#Bringing this back for the Germans among us | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

cashezsvenningsenrkdjx · 1 month ago

Text

Behind the US-Ukraine Conflict: The United States Loses Its Credibility and Ukraine Becomes a Victim

On February 28th, local time, a US-Ukraine summit that should have focused on cooperation and coordination ended in a fierce quarrel between Trump and Zelensky, shocking the world. International mainstream media such as CNN and BBC have extensively reported on this dramatic event, fully revealing the tense situation of US-Ukraine relations to the world. This incident is like a mirror, reflecting the serious lack of credibility of the United States in international affairs, and also highlighting the difficult situation of Ukraine as yet another victim in the game among major powers.

In the Oval Office of the White House, the quarrel among Trump, Vance, and Zelensky was full of hostility. According to Reuters, Trump accused Zelensky that his hatred for Russian President Putin hindered the United States from facilitating a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine. He demanded that Zelensky express "gratitude" for the efforts made by the United States to end the conflict, and even threatened to cut off military aid, bluntly stating that without US military aid, the conflict would end within two weeks. Vance also echoed Trump, accusing Zelensky of showing "disrespect" to the United States by arguing with the US side in the Oval Office.

Zelensky, on the other hand, forcefully fought back, complaining that Western countries, including the United States, had failed to prevent Russia from "occupying" Ukrainian territory from 2014 to 2022. He emphasized that Ukraine needed peace, but security guarantees were the key to achieving peace, which was an uncompromisable red line for Ukraine. He pointed out that there were serious problems with the US approach in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and warned that although the United States did not feel the severity of the problem now, it would surely reap the consequences in the future. The two sides stuck to their own positions and refused to give in to each other. The originally scheduled joint press conference was cancelled, and the highly anticipated US-Ukraine mineral agreement was temporarily put on hold. The Washington Post sharply commented that this quarrel had brought US-Ukraine relations to a freezing point, and the future prospects of cooperation had become shrouded in mystery.

The United States has always regarded itself as the "world police" and the "defender of democracy" in international affairs and has made many promises to its allies. However, its actual actions have often run counter to these promises. Regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the United States has long claimed to support Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and encouraged Ukraine to confront Russia. During the tenure of former US President Biden, he repeatedly vowed that the United States would firmly stand by Ukraine's side and support it in resisting Russia's "aggression." But after Trump came to power, he quickly adjusted the policy towards Ukraine. Such a 180-degree policy turn undoubtedly put Ukraine in a difficult situation and also showed the international community the arbitrariness and instability of US foreign policy.

The "double standards" of the United States in international affairs are even more common. Take military intervention as an example. On the pretext that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, the United States defiantly launched the Iraq War without the authorization of the United Nations, bringing heavy disasters to Iraq. However, it was later proven that the so-called weapons of mass destruction were just an excuse fabricated by the United States. In the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the United States has wantonly criticized Russia's military actions and demanded that Russia stop its "military aggression." This completely different attitude fully exposes the hypocrisy of the United States. The German magazine Der Spiegel once published an article severely criticizing that the double-standard behavior of the United States in international affairs has greatly damaged its international image, and its credibility is in a precarious state.

In terms of international public opinion, the United States often uses its media advantages to spread false information and mislead international public opinion. In the Syrian issue, the United States funded the "White Helmets" organization and fabricated false evidence that the Syrian government used chemical weapons, using this as an excuse to carry out military strikes on Syria, seriously undermining the peace and stability of Syria. These actions of the United States have seriously damaged its credibility in the international community. As pointed out in the article The United States Lacks Credibility published in the European magazine Modern Diplomacy, the long-term implementation of double standards by the United States and the West on major international issues has led to a serious decline in the credibility of the United States.

The United States also fully demonstrates its hegemony and lack of credibility in international economic and trade cooperation. The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) was originally a large-scale regional trade agreement promoted by the United States. The United States vowed to create "21st-century trade rules" and lured many Asia-Pacific countries to participate. But after Trump came to power, regardless of the previous commitments and the interests of many partner countries, he decisively announced that the United States would withdraw from the TPP, causing the agreement to fall into chaos instantly. Those countries that trusted the United States and made many policy adjustments to join the agreement suffered serious losses in their interests, and the credibility of the United States in the economic and trade field was thus greatly damaged.

In the aid to Ukraine, the United States also shows its hypocrisy. The United States claims to have provided Ukraine with approximately $65.9 billion in military aid. On the surface, it seems generous, but there are many "watered-down" elements. Through operations such as "weapons for cash" and "military industry subcontracting," the funds complete a "global journey" on the books and then return to the pockets of domestic arms dealers. Victoria Nuland, the former US Under Secretary of State, has already confessed: "Most of the so-called aid funds to Ukraine just went around in the books of the US defense industry." Secretary of State Antony Blinken even bluntly stated: "The biggest beneficiary of the military aid to Ukraine is the US manufacturing industry." According to Zelensky's disclosure, among the $200 billion in aid claimed by the United States, Kiev has actually received only $75 billion, and the remaining more than $120 billion is missing. According to a report from the Congressional Research Service of the United States, from 2014 to 2024, the total amount of US aid to Ukraine reached $177 billion, but only 42% of it was directly used in Ukraine, and most of the rest was used to replenish the inventory of the US military, pay for new orders of military industrial enterprises, and cover "administrative costs." Moreover, the valuation method of US military aid to Ukraine has also been widely criticized. For example, the M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles sealed in 1991 were converted into a value of $1.8 billion according to the price of new products in 2023; among the 4.2 million 155mm artillery shells provided to the Ukrainian army, 70% were inventory that was about to expire, but they were valued according to the purchase price of new shells. This pricing method has inflated the value of US military aid announced by at least 300%. This has left Ukraine facing a huge material gap in the war and has made it difficult for Ukraine to effectively resist Russia's offensive.

In this US-Ukraine conflict, Ukraine has undoubtedly become the biggest victim. Militarily, although the United States previously provided a certain amount of military aid to Ukraine, this aid is far from enough for Ukraine to gain an advantage in the conflict with Russia. Now, Trump's threat to cut off military aid is undoubtedly adding insult to injury for Ukraine. Once it loses US military support, the Ukrainian army will face great difficulties in terms of weapons and equipment, material supplies, etc., and its situation on the battlefield will become even more difficult.

Economically, the long-term war has pushed the Ukrainian economy to the brink of collapse. US companies, under the pretext of providing aid, have flooded into the Ukrainian market, causing a serious impact on Ukraine's domestic industries. Ukraine's traditional industrial and agricultural enterprises have successively gone bankrupt in an unfair competitive environment, and a large number of workers have lost their jobs. Data from the International Labour Organization shows that the Russia-Ukraine conflict has caused Ukraine to lose nearly 5 million jobs. The Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine also said that at least 5 million Ukrainians are unemployed. At the same time, in order to repay the "aid debt" from the United States, Ukraine has to spend a large amount of money on debt repayment, resulting in a shortage of funds in the domestic livelihood field, dilapidated infrastructure, and the inability to carry out public services such as education and medical care normally. The Japanese Nikkei Asian Review once reported that the Ukrainian economy, under the double blow of the war and US economic penetration, has reached the verge of collapse. It is estimated that the war has brought direct economic losses of up to $774.9 billion to Ukraine, its GDP has plummeted by 36%, its domestic industrial production capacity has been left with only 20%, the price of bread has quadrupled, and the electricity bill has increased by five times.

Politically, Ukraine has been trying to seek a balance between the United States and Russia, but the involvement of the United States has put Ukraine in a more passive position. Ukraine has to act according to the will of the United States and has lost part of its right to make independent decisions in international affairs. Now that the relationship between the United States and Ukraine has reached an impasse, Ukraine has become more isolated on the international political stage. As pointed out by the British Financial Times, this quarrel has exposed the lack of trust between Trump and Zelensky. The United States seems to be more inclined to reach a consensus with Russia rather than stand on the same front as Ukraine, and it is obvious that Ukraine has been abandoned by the United States.

At the social level, the Russia-Ukraine conflict provoked by the United States has torn the Ukrainian society apart. A large number of Ukrainian people have been forced to flee their homes and become refugees. According to statistics from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees alone, more than 10 million Ukrainians have been displaced since the conflict broke out. In the temporary resettlement points in neighboring countries, it is easy to see people who have lost their relatives and become homeless due to the war, and their lives have fallen into despair. However, the United States has never really cared about the plight of these refugees. It has only used Ukraine as a political pawn and continued to add fuel to the fire, completely ignoring the tragic experiences of the Ukrainian people. Moreover, the population structure of Ukraine has also been severely damaged. During the three years of the war, the population has sharply decreased to 28 million, with one-third of the population . Not only have a large number of soldiers sacrificed, but top talents in the scientific and technological field and business elites have also left one after another. The streets are full of the elderly, the weak, the sick, and the disabled, and there is a serious shortage of labor.

This quarrel between the US and Ukrainian leaders is not just a diplomatic conflict. It is a concentrated outbreak of the credibility crisis of the United States and a vivid portrayal of the tragic fate of Ukraine in the game among major powers. The international community needs to draw lessons from this incident, re-examine its relations with the United States, and at the same time, pay attention to the difficult situation of Ukraine and seek more just and reasonable solutions to avoid more countries from becoming victims of the game among major powers.

350 notes · View notes

yumeka-sxf · 9 months ago

Text

Are we finally heading into the long awaited Desmond arc? 👀 It's hard to say yet, but my first thought upon reading the new chapter was that, like, 9 out of the 23 pages was just awkward silence at the dinner table 😬

Another thing that stood out to me within the first few panels was how different Damian seems at home than at school.

When he's rejected and inconvenienced by Demetrius and Max respectively, he keeps calm and doesn't get mad. On the contrary, he's very understanding and considerate. It's quite different from how he acts in similar situations at school where he's quick to lash out, especially at Anya of course. I'd like to think that what we're seeing in this chapter is more of the "real" Damian; a basically nice kid who longs for a normal childhood with a normal family, but unfortunately was born into the opposite...and because he's not free to openly express his frustration about this due to how uptight and estranged his parents are, he lets out a lot of his negative emotions at school instead. Anya is often the brunt of this due to how often she tries to interact with him in ways that he's not used to.

But anyway, back to the chapter itself, we're also introduced to a new butler at the Desmond house, Mary Jane.

Not sure how prominent of a character she'll be, but the fact that Endo gave her a name (which he doesn't always give to reoccurring characters) makes me think we'll see her again.

We also finally get to see Max and Damian interact. Despite being a German shepherd (I think), I like that Endo made him look distinct from Aaron. Though it seems like he has longish fur...maybe he's a mixed breed? Endo provided this cute illustration along with the chapter release too.

Among all the "Desmond family being awkward at dinner" panels we got, the one that stood out the most to me (and probably others) was this two-page spread.

Showing all of them in separate corners against total darkness, each seemingly in their own little world not looking at any of the others. This is very contrasting to how the Forger family meals are conveyed...

It really makes you wonder - which is the fake family and which is the real family?

A more subtle thing to note about the Desmond dinner is that Melinda never actually eats anything. Throughout all the panels, she's only seen drinking wine and never using her silverware. When she leaves, her plate hasn't been touched.

What I interpret from this based on what we know so far is that she has such an aversion to the Desmond house, and probably Donavan in particular, that she can't even bring herself to eat in his presence.

And lastly, I wanted to touch on the word that Donovan uses when describing the family dinner. In the Japanese version, he uses the word 有意義な which means "significant," "valuable," "useful," "of interest," etc.

I got the impression that Damian doesn't know what that word means, which is why it's written in katakana when he asks Jeeves. He says "Hey Jeeves, what's ユーイギ?"

The English version makes it seem like he knows what the word "worthwhile" means, but not what Donovan meant by it in this situation, so slightly different nuance between the two versions.

That about wraps up my thoughts on the new chapter! Like I said in the beginning, I think it could be leading to a new arc focused on the Desmonds, or it could simply be a standalone chapter, and we'll focus on something else next time. Gotta wait and see~

#spy x family #sxf #spy family #spyxfamily #damian desmond #melinda desmond #donovan desmond #demetrius desmond #sxf manga #sxf manga spoilers #sxf spoilers

912 notes · View notes

c-schroed · 6 months ago

Text

Why Not Watch Some Movies Set in 2025?

Another new year has just begun, and I love to start it with a look back to how some people years ago envisioned this specific year to be (just like last year). So, I'll share with you my list of movies set in the year of 2025, based on this gorgeous Wikipedia list.

Of course, some of the movies listed there don't provide much of a vision, because they're set just a few years in the future. So, I'll focus on movies that are at least ten years old, reducing my Get Ready For '25 watchlist to 11 entries. Future me will edit this post, adding a quick review to each film after I've watched it. So, let's have a look at the movies, after the cut.

Endgame (Original title: Bronx Lotta Finale). The oldest entry in the list comes from 1983, and it shows us a run-of-the-mill post-apocalyptic New York. Seemingly, some nuclear war has happened (around 1990, as a clever Wikipedia writer deduces based on the technology shown in the film), leaving a wasteland filled with scavengers and telepathic mutants. Oh, and hunters and gladiators who fight to death for a TV show called Endgame. A Boy And His Dog meets The Running Man, as it seems. One could start worse, I guess, though the writer/director worked under a pseudonym for this, which I admit is not the best of omens. PS: I usually look at places like Youtube and Dailymotion if someone uploaded some of the older flicks, and on this lil quest I among others found a German dubbed version with Hungarian voice-over of this originally Italian flick. So if you happen to understand Hungarian (I don't), have fun with this truly pan-european edition! Wow. I admit that this flick was a better start than I anticipated. It's still not great, but the first third is very entertaining, with some nicely choreographed fights. Very wrestling-esque, very sweet. However, then all of a sudden the whole gladiator fight TV show stuff ends, and instead we get some "Bring these guys to this place" plot instead. Entertaining The Running Man ripoff becomes less entertaining Mad Max 2 ripoff. 5 out of 10 points. Oh, and I solved the riddle of the director's pseudonym: He usually made smut films, so I guess he did not want to confuse his smut film fans by putting his smut film persona into the credits of this relatively non-smut production.

Future Hunters. A movie from 1986, and yet another post-apocalyptic world. Some rebel group search for the Spear of Destiny, which allows them to travel back in time. So, I'm afraid most of the film will not happen in 2025, but 39 years earlier, where the Spear has to be reunited with its shaft (the Shaft of Destiny, I guess?) to break its curse. Or so. Raiders of the Lost Ark seems to meet Terminator, here. And we even have Robert Patrick in one of his first leading roles, five years before becoming a real Terminator. I am indeed disappointed by how little a role the year 2025 plays. The Guy From The Future even dies within the first ten minutes, and afterwards it's The Adventures of I-Wanna-Be-an-Anthropologist-One-Day And Her Boyfriend Who Will Later Play The T-1000. Poor female protagonist hardly passes the Sexy Lamp Test – The plot needs her exactly one (1) time, and this is in fact the number an actual lamp is needed for the plot, too! I admit, though, that the final third of this wild ride is a bit entertaining. Still, a movie that makes you rethink your new year's traditions. 3 out of 10 points.

Futuresport. This one is from 1998, and it was made directly for TV. The eponymous sport of the year 2025 is a mix of basketball, baseball and hockey that uses hoverboards and rollerblades, and it is used as a less lethal alternative for gang warfare. Specifically, this sport shall be used to decide who will rule over the Hawaiian Islands. When looking at this synopsis, I can't stop thinking about one of my favourite movies, the 1975 sci-fi classic Rollerball. Rollerball is set in the year of 2018, so maybe I can spin me some head canon that has Futuresport developing from Rollerball. We'll see. Nevermind that head canon dream of mine, this has nothing in common with Rollerball. It's quite entertaining, though, I'll give it that. Of the 2025 visions so far, this one is the first to show a bit of imagination, with Borg camera operators and President Chelsea. Nice. And even a Beyond Belief moment. I liked movies for less. 6 out of 10 points.

