#Practice Manual

[fromcainwithlove]

author’s notes today: hey guys so just a warning there isn’t 100% explicit verbal consent even though they’re both really into it so remember this is FICTION, also they don’t use a condom :((( but in real life safe sex is important!!! please be safe out there everyone

a/n back in the day: kept thinking about ____ stabbing knives through both of _____’s hands to pin him in place while they fucked so here you go lol =P

[ultimateca]

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[js-dragonart]

Seasmoke Manual for Addam, Aegon Manual for baby Sunfyre.

Love the ongoing joke about how it was easier to teach Sunfyre English than to make Aegon learn high Valyrian.

[dailyanarchistposts]

Direct action, simply put, means cutting out the middleman: solving problems yourself rather than petitioning the authorities or relying on external institutions. Any action that sidesteps regulations and representation to accomplish goals directly is direct action—it includes everything from blockading airports to helping refugees escape to safety and organizing programs to liberate your community from reliance on capitalism. Here we present a step-by-step guide to organizing and carrying out direct action, from the first planning stages to the debrief at the end, including legal support, media strategy, and proper security.

There are countless scenarios in which you might want to employ direct action. Perhaps representatives of despicable multinational corporations are invading your town to hold a meeting, and you want to do more than simply hold a sign; perhaps they’ve been there a long time, operating franchises that exploit workers and ravage the environment, and you want to hinder their misdeeds; perhaps you want to organize a festive, community-oriented event such as a street party. Direct action can plant a public garden in an abandoned lot or defend it by paralyzing bulldozers; it can occupy empty buildings to house the homeless or shut down government offices. Whether you’re acting in secret with a trusted friend or in a mass action with thousands of people, the basic elements are the same.

[cozydelaney]

he's all fired up!!

[wsteria-rain]

the actor

[perryisle]

another low poly model finished!!! hello john guilty gear

[tottertarts]

ʜᴇ ʟᴇᴛs ᴍᴇ ɢᴏ ᴀ ғᴇᴡ sᴛᴇᴘs.

"ᴏʜ, ʙʀᴇᴇ." [...] "ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ᴀ ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ ᴛᴏᴏ sᴍᴀʀᴛ."

~ 'ʟᴇɢᴇɴᴅʙᴏʀɴ' ʙʏ ᴛʀᴀᴄʏ ᴅᴇᴏɴɴ, ᴘᴀɢᴇ 454

It's kinda funny how I have nearly 50 pages tabbed in Bloodmarked, surely up towards 20 WIPs, and yet manage to procrastinate and draw other things, isn't it? But HEY? How else am I supposed to beat the artblock demons?? Hmmm???

My Legendborn-list of fanarts needed more entries anyway to balance out the BM count lmao

ANYWAY. Here, have an illustration of the most haunting moment in the entire book, for me. This entire scene (and what comes before it) is actually the worst thing, ever! I usually like being a visual reader, but for the first time, I don't! Everything about this reveal haunts me at night! Even two while years after reading it the first time! Thank you Tracy! 🙂💀 (don't get it twisted, I love it, obviously, but oh my FUCKING god Deonn writes tension like a GODDESS)

I'm also finally home from con and me and my reading buddy will be tackling Oathbound SOON. I am excited. As always.

I also find it absolutely hilarious how many notes the previous post of Sel hugging Bree/flipping off Lark has. It's nearly at 100 notes already and it's been BARELY over a week? 😭 lmao stay silly my fellow legendbornians 💕💕

[asexualbookbird]

POUCH!

@bigcats-birds-and-books asked for a pouch to keep masks and things safe in a bag :) years and years ago, someone made me something similar but smaller and I just sat and stared at that for a while before Doing This. Thinking back, I probably should've done a mock up in scrap fabric but nothing went horribly wrong so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

last photo it's stuffed with one of those grocery bags that fold up and fit in a pocket. This was fun and healing and a good brain scratcher thank you!!

