#-here but for the most part its getting more and more irrelevant. its also their guardians / teachers / adults etc fault for failing to

[vaniliens]

Sometimes i see posts on this website complaining about something on tiktok or whatever and I feel like a lot of people just. Dont know that its either a joke. Or its something that the tiktoker they're vaguing about posted in an attempt to look cool. You know because they're young and kinda dumb and they want attention like literally everyone else.

[sincerelyyuu]

"in the end, it's still you." p1. • gojo satoru & geto suguru

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ synopsis: you thought having your two best friends satoru and suguru by your side was all that you needed to get through the rough times. but slowly you find satoru slipping through your fingers and suguru tries his hardest to help pick up the pieces of your wounded heart ➼ pairing: gojo satoru x fem!reader, geto suguru x fem!reader ➼ content/tw: angst angst angst, sfw, fluff if you squint, s2 spoilers, teen!gojo and teen!geto during jujutsu tech days, both boys are hopelessly in love with bestfriend!reader, pet names, reader is also a sorcerer in the same year and is unaware of their romantic feelings ➼ wc: 2.8K words ➼ a/n: my first jjk fic! let me know how i did ♡ ➼ part one, part two, part three

The life of a sorcerer isn’t for the faint hearted. You found yourself spending your days constantly training, pushing your physical body to its limit. The way your skin crawled from the constant bloodshed that came with every curse you exorcised. The constant criticisms that came from the people around you to become even stronger weighing heavily on your mind.

The pressure was beginning to take a huge toll on you. You felt like you as an individual didn’t matter, your thoughts and feelings deemed irrelevant all in the name of saving others.

However, there were always two people that always made you feel seen.

Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru.

It all began when you were enrolled into Jujutsu High during your first year. Leaving behind the secluded town that you once called home, you were completely alone. Knowing what was expected from you, you were told that you were strictly here to become the strongest sorcerer you could be.

But fate had other plans for you. From the day you first stepped into the classroom, Satoru immediately gravitated to you. He knew you were strong and that there was more to you than meets the eye. You also peaked Suguru’s interest from the way you steeled yourself in an attempt to not reveal too much of your inner self. Somehow along the way through various missions and a multitude of adventures, the two men managed to crack away at your defenses and you found yourself in this trio of friendship. Wherever you went, they were right behind you.

Satoru and Suguru were like yin and yang, both physically and metaphorically. The white haired male carried an air of confidence wherever he went. He was the type to never take things too seriously unless truly necessary and he never failed to find ways to make you smile with corny jokes or embarrassing stories. Like that time he nearly burnt the dorm down trying to boil an egg (the reason why he’s banned from the kitchen and why Suguru is in charge of cooking meals).

Meanwhile, the raven haired male was the most level headed between you three. Every move and action he made was always thought through carefully. Although he didn’t necessarily encourage Satoru’s endless shenanigans (and by default yours as well as his), Suguru never hesitated to come to the rescue for you both. Life as a sorcerer didn’t seem so bad anymore if it meant having these two by your side.

Until you didn’t.

“Toru, let’s get dinner with Suguru!”

“Sorry sweets, I have a mission right after this but I’m all yours next time!”

“Hey man, are you still down for hanging at (y/n)’s dorm later?”

“Can’t. They’re sending me off to deal with this one curse they couldn’t handle. Luckily they have the strongest to handle it!”

The stronger Satoru became over the years, the more he went solo on missions, and the less time you found yourself seeing him. Instead of taking on missions as a trio, you found yourself more often going with just Suguru. Having him by your side made it a little easier, but you had to admit that you were missing Satoru’s presence. You could tell it was affecting Suguru too based on how quiet and reserved he was becoming.

“Toru?” you called, phone pressed to your ear. “Where are you? You were supposed to get back from your mission half an hour ago. The food is getting cold.”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to make it. This curse is taking longer to exorcise than expected. I’ll join you guys next time,” Satoru sighed over the call. He was on guard and in the middle of tracking down this special grade curse when you had called. But he never hesitated to drop everything for you even if he was in the middle of a dangerous mission.

“You said that last time…”

Satoru swore he felt his heart break listening to the disappointment in your voice. Guilt settled into his chest as he ran a tired hand through his snowy locks with a frown. If it were up to him, he’d abandon his mission in a heartbeat to be by your side but he knew he couldn’t. It killed him to know he was making you sad because you didn’t deserve that.

“I know. I’m sorry, sweets. I promise I’ll make it up to you and treat you to the best dinner you’ll ever have later. Say hi to Suguru for me, okay?” he responded softly, doing his best to soften the hurt you were feeling.

With a hum, you tried your best to sound happy over the phone. “I will. Just… come back safe, okay?”

“Always,” Satoru promised. With much restraint, he forced himself to hang up the phone.

With that, your arm fell limply at your side with your phone clenched tightly in your hand. Suguru watched the forced smile fall from your face, the disappointment evident as clear as day as you fell into a daze. Without you even saying anything, he knew his best friend had once again canceled plans. He knew that Satoru didn’t have a choice in the matter but it was still heartbreaking to see the effects that it had on you.

Suguru wasn’t blind. He suspected that your feelings for Satoru extended far beyond friendship, which made his own feelings for you that much worse knowing you were possibly in love with his best friend and not him.

You barely processed the way Suguru softly called out to you, only jumping in surprise when he placed a hand on your shoulder.

“Sorry, Sugu. I didn’t even see you walk over to me. Toru says hi,” you offered a small apologetic smile to the tall man who only smiled reassuringly to you.

“It’s okay. I’m sorry for scaring you. I take it that lunch will just be us?” he hummed, feeling his heart clench at your weak nod.

With a deep sigh, he opened his arms. “C’mere.”

Without a second to spare, you immediately wrapped your arms around him and buried your face into his sturdy chest. His cologne always had a way of grounding you, the scent of sandalwood and bergamot filling your senses. You didn’t realize how tense you were until you felt your body melt into his embrace. Suguru wrapped an arm around your middle and placed a gentle hand behind your head holding you close.

“You know he would be here if he could,” he consoled.

“I know. I just miss him a lot. It’s been so long since we last saw him since he’s constantly away on missions,” you mumbled against his chest.

“At least I’m here, right? Unless you hate my company,” he lightly joked in an attempt to make you feel better.

It seemed to have worked because you leaned back in his embrace with a chuckle and looked up with those kind eyes of yours. God, he loved your eyes. “I could never hate you, Sugu.”

Feeling his heart race with your words, Suguru gently patted the top of your head with a chuckle, “Good girl.”

You felt extremely lucky to have Suguru by your side. It seemed like he always knew the right words to say. You took a moment to take in his face and your expression immediately fell.

Amongst your sadness, you failed to realize how exhausted he looked. Hues of purple and blue lingered below his eyes like he didn’t sleep in days. He had some new scratches on his face, probably from the many missions he had taken on this week alone. His eyes, although warm at you, looked distant as if he wasn’t completely here. He had also lost a considerable amount of weight.

How selfish of you to see that you weren’t the only one struggling. You knew Riko’s and Haibara’s death greatly affected Suguru and you tried your best to support him. Perhaps you weren't trying hard enough.

“When was the last time you slept?” you frowned, brushing your fingers to gently grace over his eyebags.

Suguru felt his heart quicken at your touch, feeling his neck begin to warm. Coughing to clear his throat, he reached up to remove your hand from his face and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I slept last night.”

“For how long?” you pressed.

He gave a nonchalant shrug, holding his chin in pretend thought. “A few hours maybe.”

Your lips pressed into a thin line. You knew he was lying to probably make you feel better but it only worsened your worries. Huffing, you grabbed his hand and dragged him over to your bed before forcing him to lay down. You went to pack up the unforgotten lunch, neither of you having much of an appetite anymore.

“Sleep,” you ordered, peering over your shoulder at him with hands on your hips like a mother scolding her child. “Take a nap. I’ll wake you up later before we head out.”

“Only if you nap with me.”

Turning to look at the dark haired sorcerer in shock, he only smirked back in response as he laid on his back with one hand behind his head and the other extended to you in invitation.

You bit your lip. Was it appropriate to lie in bed with him, your best friend? You, Satoru and Suguru have had sleepovers before but they always insisted on you having the bed while they slept on the floor (although that didn’t stop Satoru from trying to share the bed with you anyway which usually ended with Suguru dragging his ass down).

Looking at Suguru, you knew he would never do anything to make you uncomfortable. Feeling the dull ache in your bones and your tired muscles weighing you down, your body moved on its own before gingerly laying next to him, your arms pressed firmly against your chest as you laid a few inches away from him to give him space.

Letting out an exaggerated yawn, Suguru suddenly pulled you tightly against him as you let out a small yelp in surprise. He placed a kiss on the top of your head, setting his chin on top before closing his eyes in content.

You felt your heart race at his actions, a gesture you were used to from him but suddenly felt much more intimate in this position. Taking a deep breath, you tried your best to focus on the steady rhythm of his heartbeat to calm the erratic pace of yours.

As a calm comfortable silence eventually ensued between you both, you found your thoughts drifting off to Satoru again. He had been gone for at least five days on this current mission. Was he eating well? Was he getting enough sleep? What if he was hurt? What if something happened and he needed help?

But you knew Satoru was too prideful to ask for help, insisting that he was the strongest and didn’t need anyone. It was true. He wasn’t called the strongest jujutsu sorcerer in the modern age for nothing. However, you refused to let him take on the world alone because… your world was better with him in it.

“Suguru…” you called out quietly in case he was already asleep.

“What is it, pretty?” he hummed in response. He hadn’t fallen asleep yet.

“Do you ever get tired of being a sorcerer?”

Slowly opening his eyes, Suguru shifted so that he was laying directly next to you. Now at eye level with you, he saw just how drained you were. The sparkle that usually glimmered brightly in your eyes had now reduced to a dull flicker. He hadn’t expect you to ask that question so out of the blue. Mentally, for some time he struggled with where his beliefs stood. What did it mean to be a sorcerer and most importantly, why?

“Because I do.”

It took a few seconds for him to register the words that left your mouth. He watched as you tried to blink away tears, your small hands clenching the front of his shirt within your fists as you looked away shamefully.

“I miss how we used to be back when I first came to Jujutsu High, before we got so busy. I miss when you, Satoru and I would sneak out the dorms to get that kikufuku that he likes. I miss going to that cute cat cafe in Tokyo, the one where the kittens love swatting at your hair. I miss going to the night markets and eating until we nearly pass out into food comas.”

“I know that it’s my moral duty to protect non-sorcerers. That’s why jujutsu sorcerers like us exist. But Sugu, it’s so hard. Everyday I feel like I’m losing myself because it's a constant cycle of wake up, train, exorcise, sleep and repeat. I know I don’t have to worry about Satoru because he can hold his own so I try my best to be strong. For him, for you, and for me. I have to be strong but how strong do I have to be before I can finally breathe?”

By the end of your vent, you didn’t realize you were crying. Watching you in so much distress made Suguru’s chest twist. He desperately wished he could take away all of your pain and worries. Pulling your head back into his chest, he let you fall apart in his arms, whispering sweet nothings and comforting words into your ear as your body shook with the intensity of your sobs. After some time, your crying dwindled down to soft little sniffles.

“Run away with me.”

Silence. Suguru felt you stiffen at his words and watched as your eyes morphed into confusion. Your grip on his shirt loosened as you tried to process if you had heard him right. Staring into his brown eyes with not an ounce of a smile on his lips, you realized he was dead serious.

“Suguru, you’re joking, right?” you stuttered in disbelief.

“Does it look like I’m joking?” he replied, brushing the hair away from your eyes that was still damp from your previous tears.

“Hear me out. What if we could create a world where there were no more cursed spirits? No more having to put your life on the line for weak humans who spend every minute of their lives in ignorant bliss while you shed blood, sweat and tears daily for the sake of their so-called humanity.”

Your eyebrows furrowed at the somber tone the conversation took on. You frowned, “How exactly do we plan to do that? Is a world like that even possible?”

“I believe it is. My only wish is that you just trust me. Come with me,” he pleaded.

Suguru placed his large hand over your two small ones that still rested on his chest and gave them a small squeeze. He watched the various emotions run through your face as your eyes tormented over his request. He wasn’t completely sure if you’d give in to him but he’ll be damned if he didn’t at least try.

