#& the immortal thing like atp what do you even do.

[7roaches]

avtually i lied about prev post i think about dreamtale lore rvery day for my own fucked up purposes (writing them both as becoming selfish fucked up people) & also about error bc i will never forgive anyone for what ppl did to him

[glimmeringtwilight]

Daffodils p2 | Yandere Diluc x Reader x Dottore

this might be incoherent. i still dislike the ending but atp if i keep chipping away i'm going to abandon it lol

CW: referenced reader death (from p1), angst, captivity, yandere themes, body horror (mild for. y'know. my usual), minor character death, NSFW (not super explicit, and no specific wordage for uuu parts), cuckholding, blood, non-consensual voyeurism (diluc), dubcon, unhealthy relationships, unhealthy coping mechanisms (do not imitate)

Word Count: 2.6k

It’s a dreary autumn day when the master of the winery returns with you in tow.

The manor is quiet, still as the Snezhnayan winter that he trekked through for the past several sleepless days and nights to get you. More quiet, however, is you, who hasn’t spoken a word since Diluc dragged you out of that dimly lit, dilapidated lab stinking of chemicals that he found you in. 

He’s tried everything he knows on the journey back. You didn’t struggle once as he carried you back home– didn’t try to run when he’d rest with you in his arms– but you didn’t say a single thing to him no matter how hard he tried to get you to speak.

That’s fine. It’s shock, he supposes. He doesn’t know what that madman did to you, and if he didn’t have such precious cargo he would have gone back there and burned that place to the ground; charring the snowy, lifeless landscape surrounding it. 

But he has you. He has you now, and that’s all that matters. Even if your skin has lost some of its color now, dull and cold. Even if there’s a quiet ticking in your chest in place of a heartbeat. Even if you only ever look through him, now. It’s enough. 

This is what Diluc tells himself as he returns you to the room that had been your prison for months, as he dusts off the bars of your gilded cage before locking you back inside. 

You don’t say anything. But it’s enough, just having you. It’s enough, he thinks.

Adelinde keeps checking in on him now that he’s returned. Her face is always pinched with a quiet concern when she speaks to him, and the servants in the manor part like the sea against jagged stone when he walks past them in the halls. 

The estate seems to hold its breath around him; no longer a ghost, but perhaps something worse. As though the light he’d held against the darkness was snuffed out, and the shadow cast in its wake was long. But he’s fine. He swears it. He’s fine, now that you’re back. He’ll be perfect for you, the perfect gentleman; the man he swore he was but could never seem to be, before.

It’s enough to just have you. To hold you every night as he lays next to you, still in your bed like a corpse, listening to the ticking in your chest like a clock counting down to nowhere. Diluc finds himself dreading the ticking and seeking it out all the same.

Weeks pass like this, with Diluc unraveling slowly as he tries to cling to the crumbling memory of you, bastardized by his selfishness and immortalized in the husk of you he keeps locked in your room. 

None of the servants are allowed to see you. He hears them at night, whispering to each other when they think he’s gone to sleep. 

“He’s lost his mind.”

“Are they even alive, in there? I haven’t seen them at all. Adelinde said they–”

“Keep your voice down– are you trying to wake him?”

He hasn’t lost his mind. He has you here now, to ground him, to make him whole. Even if your body seems to be crumbling, tearing apart with every passing day.

You don’t say anything anymore. You don’t eat, but you choke down whatever food he forces down your throat, teeth clacking against silverware as you stare off into nothing. Most of his days are spent taking care of you, keeping you together, stoking the fireplace in your room to keep you warm.

You don’t seem to mind the cold, but he still forces you to sit by the fire, warming you up in a facsimile of living flesh. He tries everything– cleaning you carefully every morning before dressing you, tending to the sutures that never seem to heal.

But he can’t seem to bring you back fully. Can’t seem to warm the skin that cools quickly when you’re not kept by the fire, can’t seem to wipe that glassy look from your eyes, can’t seem to drown out the ticking in your chest.

Adelinde comes home one day from running errands to find all of the clocks in the estate smashed and left out on the front steps, some of the servants already tending to the mess as the master of the estate slips back inside the manor like a shadow of the setting sun. 

He can’t figure it out. You won’t talk to him, won’t hardly look at him unless he takes you by the jaw and forces you. He can barely stand to hold you.

It’s enough. It’s enough. It’s enough. 

But he knows it isn’t. He can’t bear living with the ghost of you, settling for the corpse he keeps in his bed. He wants you to smile at him like you used to. Needs to hear your voice again. Holding you close while you’re still so far from him is driving him mad. 

It’s another dreary day when he finally breaks. Rain pours against the roof of the estate, blazing trails down the window panes. You’re sat by the fire again as you always are, most days. 

Diluc kneels at your feet, his head buried against your knees as he begs you to speak.

“I love you,” He says. He reaches up, pressing a trembling hand against your cold cheek. He can’t seem to chase the snow out of you. You don’t respond. He tries again. “I love you.”

Your eyes flick to his, the barest indication of life in them– but you look through him all the same, as you have been for weeks, now. He sits up, eyes wild, and leans over you, grasping your face desperately. He can’t bear to look at it anymore.

Diluc pulls you close, burying his face against your nape and gritting his teeth at the smell of chemicals clinging to you. You still smell like that place. Like chemicals. Like the Doctor. No matter how many times he bathes you, no matter how hard he scrubs. It’s there. Always there. Faint, but still there. 

“Please come back to me,” He whispers, clutching you against his chest like you’ll slip through his fingers at any moment. …Like you haven’t already. “Please. I’ll do anything.”

For the first time in weeks, you speak. Your voice is hoarse, quiet and wispy from disuse. It’s like the sun peeking through the clouds after a long storm, a refreshing wind–

“Take me back.” You rasp, and his blood runs cold. When he doesn’t respond, you repeat yourself. “Take me back.”

Diluc stays there a minute, gasping through clenched teeth as grief and anger rattle through him. You don’t mean it. You can’t. You let out a quiet, pained sound from how tight his grip on you has gotten, and he pulls away like he’s been burned. 

He can’t look at you. There’s a ticking behind your chest, behind his ears– whatever it is the Doctor replaced your heart with– he can’t unhear it. Without a word, he leaves swiftly, locking the door behind him as he goes. 

When he returns, the fire in the hearth has dimmed to embers, and you’re still perched exactly how he left you. Like a doll. He breathes a shuddering sigh and moves you to the bed, laying you down and tucking you in with all the tenderness and care his trembling hands can manage. 

Instead of begging you to speak, he slips out of the room again, instructing Adelinde to look after you while he’s gone. 

He knows how to fix this: it must be your heart. Must be that facsimile of a beating heart stuffed into your chest that’s causing you to act so hollow and lifeless. If he can just find it, he can bring you back. He’s sure of it. 

Diluc journeys for another several days and nights, returning to the lab he’d found you in and tearing the place apart until he finds what he was looking for– your heart, preserved in formaldehyde and kept in a jar like some sort of sickening keepsake. 

There’s no sign of the Doctor anywhere, but Diluc doesn’t have enough mercy left in his heart to spare for the Fatui grunts unfortunate enough to get caught in his path. Blood stains his jacket an even deeper shade of red, sinking into the stitching deep enough that he’s certain even Adelinde wouldn’t be able to remove the stains. 

He burns the place down once he’s finished, true to his word, leaving the smoldering building behind as he makes the journey back with bloodstained boots and clothes, carrying the final piece of you; the missing puzzle piece in his hands.

