magdalenepenitent

[magdalenepenitent]

Yhana and Rama...

The House of the Stars

The first moon had already climbed the spine of the mountains, a chip of polished bone in a sky bleeding from indigo to black. The second, the smaller, stranger one, was just a smudge of phantom light to the east. The air in the vale was thin and cold, sharp in the lungs, smelling of damp stone, the ghost-sweetness of night-blooming flowers, and the peat-and-starlight burn of the Hibernian whiskey Rama had miraculously procured.

Their fire, a crackling, spitting thing Rama had coaxed from damp wood and stubborn pride, threw their shadows long and dancing against the crumbling temple walls. Yhana sat with her back to a collapsed archway, the stone still holding the memory of the day’s sun. The whiskey was a warm coil in her belly, loosening knots she hadn’t known were there. For the first time in... she couldn't count the days... the constant, grinding hum of pursuit had faded to a whisper.

The holopod, a battered piece of kit Rama called ‘The Music Box,’ was cycling through a playlist of ancient Terran songs he’d scavenged off some dead frequency. Now, a slow, hazy melody began to unspool into the night. A lazy guitar, a voice full of smoke and longing.

Yhana felt the rhythm in her marrow. Before thought, before permission, she was on her feet.

She moved in the firelight, a slow, unpracticed sway that was more feeling than form. Her boots scuffed patterns in the dirt; her arms lifted, not in grace, but in the simple, profound relief of being unbound. It was the memory of a dance, from a life before Geis, before the Empire, before the running. A memory of being a girl who had time for such frivolous things.

Rama watched her from across the fire, one knee drawn up, the bottle resting against it. The firelight caught the crimson of his eyes, making them look like banked embers.

"Never took you for a dancer, Terran Girl," he said, his voice a low rumble beneath the music.

"Lots of things you don't know," she tossed back, a half-smile playing on her lips as she spun, just once, the motion ending in a slight stumble she covered by dropping into a bow.

He snorted, a soft, appreciative sound. "Fair." He took a slow pull from the bottle, his gaze never leaving her. "But I'm learning."

The song melted into another, this one with a stronger, more insistent beat. Yhana laughed, the sound startlingly loud in the quiet vale. She let the music take her, her movements growing surer, freer. This was not a performance. This was an exorcism. She was shaking the dust of a dozen worlds from her soul.

Rama rose, silent as a predator, and came around the fire. He didn't speak, just stood there, letting her circle him. When her back was to him, he reached out, not to touch, but his hands hovered a centimeter from her arms, the heat of his skin a current in the cool air.

"You're gonna burn a hole in the sky, you keep that up," he murmured near her ear.

She stopped, breathing hard, her body thrumming. "Maybe it needs burning." She turned to face him, the space between them charged with the whiskey and the fire and something else, something ancient and unnamed. "Don't just stand there like a shiny monument. Dance with me, Kivu’rama’nurodo."

His name, her use of it, was a challenge and an invitation. A wicked, breathtaking smile flashed across his face. "This a duel, or a dance?"

"Is there a difference?"

The music faded, leaving the silence filled with the chirr of nocturnal insects, the whisper of wind through the ruins, the thud of their own hearts. An unspoken agreement passed between them, a current deeper than words. This was the moment. The reason Awen had led them here.

Yhana lifted her hands, and it was not a gesture, but an invocation. The nanoplexus within her hummed to life, a faint, silvery light shimmering at her fingertips, a reflection of the starlight in her glacial eyes. Rama mirrored her, his own latent power, the raw, untamed Force of the Chiss, rising to meet hers.

They began to circle. A slow, deliberate spiral around the heart of the fire. There was no sound but the scuff of their boots on the earth and the crackle of flame. They were weaving a net of starlight, each step a knot, each glance a thread, capturing the cosmos in the small space between them. Their hands rose and fell, carving shapes in the air that were both prayer and equation. Yhana felt his consciousness brush against hers—not the brutal invasion of Luke's rage, nor the cold analysis of Thrawn's probes, but a current flowing into a clear stream. It was the rete mirabile, the Marvelous Net, the web of life made manifest.

She could feel his doubt, the raw wound of his betrayal on Hela, and beneath it, a bedrock of loyalty so fierce it staggered her. He could feel her grief, the cold, hard kernel of loss for Rodon, and the terror of her violation, but also the impossible resilience that refused to let her break. He saw the healer; she saw the warrior who yearned for a peace he didn't believe he deserved. They showed each other their scars without ever touching skin. The universe held its breath.

Then, as one, they lowered their hands. The silvery light faded. The air settled. They stood on opposite sides of the fire, chests heaving, eyes locked. The raw, psychic intimacy left them more exposed than any physical act ever could.

