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sepublic · 2 years ago

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Kinda enamored by how much Willow’s arc and its whole resolution comes from being loud, messy, and emotional; She self-actualizes by being openly angry, and as scary as it can sometimes be, expressing frustration is key to Willow’s happiness. It’s encouraged and mandatory for her to ‘hold a grudge’, and Willow isn’t really punished for it. That’s not something you see in a lot of female protagonists, and there’s also the added layer of her being an Asian girl; And Asian girls, alas, are expected to be quiet and demure, and often fetishized for this as they grow older.

A lot of Willow’s suffering can be attributed to her trying to keep the peace; Not lashing out against Amity’s condescension in their debut, nor bringing up her anger towards Amity in S1B because it’s both uncomfortable to her, and I imagine because Amity and Luz seemed happier for their friendship! So Willow’s all about just keeping quiet, because that’s better than vocalizing and manifesting things; Surely it’s wrong to hold onto anger, surely that is the unhealthy part?

“Out of sight, out of mind” is what Willow says in response to her memory photos. Even a simple gag about her ignoring the bones she’s walking on when meeting the Bat Queen is indicative. Willow thinks she’s content quietly accepting what her parents want and not resisting, because that will ‘keep the peace’, right?

But we have glimpses of that frustration; Like that moment in Understanding Willow, where Inner Willow sarcastically asks Luz if she’d enjoy witnessing the falling-out between Willow and Amity that she’s been so curious about. I love Luz, but her concurring despite her reservations, as well as her general actions that episode, definitely showed her flaw of still somewhat seeing things as a magical fantasy adventure, where Luz is so enamored by the novelty of what’s going around she forgets the (for lack of a better term) human element that she should prioritize. The jeopardy isn’t a jeopardy, it’s an opportunity for adventure!

Yet Willow doesn’t think so, especially as someone for whom this is mundane, having grown up with it; So this eventually culminates in her calling out Luz in Wing it like Witches, for basically seizing control of Willow’s conflict with Boscha in order to play the hero and enact her own cathartic comeback on Boscha. Obviously Luz does legitimately care more about people than being the hero and meant well, so she does accept her wrongdoing and atones for it, and Willow appreciates the gesture enough to forgive.

And that’s the thing, the resolution for both of them comes when Willow snaps; When Willow is angry. Willow is supposed to be ‘unpleasant’. I think a lot of Willow’s character is an insistence on being submissive and palatable for the sake of others, and when she became more open as an athlete, surely she solved her problem, right?

But by designating herself as the mom friend of the group, Willow just traded one form of repression for another, seemingly more empowering, kind. But Willow is still focused on prioritizing the needs of others, being the leader people need her to be, once again keeping the peace by solving problems and minimizing her own. Being open means being vulnerable, it means introducing Willow’s issues into the mix and that’s not peaceful.

Yet Willow’s happiness isn’t about being peaceful, it’s about being open and defiant, it’s about being messy and emotional and obvious. She tries to overlook Amity’s condescension in Labyrinth Runners because Willow doesn’t want to jeopardize their healing relationship, she wants to appreciate Amity’s effort, but eventually she has to express her anger, and is validated for that. Willow speaks her mind, rather than maintaining the peace between her and Amity, because it’s not even a real peace, not at the cost it inflicts upon Willow anyway. Willow recognizes Amity’s effort, and she’s grateful for that at least, but it also isn’t working and if this is about Willow’s sake, then she should say as much.

Willow’s big arc in For the Future has her openly wail, tears all over the place, over how much she misses her dads. Willow is used to being a wallflower, overlooked and not drawing attention to herself; She made the first step by being a leader people follow, but Willow still hid an important side of herself. While Willow does snap and rant at Boscha during the climax of her repression, it’s interesting that she isn’t made to regret it; If anything, even after opening up to Hunter and Gus, Willow happily reminds Boscha that she still isn’t finished with her. Willow’s still holding onto a ‘grudge’, if that’s one way to put it, and that’s good!!!

It’s a lot like Luz’s arc in the series finale; These two girls of color realizing that it’s okay for them to be angry, to speak their mind, to vent their frustrations and prioritize themselves. Belos pitifully implores Luz to make ‘peace’ by helping him, but Luz isn’t some white moderate; She’s not going to let grievances go unaddressed for the sake of order, and neither does Willow. Willow has emotional threads she feels are unresolved, and that matters more than sparing someone else’s feelings, even if they do mean well.

Sometimes, these two really, truly don’t owe anyone anything; Luz is allowed to speak out and complain to Eda, and is rewarded with things like Hexside and a more transparent mentor. When Luz doesn’t do these things and worries instead about what her mother feels, it contributes to her horrific depression, until Camila implores Luz to not worry so much.

Willow is so used to minding others’ feelings by not getting in the way of theirs, or coddling them; But her being a dependable leader isn’t mutually exclusive from speaking her mind, if anything she needs to call people out sometimes, so both they and Willow can face an uncomfortable truth they weren’t aware of and/or denying.

And I think that's really important for girls of color to be told that they aren't jeopardizing unity by addressing grievances, nor are they also the aggressors for responding; Because girls of color especially are told to keep quiet and let certain things be forgiven for the sake of the community. But they're not riling things up, they're calling upon justice to prevent more issues from occurring, to end this silent violence that calls itself peace. As Eda puts it, they have a right to be upset, and it contributes to the larger theme of communication, so loved ones can actually work with problems they’re aware of.

#the owl house #willow park #luz noceda #meta

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nomatterwhatnomatterwhere · 4 months ago

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What a (Not so) Strange World XIV

A.N : Surprise surprise! Double Update!

This was supposed to be my New Year Present but I'm slow and I couldn't get it done on time, sorry. Still, hope you like it anyway

Things are Never (Exactly) as they Seem

PartXIII PartXV

"T-this is t-the worst day of my pathetic life!"

You nodded, stroking the little monster's head, a little confused by what had just happened

You were looking for a table to sit at, a table where there were possibly people you knew, since your friends Yuu and the Problem Child ™ had not shown up yet.

This worried you a little, but given the confusion that day you might not have seen them in the crowd,

You hadn't seen Trey or Cater either. You thought you caught sight of Rook's hat, but when you turned around to take a closer look, you noticed that there was nothing there. You'd seen your brusque classmate - in fact you should have asked him his name - but he was sitting next to the fae from last time, and you had no intention of approaching him.

So you were alone. At lunch. Standing between tables. Like a lost child.

You were about to head out, to eat in the courtyard, if a good soul had not asked you to sit with him and his friend, which you accepted for two absolutely valid reasons

1) you did not want to eat alone 2)you really thought it was difficult for someone to say no to Kalim

The boy had introduced himself and his friend - Jamil - as soon as you sat down and he certainly made an impression.

He talked so much that Jamil occasionally had to remind him to stop for food, but everything he said sounded sincere. It was strange, you couldn't sense any kind of malice from him, which was odd since almost all the students you knew always looked like they never did anything for nothing.

Kalim's presence was almost blinding.

