highly magnified, especially when most classes are delivered online (due to the pandemic). Our class has been quietly accused of having a mean streak in regards to social justice. We have had petitions circulated (drafted by few, signed by many) to name, shame, and “hold accountable” various lecturers who used the “wrong” language, to the point of humiliation. One professor broke down crying after a genetics lecture which relied heavily on the use of “male” and “female” by necessity. (Though the lecture also made ample space to talk about transgender and non-binary individuals, this was not enough to appease the critics.) Another professor referred to “pregnant women” rather than “pregnant people” and spent a very uncomfortable few minutes after class abjectly apologizing for having caused offense “by implying that only women can get pregnant”. It was incredibly disturbing to see, for multiple reasons. One, this is based on bad science and zealotry that has the potential to harm patients. Two, the magnitude of the “crime” pales in comparison to the magnitude of the outcry. Three, it is a total inversion of the expected social order to see these physicians —some of whom are literally leading scholars in their field— be reduced to fearful puddles if a student so much as looks at them askance. Keep in mind that these professors are extremely liberal, compassionate, and well-meaning, yet they are turned upon with such venom and verve by the people who they are trying to please.

Chopper @RodeoChopper asks: How are cases presented? Normally the first line is “This is a such and such year old (male/female) with a past medical history significant for…”

Here are some examples of formats I have seen in our coursework:

“This is a 43-year-old woman with ovaries, presenting with …”

“A 3-year-old child, assigned male at birth, not assigned gender as of yet by parents, presenting with …”

“This patient is a 7-year-old child, gendered as a boy by his parents, who …”

“57-year-old woman with testes, here with …”

“A 16-year-old patient (gender non-binary, pronouns they/them) …”

“A 32-year-old woman (she/her/hers) …”

“A 16-year-old patient presents with complaints of …”

Of the myriad problems with this structure, the most concerning is that most of these cases do not accurately identify the sex of the patient, which is crucial in being able to weigh the likelihood of potential diagnoses and treatments. A person’s pronouns are not relevant when deciding to prescribe a particular antibiotic, and at which dose. Additionally, I find it somewhat irritating to be expected to state the obvious for things that are the default of the human experience. We do not say, “This is a 42-year-old woman with both her arms and legs”, although there are certainly women in this world who are missing one or more of their limbs.

MaryWrath @WrathMary asks: “So how are reproductively different bodies described then? How are cardiac arrest and stroke symptoms described, explained and taught as we know now they present differently across the two sexes? There are clearly two bodies in our species so how are the professors acknowledging?”

Organs are referred to by their actual names – penis, testes, vagina, ovaries, breasts. However, referring to patients as male or female is strictly taboo. If there are relevant but subtle sex-specific differences, then they will often be downplayed or ignored altogether. As an example, we were told that the higher risk of heart attacks in men was due only to the presence of testosterone, and not for any other reason, which is patently false. When the differences are utterly impossible to ignore, “male” and “female” will simply be rebranded as “people with testes/ovaries”, “AMAB/AFAB”, or “people with/without Y chromosomes”. My personal favorite is “persons with [testosterone/estrogen] as their primary sex hormone.” Oddly, “man” and “woman” are still used, often with redundant qualifiers (“56-year-old man with testes”).

thames pilgrim @thames_pilgrim asks: “What are the most dangerous medical implications for turning a blind eye to someone’s sex due to a belief that talking about “male” and “female” might offend?”

This is a very important question which should be addressed at the following interrelated levels: clinical practice, research, and public policy.

Clinical practice: Transgender patients who do not disclose their birth sex might be at risk for improper medical treatment. (I have seen a natal female person who identified as a nonbinary man, be suspected of having testicular torsion; this person did not disclose their sex to the physician, which resulted in a delay in their care). Out of fear of being branded transphobic, physicians may not accurately and completely inform trans patients about their sex-specific risk for certain medical conditions. And for all patients, if a poorly-educated doctor is unaware as to how disorders manifest differently between the sexes, then patients can be harmed through the failure to rapidly and accurately diagnose and treat their medical conditions.

Research: Bad data generates bad research; bad research generates bad treatments; bad treatments generate bad outcomes. The physiological differences between males and females are vast, and stamp their mark on every organ of the human body, not just the genitals and gonads. Ignoring these differences will muddle our data, blur our understanding of physiology, and hinder the discovery of new treatments for diseases. Females are much more likely than males to have autoimmune disorders. Males are more likely than females to develop Parkinson’s disease. Males and females may present with different symptoms preceding a heart attack. Males and females metabolize drugs differently. Blatantly ignoring sex as a variable hobbles the process of scientific inquiry and limits the types of questions that researchers will ask, thereby limiting the answers they get.

Policy: Patients who are not transgender may be misled by “inclusive” educational materials and miss out on crucial preventative care. This is especially impactful in women’s health; whether due to language barrier, subpar sex education, or cultural taboo, not every woman will even know that she has a cervix, but she will know that she is female. Additionally, recommendations made by professional medical associations are widely used in clinical practice; if these guidelines are generated based on faulty data, this could negatively impact patients on a wider scale.

However, the most pernicious of possible harms is not the denial of sex; rather, the denial of sex is just one manifestation of a greater problem, which is the corrosion of critical thinking itself. Whatever you call it – this postmodern poison, the triumph of dogma over data – it is fundamentally incompatible with critical thinking, the most powerful all-purpose tool a physician has at his or her disposal. Starting with a conclusion and working backwards, all while twisting the data to fit a narrative, strikes me as more religious than scientific.

Marjorie Hutchins @leakylike asks: “Part of being a doctor is taking on ethical & safeguarding responsibilities[.] Why aren’t medical students challenging something which [could] have health implications for patients?”

Our positions as students are precarious, especially if one is labeled as being on the wrong side of history. Consequences for speaking out can include shunning, being anonymously reported to the school for “remediation”, being informally blacklisted from research and leadership opportunities, and potentially expulsion. Until I have earned my degree and have completed residency, I need to remain anonymous. To do otherwise would be to kill my career before it has even begun, which would also limit my ability to help many more patients in the future.

Although I am very biased, I think it should be on the onus of administration and our tenured professors to stand up against this madness, rather than on lone students to publicly put themselves at risk of debt and ruin. For now, I resist in the small ways that I can; I wish to do so more publicly when I am more secure.

[fandom-pardes]

According to halacha, which actions are Azula liable for?

Reposted from my Tumblr.

One of my favorite ways to study Jewish texts is to take a fictional character or situation and examine it through the lens of Jewish text and tradition.

I’ve done this before with ABC’s Once Upon A Time. Now I’m going to take up this exercise again with Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Before I begin, a few things to keep in mind.

I’m not a Talmud scholar.

There is no definitive Jewish Opinion™ about any issue pertaining to halacha. Unanimous opinions on halacha are so rare that when we find one, we assume something went wrong in the process..

Azula is a morally polarizing character in AtLA fandom. Regardless of who you ask, you’re bound to get some strong opinions about exactly what she’s done, the extent to which she’s responsible for it, and what this says about her morality or lack thereof. I’m not going to rehash those arguments. I think I’ve made it clear that I care less about whether people approve of her behavior than I do about how their statements about her reinforce harmful messages about women, people of color, LGBT people and mentally ill people.

Nevertheless, she’s incredibly interesting, and studying Jewish text is fun, so here we are.

Why examine Azula’s actions through the lens of halacha?

Halacha gets a lot of flack because it comes off as excessively legalistic. But, in my opinion, that’s based on a misunderstanding of what halacha is. Usually translated as “Jewish law,” the word halacha actually comes from the root word that means “to go/walk.”

Halacha is not a collection of rules for the sake of having rules. It’s meant to take us somewhere. You can write a library of books about exactly what that is and what it means. But for the sake of simplicity, halacha is how we show that we recognize the holiness of everything in creation. So we aim to do right by one another, by the land we live in and by the creatures we share this world with.

Before we can launch into examining the halachic ramifications of the things Azula does, we need to establish some boundaries.

Only the show counts. It’s the common frame of reference universally accepted by the vast majority of fandom. Fandom’s stances on the comics, novelizations and other tie-in materials are too variable to base an analysis on.

Word of God is immaterial. While some would use the phrase Death of the Author, Jewish tradition has a more entertaining take on it. In the Talmud, there’s a dispute between Rabbi Eliezer and some of his peers. In that story, Rabbi Eliezer says that if he’s right, this or that miraculous thing would happen, and those miraculous things do happen. But the other rabbis still reject it because we don’t determine halacha by miraculous signs. Eventually, God parts the heavens and says, “Rabbi Eliezer is right.” But another rabbi responds, “The Torah is not in heaven,” meaning that the Torah was meant for human beings on earth to interpret for themselves. And God’s response? To smile and say, “My children have defeated Me.”

Now, let’s begin.

Is Azula bound by halacha?

She’s not Jewish, so no. However, all human beings are bound by the Noahide laws. For the sake of argument, let’s say that the Noahide covenant applies to all humans on all worlds. According to the Talmud (Sanhedrin 56a.24):

Since the halakhot of the descendants of Noah have been mentioned, a full discussion of the Noahide mitzvot is presented. The Sages taught in a baraita: The descendants of Noah, i.e., all of humanity, were commanded to observe seven mitzvot: The mitzva of establishing courts of judgment; and the prohibition against blessing, i.e., cursing, the name of God; and the prohibition of idol worship; and the prohibition against forbidden sexual relations; and the prohibition of bloodshed; and the prohibition of robbery; and the prohibition against eating a limb from a living animal.

What is Azula’s legal status?

In any case, we know the rules, and now we have to decide whether Azula broke them or not, right?

Not so fast.

First, we have to determine if Azula is of the appropriate legal status to be held accountable for upholding the Noahide laws. In other words: when she committed certain acts, was Azula an adult capable of making rational decisions?

Clear your mind of the idea that being an adult is the same as being a grownup. Instead, think of it as a term that defines when people can make legally binding decisions.

As far as I can tell, the Talmud doesn’t say when a gentile becomes an adult. However, we can use halacha as a guide.

Now for a warning.

If frank talk about the physical development of adolescents makes you uncomfortable, you might want to skip this next part. There’s nothing graphic or titillating about what I’m going to discuss, but if breasts and pubic hair squick you out, skip this part until I say it’s safe in bold like this.

According to halacha, a girl reaches adulthood when she’s twelve years and one day old and has two pubic hairs. Yeah, you read that right. Twelve and two pubes are the requirement. Before this point, nothing she does is legally binding, even if she’s really smart and claims to be fully aware of what she’s doing. After this point, her actions are legally binding, even if she says she had no idea what she was doing.

On the show, we see Azula in a range of ages. In “Zuko Alone,” we see her at roughly eight years old. In “The Storm,” she’s about eleven. In all the other episodes she’s in, she’s fourteen. So, from a legal standpoint, flashback!Azula is too young for her actions to be legally binding. At that point in time, the responsibility would fall to her parents.

Um, I’m not willing to speculate about the genitals of an underage cartoon character, so for the sake of argument, I’m assuming that 14-year-old Azula meets the two pubes requirement. Thus, 14-year-old Azula is responsible for her actions.

If you skipped that last part, it’s safe to continue now.

OK, we’ve established that flashback!Azula is too young for her actions to be legally binding, but in the main story, Azula is legally an adult and responsible for her actions.

We good? Alright.

Which Noahide laws does Azula actually break?

This is both easier and harder than it seems.

The laws about idol worship, cursing God, and forbidden sexual acts don’t apply to her because neither religion nor sex are portrayed as such on the show. Also, the law about establishing courts of justice is a communal obligation, not one that falls on a single individual, so that’s another one we don’t have to concern ourselves with.

That leaves the prohibitions against bloodshed, robbery and eating a limb cut from a living animal.

First up: bloodshed.

The connotation of the prohibition against bloodshed is not for general acts of violence, but actual murder.

Here’s where I think I’m going to throw a lot of people for a loop. Azula doesn’t kill anyone on the show. She tries. She comes close. She wouldn’t lose sleep over it if she did. But nobody’s dead because of her. She doesn’t even take lives as collateral damage.

One could argue that zapping Aang with lightning counts as killing, but when the Sages talk about death and dying, I assume they mean the kind where the dead stay dead, not people who are revived by magic spirit water. Furthermore, if someone’s about to kill you (and I think entering the Avatar State qualifies here), you are halachically obligated to save your own life, even if it means killing that person.

Second: robbery.

We’ll come back to that.

Third: eating a limb from a living animal.

This prohibition is often expanded to incorporate all forms of animal cruelty.

The show does portray animal cruelty. We see a prime example with the circus in “Appa’s Lost Days.”

But what about Azula? We don’t see her interact with many animals on the show, but there are two notable examples: Appa the sky bison in “Appa’s Lost Days” and Bosco the bear in “The Crossroads of Destiny.”

