#training? understandable

[graylinesspam]

Rex and Ahsoka

Training / playing / watching movies / cuddling / literally anything I just love them you honor

It might not have seemed like such a pressing issue on the front lines. Ahsoka had already been taught to fly a fighter and how to drive a speeder bike. Both more common means of transportation on the war front. But learning to drive a regular old speeder was still a necessary skill, and a right of passage for someone her age.

She should be getting her license sometime soon. The jedi usually earned theirs a little earlier than the general public did. But there wasn't exactly a plethora of speeders on the front.

So their somewhat extended stay on a real military base. The kind with permanent barracks and a real mess hall and working equipment, much nicer than their usual mobile camps, came with an opportunity that Ahsoka was not about to pass up.

And as usual when it came to matters of training Ahsoka Rex got volunteered by his General. Anakin certainly didn't have the patience to watch Ahsoka be bad at driving without reaching over and trying to take the controls from her. And after the fiasco that was Fives teacher her to drive a speeder bike, a matter that ended in her hitting a downed tree and flying ass over end. Rex was the only one qualified to train her, aperently.

She'd picked out a little transport truck, single cab, passenger seating in the bed. Nothing too hard to hover around the base. Sturdy enough to take a beating and safe enough that she shouldn't be able to tumble out of it.

For the month or so that they're predicted to be here, Ahsoka has been assigned as his driver. Taking him everywhere he needs to go. Runing arrends. Even volunteering to haul men around anywhere they need to go.

It wasn't so bad in the beginning. She'd clutched the wheel too hard and veered into oncoming traffic a couple times but at a slow speed. He'd barely been clutching onto his seat then. She was always a fast learner. Eager too. By the time she'd been able to get from one side of the base to the other without incident she'd started volunteering to take anyone where they needed to go. Running data pads back and forth. Picking the medics up at the end of their shifts. Driving groups to the training ground. Even making supply runs to the warehouses.

There wasn't much else for her to do at the time.

It was around a week in to her volunteer service that she started getting....confident. She wasn't a reckless driver exactly. She stopped at every crosslanes. Kept her eyes on the lanes and other traffic. Never hit anything. Or anyone. She just got comfortable traversing the same roads all the time. She knew them well enough that she knew exactly where to put her speed. Where to swing into a turn and where to coast down a hill.

Getting into the speeder with her now was what he imagined a typical teen driving experience was.

They had a meeting over the comm table in the main building first thing in the morning. Him and most of Torrents leadership. Which really meant Ahsoka's main Vod.

She'd pulled up five minutes early, Swung by the caf machine and whipped up some foamy shaken monstrosity, and sipped at it while they kit up.

They all piled into the back, pulling the canvas divider back so the men could lean into the cab and badger them. No one fought Rex for the front seat. He wishes they would. Give him an excuse to sit in the back.

Fives sat right behind him leaning over the divider to nudge him as Ahsoka started it up. "Should we strap in?" Fives joked, smacking the back of his hand against Rex's back.

Ahsoka cocked her head not bothering to look at him while she hooked her personal data pad into the sound system. The music kicked on with the engine. A syrupy sweet lady singer with too much base in the background for first thing in the morning.

Rex catches the glance jesse throws to the front of the speeder. Looking like he was considering bailing.

"She'll do fine." Echo knocked his leg into Fives' admonishment.

She shifts into gear and eases into the empty lane just fine. The base was quiet at this time. Only a couple vehicles moving in the whole place. She kicks up the speed in the straightway. Still following the posted rules. Tapping her fingers along the wheel to the beat of the music. She sips at her drink with one hand as they get to the hill, slowing to a reasonable speed before she lets the vehicle free drift down the incline. It isn't startling....just slightly blood pressure raising. The way their speed steadily increases. Her eyes remain on the road as she rests her cup back on one thigh, mouthing the lyrics.

The vehicle doesn't jerk. Just decelerates and turns with the curve of the road at the same time. The momentum tugs on them slightly. Makes Rex's head bend to the side just a bit. His hand bracing against the ceiling out of instinct.

