#you should rank based on how they race

[m4x-smashstappen]

So you have the best race in the last maybe 4 years, definitely the best this season so far, and the highest 'rank' is a 9.00 🤣

The people doing the aramco power ranking have no idea what racing is, do they 😂

They saw Max won and couldn't give a 10, what if F1 fans thought it was an amazing race 😱 we cannot have that 😤 9.00 it is and the rest downwards because if Max won 😳 it must have been a terrible race 🥱 we should know, we are completely unbiased 😏 but if anyone other than Max wins it's a 10 🤭, or as close as possible to one, we cannot give all a 10 🤫, even though they deserve it 👏 for beating that ✨️car✨️, you are all a 10 in our hearts 🤧 but we have to stay objective 😉

[apas-95]

How do you not realize your Marxist ideology is false when it says shit like a trans black woman small business owner is oppressing her cis white man employees?

I don't think you're, like, genuinely asking, or are curious, here, but I'll answer anyways, for everyone else who might be confused on issues like this: it's intersectionality.

You could make this argument about essentialy any axis of oppression - 'how do you not realise your LGBT ideology is false when it says shit like a cishet black person is oppressing their white trans gay employees', or, conversely, 'how do you not realise your racial ideology is false when it says shit like a white trans gay person is oppressing their cishet black employees'.

The point here isn't to have a rock-paper-scissors, Pokémon type-effectiveness ranking of which axes of oppression 'outrank' which others, it's to understand that each axis of oppression is an entirely distinct social system that overlaps with the other. A black business owner suffers from the social system of antiblackness, and benefits from the social system of capitalism. The specific overlap of their blackness and their class character also gives them an entirely unique character with regards to their segment of society. If they are USAmerican, for example, in their specific case the state and progress of the national liberation movement in the US means that they make up the rear of the revolutionary movement, despite being themselves petit-bourgeois. These systems of oppression are qualitatively different, and cannot be simply, quantitatively, summed up against each other.

With this in mind, it should be understood that the Marxist understanding of class as the principal contradiction does not mean that class is the most important, overruling factor, and that other axes should be ignored. Class is considered the principal contradiction because it is the contradiction that all other axes of oppression, genuine in their own rights, grew out of. Antiblackness was created by the slave trade (not vice-versa), and the slave trade was created by the growing European bourgeoisie's need to extract surplus-value, in the collapse of the Feudal economy. In the example you gave, the petit-bourgeois business owner exploits the labour of her workers, and is supported in doing so by an entire legal, political, and philosophical system based on the expropriation of the proletariat. She is also herself repressed and exploited on the basis of race, gender, and transness. These do not cancel each other out. However, given the ultimate source of racial, patriarchal, and cissexist oppress is political-economic class, her ability to genuinely fight for her interests in those fields will be hamstrung by her class position - just as her ability to attain and maintain that class position in the first place is itself hamstrung by her oppression in other fields.

Ultimately, there are no simple rules that society can be flattened down by. Each and every instance and scenario must be investigated in its own right. The idea that people are driven to Marxism because it provides an easy or simplified way of looking at the world is (perhaps unfortunately!) wrong, it actually means a lot more work!

[threebea]

I was thinking about how the Padawans being part of the war effort DOES suck and kind of bother me, but for some reason I don't really see it as an in universe moral failing of the Jedi.

First I was like: well Star Wars is aimed at kids . A pov character that is a kid makes sense. Especially in the early seasons of TCW and Rebels. This was added in the cartoon and it became part of movie canon after the fact that Padawans held military rank. Suspension of disbelief etc etc.

Then I was like... Wait. Padme was fourteen when she became elected queen, and although it was supposed to be a peaceful rule it got to the point where other fourteen-year-olds became her body doubles in case of assassinations. She also goes and leads an army to take back her planet. At no point was anyone like: you know what you're fourteen you should probably stay at base camp while we do this. We don't actually need you for the storming the palace part.

The GFFA in universe does not place moral significance on it. It isn't weird. If it did there is no way Shmi would have said: yes my nine year old son will do the death race when he doesn't have to even though he has never won or finished before. The plot must allow the gffa to be okay with child endangerment with the good guys still being good guys. No one says Shmi is a terrible mom when she agrees to let Anakin do it. She wasn't being coerced she's just convinced that the only way to help people is to put a nine year old in a death race. In real life if she did that we'd be horrified. And remember Padme isn't bothered because of Anakin's age she's bothered that they're staking everything on a random kid.

So Padawan Commanders makes sense in the GFFA.

Although yeah it makes sense to feel bad about Padawan Commanders in the real world, it also doesn't really say anything about the Jedi and their morality. They're pretty in step with the rules of morality of the universe.

The GFFA has similarities, but it isn't our galaxy.

Would I want children in real life to be trained as Jedi? No. I wouldn't want an eight year old to be trained as crimefighting hero Robin either. It's only when we're looking back at these things through an adult lens and ground fantasy in reality that it becomes a problem.

If you don't want to suspend your disbelief that's fine. But can you make moral judgements on the Jedi without looking at anyone else in the galaxy about this one particular fact? I don't think you can.

I don't know, funny to think about. Especially with the newer media which is aimed at for adults with nostalgia. Then the story does try to seem grounded in reality, but also trying to justify the past where our belief was suspended.

[jjkamochoso]

Hey Jealousy

Angst, Fluff

Gen Narumi x gn!reader

Request from Wattpad: Gen gets jealous when Soshiro flirts with his crush!; takes place during Chapter 57 :)

Warnings: none

“What’s the big deal? It’s just Third Division.”

You didn’t realize how much of an impact your words had made on your comrades in the First Division until you noticed it had gone completely quiet around you as everyone stared at you in shock.

“Huh? Just Third Division? Don’t ya know they’re our biggest enemies?” Gen Narumi asked you in disbelief.

“Shouldn’t our biggest enemies be the kaiju? If we’re all working to eliminate them, should we really have a rivalry?” you wondered. Your soldiers couldn’t speak a word; they weren’t expecting to hear their beloved platoon leader spout such nonsense!

“It’s because you haven’t met them yet,” Gen told you, slapping a hand to your back. “Once you have the displeasure of talking to the Third Division, you’ll understand why we hate them.”

Well, here you were, standing before some members of the Third Division, and you still couldn’t grasp the hatred between the two Tokyo factions. Gen had invited you along to “greet” (confront) them as they entered your base and as you eyed them from your spot next to Gen, you waited to see what the fuss was all about.

“Hoshina!” Gen yelled, stepping up to the Third Division’s vice captain. “Who the hell gave you permission to step into my territory, ay?”

Soshiro looked completely unfazed. “My oh my, what a grand welcome for Captain Narumi to personally greet us.”

The vice captain turned his attention to you, his eyes looking you up and down before smiling coyly.

“And who might you be?” he asked. “I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting you before. I certainly would’ve remembered a stunning face like yours.”

You felt your whole body warm at his obvious flirtation. Gen immediately tensed up beside you, stepping forward once more and slightly shielding your body from Soshiro’s view.

“Who they are is none of your business,” Gen growled, pointing an accusatory finger at a smirking Soshiro. “I suggest you get out of here or I won’t hesitate to throw you out. Personally.”

“I have received permission from the higher ups in the main branch, so don’t mind us,” Soshiro explained.

“Nope, no go. This base is off limits for folks with bowl cuts or fox eyes and you fit under both of those.”

“Oh? Could it be that you’re still holdin’ a grudge?” Soshiro suggested, a playful tone in his voice. “You’re still angry that I beat you in the subjugation exercise ranking for the small monster category?”

Gen fell to his knees in dismay at the reminder of his failure. As you went to comfort him, Soshiro took note of your ranking plastered on your jacket and the worry that was present in your expression as you helped Gen back to his feet. You were treating the captain with more tenderness than expected from a platoon leader to their superior, and vice versa with Gen protecting you with a fervor Soshiro had never witnessed from the childish First Division member, all of which strongly suggested you two harbored some sort of romantic feelings for one another. The violet haired man giggled to himself, knowing his latest way of getting under Gen’s skin was sure to work.

“So, my lovely platoon leader,” Soshiro said, capturing your attention, “what else do you do in your free time besides being this good looking?”

Not used to being so brazenly hit on, you cleared your throat as you struggled to maintain your composure and release the words that were stuck on your tongue.

“Uh, you know, a little bit of this and that. Watch movies, walk around town. That sort of thing.”

“I see. Real date night stuff, yeah?”

“I guess so,” you squeaked, your voice barely heard over the quarreling between the division members next to you.

“Do you have any plans later? Maybe you could give me the grand tour of the base?” Soshiro asked you, flashing his signature fanged grin as he leaned in closer to you. Your heart began racing, unsure of what to say. Vice Captain Hoshina was smiling at you like the Cheshire Cat while Gen was glaring daggers at him.

“I-well, I… don’t know what I’m doing later but-”

“Keep at it, you guys!” Gen interrupted you loudly as he encouraged your comrades to continue their bickering with the other division. “The only record Hoshina broke was the small monsters! Aside from that, I hold the rest of the titles!”

“Gen, wait! I don’t think that’s true!” you warned, but it was too late. Soshiro had already heard him clearly and was gearing up to release the final blow to Gen’s ego.

“Doesn’t Captain Ashiro hold the title for the sniper category?”

Down Gen went, hitting the ground with a thump and splaying out in his defeat. You were about to help him up again when someone gently tapped their finger on your shoulder.

Soshiro was practically batting his eyelashes at you. “Will I ever get a name to go along with such a lovely person?”

“L/n. Y/n L/n,” you answered, looking away shyly. Gen had finally stood back up, fueled by his distaste for Soshiro that was only increasing the more he heard him speak to you. When he spied Soshiro’s hand gripping yours, about to bring it to his lips, that’s when any shred of respect for the man permanently left his body. Seeing red, he marched over to you and forcibly removed Soshiro’s grip on your fingers and then swatted his hand away, leaving Soshiro unsuccessfully hiding his rambunctious laughter.