You didn’t know how to feel. Suguru was basically throwing you a lifeline to start over fresh and build a new life, a happier and free one. But you also knew it’d be dangerous. The moment you both disappear, you knew they’d send people out to find you both at all costs. You would have to leave everything and everyone you know behind. Everyone… including Satoru.

As if reading your thoughts, Suguru felt a pang of jealousy hit him. Even now, your thoughts were preoccupied on someone else instead of the man before you who would give his life for you. He knew you were thinking of his best friend, Gojo Satoru, the only other person in this world that understood him best other than you. But this was the one thing that he knew Satoru wouldn’t understand.

“I know you’re worried about him. Think of it this way. If we go, you’ll be able to protect him and ease his burden as the strongest sorcerer. He’ll be able to live the free life he deserves,” he coaxed you. “Isn’t that what you want?”

You thought over his words carefully before responding with hesitance.

“Of course that’s what I want. But Suguru, you’re asking for a whole lot and betting our lives on ‘what if’s. How long have you been thinking about this?” you questioned, your voice laden in deep concern.

“A while now,” he sighed, unable to meet your gaze for a minute before softening his eyes back at you.

“You don’t have to give me an answer now. I’ll respect any decision you make no matter what. For now, sleep on it and we can talk more about it after this mission to whatever village they’re sending us to tonight.”

Thoughts still heavily weighing on your mind, you relented. “...Okay.”

…

Nothing could have prepared Satoru for the words that left Yaga’s mouth the next day.

“112 killed by a cursed spirit revealed to be the work of Geto Suguru’s curse manipulation. Geto Suguru is hereby sentenced to death. (l/n) (y/n) has been deemed an accomplice in the crime and hereby also sentenced to death.”

divider credit: @/saradika-graphics

[sgiandubh]

This is not a political post

One more time, in caps and bold: THIS IS NOT A POLITICAL POST. But if I can, as a diplomat and a historian, bring some extra context and try and understand what happened today in S's world, so be it. Enough said about me.

I am fumbling with a ton of thoughts since this morning, when this link was shared with me by one of the closest people in my platoon:

In a nutshell: S signed that (in)famous letter, an initiative of APUK (Artists for Palestine UK), a network that's been operating since 2015. You can read it in full if you open the link and I suggest you do. You will soon find out that the letter, while correctly pointing out the atrocious gesture of bombing a civilian hospital in Gaza, asked the world's governments to 'end their military and political support for Israel’s actions'. Nowhere in that letter did the word Hamas appear, which would immediately point out as supporting what is a terrorist movement that is, alas, also part and parcel of the Palestinian government, under Mahmoud Abbas's weak, irrelevant aegis. The man is an old PLO/Fatah crone: fishy, ineffective and fairly corrupted. His position on the Holocaust is, to be elegant, a study in ambiguity. Enough said.

It is pointless and absurd to try and explain the whole situation in detail. I would have to go back at least to the Balfour Declaration (1919) or the no less infamous end of the British/LoN/UN Palestine Mandate (1948), if I wanted to simply scratch the surface of a subject that is everywhere these days. With an intensity of absolutely legitimate emotions that can simply not be measured by any counter on this planet, as we speak.

But the facts are here, and naïve S had no damn idea: 500 civilians were killed, Tuesday night, in the bombing of the al-Ahli Baptist/Arab Hospital in Gaza City. Hullaballoo ensued on a cataclysmic scale: first, Hananya Naftali, a digital aide to Benjamin Netanyahu recklessly wrote on X that the "Israeli army [Tsahal] bombed a Hamas terrorist base inside a hospital in Gaza". Then erased the tweet. Several video collages released by the Tsahal, the first of which was heavily contested by a NYT journalist (and former Bellingcat researcher) Aric Toler, point out towards the PIJ (Palestinian Islamic Jihad)'s forces being responsible for the strike.

These quotes from an Al Jazeera paper sum up the ensuing scandal better than I ever could - selected by me, but you can and probably should read it all (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/18/what-is-israels-narrative-on-the-gaza-hospital-explosion):

No craters mean no airstrike and most probably a rocket failure. The uneasiness remained, that being said, at the highest level. And the planned US-Egypt-Jordan- Palestine talks hosted by Amman were abruptly called off hours before Biden landed in Tel Aviv.

To cut the story short: the letter is right to point out that you just don't bomb hospitals when you are at war, as per the terms of the Fourth 1949 Geneva Convention, dealing with the protection of civilians in times of war. Both Israel (signed in 1949/ratified in 1951) and Palestine (2014) are, as parties and signatories, legally bound by it, in the eyes of International Law. The only problem with it is that it purposefully omits to put things into context (whodunnit) and forgets the cynical truth: Hamas keeps hundreds of innocent Israelis and two millions of innocent Gaza civilians as its hostages.

Article 18 is at the core of the matter:

The last thing S should have done is to sign that fucking treacherous letter, without getting a second (third, fourth...) opinion.

S is a good man, we all know and love this about him. He is also one of the most naïve people I have ever seen in this lifetime. This is why his final reaction really, really moved this cynic, here:

I am taking this home and keep it. It deeply moved me (yes, me):

" I don't know nearly enough and trying to educate myself on the conflicts in the Middle East. I feel helpless and wish I could help in some way.'

I am sure 'someone nice' called and 'nicely asked", maybe even offered some scarce and biased details, to prompt an impulse signature. I am also sure S didn't read the letter himself. There is no harm saying you were wrong. He did it with dignity and grace - no, it was not easy.

This is a man of worth speaking. Bravo!

But for the love of all that's holy, Sir: don't you ever step into this kind of shit again. These things are far more complex than you could ever fathom and it's a very cynical world out there. Leave it to us, we are handsomely paid for it by our governments. I hear you and I am completely supporting this more than welcome withdrawal. It's not worth much, for sure. But it is an honest POV.

Also, John 8:7:

So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

Kindly refrain from politics in your comments. Let's not drag trash where it should not be, ever. Thank you all.

[khytal]

I’ve been meaning to write about this since ep12 aired but I haven’t had time until now. I'm sure someone's already brought it up by this point but I wanted to put it into my own words, so here I am :]

I’m gonna talk about the “plant song”, as it’s called in stampede’s soundtrack: an 8-bar motif that comes up in several songs in the ost (but I’ll only be going through 3 of them + some other things)

*I consider "common front"/"trigun stampede" to be vash's main theme, rather than "vash the stampede" (more on this later)

it's used (or not, in one case) in some very interesting ways, which have interesting implications :)

I'm referencing track 28 from vol2 of the ost, "plant song on erhu", as the base that I'm comparing the other songs to. aside from some stylistic ornamentation, it's just the 8-bar melody on its own (which I've transcribed in the above image). this is also currently the only version of the song in the soundtrack that features this melody as a solo, with no other instruments.

some notes before I get into it:

-for my sake, I refer to "common front" as vash's theme in this post x) I know it's a shorter version of "trigun stampede" (they're the same song), but the track title makes it easier for me to associate it with vash so I'll be using that instead of "trigun stampede". the titles are more or less interchangeable though

-the rests in measures 3-4 and 7-8 in the transcription for "bio-power reactor" and "common front" don't exist in the songs themselves. I inserted them so that the corresponding parts line up with when they occur in the plant song

-the excerpt from "bio-power reactor" is a diminution (note lengths were cut in half) to make the comparison easier to see

-in "common front" 's case, the transcription isn't entirely accurate but it's more about the notes than the rhythm u-u)b

-this motif is heard in more than just these 3 songs, but about a third of the ost recycles sections from other songs (ex.: "vash the stampede" is just "the jeneora rock resistance" and "trigun stampede" stitched together), so I picked the ones I felt were like "source" songs. since this is about plants, I only had to look for the tracks that were most representative of the twins and the plants themselves

-knives has like 7 different versions of his theme (including the piano/duet ones) but they're all more or less the same so. yeah. I referenced the vocal version in vol2 since it emphasizes the plant song as the melody, and has a slight variation

-I don't talk about the duet here since it's pretty clear that it's for both vash and knives, and it's just a fancy version of the plant song. not much to analyze about it for this post

-I did annotate the music I transcribed, but no knowledge of music terminology is necessary to understand it. it's all pattern recognition, and I mostly just highlighted where the similarities and differences were

-please don't take any of my interpretations as fact, I just thought it'd be cool to point out the motif. you're more than welcome to have your own interpretations using the transcriptions I've included ^^

okay here we go :)

-the songs are listed by how closely they resemble the original plant song, with "millions knives" (and any other related themes) being nearly identical and "common front"'s excerpt being something barely recognizable as the plant song

-"millions knives" has this motif everywhere. you could say it's representative of him being in tune with his identity as an independent plant. or almost like he represents the plants--oh wait, he does (self-proclaimed, but that's irrelevant here)

-almost every time the plant song is heard, knives is there/involved. prior to ep12's implication that it comes from the plants (and the ost outright confirming this), it wouldn't be odd to assume that it's his theme; that's how frequently it pops up. and it's even more obvious in the soundtrack..........except it might as well be his theme, despite its origins lying with the plant race

basically: *knives voice* my theme now

-even though "bio-power reactor" refers to the plants, their song is barely present in the track (it's heard at the beginning and end). kinda sorta makes it feel like a transference of the theme to knives. like the plants are just vibing (they are, mostly) while knives is taking the reins (he is, mostly)

-the reason the track "vash the stampede" isn't part of this is because the plant song is nowhere to be found in it. while it does use "trigun stampede"/"common front", it doesn't have the part that I transcribed

(if you really want to read into this, you could consider the motif's absence a reference to vash being more akin to a human than a plant. I can't say whether this was intentional or not though, considering "vash the stampede" is just a mix of 2 pre-existing songs and has no melodies unique to it)

[-feel free to skip this tangent: "common front"/"trigun stampede" stands out to me because the lyrics are more about vash than the track that's literally named after him (which isn't even an original composition for some reason):

"here I come, here I come any enemy is powerless in front of me here I come, here I come, keep anybody that get(s) in my way, away from me

get everybody involved like a typhoon pull the trigger, shoot down [on a/on the/'nother?] full moon can't you see what I'm [hiding/having?] in my hands call me vash the stampede, and feel love and peace"

not that "jeneora rock resistance" 's lyrics aren't about vash, but I think it's odd that "vash the stampede" doesn't use the lyrics from "trigun stampede" beyond the initial "here I come, there is no one anywhere who is a match for me"]

-"common front" is vash's main theme to me, since it references the plant song while also being about vash himself. it describes vash as he is amongst humans, with the motif serving as an acknowledgment of his race without overpowering the rest of the song (unlike with knives, where it's nearly constant and makes up the core of his theme. if this was intentional on the composer's part, it's very clever)

-the bit I transcribed from "common front" is from the part in the middle that features a flute solo (1:17-1:26; or 1:36-1:45 in "trigun stampede"). you can also hear this in the low brass around 2:27 of "millions knives", where it follows the same pattern as the section in "common front". it looks like this (written as it's heard, without the 2 measures of rest I added):

"millions knives" and this fragment from "common front" are both in the key of b minor ("common front" starts in d minor and briefly modulates to b minor before going back to d minor)

personally I like that knives's variation is grand/drawn out, while vash's is played freely. it highlights their personalities, though we don't really get to see much of vash being "free" in stampede

-there's a very short call and response bit in ep12, where vash sings the first 2 bars to the plants and they sing back to him:

nothing specific to write about here but vash's "La"'s in the jp dub are more articulated because of how japanese people pronounce the "L" sound; whereas jyb's articulation is much softer/barely noticeable (though he sings the 2nd measure with 1 "la" instead of articulating each new note. also his F# was a little flat but like. don't take that as an actual criticism lmao I just have a really good ear)

I don't know why the plants' responses are unique between the two dubs, but I thought it'd be cool to transcribe that part as well. the rhythms were a little hard to pin down since they're sung freely so idk if it's accurate but I know the notes are right x)

-I'm guessing the dub's VA for young vash couldn't sing the C so they cut it and had them start a beat later to compensate and match the lip flaps:

not a significant difference, since the altered part exists in the plant song so it doesn't stand out unless you're listening for it (like I was), but yeah. there you have it

(-I'm sure people know this by now but I figured I'd mention it anyway since I'm talking about it. the reason "knives" asks vash what he's humming in the flashback is because it was rem who asked him that in the original memory. the song seems to be something that all plants know instinctively, so knives should've known what it was. and this discrepancy is part of what caused vash to become aware of himself again......which means knives screwed up his own plan x)

(I wonder if knives will ever talk about what the song means to him))

-when vash is poking at the piano keys at the end of ep12, he's just playing an octave (between a low and high Bb, but that isn't important). my guess is that he's trying to play the plant song, specifically starting at the octave that ties into the triplet, but for some reason he can't get any further than that.