Biting winds at his back keep his pace hurried as he rushes home; he has barely slept by the time he finally returns, the sun rising over the peaceful estate of the winery like a promise of hope. 

He’s delirious and exhausted from hardly pausing to rest throughout the entire journey home, but he has it– he has what he knows will fix you, bring the light back into your glassy eyes. 

The manor is quiet when he steps inside, and Diluc freezes when he sees Adelinde’s body laying at the bottom of the stairs, neck twisted at an unnatural angle and her expression frozen in horror. 

No-

His first instinct is to find you, stepping over Adelinde’s body despite the pang of grief that lances through his chest. Every step only turns his blood cooler in his veins, cutting through exhaustion and delirium like a blade.

The door to your bedroom is cracked and he throws it open, freezing as he sees what’s there.

You’re smiling. For the first time since he lost you, you’re smiling, eyes crinkled with warmth as the number two of the Fatui Harbingers looms over you like a malaise.

Floorboards singe underfoot, but Diluc isn’t given time to act before hands snatch his arms, ripping his Vision from him and tossing it aside. Whatever angered curse he was going to say is cut off by another pair of hands shoving a gag into his mouth, and it takes several agents to drag him into the room and force him into the chair set up by the bed.

There’s the sound of breaking glass as the struggle knocks the precious cargo he’d carried all this way from his hands, shattering against the floor. Whatever grief he may have felt at the sound  is drowned out by the sight of you as the Fatui grunts forcibly sit him down in the chair and start to tie him down. 

Rope cuts into his wrists and his legs as he’s tied to the chair; two of the pyro agents stay behind to keep him from thrashing or knocking the chair over as the rest slink back into the hallway. 

It isn’t until the last of the rope is secured, leaving the frazzled wine tycoon seething from behind the gag but unable to do much else, that Dottore finally speaks up. 

“I’m glad you could finally join us, Master Diluc,” The Doctor drawls, words dripping with condescension and cyanide. “I was beginning to worry.”

A knowing smile tugs at Dottore’s lips when he turns to see Diluc’s expression, distress creased in the lines of his brow as his attention remains fixated solely on you. 

Diluc sees now. That bastard is sitting in your bed, the bed you’re meant to share with him, as gloved fingers lazily toy with your nipples. The clothes you were wearing are haphazardly strewn about the floor. 

Dottore readjusts. Takes hold of your legs and wraps them loosely around his hips as he situates himself more comfortably on the bed. Diluc feels nausea roiling in his gut.

He can’t tear his eyes away when Dottore’s fingers drift downward, tracing over your stomach before dipping between your thighs. The soft sound you make burns him. 

It’s torture, listening to you. He’d wanted so desperately for any sound from you– anything at all– these past few weeks, but not like this. Not while you’re looking up at that monster like he’s the moon– the most life Diluc’s seen in your eyes in weeks– as he defiles you. 

Every noise seems to chip a piece of him away, cutting deeper than any blade could hope to manage.

As much as it rends him to watch, he can’t tear his eyes away, taking in the sight of you shuddering and moaning softly in response to another man’s touch. 

Something acrid and bitter swells in his chest– he can’t help but think that if it weren’t for him, you’d never be here. If he hadn’t stolen you, held on too tight so that you’d run away the first chance you’d gotten, you never would have died… Never would have wound up under the Doctor, on his operating table or in this bed.

Worse, still, is the selfish insistence he still feels. If he hadn’t taken you, he fears the worst may have happened to you– as though the worst hadn’t already come true. He did all of this to protect you– yet he’d failed to do even that. 

You eventually shudder in a way Diluc recognizes and he sags against the chair, feeling something crack inside him. This is killing him. As much as pain rips through his chest, he can’t help but cling to that rending heartache, tolerate it if it means he gets to see you smile again. You’re still in there– not a doll, not a ghost.

He loves you; he always will. Even this will never make him hate you– it’s not your fault that you’ve been caught up in the jaws of a monster. It’s not your fault that he’d failed you. 

Dottore adjusts, and whatever self-loathing Diluc had felt starts to wither at the sound of rustling fabric. No. No- 

He tries to thrash in his chair, held down by the two agents standing behind him with a firm grip on his shoulders. He tries to turn away, to close his eyes and shut out the world as the whimper from you that follows sears him like a brand. Hands dig into his jaw, prod at his eyelids with a force that threatens to blind him until he unwillingly opens them again. 

Months ago, when Diluc thought you’d finally settled, finally adjusted to your new life here, there was the barest beginnings of warmth in your eyes. Acceptance. Love, his heart hoped. He’s reminded of that again; you have the same embers of warmth in your gaze as you once did before the sky fell. 

That same look you’d once given him, but now it’s directed at the monster grinning down at you. He never thought that warmth could ruin him, but the grief that settles into his bones is a worse pain than one he’s ever known. 

The hope that he’d journeyed home with withers and dies at his feet like the heart the Doctor had stolen from you– to know it wasn’t merely literal is agony. His greed had been the undoing of you both. 

In the garden, the daffodils had died months ago; it was the end of their season. They’d planted sunflowers near where your grave once was instead, but those are dying too, afflicted by some disease or pest. 

Diluc had once hoped you’d go out into the garden to see them, but ever since he’d brought the ghost of you home you’ve only ever haunted this one room; days spent staring at the hearth instead of out the window like you’d used to. 

Jealousy is ugly and loud in his head, clinging to his throat like tar.

Perhaps he’s damned; he wishes that you hadn’t found the light that he’d stolen from you in another man.

[genericwizard]

Venti :3

Ehe... under the read more for space

How I feel about this character Venti makes me unwell, he also makes me want to live so it all works out. He was my first love in Genshin and also my strongest. He is my forever favorite, even if I accept other characters may do more, be more, he is my one and only clown husband. I cried when I had to leave Mondstadt without him (and rejoiced that we'd never be apart once I rolled for him three months later). He inspired me to leave my shitty job. Character of all time to me.

All the people I ship romantically with this character I am the KaeVen CEO for a reason....... this is the only ship for the character that matters to me because I see so much intrigue. There's the mortal/immortal aspects of it but also because they are very similar characters IMO. They're both "outsiders" in their own home. People don't trust them because they're hiding behind their smile. Neither like taking credit for their good deeds or that their reputation precedes them, etc. I like the drama of "how could they ever forgive me for what I've done?" "am I worthy of being loved/ allowing myself to fall in love?" "I didn't think you of all people would understand me". And they've had more substantial moments in canon together than frankly any other Venti ship, but who's counting?

When I don't have brain worms I actually like exes zhongven a lot, I think they had a longstanding relationship that doesn't work out for various reasons, and they probably know each other quite well, or at least they used to. I also like RosaVen in a genderweird way, Rosaria realizing she thinks he's annoyingly cute and doesn't know what to do about it is fun. I also like one-sided Venlumi and Venti/Vanessa, because I know he longs for powerful women who don't reciprocate in that way... sigh.

My non-romantic OTP for this character One no one will mention- Miko + Venti friendship is S tier, I love that he gossips with her over drinks. I also prefer platonic XiaoVen, they're close but not in that way to me. As mentioned I also like Venlumi, and I'll take platonic KaeVen too since I eat crumbs. Historically I care about his relationships with Vanessa and NB but I am fixated on Venti in the current timeline so I don't think about them much.

