#ziel talks

[theradicalscrivener]

I'm gonna get new ears installed.

It's getting close to 5 am and I can't sleep yet. Part of it is because I just finished work, but part of it is because I'm... Excited? ... Anxious? I'm both happy and sad and a little hopeful but also very fearful.

So, for those not in the know. I'm deaf and have been my whole life. It's not one of those things like I can't hear anything. But a lot of frequencies and sound ranges just don't work well for me. I tried wearing heading aids when I was a kid, but they made things worse. All they did was amplify everything. That made it harder to hear the pieces I had to struggle to hear since it was getting further buried under even more background noise.

For example, if you've ever been to a movie where the sound mixing was off. The dialogue is incomprehensible because the ambient noise is so frickin loud. If you try to turn the volume up, all you hear is more jets and explosions.

Anyway, I've had some issues in class where some professors are very hard to understand but the college wouldn't help me until I had a current diagnosis from an audiologist saying that yeah. I really am just that deaf. In the process of seeing the audiologist though, she was telling me that they have new stuff that can work for people like me. Unlike old hearing aids that amplify all sound, these things have like adaptive sound controls and can amplify specific frequencies on the fly. So in theory it will bring my hearing to similar levels as other people's.

The thing costs $10k... I have decent insurance which drops it down to $6k but it's still a massive expense. I'm going to do it though.

I'm both excited and anxious. If the audiologist is to be believed, I spend a lot of my energy on listening to people speak, then replay it back in my head and soft through the possible similar sounding words and recreate the sentences on my head.

I've always said I do this. I jokingly refer to it as "buffering" because I'm running on a few second delay in conversation. Like imagine those interviews on the news where there's this awkward pause of four to five seconds where the signal gets sent across the world from the asker to the answerer before the other person can respond to it. The doc says this is probably the source of a lot of my frequent migraines and exhaustion and is exacerbating my tinnitus. Basically I'm in like hyper vigilant mode 24/7 constantly trying to pick out the faintest sounds so I can be functional in normal life leading to constant mental fatigue.

Anyway. I don't know how long it will take to actually get the device, and once I get it, the doc said it'll take a while to get adjusted. They're not just going to throw me into the deep end and let me figure it out. The plan is to slowly increase the deadened frequencies until they balance out with the others.

I don't know what this will actually do for me. I've never been able to hear normally so I don't know what it will feel like. I don't know if I will ever get to a normal hearing level. I wonder if this will make it easier out in public. I get overwhelmed in busy places since there are so many sounds which makes it impossible to hear the things I want.

I'm worried that I'll spend all this money and it won't improve anything.

I'm worried that I will get these and it will be everything I wanted.

How long has this tech existed? Could I have had this years ago? How much have I missed by not being able to understand people talking to me.

If I get this will it make a noticable difference in the migraines? In the chronic fatigue? I don't know. I want to be optimistic, but it's hard to even know what to expect.

Anyway. If you want a bit of a glimpse into what it's like being me, give this a listen

[raizzersblog]

Mit jedem Schritt Richtung Glück schreibst du deine eigene Erfolgsgeschichte

[chips-rambles]

i haven't read six of crows yet, but wylan.....the actor looks pretty yeah but beside that, as a character he looks really fun, a demolition man?? who is smol and so smart-

i usually have favourites before i read/ watch soemthing, and i start reading/ watching because of those characters and for six of crows it's wylan obviously, and why am i writing this? because my friend says im drawn to the characters that's similar to me, and guess what? i get wylan from the which character are you tests

[blasphemecel]

Michael Kaiser — Language Barrier

PAIRING: Michael Kaiser/Reader WORD COUNT: 0.9k TYPE: Humor, Bad flirting WARNING(S): tw BOTCHED GERMAN (because I was always on that damn phone in german class) NOTE(S): Translations for whatever the hell I was trying to say at the bottom

Unlike what most people might assume, football is not your favorite game.

Well, you did come to Blue Lock to play football, and yeah, you do like it, maybe at times to the point of lunacy. But this turned out to be some grand orchestration with the purpose of showing you a much more fulfilling game to play — taking out your earbuds whenever Kaiser approaches you with his superiority complex drivel. Not like it stops him from talking to you (or, more accurately, talking at you), but you take great satisfaction in not having to listen to him. Especially since he always makes that cute displeased expression before you turn to walk away from him, much like a disgruntled cat.

You kind of wonder what crap he says about you behind your back sometimes, but it’s imperative for your image to hide your curiosity. He is a loser. You’re playing the game, and you’re winning, and he’s losing because you’re getting under his skin. (Just an example of your daily affirmations.)

Today, a new opportunity for entertainment presents itself. When you approach Kaiser before practice to get some shit talk out of the way, you notice that, for some reason, he isn’t wearing his pair either. Not like he needs them since his ass doesn’t have any friends other than Ness, who speaks the same language as him, but still. Does he think he can beat you at your own game, which you made up in your head? Over your dead body.

“Shithead,” you greet with a smile.

“Ich kann dich nicht verstehen.” He points at his ear in confusion.

“I see you had time to put on your clown makeup this morning.”

“Du kannst mich auch nicht verstehen. Was ist das Ziel?”

“Anyway, so,” you say, despite not catching a single word that came out of his mouth, but you want to give off the impression of dismissing him. “What should I talk about? I didn’t think this through.”

He grins back at you, apparently undeterred by the insufficient communication going on. “Du hörst gerne zu, wenn ich für dich Deutsch spreche. Ist das richtig?”

“Why do you look so slimy when you smile? Seriously, your face is disturbing.”

“Gestehst du dir endlich deine Gefühle für mich ein?”

“And you know what else? I was the one who wiped my snot on your jersey a few days ago, not Isagi.”

“Es ist ok, wenn du schüchtern bist. Du kannst es mir später noch einmal sagen. Vergiss Yoichi. Mit mir zu spielen, würde dir viel besser stehen.”

You know you’re the one who brought him up, but Kaiser is so obsessed with Isagi, and you can’t even blame him for the fascination. He’s always talking about devouring people and ruining their dreams and how happy it makes him or whatever while on the field, but the moment you stop playing, he starts acting all friendly. If your frontal lobe wasn’t eroding more and more the longer you stay in this football prison, there’s a slight possibility you might’ve found him weird.

“Aber ich kann zusehen, wie du verärgerst werden, wenn ich deine Schüsse abblocke, also ist es mir so oder egal,” he says, looking smug. “Ich liebe alle Gesichter, die du machst.”

