#I think creating her I just took a lot of traits I admire and smashed them into one character

[merkerlerspeaks]

Zodi/Celeste/Raine is somehow both my baby and also the girl my inner little weird girl looks up to so much she adopts parts of her as her personality

[mocnliights]

hello friends !! i’m kit ( in est , using she/her pronouns ) and so flippin excited for this !! i bring you nadira , my new child who i’m still learning so ... apologies in advance for any mistakes i make about my own muse y*kes . i will add a wanted plots page here when i can get my life together a bit more to help with plotting , but for now , smash that like button and let’s get this ball rolling and i will stop with the dad cliches now bye !! ( not bye , i’m still very much here )

possible trigger warning ( all just brief mentions ! ) : cancer/illness , parental death & family estrangement . i think that’s it , but if i forgot anything , please let me know and i will add it !

* MISHTI RAHMAN, CIS WOMAN + SHE/HER | you know NADIRA KHAN, right? they’re TWENTY-SIX, and they’ve lived in irving for, like, ONE YEAR? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to GREAT ONE BY JESSIE REYEZ like, a million times this year, which makes sense, ‘cause they’ve got that whole CONSISTENT PLETHORA OF UNREAD NOTIFICATIONS, LACE LINGERIE UNDER SATIN SLIP DRESSES, UNDISTRIBUTED BEAUTIFULLY EMBOSSED BUSINESS CARDS thing going on. i just checked and their birthday is AUGUST 10TH, so they’re a LEO, which is unsurprising, all things considered. ( kit, 25, est, she/her )

THE BASICS  .

full name : nadira sharmin khan  etymology : nadira ( arabic / precious , rare ) , sharmin ( persian / shyness , modest ) nickname(s) : nadi , nadia , didi ( by amir ) birthday & birthplace : august 10, 1994 & los angeles , california sexual orientation : pansexual/romantic hometown : she moved a lot growing up , but would consider new york city & london where she spent her most formative years current residence : aquila drive in irving , north carolina  immediate family ( relation / occupation ) : kashif khan ( father ( deceased ) / renowned fashion designer ) , resna khan ( mother / model , humanitarian ) , amir khan ( younger brother , 21 / student ) occupation : for show , she continues as the public face and head of her father’s brand KHAN , but for all intents and purposes , currently unemployed  education : bachelor’s from columbia university , business management . took a few design classes at FIT  positive personality traits : charismatic , ambitious , loyal , amiable , creative , dutiful , empathetic , honest , innovative , prudent , zealous  negative personality traits : competitive , coquettish , preoccupied , materialistic , possessive , resentful , discontented , opinionated , headstrong 

THE SUMMARY .

tl;dr : nadira grew up as privileged as they come , jet-setting from los angeles to new york to london to tokyo and everywhere in between for her entire life . with her parents at the heart of the fashion industry , nadira grew up with a love for the finer things and a sharp eye for her own designs . she was primped and primed to take over her father’s empire when he decided to retire to irving . she took the reigns of KHAN post-college graduation and was living her dream until it came to a screeching halt just about a year ago when her beloved father received a grim prognosis . with her mother still working ( and estranged ) and her brother younger and in school , nadira decided to step down from her hectic position and move to irving to take care of her father . now , he’s gone . for the first time in her life , she feels listless and unmotivated , so she’s still here , acting like her dad’s going to walk back through the door .

THE EXPANDED BULLETS .

on a hot august day in los angeles , nadira was born to a prominent couple in the fashion world . with a billboard of resna consequently outside the hospital , it only seemed destined that nadira would also take the fashion world by storm ... one day .

for as long as she can remember , she was always in awe of her father’s work . as much as she admired her mother , she was much more interested in the inner workings of a company and designs coming to life from a blank sheet of paper . so as kashif’s design empire expanded globally , it was only fitting nadira tagged along from city to city , even after the family essentially “settled” in new york city following amir’s birth .

her creativity was evident from a young age , producing her own mini spring collection for KHAN at sixteen . while her brother gravitated towards instruments , nadira was hooked to the cutthroat nature of the fashion industry , the constant grind to create great work , and the power of one day running the company at her father’s side .

speaking with a very faint british accent that comes and goes from her years spent in london mixed with her years in america , nadira had a taste of her dreams in college . staying close to KHAN’s headquarters meant she could step into a bigger role ( don’t we love nepotism ) while maintaining her expected 4.0 gpa at columbia .

seeing his daughter’s success and simply tired , kashif decided to retire upon nadira’s college graduation and move away from it all to irving , north carolina , a town he had discovered and frequented over the years whenever he sought the complete opposite of his everyday .

needless to say , resna was unhappy with the decision . though she had allowed his little beach escapades during their marriage , she could not understand moving there permanently when her livelihood was in new york . without officially divorcing , resna declared she was staying put , much preferring the luxuries of a ritz carlton than the laidback nature of a destination town , and kashif could do as he pleased .

nadira watched her happy , loving family crumble before her eyes , which only meant she threw herself into her work even more than she already would have . in the subsequent years of taking over KHAN , she worked constantly , resulting in her most prolific seasons and an exponential boom in sales , but also incredible burnout .

she kept it up for three years , always on a red eye or in a meeting or sat at her desk over a sketchbook . this way , she could ignore the fact that her parents were living in two different states with her brother in a third now attending college of his own ( berklee college of music  , to be more specific ) . but her world came crashing down again when she received a call from her father , informing her that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer .

it felt like a sign . a terrible sign , but a sign nonetheless . she needed to stop . slow down . take a look at her family and deal with what was happening . nadira immediately stepped down , naming an interim head and creative director of KHAN while she uprooted her life to move to irving to take care of her father .

no matter her good-willed intentions when she moved , it seemed only inevitable that the young fashion star who had had it all would grow to feel trapped . she wasn’t going anywhere , not when her mother rarely came down to visit and her brother dropping out of school wasn’t even something anyone would let him consider , but she couldn’t help her growing feelings of resentment  - not towards her father , just her situation .

sometimes , even when money can buy the best , it simply isn’t enough . kashif passed away in july , effectively ending nadira’s obligation to stay in irving , but she hasn’t left . she could step back into her role full time at KHAN , get back to designing and running a global powerhouse , but she fears she’s lost the ability to . for now , she doesn’t see herself going anywhere - physically , mentally , figuratively , literally - despite the growing number of sketches in the notebook she carries everywhere .

[d-criss-news]

Darren Criss acts as playwright when he writes songs. He’s far more confident, and certainly more vulnerable, when he allows himself to play the part. In such a way, songwriting opens up a whole new world that pulses with untapped potential. So much of what he has accomplished in 15 years resides in his willingness to expose himself to what his imagination and intuition have in store. He steps into a playwright’s shoes with considerable ease (just look at his resume), and always one to put on plenty of bravado, especially during our Zoom face-to-face, it’s the natural order of things.

“As I get older and write more and more songs, I really recognize that I’ve always preferred to write for another context other than my own,” Criss tells American Songwriter. He speaks with a cool intensity, gesturing emphatically to accentuate a sentence, and when you let him go, he’s like the Energizer Bunny 一 “I can tell by just how quiet you already are that you’re fucked,” he jokes at the start of our video chat. But he remains just as engaged and focused when listening.

He soaks in the world, taking astute notes about behavior and emotional traits he can later use in song. His storytelling, though, arrives already in character, fully formed portraits he can then relay to the world. It’s not that he can’t be vulnerable, like such greats as Randy Newman, Tom Waits, and Rufus Wainwright, who have all embroidered their work with deeply personal observations, it just doesn’t feel as comfortable. “I’ve always really admired the great songwriters of the world who are extremely introspective and can put their heart and soul on the chopping block,” he muses. “That’s a vulnerability that I think is so majestic. I’ve never had access to it. I’m not mad about it. It’s just good to know what your deal is.”