My unpopular opinion (s) about this character Hoo boy. Well for one I actually don't like his archon design very much. I kind of dislike some of the elements that I think don't make sense on his body and also were only shown in the comic depiction, like his glowing anemo tattoos or w/e, I don't really get the point of those so I omit them in my writing. His archon design and all the discussion around it bleeds into my dislike of people who label him a tr*p or something similar/worse. Despite this, very pro Venti as a sex-haver, I don't think there's anything wrong with sexualizing him, I just have my own icks. Also pro Venti having weird gender, even if I still prefer he/him pronouns for him.

I guess I dislike that people distrust him so much. It's like, sure, he's withholding info from us, but to assume that means he has ulterior, evil motives makes 0 sense to me. I also don't like corrupted Venti for the same reason. He's fine. He just has the usual kinds of despair, from the existential crisis of his existence, perception of time, and all the loss he's faced that drive him to sleep for hundreds of years at a time. Far more tangible reasons to be "corrupted" to me than "ooooh the abyss made him Evilllll" Besides, Celestia made all that is forbidden evil, even if he is full of abyssal knowledge/power that's not a good metric of someone's morality when Celestia is our main antagonist!

I guess thinking Kaeya is his best ship is unpopular, but that's redundant ATP.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

Carmen Dei: Chapter II. Or really any new story/event appearance where he's allowed to be more than a glorified emcee / convenient plot starter.

[t4tozier]

⭐️ for anything you wanna talk about!

WOO okay let’s talk about the alternate endings for when i’m down on my knees. i was planning on actually writing them both as a sort of choose your own adventure thing but i think i’ve moved on atp my brain has too many ideas and since it does have an official ending i don’t think it’s enough motivation for me to go back and write two more oneshots.

so as you will know if you read this, the last chapter ends with jace power word killing porter after he goes into a rage when porter says he doesn’t want to be a god anymore. because in jace’s mind, they’ve spent so much time and effort and pain getting to this point. jace has been completely destroyed and brought back for this sole purpose. what is he meant to do if his god no longer wants to be a god? what does that mean for his magic as a divine soul sorcerer? so he lashes out and destroys porter because in his mind it’s a true betrayal, worse than if porter had ascended and left him on the mortal plane, because that, at least, he would’ve understood. he’d prepared for that. he didn’t prepare for this. and the fucked up thing is that porter was willing to make it work, he wanted to stay with jace, but jace couldn’t see a world in which they were both able to be mortal together. porter wanted jace to love him as a man, but jace didn’t know how to not worship him as a god.

and this was not actually supposed to be the ending until the very last minute. the original ending was going to be porter ascending and making jace his immortal saint, but as i kept writing and reading all the lovely comments people were reading it felt like that was the direction that the story was trying to pull itself, so i ended up going with the more angsty ending rather than the one where jace finally gets what he wants. such is life i suppose.

and then the third ending was going to be jace getting too strong, too powerful, and porter feeling threatened by that. (see him not even knowing what PWK was when jace used it on bobby.) so he ends up killing jace to essentially collect his power and ascend that way. but that just felt too cruel, especially for this porter. he’d already expressed his doubts about godhood earlier in the story. if he was going to ascend, jace would’ve had to be at his side.

so overall i’m pretty happy with what ended up happening, but i do still think about those other endings from time to time.

[soupthatistohot]

BSD: An Absurdist Analysis - Ch. 113

Dealings with death... or not

[BSD Absurdism Masterpost]

Firstly -- Sigma isn't dead! Yay! Though I fear he's going to wake up with quite the headache, and not just because of the information overload from Fyodor...

I forget if I properly posted about my serious doubt about his death given the fact that it would make no narrative sense, but to summarize my thoughts on the matter: Sigma dying at this point in the story doesn't align with absurdist storytelling simply because he didn't get to do anything yet. I see him clearly being set up as one of our new protagonists with his transition from being on Fyodor's side to Dazai's, and to have him kick the bucket at this point in time doesn't serve the story in any way. Effectively, he hasn't gotten to do much yet.

Returning to Fukuchi's paradoxical, convoluted plan to end all war, (which I discussed at length in my 112 analysis), Fukuzawa is presented with an ultimatum.

Fukuzawa is being put in a truly absurd position here: he can either kill is childhood best friend in order to fulfill his plan of ending war (which he doesn't wholeheartedly believe will necessarily work atp), or not kill him, and risk suffering the consequences, both personally and large-scale. It's quite the pickle.

Additionally, the condition of no more than 500 fatalities and the loopholes they had to jump through to ensure this are ridiculous. At the very least, Fukuchi and Fyodor were thinking like absurdists with the methodology of this all -- they combated the absurd reality with even more absurd means.

In any case, Fukuawa refuses to kill Fukuchi, his emotions getting the best of him. Though he doesn't say as much, I'm sure he's resolved in his mind that there must be some other way out of this difficulty. He refuses to succumb to the absurd reality and be forced to kill someone he cares so deeply about and whose intentions he knows were ultimately toward the betterment of society.

But if there's one thing about an absurd reality, it's that the unexpected can and will occur. Teruko kills Fukuchi in Fukuzawa's place in order to fulfill the plan, and then forces Fukuzawa to take on the responsibility of it against his will.

And she's clearly angry and upset about this, too. It wasn't what she wanted to do, but it is what had to be done. Such is the absurdity of this world.

Lastly, I'd like to address the Fyodor thing.

Admittedly, I don't know what to make of the flashback with Bram quite yet, but it is implied that perhaps Fyodor is immortal. With that comes the possibility that Dazai did not ultimately succeed in killing him (especially with Bram's order for him to be stabbed, similar to how he was in the helicopter -- did he survive by somehow worming his way out of the situation, or because of his ability? This is yet to be seen).

So, then, is all of Dazai's effort in defeating Fyodor for naught? That would certainly be an absurd situation, especially if it is connected to Fyodor's ability, which I suspect it will be. What do you do with a mastermind whose ability prevents them from dying? Not only do you have to outsmart them on a pure intellectual level, but you have to figure out how to either kill them (if that's even possible) or contain them (which has already proved to be difficult).

I'm curious to see where the story goes from here, because we're reaching new territory untouched by the anime!

[lostsoulaltair]

With all due respect, Yuu is a hypocrite after chapter 136. Wdym you're going to be Shikama's successor... how many times before did he say that the past did not matter to him. I recall him saying something like that in chapter 74 to Ashera, chapter 113 with Shinoa and Guren and chapter 130 with Mika. I feel like he's chasing after ghosts atp and he's going to cause lots of hurt to the rest of the cast.

Maybe that's what he meant of how he's going to continue Shikama's circle of abuse lmao. He tricked his father's plan, but that doesn't mean it would have worked in the first place.

Also, kinda against it since vampires have their own motivation now and they're far different individuals as of their angel versions.

Hmm, that's a valid thought. I can't speak up for everyone but it is a valid to think that way towards Yuu's character.

Hmm, the thing with the main theme of the story is pretty much about love and how it can distort and take many shapes which we've seen along the yourney.

P.S: Might extent a little, sorry in advance.

It's true as you stated; he has stated he is living in the present but it is clear to which point his mindset aligns to.

What do I mean?

Shikama and Yuu have one similar type of love or well, rather, they share the same sentiment even back when Yuu had no recollection of who he was in the past. That said, such love is aligned to embracing the past, a disrespect towards life and living in the old days.

With this, there's a second factor when it comes to their mindset which is literally the very fact that both see that there shouldn't be repercutions or consequences to their actions.

What does this mean?