How does her behavior measure up? Despite her earlier behavior of terrorizing turtleducks, Azula does not harm either Appa or Bosco.

On the show, Mai and Ty Lee are seen spending time with Bosco in the throne room while the Earth King is imprisoned. So, at the very least, they treat the bear well.

So, Azula is not liable for animal cruelty.

*hands Azula her Not As Big A Jerk As She Could Have Been award*

Now, let’s revisit that prohibition against robbery.

Given the prescribed punishment (decapitation), the connotation seems to be taking the rightful property of another through violent means. That being said, the prohibition against robbery is often extended to include all sorts of theft.

This one might have some legs. On the show, does Azula take the rightful property of another, and does she use violent means to do so?

Absolutely.

A major example is stealing the clothes of the Kyoshi Warriors after defeating them in combat.

But!

The show takes place during a time of war, and the Kyoshi Warriors, as allies of the Avatar, are enemies of the Fire Nation. So does beating them up and taking their uniforms fall under the prohibition against robbery, or are the Kyoshi Warrior uniforms considered the spoils of war and thus free for the taking?

Halachically speaking, it might actually be the latter. When fighting the Kyoshi Warriors, Azula acts as a military commander during a time of war and achieves a decisive victory against an elite combat unit. Thus, she is entitled to take their stuff.

So, back to the original question: which actions does Azula commit during the show that she’s halachically liable for?

The answer, shockingly, may be: none.

On the show, we’re encouraged to think of Azula as a Very Bad Girl who does Very Bad Things. She’s calculating, ruthless and deceptive. She’s also full of herself. She’s not someone who inspires warm, fuzzy feelings in most people. But when you put her actions under the microscope, she exercises remarkable restraint compared to what she’s capable of.

Don’t worry. No one’s going to nominate her for a Nobel Peace Prize just yet. This is Azula we’re talking about. She’s not acting out of an overwhelming love for humanity. But it is interesting that despite her threats to kill, maim and destroy, she doesn’t participate in wanton destruction or wasteful loss of life.

[moth-and-raven]

CHAPTER TEN ~NSFW warning~

“I could’ve saved us some time had I just followed my first instinct last night,” Julian jokes. But his voice is tight, and he jumps at every sound as we skirt the base of the cliff on which the palace sits.

“Stop saying that,” Portia says flatly. “This isn’t a woe-begotten self-sacrifice, it’s a necessary risk to get you off the hook.”

“I… right.”

“Besides, you should practice staying quiet. It’ll be so hard for you to keep your mouth shut for more than a few seconds at a time.” She winks at him to take the sting from her words.

“Who, me? I’m a paragon of stealth.”

Their banter fades into my concentration. I’ve been practicing my own skill on the walk, calling to mind everything I can remember about the invisibility spell Asra taught me: how to reshape the air around the object being hidden, how to account for differences in shadow and light, how to keep others away so their touch doesn’t reveal anything. I’ve never tried to maintain its effects for so long before, but if the gravity of this situation doesn’t inspire me, nothing will.

“— won’t you, Reyja?”

I startle. Portia’s looking at me expectantly, though Julian has his eyes on the cobblestones. “Sorry, what?”

“I said you’ll gag him if he won’t stop talking.”

Now I know why he’s blushing so deeply. My own cheeks flush, and Portia laughs.

“Oh, both of you are way too easy to tease.”

I’m not flustered by embarrassment, but rather the idea of how good he would look drooling around a ball gag. Not the kind of gagging she meant, I imagine, although based on some of her other comments, maybe she did. Like her interest in asking me about whatever it is Julian and I have, though, I’m strangely pleased that someone might think I’d enjoy that. My mind flashes back to the way Julian trembled under my touch at the shop, how obviously and unashamedly aroused he was to feel my hands roam his body, and again in the rush of passion as he rutted against me in Mazelinka’s bed. The memories only serve to draw more blood to my face.

But we make it across the rest of the market and through the wide streets of the aristocratic quarter without incident.

“Okay,” Portia says as we stop at the base of the long incline to the palace gates. “Ready, Reyja?”

I nod.

“Ilya?”

He risks a small glance at me, then nods too.

“Alright. They know both of us on sight so we shouldn’t even be stopped, but if we are, for the love of god…”

She doesn’t need to finish the sentence. We all know what will happen if this fails.

I take a deep breath and call up my magic, pulling in scraps of our surroundings and weaving them together to mask Julian from even the most determined viewer. He disappears piece by piece until I’m satisfied that he can’t be seen from any angle. I’m almost positive his breath catches as I circle him, checking my work, and I smile to myself at how well I can picture his blushing face.

But I can’t see it, and that’s the point. I just have to hope I can hold the illusion in place long enough.

A long, curved road leads us up to the gatehouse, our footsteps pounding in time with our hearts. One of the guards waves to Portia as we pass, and another nods at me. I can feel my breath in my throat… but they don’t bother us.

We reach the massive double doors leading into the main hall and wait for the intricate mechanisms inside — Portia told me in passing the first night I got here that the locks were Nadia’s invention — to open. A pair of servants bearing a load of colorful streamers nearly knocks into Julian; I hear his swallowed yelp in the instant they would’ve collided, and then they bustle away. I suppress the urge to reach for his hand.

The hallways buzz with activity — Portia wasn’t kidding about the Masquerade preparations being in full swing. We have to pause more than once for her to give directions or advice, or wait for a large decoration to pass. But eventually, I catch sight of the bejeweled tree barring the way to the library and the breath I’ve been holding since I constructed Julian’s disguise loosens in my chest.

Portia has the keys in her hand as we stop, and quickly opens the myriad locks. “Go,” she whispers after poking her head in to ensure we’ll be alone. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

The heavy thunk of the door sees her off.

I felt Julian’s presence behind me when I stepped into the quiet, so I drop his glamour all at once. Part of me wasn’t expecting to make it; there were a lot of variables over which we had little to no control. I don’t want to have to try it again.

“Thank you,” he murmurs. It’s the first thing he’s said directly to me since we left the Raven.

“You’re welcome.”

He opens his mouth as if to say something else, but turns away down the first row of books instead, following an old habit. I thought I would have to take him to the alcove in which he used to work, but it seems he’ll get there on his own. I hope that’s a good sign: if just being in this room can jog his memory, this massive risk might’ve been worth it.

He rushes to his desk the moment he catches sight of it, like he’s greeting a long-lost friend. He laughs joyously before looking back over his shoulder to smile at me.

And just as quickly as it appeared, that smile falls away.

Portia interrupted before we could really talk about what happened last night. I’m grateful she was there to help, but a weight still hangs between us; his aura reveals just how nervous he is to be alone with me again. He breaks our fleeting eye contact to stare at the mess of ink and paper scattered over the desktop, evidence of the problem-solving both of us have done.

A moment passes. Then another, and another. Maybe I’m still holding my breath after all, because nothing moves but the dust motes in the light beaming from the windows.

“I’m sorry, Reyja.”

His voice is soft, but I hear it clearly. He’s apologized for so many things in the short time we’ve known each other. This one feels different.

He turns around fully and starts back in my direction, speaking as he walks. “I’m so sorry. For everything. I don’t know what I was thinking, rejecting you like that. It was the last thing I wanted to do, and I did it anyway.” He pauses in front of me and sighs. “But I meant what I said at Mazelinka’s. To have something with you… that’s what I truly want.”

The world feels balanced on the point of a needle, like if I move or speak, it will shatter and take both of us with it.

“I hope I’ve made it clear that I find you, ah, very, very attractive. Because I do. Everything about you.” His gaze traces my features until he breaks off with a shy smile. “And by some miracle, I think you see something attractive in me too.”

Just something? No. Even with his flaws, he’s perfect.

"I want to spend all the time I have left with you, however long or short that may be. I want…” His voice drops to a whisper. “Oh, god, I want you. ”

A shudder tingles through my whole body. To hear him say it so directly, in a voice so laden with emotion, sets me afire. I can’t even find it in me to overthink the words.

“But what do you want? If I ruined this, I’ll accept that.” Julian grimaces. “If you can’t forgive me, or, rather, give me a second chance… well, that would be wise, I think. I know I have no right to ask it of you. And I still can’t promise you'll be safe, but I would give my life if it meant yours wouldn’t be in danger. I’m prepared to take that responsibility whether you, erm, whether you want me back or not.”

If only he knew I’d thought the same thing, long before our night under the starstrand. How many times did I tell myself I would do whatever it took to protect him, regardless of his feelings for me? And how determined was I to think the worst of him, just like he assumed that I wouldn’t care enough to stay, only to have it all proven wrong? The very fact that he’s asking if I want him back, because I already had him once, is more than I ever thought I’d get, and more than I ever thought I deserved.

No force can keep me from the man who told me otherwise.

I take the step he left for me and ball my fists in his shirt, pulling him down into a fierce, fiery kiss. My tongue finds his as he crumbles against me, breaking under the relief that swirls through us both. This is meant to be. We are meant to be. I’m enough of a pessimist to acknowledge that it may not last forever, but right now, right here, this moment was meant to happen. Julian whimpers and buries his fingers in my hair, pulling me closer. In return, I bring one hand to his jaw and adore the scratch of the stubble I find there.

It could be seconds or hours later, but eventually he breaks away. Not far, just enough to rest his forehead on mine, breathing heavily.

“Julian…”

His face lights up at the sound of my voice. “Oh, dearest Reyja.” He leans in to kiss me again. “I didn’t realize I could want so much, and find it all in one person. In you.”

“You say that like I didn’t find the same in you.”

He laughs. What a beautiful sound. “You flatter me, my darling. Oh, and I'm so grateful for it.”

My darling. Is that who I am now, his darling? His dearest? There’s nowhere I would rather be, no one I would rather be, than that. I hug him tightly, if only to prove to myself that this time, I’m not dreaming.

“I have something for you,” he says, close enough that I can feel his breath stir strands of my hair. “It’s already yours, but…”

I look up at him, cocking my head. “What is it?”

Reluctantly, he breaks our embrace and reaches into the pocket of his coat. “You left it at Mazelinka’s. I shouldn’t have taken it, but I… I saw it sitting there and—” He peeks at me from under his eyelashes. “I wanted to remember that night, in case it was the only one we had. I wanted to remember how beautiful you were, how lucky I was to have you, if only for a moment.”

The starstrand flower has darkened, shriveled into itself in curls of midnight blue. It’s delicate, its light faded, its stem hardening in the absence of its tree. But he holds it gently, and offers it like he’s giving me his very heart. His touch is so soft, so careful as he tucks it behind my ear again. I catch his hand against my cheek and lean into him, struck beyond words by the depth of the gesture. He lifts my face to his for another kiss; his lips are even softer.

“I wish I had something more fitting,” he murmurs.

"I think it’s perfect. You don’t have to show off for me."

“What do you mean?”

I kiss him once more. His flushed skin is like stone in sunlight, or maybe the sun itself: if I could, I would happily put him at the center of my world. “I mean that you’re enough on your own.”

The tips of his gloved fingers skate down my cheek to touch my lips. “But you deserve more.”

We make a strange mirror, he and I, both convinced that neither would like what we saw in the other and so trapped in that thought that we almost ruined everything. I won’t leave anything up for interpretation, or misinterpretation, this time.

“I don't want more. I want you,” I tell him. “As you are, right now. Innocent or guilty. I want to help you. I want to stand with you against whatever happens.”

“Whatever happens,” he echoes. “Oh, my darling, I was kidding myself in the most merciless way when I thought I would be able to leave you. It seems so strange, to be so certain that I want to wake up beside you again, feel your chest rise and fall against mine. I haven’t slept as soundly as I did with you for years. I can’t remember the last time I felt so…” He trails off, reaching for my hands to fold our fingers together. “So happy. You make me happy, Reyja. When I walked away, I figured I would never be happy again. But if that was the price I had to pay to keep you out of harm’s way…”

I can’t let him think that this is what I expect, that the actual price for being with me is constant anxiety over my safety. I love how willing he is to protect me, but I’m not helpless. “You don’t have to do that to yourself. I need you to know that I’ll be alright.”

I don’t think I’ve ever said that before and truly meant it.

“But—”

I shake my head. “I’m not going to let you tear yourself apart to keep me together, okay? Like I said, and will say every time you need me to, I just want you. We’ll look out for each other if it comes to that, but I don’t want us to start out so unbalanced.”

Julian squeezes my hand and sighs, pulling me closer to rest his cheek on the top of my head. “That’s a different sort of protection, isn’t it?” he asks quietly. “Protecting me from myself.”

“M’hm. Does that sound reasonable?”

He chuckles. “More than reasonable. It sounds… it sounds… Ha, do you know how rarely I’m at a loss for words? You do that to me, sweetheart. I know seven languages and not a speck of any one of them is coming to mind right now.”