Criss’ strengths lie in his ability to braid his own experiences, as charmed as they might be, into wild, goofy fantasies. In the case of his new series “Royalties,” now streaming on Quibi, he walks a fine line between pointed commentary on the music industry, from menial songwriting sessions to constantly chasing down the next smash, and oddball comedy that is unequivocally fun. Plotted with long-standing friends and collaborators Matt and Nick Lang, co-founders of Team StarKid, created during their University of Michigan days (circa 2009), the show’s conceptual nucleus dates back more than a decade.

If “Royalties” (starring Criss and Kether Donohue) feels familiar, that’s because it is. The 10-episode show ─ boasting a smorgasbord of delightful guest stars, including Mark Hammill, Georgia King, Julianna Hough, Sabrina Carpenter, and Lil Rel Howery ─ captures the very essence of a little known web series called “Little White Lie.” Mid-summer 2009, Team StarKid uploaded the shoddy, low budget production onto YouTube, and its scrappy tale of amateur musicians seeking fame and fortune quickly found its audience, coming on the heels of “A Very Potter Musical,” co-written with and starring Criss. Little did the trio know, those initial endeavors laid the groundwork for a lifetime of creative genius.

“It’s a full circle moment,” says Criss, 33, zooming from his Los Angeles home, which he shares with his wife Mia. He’s fresh-faced and zestful in talking about the new project. 11 years separate the two series, but their connective thematic tissues remain striking. “Royalties” is far more polished, the obvious natural progression in so much time, and where “Little White Lie” soaked in soapy melodrama, the former analyzes the ins and outs of the music world through more thoughtful writing, better defined (and performed) characters, and hookier original tunes.

“Royalties” follows Sara (Donohue) and Pierce (Criss), two struggling songwriters in Los Angeles, through various career exploits and pursuits. The pilot, titled “Just That Good,” features an outlandish performance from Rufus Wainwright as a major player in dance-pop music, kickstarting the absurdity of Criss’ perfectly-heightened reality. As our two main characters stumble their way between songwriting sessions, finally uncovering hit single potential while eating a hot dog, Criss offers a glimpse into the oft-unappreciated art of songwriting.

In his own songwriting career ─ from 2010’s self-released Human EP and a deal with Columbia Records (with whom a project never materialized) to 2017’s Homework EP and Computer Games’ debut, Lost Boys Life, (a collaboration with his brother Chuck) ─ he’s learned a thing or two about the process. Something about sitting in a room with someone you’ve never met before always rang a little funny to him.

“You meet a stranger, and you have to be creative, vulnerable, and open. It’s speed-dating, essentially. It’s a different episode every time you pull it off or not. All the big songwriters will tell you all these crazy war stories. Everyone has a wacky story from songwriting,” he says. “I slowly realized I may ─ I can’t flatter myself, there are tons of creative people who are songwriters ─ have prerequisites to just put the two together [TV and music]. I’ve worked enough in television as an actor and creator. I can connect the dots. I had dual citizenship where I felt like it was really time for me to go forth with this show.”

But a packed professional life pushed the idea to the backburner.

Between six seasons of “Glee” (playing Blaine Anderson, a Warbler and lover to Chris Colfer’s Kurt Hummel), starring in “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” on Broadway, and creating Elsie Fest, a one-day outdoor festival celebrating songs of the stage and screen, he never had the time. “I was lucky enough to be busy,” he says. “As Team StarKid’s star was continuing to rise with me being separate from it, I was trying to think of a way to get involved again with songwriting.”

At one point, “Glee” had officially wrapped and his Broadway run was finished. It appeared “Royalties” may finally get its day in the sun. “I went to Chicago for a work pilgrimage with the Langs. We had a few days, and we put all our ideas on the map: every musical, feature film, show, graphic novel, and animated series we’ve ever thought of,” he says. “A lot of them were from the Langs; they were just things I was interested in as a producer or actor. We looked at all of them and made a top three.”

“Royalties” obviously made the cut.

Fast forward several years, Gail Berman’s SideCar, a production company under FOX Entertainment, was looking to produce a music show. Those early conversations, beginning at an otherwise random LA party, showed great promise in airlifting the concept from novel idea to discernible reality. Things quickly stalled, however, as they often do in Hollywood, but Criss had at least spoken his dreams into the universe.

“I finally had an outlet to put it into gear. It wasn’t until two to three years after that that things really locked in. We eventually made shorts and made a pilot presentation. We showed it to people, and it wasn’t until Quibi started making their presence known that making something seemed really appealing,” he says. “As a creator, they’re very creator-centric. They’re not a studio. They’re a platform. They are licensing IP much like when a label licenses an indie band’s album after the fact.”

Quibi has drawn severe ire over the last few months, perhaps because there is a “Wild Westness” to it, Criss says. “I think that makes some people nervous. Being my first foray into something of this kind, Quibi felt like a natural partner for us. If this had been a network or cable show, we would’ve molded it to be whatever it was.”

Format-wise, “Royalties” works best as bite-sized vignettes, charming hijinks through the boardroom and beyond, and serves as a direct response to a sea of music shows, from “Nashville” and “Empire” to “Smash.” “Those shows were bigger, more melodramatic looks at the inside base of our world. I’ve always been a goofball, and I just wanted to take the piss out of it,” he says. “This show isn’t about songwriting. It’s about songwriters… but a very wacky look at them.”

“30 Rock,” a scripted comedy loosely based around “Saturday Night Live,” in which the focus predominantly resides around the characters, rather than the business itself, was also on his mind. “It’s about the interconnectivity of the people and characters. As much of the insider knowledge that I wanted to put into our show, at the end of the day, you just want to make a fun, funny show that’s relatable to people who know nothing about songwriting and who shouldn’t have to know anything.”

Throughout 10 episodes, Criss culls the “musicality, fun, and humor” of Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger and Max Martin, two of his biggest songwriting heroes, and covers as many genres as possible, from K-Pop to rap-caviar and classic country. While zip-lining between formats, the songs fully rely on a sturdy storytelling foundation ─ only then can Criss drape the music around the characters and their respective trajectories. “I wanted to do something where I could use all the muscles I like to flex at once, instead of compartmentalizing them,” he says. “I really love writing songs for a narrative, not necessarily for myself. I thrive a little more when I have parameters, characters, and a story to tell.”

Bonnie McKee, one of today’s greatest pop architects, takes centerstage, too, with an episode called “Kick Your Shoes Off,” in which she plays a bizarro version of herself. “She has her own story, and I’ve always been fascinated by it,” says Criss, who took her out to lunch one day to tell her about it. Initially, the singer-songwriter, known for penning hits for Katy Perry, Taio Cruz, and Britney Spears, would anchor the entire show, but it soon became apparent she would simply star in her own gloriously zany episode.

In one of the show’s standout scenes, Pierce and Sara sit in on a label meeting with McKee’s character and are tasked with writing a future hit. But they quickly learn how many cooks are in the kitchen at any given moment. Everyone from senior level executives to publicists and contracted consultants have an opinion about the artist’s music. One individual urges her to experiment, while another begs not to alienate her loyal fanbase, and then a third advises her to chronicle the entire history of music itself ─ all within three minutes or so. It’s absurd, and that’s the point. “Everyone’s been in that meeting, whether you’re in marketing or any creative discussion that has to be made on a corporate level by committee. It’s the inevitable, comedic contradictions and dissociations from not only rationality but feasibility.”

Criss also draws upon his own major label days, having signed with Sony/Columbia right off the set of “Glee,” as well as second-hand accounts from close friends. “There are so many artists, particularly young artists, who famously get chewed up and spat out by the label system,” he says. “There’s a lot of sour tastes in a lot of people’s mouths from being ‘mistreated’ by a label. I have a lot of friends who’ve had very unfortunate experiences.”

“I was really lucky. I didn’t have that. I have nothing but wonderful things to say,” he quickly adds.“It wasn’t a full-on drop or anything. I was acting, and I was spreading myself really thin. It’s a record label’s job to make product, and I was doing it piecemeal here and there. I would shoot a season [of ‘Glee’] and then do a play. I was doing too many things. I didn’t have it in me at the time to do music. I had written a few songs I thought were… fine.”

