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perksofbeingaharrie · 4 years

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In My Feels

Imagine born literally out of when I was in my feels

Enjoy xx.

SUMMARY

You missed Harry too much, Harry missed you back equally enough. You see each other a whole month later but not really in the best setting.

Type: angst, mentions of smut, fluff

Word count: <2000

MASTERLIST o REQUEST BOX

“This is ridiculous, Glenne. Absolutely ridiculous.”

She fumes, violently uncapping the innocent tube of mascara and proceeding to bring the brush to her eyelashes with the same velocity.

Glenne, on the other side of the video call, only hides her chuckle as she watches her best friend rant.

“No, seriously – he comes back a month after god knows from where and suddenly the first place he wants to show up to is at a random friend’s house party?”

“Terrible.” Glenne adds, powdering some blush on her cheeks.

Y/N’s rant is not done yet. “I understand he promised his friend and everything but am I bad to just want a little time with MY boyfriend after for not holding him in my arms for so many days?”

“Hey, you’re being gross now.” Glenne cuts in, picking her phone in her hand and looking her full make-up packed face in it once. “Are you ready?”

Y/N blinks at the call, realizing her task at hand. “Oh, yeah. I just gotta pick a nice lip colour.”

“Okay, so this is what you do-“ Glenne goes on and on about a plan to get back at Harry when they get to the party themselves where he is supposed to be at as Y/N finishes up fixing her look.

The plan is a vain excuse to carry on talking to one another as Glenne drives over to pick her friend up. They both know, in fact Glenne more, how terrible Y/N will get once she lays eyes on her boyfriend after a long tour.

And, the fact that it is always true makes Glenne pinch Y/N’s butt as they enter the house and Y/N blocks everyone’s way as she stands staring at her beau in awe from across the room.

They shake their heads at each other and while Glenne like a good friend touches up on Y/N’s look the last minute, Y/N spends this time to go over how she would react in front of him.

She doesn’t get much to play around with, however, because Harry himself is already walking up to her and this clearly had no part in her day dreaming.

His smell makes her knees go weak on the first sniff as he wraps his arms around her. The way his fragrance, his aura wraps her entire body at once and takes her back to all the good times. She cannot think of anymore reasons to want to pull away from him and act all cold (you know, as planned).

“Fuck,” He whispers a soft moan in her hair as he rounds his long arms more and more around her figure, peppering her hair with long, big smooches. “Fuck.”

When they pull apart, his hands immediately go up to cup her face in them while her arms circle his torso.

No matter the make-up, her eyes sparkle and become more expresses when she looks at him like that. A ghost of a smile show with the crinkles around her eyes and her soft hold enough is to make him escape this party for a minute.

“That sounds like a very regretful curse, baby. Are you sorry about something?” She teases him, her voice a tired, relaxed tone to his ears – like finally after long she is putting down her guard to someone.

His reaction to her teasing is another natural one: he snickers lowly, brushing his thumb against her cheek delicately.

“Baby.” He echoes her nickname, both of them reflexively falling closer to bring their lips on one another.

The worst is to just have to pull away after two long smooches on their lips. This tests her patient beyond comprehension, and when they pull in for a hug again, she is pulling at his blazer as if ready to tear it apart.

Of course, their moment is broken apart then and there – a bunch of friends come over to see Harry.

Harry slickly removes himself from her hold to greet his friends and their friends back in a hug. She is aware of the chances that they would circle around him one way or another and push her out of his circumference (a very common occurring for her and her famous boyfriend now).

So, without much thought, she fights her way through clinging onto Harry’s side, clutching onto his hip like a twin. His arm naturally comes to fall around her shoulders and by god’s grace, they stay in this position for the long that people wish to talk to him.

Some people approach her too but her little smile and nod here and there is all they get. Somehow, she is not in the mood to interact at all with anyone – which mostly she is not but right now especially.

With this little trick begins the series of how clingy Y/N could be.

Harry is surprised but also amused.

She does everything to make him at least hold her hand as he walks around, following behind like a lost puppy. He entertains her once in a while with a little shoulder rub, back rub, kiss to her temple and most, another peck to her lips. She is nowhere satisfied with this at any cost though.

And so, they go around and about the house together, stuck at the hip.

“What are you doing?” Harry chuckles and asks her as he finally pulls to a quiet corner in the middle of it all.

She only whines with a frown, pulling him by the collar of his shirt so that now he pins her to the wall.

His arms go around her again and he pulls her lower body to his while her shoulders stay stuck to the wall. Her arms immediately go around his neck to leverage support.

They are both a chuckling mess as his lips ghost overs her teasingly and as she struggles to pull them to her.

With the final touch of their lips, they are both moaning relief into their mouths, arms struggling to maintain a composure. Their lips lap over one another in a languid, slow rhythm, tongues breaking an even more messy angle to the romancing.

Everything, nevertheless, feels so perfect.

The mellow grinding of their hips on one another, the slow music in the background synchronizing with their groans and moans and the mismanaged, confused positioning of their arms who just want to be everywhere.

His palm curls her hair up on her head in one big fist as his fingers open to massage her top. She opens her eyes once to breathe and then she goes back into kissing him with a greater passion once she looks at him this indulged.

There is no better feeling reciprocated than when the one you missed had missed you back equally.

With all these thoughts and emotions, it is easy to ignore everything around you.

But thank you to the creators of phone ringtones for making them so loud; such a moment can only be interrupted by these devils.

“Are you kidding me --?”

She watching with big eyes as Harry pulls away to bring his phone in his hand and watch it light up.

“Damn it.” He curses in a low tone. “I think they are looking for us.”

“For you.” Her tone is so bitter that he looks up at her immediately, all concerned.

“Baby.” He pouts. “I promise we have all the night, the days. Let me just wrap this up as soon as I can and then there’s nothing coming for us.”

“Hmm.” She sighs loud, looking away from him in a savvy look.

He kisses her turned cheek. “Wait for me at the end. We’ll drive back in my car.”

He winks to her, and with a pat to her hip he runs after to complete this little obligation as soon as possible.

He is on his stomach, lying on the bed. His palms hold his chin up and his long legs are crossed in a position like a little child lazing in front of the tv.

She appears before him, sliding the doors of her walk closet open – her body in a sleek lacy set lingerie. She poses for a moment at the door, one arm sliding up the sill while the other curves on her hip.

He pounces out of the bed in just one twitch of his body reacting to her and is immediately scooping her body in his arms as their lips meet.

She is like jelly in his hold – letting him squeeze, massage, feel around as he likes and however he likes; and when he comes down to pick her up in his arms, it is the easiest task in the world.

She clings onto his upper body equally well as her legs wrap around him; and he is swaying her in his arms as he carries her to the bed, erupting a bunch of playful chuckles between them.

“We should do this more often.” He sighs so when once they are through with rounds after rounds in the night and finally laying calm and comforted beside each other.

She is covered and comfortable wrapped in the duvet beside him, laying on her stomach with sleep drooping eyes. Her face still glistens with the tiredness of their activities but the glow from her contentedness is beyond anything else.

He watches her as he lays to his side, one hand running slowly up and down her back delicately.

“Do what more, Harry?” She fakes a troubled tone.

He snickers under his breath. “You know, the missing each other too much sometimes.”

“Mmhmm.” She nods, sleepily. “I miss you always anyways.”

“Hmm?” He muses.

She smiles and lifts up on her arms, shoulders perking up in the air. “I miss you even when you are in the city; even when I have seen you the night before; or even when you walk out of the door to work every morning –“

She counts on her fingers along too.

He cannot help the goofy chuckle come up again. “That’s a little obsessive, you know.”

She gasps exasperatedly, jumping to him to pull him to herself by his neck. “That’s how I love!”

His laugh is contagious as they wrestle around in the position for a bit, ending up getting tickled and jumping away from one another at once.

“This is what you chose.” She reminds him, a big teasing smile on her face.

He agrees, moving forward to kiss her in reminder of the fact.

“All your talking’s kind of got me all hard again.” He says close to her face.

She releases a fake cry and groan, rolling onto her back. Harry is quick to grab her side and pull her as he muses in her little act. Of course, if he’s up for another round, she cannot say no. The entire night won’t be enough to compensate for all the missing this past month.

So, much convinced with the idea, Harry is the first to announce loud to the walls and furniture of the room:

“Baby, it’s on!”

#harry styles #harry #styles #imagine #harry styles imagines #imagines #writing #harry styles writing #smut #angst #love #harry styles fanfiction #blurbs #harry styles blurbs #one shot #harry styles one shot

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malethirsty · 4 years

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Top Marks: Fessy Shafaat

Summary: You knew what you wanted: Your former Professor Fessy Shafaat. Would he want you? The answer was more surprising that you thought.

Warnings: M/M smut (21+), Bareback (Wrap Before You Tap!)

Your UNI reunion was a massive affair. People whom hadn’t seen each other in years, all arrived at the Town Hall for a night of boozy indulgence, snobbishness, dancing to obnoxious EDM and reinvigorated connections. You weren’t really up for any of it. You only wanted to restore contact with your former Professor Fessy Shafaat.

Back when you took English with him, you were enamored by his kind nature & his guidance of your skills. In a year, you had turned poor grades into As, making you a skilled Pen smith. Along with his guidance, his good looks also helped, you often found it a bit tricky to concentrate on what others were saying cause you were spending so much time gazing at his toned muscles, wondering what it would be like to rip off his shirt & ride him till he came screaming your name. Knowing that you had to be professional, you kept yourself together, but now he was no longer your teacher, you could pursue him.

You soon spotted him over by the non alcoholic punch bowl. You darted over, using the punch as a ice breaker “Hey Professor Fessy!” He glanced over grinning “Hey Y/N! Nice to see you again” “Likewise” you grinned gesturing to the punch “Had a glass? You might want to before someone spikes it, you know how these things go.” “Good point” Fessy drew up a glass, you pulling up a chair next to him. “So, how have you been?” He asked.

Over the next half an hour, you told Fessy of your plans to Live Blog life, to try and capitalize on the Instagram Influencer trend that was occurring and your new apartment arrangements in the city. “So how have things been with you?” You asked Fessy “I’m taking some time away from work to do a bit of soul searching, to find who I am.” “And what have you found so far?” you inquired “That I should take more risks & if something or someone is in front of me and I want to achieve them, I should.” Right now, you & Fessy were very close, no one seemed to notice, everyone incredibly drunk. “I know you think I’m hot and you’re right, I am. I want to take a risk on you Y/N, fuck you till you’re screaming for me, let’s get out of here.” You stood very rapidly, Fessy letting a grin out, as you made your way out of the hall.

Knowing other more sober people in the burb would talk if you & Fessy drove off together, so Fessy led the way, you following behind. The tension was white hot, and eventually you were both able to park your cars and head into 20th Flooring Space. “I’m on the penthouse, want to go in?” “Fuck yes” you groaned as Fessy steered you towards the elevator. You made it up to his office space and crossed through the waiting room, to get to where Fessy was managing his soul search trip. You got a glimpse of the well set up office, which included a fancy skyline, before you were backed into the door. Fessy was kissing you, your dream man was kissing you. You returned the kiss with vigor, finally getting to grab on Fessy’s hot body, the thick bulging muscles on his beautiful caramel skin. “Fuck” Fessy groaned, breaking it “That was good” he suddenly turned stern, a hot kind, not one that would make you shrink away but a kind that would get you horny “You wanna be daddy’s slut Y/N?” You nodded eagerly, Fessy’s hands in your hair and pulling you down to the floor, then going to his pants “Well then, suck daddy’s dick.” As his dick came out, you gasped, it was so beautiful, so massive and matched up exactly how it was when you pictured your former Professor. “Get to it.” Fessy growled, grabbing your head and shoving you forwards, realizing you needed to concentrate, you started to suck his dick, gagging a little, Fessy pulling back. “Y/N, breathe through your nose if it gets too much.” You continued your sucking using the breathing advice, grabbing Fessy’s still clothed ass for leverage “Ahh. Yeah, that’s good Y/N, get it wet cause soon that will be up your ass!” You caught your breath, Fessy was finally going to fuck you!

Fessy held you there for a good solid five, and you had also alternated between his dick and his balls which led to him growling out in pleasure “Fuck, Y/N, you’re so damn good. God if I keep going I’m gonna blow in your mouth.” You pulled off briefly to look up at your former Professor, blissed out on you “Do it sir, I’ve waited too long for you, spill down my throat.” That was all it took, Fessy grabbed your head and shoved you back down, now going at a rougher pace “OH FUCK! You’re such a slut for me, making my cock so damn hard, you’re gonna take all of me, and after you’re done, you’re gonna look at me with those pretty eyes & say ‘Thank you Professor Shafaat, thank you for using me like the whore I am’” he continued for a few more moments before a massive moaning yell escaped his mouth, his load shooting down your throat, tasting salty but so sweet. You looked up at Fessy and recited your line, causing him to pick you up, slam you against the door and kiss you again.

“Let’s get naked” Fessy grinned. You pulled off his shirt revealing his beautiful caramel torso, he looked like your protector, someone who would bend heaven & hell to keep you safe whilst he fucked you deep. Fessy also pulled off all of your clothing “Now I don’t understand why when they said ‘Best Dressed’ you would come in that suit when this one looks better.” Fessy grinned, grabbing his cock and stroking it. He made his way to the desk & sat down “Come here & bend over the desk & stick your ass out for me.” Again, you did as he instructed, taking effort to not shove anything off his desk that he needed “Babe, I’m gonna prepare you for my cock now, it’s gonna be a bit painful but tell me if you want to stop, I want this to be amazing.” You nodded & suddenly Fessy had slid a finger up your ass, it was a bit odd but Fessy soothed you “That’s it babe, you’re doing so well.” You moaned under his praise, hearing him praise you was always good, you pushed backed and moaned when Fessy added another finger. You began to work over them, groaning out “That’s gonna be my cock in a moment” Fessy told you, making you groan “Fuck yes Fessy, I need you!” “How badly do you need me?” “Sir, I’ve wanted you for so long, wanted to ride you at your desk, whilst getting to grips with your beautiful chest, wanted you to take me to yours & fuck me so good on the bed, I need you Fessy, please fuck me!” Fessy surveyed you before pulling you up “Let’s get this crap off my desk.” He said as he shoved all his documents, even his laptop off of the wooden surface before placing you back on it, him stroking his cock to prepare himself “No turning back babe, once you take me, I’m not stopping till we both cum” you nodded towards him & Fessy finally moved forwards, thrusted into your ass. Fessy started with a moderate pace, groaning as he started “Fuck Y/N, your hole is so fucking tight. It’s so warm, it’s taking my cock so well!” You groaned whilst grinning “That’s because I want you so fucking bad Fessy” “Well now you have me, and I’m gonna fuck you so good babe” and he did.

His pace increased and so did the passion, he left kisses down your neck, and bites as well, intending on giving you a massive hickey. You threw your head back as you moaned out loud “YES! Fuck me Fessy!” “Yeah you love this big dick, you’re taking me so well, you’re my perfect slut babe. Throw your ass back, work it for me.” You did as instructed, getting more of Fessy’s cock, you both moaning out a “Oh fuck!”

After a while of Fessy fucking you at his desk, he suddenly moved away. You looked around “Fessy why” your question was stopped by Fessy scooping you up & kissing you, he led you over to the skyline window surveying the city & placed your back against it, before fucking you again “I want to fuck you on the skyline, have other workers next door watch your back, only seeing a bit of how well I’m fucking you. I get the full damn show, and man do I like what I see!” You moved your hands over Fessy’s chest, you knew you wouldn’t last much longer & wanted to savour him. Fessy moaned as you did this “Yeah, admire my chest, see how my pecs bounce as I fuck you deep!” They looked beautiful, you turned your attention to them and watched as Fessy groaned as you worked them over “Fuck! That’s fucking amazing! Keep going & I’ll cum!” You finally found enough composure to speak “F-Fessy, the way my ass is tightening around you, I-I think I’m gonna cum!” Fessy led you back to his desk, sitting you both down in his chair. You road him roughly, both of you groaning so loud it filled the room. The tension was full blown, searingly white hot as you kept going before you finally both let out a scream, your load being shot over the both of you whilst his was shot deep in your ass.

You stayed there for a while, panting before Fessy kisses you again “Give me your phone number, I want to do this again.” You both moved to grab your phones to make the exchange, Fessy entering your number in his phone as you read it out. “Good, I think we need to get dressed, I’ll take you home and tomorrow I can begin to instruct you on sex.” “So there’s more than that?” You asked Fessy “So much more babe & you’re gonna love every. single. moment.” He broke up his speech with kisses & as you got dressed and left with him, you were happy and content, like you were on top of the world.