“That’s okay. You don’t have to say anything.”

“I don’t, do I?”

Silence sparkles in the midafternoon sunlight. Julian wraps his arms around me and sways, in and out of shadow, dancing with me like we have nothing better to do. After a moment, he gestures towards the same armchair I curled up in several nights ago, crying myself to sleep with the idea that he would never want me. I take a savage sort of pleasure in proving my own memory wrong as he pulls me onto his lap and kisses up the side of my neck before burying his nose in my hair.

“That scent,” he murmurs. “Oh, it’s neither the time nor the place for confessions like this, but my god. I prided myself on my strength of will at Mazelinka’s and yet all I could think about as soon as I left you there on the pier was doing exactly this, holding you close and feeling your luscious body under my hands, and how much I— ah, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t say anything, erm, anything more. Not now, anyway.”

He shifts beneath me, his blush resurfacing with a vengeance. Not now.

I’ve never thought of myself as impulsive. In fact, I’m quite the opposite, so frozen with indecision that I rarely do anything at all, let alone anything rash. But if I’ve learned nothing else from Julian, I’ve come to see some value in action without thought. We wouldn’t be where we are without it. Of course, there’s much more value in thinking things through before dashing off into the night, but sometimes…

“We have time.” I slide off his lap and turn to face him, crawling back up so I’m straddling his thighs instead. He swallows hard, cheeks moving beyond pink into scarlet, and reaches out to steady me with his hands on my broad hips. I smile as I brace myself on the plush upholstery behind his head and trace the tendons in his neck, pausing to toy with the snaps at the collar of his uniform. “What were you going to say?”

“A-ahm. I was just, erm…”

“Go ahead, Julian.” I lean close, knowing he’ll feel my lips against his ear. My smile widens when he trembles and tightens his grip on me.

“Oh, you have no idea the things I want to do to you,” he groans. “And the things I want you to do to me! Darling, you’ll think me such a degenerate if I tell you what crosses my mind when I picture us.”

I can’t help but laugh. “Try me.”

He stares at me, his visible eye wide. Then, as if in slow motion, he cups the back of my head and draws me into a deep, sensuous kiss, parting my lips with his tongue, his breath crashing against mine the faster his lungs heave. He lets me pop the snaps of his jacket and run my fingers down his chest, leaving faint red lines in the wake of my nails; his skin takes so kindly to scratch-marks. In return, he slides one hand under my shirt, groaning with pleasure at the smoothness of my skin.

And then he stops.

“I-I shouldn’t—” he stutters, reluctant to busy his mouth with something other than kissing me. “You’ve never—”

That’s thoughtful of him, but being a virgin does not make me virginal. “Should I go first?”

He gasps, and for a heart-wrenching second I wonder if I went too far. But then he pulls me closer and I feel the shift of his growing erection beneath his trousers. I’ll take that as a yes.

“I keep thinking about you on your knees, shirtless, maybe more…” I say, tucking one of his errant curls behind his ear. “Looking at me like you’d do whatever I told you to.”

“Oh, I would!”

I shiver. Of course this isn’t entirely new territory, but I had wanted to know how familiar he was with things like this. More than I had any right to expect, it seems. Lucky me.

“And I’ve bound your hands behind your back—”

He moans.

“—and you’re gleaming with sweat, like we just finished having some fun.”

He kisses me again. I wonder if he would let me undo his pants.

“I love your smile. I bet it’s even cuter when I tell you how good you've been.”

“Reyja, I—!”

“Would you like that?”

“S-so— so much!”

Part of me floats out of my mind, watching from above as I, Reyja North, sit on a handsome man’s lap and tease him with sexual fantasies I’ve never given voice to before. The things I'm saying would’ve flustered me to even think about less than a week ago, but he’s so earnest, so eager… is this the kind of person I’ve been all along? Did it only take someone like him to reveal it? “Then I’ll tell you all the time.”

I’d love to touch him, stroke him, take his cock into my mouth and look up into his eyes as I make him weak-kneed with pleasure. That particular organ has always fascinated me; in the course of exploring my gender, I decided to wear a dildo under my clothes once. It felt nice, though not nice enough that I do it every day. But I love the way the real ones change so much, going from soft to hard and spilling so dramatically. I can’t deny that a piece of me will simply be happy to have a penis to play with regularly. I hope Julian doesn’t mind.

At the moment, I think he’s rather excited about it. He’s panting, open-mouthed, and thrusting against me almost like he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Feeling bold, I take hold of a handful of his hair and tip his head back. He hisses between his teeth, a flash of ecstasy lighting up his face before his eye rolls and he shivers in delight.

“Will you be good for me, Julian?”

He meets my gaze for only a moment, his mouth fallen open. Between us, his cock jumps, and when I look down, thick milk-white cum is spilling from just below his belt through the fabric of his pants.

“No, no, no!" he groans, like he thinks he can stop it. “Oh no! Oh, I’m so sorry! I— You— I didn’t mean to—”

I didn’t know he was so near the edge. But even as I swallow my own apology, I realize that I’ve never seen anything so arousing. I made him do that, just by kissing him and giving him something to rub against. Just by saying a few words, I made him lose control of something many men pride themselves on maintaining. I would much, much rather he do this than strut around bragging about his stamina. He’s beautiful when he cums.

He’s still stammering as I silence him with my lips on his, but resists for only a moment before returning my embrace. What a rush of emotions he must be feeling right now. Whatever else, though, I’m not going to let him be embarrassed about this. At least not because of my reaction.

I pull away so both of us can see what happened. He looks at me trepidatiously, his blush turned a humiliated crimson though desire still sparks in the gray storm of his iris.

I answer his unasked question with a smile. “That was so hot.”

He wasn’t expecting that. “It… it was?”

I brush his bangs back and kiss him again.

He laughs, relieved but wild. “Oh, Reyja, I’m so happy you said that! I’ve, ah, I’ve gotten into trouble before, like this. Ahem. Truly, you’re one in a—”

With so many other things to think about, and activities to occupy me, I’ve forgotten where we are and what we’re supposed to be doing until now. For all I care, we’re the only two people left in Vesuvia. But everything comes crashing back at once when I hear a thump on the library door and, to my horror, the faint murmur of voices outside.

Fuck. Fuck.

Julian hears them a moment after I do and turns gray. I slide off of his lap and he pales even more as the full scope of the damage makes itself known: the creamy stain is very noticeable, smeared down the inside of one thigh. The look on his face says more than he ever could have in the handful of seconds we have to spare.

Because one of the voices in the hall belonged to Portia, but the other was Nadia. And she was asking to be let in.

—————

prev || next

[wisdomrays]

TAFAKKUR: Part 337

INTERPRETING DREAMS: Part 1

INTRODUCTION

Before giving information on dream interpretation, it is necessary to expound on the issues of sleep and dreams, because without knowing the essence of dreaming, no appropriate interpretation is possible.

What is dreaming? What constitutes its core? Is it the peculiar images seen during sleep, which is said to be like a temporary death? Why and how we dream is an unsolved mystery. Since the creation of humanity, philosophers and scholars have tried to explain dreaming, but none of them have demystified it completely. And so the subject continues to attract people's interest.

Some basics of dreaming are the following. A dream is a vast metaphysical world that is also related to the Hereafter. Feeling this relationship is possible if people undertake the necessary emotional cleanliness and spiritual purification practices. If they do not do so, they live in a state of unawareness and thus cannot understand the subtle realities presented in dreams.

The fact that many Qur'anic verses and Prophetic hadiths mention dreams means that Muslims should pay attention to them. The narration of the Prophets' dreams and their interpretations in the Qur'an, as well as Prophet Muhammad's statement that dreams are the doors to spirituality, indicate that they contain a crucial type of knowledge ('Ilm).

THE REALITY OF DREAMING

According to some scholars, the essence of dreaming consists of traces left on the shared sense (hiss-i mushterek) that descends from one's imagination. Philosophers assume that this shared sense is not one of the five basic senses.

In addition, people have a nafs-i natika a "spiritual intellect" that is the perception itself. This intellect perceives what is happening around it, but its preoccupation with bodily activities hinders it from reflecting upon knowledge related to the Unseen (ghayb).(2) During sleep, the burden of the five senses is lightened, which enables this spiritual intellect to receive ghayb-related knowledge from the metaphysical world. Then it turns to the body. Since it is located within the body, it becomes bound by corporeal things and can function only via bodily faculties. The spirit transmits what it perceives from its world to the faculty of the imagination, after which one's imagination describes and pictures this information in an appropriate manner and presents it to "the shared sense." The sleeping person feels as if he or she is actually seeing those things. This is a partial explanation of dreaming.

Now, let us dwell upon the matter of sleep during which dreaming takes place.

SLEEP AND DREAMS: A SCIENTIFIC APPROACH

It is generally believed that an adult needs an average of 8 hours of sleep a night. However, researchers point out that the need for sleep differs from person to person: babies need about 16 hours, while elderly people show a great variation from the average. In addition, some people dream frequently while sleeping; others wake up frequently.

The actual cause and function of sleeping is not understood completely. Allan Rachtschaffen, a sleep researcher at the University of Chicago, states that sleep has no active function for the body. Despite the reduction in muscular fatigue and weariness, the body does not actually need sleep to renovate itself for our cells can restore and mend themselves under any condition. According to recent research, the human body does not have to undergo this renovation process to be in a passive condition or a sleeping mode. Electroencephalograms (EEGs) administered during sleep detect no such passive activity in the brain. According to Dr. Evans, a psychologist at England's National Physics Laboratory, Computer Science Section, the main purpose of sleeping is to allow a person to dream.

Dr. William Dumont, a doctor at Stanford Medical Center, Sleep Disorders Clinic and Research Division, claims that dreaming is very important, for dreams help to maintain the body's physical balance.

Dr. Colin D. Hendrigh of Stanford University writes that all organs perform systematic movements and activities at different times and various rates, and to extents that are specific to them. These changes, which are the rhythms' highest and lowest levels, are different for every person. Physical activities reach their peak at midday and their lowest level at dawn.

Dr. Franz Halberg introduced the term circadian for changes that occur regularly on a 24-hour basis. Physical balance can be maintained by the rhythmic changes in accordance with time.

When the organs' rhythm is the most inadequate, we feel sleepy. The first period of sleep, the non-rapid eye movement (NREM) state, is the most tranquil state for the body. Breathing is regular and quiet, and EEGs show that all mental activities are normal and orderly. Snoring occurs in this period.

The active sleeping state is the rapid eye movement (REM] state. Here the body is steady, except for irregular facial muscle and fingertip movements. Breathing becomes irregular, which leads to a continual rhythmic oscillation between slow- and fast-paced breathing. There is no snoring in this state. Some researchers claim that the REM period is not a part of sleep, but rather a kind of epileptic fit. REM sleep usually lasts for 1.5 to 2 hours, and NREM and REM cycles range from 70 to 110 minutes. On the average, they are expected to last for 90 minutes.

People who are spiritually depressed feel relaxed as long as they are not in REM sleep, for this is the state in which dreaming usually occurs. Many people cannot avoid REM sleep, however, even if they take sedatives or soporifics designed to block it either partially or entirely.

The first REM period of sleep lasts for about 10 minutes. As the night passes, REM periods might last longer, sometimes even as long as an hour. We dream, regardless of this period's duration, but usually forget what we have dreamed when we wake up. (Researchers wake sleepers and ask whether they dreamed or not in order to record the dreams.)

During dreams, many details are removed from our memory. Usually we remember dreams consisting of nice and pleasant meanings and suggestions. If we were to recall all of our dreams, we would stay under their influence during the entire day and be unable to use our senses.

If there were no REM period, people would wake up for 10 or 20 minutes every 1 or 2 hours, instead of sleeping through the whole night. Experiments indicate that people deprived of REM sleep show psychological, spiritual, or bodily disorders. Other experiments show that when people deprived of REM sleep are given soporific drugs, they have longer REM periods. Ernest I. Hartman states that human beings need constant NREM periods with variable in-between REM periods. In other words, everybody has a constant period of NREM sleep, but REM periods vary from person to person.

"Long sleepers" are mainly those with demanding manual jobs or those who work long hours. If they do not sleep properly, they face problems in various aspects of their lives, are unhappy and constantly complaining, and have neurological problems. On the other hand, people with a romantic or artistic nature sleep to escape from society.

We cannot change our sleeping habits. If you cannot sleep for more than 6 hours, it just means that you only need that much sleep. The 8-hour average is just a generalization used in scientific circles, and thus is not supposed to apply to everybody.

[phoukanamedpookie]

According to halacha, which actions are Azula liable for?

One of my favorite ways to study Jewish texts is to take a fictional character or situation and examine it through the lens of Jewish text and tradition.