Both Criss and the label came to the same conclusion: perhaps this professional relationship just wasn’t a good fit. They parted ways, and he harbors no ill-will. In fact, he remains close friends with many folks from that time. So, it seems, a show like “Royalties” satisfies his deep hunger to make music and write songs ─ and do it totally on his own terms.

“I still say I want to put out music, and fans have been very vocal about that. I feel very fortunate they’re still interested at all,” he says. “That passion for making music really does come out in stuff like [this show].”

“Royalties” is Darren Criss at his most playful, daring, and offbeat. It’s the culmination of everything he has tirelessly worked toward over the last decade and a half. Under pressure with a limited filming schedule, he hits on all cylinders with a soundtrack, released on Republic Records, that sticks in the brain like all good pop music should do. And it would not have been the same had he, alongside Matt and Nick Lang, not formed Team StarKid 11 years ago.

Truth be told, it all began with a “Little White Lie.”

[mobius-prime]

228. Sonic the Hedgehog #160

Birthday Bash! (Part One): Giving and Receiving

Writer: Ian Flynn Pencils: Tracy Yardley! Colors: Jason Jensen

Welcome to the beginning of Ian Flynn's reign, everyone! As many of you will know, Ian is a fan favorite amongst readers of the comics, and for good reason. Objectively, I'd say he has a much better sense than any previous writer of how to construct dynamic and interesting stories, as well as a great head for writing dialogue. Every character has their own unique voice when speaking, and as someone who takes a particular interest in dialogue in her own writing, it's something I admire a lot, especially given how stilted and unnaturally formal a lot of dialogue by Karl and especially Kenders often sounded, regardless of who was speaking. That said, I think that it took a good year or so for him to fully come into his own as head writer for the series, so some earlier issues are a bit strange and not up to par with a lot of his later work. Some of this, to be fair, is due to him essentially playing clean-up for this first year, untangling a lot of the bizarre leftover plot threads that Karl and Kenders left behind, and generally trying to make the world of the comics conform a little better to that of the games. All that aside, anyone reading the comics will likely notice an immediate and apparent improvement in the overall quality of the work starting with this issue. This is helped along, in addition, by none other than the very talented artist Tracy Yardley! who always (well, almost always) introduces himself in the story credits with an exclamation mark. It's kind of his calling card. Tracy took a while to really improve his art as well, so while his earliest issues sometimes have some strange proportions and poses, later on his style became easily one of the most visually attractive and recognizable ones in the series, simplifying a lot of the inconsistencies that many character designs had as well as doing away with the strange pseudo-human proportions that some artists tended to favor, particularly with the female characters. All this said, I will say that Ian isn't going to be immune to my criticism, as while I do recognize his skill as a writer and the good things he brought to the table, there are definitely some problems I have with the way he handled certain things. We'll cross those bridges when we come to them, however, so for now, let's dive into the new world he's creating and see how he does!

Elias and Sonic are walking on the outskirts of Knothole as Elias explains why his father approved the Metal Sonic troopers from last issue. We don't even really get to hear the explanation, but to be fair, we hardly need one, as the idea was so insane to begin with that the only true explanation is that Kenders needed a plot device. Sonic tries to make Elias promise that "you royals" won't hit him with any more weird surprises, and Elias says they only have one more, leading him to a building next to where the Great Oak Slide into the village ends.

I mean, canonically he's supposed to be turning seventeen here, even though realistically he should be turning eighteen, because remember, for him to have turned sixteen in StH#68, had the Robians be deroboticized in early June in StH#123, and still have managed to spend close to a year in space before turning seventeen, literally everything in between the two aforementioned issues would have had to take place in the span of a few weeks - yes, that's counting the month-and-a-half time span that Sonic was confined to Knothole, as well as major events like Eggman's return and the entire Green Knuckles saga. You can see why this huge discrepancy still bothers me, right? Hmph. Anyway, no sooner has the party begun than an explosion destroys the door, and two new players enter the scene - Bean the Dynamite and Bark the Polar Bear from Sonic the Fighters! Nack's been part of the comic for long enough now, so it's cool to see these two make their first appearance. Bark is totally silent - as far as I remember, he never says a single word during the entirety of the comic - but Bean, in the absence of an obvious personality to draw from in the game, has subsequently been given the personality trait of "criminally insane" in the comics.. He's erratic, he talks to himself, he cracks jokes where jokes really shouldn't be cracked, and most importantly of all, he loves his goddamn bombs. Bean starts chucking said bombs left and right at the various Freedom Fighters in the base, while Sonic tangles with Bark. He seems to think these guys are only after him due to something Evil Sonic did in his place, something which he has by now apparently finally explained to all the women of Knothole, and manages to break away from Bark to stop Bean's bombing spree by pinning him to a wall and asking about Evil Sonic. However, Bean happily insists there's been no mistake and he wasn't even aware of Sonic having an evil twin, nor does he particularly care. Oh, speaking of Evil Sonic…

Huh, it seems that Evil Sonic has actually explained his true identity to Rouge in between their previous failed attempt and now. I'm surprised she hasn't outright abandoned him by now due to Rouge not exactly being evil-aligned to begin with, but I guess the pull of the shiny is just too strong for her to resist. And as it turns out, Bean suffers from a similar insatiable need! Fiona pulls out a ring of keys and shakes them around, completely distracting Bean from his current activity of bashing Sonic's head in, and throws them out the hole he made in the wall, prompting him to immediately abandon everything to chase after them. Fiona then advances on Bark, who by now has gotten himself cornered by every Freedom Fighter in the room, and convinces him to stand down as he's outnumbered. Outside, Bean plays with the keys and talks to them, seemingly convinced that they're a beautiful woman with an "adorable accent" who wants his number, when a suspiciously-Shadow-shaped shadow converges on him, prompting him to try to invite him into smashing Sonic as well. Good luck there, buddy, I don't think Shadow usually runs with crazy…

Geez, Sally, cut Fiona some slack. Not everyone had a squeaky-clean record - hell, just look at Shadow! Back in the Chaos Chamber, Rouge and Evil Sonic begin to battle Locke, who tosses Evil Sonic to the side as he perceives Rouge to be the bigger threat. However, that turns out to be a bit of a bad idea, as with Rouge tied up in the fight, Evil Sonic takes his chance to go after the Master Emerald without her, obviously recognizing it as more than just a shiny trinket.

Back in Knothole, Shadow explains that he's only here to thank Sonic for saving Hope, as he knows he wouldn't have been able to do it on his own, and reminds him that as soon as he leaves this building they're back to being enemies, as Shadow's still aligned with Eggman for now. Sonic, to his credit, seems to recognize that Shadow is only allied with Eggman because he doesn't yet know better, and cheerfully invites him to come back here whenever he cuts out on that deal in the future. It's at this point that everyone realizes Bean has quietly snuck into the brain trust's comms room to casually let Eggman know that he and Bark failed to take Sonic down, and when Fiona ushers him back out of the room, Eggman is only too happy to let Sonic know personally that he wishes him a happy birthday and he's sending him a new, more metallic present. Within seconds a thud outside alerts them to the arrival of this present, and everyone rushes out to see a strange figure emerging from an egg pod - a figure which resolves itself into the combined forms of Crocbot and Octobot, now merged into the singular entity of… Croctobot! (Don't worry, Ian knows just how silly this is and even acknowledges it next issue.) But what of Evil Sonic and Rouge? How is their fight faring against Locke after the former got knocked aside? Well, Evil Sonic takes his chance to dramatically emerge from behind the emerald as the other two get ready to continue their fight…

Plot twist! How many people actually didn't know by now that Evil Sonic and Scourge were the same person? I'm guessing there had to be at least a few of you. You can actually already see Ian's new plans being put into action - it's very telling of his intentions when the very first issue he ever pens immediately makes a point of distinguishing a rather tired and boring character into a new and improved version of himself, with a unique name and new, visually distinct look. Apparently Kenders, who if you recall is the original creator of Evil Sonic, never liked this and continued to insist on referring to him as Evil Sonic, but screw that, Scourge is a much more interesting character and this was a change that sorely needed to be made.