[kosmonauttihai]

That Omega Ridley vs Sauron (the Marvel character, yes the guy who turns people into dinosaurs) poll in the Metroid tag (a bunch of pages back now) reminds me of how at some point when I didn't know much about Metroid, I thought, because of his relatively mundane human name, that Ridley had been human once. Basically that he was this Mad Scientist type character (not exactly incorrect, but more so) who had used himself as a test subject a liiiittle too much, and now he looks like this. But no, turns out he just. is a space dragon, because that's a normal sapient extraterrestrial species in this series, and honestly that's even better. As for the name,

The serious, semi-TragicBackstory hc: It's a translation of his original name, which is unpronounceable to most other species, and might also just be what the Federation knows him as, while he and the other Pirates call him a related word in their own language(s). Ridley spent his early childhood as a feral little critter in the wilderness of Zebes, mostly the surface and shallow caves, which are not exactly known as an environment the most hospitable to life. He presumably had biological parents, but by the time he hatched they were nowhere to be found, so he raised himself from birth (and he turned out fine!). "Ridley" as a name derived from Old English means "reed clearing" or "cleared land", but he's been around for a while and his name has gone through several languages and a few broken-telephone mutations along the way, starting out with a meaning closer to "empty/barren land". Sometimes people are named after their parents, Ridley named himself after the only one he had.

The funny hc: Ridley's name is an Alien reference in-universe, too. Assuming Metroid takes place in the future of our universe, that would probably mean all real-life media other than Metroid itself exists there, and, well, Ridley just really likes Alien. The xenomorph was his first crush (they look like him!). But he figured it would be less embarrassingly obvious if he picks something like the movie's director's name instead ("Sigourney" was a close second, but a little too traceable to the source).

Also space dragon called Ridley is just the reverse of human trans people deliberately naming ourselves things not usually considered to be names.

[nivienne-grovant]

Perfect - I'll get these delivered as soon as I return. I'm sure they will appreciate getting the chance to see you again.

The camera emote is so cute actually. Just leave it to the part-time post-moogle to make sure everything gets delivered safe and sound to their friends on the Source.

[friend-dogor]

banjo week one notes 🪕

went from thinking "oh hell yeah maybe i will play a song for the kids at camp this year" to "oh my god i'd be lucky if i could learn Skip To My Lou on this thing i'm a complete idiot" to "oh okay maybe i could play a song for the kids at camp this year. a simple song though."

wrist pain unsurprising. what is surprising is the chest pain. this beast is Heavy and it keeps bonking into my chest and i don't have much padding there anymore. gonna end up with banjo boob bruises. sad. might sew myself a little padding/armor thing to cover just the right side of my chest, like a mune-ate in kyūdō or something.

humbling in a very nice way to start learning a new art pretty much entirely from scratch and on my own. the depths of my ignorance is astounding.

this thing is HEAVY. shockingly so. i went to put it on the scale and it came out at 6 pounds and i feel like i'm insane—but that's probably because all the weight is centered in the head/drum of the banjo. and the neck has barely any weight at all.

learning mostly from a combination of pete seeger's revised "How to Play a 5-String Banjo" manual he wrote back in the 50s, youtube videos, and tabs that people have shared online for free.

at the moment i just kind of read/view/play as much as i can until my head starts swimming and then i put it down (abt an hour of practice each day i think)

still struggling with the comfort factor on banjo picks. awkward to use. but i love that they look like i have claws LMFAO

the sound of the banjo itself is insanely pretty. it hums beautifully when its plucked or even gently prodded. when my brother handed it to me he hit a string and i was like Oh I Need That In My Hands Right Fucking Now

that said—because of the weight of it, part of me is now thinking, when i get a job that is stable and reliable, it might be nice to get a lightweight, open-back banjo without the resonator, maybe as a traveling/practice banjo. then, i looked at the prices for even used banjos and thought "fuck it maybe i'll learn to make one instead" LMFAOOOOO.

i'm already getting much quicker with plucking and fretting—fretting is still Dead Slow and i don't know where my fingers are, but it doesn't take me a whole minute to put fingers down (EMBARRASSINGLY SLOW) and plucking, i can even be a little fast and accurate sometimes. not up to Expected Plunky Banjo Speed but I'm getting there. would attach a video if i were not still embarrassed. next time maybe.

[newpathwrites]

If you’re looking for something to binge this weekend, check out Manual para Señoritas (The Lady’s Companion) on Netflix. Spanish Bridgerton but even better.

[dailyanarchistposts]

Turbulent times are upon us. Already, blockades, demonstrations, riots, and clashes are occuring regularly. It’s past time to be organizing for the upheavals that are on the way.

But getting organized doesn’t mean joining a pre-existing institution and taking orders. It shouldn’t mean forfeiting your agency and intelligence to become a cog in a machine. From an anarchist perspective, organizational structure should maximize both freedom and voluntary coordination at every level of scale, from the smallest group up to society as a whole.