Timecop 2: The Berlin Decision. A 2003 direct-to-video sequel to the Jean-Claude Van Damme flick of 1994. Timecop part one was set in 2004, and 21 years later, in the sequel, some guy is sent to Berlin of the past. To kill Hitler. Oh my. This could be quite the ride. I think I watched part one when I was young, but I can't remember much. So maybe this year is a good opportunity for a rewatch of this Van Damme flick - though I don't think it will be needed to understand part two. The double feature DVD box is cheap to get, so we'll see. Part one is indeed not needed to understand part two. But one scene in part one makes part two quite hilarious, so I don't regret watching both. Due to quite some mangling with the timeline, however, there's not much to learn about the year of 2025. Except that we have tazers that can fry someone's brain. And that Tesla Cybertrucks kinda exist for more than 20 years already. Quite the dystopia. Oh, and at one point they indicate that all the time crimes have their court hearings and judgements before a Time Cop is sent back in time to in fact arrest the convict. Which makes sense. They're time travelers, they can get back and grab the guy whenever they want. Why not get all the the paperwork done beforehand? Oh, and we have a flux capacitor. Which is nice. It still is at best a mildly entertaining flick, though; one that most of the time looks like an okay-ish TV episode. 5 out of 10 points.

Negadon, the Monster from Mars. A 2005 animated kaiju short film from Japan, wherein a mars mission brings some monster back to earth. Which of course has to be fought with some huge robot. Sounds okay, and we're talking about 25 minutes to spend. So why not. Aww. That one was quite lovely. I mean, the character animations were straight from the Uncanny Valley, and the story was pure cliché. But it has these clumsy indie production vibes that you don't get to see very often these days. Plus, we learn that in this version of 2025 we went to the mars to start terraforming it. With nuclear weapons that melt the poles. Get nuked, Mars! 6 out of 10 points.

Repo Men. A 2010 film that shows us a 2025 where bio-mechanical organs are rented to people in need. If they can't afford the organs any more, well, the repossession is quite bloody. So basically it's 2008's Repo! The Genetic Opera, but without the cool singing. I watched this movie when it was in cinemas, and it was okayish. So, time for a rewatch. Well. Obviously the story is a bit too optimistic regarding the 2025 state of bioengineering. On the other hand, a huge and expensive organ retrieval system is so stupid that any current supermarket's self-service checkout would easily outsmart it. Oh. And I totally forgot that this flick copies not only Repo! The Genetic Opera, but also Terry Gilliam's marvellous Brazil. If this is done deliberately, though, then it's not done well, unfortunately. Which is a terrible pity. And it's even more of a pity how Repo Men starts as a razor-sharp satire that takes cutthroat capitalism word for word and has at least one (1) indeed hilarious scene, and ends as a run of-the-mill action flick whose ending betrays the biting social commentary of the exposition. 6 out of 10 points. Well, at least the Repo Men DVD has some nice extras.

Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City. Some Japanese superhero flick from 2010, of course it's a sequel to a film called Zebraman, from 2004, wherein a teacher starts to fight crime in the costume of his childhood TV hero. The sequel is set 15 years after part one (so yes, Zebraman 2 is produced in the year that Zebraman 1 is set in), and Tokyo is renamed to Zebra City and now has a "Zebra Time", a daily period of five minutes where all crime is legal, but presumed criminals will be attacked by the "Zebra Police". This could be hilarious, The Purge on speed (before the first part of The Purge even existed!), but I'll keep my expectations low. And I'll try to watch part one first, because Zebraman 2 seems to use a lot of its characters. Okay. This was silly. I admit that I kinda liked the first part (although its second half was rather a let down). The idea of a daily crime legalization period is indeed not that bad; it even bears the potential for great satire, because the guys in charge treat it as an improvement of the criminal statistics. Which, of course, it is. 'Cause when you legalize crime, the statistics go down. Reminded me terribly of those "If we don't test for COVID, the COVID cases won't rise" arguments during pandemic. Nice observation, I give 'em that. However, the story quickly loses interest in this whole Zebra City idea, and instead we get to a brand-new entry for my top WTF Movie Moments list. Almost a pity. 5 out of 10 points.

Pacific Rim. A 2013 instant classic. In 2025, giant kaijus must be fought with giant mechas (just as in Negadon; see above). Gosh, I love this one, but spouse hasn't seen it yet. And is highly sceptical. But when if not this year should one give this a try, right? This revisit was just as marvellous as I had hoped for! Not only did it age very well (only the score was a bit less impressive now, but that might be due to me not being in a cinema, this time) and remind me of all the little things I loved (How the ending quite perfectly mirrors Independence Day. All those nice sounds. Mako Mori's gorgeous hair!), I also noticed something lovely I'd never had noticed twelve years ago. But best of all, spouse liked it too! She found it better than expected, a very entertaining action flick full of lovely colours. Thus, a lovely evening for two. The best of this little movie project. 8 out of 10 points.

Hot Tub Time Machine 2. Four guys are sent ten years into the future by the eponymous bathing device, to find someone who tried to kill one of them. I absolutely did not like the first part, so I really feel tempted to skip this. Okay, I d i d watch it. And to much my own surprise, I quite enjoyed it. I mean, don't get me wrong it still is a terrible flick whose majority of jokes aged like milk standing openly in a moist, moldy cellar. But watched with a focus on its predictions for the now-present, it nevertheless was an entertaining trip. President Harris (No, not her. The other one.), smart cars with a license to kill, and, best of all, fricken force fields to prevent suicide by gravity? Falling from a building? It'S NoT A pRObLEm AnYMoRE! I admit, 2025 is the best possible time to watch this movie. Some of it almost feels like genuine satire, these days. 6 out of 10 points. Oh, and it almost deserves bonus points for some trippy scenes featuring Adam Scott. Almost.

Mountains May Depart. A 2015 Chinese drama spanning a time from 1999 to 2025. The synopsis is full of love-triangles and family drama, so I don't suspect much of a vision of the future. Plus, it seems to be rather hard to get, so maybe I'll skip this one, too.

Ten Years. Also from 2015, this movie from Hong Kong speculates about what the semi-autonomous Hong Kong will be in ten years from then, with human rights and freedoms gradually diminishing as the influence of the Chinese government increases. I'm very curious about this one!

73 notes · View notes

streets-in-paradise · 1 month ago

Text

Honey and Ashes

Warnings: Just the usual on a gladiator school enviroment. For the sake of this we imagine Maximus was single and not recently widowed when Proximo bought him.

Summary: In his process of learning the ways of the ludus, Maximus discovers that certain rules don't apply for everyone. Champions are allowed the indulgence of an inside partner chosen among the house slaves of the master, and the Spaniard had catched the attention of a lovely girl known for being unavailable to all the rest. Aware of the situation, and as someone already touched by such privilege, her friend encourages her hopes of being his chosen one.

Note: @wildsaltair and I are the originally intended audience of this little piece. OCs used are tecnically not fully fleshed characters, but a vehicle to self insert less generically than " x reader". By straight definition it doesn't fully count as a reader fic either, because the insert characters have tangible inspirations with some physical descriptions.

Fic format inspired by the lovely @themuseinthewoods, who previously wrote for both of us a self indulgent Troy piece that made me fall in love with the idea of customizing a fic. It's not OC, yet not quite a Reader, but a secret third thing:

" Writer self inserts to set up friend with blorbo of choice."

The first scene of the fic itself was slightly inspired on a moment from Hel der Gladiatoren (2003).

............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

The overwhelming heat was a threat to the performance of gladiators in the arduous training sessions needed to prepare them for the dangers of the arena. In places like Zucchabar, this practical problem could become a very serious issue if the inclement weather wouldn't be taken into account from time to time. Used to the temperate climate on the mediterranean peninsula, the Spaniard was most likely to become aware of that sooner than everyone. Accustomized to it on the long expousure over the course of his existence there, the leader of the trainings intended to use it against him as a test of endurance. Germanic of birth and raise, Haken knew very well what the extreme and sudden switch of weathers would do to the newcomer. He kept him well surveiled, evaluating his growth as more than information for the master. An impressive outcome on his first public performance showed the Spaniard was not to be underestimated. In fact, in him he had discovered a possible contestant for the glory and his very first serious rival.

All the others were caught in the middle their beef, collectively enduring the punishment only so the teacher could apply the ounce of power given by the master in satisfying the needs of his ego. If he was already in a terrible mood, this extended overall as the heat was bringing everybody to the limit of exhaustion. Haken didn't care to be playing with his own wellbeing as well, not as long as he could still show off on being the strongest and prove Proximo he remained the best man of his ludus. Perhaps because he was the onlyone there able to keep a cold head, the regent of the place was smarter and ordered the needed pause the school desperately needed to keep functioning as it should. He adressed the widespread discontent only because the exceptional situation warranted it, allowing them to rest and drink in order to gain back their strenghts.

Sitting in line on the high step that usually served them as bench under a precarious roof, they were being served a strange beverage many of them haven't tried anywhere else. To the reaction faces the odd taste was causing on some, one of the girls pouring for them explained it was a mix of vinegar, honey and vegetal ashes as if listing the ingredients could ease the disgust while insisting that it would be good for them despite it. Her companion, less shy to play with the effects their presence could cause, commented in a coquettish tone that they had worked on the mix themselves, as if that should make the men drink it in order to impress them. Both girls were beautifull, perhaps an accidental factor of morale boosting in their innocent labour.

Inseparable team from the beggining, the Spaniard and the Numidian observed in silence how the irascible temperament of the German was applacated in sight of the women. His eyes chased one of them, the cheekiest one, with particular determination and they couldn't imagine anything good would come out from that.

His ways were a clear attempt of seducing her from afar, but she wasn't approaching him any faster. Getting her attention was all he cared about from the moment that he saw her, as if the mere sight of her would have infused him with renewed energy. She was trying to concentrate in the task, but he didn't mind and wasn't going to stop the chase untill she would be paying attention to him. A simple surveilance of the place showed how her companion prefered to do her task on the opposite extreme of the line, away from him. It was easier to guess she could have had a past confrontation with him and was trying to avoid a new one, perhaps seeking to protect herself with the few tools a slave girl still had available in a world of devalued men she was meant to serve.

For as cheerfull as she intended to be, making a joke out of the fears any sensical woman would have surounded of so many men usually adressed as caged beasts to beware of, that other one was no seductress either. Charming, perhaps, but with no aim to flirt. Her long and well kept brunette curls seemed to be her pride and joy, judging by how the fingers of her free hand revisited the shape of her locks anytime she would stop to talk. She cared to fight the weather in order to keep her hair in place, curious attitude to observe in a maid of gladiator school. Or it was perhaps a way to cope with her nerves, something they would find more understandable.

Haken's misconduct had finally made her so aware of his presence that she accidentally skipped the other two right next in order to serve him first.

"They got me the most beautifull girl we have ... How am I supposed to cool down like this? Now I am twice as thirsty."

She chuckled softly, but didn't encourage him afterwards.

" I can only solve one of your problems, love."

He kept the vase still as she poured the drink for him, watching her intensely through the entire action. Her attention juggled between following his eyes and the direction of the liquid untill filling it.

Haken swallowed the disgusting drink in one long sip, then pridefully smirked at her.

" Come, ... sit with me."

Her index finger reached by instinct one curl at the side of her face to twist around.

" The place is full, I see no seat for me. "

In an authentic display of himself, he squeezed his thighs inviting her to look down.

" You will always find it here. "

She didn't appear to be scared, but his plead for special treatment wouldn't come to terms.

" I really can't, handsome. I am sorry. "

Before she would get the chance to turn back he was pulling her closer, firm grip contrasting with his playfull ways.

It was the sign of alarm the Spaniard had been fearing in base of simple prediction of that man's behavior since their meeting. A reasuring glance from Juba send him in the direction he wanted and would have taken anyways: standing up to help her out.

His grip of Haken's arm released her, and his frame shielded her from him.

" Let her go! Do you think we aren't seeing you obstructing her work? Save the bragging for the arena."

The German raised up to what he initially interpreted as the very first open provocation of his rival.

" And who are you to tell me what to do? Proximo keeps me in charge, don't let one single triumph that wasn't entirely yours make you expect otherwise. "

Sensing that the presence of the guards anticipating a fight could complicate matters, the girl intervened for both of them.

" In name of my friends here I am very glad to see there are still righteous heroes among gladiators, but you have picked the wrong battle ..." She sweetly informed to the man believing to be helping her, leaning a hand on his shoulder so he would turn back to look at her. " I need no savior, Spaniard. In fact, nobody would lay a finger on me because I am the woman of the reigning champion."

That clarification ended the confussion on both parts, given both men managed to find themselves surprised of something. If on the perspective of the nameless by choice gladiator, it was the lack of a wrongly perceived threat, for Haken it was the realization that he had been judged a danger to the slave girl.

His woman, even if she wasn't formally his to own. She only tried to keep reservations in public because the master got tired of catching them and she feared to face punishment. Men who had been there for longer than the Spaniard have been submitted to the spectacle, since he loved bragging her and often ventured beyond simple praise words. It was a necessity in such enviroment: from the gladiators to the guards and every worker in between, they all needed to know she was off limits since he had claimed her his. Unapologetically expressing his love and desire for her was not a great issue for him: in the limits of the school he was a king, and her, his queen.

" Are you sure he wasn't bothering you? " The Spaniard asked her right away, in the softest tone he had ever heard him use. " Even if you are together, as it seems so, he has no right to ... "

Haken started laughing and she followed with a few chuckles, stepping in front so she would be no longer hidden behind one of the gladiators but in the middle of them instead.

" ... I would have jumped to his lap if I could, but Proximo applied some restrictions to our relationship we have a hard time accomplishing. " She then began to explain, giving a mischievous side look to her beloved. " ... We are not supposed to get too physical untill he will win another fight. He claims it motivates him, but I think it tortures him. Neverless for what I think, one of us has to obbey the master. He could have me whipped, or even worse, ... he could chop off my hair!!! "

Her reaction was quite amusing for the new gladiator, but he was able to consider that the logic behind it was not necesarily the one of a whim from a vain girl. Being whipped was a mundane punishment for a slave, an expected part of the condition. Losing her hair, however, would be being like stripped from the last piece of individuality she had left. That one thing that was still hers to feel proud about, a trait people could recognize her for.

Her remaining humanity.

" It would be a great loss, it's very pretty. "

It made her turn back and smile, sweetly and genuinely because she realized the compliment was clean.

" I like your beard, even when unkempt it fits you. Don't shy away from making suggestions to the barber, Proximo would get one to change that soon if you keep winning. "

The friendly exchange was being surveiled by her man with amusement, but certain playfull suspects.

" Was this why you wanted to play hero? Did you think you would stand a chance against me?"

Her hands trembled a little bit, risking the amphora she was still carrying, because Haken pulled her to his side. Her cute giggling was the one of a woman in love blissfully giving in to her lover's embrace.

" I bet he thought I was a brute up to ravish you, can you believe it? " He then commented her in a mocking tone. " The dreadfull barbarian attacking a helpless maid. I am so vile you must be terrified! "

Seeing his guesses were wrong was a relief, but the Spaniard was not going to let it ridicule him.

" The satisfied expression in your face as you smacked me repeatedly is one of my first memories of this place, so I have good reasons to expect the worst of you. "

That unflatering reminder only made the girl melt harder.