Irritated by the sound of Kaiser’s voice, you take this up as a challenge to say more words than he did. On principle, you can turn any occasion into a competition. “The worst thing about you is that you’re a pretentious theater kid. ‘Ooh, look at me, I’ve got this shitty tattoo ‘cause I’m beautiful like a rose! Get it? And the thorns signify my awful personality, which is repellent to the general population. Get it? It shows I contain multitudes. Do you GET it yet?’”

Kaiser takes one of your hands between his, leaving it sandwiched, and stares at you as if he is trying to spontaneously make himself sparkle. To distract yourself from the urge to punch him, since you don’t want to be put in timeout, you mentally debate if German sounds like goofy gibberish to you only because you cannot understand it. “Deine Leidenschaft lässt mein Herz rasen. Und ich rufe diese Gefühle hervor? Wie schmeichelnd.”

You don’t know why, but you’re getting the feeling he said something sarcastic and annoying just now.

“You think you’re so much better than everyone else, with your Skype-colored eyes-”

Kaiser ignores the way you wretch your palm out of his hold and interrupts you with a mocking raise of his eyebrows. “Skype? Es ist unmöglich, dass du es noch benutzt… Willst du aus Kontaktdaten tauschen?”

You bet he’s talking mad shit about you right now. Actually, he doesn’t seem bothered by you at all, so you need to step it up. It’s dead serious. As serious as cholera.

“Hey, Kaiser.” This is a phrase so bare bones, he doesn’t need any fancy Mikage-brand translator to understand you.

He blinks at you in mild surprise, self-approving demeanor making way for a tamer, perhaps more neutral facial expression, and then he asks, “Ja?” as if it’s the only German word you know and he’s being accommodating. But you’re not going to deny or confirm this assumption.

You beam at him, then avert your eyes somewhere up to the ceiling while running over it in your head again, of course dragging out the suspense. Maybe this is your wishful imagination at play, but you think he’s kind of sweating. Then finally — finally! — you announce, “Sucken deezen Nutschen, Bozo.”

“Shithead,” he calls you. With a glare at that!

It lights up your whole world.

___

Translations:

Ich kann dich nicht verstehen = I can’t understand you

Du kannst mich auch nicht verstehen. Was ist das Ziel? = You can’t understand me either. What’s the point/what’s the objective?

Du hörst gerne zu, wenn ich für dich Deutsch spreche. Ist das richtig? = You like listening to me speak German for you. Is that it?

Gestehst du dir endlich deine Gefühle für mich ein? = Are you finally confessing your feelings/affections for me?

Es ist ok, wenn du schüchtern bist. Du kannst es mir später noch einmal sagen. Vergiss Yoichi. Mit mir zu spielen, würde dir viel besser stehen = It’s ok if you’re shy, you can tell me again later. Forget about Yoichi. Playing with me would suit you much better

Aber ich kann zusehen, wie du verärgerst werden, wenn ich deine Schüsse abblocke, also ist es mir so oder egal = But I get to watch you get mad when I block your shots, so I don’t care either way

Ich liebe alle Gesichter, die du machst = I just love all the faces you make

Deine Leidenschaft lässt mein Herz rasen. Und ich rufe diese Gefühle hervor? Wie schmeichelnd = Your passion is making my heart race. And I’m causing all of this emotion? How flattering

Skype? Es ist unmöglich, dass du es noch benutzt… Willst du aus Kontaktdaten tauschen? = Skype? There’s no way you still use that… Wanna exchange contact information?

[argentinischesblut]

Das auswärtige Amt warnt selbst in guten Gegenden vor Überfällen am helllichten Tag. Die Straßenbanden kämpfen alle um ihre Bereiche und um ihr Überleben. Es vergeht kein Tag ohne Anfeindungen und um den Kampf neuer Mitglieder.

Der argentinische Staat kommt nicht hinterher die Fälle aufzuklären und auch wenn sie es versuchen würden, korrupte Polizisten und Politiker verhindern es, denn sie werden am Erfolg beteiligt.

Federico Luan Juarez, mit dem Decknamen Fersou, ist einer dieser Cracks - er plant Überfälle, Raubzüge im großen Stil und betreibt sämtliche Geschäfte. Doch wo er sich genau aufhält, weiß keiner, nicht einmal seine vertrauten Menschen. Durch sein Vermögen ist er auch ein beliebtes Ziel fremder Banden und illegalen Organisierten.

• german 21+ roleplay account crafted for the fakevz-community. currently open for small talk and plots - mutuals only. minors and personals please dni.

[redjaybathood]

‼️ Demo. Heute 19:00. Vor der russischer Botschaft. ‼️

Heute am Morgen hat russland einen massiven Beschuss der Ukraine durchgeführt, mehr als 40 russische Raketen haben die Ukraine getroffen. Eines der Ziele war das bekannte Ohmatdyt-Kinderkrankenhaus. Der Angriff traf das Gebäude, in dem Kinder bei Nierenversagen eine Blutreinigung erhielten: Intensivstationen, Operationssäle und die onkologische Abteilung wurden beschädigt.

Die genaue Zahl der Verletzten und Toten ist noch nicht bekannt, derzeit werden die Trümmer aufgeräumt.

💥 Explosionen waren in Kyjiw, Dnipro, Pokrowsk (Region Donezk) und Krywyj Rih zu hören. Bisher wurden mehr als 20 Tote gemeldet. Die Informationen werden noch aktualisiert, da die Trümmer in diesen Städten beseitigt werden und im ganzen Land weitere Luftangriffe stattfinden.

🆘 Wir fordern von Deutschland eine sofortige Reaktion, so darf es nicht weitergehen. russland muss endlich zurückgeschlagen werden und aufhören, die Zivilbevölkerung zu terrorisieren und unsere Kinder zu töten.

👉 Wir demonstrieren heute um 19:00 Uhr vor der russischen Botschaft, um noch einmal den dringend benötigten Taurus zu fordern und daran zu erinnern, dass Friedensgespräche mit Terroristen, die Kinder in Behandlung töten, unmöglich sind. Nur der bewaffnete Sieg der Ukraine kann Frieden bringen. #TaurusJetzt

Die Ukraine muss in der Lage sein, ihre Menschen und Kinder vor russland zu schützen.

❗️Kommt zur Demonstration heute um 19:00 Uhr vor der Botschaft des Terrorstaates in Berlin.

ENG under the cut

 Come to the demo TODAY at 19:00 near russian embassy.‼️

This morning, russia carried out a massive shelling of Ukraine, more than 40 russian missiles hit Ukraine today.