I’ve done this before with ABC’s Once Upon A Time. Now I’m going to take up this exercise again with Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Before I begin, a few things to keep in mind.

I’m not a Talmud scholar.

There is no definitive Jewish Opinion(TM) about any issue pertaining to halacha. Unanimous opinions on halacha are so rare that when we find one, we assume something went wrong in the process..

Azula is a morally polarizing character in AtLA fandom. Regardless of who you ask, you’re bound to get some strong opinions about exactly what she’s done, the extent to which she’s responsible for it, and what this says about her morality or lack thereof. I’m not going to rehash those arguments. I think I’ve made it clear that I care less about whether people approve of her behavior than I do about how their statements about her reinforce harmful messages about women, people of color, LGBT people and mentally ill people.

Nevertheless, she’s incredibly interesting, and studying Jewish text is fun, so here we are.

Why examine Azula’s actions through the lens of halacha? 

Halacha gets a lot of flack because it comes off as excessively legalistic. But, in my opinion, that’s based on a misunderstanding of what halacha is. Usually translated as “Jewish law,” the word halacha actually comes from the root word that means “to go/walk.”

Halacha is not a collection of rules for the sake of having rules. It’s meant to take us somewhere. You can write a library of books about exactly what that is and what it means. But for the sake of simplicity, halacha is how we show that we recognize the holiness of everything in creation. So we aim to do right by one another, by the land we live in and by the creatures we share this world with.

Before we can launch into examining the halachic ramifications of the things Azula does, we need to establish some boundaries.

Only the show counts. It’s the common frame of reference universally accepted by the vast majority of fandom. Fandom’s stances on the comics, novelizations and other tie-in materials are too variable to base an analysis on.

Word of God is immaterial. While some would use the phrase Death of the Author, Jewish tradition has a more entertaining take on it. In the Talmud, there’s a dispute between Rabbi Eliezer and some of his peers. In that story, Rabbi Eliezer says that if he’s right, this or that miraculous thing would happen, and those miraculous things do happen. But the other rabbis still reject it because we don’t determine halacha by miraculous signs. Eventually, God parts the heavens and says, “Rabbi Eliezer is right.” But another rabbi responds, “The Torah is not in heaven,” meaning that the Torah was meant for human beings on earth to interpret for themselves. And God’s response? To smile and say, “My children have defeated Me.”

Now, let’s begin.

Is Azula bound by halacha? 

She’s not Jewish, so no. However, all human beings are bound by the Noahide laws. For the sake of argument, let’s say that the Noahide covenant applies to all humans on all worlds. According to the Talmud (Sanhedrin 56a.24):

Since the halakhot of the descendants of Noah have been mentioned, a full discussion of the Noahide mitzvot is presented. The Sages taught in a baraita: The descendants of Noah, i.e., all of humanity, were commanded to observe seven mitzvot: The mitzva of establishing courts of judgment; and the prohibition against blessing, i.e., cursing, the name of God; and the prohibition of idol worship; and the prohibition against forbidden sexual relations; and the prohibition of bloodshed; and the prohibition of robbery; and the prohibition against eating a limb from a living animal.

What is Azula’s legal status?

In any case, we know the rules, and now we have to decide whether Azula broke them or not, right?

Not so fast.

First, we have to determine if Azula is of the appropriate legal status to be held accountable for upholding the Noahide laws. In other words: when she committed certain acts, was Azula an adult capable of making rational decisions?

Clear your mind of the idea that being an adult is the same as being a grownup. Instead, think of it as a term that defines when people can make legally binding decisions.

As far as I can tell, the Talmud doesn’t say when a gentile becomes an adult. However, we can use halacha as a guide.

Now for a warning.

If frank talk about the physical development of adolescents makes you uncomfortable, you might want to skip this next part. There’s nothing graphic or titillating about what I’m going to discuss, but if breasts and pubic hair squick you out, skip this part until I say it’s safe in bold like this.

According to halacha, a girl reaches adulthood when she’s twelve years and one day old and has two pubic hairs. Yeah, you read that right. Twelve and two pubes are the requirement. Before this point, nothing she does is legally binding, even if she’s really smart and claims to be fully aware of what she’s doing. After this point, her actions are legally binding, even if she says she had no idea what she was doing.

On the show, we see Azula in a range of ages. In “Zuko Alone,” we see her at roughly eight years old. In “The Storm,” she’s about eleven. In all the other episodes she’s in, she’s fourteen. So, from a legal standpoint, flashback!Azula is too young for her actions to be legally binding. At that point in time, the responsibility would fall to her parents. 

Um, I’m not willing to speculate about the genitals of an underage cartoon character, so for the sake of argument, I’m assuming that 14-year-old Azula meets the two pubes requirement. Thus, 14-year-old Azula is responsible for her actions.

If you skipped that last part, it’s safe to continue now.

OK, we’ve established that flashback!Azula is too young for her actions to be legally binding, but in the main story, Azula is legally an adult and responsible for her actions.

We good? Alright.

Which Noahide laws does Azula actually break?

This is both easier and harder than it seems. 

The laws about idol worship, cursing God, and forbidden sexual acts don’t apply to her because neither religion nor sex are portrayed as such on the show. Also, the law about establishing courts of justice is a communal obligation, not one that falls on a single individual, so that’s another one we don’t have to concern ourselves with.

That leaves the prohibitions against bloodshed, robbery and eating a limb cut from a living animal.

First up: bloodshed.

The connotation of the prohibition against bloodshed is not for general acts of violence, but actual murder.

Here’s where I think I’m going to throw a lot of people for a loop. Azula doesn’t kill anyone on the show. She tries. She comes close. She wouldn’t lose sleep over it if she did. But nobody’s dead because of her. She doesn’t even take lives as collateral damage.

One could argue that zapping Aang with lightning counts as killing, but when the Sages talk about death and dying, I assume they mean the kind where the dead stay dead, not people who are revived by magic spirit water. Furthermore, if someone’s about to kill you (and I think entering the Avatar State qualifies here), you are halachically obligated to save your own life, even if it means killing that person.

Second: robbery.

We’ll come back to that.

Third: eating a limb from a living animal.

This prohibition is often expanded to incorporate all forms of animal cruelty.

The show does portray animal cruelty. We see a prime example with the circus in “Appa’s Lost Days.”

But what about Azula? We don’t see her interact with many animals on the show, but there are two notable examples: Appa the sky bison in “Appa’s Lost Days” and Bosco the bear in “The Crossroads of Destiny.”

How does her behavior measure up? Despite her earlier behavior of terrorizing turtleducks, Azula does not harm either Appa or Bosco. 

On the show, Mai and Ty Lee are seen spending time with Bosco in the throne room while the Earth King is imprisoned. So, at the very least, they treat the bear well.

So, Azula is not liable for animal cruelty.

*hands Azula her Not As Big A Jerk As She Could Have Been award*

Now, let’s revisit that prohibition against robbery.

Given the prescribed punishment (decapitation), the connotation seems to be taking the rightful property of another through violent means. That being said, the prohibition against robbery is often extended to include all sorts of theft.

This one might have some legs. On the show, does Azula take the rightful property of another, and does she use violent means to do so?

Absolutely.

A major example is stealing the clothes of the Kyoshi Warriors after defeating them in combat.

But!

The show takes place during a time of war, and the Kyoshi Warriors, as allies of the Avatar, are enemies of the Fire Nation. So does beating them up and taking their uniforms fall under the prohibition against robbery, or are the Kyoshi Warrior uniforms considered the spoils of war and thus free for the taking?

Halachically speaking, it might actually be the latter. When fighting the Kyoshi Warriors, Azula acts as a military commander during a time of war and achieves a decisive victory against an elite combat unit. Thus, she is entitled to take their stuff.

So, back to the original question: which actions does Azula commit during the show that she’s halachically liable for?

The answer, shockingly, may be: none.

On the show, we’re encouraged to think of Azula as a Very Bad Girl who does Very Bad Things. She’s calculating, ruthless and deceptive. She’s also full of herself. She’s not someone who inspires warm, fuzzy feelings in most people. But when you put her actions under the microscope, she exercises remarkable restraint compared to what she’s capable of. 

Don’t worry. No one’s going to nominate her for a Nobel Peace Prize just yet. This is Azula we’re talking about. She’s not acting out of an overwhelming love for humanity. But it is interesting that despite her threats to kill, maim and destroy, she doesn’t participate in wanton destruction or wasteful loss of life.

[mithrilwren]

Closer Still

Shadowgast, ~5000 words. Also on Ao3!

This began as a discussion with @the-littlest-goblin about what the fantasy equivalent of the “trapped in an elevator together” trope was. Naturally, the answer turned out to be “trapped in a pocket dimension because we (two idiot wizards) decided to experiment with time magic together and got in over our heads” :) Where better to get to know one another?

Cw. panic attacks, minor self-harm and discussions thereof (nothing beyond Caleb-typical levels)

Also, VERY explicit hand-holding. Be warned.

---

“There isn’t a door,” Caleb says, as he stares out into the formless void. “There was supposed to be a door.” They had planned - in all their meticulous notes on interdimensional spaces and incremental trials, in every mutual assurance that we will start with the simplest scenario, for safety’s sake - for there to be a door.

“No, there isn’t,” Essek agrees.

In fact, there’s nothing at all. Which is… worrisome. 

Caleb is, to a certain extent, familiar with inter-planar spaces. He’s studied them aplenty over the years, both from books and his own intuition. Frumpkin presumably hails from a pocket dimension much like this one when not with Caleb, which should be a comforting thought. Given their actual circumstances, it is wholly not. 

The emptiness stretches on forever, in every direction - a phantom sea of black that lacks dimension and boundary, but still feels confined. The manner and shape of the confinement isn’t something his mind can fully wrap itself around, but his body seems to instinctively shrink back regardless, hearkening towards a non-existent center, which is merely the place they appeared. The only thing outside himself is Essek, still clad in his mantle and balancing an open book in one hand, that contains their notes for the spell they now find themselves trapped within: pages of calculations and predictions and copied phrases from Halas’s work.

The first step had seemed self-evident, at the time - obvious to both of them in the same breath, a singular shared thought. When their eyes met the spark was palpable, and away they went. It was a simple application, far simpler than what they attempted with Nott. Combining Essek’s knowledge of dunamancy with Halas’s successes on time dilation - along with Caleb’s own work on the vault of amber - had seemed almost too easy. It had taken less than a day to design the rudimentary spell, and less than two hours to collect the necessary components, and then... after all, why wait? They were ready, quicker than they could have believed, to test the results. Here, in a space all their own, they might begin to recreate a little of the Happy Fun Ball’s mystery.

Only, at every stage of this feverishly hurried plan, in every hastily sketched schematic and ink-stained diagram, they had always meant for there to be a way out. A door, back to the material plane.

And there’s nothing. Literally, nothing.

“This is certainly a… predicament,” Essek says lightly. Too lightly, and he is not such an accomplished liar that Caleb can’t sense the hint of unease beneath his steady words. “Perhaps we moved too quickly - there must have been a variable we missed.”

Caleb reaches his hand out, feeling towards the edge of… well, there isn’t an edge. The space has no frontier, and its absence comes as as much of a surprise as the missing door. When he’d read of such magic before - spells to create demiplanes, and things of that nature - the books had always included descriptions of rudimentary walls of stone or wood. Here, there’s only the endless expanse. It’s almost akin to the beacon’s limitless interior, if all the stars within had been snuffed out. 

There is a floor, however. That’s even stranger, because it certainly doesn’t look like there is. Essek still hovers a few inches higher than Caleb, but his own feet rest on a surface no more solid than the immaterial blackness above their heads. It doesn’t make sense. There’s nothing to be standing on.

The moment the thought occurs to him, Caleb begins to fall.

The terrifying descent lasts only a few seconds before Essek’s arm shoots out and grasps his shoulder. Gasping, Caleb jerks to a stop and finds himself… exactly where he started, the unseen floor beneath his feet yet again. He claps a hand over his mouth as his stomach heaves. 

Essek’s fingers uncurl from his shoulder as quickly as they’d snatched it, and Caleb presses his hand down all the harder, like it will keep his breath inside of him. He squeezes his eyes shut, which helps. His body can accept the emptiness when it can sense a reason for it.

“The vertigo will pass,” Essek says softly, but closer now. The vicinity around his shoulder buzzes, like something hovers there, unseen. “I’ve seen the same reaction in those unaccustomed to a dunamatic field. Your body will find equilibrium, once you accept the reality that cannot be seen.”

