#you can read it on the tags of my post about 'do you think vila ever let herself grieve'

[fishareglorious]

for my comfort i'd like to think at one point after their reunion at the foundation the two shared a drink together in solemn silence for rayashki and just hugged and leaned on each other for a while.

[jaelijn]

BF B7 - The Turing Test

This is the first in a series of liveblog / review / reaction / rating posts on the Big Finish Blake’s 7 audios. I’ll be doing these mostly for my own enjoyment, so expect these posts to be subjective, rambly and unsorted and going off on tangents of interest. There will also be a special scale for Avon/Vila-ness. ;P

I have listened to all the audios before, so it won’t be my first reaction, nor will it be spoiler-free (and probably also not in order of episodes). I also won’t summarise the episodes as I go, so this is probably best enjoyed after (during?) listening to the episode yourself.

These are, in a way, a sort of low-effort meta, which I’ve been missing doing but haven’t had the time to really write, but this allows me to share at least something B7-y. There will eventually be a masterpost for these liveblogs, but the tag, for now, is #bf b7 liveblogs.

I should also say that I don’t really consider the audios canon, at least not in any way other than when I adopt things that I like which come from others’ fanfics for my own headcanons, but I’ve found myself discussing these as if they were episodes for the most part.

The Liberator Chronicles 1.1: The Turing Test

Rating (of 5):

Overall: ❤❤❤❤

Avon/Vila: ✫✫✫✫

Episode Cast and Summary from the BF website:

Paul Darrow, Michael Keating; narrated by Paul Darrow

After evading an attack by Cassini Pirates, the Liberator heads to the rogue moon of Quentil, where Avon and Vila infiltrate a top secret Federation science facility.

Vila assumes the guise of Doctor Yarding Gill, an expert in digital memory. And Avon is his “creation” – a super-advanced android that could pass for human. In fact, he does...

Can they maintain the ruse for long enough to complete their mission? And will the Cassini Pirates catch up with them?

Commentary:

Nobody paraphrases Blake like Kerr Avon.

“Vila’s charm makes me want to break things.”

“All prepared to think that Vila was a genius. What could possibly go wrong?(!)” I mean… I could quote Avon all day.

“I’m still working on his posture. And his smile. Otherwise he could pass for a human being.” Nobody can convince me that Vila isn’t enjoying this.

“And if other people don’t understand you, or find you odd, you don’t need to feign that you care. I almost found it a relief.” While the show never addresses subjects of neurodiversity (which show does, really?), most fictional portrayals of geniuses (of which Avon is one) are coded as not neurotypical – or perhaps a marker of a genius character in fiction is neurodivergent behaviour. At any rate, the bottom line is that a lot of these character have a reputation for being “difficult to read” or “difficult to get right”, not just because they are complex characters, which all good characters are, but because they are written to behave in a way that breaks with the way that has been normalised by society, for better or for worse. What sometimes happens in expanded universe fiction around these characters is that you discover that they’re “really normal” under a protective shell, which from a neurodiversity perspective is at least partly nonsense, because the concept of “normality” itself is nonsense – by which I mean it is a social construct, not something that’s just there. Forcing yourself to be “normal” to please other people is a thing that happens, however, and frankly I prefer to read Avon that way. I have to give this audio a lot of credit for bringing social expectation into the discussion.

Oh, Avon, what a mess of justifications when he first meets Fourteen. Frankly, something about the description of her always freaks me out, but I suppose that is the point – it is somewhat uncanny valley material. There is also a lot – a lot! – of fridge horror in this episode when it comes to the question of what it means to be sentient (and, too, what it means to be neurodivergent, aka “different”), which after writing “The First and the Last” I can hardly pretend to not be interested in.

“He was a natural clown – sometimes on purpose.” This is set very early in the show’s timeline (I think Avon measures his time on the Liberator in weeks at some point!), but I am hardly surprised that Avon could see behind Vila’s acting from the start. I mean, I’ve talked about the “You’re a fool” thing, and that is literally the first thing Avon says to him.

And vice-versa: “You’re not worried about an army, you’re worried by her. What? What’s she got on you?”

“You’re saying she’s alive?” – “What does that even mean? The brain is just a kind of computer.” Ditto.