She maintains proper speed all the way through the turn, straightens out cleanly and slides her hand over the wheel with too much confidence. Pulling the vehicle into the next turn just as smoothly.

It isn't recklessness. It's just- a lack of caution that sets his hair on end.

She has to tilt her chin up over her shoulder to check her blindspot while making a turn. Too short to see it without craning her neck a little. Alternates sipping her caf and glancing around. Checking her mirrors, her blindspots, and all the intersecting lanes as they coast through. Her foot a little heavy on the gas but never enough for him to correct her. She decelerates when turning, just not enough.

Hardcase starts singing along to whatever song is playing and there's a gentle breeze sweeping through the vehicle that should be so pleasant. Ahsoka belts out the lyrics with Hardcase. A horrible duet. And when Appo complains Ahsoka settles her drink between her thighs so she can turn the volume up with that hand instead.

The music isn't blaring, it's just chafing.

The speeder decelerates again before turning and dropping down another hill and Rex feels his stomach roll.

He's been tossed around worse in gunships. he shouldn't be reacting so harshly to Ahsoka's driving.

He just doesn't trust her.

Ahsoka follows rules to the letter but never to the spirit. And that's all over her driving. Always toeing but never crossing the line. For whatever reason, this time, it bothers him.

He cringes as she throws her head back and sings, her hands nudging the wheel into the subtle curve of the lane. Slowing down as she rounds the front of the building, pulling out of the lane and swinging the vehicle in the opposite direction he expected. She backs into parking spot. letting the men unload right onto the curb.

She throws the speeder into park and Rex has to lean his head against the door for a moment. Letting the knots in his stomach loosen.

They all unload from the vehicle, some looking more relieved than others. Hardcase asks her to send him her playlist and Echo slaps her on the shoulder. "Good driving."

Fives meanwhile is suspiciously quiet, and Jesse looks like he's looking for somewhere to reject his morning caf.

"Yeah, good job." Rex says as he slams the door closed behind him. He will keep the nausea off his face.

He will.

[a-flickering-soul]

what people need to understand is that ariana grande is able to pull off every single one of galinda's physical gags because that woman was in the comedy trenches of nickelodeon's victorious and anyone who was forced to show feet in front of dan schneider is walking away with a level of commitment to the bit that human beings were not built to perceive

[inkskinned]

i have chronic pain. i am neurodivergent. i understand - deeply - the allure of a "quick fix" like AI. i also just grew up in a different time. we have been warned about this.

15 entire years ago i heard about this. in my forensics class in high school, we watched a documentary about how AI-based "crime solving" software was inevitably biased against people of color.

my teacher stressed that AI is like a book: when someone writes it, some part of the author will remain within the result. the internet existed but not as loudly at that point - we didn't know that AI would be able to teach itself off already-biased Reddit threads. i googled it: yes, this bias is still happening. yes, it's just as bad if not worse.

i can't actually stop you. if you wanna use ChatGPT to slide through your classes, that's on you. it's your money and it's your time. you will spend none of it thinking, you will learn nothing, and, in college, you will piss away hundreds of thousands of dollars. you will stand at the podium having done nothing, accomplished nothing. a cold and bitter pyrrhic victory.

i'm not even sure students actually read the essays or summaries or emails they have ChatGPT pump out. i think it just flows over them and they use the first answer they get. my brother teaches engineering - he recently got fifty-three copies of almost-the-exact-same lab reports. no one had even changed the wording.

and yes: AI itself (as a concept and practice) isn't always evil. there's AI that can help detect cancer, for example. and yet: when i ask my students if they'd be okay with a doctor that learned from AI, many of them balk. it is one thing if they don't read their engineering textbook or if they don't write the critical-thinking essay. it's another when it starts to affect them. they know it's wrong for AI to broad-spectrum deny insurance claims, but they swear their use of AI is different.