Jamil on the other hand... he was, set, in a way it was like he was holding back. It was a subtle thing, and he probably meant both what he said and what he did, but there was always something, a small thing, that indicated that maybe he wasn't comfortable.

It definitely made you wonder, since from what Kalim had said the two of them had known each other since they were children: with someone you've known for so long, you shouldn't feel uncomfortable.

Despite everything it had been a quiet lunch: both were pleasant company, Kalim was perhaps a little noisy for your taste, but nothing like Grim and the Problem Children.

You had been a little shocked when Kalim had invited you to their dormitory, they had parties every now and then and you were sure to have a good time, and you absolutely had to try Jamil's cooking, if the canteen's was good his was absolutely delicious.

He probably would have continued to sing the praises of Scarabia and Jamil if the latter had not dragged him away, perhaps a little embarrassed by the compliments, to go to class.

With excellent timing, actually, you would see Yuu approach the table and the rest of the group follow, with an absolutely devastated Grim

"I can barely choke down my lunch."

Yuu filled you in on what had happened, and indeed it was strange that Grim, jealous and touchy, had traded his deluxe grilled cheese for a hot dog bun. It was suspiciously strange.

But Yuu had said that in spite of everything Grim had actually agreed to make the swap.

When the little monster tried to take some of Deuce's pasta you slipped him one of the egg sandwiches you'd taken for them, he hadn't even thanked you, but you doubted he'd noticed what he was eating.

He was drowning his discontent in food

You didn't feel like going to the Headmaster, not least because if he wanted to talk about the Overblot issue, you'd already had all the information you could get, but you supposed that after all the insults you'd hurled at him about his incompetence it would be hypocritical of you not to introduce yourself once the Headmaster was actually behaving like a serious adult.

You'd also appreciated his little lesson on ‘what an Overblot is’, but all the respect he'd gotten from you - so very little, Trein and Crewel had been much more specific - had been lost when Yuu had asked if he'd found a way to bring them home

"I have been diligently searching for one, of course. I have certainly not forgotten! It is merely that I've been quite busy of late"

"Your eyes got all shifty all of a sudden"

After explaining that he was busy with organising the Spelldrive Tournament Yuu had obviously asked what Spelldrive was and the two Heartslabyul students seemed totally shocked.

That made you wonder how much they knew about Yuu's situation: you knew they were from another world, a world without magic, it was pretty obvious they would have no idea what the Spelldrive was, yet those two seemed to have completely forgotten about it

"Dude...You've never heard of Spelldrive?!"

Your sour self was ready to answer that stupid question in the most sarcastic tone you had, but you bit your tongue. It wasn't worth fighting with Ace over something so stupid.

Watching Grim's dreams of glory go up in smoke had been equally brutal and funny, brutal because Crowley could have been a little more tactful in telling the weasel that he couldn't take part in the tournament, funny because you had a distinctly broken sense of humour and the little monster's expression as he understood what he had been told made you laugh

This was not exactly his lucky day

Back in Ramshackle he had done nothing but sigh, so much so that the dorm ghosts had decided to play with him to lift his spirits.

You, meanwhile, had started to sort out the things you had in your room, so that you could finally move back to your original room. You didn't have much, really, and you were a little sorry to leave and leave Yuu and Grim in that basement.

Your plans for the ‘move’ came to a halt when you heard Crowley's voice on the floor below, so you decided to go downstairs.

Maybe he was about to tell Yuu that he had found a way to send them home.

You kind of hoped, selfishly, you'd feel less guilty about leaving the dormitory if the dormitory wasn't occupied - ghosts aside - Grim could have come to sleep in your room, because even though he had his own bed he always slept in Yuu's bed, and once you got home, the weasel would ‘inherit’ your room

(After all, you didn't entirely belong to this world either).

Unfortunately for you, Crowley had not come to bring good news; in fact, he was bringing bad news.

"Oh? You DO recall that I have never promised to cover the living expenses you've been racking up, yes?"

That, in your - and Grim's - humble opinion, was nothing less than blackmail.

It was the worst form of blackmail you could use, especially against a person who had not exactly come for a holiday, someone who had been transported here...

You took a big sigh.

You would have discussed it with Trein and Crewel. Maybe even with the RSC Headmaster if necessary.

This was full-on child exploitation, unions existed in this world, so why weren't they intervening?

You swallowed your discontent to focus on what the child exploiter was saying, and for an arrogant egomaniac, the fact that he was asking to investigate the strange incidents that were taking place earned him points

(Although he should have been investigating, or at least some competent authority, not a person without magic and a weasel without any tact)

Yuu was in no position to refuse, and Grim had been bought off by the promise of participating in the tournament.

You realised that perhaps your luggage would be better off staying where it was: you had a feeling you'd be staying in the dormitory a while longer, at least until this whole thing was over.

It was just a matter of security (you didn't need an excuse to stay, absolutely not)

Armed with great patience, you and Yuu followed an excited Grim towards the infirmary, in search of the students who had been injured in the accident.

The guys from Heartslabyul had been very friendly in explaining what had happened, while those from Pomefiore had been much more defensive.

Probably because Grim was too direct, you could understand why the two of them were upset. What you couldn't understand was why they couldn't resolve the situation with words, without bringing up magic duels

"And you're here to ... what, rub salt in my wound? We throw down the gauntlet! Duel us!"

"Gentlemen" you interrupted before Grim could actually get into a duel with the two " I don't think that a Duel is a good idea. It's against the rule, isn't it? And I'm sure you don't want to explain to your Housewarden why you broke the rules. I also don't think Vil would take too kindly to the fact that you may have attacked a friend of his."

"And why should we believe-"

"I can call him right now, if you want’ you said taking the phone ’ Althought I wouldn't want to bother him if he's busy, but if you insist-"

"No, no, it's not necessary"

You had breathed a sigh of relief, you didn't really want to call Vil either, but you would if it was necessary

"Ne, that was a great bluff" complimented Grim once you had left the classroom "Although the great Grim could have defeated them very well in a duel"

You chuckled, as Yuu shook their head

"Well, thank you, Grim, but it wasn't really a bluff " the weasel shuddered heavily.

"So you really do know their Housewarden"

"Hmm, I'd say we're friends, in a couple of days we'll meet for a cup of tea. He's a nice person, though rather... direct. When I was younger I used to fear him a bit, he used to say things like ‘You'll get a hump if you don't straighten your back’ or ‘You should look at people's eyes when you talk to them'."

"That doesn't sound nice, nu-uh."

Grim looked rather annoyed, probably, unlike Yuu, he hadn't noticed the small smile you had while talking about this Vil.

They had noticed it right away, how comfortable you looked talking about this friend of yours, plus you were actually talking about yourself, so Yuu wouldn't have complained

"You're right, he doesn't look it, but I assure you he does. It's just his way of showing that he cares. Maybe you could come too when we meet? I can ask him."

You weren't sure Vil would appreciate unexpected guests, but having talked about it in front of them, it was rude not to ask Yuu - and Grim by osmosis - if they didn't want to come as well

At some point you separated, Yuu and Grim returned to Ramshackle while you headed for the Hall of Mirror, destination Heartslabyul, so you could ask Riddle about the schedule for the tournament and perhaps inform him to watch out for possible suspicious incidents.