Mostly reassured by that logic, by any logic that his mind can cling to, Caleb opens his eyes. Essek is still a few feet behind him, like he hadn’t moved at all. No indication that he’d even gotten near enough to touch Caleb’s shoulder. No reason for why his voice sounded close by, only moments before. Abashed, he opens his mouth as he steps forward, meaning to thank Essek-

And immediately pitches forward onto his knees. Only his knees have nothing to land on, his hands have nowhere to scrabble towards, and he is spinning, the room- not a room, nothing- is spinning, and there’s nothing holding him together as he falls-

“Caleb!” Essek’s shout, unmasked and truly unsettled at last, rattles through Caleb, and he can’t stop moving in place, like he’s spiralling out of control, like his body doesn’t belong to him-

The buzzing returns, and tense fingers find his shoulders again, dragging him back up into something like a kneeling position. “You need to focus,” Essek is saying, reprimanding, voice harsher now for the worry that lies beneath the words, and the expanse is dark, and there is nothing, and as the panic reaches a crest, then a lull, he becomes nothing too.

Caleb knows what it means, to float away. It’s protection, like every other piece of armor he wraps himself with. But knowing what it is doesn’t mean that he can stop it from happening. 

Hands gone cold and numb, he curls into himself as best he can, turning his face down- there isn’t a down- every direction is down, oh gods- and tries to make himself small-

Essek’s fingers him release again. His breath comes out sharply somewhere above Caleb’s ear. “What’s happening, Caleb?” More quietly, “Talk to me.”

He doesn’t want to talk. Doesn’t like talking, in this state. Talking is… difficult, and he clamps his mouth down harder, determined at least not to be sick. He doesn’t know what would happen to the vomit, if he did. Would it even fall away, in a void like this, or would it hover in the air like Essek’s feet? He can’t help but giggle at the thought, and the laugh is a wrenched thing, short and torn. His mind drifts further still. 

Something dark and heavy falls over his head - thick material, soft but clinging. It catches in the strands of his hair, blanketing him from his forehead to the small of his back, and with slightly shaking fingers he reaches up and draws the fabric closer around him. The sensation is such an unexpected shock that his breath stutters, slowing to a less frantic rate as he centers on the feeling of the weighty mantle over his head, and the strangeness of it all.

“Does that… help?”

The buzzing. Essek is thinking of touching him, he realizes. Caleb reaches one hand out from below the cloak, feeling for Essek and still finding nothing. He draws it back beneath as the panic begins to build again. A moment later, there’s a solid presence at his side, and an arm wrapping around his shoulders - cloak and all - gripping almost too tightly for comfort. The pressure is unexpected, and exactly what he needs. 

“Is any of this helping?” Essek asks again, still so uncertain, and now that the feeling is returning to Caleb’s body, he can begin to sense the tension in Essek’s. At least he’s not the only one uncomfortable.

“You are real,” Caleb says hoarsely, which seems a sufficient answer in his own head. Something here is real. If Essek doesn’t understand his meaning, he doesn’t have the energy to explain. “Yes, it is helping.”

“...I’m glad.” Only then does Essek’s death grip on Caleb’s shoulder relax, and he steels himself to be let go of again, chest squeezing as he anticipates the absence, but Essek only changes position, readjusting the mantle so it drapes more fully over Caleb before settling back into the awkward, one-armed hug.

Beneath the cloak, the darkness of the floor could just be the lack of light. It gets a little easier to breathe, and Caleb leans his head against what he assumes to be Essek’s shoulder as he pulls his knees under the cloak as well.

“We should leave here, as soon as possible,” Essek says. “I did not expect you would have such an adverse reaction.”

“How do we leave? There’s no door.” Caleb’s words feel sluggish, slow, like they always do in the minutes after a bout like this. He’s probably repeating himself. Maybe. He doesn’t have it in him to care, at this present moment.

“I… don’t know. If we had simply gone to a remote part of the material plane, this would be easier.” Essek says, frustrated. “I have no experience teleporting across planes. I suspect if I tried, we would be ripped apart, or worse.”

“Could we dispel it?” Caleb says. This is a problem. A problem with a practical solution. That’s good. That’s something to focus on. 

“From the outside, perhaps. But the plane itself isn’t magic, only the spell that created it. And I’m not sure I want to find out what would happen to the creatures inside an artificial plane if it were dispelled.”

“I imagine we could be lost forever,” Caleb says. “Like Halas, trapped in his gem for eternity. Only not in a place that a group of merry assholes would stumble upon us.”

“What of your group of ‘merry assholes’?” Essek suggests. “Presumably they’ll come searching for you eventually.”

Caleb nods, only realizing belatedly that Essek can’t see his face. “Nott will wonder where I am. They all will, if I don’t return tonight.” Only, would the others think to worry right away? They know he spent the day with Essek, and that they’re both apt to work long into the night when engrossed in a project. How long will it be, before someone comes looking? “And what about your... coworkers? Will the Bright Queen miss you in court, if you don’t report in?”

Essek sighs, and the exhale flows into Caleb’s chest, the movement of his body moving Caleb’s as well. The back of his neck begins to prickle. He’s grateful now for the cloak for two reasons; his skin is too pale not to show a blush. Even if the situation is far from romantic, this kind of proximity to another person’s body is almost uncomfortably intimate. And it’s hard to separate his own embarrassment from embarrassment on Essek’s behalf. Neither one of them gives casual touch easily, and it feels too close to taking advantage, to ask it of him now, without allowing him a way to refuse. 

Caleb begins to shift away by millimeters. 

“I imagine, after a day or so. But she trusts me to use my time well, as I see fit. I’m generally left to my own devices unless explicitly summoned.”

A day or so. Well, if they’re to be trapped here that long, Caleb may as well start acclimatizing now. He doesn’t intend to spend countless hours wrapped in swaddling clothes, nor could he expect Essek to keep up the same treatment, centering as the touch may be. Even now, the arm that wraps around his shoulder is beginning to shake, and without being able to see Essek’s face, Caleb judges the tension to be discomfort on Essek’s part. 

Reluctantly, Caleb shrugs out of the half embrace and reaches up to draw the fabric down from over his head. Essek makes a soft noise of protest, but doesn’t stop Caleb from completing the movement. He drops the mantle in his lap and balls his fists into it, eyes still squeezed shut. 

No buzzing this time. Maybe Essek has finally tired of holding Caleb up.

“I’ll be alright,” Caleb murmurs. “The worst is past, I think.”

He swallows, willing his words to be true as he forces his eyes to open. The darkness is still waiting there, so he turns his head instead to Essek, keeping his gaze focused on the details of his garb - the gentle greys of folded cloth, the intricate embroidery along his belt, the slender line of his fingers, folded neatly in his lap and held there, meticulous in their stillness. Essek’s hands are stained with ink and chalk and golden flecks of dust, and Caleb had been thinking only a few minutes before they left, how very strange it was, to see such elegant fingers dirtied as much as his own.

Caleb doesn’t look him in the eye. It still seems too personal, for all of that. 

They’re both sitting now, in a way, and maybe that helps too. It’s easier to believe the not-there floor is actually beneath them when Essek’s legs, tucked neatly to one side, are also touching something seemingly solid. 

Caleb pulls the mantle over his lap like a blanket, not quite ready yet to surrender the comforting weight. Then he places his hands on his forearms and begins to scratch at the long sleeves. That pressure is soothing in a different way. It’s a more familiar kind of comfort, as he digs the nails in deeper. He thinks he catches Essek’s eyes narrowing, but it’s been a long time since he’s been able to stop the habit, no matter who watches on.

As a last ditch effort, Caleb snaps his fingers. Unsurprisingly, Frumpkin doesn’t appear. The cat is tethered to the material plane, not this pocket one. Mouth twisted in displeasure, he returns to the scratching with renewed vigour.

“Tell me if it gets bad again,” Essek says. Even if his words are unassuming, he’s still watching Caleb’s hands too closely.

“I will,” says Caleb, not quite sure yet if he’s lying, but eager to change the subject regardless. “After an hour, the spell will expire anyway. Who knows? Maybe we’ll be ejected when it does.”

“That’s certainly a possibility,” Essek says. “Let’s hope.”

“Let’s hope.”

Essek falls silent, almost meditative, and in the absence of his voice there’s nothing but silence either. At least the beacon had a sort of hum to it, a cosmic energy - brimming with what he now knows as life, unimaginable and vast. This feels more like the quiet rooms of the asylum, where they hung dark sheets against the wall, to muffle the sound of-

Caleb digs his nails in harder. The memory stutters and shifts, and he can breathe again, for a few minutes more.

“Forgive me,” Essek says, then reaches out and takes Caleb’s wrist in his hand, drawing it away from his arm. “I…” His mouth twitches, and he turns his head away. “I’m afraid you’ll break the skin. I don’t have healing magic like your compatriots, and we don’t know how long it will be before-”

“Essek,” Caleb warns, because by the quickening pace of Essek’s words, it seems like he’s not the only one in a spot of panic anymore. 

“I don’t enjoy watching you hurt yourself.” 

The instinct to apologize is almost too great to fight, but he manages to reign it in. It isn’t what Essek is looking for, what will make him stop watching Caleb so intently, after such a forlorn admission. No, what he needs is reassurance. “Well,” says Caleb. “I think you will like it better than the alternative.”

“Which is?” He still hasn’t let go of Caleb’s wrist. Caleb doesn’t try to fight him. He’s not sure if he wants to.

“Me losing my head,” Caleb mutters. “Trust me, I’ve learned how to cope with...  stressful situations. This is effective.” 

There. They’re both practical people. Rational people. An explanation like that should keep Essek off his case.

Then why hasn’t his hand moved?

“Just because it is effective, doesn’t mean it won’t hurt you.”

Caleb can’t help but smirk at that, the bitter irony sharp on his tongue. “You are more right than you know.”

Essek abruptly releases his hand, almost startled, like he hadn’t realized he was still holding it. “Forgive me, again. That’s three times now that I’ve touched you without permission.”

Oddly, Caleb finds himself more touched by that nervous courtesy than by the gesture itself. In a rush of reckless, unexpected affection, he reaches out and grabs Essek’s hand. Essek freezes. “There’s nothing to forgive. It helped.” He pauses. “It all helped. Thank you.”

Essek stares down at their entwined hands, and Caleb chances drawing a thumb across the smooth skin at the back of his knuckles. He half expects to be pushed away once more. But Essek endures the touch, and eventually even squeezes back. 

Breathless for a new reason, Caleb slides his fingers down, until they’re laced with Essek’s. It’s almost like a game, to see who will push the moment farther, first, and Caleb is so entranced that he nearly forgets where they are. 

Essek’s fingers are softer than his own, and darker. They’ve borne less days on horseback, weathered fewer storms, seen less battle and flame. The skin feels so different, yet it’s stained, same as his. 

All of this is so new.

“Alright,” says Caleb softly. “Instead, tell me something, to take my mind off this place.”

“What would you like to hear?” Essek’s voice cracks near the middle, a veneer of composure chipping away, and Caleb knows now he’s not the only one affected. 

Neither of them have pulled away yet.

“What was your childhood like? Was it happy?” Caleb flicks his eyes up to Essek’s, to find Essek staring right back, his eyes as wide as Caleb’s ever seen them, dark and alight from within. “Were you loved?”

“Yes,” says Essek. “And no. To all questions.”

Caleb smiles wryly. “That’s an answer, but not a very good distraction.”

Essek’s lips twitch. “I suppose you’re right.” He sighs. “My mother loved me, as much as any parent loves their child. But she had many responsibilities. And... “ The fingers between Caleb’s tense. He smooths his thumb down the side of Essek’s hand again. “Well,” Essek says, half-smiling, half-sad. “I think she was afraid to feel too much, before she knew for certain.”

Caleb’s own smile drifts away. He doesn’t know the direction of this story, but he thinks he knows the shape of it. “Knew what?”

“Who I was.” Essek shakes his head. “Everyone assumed I would start regaining memories of my past life when I reached adolescence, as so many do. She had no guarantee that by the age of twenty, I would still be the boy she raised. I believe she was… waiting. To fix her estimation of me, until she knew who I would become. I could have even been the vessel of someone she knew in a past life. How uncomfortable it would be, to feel a mother’s affection for an old friend.” Essek shrugs. “But her waiting was in vain. I never became anything, and by then it was already too late. I left home soon after it became clear that the memories were never coming - which did not please my father, I might add - and here we are. Still friendly, but distant.” 

Caleb purses his lips. He doesn’t have anything to say that seems adequate, but he squeezes Essek’s hand again.

“Can I ask you something in return? ...No, that’s not what I meant to- I’m sorry, my phrasing was poor. You need not answer if you don’t wish to.”

There it is again, that consideration. Wanting to respect Caleb’s boundaries. When they first met, Caleb had envisioned all sorts of things Essek might ask of him in return for the favours they owed. Familiar things. Dark things. Things that he would despise with every inch of his being, but would have had no choice but to endure without complaint, for the sake of his friends. 

