#I'm just... so frustrated with everything about the current state of affairs | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

lixenn · 2 months ago

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General update

Since I realised it's been ages since I did some kind of progress report on my projects I'd thought I should make a post about the current state of affairs to keep you guys updated properly.

I know this is probably super old news rn but I'm currently in a very low creative mood (I don't really wanna call it an art/writers block? I just tend to have phases in my life where I pretty much don't write or draw anything and I'm in one such phase rn), so I haven't touched my WIPs in ages. I do miss writing a lot but I'm not at the point where I want to force myself to write, so I'm just playing a waiting game at the moment.

So for writing projects:

I'm still stuck on chapter 6 of Causality which ngl is frustrating even after I managed to get over the initial block I had in the writing by switching POVs. I know need to figure out how to handle the different POV which I might take a while? But also might not, I'm too much of a mood writer OTL I would say the chapter is about 70 % done so I just need to finish the draft and edit but again actually finishing it is the struggle, so I'm asking for patience on this 😔

Now the Guide... I was debating doing something special for the one year anniversary on Thursday (which is wild it's been a year TT one year ago I just started working on my thesis and I was delirously happy because I finally found fandom friends) but since I have a job interview on that day which means I will be stressed out of my mind the entire time this is not gonna happen OTL I still have one very vague idea for a Guide chapter in the back of my mind but except for one rule I don't really have that much to base it on so this will require more time and probably a brainstorm session in discord dms. I might - and this is a very big might - share a future scene of Causality that's not super spoiler heavy as a compromise but this kinda depends on if I'm willing to get over my relucatance of sharing sequel stuff. It would fit for White Day cause it's romance... I will think about it lol

Now the work on the wiki is pretty much on hold because after I got the handle on the initial set up I kinda just need to get over myself and write all the entries which... is a lot of work that I'm too low on spoons for at the moment. I'm honestly considering updating Chief's character profile with the new/corrected info that I have in his wiki page because at this point it's going to take me ages until I get the wiki live and the outdated info is nagging at me. It probably wouldn't be too much effort to do but yeah... Maybe you guys could tell me if you are interested in that? Or if you are fine waiting cause at this point I don't mind either way.

Art stuff:

So I currently have two(?) art challenge asks in my inbox still and they will be my priority unless I get a comm but I'm also asking for patience on those 😔 I promise I haven't forgotten, art is just hard too atm so everything takes longer OTL

Otherwise I don't have any active art WIPs but I have two new OC designs sketched that I want to transfer into digital art, so that I can comfortably throw them into the wild. Also I do want to make ref sheets for my main OCs but that shits hard when your art style is all over the place and you don't know how to draw most stuff without finding specific refs. A problem for future Lix I suppose ^^'

General life stuff (aka what am I doing with my time):

I'm pretty much reading fanfic 24/7 and have been doing for weeks. This is a very common state of affairs when I'm trying to cope with stress and don't have energy for creating things, so it's nothing new. I'm pretty sure I can credit my low creative energy on being kinda depressed/anxious/stressed/lonely about my life situation which can mostly be summed up with: hanging in limbo. I'm someone who benefits from structure in my life and since I don't have either work or lectures I'm at loose ends and it's slowly but surely dragging me down. I don't mind the free time but I also feel anxious and uncertain about my future which always sucks. I can't long term plan for shit rn because I have no clue where I will be in a month and that's so fucking annoying TT Also I feel the constant pressure of needing to find a job sooner rather than later and it's a drag, my guys. Theoretically I know that my worth is not depended on what I can bring to society but my heart can't really fully except it especially since I do need the income eventually, I don't wanna bum off my parents for another few months.

So yeah...

I might go rebloge some more ask games just to get some kind of writing done even if it's just answering questions, it's better than nothing and I miss interacting with you folks. Also, I don't want all of my actual posts be me complaining about my current state of affairs because that's just depressing lmao

Anyways! Gold stars to anyone who actually read this massive post that totally got out of hand ⭐ Keep being awesome my dudes!

#lixy reports #progress report #this is me just rambling about my projects and stuff

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kiigan · 6 months ago

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reasons to carry someone

@asparkleofmuses/Rin requested: [ TWIRL ]: sender catches the receiver in their arms and spins them in a neat twirl just because they want to.

I'm going to be a big brother.

ㅤThat's it. That was the simple sentence, recent news being announced to his friend like he often would, that had provoked the current state of affairs. Next thing Itachi knew, his small feet weren't touching the ground anymore and, instead, he was half-flying in the air while half-smushed against Rin's taller frame. Which caught him entirely by surprise [tiny little gasp included], to say the least - his father wasn't really the kind to offer affection so openly, and his mother tended to be much gentler with it. When was the last time somebody had just grabbed him and tossed him around like this?

And... it felt also surprisingly nice. Fun, even.

ㅤTo the point where Itachi found himself clinging back while the twirl lasted, not because he was scared Rin might accidentally send him into the sun's orbit ...maybe he was a little, but rather he genuinely wanted to be a part of such an over-the-top display of enthusiasm. Not even bothering to hold back the happy, bubbly laugh that left him.

ㅤThough, once it ended and he was placed back down, what he had to offer to Rin before anything else was an intense look full of... something he couldn't quite put a name to. Eyes still a bit too wide and shimmering, hair and clothes still a bit too rumpled for a young child who was usually so composed he might as well be a porcelain doll.

ㅤJoy, maybe? Anticipation? A bit of confusion? A lot of surprise? All of these mashed together? Part of him, always so eager to understand everything that was happening, wanted to ask why she'd done such a silly thing - Rin onee-san, it's not even your own sibling, why are you so excited about it? Yet, at the moment, it somehow felt so unimportant. So muffled by whatever kind of almost-foreign intense emotion that had his little heart pounding in his little chest. For once, Itachi felt more compelled to simply experience the moment, instead of analyzing and trying to make sense of it.

But how to convey all of this?

ㅤHow to tell Rin that she was odd but in the good way? That her reaction was puzzling but welcome? After racking his brain for a few seconds and coming up with nothing of use, the Uchiha child let out a little huff of frustration and just did the first instinctual thing; if it'd felt so nice, no matter why or how, then he kind of wanted more of it. And so he kept his pointed gaze on Rin, holding his skinny arms open for his friend and eagerly waiting for another hug.

#asparkleofmuses #[verse] child is burning; pass me tell me move me #she made him laugh 🥹#[queued post]

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flowerandblood · 1 year ago

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Hello! I am dropping by because I wish to do my part as a reader who enjoys your writing and give a proper review on one of your works that I've recently read that I completely adore titled : Rage | Revenge | Relief. This might be a big long and for that I apologize (if you prefer I do this by reblog of the post instead than by all means I am alright making that change to ensure your inbox doesn't get eaten up by this). I will be doing this on two maybe three different parts just so it isn't too overly long, but I just wanted to do my part as a reader and give you my honest thoughts and opinions on your amazing story!

Chapter 1 : first paragraph, straight to the point and I love that. It gives us a quick dive into the lore of the situation. It doesn't waste time and straight puts the reader into the home life and mental state in which Aemond finds himself in which I like to point out is very fitting because it reflects how sudden this all must have felt for Aemond as well since his whole world basically changed in a flash without warning, so the straight to the point explanation in a way puts the readers in his shoes were they can see where Aemond is coming from when it comes to the choices he makes through out the story.

" On the one hand it turned him on, on the other it embarrassed him, he wondered how a grown woman could be so desperate."

This line stood out to me because I sorta view it as him not really thinking this on Alys alone but in a way also asking this of his own mother. He states clearly that he doesn't wish to deny his mother her happiness but her way of going about it doesn't sit right with him. Which could be viewed as desperate since she ended up going against everything she has taught him when raising him and in a sense he has a difficulty understanding or sympathizing with his mother.

I actually like to think that in a sense his relationship with Alys is to reflect his own with his mother (minus the sex part) because Alys is the only source in which he vents his frustrations on the matter. Alys, in a sense, is a personafied representation of Aemond's views on the family situation at hand. Even more so because he actually holds no feelings for Alys and even he states that he has lost all emotions after the affair was revealed, so he actually holds no feelings for the family situation either. So in a sense I believe that both this relationship and his tense relationship with his mother and her lover go hand in hand. And I know he later on goes to saying that he dated Alys to piss his mom off in a way but it can also just be viewed as way of him actually still surrounding himself in the situation by being with a woman that reminds him of the desperation he feels his own mother had. Making it like an endless cycle.