there's a strange desire to sort of divorce real-world AI malpractice over "personal use". for example, is it moral to use AI to write your cover letters? cover letters are essentially only templates, and besides: AI is going to be reading your job app, so isn't it kind of fair?

i recently found out that people use AI as a romantic or sexual partner. it seems like teenagers particularly enjoy this connection, and this is one of those "sticky" moments as a teacher. honestly - you can roast me for this - but if it was an actually-safe AI, i think teenagers exploring their sexuality with a fake partner is amazing. it prevents them from making permanent mistakes, it can teach them about their bodies and their desires, and it can help their confidence. but the problem is that it's not safe. there isn't a well-educated, sensitive AI specifically to help teens explore their hormones. it's just internet-fed cycle. who knows what they're learning. who knows what misinformation they're getting.

the most common pushback i get involves therapy. none of us have access to the therapist of our dreams - it's expensive, elusive, and involves an annoying amount of insurance claims. someone once asked me: are you going to be mad when AI saves someone's life?

therapists are not just trained on the book, they're trained on patient management and helping you see things you don't see yourself. part of it will involve discomfort. i don't know that AI is ever going to be able to analyze the words you feed it and answer with a mind towards the "whole person" writing those words. but also - if it keeps/kept you alive, i'm not a purist. i've done terrible things to myself when i was at rock bottom. in an emergency, we kind of forgive the seatbelt for leaving bruises. it's just that chat shouldn't be your only form of self-care and recovery.

and i worry that the influence chat has is expanding. more and more i see people use chat for the smallest, most easily-navigated situations. and i can't like, make you worry about that in your own life. i often think about how easy it was for social media to take over all my time - how i can't have a tiktok because i spend hours on it. i don't want that to happen with chat. i want to enjoy thinking. i want to enjoy writing. i want to be here. i've already really been struggling to put the phone down. this feels like another way to get you to pick the phone up.

the other day, i was frustrated by a book i was reading. it's far in the series and is about a character i resent. i googled if i had to read it, or if it was one of those "in between" books that don't actually affect the plot (you know, one of those ".5" books). someone said something that really stuck with me - theoretically you're reading this series for enjoyment, so while you don't actually have to read it, one would assume you want to read it.

i am watching a generation of people learn they don't have to read the thing in their hand. and it is kind of a strange sort of doom that comes over me: i read because it's genuinely fun. i learn because even though it's hard, it feels good. i try because it makes me happy to try. and i'm watching a generation of people all lay down and say: but i don't want to try.

[drawnfamiliarfaces]

PnF Spirit Week 1: May 27th - Pets

You never really forget your first ever pet. Especially if they disappear quite abruptly from your life.

[hollisartsblog]

i love the idea of crossovering Mob with different spirits ✨️

[kokodrawings]

It's ok, Minato asked for permission first

[daily-grian]

Today’s bird is. Well.. I shan’t say

[shima-draws]

Just got back from seeing the live action HTTYD movie!! Now let me say that I had pretty high expectations for this movie as the original still remains my Favorite Film of All Time Ever and I was actually SHOCKED at how good it was. Disney take notes bc THAT is how you do a live action movie. It was so faithful to the original down to the actual shots, music and camera direction, I was actually in awe at how they essentially just copied the original film practically line for line. Ofc there were a couple changes here and there, some added dialogue and character interactions, but overall it was super close to the original. I had legitimate goosebumps during the test flight scene AGH they captured everything so well and as a diehard HTTYD fan since 2010 I’m so so happy with how well they captured the essence of the original 😭

Anyway if you’ve been debating over going to see it after being disappointed time and time again by Disney’s shitty live action remakes PLEASE give this one a shot. Dreamworks did it right and they should be praised for a fantastic job well done 👏

[doesephs]

using team bonding to rule out potential banksy suspects you are safe, jeremy knox.

[ominousgradient]

Bellyache (terminal)

This is the exact vibe i'm going for with this

[dark-elf-writes]

The disciples of Qing Jing Peak weren’t stupid.