Sonic Rush (Part One of Two)

Writer/Pencils: Tania Del Rio Colors: Ben Hunzeker

So unfortunately, Sonic Adventure 2 isn't the only case in the preboot of a partial adaption of a game being included without any actual ending. Sonic Rush, the game, introduces Blaze, a cat from an alternate dimension that is controlled by the Sol Emeralds rather than the Chaos Emeralds, and most of the plot revolves around the Sol Emeralds ending up in Sonic's dimension and her trying to recollect them to bring back to her own world. However, things are a bit different in the comics universe. In this story, Blaze comes to Sonic's dimension because, apparently, she's been having nonstop dreams about him, dreams which show her visions of Eggman threatening the Sol Emeralds and Sonic helping her protect them. She's frustrated that she would have to rely on anyone else to help her protect the emeralds at all, believing them to be her sole responsibility, but nonetheless she's tracked Sonic to Knothole. However, while deliberating her next move, a squad of swatbots - yes, ordinary ones, it's been a while since we've seen them rather than shadow-bots - happen upon her and decide that they should take her in for interrogation.

Yeah, I guess Blaze doesn't understand the dangers present in this universe yet, does she? An hour or so later, Rotor sends for Sonic, informing him that they caught the aftermath of Blaze's capture on their video surveillance. Neither of them know who she is, but they decide she can't be from their village, since she left several disabled swatbots behind, while most people in Knothole are noncombatants and those that aren't are accounted for elsewhere. Sonic rushes out to find their trail and tracks them to a nearby facility set up amidst the trees, and while he begins fighting his way in, the scientific robots in the building go about studying their new specimen.

Sorry, but why the hell would Eggman be looking to add some random Mobian to his team? He only likes robots anyway, and tends to either betray or enslave every living being that comes to him. Blaze suddenly awakens and becomes furious - not that she's been captured, mind you, but that they took off her coat while studying her. She must be really goddamn attached to her coat, because she starts absolutely trashing the place, exploding into flames and screaming so loudly that Sonic becomes genuinely worried about her wellbeing, rushing to where he last heard her. The door of the lab she's in is completely blasted off its hinges by the force of Blaze's explosions, but thankfully after this she seems to have found her coat, because the blasts subside and she appears in the doorway wearing it once again, staring down at an utterly shocked Sonic with a look of fiery fury (the literal flames coating her entire body probably help with the "fiery" bit). Uh… good luck dealing with that, buddy boy!

[lightdusk96]

Holiday Date

To celebrate winter break, I decided to write something after a hundred years of inactivity. So, this is my first attempt at writing BBrae! Let’s give it a go, shall we?

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Teen Titans, , Beast Boy, or Raven. The characters depicted are property of DC, DC Entertainment and Warner Brothers.

 Holiday Date

The holiday of Christmas is considered as a revered and sacred one by most people. A holiday of love and joy, of appreciating family and friends and spending time with them. And Jump City was no exception. Bright Christmas-themed decorations filled the streets and buildings of Jump, from multi-colored lights on the porches of apartments in the shapes of stars to classic Christmas music being heard from every corner, either by stores and shops or people humming them as they walk by. The festive atmosphere created by the gentle snowfall, bright lights and cheerful music could bring a smile on anyone’s face.

Yes, even on the Teen Titan empath known as Raven.

While it was not a face-breaking grin, it was an honest-to-goodness smile. And she had no qualms about hiding it as she and the emerald shapeshifter known as Beast Boy walked around the chilly streets of Jump with their gloved hands intertwined, her dressed in a winter version of her costume, fur-trimming, pants and blue gloves, him dressed in a black and purple sweater, black jeans and grey gloves. Despite being the most restrained of the team, Raven could not help but smile on Christmas, feeling love and compassion from everywhere she turns. Such days could make anyone smile. Especially someone who feels the emotions of those around her. She was not entirely subservient to that trait, but it was there in the form of an influence.

She couldn’t tell if it was the city’s residents or the sheer amount of ecstasy a certain green-skinned changeling gave off that made her feel this way. If anyone could be so happy as to eclipse an entire city’s worth of people, it’d be Garfield Logan. He has been begging her to go outside all day, and after plenty of coaxing through transforming into cute animals, she at last agreed to go with him.

“YES! Finally found it! Come on, Rae!” Raven took note of his exuberant attitude as she followed him to a small café called “Cup O’Joe”. Raven raised an eyebrow at this place, with its windowed walls and small tables outside the main building built out of brick, with fancy red ribbons and tiny Christmas trees decorating the place.

“So, this is it?”

“Yep! Best hot cocoa in Jump! You’ll love it!”

Raven only nodded in understanding as her response. While uncertain, she trusted Beast Boy. Much like how he trusted her through thick and thin all these years, after endless conflict of both the internal and external variety. Yet that conflict was nothing to their mutual love and understanding of one another. The fact that she’s out here, enjoying herself with him proved as much.

They walked inside the café, a bell ringing as they opened the door. Steadily making their way inside the main building, they gazed upon an ornately decorated, large room, with pictures of music stars filling the walls, musical instruments and vinyl records decorating pillars among the pictures and, of course, traditional Christmas ornaments. The sound of the song “Jingle Bell Rock” reverberating through the room only drove in the fact that this was a rock music themed café. There were a few people there, some enjoying their drinks with snacks and some chatting to each other. There were two floors in the building with tables and lounging chairs.

Beast Boy turned to look at her. “So, what’d ya think?”

“It’s quite nice, Gar. I knew you were a rock fan, but I never thought you’d go to a rock café. I’m surprised this even exists.”

“I know, me too! I only discovered it on November during one of my patrols! I kept it secret until now and I couldn’t wait to take you here for the holidays! It’s nice and quiet, with few people around”

Raven lightly blushed at how considerate he was. Leave it to him to plan something 2 months in advance to make someone happy.

They moved towards the register, where a dark-haired man dressed in a black shirt with a guitar player smashing a guitar on the front of it wearing a Santa hat lay in wait.

Beast Boy greeted him in his endearingly friendly manner, letting out a toothy grin and a wave of his hand. “Yo, Joe! How’s it going, dude?

The man looked up to look at Beast Boy with a warm smile. “Why if it isn’t Beast Boy! Glad to see ya, kid! I see you brought some company with you!”

With a nod of his head, Garfield gestured towards Raven. “This is Raven, I believe you know of her!”

Joe’s smile turned into a smirk. “Yeah, cuz you just can’t stop telling me about her!”

Beast Boy and Raven chuckled at that remark. It felt refreshing to be treated like people instead of celebrities. While the admiration is appreciated, it can be too much for them to handle at times.

“So, what can I get you two? Might I suggest a cup of hot cocoa, with whipped cream and marshmallows?”

“You certainly may! We’ll take our table at the top floor and wait for it there. Come on, Rae!”

With that, he led her to the top floor and picked a table for them right by a large window overlooking the streets of Jump. Holding hands all the way. Even when they sat down and took off their gloves, they still held hands across the table.

Still being a little nervous, Raven spoke up to break the silence between them. “Thanks for taking me out here, Gar. It’s a really nice place.”

Gar met her small smile with a grin of his own. “Thanks for taking me up on that offer. I was worried I was moving a bit too fast for you to get used to, y’know? I mean, I know you’re still trying to sort some things out, but I figured that you don’t need to do it alone. Because you are not alone.”

Raven blinked in surprise. He knew exactly how she felt and he didn’t even need empathetic powers to do so. Then again, he was just that good at reading her, even when she was completely closed to herself. He always tried to make her happy, bring out the best in her. Especially during a time when she felt lost about what path her life might take her. After all, she thought her life was always set to play out one certain way since birth. But that did not come to pass. And while “Now what?” was not the most elegant way of describing her turmoil, it was the most accurate.

Raven thought to herself. ”It feels surreal, how much I have changed since last Christmas. Back then I would have never even considered going outside of the tower for Christmas. Just staying in my room with my book and my friends would have been enough. Then again, back then Gar was still trying to break through the walls I raised around myself to keep Trigon at bay. Even when he was gone, the walls remained. They were cracked and full of holes, but they remained. And he made it his mission to tear them down, just so I could be happy.”