Hehehe, and there goes Vila pointing out how creepy he finds her and then: “The only other person I know who does that… *awkward pause*”.  I mean I’ve always said that the “Avon is a machine” thing is one of the worst insults – Avon seems to take it in stride most of the time (Hell, “[Cally] is more human than I am.”), which at least partly is a protective mechanism I’m sure, but at any rate it hits very close to RL nasty attitudes towards “different” people of a lot of different kinds.

Pfffft, “He’s not built with the affinity for reproduction.” Look, whatever your headcanon about Avon’s sexuality is, Vila’s lines in this are just golden considering that Avon is standing right there.

The fact that the data transfer is still indicated by the same symbols as today – “pages moving between folders” – amuses me greatly.

Avon talks about people living all their lives in the domes and never seeing outside of it like… other people. Which always makes me wonder about Avon pre-Way Back, and whether or not he ever travelled through space / went outside the domes. Personally, I’d say yes to both, but at the same time I think that the extended stay in space and traipsing around wild alien planets is newer to him that it is to Blake (who, as we know, visited colony worlds when he was young).

Avon’s frustration with Blake on Fourteen’s behalf here is very interesting for what isn’t said. The fact that Avon most resents Blake when he orders him around, when he has to do things he doesn’t want to do – or would rather have a choice in, even if he chooses to, in fact, do it. The fact that he doesn’t even think about letting Fourteen go on her own…

I love the idea that the Liberator, too, has an observation dome window. ;) On a more serious note, I think Avon empathises with the “better to die than to live a prisoner” sentiment, all in all – not just in the universe set by this audio play –  but it is fascinating in terms of PGP scenarios. As the show fades out, Avon clearly intends to die as far as I’m concerned – the question is, if he does survive, would he settle for possible life-long imprisonment/enslavement in order to stay alive? I don’t think so.

“We did return to the facility – well, not me, I’m not sure I could have… *moving swiftly on*” The way PD delivers this line, it’s such a blink-and-you-miss-it gem.

I love that Vila is the one carrying out the revenge – on Avon’s behalf. I don’t think it’s just because the audioplay features him as second speaking role; I think Vila also empathises – not just with Fourteen, but with Avon. Vila is more outspoken about his general moral objection, of course – we get Avon’s mostly as subtext.

The best thing about this – this gives us a reason for the fight I think they had which leads to the “Avon is a machine” insult in “Duel”, slotting this nicely into the canon.  

The final sentences are of course a punch in the gut – note the sudden switch to present tense!

The Verdict: Altogether, I am fond of this episode. Obviously, it is one of the Avon & Vila ones, and while I do think other episodes are better in terms of plot and script (and possibly acting, too), this one has a lot of depth.

  Tangent of the Episode:

The Turing Test, of course. Wikipedia is a good place to start:

“The Turing test, developed by Alan Turing in 1950, is a test of a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human. Turing proposed that a human evaluator would judge natural language conversations between a human and a machine designed to generate human-like responses. The evaluator would be aware that one of the two partners in conversation is a machine, and all participants would be separated from one another. The conversation would be limited to a text-only channel such as a computer keyboard and screen so the result would not depend on the machine's ability to render words as speech.[2] If the evaluator cannot reliably tell the machine from the human, the machine is said to have passed the test. The test does not check the ability to give correct answers to questions, only how closely answers resemble those a human would give.” ~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test

This one also makes for an interesting, more up to date read (and is written for laypersons, which in the case of anything AI is often a good idea): http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150724-the-problem-with-the-turing-test

You can also read the original paper by Turing right here. https://www.csee.umbc.edu/courses/471/papers/turing.pdf

I haven’t actually seen “The Imitation Game” film – so no thoughts on that. It’s been on my list of things that I should probably see, but I’ve never gotten around to it.

[twin-moons-ffxiv]

Looking for Roleplay

I’d like to introduce you to Vila Tadmhe.  Although we go by the same name, I’m not her.  But I care about her and I’d like her to be happy!  Which is why I’m currently searching for an RP partner!  Please continue reading if you think you’d be interested in this little catte.

Roleplay Preferences:  Adventure/Exploration, Social, Combat, Mature, Erotic, Angst, Romance, Background OC, Slice-of-Life, Hurt and Comfort

Considers: Horror/Dark, Crime, Other (Upon request)

Will Not Do: Torture, Heavy Gore or Maiming

Relationship Preferences:  Vila is a demisexual character with a preference for men.  Personality is a *huge* thing for her, though.  She is incredibly loyal to those she’s bonded with and monogamous.  She’s not looking for someone who wants an open relationship.  She has a strong preference for Moon Keeper Miqo’te but is also interested in Sun Seeker Miqo’te and Midlander Hyur.  She will consider other races but it will be an uphill battle to get her interested in a relationship with them.