They were scholars in training, trained from the moment they had donned their peak’s colors to analyze the world around them. To see every flawless line in a painting. To find deeper meaning in every poem. To pick out each and every note flowing from a qin. They knew how to look, how to listen, how to see under the surface and find deeper meaning without letting their own preconceived notions distract them from what was truly there.

So it was really no wonder that they of all people were the only ones to realize their Shizun was different.

Oh on the outside he was largely unchanged. Still the same careful mask. Still the flowing robes and perfectly arranged hair. Still the ever present fans hiding all but his too sharp eyes.

But they knew how to look deeper.

They knew how to see.

Their new Shizun was a gentler soul than their old one.

It could be seen in the tightness around his eyes whenever one of them got hurt. It could be seen in fleeting smiles his fan wasn’t fast enough to cover when they did something he found amusing or adorable. It could be seen in the rarely granted head pats and gentle praise when one of them did well. His hands were always kind when they corrected sword forms or placements on the strings of a qin. His voice full of warmth as he lectured in front of their classes. His eyes danced with amusement when he teased them with such fondness that they never felt the sting of his words.

He was nothing like their old Shizun.

(And oh how some of them mourned their old teacher. How they pressed wet faces into pillows late in the night and wept silent tears for the man who still walked among them but was someone else entirely. Others spent those long dark nights battling relief and guilt in equal measures, feeling like they were betraying the man who had brought them in to their new home by being grateful they didn’t have to suffer his harshness any longer.

One boy played in a room of the bamboo house and vowed night after night that this new Shizun would have his loyalty at each and every turn.)

Changed as he was he was still theirs.

They had been there, after all, the day he had thrown himself in front of Luo Binghe and been poisoned with Without A Cure. They had been there when he caught one of the shimei’s crying because she missed her home and hugged her, cooing to her like a father to a beloved daughter. They had been there in a million other times when he had chosen them, so really it was only fair that they chose him in return.

Luo Binghe was glad to do most of the day to day care for their Shizun, cooking his meals and cleaning his home, but the rest of them were far from idle.

They trained harder, raising their cultivation levels at speeds unheard of to be strong enough to protect him. They weaved careful coverups and fed clever explanations to him whenever he seemed confused by something mundane. They returned his affection a hundredfold whenever they could get away with it, clinging to his sleeves and pressing against his sides like eager kittens vying for attention whenever he looked lonely.

They also kept a close eye on anyone who seemed too… interested in their beloved teacher, closing ranks and playing interference whether that person was an older disciple of another peak, a Peak Lord, or even the Sect Leader himself.

Their Shizun was not the man he once was, but this new man had chosen them from the very first day he had arrived on their peak. They, as devoted disciples, chose him back each and every day.

[kawaiichibiart]

Another idea for the JL meeting the BatFam:

You know how there are prompts/fics where they capture Red Hood and arrest him because they just know him as a crime lord and not Batman's son, until Bruce shows up and pretty much bails him out??

Take that but have the majority (if not all) his kids be villains he's taken in to help reform and live better lives. They don't fight crime (yet) but they like lurking about in the manor and in the cave.

The JL needs to meet somewhere due the Watchtower being closed for some major upgrades and repairs, and it's voted that the Batcave would be the next best place. Bruce isn't happy about it, but begrudgingly let's them hold the next few meetings there.

The first few went by smoothly, but then one day one of them, most likely Hal or Oliver, notices something in the corner of their eyes and they just see large, golden, eyes stare back at them. And they tell the others about it. They're about to get ready to fight, when Bruce just lets out the biggest sigh and says, "Dick, please, everything is fine."

He's not even looking in the direction of the eyes, so he can't see the heavy "I fucking doubt it" look the young man has on his face.

The JL eventually sits back down and resume the meeting, all while feeling an intense stare on them. If you ask, none of them jumped when the young man propped himself against Batman's chair. The meeting, thankfully, ends quickly.