(This could very well be just bs I'm spewing and I probably didn't get my point across but in my mind I've connected the dots)

We then get a glimpse of the mc's mom (imma use mc cause idk what else to call her) and I hate her. I say great job on this interaction between mother and daughter because even if we never actually see more of the mother, the reader already knows enough to know about the mc's current life situation with her own parents and also understand just how the affair affected her personally as well. The interaction between mother and daughter was *chef's kiss* because it also allows us to see the type of person the mc is with how she handles the situation. Because while aemond is stuck feeling betrayed by his mother's choices, the mc is stuck in a hard place where her loyalties and responsibilities put her in a tough spot. She wants to support her mom but can't because she has her school life, her future, to think about which makes her having to deal with her father but that only makes it seem as if she is picking sides making the situation even more frustrating because it is obvious her mother isn't even in the right state of mind to handle this decision her daughter took.

The fact that aemond also overheard this conversation was a nice bonus because he found an unlikely ally in the midst of this whole mess. Which is nice because a majority of it all seems like he just feels like it is only HIM dealing with the weight of the situation but when he sees he isn't alone he almost can't help himself but reach out desperately (hahaha very fitting). But he passes it off as a "what if we just fuck with them" type of deal because he is in a place where he isn't ready to be vulnerable or else that would mean he isn't too different from his mother and what he views at the moment as weakness for backing out of what she raised teaching him in regards to their faith.

The smut scene was so tender, not going to lie. I love how you go about it, it feels so real, so raw. It gives warmth, it gives genuineness to the whole ordeal. It feels like genuine young adults being impulsive and screwing around to get back at their parents only to realize they have themselves to rely on and that it doesn't have to be them alone vs the world but can instead back one another up.

Overall, first chapter was very touching. Very captivity and you have such a fuzzy and nostalgic feeling to your writing that just radiates comfort despite how angsty or even smutty it might be.

I'll leave it here for now, I fear this is long enough already but I will be back to review the other chapters to this amazing story. Please don't stop writing, you have such an amazing gift and I can not wait to read more of your writing 💖 have an amazing day/ night and take care :)

omg what a great analysis, I must admit I'm kind of moved!!!

you can do it here or in reblogs, of course I will answer either way, so do it to make you feel comfortable!!

as for the introduction, I hate prolongations, I don't like to be bored when I read, I want to be immediately in the center of events, but not in the sense that I want to go straight to intimate scenes, but to immediately know what the situation is, what is happening, why

I think one of the hardest things as a writer is to say to yourself "don't write about things that don't matter to the story"

as for Alys, I think you connected the dots very well! He takes it out on Alys the way he would like to do it on his mother - and I don't mean that he would want to have sex with her, but, as you remember, Aemond compares sex with Alys to something aggressive and animalistic, and that's exactly the emotion his mother evokes in him.

He feels ashamed because he wants to hit her, just like a child kicks his parents' legs in a store when they don't want to buy him his favorite sweets. He is an adult and cannot take it out on her in this way, he loves her and does not want to hurt her, but on the other hand he has so much resentment towards her that he cannot cope with it and gets involved in this relationship instead.

Although Aemond doesn't admit it in his mind, the first thing he feels after overhearing her conversation with her mother is sympathy. He comes to her with these beers to comfort her, but he can't do it, he hides behind irony, he tries to disturb her because he doesn't want to feel any positive emotions towards her, remembering that she is Criston's daughter.

What is happening between them in his room is his and her expression of childish helplessness, just as children smear the walls with crayons, can break a vase, do anything to express their dissatisfaction.

They decide to cooperate in this area and discover that they somehow bounded with each other with tenderness and understanding, which makes the whole experience not only satisfying but also pleasant for them. There is no one who loses more or less and that is why in the end it seems so innocent to them.

#answered #love your analysis so much #thank you!!

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over-the-time-flow · 2 years ago

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Pre-Chapter 6 Upgrades:

Neo Getter Robo:

HP: 5000 -> 5250 EN: 160 -> 176 Mobility: 70 -> 73 Armor: 1050 -> 1102 Weapons: 0 -> 1

Nadesico:

HP: 7800 -> 8190 EN: 240 -> 264 Armor: 900 -> 945

Aestivalis (Akito):

EN: 100 -> 120 Mobility: 100 -> 105

Gekiganger 3:

HP: 3300 -> 3580 EN: 100 -> 120 Armor: 900 -> 940

As it turns out, GEAR's HQ is situated below an amusement park, and a really fancy one too; if he didn't work here, Ginga definitely couldn't get in just with his allowance. Hokuto says he's exaggerating, but regardless, seeing a child worry about money makes Reika and Hikaru muse about all the children who can't afford to come to amusement parks. Kirakuni steps in to brighten the mood, saying that that's exactly the ideals this park was founded on; so that children would never forget to play and dream... though it doesnt sound very convincing when ginga was just complaining about it being prohibitely expensive

Mizuho, meanwhile, is taking in the sights. You see, she's never been to an amusement park; the colony she grew up on was rather... modest. Megumi stops to think about it, and in the first place, it's rather rare for colonies to have amusement parks at all. and we all know what happened to texas colony

Tonya wonders if that means the poor thing has never gone on an amusement park date, only to find out Mizuho has never gone on a date, period.

Beauty: "Huh!? I don't believe this. Aren't you 18? And you've never been on a date?" Mizuho: "N-no..."

Minato: "I'm appalled... RAUL!" Raul: "Y-yes!?" Minato: "You mean you haven't taken your girlfriend out even once!?" Raul: "What's going on here!? We're not even dating!" Beauty: "Dating or not, when you're hanging out with such a cutie, hitting on her is the polite thing to do!"

Strongarmed into feeling conscious of one another, the two can't help but feel awkward... until Kirakuni swoops in to save the day once more, gifting them a full day free couple's pass to the park! Still awkward, but even more unwilling to let a gift go to waste (even if they didn't ask for it), they reluctantly set out on the arranged date.

Witz is frustrated that it took all that work to get Raul to ask Mizuho out, as he feels a man ought to be able to do that on his own, but Tonya thinks all's well that ends well, especially when it comes to such inexperienced lovebirds.

Speaking of lovebirds, Captain Misumaru gets right to work on asking Kirakuni if there's any couple's passes remaining. It'd be a real waste to not get to spend this opportunity on a wonderful amusement park date with her beloved Akito! Regardless of his own wishes, of course!

Not too far away, yet very far-removed from all this heart-pounding romantic action, Raj is deep in thought, staring at a poster. Something about a "Mazinger Parade"? That's right, the Photonic Power Labs and the Science Fortress Lab are collaborating to have a little parade with their respective Mazinger teams. Most would be excited to see the Mazingers up close, or to meet celebrities like Koji or Tetsuya, but we all know Raj well enough by now to be able to tell that what he really wants is a peek at the functioning of Photonic Energy. Beauty wonders aloud why he thinks they'd show it off at an event aimed at the general public, but Raj either doesn't hear her or chooses to ignore her.

Go, meanwhile, is more befuddled by the concept of the parade in the first place. With the current state of affairs in... well, the entire Earth Sphere, is this really the time? But Kirakuni posits that it's exactly because of the state of affairs that this is important. Sure enough, at least the public seems to agree, as everything's sold out already... but Go just chalks that up to most people having more free time than common sense.

Speaking of more free time than common sense, Sho barges in; Go has been skipping training! He gets an earful and is promptly dragged away by his ear like he's Brock or something.

In the middle of all this... liveliness, Banjo has a sour expression. Hokuto asks him if anything's wrong, but he just asks Kirakuni for details on some of the people staffing the event. In particular, the master of ceremonies will be Edwin, a magician who works for the company that facilitated the parade in the first place.

Director Shibuya holds a video call with Kenzo Kabuto, the man in charge of the Science Fortress. It seems like this parade is also an excuse to transfer the Mazinger pilots into GEAR's forces, which is pretty smart; raise public morale and at the same time disguise your tactical maneuvers. Not bad!

