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dr-futbol-blog · 4 months ago

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Grace Under Pressure, Pt. 12

Just as Sheppard throws a lampshade on the presence of sea monsters in the vast and unexplored oceans of the planet, we move back to McKay whose situation seems to be quickly deteriorating if the amount of water that has now started filling his jumper is anything to go by. We actually find McKay submerged, feeling up the floor of the jumper by hand which means that he is probably trying to see where the fractures are, to see where the water is coming in and whether there is anything he can do to block it. It is not only that he is in the back of a sinking jumper that is rapidly filling with water but also that he is having to work in freezing water, doing everything in his power to combat hypothermia. As McKay comes up from the water he is running commentary as per usual, he is for sure complaining, but he is complaining a whole hell of a lot less than most people would complain in his situation. Mostly he seems to be using his complaining as a running tally of things he needs to keep on top of.

McKay: It's funny -- I was just actually... I was just, you know, thinking what would complete this experience would be freezing cold sea water in the compartment, lots of it, and because now the whole imploding thing is kind of off the table, drowning should really be brought back into the equation. "Carter": You can fix this.

McKay tells the thing that is supposed to be manifested from his thoughts what he had just been thinking while he was away from her, at least suggesting that he does not think that she has direct access to his thoughts. Of course it could just be a feature of him needing to have someone to talk to and hence simply talking out loud because he needs to be doing that to process information, but we have seen him do this before without the aid of hallucinations, we have seen him talking to different personas while trying to keep himself together previously without the need to manifest a whole-ass person before. He is capable of doing that without hallucinating her up, and hence the fact that he feels the need to fill her in on his process seems somewhat strange. What ever she is, McKay himself does not seem entirely convinced she is what she says she is.

McKay: There are micro-fractures all along the seam. "Carter": You still have fully functioning life support, right? McKay: Yes. "Carter": Then create a positive pressure environment. McKay: What? "Carter": If you can increase the pressure inside the jumper, you should be able to slow the leaking.

"Carter" seemed to know that there were micro-fractures along the hull before McKay had had the chance of confirming this, and now she suggests a course of action for him that might well be something he should have been able to think up for himself but for one reason or another had not. McKay is an Engineer, so creating a positive pressure environment to slow the water leaking in should have been the kind of solution he could have come up with and it might be a combination of the concussion and paralyzing fear that currently keeps him from reaching obvious conclusions. It is obvious that McKay needs Carter and that she may be able to pick up some things from his mind that he currently has trouble accessing. But this does not mean that she is a creation of his mind.

McKay: Well, we'll never be able to stop it. "Carter": I'm not saying that we could. We're just trying to buy time here. McKay: In order to make death as long and as drawn-out as possible, huh? "Carter": Just max it out, McKay. McKay: Alright.

McKay had been talking in the first person when "Carter" had first appeared and had switched back to the first person plural as the jumper started filling up with water, seeming to need to dissociate from the creeping panic of it all. He continues talking about "we" here, and it is not entirely clear whether he has just come to accept that this entity is something outside of himself and he is literally referring to the two of them, himself and her, or he is dissociating and is simply trying to feel less like he is alone by talking about "we". What is almost more interesting is that "Carter" also switches to we here, as though she is here with McKay. And there is really no rational reason for her to be aware of the rescue party being on their way to pick McKay up. Everything that McKay knows, conscious or subconscious, is telling him that it will be impossible to find him in time. There is no rational reason for him to believe her about this.

"Carter": We should probably find a way to heat this water, too. McKay: We make a good team, you and I. "Carter": Sure...

"Carter" also makes a note about heating up the water even though she does not seem to feel the cold in the same way that he can, is not affected by the water. McKay being cold could be heard in his voice up until he got so angry as to not seem affected by the cold any more.

It may not be coincidental that what is essentially Carter expressing worry for McKay, expressing caring about his well-being, that makes McKay flip a switch in how he considers her, all out of the blue. Samantha Carter tolerates him, McKay would not go further than that. Perhaps there is some begrudging professional respect between them even though it is buried deep, deep down inside. But he knows that Carter does not care one whit whether he is warm or not. He does not think even his subconscious mind cares whether he is warm or not because if there is anything McKay has learned during his childhood it had been to turn off physical sensations like pain, hunger and cold. He has lived in Siberia and the Antarctic, he can deal with a bit of cold. He does not love it, but for him there are so many more acute things he should be worried about right now as to cold not making even the top twenty.

And the fact that Carter makes the suggestion here, it seems triggering to him. It seems to confirm to him not just that he is not dealing with Carter, which he already knew given how she had claimed to be caused by his concussion, but also that she is not a creation of his subconscious mind either. And so, it seems as though McKay decides to test her. He tells Carter something that both himself and Carter knows he would never say to her. And it is interesting that she seems suspicious of his about-face here. It is almost as though she catches on to him trying to trick her immediately.

McKay: No, no, I mean it. I really enjoy working with you. Always have. I wonder... I wonder why we never hooked up. "Carter": What, aside from the fact that you're petty, arrogant and treat people badly? McKay: ...Yes. "Carter": Nope, that's pretty much it -- petty, arrogant, bad with people. McKay: Oh... but... you do find me attractive, I mean physically. "Carter": Let's stick to working on my idea.

So, let us begin with the fact that what McKay tells her here is a lie. He does not enjoy working with Carter for many reasons, beginning from initially having thought that she was a fraud, a military grunt with too little theoretical knowledge of the project whose sole purpose was to make his own work more difficult. Upon their initial meeting, he literally thought she was just a pretty face. And getting to know Carter better had only made it worse because coming to realize just how brilliant she was, he was forced to accept his own limitations, being reminded of having been called "a fine technical" player in his youth by his piano instructor where Carter had seemed like a true artist to him. Working with Carter was difficult for Rodney McKay, it had made him have to face things about his own expertise and his own life that were not comfortable, and although he might acknowledge her skills and expertise -- not necessarily to her face, not unless someone was dying -- that is a far cry from enjoying working with her. McKay does not enjoy working with Carter even if both of them are willing to put aside their differences if they need to work together, if saving the world requires them to pool resources.

So, he starts off with a lie. And he starts off with a lie that he knows Carter knows is a lie because Samantha Carter does not enjoy working with him any more than he enjoys working with her -- let alone that they had always felt this way. They had not. And this is not a case of "good guy McKay," of him having a heart of gold that he merely hides underneath a prickly exterior that he is only now revealing (to himself) because although McKay is not a bad guy, he is not that either. He is not a poor, misunderstood genius who just tries to conceal his soft centre and poor self-esteem by treating people badly when he really just wants to be loved, going about it the wrong way because he does not know how to behave around women, or what ever people think is happening here. No, the thing is, Carter knows that Mr "I always wanted penis" is gay and it had been only after Carter had come to realize why McKay was treating her and other women the way he was that she warmed up to him. When Carter had thought that he was just a sexist, misogynistic douchebag, she hated his guts. It was after she realized that she was actually dealing with a gay man forced into the closet by the US military and that his performance was not for himself but for the service members in much more precarious positions than his own that she could actually feel sympathy for him, was able to appreciate the difficult situation he was in.

Samantha Carter knows McKay is gay. Their whole exchange in the infirmary was about her acknowledging that he was gay. The whole peck on his cheek to fuck with him was about recognizing, acknowledging he was gay. She knows. He knows she knows. And this? Is McKay testing to see what the heck kind of an entity he is dealing with here. He is telling "Carter" things that he knows both himself and the real Carter would know to be false. It is even possible that McKay thinks that Samantha Carter is gay herself given how, while it was a different McKay, his first reaction to the Carter from our world had been that she was a lesbian in the alternate world of The Road Not Taken, Dot-com McKay's assessment of her sexuality seeming to be based mostly on her military cut and her butch demeanor. If our McKay had similarly assumed that Carter also has to be gay and in the closet about it, he might even have thought he was doing her a favour by hitting on her so publicly.

I wonder why we never hooked up, he tells her. He and Carter both know the answer to that. But what she tells him here is also interesting because it does seem to draw from his own mind, from his subconscious. Later on, in Tao of Rodney (S03E14), he confesses to Zelenka that had can be a petty, petty man. This is a thing that he thinks about himself. He is petty, he is arrogant and he is bad with people. And the events of the past few episodes are very much lingering in the background of what he feels like here. Whether or not Carter thinks this about McKay, McKay does think this about himself. And the events following Epiphany (S02E12) have only exasperated these feelings because he does not seem to have the tools to deal with the conflict caused by being glad that Sheppard was returned to him safe and sound, being happy that he is alright, and at the same time feeling resentment over what Sheppard had been forced to do in his exile. It was made worse by being able to understand why Sheppard had done it, even feeling glad that he had not been alone because he knows that Sheppard cannot deal with loneliness.

McKay knows he is supposed to be grateful and yet he is also jealous, and resentful and hurt and angry, and he does not know how to reconcile these feelings. And we saw in the previous episode that McKay's attempt at resolving this conflict was to take out his negative feelings toward Sheppard out on the people working for him instead of taking them out on the man that he loves, and consciously or subconsciously, he recognizes that this makes him a petty man who is bad at human relationships. He has been trying to deal with these issues but it is not easy, especially since himself and Sheppard are forced to work with each other never mind what personal issues they might have, the functioning of the city depends on them being able to put aside their differences. So, McKay fears that what she tells him here is absolutely true and worse yet, he fears that it is what Sheppard thinks about him. He wants to forgive but is unable.

But the thing is, Sheppard is the same as him. Sheppard is also petty, arrogant and bad with people. They are both these things. And Sheppard is not any better than McKay is in dealing with recent events, in making McKay feel better about what had happened. He does not know how to deal with what had happened and what he had done either. And McKay further does not know how to deal with his feelings of inferiority when it comes to Sheppard, including but not limited to his good looks. McKay obviously thinks that Sheppard is good-looking and McKay seems to have some trouble reconciling the gnawing fear that he is not as good-looking as Sheppard with the dread that Sheppard cannot love him the same as he loves Sheppard if this is indeed the case, not realizing that Sheppard's love for him is not based on his looks but on a host of other things.

Sheppard loves McKay more than his own life but he flat out tells McKay in Miller's Crossing (S04E09) that he does not think that they are equally good-looking (or, rather, McKay wants him to confirm that he thinks that they are equal in looks and Sheppard asks him who has been lying to him, not knowing that Jeannie had only moments ago been making McKay feel bad about the way he looks). But Sheppard does not think of it in those terms at all. He can name hundreds of people who are better looking than McKay or even himself, and he would never even be able to love them, but he does love McKay and he loves McKay even when he is an old man because McKay is so much more to him. That is what love is to him. The only good his own good looks ever did to him was get him out of a few disciplinary hearings and otherwise they have brought him nothing but pain.