With Shikama. Shikama was never able to understand why his angels were punished; he considered that the sole sinner was him alone given that he pretty much did the three forbidden acts:

Apothanasia standing for prolonging the life of those that are bound to die; of course, for angels in this case they were bound to accept that their time was over but Shikama sought more; furthermore, his angels believed ans crowned him as their God and King hence the weight of the punishment but still, Shikama didn't see the wrong of that.

When it comes to Yuu, he is falling in the same spot as Shikama did all those years ago which is highly visible in his fight with Asuramaru.

Asuramaru for sure was the most loyal to Shikama just like his previous life as an angel. But given how he was merely seen as a tool; he realized that those promises that were given to him were empty.

Allowing him to realize after such a long time that he really didn't treasure the fragility of life. Ashera concludes that making Krul an immortal was a terrible mistake whereas Yuu opposed saying that that's how humanity should be like.

This too is reflected on the point you stated.

Yuu might be the protagonist of the story; but that doesn't make him a hero. But that's the journey itself. How will it end this? Perhaps that angel that delivered punishment is likely to appear. After all, everything has a consequence.

[mytvd]

why is caroline's hair and lingerie post-vampire bite her cutest look so far

omfg toe ring closeup

why is vicki so upset at jeremy feeling like she hooked up with him for "the drugs" after she accused his motives. what is her deal. my initial dislike is morphing into a burning need to figure her out

have elena and stefan even been "dating" for 24 hours yet? this bff/bf bonding hang seems so sudden

i like matt's instincts to leave elena alone, wow. so rare!!

why is mr. tanner's class now on the end of ww2??? i need to see the syllabus

he's the football coach too???? D:

if i didn't already know matt lives i would definitely assume he was destined from how decent he's acting to elena and stefan. why is he friends with tyler

i mean i get that in high school friends are often proximity-based but ugh

"stefan and i have watched every single person we've cared about die" lmao what a natural thing to say

is it important for the vampires to stay on the down low or what?? they are not being subtle at all lol.

if damon is supposed to be 25 why tf he is hanging out with these teens like this?? i get it is to mess with stefan but it's creepy. also what would jenna think about this. where is she

damon could be doing literally anything with his immortality and super senses. so far i am buying that stefan is trying to live a "human life" but damon could be sowing true chaos somewhere with a lot more going on than a small town in virginia. and amongst people with more interesting lives than high school students

the crow im speechless

i think i would find stefan much more boring if i had seen this show at an earlier time in life (especially while it was airing) but at this point i'm so beyond fatigued over seeing woman brutalized in the media and real life and the state of the world that seeing this sensitive guy trying to [presumably] genuinely appreciate small human moments and support his girlfriend is nice? and i like how invested he is in bringing damon's humanity to light (although it doesn't seem like he's doing anything to really keep him from killing non-elena citizens). maybe he gets more boring? also watching the way caroline and vicki are being treated by men is disgusting.

"you can have her when i'm done" dear god how does vicki stomach the presence of tyler!!!!

"yes it is, otherwise you wouldn't put an alternate meaning behind everything you say" okay elena!!!

tbh one reason i never watched this show is because i hated mia on degrassi so much that i didn't think i could handle a show where nina dobrev is the protagonist but i like her a lot on this so far! i was wrong

can stefan even pretend to be upset about damon killing mr. tanner

it gets addressed in btvs that the sunnydale cops are aware of the existence of vampires so i am wondering if the mystic falls cops do as well? like how many bodies with identical neck wounds could they bring in without connecting them to each other? also i guess i know sunnydale is a hellmouth full of monsters and idk if there are atp other vampires killing people besides damon.

oops i spoke too soon i guess stefan doesn't believe in damon after all lol

[cantarella]

I love essays, thank you for responding! Some of my own (wlw) mutuals have been rting/reblogging ship stuff for them, like it’s their token “good hetero ship” and I just…. :(

I’ve also seen a number of ppl refuse to acknowledge that Furina and Focalors are the same person. Like, that’s one bitch. Not recognizing that Focalors is Furina’s divinity (now laid to rest) is such a disservice to her character imho. Like, immortality as a kind of “youth” that dies when you finally breach adulthood is what I keep thinking about, among other things. Atp, with Focalors gone, all her memories independent of Furina (I assume this is because of the curse, and a final note of kindness from Focalors so that her humanity doesn’t have to process 2 sets of memories at once. Though the latter is a head canon I guess), Furina and Neuvillette are so horrifically incompatible with each other.

Even IF they didn’t look like father and daughter and even IF the mental age difference wasn’t terrifying… Furina has so much of the world left to learn. She’s still the same person and yet she’s different, that transition is traumatic actually! Not to mention the literal trauma of having the lives of ALL your kin in the palm of your hand that you mentioned.

As for her sq, I thought I was pretty clear that one of the takeaways, after reading the director’s journal, was that Furina is like a big sister/sibling/familial-linkage-of-some-kind to all Fontainians. Despite everything, they are her family, she’d do it all again, because “to be human is to be part of the greatest opera ever known,” and there’s beauty in this life to preserve etc etc. Idk if I’m making any sense tbh, but it’s nice to know at least a few other people understand how to consume media critically 🥹

(Also! When shippers go on and on abt Neuvi paying for Furina’s apartment/things…Clorinde offers to do the same fucking thing. Like, literally offers to find her a new apartment with the apparent fortune she makes from being the champion duelist I guess. But they refuse to acknowledge that. Given, they probably don’t read her character stories or flavor text, but still)

yw! and ouch I can feel that, I'm very picky with who I follow so that didn't happen to me but this pairing is quite inescapable

anyway, that's an interesting take on focalors and furina, which I agree with but only on a symbolic level. yes they're of the same origin, but they're the same only in the way jesus and the holy father are both god. idk if you're familiar with christian doctrine but the focalors furina and neuvillette dynamic is based on the father-son-holy spirit trifecta. maybe I'll do a post on that eventually but in the meantime here's a chart to make it easier

the father (focalors) created the son (furina) in his image, they're both incarnations of god but they're not one or the same being. rukkhadevata explained how this works in the context of teyvat and the irminsul also

furina and focalors share the same nature, though not in the same way rukkhadevata and nahida do as they are reincarnations, but the fact focalors died while furina lives and they don't share memories and experiences proves that in the eyes of the irminsul they're two separate beings with different "fates". which obviously makes furina even more incompatible with neuvi as she was never anything but a frightened young girl and the power and maturity imbalance is so steep it's at a 90° angle

that said, I do believe symbolically focalors' death put an end to furina's adolescence, as a death of the immortal self and of a physical manifestation of the idealized youth

in a similar symbolic way furina is an older sister type of figure to people of fontaine now. she ruled over them for 500 years she obviously cares for them, but only now she can actually learn to know and understand them as herself, and help them in ways furina, not the hydro archon, can

trying to find her own place in the world, distancing herself from her guardian figure and getting help from her friends, achieving enough power to protect herself alone, and literally going out drinking for the first time in her character stories (not that #those people read them anyway I'm sure) which is literally what hyv has been using from the start to show if someone is of age or not, are all steps of someone just stepping into adulthood. trying to ignore all this and say she should go back to working with neuvi and that the vision is him protecting her or putting a claim on her (writing that made me suicidal for half a second) for the sake of a fuckass m/f pairing is an actual insult to both of their characters. it's actually vile to me

anyway I hope the fans explode and die bc they're both illiterate and fans of heterosexuality. like pick a struggle

[chaoskirin]

A Full History of Thericry

Thericry is one of the oldest stable magics, created by a group of several unnamed humans following the defeat of Erit’s original gods. Jealous of the long lifespans of other races like fauns and elves, humans sought to extend their age using newly found arcane arts. The experiments took decades, and the curse of thericry that survived is the longest standing failure.