As she mulled these thought in her head, her gaze met his in a determined, yet loving manner. “I know Gar. I got my family the Titans… and I got you. Somehow.”

“Oh, don’t bring yourself down, I won’t have that! You’ve been through a lot, and you deserve the best!”

Raven got a little choked up as his words touched her heart. “You are the best thing to happen to me, Garfield Logan. Just being around you makes me happier than I could have ever imagined.”

After she said that, her hands cupped Beast Boy’s shocked face and pulled him in for a powerful, toe-curling kiss. It did not take long for Beast Boy to return the favor, his hands playing with her blue hair. The area around them became a blur, the melody of “Please Come Home For Christmas” disappearing into the ether that was their passion. They could only feel each other, for that was all they needed.

Which resulted in them getting easily startled as Joe came with their beverages and made his presence known with a loud fake cough. Both Titans broke up the kiss, with flushed faces and heavy breaths.

Joe flipped a fringe of his hair around, trying to contain his lopsided smirk from turning to an outright face breaking grin. “Well, even though you treated yourselves to something much sweeter than chocolate, how about you have some anyway?”

“Yeah, uh, thanks Joe.” Gar answered lamely. Joe only shook his head, left the cocoas on the table and left.

Raven recovered from her embarrassment and picked up her mug, holding it up as Beast Boy took his, her smile lighting up the room. “Merry Christmas, Gar.”

He smiled back, his own mug gently hitting hers. “Merry Christmas, Rae.”

Dedicated to Ava, for inspiring me to learn more, to love and ultimately write about this couple. Hope you like your gift! Have a Happy Birthday!

[crimsonrevolt]

Congratulations Mel you’ve been accepted to Crimson Revolt as Pandora Lightwood!

↳ please refer to our character checklist

Oh my goodness Mel, I absolutely adored your application from start to finish! You took a character who’s canon daughter is so well known and loved and crafted something utterly unique out of her mother. I think it’s such a lovely thought that she uses her presumed innocence to her advantage, and that she’s got a harsher side to her that is often unnoticed at first glance -- and I can’t wait to see how you explore that further in the roleplay and build off it! Her little traits and hobbies are utterly endearing too, and I just thought you captured who your Pandora is so beautifully! I know we’re all looking forward to seeing her on the dash! *your faceclaim change to Lily James has been accepted!

application beneath the cut

OUT OF CHARACTER

INTRODUCTION

Mel, 23, GMT, she/her.

ACTIVITY

I am usually online every day, some days for longer than others depending on how many hours my boss puts me in for that day. I would say, for safety sake, 6 out of 10.

TRIGGERS

*removed for privacy

HOW DID YOU FIND US?

Your blog popped up as a ‘blog you might like’? I don’t know how.

WHAT HARRY POTTER CHARACTER DO YOU IDENTIFY WITH MOST?

I feel like I most connected with Remus Lupin, but perhaps it’s just because I liked his character and the background J.K.Rowling created for him. He’s genuinely a good guy, always worried about the thoughts and feelings of those around him, hesitant to let people close to him and he has an inner demon (his wolf) that pushes him away from the people around him, whereas I feel like my inner demons (mental health) push me away from people - both for other people’s protection. I also wish I could wear jumpers all the time as well.

IN CHARACTER

DESIRED CHARACTER

Pandora; / panˈdôrə / In Greek the meaning of the name Pandora is: All-gift. In Greek mythology, Pandora’s curiosity led her to open a mysterious box, thereby releasing misery and hope into the world.

Josephine; / jōzəfēn / A feminine form of Joseph. Famous Bearer: French empress Josephine, wife of Napoleon Bonaparte. Also the name of her mother.

Lightwood; / lītwo͝od / Family name. She loves her last name and feels that it is as unique as her first name.

FACE CLAIM

For Pandora, could I please change her FC to Lily James?

REASON FOR CHOSEN CHARACTER

Pandora is one of those characters that in canon, has no real detail or background other than that she is Luna’s mother, therefore she provides a lot of opportunity for development. I like to take on characters in the Marauder Era that have very little about them so I can use more of my imagination and creativity in their backstory and their interactions.

I don’t see Pandora too much like Luna, though of course she is Luna’s mother so there are similarities. She may be a day dreamer and a believer in the weird and wonderful of the world around her, but she is also incredibly observant, underestimated and a fighter. I think when people meet her and spend time with her, they have an image in their mind of a flower girl who smiles a lot and gives chances too willingly.

Underneath her bright outlook on life, despite the war she hopes only for the best from the future and tries to help those around her believe it too, she is feisty and not so easily manipulated. She knows when she is being taken advantage of but often uses her innocence and projection of naivety to her advantage. That’s why she is such an asset to Aversio, because she is overlooked and people become careless with their words around her.

PREFERRED SHIPS // CHARACTER SEXUALITY // GENDER & PRONOUNS

Gender: Female, she and her pronouns.

Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual.

Preferred ships: Pandora/Xeno, Pandora/Chemistry

CREATE ONE (OR MORE!) OF THE FOLLOWING FOR YOUR CHARACTER:

I have made a mock blog and filled it with a few of these things: [x]

IN CHARACTER QUESTIONNAIRE

♔ If you were able to invent one spell, potion, or charm, what would it do, what would you use it for or how would you use it? Feel free to name it:

“Everlasting paint… no, no, I would make all the flowers in my garden bloom throughout the winter, so that I always have something colourful to look at… or, no, I’ve got it! Flowers that can provide paint for me whenever I need it. I run out a lot” she grinned, “I wouldn’t say I was a good artist, maybe just an enthusiastic one, but I tend to run out of my paints so often and they’ve become quite expensive to purchase from Diagon Alley”.

♔ You have to venture deep into the Forbidden Forest one night. Pick one other character and one object (muggle or magical), besides your wand, that you’d want with you:

“Amos Diggory, he seems strong and good with defence and I would definitely need someone to watch my back, the forbidden forest is no place to fool around. If I couldn’t take my wand I would probably take a dagger. To cut things and… stab things”.

♔ What kinds of decisions are the most difficult for you to make?

“Decisions that will affect the lives of those I love. Having control over the lives of others is a huge responsibility and making decisions that could affect those lives, without consultation, would probably be one of the hardest things I would ever have to do” she murmured, biting her lip, “I hope never to have to do that”.

♔ What is one thing you would never want said about you?

“You’re weak”.

WRITING SAMPLE

“Darcy, do we have any rose gold dahlia’s with the lily white edges left in the back?” she called out to the shop at large, as she arranged a stunning vase of flowers in the middle of the store.

“I’ll check now” she heard her assistant call back and smiled to herself, as she placed several roses in amongst the flowers she had already sorted into the display.

She loved to have a variety of colours in her floral displays because, as in relation to her painting also, she felt that the more colourful the display the happier people were in general. Light blue polished nails tapped the crystal vase as she took a step backwards and pursed her lips, tilting her head to one side. “Needs dahlia’s…” she murmured, just as she felt her assistant slip back into the shop and stop beside her, holding a bunch of the flowers she required. Smiling gratefully, she took them from her and sent her back to the counter to check on the order’s that needed to be finished before the end of the day.

Wand between her teeth ready for the finishing touches, she placed several dahlia’s carefully in amongst the already arranged flowers, before standing back, gripping her wand and pointing it at a large piece of lilac ribbon that she had cut and left on the sideboard. With a flick of her wrist, she sent the ribbon to wrap around the vase and tie at the front in a neat bow. “Perfect” she grinned, clapping her hands together as she stood back and admire her work. She only stood for a moment before Darcy called for her and she turned on her heels and headed to the back of the store to help the young girl with whatever was causing her trouble.

*

“Who would have done such a thing?” Darcy gasped, as she stepped into the shop beside her.