Meanwhile, deep underground, at the heart of the Mycenae Empire, The Great General of Darkness (above) curses Tetsuya and the Great Mazinger, taking it as a personal insult that they'd dare hold a parade while in battle with his great empire. But his superior, the Emperor of Darkness, tells him to look at things more rationally. A parade is a great opportunity; with all the civilians around, the Great Mazinger is basically handing them chances to catch it with its guard down. Now properly motivated, the General sets off with his Mycenaean Combat Beasts and some refurbished Mechabeasts stolen from the late Dr. Hell, who once terrorized Japan until he was struck down by Koji Kabuto's Mazinger Z.

Boy: "Dad, is THE Great Mazinger really coming?" Girl: "I want to see the Venus A!"

In a completely trustworthy tone, the magician Edwin gets excited about making all these children's dreams come true... and his own.

Watching from afar, Banjo says that sure enough, it really is Edwin. Garrison muses that Banjo must be feeling nostalgic...

Backstage, Edwin talks to his true master; Koros, the Meganoid who is the de facto second in command. She commends him for his devilish plan; should all go correctly, he'll have many children to turn into meganoid soldiers, and maybe even get a chance at stealing a Mazinger for them to study. But he has to be careful; Banjo Haran, the Meganoids' greatest foe, is back on Earth. Edwin talks big about easily making short work of him, and wonders how they should execute him once he's caught, but Koros seems uninterested in the conversation; such things can be discussed when (and IF) Banjo's properly captured...

Back to the lovebirds' little impromptu date, they're looking out at an observatory, seeing the horizon line. Not being used to the Earth, this is actually Raul's first time seeing it. He thinks he's been to Earth before, but if he did, he was too young to remember much.

They bond a bit over not being used to the Earth, with Mizuho bringing up that when she was little, she visited once and the ocean made her feel sick just from the smell! Apparently it's a rather common occurrence due to how sanitized the air on the colonies is. Mizuho opens up that, for a long time, she felt a bit of prejudice against the Earthborn, but hanging out with so many of them since the time travelling incident, she's come to realize they're just like her. Raul can relate to this somewhat; he's been really taken aback by how steadfast everyone here is in their convictions. They all face down terrible odds, but they continue to strive to protect the world around them... This really inspires Mizuho, who gets all fired up all of a sudden; she wants to be able to tackle her future like that, too! Raul's a bit surprised to see her so motivated all on her own, but it seems he's happy for her, as they walk off to ride the ferris wheel next.

On their way back from the amusement park, they run into Yurika, alongside Akito's remains. She excitedly asks if the pair tried the Mach Coaster Twister 9, stressing how unmatched the feeling of reaching Mach speeds in the flesh is. Akito, with whatever strength remains in him, tries his best to express that... it wasn't as fun for him.

Akito: "People... weren't made... to reach mach speeds... urgh..."

Needless to say, Raul and Mizuho decide not to ride the Mach Coaster Twister 9.

Banjo: "..." Kirakuni: "Oh, Banjo. Everything good? Planning on giving someone that bouquet?" Banjo: "Sadly, the bouquet's recipient is... long dead. Kirakuni, cancel the parade right now." Kirakuni: "Wh-what are you saying? It only just began!"

Chapter 7 - The Mazinger Team, In Peril!!

#srw r #super robot wars r #lets-play #translation

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mj-ackerman · 3 years ago

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Since someone already translated the Mission 1 of the Novel, I'm gonna proceed with Mission 2 and the rest: You can read the Mission 1 story: Anya's Nature Class HERE

SxF Light Novel: Family Portrait Translation Mission 2: Yuri's Day Off (Part 1)

Note: The italicized sentences are the characters monologue, while the bold and italicized quoted sentence are the ones Anya's reading. DO NOT REPOST

Part 2>>

“Hello, Mr. Bellman. How are you feeling?”

Yuri Briar. 20 years old.

He lost his parents at an early age and was raised by his older sister, his only immediate relative.

“Oh, I’m sorry. This room kinda smells a bit, isn’t it?”

Wanting to make his beloved sister’s life as easy and happy as possible, he studied hard from an early age, and joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by skipping grades, and is now traveling around the world as a young elite diplomat…but it is just his title on the surface.

Currently, Yuri Briar works for the National State Security Service, also known as (SSS). Ranking as the second lieutenant.

“Even if I ventilate the room, the smell of a filthy traitorous bastard keeps coming back. I wonder where the hell is the smell coming from? Right? Mr. Bellman?”

The man is a secret police officer.

------

“When was the last time you took a rest, Yuri?”

“Thank you for your hard work, Lieutenant. I took a nap three days ago, so don’t worry about it.”

When he called him out as he came out of the interrogation room, the younger subordinate replied with a smile.

Yuri is tall but slender and with a baby face, his SSS uniform looks like a school uniform when he wears it.

“I want to devote myself to this work, to make the country where my sister lives a better place.”

With a bashful face, he talks about his dream like a young little boy.

But the lieutenant knew that his harmless smile was not all he had to offer. Even now, Thomas Bellman is still vomiting, the traitorous politician who could not be dropped by anyone. The reason why the black gloves are soaking wet must have been from the blood of the traitor. This is what this man is, bloodthirsty.

“Then take a rest tomorrow. It’s a holiday.”

“I told you, I’m fine. My energy is on max!”

“That’s an order from your superior.”

“What?!”

Yuri exclaimed in frustration when he casually ordered him to do so.

“I don’t have time to do that. I must catch Twilight as soon as possible to eliminate the threat coming from the West!”

He’s like a tenacious hunting dog.

Although he can be an uncontrollable mad dog sometimes, he is usually astonishingly serious and diligent. He is like a loyal dog to his owner, the country.

No….

In this man’s case, it is not the country itself that he pledges allegiance to, but rather, to “the country where my sister lives.”

And for that reason, he gave up his bright future and chose to do dirty work himself….?

Being a diplomat is a dream job for many students today. It’s not something that you can just aspire to become but rather, it’s something that you have to work hard for.

What would his sister think if she found out that her young brother had abandoned his brilliant career and was now working everyday in a place where the sun doesn't shine, getting his hands dirty? Or maybe that’s the reason why this man is hiding real job from his sister…, as he thought about that, he immediately stopped.

Everything is just his own speculation. If there is one unwavering truth, it is that everything Yuri Briar does, exists only for the sake of his sister’s happiness.

Good grief, what a healthy boy he is.

He is not stupid enough to be sentimental, but he admires the unwavering faith of his young subordinate. Therefore, he don’t want to use them up with the stupid things like overworking…...due to the lack competent personnel.

“You need a reasonable rest regime so that you can work more smoothly and accurately. It’s fine, you can rest tomorrow. And after the holidays, you can go back and work harder.”

“With all due respect, sir, but…”

“This is for the country. More importantly, it’s for the sake of your sister’s happiness.”

“......I understand.”

At the mention of his sister, Yuri reluctantly agreed in the end. Looking at him, his face, which became sulky, did not look like a ruthless secret police.

------

“Aaah. they suddenly told me to take a rest, but what should I do now?”

Yuri, who was forced to take a day off half-heartedly, was lying on his bed at home with a lot of free time on his hands in the morning.

Outside the window, which can be seen from his bed, there is a cloudless blue sky.

Oh right, I remember Dominic said he was going on a trip with Camilla. Ah, I also want to go somewhere with my sister for the first time in a long time….It would be nice if we can eat something delicious together.

What came to his mind was the smiling face of his beloved sister, Yor. At that, Yuri’s face loosens sloppily.

“Today’s a holiday…. So the city hall will be closed.”

While looking at the calendar, he looks at the picture frame on the low chest and sees Yor smiling at him in the photo. Yuri’s cheeks blushed at the beauty that would make even the goddess of beauty fade away.

If my sister is also on break from work, maybe I can go visit her again…. It’s been two weeks since I saw her….Oh, but if it’s a holiday, then the hospital is off too.

In that case, the loathsome Lottie is also supposed to be at home.

Loid Forger, who works at Berlint General Hospital, is, regrettably, Yor's husband. Yuri, however, did not approve of this. To him, Loid was nothing more than a diabolic thief who took away his most precious sister in the whole world just because he is a little bit nicer, a little bit taller, a little bit refreshing, and a little bit caring, an excellent doctor.

Why does he need to have a day off anyway? He needs to work like a sled cow, regardless of holidays, then die somewhere because of overwork!