#Faysal Shafaat #male reader #Faysal Shafaat x Male Reader #Faysal Shafatt Smut

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mxrcayong · 4 years

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avatar series: 01.18

masterlist.

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chapter eighteen

Tari ignored her friends’ screams of disproval. She ignored them with every step she took to the stage, Amon seeming to glide to the middle of the sage. She ignored them with every ache of their being. She saw the guards stop hurting them, but now they’re restraining them – from coming closer and getting Amon.

She had to close her eyes and clench her teeth, trying to hold back her screams to let them go. But, she did what she insisted Sukiara planned for a back-up. Something no one else knew but her. Reaching into her pocket, she pressed the same button that told Lin to turn off the lights and get her metal bending police force to save the benders.

It was a protocol; press once for lights out, twice when it’s time to arrest, three times when it’s an emergency, and press four times to get her friends out.

One, she counted as she now reached the center of the stage. Amon turned around and looked sinisterly at their surroundings. Two. He towered over her, he must’ve been at least six feet – maybe just a bit taller than Johnny. Three. Tari turned around as well, looking at her friend’s faces – all of them pleading her not to go. Four. If she could tell them one thing now, she’d say ‘Sorry’ and ‘forget about me’.

And as the stage descended to the basement, she saw the lights go off.

The minute the sinking podium was out of view by the people on the upper floor, Amon turned to face Tari. Despite the danger it poses, Tari’s glad. Her friends are safer up there. And if something happens down here, they’re safe from her. Facing the fact this may very be her last moments, she didn’t hesitate to ask questions. “Why are you so against bending when you’re a bender?”

Amon only hummed in response, refusing to answer. His refusal fueled Tari’s fire – a fire she didn’t know she had.

“Answer me!” She stomped when a foreign feeling overtook her senses. Fire had just blasted from her fists, charring the podium below her. She still refused to use fire bending, even as they left, not feeling confident in it.

Once the platform made a loud thump at the impact of landing in the basement, Amon was quick to guide her off. A sinister smirk seemed to echo in his voice as he answered. “You wouldn’t get it. You have been birthed with the ability to be the most powerful…” He let out a dry chuckle, “…But it’s pitiful that you were born with abilities you can’t even use well.”

Tari’s fighting pose dropped, a feeling of insecurity rushing through her veins. “So you wanted the power?”

“Not only that but why should we be scared of people like you?” He continued. “You, well, an old version of you, took the powers away from my father. What gives you the right?”

Tari started walking towards him but at the slightest inch, Amon took a death grip on her. Tari felt her limbs locking, her muscles straining and bound as she couldn’t move her own body. It felt like her limbs were curling in itself, pain radiating each limb and blood cell. She was choking up at every small thing. “You…” She had to strain to choke the words out, the veins in her neck popping out as Amon lifted her off the ground – giving her the inability to move. “Your….father...” Just speaking the words felt like she ran a hundred miles, exhaustion overtaking her. “…he broke….the law…”

“A law of bending?” Amon was quick to retaliate. “How did you know I was a bender?” He growled.

Tari’s eyes darted behind him, where she noticed movement behind the endless number of shelves blocking the training area from their view. She caught sight of a blue cloak, and she knew who it must be. I must distract him.

“Do they know?” She prompted, ignoring his question.

Despite neglecting the question, it gave her the answer she needed. They didn’t know. He deflected the question by repeating his own. “How. Did. You. Know?” He growled, inching closer. His eyes of stormy seas were indeed the same as his fathers.

Tari gritted her teeth, before deflecting the question once more. “Like father, like son. Did he teach you how to blood bend?” A sudden confidence urged her way through her bones, through her mind. She couldn’t care less about the consequences – of getting hurt. In order for Sukiara to come through, she needs to give her leverage. And that means distracting Amon. Like she said, she’d do anything for this fight – for her friends. And if that means going through unbearable pain and dying…she’d do it. “He was a coward. And I can see you’re the same. Hiding behind your…guards?” The more she speaks, the more force he inflicts on her – she felt as if her bones were snapping. If he were to merely place a knife gently on her neck, it’d for sure cut her the pulsating veins.

“I guess it takes a coward to know one.” He growled back, now bringing Tari into a kneeling position on the floor. “And I was hoping to take away your powers in front of a crowd.” He let out a sinister laugh, “Imagine the sight! The ‘all powerful’-“ He put air quotes, mocking her more. “…Avatar losing her powers and becoming like everyone else in front of the whole word…what a powerful sight. More powerful than anything you could ever be.”

Tari rolled her eyes, her body too exhausted to fight back and resist blood bending any longer. She knew he was still holding her captive in his hold, but it became less painful as she stopped resisting– it became more like a thousand needles plunged into her skin. She had a feeling he was speaking the truth, she agreed with every word he said. But the people needed an Avatar.

Tari didn’t realize she started crying. She didn’t know how long for – but she knew she couldn’t blame just the strain of being blood bended. Tari’s tired. She’s sick and tired.

When she noticed Amon inching closer and closer, she felt no urge to fight. She felt weakened. And maybe, just maybe, if she loses her powers – another Avatar will be chosen. And maybe, just maybe, the world will be better.

“I would say like past life,” He said as he now stood in front of her. Tari closed her eyes, preparing to feel his fingers press against her. She was unsure if she willingly lifted her chin or not, but she was ready for impact. Every second of him talking felt painfully long. “but you��d never be anything like Aang. You’d always be the useless Avatar, incapable of-“

His words were cut short. Tari finally felt like she could breath, her body collapsed onto the floor.

Tari’s eyes shot open. And in front of her, she sees Amon shaking as he tries to break hold of being blood bended himself. Behind him was Sukiara, who showed no sweat, as she continued to constrict Amon. “Tari,” She called out, her icy blue eyes turning to look at Tari’s. “The dancing witch.”

And she remembered the trick Sukiara taught her called ‘the dancing witch’, something she had practiced with the body of a dead rat.

With a subtle nod, she lifted her arms and did just that. Tari ignored the feeling of bending blood; the crawling of ants down her spine, the rats scratching her insides. She ignored it and thought of her friends. It’s scary. For a bending so dangerous, it merely felt like annoyances to her body.

She thought of Doyoung – how much more attacks will he have to be threatened by before Amon loses control? And she thought of Kilari, who will definitely get injured more. And who’ll be there to heal her? She thought of Yuta and Jisung, who have to continue to hide their passions – who will have their passions ripped away from them.

She can’t let Amon win.

“You are nothing.” Amon growled, despite the constraints and pain he’s obviously feeling. He stopped resisting to the blood bending, realizing that he can’t beat the two of them. He knows he can’t win now, but he can break her spirits.

Sukiara screamed over his words, “Tari, think of your past lives.” The Avatar State was a state easily accessed by fully realized Avatars. Sukiara knew Tari was capable of being one, but she has never even claimed being one before. She decided to try and call upon anything that’d help unleash the state. “Tari, think of your friends.” The Avatar State came in moments of ultimate distress. “Are you sure they’re safe up there? If you let him go, if we just arrest him – they’ll always be in danger.”

Tari closed her eyes as she tried to concentrate on blood bending. But as soon as she closed her eyes, the view in front of her got amplified.

In the real world, her eyes widened and instead of her eyes – they were glowing blue. She was like a lantern inside and out. Without her singular control, as the other Avatars helped her movements, she started to float in the air.

The Avatar State was the state where she’d be connected to all the Avatars who had ever existed. Their shared knowledge easy to access, their thoughts and decisions combining into one person. Their shared power unstoppable.

Sukiara smirked, unable to hide her pride. She glanced upwards to where Tari was floating, and noticed her friends surrounding the hole – peering inside to what’s happening. All of them looked shocked, maybe even scared. Lin was with them, her guards behind her – ready to make the arrest.

Tari and Sukiara didn’t know that as soon as Lin tried to extract her friends, they fought back. Lin, luckily, managed to convince them to stand back and only come in during an emergency.

Tari was now floating above Amon, who was forced to kneel by Sukiara. “You are nothing.” He growled through his constricted voice, his mask hiding his struggle. He was repeating it like a mantra, as if it’s the only statement that could give him back the upper hand.

“No,” Tari smirked – her voice amplified with the voices of all the Avatars before her. She closed her eyes and focused on the floor beneath them – lifting up two rocks to trap Amon’s feet to the ground and trapped his arms in the air with the extended rock, acting as handcuffs. She iced the rocks over, trying to make sure he won’t break away.

As she continued to float above him, she removed his mask revealing the son who looks much like his father. She placed one hand on his forehead and the other on his chest, forcing his chin upwards. “I’m the Avatar.”

A blood curling scream echoed throughout the basement and the arena as dark blue light escaped from his mouth. His eyes radiated the same light, while Tari herself turned a light blue – as if she had a light radiating from inside her.

Everyone closed their eyes – blinded by the combined light, until Amon stopped screaming and the room became dark again. Amon was panting heavily, while Tari had collapsed onto the ground – unconscious.

The moment her landing echoed throughout the building was the same moment the ground started to shake - the Avatar State giving Tari more power than she had anticipated, making her falling onto the ground create a mini earthquake.

“We need to get out of here.” Sukiara called.

Everyone was quick to jump down, using their bending abilities as their connection to the floor to ensure a safe landing. Doyoung, however, was the first to land and was quick to use his air bending to help Sonan and Johnny jump down safely. Johnny sprinted towards Tari, carrying her bridal style, while chaos continued.

The ceiling above them were falling to pieces, crumbling bit by bit.

Lin broke Tari’s earth prison and put cuffs on Amon, whose hood has fallen off and his hair oily and a mess. “Where’s the closest exit?”

Jisung was quick to break a hole in the wall, creating his own pathway. “Let’s go!” He took control, screaming at everyone. He and Doyoung gave each other a nod, creating an overhead shield for the group – Doyoung creating an air shield while Jisung tried to hold as many rocks in the air as possible.

“Come on, Tari…” Johnny pleaded as he sprinted out the building with her in his arms, “wake up…”

request anything for future parts / penny for your thoughts here

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unproduciblesmackdown · 4 years

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i was gonna send an ask like "have you considered: 'anger is a type of geography' + 4x11" and then i checked and you actually had! but if you feel like considering it More then here's a free space

oh thanks for these Layers of Allyship re: humoring my repeated [anger geography sign tapping] and checking for things and then sending me asks about it all to invite yet more Consideration.........yeah i feel like i mentioned it at least once in tags or smthing lol??? but here comes yet more consideration / giving it an In The Text post if that doesn’t exist already yet either

the Anger Is A Type Of Geography Quote From Hanif Abdurraqib in question for everyone’s reference:

anger is a type of geography. the ways out of it expand the more you love a person. the more forgiveness you might be willing to afford each other opens up new and unexpected roads. and so, for some, staying angry at someone you love is a reasonable option. to stay angry at someone you know will forgive your anger is a type of love, or at least it is a type of familiarity that can feel like love.

like, yeah sure what with winston originally talking to lauren and mafee about this and taylor Happening to walk in on it, he probably wasn’t necessarily planning to go off on his Indignant Monologue to taylor right then and there, but the fact remains that he was willing to do so, and i definitely think that that wouldn’t be the case if he didn’t have this Respect for them and think that they have respect for him in turn, and if he didn’t also think that that mutual respect is holding hands with mutually valuing each other. like, he wouldn’t say it if he didn’t think taylor might actually listen / consider what he says, and he wouldn’t even Want to say it if he didn’t give a shit about them, because he’s not just complaining about “um i simply ask for more money,” it’s about the fact he Feels Disrespected by the implied deprioritization of tmc employees and that the way this (false lol) choice is presented to them being Unfair and disingenuous. like, you could (and im sure most viewers do) interpret the other stuff he says as just him backing up his “Pay Me” argument when all he really cares about is the Pay Me part, but a) that’s not how We roll and b) doesn’t make sense with winston being just as happy as anyone else in 4x12with taylor Apologizing re: many of these 4x11 points, despite them not saying they were gonna change the Bonus situation lol, and c) it Does make sense to think that the Mutual Respect between taylor and winston matters to him due to [see: the rest of this post]

well wait lol first of all yeah sure the money Must matter to him b/c nobody could possibly be in the world of High Finance as a passion project (except for taylor apparently lmao cuz i mean we know that the Real reason they are determined to stick with hedge fundery (and involved in the first place) is b/c they are the best part of the show and elevate all the other Lesser Elements of it as well) and also we can figure that this was probably winston’s first year working a Big Time Official Job and he doesn’t have the savings that other ppl might when they’ve been in the business multiple years, and this seems to be backed up by lauren referring to him as they guy who’d be the First One Smothered by either taking a bonus cut by 40% or not getting that bonus at all until a whole other year, which, like he seems to also imply, is also Unhelpful in that surely these investment finance people turn around and invest their own finances, and Bonus Now is better than Bonus Then b/c.....interest....Long Shares.......and also just like tfw you want your job to pay you.......but anyways Seriously [next paragraph]

cuz winston *must* be working at Taylor Mason Capital b/c he really values working with taylor more than, say, wanting a job that will make him the most money, or will necessarily look the best on a resumé if he’s just looking to up his stats, b/c yeah, this is sure an unlikely opportunity for him where this is what we’re assuming is his First Fancy Job and he’s getting to be the Top Quant right out of the gate, but he must also know that like, it’s still like “oh so you were head quant at a brand new fund :/” and also he must know that there’s a Risk with said fund and he might even end up having been head quant at a new fund that burned out really quick, super impressive........and, we Know that winston *knows* how good he is at what he does, even though he keeps getting dunked on for that like he’s sooo conceited lol like. he IS that good, sorry!!!! why should he downplay it, we don’t actually see him being one of these shitheads with a fragile ego trying to prove themselves Superior or whatever.....ANYWAYS yeah the point being that, winston claiming to have a lot of offers already in the interview might very well Not be any kind of bluff, and he’d surely know that he could rise through the Quant Ranks quickly enough at some other fund even if he started out as anything but Our Main Quant at those places.......and if Getting Tf Paid Top Dollar was really his primary concern, “go with the brand new hedge fund which doesn’t have Established History / Experience / Clout and has the one big investor but who knows what’ll come next and any business that Just opened is not your safest bet even if you trust in your own skill and in that of your ceo and you Know that even if you’re not immediately destroyed, funds will be tighter / of a Lesser Amount than at a bigger established fund”.........the now-dramatic-irony of him talking about how those Tech Firms Out West pay guarantees, not bonuses.........like, when he was trying to get onboard with axe cap, he was obvs interested in trying to leverage to get Paid more, which is like, not necessarily winston wanting to be a trillionaire but also just how stupidly everyone’s supposed to like Play The Game of negotiating / leveraging / calling your employer’s bluff to get a certain starting salary / get a raise or whatever, dumb as hell baked-in Requirement........discuss your wages with coworkers gang!!! anyways. and but Also winston makes it clear when interviewing for axe cap that Working With Taylor Mason has appeal, even if he’s flippant about it, cuz he’s flippant about all of it cuz that’s his shtick here.....

like, when it’s Taylor Alone who calls him back eventually, he’s fine with meeting up with Just Them, and later on meeting up with Just Them (and the other quants, rip) again, and agrees to work in this lil basement evidently Not on axe cap premises b/c he’d been at axe cap’s offices and this is Not That Place......and yeah him talking about taylor selling axe on using his algorithm in kompenso sure implies that winston has this whole time Assumed that all of this was still ultimately in the service of axe cap.......and he was apparently fine with reporting to Taylor Alone and not getting to rub elbows with any other higher-ups, and he’s obviously pleased well enough with a “good work :)” from taylor and isn’t like “hey be sure to tell axe & co i did this singlehandedly etc” or anything, and he’s not really complaining about the whole “work in this lil basement Not at axe cap hq with taylor mason dropping in at least once to check on you and that’s about it” situation, which obviously is hardly that “You’re A Valued Axe Cap Employee” treatment one might expect if they wanted that.....winston’s glad that taylor called him, he’s trying to appeal to them and what *they* want to see rather than how he tried to go for what he thinks [a place like axe cap] would wanna see like he did in the interview, he’s showing up at this weird basement rendezvous to be on a 3 person quant team of taylor’s, he’s fine to not only do this on his own but also accept those increased demands that make it a [fifty(? or 15, either way) phds would work on this]-Level task, and then he’s glad just to have taylor’s approval at the end of the day.......they Wouldn’t have been able to promise him any leverage of “please do your best work on this” with like, promotions / clout within axe cap or axe-cap-levels of Lots Of Payment b/c like, well taylor wouldn’t outright lie anyways but also Especially wouldn’t if they wanted to keep this quant around for tmc, so winston must never have been asking about that kind of thing

and then, bless your Missing Scene fic but there’s zero canon content re: “uh how/when did taylor break it to winston that this algorithm was for their own fund actually and btw do you want to work for that fund instead,” but presumably it went smoothly enough, he was already happy to Effectively work for them alone apparently even if he still thought that yeah, he was working for taylor who was working for axe........just Yeah altogether it’s evident that “Working With Taylor Mason” must matter more to him than “working with any Other big name financiers” or “getting paid as much as he can get” or “raking in that clout asap to leverage with Other jobs or just like, in general.”