Pandora’s eyes flitted around the store, taking in the smashed vase, the beheaded flowers and the scorch marks that painted the walls. She glanced at her assistant who was standing mere centimetres away from her, shaking with her hand pressed over her mouth, looking as though she was about to burst into tears. Pandora felt anger coarse through her, felt pain stab her in the heart as she looked around her mother’s shop and knew why it had been destroyed.

“There will always be those out there who will try to snuff out everything beautiful in the world” she said, moving forward into the store and bending down to pick up a vase that only had a small chip in it. It was the only one she could see that have survived. Careful not to cut herself on shattered glass, she took the vase in one hand and used her other hand to pull the large daisy she had in her hair, out of the tangles. She placed the daisy in the vase and smiled, holding it up to her assistant to see.

“They will never succeed”.

[bpellerin]

The narcissist I know

Recently I picked a book on a recommendation found online. Unless it was in a magazine or podcast. Maybe, yes. I read and listen to a bunch of various sources, and when a book title piques my curiosity off I go to the library app to request it. The library being what it is (awesome because free but a bit on the slow side) by the time a book gets to me I’ve often forgotten why. 

This one was no different, and as usual I started reading wondering what on earth I was thinking when I requested it. 

That didn’t last. For the book, The Narcissist You know: Defending Yourself Against Extreme Narcissists in an All-About-Me Age by Joseph Burgo, was utterly fascinating from the get-go. Like a car crash on the other side of the highway that slows everyone down because we just can't take our eyes off it even though we know it's stupid and not just because it's liable to create another accident or three.  

Burgo, a psychotherapist with 30 years of experience (and a crack writer), organizes his book by types of narcissists; the bullying narcissist, the narcissistic parent, the seductive narcissist, the grandiose narcissist, the know-it-all narcissist, the self-righteous narcissist, the vindictive narcissist, and the addicted narcissist. 

That's a lot of navel-gazing, replete with titillating details of how utterly terrible and immoral the people he describes can be, and I'm not just talking about Michael Jackson. It's tempting to slam the book shut and yell something to the effect that what the hell, we're all doomed, why bother reading the fine print. This world is full of people who think only of themselves and about how they, and only they, ought to come out on top. Like Lance Armstrong or Tiger Woods except less successful at it. 

But hey, celebrities. Can't stop reading about them. Burgo - did I mention he’s a crack writer? - uses their examples to describe narcissism in ways we cal all relate to. It's not an exhaustive list. There's Eliot Spitzer, but no Bill Clinton. Madonna yet no much Mick Jagger. The Kardashians are unaccountably left out. Isn't reality television a giant exercise in narcissism?  It doesn't appear to have crossed Burgo's informed and keenly observant mind, so maybe I'm wrong about this. Add it to the pile of things I didn't know but learned reading this book; a pile that includes some pretty disturbing stuff about yours truly.  

Narcissistic Personality Disorder is an actual diagnosis. Apparently if affects one percent of the population. It’s not the subject of the book. Too gruesome I guess. 

We’re talking instead of "Extreme Narcissism", which isn't bad enough to warrant a place in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (that's DSM to shrinks and people in the know; now you, too, are in the know, you're welcome) but bad enough to write an entire book about. These people account for five percent of the population. Then there's the rest of us. Sometimes full of ourselves, sometimes doubting ourselves, moving along the "narcissistic continuum" of awkward and awful possibilities. 

The point of the book, Burgo helpfully tells us, is to learn to spot Extreme Narcissists in our environment, and what drives them to be the jackasses they are. "Once you recognize narcissistic behavior in others and how it affects your own psyche, you'll be able to avoid inciting its most noxious expressions." He adds that "At heart, Extreme Narcissists fear that they are frauds, that they will be exposed as small, ugly, defective, or without value. They constantly strive to come across as 'winners' because they fear that they are actually 'losers' instead." OK, so far so useful. But then this: "I hope you'll also learn something about yourself in the process - how your defensive reactions make you an occasional narcissist." 

Say what? You can be casual about this? Dear me. Now I'm in trouble. 

OK, look. I know I don't have a problem with narcissism, no more than the average insecure writer, I mean. We all have our moments, don't we. But... could I have real issues? There's only one way to find out. 

I knew I was going to get antsy the minute I read that part about the fear of being a loser. That's how I actually spell my name, did you know? I've been living with a giant case of impostor syndrome all my life, and it's only in very recent years that I've started getting a handle on that sucker. A partial handle. We’re talking work in progress here. As in: a lot of work for not much progress. 

The fear of being a fraud, the shame you feel when you believe you should be better than you are? The crushing lack of confidence in your own abilities, which you quickly masquerade under a thick coat of metaphysical concealer that everyone sees through anyway? Yep. Got that in droves. 

Which makes me now wonder about Millenials and how they were raised to believe in themselves almost above every other value - I exaggerate, no doubt, but then I'm a GenXer and that's what we do, piss on Millenials unless we're busy trying to strangle Baby Boomers - isn't translating into fewer young adults with narcissistic issues? Hmmmm. 

I trepidated my way through the first chapter. Then the second... and then I was looking at that car crash, unable to peel myself away and not just because the crash involved my own mangled carcass. 

Here are personality traits I found in the book, describing various forms of narcissism, that painfully apply to me. 

"As a parent, he was perfectionistic and demanding but only intermittently focused on his children's activities." 

OK, so it's not so much that I wasn't focused on the kids' stuff. But have I been perfectionistic and demanding with my offspring? To a fault, yes. Has it made my kids behave better than their peers? Probably - they may not always show their manners, but I do know they have them in there somewhere. Has it made my kids happier? I doubt it. Has it made me happier? Nope. Did I do it anyway? Yep. Shame: 1, Brigitte: 0. 

"Jason went on at some length about his wife's critical, perfectionistic nature and her tendency to engage in character assassination during their arguments. As I listened, it struck me as one of those marital fights that actually concern something else, an emotional issue at work behind the scene." 

Oooooh, boy. Here we go. I am no longer married, but during the 17 years I was there were a lot of fights. Nasty things, too. And by nasty I mostly mean me. Endless quarrels that descended quickly into a meticulous evisceration of his entire family tree, criticizing everyone and everything. Including myself, yes. I have my faults but I'm not completely delusional - I could see, even back then, that many of our marital difficulties originated with me. Mostly because I knew I was in the wrong place and with the wrong person, and pretty miserable because of it. Most of the viciousness I displayed in those arguments (and to be fair, I was very good at being vicious) could be blamed on the fact that I didn't dare admit to myself that I needed out of that marriage.

”It should come as no surprise that many Extreme Narcissists are highly competitive in virtually every area of their lives, whether in athletics, the business world, or the social milieu they inhabit. They need to win at sports, destroy the competition in their given field, or feel that they are wealthier, more popular, better looking, or more admired than other people - that is, the social 'winners' in their world. Whatever the domain, victory in competition supports their inflated sense of self: they are the winners who prove themselves superior to the losers they defeat. And they need to go on proving it, again and again." 

Well, shit, said the karate world champion. You want hypercompetitive type A? I'll give you the best goddamn hypercompetitive type A in the whole freaking world and make it look easy. Because it's a challenge. And I must not just win it, but destroy the necessity of having that challenge in the first place. Ahem. Yes. Did I mention my Impostor Syndrome and what role it plays in making me thoroughly addicted to smashing every record that pops up in front of me? Yeah. Well. I guess I win that one, too. Except (like most of the other stuff I've "won" over the decades), it doesn't seem to make me feel that much better about myself. Why is that, I wonder? 

"In middle school and later as an adult, the Bullying Narcissist often creates his very own 'team' - at the workplace, within his family or social set - enlisting others in a joint effort to defeat and humiliate his target. While the typical middle school victim is usually a loner or marked by unfavorable difference, someone already lacking in social capital, adult targets are often highly successful." 

Well, I guess I'm not textbook Bullying Narcissist because I don't tend to work in teams for anything. But... one thing I do is notice who's on who's team. And if they're on a team that goes against my interests, they're against me and I enforce my own laws by shutting out people whom I believe are rooting for the wrong cause. And I never forget whose side they were on. So maybe I'm a passive bullying kind of narcissist. Or maybe I'm just a very strong Scorpio? I hear loyalty is a big deal to us... 