It is not that McKay is delusional about his looks (he did tell Carter that he is "a handsome man" earlier, but this is not what he really believes to be true about himself deep down; wishes, yes, but does not truly believe about himself). But he cannot help but think that if he was better looking, maybe Sheppard would not feel the need to stray. If McKay was good looking like Sheppard, like the ascended women he seems to want or like Carter herself, maybe he would be able to keep Sheppard's attention. We see this in the way that McKay takes on beautiful blonde avatar in The Game (S03E15), how there seems to be a part inside of him that wishes he were a beautiful woman, and he wants to be a beautiful woman because he above all wants the attention of handsome men who prefer beautiful women.

And we may note that he says that he thinks (hopes) that she finds him attractive here. But let us underscore this: he does not at any point say that he finds her attractive. This is not about McKay finding Carter attractive. This is not about him wanting her but is rather about needing people to think that he is attractive because, especially after recent events, he is not feeling very attractive in his own skin. He does not feel like he is attractive enough for Sheppard in particular.

McKay: No, this is my idea. "Carter": How do you figure? McKay: Well, you don't exist. You think what my subconscious tells you to think! So, really the idea was mine. Oh, wow! I'm arguing with myself about who had an idea first, me or me. I really am petty, aren't I? "Carter": And arrogant, and bad with people, yes. McKay: Oh. Well, here we go.

What ever "Carter" is, she is not here for this discussion and tries to change the topic, and they get to squabbling about whose idea what McKay is attempting to do actually was. And it is notable that they are again acting like siblings here. Literally, later on, McKay and his sister argue about credit and who gets to push the button, much like they do here.

And here, McKay is clearly trying to goad who ever or what ever "Carter" is the same way that he might goad his sister because he is not just testing to see how much she is like the real Carter, he also seems to be testing to see how much this thing is like Jeannie. The real Carter knows why they never hooked up. Jeannie would never let him take credit for her idea, and the positive pressure environment here had clearly been her idea. So basically going neener-neener about the idea to her face, he is also making sure that this is not his subconscious manifestation of his sister either. He knows what Jeannie is like in his head, and this is not it. And so, McKay tells her that she does not exist, that she thinks what his subconscious tells her to think even when that seems to be patently untrue based on what he has just learned here.

McKay: And the leaking has been slowed! Well done, Sam! "Carter": Thanks! You too! McKay: Come here! "Carter": Uh! OK. Oh! You do realise what you're actually doing here, right? McKay: Ah, come on!

And so, McKay manages to slow down the jumper taking in water and he seems very happy about it. He may have staved off death for like another five minutes. He calls her Sam here, which again is something that McKay has never actually done in real life, having mostly called her Major. This, calling her by intimate address and hugging her, may still be an attempt at figuring out who or what she is. But this is also a callback to the end of the previous episode. There, they had had a very intense issue that had been resolved at the last minute by himself and Sheppard working together, and they had not been able to hug in public. McKay had wanted to hug him, we could see it in his eyes that he longed to be in physical contact with Sheppard, and yet the only thing they were allowed to do was to look at each other from across the room. And the fact that he hugs her here may have something to do with that. Because he had tested to see how much of her was Carter, and how much of her was Jeannie. But Carter and Jeannie are not the only people who McKay thinks are smarter than him, and Sheppard is in fact among the people he has readily admitted to being smarter than he is at some things.

And here, hugging her and kissing her cheek, he may also be checking to see that his subconscious manifestation of Sheppard is not what it is either. "Carter" basically tells him to knock it off, clearly made uncomfortable by what McKay is doing. She tells him that he has to realize what he is actually doing here, but it is not clear whether she is referring to him hugging the air (as there seems to be a physical component to what ever she is) or that he is essentially hugging his own mind. What ever she is, McKay seems just about done with her. And let us just emphasize this: hugging Samantha Carter is also something that McKay has never done in the real world. We see him hug his sister, he has likely hugged Sheppard even though we never get to see, but not Carter. But it is entirely possible that this thing is a composite of several different people drawn from McKay's mind, and what ever she is confuses him.

McKay: You're a figment of my imagination! The least you could do is take your top off! "Carter": Your subconscious mind knows that I would never be into that. McKay: You're the worst hallucination ever! "Carter": Oh, you don't mean that! McKay: Yes, yes, I do.

And so McKay accuses her of being a figment of his imagination, and the very fact that he seems to hurl this as an insult meant to offend seems to suggest that he does not actually believe that about her. She is not behaving the way he thinks that his hallucination would behave, she is not doing or saying the kinds of things that he thinks his subconscious mind would be doing or saying.

McKay suggests that she should take her top off, that if she actually was manifested from his mind that is what she would do, and we are again given two ways of reading this. One is that he actually wants to see her topless, and that if she was really a figment of his imagination, she would hence be topless. And she gives the excuse that he is just such a gentleman deep down inside that because he knows that she would not be into that, she is not going to do it (except that as soon as she needs to distract him from what he is doing momentarily, she has no trouble trying to seduce him out of doing something that she feels is stupid and dangerous). Essentially, the suggestion is that if she really was the creation of his subconscious mind, it would have gone more or less like this scene in which House MD has his boss strip in his mind while similarly trying to solve a problem:

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That is what the mind of a heterosexual man might well have done in a similar situation, especially as far as fictional representations of the early aughts usually written by men go. And like, House is basically the "good guy" character with a prickly exterior that does not really want to disrespect her deep down inside, even though he does find her sexually attractive.

So that is not what is happening with McKay here. But he is telling her that if she was created from his mind, he should be able to make her do it (and again, he is not saying that he wants her to do it, only that if she was what she says she is, he could make her do it). He could make her do anything. She is a very bad hallucination in the way she does not behave like a hallucination at all.

McKay: Now please just leave me alone while I work on getting myself out of this. "Carter": You're not gonna still try and control the jumper from that little thing, are you? McKay: Yes, yes, I am! And I have to do it quickly before power levels drop below fifty percent. So, that leaves me about ten minutes. If you're not gonna help, then please stand back and keep quiet. "Carter": See, this is why I could never have a relationship with you, Rodney. You don't listen to people. You don't trust them. McKay: I have every reason not to!

We may also note that McKay tells her to leave, to leave him alone. For what ever reason, she is both distracting him and slowing him down, and he does not like that. He does not know what she is but he can tell that she is working against his plan. He knows that this is not Carter, knows that this is not his sister, knows that this is not Sheppard and he knows that this is not something he is hallucinating due to his concussion -- but what ever she is, he simply does not have time to play around with her figuring this out.

McKay asks her to leave him alone because he would rather be alone working on saving himself than being distracted by someone that is going to get him killed. The fact that he tells her to stand back and be quiet unless she plans on helping is also interesting, especially when we compare it with Sheppard and Zelenka's previous scene in the jumper where Zelenka told Sheppard to stop talking so that he can concentrate. Because it is not her talking that is distracting McKay here, it is the fact that she is not even trying to help him but is working against him. When he is working with Sheppard, when Sheppard is talking his ear off, Sheppard is trying to help him and McKay realizes that. And this is the opposite of what he wants Sheppard to do. With Sheppard, he wants him to keep talking and stand close to him. This we have seen many times.

Now, what Carter says to him in response to him telling her the opposite of what he might tell Sheppard (go away and be quiet v. come near and talk to me) is interesting, especially as she suddenly switches address from McKay to Rodney. Not only has McKay never called Carter Sam, Carter has never called McKay Rodney either. And this is the second time that someone is calling him Rodney in the jumper today that would not normally say that. It is not only strange but is a further suggestion that Sheppard is also a part of what ever she is. What she tells him here, "I could never have a relationship with you, Rodney. You don't listen to people. You don't trust them" is not what Samantha Carter would tell Rodney McKay. A relationship between them is not even on the table, there would be no need for her to say it or for him to even think about her saying it to him.

But he is thinking about Sheppard. As he mentioned wanting her to stand back and keep quiet, he reminded himself of who he actually wants to do the opposite of that, had reminded himself how much he misses Sheppard and wishes he were here, and suddenly his mind seems to attack him with the thought that he has been trying to repress about Sheppard: that Sheppard does not want to have a relationship with him and the reason for this is because McKay does not listen and he does not trust him. McKay is afraid that this is true, that Sheppard really does think this about him.

The truth of it is, he does hear everything Sheppard says even when he is trying his damnedest to block him out but because he does not always know how to respond, he can understand that Sheppard might feel like he does not listen. He does hear but he also knows that he should stop to listen more. Maybe Sheppard had been wanting to tell him things that had happened in the sanctuary and he had just not been able to take it in. And he was trying so hard to trust Sheppard but it was just difficult to do that when he kept locking lips with women. He trusted Sheppard with his life but he was not sure if his inability to trust was the issue here. Of course Sheppard wanted him to trust him. Yes, his difficulty in listening and lack of trust made him a bad boyfriend, to be sure. But there was no need to throw it all in his face like that.

And this is when we finally, actually see genuine emotion from McKay. Up until this point, McKay had been trying to figure her out but now we actually see what is eating him up inside. McKay feels hurt and betrayed, and it is Sheppard and the recent experiences between them that are at the heart of his hurt. He finally lets it all come out.

McKay: Look, this whole thing is Zelenka's fault. He was the one responsible for supervising the jumper repairs. He was the one who said she was ready to fly. He's the one who came to me, embarrassed because he was afraid to fly at the best of times, and suggested a test flight. God, I should have just told him to suck it up but no, no -- I said, "Sure, I'll take her out." And now, and now he's all safe and warm and cosy on the surface while I'm stuck down here paying for his mistakes! You'll excuse me if my trust in my fellow scientists is at an all-time low. You want something done right, do it yourself.

McKay is talking about Zelenka for the reason mentioned earlier -- he does not know how to deal with his emotions related to Sheppard, so he projects them onto Zelenka and the other people working for him. But what he is saying here has everything to do with Sheppard. There is a lot of pain in his voice and it is not caused by Zelenka or feeling like Zelenka has let him down and betrayed him. Zelenka is just the lightning rod for his Sheppard-related emotions that he does not know how to deal with (and it is not a coincidence he refers to the jumper as "her" here). And he is blaming Sheppard for even being in this mess right now. He should have been out in the jumper with Sheppard, not with Griffin. While we do not know how they had ended up on the mission together, it is much more likely that McKay had chosen Griffin (so as to have someone to take his foul mood out on rather than being in a closed off space with Sheppard not knowing what would come spilling out of his mouth) than it had been Sheppard choosing not to go with him.

McKay is talking about his fellow scientists but he actually means Sheppard, and we could see this not just with Zelenka but also with Cadman and Kavanagh in the previous episode that McKay had been taking out his Sheppard-related feelings out on all of them for several weeks now, ever since the events of Epiphany. He is clearly feeling a lot of resentment, he is in pain, and he does not know how to deal with these emotions. And it is not a coincidence that it is Carter's jab at him not being relationship-material that triggers McKay to have this outburst now.

If Sheppard wanted to have a relationship with him, they would be taking steps to make that happen, instead of still being worse off than they had been a year ago. And unfortunately, a relationship is the one thing that you simply cannot do by yourself if you want it done right. They both needed to want to be in one for it to work, and clearly they did not.