I think he's reluctant to hear the song of his people, the one that made up the duet he and his brother used to play; the one that used to calm him down but may now instead only remind him of what he did/lost. maybe he's trying to reassure himself with the song, and is unable to with the weight it suddenly holds for him

(side note: the duet is in the key of a minor and no Bb's are played in it, so he's not trying to play either parts of the duet)

-------------------------------------------

extra things I noticed that aren't very conclusive (so don't take them too seriously) but are still worth mentioning:

-these are also arranged from most to least similar

-........yeah I found the plant song in "tombi". the augmented triplets in the pre-chorus tipped me off. I'm pretty certain this is a coincidence though, since it's the only piece of the motif that I heard. I didn't look too much into it, but if "tombi" was written with stampede in mind and if kvi baba was asked to incorporate the plant song then. well. x) anyway I just wanted to point it out, coincidence or not

-knives's theme is here again but for the express purpose of being compared to "orphanage" of all things, because they're in the same key. this 2-bar excerpt plays from 0:18-0:22 in "orphanage", and it seems to be pulled from "millions knives"

the notes are split between 2 different instruments (3 if you count the piano chord reinforcing the A) but they form that exact phrase if you put them together and follow the main beats

which leads me to this point: knives's theme is in "orphanage" because he's linked to it through the eye of michael (again this is me reading deeply into the pattern, so I wouldn't say this was on purpose but if it was.....!)

-elendira's theme doesn't have the plant song in it; at least, not directly. she's actually the reason I ended up writing this whole post, because I wanted to know if the plant song was in her theme. and it's not. fascinating.

anyway this one's a HUGE stretch but I find it to be an interesting interpretation: the plant motif possibly being an inversion, as a way of saying she's neither plant nor human (as mentioned by dr conrad)

-------------------------------------------

that's all I have to say about this! I hope it wasn't too confusing x') thank you for reading, if you made it this far. the plant song is pretty significant in stampede so I'm really looking forward to hearing how it's used in s2 o)-<

(if there's anything I missed or if you have any questions feel free to ask!)

[kishimotomasashi]

Alright, Uchiha Clan oppression longpost

This is the unavoidable, and often central, topic people tend to surround their Naruto politics takes on, and is as a result a big, ugly discourse-generator. It's also a subject I'm definitely always thinking about when it comes to Naruto as a noted Sasuke stan, and my thoughts on it have changed gradually over the years. I'm making this post to share what my current interpretation on "how and why the Uchiha Clan were oppressed" is.

Before I do that though, notice on what this post is not:

I'm not writing a "discourse ender", a take meant to be spread around with the claim of being the only correct interpretation of events. This is a post I wrote to share the exact way I rotate an aspect of the manga in my mind, and to convince people that looking at it from this angle is interesting. Basically: it's not that serious, I think about this because it's fun.

This isn't a "character-bashing" post or whatever either, so like if you agree with what you read here, I suppose I can't stop you from using those infamous "anti-[X]" tags, it's just that making a post that warrants them has never been my intention.

Along with that, I do want to address the by now very well established fact that Naruto the series is Not Very Good, and has glaring inconsistencies in its writing. The Uchiha Clan drama is definitely not exempt from this, and in its case the failures in Kishimoto's writing usually show in inconsistent power-scaling, in which we're made to accept weird leaps in logic (how does a 13 year old get rid of what we're told is one of the most powerful and feared clans internationally?) That being said, those particular inconsistencies are kind of irrelevant to this particular post, and don't much change the fact that the Uchiha Clan Massacre did happen. I'll be taking it as a given that if you're reading this, you're accepting to suspend your disbelief of those events on a technical level, and are more interested in how I make sense of it all more on the diegetic social/political level.

With that settled, we can get to the important part now:

The most popular take (as far as I've personally seen) on the events that led to the Uchiha Clan's downfall is the one that takes Madara at his word: the Senju have been oppressing the Uchiha since Konoha's conception, and Tobirama becoming the 2nd Hokage gave him the opportunity to put the Uchiha in a more socially disadvantaged position (police force), gradually earning them the villagers' ire, which was the catalyst for their eventual genocide.

This interpretation works if the end goal of your analysis is to say "Tobirama really fucking sucks". I don't think this conclusion is an unreasonable one, since Tobirama's hostility towards the Uchiha is great enough that he can callously tell a 16 year old genocide survivor that if his clan "self-destructed for the sake of the village, so be it". However, to me, the circumstances surrounding the Uchiha Clan are much wider-encompassing and more fascinating than narrowing their fate to a single man in fan meta written to convince you to hate him, so it goes without saying that I don't think "this is all Tobirama's fault" is a very interesting lens to look at this from.

I also don't buy the argument that making the Uchiha cops was (originally) to their detriment. We'll get back to that in a bit. I suppose this depends on how you look at Tobirama's character, but I think that when he said he made the police force as a sign of trust and to give the clan something useful to do in Konoha, he was being genuine. Arguing the opposite requires you to either believe that a law enforcement order could ever be in an oppressed position by default, or that Tobirama created a fundamentally useless new institution because he just hated the Uchiha that much. I think the former is a weird thing to argue if you're trying to be Leftist about all this, and the latter is a very ungenerous interpretation of Tobirama's character in which his own "racism"/pettiness overshadows his more utilitarian instincts to ensure that the village his brother built was safe and functioning. Obviously you could interpret that, but that leads us back to the "everything is Tobirama's fault" take, that I already mentioned I find lame as hell.

So then, how do I think the Uchiha Clan was oppressed? Because I think they indisputably were, or I wouldn't be making this post. Well, I think it was less "The Senju/Tobirama have always wanted to lord over them and wanted them dead", and more: they became gradually more socially disadvantaged during the era of Hidden Villages, with the consecutive world wars creating a souring global opinion on kekkei genkai clans.

(I'm gonna base my arguments primarily on what we see happen in the manga, and I'll add in some information from the fanbooks/databooks that weren't contradicted by what we see happen in Kishimoto's canon)

Let's start with what we know, definitely, that canon tells us:

Kekkei genkai clans are discriminated against to a very high extent, leading to things such as their mass slaughter (eg, the Uchiha Clan obviously, but also kekkei genkai clans like Haku's clan in the Land of Mist), and a vulnerability which puts them in positions where they're likelier to be targeted and kidnapped (eg, Hinata, but also Orochimaru having a whole criminal entreprise built on kidnapping and experimenting on people possessing kekkei genkai).

The trend for their discrimination is in being scapegoated. When Haku talks about the genocides in the Land of Mist (I refuse to call it the Land of Water sorry it sounds so stupid), this is how he describes them:

(chapter 59)

basically, it's not shinobi as a whole who are badly seen even though all sorts of them were likely participating in those wars: it's kekkei genkai clans in particular. Compare this to the Uchiha Clan being blamed for the Nine Tails attack (I mean one of them certainly was responsible, but was entirely unaffiliated with the rest of the clan) and being roped off to the edge of the village as a result.

Kekkei genkai clans are also frequently described by characters as being a bit "wilder" and more violent than usual shinobi. Tobirama calling the Uchiha "cursed", Kushina describing the Uzumaki as being "a bit savage", and Kakashi introducing us to the concept of kekkei genkai initially with these fun visuals:

(chapter 25)

The thing that's interesting about all this is the context in which it exists: the shinobi villages aren't technically "nations", but I think it would be accurate to liken their possessiveness of their secrets and paranoia regarding outside intrusion + conception of themselves as unified cultural entities + incredibly harsh treatment of dissidents (becoming a rogue is essentially a death sentence) to nationalism. There's an intentse "in-group vs out-group" feeling here.

Not to mention that canonically that shinobi have always been tools of imperialism for greater powers. While Hashirama's initial dream was to put an end to that, it eventually became corrupted; there was already discontent regarding land and resource allocations during his tenure as Hokage, and while we have no idea why the 1st War started, we know that by the time we're on the 2nd one, Konoha had become a tool for the Land of Fire's imperialist expansion (and was apparently was expanding its influence as a military village, too).

(chapter 436)

Basically, the "in-group vs out-group" conception that had once solely been clan-centric widened, and became this new concept of shinobi villages.

This is important because nationalistic sentiment inevitably rises during war; as a result, there's be a sharper eye for who'd turn traitor, who wasn't supporting the military effort, who would endanger their nation/village, etc. With this, there would be greater suspicion directed towards kekkei genkai clans, because they're more "genetically predisposed" to being unpredictable, because they would appear more loyal to their own than to the whole of the village, because they were the likeliest to turn traitor, and so on.

This would be a gradual process going on since the 1st War, but I believe that the 2nd War was where this kickstarted into becoming so much worse, because that one saw the destruction of Uzushio. It was a village composed entirely of a single clan, didn't bend to any of the big 5, and the Uzumaki were "savage" and had abilities that were greatly feared. It would be interesting to consider the idea that their associations with Konoha would have done them more harm than good here, too, given that Konoha was the Big Bad in the 2nd War and an alliance with them would not have been viewed positively.

It's thinking about all this in context, where nationalism was at its peak, where there's an idea that genetic chakra abilities impair swathes of people from being regular functioning shinobi like everyone else, is how we can imagine the Uchiha were discriminated against. They had another disadvantage to them as well, given that one of the first deadly attacks committed on Konoha was done by one of them. If we want to go back to the police force argument, it would be interesting to consider the idea that while it had been a good position for them at first, the utility and influence of the institution gradually eroded over time, and by the time the era where the massacre happened came along it became nearly meaningless since most of its original functions had been assigned elsewhere; as the kekkei genkai clan discrimination rose, the Uchiha also fell victim to it and their influence within the village significantly reduced out of fear of them.

The surveillance and the sequestering of the Uchiha Clan came after two important events; the first being the 3rd Great Shinobi War, and the second being the Nine Tails' attack on Konoha which happened barely a year post-armistice. Konoha was barely recovering from global armed conflict when half of it was destroyed in that attack; tensions are high, the Hokage is dead, and so the village saw an incredibly convenient scapegoat in the Uchiha clan.

So... yeah, that's how I see it! I find this a more fun interpretation than just pointing fingers at individual characters, because it allows me to consider the wider worldbuilding of the Naruto world, and also doesn't assume the Uchiha's position was especially unique and the end-be-all of all the problems with Naruto's politics. It's certainly important, but it's part of a greater network of problems too!

[thewertsearch]

Asks Comp 4/8

The thing is, Davesprite's situation is more complicated than an unfulfilled time loop. His timeline isn't an irrelevant offshoot - in fact, it's integral to the existence of the Alpha Timeline, and presumably always was. Davesprite forms part of a weird, fully intact time loop which spans multiple timelines.

And since this is a future Dave, you have to assume he knows about Bro. The two clearly had a complicated relationship, but he's surely shaken by his death - if nothing else, it's a sign of how serious things have become.

That'll be a fun thing to check out when I've finished the comic! It reminds me of those Hunger Games simulators that were doing the rounds a couple of years ago.

That's true. Dave knows how strong the Underlings have become - and yet, he's still confident that Jade can stand up to them. Presumably she finds some sort of workaround for their First Guardian powers?

Sunslammer is so good! A standout song, even in a comic with as many bangers as this one.

Honestly, part of why I'm dragging my feet on the album reviews is because I want to hear these songs for the first time in context. If I'd heard Descend before watching Descend, I feel like it would have robbed the song of some of its dramatic weight.

I assumed it was just because witches are associated with frogs.

That would have explained why they're part of her Land, but I'm pretty sure that Kanaya's glitched planet was also a frog Land, and she's not a Witch, so...?