As he was getting frustrated remembering the wastefully well-dressed face of his sister’s thief, Lottie, the phone on the top of the low chest rang.

Yuri lazily lifted himself out of the bed, while clicking his tongue as he said,

“It’s so early in the morning, who the hell is calling? Yes, Yuri Briar speaking.”

When he answered the phone in an unfriendly voice, he heard a beautiful, angelic voice coming from the other side of the receiver.

“Oh, Yuri. It’s me, Yor.”

“S-S-Sis?!”

The tone of Yuri’s voice jumps up an octave.

“I’m so sorry for calling so early in the morning. Are you going to work now?”

“No, it’s my day off today.”

Yuri responded shyly. At that, Yor’s voice brightened.

“Really?”

“Y-Yeah….sis. I don’t have any business trips and it's a holiday today, so I’m free for the day.”

“That’s great.”

Yuri’s heart was ringing along with the cheerful voice of Yor.

Sis is happy that I’m off from work. I’m sure that she also wanted to see me….Oh, Lieutenant, thank you so much.

As he was thinking of sending a bouquet of gratitude to the superior he was complaining a minute ago, he heard Yor says,

“That’s good. Actually, Loid is not here for work today .”

Yor said something that made him even more happier. Yuri’s heart suddenly became light, airy like the blue sky today.

“Something like an urgent call came in…”

“I see, Lottie has work today. That's amazing, no I mean, that’s tragic, sis.”

He rephrased, but he can’t even keep his voice from getting lively.

“Come on, don’t call him that. Loid is way older than you,Yuri. And he’s also your brother-in-law, address him with respect, okay?”

Yor reprimanded Yuri in a troubled voice.

Although Yuri obediently responded, “Yes, sis,” he honestly had no intention of addressing Loid with respect. Furthermore, he doesn’t even have any intention of calling him “brother-in-law.”

I still haven’t acknowledged him as my sister’s husband. No, like I would ever admit it. I won’t admit it even to death, Forger

As he was harboring hostility towards Loid inside, Yor asks him over the phone,

“So, Yuri, can I ask for a little favor? Could you please come over now?”

“Of course sis! I’ll be right there!”

Yuri danced wildly with joy at the request from his beloved sister, he ran out of the house almost fully clothed and headed straight for the apartment where his sister was waiting for him, His steps were lighter than a bird’s feather.

“I’m here, sis. What do I have to do? You need something in a high place that you can’t get? Or maybe, you need help to carry heavy loads? Or do you need someone to sign the witness testimony in your divorce papers? I’ll do whatever you need!”

Yuri opens the door to the Forger’s house with a bright smile. Then, Yor, who seemed to be waiting impatiently for his arrival says,

“Yuri, you’re here. Thank you so much!”

She also greeted Yuri with a bright smile.This smile seems to come from their genes.

Oh, sis. How cute and well-groomed you are today. I’m the happiest person in the world having the most beautiful and kindest sister in the world.

As Yuri was trembling with happiness in his heart, a small creature appeared from behind Yor as if to disturb his surging joy.

“Unkie!”

“C-Chihuahua girl.”

Anya Forger, the child from the previous marriage of the loathsome sister thief, Loid Forger.

She’s such a hardcore idiot who misheard “knowledge is power” as “knowledge is swole chihuahua”. However, her auspiciousness of wanting to become a great person in order to feed his sister with delicious food is quite impressive. But after all, she’s still the child of that Loid Forger. Yuri can’t let himself be fooled.

“Don’t call me unkie, I’m not your uncle.Don’t you have school today?”

“Today is a holoday.”

“You mean, holiday”

But come to think of it, it’s a national holiday, so it wouldn’t be strange for the school to be closed. That was a blind spot, Yuri clicked his tongue inwardly.

“But still, it’s better than having Lottie. I'll just let her watch her cartoons, and she won’t be able to disturb me talking to my sister. Oh, SIS, my SISTER! I’ll do anything for you my sister, Oh, my dear sister Yorrrrr, my SISSSSSS!!!”

“....Ugh.”

Upon hearing those thoughts, Anya’s face painted an expression that resembled a Noh mask, belching softly.

“You always have heartburn, don’t you?”

“My stomach is full.”

You nasty brat. I bet you ate too much for breakfast. Well, I understand why you wanted to eat as much as you can. My sister’s cooking is exquisite. It has an indescribable aroma, the more you chew, the more you sweat, the stronger the taste of the ingredients, and occasionally it even includes chopping boards, so not only is it full of nutrients, it also makes your teeth stronger….. Oh, I want to be a food ingredient and be chopped up by my sister.

After a moment of screaming in his chest about his feelings for his sister, Yuri turned to Yor.

“So? What do you want me to help you with? Tell me whatever you need. Do you need me to carry the shopping bag, clean the fan, or do the laundry? I’ll do whatever you want.”

“Actually…”

“Oh right, since the weather is nice, how about we do some redecoration? Let’s take this opportunity and maybe you and Lottie could have separate bedrooms..-”

“No, about that…”

Yor hesitated for a moment, frowning her brows slightly, looking troubled as she stammered in front of Yuri, who happened to be very enthusiastic. Yor looked wonderful even with a look like that.

“What’s wrong, sis? We’re close, aren’t we? If you have something to say to me, you can say it, don’t be shy.”

When Yuri said that with a cheerful and enthusiastic smile, Yor finally spoke.

“Actually, there’s an event organized by the city hall today…”

“Yes, yes.”

“Millie was supposed to be the participant, but this morning I suddenly got a call from her saying she has a cold, and I had to go instead. But Loid also has an emergency that he can’t missed out, and Franky, the one we always ask for, is also busy…”

Hmmm…Franky? Who’s that? That's a completely unfamiliar name…

Yuri reacted strongly to the name of a man he had never heard his sister mentioned before.

Maybe he’s a nanny, hired for babysitting or something.If he’s serious and just doing his job then it’s fine, but if he’s a piece of shit who tries to make a pass on my sister, I’ll execute him

Yuri thought, gritting his teeth.

“The event will last for half a day and I couldn’t leave Anya home alone. So, Yuri, would you mind playing with Anya?”

“Eh….”

Yuri stiffened involuntarily at the unexpected turn of events. Ruminating over Yor’s words, he asks in horror,

“I-In other words, you want me to stay in this house without you and with this chihu- I mean, with Loid Forger’s daughter? In this house without you, sis??”

“Yes. Can you do that for me?”

In an instant, Yuri’s beautiful holiday fell apart.

Oh my god, and here I thought I could finally spend the day with my sister…but I have to spend it with this Chihuahua girl? I’d rather read books on interrogation and study torture while surrounded by pictures of my sister, it’s a million times better than doing this.

Yuri almost collapses on the spot in despair. But Yor looked at him with moist eyes and said,

“Please, Yuri. You’re the only one I can count on.”

At that, as the brother who loves his sister more than anything else in the world,

“Okay sis, leave everything to me!”

He had no other choice but to say yes……

--------

It has been 30 minutes since Yor left for work.

Yuri sat on the sofa in the Forger's living room, casually flipping through the pages of a magazine. However, he wasn’t looking through it intently.

Before that….

“Well then, I’ll be back as soon as possible, I’m really sorry, Anya. I'll bring you lots of gifts. Yuri, please take good care of Anya.”

After saying that, Yor rushed to work. Her graceful appearance as she walked out the door was still reeling in Yuri's mind.

“I’m bored, Unkie.”

Anya stretched out as she lay on the carpet under the low table, reading the comic "SPYWARS".

Yuri nodded and got up on the sofa.

“Then, do you want to study?”, he asked.

“Uh….study…”

Anya made a blatantly disgusted face, but she didn’t mean to harass him.

Yuri, who usually doesn’t interact with children, could not imagine playing with children in a way that would please them. All he thinks about is to get a better job as soon as possible and become a man who can protect his sister. Journalist, lawyer, doctor, technician, he studied all fields evenly so that he can handle all kinds of occupations. Therefore, he didn’t have any time to play, but he never complained about it. In fact, he is proud of the fact that all knowledge he has cultivated in this way is the foundation that supported him today.

“Tell me what subject you're not good at, we'll focus on that part.”

“I-I don’t have any subjects I’m not good at. I’m good at everything.”

“Don't try to lie to me with that stupid face of yours. Well then, we're going to study all the subjects.”