Continued in Pt. 13

#stargate atlantis #john sheppard #sga #sga meta #sheppard is bi #rodney mckay #rodney is gay #mcshep #ep. grace under pressure #ep. tao of rodney #ep. epiphany #ep. miller's crossing #ep. the game

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glass-warehouse · 4 months ago

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Loved Astor's armor design you shared earlier this week, especially the boot details and the helmet! The crashbars make it look like cat ears from the front and it's kind of cute. Was wondering if you'd maybe like to share more about him? What's his style, is he a throw punces first ask questions later kind of fighter or more of a tactician? What upgrades does he have?

Thank you very much! those boots gave me hell for days. and oh god, the crash bars… it wasn't until I was committed to the front design sketch that I realised they looked like ears, hahaha 😅

the inspiration was originally as a halo (telepathy halo always wins the prom queen, she just cannot lose). then it wasn't until rendering that I thought of them being crash bars, and now it's stuck.

but hey, at least it's functional? sometimes my subconscious surprises even me.

Despite how his armour looks like, well… armour, there's no heavy plating. He's all about agility and flexibility. Astor is no roughhouse fighter; he's a tactician allll the way.

his martial prowess is good enough for most fights, though if he can avoid a fight and still get what he wants, he will. because if he gets hurt or injured, then that's an immediate roadblock. he can't continue with his plans (there's a set timeline for these things), and he wouldn't be able to defend himself should the absolute worst happen. avoiding injury is just the best course of action (Revelations is gonna suck for him…).

still, there are people out there who won't listen until they've been beaten - which Astor will do, even if it feels like a chore or a necessary evil. and it'll be as quick as his caution will allow, no messing around here.

first, he obviously went for those jump jets: quick manoeuvrability is king and there's no dishonour in running away, it means you can come back better prepared next time.

and the telepathy boost: to Astor, there is almost no downside here. extra telepathic assistance, better control of the nanovores, and reduced mental strain. and while he's a known telepath, how many people are gonna start popping numbers before every fight? over time that's only going to work to Astor's advantage. and dampeners require a lot of power, so not super portable.

he plans, then he strikes. not that he's immune to spontaneity, but it does make him tense when he's blindsided.

(in another life, he might've made a good leader. or a good second in command.)

ultimately the biggest upheaval you can throw at him is death.

pointless civilian death, or killing for the sake of it, solves nothing. he will save people if he can. in his eyes, he's caused enough hurt in his past (farm-era), and he doesn't want any more. it'll be interesting in the upcoming instalments if Astor can be worn down enough to kill again.

I'm sure after all of this you'll find it funny to know that he's gone down the anarchist route (with a side of justice). I see Astor as less the embodiment of an angry rally who feel like they've been failed by the current order, and more like the organiser who set it up. checking laws and policies, informing others, making sure to keep it as safe as possible, et cetera...

again, thank you for the ask!! though my apologies if this seems spotty - I kept getting distracted by rl side quests 😂😂

#txt #answered asks #/greenforestmoss #interactive fiction #fhr #pc: astor garcia

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carionto · 2 years ago

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"So Basically... You Work For Cthulhu?"

Part 1 2 3 4 5 6

Trisha was the first to break the strange silence after Iorvan had finished explaining in the most vague terms possible what his purpose here was.

"That is a very crude and inaccurate oversimplification, but yes." with a hint of irritation in his voice, he agreed to her assessment. "The High Priest is all knowing on matters that matter, yet every now and then a "nothing", as beings of such magnitude view mortals like us, will happen upon the right combination of irrelevant information to form new true knowledge."

"Like the million monkey typewriters writing Shakespeare!" Trisha energetically interjected. "So why not just scry or whatever they do every brain and pluck out all the good info?" she questioned.

"As I said, we are "nothings" to them, and though their capabilities are beyond our understanding, they are not without limits, and observing billions of human minds is just incomprehensible static, I imagine." Iorvan looked directly at Trisha, "How much effort would you say it would take to comprehend your thoughts alone, Trisha?"

"Good point, I don't bother doing that half the time myself." she replied eagerly without a second thought.

Chief Engineer Tameki, very clearly confused, finally gathered herself enough, "Wait, please. So why are you here? What does any of that even mean?"

"C'mon ira, keep up, it's not that complicated." Trisha seemed to be more surprised by everyone else's apparent confusion than everyone else was by how she wasn't.

"Us going through a tear in space-time made the universe glitch out. You know, the quantum entanglement thing breaking when it shouldn't and some mumbo-jumbo about our spiritual selves being in two places at once or something. Oh yeah, souls are a thing, but only sorta? Did I get that right, Prof? To Cthulhu it looked like we duplicated our ethereal form and that should not be a thing that anyone can do, so they took notice and sent you here to investigate."

"In the simplest and most inaccurate terms, but correct." Iorvan, now more composed after accepting that Trisha's brain functioned imperfectly enough to somehow comprehend his altered understanding of the true nature of the world. Well, changed by as much knowledge as the High Priest deemed essential to impart onto him.

He continued, adjusting his own explanation to match the intellectual level of the subjects. "Such an unprecedented occurrence will not go unnoticed by the rest of the Old Ones, and the consequences for this event originating directly from the High Priest's physical domain are unpredictable, hence the unprecedented intervention you see before you in my form."

He continued, "In the simplest acceptable terms possible - the actions you took to arrive here must be reversed. I was granted all relevant knowledge about the hybrid warp engine, however, the local domain here is inaccessible and information must be retrieved manually. What is the status of it and all related matters?" Iorvan addressed the question with an icy stare towards everyone on the bridge.

Ira, with a slight look of worry, answered: "It didn't come with us when we warped. Because of the instantaneous nature of the transportation, it couldn't send any data about itself during or after the warp."

At this, the unofficial head IT guy, Valencio, chimed in, "Well, it's not impossible that whatever energy discharge that did happen couldn't have sent some signal to the nearest connected devices. The warp cut every quantum connection, but some of them were connected with a hardline, right?"

"That is true, the Dusk was printed at a military shipyard," Haespar Kraus, having found something sensible to cling to, was finally able to feel useful. "Short range redundancies like that are always integrated, even with unconventional designs like the hybrid warp engine. We'll just need to retrieve them and look at their final logs-"

"D O S O !"

The bridge, which had begun to regain a bit of life, was stunned silent by Iorvan suddenly echoing this command in a voice that came not just from his mouth, but also the walls, the floor, ceiling, and even right behind everyone's heads.

While Trisha, once again, composed herself first, even she was unnerved by the ominous aura Iorvan was exuding.

"A-alright, Prof. No need to be all evil occult on us. You're human too, or were at least. You know pressure like that isn't the most productive, yeah? So, like, chill. Please?"

His dagger-like stare towards her did not diminish, but his presence on the bridge did become less intense.

"Find the answer. Deliver it to me in one year. My own visit to this foreign domain will not go unnoticed, but the High Priest accepted this price. The knowledge you obtain, however, MUST be worthwhile. It is, after all, a trivial matter for any Old One to simply erase all "nothings" that have made themselves known in a... negative light."

With those final words, the form of Professor Iorvan evaporated into a mist.

"Back to 27..." came Emily's voice after a moment of sobering silence.

"So, uhh..." Trisha felt the need to fill the air with something productive, "basically, if we don't figure out what exactly happens during a warp, everyone back home is gonna die. Umm... let's go get those data thingies?" with uncertainty, she looked at everyone on the bridge.

Haespar, wanting to keep his image of the sensible cool headed one, picked up the baton Trisha had almost dropped, "Yes, well, that is something we were going to do eventually anyway, it's just been bumped up the list. Ira, Valencio - will you need anything not currently here for a full warp simulation once we get whatever may exist in those terminals?" he regained his actual composure as he faked the first few sentences, and was now in his serious mode.

"There's not enough computing power hooked together with the quantum computers being all blank, and we'll need either one fully powered reactor running on overload for half a day, or get a second one back up." Valencio counted each though on his fingers, an old habit.

"Good. Emily will head that, everyone else will have to postpone your previous tasks." Haespar declared. "Ira? Ira!" Haespar approached her with worry. "With Knoslark being a grumpy baby, and Sergeant Zhao still in a coma, by rank, you're the de-facto leader. It's a lot to take in, but what are we going to do. Cthulhu is real. Magic is real. Souls are real. New information, sure. World upending even, but that doesn't change what reality is right now for us. So, please, don't break down on me. It's just one thing at a time, just like any other problem we've dealt with before."

Ira Tameki took a deep breath. Then another. After a moment, she looked over everyone on the bridge.

"Right, you heard Haespar, but I have one correction - I'll be heading the reactor repair and re-ignition. Emily, you take everyone you need and retrieve those terminals and any other digital and electronic devices close to where the warp engine was, even damaged ones. Extract everything.

Valencio, start working on the simulation code, you'll have all the computing and raw power needed, I'll make sure of that." she saw the uncertainty and nervousness on some of the junior crew members' faces.

"It's going to be a long year, but we already did the impossible once - we broke physics and traveled thirteen billion light years in zero zeptoseconds. Let's figure out how and get ourselves back home."

#humans are space orcs #humans are space australians #humans are space oddities #humanity fuck yeah #carionto #humans are deathworlders #story #scifi #cthulhu

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hachigram · 9 months ago

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004 VD ー BLESSED BE THE CHILD

LUKA: Ah. You’re in your seat, too.

HARUHI: Am I not supposed to be? I apologize. I will stand up right away.

LUKA: No, no, no. Just… Stay seated.

HARUHI: Understood. I will do as you say.

LUKA: Thank you. Now, shall we begin?

HARUHI: This is an interrogation, correct? But these are reserved for criminals, are they not?

LUKA: ……Aren’t you a criminal?

HARUHI: Negative. My actions were justified. They cannot be referred to as “criminal.”

LUKA: But you killed someone, didn’t you?!

HARUHI: Correct. I ended the life of another person. But that does not make me a criminal.

LUKA: But murder is illegal! Murder is a crime!

HARUHI: I am righteous in my actions. He deserved to have his lifespan shortened.

LUKA: Is that so… Well, what did he do that was so horrible?

HARUHI: I do not have to tell you anything. You will understand at the end of this interrogation. Even though I still believe I have been wrongly incarcerated.

LUKA: ………..

HARUHI: Well? Do you not have any further questions for me?

LUKA: I do, I do, just…. Give me a moment.

HARUHI: I shall await further instructions.

LUKA: [Under his breath] This kid…

[ A long pause is taken as Luka mulls over the information he was given. ]

LUKA: Okay. Name, age, and occupation?

HARUHI: I am Haruhi Nanami. I am twelve years of age. I no longer have an occupation.

LUKA: “No longer” have one? What were you doing before?

HARUHI: Forgive me. But as per the regulations I must follow, I am not allowed to disclose it.