“I’ve really struck a nerve there!” Soshiro exclaimed, wiping tears from his eyes as he fought to catch his breath between cackles. “I’ve never seen you this worked up! Is someone jealous?”

Gen bared his teeth in anger. “Shut up! I don’t like you! Get out of here imme-”

You were about to ask Gen what the hell his problem was, but you never got the chance, seeing as Vice Captain Hasegawa had shown up and hit Gen over the head with a fan, telling him to be quiet. Hasegawa led Soshiro away to the meeting, the cheeky vice captain not leaving without shooting you a wink. Gen quickly followed suit and you had to wait until their meeting was over to try to get to the bottom of what was going on.

You raced to Gen’s room later that night, itching to find out what had gotten into him earlier that morning. You knocked on the door but heard no answer, prompting you to knock louder and incessantly.

“I know you’re in there.”

“I’m not here.”

You rolled your eyes. “Let me in, Narumi.”

You heard footsteps near the door and he barely opened it, peeking his head out and scowling at you.

“Oh, it’s just Narumi now? Ouch.”

“Mind explaining to me what you were doing this morning?” you asked, crossing your arms.

“I don’t know what you mean,” he said, faking ignorance.

“The whole thing with Hoshina! He was just being nice.”

Gen’s jaw dropped and his eyes widened. “Being nice. Being nice? That’s what you call that?! That guy is… is… he’s a menace! A loser! You wanted me to stand by and do nothing?”

“Yes!” you scoffed. “God forbid someone flirts with me. Is it so bad that he thought I was cute? Is it wrong that I liked the attention that I’ve been missing for so long?”

“You like him?” Gen asked incredulously, his hair flopping around.

“I never said I liked him! I said I liked the attention.”

“You know what, I’m sure Hoshina’s still on base somewhere,” he grumbled. “You can go find him and live your happy little lives together. Just leave me out of it.”

Gen shut the door in your face, leaving you alone in the hallway with your racing thoughts. What was wrong with him? He had always been someone you could count on in any situation and was the person you trusted the most. You had always been his confidant, being able to talk to you about anything—why was he shutting you out completely right now? Why was recieving a tiny amount of affection from another man bothering him so much?

“Gen, please talk to me,” you pleaded through the door. “I don’t want you to be upset with me when I don’t even know what I did.”

No response.

“We’re having this conversation eventually so it’s best if we get it over with now.”

Silence.

“I thought we were friends,” you started to say, but stopped when the door flew open.

“I don’t want to be friends with you, y/n!” he blurted, his face contorted with distress. “I can’t! I can’t do it anymore!”

You were absolutely taken aback. “What? Why?”

“What happens when another guy comes around and you do like him, huh? What am I supposed to do then?”

Gen was running his fingers through his hair nervously and you still had no clue what he was talking about.

“You’re not making any sense-”

“I like you, okay?” he confessed. “I have for so long now. I hate the thought of you being with someone else other than me. It’s pathetic, I know.”

You were at a complete loss for words, not at all expecting that to be the reason for his odd behavior.

“It’s not pathetic at all,” you said quietly. “That whole time Hoshina was saying those things… I was wishing it was you instead.”

Now it was Gen’s turn to be stunned. “Wait, then why did you get mad at me for pulling you away from him?”

“Because I thought I’d never have a chance with you. I figured maybe I could get over my feelings for you if I found someone else. Convinced myself I liked them.” You inhaled deeply. “But I know there’s no one else for me and there never will be. You’re the only person I could possibly want.”

Gen breathed out a sigh of relief. “I feel the same about you.”

You couldn’t help your giddy smile that arose as you studied the handsome man in front of you.

“Now that we got our first fight out of the way, how about we try the whole kiss-and-make-up thing?” you asked, biting your lower lip in anticipation. Gen took you by the waist and pulled you inside his room, closing the door with his foot.

“We can definitely do that,” he murmured with a grin, leaning into you.

[cheriladycl01]

The Rookie Prodigy - Carlos Sainz x Driver! Reader Part 1

Plot: You are a rookie coming into the 2022 season of Formula one into Alfa Romeo with team member Zhou Guanyu, being in a mid tier team can you help them rise up the ranks. What pressures occur for the only rookie within the 2022 line up!

"We have had some amazing announcements this year. We only have two rookies on the grid this year that have a confirmed seat both in Alfa Romeo. So it should be an interesting season for them!" the first reporter says while walking around the paddock.

"Yes, its very uncommon to see a team take on two rookies in the same season, so it'll be interesting to see if they under perform based on these statistics or not" the other one admits.

Currently you were sat with Zhou your current team mate, he was teaching you a little bit of Chinese at your request.

"Are you nervous for today?" you ask him, you'd both done lots of media over the break so people could get to know you before the season start in Bahrain had begun.

"A little, but we will drive the very best that we can. I know it" he says pulling you into a side hug. You'd gotten very close to your team mate, both being rookies on the same team made you both sort of outcasts on the grid. Today would be your first time talking to the other 18 drivers.

"We'll be fine i promise" he says before walking towards his car in the Alpha Romeo garage, you walk over to your race engineer Paul and go through the different strategies to make sure you know what each one means.

"Okay, its time for your first race, you got this. Remember your starting P11 and Zhou is starting P15. So you just got to make up some pace, and you'll be in points region. Get a good start, and overtake Esteban while defending from Mick, Lando may help you with that but you'll need to then defend from him" he advices and you nod. You take your helmet that your best friend designed for you on place it over your head.

Paul, taps the back of your helmet covered head, before bumping fits with you. You pull yourself into the car under the halo before placing the wheel on.

"Okay, lets go and grab some points" Paul says after he'd checked the radio to make sure you had good connection.

At the start lights you had an impeccable start going wide on the outside of Ocon and Gasly and moving into 9th place. Lando had managed to overtake Mick and was gaining.

"Amazing start Y/N P9 as of now. George ahead, attempt overtake at turn 4. He's 0.4 seconds ahead" you hear your race engineer point out. You can see the Mercedes ahead, and going into turn for you go for the risky move and break later than George. You gave him enough room and he swung wide, not wanting to damage the car giving you a gap to get through.

"What's this Martin! Y/N is storming through this track, starting in P11 and she's already made her way up to P8 taking over drivers who have been in F1 much longer than her. This is some incredible driving we are seeing"

Eventually you had to pit, but it was an exceptionally fast pit-stop that was well timed from your team and had you coming out behind Gasly . You went a few laps, dancing around with him where you both had the pace, but the minute your tires warmed up and his had worn out enough you ploughed on ahead creating a large time gap along the straight.

"You've got Alonso ahead, 1.2 second gap, lets close it on those Sector 2 corners" Paul directs. In no time you make your way up to P6, Magnussen was ahead in P5.

"How many laps left? Can i catch him?" you ask your engineer.

"2 seconds ahead and 10 laps, you can catch him if you speed up Sector 1" he advises. You put you head to it, and managed to overtake.

"This is insane Alfa Romeo are storming this season along with Ferrari, right now, we have Charles Leclerc in P1, Carlos Sainz in P2, Lewis Hamilton in P3 and oh what is this, its NOT, i repeat NOT a double finish for Mercedes, Y/N has overtaken George Russell even on the older tires. And her counter part in Alfa Romeo is in P9 this is an amazing start to the season for the two Ferrari teams"

"AND THAT'S IT CHARLES LECLERC HAS COME FIRST AT BAHRAIN, SAINZ IN SECOND, HAMILTON IN THIRD"

"You've done it Y/N that's P4 we now have 14 points at the starts of the season!" Paul voices. You pull up jumping out your car and hugging everyone.

"I don't think i could have done it if Max and Checo finished, they would have come ahead of me!" you admit, you pull your helmet off balaclava coming off with it. The top bit of your hair was sheened with sweat. You run your hands through it trying to get some more volume through it.

"You'll be in an interview with the TOP 5, from today" Fred says patting your back, he guides you to where the interviews out there.

"Oh Carlos, Charles come say hello to Y/N you haven't met her yet!" Fred offers you up and the two Ferrari boys come over.

"Wow, you are more beautiful in real life than you are in your driver picture!" Carlos says taking your hand and kissing it, a blush coming onto your face.

"You are a fantastic rookie!" Charles compliments pulling you into a hug before offering you up his water. You nod realizing you hadn't picked yours up from the garage.

"Thank you, I'm dying" you joke, and sky from his Ferrari bottle before handing it back to him.

"Omg that's Lewis Hamilton" you whisper looking over at the 7 time world champion that was ahead of you.

"Why didn't we get that reaction mi hermosa?" Carlos asks, and you blush.

"It's Lewis Hamilton!" you say just looking at him in awe.

"Hey great race today Y/L/N. Haven't seen a rookie like you since myself"

"Oh my god" you says in awe. He pulls you into a hug and starts to ask you questions, while Carlos keeps interrupting.

"Well its actually funny because I've been watching you for the last two years in F2" Carlos says as Lewis asks you what prior championships you'd won and how you'd got your seat in Alfa Romeo.

"Oh, you did?" you ask.

"Yeah I actually came to the garage one time, not yours but i was there!"

"That's cool man, I also kept up with her career. I just like to ask so people can gloat about their own achievements, its good for the soul" he smiled a little awkwardly at Carlos and his sudden need to prove that he, knew you better? Is that what that was?

"Come on guys, time for interviews" one of the directors call, George, Lewis and Charles start to walk through but Carlos grabs your hand and holds you back.

"Come out with me tonight, to celebrate?" he asks, however your PR manager comes out and pulls you away from him.