And the next few meetings introduce a few new faces (another young man, this one with a white streak in his hair. He almost always had a loaded gun in his hands, if not blades he was cleaning. And then there was a boy, who looked a bit too much like the Joker, and was constantly pranking them. No one wants to talk about the time Dick showed up again, this time with a girl and younger boy and any silence was broken by birds chirping).

Once they're able to get back to the Watchtower, they demand answers, and wow is that a long story.

[httyd-art-requests]

New Tail (Reprise) - Part 2/2

Previously... (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4)

Now they can match <3

[ID in alt text]

Bonus:

[ID in alt text]

[inkskinned]

i'm still trying to piece together the truth of it. when you left, you said: feel free to spin this narrative however you want. i have no idea if you were being cruel or if you just genuinely don't remember what you've done to me.

it's hard because i'd done so much of the work for you. i had seen the parts that flaked off, the rust underneath. i started separating you into two people - the one i loved, and the one who hurt me. i had this fantasy version of you - my partner - and then i had this stranger, a third person who would show up randomly to shatter me. i am deliriously glad i'm no longer with "the stranger". i miss the gentle (unreal?) "other" you terribly.

at first, i was so strict about my boundaries. i remember telling you to get the fuck out of my house if you were going to talk to me like that. by the end: i would justify your behavior for you, accepting even your mistreatment as "my fault" in the grand scheme. i look back on the person i was before you - smart, independent, confident - and i feel a strange sense of detachment. i don't even recognize me.

even in one of our last conversations, you said: if you want a partner that always talks warmly to you, find someone else. there was a time that a comment like that would have made me leave. and instead, somehow, i just placidly accepted that kind of thing. you were literally telling me that i wasn't allowed to have a reaction to your cruelty - and i just took it, because you'd so fully turned things around on me.

when people are faced with irrationality, a rational brain tries to make sense of it. this is the trap. they're lovely in the morning, gentle and blue-eyed and sweet. like nothing even happened, they breeze around the house and kiss you on the mouth. but at night; who is that? they snap almost randomly; flying into an impotent rage about just-about-anything. it just doesn't make sense. so the problem must be me, and my brain, and how i think.

the traumatized brain just wants peace. so maybe i'm misremembering. maybe you were just having a bad day. maybe it's actually me.

you eventually would fully turn on me and start implying that i am the bad actor in our relationship. that's what happens, right? that's literally in the playbook. you went to therapy for all of a month, told her a half-truth, co-opted therapyspeak. you figured out how to reframe your actions as "seeking peace." any time i stood my ground, i was "gaslighting." when i asked you to be more gentle, you said i was "tone policing." you said, randomly, i had emotionally manipulated you - i still have no idea what that's even specifically referring to. maybe my consistent requests for calmness and empathy?

and while i literally know better, and i'm sitting here, trained by you, thinking: wait, fuck. was i actually the person you made me out to be?

and the thing that scares me is that i literally do not know if you ever actually saw what you were doing to me. when you'd tell me how you remember arguments, you'd always summarize them in a way where you come off as gentle and easy: "i was trying to set an important boundary." what had actually happened was 15 minutes of you shouting at me i know you did something shady, just admit it already. eventually you'd say my reaction to your shouting (when i finally reacted, which usually happened around hour three) was inevitably "disappointing" and "another way i'm silencing your feelings."

how many times did i ask you - beg you - to just take accountability? looking back, i don't think i ever heard you say: you're right. the way i talked to you was wrong of me.

i am trying to tie together the two people into a full version of you in my head. yes, you made my coffee and made me laugh and spent hours on the phone with me. and yes - you would scream at me until i had to run away and hide behind something.

i wish i did have a narrative i could pull out and shape to my whim. i wish i did have some semblance of reality. instead i just stand here, strange and vibrating, wondering: what the fuck just happened?

[mahoganyrust]

The Princess Mononoke thang. Just gonna leave this here-

[royaltea000]

he could not control the class 😔