It seems all so incongruous now, to picture Essek making those sorts of demands. Caleb feels… secure, with him. Safe, almost.

Safe.

He doesn’t use that word often.

“I’ll do my best to answer, if I can.”

Essek lifts his other hand and, after a careful look, places it just above Caleb’s wrist. He brushes back the sleeve, revealing a sliver of bare skin. “The scars you bear… where did they come from?”

Six months ago, the question itself might have sent him right back into a spiral of panic, but having shared the story twice now, he finds the thought of recounting it less fearful than it was before. 

It occurs to him that he could lie. And perhaps he should lie. Essek is, after all, still their handler, at least in name. Foolish, to give up something so personal to a spymaster. But Essek asked. And Essek has proven himself trustworthy before.

And Caleb finds himself very weary of lying.

“They were given to me,” he starts, “by my teacher.”

Essek, to Caleb’s relief, doesn’t flinch or grimace at the admission, but his eyes narrow a little more. “A punishment?”

Caleb shakes his head. “A means to make us stronger, and… hmm. To advance his own knowledge. An experiment.” He thinks of all the pages spread out over Essek’s desk, still waiting on their return. 

An experiment gone wrong, that’s what’s trapped them here.

How very far we mages are willing to go, just to learn that little bit more.

“You said before that you were trained within the Empire. Was this teacher employed by the government?”

“He was part of the Assembly.” Essek’s fingers twitch. “Trent Ikithon was his name.” Caleb glances up, and sees the mask of unreadable interest is beginning to shift. Bits of dawning realization live in the crease of Essek’s brow, the slight widening of his eyes. “But, of course, what he did was for the good of the Empire. Like you said before, few necessary choices are moral ones, and Trent made it his living to walk that line.” His words twist up with bitterness, and he can’t help the pointed barb. 

It’s been lingering in the back of his mind, Essek’s comments over dinner, all those nights ago. He can’t blame Essek for being drawn in by the allure of the moral grey that the Assembly exemplify. After all, he spent many years under the same spell. But Essek is not the same as Bren. He grew up under a different sort of indoctrination. He can still be reasoned with, made to see the Assembly for the danger they represent. Caleb needs to believe that.

“Back then, I believed he had my best interests at heart, and more importantly, the best interests of my country. But now… I cannot see any justification good enough to excuse all he did to us. The experiments... and everything else.”

Essek’s hand still rests above his wrist, fingertips grazing the first of the scars. 

“How old were you?”

“Sixteen, at least. Not a child,” he clarifies. It feels important, somehow, to make that distinction. To say that he was too young to know his own mind would be a justification for his own actions, and he refuses to make it one. Even if he has no intention of revealing the end result of his training, even if Essek never asks about his parents’ fate and he never answers, in his own mind, he cannot stand to make his age an excuse. 

Essek breathes out slowly. “Sixteen is still a child, in the eyes of the Kryn. At sixteen, life has only begun.” 

Caleb stubbornly swallows around the lump in his throat. Telling this story has gotten easier, but his body still betrays him, every time.

“Ja. Perhaps you’re right. I felt for a long time, that sixteen is where my life ended. Many things happened after that, and I would not call what I was for the years that followed ‘alive’. It’s only recently- since I met the others, that I started to wonder if there was still something left. Some life I could still live, after all of this is done. I don’t know yet if that is true. But… I want to believe it is.” 

Caleb looks down at their hands, still intertwined. He has thought, in scant moments, that there was something there between the two of them - something growing, inch by inch, in the shrinking space between. 

When they first met, there were so many barriers in that space. They were handler and subject, favour-giver and debtor, reluctant allies from two worlds at war. But now the platforms have shifted, and the ledges that seemed insurmountable have become, by nature of perspective, very small.

Something between them.

Some life he could still live…

“I’m sorry,” Essek says at last. There’s a husky edge to his voice that Caleb isn’t sure he’s ever heard from him before. “I’m sorry this was done to you.” Essek’s thumb starts to trace hesitant lines down the edge of Caleb’s hand - a nervous approximation of what Caleb had done for him. The rush of endearment that comes from the realization is almost overwhelming, and Caleb bites the inside of his cheek to keep his breath from stuttering out as he speaks.

“It was a long time ago.”

Essek’s thumb doesn’t pause, and eventually Caleb leans over and rests his head on Essek’s shoulder, feeling brave and exhausted in the same turn. His head is heavy, emotions wrung out from anxiety and release and too many hours of frantic work leading up to this moment. His eyes begin to close, and he lets them. After a long, long moment, Essek’s body begins to relax as well. 

He isn’t sure, after the fact, which one of them is the first to drift off to sleep.

---

Caleb wakes to the bright light of morning spilling out of the skylight above his head. He blinks, confused, up into the eyes of a familiar blonde-haired mage. 

“Welcome back,” Allura says, and her pleasant smile is tinged with just the slightest hint of exasperation.

Beside Caleb, Essek groans and curls over onto his side, pulling his hands up beneath his chin as if cradling a pillow and turning away from the light. So, Essek is not a morning person. He tucks that information away, still impossibly endeared. 

They aren’t holding hands anymore, but he can’t help but notice that Essek’s mantle is spread across them both. 

“I assume you are our rescuer?” Allura offers Caleb a hand and he takes it. As the mantle falls away from his lap and hits the floor, Essek startles awake with an undignified gasp. Off to the side, Jester giggles. 

He sees the rest of the Nein hugging the edges of the circular room, looking equal parts relieved and annoyed. “Maybe tell us next time you two decide to go traipsing off to another dimension?” Fjord grumbles, his arms crossed over his chest. “You’re lucky Nott knows how to read your notes, or we’d have thought you’d just disappeared.”

“Which you’re totally cool,” Beau adds, smirking as she looks pointedly at the shared cloak. “You guys want alone time, that’s a-ok. Just like, let us know ahead of time, so we don’t send out the cavalry to find you.”

Nott rushes up and wraps her arms around Caleb’s middle. “The pages said the spell should only last for an hour, so we called Allura after Jester couldn’t reach out. ...We did good, right, Caleb? You wanted to be rescued, right?” She also eyes the shared cloak dubiously. 

“You did good,” says Caleb, rustling her hair. “Thank you for coming to our aid. And thank you,” he says, turning to Allura. “You must be tired of rescuing foolish mages from prisons of their own making.”

“All part of the job description, as I’m finding out,” Allura says mildly, dusting off her robes. “Next time, please double check your work more carefully.” She sighs, then gathers her bag to her side. “Alright, I’m off - hopefully, I’ll be back before my wife notices I’m missing and gives me an earful.” Essek, finally having picked himself off the ground, opens his mouth to try and offer his own thanks, but Allura is already gone. 

Caleb turns back to Essek, who is currently in the process of smoothing down his hair back into its usual elegant coif. It’s only partially successfully - a few strands still stick up at odd angles - and Caleb grins sheepishly.

“Not a great success, was it?”

“No, it was not.” Essek turns instead to brushing out the wrinkles from his tunic, which only draws attention to its current rumpled state. Jester giggles again, and Essek flushes, but resolutely does not look in her direction. “Still, at least we learned something?”

He offers his hand to Caleb for a congratulatory shake. Back to business as usual, it seems. There can be nothing more, before so many watching eyes. Even so, there’s a sort of tremor in Essek’s hand - an anticipation, that wasn’t there before.

I think we both learned more than we set out to.

Caleb gives Essek a small smile, and takes it.

[litrally]

Suicide Mission

Bruce & Dick, gen, angst

It was undoubtedly, the most suicidal, idiotic mission Bruce had ever come up with.

Infiltrating and trying to take down the court of owls has always been borderline suicidal to begin with, but that combined with the dozens of talons they had definitive intel on being made over the last six months really was the icing on the cake to the shit-show his life had become.

But they had threatened everyone in Gotham. Alfred. Tim. Damian. Jason... the list went on and on. Bruce had refused to give in and let them take Dick, despite the repeated messages that his family would be left alone if he did so, and the court had taken to pushing him just a bit more every single time. It was driving him insane, and the fact that their ‘motivations’ had become just a little more deadly was a brutal reminder that the court would not be generous with their time. Dick, of course, had fought back adamantly, screaming about how “my life isn’t worth all of this, Bruce, and you know it!” 

Their yelling matches had always been pretty memorable, but Bruce had never felt a pain in his chest quite like the one he had every time he had to listen to Dick tell him that his life wasn’t important. It felt like there was a balloon trapped in his lungs that swelled with each word that came out of Dick’s mouth, and no matter how hard he tried to calm Dick down, he was never quite able to pop it.

First it had been Barbara’s wheelchair collapsing in the middle of her chemistry lab and had ended with her nearly lighting the school and herself on fire. Then it was Tim’s comms going out in the middle of a bust that had him fighting for his life. When Damian had changed his mind last minute on a private charter to Metropolis, only to find the plane engulfed in obviously man-made flames, Dick had drawn the line.

“We can’t keep living like this, B,” he’d breathed, the words coming out as hoarse rasps, and Bruce realized with a jolt that he’d never actually heard Dick so quiet before. So...defeated. “I’m not going to let them keep hurting people, and if we don’t come up with anything soon, I’m going to knock myself out on a rooftop and wait for them to pick me up themselves.”

And that had been that.

The plan had been fairly simple, really, considering that all kids were all benched. A fact that had sparked many, many arguments and a couple of physical fights both in the cave and publically, but both Bruce and Dick had held firm. No one else needed to be put at risk.

Dick was in charge of holding the owls’ attention as long as possible. He was supposed to walk right up to their front door, punch everyone in sight and yell enough to piss off as many of them as he could. Bruce needed every talon possible to converge on Dick’s location (This being the aspect of the plan that made him want to vomit every time he thought about it, but Dick wouldn’t listen to his concerns. When did he ever?). Dick would keep the talons occupied while Bruce, who infiltrated the owls’ meeting with a stolen mask from one of their previous missions, gathered intel on the few individuals who weren’t in attendance, then knocked out everyone in the room with the specialized gas he had in his belt.

There were so, so many things that could go wrong. So many unaccounted variables, so much potential for miscommunication, hell, their intel could even be off. So yes. The plan was undoubtedly and completely suicidal. 

But honesty, Bruce was ready to go in regardless. Dick had been losing his mind with guilt over the last few months, and Bruce wasn’t particularly keen on seeing anyone else in the family in danger again. The first few instances had already made his heart stop dead in his chest. He didn’t need to see any of the results of the court’s more intense motivation.

They’d given themselves three days of planning. Three days, over the course of which Dick’s panic had obviously been building, despite his efforts to try and calm down. He reviewed their plan over and over again, double and triple checked equipment, and constantly looked for improvements. Anything to try and make the chaotic tendencies of their plan slightly less so. By the day of the court’s meeting though, he was oddly...calm. Calm enough to make Bruce notice, but he had assumed that Dick had simply set his worries aside and was mentally preparing himself for everything they had to do. Bruce was honestly just relieved that he wasn’t tearing himself apart anymore. Dick had talked to all of his siblings and Alfred the night before, likely trying to ease any of the worries they had and had probably ended up calming himself down at the same time.

Bruce knew for a fact that there was a huge chance that they wouldn’t both make it out of this alive, but he’d kept that particular statistic to himself. Dick didn’t need it on his mind. But he had already decided: if anyone went down tonight, it wouldn’t be Dick. Bruce would make sure of it if it was the last thing he did.

Dick came up to him in full gear as they prepared to set out, his body tensed but alert. Bruce’s mouth was in a tight line, the endless array of back-ups and contingency plans running through his head in an effort to ensure he was prepared for every possible situation.

Dick’s mouth quirked up in a half smile. If Bruce had looked a little closer, he might have noticed something... off about it. Something that reminded him of the way Dick would look as a kid when he stole one of Alfred’s cookies before dinner and was trying to hide it until it was too late for any of them to do anything about it. “You look worried, old man.”

Bruce gave him a look, the lie springing easily far too easily from his lips. “I’m not worried. Just focused on the mission.”

Dick didn’t break his gaze from him. “Right.” He paused for a moment. “Listen, I just wanna say that I appreciate you doing all of this for me. Not just this mission with the owls, but,” he paused again, blinking at the floor for a moment before lifting his gaze back to Bruce. “for taking me in all those years ago, too. I don’t know where I’d be without you.”

Bruce stared at him a moment, something in his chest twisting at the unexpected amount of emotion in Dick’s eyes. He grabbed hold of Dick’s arm and squeezed gently. “Of course,” he said. “I did what had to be done.”

Something flickered on Dick’s face at that. He took a deep breath and moved faster than Bruce had ever seen him move before, something metallic Bruce hadn’t noticed him holding flicking out and striking him in the side of the neck. “And that’s what I’m doing now,” Dick whispered.