RP Partner Preferences:  Gender doesn’t matter.  18+ is must.  Preference for 25+.  Fairly active, at least once a week, medium-heavy preferred.  I’d like to be friends with you if we RP together!  Not looking to ship her with an alt unless you are going to be fairly active on them.  Long or short posts, does not matter.  ERP/NSFW Friendly but not required, willing to adjust to your comfort level.  I’d love it if we could do things OOC together--PotD, Roulettes, etc.  (Not looking for IC to OOC romance.)

Basic Preferences:  Decent spelling/grammar.  Prefer In-Game but I’m fine with Discord or RPNow (so long as scenes wrap up in a timely manner).  I’m usually not IC when I’m just standing around so walk-ups are a bit awkward for me unless I’m RP-tagged.  I will tag myself if I’m IC.  18+ As always.  I’m perfectly happy if you’d like our characters to have history together, just ask!  I’m also good for coming up with hooks and ideas if you can’t think of a way to get our characters involved.

Romantic Ships Considered:  Tall Male/Short Female, Short Male/Short Female, Friends-to-Romance, enemies-to-romance, Combat/Hunting Buddies, other (just ask!)

Platonic Ships:  Brother/Sister-like relationships, Family (The twins have a lot of family they are unaware of), friend, best friend, hunting buddies, combat friends, other (just ask!)

And that’s about it!  If you have any questions, please feel free to DM me, whisper me in-game, or ask for my discord information. Information about my characters can be found on my Tumblr page.  As a note, I’m generally available on Discord but am most active after 7pm EST in-game.  Thank you for your consideration!

[jaelijn]

I was going to just... ramble in the tags. But apparently I have too much to say so I broke the tags and half of my points got swallowed. So let’s try this again up here, with apologies for hijacking the post. Under a cut because this is not really a well-structured meta, more a stream-of-conscious-while-ill splurge of thoughts about my OTP (sorry).

Anyway, even leaving aside my ace!Avon headcanon, I do agree with this. Like, I don’t care if they have sex. Perhaps they do, perhaps they don’t. I don’t see it defining their relationship – perhaps it started out that way, but over time I think it has become more than secondary, it’s become irrelevant. Since they stuck together all the way to Gauda Prime, I cannot see them both surviving and voluntarily parting either, no matter what their “relationship status” is.

Okay, yes, I’m thinking primarily PGP here – I cannot see both Avon and Vila being alive and being separate by choice. I think Vila forgives Avon for worse than killing Blake – in that he forgives him for “Orbit”, if I read the episode “Blake” right. I don’t think there is much time between “Orbit” and “Blake” at all – I think Avon probably learned that Blake was on Gauda Prime soon after “Orbit” (it seems like the kind of thing Orac would reveal when Avon is angry at him for prompting him to kill Vila), and “Warlord” was the last ditch effort to do it without Blake. Avon can’t afford to stop and think anymore, and Vila’s bitterness is still too raw at the start of “Blake”. It seems significant that there is only one episode between the two. Perhaps it would have gone different if the tension between Avon and Vila had continued much longer.

I think Vila is justifiably angry post-”Orbit” – I don’t think he ever is scared of Avon after the immediate moment where he is scared of being killed – and I think that anger is gone after Gauda Prime. After all, Vila was there for Tynus, too. He might not have been there for Anna, but if Avon told anyone any details, it was Vila. Vila knows. Besides, Vila has become bitterer, less trusting himself, not least because of Tarrant and Avon’s increasing harshness – does he trust Blake so far not to jump to the wrong conclusions from his words himself? So yes, if Vila can forgive Avon for “Orbit”, he can forgive him for “Blake” without issues, liking Blake or not (assuming Blake is actually dead, which… PGP, who knows.). So if “Orbit” doesn’t do it retrospectively PGP, I don’t think GP would drive them apart. Besides, where would either of them go? At this point, Avon needs Vila as much as Vila needs him (and a frequent PGP trope for the two of them is that Avon needs Vila more, but let’s leave that aside for the moment).