and then of course you have the fact that taylor is Recognizing his ability by calling him back and offering him this job, going “despite your demeanor your skills are superior” and “those other two were sweet, but you’re more talented, i need you,” [praying hands emoji], and giving him this Second Chance and entrusting him with this Solo re: building this algorithm which, unbeknownst at the time to him, is really this linchpin of their hopes & dreams of launching their own secret fund here, and really they must’ve been planning from the start to keep him around if he succeeded b/c it’s not like the algorithm and their whole planned Quant Department wouldn’t continue to be integral to the fund’s success, it wouldn’t really be ideal to have this guy be the one to build an algorithm to reel in an investor who’s working in.....wait for it......billions of dollars here, and then be like, okay bye dude. they must Know how good he is same as winston knows how good he is, and him being Head Quant from the very start was surely never just about mase cap having precious few employees at the very start of things....they could’ve like given him that Lead Position temporarily or whatever, they’re ceo. but they really do value him as like, maybe he doesn’t have the ideal ~personality~ for what fucking ever, either for being Properly Assertive and Impressively Flashy like axe cap might want, or just easy to work with, which taylor would care more about than axe cap would lol, but yknow, they value his Abilities and surely they must also value his efforts re: I Promise To Try and re: his really singlehandedly making that brilliant amazing algorithm which evidently did the trick as they hoped it would

and then......dare i get to the Emotional part of things, the Interpersonal....the anger and the love...............

i mean already when winnie n tay are having their post-math-meetup meetup, aka the first time they’re meeting After their disastrous really-first meeting aka the Interview, you have winston taking a way more grounded approach to this “yeah i want to work for you please accept me” process which is obviously in response to what he thinks Taylor wants from him based on the mess of the interview, evident thanks to winston telling them that he’s been thinking about all of that.......and i mean, part of taylor’s whole thing is they have that grounded approach pretty much always lol, (or try to....Want to...), but they sure seem to Also be bringing this effort to Accommodate him based on the hot mess of the interview, wherein yeah they wouldn’t’ve expected to have to ever interact again with this person they were dunking into the trash (and of course from that Meta Perspective, the scene when originally written was meant to be winston’s only appearance ever), but they really seem to also be bringing a more dialed down approach, letting him talk first and going along with his “you ever done math meetup” intro until he’s the one who changes the subject, and i really see that Head Tilt as a sympathetic one lol, not necessarily like “awww :’0″ levels lmao but still like. they Know he’s likely to have some [emotional vulnerability] re: what last went down between them since they weren’t especially gentle with him then, and they like, demonstrably give a shit about that fact lol. they’re also not just wholly swinging in the other direction to make up for it or anything lol but they’re Also making it clear that, yknow, they’re willing to work with him For Real, not just in this “are you willing to work for me, y/n, okay great” way, but in this way of [winston making an effort to make things easier on taylor] and [taylor making an effort to make things easier on winston] which is already playing out here between them.

and the whole matter of winston’s seemingly genuine Dismay at messing up even part of this exchange, i.e. the “[wince-ston] damn it, sorry,” like, sure maybe he just really wants the job, but [see: everything above about how he Must primarily want to work with taylor re: wanting any of these jobs lol] and, after all, he “oh shit, sorry”s @ them when he’s well-established as their Head Quant in ep 4x08 and generally shows this directed-at-self displeasure at thinking he’s messed something up even without some clear “your (potential) job is on the line” element......he just Doesn’t Want To Disappoint Taylor Themself, doesn’t need some particular fear of further repercussion behind that.

and speaking of Lack Of Fear, you Know we love to point out how kompenso (and really winston’s :/ + “sure, why not :\”ness at the end of 3x09 lol) demonstrates that winston isn’t afraid of taylor either as an [intense and unusually-demeanor'd person who Does apparently strike people as Scary(tm) sometimes lol] or as this Esteemed Rising Star Axe Cap Higher-Up or simply as his de facto boss.........he’s not raring to tell them that the other quants bailed b/c of his own disapproval lol, but he’s honest as soon as they deduce as much, the tone of “fine, yes, big time” + his standing up to get even closer to them instead of just shaking in his desk chair like :c pls forgive me obviously does Not convey that he’s terrified of them, and then the rest of that interaction jsut being like, ugh god so fucking essential, they’re both able to stand face to face and be like I Am Looking Directly At It / I Do See It re: each other, both of them just continuing to be Honest and Direct with each other, God.....taylor might’ve swatted his metaphor away but he was not all that put out, and then they’re Using His Own Language by bringing it back three seconds later, like, yeah sure at this point they have a vested interest in this individual quant (the only one left lol) accepting this Demanding Task, but a) they’re not exactly playing it cool on that front, they Just said “i need You,” it’s unlikely that this is just some all manipulative tactic here by encouraging his metaphor after all lol and that’s hardly their style anyways even if they Can be strategic(tm) about things, and b) they’ve Just Previously adopted his own words lol with winston having said “as for not being a dick” and taylor saying “you backslid into being a dick” (combining His Phrasing with Theirs aka “if you promise not to backslide”....god!!!!!!)

and so then yeah to top it all off winston even ~pushes his luck~ lol by being a lil deliberately rude re: his ex-coworkers lmaoo, and you get taylor’s Reaction to being sort of tested here to be Closing Off Their Expression (speaking of....their tiny lil Eyebrow Twitch when winston infers that he’s making something to pitch to an investor.....god!!!!!! a) winnie n tay and b) emmy) and making it clear that their interest in him acting Easy To Work With was a practical matter......winston watching them go up the stairs, taylor looking back at him as they Ascend and he gets back to his desk.....jesus

the point being!!! they vibe with each other so well by Kompenso already and just *get* how the other operates and communicates and Neither Of Them are offput by the other, Neither Of Them are unwilling or uninterested in meeting each other where they’re at, and each exerting this effort to really work with each other........and how winston is Not intimidated by taylor as either someone who’s so ~weird~ and can be so Intense, or as someone who is his boss lol........which yknow we always also point out as Important re: tayston developing from this point, where taylor would be careful in how they approach winston about fwbship but would feel like it was even reasonable to consider it in the first place thanks to not having to feel like oh he definitely wouldn’t feel comfortable being honest if he wanted to say no / wasn’t sure

also Yeah It’s Billions but winston freely swearing with the F-word when they’re assessing the completed algorithm, which taylor has no reaction to lol.......the both of them being Hyped about this algorithm lol, like, Of Course they’d both be, but it’s fun :)

and then 4x03, with winston not acting terrified about there being potential Algorithm Problems, and taylor making sure to be like “don’t you dare blame latency” lol like which obv he May Have been planning to mention lol since he’s intending to give this technical answer rather than throwing out his Front Running / Interference Theory like mafee then does.....fun little moment too anyways.......taylor Allowing winston’s tangent about being cassandra and emails and “it’s pronounced owned,” like, they’re not raring to Interrupt / cut him off even if it’s Not obvious what he has to say is absolutely crucial and considered relevant by everyone else, and they’re not telling him he’s a stupid idiot and wasting their time or anything else before sending him away.......imagine. and just think about the beauty of winston very intently / earnestly saying his “i’m cassandra: Always Seeing The Future” right to taylor.

and in 4x08 they build on his metaphor Again after having just Validated him despite everyone else really wanting to do the opposite lol......i “lol” but would everyone else lay off a little Lol......his self-reproach upon Registering that disapproval / oh-no-i’ve-messed-upness again.......then despite winston Standing Right Beside and then Sitting Right Behind taylor they don’t really interact l o l .....we have taylor being all “why is He so happy” and silently observing his Solo “i won” moment, rip, but also congrats.....and then i suppose that covers the Prior To 4x11 stuff lol

just......even re: the relative little we’ve Seen between them up to that point, winston might not have intended to talk to taylor right then, and he might or might not have intended to eventually talk to them in front of anyone else, but You Know He Knows that taylor listens to him, and that he doesn’t have to like, say things in what other people think is The Right And Effective Way to talk (even by billions’s fucking off the shits standards on that front lol), because taylor Does care about what he actually means and what his actual intentions are, not just “oh that very direct/honest thing you said Seemed rude whether you intended it or not”.......the “sad” after his yngwie malmsteen metaphor was the only time they’ve critiqued something like that lol and they then used that metaphor, So, and they’ve copied him calling himself a dick lol, and they built on his Sword metaphor, and they’ve just always been interested in Understanding him and communicating effectively with him, not in trying to get him to communicate differently or just making sure he knows He Should Feel Bad about how he Does communicate, though god knows the latter is something that everyone else seems to be somewhat #about. god knows some axe capper would have that “are you finished?” simply be the Purely Rhetorical intro to their barrage of Dunking-Upon insults, although it sure seems possible that that could’ve been sort of gently dismissive enough anyways to Encourage winston to not be finished even if maybe he would’ve stopped there otherwise.....but everyone else follows taylor’s lead in Not Actually Interrupting Him at any point, despite all the 9_9 and >:| as it were, and like, even though taylor then lets this whole thing end just with mafee going tf off on winston and bullying him into deferring and would-be deference, b/c winston might have this amount of moxie and he might be honest and he might not be scared of taylor (or anyone else here really) but he’s obviously not that assertive and definitely not that aggressive, he’s self-loathing, he’s easily put out, and all of this just bolsters how much it means that he communicates so well with taylor, b/c they’re Not interested in anything that would be counterproductive to actual effective communication but which might be “productive” if they had a goal of wanting to twist his arm about anything or pressure him into acting a certain way or just fueling their own ego or sense of superiority, axe cap style. they Value all his actual input and they have this respect for him where they don’t Want to bully him even if it’s not that difficult, like, yeah mafee was being mean to him for sure and trying to insult him into simply shutting tf up rather than like, actually responding to any of his points or doing anything but reinforcing them, but also winston has been Put Out by milder [negative responses] too, it’s of course more than just “i respect you too much to like, yell at you and try to diminish you”

and Frankly Winston Was Right and he may have been Indignant and he may not have been ~polite~ about it (though like, relative to how he is generally this Direct And Honest, there’s also not all that much evidence he’s deliberately trying to add some extra servings of Rudeness or anything) but once again like with the “as for not being a dick, i can’t absolute guarantee it” moment and the “fine, yes, big time” moment, and the “im sure it’ll go faster without the dead weight; Whoops ;)” moment, and the [talking about the algorithm problems] moment, and him freely jumping in with the “this plan might get us killed (not literally)” and “it’s b/c it sucks that they had to decapitate their dad, also not literally lol....although...” remarks, he’s just like, never afraid to tell taylor something that sure might not be the most pleasant for them to hear, and sure might not be something they Want to hear. and what’s Honest is that he’s Angry about this, and they won’t want to hear that and that they will even less want to hear his Honest Thoughts about why this is unfair, but he’s willing to say that to them, and even though we were like “haha boy winston if this isn’t fixed big time you might wanna quit :/” it’s also like, he must’ve trusted them to not wanna just fire him for lack of reverence to his ceo, and we can Juxtapose this with a) the scene that we’re set up to juxtapose it with, wherein a group of axe cappers carefully tell axe he’s being dumb as hell and might fuck all of them over, and axe tells them all to shut the fuck up b/c He Is Their Sun and he can do what he wants and get the fuck out of here, and we can also juxtapose it with b) winston being jumped on immediately in The Interview for ~lack of reverence~ to the potential employer, putting on this cocksure hotshot act (trying to..) and daring to express confidence in himself and be like “i should be interviewing you” / you should be selling to Me lol......jump to 4x11 and winston is caught off guard, he’s not putting on any kind of act, he’s not trying to appeal to anyone, sure mafee might turn it around on his [last we checked, the quant hates himself]ness, but this wasn’t about Winston Lashing Out b/c he’s angry at himself, he’s angry at Them for not valuing him, for what he perceives as them not even *really* giving them the option of the 60% Now approach, which sure seems to be justified seeing as apparently nobody but lauren goes for it and after winston invokes the Peer Pressure / pressure to seem Loyal / Committed by deferring, mafee immediately uses that [social pressure] to crush his dissent........where was i. right like. winston’s truly just Mad At Someone Else this time, he wouldn’t be here if his self-esteem was so low that he was immediately ready to just accept and absorb this treatment, and he Knows that taylor will actually listen to him which is their fuckin Mutual Respect thing and who tf else does that for him all the time, and he knows that taylor doesn’t value their own ego above everything else Unlike Some People, and he knows that he can be honest and get an honest reaction and that their honest reaction to his honesty is not “ugh you’re stupid / annoying / rude / etc,” b/c he’s Not, and that might be everyone else’s idea of him to some degree, but taylor Gets him better than that

and then you don’t quite have taylor being obviously Angry back, but they’re not exactly thrilled, and letting mafee go off on winston / effectively telling him they expect him to consider That the response and in turn respond back to that, can sure be interpreted as an expression of something a little short of pure goodwill and best intentions towards him here lol......again, i lol through the pain.......winston only has further reason to be angry, his Complaints weren’t resolved in the least and he came in all “i feel disrespected” and surely that’s only been doubled down on, b/c this isn’t Just “pay me goddamnit,” it’s really also just about the fundamental respect itself, which he figured that taylor cares about too, and so this would be something he could appeal to / expect them to earnestly.....he feels like none of them are being valued more than this feud with axe cap, he (maybe) feels like said feud is causing the quants’ work to be deprioritized in favor of more elaborate schemes based on “what will screw axe over specifically,” he feels like he’s not being valued as a Very Important Employee, he feels like this False Choice thanks to Social Pressure is insult to injury, like they’re not supposed to get a real chance to question this. boy i’m really just going off talking about any and all aspects of this huh, where’s the Anger Geography core here

well here it is: winston doesn’t ever talk to taylor in any more Filtered way due to them being his boss / him feeling a need to be more careful around them, if anything, they’re the one person he can be Least filtered around, b/c they care about What He Actually Means and aren’t all hung up on whether his communication style seems gratingly weird / wrong / offputting. winston isn’t bringing any particular leverage to this situation, yeah sure he pointed out He’s Valuable but he also did that in the interview with even less leverage and in the basement when he thought he was just working on some weird side project for axe cap in this remote quant dungeon - he’s counting on them to just Listen To Him and care about what he means, same as he always does and like they’ve done thus far. and he’s Temporarily Burned by this, which is tragic, but then 4x12 happens, and who knows if taylor and winston talked between these scenes at all cuz billions sure won’t say at all, but either way winston sure seems to pick up on the fact that taylor is responding to his Complaints here, the implication they were taking a too-axe-esque approach to them now answered by taylor deliberately differentiating themself from axe, and asserting that they Do value their employees and their contributions, and that taylor has this responsibility to them, and maybe Had gone astray there with the revenge jag but aren’t actually interested in that being the core of everything.........winston is Validated and we realize it and he seems to realize it lol, he definitely Was listened to, and he sure wasn’t like fired or anything, he Could Be Angry with them and that wasn’t going to lead to taylor wanting to sever even the Professional relationship or anything like that. sure seems to be no grudge held between them during the “q is for quantitative, babey” scene there lol and yeah it’s billions and shit moves fast / people will roll with A Lot of mistreatment apparently (see: winston also does not seem to harbor any grudge against mafee here lol but who knows) but the Fact Is, here they are, having found A Way Out Of [Anger], after having had this altercation which wouldn’t even have been possible if Winston hadn’t felt it was possible for them to interact like this, for him to be mad and be honest about that anger and the hows and whys of it and for that Not to be a dead end between them or something that could shatter the relationship entirely. and he was Validated!!!!

and guess who i also love to quote and paraphrase lol i also think of mariame kaba talking about interpersonal Conflict being possible Opportunities in a relationship, because working through said conflict can allow the relationship to grow / deepen / strengthen. which sure seems to Hold Hands with this idea: that you can Be Angry with someone because you already know that won’t break the relationship, and that even if you don’t already know that, going through that experience / process of Being Angry with someone and coming out the other side together will show that the relationship can handle that / will have involved gaining tools to be able to handle that going forward. and really like, we’ve seen winston Forgive taylor’s anger at him right off, and that may not be the sweeping heights of love but it came from Understanding (and....low self-es steam probably lol) but no really, he Shows that he understands why they reacted like that by behaving in this way that he figures is more in line with what they actually want, just talking and being direct with no boxes or [wags] or standard boring interview questions or posturing, showing he’s willing to work with them in the “please hire me” and “i’ll try to Behave” ways lol........and taylor is offering their own patience and sympathy and restraint and Understanding and willingness to bend.......things are happening on an emotional plane between them here.