*The rest of Sal's response has been redacted, lest we fall once more into the Frog Theory Black Hole.*

I'm pretty sure that's a statue of Echidna, the mother of monsters and Jade's Denizen. Dave's probably close to LOFAF's Palace!

The Seer sees all - and sometimes, she understands the implications before we do.

It'd certainly be interesting. I just reread that conversation, and the biggest takeaway would have been that the kids were going to befriend the trolls, and get involved in their personal drama. This would certainly be consistent with the tone established by an Act 1 Hivebent!

Yup. Vriska was only able to 'create' Perfect Jack because Becquerel didn't object.

Really, he could have prototyped anything he liked, no matter what Vriska did. Even if she tried to shut the Entry down by incapacitating Jade, he could simply have activated the piñata himself.

I mean, that's basically what happened!

If any Aspect is geared around survival, then it's Feferi's. There's no breath left in her body, but our girl is still in the game!

Getting back to the trolls will be interesting, especially since - I assume - we'll be zipping back to when Feferi was still alive. The Veil is a much less friendly place, now - but does Feferi know this? What, exactly, is about to happen to the trolls?

I suppose. I guess there's no reason for every Carapacian to be created with knowledge of the Rings.

Actually, Sburb might not want them to know - Jack's probably not the only one who wouldn't respect the Ring's rules. There could be potential ringwielders out there who are far more dangerous.

Thank you! I feel like I've been doing a lot more character analysis in Act 5 versus previous Acts, where most of my speculation was about the lore. It's a fun change of pace.

Damn, I didn't think we'd actually be explaining these!

It's moments like these which really enhance the comic for me - justifications for things that I genuinely thought were just nitpicks on my part. It's really gratifying, honestly.

@thelegendofgreg asked: Here's some commentary from the jade enter flash, theres uh. alot to read but its all neat stuff "I talked about this way back, maybe even in an earlier book? Well, here I go again, so hold on to your ass. There are four entry items: Apple of knowledge, Bottle of wine, Crow's egg, Dog piñata. A, B, C, D. All of them are related to new life or new beginnings. You bite the apple, you fall from grace, enter a new world, begin this wild journey. You smash a bottle to christen a ship. An egg hatches, creating new life. You break a piöata to celebrate a birthday. Each involves breaking or puncturing something. Each involves a form of sustenance, or something to consume (piñatas have candy inside). Two are vessels for the substance (bottle, Piñata), two are the food items themselves (apple, egg), and one arguably counts as both (egg). Two of them drop from the same basic tree template (apple, piñata). They ramp up in complexity. John's is a simple test: bite the forbidden fruit. Not much to it. A single unit of departure, almost conceptually elemental, like an apple, as Rose goes on about later. The challenges get trickier. Rose has to break a bottle. Easy enough idea, but things go wrong, and she has to take a blind leap to get it done. A sacrificial gesture, and one of faith in a friend (Jaspers). Dave's is even more obscure. A simple test of patience, but one that's not clear. He isn't told what to do and just has to wait. Non-action is the key, and in a way it's another gesture of faith under dire circumstances. Finally, Jade's challenge incorporates a lot of these elements. It's another "blind faith" situation. She has to take a shot in the dark. There's a sacrificial gesture, but instead of risking herself (like Rose), Jade must symbolically sacrifice her friend via effigy and cannot complete the sacrifice without help from that friend. (Bec must redirect the bullet. There's no way this works if he doesn't.) It is also a signifier that the pet she knew as a friend her whole life is about to, in a way, become her enemy. Like a good dog gone bad, who now must be put down."

So they are all intended to be foodstuffs! And, apparently, alphabetical - although I think 'Crow's egg' is a bit of a stretch.

There are also themes of sacrifice and faith that I didn't really think about before. Choosing to enter Sburb at all, knowing the stakes, is absolutely a leap of faith - and it's a game which sacrifices your whole planet. Skaia's been telling us the score this whole time.

Homestuck absolutely deals with dark themes - but they start out buried under the surface, and even now, are still in the process of revealing themselves. This makes sense for Homestuck, a coming-of-age-story whose protagonists are slowly coming to terms with some dark truths about their lives.

Awful Hospital, however, immediately says: here's our protagonist. Her baby is dying. She just woke in a strange room. She doesn't know how she got here. Her baby has been stolen. There are monsters inside her brain. By the way, here's a quip, because this is actually a funny comic. It just felt... dissonant, and not in a fun way. I don't really know what it's going for, tonally.

Don't take this as a negative review, though! I only read a couple dozen pages, so I'm really not qualified to rate the comic - I just wasn't feeling it at the time, so I shelved it. I enjoy a lot of Bogleech's writing, and Awful Hospital's lore sounds pretty interesting, so I'll probably give it another shot at some point.

Not for the most part! I'm super into time travel stories, though, so I'm well-Primed to understand their intricacies.

So there might be intermittent stages between the four we've seen in the kids' session? That'd be interesting - I'd love to see the intermediary stage between John's 2D chessboard and Rose's 3D cube.

There are, at this point, too many awesome songs for me to pick favorites. Umbral Ultimatum and Sunslammer are excellent, but what songs aren't, at this point?

I can't imagine what we're in for when we reach the Act 5.2 finale...

Ooh, interesting. Considering how many accidental references Hussie seems to make, it's honestly up in the air whether that was intentional.

That said....

Jack is looking awfully divine these days.

I suppose Tavros has probably logged the most rocket-hours, yeah.

I'm sure all Breath Players probably learn to fly, unless there are some oddball classes which don't let you interact with your Aspect.

Anonymous asked: forwarding this message to you from someone who doesn't have a tumblr account. ~DJ "Important fact. Dave and Aradia both use musical instruments for time travel, but different ones. Aradia’s is a music box, it has a single prerecorded music, the only way to “play” it is to turn it so it plays the music that was always in it. Dave’s is turntables. They contain a preexisting music, but what you do with them is to jump, cut and shuffle this music, creating something new, having full control of it. - RM"

I like it! As Time Players, they both follow the set path of the Alpha Timeline - but Dave gets a little funky with it, multiplying himself with a complex series of time loops.

Aradia, ever the fatalist, instead turns to doomed clones for reinforcements. I don't think we've ever seen her make a stable loop.

[flyingcakeee]

As we get closer to the race week, let's analyze just a little bit more in depth.

First, our track!

Listed under this category is about every turn and what to expect.

This is the track with the F1 trackmap laid over an aerial photo. (Cut off purple dot is the speed trap, or, the area where top speeds are hit on the track).

Let's analyze some of the more fun parts now instead of the big picture first.

This is the first set of turns, T1-3. Right off the bat, you're drawn to the fact it curves in on itself, right? Did you notice the elevation? This below is the elevation changes of the entire track. Notice how this is relatively the only major spike? Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi has more elevation change than Shanghai, fun fact! This part of the track is slow speed, especially while under a safety car, virtual safety car, or if there's a long train of cars causing traffic. Also take notice of the pit exit line and there it ends! If you are overtaking on the inside (towards the pit wall) and there's a car leaving the pits, you need to make the move before you reach that car or you may have to back out. T4 also joins in at the exit of T3.

Now, it's extremely hard to find really any footage of this track, but since its layout has not been altered for F1 racing, I'll be using screenshots from this old F1 YouTube video. They are using much older cars so I can warn that braking points, speeds, and gears may be different, but I'm not exactly sure.

T5 is a flat out kink, so it's rather irrelevant. While maybe there could be something, we won't focus on it too much, instead talking about our once again tight turn, T6! Ignore the extra bit of track joining on at the exit of the turn, that is the layout for endurance or super car racing. This turn could be more daring to attempt an overtake at than our previous T1-3.

Turn 7 is an extremely long left hand turn which can see a lot of overtaking opportunities in my opinion and it's nearly flat out.

Now we flick over to the right for T8 before immediately going left again for T9.

While these aren't exactly slow speed turns, they aren't exactly high speed either in retrospect to the rest of the circuit.

T10 here may look sharp, but it's a very easy flowing turn, fitting in perfectly at the end of T9's left over curvature and there's no need to change speed as far as I'm aware.

T11 is a slow corner, but when the car reaches T12, it's almost flat out with maybe some lifting (neither applying acceleration or brakes) needed as tyres warm up or degrade and the traffic. Understeering or locking up for T11 will result in a gravel trap and possible beaching of cars if they aren't lucky.

Directly connected to T12 is T13, a fast right hander that will be entirely flat out as well. The angle the tyres turn to the right will be higher than T12 and we're going much faster. This is a good overtaking spot to put a car in between you and a threatening car if you can still secure DRS or slipstream. Why?

The end of T13 is the entrance of our extremely long straight. If you have a bad exit out of this turn, you could compromise yourself going onto the straight.

Finally we reach the very tight hairpin, T14. This is the slowest turn on the circuit which is coincidentally directly after the speed trap where drivers will be maxing out the speed in their cars, paired with possible DRS, energy/battery usage, and risky and late divebombs, we can hopefully expect a lot of action here as T14 is wide enough to provide a great overtaking zone. An absolutely large run off and gravel trap stands ready for any possible incidents.

T16 is our final turn before we reach our pit straight. We have a small straight here and a bit of runoff, combined with the pit entry. That's right, that weird hook at the end is our pit entry. Shanghai has a pretty long entry until you reach the pit marker, as well.

Our turns boxed in orange are where we can see the most tyre degradation. T13 is especially brutal thanks to the speed carried through the fast turn.

In 2019, the tyre compounds listen in green were chosen for the weekend. We can expect either similar or the same tyres chosen.

We also have the chance to see the intermediate compound (green tyre) used in the weekend as of 4/11.

Speaking of which, let's move to the weather forecast.

Listed in this category will be weather forecasts and what they could mean.

First, The Weather Channel approximates a 64% chance of rain Friday, a 40% chance of rain on Saturday, and a 52% chance of rain on Sunday. On top of this, an estimate of 16-32 km/h wind on Friday and 16-24 km/h winds on Saturday and Sunday.

Secondly, the standard Apple weather app. A prediction of 40% rain on Friday with 11-27 km/h winds with 51 km/h gusts, no rain Saturday but 12-22 km/h winds and 44 km/h gusts. Sunday is the same with no rain predicted but 10-19km/h winds and 31 km/h gusts.

Lastly, AccuWeather gives us a 25% rain chance Friday with 14 km/h winds, 55% rain chance Saturday paired with a 19 km/h wind speed, and 25% chance Sunday with 11km/h winds.

Does this matter? At the moment, not really. The weather is still too far out to accurately predict, especially the wind speed. However, we have two apps predicting a dry full race and a chance for rain in the sprint or qualifying. Apple raises an eyebrow here with a prediction only forcasting rain Friday where it's our only practice session, paired with The Weather Channel. However, don't expect a wet session at all, conditions are still free to change. I recommend waiting for teams to post their weather forecast predictions (Aston Martin, Williams, etc.).

Final notes?

Well, keep your eyes out? The last time we were at this track, we didn't have ground effect cars, our current era cars since 2022.

Keep an eye on Sauber as well as while they are improving in pitstops, their minor fix isn't supposed to come till Miami last time I heard. (Yes, they said it wasn't a complete fix they had, more acting as a temporary improvement for the time being). Especially with their driver Zhou Guanyu racing his first ever home grand prix (his special helmet is pretty cool and unique as well for the race).

Also, did you know that the circuit is modelled after the the Mandarin character 上 [shàng]. It's the first character of the word, 上海, which is how you spell Shanghai? 上 also means "above" or "ascend" which pairs well with the elevations rise into our first turns and our fast speed turns throughout the track.

Always here to answer questions if this was at all confusing 🩵

Also, if any has one a racing games (F123, Assetto Corsa, etc.), I recommend taking the track out for a spin if you have access to the track.

Apologies for the really long post, see y'all later!!

[just-late-roman-republic-things]

How was voting done in ancient rome?

Anon...you sent me down a whole rabbit-hole...and I'm still not quite sure I understand it all. But here's how I think it worked, and I welcome any corrections from folks who know more.

Rome's voting system changed a lot over the years. We have the most information about the late republic, so let's focus on that:

(I've left out the Curiate Assembly, which was mostly irrelevant at this point, and some other fiddly bits.)