While magic was new, science and scientific principles were well-established and it was widely understood that people–whether they be human or elf or harpy, et cetera–aged because of the degradation of DNA. The goal was to create several internal structures that would cause or harbor the production of telomerase without causing tumors.

The humans involved enlisted the help of the New Gods, who were less subtle about directly interfering in the world back then. The god Nebula would create a cycle of release. Antirrhopus would stabilize the new internal structures. 

And Xax–the deity of disease–would create a method of distribution.

That was the first mistake.

With magic held closely by the gods and their conduits, and with a series of leylines holding the planet in a stable orbit around its star, the humans realized that there was no way they could harness enough energy at once to "treat" the entire population. Such a massive implementation would tear Erit apart and negate the entire purpose of their experiment. So the idea was to infect a vector, who would then transfer their near-immortality to everyone around them, and so on and so forth, until every human carried it. Instead of using existing viruses and modifying them over a number of decades, they petitioned Xax for a bit of a shortcut. Xax didn't earn their titles of "Deity of Death" and "Deity of Pain" until years after the Fall. Initially, the mortals of the world knew the god as simply the "Deity of Disease." And the human petitioners figured that if a disease could be bad, it could also be modified to be good. Symbiotic, even.

But Xax had an important role to fill. Death was, is, and has always been an important part of the cycle of life. Without it, and with a population allowed to grown unchecked, the planet may well have died. While Xax and the other gods knew that the denizens of Erit would find ways to prolong their life, snub disease, and cheat death, it wasn't their job to predict the future. It was their job to fill the roles they had, immediately, in the present. And Xax was neither altruistic nor benevolent. They were opportunistic, though. After conferring with the other gods, it was decided that this human foray into immortality must fail. Antirrhopus, who was chaotic at best, came up with the method to implement the disease, and Nebula, who was fair and kind, limited its scope down to a manageable level. It was the hope of all the gods that mortals would cease their quest into artificially extending their lives if such endeavors created disastrous results. Thus, the humans and the gods started work on the most infamous infection the world had ever known.

In the early days of the new gods, magic began to interweave with all the sciences to produce results the world had never seen before. Experts in human biology and chemistry decided that if this magical virus was to be maintained, the infected would have to change their physiology in order to accept their new, longer lives. And while genetic sciences had been making huge strides before the dawn of widely available magic, magical interference could only perfect their work.

And so it was decided that the infection would do several things. First, it would increase the production of telomerase in the body. And second--to prevent cancer--it would store the excess of this protein in a special fifth chamber of the heart, to be distributed when necessary. Last, it would create what the humans called a terminal cycle. Once a month, a failsafe mechanism would flush any unused protein out of the body.

The magic was written carefully, with input by the gods. Everything was covered. Everything was troubleshooted a hundred times over, then a hundred more. It would work. The internal structures would develop exactly as they were meant to.

And humans would have immortality.

When the time came, Xax donated their finest virus, developed over the course of years. Antirrhopus sent a golden Familiar Spirit, which graciously sacrificed itself for the cause. And Nebula sent a drop of moonlight, bottled and concentrated into a glow so bright that it hurt to look at it without special lenses.

With these boons, the humans built a genetic lattice for their spell. It would have been perfect. The humans would have lived longer than the elves. They could have built an infinite legacy.

No one expected the gods to punish them for their lofty aspirations. The spell was specifically designed to be irreversible. Every loophole was accounted for. Short of an ingenious magical solution that would account for every tiny detail in the original magic, the disease would be permanent and particularly virulent. To ensure reversal was impossible, once the humans brewed their potion, they destroyed the written formula. No one would ever see how they made it.

The names of those who first imbibed the solution are lost to time.

It only took days for it to begin to work, as it reconfigured their bodies to accept their longer lifespan. Everything seemed to be working as planned. And while it was impossible to see what was happening on a microscopic level, their hearts split into five chambers. Blood tests showed no excess of telomerase in the blood--as planned--which meant the protein was confined.

Side effects manifested slowly. The eyes of those who infected themselves changed colors. Some became yellow. Some green, or bright blue. Even purple, or orange, or everything in between. Their appetites increased, too. They seemed to be hungry all the time.

Most curiously, one especially vain subject sought to get the rather large wound at his injection site healed, but it only scarred over. The mark remained.

A few weeks later, they all changed.

Two of them became wolves, another a hawk. One of them hid away, so her change is unknown to history. One became a monstrous insect. Another, a tortoise. Each had their own interesting qualities; some were more animal-like than others, but they were definitely inhuman. Somehow, the Familiar Spirit gifted by Antirrhopus coursed through all of them, changing them into their closest animal kin.

Realizing they had been tricked by the gods, they approached the most amicable of them, Nebula, who inquired: "Did you ask every human on Erit if they wanted immortality?"

She said nothing else to them.

As time passed, the pioneers of immortality learned to control their spontaneous transformations. Most of them intended to never shift again, to hide their failure. One of the wolves, in particular, staunchly fought against the animal side of herself, vowing never to tamper with the course of nature ever again. The disease didn't seem to spread as intended, which meant they could all hopefully put this chapter of their existence to rest for good.

Then came the New Moon.

If only they could have hidden their blunder away forever. If only it were that easy! When Ammit, the closest moon to Erit, waned entirely, the humans who sought to challenge death itself shifted violently, painfully, maddeningly. Their minds were lost to them; they became the beasts they resembled and could only think of one thing--destroying every living soul around them.

Many died in the 34 days that followed as the first therics rampaged. One of the wolves--no one knows which--was killed in the first days. The tortoise was cornered and trapped, as he was particularly slow; though even he was able to bite one of his captors in his rage. The hawk traveled far and wide, her wings carrying her to all corners. Those she didn't kill, she left maimed or in great pain.

Two whole spans later, she was shot down and killed a whole continent away.

The insect was found to have a venom so terrible that it literally overkilled those it bit. It was neurotoxic and hemotoxic, and cause necrosis that spread from the site of the bite. Most who were attacked were dead within hours.

Notably, these new creatures seemed more inclined to go after other humans. In species-diverse areas, it would bypass elves or fauns to get to the human population, unless cornered. Of course we know today that non-humans are affected by theric venom, although in much different ways. That's a topic for another paper.

It's written that most of the original therics were killed as they rampaged. One was never found, and the tortoise, of course, was kept in captivity in hopes that he could be studied. The casualty count ranged in the thousands--hundreds dead and even more injured. Those that survived reported that their scratches and bites would not heal.

34 days to the second, the tortoise passed out, reverted to human, and seemed to only have a vague memory of what happened.

He was passive. In shock. Tired. He would remain caged for the rest of his life, as well; while he received a trial for the unintentional murder of six people, he willingly committed himself to captivity in order to sort out what the gods had done to him and the others.

It took little time to find that the new fifth chamber of the heart did not contain telomerase as planned. Thereafter, the reason for theric hunger became apparent: their bodies were producing adenosine triphosphate--or ATP--in extreme volumes. It was then attached to an inert protein and stored in the heart's fifth chamber. The ATP would flood the body when a theric shifted, providing them enough energy to change without killing them. The theric would then need to recoup their losses, usually be eating, in order to shift back.

While Erit's finest scientists were studying the tortoise, the survivors of the theric rampage began to change themselves. Every human became some type of animal--bears, bluebirds, badgers--each seemed to be different and unique.