Taglist:

@littlesatanicassholebitch @hockey-racing-fubol @laura-naruto-fan1998 @22yuki @simxican @sinofwriting @lewisroscoelove @cmleitora @stupidandunnecessary @clayra-g @daemyratwst @honey-belden @moonypixel @lauralarsen @vader-is-hot @ironcowboycopnickel @itsjustkhaos @the-untamed-soul @beebo86 @happylittlereader @ziejustme @lou-larcher5 @thewulf @purplephantomwolf @chasing-liberosis @chillyleclerc @chanthereader @annoyingmoonballoon @summissss @evieepepi08 @havaneseoger08 @celesteblack08 @gulphulp @fandom1ruined2me @celebstories @starfusionsworld @jspitwall

[lizdive]

I was thinking of older sister violet_evergarden!reader who is also a stoneheart x aventurine. I'd like to see how they interact since canonically, violet sees herself as nothing more than a weapon and will do whatever she has to do, to protect the person she cares for. Aka aventurine. I can also sorta see her either being an emanator of preservation or one the stronger stonehearts.

Hi anon :3 !! I love aventurine with my whole heart he’s just so squishy 😞 i had to go to the violet evergarden wiki for this one bcs i’ve never watched the anime so i’m sorry if stuff isn’t accurate this was kinda of difficult for me,, tysm for requesting <3 if you’re unsatisfied just tell me and i’ll redo it!!

notes 𐙚 fem! reader — "you" + "she/her" used to refer to the reader ,, reader as an older sibling ,, reader is based off of violet evergarden from violet evergarden anime ,, reader is an emanator of preservation but it isn’t mentioned much ,, reader is a stoneheart ,, aventurine is referred to as both "kakavasha" and "aventurine" ,, corundum’s are a type of gemstone that is ranked 9 on the toughness scale ,, of course you can change this to the stone of your desire !! this isn’t proofread ignore typos,,

"The hammer of preservation will fall on all beings, regardless of life or death, regardless of race, regardless of ideology, to uphold the basic rights we inherently posses."

The Rising Stars, the Stonehearts, the Gambler and the Soldier Maiden — all nicknames for two siblings who have seen it all. A handsome aventurine and a beautiful corundum. One blessed by HER, and another blessed by THEM.

To be an Emanator is to be seen as a piece of an Aeon — their will so strong that their abilities have been gifted to them by the Aeon. To be an Emanator in the IPC is to be seen as an asset that cannot be lost. And to be an Emanator of Preservation is to be seen as the biggest tool.

With THEIR blessing you have overcome all that life has thrown at you just for the sake of keeping your beloved brother save from harm. From the moment he was brought into this sad world, you have fought to protect him and your younger sister.

Only one of the two made it out alive.

Many people would call you a murderer, and while they technically aren’t wrong, they fail to see why you do it. Or perhaps they do not care. You killed and therefore you should be sent to your own death.

You remember the day when you and your brother were taken by the IPC. A woman clad in luxury, a smirk on her face, and her tone breathy and warm. "As a servant you should not resist your master." she had said, but you did not pay attention for her.

KAKAVASHA did most of the speaking for you. He was free to go — he had no blood on his hands. You were the one to be sent to the gallows. But you couldn’t and wouldn’t. Death was not an option. It never was and never would be until KAKAVASHA lets out his final breath from old age.

You didn’t see what was wrong — you never did. Yes, you killed the man and many more, but it was self defense. KAKAVASHA and you had always lived in a world where it was kill or be killed. Remorse was foreign to you.

And then came the offer. Join the IPC. Join the corporation that was the reason your kind fell and vanished off the map. Become the same as them. You could not care less. Should your brother join, you will, as well. And he did.

By the end of the day you both were clad in luxuries the same as her.

⭑ Missions were always a package deal. Where AVENTURINE goes, Corundum always follows. Where Corundum goes, AVENTURINE is most likely following. There is no separating the two.

⭑ AVENTURINE is very patient with his big sister. He knows that unlike him, she is not able to properly express what she feels. He’ll try to help explain why people feel the things they feel — he’s good at putting up a mask of emotions and to do so he needed to understand them first so he’s good at explaining.

⭑ If you have prosthetic limbs like Violet does and have room for drawings and doodles, AVENTURINE will definitely doodle on your arms during free time. Even if you hide them with your sleeves, it’s a nice pass-time activity. Nobody says anything about it because 1: he is a stoneheart and 2: you’re a stoneheart.

⭑ Will try to get you to be less hyper-independent. Ask him for help, it’s okay. He’ll even try to make you a bit reliant on him. He’s not a little kid anymore, he can definitely help you take out those guys. He’s good with a gun and it’ll finish the mission quicker, just let him do some fighting too,,

⭑ I feel like there could be some heavy angst potential here, especially with the entire aventurine boss fight. You’re so determined to protect him, and you aren’t against killing people to do so. He knows this, and so he tries his damn hardest to hide his plan from you but he’s your little brother your little KAKAVASHA so you know him. You’re not the best at emotions but you know he’s lying and hiding something.

⭑ He accepts death and welcomes it with open arms but he also doesn’t want to leave his big sister alone. His big sister, who has done everything and more to protect him. She had killed, she has been wounded, she has put up with his shenanigans, and she has done the impossible. He feels like he’s just throwing that all away,,,

⭑ You are lost without him when he 'dies'. He is your purpose in life. Helping the Astral Express fight against Sunday? Screw them! You need to find your little brother, there is no way he is dead. You pray to Mother Gaiathra, to Qlipoth, to any Aeon that will hear your prayers, that he is alive.

⭑ And when you find him alive and well in the real world, alone in his room in the reverie hotel, you feel like a dam inside you has bursted. You don’t cry, but you’re close to doing so and AVENTURINE doesn’t know whether to encourage you to let out your emotions and calm your through them or reassure you that he is alright and there is no need to cry.

⭑ On a lighter note: AVENTURINE doesn’t mind if you communicate with him via letters instead of messages when you’re on your own solo missions! He’ll get you the nicest envelopes and stamps to put on them. Maybe even some stickers! He loves when you use the silly ones. If you tell him it helps you understand emotions better, he’ll encourage you to write letters more and for other people. If you use an old typewriter, he’ll get you the nicest one on the market!

⭑ It said in the wiki that Violet feels guilt for killing the people she has killed, so if you also feel that, AVENTURINE will be by your side to reassure you that it’s okay. That it wasn’t your fault and it was needed for survival. He might use the "you were just trying to protect me" card to make you feel better since he knows he’s your weakness.

⭑ Sadly, to make a pledge to never kill anyone again like Violet did would be pretty much impossible. In the eyes of the IPC, violet evergarden! reader will always be a weapon, so it’ll kinda be forced upon her.

⭑ AVENTURINE loves the anxious expressions of the people he’s gambling with as his big sister stands behind him, intimidating the patrons of the casino. It also reassures him because if anyone tries to get violent he knows his big sis will be there to protect him so he can be as reckless and as infuriating as he wants.

⭑ Overall AVENTURINE would be a very good younger brother to a violet evergarden! reader because he fulfills her wish to protect and she fulfills his want to be cherished.

[f1fnatic]

SCRUTINY ⤿ f1 grid

→ ( in which. . . ) you are a woman on the f1 grid. you face criticism and digs almost every day from toxic fans, specifically the men. but, you shut them up after a rewarding race.

→ ( fanfic genre. . . ) written

→ ( pairing. . . ) 2023 f1 grid x female!reader

→ ( content warnings/disclaimers. . . ) cyberbullying, misogyny, sexism/sexist comments, overall a shitty environment. not based on this year's monaco grand prix or the season so far just has the drivers of this year's grid at this moment except alonso he is a reserve for aston martin, jumps around a little, not a completely solid plot, other pilots make subtle mentions, but mainly reader focused.

→ ( author's note. . . ) i enjoyed writing this one a lot. with being a woman myself and seeing how we are perceived in sports, especially a male-dominated field like motorsport, it was not very difficult to keep writing. anyways, i hope you enjoy! see end for more.

→ ( masterlist )

sunday, pre-race interview ↴

scrutiny. a word that you are familiar with. a word that has so much meaning but so little at the same time. you had recently joined your dream team, aston martin. after a challenging run in f3 and f2, you finally got recognized for your talent. you knew the comments would only get worse as you moved up the ranks, but you didn't expect them to be this bad.

it was the monaco grand prix. your least favorite track to race. the tight corners haunted you. without fail, you always almost crashed and cost your team everything. but it mainly cost you your dignity.

you were sat along a crisp white sofa that sat your teammate lance stroll, along with charles leclerc, lewis hamilton, lando norris, daniel ricciardo, and lastly max verstappen. you had all become acquainted when you first got to f1. lance and you got along swell and were close to inseparable. the rest were like brothers to you. these types of conferences were your personal least favorite. you enjoyed being with your friends, but the questions that were asked were downright embarrassing.

"y/n, coming over to you." the interviewer voiced, all attention was shifted onto you. "monaco in the past years has not treated you well, do you think you will have another devastating grand prix? and do you think your difference has to do with your performance?" you felt the scoff bubble in your throat. was he serious? you knew what he was playing at. your difference being your gender.

"well, first of all, i do not think my quote en quote 'difference' has anything to do with my performance." you start, putting finger quotes to emphasize the word difference. "if anything, it would be a difference in the car. in past monaco grand prix's the aston martin car has struggled. there are no real straights for the car to get its usual speed from. the differences in the care have nothing to do with me as a driver." this was unbelievable. were they really questioning whether you could hold your own as a woman in motorsport?

"you are starting p7 in today's race. do you think you performed well enough in qualifying? what could you have done differently?" finally. a normal question. you were excited to answer.

"uh, yeah. i think considering the conditions in qualifying and the nature of the track i did well. i am happy with how i performed but there is always room for improvement. and i am open to that." you answered, smiling. you looked over to lewis and saw him smiling at you. he knew how the media worked. he himself was getting pushed under the bus with racist remarks and 'concern' around his piercings. he was always supportive of you, and you were supportive of him. there were often times when you would text or call him ranting about how unfair it was that you were being treated the way you were. he would join in with his own stories and you would listen.