Tribes and Centuries

If you were a Roman voter, you would be part of both a tribe and a century. Your tribe roughly meant which "region" your vote was associated with, though by the late republic people had moved around so much that didn't really mean anything. Your century was assigned by censors based on your wealth status. Only male citizens could vote, not women, slaves or non-Roman residents.

When you voted, the majority of your tribe or century's votes would all be counted as one vote in the election. If 60% of your tribe voted for Lucius Tiddlypuss, but you were one of the 40% who voted for Gnaeus Nautilus, tough shit. Tiddlypuss gets one vote counted and Nautilus gets nada.

To make things worse, not all tribes or centuries were equally powerful. The wealthiest centuries (equestrians and "first class enlisted") were much smaller than the poor and working-class centuries, so rich people's individual votes counted for more. And they got to vote first, and the election was over as soon as a candidate reached a majority of total votes, so poor centuries often didn't get to vote at all.

The tribal voting system was a little more fair. Its voting order was randomized. But since all elections took place in Rome, the rural voters who could make it were usually small in number - and rich enough to travel. So rural tribes were disproportionately powerful. Plus, the tribes were of different sizes again, so (for instance) freedmen's votes could be "diluted" by concentrating them in a few big urban tribes. Still, the tribal system was seen as more representative of the lower classes in practice.

On the upside, by this era, elections and plebiscites had written ballots that you could cast secretly. This reduced the power of patrons over their clients, and masters over freedmen.

Voting for People

To elect higher magistrates, like consuls, censors and praetors, you have to gather with your century in the Centuriate Assembly outside the city walls. Why? Because the Centuriate Assembly is technically based on soldier ranks, classed by how much gear each soldier could afford, and you can't be within Rome's city limit while in military formation. The tops "enlisted"-level centuries vote first, each century's vote counts for 1, then the equestrians vote in their groups, and so on until a candidate reaches over 50% of the total possible votes.

(Note: Cicero refers to 193 centuries, so most scholars believe that was the number in his lifetime. But not everyone agrees, and the Centuriate Assembly seems to have been reorganized a few times.)

Now let's vote for lower offices, like curule aediles, quaestors and military tribunes. The pontifices are also elected here. You can go back inside Rome's walls now, because the Tribal Assembly sorts voters into tribes, not military ranks. The order in which the tribes vote is randomized (in theory). If you're voting for a pontifex, only 17 random tribes out of 35 get to vote. Or, if you're living between 81 and 63 BCE, you don't get to vote for pontifices at all. Blame Sulla for that.

Finally, we'll vote in the tribunes of the plebs and plebeian aediles. If you're one of the 90%+ of Romans who are plebeian, you'll vote in the Plebeian Council, which works just like the Tribal Assembly except that there's a big "No patricians allowed!!" sign. Only plebs can vote, and only plebs can run for these offices!

Or at least, that's how most historians think it worked. It's not actually clear if the Plebeian Council was another name for the Tribal Assembly, a separate entity, or merged into it at some point. So whenever I say "Plebeian Council," put a mental asterisk after it.

Once someone is elected as a quaestor, tribune of the plebs, or a higher rank, he stays in the Senate for life unless the censors kick him out or a trial strips him of office. This year's consuls and praetors will become next year's proconsuls and propraetors, who govern provinces and sometimes take on other special assignments. Pontifices also hold their priesthoods for life, and can take on other jobs, too.

Voting for Laws

We've elected our dudes! Can you go home? Nope! Rome also has a lot of plebiscites, or referendums.

Most laws came from the Senate. The Senate voted on a bill, usually proposed by a consul, and if a majority of Senators approved the bill would go to the Plebeian Council. Most of the time, the Plebeian Assembly approved the bill, and it became law. But sometimes it refused, and the bill would either die, or have to be revised in the Senate before the Council would vote on it again.

Occasionally a tribune of the plebs would propose a bill directly to the Plebeian Council, without getting Senate approval first. Or, more rarely, a higher magistrate might. This was a great way to piss off the Senate! However, if the bill passed, the Senate had to abide by it anyway.

Changes to the System

Even just in the 54-year period I chose, the rules shifted sometimes. The biggest change was Sulla's constitutional reform, in which:

Tribunes of the plebs could no longer propose legislation or hold higher offices.

Thus, nearly all legislation came from the Senate instead of the Plebeian Council.

Pontifices were chosen by other pontifices, no longer elected.

The number of magistracies and overall size of the Senate was expanded.

Holding a magistracy of quaestor-level or higher automatically enrolled its holder in the Senate; before, that had to be ratified by the censors.

And more details, not related to elections and plebiscites, that I won't go into here.

Some of these changes were rolled back after Sulla's death. Tribunes were restored to their full powers by 70 BCE, and pontifices became publicly elected again from 63 onward.

Rome's last fully "free" elections took place in 50 BCE. After that, Caesar's civil war and dictatorship, his habit of appointing his supporters to government offices, and even more civil wars all fouled everything up. Augustus restored regular elections, but didn't step down, so they became little more than a popularity contest with no real power.

If you rewind back in time, you'll see other changes, too. Before 104 BCE, pontifices were chosen by other pontifices, just like Sulla preferred. Before 219, the Plebeian Council needed the Senate to ratify its laws, and before 287, its laws only applied to plebs. If you go way back to the 5th century, the Curiate Assembly I left out starts being relevant. There was a gradual shift toward the Plebeian Council gaining more power over time, and patrician-only offices gradually being opened to plebeians.

Once again, I'm not a historian, so please let me know if I got something wrong. Thank y'all for reading this long-ass post!

[maximumwobblerbanditdonut]

HYROX Glasgow 2024! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Credit @rb_romabyrne

SH at the SECC Scottish Exhibition Centre during HYROX 2024 in Glasgow. He walked around the Centre until he was recognised by two fans if he had been wearing his sports suit no one would have recognised him in this competition that brought together 3000 participants.

SH finished his participation on Saturday, he’s not competing on Sunday but could go back to show off or support some friends from EDA who are still in the HYROX competition.

SH competed in the HYROX Men category and this year he placed 359th in the 40-44 age group 👥 (he also participated last year, and although he was 42 years old, he entered the age group 35-39) in double with NR.

His friend Sarah participated in the HYROX-PRO Women, ranked #40. Her category requires more effort than SH’s category.

SH attended the event today but he didn't go there to support his friend. He didn't even look at her or stand in front of her to cheer her on during the competition. Rather, he went there to show himself off, as during his participation on Saturday, no one recognised him 🥴

BTW. It is important to note that HYROX is a fitness program and is a sports competition not related to any whisky event, as some of its fans mistakenly believe.

If anybody has an interest in Valbo's finish time 🕰️ here is his time and place.

Day 1️⃣ at HYROX Glasgow 2024

Posted 2nd of March 2024

@shinycomputerqueen SH may throw a tantrum if somebody reminds him that he should report to work seriously 😂

@dlansing53 SH was scheduled to compete at 6:30 p.m. in Hyrox Men. If you look at Hyrox's day 1 schedule, SH arrived at the venue around midday, which means he arrived 6 hours before his scheduled start time. If SH had worn proper sports clothing like all other competitors, no one would have paid attention to him while he was waiting in the venue for his turn to participate. He would have been just another competitor among the 3000 others, and his actions would have gone irrelevant.

@dlansing53 I understood perfectly But, I think you’re a bit confused. SH lives just outside the Glasgow city centre. The event location was on the other side of the city, and it was not close it took two and a half hours or more to get there if you walked. He likes to attract attention, but his face is not as well-known as you thinking. His Glasgow fans and the fitness group may recognise him, but he is not as popular as you believe. His fans tend to exaggerate a lot of things.

If you have never participated in a Hyrox, you should know that the spectator area has been designed so that your supporters can be close to you in almost all training sessions. However, SH is not a coach, and He had to buy a spectator ticket and an athlete ticket. Most importantly, spectators at the event venue received a yellow pulse bracelet, which SH did not wear because he did not buy a spectator ticket. He was in the area perhaps watching part of the event but he was not a spectator.

@dlansing53 Well, now you know SH doesn't live even remotely close to the event like you thought 😂 He was present at the event as a competitor, not as a spectator who he didn't pay to see. He was dressed without sports clothes when he arrived at the venue, and it is important to note that having a different opinion about him is not a matter of liking him or not, that is a personal matter for you as a fan, not mine. I don’t have any emotional attachment to him, which is different.

@dlansing53 Like I said, you're a little confused... You said… he lives near the event!!! and I responded that it was not close ... "It takes you two and a half hours or more to get there if you walked” there is no mention at all if SH walked to the event at the SEC. Nice chat!

[yuri-is-online]

You Simple Vile Monstrosity: Rook and the Flowers of Evil

My other two dumb history posts have at least a semblance of fun fact to them, but this is mostly going to be literary analysis and some theory. There's some interesting stuff here sure, but I don't really think it adds much to the overall landscape of twst theories. But it does make Rook make more sense to me so I am making this post anyway.

So without further ado, if you are like me and enjoy reading twst theories, you might know that the beginning lines of Twisted Wonderland are something we have been debating the meaning of since the game came out really. While I think we have been closing in on their true meaning as Chapter 7 progresses along, the phrase "Flowers of Evil" can actually refer to something specific: a french poetry collection of the same name (Les Fleurs du mal in french) by a poet name Charles Baudelaire originally published in 1857. The collection was extremely controversial, but today it is highly lauded and has inspired several other literary works, including a manga series by Shūzō Oshimi of the same name. I found out about the poetry collection while working on this request and finally finished reading it... and another essay by Baudelaire for reasons we can talk about later on in the post. For now let's talk poetry.

Beauté! 100 Points!

I don't speak french, so I read an English translation done by Aaron Poochigian that does contain the original french text in the back half of the book. The Flowers of Evil is split into seven-ish parts: The Flowers of Evil (just containing "To the Reader"), Spleen and the Ideal, Parisian Scenes, Wine, Flowers of Evil (again but with 12 poems this time), Revolt, and then Death. The sections are more or less organized by the subject of the poems, Spleen and the Ideal is the largest with Baudelaire musing over what the ideal concept of beauty is while Wine deals with getting drunk (on wine mostly if you can believe it.) One of the things that jumps out very quickly about Baudelaire's work is that his concept of beauty is almost synonymous with his concept of evil. He writes a lot about maggots eating corpses, about decay, he has a few poems that talk about vampires appearing to be the highest form of beauty but really being husks of rotted flesh; it's all very much about this acceptance that evil is a part of life and human nature, so therefore there must be beauty in it. The concept of "ideal beauty" must by it's nature be divorced from the concept of "morality." When Rook talks about the potential for Leona or Malleus to kill him and how beautiful that would be, I think he means the act of destruction itself would be beautiful. The circumstances surrounding it and the consequences of it are irrelevant to the concept; this is also why while he initially says he cannot find the crimson lotuses in GloMas beautiful Deuce accuses him of doing just that after everything is said and done. He cannot find beauty in Rollo's actions, but the visual and the fight are beautiful because of the effort he and the other students put in to stop them. And perhaps most importantly, it's why he is willing to drink Vil's poison and look upon what is supposedly ultimate ugliness and say "In this moment you are the fairest of them all." Because how could an act born out of such raw and genuine emotion be anything but?

Le Chasseur D'Armour, The Hunter of Love

Baudelaire wasn't just a poet, he fancied himself a critic and wrote multiple essays, the one I read for this post is The Painter of Modern Life. Which is actually a collection of several but they are all related, and I was directed to them by this wordpress post. In it, Baudelaire muses over how things can be both beautiful and ugly, and why:

"Beauty is made up of an eternal, invariable element, whose quantity it is excessively difficult to determine, and of a relative, circumstantial element... which severally or all at once, the age, its fashions, its morals, its emotions."

He was talking about fashion plates that depicted outdated costumes, but his point was more or less that if you strictly look at the design of the costume they look ridiculous: ugly. But when you take into account their historical value (these particular plates were all from the around the time of the French revolution) they become exceedingly important: beautiful. He also mentions in this same essay the importance of not just taking into account the opinions of so called "masters" and sneers at people who think they understand what is beautiful just because they have seen a painting done by a professional:

"... to declare that Raphael, or Racine, does not contain the whole secret, and that minor poets too have something good, solid and delightful to offer... that we might love general beauty, as it is expressed by classical poets and artists, we are no less wrong to neglect particular beauty, the beauty of circumstance and the sketch of manners."