One of the targets was the well-known Ohmatdyt children's hospital. The attack hit the building where children received blood purification in case of kidney failure: intensive care units, operating rooms, and oncology department were damaged.

Currently, the rubble is being cleared, but we already know about the injured and dead.

💥 Explosions were heard in Kyiv, Dnipro, Pokrovsk (Donetsk region) and Kryvyi Rih. So far, more than 20 people have been reported dead, but the information is still being updated as the rubble is being cleared in these cities and air raids are underway across the country.

🆘 We demand an immediate reaction from Germany, because such mornings should not continue. The russians must be finally repulsed and stop terrorizing civilians and killing our children.

👉 We are demonstrating today in front of the russian embassy at 19:00 to once again demand the much-needed Taurus and to remind that peace talks with terrorists who kill children in treatment are impossible. Only Ukraine's armed victory can bring peace.

Ukraine must be able to protect its people and children from russia.

❗️Come to the demonstration today at 19:00 in front of the embassy of the terrorist state in Berlin.

[atlasaurelius]

THIS SCENE IS SO CUUTEEE ABJSBHDFHGDHJ

Ziel rose from behind the couch and stuck his horns in Lindon’s face. “What are we talking about?” Yerin moved her arm away from her eyes. She and Lindon stared at Ziel from inches away. “Apologies, Ziel, but what are you doing?” “Popping out from the couch,” Ziel said, with a perfectly flat expression. “I thought it was what Eithan would do. Did it help?” Lindon couldn’t find the right words. Yerin made a thoughtful sound. “Bleed me, but it halfway did. If you’re looking for a tip, then veil yourself better next time. We could feel you coming.” “I’ll do what I can,” Ziel said gravely. “Don’t push yourself.” Ziel straightened his spine, visibly steeling himself. “No…no, I can do it. To cheer you up.” Lindon privately thought that if Ziel wanted to be more like Eithan, he would first have to learn to smile.

[jean-dieu]

OC Mannerism! Feat. Raphaël, Ziel and Lazare

Inspired by @the-raging-tempest, @dujour13 and others!

Raphaël:

He looks taller than he really is. Sure, the horns add quite a few centimeters, but he always stands very straight, tall and proud, almost imposing.

He has a perpetual frown on his face. He doesn't even notice it most of the time, it's just his resting face. When he's angry or nervous, he tends to tap his hoof nervously on the ground.

He tugs on his shirt a lot to straighten it often.

Tends to run a hand through his hair, especially when his shaggy bangs are getting a bit too long. He has been thinking about changing his haircut for years now but he never does it.

He likes tapping his claws on his desk when filling reports.

Bites his lower lips when lost in thoughts.

Usually good at controlling his tail except when he's really excited or happy. That's a better giveway on his current mood than his facial expression.

When he's angry, he can snarl and growl.

Likes cracking his neck and fingers.

Smiling is very unusual for him. Really. At best, he stops frowning. No frown + restless tail = a very happy Raphaël.

Tends to wrap his tail around Sosiel's legs or waist when they're together.

His voice is naturally low and deep, and he always sounds like he's scolding you.

Absolutely loves when someone run a hand through his fur but will never admit it. Sighs softly when Sosiel does so.

Sleeps on his back, all straight, staring at the ceiling.

When he's alone and a bit overwhelmed, closes his eyes for a moment and takes a deep sigh.

When he gets angry he can hit things around him just to pass his nerves on something. He tries to control it though.

Ziel:

Scratches his scales on his arms very often, or picks them.

Bites his claws, and they're quite jagged.

As a kid, he used to bite his tail while teething.

His ears are very expressive, and can lower even more when he's sad or perks up when he's surprised or excited.

Forces himself to smile more normally to not flash his sharp, crooked teeth and snake-like mouth. So he's usually just smirking.

Twists his tongue in his mouth a lot.

Is very fidgety in general. Struggles to sit down. Always moving his legs, bending on his chair, doing something with his tail or fingers.

Slouches quite a lot. Very bendy.

Sits weirdly in general.

Tiptoes a lot.

Makes jokes at the worst moment to make up for his nervousness.

Makes self-depreciating jokes all the time to avoid hearing them from others.

Enjoys making a burrito of himself in his cloak.

Likes heights a lot. Loves spending time on Absalom's roofs on his own.

Likes to bury his face in his dog's fur.

He's an edgy, sarcastic teenage boy EXCEPT with his dog who he showers with love and cares and caresses and everything.

Forged himself a mischievous laugh as a young teen. He can't stop doing it now.

His way of talking is a bit peculiar. A bit of a posh accent from the Absalom bouregeoisie yet knows his way with street slangs.

His voice is coarse and raspy, as if he's always a bit sick.

Likes to pull up the middle finger at any little inconvenience.

Wears many layers to hide how scrawny he really is.

Lazare:

Can't stop trying to fit his tongue through his front tooth gap.

Shakes his head a lot to not have curls in front of his eyes. Also likes to do this to make his earrings move.

Likes to make sounds while walking in heels.

Likes to twist and turn his rings. Likes to play with his numerous pieces of jewlery.

When he's talking, he uses his hands a lot. He likes to make grand gestures and theatrical movements. He tells any little anecdotes like if it was a tragedy.

Likes to lay down or sits on the ground.

Likes to twirl curls around his fingers.

Has an incredible voice range and is good at voice acting. Can speak and sing in a very, very low and deep voice or very high pitched.

His natural voice is quite high pitched though.

Speaks incredibely fast, with a strong accent. Can be hard to follow through whatever he's saying, especially since he's terrible at focusing on something and he can ramble for hours.

Can fall asleep in any circumstances. Two chairs in a middle of a party is a decent bed enough.

Winks a lot.

Tail has a mind on its own.

Has the bad habit of interrupting people when they talk, but often stops right after doing it, apologizing.

Has always a bit of candies or biscuits on him. He is the snacks provider.

Pockets are full of random trinkets. An earring, two funny rocks, a coin from another country, a half eaten gummy, crumbs of biscuits and a button or two.

Doesn't care about being naked or not in front of others.

Is in general kind of childish. With his youthful appearance, he's often seen as younger than he really is.

[somerunner]

Cradle Analysis: Scripting vs. Other Stuff

There will be spoilers up through…Wintersteel, to be safe. I'll avoid major plot spoilers; this post will be more about general character information and interactions that happen up through this book.