In those early days where fear prevailed, many of them were killed. Or locked away forever. Of course some avoided that fate, as thericry continued to spread.

It took decades to discover the true nature of these people and how their affliction functioned. It was the tortoise--one of the original therics--that suggested Antirrhopus would have followed their recipe for a timer in some regard. Thus, they discovered that every 34 days, the ATP reservoir in the heart would undergo lysis--literally exploding and directly flooding the bloodstream with energy. This would force the victim to shift and lose all mental faculty as the ATP literally poisoned them.

And with the destroyed reservoir unable to contain the excess energy, it would continue feeding the theric's unwilling transformation until exactly 34 days later, when the reservoir would heal thanks to nebula's boon, and start regulating ATP again.

Eventually, it was discovered that the level of ATP could be moderated or degraded. That the body wouldn't store as much or cause the theric to feel so much hunger if the theric allowed itself to spend time in its animal form. Essentially, it was hypothezied that if a theric could prevent the reservoir from lysing, it could prevent itself from losing its mind.

After much trial and error, it was determined that a full day--28 hours, to be precise--spent in the theric form would degrade the ATP cycle enough so that the reservoir wouldn't explode on the night of Ammit's new moon.

With magic involved, of course, this cycle started anew when Ammit began to wax again, meaning therics were forever cursed to spend at least part of their time as their alternate self. Because of the size of Erit, it took centuries to educate the farthest reaches as to the proper way to handle theics, and discrimination against them still persists today.

In the end, because of the stress the curse puts on the human body, afflicted people actually find their lifespan reduced by an average of twenty to thirty years. While most humans may expect to live to the age of 90, most therics won't live past the age of 60; those who are more conservative with their ability might make it to 70, but there has never been a recorded instance of a theric making it to 80 years old.

Let this be a lesson to us all: pride we may have, but we must never again gather so much hubris that we seek to spit in the face of the gods. That folly may yet be our downfall.

[allenmendezsr]

Make Money Online Trading Tennis. Low Risk Proven Methods

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Make Money Online Trading Tennis. Low Risk Proven Methods

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    Learn the secrets of tennis trading from a Pro Trader.

Learn How to Trade Tennis on Betfair!

Simple Low Risk Tennis Trading Strategies. IDEAL FOR BEGINNERS

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What is Betfair Tennis Trading and how will my Tennis Trading Guide help you to make money trading tennis?

Betfair is a betting exchange, similar to a bookmaker. The big difference is that as well as backing a player to win you can lay a player to lose. By using backs and lays during a match we can get a profit on both players. Then we don’t care who wins and we move on to the next match! My Low Risk Tennis Trading Course will teach you how to do this so you can make consistent daily profit.

Awards won by TradeShark Tennis

After Taking the Tennis Trading Course and you will be able to:

– Make a trading plan on how you will make profit from a tennis match. – Decide which trading strategy is suitable for the current tennis match. – Use low risk tennis trading techniques – Manage your trades if the match does not go as expected. – Spot when a player is “value” and choose appropriate stakes. – Know when to take your current profit and when you can let the trade run. – Know how to manage your trade to allow you to let it run for longer.

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What is Low Risk Tennis Trading?

Before we enter a trade we must assess the “RISK versus REWARD”. If the risk is too high compared to the potential profit then it is not a good entry. There are many situations in tennis matches where the risk to our bank is fairly low and the potential profit is high. These situations give us low risk tennis trades.. With the help of my Tennis Trading Course and also my one to one support you will be able to spot these opportunities quickly and place your trade. LOW RISK TENNIS TRADING does NOT guarantee a profit on every match but long term the profits far outweigh the losses.

Look What TradeShark Tennis Offers

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Learn to trade tennis matches. Perfect for beginners this trading course provides everything you need to get you started with trading tennis on Betfair.

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When you join TradeShark Tennis you are not on your own. You get a Pro tennis trader as your mentor.

I have traded tennis full time for over a decade and with a background in training I can help anyone to make money trading tennis.

I have a service providing trading tips on every main tour match 7 days a week. Low risk tennis trading entries suggested.

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Why is trading better than betting on Betfair tennis?

Profits are hard to come by through straight betting on tennis matches. Tennis matches can turn around very quickly and what looked like a safe bet can easily become a loser. When trading tennis on Betfair we are able to manage our position and can even switch sides in play (during the match). Trading tennis gives us the opportunity to limit losses on what would have been a losing bet and can even let us come out with a profit after initially backing the losing player.

You will learn:

How to spot patterns in tennis matches that can help you to decide when to enter your trade.

How to give yourself the best chance of making a profit.

What affects the Betfair price in a tennis match.

How we can take advantage of those price moves to secure a profit on both players.

What “value” is and how to spot it in Betfair markets. It is important that we enter the market at good value prices. A good entry limits the potential loss.

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Just 2 years after discovering Betfair tennis trading I was trading tennis full time.

Full time trader as your mentor for life

Paul Shires a.k.a. TradeShark

Pro Tennis Trader

Hi, I’m Paul Shires. I make my living trading the Betfair tennis markets. I found Betfair trading in 2008 and quickly came up with ways to make money on the tennis markets. I learned quickly despite having to use trial and error and in June 2010 I left my job and now trade on Betfair for a living.

Not many Betfair tennis trading services are still around after a decade.

TradeShark is a name you can trust.

I have 30 years of experience of training and coaching others and can tweak the training course to suit you. Keep me up to date with how your progress is going and I can significantly speed up your learning process.

I’ll help you to avoid a lot of those painful rookie mistakes that wreck your confidence. It’s time to work smarter.

Betfair Low Risk Tennis Trading Course. Learn to Trade Tennis Matches for Consistent Profits

Everything the new or experienced tennis trader needs to improve their results.

Low Risk Tennis Trading Strategies

I will teach you what I have learned since 2008. You will learn how to consistently make a profit from trading on tennis matches. I have been helping people to make money with PROVEN strategies since 2009. My popular Tennis Trading Course is perfect for beginners but the support you will receive will be useful to even experienced traders. I will take your tennis trading to the next level. You can contact me to keep me up to date with your progress.

This isn’t a get rich quick scheme. It takes practice to become consistent at anything in life. I will be with you every step of the way and I offer lifetime support with your one time payment. You also get FREE updates of the tennis trading course. FOREVER. (Well ok, I haven’t figured out this immortality thing yet but I’m good for a few decades yet!)

So what is Betfair tennis trading and how DO you trade on tennis?

What does trading on tennis even mean? The price/odds of a player on Betfair will change based on how they are performing in the match. As you get to know the players and how they behave or react in certain situations you will know when to enter your trade. Maybe they are a player who is great under pressure or perhaps they tend to get tight and nervous when trying to hold serve to win a set or to win the match.

There are patterns of play in tennis matches and we can take advantage of these patterns. You will learn what those patterns are and also what the “right thing to do” is for us to make a profit from them.

There are several ways to trade on tennis. Two of the more popular methods are:

When we scalp on tennis markets we are trading just a few points. We might only be in the market for 3 or 4 points or we might stay in for a game or two. If you have the right strategy this can be a safer method of trading tennis as you are not going to get caught out by a huge price move against you.

This method is my personal favourite. Knowledge of the players helps with this but knowing when a player is at a “value” price is the real key to this trading strategy. Don’t worry that is all explained in the Trading Course! For swing trades on tennis matches we stay in the market for much longer than for scalping and we might be in the market for a few games or a set or even longer.