@jessiegerl

(Let me know if you wanna be tagged!)

Dividers by @sweetmelodygraphics

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calabria-mediterranea · 1 year ago

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Soverato, Calabria, Italy

Soverato is known above all for its enchanting blue sea, but not many people know that the bay of Soverato is home to many protected species.

Two species of seahorses can usually be found in the bay of Soverato: the Hippocampus hippocampus and the , both in danger of extinction and included in the CITES list - "Convention on International Trade in Endagered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora".

In ecology, seahorses are considered a valid indicator of environmental quality, since they are sedentary organisms that live in habitats in a state of natural equilibrium.

In the bay of Soverato the pipefish (Syngnathus abaster) and the large-shelled mollusc Tonna galea, can also be found. Both fishes are included in the protection list of the Bern Convention.

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enkas-illusion · 14 days ago

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Muse | Chapter 6

Fandom / Pairing: Attack On Titan / Eren x f!reader

Rating: SFW - Regardless, MDNI

Content Warning: Fluff, language

Author’s Note: And it’s getting good, slowlyyyyy. I love slow burn. It’s in my DNA.

~ Eren’s Birdie

The next three weeks pass by like a fixed routine – same old, same old. Yet, the strange and steadfast presence in your life, that is Eren Jaeger, has been causing you to break away from that fixed routine.

Without realising it, you find yourself leaving your house a little bit earlier than you did before, hoping to run into him before classes. If these last few days have been an indication, you were sure to bump into Eren today as well. You also have valid suspicions that he’s always making your accidental meetups happen.

Stealing just a few minutes from each other’s lives – your time together always cut short due to scheduled classes and piling assignments. He’d even joked that you both should just study and work on assignments together, but you’d successfully dodged the suggestion. Since, the last thing you needed was to be alone with him in a confined space.

You felt like a hypocrite since you were the one who had asked to be just friends for now, but you felt your resolve growing weaker with each interaction. Eren had so far respected your ‘friendly’ boundaries well, though he couldn’t help himself, slipping up and flirting every now and then, leaving your heart fluttering every time he did. You wondered if he knew the effect he was starting to have on you, and it always ended with overthinking about whether you had the same effect on him.

Oh, and while you’d always liked dressing up outside of class, these days you found yourself taking a tad bit of extra effort even while attending lectures. Nothing too extravagant, but a bit of lip gloss here, a bit of blush there. You found yourself digging into the depths of your closet to wear the cute skirts and dresses you’d been avoiding due to the fear of paint staining them. The trade off was worth it – you figured you could at least look cute/sexy during boring theory lectures days and keep the broke artist look reserved for long painting sessions only.

This of course doesn’t go unnoticed by your two best friends. Come Friday morning, as you’re busy using the curler to give yourself some cute waves, Minseo’s going through your closet, “Where’s the crochet top that you made?”

“In the drawer,” you yell out, standing in front of the mirror of your washroom.

“Got it,” she shouts back, “and the long white skirt?”

You stop curling your hair as you stretch your leg out, wiggling your foot to show her, “Here.”

She peeps into the bathroom, checking out your outfit. You’d paired the white ruffle skirt with a denim bandeau top.

“Ooo, Eren’s gonna drool,” she grins.

“I hope he does,” you run your hands through your hair to make the stands flow more freely.

“You’re not even denying it now,” she squeals.

“Hey, you should be happy I’m putting myself out there,” you scold her.

“I am… I just wanted to wear your cute skirt,” she pouts before holding the top up in front of the mirror and concluding, “I guess this’ll still look good with my jeans.”

Even though Minseo has her own tiny studio apartment, courtesy of her rich-ass parents, she often came over before class to have breakfast at your and Annie’s place. The reason she was here to dress up with you was because the three of you along with Sasha and Gabriella, another student from the sculpture department, had decided to go on a late lunch since all of yours’ classes ended before noon for the day.

Once you’re done applying your favourite shade of liner on your lips along with a bit of plumping gloss, you step out to tidy up your room and fold the clothes before storing them back in the closet. You’d started doing this out of embarrassment since the day Eren had slept over. He never mentioned it, yet you wondered if seeing your messy room left a bad impression. It drove you crazy each time you caught yourself worrying so much about what he thought about you, but hey if that’s what it takes to make you more organized in life then a win is a win.

“Armin wants to join us for lunch,” Annie walks in, hair half straightened, “Do you guys mind?”

“Not at all, say yes,” you agree instantly, happy that at least one of your friends was getting some action and a possible romantic connection. Minseo also shouts a ‘yes’ from inside the bathroom.

“And do you mind if he invites Eren and a few others,” Annie asks again. You shrug, “Whatever he prefers… but hurry up, or we’ll be late for class.”

“Yeah, bet you wouldn’t want to miss seeing Eren first thing in the morning,” Minseo giggles as she walks out, adjusting the top till it fits perfectly over her bra, “I don’t understand why you try to be so nonchalant about him when all you want is to be… chalant.”

“Min, try dating someone, will you? There’s nothing going on in my love life that’ll interest you, stop hoping,” you laugh.

“I give it a month max… mark my words, you’re gonna be sucking faces with him in less than a month,” Minseo challenges. You simply roll your eyes at her but deep down, you can’t help but hope that her prophecy comes true.

— — —

When you enter the campus, you don’t run into Eren like you were hoping to and you feel slightly disappointed as you and Minseo part ways with Annie, dilly dallying to Mrs Kang’s studio. You were wishing he’d see you right now cause in your humble opinion, you thought you looked pretty today.

Your wish is granted as soon as you enter Mrs Kang’s class and find Eren sitting on a chair in the centre of the room with other chairs and easels lined up in a semicircle facing him.

“Eren?” you ask in surprise and he looks up from his phone, eyes roaming over your body to briefly check you out.

“Hi,” he tilts his head, resting his hand on the backrest of the chair, “I told you I'd have you paint me soon.”

You walk closer in confusion, “huh?”

“You see, since Mrs Kang loves me so much, she let me self-volunteer to be the model today,” he has a satisfied grin plastered on his face.

“You’re joking,” you scoff, not believing him.

He shakes his head, “Ready to paint me?”

“It’s graphite,” Minseo laughs.

“Same difference… point is, my handsome face will be on your canvas,” he smiles, not taking his eyes off of you.

“How are you so…” you try to find the right word.

“Charming?” He helps.

“No, I actually have no words to describe you, ‘Ren,” you give him a fake smile.

“Are you saying I leave you speechless? I'm flattered, really,” he’s winking at you.

You mime zipping your lips shut and throwing the key far away. It makes him laugh and crinkle his nose at you in a way that people only do when they find something adorable. You shake your head, a smile escaping you as you sit in one of the empty seats.

“Is there something going on between you two?” Jenna, one of your classmates, whispers just as you settle down.

“Me and Eren?” you ask her, “No, we’re just friends.”