In chapter 5, while helping Vil judge the auditions for VDC, Rook gives every audition 100 points because, well, in his mind they are all an example of perfect beauty specifically because they are the work of amateurs, and that is no less valuable to him or less worthy of praise that the work of the master. Now granted he clearly does value professional quality (he did have reasons for voting for Neige other than being a massive simp. Valid ones even if loosing does sting) but that's only in the context of strict rules and guidelines. When Rook is asked for his opinion, while he certainly does believe there is an absolute, academic definition beauty, he doesn't place any value on where that beauty comes from. Baudelaire muses over how human life "accidentally" puts mysterious beauty into the world, and the true appreciator of beauty must make himself not strictly a poet but:

"...an observer of life, and only later set himself the task of acquiring the means of expressing it... For most of us... the fantastic reality of life has become singularly diluted. [But he] never ceases to drink it in; his eyes and memories are full of it."

I strongly dislike suggesting in these posts that xyz is "the definitive reason" for why a character acts the way that he does, but I do think it is very interesting how well this describes Rook's ethos. He thinks of himself as a hunter, but in order to do that he needs to observe. Sure he takes it to exceptionally extreme lengths, but it makes him one of the most lively members of the NRC cast. Baudelaire is right, there are a million things about life we miss on a day to day basis wherein true beauty lies, but Rook sees all of it. His eyes, memories, camera, and secret photo albums are fit to burst with it.

My Noble and Beautiful Flower of Evil

I mentioned the opening text at the beginning of this post, and I stand by my interpretation that the phrase "flower of evil" it uses likely is not a specific reference to any of the poems themselves... beyond the obvious note that it is a collection of poems about finding beauty in, well, evil and most of the characters are based off of villains.

But there was something that started gnawing at me when I read the introduction to my translation, which was written by a poet named Dana Gioia. It was a very well written summary of Baudelaire's life and the significance of his work, but it mentioned a connection that I have seen brought up in twst theorizing before: Edgar Allen Poe.

You see, Baudelaire was obsessed with Poe. To the point that (according to the introduction) "He considered Poe a sacred martyr for art and referred to him as 'Saint Edgar.' In his morning devotions, Baudelaire prayed first to God and then to Poe."

I have nothing to say on that (because really what could you) but the point that Gioia wanted to make in that introduction was that Poe had a massive influence on Baudelaire's writing style. He wrote multiple essays on his work and translated them into French because he felt like Poe deserved the recognition, so while Gioia used this to argue that Poe's influence on Baudelaire shouldn't be underestimated...

I can't find the post, but someone was talking about how Malleus's mother's name Meleanor is very similar to "Lenore" and I recall people sort of brushing that connection off. I don't that name is a coincidence. I think the poem "Lenore" might very well have been something thought about when constructing her character, and that the themes in Poe's work might be very relevant to the overall story of Twisted Wonderland.

Something about ravens and telltale hearts just feels like they fit; maybe we have got it all wrong and Yuu's visions aren't coming from the mirror in Ramshackle, but the floorboards.

Semi- Unrelated Fun Facts:

If you read the name Baudelaire and thought to yourself it sounded familiar, you might have be thinking of the Baudelaire children from A Series of Unfortunate Events. This isn't exactly a coincidence as the author of the series admits to his writing being heavily influenced by Charles Baudelaire to the point he actually wrote the afterword to the translation I own.

Dana Gioia is the former Poet Laureate of the state of California, something that deeply confused me. Apparently the Governor of California appoints someone to a 2 year term and they travel around the state to promote poetry and literacy which is apparently something that 46/50 U.S. states and D.C. does to????

My glorious motherland of Pennsylvania is not one of these states, apparently we only ever appointed one, then eliminated the position entirely after he retired, and then started just. Handing out ones to people in individual cities and counties. Which is so par for the course here I don't know why I am surprised.

One of the first things any college level literature course will try to drill into you is that you don't examine the life of an author when examining their work. It might sound silly, but I think Baudelaire is a great example of why that's important. The man was addicted to drugs and sex, refused to get a "real job", lived off his inheritance from his wealthy father and eventually whatever money he could convince his mother to send him his entire adult life, and had her use her political connections to bail him out of legal trouble multiple times.

If I thought too hard about that it would make his lines in "Skeleton Laborers" (Nothingness is treacherous.//Even Death is a deceiver.//Alas, forever and ever,//work may be awaiting us) fall terribly flat, which I think does them a disservice. The man was very talented and I am glad he wrote them because I felt very seen when I read them.

Baudelaire opened his publication with a note to the reader, but he made it a full poem entitled "To the Reader." I liked the ending stanza so much I used a version of it to title my blog, and eventually my current masterlist: (Boredom! Moist-eyed, he dreams, while pulling on//a hookah pipe, of guillotine-cleft necks.//You, reader, know this tender freak of freaks-//hypocrite reader-mirror-man-mytwin!)

Likewise the title of this post is also taken from part of a poem, "Hymn to Beauty" (Beauty, you simple, vile monstrosity,//I cannot care about your origin,//provided that your gaze, smile, feet show me//a sweet infinity I have never known.) I think that fits Rook's ideals rather well, don't you?

[authortobenamedlater]

S2 deep dive. The whole season. Bring the scuba gear for this one.

Negatives, positives, overall impressions, speculations about a possible S3 under the cut.

This has been sitting in my drafts for way too long and even though it’s incomplete I’m posting it. I’ll have more later I’m sure I just need it out there before it becomes irrelevant.

The bad:

It’s too short. I have pontificated about short TV seasons and long waits between seasons before so I won’t revisit it.

The fall of Reach felt more like a speed bump than the single most traumatic event in the Human-Covenant War. This is probably related to the It’s Too Short problem.

This one is entirely subjective, but I am here for The Chief & Cortana Show and this season was not The Chief & Cortana Show.

Much of the unfinished business from S1 remained unfinished or was finished lazily. The Reach for Life Project and the weirdness surrounding John’s childhood? Never mentioned. Madrigal? Glassed. Separating John and Cortana? Reduced to a one-minute flashback. This isn’t to say these threads won’t get picked up down the line, but having to potentially wait another two years doesn’t appeal. Again, this goes back to It’s Too Short.

The Spartan-IIIs made little sense. And why were they capturing kids if they can use adults to make Spartans now? Are there enough left to make up a Spartan corps?

Somehow, Makee returned. This isn’t bad in itself, but it’s never explained. The closest we get is Var saying “you live only by my grace.” OK, what grace is that? Did he resurrect her? Convince the prophets to resurrect her?

Speaking of Var, why did he exist? To make way for Thel next season? Why not just have Thel from the start? Especially since deleted dialogue from S1 had that Sangheili who ran out of the cave on Madrigal named as Thel ‘Vadamee.

Jacob Keyes is dead. It’s somewhat canon, but I didn’t want it to happen. I wanted him to live and face his music.

I did not like what they did with Soren this season. The Kessler storyline got draggy. And the way Soren acted at times didn’t really seem in line with the guy in S1 who made a promise to John and kept it even though he could probably have broken it without John ever knowing. Soren also gave the impression in S1 that he didn’t want anything to do with fighting a war and just wanted to hole up on the Rubble with his family. That changed in S2 without any real reason given.

They still can’t figure out Kwan. I liked the direction they were taking her last season, but that all got blown up, literally.

The Spartan-IIIs seemed awfully rushed. We don’t know anything about them, if or how they are augmented, or what.

The good:

Halo’s cast continues to rise above the show’s shortcomings, and the crowning achievement this season is Joseph Morgan’s Ackerson. Morgan manages to make Ackerson the bad guy, but never a bad guy. You love to hate him and want him to realize he’s wrong just in time to make that last-second pivot and then he does.

Laera might not be back for S3 (although hey, somehow Makee returned), but she got some great material this year.

For all its flaws, Halo does have a way of sticking the landing and the final episode of this season delivers. The introduction of the Flood was about as great as I could have asked for. That scene where the no-name bit part gets infected and the ironically happy music is playing while everyone goes about their business? Appropriately horrifying.

I liked Talia’s progression from jumpy regular Marine to confident Spartan-III, even if the show didn’t have enough time to do it well.

Makee and John continue to have a fascinating dynamic.

The back and forth with John and Guilty Spark (I assume) in the last episode was excellent and did a fine job setting the stage for season 3.

The big question: Will we get a third season?

Nothing is guaranteed in the era of streaming shows, but Halo has been P+’s most watched show since it launched. It’s been the third most watched original show in the US across all streaming platforms this year. Basically, no matter how terrible the show is sometimes or how much fan hate it gets, Halo is making money. I can’t see it not getting renewed. If Halo didn’t get renewed, another network might want it, or P+ might do a spinoff (thoughts on that at a later date).

[writermai05]

Arsonist's Lullabye

Chapter 5: To Someone From A Warm Climate

Summary: Y/n and Azula get to know each other. 

Pairing: Zuko x fem! reader (Live Action or Animated) 

A/N: Hey hey hey guess who is not dead! My family flew in to come visit my sister and I in college, so I spent last weekend with them. There’s also a lot of crazy shit going on with the protest on my specific college campus, and I’ve been very hard on myself this week for not being productive, but when you’re in the middle of a debate over the lives of thousands of people, it’s hard to worry about the assignments and silly little fanfic you’re writing. Nevertheless, this chapter is here today, albeit a short one but I swear, shit is about to get so interesting. 

Word Count: 686

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Avatar: The Last Airbender, I am merely a nerd who hyperfixates a lot. Lots of divergence from the canon story lol. 

Warnings !: None I think. 

The post game dinner had gone about as well as it could have. Yeah, maybe it was a little awkward, but for the most part, everyone had a good time. Toph was easily able to power through the tournament, giving the University team a trophy for their first game of the season. You almost wished that the weekend had been longer to process the information you learned on Friday.

 The image of Zuko and Azula’s eyes flashed in your mind. It feels obvious that the two are siblings now. If their eyes weren���t enough, their black hair and intense aura should have given it away. As you take a seat in your shared sociology class, you notice Azula take the seat next to you once again. You catch her attention with a small smile. 

“How was your weekend?” 

“Oh, you know, just another thrilling weekend of staying in my dorm and avoiding all human contact.” 

You raised your eyebrows, nodding in mock awe, “Riveting stuff.” Azula smirked, letting a puff of air out through her nostrils.

“Did you manage to do something less boring with whatever freaks you hang out with?”

“Yes, I did.” Before you could have a chance to elaborate, your professor began to start their lesson for the day.

After your first week, this routine began getting stale. Every class period you sat through the lecture, worked with a partner, got lectured some more, and then worked on your own. Although, the unofficial assigned seats had worked in your favor, because then you got to know more about Azula, who had promptly started to sit next to you since your first meeting. 

“Interesting lesson, huh?” you venture, hoping to start up another hushed conversation. 

Azula’s response is sharp and right in character for how much you know. 

“Yes. So interesting that I’m trying not to fall asleep from the sheer excitement of it all. Yay social class!” You quietly chuckle in response. 

“I mean there’s definitely meaning to it. Agna Qel’a is the most technologically advanced place in the Northern Water Tribe. When my family moved there for my mother’s work, it was a complete culture shock. Sedna, where I’m from, is a small city. There’s a saying that goes, ‘Take care of the land, and it will take care of you in return.’ But Agna Qel’a is magnificent, and it’s where the chief's royal palace is. It’s modern and gorgeous, but expensive.” 

Azula pursed her lips, trying to sort out her own thoughts. 

“Our capital city is similar, but probably way more grandiose. That’s how we do things in the Fire Nation. Opulence, and luxury, but mostly concerned with ourselves and no other nations. They’re practically irrelevant.” 

“What was it like growing up?”

“The Fire Nation is warm, and never really changes as far as seasons go. Sun-kissed lands and a long, honorable history. My father owns a very large company. Agni Kai enterprises does its business around the world. Before, my brother was the one who was being groomed to take over for my father once he retired, but he chose not to. After he left, then it was all on me.”

Agni Kai Enterprises was no joke. You knew that they owned many smaller companies, and had stakes nearly everywhere in the world. From what you could remember, Agna Qel’a had several complexes owned by someone involved in Agni Kai Enterprises. 