"... the Seductive Narcissist appeals to our own narcissism in order to get what he wants from us. The bargain is implicit, unspoken: I will make you feel that you're an exceptionally fascinating person, eminently desirable, if you agree to feel the same way about me." 

This seems to describe Bill Clinton. And that jerk who took me for a ride. There are people who make you feel like you’re unbelievably awesome, and you should listen to the part where it says unbelievably. It’s not about you, it’s about them. Oh, and did I mention I may have used this technique a bit in my day as a political journalist? It worked pretty well, too. It got people talking to me. I confess I didn’t feel bad about it at the time, any more than I do now. Politics is a game and we all play it to the best of our abilities. Plus most politicians are narcissists so I guess that's fair. 

"Many Seductive Narcissists fall head over heels in love with someone they perceive to be an ideal mate, a partner to complement their idealized self-image, and then fall out of love once the imperfections begin to show."

Yeah, a bit. Especially when I was younger. (I am thankfully less stupid nowadays.) But the temptation is still there. Not necessarily in the till-death-do-is-part sense of the word. But let’s just say I have enthusiasms that swing widely. Perhaps you do, too. Sometimes we fall in love with an artist only to be crushed when they invariably one day do something that disappoints us cruelly and then we hate them. Maybe that means we never loved that artist for who they were, but rather because of what they told us about ourselves. Not that we’re self-obsessed or anything. 

"Toward those people who don't hold much psychological value, Seductive Narcissists may consistently come across as self-confident, even arrogant and superior. Toward those people they depend heavily upon to maintain their sense of self, they can seem surprisingly insecure. They may struggle with persistent doubts about their own worth, wanting constantly to hear that they are loved." 

It’s interesting, this need for love. Certainly I’ve felt it all my life, almost cripplingly so. It’s responsible for a ton of mistakes I’ve made, including a few dangerous and expensive ones. I always thought my insecurities were the direct result of my crappy childhood, where love wasn’t much of a thing. But maybe it’s deeper than that. Certainly I find myself sounding less arrogant now that I finally managed to bungle my way into a solid, healthy and loving relationship in which I feel valued for who I am. Maybe we ought to prescribe that. Wouldn't it be a hoot, being a pharmacist handing out Prince Charmings for the good of mankind? **

There are more painful quotes, but that should do for now. In the end, what reading the book taught me was that we are all narcissists to some degree, and some of us have a more pronounced problem with it than others. I count myself in the second group but my ambition is to move over into the first one by being less of a jackass, less insecure, and more loving. 

** Yes, it’s a joke. No, Prince Charmings don’t exist and even if they did you shouldn’t just sit there and hope for one. Try to be charming yourself and see what happens instead.

[ileneca7]

An Interview with David Brin

Our guest David Brin is an astrophysicist, technology consultant, and best-selling author who speaks, writes, and advises on a range of topics including national defense, creativity, and space exploration. He is also a well-known and influential futurist (one of four “World’s Best Futurists,” according to The Urban Developer), and it is his ideas on the future, specifically the future of civilization, that I hope to learn about here.   

Ilene: David, you base many of your predictions of the future on a theory of historical conflict between two models of civilization -– the diamond and the pyramid. Can we start with a brief explanation of these?

David: In somewhere like 99% of human cultures, the stable attractor state was feudalism or some variant, a pyramidal society with owner lords controlling ignorant masses. This structure was a huge success for the topmost males, who got harems, reinforcing the system… but it was lousy at governance because it inherently suppresses criticism and ferment and creativity from below. Whenever human males get a lot of power, we feel within us a temptation to consolidate that power and re-create that pyramid.

The Enlightenment diamond-shaped society, with a huge, prosperous, socially-mobile, empowered middle class, is by far the most productive and creative system the world has ever seen. In 200 years, we accomplished more than all other societies combined, and not just in physical endeavors. Also in attacking age-old assumptions about race, gender and environmental blindness. Adam Smith showed us how to use competition – open and fair – to create fecund arenas – markets, democracy, science, etc. – that in turn spawn cornucopia.

But the diamond is unstable. The very same wealth that we use to attract creative people to take risks and foster new goods, services, etc. starts to build a new caste of owner-oligarchs, whom Adam Smith knew to be the inherent enemies of the very system that engendered them! Marx was also aware of this basic “contradiction of capitalism.” Capitalism’s winners are tempted to become cheaters, using wealth to suppress new competition. And cheating kills capitalism, perverting it and giving it a bad name.

Ilene: Lately, it seems like there are a lot of winners who are also cheaters… are we going backwards?

David: Amid 6,000 years of feudal despotisms, a few brief moments of illumination happened when citizens rose up to rule themselves. Periclean Athenian democracy was spectacularly agile and creative, but only lasted about one human lifespan, before it was crushed by neighboring oligarchies. The Florentine Republic was shorter lived. But we’ve managed about 250 years of an amazing experiment.

So don’t be myopic. Other generations of Americans faced crises and attempts by would-be feudal lords to smash our diamond back into the old pattern. Generally, these phases of the American Civil War (we’re in phase eight) have ended surprisingly well, as we extend freedom and rights and dignity to ever more kinds of people. But at the time, each crisis seemed impossible to overcome.

We need confidence. Alas, that is why many voices in power and media try to spread gloom.

Ilene: You said above that we are in Civil War, phase eight? What were the previous seven phases of American Civil War?

David: I describe them elsewhere (e.g. Phases of the American Civil War). Simplistically speaking, there have been two Americas. One is dynamically forward-looking, obsessed with trying new things and taking on new challenges. It respects pragmatism, negotiation and science, admires the self-made man or woman, and tends to keep widening the circle of those who can play. The other side of our character is romantic drawn by mythologies and nostalgia for the past – its rituals and symbols and hierarchies. One might call this our “confederate” side, but indeed, those traits were official doctrine in most of those older societies wherein our ancestors dwelled. Moreover, you can see romantic leanings all across the spectrum, in the incantations of Karl Marx and the conjurings of J.R.R. Tolkien and George Lucas. The Nazis were an extremely romantic movement, as were the Stalinists.

What of those phases of our recurring civil war? Well… Phase one took place in the South, during the Revolution, when the British found their strongest support among Loyalist/Tory militias in Georgia and the Carolinas.  It was Scots-Irish hill settlers, fighting for Daniel Morgan, who tipped the balance in that struggle, toward what would become the American Experiment.

Phase two featured a period when southern politicians grew ever stronger in control of the U.S. federal government.  True, Andrew Jackson clamped down on John C. Calhoun’s secessionism, in the 1830s, and kept the nation together. But Jackson’s overall sentiments were what we might call “confederate.” Indeed, southern control over levers of power only grew until, by 1860, five of nine Supreme Court justices were slave-owners.

There’s no time or space here, to go into great detail, so I’ll leave the others as an assignment!

Ilene: Thank you, I’ll check that out. I’m curious, if, as you’ve suggested, our imaginations cause us to be delusional, how do we still manage to advance?

David: Human beings are inherently misled into subjective fantasies, but there’s a saving grace. We all have different delusions. Other people don’t necessarily share yours, and hence they will help you penetrate yours through the miracle of criticism! Others will tell you about your delusions.  (And boy, will you be eager to return the favor!)

The greatest discovery of our recent, enlightenment revolution was reciprocal accountability, a method that allows adversarial competition to work its magic in flat-open-fair arenas, the greatest of which are markets, democracy, science, justice courts, sports. All five are regulated to limit cheating and monolithic domination. In all five, the core principle is that empowered participants keep an eye on each other.

Competition by itself always leads to cheating by the powerful, who try to establish pyramids of power, like feudalism. Yet, competition is the great creative force! So how do we save it from its own contradictions? By cooperation! By cooperating with each other, via politics, to make rules and prevent cheating, so that competition can thrive!