So as far as "command over reality" goes, madra is almost straightforward. It's a themed energy like common fantasy "elemental magic" that can be shaped to produce great effects. Scripts are a little more nebulous, because it seems like they are a rudimentary form of programming on the world. And there are a lot of ways they can be used, so I'll get into it.

Scripting is present since the first chapter, and it actually takes up a sizeable chunk of space for something that's usually not related to the story. But seeing Lindon use "rudimentary" scripts and plenty of organizations using scripts as part of their security or utilities, it helps the world feel grounded in its magic system. Now, in a different fantasy book, scripts would take the form of enchantments in most cases, and in real life is the equivalent of using the Command Prompt on a computer. It's sometimes really powerful, but can technically be done by anyone with a little know-how. Mainly the only reason I use that analogy is to say that Lindon is a guy who sometimes programs and is fluent in navigating Windows 98, and Ziel is a full-stack developer who can think in assembly. He knows his scripts.

I can't think of anything that scripting can't do, actually. It requires knowledge, time and precision to carve or write the scripts, and a material that can handle the level of madra that will be flowing through it. And it seems like it can't do any sort of sacred arts techniques -- but that seems more like a problem of inefficiency, and since bindings are plentiful people use those instead.

Soulfire is basically instant scripting, which lets those in the Lord realm use aura types that aren't on their Path. But, once again, they could use a binding for that, and soulfire requires natural treasures which can be hard to find. Soulfire also lets you juice up anything you could use madra for, so it's usually used to reinforce and supercharge ordinary techniques. But I'm listing it for completeness.

Then, we've got Sage commands. Those have the utility of soulfire, but instead of being limited by wealth or luck (to acquire natural treasures), they are limited by nebulous "willpower" which to me reads as mental stamina. Sage commands can also do way more powerful stuff than scripting, but they don't have the same overall breadth in ability.

I wish I could talk about scripting more, but I don't really know what to say. It takes up almost equal page space as anything else in Cradle's magic system than techniques (which take up the far majority), but I'm not an experienced enough theorycrafter to say much about it. It seems as self-consistent to me as English, which is to say, it's got its rules and it somewhat follows them, but I can only go off vibes to say what works and what doesn't.

[sethsbigtits]

hi. i know that what i'm about to talk about isn't what i usually post but this is very important to me.

my name is milo, and if you didn't know, i am a black person. the reason i bring this up is because a creator on tiktok by the name of "ziel" or "zielzebub"

(here is his tiktok page)

has been making content that surrounds itself on a stereotype that hurts both black and latina women respectively.

here is the character in question:

this stereotype is the "hot cheeto girl" stereotype.

for more background/context, this person makes content for autistic people on tiktok. this "hot cheeto girl" character is supposed to be a "supportive" and "extroverted girl" who sticks up for those who are being bullied or harassed, especially those who are minorities, and in his videos, autistic people.

however, i need to clarify; the "hot cheeto girl" is NOT a positive trope. this creator is trying to frame it that way, but no matter what, the stereotype will always be negative and always hurt black and latina women by portraying them as loud, "ghetto", and violent.

now, the creator KNOWS and is VERY AWARE that this stereotype hurts these two groups of women. in a video in which someone had called him out for his use of the stereotype, he said this in response:

here, he clarifies that he knows that the stereotype is meant to hurt women of color, but that he "took out the racist elements" of the stereotype to avoid from actually being racist. he uses his intent to excuse himself as well in his caption.

i am going to debunk every single BULLSHIT excuse that he used, starting with excuse #1;

"i avoided adding in racist elements."

this excuse is plain fucking stupid because either way, you are acting out a stereotype that hurts black and latina women and mocks their cultures. you are still acting out a character that appropriates black and latina culture. he even acknowledges that he is acting out a stereotype, but still goes on to make that shitty excuse.

he explains in his video that he meant to portray an extroverted girl who stands up for others, is caring, may have a lot of snacks, etc., but my question is that if you wanted to portray that kind of a character, why would you use a racial stereotype to do so?? removing the racist parts doesn't change the fact that you are using a stereotype that harms certain people for your content and audience's entertainment. i did tell him this in his comments and he proceeded to tell me that I was the one being racist by "pushing a stereotype onto his character" 😭 which is hilarious if we take into consideration that HE is actively using a stereotype and the name of said stereotype for his content and is actively calling the women of color who are calling him out "keyboard warriors".

excuse #2;

"racism was not my intent."

this is a stupid thing to say because people can do/say racist things whilst not being a 50 year old redneck racist conservative 😭 you can say/do racist things without meaning to cause harm. that doesn't change the fact that you've have done harm though. your actions still have impact and still hurt people, which you should apologize for. way too many people have this pattern of thinking; that if you're saying/doing something racist, that it must mean that you are in fact a racist, and this creator is using that way of thinking to justify their actions.

excuse #3:

"hot cheeto girls can be of any race."

both him and his followers specifically used this excuse when i got into an argument with him in his commenr section. they make the claim that "hot cheeto girls can be of any race" and some were telling stories of how "their" hot cheeto girl was [insert race here] therefore, it can't be a racist stereotype and his portrayal of the stereotype isn't racist, which is entirely untrue.

again, the stereotype mocks and belittles black and latina women and their cultures. when women of other races embody this stereotype, they are often doing so to imitate black and latina women. they view this stereotype as a costume that they can take off when they're no longer interested. there was a whole entire trend in 2021/2022 that proved this. multiple girls of other races called their imitation of black and latina women a "phase" and were showing before and after photos of this "phase". a lot of non-black/latina people view our cultures as costumes to wear and take off when the show is over. that's why there are "hot cheeto girls" of different races.

i also wanted to say that a lot of the girls that people are describing in defense of ziel are NOT "hot cheeto girls". they are literally just girls with some spunk, kindness, and a strong sense of morality and justice. they are girls you would meet in your everyday life. attributing a stereotype onto those girls is just weird, especially when the stereotype frames these qualities as something annoying and wrong and attributes a race to these qualities.

i brought a lot of these things up to this creator and did bring up solid points, but he chose to ignore me and other people. he told me that he doesn't care, acted like a fucking manchild, and began trolling me when i brought up one of the points i made in this post; if you wanted to make an extroverted girl who stands up for victims of bullying, ableism, racism, homophobia, etc., then why use a stereotype?? why use a trope that's racist and demeans black and latina women to make a character with qualities that can be found in literally any race?? why claim that you "took the racist parts out" when the trope itself IS the racist part? his character does use terms from aave like "bestie" and has an attitude, which is part of what the stereotype portrays. he even has acrylic nails on which is also apart of the stereotype, so they can't say that they "strayed from racist stereotypes" if he's including aspects of the stereotype that makes it hurtful and that people actively mock. so it makes no sense to make that claim or to use a racist trope in the first fucking place.

in conclusion, please report this person. tell them that what they're doing is wrong. as an autistic person myself, this kind of content an behavior upsets me, especially because i am a black autistic person. SOME white autistic people will do or say awful and racist things about my community and when they're told that what they're doing is wrong, they don't listen. it makes me feel hurt and upset that i can't feel safe in my community without seeing content like this being put on the internet. i know that this post might not reach a lot of people but if it reaches you then please spread this around. it would mean a lot. thank you.