and then after winston chooses to be on board with mase cap, and after he’s worked for them so long that it’s comp time baby, and after these few Sample Interactions we’ve seen in which taylor doesn’t cut winston down or show contempt for him and they continue to directly or indirectly validate him, winston can be Angry with them and taylor can (definitely Sorta) be Angry back, and winston surely even Stayed Angry after that scene in 4x11, and he didn’t quit, and was that [terrible self-esteem actually lol] or was it him believing that there could be a way out of this state of anger between him and taylor? both?? we get to decide!! b/c he’s sure not Validated and Vindicated until later lol.....what does he sit there on that couch alone in that room and Think in those moments...........and then once things Are better resolved, they have this whole [episode of conflict] in their history, and like is the whole Point of all of this, that’s hardly necessarily just some awful and unfortunate thing.......their relationship can survive something like that, and the conflict sure sparked this kind of Genuine Interaction between them which couldn’t have happened if winston just shied away from all this / kept it to himself because he didn’t think taylor would Listen or Care or Understand.

and it’s Not Just About The Money, and even when he expresses that he’s upset about this perceived disrespect / not being valued as an employee, we Know that he’s not someone who’s got this need to feel superior to everybody else / like he’s always Winning, and we know he’s not after Maximum Clout, but he does want to Work With taylor and he evidently wants to feel valued By Them, who does happen to be his boss and does have this avenue to potentially treat any employees unfairly. and we know that winston *knows* in this objective way how good his work is, and both winston and taylor have acknowledged that yeah, His Work / professional quantly ablities have value, so winston Knows he should expect for that to be valued in the form of “your quantributions are important and you’re getting paid to reflect that”........and that he feels like he’s for once not being Allowed Honesty re: everyone supposedly being pressured into deferring is like..........what do he and taylor have if not earnest, open communication b/c they both value and respect what the other Really Has To Say!!!!!! that’s winnie n tay and it’s also tayston.

which, speaking of which, Sidenote: when it comes to tayston hcs we generally have this as a “they’re not currently doing Their Thing at this point anyways, and maybe the fact that that’s been ended (and they Haven’t been talking through this particular conflict yet) is adding to the tension / anger / feeling of not being valued hahaha rip” deal lol, but also if they Were still currently in their fwb/[???]ship like obviously this would spill over and probably require an at-least-temporary halt to give everyone some space seeing as it’d be a little impossible to truly completely Set That Aside in the recent aftermath l o l ......but despite the lingering tension / awkwardness that would be present whenever they Do next meetup [imagine: an I Was On The Phone With You, Sweetheart phonecall prior to 4x12′s scene?? wrow] the layers to that ensuing sex lol......reunion sex? makeup sex? not-hate-sex-but-maybe-still-needing-to-vent-a-lil-Emotional-frustration-maybe sex? maybe all of the above and more

ANYWAYS even i don’t know why this is so long, and also it’s 7am. i definitely think that winston trusted taylor and the Relationship between them to be able to handle Anger (his, for once, lol) and for that Anger to even potentially be something Constructive. and he was right. and in 4x12 he’s there with them at the very end, wearing the tmc logo, standing behind them in the hellhole which is axe cap hq, knowing that taylor is the one person (here, certainly) who definitely Gets and who’s Got him, who’s asserted this loyalty and commitment to him after he’s certainly done that re: them, and once again winston definitely has this Choice to be here with them just like he must’ve had that choice to join up with their fund in the first place, he’s never been trapped with them or forced into alliance with them, and we just Know that he’s not choosing to be here just for Linkedin reasons / what’s best for career advancement and/or for raking it in as best as he can manage and/or for gaining clout and status or whatever, and we sure never see him reaping some kind of deluxe treatment/benefits just for being closely associated with taylor / having their approval. everything we see points to winston caring most about what happens between him and taylor and that he gets to work with them and that he’s here because of that mutual respect and value for each other.

and really, the show also repeatedly tells us that winston Does basically have these world-class abilities and *is* that valuable, and we know that winston Knows how good he is, and he must’ve legitimately had all those offers and known that he’s really good enough that these places Should compete for him. he must’ve known that he has this Potential here and all of these options laid out in front of him, and he takes taylor’s call and shows up in a basement for them and singlehandedly writes an algorithm good enough to found their fund upon and he follows them there when now he’s got this Proof of just how incredible his work is and could’ve leveraged that anywhere else. but his relationship with taylor has always had this personal aspect to it and the fact is that, even with his choice of Paths laid out in front of him, he chose and keeps choosing the geography of winnie n tay. Love. thank you and goodnight

#time to attempt a nap!!!! Them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#winston billions #tayston #nothingunrealistic1

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duhragonball · 5 years

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Dragon Ball Z 229

Last time, Vegeta blew a hole in the Budokai stadium!

What do you have to say for yourself, Vegeta? “I’m a baaaaaad wittle boy.”

The crowd flees the arena, and even 18 is disturbed by Vegeta’s actions. She says she’s never sensed a ki like this before, wait, since when could 18 sense ki signatures? She couldn’t do that before.

Babidi, on the other hand, is thrilled, because 200 people were killed. Wait, why should that matter to him? That doesn’t help him reach his goal, unless he just enjoys innocent people dying on sheer principle. Babidi’s a terrific villain. He’s kind of underappreciated, really. The ranking should be 1) Cell, 2) Vegeta, 3) Buu, 4) Babidi, 5) Frieza.

The crowd pleads for Mr. Satan to save them from this tiny golden monster in their midst, so he steels himself and tries to get tough, but then he backs down and asks them nicely to settle down.

Vegeta ignores Mr. Satan completely, and tells Goku to fight him, unless he wants more people to get killed. At this, Goku suddenly realizes that Vegeta might have let himself get mind-controlled, just so he could make an ultimatum like this.

Vegeta’s only response is to shoot another part of the stadium. This isn’t a bluff, and it’s not a negotiation. If Goku won’t fight, then Vegeta will keep killing people until he does.

And you can tell that this pisses Goku off. Yeah, he wanted to fight Vegeta too, but not like this.

Gohan tries to intercede, but Vegeta just shrugs him off. He’s not listening to anyone except “fighting with Goku.”

So Goku turns Super Saiyan, and it looks like they’re going to throw down right here and now.

Vegeta basically admits to doing all of this on purpose. If Goku’s so intent on saving the world from Babidi during his one day back on Earth, then the only way Vegeta can get his undivided attention is to join Babidi’s team. Right now, the only way to stop Babidi is to go through Vegeta. Literally.

Here’s what makes this so awesome. I feel kind of goofy even explaining this, because it feels self-evident to me, but maybe there’s someone reading this who hasn’t watched DBZ before. In which case, dude. This is the stupidest possible way to experience DBZ for the first time. Just watch the show and come back later. This liveblog will still be here. Unless Wordpress shuts this site down.

Where was I? Oh, right. So what makes this work is that the Supreme Kai is absolutely right to call Vegeta’s stunt foolish.... but. But! Anyone who’s watched the entire series up to this point gets it. As horrible as it may sound, on some level, we wanted Vegeta to do something stupid like this, to piss Goku off, to really get him riled up, so that they would finally have their big rematch.

I remember when Goku first turned Super Saiyan. For a while there, they had all this Super Saiyan Goku merch, and Vegeta looked so ordinary in his regular non-Super Saiyan form. I thought it made sense for Goku to have this epic ascension, but it seemed like a waste that Vegeta would never be able to match it. How could their rivalry continue like this? They could never fight each other again, because Goku was so far ahead of him that it would have been pointless.

Then Vegeta turned Super Saiyan, and it looked like they could finally settle things, just as soon as they got all those damn dirty androids out of the picture. Only by the time that finally happened, Goku was out of the picture too. Now the rivalry was truly impossible, because they would never see each other again.

Then Goku comes back, for one day only, and it looks like we finally have this narrow window for Goku and Vegeta to fight. They even got paired off in the tournament bracket. First round, so there was no chance of Goku getting disqualified against Mr. Satan in some unlikely hijinks. The fight can finally happen. Goku vs. Vegeta, they’re both Super Saiyans or Super Saiyan 2′s or whatever, even steven, let’s see who comes out on top.

But now, here comes Babidi and the Supreme Kai, with all this Majin Buu bullshit, and Vegeta has to wait inside a spaceship for like an hour. And both sides of this conflict are idiots. The Supreme Kai has no idea who he’s dealing with. He didn’t know what Super Saiyans could do, he didn’t know Dabura and Yakon were on Babidi’s team, and his sidekick Kibito was the first one to die. The whole thing was dumb and quite frankly not nearly as awesome as Goku and Vegeta punching each other.

And let’s face it, after all these years, Vegeta’s still mad that Goku overpowered him way back in Episode 30 or whatever it was. Since then, Goku’s saved his life, first from Krillin, then from Recoome. Why, it’s gotten him so riled up just thinking about it that his face is all twisty. What the hell...?

Is it stupid? Yeah, it is. Like I said, the Supreme Kai is right. This is absolutely ridiculous. Vegeta’s risking the fate of the universe so he can settle a petty grudge. No one thinks this is worth it. No one gives a shit whether this sawed-off asshole gets his do-over. Well, I mean, the audience probably does. I know I always did. What I’m saying is that no one in-universe ever cared about this guy getting to avenge his pride.

But Vegeta cares, and the fact that he’s the only one who cares is probably why he’s so desperate and upset about making this happen.

I think this is what makes the character so appealing to people. In spite of all the shitty things he does, people can relate to Vegeta’s passion and to the sheer loneliness of that passion. We all have things we alone care about that other people dismiss as meaningless or unimportant. What’s the big deal? It’s just a TV show. It’s just a drawing. It’s just a story you wrote. It’s not that important. Meaningless, really. Let’s go back to what’s really important, which is making Gohan feel better about whizzing that fight with Dabura, or congratulating Mr. Satan for his championship victory. What a kooky character he is!

I think we’ve all been there before. I’m not saying we’ve killed 200 people to make the point, but we’ve been in situations where everyone laughed it off and dismissed how we felt because “what’s the big deal anyway?” And that’s one reason Vegeta leaves a lasting impression with people, because he’s powerful enough that he can make people understand why it’s a big deal to him.

Against all of this, all Goku can say in response is to call out to Babidi. He demands to be teleported someplace where there’s no bystanders. Some place, like... I don’t know... Goku Town.

We did do it, Babidi. This is awesome. Good job, everyone.

Then the Supreme Kai gets in between these two, and he’s all “No! This fight is too metal. I can’t allow it! If you’re going to fight Vegeta, you’ll have to fight me first!”

And Goku’s like “Sir, that was a very metal thing you just did, but please, get out of the way before I kill you.”

The Kai is stunned. Goku’s not bluffing here. He will kill the Supreme Kai right here and now, if that’s what it takes.

But the most awesome part is Vegeta’s reaction. He looks just as surprised to see how determined Goku is to settle this. He’s been so focused on getting this battle that he forgot who he was dealing with.

Defeated, the Supreme Kai stands down. He did a brave thing, stepping into Goku Town, but he knows he can’t pay the rent.

Man, this episode rules. The Surpeme Kai is just so... despondent. He’s completely lost control of the situation.

And Babidi’s convinced that he’s won. Once Vegeta and Goku start fighting, it’ll only be a matter of time before Vegeta inflicts enough damage to transfer the energy needed to revive Majin Buu. And nothing can stop that fight from happening. Everything’s coming up Milhouse Babidi.

So he grants Goku’s request and teleports them away. Mr. Satan is relieved, because this means he can claim they ran away before he could unleash his righteous fury.

So, I think this is the Giskard Wasteland, but I’m not up on my Dragon World Geography. This may even be the same setting as the original Goku/Vegeta fight, but I don’t feel like looking it up.

From here, the Supreme Kai bows to the inevitable, and accepts that Goku and Vegeta will fight. All he can do now is force open the hatch to Stage 4, so he and Gohan can proceed down Babidi’s ship and stop him before Majin Buu can be revived. Of course, that means he’ll have to risk jolting Babidi’s ship, which could accidentally break Buu’s seal prematurely, but at this point he has to risk it.

Note that this is precisely what Vegeta wanted to do at the start of the last episode. If the Kai had gone along with it then, he would be in the exact same predicament he’s in now, except he’d have three Super Saiyans backing him up instead of just one, and he wouldn’t have the ticking clock to worry about.

But Babidi has no intention of allowing the Supreme Kai to leave Stage 3 so soon, and he orders Vegeta to kill him and Gohan before they can carry out this plan.

But Vegeta refuses, insisting that he doesn’t care what Shin and Gohan do, so long as it doesn’t get in the way of his objective, which is to kick Goku’s ass.

Babidi has some sort of leverage here, as it seems to cause Vegeta physical pain to resist him like this, but he remains steadfast. Babidi might control him body and soul, but Vegeta still has his pride, which must be satisfied before he’d ever consider anything else.

Babidi is astonished, as this has never happened before. It begs the question of whether Babidi could ever truly control Vegeta. Maybe if he defeated Goku in battle, Vegeta might become more pliable. Or, perhaps beating Goku is the only thing keeping Vegeta and Babidi on the same side.

But Dabura convinces Babidi that they’re better off letting Geets and the Supreme Kai have their way. If Vegeta’s so determined to fight Goku, let him, because that’s good for Buu. And they might as well let the Kai and Gohan out of Stage 3, so they won’t accidentally break Buu’s seal early. It’s not like they can win on their own, since they’ll have to go through Dabura.

So Babidi opens the hatch, but before Gohan goes through, Goku gives him a senzu bean, because he remembered he still had some from when he got them for Gohan’s girlfriend. I like how Goku just casually says that, when the situation is too tense for Gohan to object. “Hey, son, before we start our epic laser battles, I just remembered that thing I got for that girl you’re in love with!”

Then he gives him one last piece of advice: Get angry, like he did when he fought Cell. Goku seems convinced that if Gohan is furious enough, it’ll make up for his ring rust.

Gohan takes minute to lament that Goku’s one day back in the living world ended up this way. It is kind of sad. Gohan just wanted to hang out with his dad, and all of this crap happens. It’d be kind of funny if Babidi controlled Gohan’s mind, and he blew up the stadium demanding a hug.

So they leave, and now it’s just Goku and Vegeta. Goku’s like “Fuck this, I can’t take any damage in this fight, so I’m gonna go balls to the wall, right now.” Well, that’s not his exact wording, but you get the idea.

So Goku turns Super Saiyan 2! Good job, Orange Brick DVDs. It’s worth cropping Goku’s head so we can see all that stuff on the sides.

Of course, no one calls it Super Saiyan 2, because he term hasn’t been coined yet. Vegeta just notes that Goku is stronger than Gohan was when he fought Cell, so you get the idea.

So then Vegeta powers up and now he’s a Super Saiyan 2, too!

When I first watched this arc, I honestly didn’t get that “Ascended Super Saiyan” was meant to be a distinct form, because it looks virtually indistinguishable from the original Super Saiyan. I learned to tell the difference eventually, mostly thanks to the video games, which allow you to compare the models before and after, but in this leg of the anime, it’s just about impossible. I think the animators had trouble keeping this straight.

The main feature I picked up on is that Goku’s SSJ2 form has beadier eyes, at least initially, and more of his bangs stick up. With Vegeta, I don’t even get that much to work with. His hair looks a little more “knife-y”, but that’s about it.

Anyway, Goku realizes that this will take a lot longer than he planned.

And this is it. Goku-Vegeta II. The fight we’ve all been waiting for, but at what cost?

#dragon ball #2019dbliveblog #babidi saga #goku #vegeta #gohan #supreme kai #babidi #dabura #mr satan #world tournament announcer #android 18

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blackswaneuroparedux · 5 years

Text

Anonymous asked: What do you make of Prime Minister Theresa May as her rules slowly comes to an end with the election of a new PM, probably Boris Johnson. An improvement? Will he be the one to get the UK out of Europe?

I never rated Theresa May, she was an ambitious but risk averse careerist like most of the modern Conservative Party. When she finally achieved her life time’s ambition by becoming Prime Minister, she made a mess of it.

Many years ago Enoch Powell, the great Conservative politician who was treated pariah for being so prophetic, stated the fate of all who climb the greasy pole of politics. He said, “All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure, because that is the nature of politics and of human affairs.”

The same fate awaits Boris Johnson.

Is Johnson an improvement? He will be if compared to May who was as about as compelling as watching paint dry.

My main objection to him is character. he doesn’t have the character to be a good Prime Minister. Like Trump he is a charlatan who is entertaining but preening with man-child issues and narcissistic entitlement.