Simple Betfair Tennis Trading Strategies with Lots of Demo Videos

The purpose of the Trading Course is to help you to learn how the markets move. The best way I have found to do this is to break trading down into simple techniques. By using these techniques you will become familiar with the tennis markets and will be able to match your trading plan to the match situation.

There are also beginner strategies that are designed to get new traders involved in the markets. I also include my favourite low risk tennis trading strategy that I use EVERY day.

Learn at Your Own Pace

Everyone is different! For most people Betfair trading is unlike anything you have seen before so it can take a little while to get your head round it. When I was learning no one wanted to help so it was all learned by trial and error. When you learn to trade tennis it is best to take things slowly. If you try to rush things you are more likely to make mistakes. That can wreck your confidence.

Info on Top 100 Players and Their Characteristics

Tennis trading gets easier as you get to know the players and the way they behave and react to certain match situations. I provide you with some info on the top 100 ATP and top 100 WTA players to get your knowledge started. I update them each December.

“More than happy to recommend the service offered by Paul. Ever helpful and offers a great service for the members, especially for the cheap lifetime membership price!” – Steve

“Paul really knows his stuff – there’s no waffle or empty promises, just good direct trading advice (what do you expect from a Yorkshireman?) that you know comes from an expert, but is easy to follow.” – Dylan Younger

I also have a daily Trading Tips email service. I send you information, stats and advice on all the day’s matches. Subscribers get emails 7 days a week.

If you buy the Betfair Tennis Trading Course today you get these emails FREE for 10 days.

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Tennis trading is about common sense and hard work. I work with you for as long as you need me. This will really develop your trading. There is also a Skype chatroom which many people find useful as we have a good mix of new guys (and a few new gals!) and experienced traders. It is a very friendly group who all try to help each other with tips and ideas.

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[thebignothingpodcast]

THE SUDDEN BUT EXPECTED DECLINE OF NOVAK DJOKOVIC

History has shown us that nothing is inevitable. Libraries are filled with books that detail the consistent rise and fall of empire after empire. It’s a historical cyclical pattern bound to be repeated. The Persian, Greek, Roman and British empires all seemed eternal until they weren’t.

My point is, dominance isn’t without end. Not in politics and definitely not in sports. Teams like the Los Angeles Lakers, Manchester United and even the Dallas Cowboys all eventually had to confront their own mortality. An individual sport like Tennis is no different.

Remember Pete Sampras’ 31 match win streak? How about when Roger Federer won 11 of the 16 available grand slam events in a four-year period? And then there is Novak Djokovic.

YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN: VENUS WILLIAMS REMAINS SERENA’S GREATEST RIVAL

Just over a year ago, Djokovic held all four grand slam titles, at present he holds none. Empires fall. Rarely do they fall all at once.

The age-old adage is that ‘Rome was not built in a day’, the history books tell us that Rome did not collapse in a day either. The weakening of the Roman empire was a slow complicated process. The trajectory of Djokovic’s career is not similar. It has happened all too fast and all too suddenly for us to comprehend.

We foresaw what was to become of Federer when he had to face off against Nadal, Djokovic and Murray. We knew what he would turn out to be as each win felt more laboured than the last. With Nadal, we saw his body break down. Each injury was a strong blow to his armour until it eventually cracked and fell away.

PHYSICALLY, HE IS NO LONGER THE ELASTIC MAN

Since winning the 2016 French Open, Djokovic has lost in the third round of Wimbledon. There were also successive Masters’ Tournament defeats and the loss to Stan Wawrinka in the US Open final. We are still yet to mention how he dropped the world no. 1 ranking to Andy Murray at the ATP World Tour Finals. The last few tournaments for Djokovic have been “nowhere near his best” as he so described himself. How bad has Djokovic been recently? He just got bageled in the deciding set against Dominic Thiem, ensuring that he would not retain his French Open title.

Maybe his on-court decline is a symptom of his off-court demons as his former coach, Boris Becker, has previously suggested. Maybe, ironically, his descent from dominance is to do with the very reason he achieved such success. Djokovic’s strict diet and vigorous exercise regime is no secret. Frustrated through the early parts of his career about his health, he embraced a titan’s work ethic. Judging by the silverware it paid off and more. But such taxing schedules are not always mentally sustainable. Heck, even Michael Jordan took some time off from basketball.

YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN: “ANOTHER DAY IN THE SUN FOR ROGER FEDERER”

Since winning four straight grand slams, there has been a noticeable change in the demeanour of Djokovic. Where he was usually aggressive he is now passive. Djokovic has always been a defensive minded player, but now even more so. Djokovic thrived as a baseliner and drew opponents into constant rallies until they inevitably saw their downfall through errors. His game has largely not changed but the conviction certainly has. It is no longer his opponents committing mistakes. Physically, he is no longer the elastic man. Djokovic appears thinner than he ever has. Exhaustion seemingly replacing explosion. His lateral movements are slow, his returns no longer miraculous. Maybe we are all missing the point, Djokovic is 30 years old. Rafael Nadal has not won a grand slam since he turned 28. At the age of 30, Roger Federer began to endure a five-year drought without a grand slam. Maybe age has caught up to Djokovic. Yes, it was more sudden with Djokovic but that does not make it a less valid reason. Fans, and Djokovic alike, may have to face the reality of things. Empires fall. Eventually, father time demands recompense and the historical cyclical pattern is repeated. Hegemony does not equal immortality. Novak Djokovic is just another history lesson.

[robertsmorgan]

What Are Free Radicals?

You don’t have to look at many health food advertisements to see how many marketing messages focus on antioxidants and free radicals. Marketers depict free radicals as the cause of human suffering, while antioxidants are the ultimate defense and secret to immortality. Although the ad wizards exaggerate the truth, free radicals do, in fact, corrupt molecules like DNA, and antioxidants do help reduce the damage they can cause. The mitochondria in our cells are responsible for releasing energy from the molecules in our food, but they also unleash electron-stealing free radicals like reactive oxygen and reactive nitrogen species. Fortunately, antioxidants scavenge free radicals, and prevent them from causing further damage.

The effects of long-term, unabated free radical damage (or oxidative damage) lead to the mitochondrial theory of aging. The mitochondrial theory of aging, like the free radical theory of aging, says that free radical stress causes aging, but the mitochondrial theory is more specific. It asserts that free radical damage to mitochondrial DNA occurs frequently and accumulates over time. Regular corruption of the genetic code impedes the function of the mitochondria. When the mitochondria don’t function normally, the cell doesn’t receive the energy it needs and ultimately the cell dies. As this happens in millions upon millions of cells, the organism ages and descends into infirmity.

It’s a morbid theory, but the upside is that you can reduce free radical damage. Let’s explore free radicals, how they affect us, and their relationship with antioxidants.

What Are Free Radicals?

Free radicals are atoms, ions, or molecules that contain an unpaired electron. The unpaired electron makes them unstable and highly reactive. In a process called oxidation, free radicals steal electrons from other molecules—fats, proteins, cell membranes, and even DNA—altering the fundamental structure of the affected molecule. One unbalanced molecule may not sound like a major concern, but oxidation sets off a chain reaction by damaging a cell’s DNA, structure, and ability to function. Over time, oxidative damage accumulates and contributes to aging and a variety of degenerative diseases.[1]

Where Do Free Radicals Come From?

There are many types of free radicals, but when we discuss them in a health capacity, we’re referring to those that contain oxygen in the molecule, known collectively as reactive oxygen species (ROS).