Her eyes move from you to Eren as if fact-checking your answer before giving you a skeptical ‘okay’.

He clears his throat, pulling your attention to him once again as he asks, “So, how should I pose?”

“Oh, didn’t you know? This is for anatomy class, you have to take off your clothes for this one,” you inform him with a straight face, showing no trace of mischief.

Eren’s jaw drops as he contemplates it. Minseo, Jenna and all your other classmates look at you in confusion. But before you can speak any further, Eren’s already taken off his shirt.

“Jeez Eren! I was joking!” you squeal as you look away, as the whole class erupts into fits of laughter.

Eren shrugs, dropping the shirt to the floor, “You know, shame is for those who have something to hide.”

He owns it with such confidence that no one dares laugh any further, but rather you can tell without any words that everyone in the room is admiring just how sculpted his body is – some purely in a professional artistic sense while others developing a bit of a crush on this man and his audacity.

You scoff at his words as you look down, tracing the tip of your pencil with your fingers to hide the flushed colour of your cheeks. As everyone eventually starts sketching him and each time you look up, there’s no doubt that his eyes are fixed on you and only you.

When Mrs Kang walks in, she doesn’t seem too surprised to see a shirtless Eren sitting on the chair, as if she knows it’s not something out of the ordinary for a person like Eren.

She simply states, “While Eren has taken the liberty to get shirtless, let’s just focus on his face, shall we?” before leaving you all to your devices.

Maybe Eren was too thrilled to get his portrait made but he doesn’t move a single muscle in the whole 90 minute class, despite people insisting him to take a break, and you just know he’s gonna be sore later on.

When Mrs Kang returns to announce that the time was up, Eren jumps out to stretch his back, cracking and popping his spine. As Mrs Kang is making the rounds, observing everyone’s drawings, Eren smiles as if eagerly waiting for the professor to finish so that he can bask in the glory and see what you have made.

“Care to explain?” Mrs Kang raises an eyebrow as she walks up behind you.

“Couldn’t let him win a personal bet,” you grin, hoping she’d forgive your insolence since you were unofficially her favourite student.

“This was a portrait session,” she scolds you.

“Please Ma’am, I’ll make two portraits for homework,” you grin still, hoping she agrees.

Eren’s intrigued by your conversation since Mrs Kang doesn’t look too pleased so he puts on his shirt quickly to walk over, and when his eyes land on your page, he can’t help but let his jaw hang open. You’d not drawn his face as he hoped you would, rather the page now held a realistic sketch of his torso only.

You smile at him, “I win.”

“I want to see 5 portraits. Consider it homework. By Monday.” Mrs Kang scolds but you know it’s not serious scolding and she’s letting you off easy.

Still you can’t help but gasp, “Five?”

“Got a problem with that?” She raises an eyebrow.

“No ma’am,” you bow slightly before she leaves.

“Wow,” Eren laughs, shaking his head at how ridiculous you’re being.

“Worth it,” you tease him, “So, I win. Don’t forget to check out the portraits made by the rest.”

He scoffs as he observes, “Well, it's beautiful nonetheless. My pecs look amazing.”

“You’re welcome,” you bat your eyelashes in exaggeration.

He's biting the inside of his cheek again, a habit you’re come to find attractive, “You literally got punished for not drawing my face and you’re still happy?”

“I’m winning where it matters,” you blow him a kiss, “besides she'll excuse her favourite student for once.”

“And you call me cocky…” Eren can't help but smile. Just when he thought he couldn’t be more surprised by your charms, you prove him wrong. To hide his ridiculously cheesy grin, he turns to look at Minseo’s sketch instead.

“Wow, this is so good. It’s like you guys have superpower,” Eren comments, but if he were to be honest, he wasn’t interested in anyone else’s drawing but yours no matter how good they were.

“So Eren, did Armin tell you about the lunch today?” Minseo asks, her eyes flickering back to you.

How much more obvious is she trying to be?

“Oh I’ve got two more lectures after you guys are done though,” he answers and you already feel disappointed.

He turns to you before continuing, “But I guess I’ll just have to miss class. Food is more important.”

How much more obvious can he possibly be?

This has Minseo smirking at you as if to remind you of her words from this morning.

One month.

You’re quick to excuse yourself as you head to the next class with Minseo following behind. Your next three lectures go by relatively quickly, with the last one being photography elective.

“Let’s go? Annie and everyone else is done,” Minseo packs up her stuff.

“You go ahead, I gotta talk to Mr Tanaka,” you tell her as you put your things in your bag as well.

She nods before leaving you behind.

“Hello,” you grin as your professor is busy preparing for his next lecture.

“Hi,” he looks up from his notes, his tone monotonous, “C+ is bad, I won’t sugarcoat it. How come your skills from painting don’t translate here?”

“Prof, what am I missing?” you sigh, “I just don’t understand what I’m doing wrong.”

He takes his glasses off and his demeanor changes as his voice softens, “It's not one thing, it's… it just somehow falls short. You need to learn the technical aspects of it. Aperture, exposure, aspect ratio, all of these things work together in harmony. You can’t pay attention to one thing and neglect the other. That’s why most of your photos lack one aspect or the other.”

You involuntarily sigh as you listen to his feedback. And here you thought photography would be the easiest choice.

“I know you may be thinking oh no, photography was supposed to be the easiest elective to pass,” he begins.

You shake your head rapidly, “No, not at all, sir!”

“Nevertheless… think of it from the perspective of your paintings. Do you think your work would be any good if it lacked a certain colour or got some proportion wrong? Try dissecting your photos in a similar fashion. I actually had a book for you but… I can’t find it,” he rummages through his desk, “Oh that’s right, Eren Jaeger has it.”

You look up from your feet in surprise, “Huh? Eren?”

“Amusing kid,” Mr Tanaka laughs, “About a week ago, he came to me asking if there was any way an MBA major can take up photography as an elective? I said not that I know of.”

You chuckle at his words before answering, “I know him. I guess, I’ll just borrow it from him before returning it to you.”

He nods, finally smiling at you, “Don’t stress too much. I push you because I know you can do better.”

“Thank you, professor,” you take your leave.

You’re quick to check your phone for a text from either of your friends. Yet, you find Eren’s text notification at the very top, followed by one from Annie.

Ann: No space for you in this car!!!

Ann: Loverboy’s waiting for you😛

You giggle as you open Eren’s text next.

Eren: hey

Eren: in parking lot

Eren: waiting for u

You rush to get to the parking lot and Eren has parked his car at the top of the slope. When you reach there, you lean down, resting your hand on the roof and knocking gently on the glass. He’s quick to slide the tinted window down, sunglasses on the bridge of his nose, “Hey pretty, you lost?”

“Indeed!” you sigh, “Could you please show me the way, kind sir?”

“It would be my pleasure, princess,” he grinning ear to ear as he points to the space between his lap, “please, come.”

“Gross,” you laugh as you shove his face in playfully before walking over to the other side and settling in the passenger seat. He’s taken off his sunglasses to keep it on the dashboard instead.