There was a slight pinch on the inner lining of his cowl, and a syringe was clattering to the floor before Dick even let loose of the breath he was holding. Bruce’s eyes widened, a hand reaching up to cup the slight sore spot above his collarbone as his vision started to blur and his knees gave out. Dick’s arms wrapped around his middle and guided him over to one of the gurneys in the medbay. Bruce’s head spun relentlessly as he tried to form the words, a violent sense of wrong permeating his gut. “What.. Dick... What did you...”

Dick looked at him with the slightest bit of guilt in his eyes, but it was overshadowed by the utter exhaustion and defeat that had taken over his frame. “I’m sorry, B, but I’ve got to be selfish this time,” he murmured, the words coming out in a weary sigh. “I can’t live in a world where you lose your life because you don’t want me to give up mine. You saved me all those years ago. Now let me do the same.”

Bruce was barely processing the words, the true meaning of them sinking in as he tries to lurch himself to his feet to call Alfred, Tim, Jason, Damian, anyone.

Dick stepped onto his bike with a kind of sad smile. “Good bye, Bruce.” he said, his voice breaking on his name.

The roar of Dick’s bike as he shot out of the cave was the last thing Bruce heard before blacking out.

*****

based on this prompt! (at the end bc otherwise it kinda spoils the whole thing lol)

please feel free to drop a prompt in my ask box if you enjoyed this!

[raziakhatunblr]

Studded leather armor 5e | What makes it special?

Studded Leather armor 5e

Studded leather armor is like leather armor, but one AC goal enhanced, providing three instead of two. Additionally, it provides MC1. Regardless of the studs, studded leather armor doesn't rust, but it will, however, rot. Studded leather does not inhibit spellcasting. Therefore it's a frequent body armor alternative for early wizards.   More Information

 History

Studded leather appeared at the very first version of AD&D. It is leather armor with metal analyzing as additional protection, usually including protection of rather close-set studs.

 Studded leather was among those stock armor types from the first Rogue, where it provided two variables of AC reduction[2], rather than three, as in NetHack; this has been the same as in D&

 Studded leather didn't exist in Hack121.

 Generation

Studded leather armor is just one of the protective items spawned by creatures that are exceptionally qualified. --including all the Yendorian military, in addition to guards and observe captains.

 Studded leather armor did not exist ever. But, there are plenty of extant garments that have inspired the thought.

 That is a carry-over from D&D.

The inspiration behind several puzzle games, as NetHack, and is observed in many games.

That has exceptionally visible rivets on the outside layer of velvet--but is just another sort of armor completely not typically comprising leather.

 It's Made out of durable but flexible leather and studded leather use close-set rivets or spikes to strengthen it.

 Lighting armor (armor)

AC: 12

Category: Matters

Item Rarity: Standard

Weight: 13

 Is studded leather armor real and real?

There's absolutely no true evidence of studded leather armor. It was purely for cosmetic purposes (not as why we often stud things today). Brigandine).

Druids may utilize Metallic armor. They decide not to use them. This choice is part of the identity as a mysterious purchase. A druid typically wears leather, studded leather, or hide armor. When a druid comes across a scale email made from a material aside from metal, the druid can wear it.

 Even though a Coif isn't studded, it takes 20 Ranged to wear, and members may make it.

Leather armor is very effective against slashing weapons like curved knives and swords. The majority of tough leather armor can stop or mitigate a slash from a direct sword (ie. Firstly, most spells need elaborate gestures and strange posturings by the caster and armor restrict the wearer's capacity to do these properly.

 How to Figure your Armor Class (AC)

First, you calculate what armor class you receive from the armor. Then put in your defense and eventually add any other bonuses or penalties you might have.

 A) Figure out your Base Armor Class. It depends on which sort of armor you're wearing.

 No Armor

Insert your Dexterity Modifier. Be aware that this is a negative quantity.

If you're a Barbarian, in addition, you add your Constitution Modifier.

If you're a Monk you add your Wisdom Modifier.

 Start with your Dexterity Modifier. Be aware this could be a negative quantity.

If you've Padded or queen armor include 11.

If you've Studded leather armor include 12.

This total is going to be your foundation 5e armor course.

 If your Dexterity Modifier is two or higher, Start utilizing two.

In case your Dexterity Modifier is lower or one, Start with your Dexterity Modifier. Note that this really is a negative number.

If you've to Hide armor add 12.

You've Chain shirt armor include 13.

If you have Scale mail or Breastplate armor include 14.

In case you have a Half plate add 15.

This total will be your base armor class.

 B) Insert your defense if you are using one.

• If you've got a Shield add two to some base armor class.

C) Add any magic adjustments.

 If you're utilizing magic armor add it as a magical bonus. In the event, you're using a magic shield add it's a magic bonus. You've got some other magical items or magic adjustments to your personal armor course add those.

 D) Insert any mixed alterations.

When there are really no rules that add or subtract from your armor course add those.

 The majority of sorcerers averts heavy armor because sporting it takes a spell failure penalty. The very last thing that a sorcerer wants is his or her spells fizzing-out in the middle of a battle!

 Can 5e studded leather armor stop arrows?

Regularly pointed arrows hugely harm targets in cloth armor through leather--we're talking embedded arrowhead poking through your torso. If you had great armor, like the knights who wore full plate failed, arrows would rarely do anything but shock effect and denting absorbed by gambeson.

 Can you upgrade' leather armor to studded leather armor without purchasing the newest gadget directly?

The breastplate and shoulder protectors of the armor made from leather. Boiling in oil fortifies them. The remainder of the armor is of softer and more flexible materials. Weight: 10 pounds 

Comparing the price per weight to things such as ball bearings, or 5 pounds of iron spikes, the rivets/spikes utilized from the armor must come out to approximately one gp.

 Suppose you had a party member who had been skillful in leatherworking and contributes their time. Could you transform a ten GP Leather Armor into a 45 GP Studded Leather Armor to get a mere one gp?

 Just how much can studded leather armor price?

Summary of Armor 5e

They have three methods for calculating their base AC, but could only select one. However, they could gain from as many distinct bonuses to AC as they like.

 The rest of the modifiers stack not split into several kinds of a modifier such as in 3E. (The one exception is that you can't profit from precisely the exact same effect twice; in the event, two clerics throw Shield of Faith on you, you only receive a +2 AC. Multiple copies of the exact same spell do not pile!)

 So, why can not you apply modifier after modifier and get an excellent Armour Class that demands a natural 20 to hit? Well, you can maintain limited circumstances. However, there are three major limitations to increasing your AC.

The first is that there aren't all that many ways of modifying AC. Although several magical things from the Dungeon Master's Guide do this, it is something that the designers retained. +1 magical armor is sort of hard to locate, but +3 armor is rare and precious, and +5 armor? It doesn't exist!

 Attunement

The next is the attunement. Magic items that offer strong effects (and many permanent things that affect significant quantities in your personality fit within that category) have the limitation of"needs attunement". The rules state that a character might have a max of 3 objects affixed to them, so you are limited in that sense also.

 The following is concentration. Ongoing spells offering bonuses normally require the caster to concentrate on them. That normally means that the caster can not have any other charms requiring immersion at precisely the same moment. One character could find the advantage from many spellcasters, all offering them armor class bonuses from various charms. But that is going to be the exception rather than the rule, and the remainder of the party wouldn't be benefitting. There are very few spells that offer a bonus to AC whatever the instance.

 The best means of increasing your Armor Class in 5e?

Get behind an arrow! They provide three-quarters cover.

 The reverse side of this is to consider the range of bonuses. Just taking a quick flip through the fundamental DM Rules, '' I see assault bonuses at the assortment of +0 into +14 (crab into a mature monster ), with most being at the diversity of +3 to +7. A player character can probably expect at elevated levels to acquire a regular strike bonus of +12, assuming a 20 in the appropriate skill score, the whole +6 proficiency bonus, and a +1 weapon. Spells, items, and skills might push it a few points higher.

 So, that is a short tour of how Armour Class works from the new variant. If you'd like to compare the way AC worked in previous versions, I have posted on Armour Class in Original D&D and AD&D, AD&D 2E, and D&D 3E. That's unlikely to be my final word on the subject, as my searches are everywhere but complete! More Information

[h-sleepingirl]

“9 Persisting Misconceptions About Hypnosis”

A zine by sleepingirl and GleefulAbandon

(Access the downloadable and nicely formatted Google Doc here!)

Hey, there! Have you been turned on to the wonders of hypnokink? Do you feel like you've just had a bucket of shibboleths and tips and bits of wisdom dumped over your head, and they are now slowly dripping down your back? Are you thinking to yourself, "OK, I am finally getting the hang of this erotic hypnosis thing?"

Not so fast! Odds are a lot of the information you've received is, while given in good faith, mired in assumptions about the nature of hypnosis and the human mind that are not empirically true! And the kicker about a practice that takes advantage of suggestibility is that buying into these can make them more true! How’s that for a mental rut?

Here are 9 myths about hypnosis you are likely to encounter in your freaky journey!

(Full disclosure: We are experienced hypnotic players who are constantly exploring and growing, and we recognize that not everyone may share our perspective on all of these. But when we accept the oft-repeated principles we hear as incontrovertible truth without questioning them, we risk building a wall between us and further learning about the amazing, weird things we can do with our brains! This is not meant to disparage any person for their beliefs or experiences, and we welcome feedback and discussion!)

1. All hypnosis is self-hypnosis.

Yep, and all pain you feel when someone punches you in the thigh is your own brain making pain happen. CURSE YOU, BRAIN!

This tends to be an idiom that can cause more harm than good. It’s clearly not an empirical statement (how could it be?) though it is often taken as one. On the surface, it’s well-intentioned and trying to convey that subjects have agency and hypnosis isn’t mind control like you see in the movies. However, while it's good to know that subjects have the ability to cultivate a real sense of self-sufficiency, it minimizes connection with the hypnotist and the power that can be exchanged. Hypnosis is collaborative, and the hypnotist’s behavior absolutely affects trance, whether positively, or in bad situations, negatively! It takes two to do hypnosis with two, full stop.

When you hear this phrase, ask yourself, what is really being communicated here?

2. Hypnosis is distinctly different than meditation, subspace, etc.

Different how, exactly? Sexiness is not sufficient here, kids.

Well, here's a whole can of worms: Hypnosis as defined by hypnokink practitioners tends to be a wider umbrella than the clinical definition of hypnosis. There is also the concept of hypnosis as an altered state and then the concept of hypnosis as a set of practices. Pretty much any altered state could be called hypnosis when kinksters use it in hypnokink to commit dastardly deeds. Same with the (extraordinarily broad) set of practices that we take advantage of to fuck with brains.

Here’s the thing: hypnosis isn’t just one solid thing or state with one solid set of rules. Trance and brainfuckery are dynamic! We don’t really even have a great way of defining suggestibility, because we know that shoving someone into an altered state and then telling them, “You will experience xyz” is not really sufficient. And of course, a lot of stuff can get done outside of a traditional “trance.” Where is the line?

Spoilers: Any line we make is subjective. Meditation, when you potentially put yourself in an altered state and change the way you focus pretty much fits under that umbrella, too.

3. You can't make someone do something they "don't want to do" or go against "core values" with hypnosis.

We do things we don't want to do all the time, starting each day from when we wake up when our alarms go off. People drink alcohol and do things they wouldn't have otherwise done. People are talked into buying things they don’t want or need, or making complex decisions that don’t always have their best interests at heart. Not to mention that our broad-strokes “core beliefs” are changeable, sometimes with just a simple shift in perspective.

Human beings are dynamic and complex and exciting creatures, and we don't have a black box inside of us with ideas that are immutable to us. Change in belief and behavior is a part of how we function, and that’s WITHOUT hypnosis! Once again, this myth is well-intentioned, but an oversimplification that can backfire if someone is trying to process why they experienced a hypnotic scene differently than they thought they would.

4. Depth is the key to suggestibility.

Here's an idea: A swear jar but you have to put money in every time someone asks if they were "deep enough." Depth is a metaphor, but it's a useful one! It relates to your own subjective trance experience and how you experience intensifying it, which is hugely important self-knowledge. But it is not quantifiable, and there is not a simple correlation between depth and ability to access more trance phenomena. As with many things in hypnosis, it’s different for everyone and can be different at different times based on a huge number of variables.

And on that note…

5. Suggestibility scales are legit.

"But wait!" You might say, "These have been studied! What about things like the Stanford Susceptibility Scale?"

They're bad.

Academics, in good faith, tried to impose objective rules on altered states that run on the subjectivity and diversity of the human mind. People are different. Subjects are different. Alas, researchers at Stanford in 1959 (yes, that long ago) were mystified by this concept. And still, so are some today.