I don’t care about his messy personal life as he bonked women half his life while cheating on all his wives. Nor do I care for the scandal of his love children outside of marriage. You can argue that this shows his true character. Perhaps. But of course, it does show his personal morality but this doesn’t actually stop him being competent at his job. The trouble is that he has never been competent in his life.

By all counts, Johnson is clever but has always been quite lazy and a low attention span to follow through on tasks. When he was Foreign Secretary he never bothered to read his briefs or dive deep into the red boxes. He’s been fired as a journalist for lying - which is pretty hard to do considering many journalists bend the truth. To many he is an opportunistic charlatan but with the confident artifice of Eton and Oxford grooming.

But I think he might be the only one who could takes us out of the EU. Make no mistake, we do need to get out of the EU.

But on what terms? At what price?

I fear his hands are tied, just like May, by the structural challenges of leaving the EU without a deal. The Irish backstop is of course biggest spanner to a meaningful deal. The prospect of a hard border between Ireland and Northern Island is one everyone secretly dreads in terms of what it might mean to return to the dark days of sectarian Protestant-Catholic violence. Ask any seasoned military veteran of the 70s and 80s and they will tell you Northern Ireland was their worst mission or posting than any they ever did. Even today the memories are bitter ones for British soldiers.

How the Irish border question gets resolved in the face of EU insistence of no more negotiations and compromises is a severe headache once the politicians stop their posturing.

Of bigger concern is President Trump.

It may come as news to some Americans but Trump is wildly viewed as unpopular by many in Britain, regardless of political loyalties. Both left and right see his dissing of the UK and interfering in British politics as gross and uncouth.

No one trusts anything that comes out of Trump’s mouth because he is a proven serial liar. When he talks of of trade deals with the post-Brexit UK, we all know he will never seek an equitable deal but one that is about ‘America first’ and screwing us over.

In this regard I do think the encroachment of American big pharma into British health system as well as the relaxing of food quality standards (like chlorinated chicken) is setting off alarm bells because they think Johnson will be will cave and be an obedient poodle.

Johnson’s supine role in not backing the current UK ambassador to the US, Kim Darroch, is a case in point. It doesn’t look good if you are seen to being dictated to by a foreign leader if you don’t back your own foreign ministry. Nor will the British people ever forgive him if Johnson acquiesces as if he was running the 51st state for the USA. It would be simply unacceptable because we are a proud nation with a proud history.

Surprisingly, I’m not blaming Trump because his ‘America First’ beliefs. I think that is fine for the US as that’s his job to look out for his nation first. But conversely it’s bad for us. Trump as it’s now clear only thinks of deals in zero sum terms - there is only one winner so there has to be a loser. That’s his mind set. Again, I’m not holding that against Trump because he is being true to his nature.

America First is fine as far as it goes for American interests but for us we won’t get a fair deal because as a nation just breaking away from the EU umbrella we will not have any cover nor any leverage to punch back.

A pro-Brexit friend who actually worked under a minister told me that perhaps we should stay in the EU until Trump is replaced and then cut a deal. Firstly, I think he’s dreaming as no one can predict what the outcome of 2020 will be in the US. Secondly, who is to say whoever replaces Trump might be any easier to negotiate with? Thirdly, if the longer we delay leaving the more people will get used to us staying in and then it really will be harder to leave.

The big lie is that everything will be smelling daisies the day after we leave the EU with no deal. That’s BS. I know many corporate finance firms already making contingency plans to move to Ireland. Even Jacob Rees-Mogg, the arch Brexiteer, has set up his capital finance holdings firm in Dublin. Everyone I know with any capital or wealth already have insulated themselves as best as they legally can.

At the same time, these very people are salivating at the prospect of making the UK a place where easy money and capital can come and go with little oversight or regulation. Most of these things I agree with in principle. I think the City of London would continue to remain an attractive place to do business despite being outside the EU.

However I sometimes think the City of London has got its head up its own arse and thinks more about quick short term gains and little about the long term impact of its actions. The rot is deep in our country with the continued decline of investment in manufacturing in the country and greater wealth and education gaps between people. McJobs and the gig economy are not going to restore Britian’s greatness only hasten its decline.

Of course small British businesses will be hurt in the short and medium term by a no deal Brexit but don’t forget this is what they voted for. It will be painful. But some might well think it will be a worthy sacrifice to lose jobs and business in order to rebuild properly for the long term free of Brussels and bureaucrats. But that price won’t be paid by capital holding classes.

A very wealthy high flyer working in City of London put it to me over dinner not so long ago that people think that politics is about left vs right but actually it’s about those who have wealth and those who don’t.

The trick is to vent the flames of public passions towards abstract straw men like ‘freedom’ or ‘sovereignty’ or in the US it would take the form of ‘guns’ or ‘abortion’.

People on BOTH sides of an issue expend volatile passion that they each entrench their (legitimate) grievances so deep into permanent persecution complexes. It’s further ossified by the relentless and constant echo chamber they each inhabit to reinforce their own entrenched beliefs and prejudices. So much so they forget about where the real obscene truth lies.

That this has always been a Darwinian world and there will always be winners and losers in life - there will always the rulers (oligarchies) and the ruled, the haves and the have-nots, and the rich and the poor. It’s a very cynical take on human nature and our society.

As much as I wanted to disagree with him, deep down I felt there was more than a tinge of truth to his words. It’s true. The corporate world is not personal nor is it political per se. It’s just about the making money for shareholders and to accumulate capital for the sake of it. It wields power to insulate itself from scrutiny and to have the freedom to do as it pleases. It appeals to people’s base motives at their purest - individual self-preservation. At some stage it’s going to clash with the principles and the institutions of democracy and questions of what takes precedence becomes acute. But that debate is for another day.

I still like to think we live in a world where ideas matter regardless how bare you strip life down to the bones.

In the case of Brexit, to me the sovereignty of Parliament serving at the pleasure of the Queen is paramount. It’s ruling one’s nation from first principles. If it’s your nation then you should have sovereign control over all decisions being made for its citizens. Moreover those making the decisions should be open to public scrutiny and be accountable. The nation state (under a constitutional monarchy in the case of Britain) is only accountable to its subjects and not to outsiders. All fine in theory except it’s an issue when these very elites charged with ruling over the masses have deep structural rot in them and they are just floating to get by like dead wood. Renewal and regeneration looks like a pipe dream.

I love Europe and I consider myself a proud European but I find it unacceptable to be partly ruled from a foreign capital whether it’s Brussels, Berlin, Paris, Moscow or Washington DC.

The hubris of a Franco-German led Europe is real. The EU began on a worthy premise that both France and Germany never go to war again. But it has mutated into some confederated nightmare today. The folly of its confederate policies are apparent and it will only worsen.

I doubt Boris Johnson has the political gravitas - even if he has the low cunning or the wit - to out fox other European leaders and their mad integration policies. They know him too well since he was for years a lazy and incompetent correspondent in Brussels.

It may well be Johnson is the ‘useful idiot’ Britain needs to take us out of the EU but Britain will need another leader with integrity, character and conviction to lead us to build proper alliances and repair relations with other Europeans to collectively face threats to our shared identities and nationhood.

The trouble is I don’t see that person in the current Conservative Party. But don’t take my word on this please, I have a natural allergic reaction to all politicians of all stripes.

I don’t know how things will turn out but i am beginning to be concerned that whatever path we take is going to be fraught with danger - greater incendiary issues down the road will come back to bite us up the arse.

Thanks for your question

#question #theresa may #enoch powell #boris johnson #british politics

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xathia-89 · 5 years

Text

Paging Dr Takeda

Tagging: @colivara for her drawing and bringing it out

Warning: Smut (come on... you shouldn’t need this warning by now)

It was busy, but when was it not? Her hair was pinned back dutifully, as his mind wandered to the previous night as his fingers had been tangled in it.

“Dr Takeda?” Her voice was as stiff as her uniform, bringing the man’s attention back to the file in his hand. “Are you feeling well? You have just been spacing out for the past ten minutes in Doctor Saito’s direction.” The ward sister was a formidable woman to deal with, but an amazing colleague and nurse. She put her patients first, and anyone who was treated on her watch was in for the best possible treatment available for certain.

Kikiko looked over at the pair after hearing her name, but realising that she wasn’t wanted, she resumed her paperwork on the patient who had been admitted that morning to the ward.

“Sorry, must just be suffering from a lack of coffee,” the man was pleasant and closed the folder with a decisive move. “Shall we go and get some? Or even better, I can see the nurses all appreciating a treat,” he smiled.

“You can’t charm your way out of every situation,” it turned out that not even the ward sister, Nurse Ito, was immune to his offers as he momentarily locked eyes with Doctor Saito before she looked away to a junior colleague’s slightly panicky expression.

Shingen knew all of the orders of the ward on that shift, as he stood in silence with Nurse Ito in the lift. He was checking his phone for any summons or questions from his coworkers before the ding sound brought him out of his trance.

The baristas were falling over the man, his smiles and laugh would light up anyone’s world and face as the ward sister tried to take her fair share of the coffee until he ushered her away and refused to let her.

“And one flat white,” Shingen beamed brightly, placing it down in front of Doctor Saito, who was still studying a patient’s file. “You’ve been staring at that page for a while,” he frowned, noticing that Kikiko wasn’t lifting her eyes even to thank him.

“This patient is a difficult case that has been transferred from another hospital, and I was just going over his drug history to ensure that we aren’t giving him anything we shouldn’t be,” she smiled, though it didn’t reach her eyes.

“Would you like a second opinion?” Shingen was trying to weasel his way behind the desk.

“No thank you, but should I change my mind I will let you know,” she was swift to cut him off before Nurse Ito called for his opinion on a different patient.

The shift was dragging. Doctor Saito had the only complex case and was cross-referencing everything from the previous hospital with the current ailments. Shingen couldn’t help but keep glancing at her from half the ward away.

“Dr Takeda?” One of the new nurses had a dazzling smile and the body to match. He was almost certain that her uniform was a size too small, though her chest was definitely being enhanced by some loose buttons at that moment in time. Shingen could feel the heat of Kikiko’s glare already and smiled to himself before turning to face the nurse. “I could use your strapping body to help me in the supply closet.”

His pager went off at that moment, and the nurse immediately deflated and then pouted.

“Apologies, duty calls,” he charmed, trying to soothe her over before strolling down the ward under the hateful gaze of the brushed off nurse. He leant over the desk that Doctor Saito was at, and whispered in her ear. “You said you didn’t need a second opinion earlier.”

“I didn’t earlier,” Kikiko was stiff. “I wanted to ensure that I am not going to kill a patient with this plan; however,” she stated, keeping everything about them formal and within regulations.

“I hate that you always have your hair so pinned back during work hours,” he muttered in her ear, keeping the pretence going whilst glancing over her notes. “Means I can’t get my fingers tangled in it like you love me to, especially when you’re gagging on my cock.”

“Just because you decided to make things formal between us, don’t start teasing me because you can’t go and bang a nurse in the cupboard,” Kikiko finally got some passion going, glaring up at the man with a hissed voice. “I am not getting something wrong because you have one thing on your mind.”

“I always have you on my mind,” he chuckled. A sharp elbow to his ribs winded the man, though it didn’t stop him on his determined path as he planted a swift kiss to her neck before standing back up. “I don’t see why that plan shouldn’t work in theory, but we all know that practice is an entirely different matter,” he spoke plainly, knowing that he was definitely frustrating the other doctor.

A twisted and forced smile broke across her face. “Then I should go and ensure that all of the supplies are in stock.”

Kikiko had to gain some space, and the supplies closet was perfect. It was away from everyone and fresh as she rushed to the back corner, pretending to check on the dressings as her flame red cheeks were pressed against the cold wall.

A set of masculine arms wrapped around her waist, pulling Kikiko back into the familiar scent. “Shingen,” she groaned, tilting her head back to accept the greedy and heated kiss. “Mm, we’re at work,” a gasp slipped out as he was already trying to undo her trousers.

“I know, so you’re going to need to be quiet,” he chuckled before sucking on the junction of her neck and jaw. “Mm just think of it as a replica of our first time,” he murmured as his free hand began to pull on her shirt. Then Kikiko took pity and quickly undid the buttons as his finger slid over her clit lightly. She bit down on her lip, her head thrown back as her hips thrust forward, trying to get something more from him.

It was a pent up frustration watching all of the other women practically fawn over him on the ward, and then two of his fingers slid into her waiting pussy.

“Mm, not long until you rotate and then you can tell everyone exactly what happens in the bedroom,” his voice was low with promise, “You can leave all the marks you like, you’re so territorial, I could see you seething and wanting to show that nurse exactly who I should be in the supplies cupboard with,” he continued as he began to slowly thrust his fingers, stretching her and beginning to scratch her itch as his thumb was toying with her clit.

“I need more,” she slipped out from his grasp, surprising the man before he realised that she was naked from the waist down. Her doctor’s coat was hanging on to her shoulders as she fiercely kissed him, pulling him down to meet her before tugging sharply on his belt, freeing his cock from the tight constraints of his trousers and boxers.

“Fuck, Princess,” he moaned, her cunt coating him in warmth as she wrapped her legs around his waist. She spent her time in the gym outside of work, and it was paying off from the moves she was manipulating him into. There wasn’t the time for making love, this was a quick fuck to expend the frustrations as their hips thrust and bucked against each other. Shingen had Kikiko pinned to the wall in the back corner, the female holding onto the shelves and the wall for leverage as she was determined to make him come undone beneath her.

He laughed, trying to mask a groan before he made the grind on her clit. Sweat was beading on both their foreheads as they kept their mouths glued to each other. The less noise made, the better as Shingen was trying to stave off the impending orgasm.

Kikiko stuttered in her hips, and he could feel her heels digging into his ass, pushing him in deeper as she spasmed around his shaft. It felt too good to resist before he came hard. They swallowed up each other’s groans, eager for more in the moment.

A loud bang outside of the room brought them both back to reality. Kikiko froze before embarrassment was the primary factor. She hurriedly got herself back down to the floor and dressed, a flushed expression on her face as her shirt was tucked back in.

Shingen couldn’t resist giving her a kiss. She looked too adorable in the panic.

“Doctor Takeda?” Nurse Ito was the last person who needed to see them, it would be a lecture on the employee handbook as Shingen decided that Kikiko needed a few minutes to calm down and clean up.

“Yes?” He smiled, stepping out from their corner, all of the intentions of leading the nurse out.

“I haven’t seen Doctor Saito for a while, she was last seen coming in here before you,” she shortly stated. “Her rotation is due to appear shortly, and I figured they would appreciate seeing her fully clothed.”

Her tone gave away that she knew, as the male doctor chuckled without embarrassment. “She just needs a few minutes to cool down, the nurses seem to be getting under her skin for some reason, so I was helping her out.”

Kikiko was going to die of embarrassment, it was official as she buried her head in her hands whilst shaking her head.

‘Just a few more days,’ she thought before appearing with a smile in front of the two other staff members.

“Not even trying to offer an excuse?” Nurse Ito smiled.

“You won’t believe a word I say, so I might as well get on with the rotation schedule,” she replied, briskly leaving the two highly amused individuals in her wake.

#shingen takeda #hospital #modern au #Smut #warfare maybe?

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nightfury2098 · 5 years

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Category: Lesbian Sex Stories

A Friendly Curiosity

by LaNiqueS©

Author's Note: All Characters are 18+. This is a personal story, and took place during my sophomore year in college.

This story isn't about perfect grammar and proper comma placement. If that's what you're looking for, don't read any further! True fans - thank you and I hope you enjoy!

*****

Sitting in my best friend's dorm, on her bed, I avoided eye contact as she stripped out of her work uniform. After I came out as a bisexual all of my female friends became nervous around me.

Nicole was no different.

She suddenly turned to me and said, "You're not about to turn on me, are you? Can I trust you to keep it in your pants?"

"Yes." I watched her throw her work clothes in the laundry basket. "I don't see you that way."

"What do you mean?" She seemed offended.

I pulled my math textbook out my book bag. College courses were weighing heavy on me, so I wanted to get a head start. "I don't find you attractive."

"Did I hurt your feelings or something?" She crawled onto the bed, dressed only in her bra and panties.

I opened the book to my homework assignment. "No. Why?"

"Cause you're being really rude."

"How?" Now, I was getting offended. Every lesbian isn't attracted to every women out there in the world. We do have standards.

"What do you mean, you don't find me attractive?"

"I don't find you attractive. I don't know how else to say that."

"How can you say that?" She stood on the bed just hovering over me for several seconds. Almost completely naked, she spun around on top of the bed. I didn't touch her, nor did I bat an eyelash.

Nicole let her hair down from the clip before sitting down on the heels of her feet in front of me.

"Because I'm not a guys, and I don't think every girl I meet is fuck worthy. Sorry."

"You're a bitch."