“Shall we?” you ask as you fasten your seatbelt.

“We gotta wait for Connie, Jean and Reiner,” Eren informs.

“I wasn’t aware they were coming too,” you speak as you search your bag for your lip gloss, feeling your lips dry slightly.

“They weren’t. It was just Armin, Reiner, and I, but when they heard that I was bunking class, suddenly they didn’t mind either,” Eren explains.

“So, who left ahead of us?” you try to calculate in your head.

“Armin, Annie, Minseo, Sasha and your other friend whose name I don’t remember,” Eren lists.

You simply nod as you uncap the lipgloss, using the rearview mirror to apply a single coating before smacking your lips together. You can sense Eren looking at you from your peripheral vision.

“What?” you ask as you put the lipgloss back in your bag.

“You look pretty,” he notes, “as always.”

The bluntness of his compliment hits you straight in your feels. You simply look down as you play with the threads of your bag, not knowing how to react.

He hooks his index finger under your chin to make you look up at him. His eyes linger over your lips as he tuts softly in contemplation. And if you were delusional enough, you’d say he looked like he was trying hard not to kiss you.

He swipes his thumb a little too firmly over your bottom lip as if trying to wipe the sticky gloss off before he brings his thumb up to his mouth to lick it.

“It tastes good,” Eren comments, as if tasting lip-gloss was the most ordinary thing a person usually does, “I can get used to that.”

“To what…” you murmur as your breath hitches, your eyes focusing on his lips. Eren gulps hard as he breaks eye contact, looking ahead as he shakes his head and chuckles.

“This is ridiculous,” he says more to himself.

“What is ridiculous?” you ask softly as your eyebrows furrow.

He rests his head back against the headrest, looking over at your figure before looking back ahead. His body language gives away a weird kind of restless agitation. You take off your seatbelt to turn your body to completely face him as you try to ask again, “Eren…”

He sighs as he turns to look at you again, his eyes involuntarily roaming down to the way your boobs are sitting perfectly under your top with the perfect amount of cleavage exposed to him at this angle. Your cheeks grow hot as you notice the lust in his eyes as he’s drinking in the sight of you.

“Ere–” you’re interrupted by the back door opening. It startles the both of you and you quickly turn in your seat to face the front, closing your eyes briefly to regain some composure.

Jean, Reiner and Connie get in, closing the door behind them. You both greet them curtly as Eren starts the car and the rest of the ride is pretty much just radio music blaring with small talk filling in from time to time.

When you reach the restaurant some twenty minutes later, you find your friends sitting at a large table that has been made by joining two tables together. You slide in next to Minseo, who’s busy talking to Sasha and Gabriella.

Eren sits next to you with the rest filling in the remaining empty spaces. The boys introduce themselves to Gabriella and the small talk continues. You grab one of the fries that Minseo had ordered, before turning to Eren, “Want?”

“Nope, I’m good,” he smiles curtly. You eat it as you think about trying to find a way to disarm the sudden awkwardness between you two.

“So, you like photography?” you ask.

“Hmm?” he looks at you in confusion.

“Mr Tanaka told me you borrowed a book,” you wiggle your eyebrows at him.

You’re glad you brought up this topic because his stiff posture falters as he smiles sheepishly, “Oh, you know… just thought I’d try. Although I doubt I'm any good.”

“Show me,” you urge.

“Just swipe,” he opens his gallery to show you his collection of photos and you lean closer to him to take a look, swiping on photos of street cats, roadside flowers peeking through cracks, his friends sitting in a balcony between smoke-clouds, and the night sky view. The next photo makes you pause with the butterflies in your stomach dancing – it’s a shirtless mirror selfie of him after gym. The sweat outlines all the cuts and creases of his torso in the most delicious way possible. His V-cut trailing down into the gym shorts that hang a little too low for your sanity. It's ridiculous, you’d literally seen him shirtless a few hours ago so it technically shouldn’t affect you, but it does. So you swiftly lock the phone and hand it back to him.

“Sorry,” he blushes, “I wasn’t aware it was there.”

“A good photographer and a good model,” you giggle as you hand him back your phone, “Shit, I accidentally complimented you… don't let it get to your head.”

“Funny,” he dead-pans but his eyes still twinkle in amusement.

“You ready to order?” Jean interrupts as he passes you the menu.

After that, you don’t get to have any direct conversations with Eren for the rest of the meal. However, the mood at the table is as lively as it can be, the group’s conversations making the restaurant seem busier than it was. And although you don’t speak directly, Eren’s actions of serving you food voluntarily, giving you a tissue when you needed it, among other things, make you feel more comfortable with him compared to the car ride before.

— — —

When you finally rest in bed after freshening up, you’re quick to open your chats to check whether Eren had texted you. Since Armin was sleeping over, yet again, you decide to give the two some privacy by retiring to your room early.

You: hi, send the group photos

You’re surprised to see he comes online within seconds.

Eren: [8 attachments]

You: Where’s the one of just us two?

Eren: you only asked for group photos :D

You: K, fine. Eren, could you pleaseeeee send the photos of just us two?

You: ALSO, you took some of mine alone! 👀

Eren: [1 attachment]

Eren: this is all I have

You: :(((

Eren: they’re all blurry and have bad lighting

You: :(((

Eren: whatttt

You: I wanna see my photos

Eren: what will I get in return?

You: …

You zoom in on his face in the selfie Eren took of you both before everyone started butting in for a group photo. He really is so damn handsome. You go through the other photos you’d asked one of the staff members to take of the whole group and yet again Eren is standing behind you, leaning forward, his cheek pressing against your hair. What you don’t see in the photo, however, is the way Eren had rested his hand so casually over the side of your waist. So casual, as if it wasn’t a big deal to him.

Your phone rings as you’re lost in thought. It’s Eren.

“Hi,” you hear his static voice.

“Hey,” you answer as you lie flat on your back.

“I had fun today.”

“Me too.”

There’s a brief pause. You decide to fill it in, “I didn’t get to ask this during lunch but how come you’re interested in photography all of a sudden?”

“Oh,” he sounds surprised, as if he wasn’t expecting you to remember, “I don’t know. Maybe inspired is a heavy word but seeing you be an artist through and through… it made me feel as if I wanted to explore some creative outlet of my own.”

“Mmhm,” you wait for him to continue.

“But it’s okay if it's just a hobby for me, right? I mean, I don’t have to pursue it seriously,” he wonders.

“Yeah, yeah! Of course. Why not?” you encourage him.

“Just, you know you’re so good, it makes me feel like I want to get to know myself better and see if I’m capable of creativity like you are,” he tells you and you’re surprised he’s confessing all this sober.

“Art is what you make of it. Don’t compare yourself to someone else,” you advise but then you feel the need to speak your mind, “Honestly, sometimes I think art chose me and not the other way around. It felt like I was never really good at anything else, ya know? I’ve spent my entire life dedicated to this… not in a sad way obviously – it's just that I didn’t ever choose anything else. Not complaining but yeah, I think it’s cool that you’re trying to do more than just one thing.”