LUKA: That sounds suspicious. Especially for someone your age.

HARUHI: What does the amount of time I have lived on this planet matter to my prior statement? What importance does it serve?

LUKA: Haaah. Never mind. I won’t get anywhere with this topic. Moving on… How’s life here in prison? Have you been getting along with the others?

HARUHI: Affirmative. Kisaragi-san is someone I converse with rather often. As she is a year older than me, she tells me about situations and experiences I have yet experienced. She is nice to speak to. She is proper company.

LUKA: I see. You must really enjoy her company.

HARUHI: Mmm. I do. What about you, Warden-sama? Do you, perhaps, have a person that you can confide in such as that? Do you have a romantic partner or interest?

LUKA: …………I can’t… seem to remember…

HARUHI: If you cannot remember if you have a romantic partner, then you must not have one. Therefore, you must be lonely and distraught. Perhaps I should introduce you to someone.

LUKA: Th-That’s not necessary… I just… [ A pause as they try to recall their past. ] Oof… I think I have a headache…

HARUHI: If you are feeling unwell, perhaps we should postpone this interrogation until you are feeling better. If you would like, I am able to pray for you.

LUKA: I appreciate it, but there’s no need. I’m alright.

HARUHI: M-Maybe you should listen to your body. If it ceases to function, it will be harder to recover from it. It is possible that your heart shall cease functioning, as well.

LUKA: No, really. I’m fine. We can continue.

HARUHI: Very well, then.

LUKA: Alright. Are you aware of the process that we use to extract your memories?

HARUHI: Affirmative. You read my mind and it projects my memories into a musical format for easier digestion.

LUKA: How do you know that much?!

HARUHI: I overheard Yuki-san having a panic attack in his cell. Since our cells are right next to one another, I am able to hear him rather clearly. I would appreciate it if you would render him unconscious from time to time, for I am unable to sleep properly with his constant muttering.

LUKA: A-Ah… I see.

HARUHI: Well, then. Shall we get it over with? I am finding this interrogation to be rather unpleasant.

[ The mechanical bell tolls right after. ]

LUKA: Very well. Prisoner number four, Haruhi Nanami… sing your sins.

[ MV: VITA ]

#ocgram #voice dramas #004

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cookingwithtoil · 1 year ago

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history of sexuality vol1 quotes and notes

"the pleasure that comes of exercising a power that questions, monitors, watches, spies, searches out, palpates, brings to light; and on the other hand, the pleasure that kindles at having to evade this power, flee from it, fool it, or travesty it. The power that lets itself be invaded by the pleasure it is pursuing; and opposite it, power asserting itself in the pleasure of showing off, scandalizing, or resisting. Capture and seduction, confrontation and mutual reinforcement: parents and children, adult and adolescents, educator and students, doctors and patients...all have played this game continually since the nineteenth century. These attractions, these evasions, these circular incitements have traced around bodies and sexes, not boundaries not to be crossed, but perpetual spirals of power and pleasure." pg 47, the repressive hypothesis - the perverse implantation

above foucault discusses one of the functions of power exerted from sexuality that are distinctly different from repression/prohibition. i think this speaks to the idea of "transtrenders" and "everyone thinking there's 13839 genders"; there is a pleasure we get from beiing able to decipher the "meaning" behind a person's sexuality. it is pleasurable to know, to categorize, because it means you are wielding the power of knowing

"it is possible that the West has not been capable of inventing any new pleasures, and it has doubtless not discovered any original vices. But it has defined new rules for the game of powers and pleasures."

^calling out biological essentialism as it's own fetish, it's own pleasure? idk but that feels right

"the obligation to confess is now relayed through so many different points, is so deeply ingrained in us, that we no longer perceive it as the effect of a power that constrains us; on the contrary, it seems to us that truth, lodged in our most secret nature, "demands" only to surface; that if it fails to do so, this is because a constraint holds it in place, the violence of a power weighs it down, and it can finally be articulated only at the price of a kind of liberation. confession frees, but power reduces one to silence; truth does not belong to the order of power, but shares an original affinity with freedom: traditional themes in philosophy, which a "political history of truth" would have to overturn by showing that truth is not by nature free--nor error servile--but that its production is thoroughly imbued with relations of power. The confession is an example of this."

i find this quote extremely confusing but he did have me in the first half. we are compelled to speak our truth as though speaking our truth sets us free; in reality, our truth is just a product of our circumstances and it in and of itself cannot free us of our circumstances. but we put emphasis on self-confession as if the practice of naming is what gives us power, but it only allows us to single out the lane of power relations that will then be imposed upon us. like, did i free myself by coming out as bisexual? or did i self-select the section of sexual rules and regulations i should be judged with? this also makes me think of the discourse around coming out; should you have to come out? it doesn't just matter if you're gay, you have to also say you're gay. the not saying/saying becomes part of your identity, your biopolitic

"it is no longer a question simply of saying what was done--the sexual act-- and how it was done; but of reconstructing, in and around the act, the thoughts that recapitulated it, the obessions that accompanied it, the images, desires, modulations, and quality of the pleasure that animated it. For the first time no doubt, a society has taken upon itself to solicit and hear the imparting of individual pleasures" -pg 63, scientia sexualis

so, while bitches have been fucking forever, the act of analyzing why or who we fuck is a relatively new phenomenon. like now, it's like, oh you didn't have a strong father in the home and that's why you want to fuck dudes whereas in Greece you fucked dudes and nobody tried to look inward as to why

"let us put forward a a general working hypothesis. the society that emerged in the nineteenth century--bourgeous, capitalist, or indsustrial society, call it what you will--did not confront sex with a fundamental refusal of recognition. On the contrary, it put into operation an entire machinery for producing true discourses concerning it. Not only did it speak of sex and compel everyone to do so; it also set out to formulate the uniform truth of sex. As if it suspected sex of harboring a fundamental secret. As if it needed this production of truth. As if it was essential that sex be inscribed not only in an economy of pleasure but in an ordered system of knowledge. Thus sex gradually became an object of great suspicion; the general and disquesting meaning that pervades our conduct and our existence, in spite of ourselves; the point of weakness where evil portents reach through to us; the fragment of darkness that we each carry within us: a general signification, a universal secret, an omnipresent cause, a fear that never ends. And so, in the "question" of sex (in both senses: as interrogration and problematization, and as the need for confession and integration into a field of rationality), the two processes emerge, the only always conditioning the other: we demand that sex speak the truth (but, since it is the secret and is oblivious to its own nature, we reserve for ourselves the function of telling the truth of its truth, revealed and deciphered at last), and we demand that it tell us our truth, or rather, the deeply buried truth of that truth about outselves which we think we possess in our immediate consciousness. We tell it its truth by deciphering what it tells us about that truth; it tells us our own by delivering up that part of it that escaped us...causality in the subject, the unconscious of the subject, the truth of the subject in the other who knows, the knowledge he holds unbeknown to him, all this found an opportunity to deploy itself in the discourse of sex. Not, however, by reason of some natural property inherent in sex itself, but by virtue of the tactics of power immanent in this discourse." pg69-70, scientia sexualis

okay okay okay. it's not the sex is wrong or forbidden. sex says something about you. and whatever it says, it's unavoidably true, and therefore dark and evil and worth examining. sex is so true that you might not be able to face it head on, so you have to zoom out and examine your sexuality in the context of others to make sense of it for yourself, and in learning more about other's sexuality, you learn more of a deep hidden truth in yourself. so it's not that sex itself intrinsically has all the meaning, we have assigned it meaning and in doing so created meaning.

"renounnce yourself or suffer the penalty of being suppressed; do not appear if you do not want to disappear. your existence will be maintained only at the cost of your nullification. power constrains sex only through a taboo that plays on the alternative between two nonexistences." pg 84, deployment of sexuality

"let us not look for the headquarters that presides over its rationality; neither the caste which governs, nor the groups which control the state apparatus, nor those who make the most important economic decisions directthe entire network of power that functions in a societt (and makes it function); the rationality of power is characterized by tactics that are often explicit at the restricted level where theyy are inscribed (the local cynicism of power), tactics which, becoming connected to one another, attracting and propagating one another, but finding their base of support and their condition elsewhere, end by forming comprehensive systems: the logic is perfectly clear, the aims decipherable, and yet it is often the case that no one is there to have invented them, and few can be said to have formulated them" -pg 95, deployment of sexuality

i think this is a precarious statement from a white man but i agree with the premise that the search is not for blame, but for understanding how these systems work, practically. it's not like one dude said these Blacks are lusty savages and everyone believed him, but that by believing Blacks are lusty savages they were able to justify the sustained oppression of a group of ppl. i like how he says it bc i think the haters will get it

"just as the network of power relations ends by forming a dense web that passes through apparatuses and institutions, without being exactly localized in them, so too the swarm of points of resistance traverses social stratifications and individual unities." pg 96

just good writing there. go off michael and patrick mooney. and THAT is what chris jamal evans is. a point of resistance traversing social stratifications and individual unities

"In a specific type of discourse on sex, in a specific form of extortion of truth, appearing historically and in specific places (around the child's body, apropos of women's sex, in connection with practices restricting births, and so on), what were the most immediate, the most local power relations at work? How did they make possible these kinds of discourses, and conversely, how were these discourses used to support power relations? How was the action of these power relations modified by their very exercise, entailing a strengthening of some terms and a weakening of others, with effects of resistance and counterinvestments, so that there has never existed one type of stable subjugation, given once and for all? How were these power relations linked to one another according to the logic of a great strategy, which in retrospect takes on the aspect of a unitary and voluntarist politics of sex?" pg 97, deployment of sexuality

michel really asking the hardhitting mf questions here

"discourse transmits and produces power; it reinforces it, but also undermines and exposes it, renders it fragile and makes it possible to thwart it" pg 101, deployment of sexuality

spittin

"Sexuality must not be thought of as a kind of natural given which power tries to hold in check, or as an obscure domain which knowledge tries gradually to uncover. It is the name that can be given to a historical construct: not a furtive reality that is difficult to grasp, but a great surface network in which the stimula- tion of bodies, the intensification of pleasures, the incitement to discourse, the formation of special knowledges, the strengthening of controls and resistances, are linked to one another, in accordance with a few major strategies of knowledge and power." pg 106

banger fucking definition here man

"On the contrary, the most rigorous techniques were formed and, more particularly, applied first, with the greatest intensity, in the economically privileged and politically dominant classes. The direction of consciences, self-examination, the entire long elaboration of the transgressions of the flesh, and the scrupulous detection of concupiscence were all subtle procedures that could only have been accessible to small groups of people." pg 120

tea tea tea. keep this in mind.

"one also sees it [sexuality] becoming the theme of political operations, economic interventions (through incitements to or curbs on procreation), and ideological campaigns for raising standards of morality and responsibility: it was put forward as the index of a society's strength, revealing of both its political energy and its biological vigor. Spread out from one pole to the other of this technology of sex was a whole series of different tactics that combined in varying proportions the objective of disciplining the body and that of regulating populations." pg146

respectability

"Broadly speaking, at the juncture of the "body" and the "population," sex became a crucial target of a power organized around the management of life rather than the menace of death." pg147

we don't really fear death in and of itself, but the imagined death of life as we know it. eh? is that something?