"y/n, i am sure you have seen the scrutiny online about being a woman competing in the pinnacle of motorsport. do you believe you should be here competing with men?" another reporter asks.

you are stunned. you couldn't believe what you were hearing.

"are you serious?" lance scoffs beside you. "what is with these questions?"

"why do we get questions about normal things like our literal jobs and y/n's questions are always about her gender?" daniel adds. the couch breaks out in murmurs. the reporters visibly get uncomfortable with what has happened and end the interview.

standing up you walk out of the office and to your drivers room, ignorning the voices calling after you. these interviews were always bullshit. daniel was right, why were you always getting questioned about your gender and how that effects your performance? what does gender have to do with racing?

this was only the beginning.

sunday, day of monaco grand prix ↴

you were exhausted. exhausted by the comments, the bullshit interviews, and the stupid prick men that felt the need to voice their opinion about a woman in f1.

you could this year's grand prix was going to be a tough one. mentally and physically. you wanted to be done. done with the bullying, the sexism, the misogyny, everything. you knew you worked hard to get where you are, and you will continue to. you dreaded the after-race interviews. no matter your result, you would always get at least 4 sexist remarks.

you didn't know what else you needed to do to be able to prove yourself worthy of your seat. you shouldn't have to prove yourself anymore than you have. you are in f1, and all of these assholes are not.

your pr manager, bless his soul, had to listen to your rants after interviews. lewis always got brunt end of it as well. he had experience with degradating comments. he always knew what to say and when to say it. fernando has been a huge help as well. he was like a father to you, always there when you needed someone. he would defend you when you needed defending. he always knew what to say and when to say it.

race start, p7 ↴

p7 was not a bad place to start, at all. but the internet and crowd thought differently. you were sat in your car, ready for the formation lap when someone yelled at you, "c'mon pretty lady! get back to cleaning! this is a man's sport!" you resisted the urge to quip back at him, instead you raised your left hand and flipped him off. your pr manager would have your head later but you couldn't care less. you needed to do something to voice your annoyance.

concentration is what you needed, but you couldn't seem to gain it with more comments being shouted your way. "hot momma!" followed by a cat call whistle, "sweetheart take off that suit! let's see what's underneath!", "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THIS JOB!" were only some of the handfuls thrown at you. they also seemed to be the ones that bothered you the most. your grip on your steering wheel tightened, anger bubbling in your gut. these people knew nothing. they don't know how hard you work. they don't know how much blood, sweat, and tears you poured into achieving your dream. and they never would.

before you knew it, the formation lap started. it went quickly. you got back into your respective starting positions and stared down the lights. you took a deep breath to attempt to ground yourself. it is just a race, you have done this before y/n.

the lights lit up red, until they didn't. you flew forward in your aston martin, pushing it for a decent start. you ended up gaining two positions, going from p7 to p5. the rest of the race was uneventful, until it wasn't.

"y/n, caution on the chicane. hamilton, perez, and leclerc crashed. yellow flag, safety car." your race engineer voiced over the radio. "that moves you into a fortunate p2."

"okay, copy." you were ecstatic. this was your chance to prove yourself to everyone. to those men who scrutinized you before the formation lap, to the trolls online, and to those misogynistic pricks known as reporters. this was your moment.

"gap to verstappen 1.6 seconds, push." you did as you were told. you pushed, and you pushed hard. this was for all of the girls that wanted to be you. "oh my days y/n! p1! p1! you just won the monaco grand prix!"

"yes! oh my god! fuck me! we did it!" you had done it.

you did your victory lap and parked behind the p1 tower. when you got out of your seat tears stung at your eyes. you ran over to where the aston martin team was and hugged them over the barrier. team members were banging on your helmet. lance had managed p2 and came up behind you and hugged you, along with the team.

the podium was a blur. you could not describe the emotions you were feeling. pride, excitement, and most of all, happiness were swirling within you. you stood tall as aston martin's anthem played and even taller when yours sounded shortly after. the champagne spray was the best part. carelessly spraying lance as giggles sounded on the podium. you also sprayed your team below, this would not have been possible without them. you would never forget this moment. it is forever engraved into your mind.

this was it, this was what you needed to prove them all wrong.

not feeling super happy w this one. i like the beginning but i feel it gets away from me in the middle and end. feedback and requests are welcome! make sure to leave a comment and kudos as well, only if u want to tho! lmk if you like it :)

[mariacallous]

The New York Times once dubbed the Princeton professor Robert George, who has guided Republican elites for decades, “the reigning brain of the Christian right.” Last year, he issued a stark warning to his ideological allies. “Each time we think the horrific virus of anti-Semitism has been extirpated, it reappears,” he wrote in May 2023. “A plea to my fellow Catholics—especially Catholic young people: Stay a million miles from this evil. Do not let it infect your thinking.” When I spoke with George that summer, he likened his sense of foreboding to that of Heinrich Heine, the 19th-century German poet who prophesied the rise of Nazism in 1834.

Some 15 months later, the conservative commentator Tucker Carlson welcomed a man named Darryl Cooper onto his web-based show and introduced him to millions of followers as “the best and most honest popular historian in the United States.” The two proceeded to discuss how Adolf Hitler might have gotten a bad rap and why British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was “the chief villain of the Second World War.”

Hitler tried “to broadcast a call for peace directly to the British people” and wanted to “work with the other powers to reach an acceptable solution to the Jewish problem,” Cooper elaborated in a social-media post. “He was ignored.” Why the Jews should have been considered a “problem” in the first place—and what a satisfactory “solution” to their inconvenient existence might be—was not addressed.

Some Republican politicians spoke out against Carlson’s conversation with Cooper, and many historians, including conservative ones, debunked its Holocaust revisionism. But Carlson is no fringe figure. His show ranks as one of the top podcasts in the United States; videos of its episodes rack up millions of views. He has the ear of Donald Trump and spoke during prime time at the 2024 Republican National Convention. His anti-Jewish provocations are not a personal idiosyncrasy but the latest expression of an insurgent force on the American right—one that began to swell when Trump first declared his candidacy for president and that has come to challenge the identity of the conservative movement itself.

Anti-Semitism has always existed on the political extremes, but it began to migrate into the mainstream of the Republican coalition during the Trump administration. At first, the prejudice took the guise of protest.

In 2019, hecklers pursued the Republican congressman Dan Crenshaw—a popular former Navy SEAL from Texas—across a tour of college campuses, posing leading questions to him about Jews and Israel, and insinuating that the Jewish state was behind the 9/11 attacks. The activists called themselves “Groypers” and were led by a young white supremacist named Nick Fuentes, an internet personality who had defended racial segregation, denied the Holocaust, and participated in the 2017 rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where marchers chanted, “Jews will not replace us.”

The slogan referred to a far-right fantasy known as the “Great Replacement,” according to which Jews are plotting to flood the country with Black and brown migrants in order to displace the white race. That belief animated Robert Bowers, who perpetrated the largest massacre of Jews on American soil at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018 after sharing rants about the Great Replacement on social media. The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the gunman wrote in his final post, “likes to bring invaders in that kill our people … Screw your optics, I’m going in.”

Less than three years later, Carlson sanitized that same conspiracy theory on his top-rated cable-news show. “They’re trying to change the population of the United States,” the Fox host declared, “and they hate it when you say that because it’s true, but that’s exactly what they’re doing.” Like many before him, Carlson maintained plausible deniability by affirming an anti-Semitic accusation without explicitly naming Jews as culprits. He could rely on members of his audience to fill in the blanks.

Carlson and Fuentes weren’t the only ones who recognized the rising appeal of anti-Semitism on the right. On January 6, 2021, an influencer named Elijah Schaffer joined thousands of Trump supporters storming the U.S. Capitol, posting live from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office. Eighteen months later, Schaffer publicly polled his hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers: “Do you believe Jews disproportionately control the world institutions, banks, & are waging war on white, western society?” Social-media polls are not scientific, so the fact that more than 70 percent of respondents said some version of “yes” matters less than the fact that 94,000 people participated in the survey. Schaffer correctly gauged that this subject was something that his audience wanted to discuss, and certainly not something that would hurt his career.

With little fanfare, the tide had turned in favor of those advancing anti-Semitic arguments. In 2019, Fuentes and his faction were disrupting Republican politicians like Crenshaw. By 2022, Fuentes was shaking hands onstage with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and dining with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. In 2019, the Groyper activists were picketing events held by Turning Point USA, the conservative youth organization founded by the activist Charlie Kirk. By 2024, Turning Point was employing—and periodically firing and denouncing—anti-Semitic influencers who appeared at conventions run by Fuentes. “The Zionist Jews controlling our planet are all pedophiles who have no regard for the sanctity of human life and purity,” one of the organization’s ambassadors posted before she was dismissed.

In 2020, Carlson’s lead writer, Blake Neff, was compelled to resign after he was exposed as a regular contributor to a racist internet forum. Today, he produces Kirk’s podcast and recently reported alongside him at the Republican National Convention. “Why does Turning Point USA keep pushing anti-Semitism?” asked Erick Erickson, the longtime conservative radio host and activist, last October. The answer: Because that’s what a growing portion of the audience wants.

“When I began my career in 2017,” Fuentes wrote in May 2023, “I was considered radioactive in the American Right for my White Identitarian, race realist, ‘Jewish aware,’ counter-Zionist, authoritarian, traditional Catholic views … In 2023, on almost every count, our previously radioactive views are pounding on the door of the political mainstream.” Fuentes is a congenital liar, but a year after this triumphalist pronouncement, his basic point is hard to dispute. Little by little, the extreme has become mainstream—especially since October 7.