“Thank you,” he sounds calm, “but I think you could've been a great doctor if you wanted to… or a psychic? Or a teacher?... Or like a doctor?”

“You said that already,” you laugh.

Eren laughs back, “Yeah, you're right… I guess some people just come with a predetermined destiny and yours was art.”

There’s silence again.

“But yes it's ok, art can be just a hobby. It's about the beauty it brings and not necessarily the money,” you assure him once again.

You hear Eren scoff, “That's rich coming from someone who gets a shit ton of money for commission works.”

“Didn't your little list of stereotypes tell you? Artists are fucking hypocrites!”

Silence again.

“You know what I wanted to do?” He's the one to break the silence now.

“Hmm?”

“I wanna photograph your painting process,” he tells you.

“Okay,” you nod even though he can’t see you.

“Just like that? Not gonna ask me why, what, how?” He sounds surprised.

“Nope,” you giggle, “Cause I actually wanted you to be my model for my photography assignment.”

“You're so strategic," he laughs, “Fine, a favour for a favour.”

“Done.”

“What electives are you gonna choose next year?”

“Definitely not photography,” you sigh.

He waits for your real answer.

“Maybe pottery? I want to mix pottery and painting… seems pretty and challenging. Not sure though.”

“I can't wait… You’re gonna create amazing shit.”

“Oh. Thanks,” you blush.

There’s a beat of silence, yet again. You yawn unintentionally.

“Do you wanna call it a night?” he asks.

“Hmm, but I don’t wanna hang up yet,” your heart races at the slip of your confession.

“So do you wanna sleep while keeping the call on… like boyfriends and girlfriends do?” Eren teases.

“Good night! You’re so embarrassing. Oh my god!” you laugh.

“Good night," he laughs.

“Night… byeee.”

“Toodles.”

You laugh at the toodles, “Bye Eren!”

“I'm just waiting for you to hang up, not very gentlemanly of me to hang up on m’lady.”

“Piss off,” you laugh.

When his laughter dies down, you mumble a ‘k bye’ as you hang up.

You couldn’t help it.

Eren Jaeger had started to take over your heart.

~ fin ~

Chapter 5 | Chapter 7

#erensbirdie #aot x reader #eren yeager x reader #eren x reader #aot x you #aot smut #attack on titan #eren smut #eren yeager #eren jaeger #eren aot #muse

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mariacallous · 23 days ago

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The Monday after “Liberation Day,” I went back to the White House. In the East Room, a brass band played “I Love L.A.”; Trump was hosting the Dodgers, to celebrate last year’s World Series win. As I waited for the party to start, I read an article about possible plans for a military parade to commemorate Trump’s birthday. The President had just returned from Florida, where he hosted a candlelight dinner at Mar-a-Lago. (The cheapest ticket was a million dollars.) On Air Force One, he told reporters that the golf had been “very good, because I won. It’s good to win. You heard I won, right? Did you hear I won?” As anxiety about the tariffs continued to spike, Trump linked on Truth Social to a post from an account called AmericanPapaBear: “Trump is playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers.” The world was meant to sit back and respect the sacred, obscure geometry of his plan, but Congress, Wall Street, corporate executives, and even Musk were publicly backing away.

I found Glenn standing under a chandelier. “This event could take away some of the negativity,” he said. “Trump can do a lot of great stuff, but then nobody asks him to talk about it.” In Trump’s last term, the Dodgers’ manager had indicated that he’d decline an invitation to the White House. It was hard not to see this visit as a marker of changed times. Still, even Glenn admitted that the tariff rollout had left some cracks in the firmament. “If this goes on till September, the base is going to come unglued,” he said. Would he ever go on TV and criticize Trump? “Ask me in a year,” he said. “I’m scared about the midterms.” Republicans were mostly trying to put a good face on things. “Silently, they’re freaking out,” he said. Trump arrived. “You showed America that it’s not about individual glory,” he told the Dodgers. “It’s about the team digging deep.” He riffed on how many pitchers they had relied on to win the Series. “They had great arms, but they ran out,” he said. “It’s called sports.” He complained that nobody talks enough about how he lowered the price of eggs. Glenn grabbed my arm and said, “See, that’s the perfect example of what I would ask him about.”

The day before, I had gone to a brunch at the British Embassy in honor of the Shakespeare Theatre Company. In the garden, children played fetch with the Ambassador’s herding dog, who scurried up and down the sloping grass, underneath cherry trees in full bloom. “We like coming here, because it’s away from all the crazy,” a senior White House staffer told me. It was a sort of neutral space. A senior British diplomat said, “The golden-age MAGA people actually love this whole thing. It validates their status as the new D.C. establishment. Kash Patel comes and talks about the Premier League. We had one person giving a tirade about the Administration—I was at a table of Republicans who sort of gently rolled their eyes and we all just focussed on our soup.”

Peter Mandelson, the new British Ambassador, hasn’t always been a neutral operator. In 2018, when Trump, in his first term, threatened a trade war with China, Mandelson wrote that he was “a bully and a mercantilist.” Late last year, when Mandelson’s appointment was announced, Trump’s campaign co-manager, Chris LaCivita, called him an “absolute moron.” But, just before Trump was inaugurated, Mandelson wrote a piece for Fox News stating that Trump was sure to be “one of the most consequential” Presidents ever, and went on to call his earlier comments “childish and wrong.” (Kim Darroch, a previous British Ambassador, resigned in 2019 after a tabloid leaked cables of him saying that Trump was “radiating insecurity.”)

Inside, as the guests ate eggs Benedict, Mandelson delivered a set of oblique remarks, with careful emphasis. “People say that Shakespeare’s tragedies, his comedies, his histories capture the bygone age from the long-distant past—the power struggles, the feuds, the controversial advisers,” he said. “He wrote about great leaders with very strong personal brands.” Mandelson went on, “I have a lot to learn from Shakespeare, including from ‘Henry IV, Part 1’: ‘The better part of valor is discretion.’ ” The room roared with laughter. “I’m trying. I’m learning. I’m breaking the habit of a lifetime here. I know that my job is to keep below the radar, not on the radar.” He introduced the artistic director of the theatre. Shakespeare’s themes, the director said, ranged through “deception, betrayal, artifice, kingship, human tyranny.” He closed on a quote from “King Lear”: “The weight of this sad time we must obey. Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.”

How Trump Worship Took Hold in Washington: The President is at the center of a brazenly transactional ecosystem that rewards flattery and lockstep loyalty.

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anthronewb · 1 year ago

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Anthropology is a reflection of the Prominant Political/social beliefs of the time

Anthropology is the study of what makes us human. Anthropologists study various cultures (past to present) to better understand them, and the data collected is used to develop anthropological theories. Despite claims of the research/findings being unbiased, factors such as the prominent political and social beliefs of the time influence the anthropologist's research (unintentionally or intentionally). Due to these factors, it is important to examine the prominent political and social beliefs of the time when reexamining anthropological theories.

When you create a timeline of anthropological theories alongside the political and social beliefs of the time, it's clear to see the influences.