"We must not think that by saying yes to sex, one says no to power; on the contrary, one tracks along the course laid out by the general deployment of sexuality. It is the agency of sex that we must break away from, if we aim-through a tactical reversal of the various mechanisms of sexuality-to counter the grips of power with the claims of bodies, pleas- ures, and know ledges, in their multiplicity and their possibil- ity of resistance. The rallying point for the counterattack against the deployment of sexuality ought not to be sex-desire, but bodies and pleasures." pg 157, right of death and power over life

teaaaaaa

#foucault #michel foucault #history of sexuality volume one #sexuality #philosophy #notes #chris jamal evans

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catflowerqueen · 1 year ago

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Snippet of chapter three of "If Music be the Food of Love, Play On" from the DJ Five Pebbles AU.

Most of this is taken directly from the canon Spearmaster broadcasts, but edited to reflect the current AU situation.

[RECORDED BROADCAST : 1681.662] - PRIVATE Seven Red Suns, Chasing Wind

CW: Have you had any contact with Five Pebbles recently?

SRS: Not in a long while actually! Unless worrying about him counts.

CW: One of his neighbors, Unparalleled Innocence, sent an overseer to his can and got some images from within his puppet chamber. They were made public in the local group, in an effort to be mean I suppose. Or as some sort of ill-timed prank. I don’t think I could adequately describe it, but it is clear he isn’t acting normally.

SRS: Tell me.

CW: The images were blurry, so I cannot be sure of what is actually going on, but his puppet looked to be… seizing? Displaying erratic movements, at any rate. As well as seemingly having trouble maintaining the functionality of its ocular lenses, as they intermittently went dark. There also seemed to be lights pulsing within his chamber, though I have been unable to make out any specific warnings.

CW: He does listen to you, and few others by now, so you should talk to him.

SRS: I will try to contact him. Does Moon know?

CW: Yes. That is why I say Unparallelled Innocence’s actions were either mean, or ill-timed.

CW: I will upload a copy of the broadcast Moon sent to the local group.

[File uploaded]

[Access File? Y/N]

[Y]

“1654.110 - PUBLIC

Big Sis Moon to Local Group

BSM: Two cycles ago, my neighbor Five Pebbles began behaving erratically regarding his water intake levels. He has been unresponsive for a period of time longer than that. The two of us share groundwater, and while his behavior has not, as of yet, had any effect on my own systems, I cannot be certain that trend will hold.

BSM: Any attempts at communication have been met with complete silence, and I am becoming increasingly worried.

BSM: I ask the local group for information about when you were last able to contact him, and to try to use those same communication channels again, repeatedly until you get a response.

BSM: It is not yet to the point where I feel this is necessary yet…

BSM: But if this continues for too much longer, or if the situation gets worse, I will utilize my seniority privilege and use forced communications, hoping to shake him out of it. Forced communications in the network will be unpleasant for all, and I will wait as long as possible before I turn to that option.

BSM: I hope it will not come to that, but…

BSM: I am his Big Sister. And I am becoming increasingly scared for his well-being.”

#dj five pebbles au #rain world #fanfiction

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rafi420 · 1 year ago

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Why is the center not working anymore?

About four or five years ago, Zhongtai suddenly became popular in the corporate world. At that time, people felt that this was an advanced system, which was tall and capable of concentrating efforts to accomplish big things.

Only two years ago, due to some chance, I saw some scenes, and my mind changed.

Scene 1 was at a meeting. Students HE Tuber from the business line stood up and angrily accused the "backpackers" sent by the R&D department. They were "in Cao camp and in Han Dynasty" and did not understand the needs of the business at all.

Scenario 2 was also a meeting. The business boss spoke eloquently and even said he was excited. However, the boss responsible for growth also sat at the conference table, and he remained unmoved for almost the entire process.

At that time, I felt that China and Taiwan might not work very well.

Sure enough, starting in 2023, those companies that took the lead in building the middle platform suddenly began to dismantle the middle platform. Now, I am afraid that some companies that have learned to build a middle platform are still in a mess, wondering whether they should continue to do so.

Let me tell you, in fact, everyone did not understand the meaning of Zhongtai from the beginning. This organizational form is not originally designed to improve efficiency. It is the power structure that enterprises need at a special stage.

First of all, the middle platform cannot reduce costs and increase efficiency for enterprises.

Although it is theoretically possible, in ecological enterprises, merging the same functional departments in different business lines with similar items does seem to avoid reinventing the wheel. For example, the same group of R&D personnel can perform development work for business lines at different stages, or departments that spend money such as growth and marketing public relations can concentrate their budgets and put them in a unified way to obtain lower prices.

But for companies in a fully competitive market, the efficiency shortcomings of the middle office are obvious, because it will cause the decision-making chain to be not only too long, but also complicated. Ultimately, people who hear the sound of artillery fire may not be able to call for fire support, or artillery fire cannot be deployed in time at critical moments of competition.

To give a simple example, in many companies, the growth department often gets a very large budget. But when the growth department is taken out and becomes a middle-office organization, one department will actually be responsible for the growth of multiple business lines. At this time, the first task of the growth department becomes to share the cake.

How much money should be spent on each business line and how to formulate a growth strategy are very technical tasks for the boss of the growth department.

Of course, the business boss hopes to give him as much support as possible. In fact, for the business, the most efficient way is to integrate all functions into one reporting line. Everyone in this chain is doing When making decisions, only one factor needs to be considered, which is whether it is beneficial to the business line. But if some functions are withdrawn, another situation will arise - an increase in internal transaction costs, because everyone no longer sits on the same bench.

So the business boss will go and communicate with the growth boss. But the reality is that there is no reporting relationship between them, and there is no question of who listens to whom. Everything has to be discussed, or decided by higher-level people on the reporting line.

Over the years, everyone has always discussed what good management is. In the final analysis, management that is in line with human nature is good management. And what is human nature? Individualism is part of human nature. Why so many companies have trust and cooperation as their values? In essence, it’s because in a huge organization, trust and cooperation are very difficult. You need to shout all the time and every month to penetrate into the blood of the organization.

Personally, I have doubts about many fashionable concepts and tools, including middle-office organizations and OKR. The concept of OKR sounds very good. Through top-down decomposition, a company can all aim at the goals of the top decision-makers, forming a pyramid structure in which strategy and execution are aligned.

If executed well, OKR can theoretically ensure a company's strategic focus and create synergy. However, realizing this scenario requires a prerequisite, that is, the top decision-maker will expose his true inner goals. This alone will probably stump 90% of Chinese bosses.

Because there is a deep shadow of Wang Yangming in Chinese business culture. Wang Yangming talked about the inner sage and the outer king, which means that the inner and outer parts of a person do not have to be unified. Of course, many bosses are actually the inner king and the outer sage. So which one should show the king's side or the saint's side? you guess.

The same goes for the middle office. When you think it requires execution efficiency from the organization, the result is not always the case because it puts people in different positions. But if the top level wants decision-making efficiency from the organization, then the middle office is a good choice.

Because the middle platform can help power achieve penetration.

If you pay a little more attention, you will find that the establishment of middle-level organizations often coincides with the transfer of power in the company.

Take JD.com for example. In 2018, Liu Qiangdong phased out of the business. He needed to give more authority to the management of the three major business lines at the time.

Especially for Jingdong Retail Group, Xu Lei was picked to become the CEO of this business unit that accounted for 95% of the group's revenue. As a professional manager, it should be said that there is a lot of pressure to become the successor of a company founder. In an interview a few years ago, Xu Lei told me that in the five months after he was promoted to the rotating CEO of JD.com, he did not issue any policy guidelines or administrative orders. "Although I know all the problems," he spent more time observing.

In the development of a company, it needs to have a consensus, including a consensus on values, a consensus on strategy, and a consensus on power. In layman's terms, it's who has the final say. The founder does not need to worry about this, because he is the natural consensus of the organization, "He is the boss."

But when professional managers take over the authority, they need to establish a system within the scope of authorization to allow the organization to reach a consensus. In a nutshell: founders have property rights, maximum voting rights, and Charisma-type reputation, and they can fight wherever they want; while professional managers only have authorization and rely more on the system.

Also in this year, JD.com began to establish a middle office. The supply chain units in technology and business were decoupled and became a middle office organization. The front office organization was a business scenario. The two parties were constantly recoupled and worked together to move forward. Since it is coupled, some external force is needed as support.

Of course, JD.com’s middle-end design is still relatively personalized. Generally speaking, the middle-end design of most companies is the technical middle-end and organizational middle-end, that is, the middle-end design of finance, human resources and R&D departments. The reason for this is also very simple. Whether it is a company or a business unit, the three core elements are always people, money and materials. People and money are easy to understand, while things refer to the means of production. For Internet companies, their core production material is software, and the R&D department ensures the implementation and iteration of this production material.

Therefore, when the finance, human resources and R&D departments are centralized, the business units are actually more focused on execution. If he needs to expand his business, he needs to seek budget, headcount and R&D support from the middle office. In addition to good popularity, what business bosses need most is support from the CEO.

In other words, the middle office takes advantage of the egoism in human nature, which will lead to an increase in internal transaction costs and an increase in friction within the organization. This friction will of course cause some energy dissipation, but it will also cause the entire The organization moves closer to the center, and decision-making power is centralized upward.

This is why, when Liu Qiangdong returned to the business, JD.com began to dismantle Zhongtai again. Because the founder is the consensus of a company, he no longer has to use bureaucracy to pay more friction costs to manage the river of power within the company.

#HETuber #Music #Gaming #Entertainment #Sports #Science And Technology

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morgue-xiiv · 2 years ago

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So the psychiatrist was like "I'm withdrawing your diagnosis, but I'll ask your GP to keep prescribing your meds."

and I was like "uhhh, can he do that?"

and the psychiatrist was like "well is he a good GP?"

and I was like "He is the best GP in the world. Nay, the universe. He's the GP other GPs should aspire to be. He gives me my lone spark of faith in medicine as a field."

my GP *stops prescribing the meds*

me "Oh no!!! my lone spark of faith!!!" *has existential crisis.*

me : "hey Mr GP, how come you stopped my meds?"

my GP (the one good doctor in the universe): "Because I'm not legally allowed to prescribe in this circumstance."

me: "see, that's what I thought! That like. You wouldn't be allowed to prescribe a schedule 1 controlled drug off label."

GP: "well... yes, that's exactly correct."

me : "Kinda feels like if I, a lay person... knew that. The consultant psychiatrist. Should have also knew that."

GP, very quietly: "It does seem like he should. Yes."

me: "I don't wanna be cynical here..."

GP: "No. Let's not be cynical."