Rama broke the silence, his voice rough. "Well," he said, clearing his throat and looking away at the fire as if it held the secrets to all things. "Guess we're not just rutting drinking buddies anymore."

Yhana let out a shaky breath, a sound that was half laugh, half sob. She felt scoured clean, and terrifyingly raw. She met his gaze, the crimson of his eyes soft now, vulnerable.

"No," she whispered, the word tasting of smoke and whiskey and truth. "We were never just that."

[magdalenepenitent]

simply expressing a frustration…rant—feel free to ignore…

…on AO3 and the Thrawn/OFC/OC tag section—like dudes/dudettes/and in-betweenzies—if you use AI to write your story, that’s your own choice, and I’ve no judgement one way or another on your use case (though, ideally, I rest easier with tasks like brain storming or fleshing out world-building ideas vs ‘doing the writing for you…especially novice writer who’ve yet to develop a unique voice/styke,/or have mastered the basic principles of fiction composition, but whatever—weee all learning, and fandom is ultimately for fun…).

My request is, that if you’re using AI to in some way, compose, or rewrite, please—for the love of BlueBunsThrawn, don’t just post your raw AI generated story without fucking HIGHLY LINE BY LINE EDITING, to clean up tone and definite AI-isms. I read a story yesterday that, really, in concept, was actually pretty interesting, and overall, not terrible in pacing, characterization, or grammar. But the moment I read the phrase “stark contrast”, and various interactions for 40+ chapters, my eyeballs start nystagmusing with ChapGPTisms…I’ve noticed a distinct lean toward quality writing in this vein over the last couple of years, and it’s…affecting the quality of stories even on AO3, frankly…

I mean, I *personally* don’t care if you utilize AI or not—but I do care, when you don’t edit and curate your story, in manner that shows you understand the basics of writing and editing, did you not have the tool/crutch of AI prior to the AI generated stories literally being vomited all over the eshitified internet these days…

It’s a whole other debate on use-cases, I get that. And it’s up to every individual who dabbles in writing—especially of a creative bent—as to how comfortable they are, experimenting vs completely shunning (vs complete over-reliance) on AI as a writing tool (vs crutch…).

[magdalenepenitent]

In July, the National Counterintelligence and Security Center issued a bulletin warning Silicon Valley startups about foreign adversaries using investment firms to gain access to sensitive data and threaten national security.

…love the part about Palantir…

[magdalenepenitent]

Trump’s Butterfly Revolution…as conceived by IncelTech nub, CurtisYarvin…I seriously think he watched a little too much WestWorld, and believes the general populace can be chipped with a Musk Brain Implant…

[magdalenepenitent]

particularly endeared to “the large reproductive cell…”and “small reproductive cell”

(d) “Female” means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell.

(e)  “Male” means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell.”

—to be clear, you’re not, at conception, making either large or small reproductive cells…the fucktards who wrote this need a lesson in embryology and reproductive biology. Thusly, fucktards, your order is nil and void based on no premise in science…

—do idiots believe this shit? Also, that other order mentions this order only being applicable such as it has appropriations to be applied in law…no appropriations have been discussed as yet on anything…bc your budget ain’t called till Mid-March you fycktards…

—anyone who touts this boogey above is not an American

[magdalenepenitent]

DARK GOTHIC MAGA: How Tech Billionaires Plan to Destroy America

A look into how the tech leaders may be using the new administration to achieve their own agenda. Looking specifically at Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Marc Andressen, Ben Horotwitz, Brian Armstrong, and David Sacks as well as their relationship with figures like JD Vance, Balaji Srinivasan, and Curtis Yarvin. There is a focused discussion on how a shaping of the government might take place based on convergences between the ideas of Yarvin, who influences the tech libertarian right, and Project 2025, who have authored a playbook exclusively for President Trump to help with his transition to power.

resources GIL DURAN’S WORK: https://www.thenerdreich.com The Network State: https://thenetworkstate.com/book/tns.pdf Patchwork: https://www.unqualified-reservations.... Praxis: https://www.praxisnation.com Pronomos: https://www.pronomos.vc Education of a Libertarian: https://www.cato-unbound.org/2009/04/... Founders Fund: https://foundersfund.com/portfolio/ Palantir: https://www.palantir.com The Seasteading Institute: https://www.seasteading.org Buzzfeed Article on Yarvin Email: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/... Flight 93 Election Essay: https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/di... The Butterfly Revolution: https://graymirror.substack.com/p/the... Project 2025: https://www.project2025.org

[magdalenepenitent]

Also:

...I guess we can now ascribe DEI statutes which were responsible for the uh, outcome of this. Fuck, what a fucking staged tragedy--were these cops literally bottom-of-the-barrel-we-gotta-fill-a-quota-? I mean, supposedly, their perp was drunk/vs high, and pulled over for under-the-influence driving. And...he still managed to out-run Donut-belly in the first Round. You grocks should have been recruitng TyreNIchols, not tazering him. And seriously, the whole protocol is like someone was feeding lines to the unit--you're telling me, after a bunch of pepper-spray cocktail, tazer juice-what? Did they just forget to put the cuffs on, and get the guy in a car to be processed? The whole situation is so weird--I mean, it's like the incompetence of the police unit is staged, Tyre--wtf--who runs off, when you're being held down by police? That said, he still didn't deserve the damn treatment, nor loss of his life. But seriously, was the Memphis Police Force recruiting from Bottom Barrel Crackerbarrel? Bless you, Tyre, I'm so sorry for your loss of life, but man-you out-sprinted that Donut-roll on who literally 5-10 min of Body-Cam time was spent watching the cop wheeze/hack/and catch his breath. I'm sorry, as a civilian, I guess I'll be left to pursue my own attacker? Man, you're a fucking cop, take some pride in what you do, and fucking train w/that Kevlar Vest like 5 days a week on a treadmill--WTF...were I in Memphis having to call 911, I wouldn't safe with these curd-balls as an exemplar of the Academy there...has no one commented on any of that???

https://stopproject2025comic.org/

[magdalenepenitent]

[magdalenepenitent]

I just harvested this year’s ‘Glass Gem’ ornamental corn. Aren’t the colors glorious?

[magdalenepenitent]

 Good Morning from Scotland 

Black Rock Cottage and Buachaille Etive Mor. on The West Highland Way through Glen Coe at Sunrise 

📸 tonyjhughes on Instagram 

[magdalenepenitent]

Isle of Whithorn “Cairn”

From a visit to Dumfries & Galloway in  May 2016. The remains of an old Lifeboat station near to St Ninian’s Chapel has become a huge cairn of stones, many of them bearing heartfelt messages,  remembering a loved one, be it human or a cherished pet  now departed.

[magdalenepenitent]

Now think what the power of a MASS STRIKE across the nation may result in. Pressuring our government to support social safety nets for all, supporting the small/middle sized businesses, while aligning larger corporations into an innovative economic model guided by the well-being of society and environment rather than investor profit margin propping rabid capitalist models bentvon worker exploitation and a status quo of the 1% vs the 99%…and frankly, there’s never been a better time for AOC to shine her #GREENNEWDEAL all around the world. Old economies are dying. We need a fresh enlightenment toward short term relief and long term stimulus… This fundamental trend of CovId19 is a Dark Blessing in its way—shining the light on unabated capitalism, the abuses of no universal healthcare, no living wage, no pension, no adequate guaranteed PTO/sick leave/family leave /etc, for a vast swathe of American workers, as well as more vulnerable populations that don’t qualify for our grudging public assistance. The US govt and the corporate mongers behind it have been less than preemptive in dealing with this crisis effectively, competently, and in a timely manner, b/c they felt if they could ignore it would just go away. And even now, their response to the virus isn’t driven by the public health and safety; they’re scared shitless that the last few weeks have provided, for the first time in generations, a harsh examination of our entire deficient social and economic model in serving the Workers and Citizens, not the 1% of Wealth who hoard 99% of the capital in this country, earning that capital off the backs of exploited employees, who in turn, are forced into an on-demand/sharing economy work model that hardly provides enough fiscal security in stable markets, and none in a time of economic contraction and recession. COVID19 has allowed people to acknowledge where these deficiencies in our social safety net exist when we think those rights are only for the most desperate rather than for ALL OF US, and we call those same privileges listed above, “entitlements”, for the most wealthy who haven’t done crap to actually earn them, at the expense of their own company employees being paid scraps with NO benefits in order to crank up profit margin and investor salivation. Models that mitigate these kinds of abuses, they’re not Socialism. Unless socialism is a model forcing your government to work for you, for the welfare of the American citizen, holding multinational corporations to a social contract that provides services and institutions we all pay into—like healthcare, a pension, unemployment, public education of equal quality whether you’re from a rich neighborhood or poor, and the like. That’s the purest form of Democracy one could implement were we truly advocates rather than adversaries of Equality and Liberty and Justice For All. Are we not that? Advocates of Democracy, or are we slaves to the autocrates of our Military Industrial Complex—the 1%? An economy shouldn’t be destroyed by 2 weeks of a temporary stasis situation, or it wasn’t a very robust economy to begin with (which most of MarketPlace’s analyses over the last few months, even before CovId19 showed up in a China, kept suggesting…). And people shouldn’t be at the brink of homelessness or falling deeper into debt, b/c we have no infrastructure to assist them in a time of such fiscal vulnerability. And those workers, the service industry ones, the ones who can’t work from home, the ones whose jobs depend on public interactions everyday—they’re the vast majority of this economy. Paradoxically, they’re also the most under-represented since the era of Union Busting in the 80s. Do we realize why Union representation is a necessary element to balance against further deteriorations of pay, healthcare, job-security, etc when management and upper-level CEOs are hardly ever the ones to have their futures, or their savings wiped out by careless business decisions, or mass lay-offs?? I do believe capitalist models exist that engage a more circular, sustainable use and distribution of resources, including capital profit earned by companies, and allow for government regulation/3rd party oversight to mitigate potential exploitation of work environments, as well as corporate adherence to regulations meant to protect the viability of our citizens as well as our environment. But honestly, the government, both mainstream Dems or Republicans, aren’t really scared of COVID19, except in the short-term toppling markets right now. They’re scared in the long-term, b/c for the first time, the Common Laborer now has a sense of their power as an earning machine for companies across the board. It would be a wise time for work-place employees in all industries to organize, but I fear most of the American population reeling from these drastic shut-downs in the last week, isn’t nearly savvy enough to grasp this pivotal juncture of social and economic justice that’s fallen into our laps. And this blessing—it crosses all nations collectively… And I can tell you, nothing stirs up more angst amongst the Corporate Conservative Breakfast Club populating think tanks like the #CATOINSTITUTE than phrases like “#collectivism” when applied to attacking the fundamental inequities of social and economic injustice in this Our-Merica… ~ https://www.democracynow.org/2020/3/18/restaurant_industry_coronavirus_layoffs?fbclid=IwAR1-tHApxT5vWNC8kjw6xnAYEDMTFNEImegRQFvj4bHdr9-YKsG_WO0jSI8