“You have a brother?” you asked, but you already knew the answer. 

“His name is Zuko. Haven’t seen him since I was 10, and he was 12.” 

Learning this new piece of information, your mouth dropped open. Eight whole years have gone by since the two have seen each other. No wonder Zuko had to ask Mai and Ty Lee questions. At this point, there was no avoiding it. 

“I know Zuko. He’s in my other class.” Azula’s head turned so fast you thought she could’ve gotten whiplash. The look in her eyes was indistinguishable, except for the usual fiery gaze. 

Azula pursed her lips and squinted, her jaw was tense. You were sure that if she clenched any harder than she would break her teeth off. “Well that’s…interesting. I assume that he and my uncle are still living above that tea shop, right? It’s been ages. Perhaps I should make the effort to go visit my dear Zuzu.” 

[motherofplatypus]

Miraculous S4 Review: Representation

And so, here we are, one episode before the finale. Out of order, but we're no stranger to that. Can't believe it's almost over, and boy am I glad because this insanity finally come to an end.

The episode, as per usual, was bad. But it's not the usual kind of bad, and was pretty much decent compared to the last 4 episodes. So, it's an improvement, I guess(?).

So, in short, this episode confirmed that Felix and Adrien are sentimonsters, and Kagami as extension, but I'll talk about that in another post. While there are people who seem to dislike the idea of Fe and Ad being senti, i personally like it. Mostly because they did really well in teasing us about this, until they just drag it out so hard and hardly even trying to do so in S4-5.

So, anyway, the review. Apparently, there's an election for the new mayor between Bustier and that fencing mustache (I remember his name, but it's a pain to write it down).

So they do have election. Huh, who woulda thunk? Feels like just one episode ago they ignore this crucial part for plot convenience to make a teenage girl even more like satan for absolutely no logical reason. Ooh, right, it was one episode ago. Well, two, but my point still stands.

Oh, Miraculous, you just love making things convenient for you, don't you?

Then we see Adrien being Sad Boy™ like he always was, and Plagg had to comfort him. And I really love Plagg here and so far he's been getting consistent development with his relationship with Adrien, that's more interesting than the Love Square tbh.

Then, Adrien down bad for Mari and wanted to reveal himself and fly all the way to Paris because he hated being there.

I appreciate the effort and dedication for love, but wouldn't it be better if you just, idk, ran away before you're in London? Just a thought.

Yeah yeah, there's the ring and stuffs and every single reason why Adrien cannot grow a spine for himself or anyone that's not Marinette. Tell me something I didn't know about Adrien.

Bonus: Here's what That Guy do whenever we demand Adrien to grow as a person.

Moving on, I'd love to talk about how everyone glorifying Mari for the 500th time, but it's nowhere near how pissed I am when they tease Julerose and Marcthaniel. Yes, it's cute to see how Marc and Nath looks like they're "bonding" in secret and Jules being protective over Rose. If this were happening 2 seasons ago, I would've scream in fangirl, but like every other things in miraculous, its either overdue or irrelevant.

Look, I appreciate their sorry excuse of an effort to give us representation (roll credits), but if you actually mean it, either actually doing it or stop teasing it for 5 seasons and make them so much of a side characters that we literally couldn't care less about them. Seriously, this is a serious case, especially with Nath and Marc that I honestly don't see why they even got a miraculous, to the point i thought Lila would get one since those two are so pointless and irrelevant.

Onto the next one, we have Gabridiot Agreste. The man with two brain cells who's fighting for third place. He realized Adrien was gone, barged into Nathalie's room while she's watching his dead wife video, and took the wedding ring from her.

First off, it's quite hilarious that the red part of Nathalie's hair turned white. I know this symbolize that she's dying, but the way it looks, it's like she's purposefully dyeing her hair white to show how dead she is.

Second, I'm getting real tired of watching Emilie saying the same line, on the same phone, for the 50th time this season. This is the equivalent of Gabe talking to her corpse whenever he's about to do a criminal activity that ended up in him failing in the most embarrassing way. Yes, we get it, she wants Gabe to be a good father, you don't need to remind us every single episode how much of a failure he is at becoming one. Also, if your role after 5 seasons is to be a broken record on a phone, just go back to your coffin.

Also, it's probably just me forgetting and i refuse to check every episode to prove it, but what's the reason for Nathalie not to show the video to Gabe? Or has Gabe seen it but ignore it? Please remind me.

Either way, still with Gabridiot, who apparently lacks the bare minimum intelligence to even be classified as a jellyfish, who think that Adrien, who's in London, somehow managed to escape and went allllll the way back to Paris in less than a day. This jump into conclusion stupidity almost match the one we got in Ephemeral, but at least not as outrageously stupid as that episode. Still can't believe that episode even exist.

So he akumatized himself into Nightormentor, and I must say I quite like his costume. Sure, it's basically Collector dress in a drag, but it kinda looks good. Except for the face, that traffic cone head and glasses are a huge no.

Still talking about London to Paris, how the heck did Argos get himself and Kagami into Paris at the same pace as Chat with flying cat add ons? Did he make a jet sentimonster to fly them there? Nah, no way. The whole reason he got the peacock was to prevent anymore sentimonster getting created and killed. Heck, he was absolutely devastated when he had to snap that Red Moon from existence. So there's absolutely no way he'd be doing that, right? Right?

Sigh, who am i kidding.

So, he created a new sentimonster, a tripod, to give Mari a cheap show of his origin and Adrien's, and basically confirmed they're feather boys. Wow! This is big, right?! Right?! But, of course, with the abundance of brain cells in the show, Mari didn't connect the dot and only take it as Felix's story that I'm not even sure if she realized Felix is a senti, let alone Adrien.

Okay, maybe she did realize Fefe is senti, but my bet is that she's still doesn't know Adriboy is a senti. That's literally too much to ask for the show standard, speaking from experience.

Speaking of didn't connect the dots, Felix literally blatantly told Mari that Gabe is Monarch in the video and she didn't get it? Does Adrien filled up that much space in her head that she ignores the very obvious info presented in front of her? Hello? Brain cells? Basic common sense? Toddler level of intelligence? Where are you all?!

Back to the point, what happened to the tripod? Oh right, it got snapped out after it send the message to Marinette to fight for Adrien. To fight Gabe for love.

Remember folks, murder is okay as long as it's for Adrienette.

Also, if the whole purpose is to just give Mari a message, why would he need to take Kagami there as well? It's not like the message is on live. Heck, they didn't even stay until the message is over, so it's clear that it's pre-recorded, or just some magic bullshit, but basically they're not needed to be that close.

"But the amok is in Kagami's ring, and she needs to be there to control it."

Like I said, she's not needed to be there.

Okay, that's not exactly important. Since we're still talking about Kagami, let's talk about plot hole number 451: Kagami knows Mari is Ladybug since Perfection.

Remember a certain blue haired boy going into voluntary exile because he knows the identity of the heroes? No? Neither do the writers.

If she knows Mari is LB since that very episode, why hasn't Monarch learned about that crucial info? She got akumatized TWICE after knowing that, and neither of them meant anything until now. That piece of knowledge should've been in Monarch's ear since ages ago.

"But Kagami wasn't sure if Mari is LB."

My point still stands strong, tall, and mighty. They made Gabe jump into conclusion that Adrien is Chat by him saying "My Lady". I'm just using their stupidity on them.

Then we got Anticat, or I'd like to call it Walmart Chat Blanc. Aside from the hideous blue hair and eye wrecking visual of the dream sequence, this pissed me off real fucking bad, because this can only means one thing: Chat Blanc is irrelevant.

We waited 2 seasons, one of which caused Chat Noir getting depressed because Ladybug refuse to speak about the white world destroyer cat, and the moment he knows about it, it's not from Ladybug and not even what exactly happened. It's just a nightmare. It's not real. He still doesn't know that that event actually real.

We were, once again, robbed of seeing something we have been waiting for years to happen.

Sadly, that's not the end of it.

On side note, I find it hilariously ironic that when Chat wake up from the nightmare, the first person he saw was Kim. "Hey, that's the person i tried to kill a few days ago. Now I have infinite Cataclysm to do so."

Dude woke up from a nightmare into another nightmare, lmao.

So anyway, Gabe lost to a bunch of teenagers once more, they win, and he kept the akuma in a jar so that LB can purify it. I mean, what's a Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir would do without Ladybug appearing, right? Like how the show could not go on without Chat Noir appearing in the episode, right? Of course.

Anyway, remember the whole reason LB needs to purify the akuma is because it will multiply if left too long? Like, idk, an hour at most. And how long did Chat left the butterly? Why haven't that flappity flap flap not self-reproducing like rabbit on steroids during mating season?

Also, can't he just Cataclysm the akuma? We know in Chat Blanc it's possible and have no side effect whatsoever. Plus, he can now use multiple Cataclysms. Just get rid of it. You have no qualm when you tried to Cataclysm Scarabella, your principal, and your friend whose face is the first thing you saw when you wake up from your nightmare, so what gives?

Oh right, it's the villain. He has qualms only when it comes to hurting the villain. I forgot.

Also, let's take a moment of silence for Chat, who finally got an episode where he's the one shining, where he's supposed to be the one who save the day, but ended up being utterly useless and needed help from a bunch of teenagers.

Look, I'm not saying he shouldn't get help or anything, but how hard are you going to glorify Ladybug for being able to win a fight by herself and never let Chat do the same, not even once?

And then both Adrien and Kagami came back to their abusive parents. Just, why? I get why Adrien came back, aside from the nightmare and his inability to grow a spine, but Kagami? You have your own freedom, you got balls bigger than Adrien could ever have, and you're independent. Just stay with Felix, hide, and Amelie most likely already know your circumstances too, or at least she'll let you stay for Felix's sake.

"But she might not feel comfortable doing that."

You know who else should not be comfortable doing something? Chat Noir when he's down to murder people that he knows.

Also also, don't any of them gonna ask how the hell they ran away? No? Of course not. And Gabridiot and Tomoron decided to become a very reasonable and good parents and put their kids inside an entirely white, mental asylum-esque room where the only color they can see is their clothes and hair.

Seems familiar?

Yep, they are batshit insane.

And please don't tell me that square on the corner is their bed. Good lord, I know you're angry they disobey you, but treat them humanely at least.

All in all, this is 6/10. Lots of dumb moments as per usual, but it's not blatantly moronic like half of the episodes this season has. I quite like Nightormentor's costume and how Plagg comfort Adrien in that small scene. I'm surprised that I'm not furious at all, just mildly annoyed. Overall, it's decent.

Then again, this has been my opinion, and now it's your turn. Do you like it, or hate it? Is this a good build up for the finale? Leave your thoughts down below, and I will see you in the next one. Byeee.

[rlyehtaxidermist]

nintendo’s port forwarding nightmare, or: how i learned to start worrying and fear the network

So I was alerted to Nintendo’s official guide on port forwarding and it contains so much bad advice that there was sort of a moral imperative to write a response to it. If you’re setting up a Switch for multiplayer games and network services, or just have a perverse interest in bad IT device configuration, you should probably read this.

this is like beginning an article about dioxygen difluoride synthesis with “in this article, you’ll learn how to start fires”

this guide having a disclaimer that “it is up to each consumer to determine what security needs they have for their own networks” is like an article promoting asbestos saying that it’s up to the consumer to determine what health needs their lungs have

part the first: questionable advice that will usually work

So first off, they tell you to go to your PC and copy down all the information on your IP, subnet mask, and gateway. For usual home networks, this is probably fine (though it’s already a red flag - normally devices on a modern home network get this information automatically, through something called the Dynamic Host Control Protocol or DHCP, avoiding the need for a lot of cumbersome manual administration).

There are some cases that might be an issue just for this; in particular, if your computer is connected via a cable while your Switch is operating wirelessly. (There’s also questions about subnetting but if you know subnetting you already know why this guide is a trash fire.)

So here the guide tells us why it wanted us to copy down configuration from our PC - because they want you to disable DHCP, and have the Switch use a static IP address.