[korealog]

(1) I‘m still life (ENG/DE) — Thursday, 25.07.24

(ENG)

It's me again, can you believe it? Two days in a row KoreaLog, wohoo! Since I can't hide what I'm going to tell you next for long when I get back anyway, I'd better do it now. Please don't be to shocked ;) I had a relaxed start to the day on Thursday as I had an appointment at a tattoo studio at 2pm. So, now it's out! I am now one tattoo richer & I don't regret it at all. I've been planning this tattoo for 6 months, with motif & quote and what it should mean. I've been following the tattoo artist for over 2 years now, so it was an even greater honour to get the tattoo from her. There are 2 wildflowers, underneath you will find a saying in Korean, it reads as follows: ‘이젠 내 자신을 위해 살거야’ Translated, it means that I want to live for myself from now on! It stands for me prioritising my own wishes, goals & my own happiness from this moment on. From now on, I will make decisions that benefit me instead of always looking out for others. This tattoo means an incredible amount to me. Also because I was able to have it done here in Korea. Because this journey is the start of my own path and my own dreams! I feel incredibly at home here, almost as if I've found the missing piece of the puzzle. And yes, I know that might seem totally strange to you. Germany doesn't give me the feeling of being at home. Since I've been here, I've been able to get to know a completely different side of myself & met so many lovely people! I will carry these memories in my heart forever.

But enough sentimental talk now. After the tattoo appointment, I went to Hongdae, one of the most popular neighbourhoods in Seoul, especially for young people. Shopping, busking and eating as far as the eye can see. There's something new to discover on every corner, you can't stay here long enough. I spent 2 hours at the street performances again. There is a lot of dancing here, especially in groups! The atmosphere was correspondingly electric. At around 7 pm, I settled down in one of the many restaurants & ate Tteobeokki. Afterwards, I wanted to walk along the streets until I was approached. 2 young, very pretty women engaged me in conversation :D Totally lovely people! We talked for quite a while, both in Korean and in English. Later they told me that they had studied Korean culture & now practise the traditional festivals and customs in cultural centres with lots of other people. Before I knew it, I Wasen my way with them to take part in a memorial ceremony. On the way we talked a lot about Korea but also Germany & the differences.

To be continued…

(DE)

Ich bin’s wieder, kaum zu fassen oder? Zwei Tage hintereinander KoreaLog, wohoo! Da ich das, was ich euch als nächstes erzählen werde, eh nicht lange verstecken kann, wenn ich wieder zurück bin, mache ich das ganze lieber gleich. Bitte nicht aus allen Wolken fallen ;) Donnerstag bin ich entspannt in den Tag gestartet, da ich um 14 Uhr einen Termin bei einem Tattoo-Studio hatte. So, jetzt ist es raus! Ich bin nun um ein Tattoo reicher & ich bereue es in keinster Weise. Ich habe dieses Tattoo schon 6 Monate vorher geplant, mit Motiv & Zitat und was es für eine Bedeutung haben soll. Die Tattowiererin verfolge ich mittlerweile schon seit über 2 Jahren, es war mir also eine umso größere Ehre, von ihr das Tattoo stechen zu lassen. Es sind 2 Wildblumen geworden, unter ihnen findet ihr einen Spruch auf koreanisch, er lautet wie folgt: „이젠 내 자신을 위해 살거야“ Übersetzt bedeutet das Ganze, dass ich ab jetzt für mich selbst leben will! Es soll dafür stehen, dass ich ab diesem Moment meine eigenen Wünsche, Ziele & mein eigenes Glück in den Vordergrund stelle. Ab jetzt werde ich Entscheidungen treffen, dir mir zu gute kommen, anstatt immer nur auf andere Acht zu nehmen. Dieses Tattoo bedeutet mir unglaublich viel. Auch weil ich es hier in Korean machen lassen konnte. Denn diese Reise ist der Start für meinen eigenen Weg und für meine eigenen Träume! Ich fühle mich hier unglaublich wohl, fast so als hätte ich hier mein fehlendes Puzzelteil gefunden. Und ja ich weiß, für euch mag das vielleicht total komisch klingen, aber Deutschland gibt mir nicht das Gefühl zuhause zu sein. Seit ich hier bin habe ich eine ganz andere Seite von mir kennenlernen dürfen & so viele liebe Menschen kennengelernt! Diese Erinnerungen werde ich für immer in meinem Herzen tragen.

So jetzt aber genug sentimentales Gerede. Nachdem Tattoo-Termin ging es für mich auf nach Hongdae, eines der beliebtesten Viertel in Seoul, vor allem für junge Leute. Shopping, Busking & Essen so weit das Auge reicht. An jeder Ecke gibt es etwas neues zu entdecken, hier kann man sich gar nicht lange genug aufhalten. Ich habe 2 Stunden wieder bei den Straßen-Performances verbracht. Hier wird sehr viel getanzt, vor allem in Gruppen! Die Stimmung war dementsprechend elektrisierend. Gegen 19 Uhr habe ich mich in einem der vielen Restaurants niedergelassen & Tteobeokki gegessen. Danach wollte ich noch etwas die Straßen entlanglaufen, bis ich angesprochen wurde. 2 junge, sehr hübsche Frauen haben mich in ein Gespräch verwickelt :D Total liebe Menschen! Wir haben uns ein ganzes Stück unterhalten, sowohl auf Koreanisch, als auch auf Englisch. Später haben sie mir erzählt, dass sie koreanische Kultur studiert haben & mittlerweile mit vielen anderen Leuten die traditionellen Feste und Bräuche in Kulturzentren praktizieren. Ehe ich mich versah, war ich mit den beiden unterwegs um eine Gedenkzeremonie mitzumachen. Auf dem Weg haben wir uns viel über Korea aber auch Deutschland & die Unterschiede unterhalten.