Last December, Tucker Carlson joined the popular anti-establishment podcast Breaking Points to discuss the Gaza conflict and accused a prominent Jewish political personality of disloyalty to the nation. “They don’t care about the country at all,” he told the host, “but I do … because I’m from here, my family’s been here hundreds of years, I plan to stay here. Like, I’m shocked by how little they care about the country, including the person you mentioned. And I can’t imagine how someone like that could get an audience of people who claim to care about America, because he doesn’t, obviously.”

The twist: “He” was not some far-left activist who had called America an irredeemably racist regime. Carlson was referring to Ben Shapiro, arguably the most visible Jewish conservative in America, and insinuating that despite his decades of paeans to American exceptionalism, Shapiro was a foreign implant secretly serving Israeli interests. The podcast host did not object to Carlson’s remarks.

The war in Gaza has placed Jews and their role in American politics under a microscope. Much has been written about how the conflict has divided the left and led to a spike in anti-Semitism in progressive spaces, but less attention has been paid to the similar shake-up on the right, where events in the Middle East have forced previously subterranean tensions to the surface. Today, the Republican Party’s establishment says that it stands with Israel and against anti-Semitism, but that stance is under attack by a new wave of insurgents with a very different agenda.

Since October 7, in addition to slurring Shapiro, Carlson has hosted a parade of anti-Jewish guests on his show. One was Candace Owens, the far-right podcaster known for her defenses of another anti-Jewish agitator, Kanye “Ye” West. Owens had already clashed with her employer—the conservative outlet The Daily Wire, co-founded by Shapiro—over her seeming indifference to anti-Semitism. But after the Hamas assault, she began making explicit what had previously been implicit—including liking a social-media post that accused a rabbi of being “drunk on Christian blood,” a reference to the medieval blood libel. The Daily Wire severed ties with her soon after. But this did not remotely curb her appeal.

Today, Owens can be found fulminating on her YouTube channel (2.4 million subscribers) or X feed (5.6 million followers) about how a devil-worshipping Jewish cult controls the world, and how Israel was complicit in the 9/11 attacks and killed President John F. Kennedy. Owens has also jumped aboard the Reich-Rehabilitation Express. “What is it about Hitler? Why is he the most evil?” she asked in July. “The first thing people would say is: ‘Well, an ethnic cleansing almost took place.’ And now I offer back: ‘You mean like we actually did to the Germans.’”

“Many Americans are learning that WW2 history is not as black and white as we were taught and some details were purposefully omitted from our textbooks,” she wrote after Carlson’s Holocaust conversation came under fire. The post received 15,000 likes.

Donald Trump’s entry into Republican politics intensified several forces that have contributed to the rise of anti-Semitism on the American right. One was populism, which pits the common people against a corrupt elite. Populists play on discontents that reflect genuine failures of the establishment, but their approach also readily maps onto the ancient anti-Semitic canard that clandestine string-pulling Jews are the source of society’s problems. Once people become convinced that the world is oppressed by an invisible hand, they often conclude that the hand belongs to an invisible Jew.

Another such force is isolationism, or the desire to extricate the United States from foreign entanglements, following decades of debacles in the Middle East. But like the original America First Committee, which sought to keep the country out of World War II, today’s isolationists often conceive of Jews as either rootless cosmopolitans undermining national cohesion or dual loyalists subverting the national interest in service of their own. In this regard, the Tucker Carlsons of 2024 resemble the reactionary activists of the 1930s, such as the aviator Charles Lindbergh, who infamously accused Jewish leaders of acting “for reasons which are not American,” and warned of “their large ownership and influence in our motion pictures, our press, our radio and our government.”

Populism and isolationism have legitimate expressions, but preventing them from descending into anti-Semitism requires leaders willing to restrain their movement’s worst instincts. Today’s right has fewer by the day. Trump fundamentally refuses to repudiate anyone who supports him, and by devolving power from traditional Republican elites and institutions to a diffuse array of online influencers, the former president has ensured that no one is in a position to corral the right’s excesses, even if someone wanted to.

As one conservative columnist put it to me in August 2023, “What you’re actually worried about is not Trump being Hitler. What you’re worried about is Trump incentivizing anti-Semites,” to the point where “a generation from now, you’ve got Karl Lueger,” the anti-Jewish mayor of Vienna who inspired Hitler, “and two generations from now, you do have something like that.” The accelerant that is social-media discourse, together with a war that brings Jews to the center of political attention, could shorten that timeline.

For now, the biggest obstacle to anti-Semitism’s ascent on the right is the Republican rank and file’s general commitment to Israel, which causes them to recoil when people like Owens rant about how the Jewish state is run by a cabal of satanic pedophiles. Even conservatives like Trump’s running mate, J. D. Vance, a neo-isolationist who opposes foreign aid to Ukraine, are careful to affirm their continued support for Israel, in deference to the party base.

But this residual Zionism shields only Israeli Jews from abuse, not American ones—and it certainly does not protect the large majority of American Jews who vote for Democrats. This is why Trump suffers no consequences in his own coalition when he rails against “liberal Jews” who “voted to destroy America.” But such vilification won’t end there. As hard-core anti-Israel activists who have engaged in anti-Semitism against American Jews have demonstrated, most people who hate one swath of the world’s Jews eventually turn on the rest. “If I don’t win this election,” Trump said last week, “the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss.”

More than populism and isolationism, the force that unites the right’s anti-Semites and explains why they have been slowly winning the war for the future of conservatism is conspiracism. To see its power in practice, one need only examine the social-media posts of Elon Musk, which serve as a window into the mindset of the insurgent right and its receptivity to anti-Semitism.

Over the past year, the world’s richest man has repeatedly shared anti-Jewish propaganda on X, only to walk it back following criticism from more traditional conservative quarters. In November, Musk affirmed the Great Replacement theory, replying to a white nationalist who expressed it with these words: “You have said the actual truth.” After a furious backlash, the magnate recanted, saying, “It might be literally the worst and dumbest post I’ve ever done.” Musk subsequently met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and accompanied Ben Shapiro on a trip to Auschwitz, but the lesson didn’t quite take. Earlier this month, he shared Carlson’s discussion of Holocaust revisionism with the approbation: “Very interesting. Worth watching.” Once again under fire, he deleted the tweet and apologized, saying he’d listened to only part of the interview.

But this lesson is also unlikely to stick, because like many on the new right, Musk is in thrall to a worldview that makes him particularly susceptible to anti-Jewish ideas. Last September, not long before Musk declared the “actual truth” of the Great Replacement, he participated in a public exchange with a group of rabbis, activists, and Jewish conservatives. The discussion was intended as an intervention to inoculate Musk against anti-Semitism, but early on, he said something that showed why the cause was likely lost before the conversation even began. “I think,” Musk cracked, “we’re running out of conspiracy theories that didn’t turn out to be true.”

The popularity of such sentiments among contemporary conservatives explains why the likes of Carlson and Owens have been gaining ground and old-guard conservatives such as Shapiro and Erickson have been losing it. Simply put, as Trump and his allies have coopted the conservative movement, it has become defined by a fundamental distrust of authority and institutions, and a concurrent embrace of conspiracy theories about elite cabals. And the more conspiratorial thinking becomes commonplace on the right, the more inevitable that its partisans will land on one of the oldest conspiracies of them all.

Conspiratorial thinking is neither new to American politics nor confined to one end of the ideological spectrum. But Trump has made foundational what was once marginal. Beginning with birtherism and culminating in election denialism, he turned anti-establishment conspiracism into a litmus test for attaining political power, compelling Republicans to either sign on to his claims of 2020 fraud or be exiled to irrelevance.

The fundamental fault line in the conservative coalition became whether someone was willing to buy into ever more elaborate fantasies. The result was to elevate those with flexible approaches to facts, such as Carlson and Owens, who were predisposed to say and do anything—no matter how hypocritical or absurd—to obtain influence. Once opened, this conspiratorial box could not be closed. After all, a movement that legitimizes crackpot schemes about rigged voting machines and microchipped vaccines cannot simply turn around and draw the line at the Jews.

For mercenary opportunists like Carlson, this moment holds incredible promise. But for Republicans with principles—those who know who won the 2020 election, or who was the bad guy in World War II, and can’t bring themselves to say otherwise—it’s a time of profound peril. And for Jews, the targets of one of the world’s deadliest conspiracy theories, such developments are even more forboding.

“It is now incumbent on all decent people, and especially those on the right, to demand that Carlson no longer be treated as a mainstream figure,” Jonathan Tobin, the pro-Trump conservative editor of the Jewish News Syndicate, wrote after Carlson’s World War II episode. “He must be put in his place, and condemned by Trump and Vance.”

Anti-Semitism’s ultimate victory in GOP politics is not assured. Musk did delete his tweets, Owens was fired, and some Republicans did condemn Carlson’s Holocaust segment. But beseeching Trump and his camp to intervene here mistakes the cause for the cure.

Three days after Carlson posted his Hitler apologetics, Vance shrugged off the controversy and recorded an interview with him, and this past Saturday, the two men yukked it up onstage at a political event in Pennsylvania before an audience of thousands. Such coziness should not surprise, given that Carlson was reportedly instrumental in securing the VP slot for the Ohio senator. Asked earlier if he took issue with Carlson’s decision to air the Holocaust revisionism, Vance retorted, “The fundamental idea here is Republicans believe not in censorship; we believe in free speech and debate.” He conveniently declined to use his own speech to debate Carlson’s.

[befuddledcinnamonroll]

Intercultural Bias in the Fan Experience of QL

I've been thinking about writing this post for a while, and I think it's an appropriate time for it after reading @hallowpen's post today - which if you haven't read yet, please do so.

I'm saying this as someone who's been on a lifelong journey of learning, and is also extremely aware I still have so much that I don't know. I am from the U.S. and that comes with a truckload of bias and privilege. But this is something I have learned that I think is worth sharing.