When Yuri said this in a nonchalant tone, Anya groaned “Geh” sounding like a strangled frog.

“Is this girl really an Eden student? I bet my sister must have suffered a lot because of her….Poor sis, married to a man who already has a child. Right! What if my tutoring made her a little smarter? Then, my sister would say, “As expected from you, Yuri.”, with a sparkling smile like jewels. And then maybe, she will reward me with a kiss on the cheek reward, just like when I was a kid. Oh sis, my beloved SISTER. I love you. You're the most beautiful woman in the world, no one can compare to you, sis.”

Suddenly, Yuri felt a cold gaze directed at him, stopping his overflowing feelings of love for his sister running out of control. When he looked to his side, he saw Anya staring at him silently. When Anya met Yuri’s eyes, she let out a heavy sigh. It was as if she was saying “Good grief, what a troublesome guy.”, she was so annoyed that she had a persistent cough, but was only able to let out a dry cough.

“Come on, hurry up and go to your room and go get your notebooks, textbooks, and reference books. Don’t forget to bring your learning supplies too.”

“I don’t feel like studying today.”

“Even though you have a lot of free time?”

“I have free time, but I don't have time to study.”

Yuri sighs at Anya’s cheeky remarks, “Well, go watch TV then.” he told her.

Efficiency doesn’t increase even if you beat the ass of people who don’t like it. Even though he had lost his sense of reason towards his sister, Yuri was still rational enough to realize this. However, Anya appeared to be even less endearing.

“There’s no cartoons to watch at this time.”

“In that case, lie down and take a short nap. Like that fat dog over there.”

Yuri, who was annoyed, pointed at the dog sleeping peacefully on the carpet. It’s a lazy dog that makes him wonder why people keep such a dog. It can’t even be a substitute for a guard dog.

“Ah no. No need to take a short nap, just fall deep asleep. Sleep until my sister comes back.”

“.........”

All of the sudden, Anya looked at him staringly. She looked extremely dissatisfied.

“What? You look like you want to say something.”

Saying that, Anya quickly left the living room. Yuri thought that she had most likely sulked and retreated to her room, but she soon returned with a notebook and pencil in hand. She sat down directly on the carpet and began to write diligently on the low table. Occasionally, she would glance at Yuri and would chuckle meaningfully, then move her pencil diligently again.

What is she writing about?

Looking at Anya’s hand, Yuri saw a series of squiggly lines on the paper, involuntarily he exclaimed “That’s dirty!”. The writing looked like worms crawling on the ground, harder to read than any type of treason code.

“What’s that…. Is that some kind of curse spell? That’s creepy.”

“A diary, I’ll show you later.”

Anya grinned eerily saying that. Yuri replied with a “Huh”. He then took the notebook from Anya and tried his best to decipher it……

“Today is a holiday. And yet I have to stay at home with Unkie. Unkie isn’t like uncle scruffy, he doesn’t play with me. Unkie told me to sleep like a dog all day. Unkie is bad, I’m so sad”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

After reading it, Yuri fainted with his head in agony. It was truly a cursed word, a cursed book.

If my sister reads those lines, she’ll definitely hate me!!

“Yuri, that’s too much! I hate you for being such a bad kid!”

Yuri imagined his sister saying that while furiously turning her back. Just thinking about it, he banged his head against the low table in despair and confusion.

“You’re so violent, Unkie…”

Anya swallowed, flinching at Yuri’s eccentricity.

“Let’s go out!”

Yuri stood up, blood streaming from his head.

“You’re bleeding.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

He looked at Anya, who was pointing at his head, and gave her a serious order.

“We’re gonna go out to play now. Get ready, chihuahua girl.”

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

“Ooting! Ooting!”

“Stop flapping your feet. And it’s “outing”, not “ooting””

Yuri had been awake for several days in a row before his superiors gave him a reluctant day off. And now, he couldn’t help but sigh as he sat in the tram with the daughter of the despicable thief. Why should he, an excellent secret police officer who pledged allegiance to the country, have to suffer such a fate?

An old woman sitting nearby looked at the excited Anya, she squinted her eyes and said,

“Oh my, she’s so cute.”

What’s so cute about her? Damn it, this is all because of Millie - my sister’s co-worker

Going to his sister’s house, helping her, eating the food she cooks, talking with her - this dream holiday was ruined all because that girl caught a cold.

Does she really even have a cold?

The timing is just too good to be true. If she had forced her beautiful, kind-hearted, angelic colleague, who never doubted others, to work on a troublesome holiday, then such a woman should be executed right away. She doesn’t deserve to live.

….No, no matter what kind of woman she is, she still might be an important working companion for my sister. After all, if I have to execute someone, it should be Loid Forger, who forced his daughter to my sister on a holiday and is working on his own ....Damn it, if that man were a spy, I could have executed him with dignity.

While Yuri was thinking about those things, the tram arrived at the station they needed to get off. Anya jumped off the platform.

“Where are we going, unkie? To the amusement park? I want to ride a ferris wheel.”

“Since you’re just gonna play anyway, why not go to an educational place where you can play too, right? We’re going to “STEP WORK KIDS”.”

Anya repeated it as “SNACK WAAK KISS”. A young woman who was walking nearby heard it and burst out laughing.

She’s really a total embarrassment. Even though he was annoyed, Yuri corrected her.

“It’s Step-Work-Kids. I remember one of my seniors at work told me he went there with his wife and kids.”

“What’s it like? Is it fun?”

“To simply put it, it’s a place where children can simulate working in their field of interest and help them choose a career for their future. It’s a huge government-approved indoor entertainment facility created with the aim of encouraging the development of the necessary human resources such as lawyers, judges, military personnel, doctors, scholars, engineers and other professionals needed in Ostania.”

“It’s a little bit difficult.”

Anya looked at him with dull eyes like a dead fish.

“You’re talking like an alien, unkie.”

“....in other words, it’s a place where you can play around with different jobs and decide what you wanna be in the future.”

Hearing that, Anya’s eyes immediately lit up. She clasped her hands tightly in front of her chest and sighes excitedly.

“Sounds like fun.”

“Right? Let’s get going then.”

As he said this and turned to go to the address where the amusement facility was located, something soft touched his left hand. Yuri then realized that Anya was trying to hold his hand, he winced involuntarily at that.

“.....what are you doing?”

“When we go ooting, I have to hold papa and mama’s hands, and so does scruffy.”

“What’s with this scruffy? And we’ve been outside for a while now.”

Honestly, Yuri was reluctant to hold her hand, but then he realized that if he lost her just because he didn’t want to hold her hand, he would have no face to show to his sister, so he unwillingly held her hand. The hand he held was warm and a little damp, probably because her body temperature is higher. Moreover, her hand is very sticky.

God, it’s dirty….why didn’t she wash her hands properly?

While thinking that, he was also surprised how small her hands were.

“How old are you?”

“I’m six years old.”

“I see.”

Yuri glanced involuntarily.

Are these hands smaller than a child’s at her age? Or are they bigger? He had no idea what size a six year old's hands would have.

…..come to think of it, sis used to hold my hands like this.

But of course, his young hands were never sticky with candies…..

“How many minutes, unkie?”

“About 10 minutes.”

“So exciting.”

“Look straight ahead. No more glancing sideways.”

Despite his nagging warnings, Yuri didn’t realize that he had unconsciously adjusted his pace to match up with Anya’s footsteps.

"Welcome to STEP WORK KIDS!"

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

#spy x family #spy x family light novel: family portrait #translation #anya forger #yuri briar #yor forger #DO NOT REPOST #I'll post the part 2 later #sxf

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aestheticcommons · 3 years ago

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Double Media Feature

So if Die Hard, Sirens, and Brooklyn 99 had a baby...it would be this. It is hilarious. A bomb diffuse team on NYE trying to beat a record. It's short, it's great, it's got Jacobi, Loveless, and Eiffel from Wolf 359. I laughed out loud and started talking to the podcast.

So what am I working on while I do this?

I am revitalizing a copy of Maurice I bought from a used book store that fell apart upon opening it. I think the person who originally bought it never read it. It was a really copy glued together size 9 font affair with no margins. Add to this the fact that the book is close to 30 years old....and you can imagine the amount of damage. Maurice one of my favorite books. I think I like it for the reasons that other people like Jane Austen. I don't really care for Jane Austen, but I love the movie adaptations. They're great background noise. Plot wise though I get frustrated because it's still the upper class discarding the lower class (I am looking at you Sense and Sensibility) or supposing to lean into challenging class expectations by doing exactly what is best case scenario (That would be you Pride and Prejudice). The only one I really liked was Lady Susan and really I liked that one because it was SO much like Les Liaisons dangereuses.