I also think that Avon’s longest-standing relationship is probably Vila. Let’s be real: Tynus? Maybe they grew up together, maybe it lasted a few years, but it certainly wasn’t much of a friendship in the end, even disregarding Tynus’s final betrayal. Anna? I don’t think that was more than a year, to be honest. The relationship has the flavour of burning too bright for me – even leaving aside that from Anna’s end it might not even have been a relationship at all. Blake? Didn’t stick around. Cally? Even if she hadn’t died on Terminal, Avon knows Vila for longer. So Vila it is.

I also agree that if they are together as couple they don’t think of it as a grand romance. They’ve just… grown together. There’s a reason I like hafren’s PGP Avon&Vila fics, despite their undercurrent of Avon/Blake, and it is precisely that flavour of... having been through too much together to even fathom parting. There’s too much water under the bridge for both of them, together – even at the risk of quoting Dorian, of all people, you don’t go through that and find it easy to walk away from each other, especially not in a universe that is so hostile towards them both.

Besides, even if Vila claims to like Blake, I think there is a point even back when Blake is still around where Vila’s loyalty shifts to Avon. I don’t know where. Perhaps it is “Gambit”. But regardless, I think it happens – and really, who else would Vila be loyal to? Certainly not Tarrant, nor, I think, any of the girls. Yet Vila sticks around, despite Tarrant’s bullying, despite actively *threatening* to leave, even before they lose the Liberator and it gets arguably impossible to leave. If for anyone but Avon, it would be Cally, but Cally dies. And even before but especially after Terminal, they don’t seem to be looking for Blake anymore (even if I think that Vila knew that Avon was still looking), so it’s not even that Vila sticks around for Blake in absentia. Avon, then.

I don’t claim it’s entirely healthy in the end, but what in this universe is? In a way, the show does an excellent job of portraying the effect of that kind of constant fear and stress and pressure on people. I do think Vila does drink unhealthy amounts in S4, regardless of the more frequent instances in which he is pretending, and Avon is burning out. Gauda Prime grinds everything to a halt. I think if any of the characters have a chance of coming to a healthy-ish accord afterward, it’s Avon and Vila. They always seem to have a way of understanding each other, beyond words, even. In the end, I don’t think it is about trust – or it is, but not in the traditional way. Vila isn’t surprised at “Orbit” – in fact, his lack of surprise is striking: He runs without even waiting for Avon to reach for the gun. So his reaction isn’t about betrayed trust. Not in the way that Avon trusted Anna, not in the way Blake trusted Avon (and Avon trusted Blake), the way that in this universe ends in betrayal – Avon and Vila trust each other not for the sake of trusting, but because they know and understand each other so well that they know exactly how and where and how far they can rely on each other. It’s not precisely predictability (or perhaps that is just me, because total predictability implies boredom to me), but it’s something like it, reliability, stability, perhaps, which, arguably, is a far deeper kind of trust (as Avon has it in “City”, “I know his value to us, just as he knows mine”). I think both of them value that – Avon, but Vila, too. They have the shared experiences, the shared opposition, which has a way of forging even the unlikeliest people together, but they also have that understanding that provides them with something they have not experienced elsewhere ever (at least not without it turning out to be an illusion). There is something more here about Vila and stability – both as in representing it and as in desiring it, but I’ll leave it at this.

There was a conversation some time ago about Avon and Vila post-”Orbit,” and I didn’t have anything to say then but now I do, because my brain has never been punctual.

I have a firm headcanon that the time Vila spends on Liberator (I’m calling it at four years and a bit) is the longest he’s ever lived in a single place. The follow-on is that his longest-standing relationship with anyone who isn’t a blood relative is Avon. I honestly can’t imagine a scenario in which they’re both alive but have separated by choice. I don’t not-ship them, but if even they are lovers they don’t consider it a grand romance. It’s more that they have lived and worked together so long that they don’t know how to be without the other. I like to imagine them as Boston-married, sharing a household but not a bed.

So Vila stays, I think, not because he likes Avon but because he knows him inside and out. Avon can no longer be trusted, is no longer worthy of Vila’s trust, but he’s untrustworthy in entirely predictable ways. Better to cling to the devil he knows intimately than to stumble through a galaxy of devils disguised as friends.