"Okay." I grabbed a pencil and started to solve the problems on the page.

"You're really going to ignore me?"

"What do you want me to do?"

"You fucked Brianna." She said, referring to the college Professor I told her I had an affair with the summer before.

"I didn't fuck her. She fucked me. It's a difference."

"But you said she taught you stuff."

"So?"

"Teach me. Or better yet," she said forcing my book closed. "Show me."

"I'm not a coach. I doubt I can teach you anything."

"I learn fast. Just tell me what to do and I'll do it."

"Why are you so curious anyway? Are you a lesbian?"

"Maybe I am; maybe I'm not. I just want to try something different."

"Why with me?"

"Who better than a friend? Stop stalling." She leaned in and kissed me.

Her lips were soft and a little moist from constantly licking at them. Her hand touched my cheek as she pushed her tongue into my mouth. I still wasn't used to kissing, but I was getting tired of it already. Everyone was shutting me up with kisses.

It gave me a slight rush even though the act was too slow and passionate. Something like that should be reserved for a committed couple. Once the juices started flowing, I didn't want to spend time slowly kissing someone. How boring?! This would - supposedly - be Nicole's first time with a girl, so I let her kiss me for as long as she wanted. But my hands were going to have their own fun.

With our lips still connected, I pushed my textbook onto the floor. I leaned back against the headboard of bed, pulling her close enough that her breast smashed into mine. She broke the kiss - gasping for air - when I pushed my hand into her panties. She was already wet, and I slide a finger inside of her without a fight. I added a second finger, and she kissed me again - a lot harder this time.

Her eyes shut, her hands tugged at my hair, and her hips rocked against my hand. Nicole began to tremble as I twisted my fingers inside her. She was wetter than I could imagine for someone I was basically arguing with a second ago. Nicole's juices were flooding my hand.

"Stand up." I said, pulling my hand from between her legs.

Using my shoulders for leverage, Nicole stood up on the bed with her legs wobbling beneath her. Pushing her legs apart, I could see the moist running down her inner thighs and her legs. I shifted to sit on my knees, letting my hands work their way from the curve of her hips around to her ass. I pulled her colorful underwear down her legs.

Not giving her a chance to step out of the panties, my mouth covered her pussy as soon as they were free from the fabric. I kissed her pussy as if it were her actual mouth; the peck was slow and wet. Nicole's body tensed up, her nails dug into my shoulders, and her head fell back.

Her lips were swollen and the bush cover her mound tickled my nose. Sliding my tongue between her wet pussy lips, I could taste her tangy yet bitter juices. Her clit was hiding in the pink folds of her flesh, but I quickly found it with my probing tongue.

One of her legs broke free from the panties around her ankles. Lifting her right leg, Nicole placed it on my shoulder and pulled me closer. Nicole squirmed against me as I sucked on her clit and flicked it with my tongue.

"That feels so good." She moaned.

"You like that?" I pulled away for air before sliding my tongue back in between her swollen lips.

"Yes, yes!" she panted, pushing her hips forward, demanding more from me. "Please don't stop! Please!"

Nicole grabbed one of my hands - pulling it off her ass - and put it over her breast. She kept her hand over mine, guiding all of my actions. Nicole was a mere A cup, but she demanded they receive a lot of attention. When she squeezed my hand, my fingers twisted her nipple.

She gasped again with her other hand keeping a tight grip on my hair. My other hand reached up to cup her other breast; both her nipples were being squeezed by my fingers.

"Dear God," she whispered, her legs shaking around my head. "Fuck me!"

The tip of my tongue continued to flutter back and forth, teasing her clit and dabbing at her dripping hole.

"God!" And all her yelling? I'm not sure why that's a turn on for men.

I thought my neck was going to break from all of her jerking. I was practically cramping from having it tilted up for so long. It was too late to tap out. She was too horny and my ego was now involved. It wouldn't be over until we were both satisfied with the outcome.

I had only had sex once - kinda - so my stamina hadn't fully built up yet. I really was not prepared to have my head assaulted this much. I wanted Nicole to have her orgasm, but my neck couldn't last much longer in this position.

It was a bit of a fight, but I broke free from Nicole's grip.

She whimpered when I pushed her leg off my shoulder. "That's it?"

"Shut up." I flexed my tightened jaw and massaged my neck.

"Lesbian are like guys, huh? You need a five minute break in between to get yourself together?" She stood over me - playing with her clit - upset I deprived her of a release.

"Shut the fuck up!" Pulling her down on the bed, I watched her eyes widen in surprise. "Stop talking."

I push her flat on her back prior to taking my shirt off. There were already a few drops stained on it from her cunt dripping over me. I threw the shirt onto the floor; it can't get any dirtier. Turning my attention back to Nicole, I spread her legs open wide.

I stare down at the thick layer of moisture covering everything between her thighs. I ran my hand over the small patch of dark hair covering her pussy. I lean forward, moving face first between her legs. My nose touches the hair while my tongue searches for her clit through the wet, pink folds of her pussy.

"God yes," she moaned, thrusting her hips towards my face. "Just like that...Don't stop!"

I used my fingers for assistant, feeling her walls clinch once I slid one into her wet dept. Sliding another one inside of her - down past my knuckles - I buried two whole fingers. Her upper half jumped off the bed every time I twist them inside her. Nicole held my head in place, not wanting me to free her clit from my mouth. Muscles all over her body were tightening; her breathing became frantic; and her grip on my head was lethal.

"More please!" Nicole begged, and I slid another finger into her.

I sawed my three fingers in and out of her wet slit, feeling her shudder against me. Her hips jumped forward as she fucked back even harder. Her small breasts rapidly rose and fall as she heavily breathed. Nicole released my head and gripped the sheets beneath her. She planted her feet flat on the mattress, lifting her hips up closer to my face.

Another finger made its way into her pussy. Her walls squeezed my fingers so tight they felt knotted together in her juices. I couldn't open my fingers - or part them even a light. All Nicole's clinching walls allowed me to do was slide them in and out of her. With all of her squirming, I had to use a hand to hold her waist. I almost took a knee to the eye because of all her moving.

"Dear God! Fuck me, baby! Harder! Harder!" Nicole was so loud. She even soaked my face more, and Nicole hadn't reached orgasm yet.

My tongue took a break from lapping at her clit. I pressed my cheek against her moist inner thigh and just watched my fingers enter her over and over again. Her pussy gushed and tightened whenever I pushed my fingers into her. Nicole's juices kept oozing out each time I pulled back my hand. There was a large, wet stain underneath her butt on the bed, continuing to grow the more I fingered her cunt.

"Dear God!" She prayed for the hundredth time, but this time she was finally getting off.

I pulled out my fingers and cover her dripping hole with my lips. She was worse than a guy the way she flooded my mouth. I sucked up as much of her juice as I could; most of it rolling onto the bed. I pushed my tongue inside of her, cleaning up the last little bit she had.

Nicole kept panting, her hands yanking my hair, and her legs shaking around my head. My lips were covered in her wetness as I untangled myself from her. Nicole's hips bucked forward into the air a few times before she laid on the bed motionless.

It was quiet for several seconds. When I sat up, some of the juice rolled from my mouth down my chin and onto my exposed cleavage. Nicole's hands covered her eyes. I didn't know if she was tired or just trying to avoid looking at me. I grabbed my shirt and used it to clean my face and chest off. I reached for my fallen textbook to push it back into my bag.

"I was wrong." Nicole finally spoke. Her hands were still covering her face.

"You said that already." I went to her closet to grab a shirt.

She dropped her hands to look at me. "You are a lesbian. And I think I am too now."

"You're not a lesbian after one time."

"But I really liked what you did."

I pick a shirt I can wear home to my dorm. "And you have a boyfriend."

"That's a minor detail."

"If you say you love me, I will slap you."

Nicole bite her bottom lip.

"I'm leaving now." I grabbed my bag off the floor.

"Are you coming over tomorrow?"

"Maybe." With my bag over my shoulder and gray shirt in my hand, I left out Nicole's bedroom and house.

Written by: LaNiqueS

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astrologista · 6 years

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Important facts about Varian: he doesn't see himself as a child.

"But I-I'm not a... child..."

At 14 some would argue, especially in Varian's time, that he's right. He's not a child. By modern standards, he’s coming of age. Not a kid, but definitely not a full adult.

But Varian tends to act in immature and impulsive ways and, as we've seen (almost got himself killed how many times now?), still needs his father's protection very much so. (Even now. Uh oh. I just made myself sad.) He may be much more intelligent, creative and insightful than the average 14-year-old, but an important distinction to make is that smarts does NOT equal maturity. (Seriously, even in real life, for me as a "gifted kid", that particular false correlation gave me such a weird complex, I can't even tell you.) Just because a 14-year-old skips three grades and is now a senior in high school, or goes to college, does NOT magically make that person a mature adult capable of consistent and rational decision-making. (’tis developmental biology, friends.) Sure, parents should always let their kids "try on" independence and let them make some of their own little decisions, but all the time knowing that, being young, the child will end up making some mistakes and learning from them. And the parent will be there to pick up the pieces. But eventually, they’ll learn how the world works.

This is a problem for Varian because, at least when it comes to authority, he doesn't learn. He hears, but he doesn't listen. He thinks he always knows better, and that based on sheer accumulation of knowledge, he should be able to conquer any challenge. We've never seen Varian with a friend his age. You could conclude that he may not have any, based on the rumors that have always said he's dangerous. So what's a kid to do instead? He reads. He accumulates enough knowledge in his solitude so that one day he can prove how great he really is to his dad and to the world. (But no pressure, right?)

But the weird thing is how Quirin thinks of Varian. I guess all parents think of their children as children forever and into perpetuity. (Heck, look at King Fred.) "Children have no place in court." As if to say, "You're a child, and you really should know that by now." Old Corona, being a more rural region than Corona proper, is likely a place where social roles are more heavily enforced. No one is to go "outside the mold", so to speak. A kid like Varian sticks out like a sore thumb. He's effusive, he emotes a lot, he can be shy, but once you get him talking about a subject he's passionate about, you just can't shut him up. That's part of the reason why Quirin seems so exasperated. Varian just won't act the way Quirin thinks a child should act, but despite everything, I think he loves Varian too much to crush his spirit. If he were crueler, he'd use all his power to keep Varian from doing alchemy. But I think Quirin knows Varian's going to do alchemy anyway no matter what happens. That, and he just really wants for Varian’s happiness (and god willing, his safety).

The most interesting piece of this is that despite everything, Varian really does know his place... but only when he's threatened. When Quirin growls "That is enough, Varian." and glares at him in a threatening way, Varian immediately looks like someone slapped him, because that's the last look he wants to see on his dad's face AND he actually looks like he might be genuinely scared of his father right then. (Corporal punishment was a big thing in these times.) Even though Varian was correct and justified in demanding a reason for all the lies, the way in which he petitions his father isn't the most tactful approach he could have taken. Only when Quirin treats him like a child, does Varian remember that, hey, he is kind of a child. And he remembers who he's talking to, his father in a direct position of authority over him, and musters up the conditioned response of "Yes, sir." (Later, Varian has mustered up enough courage to not only interrupt his dad when he's really at the end of his rope with him, but also to physically push him aside, again using a disrespectful tone. It makes clear that Varian seem to think of himself as Quirin's equal. At least when it comes to black rocks.) I don't think Quirin wanted to treat Varian in that manner. It seemed to be something he only did as a last resort. And it's kind of sad, in a way. Once kids reach the age of reason, they should be able to be reasoned with concerning their behavior, moving away from the toddler method of punishment vs. reward, or using fear of punishment to control behavior. I mean, you would probably whip out "That is enough, Varian." maybe if he were 3 and pitching a fit down at the alchemy supply store because you won't buy him the deluxe Bunsen burner or something. But Quirin seems to have other things to worry about other than his son's pride or what he has to say, so he uses it anyway. And Varian seems really hurt and sad after Quirin just walks away. He actually pushes Rapunzel's hand away. It's like that moment of weakness is what he's really trying to avoid, to keep private. That he's not really what he says he is, and even though it might be painfully obvious at times, still no one can know.

It's not even a coincedence that Varian talks to Rapunzel, the King, and the Queen in the way that he does in SotSD. Varian just shows zero respect for authority in that episode. Any good kid should, and in his earlier episodes, he SEEMED to have the utmost respect for the crown and all it symbolized, bowing and calling Rapunzel "your Highness", and insisting that every word from Rapunzel was important. So why the 180? Or was it just Varian's true nature coming out? In SotSD, Varian was just very sharp, cruel actually, with his language. Any other kid in Corona would never dare speak to an adult, much less the KING, QUEEN AND CROWN PRINCESS of the entire fudging kingdom in the manner that Varian did. Literally, the three most important people in the whole kingdom. And he didn't just get sassy or fresh or make fun of the way they dress or anything. He went right for the jugular. "For the first time in your life, YOU are in no position to demand ANYTHING." and "Oh, so NOW you care about what I WANT? And all it took was threatening the things you love the most..." and casually talking about "shattering" Rapunzel in front of her parents and, who could forget, "She's right, DAD." Not to mention how he treated Queen Arianna when he kidnapped her.

Worse and worse yet, probably one of the most shocking faux-pas that I think Varian committed was yelling "Quiet!" at Arianna during Ready as I'll Ever Be. This gets back to my earlier point. Varian does not see himself as a child (unless Quirin is "reminding" him of it). He now sees himself as not just the Queen's equal, but actually "higher" in status than even her because he has the power now. He's holding the cards. He has the queen in checkmate. (What do you want to do in a chess game? That's right. Capture the Queen.) But like, let's forget that she's the freaking QUEEN OF THE ENTIRE KINGDOM for a moment. Let's put that little nugget of info aside. This is an adult woman in maybe her early 40s and a 14-year-old boy we're talking about. In my house, if I ever told my mom "Quiet!" in the manner than Varian did, I would not be able to finish my singing number because my ass would be grass before I could continue. Telling someone "Quiet!" in that way would actually assume that THEY are in the lesser, child role. Disrespectful doesn't even begin to cover it, man. When you consider the social context, yeah, it’s really pretty bad. Varian just has a very distorted view of his "place" in Corona. Maybe he even feels that there’s no place for him. While there's nothing wrong with challenging and bending the rules of who society says you should be, and no one says you have to conform to every cultural norm of your identity, Varian seems to have this very warped view of his identity re: Corona, especially where he's leveraging social power that he simply doesn't have. He's not old enough or mature enough to wield the type of judgement skills or tact that would allow him to be perceived the way he wants to be perceived, and he’s demonstrated that. Perhaps in Varian's mind, he sees himself as an older, more proficient alchemist and he hopes that if he performs that role, everyone will indeed see him that way. But when the facade fails, he sulks and starts acting more childish and restrained again. It's actually hard to tell which personality is the real Varian. But I think the writers may have been trying to get at an important truth about growing up - when you're 14, you've got your childish self and your adult self warring for domination over your soul. Varian's good, pure but childish self is still intact in there. He can’t stay that person forever, he has to grow and change. But instead of growing into an honorable and stable adult, his adult self is being twisted into this dark persona, partly because of events outside of his control. His immediate response to this is to project as much of the blame outward, externally, as much as he can, and this is more of a coping mechanism than anything. Basically, he's trying to subconsciously protect his developing mind against the overwhelming guilt and shame from what happened to Quirin. That's too much emotional pain and baggage for someone that young to deal with alone. I'm pretty sure seeing Quirin frozen in the amber literally scarred him for life, not just because of the state that Quirin’s in, but because Varian knows deep inside that he played a huge role in putting him there. But that doesn't mean Varian can't redeem himself. It just means we're going to see probably more erratic and unpredictable behavior before he can organically reach that point, and forgive himself.

Speaking disrespectfully to the Royals is just part of that process, but it struck me as just being really a self-empowerment exercise. Some people listen to self-help videos. Varian does this. And if he can exert his power over them, he can exert power over anyone. And not only to speak like that to them, but to literally put his hands on the Queen as he's talking to the King. There's something just really creepy about that. The point is, no matter who you are, you just... don't say these things? It's a matter of respect. It's the society and times and the context that they live in under a monarchy. Obviously, the laws that govern speech are much more loose and lax in our democracy and real life. But think about the context here. Some off-color language could easily get somebody hanged in these times. And if Quirin could see what Varian's been doing, he would actually be shocked. Horrified. How could his son say or do these things? (lol now I'm imagining what if the amber had stopped around Quirin's neck so he was still stuck but he could talk and be aware of the proceedings around him. He'd be like, "VARIAN! Please, your Majesty. My deepest apologies. He hasn't had his nap yet.")

tl;dr Varian's never going to grow up unless he starts dealing with the reality of who he is and how he can grow to be a better person, and start taking responsibility for things he's done, while acknowledging that some things are just out of his control. And to do that he needs like, a lot of love and respect and hugs :^3 I mean, a lot a lot.