Maurice is a favorite because Maurice chooses Alec and Alec chooses him. They really do forsake EVERYTHING for one another. I guess it's like what Pride and Prejudice would be if Darcy really did pick someone beneath him and the story was told from his side....or if any of the men in Sense and Sensibility had actually stood by any of the women they had knocked up or abandoned. It's more romantic to me I guess because it's.....

Yupe it's both of them going full Carly Rae Jepsen.

I've managed to get the thing type set correct, got the page numbers on there and did a few additions for my own sake. The joys of binding means that I can make the book "better."

Really by better I mean more user friendly. I've added a table of contents, and about halfway though an index (I had to redo it twice now, it's hard on the spirit to have SUCH failure), and the update of the global stance of homosexuality for 2022. I'm currently at over 100 hours on this project, but I think it's well worth the time given that legislation I saw take root in Virginia. I worry for the state of minority and queer texts with things like that in the wings, but to be fair I also worry about another Hays Code era given that some of the books tangled up in that lawsuit are straight couples.

This is how these things kind of start....legislation and the law can be dangerous. But maybe I'm paranoid. But...given what Texas and Florida and even Georgia have going on...needless to say I'm cultivating avenues to protect banned/challenged books. We always say it's to protect kids, but it's really about just removing chances to curate empathy I think. It's to casually and quietly make people "weird" or "strange" and in doing so make children grow up believing that those people might be wrong or evil. That's how you teach children hatred.

Now thinking about what I'm doing....I guess Maurice was the right choice to bind and customize. The whole book Maurice is struggling with who he is...

When I'm finished, DM me if you would like a copy of my edition? Anyone interested in my hundred of notes regarding the symbolism that I did when I was proofing my screwed up print outs that @evil-robot-cat had to pep talk me through?

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asiryn · 5 years ago

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I wanna vent about kairi and sokai a bit if you don't mind!! your blog is right about everything and honestly I'm tired of sokai fans pretending to be feminist for liking the most bland ship where the girl is just the GIRL in the relationship

but yeah pretend that everyone who dislikes the ship is sexist >_>

Right about everything, huh? A dangerous power you’re giving me, there. XP Anyway, I do not mind, so rant away!

Well, there probably are people out there who hate Kairi and subsequently SoKai bc of sexism, or at least out of internalized misogyny (I know for a fact that there definitely were back in Ye Olde Fandom Days, but admittedly I don’t know how much has shifted in the cultural landscape of the broader fandom in the past few years). And it’s always a good idea in general to keep track of exactly where your salt is coming from, bc sometimes things like misogyny, homophobia, racism, and the like can seep in through cracks that we didn’t realize were there.

But on the other hand, it’s silly for them to refuse to admit to the obvious flaws in canon SoKai, and to equate genuine criticism with just bashing. And how is it sexist to say that Kairi deserves more narrative respect and better treatment by the writers? Like, can all you SoKai shippers look me in the eye and tell me that you’re perfectly happy with the current state of affairs? That you don’t want better writing and development and more screentime for the relationship? Can y’all honestly tell me that you think it’s 100% perfect as is, with absolutely nothing that you’d change? Really? Because that’s the part that I genuinely struggle with to understand, myself. I don’t understand how you could possibly be content with the scraps you’ve been given for this main canon romance, especially one that’s literally never had any barrier standing in its way. And that’s the part that really kills me, bc it’s not like this is a queer ship fighting against homophobic censorship, so they’ve had all the time and opportunity in the world for this ship to flourish, and they could’ve reserved all of the best writing for SoKai, and they just........didn’t. And I will literally never understand why.

I guess, what I’m trying to say here is that.....as an open message to SoKai shippers, y’all can’t paint all “detractors” of the ship with the same brush. Sure, I’ll bet that there some out there who are just haters, bc there always are. But there are a lot of ppl bringing up valid points of criticism. There’s ppl like myself, who while not inherently against the ship, can’t bring ourselves to fully ignore the subpar writing, and who maybe can never fully forgive the years of frustration over the writers’ insistence on digging an even deeper hole instead of making any effort to climb out of it. And burying your own heads in the sand and refusing to recognize or own up to the flaws in writing for SoKai (and Kairi as a character)....isn’t really going to help endear the ship to us any better. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#ask kiryn #zoolovingsora #anti sokai #long post #kh salt #shipping #kh #kingdom hearts

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xtruss · 4 years ago

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Dread at 30,000 Ft: Inside the Increasingly Violent World of US Flight Attendants

— Francesca Street, CNN

(CNN) — Working as a flight attendant previously afforded Mitra Amirzadeh the freedom to explore the world -- taking her from her home in Florida to destinations including Kenya, France and Spain.

As the pandemic spread, the perks of Amirzadeh's job diminished. Now restricted to domestic US flights, her work involves navigating not only the fear of catching Covid-19, but also the recent uptick in disruptive passengers.

"I'm dealing with a lot of babysitting, which I never counted on doing," Amirzadeh, who works for a low-cost US airline, tells CNN Travel. "The actual children on board behave better than the grown adults do."

This summer, unruly passenger behavior seems to have reached new heights. In one incident, a passenger punched a Southwest flight attendant and knocked out two of their teeth. Video also circulated of a passenger getting taped to their seat after they reportedly punched and groped Frontier Airlines flight crew.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it has issued more than $1 million in fines to unruly airline passengers so far in 2021.

US flight attendants tell CNN Travel say the stress of the situation is taking its toll,

Susannah Carr, who works for a major US airline, says unruly incidents used to be "the exception, not the rule." Now they're "frequent."

"I come in expecting to get push back. I come in expecting to have a passenger that could potentially get violent," she says.

Amirzadeh says flight attendants across US airlines are just "over it."

Allie Malis, a flight attendant for American Airlines, says air crew are "exhausted -- physically and emotionally."

"We've gone through worrying about our health and safety, worrying about our jobs -- now [we are] worrying about our safety in a different way."

The Rise of Air Rage

There seems to be a rise in unruly passengers on board US airplanes. Pictured here: airplanes at Miami International Airport in August 2021. Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images

Pre-pandemic, the issue of unruly passengers was becoming increasingly omnipresent — data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) suggested incidents rose from 2012 to 2015, while whole conferences were dedicated to the problem.

This increase was often linked to cabins getting fuller, with increased security checks and processes adding to tension.

In 2019, Malis, who is also the government affairs representative at the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, a union representing American Airlines air crew, spoke to CNN Travel about the decrease of personal seat space. She said her union believed it is "strongly correlated and in a large part to blame" for the rise in incidents.

Alcohol is also an often cited contributing factor -- travelers drink at the airport and board the plane without crew realizing how inebriated they are. When it all kicks off at 30,000 feet, it's too late.

That said, it has always been hard to get an exact handle on whether passengers have actually become more unruly. Not every airline that's part of IATA submits data, and not every airline records every instance of unruly behavior, while separate FAA data recorded oscillating numbers of investigated incidents between 1995 and 2019.

There have been suggestions that incidents just started to feel more ubiquitous in recent years because social media means videos of badly behaved passengers spread like wildfire.

But while FAA data might show fluctuating figures for much of the past 20 years, in 2021, incidents seem to have skyrocketed. In 2019, 146 investigations were initiated by the FAA. So far in 2021 that number is 727.

Covid-19 seems to have exacerbated an already existing issue to an unprecedented degree, at least in the US.

Amirzadeh recalls the silent flights of spring 2020. People were too fearful to even look at other passengers or air crew, she says, let alone cause conflict.

By summer 2020, travel had recommenced and reports of in-flight disruptions were back. Masks -- not yet mandated by the FAA, but enforced by some airlines -- were becoming a sore topic among some travelers.

In recent months, unruly behavior has reached new heights.

"It just seems like every next incident is getting a little bit more extreme, things you just would have never imagined last year," says Malis.

"As a flight attendant, it's really hard to imagine yourself being in a position that requires duct taping a passenger to their seats for the safety of everyone else on the plane, yet this is something that has happened numerous times in the last few months."