There is a danger, for those of us who are progressive, yet grew up in countries that have been historically exploitative and oppressive to other cultures.

Because colonizer bias is insidious. And it can be very tempting to say, I'm aware, I've done the anti-racism training, I've read the books, I have my own oppressions I have to fight every day, I'm aware of my privilege, I'm an ally, etc, etc, etc. But this is just like racism - if you are not being actively anti-colonialist in your interactions with other cultures, you are likely perpetuating bias and oppression.

I grew up in a very liberal part of the U.S. and had a very progressive education starting from grade school. I got education on systemic racism in junior high, my high school had one of the first gay/straight alliances in our state. I studied science in college, but since it was a liberal arts degree, I also took classes on sociology of race, the religions of Asia, Chinese history, etc.

But despite all this I still grew up in a country with a fuckton of bias about our role in how we interact with countries around the world. And as we all do with bias that we grow up with, I internalized some of that.

It wasn't until I took some graduate coursework on Intercultural Training & Communication that I really was able to recontextualize my perspective and become aware of my unconscious bias, thank to an amazing instructor.

Other countries do not need us to come in, tell them what is wrong, and tell them how to fix it. Whatever problems there are, there are people in that culture who know, who are actively working on it, and they know better than anyone outside what needs to be done.

Honestly, it doesn't even need to extend to other countries - just look at all the nonprofits and charities in the U.S. that talk about helping the poor, but in the end just perpetuate the cycle of oppression by coming in to neighborhoods and doing zero work to center the perspectives of the people most affected.

You can absolutely support and spread awareness and send money and share expertise when asked, and do the things that the people of that culture ask you to do.

But if you come in, and try to say "this is what you all are doing wrong, and this is what you should be doing" - you are perpetuating a colonialist mindset.

And yes, this extends to media as well.

This is why I struggle with some of the takes I have read, especially those that attempt to rank the "queerness authenticity" of shows, from an entirely Western perspective, with no engagement with the idea that one's queer identity is impacted by one's culture (among other things), and that it can look and be expressed in a million different ways.

There are criticisms of queer directors, blaming them for a myriad of perceived sins, with zero understanding of what queerness might mean to them both individually and as a Thai person, and what they might also be trying to navigate socially, culturally, and politically.

There are people making broad sweeping statements about the direction that they think QL is headed in - some of which enter the realm of catastrophizing - entirely based on their own subjective opinion of what is most important for a different country and culture to care most about in a particular moment in time.

You know why I'm not worried about the direction of QL? Because I know there are millions of Thai people who care about it too. I know the Thai queer community and their allies are speaking up, and pushing for change and progress. I know that they are extremely cognizant of when representation fails, and I know they are the reason representation has already improved so much (sorry interfans, it's not about us).

And yeah, sometimes the pendulum swings the other way - those of us in the U.S. should be very aware of this. But the fight doesn't stop.

There are Thai people who are working to promote mental health and therapy, to encourage people to have strong boundaries with family who have hurt them, to provide more representation for groups who still aren't seen. And someone from a different country complaining about all the ways they think their culture is failing isn't helping a thing.

Like @hallowpen says, this is not about saying you can't critique. Most of the people I follow do a great job at making it consistently clear that their perspective is subjective, and they relate it to their own life and experience. That's great, and a place for people from different cultures to connect!

But those of us who are interfans have a responsibility as members of a global community. There are people from Thailand who read your posts. From Japan, from Korea, from China. Are you speaking up to support them? Or are you talking over them? Are you expressing understanding for what they are navigating from historical context and current political conditions? Or are you just lecturing them on how you think their world should be?

[herohimbowhore]

F1 Race Winners and Where Have They Won From

I have seen a lot of people talking about how 8 wins are not that much, but I have to disagree. And that is not just as a Daniel Ricciardo fan, but with data to back it up.

If the 2023 season should have taught us anything, then it is that it is hard to win a race.

So many drivers come and go without ever winning a race. As of now, there have been 775 drivers in Formula One, but only 113 race winners in Formula One. That is 14.58% which is less than even a quarter of drivers. From another perspective, that is 662 Formula One drivers that have never won a Grand Prix, or 85.42% of drivers.

If you look at all the drivers that have won in Formula One based on most wins to least wins, only 38 drivers rank higher than Daniel Ricciardo, so there are 74 drivers that rank lower than him.

But to take it a step further, I wanted to see where drivers qualified and won from. I didn't do all 113 race winners because that is so much work and I don't feel like doing that much. So I focused on all the race winners who drove in the 2023 season, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg, Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen, and Mark Webber. (This is mostly because I saw the pictures that Fernando Alonso posted on Instagram and I was missing the 2012 grid.)

As the data shows, Daniel is 11th out of this selection of 17 drivers. Notably, with the exceptions of Mark Webber and Valtteri Bottas, the drivers ahead of him in wins are world champions. Also, both Mark and Valtteri got their wins during the years that their teammates were championship winners. Not once has Daniel had a championship-winning car. Other drivers on this list who have not had a car that was a championship winner include Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, and George Russell.

Now where does Daniel stack up when it's just drivers on the 2024 grid? He's 5th out of 11. Again with world champions and Valtteri ahead of him. It should also be mentioned that most of his race wins are from outside of the top 3.

Eight wins in an era of Formula One where it is difficult to win races does mean a lot and it is a sign of a good driver. Most of them don't ever win and a lot of them never even step on a podium.

Here's a chart of the current race winners on the grid and when they one their first Grand Prix win.

[insert-stupid-username]

Ranking drivers based on how badly I want them to win a WDC. Dont hate yall this is soley for fun:

Logan Sargeant (listen I know hes off the grid, but come on man I want to be able to scream like an egal. I would have screatched like crazy if he got a point let alone a podium. if this man won a race or WDC I think the US would have exploded from fans losing their mind)(lets just hope he goes to indycar and wins the indy500 to beat the terrible driver accusations)

Lewis Hamilton (come on an 8th WDC as his last year at Mercadies would have been iconic) (Ferrari is gonna crush his 8th WDC dreams with their shitty pit stops)

Oscar Piastri (I just want to know what his reaction would be. mans is stone faced and I love it)

Charles Leclerc (he deserves it after the shit ferrari puts him through) (also I want to know what the state of italy and monaco will be in if/when he wins a WDC) (he honestly can do it not this year but eventially if and only if ferrari actually makes a good car cause he is putting that tractor in places it should not be)

Max Verstappen (love this funny dutch man) (he drives so many fia officals crazy and I love it) (Max Im rooting so hard for you)

George Russell (soley because I want to know what he would say to a WDC win) (like come on yabadabadoo for a race win? what would a WDC win bring out in that man)

Zhou Guanyu (he so sweet and this would finally give him some recognition)

Nico Hulkenberg (only if he can win it by getting second each and every race. Imagen how funny it would be if Nico won a WDC and still not had a maiden gp win)

Kevin Magnussen (cant seperate the hassbands) (also I think it would be funny)

Franco Colapinto (just think of how much more flirty that man would be if he had a WDC to his name)

Liam Lawson (Think of how much more agressive he would be if he had a WDC behind his name) (hes already flipping off senior drivers imagion how crazy he would be)

Alex Albon (Hes so nice) (I would love to see redbulls reaction cause dam they would have fumbled so hard)

Daniel Ricciard (think of australia) (though I dont think it would ever happen)

Yuki Tsunoda (I just want to know what he would say) (like man loves swearing so much) (the fia would hate to see him coming soly becuase of how much swearing would go down)

Carlos Sainz (he gets on my nerves but it would be funny if he won and charles didnt) (imagion the charles tifosi oh they would be pissed)

Checo (Think about how crazy mexico would be if he won, they would be having SO MUCH fun) (I dont want to deal with how redbull and crazy max fans would react if he won and max didnt)

Fernando Alonso (it would be interesting but Im not a fan of his, and he gets on my nerves)

Lance Stroll (I just dont want to deal with everyone saying that his father bought him the WDC)

Pierre Gasly (He ruffles my feathers in a way I cant describe. I just dont like him)

Esteban Ocon (Im not his biggest fan, I think hes just so meh also I dont think anything super crazy would happen if he won so...)

Lando Norris (he has the car right now I just dont like him so hes low on my list) (also I would rather it be charles than lando right now this year) (lando gets on my nerves and I feel like if it happened right now he would be insufferable)

Valtteri Bottas (He would be higher on my list be there is no way James would let that happen) (he would swoop in with his Valtteri its James attitued and make my post change)

[vikintor]

Calling all Gaythyanki! How participate:

[☺ CONTEXT ☺]

What is this about ?

"Githmap" is a small one-map Githyanki fan-project being made using Doom2. I'm working on it as a way to learn Doom mapping while using a theme I'm passionate about.

You play as Jez'rathki, a Githyanki cleric who woke on a stronghold after a near-death experience. You should talk to other Githyanki and explore the place.

who is working on the map ?

I'm Vikintor (made the games Teocida, Estigma and Tamashii), I'm mostly working with surreal and psychedelic horror oriented games, but the Githmap is a small fan project I'm making in my free time as I'm learning GZDoom and because I only got interested in D&D thanks to the Githyanki.

What you're looking for?

I'm looking for Githyanki/Githzerai fans out there and asking if you want to add your Githyanki OC character as a guest appearance. They will be an static Doom NPC the player can only talk to.

They aren't many rules about how participate besides one point: You Githyanki/Githzerai must have Gith noses and ears (Im adding a few exceptions for other races appearances, but I'm not adding Githyanki with human noses, I talked about why on a previous post.)

Where my OC character will be?

Your character will be placed anywhere in the stronghold, This stronghold is a hidden place that serves as a sanctuary for the Githyanki and Githzerai alike. Most of the Giths you will find here are considered traitors, some just need a place to plot political assassinations (including the Queen's assassination), and others are refugees who escaped from Tu'narath.