#varian #tangled the series #my boy is so TROUBLED #but he is also MULTI FACETED and INTERESTING #i'm rooting for him all the way #just. not like this hon. not like this #yeah there are gonna be like a thousand more of these posts before s2 #so just get ready

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douchebagbrainwaves · 3 years

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RAISING MONEY IS TERRIBLY DISTRACTING

All good investors supply a combination of circumstances that's unlikely to be able to get a job with both measurement and leverage. A Familiar Problem Sum up all these sources of error in your own time, though. As I've written before, one byproduct of technical progress is that things we like tend to become merely stubborn. Do You Need for Server-Based Software? What people know of him now is his paintings and his more flamboyant inventions, like flying machines. It's not hard to understand, people who want to work on, or even still in it. I don't know how the stakes were used. Technology Will technology increase the gap between acceptable and maximal performance widens, it will become a pyramid. Most new businesses are service businesses and except in rare cases even millions. And beneath that there's edge-finding, which makes promotion free if you're on the maker's. People will say things in anonymous forums that they'd never do it.

Especially since you won't even really learn about it, any more than there is a fixed pie that's shared out, like slices of a pie. You never know when this happened because it was too crazy. Instead think about why they're asking for something, technology will make it big. One founder said this should be your approach to customer support. Or hasn't it? Smart people will go wherever other smart people are really smart or those guys are working on. Rtm and Trevor again. I don't think that's the audience people are implicitly talking about when they say they'll invest. File://ycombinator.

You don't know what the basic human reaction to a famous painting will be warped at first by its fame, there are just two or three times as long? In December 2014 American technology companies want the government to take action, there is one that isn't succinct enough, and that I should be more careful about drawing conclusions based on what a few people think in our insular little Web 2. After they paid back their angel investors, they help them break the sort of writing that attempts to persuade may be a variant of Reid Hoffman's principle that if you need to do something audacious. If you can hit 10% a week. At YC, the culture was the product. I always ought to be writing research papers. In towns like Houston and Chicago and Detroit it's too small to do anything very complicated. Org/7.1 Perhaps we can split the difference on the issues have lined up with charisma for 11 elections in a row, the unlucky human will have to be disciplined about not letting your hypotheses harden into anything more. The critical moment for Einstein was when he was an expert on search. Certainly a lot of papers!2 Viaweb entirely with angel money.

When I want to work for you. They can tell at a young age that a contest where everyone wins is a fraud.3 VCs should be deprived of their shares when the company goes public, the SEC will carefully study all prior issuances of stock by the company and went to Europe. But I have no way to test them. Beware valuation sensitive investors. If you look at the way successful founders have had their interests promoted to a lifestyle. The more of a problem this will be over quickly.4

Which is particularly painful to someone who knew what the right direction rather than the median, you can opt to be valued directly by users, because users were desperately waiting for what they are. I ever read it? It seemed just amazing, as if the story you want them as a commodity?5 As I'll explain later, this is partly because in mid-sentence, though you tend to get cram schools on the classic model, like the Soviet Union, and to many others for talking to me about high school, the prospect of confirming a commitment in writing will flush it out. No one will look that closely at it. And unfortunately there is a problem because they tend to be sharply differentiated. And yet the prospect of getting their initial product out. By this. Why don't government officials disclose more about their finances, and why are they attached to all these questions, you might be able to tell. So the fact that communication is so much smaller than the chance that I'm imagining all this anyway. So why do universities and research labs. One consequence of funding such a large number of situations, but its shape jabs into your consciousness like a pin.

Great universities? And yet, oddly enough, Ryan Singel's article about the conference in Wired News spoke of throngs of geeks. The really juicy new approaches are not the ones driven by money.6 The word essay comes from the controversial topic of wealth, no one knows who the best programmers of any public technology company. They didn't foresee the expansion of this idea; it forced itself upon them gradually. Harvard, or Davis Squares Kendall is too sterile; in Palo Alto, though there are few outside the US, companies would have been there 100 years ago. Honestly, Sam is, along with all the people who produce a show can distribute it themselves.7 APL: Fortran isn't good enough at simulations.

If you wanted to hear. Experience Another reason people don't work on big things, I find I never get as deeply into subjects as I do actually typing. Delicious on the side of being harsh to founders. Bigger companies solve the problem at all, but another you discovered en route. Which means people with a passion for service. I'm not sure how reasonable a hope this is, strictly speaking, impossible.8 If you do that, but probably as close to the main branches is a useful if imperfect filter. Partly because some companies use mechanisms to prevent copying. Algorithms that use it are called naive Bayesian. This is one reason you might want to include business people in a room full of stuff can be very cool to be in a much more conclusive way than by making good products. Get introductions to investors. It's hard to say whether he should be classified as a friend or angel.

Dangerously misleading, for adults. It's hard to follow is that people won't take you seriously. They're as expert in their world as you are in big trouble. Just build things. By making it easier for startups to present to investors. My stories didn't have a lot in the course of writing it, and savor the time you have. But could you also base a successful startup founder, but few are in actions. But while this is certainly an important relationship between wisdom and intelligence, it's not uncommon for investors and then watching how they do, I look them straight in the eye. An ordinary slower-growing business might have just as good a case as Microsoft could have, will you convince investors? It's ok to have working democracies and multiple sovereign countries. Marketplaces are so hard and emotional that the bonds and emotional and social support that come with it. The right way to write spaghetti code.

Notes

But the usual misquotation is closer to the principles they discovered in the sense that if there is the kind of bug to track down. Success here is defined from the rule of thumb, the growth rate early on. In principle yes, of course some uncertainty about how the courses they took might look to an employer. It would be to advertise, and that you decide the price, they were doing Bayesian filtering in a way that weren't visible in Silicon Valley, the reaction of an investor pushes you hard to erase from a few percent from an interview.

In 1998 a lot of detail. It's more in the message.

His critical invention was a false positive rate is 10%, moving to Monaco would give you such a brutally simple word is that the meaning of distribution.

But you can do is not the original text would in 1950 something one could reasonably be with children, we're going to call the market price. What you're looking for initially is not a big effect on the subject today is still possible, to a group of people are these days.

Then when we make kids do boring work, done mostly by people like them—people who get rich, purely mercenary founders will usually take one of the word has shifted.

If an investor pushes you hard to say, ending up on the firm's site, they're nice to you about it wrong. One of Europe's advantages was that professionalism had replaced money as a process rather than ones they capture. All you have to go to college somewhere with real research professors. Ron Conway had angel funds starting in the narrowest sense.

Patrick Pantel and Dekang Lin.

99 to—A Spam Classification Organization Program. And gathering fruit. I do, so I have a lot like intellectual bullshit. The problem with most of the companies fail, most of his peers, couldn't afford a monitor.

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bunkershotgolf · 3 years

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V1 Game App Gaining Popularity Among Amateur and Pro Golfers

From Rising LPGA Stars to Recreational Players, Data is Driving Measurable Improvement

The V1 Game mobile app from V1 Sports has been gaining significant traction in the golf world on the strength of its newest cutting-edge features - A.I. Shot Tracking, Virtual Caddie and Virtual Coach. Those features are resonating with golfers of all skill levels, including fifth-year LPGA player Dana Finkelstein, who is having her best season on tour, highlighted by a T-12 finish at the Hugel-Air Premia Los Angeles Open earlier this spring and a T-14 showing at the recent Volunteers of America Classic.

V1 Game, named “Best Apple Watch Golf App for 2021” by GolfPass.com, delivers an innovative combination of on-course GPS data plus deep-dive performance analytics – including numerous Stroke Gained categories – that help golfers understand their on-course tendencies and pinpoint the skills they need to practice most in order to improve. The app requires no external hardware or second screens to provide its A.I.-powered game improvement platform.

“V1 Game uses no hardware on your golf clubs to track your shots,” says Dallas Webster, co-developer of V1 Game. “And, it's totally unlocked for your first two rounds while the GPS capabilities stay free forever. Other technology on the market requires a $300 investment in hardware just to dip your toe into the water. Our artificial intelligence handles shot tracking and makes it intuitive and seamless, so you can focus on golf and put down your phone. Plus, V1 Game makes the data accessible and actionable, analyzing your data and telling you exactly what to work on to make the next leap in your game. Data fanatics can dive as deep as they want.”

UNDER THE HOOD V1 Game’s latest features are revolutionary. A.I. Shot Tracking uses sensors in your smartphone or Apple Watch to detect shots and automatically track your round. An Apple Watch helps V1 Game detect when you swing, marks your location, and emits a soft vibration confirming your swing detection.

“Our integration with Apple Watch obsoletes external sensors,” says Webster. “We detect swings, so you can just play. And when you replace worn-down grips, you don't have to mess with hardware.” Android watch functionality is also coming soon.

If you don't have an Apple Watch, simply start a round and keep your phone in a front or back pocket, or in the cart or golf bag. V1 Game uses the phone’s GPS and accelerometer data, to determine where and when you potentially hit a shot. You may need to do some slight post-round editing - as with every shot-tracking software on the market - by simply dragging shot locations with your finger on the hole map, in places the A.I. marked shots. You can also fine-tune the A.I., depending on if you play fast or not, to further increase its accuracy.

Virtual Caddie goes beyond anything else available, using A.I. to provide adjusted ‘Plays Like’ yardages but also building a history of how you perform from various situations based on club use, lie, distance to the hole and weather conditions. It then offers simplified insights during rounds, giving club recommendations and a quick snapshot of the data – just like a Tour caddie would – so that golfers can make the best on-course decisions. It even warns what to watch for on approach shots, based on miss tendencies from similar previous situations.

The feature-loaded Virtual Coach takes the app to yet another level. While many golf stat apps collect data and then dump it on you to figure out how to apply that to your game, Virtual Coach does the insightful heavy lifting. For instance, it plots putting performance, and uses A.I. to analyze the data and advise specifically what to work on. It displays advice, such as “Work on Approach Shots First” and “You are losing the most strokes on putts from 6-10 ft. Practice this range to improve the fastest.”

Golfers know exactly what to focus on in practice. Because the app also tracks their mistakes, Virtual Coach ‘trends’ plots to quickly see what areas of their game are improving with practice or declining from neglect. Pairing this data with a V1 instructor can further accelerate progress, especially if that teacher is armed with the V1 Coach app for instructors. This companion to V1 Game is a dynamic, data-rich system to help golf instructors and coaches manage their students’ performance data to optimize lesson content, practice plans, course management and scoring habits using the data supplied from V1 Game usage.

THIS TIME, IT’S PERSONAL In the four years since Webster began developing V1 Game with partner Ryan Hebert, he’s personally added 20 yards to his tee shots and cut his handicap by five strokes to below scratch for the first time - all while working two jobs and managing a growing family.

“It provides easy-to-digest data,” says Webster, an engineer by trade who’s now becoming a rising star as a golf tech developer and stats guru. “I didn't want to spend 45 minutes after a round to get to an understanding, so I selfishly built V1 Game to teach me what I did well and poorly, via quick and intuitive feedback. So, now, when I’m standing over a 175-yard shot, Virtual Caddie tells me I tend to miss short and left so I need to take more club and aim right. Easy and actionable. I want golfers to get answers fast and simple. And I’ve learned a ton from our users. I’m constantly in the chat room fielding questions. We take suggestions seriously, and if you have a good idea, we'll try it. If you have a pain point, we work on it. We’ve made many updates this way. We have passionate customers and I leverage them to improve the app for all. We're listening.”

TOUR-PROVEN TECHNOLOGY V1 Game is not just for amateur golfers. LPGA and Symetra Tour pros, including Finkelstein, Marisa Messana, Janet Mao and Vicky Hurst have also begun relying on it. Those tours don’t currently provide Strokes Gained data, so V1 Game is becoming a valuable tool in the hands of its early adapters.

“I love how simple it is,” says Finkelstein. “And I’ve already made a putter change after the app showed how poor my stats are with speed control and 40-foot-plus putts. It’s also showing a positive trend in how my stat tracking from driving and approach shots have drastically improved. That's really cool to see. It's nice to see all of the hard work I put in this offseason starting to pay off.”

Adds Messana: “It’s very helpful for my practice sessions, because I'm all about high performance, knowing myself and my tendencies. V1 Game explicitly says what I need to work on in order to close those performance gaps. People can tell me I’m not making enough birdies, so I therefore need to sink more putts. But really what I learned in V1 Game was that my proximity stats were not where they should be, in order to give myself those birdie opportunities. In other words, it wasn't really my putting, but rather my proximity to the hole on my approaches that I needed to improve. The Strokes Gained insights in V1 Game have already changed my game.”

Strokes Gained is the coveted stat that essentially lets you know how your game compares to other golfers of any skill level you set as a baseline. It helps any golfer. In fact, golfers shooting 100 will likely benefit the most from it because it makes their weaknesses obvious to inform practice sessions.

NEW FEATURES COMING IN HOT

Webster is out to make the V1 Game app even more intuitive. One recent update: As soon a score is entered, the shots graphically populate before one’s eyes. Another fresh feature is Friends Mode, in which golfers and their buddies can link their rounds when they start playing. This allows friends to share a live scorecard between each other and see everyone’s shots tracked on one screen.

V1 Game’s success is another testament to the visionary leadership of V1 Sports CEO Bryan Finnerty, an entrepreneur and former goalkeeper for the Detroit Rockers professional indoor soccer team. Finnerty has led the charge to improve V1 Sports’ technology, sales, service, support and product offerings. New offerings under his guidance include V1 Game, expanding into V1 Baseball, adding the V1 Pressure Mat product and education series. All the while, he’s helped make the V1 Golf and V1 Pro platforms the most commonly used video analysis platforms in golf.

"It’s easy for me to get excited about V1 Sports' vision and the convergence of sports and technology because the root motivation for our work should always be 'Does it make playing the sport more fun?'" he says. "Breaking the four-minute mile. Dunking from the top of the key. The first guy who bent a soccer ball around a wall into a goal. The Pele bicycle kick. I still get chills thinking of all those things because I remember being introduced to them as a kid. Today, with our core products V1 Golf, V1 Golf Plus, V1 Pro and now V1 Game, the market is telling us our vision, to have become more and more consumer-facing over the past five years, truly resonates.”

CONVENIENT PRICING MODEL Par: $1.99/month or $19.99/year – includes 40,000+ golf courses in the V1 Game directory, Accurate GPS Distances, Simple Shot Tracking, Breadcrumbs/Auto Shot Detection

Birdie: $5.99/month or $59.99/year – includes 40,000+ golf courses in the V1 Game directory, Accurate GPS Distances, Simple Shot Tracking, Breadcrumbs/Auto Shot Detection, Strokes Gained Data, DIY Golf Stats

Eagle: $11.99/month or $119.99/year – includes 40,000+ golf courses in the V1 Game directory, Accurate GPS Distances, Simple Shot Tracking, Breadcrumbs/Auto Shot Detection, Strokes Gained Data, DIY Golf Stats, Virtual Coach, Virtual Caddie

V1 Game is a perfect complement to V1’s current line of video analysis software and mobile apps, including the V1 Golf and V1 Pro mobile apps which allow golfers and coaches to conduct online video lessons with advanced feedback including voice-over, telestration and side-by-side swing analysis.

Visit https://v1sports.com/athletes/v1-game-app/ to learn more.

#new #golf #sports #V1

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mostlysignssomeportents · 6 years

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#5yrsago RIP, Aaron Swartz

To the extent possible under law, Cory Doctorow has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to "RIP, Aaron Swartz."

Update: Go read Lessig: "He was brilliant, and funny. A kid genius. A soul, a conscience, the source of a question I have asked myself a million times: What would Aaron think? That person is gone today, driven to the edge by what a decent society would only call bullying. I get wrong. But I also get proportionality. And if you don’t get both, you don’t deserve to have the power of the United States government behind you."

My friend Aaron Swartz committed suicide yesterday, Jan 11. He was 26. I got woken up with the news about an hour ago. I'm still digesting it -- I suspect I'll be digesting it for a long time -- but I thought it was important to put something public up so that we could talk about it. Aaron was a public guy.

I met Aaron when he was 14 or 15. He was working on XML stuff (he co-wrote the RSS specification when he was 14) and came to San Francisco often, and would stay with Lisa Rein, a friend of mine who was also an XML person and who took care of him and assured his parents he had adult supervision. In so many ways, he was an adult, even then, with a kind of intense, fast intellect that really made me feel like he was part and parcel of the Internet society, like he belonged in the place where your thoughts are what matter, and not who you are or how old you are.