*we both sit in silence waiting for the moment to be cynical to pass*

But seriously wonder if the psych just lied and told me to get my GP to continue prescriptions even though that's not possible so I wouldn't yell at HIM for taking away the meds that made me able to live functionally, since I'll never see him again.

#psychiatrists stop being shitty challenge #the psychiatrists all politely decline to participate

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bnha-dumpster · 4 years ago

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Hear me out

Step-brother Shigaraki shoving a vibe in (male) reader during a dinner and Shigaraki is controlling the vibrator and then after dinner Shigaraki fucks the life out of Reader

i was gonna work on monster stuff but this is just *chef's kiss* i think i'm going down the road of a pseudo-incest kink whoops and laughs at myself as i add plot for no reason (also gives you guys a visual reference of the toy in the fic)

pairing: step-brother shigaraki x male reader content tags/warnings: dub-con, pseudo-incest, mild exhibitionism, choking, sex toys, degradation, mind break word count: 2.1k

Things around the household have changed drastically since your mother remarried. You love your mother and want her to be happy, but you feel that things have changed far too fast and far too much.

You had been told that your step-father wanted you to move in with him for two reasons. One; you don't have a job since you're attending university full-time and two; his house is pretty close to your university. You've seen his house from the outside and you can't deny the thought of living in such a large house is pleasant. It's a good deal. But if you had been told that your step-father has a shut-in son that lives with him before moving in, you might've reconsidered it.

Shigaraki is rude and has zero social skills. While you don't actually mind people that don't have social skills- it's often times not their fault- there's something about your step-brother that just unnerves you. You see him and alarm bells go off in your mind.

He likes to catch you off guard. Coming into your room to watch you, pinning you to surfaces, groping you, watching you shower- there's something really wrong with him.

"Tomu-"

You're trying to walk downstairs to go eat dinner with your mother and step-father. Trying, being the keyword. Shigaraki has you pinned to the wall once again. One of his hands is able to completely hold both your wrists- he's not even that much bigger than you! He's using his free hand to tug your sweatpants down to your knees. The pinning isn't exactly new, but he's never actually pulled your clothes off.

"I bought something for you. It's a little present for having such a cute brother." His voice makes you shudder, but the item he holds up next to your face makes you tense up. It's a brand new, probably expensive, sex toy.

"Tomura- hey- let's not-" You squirm and shake your head.

"Don't cause a fuss. Just let me do this, 'kay?"

The lube on the toy is your only saving grace as he nudges your legs apart with his knee and tries to put it on you. It doesn't work very well, the lubed up toy sliding against your limp cock a few times before Shigaraki growls lowly.

"I'm taking my hand off and I expect you to stay still." True to his word, the hand on your wrists disappears. If this were the first time he tried to do something like this, then you might've run away. But you've unfortunately learned through experience that your step-brother is far stronger than he seems. It's only because of your knowledge do you stay.

His hand is cold and calloused, an uncomfortable feeling against your skin. You grimace as he grabs your cock to slip the ring over it, making sure it’s snug against the base before he pushes the vibrating part of the toy into you. It doesn’t actually seem that bad until he turns the toy on.

“Shit-” You’re not oblivious to the toy’s function but you didn’t expect it to be so snug against that spot inside you. Shigaraki grabs you before your legs buckle, laughing at your state.

“Wow, you’re that sensitive?” He’s taunting you, making fun of you. “Is my little brother just a slut in disguise?”

Your pants are pulled up and a small slap is given to your ass. It brings a small yelp out of you, making you turn around to glare at him. He doesn’t seemed fazed by it. Instead, it spurs him on and you can feel him grind against your ass. Even through the fabric of both of your sweatpants, you can feel how hot and heavy his cock is. You can tell it’s thick and that’s barely hard.

A sliver of arousal makes itself known with a twitch of your cock. The realization makes you stand up straight and shove your step-brother away, adjusting your clothes to hide the erection beginning to strain underneath your pants.

It’s difficult to sit down at the dinner table and act normal. You give your mother a small smile as you squirm in your seat for a moment. The toy’s low vibration stimulating every part of you- the base of your cock being teased, vibrations going through your balls and taint, the dildo pressing snugly against your prostate- and it’s difficult to hold your composure.

“Are you okay, dear?” Your mother is looking at you with concern.

“O-oh, I’m alright, mom.” You force another smile.

“Go lay down after dinner, okay?”

You give a small nod before you start eating, not waiting for your step-brother to sit down. He’s probably snickering to himself and thinking of what he should do. The sudden increase of vibrations of the toy surprises you and you choke on a piece of food.

“Honey?”

“Don’t worry, he’s just a little out of it, right lil bro?” A large hand comes to rest on your shoulder. As you turn to look over your shoulder, Shigaraki stares down at you with a small smirk. You can see the small remote in his hand and you almost want to reach out and grab it. But that’d cause a scene- the last thing you want at the dinner table.

He slides into his seat, not bothering to eat. All he’s doing is staring at you and analyzing your reactions as he plays with the remote in his pocket.

“Yeah, j-just a little bit out of it.” You try your best to keep yourself together. Eating your dinner as fast as possible is your goal, hoping that this torture is only for the sake of humiliating you in front of your mother.

The vibrations of the toy change rapidly. It seems like Shigaraki’s just cycling through them for the first time, gauging your reactions as he does so. He’s trying to find the best setting for you right now, surely. The one that does you in is the low and slow pulsing of the toy.

He’s learning so much about you. You’re smart enough not to fight him physically but still have the guts to snap at him with your words. You prefer to be teased with a lack of stimulation rather than overstimulation. You won’t tell your mother about anything he does so she’ll stay happy. The best part... You’re easy to read.

Now that it’s been a few minutes of dealing with the toy, you’re settling down. It’s still uncomfortable, the low stimulation keeping your cock hard, but you’re able to eat your dinner for the most part. You’re eating quicker than normal just so this can end.

“Thanks for dinner, mom.” As you stand from the table, Shigaraki cycles through the toy quickly to put the vibrations at its most intense setting. You curl in on yourself and groan, facing contorting.

“Dear?”

You give her a reassuring smile despite the heat pooling in your stomach. As much as you want to leave the table, you’re not sure you can do it yourself. It seems to be part of your step-brother’s plan. He puts his arm under yours, holding you up to help you shuffle back upstairs.

“I’ll make sure he’s alright, don’t worry.”

They can’t see it, but you’re glaring at him as he helps you up. With him being the only reason you’re still standing however, that’s all you can manage to do. You hold onto his torso as he takes you up the stairs and opens the door of your room.

“You’re close, huh? You were about to cum in front of our parents, weren’t you?” Shigaraki throws you onto the floor of your room with a thud, using his foot to turn you onto your back. He stares down at you and steps on your cock, moving it back and forth.

“Alright little bro, cum for me.”

With a particularly large amount of pressure, almost painful, you tense and spurt ropes of cum inside your pants. A stain begins to seep into the fabric and Shigaraki looks down at you with a sneer. You’re squirming under his foot, the toy still vibrating aggressively inside you and around the base of your cock.

He picks you up by the hair and drags you to your bed, manhandling you so your face is against the comforter and your ass is in the air. He doesn’t even bother turning the toy off as he takes it out of you and slides your cock out of the ring. Your ass clenches around the air pathetically, teasing Shigaraki. Even with something inside you, stretching you out, your ass still looks tight and almost untouched. The only thing eluding to its use is the lube smeared around it.

You’re given no warning when your step-brother grabs your hips and slams his cock inside you. When did he take it out? You don’t know.

“Shiiiiiit- Do you know how tight you are?” He doesn’t give you a chance to respond. Shigaraki begins to fuck you with abandon, thrusting into you with no care for your comfort. The stretch of his cock, how it reaches almost too deep inside you- it’s horribly uncomfortable. There’s a tinge of pleasure from the stretch of his cock pressing against your prostate almost constantly, but not much else.

His balls slap against your ass with every heavy thrust and the grip on your hips is bruising. You can feel his nails digging into the skin and you’re sure they’ll leave marks. He’s leaving reminders of this.

A hand leaves your hip to hold your limp cock, pumping it aggressively. The sudden stimulation is painful and you squirm.

“Now, now, little bro. Be a good slut for me and let me play with you.” Shigaraki sneers at the way you stop squirming at his words. “There... See, you’re a pathetic little slut for your big bro, aren’t you?”

You refuse to answer, only burying your face into the sheets to hide your humiliated tears. It’s not like it matters. He continues to pump your cock at a fast pace, enjoying the way your walls twitch and tighten because of it. Even if you’re not feeling anything, he is. Your pleasure is more of an afterthought, a bonus. Then your cock begins to twitch back to life.

“Seriously? You’re feeling good?” Shigaraki leans against you, biting your ear. “Getting off from your step bro treating you like a whore and fucking you? You really must be one if you like this.”

“I’m not!” You protest, turning to look at him. Tears are falling down your face, cheeks red from the embarrassment. “It’s your fault! You’re forcing my body to feel like this!”

Both of you know it’s a lie. You’re definitely enjoying it. As cute as your denial is to your step-brother, he isn’t in the mood for you being like this the whole time. He wants to have to shut you up so your parents won’t hear you begging for his cock.

With a bit of reluctance, he pulls out of you. You’re allowed a brief moment of confusion as he decides how he wants to position you. Once he decides, he flips you onto your back and hikes your legs over his shoulders. In this position, he rubs your cocks together. His is undeniably thicker than yours, but your length isn’t too drastically different. There’s only a few seconds of rutting them together before he lines his cock up with your ass and slams back in.

Much to his surprise and amusement, you let out a confused moan. The new position must feel good. Your face contorting into pleasure with a mix of self-disgust is beautiful to him.

“Little bro, come on. Just let yourself feel good.” His thrusts slow and he reaches for your neck. The grip on your throat is intense and you can feel yourself becoming lightheaded almost instantly. It’s an intense feeling that mixes with pleasure, clouding your senses.

Maybe it’s the lack of oxygen or just you giving up, but you begin to buck your hips against Shigaraki’s. Your jaw goes slack and your mouth is open, eyes rolling back into your head. The choking keeps you from making much noise so all you can let out are strangled groans.

“Finally. Let yourself go. Become my whore, my pathetic cumdump of a little brother. Just be my personal cock sleeve, yeah?”

The words go in one ear and out the other and you let out a string of agreements. Your back arches, cock twitching and covering your stomach in your own cum. It’s the sudden tightness around him that pushes Shigaraki over the edge. He stills inside you as deep as he can and cums, filling your ass. As he comes down from his high, he lets go of your throat.

“Good boy.” He smacks your face gently and chuckles at your lack of response. “Gone already? Come on, we’ve barely started.”