18th century

Anthropological theory

Unilineal Evolution: Presented the e idea that there was a sequence of stages that all cultures would go through (Long & Chakov, 2017). Those cultures may not necessarily go through the stages at the same time or pace but would go through the same developmental stages. This would be most popularly become known as the Three Age system. The categories being; THe Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age. Each indicative of the stage of development through technology

Physical Anthropology: “scientific” approach to study the development of different racial groups. Studies humans through their biological and physiological characteristics to study human development.

Cephalic index: calculations from the measurement taken of the skull. It measured the breadth and length of the skull, which would be then used for the classification of racial groups.

Samuel Morton, a physician furthered this research and linked cranial capacity with moral and intellectual endowments and assembled a cultural ranking scheme that placed large-brained Caucasoid at the pinnacle

Anatomist and natural historian Johan Friedrich Blumenbach believed racial differences were due to adaptation to different environments

Social and Political Beliefs of the time

Enlightenment period: The biggest influence on the formation of scientific development. There was a push away from the religious doctrine, in favor of a more science-based view of society.

There was also an increase in encounters with non-Europeans with the emergence of the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade.

These factors combined to develop an interest in the scientific notion of race

Despite the push away from religious doctrine, scientific thought was still developed based on religious knowledge.

E.g. the Bible story Adam & Eve

They were believed to be Caucasian, making Caucasians the ‘superior’ race, and thus anyone else was inferior.

The main takeaway is that Caucasians were the Superior Race (more specifically Germanic) and all other races delineate from them making them inferior.

These ideas of racial superiority/inferiority would be used to support racist ideologies. Nazis would use this to support their movement.

1920’s-Boasian

Boasian Anthropology: A theory developed by Franz Boas, who is considered the “Father of American anthropology”

These consisted of Boas’s theories on culture and its development.

Cultural Relativism: We must make evaluations based on other cultures rules/beliefs and not our own. Using our own culture as a basis for analyzing other cultures results in biased research.

Boas would argue that “classificatory schemes of evolutionary theory dividing the world into “savage” "barbarian," and "civilized" peoples were "artificial," their pretensions to universal, scientific validity marred by their grounding in Western values.

He would ignore the predominant theories in favor of conducting research.

Social and Political Beliefs of the time

There wasn’t much change in political and social beliefs of the time, but much of the research was influenced by the cultures that were studied. The idea of cultural relativism was influenced by the cultures that boas studied, specifically his study of the Inuit people.

Boas would study under ethnologist Adolf Bastian, a person who believed in “psychic unity of mankind” (idea that all humans held the same intellectual capacity and all cultures were based on the same mental principles)

This would cause a shift in Boas’s approach to his study of the Inuit people.He wanted to understand Inuits as they understood themselves, rather than through his lens

Boas would influence anthropological theory into the mid-twentieth century as evidenced by his students like Zora Neale Hurston

Mid-20th century to the Present

There was a push for a more scientific-backed discipline. Processualism as it would later be classified as was first introduced by Lewis Binford. He believed that there was a certain way that anthropological research should be conducted. His main goal was to develop the

field into a “hard science” by using the scientific method. His focus was on the sub-category, archaeology and how the material evidence was identified.

Archaeological data would be classified into either Technomic (technology/tools, socio-technic (social/relation to social subsystems), and ideo-technic (ideological/ rationalizations in social system)

There was a push for reflection of traditional anthropological research- especially that of the study of race/racism.

Tody anthropological theory mostly focuses on the reflection of traditional anthropological theories

A launch of a public initiative titled, “Race: Are We So Different?” by the American Anthropological Association (AAA)”

Social and Political Beliefs of the time

There was a rise in criticisms and challenging of early anthropological theories. This was due to the rise in the fight for equality by several groups (women, gays and lesbians, African Americans, and Native Americans) with The Civil Rights movement being one of the largest movements.

This was evident by the rise in more people of color entering the discipline.

Processualism as a whole was mostly influenced by the academic community and trying to make it into a scientific discipline. A byproduct of this was ignoring the racist ideologies of past anthropological theories

There was a continued push for reflection and change in the academic community following the Civil Rights Movement.

Anthropology not influenced by society?-Counter

With the use of science, there was this idea that it created an unbiased way of interpreting information, and the outside factor was irrelevant. While it is true that science can be objective, scientists aren’t. Scientists choose what they study and can interpret data in different ways. Due to this, science will only ever offer a glimpse of objectivity. Physical anthropology used a scientific justification with the use of the cephalic index and the systems created based on the data collected for racial classifications. It is important to recognize that just because something claims a scientific basis, doesn’t make it so.

What does it mean when there is anthropological theories developed counte the predominant anthropological theory? Anthropologist like Gordon V. Childe was heavily influenced by Marxist theories. He developed/presented his theories during a time in which Marxism was heavily criticized. While he was still able to publish his works, it was much harder and prevented him for being recognized for his contributions to the field.

Just because there are examples of anthropologists developing theories counter to the prominent political and social beliefs of the time, it doesn’t mean that there can't be a relationship between the two. Rarely in life do you see everybody agree on a single thing. Take “4 out of 5 dentists recommend (blank) toothpaste” for example. The overall opinion of the toothpaste doesn’t change if one disagrees. In the case of anthropological thought/theory, anthropologists remained influenced by political/social beliefs.

While these are good reasons to dispute my claims, there isn’t enough data to support this claim.

Conclusion

The evidence supports the idea of the inter-connected relationship between prominent social/political beliefs and anthropological thought/theory. From the foundation of early anthropological theories in the eighteenth century to the present, anthropology has been formed and reformed by the ideological movements of its time. Creating a lens through which anthropologists can view and interpret cultures, reflecting the wider societal mindset, and forming a dynamic relationship between Academic research and the cultures it seeks to understand

Much of early anthropological thought/theory was rooted in the personal biases of the anthropologists conducting research. They would use religion and “science” (what we would call today pseudoscience) as justification for their beliefs. Franz Boas would become one of the first anthropologists to question this idea as his research found that the earlier thought/theory didn’t reflect his findings. This would later be called Boasian anthropology (named after its creator). This would be the driving belief into the 1960s, where anthropology would then focus on the criticism of early anthropological thought/theory and processualism which was influenced by the many movements pushing for equality. More anthropologists of color and more research on black culture were conducted. Today we still reflect on and criticize early modes of anthropological thought with the continued push for equality.

In conclusion, some may try and argue that there is a distinction between predominant social/political beliefs and anthropological thought/theory, its relationship is undeniable. To study anthropology is not to view it statically but dynamically. It is important to recognize that anthropology isn’t just a story about a culture it studies, but also about the anthropologist’s narrative and how it is influenced by society.

#anthropology #history #university of maryland

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thesuccesstrategy1 · 2 months ago

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TheSuccessStrategy.com review: Trading Platforms

When choosing a broker, traders often ask the same questions: Is this platform reliable? Can I trust it with my money? These concerns are valid, given the number of unregulated brokers in the market.

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Would you feel confident trading with a broker that ticks all these boxes?