Fortsetzung folgt…

[theradicalscrivener]

As mentioned, the last few months have been incredibly tough for me. I'll spare you most of the details, since it would be a lot of repeating what I've already posted about, but the tldr is, I got new implants for my ears! Yay! As you can imagine they were INCREDIBLY expensive. This wiped out all my savings and I had to take out a loan to cover the excess. I've been skating by basically after bills and loan payments, I have a hundred or so bucks for food to get me through the month.

This past month, I had a few medical things crop up on top of the new implants which all totalled set me back a bit over $1k. I had to put these on my credit card, so now I'm trying to pay these down before the interest spirals out of control.

I've had a few people ask if there was any way they could help out, so, I'll just leave this here. I have a paypal and Kofi set up as a tip jar, but I am notoriously bad at mentioning it. I don't usually mention it since I don't want people to think I'm just doing this for the money, but if anyone does want to help out...

[Kofi]

[Paypal]

[hahahahawk]

Cradle re-read update: Bloodline edition.

Chapters 6 and 7 are SO MUCH.

I’m listening to this series as a bedtime story, but Lindon’s reunion with Orthos/his family is tough to relax to. Since this is my second time through, I cry a little bit in anticipation as well as emotional resolution.

Specifically, in the climax/resolution of chapter 7, when Lindon is talking to his parents, I drew a new connection between Lindon and Jai Long. Some of this may have to do with the narrator’s performance, but I’m drawing this line anyway.

After his father treats Lindon in a miserable way, Dross materializes and tells everyone that Lindon has something to say, the speech L gives about “why would I come back?” is so cold, it sounds like the way Jai Long would speak to his family. It’s very “I have duty to my blood, but I give zero shits about you as people (right now)”. That plus the angry/frustrated display of power, blowing the door off the cabin as he left.

That scene absolutely strengthened the parallels/rivalry between Lindon and Jai Long, and then two steps later showed why Lindon is the central character, as he goes somewhere safe and cries with Yarin. Especially since a chapter ago Jai Long abandoned Kelsa and Orthos to flee.

I’ve always noticed the similarities between Jai Long and Zuko, and therefore wanted a more robust “rivals to friends/allies” arc for him, but from a story perspective understand that Ziel is a better fit for the final team.

[the--grin--reaper]

Ziel: Schrödinger’s cat is overrated. If you wanna see something that’s both dead and alive you can talk to me any time of the day.

[fostersffff]

The Big Gundam Watch, Part 13: Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory (+ The Mayfly of Space)

At the end of my previous post on Gundam F91, I talked about how I had never really heard anything meaningful about 0083: Stardust Memory. Which is weird, because it takes place in a pretty under-explored time period (within animated canon anyway), which should make it perfect for exploring the changes that happen in the Universal Century between the original Mobile Suit Gundam and Zeta. But what actually happens in the story is never what people talk about, on the rare occasion it's even referenced: it's almost exclusively that Cima Garahau is one of The Character Designs of All Time and that it's an OVA from the golden age of that format, which means it has top notch designs (see the previous point about Cima Garahau) and animation.

Of course, that's not necessarily indicative of a bad story. Hell, a lot of the time plot is the least talked about thing when it comes to media, outside of "it's good!" or "it's bad!". Plus, considering that this was an interquel, it was a possibility that it would be difficult to even discuss plot elements outside of the context of how they relate to 0079 or Zeta. At the very least, my hope was- and I quote- "even if it’s bad, it should at the very least be interesting."

Consider the finger of the monkey's paw curled.

THE STUFF I LIKED

Despite that intro, 0083 did have a bunch of good stuff. The most compelling part of the story was everything having to do directly with the Delaz Fleet. Specifically, the way that Delaz and Gato were genuine believers in the stated cause of Zeon. Like, they're explicitly established as Gihren Zabi Loyalists, deciding to drop out of the fighting at A Boa Qu once they learn he was assassinated by Kycilia, but to these people, "Gihren Loyalist" just means "True Believers in Spacenoid Independence". And that makes sense: we as viewers know Gihren was just a power-hungry despot, but that wouldn't really be known for a fact even in the upper echelons of Zeon leadership. And up to the bitter end, both Delaz and Gato believe that the mission and its purpose is greater than their own lives.

On the flipside, and equally as good, I love that Cima Garahau is exactly what I thought she would be: An Unrepentant Scheming Bitch. Not only is that fun to watch on its own, she has such a unique panache with the fan and the trenchcoat cloak and the zebra print captain's lounge chair, she really contrasts nicely with the (for lack of a better word) "purity" of Delaz and Gato's mission.

The burst of endorphins I got from seeing Axis Zeon hemming and hawing over how much support to give the Delaz Fleet while a sulky teenage Haman Karn goes "this sucks, I hate this" cannot be overstated. I love seeing Haman Karn.

If you asked me my opinion of the Alpha Azieru from Char's Counterattack, my response would be "it's alright", but I was genuinely stunned when I saw the Neue Ziel in the second OP. Less because "oh boy it's my favorite mobile armor" and more "HUH? HUH? HUH?!" Like, what the fuck is this thing doing existing literally a decade before Char's Counterattack? It made for a very convincing final boss in that way.

Similarly, when they did the "big reveal" of Unit 03, I was extremely underwhelmed because it was A Gundam, Again. But then they cut to what it looks like fully armored up and I popped off because I fucking LOVE Gundams Inside Giant Armors, and this this was literally tucked into a fucking Metal Gear. It's also the first time the flower naming scheme feels appropriate, because it was designed to defend the La Vie en Rose (the Gundam is the "Stamen", the armor is the "Orchis", and the combined form is the "Dendrobium").

I can't include every single instance of incredible animation here, because the fact of the matter is that every single action setpiece in this OVA series is top-of-the-line. I'm just gonna highlight this one, where a Dom swooces up to a GM, grabs the barrel of his gun and fires its own bazooka into the GM's cockpit point-blank.

Besides the incredibly high quality of animation due to the fact that this was a 90's OVA, we were also blessed with a bounty of Beautiful Wamen. The random mechanics on the Albion, the random engineers at Anaheim, Lt. Burning's wife, the engineer at the La Vie en Rose- throw a fucking dart and you will hit a Beautiful Wamen.