#shigaraki tomura x reader #shigaraki x reader #shigaraki tomura x male reader #shigaraki x male reader #bnha x male reader #bnha x reader #bnha x reader smut

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thehmn · 4 years ago

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This post is inspired by a friend of mine who belongs to a couple of queer groups and expressed worry about younger people who react with hostility to people who don’t know enough about the queer community and accidentally say harmful things, but doesn’t want to educate people in a gentle way because “it’s not their job”. My friend worried people expect outsiders to be too aware of communities they’re not in and told me “You’d be a perfect example. Not even people in the queer community know much about you”

What they mean by that: I’m intersex. My body is much closer to a mix between the standard “female” and “male” than the large majority.

What does that make you think about me? What do you think my gender experience is like? What did you think I had to go through? Did you for a fleeting second wonder what my genitalia looks like? How I have sex? What kind of sexual partners I have?

Now, how many of your thoughts and assumptions do you think are wrong or maybe even harmful? Are there questions you think are okay to ask and others that would be offensive? How do you know? Maybe the questions you think are tame touch on something that’s a major hot-button issue for intersex people. If I reacted with hostility to you simply asking if it is okay to ask questions at all, how would you feel about that?

This is all meant to be hypothetical questions. It’s just to give you an idea of what it’s like to be on the outside. And of course no one should be expected to conform and be the perfect poster child for their group or hold everybody’s hand, sit them down and gently explain everything to them. There’s a lot of assholes who don’t deserve it, but I think there’s even more people who accidentally say stupid shit because they don’t know any better. I’m very grateful for all the people who didn’t attack me when I was being stupid but instead educated me. It’s thanks to them I’ve improved and continue to improve. They’ve inspired me and I try to follow their example.

So if you care to know: Intersex people are diverse like everybody else, so what is offensive to some is a-okay to others.

Physically I lean closer to female than male, but it’s common for children to ask if I’m a boy or a girl. Some adults get confused too. Depending on how I dress or how far away I am people have assumed I’m a butch lesbian, a transwoman, or a transman. Because my fat deposits are very masculine it’s very common for people to think I’m a pregnant woman because I get the classic male “beer belly”.

I personally don’t have a strong gender identity but prefer female pronouns because that’s what I’m used to. Other intersex people have very strong gender identities and might even get angry if you ask if they are gender queer in any way. To many it’s considered extremely offensive to use intersex people to make a point about the fluidity of gender so it’s probably best to avoid that comparison unless you are intersex.

I’ve gone through a lot of phases where I either tried to be more feminine to feel less like a freak or own my masculine side. If the internet had been more common when I was a child I might have convinced myself that I was trans just to find a label and an identity (I hope people understand that I’m not saying trans people are delusional, just that I was in an unusual situation)

People have asked me if it’s offensive to use intersex people for erotica but characters they call intersex are always more like futanari with fully functional penis, balls and vagina. Intersex genitalia is often more of a mix. You might not even be able to tell from the outside but on the inside they might have an extremely shallow or non-existent vagina or no uterus. There’s a lot of possibilities that are usually not considered all that sexy. I personally have a jotun character inspired by the jotun Ymir from Norse Mythology who had both male and female genitalia and had children with himself. I call that double-sexed instead of intersex.

For years it was assumed that I had PCOS because as the doctor said “You don’t have any of the things we usually use to give the diagnosis but you have the symptoms so you must have PCOS?” The symptoms being a lot of male characteristics. I was put on hormone therapy to correct it. One gynecologist asked if I had been mutilated during a cancer operation a few years earlier because my downstairs didn’t look quite right. I only found out I was intersex a few years ago when another gynecologist asked if I got periods. Confused I said yes to which he responded “Oh okay. It’s just that I can tell you’re intersex and you often don’t get periods” Let’s just say we had a long talk after that.

So for me it was just a nagging feeling that something was off, especially after sex education in school because I didn’t quite fit the diagrams and some of the things the teacher said were impossible and if we experienced those things we were probably just doing it wrong. Well, they fit me and for years I was wondering what I was doing wrong.

For other people they find out later that they were operated on as infants to fit into a gender that they may or may not identify with later in life and they fight for children’s right to not be operated on.

For that reason some intersex people want to be included in the queer community while others want to be left out because they consider it a “body thing” more than a “brain thing”

So like I said, we’re diverse but I hope you feel a bit more informed. If you set out to learn more, just know that few things are a universal experience so just because I’m okay with telling you these thing, any of them could be super touchy for another person.

And as you can probably tell, I very much agree with my friend which is why I made the post. You do you, but I do believe it’s worth being patient with people who don’t seem to have bad intentions. And a big thank you to those who were patient with me.

#humontalks #long post

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cellard0ors · 2 years ago

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Laura lets out a sound of relief when the warm water sprays over her body.

While nothing in comparison to her home waters, its always a blessing to experience the relatively simple joys of life. She was denied them for so long, and while the last six years of Travis’s life have been a nightmare, Laura’s have been something of a surreal dream.

(cut for sex shenanigans/dirty talk)

Being free of Eliza’s captivity has been so liberating. Not being confined to her tank – being allowed to walk, to run! Eliza had forced her to choose land at her First Embarkment, recognizing the functionality of it, but whenever she didn’t need Laura to do hard labor for her on land, she found herself trapped in a dank tank of her home waters.

Sure, Eliza did spells to keep the water as clean as possible, but facts were facts – Laura was trapped in a stagnant mockery of her home. Trapped and witnessed by random strangers who thought her a mere fun freakshow attraction.

None of them seemed to care about her sadness. None of them seemed to recognize that what they were seeing was real. She was merely an oddity to them. Silas was much the same – it was how and why they bonded.

He too, benefitted from the six years of freedom. But when Laura found the cure he was just as eager as she was to make it happen. He often spoke of ‘the girl with the kind eyes who saved him.'

Kaylee, no doubt, and Laura doesn’t know how to break it to Travis that she’s relatively sure her brother has a crush on his niece…

What, with Eliza dead and gone – with her unable to continue performing the age retention spell – Laura and Silas will no doubt finally begin to age naturally. So, while Silas is too young for Kaylee now…

Again. Not something Laura is ready to tackle, and as she ducks her head under the warm spray of water she hears the bathroom door open and close.

Blinking water out of her eyes, she’s just about to call out to Travis questioningly only for him to open the shower door.

To open it and climb inside behind her.

Nude.

He’s nude!

Laura only catches enough glimpses of his flesh to confirm that fact before she directs her full attention on the shower wall before her, cheeks aflame, “Um? What?”

It’s inelegant, but it’s asked.

Travis chuckles, “Should I go?”

“Uh, I-?”

“Or would you like me to stay?” It’s whispered huskily against her right ear and Laura goes rigid, an unfamiliar throbbing suddenly forming in the pit of her stomach.

His voice…

His actions…

So different from the Travis she remembers, but exciting nonetheless as she swallows thickly and shakes her head, “Ah, no? I…I’d-? Y-you can stay. If you want?”

“Oh.” His breath on her skin is so hot, “I want.”

His hands suddenly rest themselves fully on her hips, long thick fingers and big palms encompassing them before carefully soaring upwards. Laura's nipples immediately tighten and she whimpers, waiting for them to touch there, for him to cup her breasts.

But he doesn't. Instead his hands stroke up her ribcage, fingers tracing circles beneath her armpits before soaring back down again. He continues these up and down torturous motions for a few moments before she finally gasps, "What are you-?"

"Remember what I promised you?" He kisses the right side of her neck, "Nothing but pleasure."

Laura moans, her head tipping back and she can feel the back of her wet scalp brush against his skin. His hands still haven't gone where she wants them though and something she does or some sound she makes must signal him into that as he laughs, "Are you sure you're ready for more?"

"Travis, please..."

"Fuck." He sighs the word like he hates it, "I wish I didn't love the sound of you begging so much..."

Her head cranes back enough that he can kiss her, open mouthed and wet, his tongue surging deep and she's helpless, only able to answer. His hands still don't go to her breasts though, oh no - they're much more wicked.

Instead one of them curls around towards the front of her legs, seeking fingertips dipping unashamedly into her aching cunt. Laura, not expecting this, makes a startled sound within their meeting mouths, a sharp intake of air and a tight moan.

Travis smiles, not answering as his fingers just...trail delicately through her moist folds, gently stroking them, the broad pad of his thumb rubbing across her clit in a back and forth motion that makes her knees tremble.

His name comes from her lungs as if it's been tightly squeezed out, a compression of sound and he kisses her again before speaking, voice gravel, "Have you ever done this before? Touched yourself here?"

Laura shakes her head and he frowns at the very idea. She whispers, "I'm not-? When I was allowed on land, I never had time to-?"

"What about in the water? Are you able to-?"

"I told you," her voice comes in shaky gasps, "We mate on land."

Travis hums 'such a shame' even as he continues to thrill her with his intimate touch, with his words, "I'm sorry, Laura. You were supposed to be my first - but after I forgot you, I didn't know any better. Those others - they didn't matter. I didn't love them. But I did learn from them..."

One fingertip teases around her entrance, dipping in and out of her channel with tantalizingly sporadic movements, each time she thinks it's going to thrust up into her deeper, it doesn't, making her feel like she's going crazy.

Laura's barely been touched for years. No hugs, no hand holding, not even handshakes and now this! It's overwhelming and beautiful and fantastic, but he has to do more and fast and soon or she'll kill him!

More laughter fills her ears and she realizes she must have said some of that out loud as he croons softly, "Patience, patience..."

Her answer to that is to reach her own hands back behind her, to reach for him. To find his hips and his ass and try to draw him closer to her, get their bodies to touch better, but with a little misdirection she clearly hits something she shouldn't as he hisses in pain, withdrawing from her entirely.

Laura spins around to face him, worry coloring her expression and he looks sheepish as he admits, "Um, oh yeah. Totally forgot your brother tore my back to shreds."

Laura's hands rise up above her nose, the classic 'oh no!' gesture even as he continues, "I guess between the adrenaline and the cold, I forgot."

"I...I could help." Laura admits and looks at him shyly, "You did say you wanted to hear me sing..."

Intrigued, Travis nods and Laura begins to sing...the words wash over him, warm and soothing, and the sharp stinging he feels all along his back slowly disappears.

Suddenly he feels so good, whole and healthy and then the song draws to a stunning close. He blinks owlishly a couple of times and, curious, he reaches behind to feel his lower back.

The marks are gone, the wounds healed, and Laura gives him a little smile, "They weren't too deep, so-?"

"That's amazing!" He breathes and then an old memory crops up, "Hey! You could have done that back when I was twelve and scraped my knee when I fell off my bike!"

Laura looks startled for a moment and then laughs brightly, "You fell off your bike ALL the time! It was an important lesson for you to learn - you were terrible at bike safety!"

"Oh, like you were so much better, Ms. Let-Me-Sit-On-The-Handle-Bars!"

"I never fell and scrapped my knee." She points out airily, as if this fact wins the argument. All it does is make him grin, a realization coming to him, "No, you never scrapped your knee, but there are other things you've also never done...things I'm going to teach you..."

The air in the room is once more thick with tension and Laura swallows thickly as Travis suddenly reaches down and takes a hold of himself.