Malis says she feels like incidents have been on a steady rise since the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. It also involved disruptive behavior on planes and led to the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) International -- which represents American flight attendants at 17 airlines — stating rioters should not be allowed on flights home.

"I think the insurrection was kind of an eye-opening experience," Malis says. "What do you do when you have multiple incidents happening on the plane at the same time with only four crew members?"

“I come in expecting to get pushback. I come in expecting to have a passenger that could potentially get violent.” — Susannah Carr, flight attendant

A survey by the AFA released in July of this year found that, of the 5,000 flight attendants surveyed, 85% said they'd dealt with unruly passengers in 2021.

Disruptive passengers had used sexist, racist and/or homophobic language, according to 61%, while 17% said they'd been victim of a physical attack this year.

"I thought I had seen or done or heard at all," says Amirzadeh, who has flown for six years and previously worked in customer service.

"But as I've learned the past 18 months, that is definitely not the case, I am seeing, hearing and doing things I never thought in my life I would ever be doing."

Flying During Covid-19

Masks are mandated by law in the US on federal property and on public transportation, including airplanes. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Many incidents are linked with mask non-compliance, which the flight attendants who spoke to CNN Travel say has been an issue throughout the pandemic.

Even though it's now FAA-mandated and federal law, the wearing of masks remain the cause of the majority of inflight issues. In a press release dated August 19, the FAA says it had received approximately 3,889 reports of unruly behavior by passengers since January 1. Of those reports, 2,867 were passengers refusing to comply with the mask mandate.

"In the beginning, I would sympathize and say, 'Hey, you know, I get it, it's hot, I'm hot. I'm wearing it too -- I need you to wear it too. Can we please work together?'" says Amirzadeh.

"But here we are, it's been a year and a half, you're wearing them everywhere. And we're not the only ones that are asking you to wear them -- every train station, every bus, every airline..."

Carr says she thinks the problem is that mask-wearing is sometimes viewed as a political issue in the United States.

"The mask issue was less about public health and it was more politicized in the beginning. And that is something we're still dealing with today," she says.

Amirzadeh says fraught mask-related interactions often come as a result of passengers removing their face covering to eat or drink, and then keeping it off. It's one of the reasons she thinks alcohol shouldn't be served on planes currently.

“It just seems like every next incident is getting a little bit more extreme, things you just would have never imagined last year” — Allie Malis, American Airlines flight attendant

Carr agrees and also questions the availability of to-go drinks at the airport.

Still, not serving alcohol can be the cause of issues too -- as Malis has found on board American Airlines, which continues to ban alcohol in its main cabins on board most flights.

"On some of my flights it's caused people to get upset, because they do want to feel like they have a right to have a drink -- but at the same time [...] if you're getting so upset because you can't have a drink right now, that's the exact reason we're kind of afraid to give you one, that kind of erratic behavior," says Malis.

For some passengers, travel may feel more stressful and anxiety-inducing in the age of Covid. Carr suggests this -- and the stresses we've all been under during the pandemic -- are a contributing factor to the rise in incidents.

"We've been isolated for the last 18-plus months," she says. "So I think some of the social graces have kind of been put on the back burner, as far as what's acceptable in public and on an airplane."

Malis wants passengers to realize that the stresses and anxieties they might be feeling about traveling in the age of Covid-19 are also shared by many crew, even if they seem like "a very accessible punching bag."

"We've been putting ourselves on the front line, and quarantining from our families," she says. "We're doing our job, we're not the reason your flight got canceled, we're not the reason you're frustrated."

The ubiquity of events on social media also leads Malis to suggest there could be a "copycat factor."

To reverse this, Amirzadeh says it's important for people to realize that the passengers who've gone viral are paying the price.

Dealing with Incidents

Flight attendants are getting self-defense training as the number of unruly passengers is on the rise. CNN's Pete Muntean reports.

Flight attendants are safety professionals trained in dealing with everything from a medical emergency to a potential terrorist incident.

"We're not here to serve you a Coke, we're here to save your life," is how Amirzadeh puts it.

But there's the concern, she says, that dealing with unruly passengers could prevent crew from dealing with other issues on board.

"We are the people that are going to give you CPR, we're the people that are going to give you the Heimlich maneuver, we are the people that are going to put out the fire. But we might miss those things if we're too busy arguing with someone else about putting their mask on."

Malis says dealing with unruly passengers is a team effort -- if a passenger seems to have taken against a particular flight attendant, another crew member stepping in could calm them down.

Carr says she keeps tabs on mask-wearing from the moment travelers step onto the plane, and will first offer a friendly reminder.

If someone continues not to comply, there are several warning steps culminating in the traveler getting handed a card stating that if they continue, they'll be reported to the airline and could lose travel privileges.

As Amirzadeh points out, a flight attendant can't force someone to wear a mask.

"But I can let him know that if he doesn't, then I hope that wherever we're landing is his final destination, because his return ticket's going to be canceled, we're going to file a report with the FAA, and you could face fines, and other legal ramifications."

Flight attendants are also able to take self defense classes organized via the Transportation Security Administration.

"I think more and more flight attendants need to start taking some self defense classes and need to be prepared to protect themselves and that's a sad thing," says Amirzadeh.

On January 13, 2021, the FAA signed an order directing a stricter legal enforcement policy against unruly airline passengers, promising a zero-tolerance campaign.

Any passenger who "assaults, threatens, intimidates, or interferes with airline crew members" could face fines of up to $35,000 and prison time.

The FAA also recently launched a public awareness campaign, which includes a video, as well as some social media memes.

The agency has also asked US airports to ensure law enforcement on the ground deals with reported inflight incidents, as well as consider issues associated with to-go alcohol.

The AFA flight attendant union is pressing for the zero tolerance policy to become permanent.

"It's also important that the Department of Justice is prosecuting some of these events," says Carr. "These unruly passenger events have been so egregious, flight attendants have been attacked, and injured [...] in situations like that, it's important that they're facing criminal prosecution and that's something that needs to be publicized as well."

Malis also suggests there should be further coordination between airlines to ensure passengers banned from one airline can't board other US carriers.

Carr and Amirzadeh are both members of the AFA flight attendant union, while Malis is involved in the American Airlines' union.

They say flight attendants have been sharing stories with their unions and their private networks -- across carriers -- providing support and solidarity.

The AFA union is offering employee assistance via therapy sessions.

"There are certainly flight attendants that definitely need a break physically, mentally, and emotionally. But right now, the staffing is not there to support any type of voluntary leave option," says Malis.

State of the Travel Industry

Some flight attendants are concerned travel could shut down again. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

After a difficult year of furlough and redundancies, flight attendants are concerned that the dual effect of Covid-19 and unruly passengers could see aviation grind to a halt again.

Carr says one of the joys of her job has always been supporting passengers on their travels -- whether they're heading on a long-dreamed-of vacation, traveling under difficult circumstances or anything in between.

"I love this industry and my coworkers and having the traveling public back is wonderful," she says. "But the pandemic is far from over. That is a reality. Covid-19 and the variants are still taking lives."

The last thing Carr and her colleagues want to see is travel stalling again.

"We are doing everything we can to keep passengers safe on board and keep travel going, but without the support of the traveling public -- without people taking those necessary steps to mitigate the spread, and help get a handle on this pandemic -- we could be facing travel closing again, which would be horrible."

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helshades · 8 years ago

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Far from me to use the crude tumblr speech but, here I have to say, I believe you're "reaching" quite a bit. As much as i agree that a lot of people involved in fandom(s) have… unusual… taste… I'm skeptical about the idea that sexual fantasies have much to do with political or belief systems. One fantasy can be more or less encouraged, sure, but overall, the big ol' classics stay in fashion. Usually a variant of "what if something that's supposed to be horrible happened… and I liked it???"