But he was also unmistakably a kid then, too. He would only eat white food. We'd go to a Chinese restaurant and he'd order steamed rice. I suggested that he might be a supertaster and told him how to check it out, and he did, and decided that he was. We had a good talk about the stomach problems he faced and about how he would need to be careful because supertasters have a tendency to avoid "bitter" vegetables and end up deficient in fibre and vitamins. He immediately researched the hell out of the subject, figured out a strategy for eating better, and sorted it. The next time I saw him (in Chicago, where he lived -- he took the El a long way from the suburbs to sit down and chat with me about distributed hash caching), he had a whole program in place.

I introduced him to Larry Lessig, and he was active in the original Creative Commons technical team, and became very involved in technology-freedom issues. Aaron had powerful, deeply felt ideals, but he was also always an impressionable young man, someone who often found himself moved by new passions. He always seemed somehow in search of mentors, and none of those mentors ever seemed to match the impossible standards he held them (and himself) to.

This was cause for real pain and distress for Aaron, and it was the root of his really unfortunate pattern of making high-profile, public denunciations of his friends and mentors. And it's a testament to Aaron's intellect, heart, and friendship that he was always forgiven for this. Many of us "grown ups" in Aaron's life have, over the years, sat down to talk about this, and about our protective feelings for him, and to check in with one another and make sure that no one was too stung by Aaron's disappointment in us. I think we all knew that, whatever the disappointment that Aaron expressed about us, it also reflected a disappointment in himself and the world.

Aaron accomplished some incredible things in his life. He was one of the early builders of Reddit (someone always turns up to point out that he was technically not a co-founder, but he was close enough as makes no damn), got bought by Wired/Conde Nast, engineered his own dismissal and got cashed out, and then became a full-time, uncompromising, reckless and delightful shit-disturber.

The post-Reddit era in Aaron's life was really his coming of age. His stunts were breathtaking. At one point, he singlehandedly liberated 20 percent of US law. PACER, the system that gives Americans access to their own (public domain) case-law, charged a fee for each such access. After activists built RECAP (which allowed its users to put any caselaw they paid for into a free/public repository), Aaron spent a small fortune fetching a titanic amount of data and putting it into the public domain. The feds hated this. They smeared him, the FBI investigated him, and for a while, it looked like he'd be on the pointy end of some bad legal stuff, but he escaped it all, and emerged triumphant.

He also founded a group called DemandProgress, which used his technological savvy, money and passion to leverage victories in huge public policy fights. DemandProgress's work was one of the decisive factors in last year's victory over SOPA/PIPA, and that was only the start of his ambition.

I wrote to Aaron for help with Homeland, the sequel to Little Brother to get his ideas on a next-generation electioneering tool that could be used by committed, passionate candidates who didn't want to end up beholden to monied interests and power-brokers. Here's what he wrote back:

First he decides to take over the whole California Senate, so he can do things at scale. He finds a friend in each Senate district to run and plugs them into a web app he's made for managing their campaigns. It has a database of all the local reporters, so there's lots of local coverage for each of their campaign announcements.

Then it's just a vote-finding machine. First it goes through your contacts list (via Facebook, twitter, IM, email, etc.) and lets you go down the list and try to recruit everyone to be a supporter. Every supporter is then asked to do the same thing with their contacts list. Once it's done people you know, it has you go after local activists who are likely to be supportive. Once all those people are recruited, it does donors (grabbing the local campaign donor records). And then it moves on to voters and people you could register to vote. All the while, it's doing massive A/B testing to optimize talking points for all these things. So as more calls are made and more supporters are recruited, it just keeps getting better and better at figuring out what will persuade people to volunteer. Plus the whole thing is built into a larger game/karma/points thing that makes it utterly addictive, with you always trying to stay one step ahead of your friends.

Meanwhile GIS software that knows where every voter is is calculating the optimal places to hold events around the district. The press database is blasting them out -- and the press is coming, because they're actually fun. Instead of sober speeches about random words, they're much more like standup or the Daily Show -- full of great, witty soundbites that work perfectly in an evening newscast or a newspaper story. And because they're so entertaining and always a little different, they bring quite a following; they become events. And a big part of all of them getting the people there to pull out their smartphones and actually do some recruiting in the app, getting more people hooked on the game.

He doesn't talk like a politician -- he knows you're sick of politicians spouting lies and politicians complaining about politicians spouting lies and the whole damn thing. He admits up front you don't trust a word he says -- and you shouldn't! But here's the difference: he's not in the pocket of the big corporations. And you know how you can tell? Because each week he brings out a new whistleblower to tell a story about how a big corporation has mistreated its workers or the environment or its customers -- just the kind of thing the current corruption in Sacramento is trying to cover up and that only he is going to fix.

(Obviously shades of Sinclair here...)

also you have to read http://books.theinfo.org/go/B005HE8ED4

For his TV ads, his volunteer base all take a stab at making an ad for him and the program automatically A/B tests them by asking people in the district to review a new TV show. The ads are then inserted into the commercial breaks and at the end of the show, when you ask the user how they liked it, you also sneak in some political questions. Web ads are tested by getting people to click on ads for a free personality test and then giving them a personality test with your political ad along the side and asking them some political questions. (Ever see ads for a free personality test? That's what they really are. Everybody turns out to have the personality of a sparkle fish, which is nice and pleasant except when it meets someone it doesn't like, ...) Since it's random, whichever group scores closest to you on the political questions must be most affected by the ad. Then they're bought at what research shows to be the optimal time before the election, with careful selection of television show to maximize the appropriate voter demographics based on Nielsen data.

anyway, i could go on, but i should actually take a break and do some of this... hope you're well

This was so perfect that I basically ran it verbatim in the book. Aaron had an unbeatable combination of political insight, technical skill, and intelligence about people and issues. I think he could have revolutionized American (and worldwide) politics. His legacy may still yet do so.

Somewhere in there, Aaron's recklessness put him right in harm's way. Aaron snuck into MIT and planted a laptop in a utility closet, used it to download a lot of journal articles (many in the public domain), and then snuck in and retrieved it. This sort of thing is pretty par for the course around MIT, and though Aaron wasn't an MIT student, he was a fixture in the Cambridge hacker scene, and associated with Harvard, and generally part of that gang, and Aaron hadn't done anything with the articles (yet), so it seemed likely that it would just fizzle out.

Instead, they threw the book at him. Even though MIT and JSTOR (the journal publisher) backed down, the prosecution kept on. I heard lots of theories: the feds who'd tried unsuccessfully to nail him for the PACER/RECAP stunt had a serious hate-on for him; the feds were chasing down all the Cambridge hackers who had any connection to Bradley Manning in the hopes of turning one of them, and other, less credible theories. A couple of lawyers close to the case told me that they thought Aaron would go to jail.

This morning, a lot of people are speculating that Aaron killed himself because he was worried about doing time. That might be so. Imprisonment is one of my most visceral terrors, and it's at least credible that fear of losing his liberty, of being subjected to violence (and perhaps sexual violence) in prison, was what drove Aaron to take this step.

But Aaron was also a person who'd had problems with depression for many years. He'd written about the subject publicly, and talked about it with his friends.

I don't know if it's productive to speculate about that, but here's a thing that I do wonder about this morning, and that I hope you'll think about, too. I don't know for sure whether Aaron understood that any of us, any of his friends, would have taken a call from him at any hour of the day or night. I don't know if he understood that wherever he was, there were people who cared about him, who admired him, who would get on a plane or a bus or on a video-call and talk to him.

Because whatever problems Aaron was facing, killing himself didn't solve them. Whatever problems Aaron was facing, they will go unsolved forever. If he was lonely, he will never again be embraced by his friends. If he was despairing of the fight, he will never again rally his comrades with brilliant strategies and leadership. If he was sorrowing, he will never again be lifted from it.

Depression strikes so many of us. I've struggled with it, been so low I couldn't see the sky, and found my way back again, though I never thought I would. Talking to people, doing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, seeking out a counsellor or a Samaritan -- all of these have a chance of bringing you back from those depths. Where there's life, there's hope. Living people can change things, dead people cannot.

I'm so sorry for Aaron, and sorry about Aaron. My sincere condolences to his parents, whom I never met, but who loved their brilliant, magnificently weird son and made sure he always had chaperonage when he went abroad on his adventures. My condolences to his friends, especially Quinn and Lisa, and the ones I know and the ones I don't, and to his comrades at DemandProgress. To the world: we have all lost someone today who had more work to do, and who made the world a better place when he did it.

Goodbye, Aaron.

https://boingboing.net/2013/01/12/rip-aaron-swartz.html

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xseedgames · 6 years

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2017 End-of-the-Year Q&A Extravaganza Blog! #1

It’s time for our first 2017 End-of-the-Year Q&A Extravaganza! We’ve got a bunch of these we’ll be posting over the holiday break, so please look forward to them. Now, let’s roll right in!

We have answers from:

Ken Berry, Executive Vice President / Team Leader John Wheeler, Assistant Localization Manager Nick Colucci, Localization Editor Liz Rita, QA Tester Brittany Avery, Localization Producer Thomas Lipschultz, Localization Producer

Question: Has selling your games on PC worked out for you so far? I know supporting the PC platform is a relatively recent choice for XSEED. - @Nate_Nyo

Ken: Being on PC has been great for us as it allows us to reach anyone anywhere in the world regardless of region or console. We were probably one of the earlier adopters in terms of bringing content from Japan to PC as we first published Ys: The Oath in Felghana on Steam almost 6 years ago in early 2012.

Brittany: I love working on PC. The work involved is greater than working on console, but I feel like it's a bigger learning experience, too. For console, the developers normally handle the graphics after we translate them, and they do all the programming and such. For PC, everything falls on us. I wasn't that experienced with Photoshop in the beginning, but I think I've gotten a lot better with it over the years. We can also receive updates instantly, and since I talk with our PC programmer through Skype, it's easier to suss out our exact needs and think of ideas to improve the game or bring it to modern standards.

Question: What non-XSEED games do you praise the localization for? - @KlausRealta

Brittany: Final Fantasy XII. I love everything about Final Fantasy XII's writing. I'm also a big fan of the personality in the Ace Attorney localizations. I'm still playing Yakuza 0, but you can feel the passion of the localization team in the writing. There are some projects where you can tell the editing was phoned in, and then there are games where it's obvious it was a labor of love. All of these games have a color I aspire to.

Tom: Probably going to be a popular answer, and not an especially surprising one, but I've got to give props to Lost Odyssey. It's hard to deny the timeless quality and absolutely masterful English writing that went into basically every line of that game's massive script, with the many short stories being of particular note. That game really does represent an inspirational high bar that I think most everyone else in the industry will forever strive to reach in their own works.

For a more unexpected answer, I've also got to give mad props to Sega for their work on Monster World IV. As a Sega Genesis game released digitally in English for the very first time less than a decade ago, I guess I was kind of expecting a fairly basic "throwaway" translation -- but instead, the game boasts a full-on professional grade localization that's easily up to all modern standards, brimming with charm and personality. It's really nice to see a legitimate retro game being given that kind of care and attention in the modern era, and it makes it very easy for me to recommend (as does the fact that the game is actually quite fun, and is sure to be enjoyed by anyone who's played through all the Shantae titles and really wants to try something else along similar lines).

John: I played Okami on PS3 earlier this year (before the remake was announced), and I was awed by how skillfully the team handled text that is chock full of localization challenges like quirky nicknames, references to Japanese fairy tales, and regional dialects. I was especially amused to see a reference to "kibi dango," the dumplings Momotaro uses to bribe his companions in that famous story. We dealt with the same cultural reference with STORY OF SEASONS: Trio of Towns.

Nick: My go-to response is always Vagrant Story, because it’s the game I credit with getting me really interested in a career in localization. Before that point, I had enjoyed games for their story and characters, but hadn’t realized just how much the specific word choices and tone contributed to a reader’s perception of a story as a whole. The gents behind VS’s localization would go on to be industry luminaries, with Rich Amtower now calling shots in Nintendo’s Treehouse department and Alex Smith being synonymous with the highly regarded prose of Yasumi Matsuno’s games – including the cool and underappreciated Crimson Shroud for 3DS, and Final Fantasy XII, which as anyone who’s played it can tell you is a stellar localization. Having spent a lot of time with FFXII’s “The Zodiac Age” remaster this year, the care and attention to detail put into the localization still blows me away. The unique speech style of the Bhujerbans (with...Sri Lankan inflections, if memory serves correctly) sticks with me, because I knew that I myself would never have been able to pull off something like that so deftly. I guess you could say Vagrant Story started a lineage of games that’s always given me something to aspire to as an editor.

Final Fantasy XIV, which I’ve been playing this year, also has a very good localization, especially considering the reams of text that go into an MMO of its size and scope. Michael-Christopher Koji Fox and his team have done a bang-up job giving life and personality to the land of Eorzea, and I’ve enjoyed seeing how the localization has changed in subtle ways as time has gone on. The initial “A Realm Reborn” localization sort of cranks the “regional flavor” up to 11 with heavy dialects and vernacular, but in subsequent expansions, they kind of eased up on that and have found a good mix between grounded localization and the kind of flourishes that work well in high-fantasy settings.

And, while I haven’t played it in a number of years, I remember Dragon Quest VIII having a really great localization, too, with ol’ Yangus still living large in my memories. Tales of the Abyss was fantastic as well, and both DQVIII and Abyss delivered some really brilliant dub work that showed me how much richer one could make characterization when the writing and the acting really harmonized. I still consider Tales of the Abyss my general favorite game dub to date. The casting is perfect, with not a bad role among them. I also want to give mad props to Ni no Kuni’s Mr. Drippy, just as a perfect storm of great localization decisions. Tidy, mun!

Question: How hard is it to turn in game signs and words to English for Japanese? Is it as simple as going in and editing text? Or as hard as creating a whole new texture for the model? - @KesanovaSSB4

Tom: We refer to this as "graphic text" -- meaning, literally, text contained within graphic images. How it's handled differs from project to project, but the short answer is, yeah, it involves creating a whole new texture for the model. Sometimes, this is handled by the developer: they'll just send us a list of all the graphic text images that exist in-game and what each image says, we'll send that list back to them with translations, and they'll use those translations to create new graphic images on our behalf. For other games, however (particularly PC titles we're more or less spearheading), we'll have to do the graphic edits ourselves. When the original PSDs or what-not exist for the sign images, this is generally pretty easy -- but as you might expect, those aren't always available to us, meaning we'll sometimes have to go to a bit more trouble to get this done.

John: The best practice is to review graphic text very early in the localization process because it takes effort to fix and can throw a wrench in schedules if issues are discovered too late. On occasion, it is too difficult to change ubiquitous textures, especially those that might also appear in animation. This was the case with "NewTube" in SENRAN KAGURA Peach Beach Splash, which the localization team wanted to change to "NyuuTube" to make the wordplay clearer to series fans.

Question: With the Steam marketplace becoming increasingly saturated and being seen as a greater risk to publish on in recent times, what does XSEED plan on doing in order to remain prominent and relevant in the PC gaming space? - @myumute

Ken: It is indeed getting harder and harder to stand out as hundreds of new titles are releasing on Steam each month. We are working our way towards simultaneous release across all platforms to help leverage some of the coverage from the console version to get more attention to the PC release, so hopefully that's something we can accomplish soon. For PC-exclusive releases it continues to be a challenge, but at least they have a long tail and even if it's not an immediate success at launch we know it can continue to produce sales for years to come.

Question: What was your favorite film that you saw in 2017, and why? - @Crippeh

John: I'm way behind on movies this year (haven't seen Disaster Artist, Phantom Thread, or Get Out, for example), but recently I've enjoyed both Star Wars and Lady Bird. I expect I'll watch my favorite film from 2017 sometime in 2018.

Ken: Wind River. Mainly because of Jeremy Renner's performance and how many quotable lines he had.

Liz: Get Out for horror mindblowing amazingness, Spider-Man Homecoming for genuinely fun comic book movie, and The Shape of Water for Guillermo del Toro. Guillermo del Toro should always be a category.

That’s it! Stay turned for blog #2 later this week. Here’s a preview of the kinds of questions we’ll be answering:

Question: Have you ever considered selling the music CDs for your licenses stateside? - @LimitTimeGamer Question: If possible, would you please consider researching and localizing classic Korean-made PC xRPGs? - @DragEnRegalia Question: Do you have any interest in pursuing the localization of any of the large, beautiful Chinese RPGs that have been hitting Steam? Or are you focused exclusively on Japanese titles? - @TheDanaAddams Question: What inspired you all to do this kind of work in the first place? Also, what’s the story behind the company name XSEED? How did you all come up with it? - @TBlock_02 Question: What was everyone's favorite game(s) to work on this year? - @ArtistofLegacy Question: What's everyone's favorite song from the Falcom games you've released so far? - @Crippeh

#XSEED #Q&A #Localization

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