Really, Stanford peeps, amnesia is the most hypnotized a person can get? Some folks lose memories in trance right away but won't take to certain hallucinations. And some hallucinations are easier for some folks than others. Trying to create hypnotic rules for how hypnotizable you are is a losing game.

But speaking of different kinds of hallucinations...

6. Working with someone’s “primary modality” is the key to effective hypnosis.

The idea that of the five senses we each have one primary one that aids in our learning and that is best used to create hypnotic states and phenomena is not only limiting, it’s been debunked time and time again. The concept of “modalities” that is so prevalent in the erotic hypnosis world comes directly from NLP, where Richard Bandler and John Grinder stated that we had primary modalities — a “Preferred Representational System.” However, just like with learning styles, study after study after study has found no supporting evidence of this. In fact, in the ‘80s (yes, that long ago), Bandler himself said that this idea was no longer emphasized in NLP (regardless of the fact that it is still pervasive today).

And beyond this, yeah, you could spend your time using only visual cues and visual words and creating visual hallucinations, or you could actually utilize multiple senses, because spoiler alert that is how human beings experience the world. You're not trying to find a secret code that unlocks a shortcut to being a better subject, you're Dora the Goddamned Explorer and it's not just about finding the thing at the end; it's about chilling with Boots and Map.

7. “iM tOo AnAlYtIcAl To Be HyPnOtIzEd”

Also going in the swear jar is anyone saying they have trouble being hypnotized because they're "too analytical." Bruh. Hypnosis is not a game of chess wherein the hypnotist out-logics the subject to get them to comply. It's engaging your brain and letting you do more with it than you thought possible. This is definitely not downplaying the experience of people who have had a difficult time getting the experiences they are searching for, but more about The System(ic misunderstanding pervading hypnokink culture) getting us all down.

Being “thinky” doesn’t mean someone can’t be hypnotized (hypnosis =/= not thinking or altered thinking), it just means that you both use what you’ve got — hypnotist AND subject. Analyzing something doesn’t make it impossible to trance. Hypnosis should not be synonymous with “letting go.” It’s about changes in focus and engagement, oftentimes really subtle, especially for subjects who have preconceived notions of what it’s going to feel like. It’s dynamic, it doesn’t mean laser focus, and it sure as hell doesn’t mean blank-minded.

Subjects: Learn to love the way you analyze; notice shifts and changes, use it to be open to learning about how hypnosis feels for you as opposed to what you expect it to feel like. Understanding what your real subjective responses are is key to growing.

Hypnotists: While it might be helpful for some people, stop assuming that you necessarily have to overload or confuse them to get to the holy hypnotic grail of mindlessness; utilize their internal responses for the trance!

Here's a secret: If a hypnotist calls someone a "difficult subject," they mean they failed to connect with their partner in a way that they deemed hypnotic enough. This is on them, not the subject.

8. Your subconscious is like a quiet roommate chilling inside your head.

The metaphor of your subconscious (or unconscious mind) as someone with whom you can communicate is a useful one for a lot of people! It can put you in touch with how you're feeling and processing, and create fun surprises no one might expect. But it's just that: a metaphor. Your brain is not a director and an actor; it’s a beautifully complex amalgam of experiences and observations. You can play with treating your subconscious as a person, but recognize that there's not literally a man behind a curtain, and recognize that your interpretation of it might be flawed (i.e., don’t use your “unconscious mind” to negotiate under the assumption that this conscious personification is faultless and somehow knows better than you do).

9. Abreactions.

This is a huge one, and another one where the hypnosis scene has deviated from psychology (sometimes a good thing!). Clinically, an abreaction is a response with some emotional connection, and is in fact often used as a tool to create breakthroughs in therapy. In the hypnokink Scene, “abreaction” has also become a boogeyman, a synonym for "freak out.”

Can folks freak out during a hypnosis scene? Sure! Can they freak out during an impact scene? Of course! Can they freak out in the dairy aisle of the supermarket because the wrong song starts playing on the loudspeaker? Also, yes. But an abreaction isn't technically synonymous with freak-out. Technically, a giggle-fit during hypnosis can be an abreaction.

Here’s the thing: it might even be OK to appropriate the term “abreaction” to mean “negative reaction” in the hypnokink community, but we have to stop making that interchangeable with “unexpected reaction.” Of course a negative reaction is unexpected. But that doesn’t mean all unexpected reactions are negative. They happen absolutely all the time in hypnosis; demonizing all of them is unhealthy and unrealistic.

Well-intentioned practitioners of erotic hypnosis have put all their safety eggs in one basket: Caution against causing an abreaction, end the scene when you do, and you've accounted for the worst. But this is a scene that traffics in suggestibility; when you make out abreactions to be this looming, awful risk, you bring them to the fore, and when both players assume that that means an unexpected reaction is cause for panic, it creates unwarranted anxiety and problems. Not to mention that it greatly hinders the breadth and depth of what you can achieve together.

In short, you can and should learn to navigate emotional vulnerability and be confident and flexible in handling your partners’ responses, no matter how unexpected or intense they are. We're here for those reactions, folks, and not all of them are to be feared and fixed.

Sleepingirl is a switchy writer, presenter, and podcaster who joined the public kink scene in 2012. She’s had a life-long hypnofetish and is way too interested in brainwashing. She did the doodles for this zine, and look out for her Brainwashing Book coming soon! Check out her hypnokink podcast at twohypchicks.simplecast.fm and follow her: Twitter @h_sleepingirl, Tumblr @h-sleepingirl, FetLife @sleepingirl

GleefulAbandon is a queer, submissive hypnofetishist. She joined the BDSM/Hypnokink Scene in 2012, and teaches and writes about hypnosis from the subject’s perspective. She’s a sucker for a pocket watch. @gleefulabandon

[serenity-wonders]

Employments of Binoculars in Different Outdoor Situations

Optics are a valuable aspect of one's outside rigging. Flexibility and conveyability have made these gadgets practically irreplaceable in various circumstances, from customary diversions and mainstream interests to genuine expert applications. In case you're one of those individuals wishing to think about the employments of optics before getting or utilizing a couple, my article is here to illuminate you!

Employments of Binoculars

Presently, I'll talk about you what number of ways one can utilize a couple of optics. However, recollect one thing that the accompanying applications may yield variable results relying upon the pair utilized and the earth presented to. best compact binoculars for birding and hiking

For Day-To-Day Entertainment

Try not to restrict your choices by feeling that the pair of optics in your pocket is implied uniquely for experiences or open air thrills. Here're various ways the optics can be valuable in your everyday life.

Show/Theater Performance

Ever been to a show house? On the off chance that you have, you better think about charming the guest plans that frequently permit guests to have a normal review understanding, which is additionally influenced by the helpless lighting condition. Get your optics and glance through the eye tops. What do you see? You're not, at this point denied of the chance of ideal survey.

Shows

Couldn't occur to be at the scene on schedule? Be that as it may, you would prefer not to return home without viewing your preferred star acting before thousands if not millions. Where're your additional pair of eyes that bring the inaccessible star(s) sufficiently closer to feel that you see them genuine close? With these gadgets, you no longer need to stress over not being remembered for the VIP rundown and viewing your celeb.

Celebrations and Social Events

Get-togethers like brilliant parades, celebrations, and celebrations include large groups that are on the motorcade with a few purposes of attractions that no one needs to miss. Regardless of how clogged the group is. You can generally utilize the optics to notice all that is going on in front of and behind you.

Live Games/Sports

In my life, I've utilized my sets a larger number of times during a live MLB coordinate than I did during whatever else. These games aren't jokes, and they're played in open (yet made sure about) places. You must be available there to appreciate the genuine type of pleasure. How might you watch a ball swinging broadcasting live while you're perched on the farthest side? Try not to stress, mate! You recognize what to do!

For Outdoor Adventures/Pursuits

After some examination, I found that the quantity of units offered to outdoorsmen is higher than that to all different classes of purchasers joined. It's nothing unexpected, isn't that so? We should perceive how individuals with affection for experiences and excites use optics.

Chasing

When you head out to the forested areas or fields; your apparatuses are set up, and you're prepared to chase. In any case, that isn't exceptionally simple without a couple of chasing optics. Yet, why? You may contend that you have a rangefinder that flaunts forefront innovation, a rifle that fires careful, and a decent outfit that coordinates the environmental factors. I would suggest progressed rangefinder optics since you may require help with run finding and far off survey. These units are useful. I profited by mine multiple times previously.

Moreover, you can follow the development of your prey while you aren't going to shoot. You may keep a nearby gander at your objective while setting yourself up for a major event.

Winged animal Watching

Individuals who love birding depend intensely on these gadgets. Feathered creatures fly and rest on trees, frequently in removed areas from eyewitnesses. Yet, that can scarcely influence the soul of a birdwatcher who needs to perceive the species, take a gander at their plumage, and watch their flying energies and developments.

Climbing and Sightseeing

At the point when you're on a climbing/touring venture, you can't contact pretty much every scene that comes extremely close to your vision. Imagine a scenario where you've just a short time before the dusk and the mountain top that stands a huge number of feet away despite everything winks at you. You would prefer not to overlook the inaccessible welcome by and large. Indeed, let your optics assume their job and delight you. Besides, you won't miss a snapshot of the nature's quality with a couple of good optics.

Exploring and Traveling

Some state voyagers ought to stress more on cameras than optics. I believe it's wrong. While on the excursion, moving scenes at the separation look attractive when you can take a gander at them unmistakably with less interruptions. Thus, when you're the place you needed to be, a few perspectives will make you take snaps immediately while others will invite you for a profound look and a spot in your heart. In any case, optics help the two hikers and vacationers. Explorers, Campers, and Fishers all can utilize a binocular for amusement.

Outdoors

Could you generally go out and meet a savage, snarling animal only for watching it live? Specialists won't offer a positive input. Or maybe, you can watch the monster moving while at the same time taking safe sanctuary inside the camp. Because of the creators of binos!

For Professional Activities

Reconnaissance is the most average movement that individuals occupied with safeguard powers or related wings need to achieve with optics. Private observation and marine experts can likewise profit by these gadgets.

Doing Surveillance

Perhaps, you won't care for the activity, yet trust me, many individuals are doping this as a component of their calling. Consider coast monitor individuals, lookout faculty, and other reconnaissance experts. They depend on these units to watch out for dubious operators/protests that may meddle and unleash destruction to the protected people/property. Since these positions are commonly done around evening time, some top of the line night vision units can have any kind of effect.

Military Purposes

Military experts depend on units that are uncommonly intended to assist them with the investigation and exploring of data and hiding threats, or any mystery strategic reconnaissance is of incredible worth. These optics utilize the most trend setting innovation joining forefront optics, top notch coatings, and highlights. In this way, costs of these units may irritate a few people who are searching for a modest alternative. Nonetheless, makers are attempting to guarantee reasonable arrangements, and they truly succeeded.

Marine Activities

These optics are commonly intended to be land-based units that permit seeing submerged contrastingly since the majority of them come outfitted with lower amplification specs than the ones utilized for different purposes.

For Astronomy

Except if you're a cosmologist, by calling, you can without much of a stretch fulfill your stargazing needs and complete other extending works fine and dandy with optics. For what reason will you miss the charm of sky seeing while you can get them all?

Survey Beyond the Horizon

Did it ever happen that you needed to see the dawn/dusk that is rising/peeping through the finish of the skyline? A unit with high amplification can let you appreciate the entrancing perspective over the skyline while loaning you a memory to clutch your cerebrum.

Stargazing

I think this part needs no presentation. I simply need you to realize that your optics ought to have the option to perform appropriately in low-light conditions. Your leaf-peeping unit may not give you any view whatsoever. Sets without low-scattering glass may likewise make you end up with pictures brimming with chromatic distortion/bordering. You can at present get the greater part of a couple that comprises of extra-low scattering glass in its focal points. Simply set yourself immovably! I guarantee you won't miss nothing from the most splendid to the faintest of stars.

Survey Comets and Planets

I got energetic when I knew about a portion of 2018's comets in particular 21P, 38P, 46P, and so on. As my companion requested that I go along with him with optics close by, I took the risk to perceive how these splendid lunar bodies beauty the sky making great sights that can calm even the dreariest of brain. From now, you won't miss a damn thing, old buddy. Proceed to watch yourself the red atmosphere of Aldebaran, Antares, Betelgeuse, and Mars. Different planets are likewise there. You simply need to project your look!

Shrouds, Occultation, and Transits

The sky anticipates you with all its wonder and dream diffused by the radiant sight of oceans and cavities. Try not to get scared of watching the shrouds . However long you have the intrigue and the correct pair of optics, the sky will fill your heart with its heavenly sparkle and for more information click here

My words are as yet coming. Along these lines, don't quit perusing at the present time. I'm going to tell you of some different ways that optics can be useful to you. These utilizations are a long ways past the shows, however they're functional.