[magdalenepenitent]

Enclosure: Notes on Occult Knowledge by Robert Miller (1775–1861), [ca. 1 September 1818]

From this letter https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-13-02-0228-0001

by this dude Robert Miller (1775–1861) to Thomas Jefferson, 1 September 1818

Which is admittedly one of the weirdest associations of Jefferson and early Occultism in America I think I’ve ever read. I seem to remember reading years back, that he had a file listed under ‘Insane’ or ‘Mad’ or some such heading, for the cuckoocoos who filled his mail packets. I imagine this one was filed under such a reference: ‘Nutters in Early America’. Still, it’s an interesting insight into that sort of weird Gnostic Noveau Masonic Lodge Mysticim Kabbalah stuff…

[magdalenepenitent]

https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-13-02-0215

[magdalenepenitent]

https://founders.archives.gov/?q=Date%3A1792-11-05%20Author%3A%22Jefferson%2C%20Thomas%22&s=1111311111&r=2 From Thomas Jefferson to Joseph G. Chambers, 5 November 1792

[magdalenepenitent]

https://founders.archives.gov/?q=Date%3A1792-09-17%20Author%3A%22Jefferson%2C%20Thomas%22&s=1111311111&r=3 Footnote: "The injunction from another quarter refers to Washington’s 23 Aug. 1792 letter to TJ." To Thomas Jefferson from George Washington, 23 August 1792 "How unfortunate, and how much is it to be regretted then, that whilst we are encompassed on all sides with avowed enemies and insidious friends, that internal dissentions should be harrowing and tearing our vitals. The last, to me, is the most serious—the most alarming—and the most afflicting of the two. And without more charity for the opinions and acts of one another in Governmental matters, or some more infalible criterion by which the truth of speculative opinions, before they have undergone the test of experience, are to be forejudged than has yet fallen to the lot of fallibility, I believe it will be difficult, if not impracticable, to manage the Reins of Government2 or to keep the parts of it together: for if, instead of laying our shoulders to the machine3 after measures are decided on, one pulls this way and another that, before the utility of the thing is fairly tried, it must inevitably be torn asunder—And, in my opinion the fairest prospect of happiness and prosperity that ever was presented to man, will be lost—perhaps for ever! My earnest wish, and my fondest hope therefore is, that instead of wounding suspicions, and irritable charges, there may be liberal allowances—mutual forbearances-and temporising yieldings on all sides. Under the exercise of these, matters will go on smoothly, and, if possible, more prosperously. Without them every thing must rub, the wheels of Government will clog—our enemies will triumph—and by throwing their weight into the disaffected Scale, may accomplish the Ruin of the goodly fabric we have been erecting..." https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-24-02-0300