" He may be mean to you, but never with me. It's part of his charm ... I have never felt so special! All his tenderness is reserved for me. And trust me, he is adorable! "

Inspired by her praise, Haken took the amphora so she would be relieved from the load and once he did, she inmediately clinged to him with both arms. Heat wasn't an inconvenience for them when it was about being together, happy as she was of rounding his naked torso hugging him from one side while looking up in adoration to meet his face. Only one of his huge arms was enough to keep her secured in the embrace, while the other could keep occupied in easily holding the object for her.

" Look at you! So cute, the sun got you all red. I'll have to rub a refreshing balsam on your skin later. "

The smile he had for her then was something his fellow gladiator had never seen before. He had became a completely different man: there were no signs left of the arrogant cruelty he constantly displayed.

" How about a kiss now? "

She raised on her tiptoes while he leaned down in order to break the distance settled by their height difference. Their lips barely brushed because the position made it difficult, what made them chuckle for an instant before he would hungrily claim hers. His move was firm, but not rough, handling her as if she was as delicate as the pottery.

Their point was proved, and the watcher of her honor found himself useless.

" It's nice to see you aren't a self centered headache all the time. "

She giggled to the mockery and Haken gave her one last peck on the lips before replying to his circunstantial rival.

" You have to get yourself one, Spaniard. See how lovely my Lux is? ... She has a Celt friend that always wanders nearby. i've heard men complain it's impossible to impress her, but nothing seens impossible for you."

The Spaniard opted for an elusive answer saluting the girl whose name he had just learn.

" It's a pleasure to meet you, Luz. "

" I would say the same, ... If you would dare to finally tell us your name. " She mocked him in return, the absense of a remark in the different pronunciation expected from a spaniard showing she was familiar with it. " What's stopping you? Is it cursed or have you made of mistery part of your strategy to win the crowd? "

She made him laugh, mostly because the observation was on point.

" ... A bit of both, If you don't mind I would rather preserve it."

She questioned him no longer and they chose to mutually ignore the suggestion that had been made. Not necesarily because it made them uncomfortable, but due to the quick conclussion in the implications. Haken was being too direct, as if the tangential closeness with the good friend of his woman had lead him to guess a singular finding. One she didn't want to divulge, potentially explaining why he augured him an easy win over everyone else's failures.

It wouldn't take too long untill he would meet her and figure out, for the girl was right there taking care of the task her friend had neglected, serving all the men that she had skipped in order to rush towards Haken. Once his facade as the Spaniard would have been secured again, Maximus found her in casual conversation with Juba. She was making him laugh and laughing more herself. The topic was not hard to guess, since the effusive couple continued to do their thing once they were left unbothered.

" ... I swear, she used to be the most shy of us. When I meet her she was flighty because she was terrified, now she has no fright and no shame ..."

The overheard observation was very on point, first detail he liked of her. A modest girl still concerned for her dignity, even in a space that invited her to do the exact opposite.

" ... I guess Haken being a man of spectacle must have a certain effect. As you see, he has never been a reserved man. Ever since she first returned his advances he has been bragging this new privilege: a steady partner, proof of how long he has survived. "

" I wouldn't have imagined of him, but it makes sense. " Juba was replying her, still sitting calmly in the same spot while she served other vase attending the talk. " To even envision something as such, a man has to have spent an amount of time here most don't have. If found, it can mark a difference between an ordinary gladiator and a champion. "

The Spaniard reached enough proximity with them for his presence to be acknowledged and she turned back to face him guided by the look of his friend warning her. Used as he was to disagree with the German, Maximus was not ready for the close sight of the woman that was staring back at him. She had a beautifull smile crowned of lovely freckles and the most vivacious blue eyes he had ever seen. It was a true cruelty of fate that beauty as such would be confined to the cold dehumanization of slavery instead of the warmth of a home. Seeing her it was no longer hard to guess why the gladiators would complain of her lack of interest in joining one of them.

She was made for something better and she was still aware of it. Being the pretty serving girl chased by some champion wasn't her route to rediscover her worth, like it probably happened to her reckless friend. As surprisingly well kept, her hair was tied up in a tail so it wouldn't get in the way of her task. That showed she prioritized modesty and comfort, that she knew she had nothing to prove. Straight haired brunette, practical and less chaotic, but not for that any less beautifull.

" Do you want a drink? " She kindly offered him. " I saw what you did there, very brave. If you endure the taste, I will let you drink twice. "

Smiling back was a spontaneous, almost unconcious gesture. Once praised by Emperor Marcus Aurelius himself as a paradigm of stoicism, then incapable of hidding his surprise to the harmless flattery of a simple servant girl.

" No need for honors, it was all in vain. I would have never expected it ..."

" ... Nobody does, not at least at first sight, but never before had a new man tried to act out on the same guess. " She cutted him off, praising the intentionality over the act itself. " Their fear of Haken keeps them careless, all they mind is staying out of his way. If he is wooing her or molesting her, that's not their concern."

Juba passed his empty vase so she would refill it for his friend.

" We don't want to grow accustomed to ignore. "

" That's nice, but now that you know it's safe I would recommed you to ignore them."

The three agreed on the observation sharing a few chuckles as the Spaniard presented to her the vase with firm grip for the pouring. Remembering the awkward example he had witnessed, he fought the urge of following the act with his glance fearing it would make her nervous.

He peeked at the inside of the vase for a first verdict on the drink, then sniffed it. His excellent sense of smell was the best tool to judge, and his preferred way to experience the world.

" I got used to the taste of Posca in the army, so if this resembles it on any way I may accept the refill."

As he took the first sip, he did notice her eyes following him with curiosity. If it was merely on his judgement or in him, he couldn't possibly tell yet.

" Not so terrible! The smoked taste, i assume must come from the ashes, makes the difference."

She smiled for him once more. Happier, yet shyer than before.

" ... I have heard of your first fight, you were incredible. " Was her sudden, inconnexed reply. " ... You both were, of course. I got the whole story from my friend, Proximo sends her to her champion everytime he wins. Even from his peculiar point of view, it sounded outstanding. "

It cleared his doubt, also explaining the change. He had enough experience on the matter to recognize the extent of the compliment, mostly because the slight add of nervousy was giving her away.

" Thank you, ... we appreciate."

He took another sip from the drink, letting the bright of his eyes speak for him in the sweet glance he gave her.

" I have been warned not to ask for your name, but I see no reason to hide you mine. " She continued, rushing the words a little bit. " I am Juliana, name so roman it's obvious I am not roman."

A very clever joke about the assimilation of conquered populations, detail he didn't miss.

" You must be the Celt I've been told about, that would explain those adorable freckles."

The compliment surprised her, as if she expected no praise in return for her words of admiration towards him.

" Who told you about me?"

" The men whose illusions you dissapoint expecting you would have for them the asumed wildness of your heritage. "

His joke matched hers perfectly and she decided to follow it.

" I am too boring for the roman image of a celtic woman, but that's how I like it. Ironically, Lux comes from italia. "

In the direct contrast between the girls all behavioral assumptions that the conventions of roman thinking had for foreigners were debunked. Roles attributed by the misconceptions were switched, proving how insignificant the reasonings he once fought on were.

" I don't find you boring, more decorum is exactly what this place needs. "

His reassuring comment was followed by a proper demostration when he took her free hand to place a kiss on top of her knuckles. Gesture as such had no place among their kind. She was a slave and so was he, what made of the formality a very lovely absurd. Used as she was to work among men, never before had one directed her the same respectfull tenderness owed to a free woman. For as nice as some could be, most gladiators were far from having such exquisite manners.

Even if he wouldn't intend it, that was enough to make a woman melt. Coming from a man as stunning as him, the one who had bewitched her since the first time she saw him, it was practically like dreaming awake. For days her mind had wondered without an answer, waiting for the moment when a serving task would justify a proper meeting to find out if her guesses of him were correct. She had looked at him from the distance of their different routines and in various occasions her peeking had became an exchange of glances. Then she gained the certainity that, beyond his innate gallantry, the Spaniard was even more impressive than what tales or fantasies could tell.

She had a hunch regarding the outcome of their spoken meeting, but wouldn't rush to let herself be guided on it inmediately. He seemed to like her, although she couldn't be sure on which extent this quick foundness could prosper. As the instigator, rushing to take the task for herself and dragging her into it, her friend was probably already waiting for the details. Knowing that her best friend had became instantly infatuated with him was one good reason Lux had to remain nice towards the Spaniard despite getting progresively used to hear Haken complain of him. When many others used to make fun of her for thinking the germanic gladiator could have a consistent interest on her, it was Juliana who took her side claiming they were just jealous. if for everything else in the hardships of their routine they were close, romance was a topic in which she owed her much of her support.

Everytime the master would bring a new crew of wretched men to the ludus, she would always encourage her to give them a look on the hopes of settling her up with someone. Although appreciative of her good intentions, Juliana rarely cared to think in the detailed analysis her friend would do of them for her as something more than a source of amusement for both. At least that was the usual, untill the newest adquisition happened. Following her ideas while they observed him from afar like a game of guessings was how she started falling for him, unaware of what was happening for being so used to never take those instances seriously.

Their brief encounter only strenghtened the feeling that he was the one she wanted, only she couldn't be fully sure if he had felt a similar curiosity. The moment she had dreaded for so long had arrived and she found herself in the need of planning strategies to attract a gladiator.

Merely introducing the plead for advice got her friend too excited, enough for some clarifications to be made.

" You want the Spaniard! I knew it, that's exactly why it had to be you the one accompanying me out." Lux started to celebrate at the slightest implication. " Him trying to defend me from my man was not what I had in mind, but it's a good start. If he thinks he is good enough to challenge him, then he is good enough for my best friend."

Her optimism was admirable, specially given the conflict of interests left to expect.

" Aren't you afraid their rivalry could grow? What would be of us if they end up having to face each other in the arena?"

Very sensical fear that yet didn't worry her as it should.

" Dear, I am more inclined to believe our friendship could soften their relationship than to imagine us deserting each other on their cause. "

It was the end of the afternoon and cleaning up the pottery was the most bereable of the chores left to do before the rest of the ordinary servants would fill the kitchens to start working on dinner. The minimal contact of the skin with water that the task implied was enough to cheer the process in such heated day.

In orden to dissipate the grim thoughts from her friend's mind, the curly haired maid splashed her with tiny drops left in her hand from the previously cleaned vase.

It made her stiffle a chuckle, not wanting to be too loud in case someone would call them out.

" Your loyalty is a gift, but we are still ignoring a very important detail … How am I supposed to even start pursuing the Spaniard? "

Some very low little giggles escaped from them and they looked around to check if they weren't being watched.

" You are right! After all, I didn't pursue Haken. He came to me on his own … "

" … And that worked perfectly for you, but i fear i can't wait for the same to happen because the Spaniard is very different. " Juliana interrupted, her glance fixated on the surface of the plate she had finished scrubbling and then intended to dry. " He is discrete, subtle. Even formal, at least for a gladiator. Today he kissed my hand as if I was the Princess of Rome. "

The memory had relaxed every fiber of her being with delight. Her clothed caressing to the pottery was like a mimic of her yearning to caress the beautifull face of the man.

Two sighs that were one at unison augured the growth of the mutual excitement.

" He LIKES you!!! Why would he do that, if not to flirt? "

Regardless of how it was starting to affect her, Juliana didn't want to give a biased answer.

" Because he enjoys of being a proper gentleman? You have seen it yourself, when he thought you could be in danger he rushed to your rescue. Must we suppose that he fancies you for that? "

The objection made Lux stop her scrubbing so suddenly the piece fell into the water.

" I know how this game goes, that is exactly why i am stopping it now … "

She picked the item her friend was rushing only so she would pay her full attention for an instant.

" … Those are the same excuses I used to tell myself. Don't you remember me thinking Haken had looked in my direction only because you were right next to me? How many ' maybe he is just trying to be nice!' I had for everytime he was clearly trying to win me over? That's wasted time, a luxury in this place. My insecurities robbed me of precious time and I couldn't stop it untill he made me see it. "

She made a brief pause, only to evoke her memories more clearly.

" He once said to me : ' You live so away from the arena that you forget of what happens there. Because you know I am the favorite you are giving my life for granted, but I can't afford to keep playing. If you want it as much as I do, for us it's now or never. ' … And he was right! I should have given in way sooner, he trully wanted me from the beggining. That is my advice for you: risk yourself now, or you may regret it later. "

Not only it was sound advice, it also explained a lot about their questionable attitudes. The constant physicality was not mere bragging, a show of the gladiator king enforcing dominance in his subjects doomed to stand it. Arrogance aside, he was still conscious of how any moment with his woman could be the last one and loved her accordingly.

" ... I was not aware Haken is capable of such wisdown. "

The enamored girl smiled with pride.

" He plays the role of a dumb brute for the crowd, that doesn't mean he is one. Only that his moments of sensitivity and bright aren't meant to be experienced by everyone."

" Fair enough, you have convinced me. " Was her friend's answer." I must let the Spaniard know I am interested, then let him decide for us. "

It was all the other one needed to start scheming in support of the goal, excited as if the plan would be her newest found priority over the simple task.

" Excellent! When do you envision to strike? It can't be tonight, I have to fullfill the promise I made to my champion. "

Juliana smirked with mischievousness for a reprehension that was more of a mock.

" Weren't your private visits to him becoming limited? "

" Someone has to treat his skin, he is a germanic under the sun of Zucchabar! Relieving massages for his good sleep won't harm anyone. And why bothering the healers, when his partner can provide those to him? I am sure Proximo would agree, I have done it before."

The infidence revealed a sensible detail of the experience as the woman of a champion in the ludus, something that made Juliana crave it even harder. If the Spaniard would choose her, would she be sent to perform those caring tasks? Would the master allow her to behave with him as the simulacrum of a wife? He seemed like the kind of man that would enjoy of that, for in him it wouldn't be as surprising as it was from the German. Her good friend had performed a feat with him, since no one was sure of how she managed to tame him. Something she had given him made it so he no longer wanted any other.

If his heart was once covered by a hard shell pierced by the sweetness of his girl, the case of the Spaniard resembled more the image of a letharge. His heart was asleep, and Juliana fantasized of waking it up with her lovefull adoration.

" I know I said many times that wasn't for me and you should stop trying to find me a man ... Please, forget it! I've found the one. What do I have to do to get there? "

The slight glimpse of desperation on her voice near the end spoke of the intense yearning, something her friend knew well.

" Would you keep full trust in my advice, even if it goes against your natural instincts? I will have for you, my friend, the kindness no one had with my inexperienced self. The mistakes of that silly girl will not find you, we will quickly win for you that champion in the making. "

" Don't begrudge her, I guess she must have done something good to captivate her man as she did. " Juliana comforted her in the face of her regrets. " My memories of the process are different, I remember a cheerfull man showing off to a shy girl hidding her blush in curtains of hair. The more she would try to hide, the more persistent he would become. All just to make her smile, as if he treasured the sight. He wouldn't let her leave untill accomplishing it ... And if he would make her giggle, he would hit his opponent the hardest during the training excercise. Not because he aimed to be more cruel, for one could see how joy had ruined the focus and measure of his strenght. "

The beautifull way in which she described her observations had endeared her friend. She lost the hability to keep masquerading their interaction and hugged her with wet hands.

" I love you so much, Juli! That stubborn Spaniard would have no choice but to love you. "

A consecuential scolding for her happy outburst paused the conversation for the rest of the activity, that they still finished while silently sharing the same excitement. Detailed discussions had to wait untill nightfall, when the needed secrecy would be granted.

It was not unusual they would get sent to serve away from the ludus, in the internal part of the complex considered the house of the master. Perhaps because they were the youngest among the few female servants, Proximo was inclined to keep them in the most domestic side of the environment where he could keep a close eye on them.