You and your friends already constitute an affinity group, the essential building block of this model. An affinity group is a circle of friends who understand themselves as an autonomous political force. The idea is that people who already know and trust each other should work together to respond immediately, intelligently, and flexibly to emerging situations.

This leaderless format has proven effective for guerrilla activities of all kinds, as well as what the RAND Corporation calls “swarming” tactics in which many unpredictable autonomous groups overwhelm a centralized adversary. You should go to every demonstration in an affinity group, with a shared sense of your goals and capabilities. If you are in an affinity group that has experience taking action together, you will be much better prepared to deal with emergencies and make the most of unexpected opportunities.

This guide is adapted from an earlier version that appeared in our Recipes for Disaster: An Anarchist Cookbook.

Affinity Groups are Powerful

Relative to their small size, affinity groups can achieve a disproportionately powerful impact. In contrast to traditional top-down structures, they are free to adapt to any situation, they need not pass their decisions through a complicated process of ratification, and all the participants can act and react instantly without waiting for orders—yet with a clear idea of what to expect from one another. The mutual admiration and inspiration on which they are founded make them very difficult to demoralize. In stark contrast to capitalist, fascist, and socialist structures, they function without any need of hierarchy or coercion. Participating in an affinity group can be fulfilling and fun as well as effective.

Most important of all, affinity groups are motivated by shared desire and loyalty, rather than profit, duty, or any other compensation or abstraction. Small wonder whole squads of riot police have been held at bay by affinity groups armed with only the tear gas canisters shot at them.

The Affinity Group is a Flexible Model

Some affinity groups are formal and immersive: the participants live together, sharing everything in common. But an affinity group need not be a permanent arrangement. It can serve as a structure of convenience, assembled from the pool of interested and trusted people for the duration of a given project.

A particular team can act together over and over as an affinity group, but the members can also break up into smaller affinity groups, participate in other affinity groups, or act outside the affinity group structure. Freedom to associate and organize as each person sees fit is a fundamental anarchist principle; this promotes redundancy, so no one person or group is essential to the functioning of the whole, and different groups can reconfigure as needed.

Pick the Scale That’s Right for You

An affinity group can range from two to perhaps as many as fifteen individuals, depending on your goals. However, no group should be so numerous that an informal conversation about pressing matters is impossible. You can always split up into two or more groups if need be. In actions that require driving, the easiest system is often to have one affinity group to each vehicle.

Get to Know Each Other Intimately

Learn each other’s strengths and vulnerabilities and backgrounds, so you know what you can count on each other for. Discuss your analyses of each situation you are entering and what is worth accomplishing in it—identify where they match, where they are complentary, and where they differ, so you’ll be ready to make split-second decisions.

One way to develop political intimacy is to read and discuss texts together, but nothing beats on-the-ground experience. Start out slow so you don’t overextend. Once you’ve established a common language and healthy internal dynamics, you’re ready to identify the objectives you want to accomplish, prepare a plan, and go into action.

Decide Your Appropriate Level of Security

Affinity groups are resistant to infiltration because all members share history and intimacy with each other, and no one outside the group need be informed of their plans or activities.

Once assembled, an affinity group should establish a shared set of security practices and stick to them. In some cases, you can afford to be public and transparent about your activities. in other cases, whatever goes on within the group should never be spoken of outside it, even after all its activities are long completed. In some cases, no one except the participants in the group should know that it exists at all. You and your comrades can discuss and prepare for actions without acknowledging to outsiders that you constitute an affinity group. Remember, it is easier to pass from a high security protocol to a low one than vice versa.

Make Decisions Together

Affinity groups generally operate on via consensus decision-making: decisions are made collectively according to the needs and desires of every individual involved. Democratic voting, in which the majority get their way and the minority must hold their tongues, is anathema to affinity groups—for if a group is to function smoothly and hold together under stress, every individual involved must be satisfied. Before any action, the members of a group should establish together what their personal and collective goals are, what risks they are comfortable taking, and what their expectations of each other are. These matters determined, they can formulate a plan.

Since action situations are always unpredictable and plans rarely come off as anticipated, it may help to employ a dual approach to preparing. On the one hand, you can make plans for different scenarios: If A happens, we’ll inform each other by X means and switch to plan B; if X means of communication is impossible, we’ll reconvene at site Z at Q o’clock. On the other hand, you can put structures in place that will be useful even if what happens is unlike any of the scenarios you imagined. This could mean preparing resources (such as banners, medical supplies, or offensive equipment), dividing up internal roles (for example, scouting, communications, medic, media liaison), establishing communication systems (such as burner phones or coded phrases that can be shouted out to convey information securely), preparing general strategies (for keeping sight of one another in confusing environments, for example), charting emergency escape routes, or readying legal support in case anyone is arrested.