Human beings are bizarro primates, after all, and if left to their own devices in the company of most inanimate objects, will probably try to either eat it or have sex with it, it’s true. Add to this the fact that bodice-ripping novels have been a thing for way too long for many of fandom’s twistier fantasies to look that new (although you can bet your sceptic arse that the whole Alpha-Beta-Omega item is a strictly postmodern horror) and you’re quite right in assuming that in spite of numerous variants, overall fannish forays into Sigmund Freud’s censored nightmares aren’t that original. On the other hand…

Nevertheless, I’ll contradict you on a few points:

When I was sardonically linking fandom’s most hive-minded tendencies to a certain state of contemporary society, and I used the term ‘liberalism’, I wasn’t either announcing my conversion to Trumpism or alluding to a system of beliefs, rather to a structural phenomenon pervasive in our Western societies—and one must never forget that politics is by essence a res publica: civic life, what is common to all in the public space, and on which all can operate equally provided that they concert… Fiction doesn’t happen in a vacuum, it reflects a great part of our current preoccupations, personal ones indeed, but also ones we’ve absorbed from social osmosis, you might say.

Liberalism in Occident isn’t a mere set of political beliefs so much as the default structure of our respective and common economies, dictating the way States interact with one another in regards to a common market. This is capitalism triumphant, where in the initial idea resisting absolutism has long dissolved into pretty antisocial individualism as social constraint has come to be perceived as the worst kind of oppression possible. This has to be conjugated with the rise of consumer society—which, symptomatically enough, doesn’t have a Wikipedia page—in the 1960s, whose core issue is that the desire for consumption eventually overrides most ethical principles.

Economy completely informs social interactions, and that includes the way we educate children, actually. Did you know that an entire social phenomenon and bona fide psychological condition happens to be a direct consequence of mass consumption? In French we know this as the ‘kid king’ issue, what happens when a whole society is encouraging parents to spoil and coddle children so much that they grow into adults incapable of handling frustration, or indeed any type of adversity. Bear with me, because this is actually fascinating:

▬ Human beings are in a way programmed to seek pleasure and flee discomfort; they instinctively seek to fulfil basic needs, and once these are satiated, try to find as much comfort as possible. Any human infant and young child is ruled by this principle of pleasure, and the role of education is to basically teach children the reality principle, that they aren’t alone in life, that others exist and have to be taken into account, that impulses have to be controlled; this is done essentially by setting limits for the little child not to cross. Balance between the two principles is paramount to the construction of the self.

▬ Psychological resilience pioneer Boris Cyrulnik commented on the fact that if animals regularly abused in their infancy tend to find themselves as adults at the bottom of the social scale since they’ve acquired a certain aptitude for subjection, those never exposed to aggression tend to stand outside the group because of their inaptitude to participate in socialising rituals. Yet, adversity is absolutely needed to set sane limits to one’s behaviour: deprived of any real frustration, a child will grow up still believing himself omnipotent, becoming hedonistic, selfish, egotistical; throwing tantrums at any opposition. Typically, these children end up suffering from attention disorders—with or without hyperactivity—anxiety issues, oppositional disorders…

▬ This is also an unplanned consequence of widespread contraception, as most children nowadays are born of the

desire

of their parents to have them meaning that family no longer makes the children as much as a child makes a family; the main problem being that as the immutable centre of his parents’ attention, a child tends to become a perpetual consumer of everything that a society of mass consumption is ready to provide to keep him sated in his own desires. French psychologist (specialist of cognitive immaturity) Didier Pleux listed the ‘five Os’ of the overattentive parents: overconsumption, overstimulation, overestimation, overprotection and overcommunication; the parents will spoil their child with toys and sometimes food, seek to keep him busy at all times because boredom is perceived as yet another form of violence (but it is crucial in the development of creativeness), laud every single of his realisations, prevent him from making any real effort and prioritise his expression (letting him interrupt others when they speak, for instance) at all times.

▬The thing is, contemporary society harasses all of us with the injunction to consume, perpetually, at every opportunity, and in the case of good-willed parents it furnishes with the means to spoil their children just as advertisement convinces them that if they don’t cater to their every supposed need, they’ll be bad parents.

▬The phenomenon, because that type of behaviour, essentially consumerist, was being so encouraged by the rise of neoliberalism (a more aggressive form of that rapidly-globalising capitalism), quickly snowballed into public education, and I can tell you, most especially because I used to teach for a living, that in France a whole educative system got based on the notion that collective education would be better off if it was made to cater to the personal needs of pupils—but this is a can of worms to be opened on another day, preferably one when my cold has abated and I’ve stopped sneezing my brain away all over my keyboard.

Believe it or not, I’m not digressing that much. We are the grandchildren of the first mass consumers and the kid-king phenomenon is a Generation Y thing. My generation is having children of its own. Most importantly, this is the generation that got to grow up with the Internet first, meaning that we were born in a very, very different world. You noted that fandom fantasies aren’t really unheard of and I concur, but I’d argue that the Internet allowed for fantasies to be shared on a massive scale and amplified into becoming cultural phenomena that have much to do with group emulation. Psychologically and sociologically, it’s pretty fascinating, too: there is this uncanny collection of intensely personal feelings, really intimate stuff, stuff that used to be considered private (for some good reasons and a couple bad ones as well, I suppose), now exposed very publicly on the ground basis that the Internet preserves a certain anonymity—which isn’t untrue, mind you, unless you carelessly sign into one of those many websites and applications that syphon your data and manipulate your online browsing, but I digress again (if only a bit).

Sexuality has become incredibly public, as of late. Let me remind you that there are political movements asking governments to give an official status to their sexual habits (or lack thereof, in the case of ‘asexuality’) or, more aggressively, their feelings. Sorry, folks, but that’s the whole basis for the ‘transgender’ movement, and as far as I’m concerned people may live as they choose but I’m not entirely certain that the State has a rightful place in this? Anyway, the frontier between ‘private’ and ‘public’ has been melting, unfortunately so, and most of this must have to do that Western societies have been considerably depoliticised over the last few years, inasmuch as we’ve been rapidly losing our means of popular representation, decent public information, or generally civil services, due to an overabundance of capitalism, precisely.

Sex in fanfiction… it’s not quite sex in fiction, either. Oh, granted, there’s quite enough raunchy literature out there to make you doubt, but the particularity of fanfiction is that most works are an ongoing affair between an author and her readers, who often swap places, very much informed by public demand, meant to cater to very specific desires. In that, it’s not too different from many a published novel, albeit not the best ones probably, only fanfiction is… unbridled. But that’s not actually the point.

The point is, simply, that fanfiction is a cultural product issued from a certain period in time and it reflects part of the expectations of a society; because its producers are mostly young women, it has a lot to tell on the mechanisms of a modern young woman’s psyche—I can tell you it contains a lot of misogyny, for one, if not even gynecophobia…—but it also proposed a certain picture of the modern world that acts a little too much as a two-way mirror for my intellectual comfort. It’s not that every single writer of a Baby-Daddy kinkfic is going to develop paedophilic tendencies growing up, but one, although one mustn’t indulge in full-blown paranoia either, one absolutely has to consider the fact that sexual pleasure is the most powerful incentive out there. For realsies, I mean, it’s actually one of the most prominent arguments to be made against pornography, because we know its devastating neurological effects for regular consumers, who rapidly become incapable of dissociating the unrealistic portrayal, notably, of women, to the detriment of all real-life relations and rapports male consumers of porn could have with women. Sex rewires the brain with exceptional efficiency, because it’s linked directly to our reward system and programs us to want more of the pleasurable thing.

I assure you there’s no pearl clutching in remarking that pornographic fiction written by fans can have enormous influence on the budding sexuality of young people in a day and age where we have this paradoxical relationship to sexuality as a social concept: on the one hand, it’s absolutely everywhere and even children can’t escape it, since magazines and clothings brands do their worst to groom them into mini-pimps, sexy baby Barbie dolls and overall future (antisocial) disasters; on the other hand, we seem to have somehow revolved into the most shameful anti-intellectualism possible, and nobody needs to bother being rational anymore, and adults make desperate attempts to look like kids for fear of growing old, and they act like it, too.

I’m ending this long-arse comment on an anonymous post just sent to me, which is bound to ignite some… conversation as well:

I’m reluctant to make this point publicly for a myriad of reasons (mostly my own cowardice), but I think the then-concurrent rise of the Brony fandom, more specifically futa porn and its prevalence in adult male MLP “fans” has had a larger impact on current transwoman narratives.

I’ll be waiting patiently on the sides with a hot drink to see my followers count drop again, I reckon.

#answers #nonnies #fanning the fandom #long post #this is a readmore-cut hate blog #i don't believe in half measures #go big or go home #and go take some ibuprofen while you're at it #ouchie

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