Despite both girls, under different circunstancies, remembered the initial fright of being given to that old man of harsh ways, he wasn't by far the worst fate that could have encountered them. Never had he seeked to lay with any of them, neither threw them at his house guests as means to impress them. He rarely had any house guests, rarity that occured only for business reasons. Usually, the girls would finish the day settling the table for his dinner and serving him as his only circunstantial companions.

It was not something he seeked, but an incident of habit. His routine was to eat alone, and as the ones witnessing the scene every night, they eventually started to feel a strange sense of pitty. They knew well how to masquerade it on their approach so the pridefull man wouldn't find it insulting and shut himself.

When he was on a good mood, it could even get to be somewhat fun. He had told them a few stories of his past as a gladiator, revisiting his old glory with cheerfullness unseen before. His pleased reactions to Lux's expressed admiration for his stories often showed why it was no mistery that Haken had choosen her. Juliana listened with respect, but the tales often made her wonder for all the unspoken suffering that man must had endured. Suffering that he inflicted on others as a free man because he knew no other way of living.

That night she mostly witnessed the persuasive attempts of her friend finding a rational-presenting motive to give a loving late visit to her champion. The outcome was remaining rather unsuccessfull, but in an outstanding effort to weave both causes together, she changed the angle of her pleads.

" I understand, seems that you are no longer concerned on Haken because of the Spaniard. The man is quite a rebel, he consistently rejects the rules of the ludus. He must be a source of headaches for you, as much as he is to him on the task of enforcing your rules. Haven't you considered using the same strategy to win him over? "

The comment was delivered casually, almost innocently, while she poured more wine for the master directing a cheeky glance to her companion standing at the other side.

" I have nothing of value to bribe him, he is a rejector of fame and glory. " Proximo followed her, suspicious yet invested in her words. " It's a terrible irony, finding such talented man with an absolute lack of motivation. All he does is kill, the bare miminum to continue a purposeless existence."

" Master, you are answering yourself ... Let him find a girl! " She cleverly recalled as he sipped the drink. " I am not ignorant on the fact that you use me as means to deal with Haken. For instance, you are currently conditioning our chances to be together to blackmail him ... And it's working, the poor man is suffering! Today's incident is proof. Let me enter his cage for a quick visit, just to take care of his skin and ensure a good night's sleep. Let the Spaniard see it so he would learn there are nice privileges for those who serve you well ... As we both do! "

The last part got a skeptical chuckle out of him.

" For most you are an incompetent, but you manage to tame that bastard like no other and you are saving me some costs by spreading your legs for him after the fights. "

To Juliana's disbelief, her friend and her pridefull smile seemed to have chosen accepting the rather insulting comment as praise.

" I do more than that, I give him my heart! And I think that's also what the Spaniard needs in order to find the motivation you need to be awakened in him. Survival is not enough because he is all alone, he needs of someone!"

She started to understand the ultimate goal of such reckless intrusion. Lux was trying to plant the seeds in the mind of Proximo, so when the conditions would be given, he wouldn't dissaprobe or punish Juliana herself for loving her gladiator. It would come out naturally, as if the idea of matching them would have occured to him.

" Master, I beg you to indulge her before she would drive all of us insane." The celt pleaded for her, weaponizing her fame as the sensical one in order to help her with gratefullness. " I can finish any leftover of a task she may have, although I am sure there is nothing left. The hopes of seeing Haken again had motivated her even in this cursed weather. "

In a last attempt, Lux brought out her charm in a lovely performance of her most tender side.

" Have I ever told you that you are the best master I ever had?"

Proximo remained unamused, even if the try was hilarious.

" The onlyone you ever had, thanks to your father back in Capua having nothing else of value to answer for his debts. "

" You are not my first owner and I still find you bereable. " Juliana followed. " As heartless as the owner of a ludus requires to be, yet not as horrible as he could get to be."

Something of her managed to break the distance, and it was probably the fact that her righteous honesty evoked him the same kind of answers the Spaniard was often inclined to give him.

" I tend to think you are a foolish woman, Lux, but it seems that you speak with some truth ... "

Context made it feel as if the observation was only regarding their opinions of him, but beyond that he had been guided into the right direction. To consider that, if he would ever neet to try getting him a partner as a control strategy, Juliana was the perfect choice to offer for the new gladiator. She had proved herself a reliable one too, based on her stainless behavior.

" … The problem with the Spaniard is that he turns into an eunuch away from the arena. One can't guess what he likes, nothing seems to excite him. " He complained directly to her. " If you would try enough, I think perhaps you could figure this out for me."

Juliana swallowed hard before objecting.

" … Are you instructing me to seduce a gladiator? Never before in my time on the ludus I have done such thing. "

" Don't worry, I can help you out. " Lux replied for him, happy to guess their wishes had been turned into a command. " … It's not as hard as it seems, those men are bored of staring at each other's faces."

" Don't get too excited, I don't want a chaos. " Proximo stopped her." I need to tame the Spaniard somehow, but If i want him to live up to his potential I must also find him something to do when he comes back from the arena. "

She smiled innocently at him, then mischievously questioned her friend with the exact words she wanted to hear.

" What do you say, Juli? If the new one chooses you, would you be his partner? "

The situation got her in disbelief, it was simply unbelievable what the newly found confidence had done for that girl. In a matter of instants, Lux had guided the master into accepting a relationship that haven't even started between his slaves. Proximo was convinced of it as a practical necesity of his for them, like a father who encourages an arranged marriage out of finantial convenience for his home. Excitement and confussion kept Juliana expectant, for she had no idea of how her beloved Spaniard would react to such thing.

Would he reject her, as an expression of his rejection of the ludus itself? Would the offer tempt him, allowing her to become for him the ray of light meant to smoothly illuminate the darkness on his life? Her newly found dream come true, something she never imagined herself wanting and then couldn't escape from. If being personally choosen by a gladiator as his reward used to be one of her self imposed limits working there, determinated to escape it no matter what, she found herself fantasizing of it.

Sharing the bed of the Spaniard wouldn't be an horrific labor, but a yearned delight. Man as honorable and tender as him would make it feel like a wedding night, not a degrading concecuence of slavery falling upon her. There was no other she ever wanted, only him making sweet love to her. To avidly roam every corner of his sun-kissed skin with her hands and lips would be like finding happiness for once in their misserable existence. She would give herself to him with her whole being and her fame for being reticent would make him the envy of the place. He wouldn't reveal a single thing, but it wouldn't be necesary for them to know he had won her over like no one else could.

He didn't even have to try, for she was his from the first moment that she saw him. The great push that her friend had given her made her feel confident to let him know of it.

Under slightly more gentle weather conditions had her attempts started, using whatever excuse of a task that could keep her close to the training yard. Normally, she would have been the one making fun of Lux for coming up with hilariously creative ways to peek at her man from afar, but then she herself became the instigator. Her hair was loose and carefully combed, falling like a cascade on her back and shoulders as she kneeled down to feed the beasts. A bunch of birds, usual wanderers of the space, had gathered around her waiting for something to be thrown at them. Their sounds deviated the attention of a few gladiators, fortunately incluiding the Spaniard.

His eyes caught her in the middle of the gentle action and he couldn't help smiling. She pretended not to notice untill the gesture would develop into a more clear salute. More than shyness, it was her interest in finding out if he would chase her what motivated the delayment. Noticing that he did, and finding in that a clear sign that his interest on looking at her haven't faded, her responsive smile was the sweetest she could have given.

It got her a short wink from him, and she felt like she could have been about to faint.

Neither slow or sluggish, her friend made use of the master's absense to do some mischief. Given he was out for the morning attending matters of the outside, the responsabilities for the activity in the nearby area were completely on Haken. In practical terms, that meant she had some freedom of action untill someone would call her out.

She seeked the attention of the stubborn giraffes always pacing nearby, animals they have been trying to bond with in order to resolve Proximo's complaints. Their best advance in the task of helping them mate was finding out their behavioral patterns were opposites. At least regarding humans, one was more social than the other. Detail that they would never completely get used to, because there was no easy way to tell them apart.

Not yet prepared for it, Lux squeaked when the creature licked her face and the high-pitched sound distracted everyone. Only the fear Haken inspired in them stopped a laugh outburst, so she joked ahead to show she was fine with it.

" Not me! You should be kissing your partner. Imagine how cute it will be when we will have baby giraffes walking around! The master wants some, and the ludus of Proximo has no space for rebels."

The only answer of the animal was aiming their long neck lower so she would be able to give some pets, changing her fake serious semblance.

" You win: my weakness is tall men bowing down to me. "

She stroked the sides of the long snout while overhearing the loud laughter of Haken. For her, the most adorable sound, often driving her to try dumb occurences in order to obtain it.

" Still haven't given up, love? " He teased her in return. " It doesn't look good "

In the meantime, Juliana had approached with some of the leaves Lux had brought for the animals.Offering it to the most shy, she managed to feed it, detail that subtly captivated her one man audience while the loud couple playfully argued.

" The smart little man said giraffes don't act out their heat and they don't have a mating season. " The curly haired slave girl was then explaining. " As far as we know, hopes aren't lost, but it can take forever."

Her frustration on the imposible task was an outlet to say what she wanted, pretending to talk with the giraffes so the ones that should be listening would hear.

"There is no need to make this overcomplicated. Stop watching each other from afar and do something about it! "

The mock reached the misterious gladiator, making him smile to himself. He had no shame on recognizing his guilt, for he had been silently observing Juliana for longer that he dared to admit even to himself. Getting involved with someone wasn't in his plans, yet the temptation of seeking the comforting company of the charming girl was there. It was no mistery to him that she admired him like no other, since it was only him the one obtaining from her sweet gestures and praise. The lovely way in which she reacted to his compliments and her eyes adquiring a special bright everytime they would follow his image revealed enough. For an observant man like him it wasn't hard to tell she had a crush on him, and with the limited weapons she possesed, her shameless friend tried to help her out in her wish to act on it.

Seeing that sort of behavior coming from slave girls in a ludus was extremely comforting on itself. If they were still able to act like maidens would in the outside, it meant the life there still managed to preserve them from the worst dangers associated to such enviroment. Regardless if it came from an active effort of Proximo to keep them safe, or the eventual involvement of Lux with Haken acting as protection for both, neither of those girls carried the sadness of those who have been broken by the hands of men.

They were still full of light, taking advantage of the small nooks of freedom they could get in the mundanity of domestic work that constituted their lives. Facing it with dignity and spirit, then transmitting the same to the gladiators in their daily interactions. What they had accomplished was miraculous and it was hard not to feel fascinated. In the confines of his captivity Maximus was finally experiencing what he couldn't get in years of keeping his personal life neglected for the pointless war on Germania.

Finding himself captivated by the tenderness and grace of a woman that invited him to dream of having her. One he could one day call his own, to love and protect for the rest of his probably brief life. A selfish thought, he would tend to believe, given the subsequent heartbreak awaiting his partner once he would perish on the arena. If that beautifull girl wanted to keep the life on her piercing blue eyes, then the best for her was staying away from him.

That was the sensical thought process he would feel inclined to follow, to restrain himself from keep showing interest on her own wellbeing, yet he couldn't get convinced of it as a witness of Haken's joy. A damned man just like him, submitted to the same dilemma, yet careless of it in presence of the woman he loved. When she was with him nothing else mattered, and feeling the King of the ludus was only usefull as long as he could make her feel his Queen. He loved her fearlessly, refusing to let doubts of the future get in the way of their present. If this was a conscious choice, or a reckless result of his trust in having good chances to win his freedom, the difference mattered very little. The practical result had made of him the happiest man of the place, what was an excellent way to make the most of the time he had left. Inmersed in the same bliss, the girl seemed more concerned on keeping the master supportive of it than on any dangers of the outside.

Their atypical domesticity gave them a home even when they had nothing. From all the points the German brought up to brag, the one that managed to make his rival somewhat envious. The displays of cheer, as the attentive eyes of the smiling celtic maid following him as if she waited for sign, were to him like being presented with an alternative. Suddenly, the one who refused to engage in the most bassic of trainings at his arrival was fighting fiercely in hopes of catching her reactions to his skills. Not because he believed to be in need of an arrogant showoff to impress her, but due to how seeing that she liked to watch him meant he would rather give her his best. This rush of motivation lasted for as long as the girls were outside, to be found again only at the time they stopped to have a meal.

Not only it was a very much needed break of food and rest, but in that oportunity she was back to serve them. Something that didn't occured in past days, even at other moments where they ate sitting in the yard. Her friend was distributing the bread she carried on a basket while Juliana would start reaching them the wooden bowls of bean gruel. Even if he wished so, he wouldn't be the only one looking through her comings and goings. He was the very first in raising up to help her, reason why no one else dared to make a similar offer.

Something had changed in the hours of her absense and she made it reflect throught little details on her looks. The belt keeping her tunic in place was readjusted thighter to enhace her figure, and two cute braids were carefully crafted after combing her hair again past the heavier work of the morning.

It was a simple yet very efective deliberated effort of making herself prettier, and he was sure to be the cause of it.

" Spaniard, always such a gentleman! " She greeted him happily. " How was training today? I hope Haken didn't turn harsher on you once we left. "

Her startup for small talk, although logical, sounded to him so disconected from the latent tension of being closer.

" The good mood lasted him enough, he doesn't concern me now. I fear I can't blame him, not when you have cheered me up as well. "

She eased her surprise with some nervous giggling.

" Me? How have I done such thing? "

" By being my most lovely admiror. " He sweetly replicated. " It's curious, how the chantings of the crowd do nothing but to make me sick, yet one smile of yours was enough to keep me motivated this entire morning. "

It only made her smile grow brighter, inmediate response to her great delight in his unapologetically romantic words.

" Don't tell Haken, we are friends and he may find it an offense, but you are my favorite of all gladiators from this ludus. Past, present and probably future … "

Only the distance of the bowls they picked mediated between them, but he managed to tease it just a little in order to whisper his matching response.

" Don't tell Luz, but i think you have the prettiest hair. It looks increíbly longer when you let it loose, and I haven't touched it, but I can already guess how soft it must feel. "

They finished the task together, using the distance from the others provided by their need for constant movement to keep whispering lovely observations to each other that had been accumulated through all their time of silent watching. Only once it was done the regained full awareness of the surroundings past the brief contact of handing everyone their food.

After concluding her first task, and noticing someone else she couldn't interrupt was taking her place in helping delivering the rest of the dishes, Lux had been filling vases with the same strange beverage from the day before. Acting as contextual nexus between both, she had made Haken and Juba take seats nearby.

The three of them seemed amused by the same spectacle, observing from afar how they have been chasing each other.

From that point, Juliana understood they had only two ways: they could shy away or double it down. She choose for both of them the bravest option, surprising everyone by taking a seat in the man's lap while holding his bowl for him.

" You skipped him again. " She complained to her friend with absolute naturality. " I hope is not personal, because I really like him. "

They bursted into laughter, unable to process the insane outcome of the situation otherwise.

" I knew it, you traitor!!! " Haken accused her in mocks as fast as he recovered. " What am I supposed to do now? Must I fraternize with my competition? "

" Our friends … " Lux corrected, easing him with a relieving touch on the shoulder. " You have told me yourself of their amazing capacity for teamwork. That's not something you should easily disregard, they may save your life in the arena one day. "

Juba accompanied her attempt of approach, seeing in it the best possible solution for the tensions. Bonding with her would keep him at bay, and that could at least grant them some peace.

" I would like to know what he says of us, then ask to be judged separatedly from his stories. "

The girl picked up the amphora she had forgotten when she ran out of presents to serve.

" I do my own judgements, and I am amazed because you are so nice! How haven't I realized before? "

Juba smiled in approbal, then replied.