This is how your OC will look in the game:

[☺ PARTICIPATION☺]

First step [graphics] :

I need 5 frames of your Githyanki character in each direction as the images below:

The sprites will lose details, as I'm converting it to doom. I recommend sending me the 5 sprites as a transparent PNG with 540x540 resolution (like the images above, you can copy them as base).

As a console player I get my character directions by printing this screen and cutting the images on PC.

Don't know how to prepare these sprites? I made a short guide on this link HERE:

Second step [dialogue] :

Now the fun part.

Jez'rathki is a Githyanki cleric who will be asking some questions to your Githyanki OC / TAV (she likes to meet more of her kin, but sometimes she's way too curious). Your character can answer Jez'rathki the way you want, they can be friendly, evasive, rude or just refusing to answer some of the questions, maybe you decide that Jez'rathki doesn't deserve to be trusted, so be free to give your character their voice.

Below are the questions, you don't need to answer every question if you don't need. If a question has a blank response I will just add the others questions/answers instead. Just remember that these questions must be answered by your Character in first person.

QUESTIONS:

— Greeting message

The first one is not even a question, just write your character's greeting message, or better, how they answer by being called by Jez'rathki to start a conversation.

— Identify yourself.

Make your OC introduce themself, they can answer their name/nickname, their occupation, class/ranking, and a bit of their backstory.

— Tell me about your Creche.

(you can change it to Tell me about your home if needed)

Where your OC was raised and how they feel about their home

— I need to know how you fight.

Your Oc can explain how they fight, their class and tactics, example: here they can explain details of being a warlock, a gish, githwarrior, knight, mlar, Hr'a'cknir, etc. Or maybe they don't fight at all.

— Can I ask a more personal question?

Write what your OC would say if Jez'rathki tried to get personal.

— What is your relationship with the divinity?

What your Gith thinks about the divinity. It can be their relationship with Vlaakith or another one of the deities or religion in general. Commonly, Githyanki don't like that topic, as they can be killed if they follow other deities.

— What do you usually do in your free time?

Let your OC Tell their hobbies or whatever they like to do in their free time.

— What is your life goal?

Make your OC explain their life goal, it can be their campaign objective, quest etc.

— How is your relationship with your allies?

How your OC treat their allies? the formal way? As a resource? As friends?

— Do you have someone special in your life?

Your character can talk about someone they consider as family, a friend, or a lover, just try to avoid canon BG3 character references if your character lore is BG3 based, as more Githyanki OC on the map can start telling similar stories that may contradict your character. If this is the case, you can avoid using the names of canonical characters and just generically mention their occupations. example: Lae'zel can become just a "Fierce Gith warrior" and Karlach a "Tiefling with an almost incurable illness".

— Say something you would never do, and why?

Maybe they would never betray a friend, or they would never give up something they achieved. Explaining why could go deeper into their motivations.

— What is a perfect day to you?

Let your OC describe how a perfect day would be. the routine, the weather, etc.

— How do you celebrate a victory?

Do your OC celebrate their victories? how? giving a party? Drinking a lot? Getting laid? Sleeping? Or they don't like celebrating? Maybe your OC has a recommendation for Jez'rathki, yeah, they can give her an idea of how to celebrate a victory.

— How do you deal with defeat and losses?

What your OC feels about losses, can be about losing literal and nonliteral fights. Maybe they have some wisdom to share on the subject, or maybe they don't. Perhaps some do not accept losing in any circumstance.

— How do you think you will be remembered after death?

Do they care about this? How do they feel about the idea of being worshiped as an icon after death or they're afraid of being forgotten? Remember, every answer should be in first person, it's the voice of your OC.

Third step [LETS GOOO] :

Feel free to ask me your questions, I will be fixing some typos in this post and changing some aspects as necessary.

I'm open to suggestions, lets have fun.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copy everything below to a new Tumblr post with all the information needed. Change the descriptions with your OC Information, feel free to change the questions if needed:

If you want: You can also share this post and change the information needed (don't forget to add the 5 sprites).

You can use the Hashtags #githmap #githmapoc to make it easy for me and other people to find (you can add your hashtags as well)

and put my @ in the end so I get notified

SUBMISSION EXAMPLE ON THIS LINK

Sorry if I can't add each OC fast, I'm making the map on my free time.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

[☺ YOUR GITH OC NAME HERE☺]

(you can add an photo/draw of you OC here to make the post more interesting for the viewers)

1. [CHARACTER INFO]

OC NAME: The name of you Gith OC as you want it to appear in the dialogue.

OC PRONOUS: The pronouns of you Gith OC so they can be referenced properly by NPC and the game.

AUTHOR: Your artist name as it will appear in the game credits as the creator and writer of your OC. It can be your @, it will appear alongside your OC NAME in the game.

2. [DIALOGUE]

1. Greeting message:

[answer]

2. Identify yourself:

[answer]

3. Tell me about your Creche:

[answer]

4. I need to know how you fight::

[answer]

5. Can I ask a more personal question?

[answer]

6. What is your relationship with the divinity?

[answer]

7. What do you usually do in your free time?

[answer]

8. What is your life goal?

[answer]

9. How is your relationship with your allies?

[answer]

10. Do you have someone special in your life?

[answer]

11. Say something you would never do, and why?

[answer]

12. What is a perfect day to you?

[answer]

13. How do you celebrate a victory?

[answer]

14. How do you deal with defeat and losses?

[answer]

15. How do you think you will be remembered after death?

[answer]

3. [GRAPHICS]

Post your 5 (FIVE) full body OC sprites, each one facing a direction as shown in the original post, they will be used as the NPC graphics.

(recommended 540x540 transparent png)

4. [BONUS RESOURCES]

If you're ok with it, here you can post as many additional images of your Githyanki/Githzerai OC as you want, which can be portraits, drawings, or paintings, Maybe I will use some of them in the game, credited as the Author name you wrote above.

If you record voice lines in ogg format you can put a link here so it can play when the player interact with your character.

And put my @ in the end so I get notified.

@vikintor

[redrobin-detective]

The Least Demonic Demon

More m!ik theorizing time! This time on Delkira’s wish for his successor to the demon throne. We’ve seen very little of the former demon king but we can infer that he was powerful, selfish, feckless and while he was able to take control of the Netherworld he seemed largely uninterested in maintaining it. This seems par for the course for a lot of demons we’ve seen, who are about strength and action but sometimes lack the resolve to see things through. Enter humanity

We know Sullivan was one of Delkira’s closest advisors and thus would have been aware if his master was dabbling in the human world. It’s unknown if the separation of human and demon occurred before or after Delkira’s disappearance but I think it’s fairly clear he was interested in humans. I think he had grown bored of trying to control the Netherworld and was preparing to abandon his post. But he knew what he wanted out of his successor and laid out tests to locate them.

I believe Delkira left this prophecy to help guide who would be the new Demon King, one who was strong enough to control the Netherworld but kind and attentive enough to heal it and it keep it together. The bit about the foreign land  is his subtle way of saying that he expected this candidate would be a human or some other non-demonic entity. And the final part of the prophecy.

Remember the Rank Owl decided who got what rank based off of how they did in the flying race. The one where Iruma was at a maximum disadvantage but not only was able to survive but he healed an injured demon, saved Sabroc and got them both to the finish line safely. The Rank Owl probably had that ring hidden in its pouch for years waiting for the one worthy to wield it. The ring has his energy infused in it but I see it as less a possession and more like a blessing, like ‘this one you idiots!’ Iruma filled all these qualities which is why it attached to him and didn’t bother with a rank. The Demon King doesn’t need ranks.

We see another example of these tests in the Harvest Festival with the collecting of the Legendary Leaf which requires dedication, creativity, cooperativeness with multiple demons. Not something demons are good at, thus the object-

This is only Babyls festival, I’m sure each of the other demon schools had their own unique human oriented tests that no one had passed before.The whole point is Delkira is leaving tests and little clues behind as to who should inherit his throne. Its very clear he wanted someone different from the usual demonic powerhouse.

How does Sullivan come into this? I think he knew of Delkira’s intent to disappear and that he wanted a human to succeed him. I’ve seen people comment that it was odd that Sullivan, as a high ranking demon, was called to the summoning by Iruma’s parents. I believe its because he’s answered many, many summons since Delkira left, searching for the appropriate candidate. But the human who are summoning demons, they’re often fairly demonic themselves and don’t fit the bill. Rinse and repeat over hundreds of years until the Suzukis offer up their teenage son as collateral. A boy who has survived undo hardship since a young age, who is kind, compassionate and personable. And then he realized he’d found his king.

I’m always a fan of the trope of a mentor takes a student for purely practical reasons and ends up genuinely loving their charge.

These two panels are obviously meant to parallel one another but look at Sullivan’s expression and posture in the second. Could be art changes yes but he also just so much more genuine in his affection for Iruma. The first looks like a servant bowing before their lord. The second looks like a family being so grateful to have the other in their life.

This is getting so long so! To summarize! Delkira, planning to abandon the Netherworld tasked his loyal servant with finding a human to assume his throne. To ensure the proper candidate was found, he left clues and tests behind to point the way to the prophecy he wrote and make sure that the individual was truly worthy. And so far Iruma has been far exceeding expectations.

[lokideservesahug]

Much needed comfort

-°•°•°•°•--•°•°•°•°--°•°•°•°•--•°•°•°•°-

Pairing: Ayao Komatsu x reader

Warnings: Children, mentions of the Monaco Haas incident.

Notes: So this is the first time I've written for Ayao and it's very short so I'm ever so sorry. But it is based on this request.

Summary: The Haas/Checo crash in Monaco '24 was a nightmare. But what about the effects on Haas' team principal... Well let's look how he dealt with the stress.