There's also some stuff that just looks good in general, even without animation. When Gato is en route to the Naval Review and flying through the remnants of the battle of A Boa Qu, it cuts to a shot of the inside of a Zaku where a Zeon soldier's corpse has just been sitting stagnant for the last three years, not even getting the chance to rot away because there's no atmosphere for the bacteria to survive in. It'll just be there forever as space debris.

When the first episode had Keith trying to hit on Nina, only for Maura to cut in and him to react like "oh no, this beautiful woman is tall and slightly muscular...", I was ready to decry him as The Worst. But to my pleasant surprise, he gets his shit together and goes "wait, no, this beautiful woman is tall and slightly muscular!" and capitalizes. Truly, the MVP of 0083.

Sad as I was to see her go, I am glad Cima got, like, the most metal death possible. (There was a video here, but I couldn't include more than one in this post, and the other one later felt more important to include/didn't work as well as an isolated post, so check it out!)

THE STUFF I LIKED LESS

So before I get into my actual biggest problem with this story, the plot issue has to come first: why was the true objective of Operation Stardust to hit North America and not Jaburo? Up until the confrontation inside the colony, the sequence of events was that Cima conspired with Jamitov Hymen (who was subordinate to some other guy and not an admiral himself?) and Bask Ohm to co-opt Operation Stardust. But then it turns out that Delaz's original intent for Stardust was for Gato to make one final secret change to alter the colony's course to hit North America. I get that Jaburo couldn't be destroyed, because it had to be destroyed in Zeta, but they literally already had an out! Even if the Solar System succeeded in destroying the colony, the destruction of the Naval Review and a barely averted colony drop would have been plenty of pretext to form the Titans. The only explanation I could find online- with no sourcing- is that the intent was to disrupt the Federation's food supply, which... I guess? But this was a tremendously elaborate operation with a numerous points of failure for the ultimate goal of supply line disruption.

Ok, let's get into it now: you may have noticed that I didn't talk about the protagonists of this story, Kou Uraki and Nina Purpleton, at all in the first section. That's on purpose, because these two suck, and it's not just a matter of them being unlikable- although a lot of the time they are- it's that the way in which they suck is inconsistent because of bad writing. Let's start with the relationship between them, and why this is quite possibly the worst romantic plot in Gundam as a franchise.

We'll go from a specific example: in Episode 7, Kou and Nina, who at this point each know they are romantically interested in one another, have a falling out because Kou can't screw up the courage to actually ask Nina on a date. At the end of the episode, Kou is engaging a Zeon mobile armor and getting his shit wrecked. Nina, who was planning on giving up everything and returning to Earth to live with her parents after she was reassigned from Kou's ship, goes out to the surface to try to beg the Zeon pilot to stop fighting, because she has some unexplained history with him. She's caught in the crossfire, and it seems like she may have been killed. This incenses Kou to rally, and he defeats the Zeon mobile armor before going to check on Nina. It turns out she's alive, but the thought of nearly losing her gives him the courage he needs to say something that can only be read as a love confession. They embrace as the instrumental version of the sensual R&B ending song plays, and the camera zooms out, showing them standing atop Unit 01, on bent knee. Romance.

It's been tumultuous to this point, but that's it, we're locked in, Kou and Nina are together. Fast forward to the start of the next episode: Kou is returning from a successful training mission. Nina spots him in the dock, and...

A cool secret handshake? Ok... that's weird, but maybe you want to keep it professional-ish at work. So they chat about how cool and great the Gundam is and tease each other a little bit, which then leads to Kou saying this:

What the fuck?! You can't double back to "aha we're like brother and sister" after something so explicitly romantic! The rest of the episode then plays out with Kou right back to where he was in the last epiosde, where he just can't with girls, and has a hilarious scene where he drops a bunch of self-help books he took from the library to try to understand women better.

So it stays at this level for the remainder of the series, and that would be bad enough: that despite the fact that Kou and Nina are significantly older than Amuro and Lalah or Kamille and Fa (or Four, or any other girl who smiled in Kamille's direction), the most romantic thing we see between them is hugging in moments of extreme duress, and otherwise it's secret handshakes and awkward stumbling.

But wait, there's more: to try to inject some drama into this tepid subplot, they reveal that Nina used to be shacked up with Gato! And the reason she doesn't want them to fight isn't just because she loves cares about Kou, it's because she also still loves cares about Gato! Which culminates in Nina holding Kou at gunpoint in the final episode so she can try to keep Gato alive.

All of this Fucking Awful Romance is symptomatic of that fact that neither Kou nor Nina are particularly well defined. As described above, Kou fluctuates between a Fresh Faced Baby Boy and a Hot Blooded Mech Pilot, but neither really suit him. Like, the first few episodes imply that he's just a tech nerd who got in over his head- not unlike the protagonists who came before him- but he's a commissioned officer of the Federation Armed Forces. Maybe the idea is that he only joined up so he could satisfy being a tech nerd by getting to play with mobile suits, and that would be fine if he ever developed from that starting point.

Like, there's an alternate version of this story where all of the plot beats they set up actually pay off and stick. If his encounter with Gato really altered the trajectory of his life in a meaningful way, realizing he doesn't have a grand purpose the way that Gato claims to, and he spends the series trying to find one. If his butting heads with a shithead like Monsha, who is a living example of the excess of the Federation Gato was talking about, led him to realize that just being a Federation officer doesn't have any meaning in and of itself. If his encounter with Kelley, whose purpose isn't as grandiose as Gato's but still inspiring by virtue of how passionate he is about it, makes him realize that it's not about doing something big, it's about doing something he cares about. Then the end of the series delivers the same devastating blows: that the Federation brass knew all along about Operation Stardust and were going to let it happen as a false flag, and he realizes that Gato was right all along and the Federation really cares for nothing but consolidating its own power, and comes to a decision about what to do with his life from that point on. Instead, what's actually presented is that after a certain point all he cares about is fighting Gato because he's a Hot Blooded Mech Pilot, but also just a Fresh Faced Baby Boy when not fighting Gato.

Nina has largely the same problem, where she just feels kinda aimless. The shorthand version is that she's like Metal Gear Solid's Otacon, but somehow even more naive. If you're unfamiliar, Hal "Otacon" Emmerich is an otaku who got helped build the titular Metal Gear because it was just like his Japanese Animes, and was horrified to learn that it's true intent of it was to serve as a mobile nuclear weapons platform. Nina, on the other hand, not only knew Unit 02 was going to be used to launch nuclear weapons, but literally supervised the loading of the nuclear warhead, and was stunned at the idea of the nuclear warhead being used for war, and not just data gathering.