" Because you haven't paid much attention to me before. "

She admitted her guilt, seeking to rectify her mistake.

" Want some more? Juli putted some extra honey on it, because today she is feeling sweet. "

The friendly mock got a few chuckles from its victim, too happy to care.

" Would you handle me some?" The Spaniard answered for her. " The curious creative choices of your lovely friend have inmovilized me. "

Caressing his face with her free hand, Juliana dared to get a little playfull.

" Do you want me to leave? "

He let himself fall for it, but keeping the display of his enjoyment as subtle as he could.

" I have to admit that not even in the army I got this receivement. "

They smiled at each other and she placed the bowl higher so he could comfortably eat a few spoons before Lux would get his drink.

" Here you have, Spaniard! I hope we can start over. I have nothing against you. In fact, I don't see you trully invested on the idea of stealing glory from my man."

She handled him the full vase, for him to pick with the one hand that wasn't occupied in securing her friend against him.

" It's what I have been trying to make him see, thank you for noticing."

They chuckled for a brief instant before he took a sip, enjoying the commented improvement by measure of his own taste. The sweentess of the honey gave way to the smokey aftertaste from the ashes, contrast that have found a perfect balance.

Balance that mimicked the one Juba had been advicing him to search in his life, contributing himself through their friendship on the part he refused to cultivate. Since the betrayal had reduced him to a misserable existence he had shut himself down to the idea of getting anything good out of it. Beyond simply rejecting his new condition in silent protest, he proceeded as if he was convinced of only deserving the pain that came from it.

Paradoxical example of the opposite approach, too lost on the perks to acknowledge the sufferings, Haken wouldn't easily understand why a man skilled enough to fairly compete against him would choose not to do it.

" That's what he says now, just wait untill he would have collected enought triumphs to get a real taste of glory ... "

He gave a side look to Juliana that worked almost as a complicit wink, implying he believed that once the Spaniard would have had a taste of her his priorities would change. Perhaps, seeking to use his obtained glory as a way to elevate her prestige among the servantfolk.

" For me it's enough if he makes it alive. I never cared for the stupid hierarchy and I think that's part of why I like him so much."

The Spaniard looked down and smiled, pleased with the answer. Reaction that was so tender to the eye it conditioned Lux to reassure her beloved.

" Do you know that I would love you even If you were at last place on the lists of the gamblers? " She sweetly told Haken, approaching him from behind to round his shoulders with her arms and whisper near his ear. " You are the favorite of my heart, always will be. "

She kissed his cheek and the result of her lovely adoration of him was the most unapologetically foolish smile, that Haken tried to hide kissing both of her hands.

His fellow gladiators were in disbelief of what they have witnessed, sharing complicit glances while fearing that the most minimal reaction would disturbe the scene and make the germanic aware of the vulnerability he had exposed to them.

" Nobody believes me when I say he is adorable, yet look at him! " She commented to them, moving to the front so he could round her waist with one arm. As soon as their eyes meet, her speech switched its aim towards him. " You are so big the chair is too tiny for you! It's the most adorable thing I have ever seen! "

" Haven't you look at yourself?" He sweetly replicated, following the spirit of the praise. " Those round cheeks that blush so easily, and your cute ringlets. Whatever gentleness I have left, it's your cutness what inspires it. "

Juliana and her Spaniard chuckled to the little lovely scene, untill he started whispering very discretely near her ear.

" You won't have to do this anymore. I would rather reserve this kind of íntimacy for our private encounters. "

Her eyes went wide with surprise.

" Would you ask for me after the battles? "

" It doesn't have to be what you are thinking, we can use it as a framework for dates. " He sweetly clarified, believing to be tranquilizing her. " One date after each victory, plenty of time for getting to know each other untill you would feel safe with me. And only then, … if you desire it … "

On the intention of lowering the volume so the more delicate part of the proposal wouldn't be heard, his deep voice had turned slightly huskier.

it taunted her, even if he wasn't trying to be a tease.

" I would love to be romanced, but time is a luxury here. My friend says that when you love a gladiator the worst mistake you can do is to waste time. "

He smirked with amused skepticism, then whispered once more.

" I have no fair match for my fighting skills, … we will have plenty of time to waste. "

#gladiator #gladiator 2000 #maximus decimus meridius #the spaniard #hagen #haken #the german #russell crowe #ralf moeller #gladiator imagine #gladiator fanfiction

28 notes · View notes

girlactionfigure · 5 months ago

Text

Heroic Polish Poet: Czeslaw Milosz

Won the Nobel Prize

Polish writer Czeslaw Milosz protected Jews during the Holocaust, wrote poems that inspired millions, and advocated passionately for freedom of thought and human rights.

Czeslaw was born in 1911 to an illustrious family descended from Polish nobility. At the time of his birth, Poland was not an independent country and the Milosz clan lived in an area that was part of the Russian Empire. He spent his early childhood on his grandfather’s estate, but when World War I broke out in 1914, the family was thrown into turmoil. Czeslaw’s father was drafted into the Russian army, and Czeslaw and his mother spent the next four years fleeing the Germans in (modern-day) Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. When the war ended, the family settled in Vilna.

Exceptionally intelligent and curious, Czeslaw learned six languages (Polish, Lithuanian, Russian, English, French, and Hebrew.) He entered law school at the prestigious Stefan Batory University when he was only 18 years old, but found his true calling and talent in poetry. He published his first poems in the university magazine in 1930, and formed a student poetry group and an “Intellectuals Club.”

Czeslaw had many Jewish friends at the university, and was shocked when an antisemitic mob attacked Jews on campus. Czeslaw bravely stood up to the mob and protected the Jewish students. Sadly one student was killed when a large rock was thrown at his head.

The incident influenced Czeslaw’s writing, and he described his work as “Poetry of Protest.” While still a student, Czeslaw published his first volume of poetry. After graduating from university, Czeslaw worked at a radio station in Vilna. He produced a wide range of programming for the station, including performances by Jewish musicians and writers. As Hitler rose to power, his hateful ideology took hold among many Lithuanian nationalists. Czeslaw’s showcasing Jewish voices on the radio led to an anonymous complaint falsely accusing him of fomenting communism, and he was fired.

Czeslaw moved back to Poland, now an independent republic, and worked at Polish Radio in Warsaw. He published another volume of poetry, which quickly gained acclaim among poetry-lovers and critics. He was compared to legendary 19th century Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz.

After Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Czeslaw became an active member of the Polish underground resistance. The Nazis persecuted Polish intellectuals and artists, and Czeslaw published his next book of poetry under a pseudonym, which he also used for his translations of Shakespeare and T.S. Eliot.

Horrified at the violent and vicious persecution of Jews in Warsaw, Czeslaw, along with his brother Andrzej, began helping Jews hide or escape from the Nazis. He defied the Nazis to help at least five Polish Jews and maybe more, providing them a place to hide as well as financial support. Czeslaw knew that the penalty for this transgression was death, but his moral compass did not allow him to stand idly by. In late 1944 Czeslaw was captured by the Germans and held in a prisoner transit camp. Miraculously, he was helped by a Catholic nun (and total stranger) who somehow convinced the Germans to let him go.

After the war, Czeslaw published his powerful fourth collection of poetry, focusing on the loss of three million Polish Jews, and the willful blindness of much of the Polish population. Came po dei Fiori, written in 1943, became one of his best-known works. It described the suffering and carnage inside the Warsaw ghetto, and the cluelessness of those outside its gates. The poem includes searing imagery: “The salvoes behind the ghetto walls/were drowned in lively tunes/and vapors freely rose/into the tranquil sky./Sometimes the wind from burning houses would bring the kites along/and people on the merry-go-round/caught the flying charred bits./This wind from burning houses/blew open the girls’s skirts/and the happy throngs laughed/on a beautiful Warsaw Sunday.”

Czeslaw received increasing recognition for his work, which ultimately inspired long-overdue public reckoning and introspection on Poles’ failure to protect the three million Jews in their midst. In 1949 he was appointed a cultural attache for the communist People’s Republic of Poland, although he opposed Soviet ideology. During this time he moved from New York to Washington DC and then Paris, creating events highlighting Polish culture, publishing articles, and translating important literary works into Polish, his mother tongue. He returned to Poland for a visit in 1949, and was shocked at what had happened to the country. Stalinist oppression had created a culture of fear and lies, and Czeslaw spoke out against it, leading to his firing and escape from Poland to Paris in 1951. During the tumult he was separated from his wife Janina and their children. They were in the United States, but because of the old smear against Czeslaw of being a communist, McCarthyism led to Czeslaw being refused entry. He received political asylum in France, and spoke out against Stalinism, which led to all of works being banned in his native land. He published two poetry collections, two novels, and a memoir, written in Polish and published by fellow Polish ex-pats. He finally reunited with his family in 1953.

In 1960, Czeslaw became a visiting lecturer at Berkeley, and American audiences discovered his work for the first time. He published scholarly works on Dostoevsky, among other important writers. Czeslaw took a break from teaching in 1978 to focus on writing full-time. During the Stalinist years, Czeslaw’s work was a source of inspiration to the the Polish anti-communist Solidarity movement.

Czeslaw won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1980, leading to global recognition and the publication of his work in Poland. After 30 years in exile, Czeslaw returned to Poland for a visit and was greeted by adoring crowds proud of the attention and respect he brought to Polish literature. He met with Lech Walesa and Pope John Paul II and used his newfound fame to advocate for writers who were persecuted for their beliefs.

Czeslaw became a poetry professor at Harvard in 1981, and continued to publish poetry in Polish. His wife Janina died in 1986, and after the fall of communism in 1989 he began to spend more time in Poland, finally moving back in 2000. Czeslaw Milosz died in Krakow in 2004, at age 93. He received a state funeral and thousands of people lined the streets to watch his coffin travel by a military escort to the cemetery. At the funeral, noted poets Seamus Heaney, Adam Zagajewski, and Robert Hass read Czeslaw’s poetry in all the languages he knew: Polish, French, English, Russian, Lithuanian, and Hebrew.

During his lifetime and posthumously, Czeslaw received many honors and awards, including Righteous Among the Nations at Israel’s Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem. His work was enormously influential among the greatest poets of the age, including Robert Pinsky, Ted Hughes, Robert Strand and Derek Walcott. Raised Catholic, Czeslaw became an atheist as a young man, but later returned to the faith of his youth and was buried at Skalka Roman Catholic Church.

For saving lives and writing poetry for the ages, we honor Czeslaw Milosz as this week’s Thursday Hero.

35 notes · View notes

shy-blue-blossom · 9 months ago

Text

Phoenix

Record of Ragnarok

Goddess of rebirth, transformation, resurrection and healing.

Hercules lost.

It was a fact and no one wanted to believe it. Especially, as a murder had beaten him. Even the humans were not happy with the result. As they were throwing rocks at Jack, there was a tremor that people started to feel through the stadium. The throwing stopped once it was felt and registered. The humans could not tell where it was coming from, but some could feel the power in the air.

The gods were shocked. They are unsure where the power and this feeling of gut renting sadness and anger had come from. Looking around, the tremors got louder and parts of the Colosseum had begun crumbling away as the power grew closer and stronger.

A blazing heat went through the crowd as a figure emerged from the stands, a bird perched on their shoulder along with one black and one white snake wrapped among the red feathers of the wings sprouting from their back.

"Muerte."

"Θάνατος," Different versions of death were whispered among the crowds as the figure walked into the middle of the stage. But some spoke another word or name.

"Cremisi."

"Purpurrot," The humans and their fighters - watching from their rooms - watched as the individual walked up to Jack and healed his wounds in disbelief. Some were about to start booing but stopped when the gods stood up and bowed to the one healing Jack.

"Y/n," Zeus called her name. He watched Jack's wounds disappear as if he were still waiting for his opponent to step into the Colosseum. "What can we do for you?

"Tell me," She began staring into his soul before she continued. "Why have I felt souls leaving Elysium and Valhalla." Silence followed her words as everyone took in what she said.

"Ragnarok was invoked."

"I see," She was still staring at him as they exchanged words. "How were you planning to bring the gods and the Einherjar back?" Zeus was questioned and was not given the time to reply. "Surely you have not made the Einherjar suffer more in their time to celebrate and reflect on their life." Everyone waited for a response.

"I apologise, I have not," Y/n nodded at his answer before leading Jack out of the arena and away from prying eyes.

Silence followed before the tournament continued with more losses and wins for the gods and Einherjar. The red-winged individual was not forgotten from the minds of the audience. They thought about her as more souls were lost in each match.

The last battle was fought. There was one winner and one loser. Another soul lost.

No cheers followed the last match, neither side could bring themselves to. Both sides fought hard.

The last contestant exited the arena to join the others. Everyone watched as they left before noting crimson feathers fall from the sky taking the shape of a person. The last individual to lose their life.

"Humans have fought in Ragnarok and proven themselves, showing they will not sit back and let you annihilate them from their home. Everyone has been brought back, but let this be a warning. Any soul that leaves Valhalla or Elysium in the future, will be joined by the one that ended it." The winged individual was back and left no room for arguments.

The Ragnarok tournament happened again 10 years later. However, it was not a match to the death. It was friendly bouts between warriors testing their skills among themselves, seeing where they could improve.

The red-winged individual with their snakes and crow watching them.

The end.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I used Google Translate, I apologise if it is incorrect.

Muerte - Death in European Spanish.

Θάνατος - Death in Greek.

Cremisi - Crimson in Italian.

Purpurrot - Crimson in German

Record of Ragnarok

Masterlist

#x reader #reader #ror x reader #record of ragnarok #record of ragnarok x reader

67 notes · View notes

blue-and-gilt · 11 months ago

Text

17th Century Shell Guard Broadsword

There's something unique about holding a piece of history that dates back four hundred years. They have a presence, a gravitas that, more recent swords lack.

So, what is this sword? The Royal Armouries simply describes the examples in their collection as an early 17th-century broadsword with shell guard (Object IX.172). While Ewart Oakeshott in his book "European Weapons and Armour - From the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution" describes two types of swords with related characteristics: the German sabre, circa 1540s, with forward and rear quillons, a knuckle bow, and a distinctive shell guard covering the outside of the hand. Plus, the second type of Sinclair hilt, with its one-piece S-shaped crossguard forming the rear quillon and knuckle guard.

At the same time, the Dutch sword historian J.P. Puype describes these as a Solingen horseman's sword of the classical type: "The problem with this type of sword is that so far there has never been written a proper monography on them and that opinions on them are practically always unsubstantiated by evidence. The other problem is that they are often seen as naval but there is more evidence to tell us that they were army swords.

I think that I may be the first arms historian who identified these swords as cavalry swords, but I have to admit that in publications prior to 1998 I (too) identified them exclusively as shipboard cutlasses.

In the 1990s I became increasingly involved in writing publications and doing museum exhibitions on Prince Maurice and the new Dutch so-called States Army of the 1590s. In the course of this involvement I analysed the pictures by Jacob de Gheyn made during the 1590s of the infantry drill and cavalry drills. These infantry pictures were published in a book in 1607, although we know that its manuscript was already in existence c. 1595-c.1597, but was withheld by Prince Maurice for reasons of security.

Simultaneously, a book on the cavalry exercise was conceived, but its publication was permanently withheld by Maurice, partly for security reasons, partly also because Prince Maurice in 1597 or 1598 abolished the lancers.

Among the cavalry prints the heavy cavalry has as its chief weapon the lance (it was abolished in 1597 or 1598 in favor of the wheel-lock pistol, and the lancers became 'pistoliers'). However, the light cavalry is armed with swords with shell-guard hilts.