After an action, a shrewd affinity group will meet (if necessary, in a secure location without any electronics) to discuss what went well, what could have gone better, and what comes next.

Tact and Tactics

An affinity group answers to itself alone—this is one of its strengths. Affinity groups are not burdened by the procedural protocol of other organizations, the difficulties of reaching agreement with strangers, or the limitations of answering to a body not immediately involved in the action.

At the same time, just as the members of an affinity group strive for consensus with each other, each affinity group should strive for a similarly considerate relationship with other individuals and groups—or at least to complement others’ approaches, even if others do not recognize the value of this contribution. Ideally, most people should be glad of your affinity group’s participation or intervention in a situation, rather than resenting or fearing you. They should come to recognize the value of the affinity group model, and so to employ it themselves, after seeing it succeed and benefiting from that success.

Organize With Other Affinity Groups

An affinity group can work together with other affinity groups in what is sometimes called a cluster. The cluster formation enables a larger number of individuals to act with the same advantages a single affinity group has. If speed or security is called for, representatives of each group can meet ahead of time, rather than the entirety of all groups; if coordination is of the essence, the groups or representatives can arrange methods for communicating through the heat of the action. Over years of collaborating together, different affinity groups can come to know each other as well as they know themselves, becoming accordingly more comfortable and capable together.

When several clusters of affinity groups need to coordinate especially massive actions—before a big demonstration, for example—they can hold a spokescouncil meeting at which different affinity groups and clusters can inform one another (to whatever extent is wise) of their intentions. Spokescouncils rarely produce seamless unanimity, but they can apprise the participants of the various desires and perspectives that are at play. The independence and spontaneity that decentralization provides are usually our greatest advantages in combat with a better equipped adversary.

Bottomlining

For affinity groups and larger structures based on consensus and cooperation to function, it is essential that everyone involved be able to rely on each other to come through on commitments. When a plan is agreed upon, each individual in a group and each group in a cluster should choose one or more critical aspects of the preparation and execution of the plan and offer to bottomline them. Bottomlining the supplying of a resource or the completion of a project means guaranteeing that it will be accomplished somehow, no matter what. If you’re operating the legal hotline for your group during a demonstration, you owe it to them to make sure someone can handle it even if you get sick; if your group promises to provide the banners for an action, make sure they’re ready, even if that means staying up all night the night before because the rest of your affinity group couldn’t show up. Over time, you’ll learn how to handle crises and who you can count on in them—just as others will learn how much they can count on you.

Go Into Action

Stop wondering what’s going to happen, or why nothing’s happening. Get together with your friends and start deciding what will happen. Don’t go through life in passive spectator mode, waiting to be told what to do. Get in the habit of discussing what you want to see happen—and making those ideas reality.

Without a structure that encourages ideas to flow into action, without comrades with whom to brainstorm and barnstorm and build up momentum, you are likely to be paralyzed, cut off from much of your own potential; with them, your potential can be multiplied by ten, or ten thousand. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world,” Margaret Mead wrote: “it’s the only thing that ever has.” She was referring, whether she knew it or not, to affinity groups. If every individual in every action against the state and status quo participated as part of a tight-knit, dedicated affinity group, the revolution would be accomplished in a few short years.

An affinity group could be a sewing circle or a bicycle maintenance collective; it could come together for the purpose of providing a meal at an occupation or forcing a multinational corporation out of business through a carefully orchestrated program of sabotage. Affinity groups have planted and defended community gardens, built and occupied and burned down buildings, organized neighborhood childcare programs and wildcat strikes; individual affinity groups routinely initiate revolutions in the visual arts and popular music. Your favorite band was an affinity group. An affinity group invented the airplane. Another one maintains this website.

Let five people meet who are resolved to the lightning of action rather than the agony of survival—from that moment, despair ends and tactics begin.

[napping-sapphic]

lmao i’d kiss anyone like you annnd uhhhh you a second time and ummm hang on a sec maybe i would kiss umm….you…..again……and uhmmb….

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Harvey Day - The Study and Practice of Yoga - University Books - 1955