-°•°•°•°•--•°•°•°•°--°•°•°•°•--•°•°•°•°-

The Monaco Grand Prix. One of the most prestigious races in all of the motorsports world. From its gorgeous sights to the sheer history of the track, no one can deny the races importance. So that is why your husband insited that you and your children should at least attend this race.

It was difficult to find a race that would be acceptable enough to travel to Monaco just to watch your husband work. But you and decided (with small amount of begging from your children) that you should all have a nice family weekend out.

You planned do so some sightseeing on the Friday, have a nice family meal on the Saturday after FP3 and Qualifying were out of the way and all visit the track to watch your husband work. It was a set in stone plan. You'd watch from the garage, watch as Kevin and Nico tried to climb up the ranks. Maybe pull of an incredible show and try and fight for points.

So why was it all going wrong. Now you'd heard many whispers and accusations during the duration of the red flag about whether it was the fault of the Haas or Red Bull car. However that didn't make a difference, both Nico and Kevin were out and the team had no chance to make it past the first lap of the prestigious grand prix.

After both cars (or what was left of them) came back in and the team came back from the put wall, even your children could sense the palpable tension and sadness. Nico is the first to come back and he darts to his engineer to apologise but is only met by many saying "It's OK. It wasn't you're fault." or even "Yeah this will make for a fun meeting." He passes you as he goes to walk in the doorway and you give him a small nod of acknowledgement in a silent gesture of comfort. He nods back and gives sypu a tight-lipped smile before walking to his drivers room. Kevin of course is the next to come in and the atmosphere is a large shift.

Even within the team there are mixed views. The engineers are annoyed on the amount of work they'll have to do for Canada but those closer yo Kevin are just happy to see him alive and well. Unsurprisingly, the Dane speaks to the engineers for quite a while before going to media (he decided to get changed after the compulsory interviews) but as he passes, you flash him a small smile in acknowledgement. You realise exactly how horrible some are going to be about this but you take pride in the fact that Ayao is very good with building a supportive environment that makes the drivers feel safe (almost as if in a makeshift family at Haas) and so they shouldn't fear too much.

After Kevin passes, you are left to stare at the entrance. You watch as your husband (who's usual soft smile is replaced by a disappointed frown) slowly trecks through the door with his shoulders hung lower than usual. His eyes look up and you see him scan the heads in the garage to find you and your children.

His eyes regain their usual sparkle as your youngest daughter runs towards him with a gentle shout of "Daddy!" His eyes crinkle in teh corners as he lifts her up and walks over to you. You give him a comforting, wordless smile. Your son nestles further into your shoulder, already aware of what is going to happen next. Ayao throws the arm, not holding your daughter around yoir waist and nuzzles his forehead against yours.

He mutters a few rambles of stress which you soothe with a small "I know. But just focus on this and you can talk to him later." He nods. Despite all of Haas wanting to have a meeting, one wasn't able to be called in between both drivers getting dressed and the stewards finally calling Kevin to see them. Your husband stays with your little family for as long as he can, watching the rest of the race and talking with your son and even letting your daughter sit on his lap as he plaits her short hair, at the same time.

You lean on the door frame and take pride in how the day ended. Despite how treacherous the result was for the team, at least Ayao can find solace in your small family.

-°•°•°•°•--•°•°•°•°--°•°•°•°•--•°•°•°•°-

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed!

As always, likes, reblogs and especially feedback is always welcome!

[armoredisopod]

Codename: Harold

Race: Feline

Origin: Victoria

Specialization: Surgery, Surgery (Veterinary)

"The youth on Rhodes Island are great, not only can they pack a punch, they also know how to drink."

Illustrator: 一千

CN CV: 董胜章 | JP CV: 山崎巧

Harold - 5* Wandering Medic

Restores the HP of allied units and recovers Elemental Damage by 50% of ATK (can recover Elemental Damage of unhurt allied units)

Talent

Allies with accumulated Elemental Damage exceeding 50% within Harold's attack range will take reduced Elemental Damage

Skill 1 - Healing Up γ

When skill is active, ATK increases

Skill 2 - Intensive Care

When skill is active, ASPD increases and prioritizes allies with the most accumulated Elemental Damage

If the target's accumulated Elemental Damage exceeds 50%, the Elemental Damage recovery amount increases

"I thought I was finally being sent out to the frontier, but it turns out... At a time like this, should I say that my country has treated me well? Ah, sorry sorry. You're my future commander, correct? An ordinary military doctor, at your service."

____________

Sir Craigavon:

I have read your report.

Not only did you fail to deal with Karlan Trade on your trip, but you also allowed Kazimierz to be involved, making the situation even more complicated. If i really want to punish you, i should at least strip you of your title.

However, the potential of Kjerag, based on your first-hand accounts, as well as your judgement of the situation, at the very least, proves that you didn't go to Kjerag just to drink and have fun behind your lady's back.

About the matter of Kjerag, no need to worry about it for now, and there's no need to rush back to your territory. I know how you've always taken care of the wounded in your ranks, why don't you go to that Rhodes Island place and have a look around.

Caster

[ryley-robinson]

Testing the waters here with a piece of writing. The rest is under the cut.

From Ry's perspective, it's based on how I mentioned that I think he'd describe his job and survival with the same tired frustration. (though I headcanon he wishes he had stayed on 4546b)

Hope you enjoy, I'm a bit shy about my writing. ^^;

---

I’m standing outside the cafeteria, waiting for the inevitable moment that somebody breaks the coffee machine. Again. For the third time this week. I make a mental note to check the date, because it feels like I’ve been on this ship for an eternity.

... I’m inside my base, dozens of meters under a dangerous sea, waiting for the inevitable moment the sun goes down, for the nightmares to start, and for the sleep that never comes. For the third time this week. Or this month. I’ve lost count.

---

I’m shuffling my feet along a sterile, cold floor as a passenger eyes me with disdain, because I’m taking too long to clean out the trash disposal. And I’m not saying enough, I never am. It doesn’t matter, I’ll be out of their temporary space soon and they’ll probably forget I exist.

... The roars are deafening. I’m swimming for my life, trying to escape an alien creature rubbing its massive pincers against my artificial flippers. I don’t know if it’s hungry or actually upset but that doesn’t matter. Maybe someday I’ll be out of its space and it can happily forget I ever existed.

---

I’m lounging underneath a bunk, wide awake in my shared cabin. There are no windows, there’s barely any light, and the soft snores of other crew members and the distant thrum of the Aurora’s core drive are keeping me up. I can’t be bothered to check the time, I know it’s late enough that I should be asleep.

Waking up is going to be a chore and I know that’s entirely my fault.

... I’m sitting on the edge of a fabricated bed, that is clearly not made for comfort. The reinforced window to my base’s primary room is showing me a world beyond my understanding.

The eyes of Peepers blink at me curiously and the bio-luminescence from the Acid Mushrooms and Writhing Weeds is the only light keeping me company. I turned any man-made lights off hours ago.

I don’t bother to check the time; days here are short and if I keep checking, I’ll go insane. I know it’s late and I should sleep to conserve my energy. I don’t even know if I’ll wake up and I don’t know who or what is at fault.

---

I’m walking back to my desk in a hurry. My heart is racing after a confrontation with a higher ranking crew member. I slam the door to the sorry excuse for a workplace shut, not caring who hears, and throw myself in the chair behind the metal table. I stop to catch my breath.

I enjoy a whole twenty seconds of silence before my PDA blares to life and I’m ordered to another deck entirely to fix a broken lock. I tap the confirmation that I’ve received the message; it’s not like I can give them a ‘real’ yes.

... The journey back to my base is tense and wrought with fear. My heart is about to pound itself out of my heaving chest after a narrow escape from a Crabsquid. All I remember is wrenching open the airlock and throwing myself behind the controls, knowing I was moments away from being devoured.

I can’t even catch my breath. I’m too occupied navigating around the gigantic, mushroom-like flora around me. Nobody can hear the hissing of air through my gritted teeth.

I can’t enjoy the silence, even if it means nothing else is going to attack me. My PDA gives me a nonchalant notice about smoke inhalation and I realise my Seamoth is sparking. I can’t signify I got the automated warning, my shaking hands are white knuckled around the steering controls.

---

I cut myself on a piece of rusted metal while cleaning out an airlock. The mesh from the bandages is making my hand crawl and itch and all I want to do is rip off the protective covering and claw at my skin. I know better though and I remind myself there’s work to be done.

I know that with only one functional hand, it’s going to be a long day.

... I caught my ankle on a piece of limestone while trying to find copper. The jagged gash is making my skin crawl and I know all I need to do is get back to my base before something smells the blood. I know better than to stay near the Stalkers and I remind myself a day of no progress is better than death.

I know that if I don’t clean the injury, I probably won’t have a foot afterwards.

---

I feel awful. I’m trying to focus through a headache, brought on by lack of sleep. I was overthinking again. I fumble with the repair tool in my hand, dropping it, the clattering across the metal floor only making things worse. I stop and rub my hands against my forehead.

Steeling myself and retrieving the tool, I quickly resume my work before anyone can accuse me of slacking off.

... I feel like I’m dying. I’m struggling to survive a horrifying illness, brought on by simply touching the water of this infected planet. I’m coughing and wheezing again, brought on by what I now know as the Kharaa. The heaving is only making everything worse. I can’t stop, I curl further around myself, shivering.

I can’t steel myself, I can’t resume the work that needs to be done on the base, on the Cyclops, on the growbeds-

The coughing resumes before I can continue spiralling.

---

The cure. Enzyme 42. It’s right in front of me. I reach out and touch it. It’s strange globules of gold fluid and I realise it’s going to save my life. The newborn Sea Emperors are free, free under the shadow of their dying mother. My heart feels like it’s going to break. It’s being torn apart in two directions.

But I have to keep going. I have to keep fighting and I have to get home because if not, her sacrifice will mean nothing.

I did my part on her behalf and that’s good enough.