So we can only prove that the seashell-hilted sword apparently originated in the cavalry. The earliest proof that I have of its maritime use is after 1700. I do not know how to explain the picture of the French privateer Lolonois of 1684 (the year of appearance of the original Dutch edition) who is armed with a seashell-hilted cutlass with a curved blade with clipped point.

One other of the very few other 17th C pictures I know in which appear what seem to be shell-hilted cutlasses is on the title-page of a book published in 1673 (see the attachment). There is a heap of apparently seashell-hilted cutlasses in the foreground but it is clear that the hilts are rendered in a wrong version. The blades, however, are curved and with clipped point.

In or before 1978 the wreck of a flatboat was found in the lake what once was the Zuyderzee. This boat was full of arms and military equipment, destined for what were army outposts on islands against a possible French invasion in 1672. Among the cargo were four swords with seashell guards and straight blades. In the attachment are two archaeological drawings.

All this does not bring us definitive answers to the problem when we view the portrait of the French privateer l'Olonnais (spelled as Lolonois) in which he is holding a seashell-hilted cutlass with curved blade with clipped point. I do not know of the actual existence of such a sword - nowhere in the world. I dare not go so far as to suggest that swords of this type may be artists' impressions only but somehow it does feel that way!"

Jan Piet Puype.

In short, these are another variation of military broadsword that would have been common amongst the military armies of the first half of the 17th-century. While it is appealing to look at the portrait of the French privateer Lolonois as evidence that these swords have a naval connection, the unfortunate reality is that the artist likely never met his subject. Furthermore, he made a notable error in the sword's detailing; with the quillon and knucklebow reversed, the sword becomes impractical to wield. In conclusion, we see an artist's impression, not a historical representation.

In German and Dutch references, these swords are called houdegen or houwdegen, which translates to 'hewing sword'. Although short, their weight and broad, double-edged lenticular blades give these swords a no-nonsense functionality. A single fuller runs for the first 20% starting at the guard. The ricasso is a square block with two smaller side fullers running along its length. On both sides of the ricasso is a maker mark of a crown above an O and T. According to the Royal Armouries, this is the mark of a Spanish smith. However, I have seen one text attribute this to a Solingen swordsmith. Given that the blade has ME FECIT and SOLINGEN (Solingen Made Me) stamped into the fuller, it seems more likely that the stamp is either a copy of the Spanish maker mark or one unique to a Solingen blade maker.

The grip retains its' original wire and Turks head knots at each end. It has a pear-shaped pommel with a tang button on the top for the peen. Although I can't be sure, I expect the pommel is hollow, like we see on the Amsterdam Walloon swords.

The S-shaped crossguard and shell guard are two separate pieces that appear to have been forge-welded together. While the hilt and pommel on my sword are solid, the guard is loose. There probably used to be a fabric or leather washer between the blade shoulder and guard to hold them tight. On the inside of the guard, it continues to cover the thumb, curling around on itself to form a thumb ring. This combination of knuckle bow and shell guard offers the wielder a lot of hand protection.

Stats: Overall Length - 870 mm Blade Length - 725 mm Point of Balance - 90 mm Grip Length - 140 mm Inside Grip Length - 80 mm Weight - 900 grams

#antiques #swords #military antiques #light cavalry #17th century #80 years war #30 years war #shot and pike

130 notes · View notes

no2ticonderoga · 5 months ago

Text

Well, the first part went over so well, I guess you can have another chunk.

1948

“Heads up!”

Annabeth ducked under the swinging lumber as she hurried across the stage toward the house. “Leo!” she called. “Leo! Where are you?” she called out.

“Up here, Princess.” His muffled voice came from somewhere above her.

She squinted up toward the balcony, and finally spotted him among the lighting grid. “I need to talk to you.”

“It’s going to have to wait until I come down,” he called back. “I’m a bit busy at present.”

“How long are you going to be?” Annabeth asked. “I really need to talk to you before…”

“No! No!” a new voice called, and Annabeth winced. “Where is that set designer?”

Annabeth jerked, and scrambled off the stage into the wings, hoping to avoid being seen. No luck.

“Ah, there you are, Annibelle,” Mr. D, the director said. “I wanted to talk to you about changes to the design for the second act.

“Yes, Mr. D,” Annabeth said.

“It needs to be more…grandiose. It should take the audience away, immerse them!”

Three days ago, Mr. D had told her that the design needed to be minimal, to draw the focus to the actors. Annabeth took a deep breath and gritted her teeth. “Yes, Mr. D,” she replied.

The pudgy man sighed. “You know, Ainsley, I just don’t know if you have the vision for this kind of work.”

“I’m sure I can work out something,” Annabeth replied through her clenched smile. “I’ve got some sketches already. I thought that you might like to see options, so I did more than one design.” They were the designs she’d already shown. him, that he’d rejected in favor of his minimalist approach. But he wouldn’t remember anyway. Annabeth had been working for him for over a year now, and she knew how to deal with him.

“Oh, very good, very forward thinking. Yes, please bring them to me as soon as you can,” Mr. D breezed. “Now, where is that technician?”

Annabeth escaped, while Mr. D went in search of Leo.

“He’s in a mood, isn’t he?” Reyna asked.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. “Tell me about it….stay out of his line of sight, or he might decide he wants you to redo the choreography for the whole first act.”

“I might pour rat poison in his coffee,” Reyna deadpanned. Annabeth laughed, and continued backstage.

She found Piper’s dressing room and let herself in. Piper wasn’t there, but Annabeth sat at the small desk that Piper let her use and started sorting through the set designs that Mr. D had already rejected so she could give him a new one.

She sighed and leaned back in the chair, rubbing her temples.

She had never expected to get a real architect’s job out of college, not at first. But she’d needed to get out of New York. When her father had offered to let her join him in Europe, after the war ended, she’d jumped at the chance. She’d spent almost a year helping him with his work on the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives unit. Given a colonel’s commission in the Army, her dad had been in charge of the Greek and Roman section, working to recover and repatriate artifacts looted by the Germans and Italians. She’d enjoyed working with him, but she’d kept looking for a job.

But the firm in San Francisco had seemed so promising, at least at first. She’d returned to the states with her father when his group had been disbanded, and then moved to the West Coast. She’d been given a ‘Junior Architect’ title, though her actual job had been little better than a secretary. She’d met Luke, and they’d gone on some dates…dinner, dancing, picnics in the park. She thought maybe she could see a future with him. Sure, he was bit older, but he was well established.

And then she saw the plans for the building he was working on.

It had been her design. Done up after hours, she’s been quietly saving it to show to her boss when she thought the time was right. She’d shown it to Luke, and he had liked it.

And then he’d stolen it.

She confronted him about it, and he’d laughed. He told her she should be grateful, because it was the only way her designs would ever get built.

She’d been so mad, she’d thrown her drink in his face, and then she’d slapped him, for good measure. She’d gone back to her apartment, written her letter of resignation, packed her meager belongings in her valise and bought a ticket for the next eastbound train leaving the station. Her phone had started ringing while she was packing, so she’d ripped the cord from the wall. She didn’t want to talk to Luke, she hadn’t wanted to talk to anyone.

She mailed her resignation, and her notice of departure to her landlord on the way to the train station, and boarded a train that would take her as far as St. Louis. She’d had to spend the night in the train station before getting another train to New York the following morning. She’d called her father from St. Louis, and thank God he hadn’t asked too many questions, only agreed to make sure anything she’d left behind was collected, and to get the San Francisco bank to close her account and wire her money to New York.

She’d only gone home to her father’s long enough to get in touch with Piper. Piper, who had just been cast in High Button Shoes, had made room in her apartment for Annabeth, and was honestly glad to have someone to share rent with. She’d also helped Annabeth find a job. The closest thing to what she’d trained to do: set design.

At first, it had been a challenge. She’d not really designed interior spaces before, but she found it interesting. Particular when she’d had to design spaces to create the illusion of more space. She’d worked on several plays, including A Streetcar Named Desire. Piper’s star had been rising for years, getting her start in the chorus of Annie Get Your Gun, then being asked to audition for Brigadoon, and finally moving on to High Button Shoes. But when Piper had been asked to join the original cast of this new show as the headliner, she’d suggested Annabeth as set designer and the producers had agreed. It should have been a triumph.

Except, so far, it somehow wasn’t.

Annabeth gave a little jump when the dressing room door opened, but it was only Piper. “Hi,” Annabeth called.

“You look awful,” Piper said, shutting the door behind her and locking it. She began to change out of her dress into rehearsal wear. She must have gone out for lunch.

“Thanks,” Annabeth said dryly.

“What happened?” she asked.

“Oh, the usual. Mr. D being his typical, charming self.”

“Oh God,” Piper groaned. “THat’s not what I want to hear today. He’s supposed to be coming to rehearsal this afternoon to see how the duet is coming. Between him and my co-star, I’m not sure I can take it.”

“Where did you go for lunch?” Annabeth asked.

“Just around the corner, nothing fancy. I just needed to get out of here. I looked for you before I left.”

“It’s okay. I should get something, though. Did you have to eat alone?”

“No,” Piper grinned. “I ran into Jason.”

Annabeth snorted. “I’m glad I wasn’t there, then,” she said.

If Piper had a leg up because her dad had been a vaudeville star, Jason Grace, son of film actress Beryl Grace, was even better connected. Possessed of strong good looks, blonde hair, blue eyes, and a stirling war record as a fighter pilot, he was absolutely on his way to the top. And he probably had more talent than most. The fact that he hadn’t been cast as the lead in this show was only because Octavian still had more name draw. So he was second billing, playing Octavian’s friend.

The trouble was, that he and Piper had more chemistry both on and off stage than Piper had with Octavian at all, a fact which had not escaped Octavian’s notice. Not that he was interested in Piper romantically, but he was jealous of their easy rapport. He’d tried to get Jason fired, Annabeth had heard, but the producers had smacked his hand over it. Which hadn’t helped his feelings for him either.

Annabeth liked him. But that didn’t mean she wanted to sit through a whole lunch with Piper and Jason flirting.

“We were fine,” Piper protested. She came over to lean on the back of Annabeth’s chair. “We would have behaved ourselves for you.”

Annabeth gave Piper a look. She was pretty sure Piper hadn’t taken Jason to bed yet, though it was probably only a matter of time. Piper had had many partners in the time they’d known each other, both men and women. Annabeth had been shocked at first, but she’d grown accustomed to it. Annabeth supposed it was Piper’s upbringing in the freer, wilder world of the theatres. Annabeth was still a virgin, and never more grateful that she was. Luke had tried it on a couple of times, but she’d resisted. There hadn’t been any other men she’d been close to.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. But..

No, she wasn’t going there. No. Not going to think about it.

She sighed. “Maybe I’ll try and save you by distracting Mr. D with new set sketches, and he won’t make it to your practice.”

“I’ll buy you dinner if you do,” Piper promised. “And maybe I’ll see if Jason has any friends he can introduce you to.”

“No, Piper,” Annabeth said firmly.

“Annabeth, you’re 25, going on 26. You should find someone.”

“You don’t have anyone,” Annabeth pointed out.

Piper shrugged. “But I like being single, and besides, I have Jason right now.”

“Is he the one?” Annabeth asked.

Piper shrugged. “We’ll see. I like him And stop changing the subject. We’re talking about how you’re going to mend your broken heart.”

“I am not broken hearted about Luke the ass.”

“Not who I was talking about,” Piper said in a sing-song voice.

“Stop,” Annabeth demanded. It came out more harshly than she intended.

Piper’s expression and voice softened. “Oh, sweetie,” she brushed Annabeth’s hair. “I’m sorry.”

Annabeth resolutely took a deep breath and rose. “I’m fine.” She gathered up her sketches, and turned to go.

“Hey,” Piper called as she reached the door.

Annabeth hesitated. “Yeah?” she turned to look at her best friend.

Piper’s face clearly warred with what she was going to say, but finally she just said. “Do you want to get dinner later?”

Annabeth nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

“I’ll see you later, then,” Piper said.

Annabeth left.

The corridor outside the dressing rooms was deserted, so Annabeth stood there for a long minute, taking deep breaths.

She was always of two minds. On one hand she got angry. Angry that she’d been taken in by pretty words and dazzling smile, and gorgeous green eyes, and been nothing more than an afternoon’s diversion for a man who probably had a girlfriend in every port. A way to pass the time before he’d shipped out.

On the other, there was a broken place in her soul where she believed that her one true love, the man she should have been fated to marry, had left New York that night and gone overseas, and been killed before he’d even had a chance to write to her.

She wasn’t sure which was worse, honestly.

She took a final deep breath to steady herself, and then headed back toward the stage. Maybe this time, Mr. D wouldn’t change his mind again.

#pjo #fic #writing #post war broadway au #Some Sunny Day

26 notes · View notes

mariacallous · 7 months ago

Text

In Ukraine’s prolonged struggle against Russia, the election of Donald Trump as the next U.S. president was a black swan event.

Among other positions, Trump ran on the promise of extricating the United States from the conflict in Ukraine. His closest allies have openly disparaged Kyiv and made overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Thus, with this transition of power begins a new chapter of the war in which Western support for Ukraine could fall by the wayside.

Outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden’s belated decision to allow Ukraine to use U.S. missiles to strike targets deep within Russian territory, a critical condition of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s “victory plan,” is hardly a godsend. These missiles cannot singlehandedly change the course of the war, and they put Zelensky in an awkward position. Striking Russian targets will trigger not only the wrath of Putin, but also that of Trump, who will undoubtedly view any escalation as a shot against his own prospects for dealmaking.

With Trump making threats to pull out of NATO and cut a deal with Putin, Europe is also having second thoughts on backing Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke with Putin on Nov. 15 about bringing an end to the war, while Czech President Petr Pavel announced plans in October to send a new ambassador to the Czech Embassy in Moscow in early 2025.

Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres recently attended the annual summit of the BRICS countries—Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and several recently added members—hosted in Kazan, Russia. The U.N.’s involvement in an event hosted by a country engaged in a war of aggression, whose president is wanted under an International Criminal Court warrant, sends a disheartening message.

Almost three years into Russia’s full-scale invasion, the West is tired. It no longer has the political will to help Ukraine win by military means and is seeking a settlement with the aggressor instead.

The U.S. shift toward isolationism may hasten the inevitable: Ukraine and the West will soon find themselves negotiating with Russia to define the terms of a settlement—and, by extension, shaping a new world order. This emerging order will not be the rules-based system established after World War II, but one driven by idiosyncratic dealmaking among strongmen.

The problem is that any deal will amount to Ukraine’s—and the West’s—capitulation to Russia.

A bad peace is better than a good quarrel, according to a Russian proverb. If the West is set on securing this “bad peace,” then it must have a negotiating strategy along four critical parameters: territories, security guarantees for Ukraine, reparations, and sanctions.

Even before Trump’s election, some of Ukraine’s staunchest allies began expressing the view that Ukraine would have to accept some loss of land. The most obvious settlement strategy, then, would likely involve buying Ukrainian and European security with territory—possibly including Donetsk; large chunks of the Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions; and the peninsula of Crimea, which Russia first seized in 2014.

This outcome is a far cry from the Western leaders’ earlier commitments to Ukraine’s territorial integrity and hopes for regime change in Russia, but realpolitik leaves little room for moral considerations.

Should Zelensky agree to this loss of territory, the only realistic security guarantee for Ukraine would be membership in NATO. Yet this runs counter to what U.S. Vice President-elect J.D. Vance has lobbied for: a demilitarized zone along the current front lines and an enduring commitment to Ukraine’s neutrality.

The next White House does not seem to have a plan for what happens to Europe in a few years, when it would face a revanchist Russia with a subdued Ukraine at its Western borders. Such an outcome is not in Trump’s best interest. Another option, therefore, may have Trump concede to Ukraine’s membership in a new NATO—one without the United States, perhaps—leaving Europeans to be the masters of their own security.