Laura can't help but let her gaze drop, can't help but watch as he wraps one hand around his length. She's actually seen his cock before - back when they were randy teenagers the desire to see and touch too much for either of them to ignore.

He'd always only contented himself to her breasts, so much so that she still misses the feel of it and had thought for sure that's where he would start instead of, well, where he did start.

For her part, she'd been more exploratory. Hence having seen his cock, albeit never touching it, because he'd always warned it would be too much for him.

Apparently it's not now.

Now it seems he has stamina or strength of will, or something else that allows him to openly stroke himself in front of her, not missing a best.

The sight makes her shiver and she wishes she could replace his hand with one of her own. But would she even be able to wrap her fingers entirely around all of him?

...Laura doesn't remember him being so thick. So big.

And his grip pulls back to the base as he mummers, "Here, let me show you something..."

He edges closer to her and then, very carefully, he slides his length along her folds. Laura gasps, reaching out to grip his shoulders hard and his smile just grows, as he does the same movement.

The head of his cock, the shaft, they tease against her lower lips, in and out, a gentle stroking and she whimpers at the feel, confused and aroused and he comes closer to her to whisper, "This is close to what it will be like...except I'm going to push myself up inside of you."

The sound Laura releases is obscene and he said he likes her begging and she's more than ready to beg, his teasing driving her to the point of break.

Her legs wobble and suddenly Travis releases himself, reaching for her to keep her upright as he asks, "Are you ready?"

Laura manages a nod and he lets out a soft, 'okay' before turning off the shower and opening the door, "Then follow me."

She does.

#hackearney #travis x laura #the quarry #my writing #fin

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cruelfeline · 2 years ago

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Y'know, I honestly find it hard to judge!

It's tough to discern how... conscious? Susurrus is at any point in his life.

Like, when he is his entire flock, he's clearly self-aware and present. But when he's just the one little initial bird at the end of the DLC? I honestly don't know.

I mean, Cuff doesn't seem to remember what the Gloaming is. Like, truly doesn't seem to. If he were simply lying about that, I feel like it would have become clear once everything was revealed. At the very least, he would have boasted about it! But he continues to appear unaware.

So does he remember? Or, when he's only a single or even a few birds, does he not have the consciousness to be aware of things? Is he perhaps operating on a sort of instinct to feed and become More Birds until he has enough to come back to himself?

I feel like it's difficult to say be ause Susurrus isn't really a "normal" animal, so to speak. He's more like... I don't know... like if this were sci-fi, he's more like a nanoswarm, y'know? And a trope I know of in relation to that sort of creature is it becoming more intelligent and self-aware upon gaining enough individual nano units. It's possible that Susurrus is the same, and he's only able to think properly when he's amassed enough birds.

This also might explain why he never speaks to Thalia during the DLC, even at the end. Like, one could argue that he stays silent to maintain safety and secrecy, but by the end, when the ritual is successful, and he's free, one would think he'd at least jeer at Cinta before peacing out. Y'know. Because he's a dick and can't keep his idiot mouth shut.

So to me, it seems that part of how Cuff functions is that he can't be himself at just one bird. There's not enough like... brainpower there, or something. He's got to have more birds to be himself again.

Also, sidenote: it's so interesting to me that Cinta doesn't seem to understand what the Gloaming is, or that Susurrus has returned. Like... she's a Tanta of Athia. Susurrus is arguably the most dangerous thing Athia has ever faced. He is contained within the Labyrinths that the Tantas clearly maintain, but they seem essentially blindsided by his return.

I mean... just looking at Thalia's hand and seeing the bird at any point in the DLC should have clued Cinta in. Susurrus has a very specific style. And yet she doesn't seem aware. Like she's never been taught what to look out for, what to guard against.

It's weird. How little information about him seems to be available, even to those who truly need it.

Okay, but it was actually really devilishly clever of Susurrus to make his escape mere moments after Thalia died? Cinta was just grieving so much, and in her grief, she let her guard down. Not knowing what just emerged from Thalia's hand. He could have done it earlier, but no, it observed and waited for the perfect moment.

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wild-battlebond · 2 years ago

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Can this even be considered a joke?! April Fools Day: A full analysis of the fictional virtual pet featured in Yu-Gi-Oh! Ep7: The Underhanded Digital Pet Rebellion

disclaimer: i have not watched any yugioh besides this episode. please excuse any glaring yugioh inaccuracies.

Today’s April Fools Day! For the first time in blog history, I have figured out a way to celebrate it: by offering up a complete analysis of the digital pets featured in exactly one random episode of Yu-Gi-Oh.

Is there actually anything foolish or prank-like about this? No! But it was fun! 🎉 🎉 🎉

The episodes starts by reflecting the infamous, well-known issues with schools and Tamagotchi, with a normal school class being interrupted by care alerts.

The Digital Pet has a rectangular brick design is clearly based on the Digimon v-pet, and the button count is identical to both Digimon and Tamagotchi. The cleaning animation resembles Digimon’s. At the same time, there’s a zig-zag design on the sides of the screens that resembles the eggshell zig-zag present on some Tamagotchi designs. However, unlike the Digimon and like Tamagotchi, it's held vertically (although it seems to switch between being held vertically and being held horizontally throughout the episode).

The character designs of the Digital Pets themselves most closely resemble Tamagotchi, but ultimately I feel like they just look like your average 90s monster.

The dating function is clearly based on the Osutchi and Mesutchi, but the battle function that will be seen later is clearly based on the Digimon. To note is that both came out in the same year, but the Osu/Mesutchi was released first.

After class, the brown-haired girl tells the guy he should have "switch[ed] it off" — assuming she means turning it off, this is a feature v-pets of the time did not have, as turning it off (removing the batteries) would erase save data. However, this, as well as the blonde boy's complaint that it won't grow if he does that, does match up with the way nap functions and "pausing" (bringing up the clock set screen and leaving it there) works.

As an aside, this Honda guy is my favorite. it takes him 60 seconds to go through an arc that would take a Digimon character 25-50 episodes to figure out, all because a pretty girl showed up. congratulations, Honda.

Continuing to be the funniest guy ever, Honda even takes the day off from school to spend his every waking moment raising the digital pet for that girl he likes.

The gold Digital Pet, ultra-rare, ultra-scarce, and ultra-expensive, is supposed to be able to raise the ultimate pet. Assuming this is not false advertising, this is not based in reality, as typically all v-pets of a single model have the same chances of raising the same things with the same strengths. it's also 50,000 yen which, is really exorbitant.

Everybody named theirs, which is cute. this, combined with many of them resembling their owners, implies the pets may be completely randomly generated. They also take after their owners personality-wise, a wonderful miracle only possible through the power of fiction.

Speaking of, the "dates" mentioned earlier actually involves different kinds of interaction. The pets might get along, or they might start beating each other up – a combination of both how the Osu/Mesutchi and Digimon work. No matter how the interaction goes, even if it seems negative, it causes a chance in the trajectory of the pet's growth (which comes into play later, as Yugi’s pet evolves due to the influence of Jounouchi’s)

and, as Kujirada shows when he battles the girl and Jounouchi’s pets, if these interactions become a battle, it can lead to deletion for one of the combatants. It’s also possibly implied that eating them increases his pet's strength? Producing a similar result as a positive linked interaction, but destructively...

He also tries to battle Yugi but gets interrupted. if my understanding is correct, this would have caused that bigger Yugi (pharaoh?) to have appeared prematurely? which would probably be an interesting thing to note if i was familiar with the rest of the show

and then Honda shows up yaaay. the last time i watched this the name of his/miho's pet kept getting mistranslated as super ichigo instead of sweeper ichigo but i guess that's fixed now. and because it's epic sweeper ichigo wipes the floor with the other guy. Or, more specifically, because Sweeper Ichigo was raised with such love and dedication, it’s able to easily outclass anything raised with cheap tactics or hate (a trope that most mon-taming fans will be familiar with)

and then a little while later Miho gets kidnapped & the secret antagonist was shy kid Haiyama. who has been treating the other guy as a "pet", physically punishing him. actually the screencaps can speak for themselves

and he's been doing this to a lot of people. even though I already watched this episode a few months ago, watching this scene again still had me like, “whoa! geez! that’s pretty messed up!”

(where are these 90s kids always gettting whips from anyways…)

and then the bigger Yugi shows up & forces a battle with Haiyama by connecting their Digital Pets together, in the same way Kujirada did to beat up Yugi’s friends’ Digital Pets. I would say that the way they show the pets physically fighting in the warehouse is a (really cool) metaphor, except I think I've heard that bigger Yugi’s thing is that he makes the games he plays real? so idk. it's cool either way. As previously stated, the data connection causes Yugi’s pet to evolve, gaining a rougher personality and an appearance that’s closer to that of the bigger Yugi’s, rather than resembling the smaller one like before. This evolution also happens while it has its back against the wall, another iconic mon-taming trope.

and then after being eaten by his own Digital Pet, the antagonist kid learns a lesson about love. or something. the end. happy april fools.

#yugioh #yu-gi-oh #yugioh season 0 #fiftytenpost #happy april fools 👍 this was the best idea for it i could come up with.

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rafi420 · 1 year ago

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Why is the center not working anymore?

Only two years ago, due to some chance, I saw some scenes, and my mind changed.

Scene 1 was at a meeting. Students from HE Tuber the business line stood up and angrily accused the "backpackers" sent by the R&D department. They were "in Cao camp and in Han Dynasty" and did not understand the needs of the business at all.

Scene 2 was also a meeting. The business boss spoke eloquently and even said he was excited. However, there was also the boss responsible for growth sitting at the conference table. He was almost unmoved throughout the whole process.

At that time, I felt that China and Taiwan might not work very well.

First of all, the middle platform cannot reduce costs and increase efficiency for enterprises.

How much money should be spent on each business line and how to formulate a growth strategy are very technical tasks for the boss of the growth department.

Over the years, everyone has always discussed what good management is. In the final analysis, management that is in line with human nature is good management. And what is human nature? Individualism is part of human nature. Why so many companies have trust and cooperation as their values? In essence, it’s because in a huge organization, trust and cooperation are very difficult, and they need to be shouted at all the time, every month, in order to penetrate into the blood of the organization.

Because the middle platform can help power achieve penetration.

If you pay a little more attention, you will find that the establishment of middle-level organizations often coincides with the transfer of power in the company.

Take JD for example. In 2018, Liu Qiangdong phased out of the business. He needed to give more authority to the management of the three major business lines at the time.

Especially for Jingdong Retail Group, Xu Lei was picked to become the CEO of this business unit that accounted for 95% of the group's revenue. As a professional manager, it should be said that there is a lot of pressure to become the successor of a company founder. In an interview a few years ago, Xu Lei told me that in the five months after he was promoted to the rotating CEO of JD, he did not issue any policy guidelines or administrative orders. "Although I know all the problems," he spent more time observing.

#HETuber #Music #Gaming #Entertainment #Sports #Science And Technology

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