Oxygen is an essential element for life, and every cell in your body requires it for cellular metabolism. During cellular metabolism, cells use oxygen to convert food into a form of energy the body can use, called ATP. Free radicals are a natural byproduct of [2]

Cellular metabolism is not the only source of free radicals. Free radicals generate and are generated by inflammation, stress, illness, and aging.[3] Hazardous environmental sources such as pollution, toxic metals, alcohol, cigarette smoke, radiation, industrial chemicals, and medications expose us to free radicals.[1]

Completely avoiding free radicals is neither possible nor desirable. At low concentrations, free radicals are beneficial to the human body. Your immune system uses them to help defend itself against pathogens.[4]

As in all things, however, proper balance is critical and problems begin when free radicals are wildly out of balance. When free radicals overwhelm your body, it leads to oxidative stress.

What Is Oxidative Stress?

Oxidative stress is the oxidative damage that results from an imbalance between free radicals and your body’s store of antioxidants. According to the free radical theory of aging (FRTA), organisms age because of accumulated free radical damage to cells and DNA. The theory states that cumulative damage to cell components and connective tissue leads to wrinkles, decreased physical capability, increased susceptibility to disease, and death.[5] Though the free radical theory of aging remains controversial, oxidative stress contributes to degenerative conditions such as arthritis, heart disease, hypertension, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, muscular dystrophy, and more.[1]

The Power of Antioxidants Against Free Radicals

Free radicals forage through your body looking for electrons to steal (or give away) and they aren’t picky. They need pairs of electrons in order to be stable and they frantically seek molecules to achieve this. Free radicals will take (or leave) an electron, whether it’s available or not, including those in fragile DNA molecules, proteins, and fats. Antioxidants stop free radical damage to molecules[6] by accepting or donating an electron to make it stable. Antioxidants are unique in that they remain stable when they donate an electron. Antioxidants sources are often discussed in terms of their free radical scavenging abilities. The “free radical scavenging activity” of antioxidants varies from one to the next.

Important Antioxidants

The body naturally produces some antioxidants, like glutathione, ubiquinol, and uric acid. You likely ingest many others through diet or supplements. Some of the strongest antioxidants come from fruits and vegetables in their unique plant-based compounds called phytochemicals. Here are a few examples:

Anthocyanins

Found most abundantly in berries, eggplant, red cabbage, red grapes, and other richly-colored food plants, anthocyanins are purple-colored pigments common to all plants. They’re what make blueberries blue and raspberries red. Anthocyanins provide a broad range of health benefits.[7]

Polyphenols

Polyphenols are a group of several thousand phytochemicals with antioxidant properties. You often hear about the polyphenols in chocolate, but scientists are pursuing and publishing more and more research on the polyphenol called curcumin, the active curcuminoid compound in turmeric.[8]

Curcuninoids

These polyphenol turmeric compounds have been evaluated for a myriad of health benefits.[8] Curcuminoids protect and promote health by activating the immune system, protecting the brain, and influencing gene expression among other beneficial effects.

Beta-Carotene

Beta-carotene is a reddish orange pigment found naturally in carrots, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, mangos, spinach, squash, tomato, cantaloupe, peaches. Inside the body, it’s converted into vitamin A. It’s important to note that while beta-carotene itself is a powerful antioxidant, the results of some research has questioned whether vitamin A has any antioxidant activity at all.[9]

Lycopene

Lycopene is a bright red pigment found in tomatoes, watermelons, and papayas. Like beta-carotene, lycopene is a carotenoid—a type of phytochemical with antioxidant properties. Lycopene contributes to a lower risk of prostate cancer, blood clots, and stroke.[10]

Vitamin C

Vitamin C, also called ascorbic acid, supports the immune system and good health all around. It also happens to be an antioxidant. Good sources of vitamin C include red and yellow bell peppers, kiwis, broccoli, cabbage, strawberries, and, of course, citrus fruits like oranges and lemons.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin known for its antioxidant properties. Sunflower and safflower oil, green veggies, nuts, and seeds are rich sources of this antioxidant. Vitamin E is also readily available in both multivitamins and vitamin-E supplements.

Selenium

Selenium is an essential mineral and antioxidant that’s critical for thyroid health. Our bodies do not produce selenium, so we must get it from dietary sources or supplements. Brazil nuts, button and shiitake mushrooms, lima beans, chia seeds, and brown rice are all good food sources of selenium.

Incorporating Antioxidants into Your Diet

Ultimately, healthy living is the product of healthy choices and a commitment to live a healthy lifestyle every day. Many common foods, especially fruits and vegetables, are rich in antioxidants and a carefully planned diet should provide all you need. External and environmental factors, however, can expose us to more free radicals than diet alone can handle. In these cases, supplementation may help.

If you’re looking for an antioxidant supplement, I recommend MegaHydrate™. MegaHydrate is a proprietary blend of powerful antioxidants. It provides excellent protection against free radical damage and helps support energy production and metabolic activity. As always, consult your trusted healthcare provider before starting any new supplementation routine and make sure you’re on track to giving your body the nutrition it needs.

References (10)

Lobo, V. et al. “Free Radicals, Antioxidants and Functional Foods: Impact on Human Health.” Pharmacognosy Reviews 4.8 (2010): 118–126. PMC. Web. 14 Dec. 2016.

Cadenas, E, and KJ Davies. “Mitochondrial Free Radical Generation, Oxidative Stress, and Aging.” Free Radical Biology & Medicine., vol. 29, 18 Oct. 2000, pp. 222–30. Accessed 14 Dec. 2016.

Pham-Huy, Lien Ai, Hua He, and Chuong Pham-Huy. “Free Radicals, Antioxidants in Disease and Health.” International Journal of Biomedical Science : IJBS 4.2 (2008): 89–96. Web. 14 Dec. 2016.

Rahman, Khalid. “Studies on Free Radicals, Antioxidants, and Co-Factors.”Clinical Interventions in Aging 2.2 (2007): 219–236. Web. 14 Dec. 2016.

Gemma C, Vila J, Bachstetter A, et al. “Oxidative Stress and the Aging Brain: From Theory to Prevention.” In: Riddle DR, editor. Brain Aging: Models, Methods, and Mechanisms. Boca Raton (FL): CRC Press/Taylor & Francis; 2007. Chapter 15.

Nimse, Satish Balasaheb, and Dilipkumar Pal. “Free Radicals, Natural Antioxidants, and Their Reaction Mechanisms.” RSC Advances, vol. 5, no. 35, 12 Mar. 2015, pp. 27986–28006. Accessed 21 Dec. 2016.

Lila, Mary Ann. “Anthocyanins and Human Health: An In Vitro Investigative Approach.” Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology 2004.5 (2004): 306–313.PMC. Web. 14 Dec. 2016.

Gupta, Subash C., Sridevi Patchva, and Bharat B. Aggarwal. “Therapeutic Roles of Curcumin: Lessons Learned from Clinical Trials.” The AAPS Journal 15.1 (2012): 195–218. Web. 27 Jan. 2017.

“Antioxidants and Free Radicals.” Rice.edu, Rice University. Accessed 21 Dec. 2016.

Godman, Heidi. “Lycopene-Rich Tomatoes Linked to Lower Stroke Risk – Harvard Health Blog.” Harvard Health Publications, Harvard Medical School, 10 Oct. 2012. Accessed 14 Dec. 2016.

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from Robert Morgan Blog http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/what-are-free-radicals/