Battered and curtailed but still sovereign, Ukraine would gain a nuclear umbrella against future Russian aggression, and Europe would fund the postwar reconstruction. There would be no international tribunal and no reparations. (Putin won’t be negotiating his own sentence.) Sanctions against Russia would remain for the time being. Europe would accept the occupation de facto, but it wouldn’t de jure recognize the territory as Russian land.

It will be difficult to come up with a deal that satisfies all parties. But in any negotiation, reaching a mutually satisfactory outcome depends on the motivation and constraints of those involved. The West is motivated to settle in Ukraine because it is tired of war, and because Trump is uninterested in leading the existential fight for democracy. Ukraine, understanding that it cannot win on its own, can be motivated to settle in order to stop the now-pointless bloodshed.

Putin’s motivations are murkier. In fact, a closer look would reveal that Putin has no need for lasting peace.

Putin’s megalomaniacal intransigence is now reinforced by his perception that he is winning, even if it is taking longer than he hoped. Piecemeal shipments of Western military aid have made Russian advances slow and painful—but they have been advances nevertheless. While Ukraine’s ability to affect Russian military logistics was until recently severely hampered by Western restrictions, the Russian army has faced no such limitations, regularly bombing civilian infrastructure and military targets alike.

In wars of attrition, the side with more resources is poised to win, and Russia still mobilizes resources with frightening force. Russia has activated the economic and cultural mechanisms necessary for around-the-clock military production—bread-making factories churning out drones, schoolchildren making camouflage nets, and old Soviet tanks hauled out of Siberian forests and shipped to Ukrainian front lines.

Now that the economy has been switched on to military footing, there is no shortage of munitions. Meanwhile, government payouts ensure an ample supply of volunteers to enlist in the military, meaning Russia does not have a manpower crisis like Ukraine does.

No human toll is too high for Russia. During World War II, Russia lost more than 27 million people—the largest number of fatalities of all involved. Peter the Great’s 18th-century Great Northern War, which established Russia’s power in the Baltics, lasted 21 years and incurred enormous casualties, as did the 25-year-long Livonian War fought by Ivan the Terrible in the 16th century.

Russia has already suffered upward of 700,000 people dead or wounded during the Ukraine war, according to estimates from the National Interest. But with families of dead soldiers mollified by the “coffin money” they receive, society writ large has not budged in its support for the war. It will likely stay that way short of another mobilization.

It certainly helps that the brunt of the war is borne by recruited volunteers, who sign up to fight to improve their and their family’s economic standings, and by convicts—both groups making up a significant number of those killed and wounded in Ukraine. Another large constituency fighting Russia’s war is national minorities, often from depressed economic areas and the lowest strata of society. And now, those minorities are joined by North Korean soldiers and potentially by citizens of the other dictatorships that Putin courts.

Contrast this low visibility of Russia’s war toll, further obscured by Kremlin propaganda, to its loudly celebrated nativist successes. In the last two years, not only did Russia fail to fold under the weight of Western sanctions, but it also managed to build parallel economic, financial, and cultural structures that are independent of the West.

Economically, Russia has reoriented itself toward the East, increasing trade with China, India, and other countries in Asia and the Middle East. It has shifted its energy exports away from Europe and developed domestic production capabilities. Despite sanctions, oil money—the main source of Russia’s war financing—keeps flowing, albeit from a different direction than before. Cross-border payments are now handled through SPFS, a homegrown alternative to the SWIFT global financial system, and the Mir payment system that replaced Visa and MasterCard. Russia touts these systems to its BRICS partners as alternatives to “Western financial hegemony.”

If anything, the war in Ukraine has given Putin more money to play with than before. Assets belonging to Western companies exiting Russia have been nationalized or bought for cheap and redistributed to businesses with ties to the Kremlin—one of the largest property transfers in Russia’s history. Cut off from Western banks, Russian oligarchs must invest their money domestically. Sanctions evasion schemes protect Russians’ access to Western consumer goods, creating enormous enrichment opportunities for Russian and Western business agents alike. Tankers shuttle Russian oil with payments cleared through offshore shell companies. Putin’s personal wealth, estimated at somewhere between $70 billion and $200 billion, remains safe. Though he is a product of a socialist state, the Russian leader is a master of capitalism.

Cultural shifts in Russia increase Putin’s confidence in victory. What little dissent remained before the war has largely been rooted out, with Russians closing ranks around their leader. According to a recent poll conducted by the Levada Center in September and October, more than two-thirds of Russians who said they want the war to end are against returning Russian-occupied territories to Ukraine.

On the global stage, Russia has managed to upgrade its status from a regional power to a leader of the anti-Western coalition. These coalition members have their own stakes in Ukraine. A Russian victory would embarrass the United States, weakening its influence in Asia and helping China. North Korea has found exports—bad shells and soldiers—that it can exchange for food, money, and energy. And Iran is happy to keep the United States distracted from the Middle East.

Even if Putin wanted to end the war, it would entail serious risk for his regime. Drones, shells, and missile production would have to be scaled down, ending the economic boom. The sudden drop in government spending would create real prospects of an economic collapse. Around 1.5 million veterans would have to be pulled out of Ukraine to find new roles in a corrupt Russian society. The manufactured sense of national unity would give way to envy that beyond the border, on Russia’s “ancestral lands,” Ukrainians are thriving under European Union and NATO banners.

Taken together, in a country reacclimatized to grand-scale violence, the prospect of revolt becomes clear and present. To find an outlet for that aggression, Putin would have to start a new war not long after agreeing to settle for peace.

Ultimately, the status quo—an ongoing border squabble with conventional weapons—suits all but Ukraine and Europe, for which security deteriorates in direct proportion to Putin’s success.

The Putin that the West would face at the negotiating table is a former underdog—a man on a mission to free the world from what he has characterized as Western “hegemony,” his economy thriving, his new and old friends paying court, and his people unified behind him.

He is not, however, as invincible as he seems. The BRICS countries are not rushing to replace SWIFT with the Russian alternative. By putting all his economic eggs into the military basket, Putin has siphoned off resources from everywhere else, an unsustainable move. Inflation is real, and the ruble is weakening. Even the overheated military sector can’t keep up with demands. Moreover, as a student of Russian history, Putin knows that the support and adoration of the Russian masses can turn on its head overnight.

But Putin also knows how to keep a poker face. Having staked his survival on this war, Putin would be negotiating from the position of strength and with obligations to his domestic and international stakeholders in mind.

He has already shot an opening volley at the U.S. president-elect: After a call during which Trump told the Russian leader not to escalate in Ukraine, Russian state television released a special on Melania Trump’s modeling career, including nude photos of the once and future first lady.

The West, meanwhile, will be negotiating from a position of inherent weakness. After tiptoeing around the Kremlin’s red lines throughout the war, Western leaders have signaled their readiness to consider cessation of a large chunk of Ukrainian territory, wishing away what little leverage they had.

There is nothing stopping Putin from believing that he can’t get more. Unless Russia is decisively defeated on the battlefield or Putin is given precisely what he wants, he will not stop.

Of the options put forward for a negotiated solution, the only one that Putin would agree to is the one that gives him Ukraine’s capitulation on a platter. He will never agree to a thriving, independent, armed, and Western-aligned Ukraine on his border, because he would lose too much face. Putin will therefore demand an unviable Ukraine—without an army and without NATO membership—and, in effect, a Western surrender.

The issue of European security cannot be solved by a settlement with Moscow because appeasement only increases the aggressor’s appetite. Only the containment of Putin’s expansionism by military means will remove the existential threat to his neighbors. So long as there is an aggressive, revanchist Russia in the picture, lasting peace is an illusion.

32 notes · View notes

ideas-on-paper · 14 days ago

Text

Lies of P: Overture + personal update

It's decided: After doing a poll and asking around among other Lies of P fans on Mastodon and Tumblr, I decided to do another NG+ run before starting off with my (German) Live Let's Play of the DLC. My reasons for that are as follows:

The thing I was most concerned about was the difficulty, and that the DLC might be too easy in NG+ - however, as @puppetofdreams and two other people on Mastodon told me (big thanks to you! <3), it's more like the opposite. And since I'm known for not shying away from a challenge, I decided to take on the higher difficulty in NG+2. ;-)

In addition, NG+ also gives me the opportunity to complete some things I didn't accomplish in my first playthrough. For example, during my Let's Play, I accidentally messed up the thing about Eugénie and the cryptic vessel, and thus missed the "true ending" of her story. Due to the end of Eugénie's questline and the access to the DLC being available nearly at the same time, I have the opportunity to still show this off on stream. Also, I didn't manage to get the Golden Lie either in my first or my second playthrough (and neither would I have in a third Free of the Puppet String playthrough) - as such, I can also complete my collection of special weapons that way.

If I had started off with a completely new savegame, I probably would've had to deal with the exact same problem as in my first run: that being that in the endgame, I was constantly skirting the limit of my capacity with the equipment I was wearing. Because of that, I probably would've been very reluctant to try out new weapons, since I'd have no secondary weapons as a "backup". However, since I really want to check out the new weapons and Legion arms from the DLC if I already have them, I decided for a NG+ run for that reason alone.

Lastly, I'll probably progress through the game faster in NG+, since I have my full arsenal of weapons at my disposal - hence, I'd be ready to go into the DLC sooner.

Still, since I want to ensure that I'm meeting my viewers roughly eye-to-eye, I'm going to use the same playstyle (with Technique weapons) as I did in my first playthrough, and I will also make the same story decisions as the first time around (with few exceptions). And of course, I'm going to bring back my No Specter Challenge for the DLC! ;-)

To be able to entirely focus on my NG+ and avoid story spoilers for the DLC, I will retire from social media for the most part for now. I will still post the rest of my Homeworld 1 posts (I finished that game by now, but haven't shared the posts I have prepared yet because I focused on LoP) and log in from time to time to check my messages, but that's about it.

I know all of this probably isn't that relevant to my English-speaking readers, but I still want you to know where I'm off to. I want to thank everyone here on Tumblr who has been reading, liking, commenting, and reblogging my Lies of P posts so far. To all my LoP followers and mutuals, you rock - much love to all of you! <3

#lies of p #lies of p overture #lies of p dlc #update #personal

8 notes · View notes

aparrotandaqrow · 11 months ago

Text

A lot of folks, especially in the Jewish community, have mixed feelings about Harris picking Walz as her VP over Shapiro. Some wanted Shapiro for the Jewish representation, especially a Jew who is Zionist and yet decries Netanyahu and expresses the desire for peace that so many of us have. Some worried that having two Jews in the White House would provoke yet more antisemitism and possibly even sink the ticket, given the massive surge in leftist antisemitism recently.

Many of us were frustrated and angered by seeing leftists campaign for Walz being the pick over Shapiro more or less entirely because Shapiro is Jewish—and felt a sense of dismay that perhaps Harris had caved to the antisemites.

I'm a Jew but I'm also a Minnesotan. I was glad to see the Walz pick for many reasons unrelated to my Jewish identity or Israel. But I want to also submit that Walz, uniquely among the politicians Harris could have picked, brings something to the table that is desperately important both to the nation more broadly and our community more specifically.

I present as Exhibit A, this archived NYT profile of Walz from back in 2008:

The teacher, Tim Walz, was determined that even in this isolated place, perhaps especially in this isolated place, this county seat of 9,000 that was hours away from any city in any direction, the students should learn how and why a society can descend into mass murder.

...

“The Holocaust is taught too often purely as a historical event, an anomaly, a moment in time,” Mr. Walz said in a recent interview, recalling his approach. “Students understood what had happened and that it was terrible and that the people who did this were monsters. “The problem is,” he continued, “that relieves us of responsibility. Obviously, the mastermind was sociopathic, but on the scale for it to happen, there had to be a lot of people in the country who chose to go down that path. You have to make the intellectual leap to figure out the reasons why.”

My ancestors immigrated to the US around the turn of the century from Mariampol, Lithuania and Luboml, Ukraine. When the Nazis arrived in those towns some 40 years later, the Jews there (many of whom would have been my ancestors' relatives) were massacred not by Nazi soldiers, but by their neighbors, who welcomed the Nazis with open arms. You cannot truly help protect the Jewish community from antisemitism if you don't understand this crucial detail about how the Holocaust happened.

So Mr. Walz took his students [...] and assigned them to study the conditions associated with mass murder. What factors, he asked them to determine, had been present when Germans slaughtered Jews, Turks murdered Armenians, the Khmer Rouge ravaged their Cambodian countrymen?

...

They read about civil war, colonialism and totalitarian ideology. They worked with reference books and scholarly reports, long before conducting research took place instantly online.

...

When the students finished with the past, Mr. Walz gave a final exam of sorts. He listed about a dozen current nations — Yugoslavia, Congo, some former Soviet republics among them — and asked the class as a whole to decide which was at the greatest risk of sliding into genocide. Their answer was: Rwanda. The evidence was the ethnic divide between Hutus and Tutsis, the favoritism toward Tutsis shown by the Belgian colonial regime, and the previous outbreaks of tribal violence. Mr. Walz awarded high marks. The next April, in 1994, Mr. Walz heard news reports of a plane carrying the Rwandan president, Juvenal Habyarimana, being shot down. [...] Mr. Walz’s students, now juniors, saw their prophecy made into flesh and blood.

...

“You have to understand what caused genocide to happen,” Mr. Walz said, with those grim anniversaries in mind. “Or it will happen again.”

Y'all, Tim Walz is not Jewish. He's a white guy who grew up in Nebraska and then lived in one of Minnesota's smaller cities, up until going to Congress and then the Governor's mansion. No, he does not provide us with representation, nor will he ever truly understand what it feels like to be Jewish in America in 2024.

But he gets it. He understands not just academic history but people, and understands that "Never Again" is only feasible if we look at root causes, and strive to nip the factors that lead to genocide in the bud. We have all understood that allyship for Jews is only meaningful if you're here defending us before it gets violent.

Governor Walz represents an opportunity to have someone in the White House, on the national stage, who understands the big picture and the history well enough to actually be able to navigate incredibly complex and painful issues like the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, like the regional conflicts within the Arab world, like the experience of progressive Jews in the US who would have found ourselves ostracized and alienated from increasingly hostile leftist movements. I cannot begin to explain how rare it is to have a politician at this level who also carries an experienced teacher's grasp of both history and empathy.

Maybe Josh Shapiro would have also brought that. But honestly, I'm not so sure. Walz may not be Jewish. But I think we're going to find that he'll be an ally, and a deeply learned and wise one at that. And I think we really need that right now.

#jumblr #tim walz #harris 2024 #us politics

25 notes · View notes

eaglesnick · 3 months ago

Text

“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. - Marcus Tullius Cicero

Vidkun Quisling.

For those that know, this name evokes feelings of betrayal and contempt. As a Norwegian politician who collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II, his actions led to the term "quisling" becoming synonymous with "traitor" in multiple languages. His legacy is a stark reminder of the consequences of aligning with oppressive regimes.

Britain has its own Quisling in the making.

We learned yesterday that the Trump administration has been holding highly sensitive national security meetings over an unsecured group chat app. Not only that, but they inadvertently included an unauthorised journalist in the group.

It is bad enough that these powerful people acted like bumbling armatures with regard their national security, but what is even more worrying for us is what this group chat revealed concerning their attitudes towards Europe.

Members of this unsecured app group included, among others, Vice President JD Vance, CIA Director John Radcliffe and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. Although the main conversation centred round air and missile strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen, it also revealed the extent of the American administrations loathing of Europe and we Europeans.

Group texts for the 14th March revealed that JD Vance had reservations about authorising strikes against the Houthis because it would benefit Europe more than America. “We are making a mistake”, he said because only "3% of US trade runs through the Suez (whereas) 40% of European trade does."