Beyond that, Nina's most consistent trait, unfortunately, is that she's selfish, in a frankly bizarre way. That's what makes her decision to tend to Gato in the finale so aggravating; it's not that she cucks Kou (because frankly that's kinda funny to me), it's that all she cares about is making sure Gato and Kou live. There's no consideration for the fact that the colony they're standing in is going to crash into the Earth when the very first scene with her in the series is Captain Sinapus/Synapse explaining that they're not flying over the ocean, they're flying over the crater made by the Operation British colony drop. That doesn't matter though, because she hooked up with Gato a few years ago, so she really wants him to survive even though he's committed two Super War Crimes in as many months.

I could go on, but this is already way longer than normal, and I think I got my point across. Just in case: Kou and Nina suck and the story is dragged down by the virtue of them being Point of View characters.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS

Those auto sentries in Episode 9 feel like they should've shown up way more often in everything. An autonomous weapon system that requires maintenance but can track targets as accurately as it does feels way more useful than the minefields and other traps we see in other UC stories.

I like how the Anaheim Electronics Uniform for women has the little seifuku cape, despite the fact that it's clearly a blazer: business in the front, schoolgirl in the back. Although Nina's second outfit also has the seifuku cape so I think someone on the design team was just enamored with integrating it into the clothes characters were wearing.

This has a pretty mid dub: generally speaking I think most actors are doing a good job and are well cast, but this is one of those times where the direction specifically stands out as bad. The prime example is in Episode 5, where Nina turned up the heat in the shower, and Maura starts doing the jig you do when the shower is too hot, but her English VA reads it like "Ow. Ow. Hot. Hot. Ow. Ohh, that's too hot, Nina.", instead of short little yips someone would actually make in that scenario, which is actually what her Japanese VA does. Compare and contrast for yourself:

On the subject of this scene: upon hearing Maura, I went "hey, that sounds an awful lot like Kaori Makimura from City Hunter... but they couldn't have possibly done the absolute most perfect casting for this character, could they?" and sure enough, it was Kazue Ikura, and my heart soared.

Also speaking of Japanese Voice Actresses, Cima's VA Mari Mashiba may have the funniest credits page in history:

I would be remiss not to point out that 0083 apparently plagiarized a bunch of music, but the one I actually noticed was a song from Ennio Morricone's score for The Thing, which was later used by Quentin Tarantino for The Hateful Eight.

I will never not get a kick out of Japanese media going "but how do we make sure the audience understands this character was an American?"

I understand the realities of disposing of human waste in space, but it's so fucking funny that in this scene where Maura is trying to get Kou to snap Nina out of of her Love Triangle Induced Stupor is taking place while there's a big box labeled URINE COLLECTION prominently in frame.

THE MAYFLY OF SPACE

So, there are two shorts titled "The Mayfly of Space" included with the 0083 blu-ray. Both of these are partial adaptations of an audio drama about Cima Garahau, but the first one is literally 3 minutes long and is tells you absolutely nothing about anything, except that Cima has been having nightmares about... something.

The Mayfly of Space 2, in contrast, actually provides more insight to the character, but nothing especially revelatory. Cima felt that her superiors telling her to surrender herself to the Federation at the end of the One Year War was a betrayal, which is what led to her conspiring with the soon-to-be Titans. It also shows why Gato was skeptical about Delaz working with Cima, because he had to fend her off from murdering the superior who gave that order to her and her unit.

At least, that's what I gathered from watching it. If the wiki is to be believed, there's actually a way more compelling story than what was conveyed here. In fact, it's one that would have actually tied in perfectly to the main story, as a very specific and direct contrast to what Delaz and Gato's understanding of the ideology of Zeon is. Literally the only insight we actually get to what's described on that wiki page is this single line from Episode 12:

But, I can't really complain about getting more Cima, especially when "more Cima" in this case includes "Cima sad and drunk with her titties out".

IN CONCLUSION

I have to wonder if War in the Pocket wasn't as well received at the time as it is today, because I feel like that should have opened the floodgates to "the Gundam franchise is capable of supporting stories that don't have the same framework as the original TV series", especially OVAs that would by nature be aimed at an older audience. Like, I think if the focus on Kou and Nina- and the Albion's crew in general- was significantly reduced so that Stardust Memory was more of an ensemble story, it would have been improved dramatically. And you can still have all the slick action that actually appeared in the story as it exists with that setup, it just would mean that all the stuff in between would have a better chance of being compelling instead of just... bad.

I was actually originally planning on watching the compilation version of this series, The Afterglow of Zeon, because my initial hunch was that trimming the fat would make this story a lot better. I think that's still possibly the case, but I don't really think they can fix the core issue of the Federation cast being uninteresting. I might still check that out someday, and if I do, I'll certainly post about it, but for now, I'm pretty done with 0083.

Next up: the last of the original set of stories set in the Universal Century, Mobile Suit Victory Gundam. I think this was the blu-ray set I held out on picking up for the longest time, on account of not being sure if I'd ever bother with the future UC stuff and the fact that opinions on Victory tend to be even more volatile than ZZ. But over the course of this, I've become a tremendous fan of Yoshiyuki Tomino and his weird-ass brain, and I could've sworn that I read that someone on the production team for The Witch from Mercury said their favorite Gundam was Victory, which is all the recommendation anyone should need (if true).

[overx]

Which of your muses is the quickest to fall in love?

𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐌𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐂𝐇 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐄 ! Multi muse asks | Accepting

[[He will never admit it but Vi gets crushes pretty easily. Although he's not one to act on them, and you'll virtually never know if he's got a thing for you. Mostly because he doesn't socialize, but also because his dating history is pretty sour.

None of this is helped by the fact he knows he gets crushes easily. His type is: People That Are Nice To Him. So you can imagine the sorts of positions that's gotten him into in the past.

Thankfully that helmet really helps keep things secretive.

Of course falling in love and having a bit of an infatuation are different things... so if we're talking about something deeper, it's probably Cale.

Cale isn't quite like Vi, in that crushes are a pretty rare thing for him. Despite his sunny disposition he keeps the average person at arm's length. Most connections are very surface level for him, even if they may be deep for other people. His intention is to be a positive force, someone you can rely on, but not someone who relies on you. I've touched on this before a bit.

This is to say though that when he actually lets someone in, he gets very close with them. If you're considered one of his best friends, then he's probably had a thing for you at some point. It just sort of happens naturally with him. Both Ray ( @eclipsedfates ) and Ziel ( @ziel-soundwave ) have definitely been in this category in the past.]]