This is clear in the fifth arena — sports. Without tight rules and regulations and referees, any sporting league would collapse. As it happens, something similar is why our other four arenas – democracy, science, courts, and markets – work better now than they ever did, in any previous society. But cheaters will innovate, and all of our creative-competitive arenas are currently under attack by rogues, seeking to re-establish pyramids of inherited power.

Ilene: Do the arenas for competition that you describe have different ideal amounts of rules and rituals?

David: Markets need creativity and can afford a high error rate, so their ritualized combat is loose. Science can regulate itself largely because practitioners are watching each other, fiercely. Courtrooms need very little creativity but a very low error rate, hence they are meticulous, slow, patterned and structured. Of course, this starts to break down when the judges become political shills.

Ilene: Do you think there is still a long way to go to reach satisfactory balances in the marketplace and other arenas?

David: Markets are the filthiest competitive arena, but produce the wealth that keeps the others going. The left denounces “competition” and the right denounces “regulation” when it is only regulated competition that has ever prevented inevitable human cheating and allowed our creativity to flower.

All the five competitive arenas feature ritualized combat – in the marketplace, elections, science conferences, the courtroom, and playing field – where “truth” is determined in terms of best products, policies, theories, cases and teams. But there is no similar way for us to adjudicate between ten million rumors, stories, lies and fake news items that spread each hour on the web. I predicted this would be a problem 25 years ago, in my novel EARTH. Alas, no one heeds science fiction authors!

Ilene: Perhaps we should! How did you know?

David: I don’t know why some things seem obvious. In the twenty years since I published The Transparent Society, almost every single page has come true, in one form or another.

Ilene: This quote of yours made me wonder whether insatiability might be like a design flaw, hardwired into us. Do you think it is?

The question of satiability is crucial here. Among the elites in any society, there are those who measure their status and contentment by their relative wealth — the degree by which they appear to be elevated over the majority. Others measure their sense of success in terms of personal goals — items they want to own and things they want to do or achieve. To these latter individuals, it is immaterial whether millions of others get to own and do the same things. In fact, the more the merrier!

Distinguishing between these two motivations for seeking wealth can be profoundly significant, not only psychologically but also philanthropically. Many political and social disagreements among members of the monied elite arise from tension between these two views of wealth — whether it is a means to achieve status above others, or a means to achieve specific and tangible goals. What seems to determine the balance is satiability, having to do with an individual’s ability to draw genuine satisfaction and a sense of completion from the achievement of his or her previously stated goals.

David: Well, well. Whoever wrote that sure had a strong point of view! I hope he got plenty of critical scrutiny to penetrate or interrogate delusions! It would also be nice if he got to test that theory. By getting rich.

Ilene: Sign me up too! You’ve been saying that we are in the midst of a culture war.  Now, if anything, this culture war has been getting more intense. Science is under attack; even basic human rights principles are under attack. Sometimes it feels like we’re losing.

David: It’s a mistake to get distracted by matters like symbolism, or “left vs right,” or even racism, as appalling and deadly evil as it is. The main issue today – underlying all others — is the destruction of our ability to use facts, to refute rumors and to demolish lies. To provide a basis for grownup negotiation.

And it’s not just in science!  Can you name for me one profession of high knowledge and skill that’s not under attack by extremists on the far left or today’s entire right? Teachers, medical doctors, journalists, civil servants, law professionals, economists, skilled labor, professors… oh, yes and now the intelligence community and military officer corps, which are being denounced as a malignant “deep state.”

We could get past the surface problems of culture war – and yes, finally crush racism and sexism and environmental neglect – if facts were still weapons that moderates could use against fanatics. Or that sane adults could use for negotiation. The destruction of fact has been the top priority of those re-igniting civil war.

Ilene: And they have been pretty successful! A substantial portion of our population distrusts scientists and rejects science. Climate change denial is a good example. In spite of tremendous evidence, many people believe climate change is a hoax. They believe thousands of scientists are part of a conspiracy which sells climate change for its own purposes. Why has this “War on Science” been so effective?

David: Science had to be attacked first. Most Americans do not buy into the “War on Science,” but a large enough minority has that they now will believe any cult incantation can substitute for facts or evidence.

Think about how this fits the model of an oligarchic coup. The New Lords will never be able to take complete control so long as fact-people like journalists, teachers, economists, doctors, the FBI… and yes, scientists… can stand in their way saying, “the facts don’t agree with you.”

Ilene: And in the arena of democracy, an anti-science minority now has enormous political power…?

David: The core objective of the enemies of the Republic has been achieved – the total destruction of politics as a problem-solving methodology for the American Republic. The very word has been trashed. And the “Hastert Rule” promises damnation for any member of one party who dares to offer to negotiate with the other.

Ilene: What are your predictions for the US and the world in 50 years?

David: About a century ago, John M. Keynes prophesied that rising industrial production would pour forth so much wealth with such automated efficiency that the forty hour week (just then coming into fashion) would be reduced to thirty hours, then twenty, as jobs were shared and the working class got more leisure time. As it happened, there was a vast world out there that still needed to industrialize, and the West’s appetite for ever-more goods kept factories and mines etc. humming hard for all of those decades. And the two were related, for the developing world was uplifted primarily out of the spending of Americans and others, on trillions of dollars’ worth of crap we never needed.

But there’s a light on the horizon. A century forestalled, the era foreseen by Keynes appears about to dawn, with automation seeming about to render most kinds of human industrial employment wholly or partially obsolete. Indeed, many white-collar jobs and even creative tasks seem prone to takeover by AI systems. Local production of goods and food may end the long chains of container ships carrying cargoes across oceans, an ecological godsend, but sending the world economy into convulsions.

If the Keynes era dawns, then we’ll be faced with many decisions:

Who will own the means of production and the cornucopia that pours forth. If it is a classic, feudal pyramid, then exploitation and unfairness are guaranteed, followed by revolution. But it needn’t be that way.

Will paychecks be replaced by UBI or Universal Basic Income? Or else by giving every citizen a “share” in these urban factories and farms, so they can live off dividends?

Either way, how will folks spend their time?  We are already in an under-appreciated era of hobbies, pastimes, avocations and amateur sagacities. There are more blacksmiths and sword makers in the U.S. today that in the Wild West or European middle ages.  In my novel Foundation’s Triumph… and separately in EARTH… I posited an Age of Amateurs, and it is already here.  But… will that suffice for all people?

If all of this happens under the guidance of Artificial Intelligence, will they help us to design better ways for a better era?  And will we agree with those super-minds about what is “better”?

Ilene: When do you think AI will surpass us and what will “they” do with us?

David: For this, let me refer you to my big talk on AI, before a packed house at IBM’s World of Watson congress in Las Vegas, October 2016. A punchy tour of big perspectives on Intelligence, as well as both artificial and human augmentation. (Innovation Talks: David Brin.)

Ilene: Do you think there is more to a human being than what can be replicated by AI? Something non-reproducible, maybe non-material?

David: Brain science suggests we may be harder to emulate than the AI optimists and “singularity” zealots claim. First we thought we’d need the same number of computer binary “flops” as there are neurons in a brain – in the hundred billions range. Then folks said we’ll need to emulate the number of inter-cellular synapses, in the hundreds of trillions. Now we know that each synapse flash is accompanied by “calculations’ taking place inside the neurons and surrounding tissues… perhaps a hundred quadrillion murky, nonlinear bits of info processing. Oh, we are marvels, all right.

Still, I wager within just a few years computer emulations will seem intelligent enough to cause us real uproar.

Ilene: If attacks by cheaters which destabilize human society are a consequence of human insatiability, perhaps we could create AI that is less insatiable?

David: Watch that video of my IBM talk. I describe six approaches to making AI. One of them – “machine learning” – is really taking off.  One of them – secret Wall Street trading programs — could end our species. But one of them, portrayed in EXISTENCE and some of my short stories, could offer us a soft landing into a world of AI beings who are decent folks. If we raise them as our children. As humans.

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To learn more about David, please visit him at his website and blog. 

Originally posted at Phil’s Stock World.

Pictures courtesy of Pixabay.

An Interview with David Brin was originally published on MarketShadows