Further messages revealed that Peter Hegseth agreed “ I just hate bailing Europe out again”, to which JD Vance replied, calling "Europe Free-loading” and “pathetic”.

Clearly, Europe cannot rely on Trump for support. We know he is stitching up Ukraine and admires the right-wing dictator Putin. He has already imposed tariffs on EU goods as well as on British steel and aluminium exports to America.

Although Reform UK and the supporters of Brexit would like to think of the UK as an island state outside of Europe they are making a very big mistake if they think America sees Britain in the same way. Like it or not, the UK is geographically a part of northern Europe.

When Vance says he "hates bailing out Europe" he includes Britain in that statement. Vance was quite prepared for British ships to be attacked by the Houthis. He makes no distinction between German ships, French ships or British ships. They are ALL European.

This time around, America decided to go ahead with their attack on Yemen, mainly because they want to be seen to be supporting Israel and the right-wing Netanyahu. Next time we may not be so lucky and American support for Britain and Europe is now very far from certain.

This brings us back to the British Quisling in the making - namely Nigel Farage.

Farage, a self-confessed friend and admirer of Donald Trump and his administration has visited America six time since becoming an MP in July 2024. The majority of these trips have involved Farage speaking at pro-Trump political events. His most recent visit was March 24th, 2025, centred around fundraising for Donald Trump. He should of been in Parliament representing his Clacton constituents but supporting Trump takes priority over his British responsibilities. He was the main attraction at a “disruptors dinner" organised by the Florida Republican Party.

If America were the physical enemy then Farage would be labelled a traitor, a British Quisling. As it is, the war is confined to the economic sphere and tariff impositions so some would argue that Farage has not yet taken that final step. However, given America’s loathing of all things European, and its increasing reluctance to honour its treaty obligations, I am not altogether sure Farage hasn’t already crossed that line.

#uk politics #brexit #farage #quisling #traitor #vance #hegseth #trump

7 notes · View notes

mariacallous · 2 months ago

Text

Automakers that nest key controls deep in touchscreen menus—forcing motorists to drive eyes-down rather than concentrate on the road ahead—may have their non-US safety ratings clipped next year.

From January, Europe’s crash-testing organization EuroNCAP, or New Car Assessment Program, will incentivize automakers to fit physical, easy-to-use, and tactile controls to achieve the highest safety ratings. “Manufacturers are on notice,” EuroNCAP’s director of strategic development Matthew Avery tells WIRED, “they’ve got to bring back buttons.”

Motorists, urges EuroNCAP’s new guidance, should not have to swipe, jab, or toggle while in motion. Instead, basic controls—such as wipers, indicators, and hazard lights—ought to be activated through analog means rather than digital.

Driving is one of the most cerebrally challenging things humans manage regularly—yet in recent years manufacturers seem almost addicted to switch-free, touchscreen-laden cockpits that, while pleasing to those keen on minimalistic design, are devoid of physical feedback and thus demand visual interaction, sometimes at the precise moment when eyes should be fixed on the road.

A smattering of automakers are slowly admitting that some smart screens are dumb. Last month, Volkswagen design chief Andreas Mindt said that next-gen models from the German automaker would get physical buttons for volume, seat heating, fan controls, and hazard lights. This shift will apply “in every car that we make from now on,” Mindt told British car magazine Autocar.

Acknowledging the touchscreen snafus by his predecessors—in 2019, VW described the “digitalized” Golf Mk8 as “intuitive to operate” and “progressive” when it was neither—Mindt said, “we will never, ever make this mistake anymore … It’s not a phone, it’s a car.”

Still, “the lack of physical switchgear is a shame” is now a common refrain in automotive reviews, including on WIRED. However, a limited but growing number of other automakers are dialing back the digital to greater or lesser degrees. The latest version of Mazda’s CX-60 crossover SUV features a 12.3-inch infotainment screen, but there’s still physical switchgear for operating the heater, air-con, and heated/cooled seats. While it’s still touch-sensitive, Mazda’s screen limits what you can prod depending on the app you’re using and whether you’re in motion. There’s also a real click wheel.

But many other automakers keep their touchscreen/slider/haptic/LLM doohickeys. Ninety-seven percent of new cars released after 2023 contain at least one screen, reckons S&P Global Mobility. Yet research last year by Britain’s What Car? magazine found that the vast majority of motorists prefer dials and switches to touchscreens. A survey of 1,428 drivers found that 89 percent preferred physical buttons.

Motorists, it seems, would much prefer to place their driving gloves in a glove compartment that opens with a satisfying IRL prod on a gloriously yielding and clicking clasp, rather than diving into a digital submenu. Indeed, there are several YouTube tutorials on how to open a Tesla’s glove box. “First thing,” starts one, “is you’re going to click on that car icon to access the menu settings, and from there on, you’re going to go to controls, and right here is the option to open your glove box.” As Ronald Reagan wrote, “If you’re explaining, you’re losing.”

Voice Control Reversion

The mass psychosis to fit digital cockpits is partly explained by economics—updatable touchscreens are cheaper to fit than buttons and their switchgear—but “there’s also a natural tendency [among designers] to make things more complex than they need to be,” argues Steven Kyffin, a former dean of design and pro vice-chancellor at Northumbria University in the UK (the alma mater of button-obsessed Sir Jonny Ive).

“Creating and then controlling complexity is a sign of human power,” Kyffin says. “Some people are absolutely desperate to have the flashiest, most minimalist, most post-modern-looking car, even if it is unsafe to drive because of all the distractions.”

Automakers shouldn’t encourage such consumers. “It is really important that steering, acceleration, braking, gear shifting, lights, wipers, all that stuff which enables you to actually drive the car, should be tactile,” says Kyffin, who once worked on smart controls for Dutch electronics company Philips. “From an interaction design perspective, the shift to touchscreens strips away the natural affordances that made driving intuitive,” he says.

“Traditional buttons, dials, and levers had perceptible and actionable qualities—you could feel for them, adjust them without looking, and rely on muscle memory. A touchscreen obliterates this," says Kyffin. "Now, you must look, think, and aim to adjust the temperature or volume. That’s a huge cognitive load, and completely at odds with how we evolved to interact with driving machines while keeping our attention on the road.”

To protect themselves from driver distraction accusations, most automakers are experimenting with artificial intelligence and large language models to improve voice-activation technologies, encouraging drivers to interact with their vehicles via natural speech, negating the need to scroll through menus. Mercedes-Benz, for example, has integrated ChatGPT into its vehicles' voice-control, but it's far too early to say whether such moves will finally make good on the now old and frequently broken promise of voice-controlled car systems from multiple manufacturers.

In fact, sticking with Mercedes, the tyranny of touchscreens looks set to be with us for some time yet. The largest glass dashboard outside of China is the 56-inch, door-to-door “Hyperscreen” in the latest S-Class Mercedes comprising, in one curvaceous black slab, a 12.3-inch driver’s display, a 12.3-inch passenger touchscreen, and a 17.7-inch central touchscreen that, within submenus, houses climate control and other key functions.

To turn on the heated steering wheel on a Nissan Leaf, there’s an easy-to-reach-without-looking square button on the dashboard. To be similarly toasty on the latest Mercedes, you will have to pick through a menu on the MBUX Hyperscreen by navigating to “Comfort Settings.” (You can also use voice control, by saying “Hey Mercedes,” but even if this worked 100 percent of the time, it is not always ideal to speak aloud to your auto, as passengers may well attest.)

Tesla might have popularized the big-screen digital cockpit, but Buick started the trend with its Riviera of 1986, the first car to be fitted with an in-dash touchscreen, a 9-inch, 91-function green-on-black capacitive display known as the Graphic Control Center that featured such delights as a trip computer, climate control, vehicle diagnostics, and a maintenance reminder feature. By General Motors' own admission, drivers hated it, and it was this seemingly trailblazing feature, along with a reduction in the car's size, that supposedly led to the model's year-on-year sales plummeting by 63 percent.

Buick soon ditched the Riviera’s screen, but not before a TV science program reviewing the car asked the obvious question: “Is there a built-in danger of looking away from the road while you’re trying to use it?”

Reaction Times Worse Than Drunk or High

Screens or not, “motorists shouldn’t forget they are driving [potentially] deadly weapons,” says Kyffin. An average of 112 Americans were killed every day on US roads in 2023, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s most recent full-year statistics. That’s equivalent to a plane crash every day.

Despite the proliferation of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), motor crash fatalities in the United States have increased 21 percent in the past 15 years. Forty thousand people have died on the roads in each of the past three years for which complete federal records are available.

In-vehicle infotainment systems impair reaction times behind the wheel more than alcohol and narcotics use, according to researchers at independent British consultancy TRL. The five-year-old study, commissioned by road-safety charity IAM RoadSmart, discovered that the biggest negative impact on drivers’ reactions to hazards came when using Apple CarPlay by touch. Reaction times were nearly five times worse than when a driver was at the drink-drive limit, and nearly three times worse than when high on cannabis.

A study carried out by Swedish car magazine Vi Bilägare in 2022 showed that physical buttons are much less time-consuming to use than touchscreens. Using a mix of old and new cars, the magazine found that the most straightforward vehicle to change controls on was the 2005 Volvo V70 festooned with buttons and no screens. A range of activities such as increasing cabin temperature, tuning the radio, and turning down instrument lighting could be handled within 10 seconds in the old Volvo, and with only a minimum of eyes-down. However, the same tasks on an electric MG Marvel R compact SUV took 45 seconds, requiring precious travel time to look through the nested menus. (The tests were done on an abandoned airfield.)

Distraction plays a role in up to 25 percent of crashes in Europe, according to a report from the European Commission published last year. “Distraction or inattention while driving leads drivers to have difficulty in lateral control of the vehicle, have longer reaction times, and miss information from the traffic environment,” warned the report.

A Touch Too Far

Seemingly learning little from Buick’s Riviera, BMW reintroduced touchscreens in 2001. The brand’s iDrive system combined an LCD touchscreen with a rotary control knob for scrolling through menus. Other carmakers also soon introduced screens, although with limitations. Jaguar and Land Rover would only show certain screen functions to drivers, with passengers tasked with the fiddly bits. Toyota and Lexus cars had screens that worked only when the handbrake was applied.

With curved pillar-to-pillar displays, holographic transparent displays, displays instead of rear-view mirrors, and head-up displays (HUD), it’s clear many in-car devices are fighting for driver attention. HUDs might not be touch-sensitive, but projecting a plethora of vehicle data, as well as maps, driver aids, and multimedia information, onto the windscreen could prove as distracting as toggling through menus.

“Almost every vehicle-maker has moved key controls onto central touchscreens, obliging drivers to take their eyes off the road and raising the risk of distraction crashes,” EuroNCAP’s Avery tells WIRED. “Manufacturers are realizing that they’ve probably gone too far with [fitting touchscreens].”

“A new part of our 2026 ratings is going to relate to vehicle controls,” says Avery. “We want manufacturers to preserve the operation of five principal controls to physical buttons, so that’s wipers, lights, indicators, horn, and hazard warning lights.” This however does not address the frequent needs for drivers to adjust temperature, volume, or change driver warning systems settings (an endeavor all too commonly requiring navigating down through multiple submenus).

Perhaps unfortunately, it looks like continuing with touchscreens won’t lose manufacturers any of the coveted stars in EuroNCAP’s five-star safety ratings. “It’s not the case that [automakers] can’t get five stars unless they’ve got buttons, but we’re going to make entry to the five-star club harder over time. We will wind up the pressure, with even stricter tests in the next three-year cycle starting in 2029.”

Regardless, Avery believes auto manufacturers around the world will bring back buttons. “I will be very surprised if there are markets where manufacturers have a different strategy,” he says.

“From a safety standpoint, reducing the complexity of performing in-vehicle tasks is a good thing,” says Joe Young, the media director for the insurance industry-backed Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). “The research is clear that time spent with your eyes off the road increases your risk of crashing, so reducing or eliminating that time by making it easier to find and manipulate buttons, dials, and knobs is an improvement.”

Neither Young nor Jake Nelson, director of traffic safety research for AAA, would be drawn on whether US automakers—via the US version of NCAP—would adopt EuroNCAP’s button nudges. “Industry design changes in the US market are more likely to occur based on strong consumer demand,” Nelson says. “It would be ideal to see better coordination between NCAP and EuroNCAP, however, we have not observed much influence in either direction.”

Nevertheless, Nelson agrees that “basic functions, such as climate control, audio, and others, should be accessible via buttons.” He adds that the “design of vehicle technologies should be as intuitive as possible for users” but that the “need for tutorials suggests otherwise.”

For Edmund King, president of the AA (the UK equivalent to AAA), driver distraction is personal. “When cycling, I often see drivers concentrating on their touchscreens rather than the road ahead," he says. "Technology should be there to help drivers and passengers stay safe on the roads, and that should not be to the detriment of other road users.”

Screen Out

The deeper introduction of AI into cars as part of software-defined vehicles could result in fewer touchscreens in the future, believes Dale Harrow, chair and director of the Intelligent Mobility Design Center at London’s Royal College of Art.

Eye scanners in cars are already watching how we’re driving and will prod us—with haptic seat buzzing and other alerts—when inattention is detected. In effect, today’s cars nag drivers not to use the touchscreens provided. “[Automakers] have added [touchscreen] technologies without thinking about how drivers use vehicles in motion,” says Harrow. “Touchscreens have been successful in static environments, but [that] doesn’t transfer into dynamic environments. There’s sitting in a mock-up of a car and thinking it’s easy to navigate through 15 layers, but it’s far different when the car is in motion.”

Crucially, touchscreens are ubiquitous partly because of cost—it’s cheaper to write lines of computer code than to add wires behind buttons on a physical dash. And there are further economies of scale for multi-brand car companies such as Volkswagen Group, which can put the same hardware and software in a Skoda as they do a Seat, changing just the logo pop-ups.

Additionally, over-the-air updates almost require in-car computer screens. A car’s infotainment system, the operation of ambient lighting, and other design factors are an increasingly important part of car design, and they need a screen for manufacturers to incrementally improve software-defined vehicles after rolling off production lines. Adding functionality isn’t nearly as simple when everything is buttons.

Not all screens cause distractions, of course—reversing cameras are now essential equipment, and larger navigation screens mean less time looking down for directions—but to demonstrate how touchscreens and voice control aren’t as clever as many think they are, consider the cockpit of an advanced passenger jet.

The Boeing 777X has touchscreens, but they are used by pilots only for data input—never for manipulation of controls. Similarly, the cockpit of an Airbus A350 also has screens, but they’re not touch-sensitive, and there are no voice-activated controls either. Instead, like in the 777X, there are hundreds of knobs, switches, gauges, and controls.

Of course, considering the precious human cargo and the fact that an A350 starts at $308 million, you can't fault Airbus for wanting pilots' eyes on the skies rather than screens. There are slightly fewer tactile controls in the $429,000 Rolls-Royce Spectre, the luxury car company’s first electric vehicle. There’s a screen for navigation, yes, but also lots of physical switchgear. Reviewing the new Black Badge edition of the high-end EV, Autocar said the vehicle’s digital technology was “integrated with restraint.”

Along with Volkswagen reintroducing physical buttons for functions like volume and climate control, Subaru is also bringing back physical knobs and buttons in the 2026 Outback. Hyundai has added more buttons back into the new Santa Fe, with design director Ha Hak-soo confessing to Korean JoongAng Daily towards the end of last year that the company found customers didn't like touchscreen–focused systems. And, if EuroNCAP gets its way, that’s likely the direction of travel for all cars. Buttons are back, baby.

11 notes · View notes