A fixed IP in of itself isn’t bad, and there’s plenty of use cases where it’s done - but usually in an enterprise environment, for things like file servers, printers, or network infrastructure like switches and wireless access points. It’s just a very odd thing to set for a consumer device - especially a mobile, wireless one like the Switch.

part the second: oversimplified advice that might work

Aside from the rare case where your PC could have an IP address ending in 236 or more, where this advice just wouldn’t work at all, the advice boils down to “put in random numbers until you get one that works”. There’s no guarantee that a working IP address wouldn’t e.g. already be allocated to a computer that is presently turned off.

This brings us to the major issue of device-side static IP addressing: if the device disconnects from the network, there’s nothing to stop the DHCP server in your router from giving that static address to something else that connects. This can cause a lot of weird connectivity errors seemingly at random. There are ways to make a static IP compatible with a DHCP service, but they involve specific configuration of the router or DHCP server that the guide doesn’t touch on.

While this on its own is an issue, it’s not quite the security dumpster fire that it could be. But put “the router might assign the Switch’s IP address to another device in the network” into your foreshadowing pockets because it’s going to be important later.

Finally, there’s subnet mask and gateway settings, and this is where the highly technical stuff comes in. Thankfully the details are irrelevant because there’s one problem with all of this advice: sometimes the Switch should be different from your PC, especially if you have multiple access points or a mixture of wired and wireless connections. DHCP would normally handle this, but if we’re just firing randomly into the darkness, it might not. Again, this is something that will usually work with the default configuration of most home networks, but has no guarantees for anything more complex.

But this is all basically “misguided and incomplete, but mostly harmless”. Where’s the garbage fire?

part the third: terrible advice that will work all too well

The first few things are standard practice for port forwarding. The first problem is step four: specifically, the phrase “port 1 through 65535″.

If you played old video games, the number 65535 might be familiar to you. It’s the maximum value of a 16-bit unsigned integer, meaning it would irregularly crop up as the seemingly arbitrary maximum for numbers in games of the SNES era.

The significance for this in networking is that port ID is a 16-bit unsigned integer; in other words, "port 1 through 65535″ is equivalent to “every single port”. (Technically, every port but port 0, but 0 is a special case that officially doesn’t exist and is used for various types of magic that are beyond the scope of Nintendo customer support.)

Having a single port forwarded from the open internet tends to make a system a target for attacks, as if the application on that port is compromised, there’s nothing separating it from actors on the open Internet. “Check if you have any open ports” is standard basic cybersecurity advice - any accessible open port is something of a cybersecurity fire hazard.

Having every single port forwarded is the equivalent of running naked into a burning building while covered in naphtha and thermite.

On one hand, it will definitely guarantee that people can connect to your Switch from the internet! On the other... well.

A compromised Switch can then access the rest of your internal network, bypassing a lot of security and default firewall setups, since it is now on the same subnet and network, which most machines will treat as being trusted. For instance, it could access things like router configuration that are often blocked from the outside but accessible - with good reason - from internal machines. This is the same kind of hazard posed by a lot of Internet of Things devices, amplified by the Switch’s greater computing power.

But would you believe me if I said it got worse? look into your foreshadowing pocket, if you will, and recall that the router might assign the Switch’s IP address to another device in the network. So if your Switch is offline, and a new machine comes online and requests a DHCP address, suddenly it’s not forwarding every single port to your Switch, but to whatever that device is! If you have every port forwarded to the Switch’s IP, but the Switch leaves the network for some time, there is a low but very real chance the IP gets reused for a newly-connecting device, and suddenly it’s not the Switch with every port open, but a computer or phone.

All the security risks are the same for open ports on these machines, but the potential of a breach is much, much worse.

part the fourth: okay how do i fix this

Nintendo’s actual customer support has a separate article with a similar security disclaimer talking about a little-known feature many routers have called the DMZ. (Yes, that still stands for “demilitarised zone”, as in Korea or Cyprus or most borders of Israel at one point or another.) The DMZ is essentially an area designated in your router settings as separated - mostly - from your main network, intended to house machines that are more open to the public internet while protecting others from incursion.

Router DMZs are not “proper” DMZs, and do not offer the proper protection of the enterprise-level concept for which they are named. The router DMZ option, more properly called a “DMZ host”, is simply a computer on the same network as the others which receives all traffic that isn’t marked for another machine. It’s essentially the same as opening every port on the Switch, but has the benefit of at least avoiding the IP address reassignment issue that would more directly expose your other machines, since the router needs to know the Switch is in the DMZ.

I haven’t found any good advice on Nintendo’s official pages but I’ll go into what I’d do here.

Shout at Nintendo to establish an in-house standard for which ports their multiplayer games use. It’s not like a Switch is going to be running multiple services at once and they have literally tens of thousands of ports to choose from; just pick one (or at least a narrow range) and stick to it! Ideally, this would fix it but it would require a major game developer to care about cybersecurity issues other than homebrew, which I’m pretty sure requires a Lutheran Pope flying on pigback all the way to the bluest possible moon.

There are lots of networking solutions available to people willing to dip their toes in. The one I would properly suggest looking up is a so-called screened subnet, where you can use subnet masks to separate the Switch from every other machine on your network. Most routers should be able to be configured to support one but the details of it are a bit much for an already long post.

Buy a second router and put it between your first router and the network connection. Set the Switch up through this router, and all your other computers stay connected to the old router; this will make them see the Switch as an external host and keep it separated in case it’s compromised. (This is a simplified version of a true DMZ, and should work basically out of the box other than setting up port forwarding.)

If you absolutely need to expose every port on your Switch to the internet, don’t configure your Switch’s network settings. Instead, use a DHCP reservation from your router to ensure that the specific IP is only ever given to your Switch. Again, this only offers the same “won’t directly expose my other computers” protection that using a Switch as a DMZ host does, and still leaves your network open from the back - but DHCP reservations are probably the easiest thing to set up technically, often being directly documented in your router’s manual.

I am not a cybersecurity specialist, and have only learned what I do know about networking from running my own private networks. This is not a comprehensive listing of the solutions, just the ones that occur to me. They may not work perfectly, but they’ll work a hell of a lot better than opening every port and shouting “come get my ass” to the entire Internet.

[chocolateleclerc]

Everyone who has been speaking and standing up for Palestine probably knows about Khaled Beydoun. He did a Instagram live today that made me realise how emotionally driven our support has been for Palestine. Although it’s obvious that it cannot be done without emotions but along with that we need to bring substance into our support. We need to be profound, vocal and craft our words intelligently. Because sadly our fight isn’t just against israel it’s with our spineless government also. Here’s are points he shared that might help you all:

1. This is esp for all the pro-Palestinians who are actively speaking on social medias from parts of US, Canada or most of Europe where supporting Palestine can cause you to lose jobs, or being expelled from schools and getting blacklisted. (It is real and it has been happening)

First thing that zionist organisations have been doing is setting boobytraps for the people in-support that are speaking out actively is sending them emails and dms to attain information about them and their know-abouts. Besides that they ask leading questions to purposely agitated you like “what do you feel about hamas?” Etc. DO NOT OPEN MESSAGES OR DMS OR EMAILS OF THE PEOPLE THAT YOU DONT KNOW. Proceed with caution, your personal information can be collected.

Everyone has a right to have opinions of their own but please keep your thoughts about organisations like Hamas, Islamic Jihaad, Hezbollah offline. Do not engage in any posts or comments that zionists might use against you.

Incase youre fired or blacklisted or expelled, know your options and what steps should be taken to protect yourself. (I’m not a lawyer so i cannot guide you how to protect yourself from zionist traps and allegations. Although if he ever updated about thi s I’ll make sure to post it here)

2. Share their stories, talk about their people, their culture, devoted people who put their lives at stake to save their brothers and sisters. Stories with proofs will always have more impact than leaving heartfelt notes or fighting off zionists in the comments. Don’t let their stories fade away.

3. While standing up against genocide in Gaza. Don’t forget or let forget how israel is simultaneously attacking the west bank, south of lebanon (to provoke hezbollah and that may erupt into a regional war. And to remind you this part of Lebanon was under israeli forces until they took their freedom in 2000),

4. This is not the time for debates or arguements, let your posts MUST focus on two things : ceasefire and Humanitarian aid. Everything else should be irrelevant.

5. Be sympathetic to the people who aren’t posting about Palestine due to their work and pressure from their upper authorities. Don’t fight them. Instead urge them to help silently. Urge them to donate!

6. Do not juggle too many balls. Actively do the thing you have excellence in. For example, if you are a public speaker BE THE VOICE OF PALESTINE. If you are popular on some social media platform, use it to your advantage. If you were great at collecting funds at schools etc, organise a fundraiser for Palestine. If you’re a great storyteller (like you write fics etc) dictate the stories of matyrs and help readers understand their pain. Make Palestinian artworks if that your thing. But its better to a thing you’ve already perfected so there’s less margin of error.

7. This one’s for the silent users who support Palestine but don’t post actively. Donate, Donate, Donate. 97% of Gaza’s water is contaminated, they need food, thousands of women are suffering from toxic shock syndrome due to unsanitary periods health. For the Love of God please donate even if it’s not much.

8. Do not fall into israeli companies like PEPSI, COKE, MCDONALDS agendas like they changing their bottles in support of Palestine, them donating 10 million to Gaza aid. This is all deception to avoid the boycott that is very much in effect. Even if McDonalds donates 10 million to Gaza, israeli forces are gonna profit from every burger you get.

9. If you want to stand up for Palestine but you’re not sure how to talk about it. For starters, use Macklemore’s Statement as a template. His statement was so beautiful and he did sth not many celebrities have guts to.

10. Beware of any social media content your children, teenagers and even you are consuming. Even children’s YouTube videos are containing pro-israeli ads.

11. In the end, it dont matter if you are religious or not, please keep Palestinians in your thoughts and prayers.

In short, Be Aware but do not be scared for we all are speaking up for the right cause. Palestine will be free InshAllah.

Preach.

[livingproofoftbd]

manhunt au drabble

im making a manhunt au that im quite proud of and very excited for, if anyones curious here’s me just talking about it 

so basically dream is a mortal on earth in, like, some undisclosed year (not modern but kind of with modern slang) like pre dsmp, and he’s super cocky, super selfish, basically a huge dick no one likes. he’s also really strong and really smart, so he’s always challenging people to these dumb bets to prove that he’s better than them, and he always wins. the more he wins, the more he starts betting money, and the more he starts betting money, the less people pay up when they lose. 

and then there are the gods. i havent decided who goes to speak to him, hannah (i figured she could be the most powerful goddess since she was the only one to get an elytra in the dsmp) or callahan (since he apparently helped a lot with the manhunts behind the scenes) but i think im gonna go with callahan. anyways callahan hears about this mortal who thinks too highly of himself and decides to knock him down a few notches by setting up a trial for him. which is manhunt. he recruits five gods to help him, and indirectly makes them sign their souls away to fight him if it comes down to it. he’s positive dream won’t make it past the first god (george) but he has the other four as back ups. 

the rules are simple: kill the ender dragon without getting killed. the challenge itself takes place on some plane thats on the tightrope between the mortal plane and the heavens, where the gods live. when he dies, he wakes up in a new world with scars from before. when he wins and walks through the end portal, the same happens. and yes, im going to include his irl scar, im still figuring out how i’m going to do so. 

the gods, when they first join, hate dream. they hate that its because of him theyve been stripped of all their powers and reduced to mortals just to give him a fair fight. they hate that they lost their right to choose, being forced to participate in this dumb gauntlet. eventually, they all become sort of friends, but that’s in the moments before and after the fight starts. during it, theyre focused intently on their goal. 

since the gods can die and respawn as they please, they feel nothing when they die. well obviously they feel something, but for dream, depending on how he dies, the pain is excruciating. but he and the gods alike dont feel much during the fights themselves so it doesn’t distract them. so if like dream takes fall damage, usually youd swear and grab your ankle and maybe have a limp if you fell really far, but he just keeps running. he only feels it afterwards. 

this gauntlet lasts for weeks, maybe months. time is irrelevant here. but when its over and dream returns home, he’s informed no time was missed while he was competing. he was granted immortality for winning, but he demands to become a god for the hell he was put through, and at the end, he becomes dreamxd. 

(and maybe i’ll include a brief part about him seeing the start of the dsmp, i havent decided yet)