[therevaliir-blog]

Announcements: 07-11-2017

Site Changes:

- It would appear that Photobucket has begun to charge people for linking their pictures 3rd party. I wasn't sure it was real until I loaded up our portal page and found this:

My recommendation is for all users to go save whatever pictures they want to save from Photobucket if they are using it and transfer them to a site like Imgur. Not only has Photobucket done this but recently they have begun to act up on browsers like Chrome. They don't even show up for me most of the time. If you guys don't want to sign up for another site feel free to pm me and I'll host your images for you on my imgur and pass you the link. You can also look up other image hosting websites (I think Tiny Pic is one?). A few changes for Revaliir as well: I've updated the front Forum page to list [Current Gods], [Map of Canelux], and [Map of Parvpora] as links under their designated places. 

I'm going to be adding quick links for Alchemy/Synth in the Trading section as well so people can just click there. Or I might just quick link to the spreadsheet of the synth/alchemy instead. I'll leave it up to the users to decide what they think is better.

I've changed how the forums look a little bit no longer do areas have City/Town or Wilderness. To save space it should just be [City] or [Wilds] . Places with more than one tag will still have their tags. This will be used until I finish my icon project for them :) Eventually, I will make small icons that designate between City, Wilds, and Attraction. I figure that would make the forum look prettier. Also finally added the links for The Spirit Realm and Sinking Ruins to the front of the Parvpora Continent Index! :)

We are also going to look into more city maps like the one in Sularia but I'll be asking members what they think since that is a huge project. We're gonna focus on finishing up the City for Rialoch, Outpost in Bakulaw, and a better layout for other forums that have multiple areas like Feeorin Forest with it's Vila Lake/Vila City. I'm going to ask if people would like for more flavor as well such as Ayaito becoming The Ayaito Empire, and so on and so forth :) Remember that with the event, the items are now in the new Event Shop Namita's Relics (I feel so bad for pushing the announcement under this one sorry Whit!) I'll start the User Submitted Lore back up as well and hope people participate more in it so we can grow the lore of Revaliir together! I'm going to work with Darros/Telly to try and get the Registration more clear, finish up the Welcome Page (its been unfinished for too long), finish up Icons that need to be done, add the synth I promised, and do wiki articles that have been on the back burner. I'm also going to be trying to get more tutorials up for the lot of you and FAQS such as spell subs for racial features.

-  Contents of this patch: -Forum boost rebalance: People only get the higher of the two multipliers now. If you are new, you will always get a minimum of x3 for your first month or however long your silver boost lasts. You will no longer get your multipliers multiplied. -Forum boost time element There is now a calendar setting for forum silver boosts. Admins can use this to accurately pinpoint a timeframe that they want. -Searching of items in admin panel of users It is now possible to use ctrl-f to search through a user's inventory. This change has drastically improved load times. -New item and item pack adding and removal tools for Admin Use -New Event shop called Namita's Relics. I've readded Naota's prizes so people can get them! Namita's Relics -Restart of Server has updated the Shop Index! :3 all the shops are up to date now! (fancy fancy!) Starting Soon: Area Spotlights - for those interested in a silver boost of x2 and don't have the x3 from advertising the site I will be doing a weekly thing where I spotlight an area! Changes for Silver Boosts: Events will now only get a x3 boost Anniversary Events will get a x5 boost 

  The Living World:

SOMETHING IS HAPPENING

Adeluna has become a hotbed of terror and death. Citizens are being terrorized by their neighbors, friends, and even their own families. People are beating one another viciously in the streets, seemingly without provocation. Angela Rose had originally deployed her team of Clerics and Healers to aid with the situation, but it has become so dangerous she has ordered them to withdraw - something nearly unheard of. Those attacking the innocent have a strange feature - eyes of deep crimson, very similar to the rumored appearance of the eyes of Dalanesca, the Reaper of Souls and Harbinger of Darkness… what could this mean? 

Rules Update: -Solo tags have been removed. If you wish to post consecutively with the same account now, you will need to stick to your character's journal. -NEW RULE: Item Description Abuse Just because an item description sounds powerful doesn't mean a member can abuse potential "loopholes" about it. For example, say you are using an item that can increase the height of your character, but that item doesn't specify a size limit. You then proceed to use it to grow to the size of a city, because the item doesn't tell you that you can't. That is abuse of a description and the administration reserves the right to punish you for it. If you ever have any doubts about an item and what is within fair use, contact staff.