#TheSuccessStrategy.com review #TheSuccessStrategy.com #TheSuccessStrategy

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universalaigroup · 2 months ago

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UniversalAiGroup.com Review: Registration Process

If you're looking for a reliable and trustworthy trading platform, UniversalAiGroup.com reviews may be worth your attention. In this UniversalAiGroup.com review, we’ll take a deep dive into the important details that help establish the legitimacy of this broker, from its regulatory status and domain history to customer reviews and services offered. Understanding these factors is key to determining whether UniversalAiGroup.com reviews is a solid choice for your trading needs. Let’s explore what makes this broker stand out in the competitive world of online trading.

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Would you like to explore any other aspects of this broker?

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#UniversalAiGroup.com review #UniversalAiGroup.com

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nonconstories · 3 months ago

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Fun Fact(s)!

1.) Goblins and Orcs both have completely normalized the existence of trans and intersex people. Its always been a Thing, and both societies readily permit queer marriages.

2.) Goblins, Orcs, Giants, Dwarves, and many human societies used to practice Marriage By Conquest, aka forcibly taking vanquished foes or citizens as spouses (sex slaves/hostages). While the majority of Azo societies have abolished this, some communities are clinging to it. Some Orc communities deliberately seek out human fiefdoms that permit the practice and then limit their nomadic territory to within those borders and a few goblin nations still recognize Conquest Marriages as valid and will refuse to return the spouse in question to their homeland.

3.) Most mortal species can produce children together, and their kids have a fairly even mix of their parents' species traits. This has been happening since before the first cities were built, nobody really gives a fuck.

4.) Orcs didn't used to have any concept of marriage. They adopted Marriage By Conquest from Goblins and Giants as a means of specifying valuable, foreign-born concubines, and gradually amended the practice into a way of granting a newcomer permanent membership in the war-band

5.) Dwarves likely invented the entire concept of marriage among mortal species. Basing it off the Lover's Pledge taken by certain pairs of the Gods, they conceived of marriage as a special type of contract between two families in which inheritance rights and property claims were traded as part of the deal. Dwarves are known for a fact to have created the concepts of divorce, pre-nups, annulments, and alimony.

6.) Giants are believed to the originators of Marriage By Conquest, as there ancient records of giant soldiers claiming enemy troops as concubines during The War Age. Other sources indicate that it was the Gods who originated the concept: Rayic and Tara both took sex slaves as prizes during the War Age.

7.) Goblins have dozens of words for "marriage" aka "a legal and social contract in which two or more parties bind themselves together to some degree". They have words specifying MBC, political marriage, economic marriage, love match, something translating as 'practical marriage', and several other culturally specific ones. Unlike most other mortal societies, goblins allow plural marriages. Love matches have been common among goblins for most of their history, even among their nobility and aristocracy.

#wn verse #not stories #goblins~

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bog-mummies · 6 months ago

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veilguard first impression review. played 5 hours. spoilers below the cut.

criticism first. i'm not really rocking with some of the voice acting and dialogue. for some characters (bellara, for example), it feels like they stepped out of a disney channel show - it's too quippy for my taste and it feels like those characters aren't actually taking the situation seriously. here's hoping it improves over the game.

the first few hours feel like the writers were trying to introduce new players to the lore but for someone who's played the games already, it feels a bit like the infamous "who's mythal?" line for a dalish inquisitor in inquisition. to give the writers credit tho, they don't make your character appear stupid or ignorant, they just awkwardly shoehorn in the basic lore.

the criticism i've seen about the main character feeling blandly heroic is also valid - i've played for approx. 5 hours and my character just starts the game knowing everything and blindly following varric. so far the only explanation i've seen for rook's involvement was a short codex entry that most players won't read, no actual personal motivation beyond a tired "i live in the world, of course i want to save it!", which is valid but also very boring.

my biggest gripe is with how easily NPCs, especially dalish NPCs, accept the whole thing about how the evanuris were evil tyrants. like, the only real evidence we have is what's been told to us by a 'god' of lies and trickery. if i wanted to play a devout dalish character, it'd be nice to have the option to doubt solas' word about the evanuris, and it would also be nice for dalish NPCs to do the same

on the plus side, i really like the character creator and most of the npc designs (save for the horn smoothing on qunari - it makes their foreheads look massive). it's really exciting to be able to play an elf who's not a waifish stick figure! you can even make your character fat! or change their height! we also finally have good hair options. so yeah im really rocking with the character creator.

the combat is also fine - i miss the tactical view, but the new combat system is reminiscent of the mass effect games, so i can probably get used to it with time. it feels fast-paced and engaging, probably the most similar to da2.

the dialogue options given to our character feel realistic and varied enough, and i like that they brought back the da2-style tone indicators that affect your character's personality.

also! parkour! we can climb stuff!!! we have idle animations! the movement feels a bit more assassins creed-y and it's really nice.

it's cool that we have transmog - i want my rook dripped out AND well-equipped, and it's nice that i no longer have to trade one for the other.

while i did previously critique the disney channel-esque dialogue and voice acting, i'm glad that it doesn't extend to all the characters. varric is still varric, and neve feels like she fits right in with the earlier, darker toned games in the series.

one thing i REALLY like is that even your seemingly inconsequential choices will matter and be brought up later on - that was a stroke of genius on the writers' part.

if it's helpful, i'm playing as a nonbinary (she/her) elven mage lord of fortune.

#datv #veilguard #dragon age #veilguard spoilers #veilguard negativity

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discopolice · 2 months ago

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saw a take on twitter about "I love that there's no fanfiction commissions, I like that this hobby is untainted by money and exists only on love," and it pissed me off a little bit that this standard is only applied to fanwriters.

disclaimer: I'm a copyright abolitionist. I'm also not a fan of AO3 for various reasons, including their firing of a volunteer for using the phrase "from the river to the sea," their tolerance of sexually explicit RPF of real-life children, and their general lack of accountability to the public. I still use them for discoverability, acknowledging that this is a moral trade-off for me; I'd like to move my work off AO3 eventually.

but man, when you look at how visual fanartists monetize their work... fanwriters really get the raw end of the deal. and when you look at how fandom treats visual fanartists, and then how fandom treats fanwriters, it's not hard to see a double standard.

I get why. Anne Rice and her lawyers, and GRRM, and a bunch of other writers have created this brainrot - in all honesty, it's copyright itself that has created this brainrot, and if you're a fanartist of any stripe you should consider being a copyright abolitionist. the same sword you feel "protects your rights" from generative AI or whatever is the sword that was used to try and kill fandom for many years. if you are creating fanwork, copyright is not your friend.

fanart falls into the same legal pitfalls as fanfiction. if you don't believe me, chat with anyone who has tried to make and sell anything related to a disney, marvel, or ghibli property on etsy. they will find and ban you with prejudice. it is tolerated by smaller companies, in particular those without merch operations of their own, because it is seen now as a sign of love; that is not universal. you are still opening yourself up to liability, and if a company has merch of their own, you're a competitor.

and yet... there's this myth that persists, that fanart is more legally permissible than fanfiction. it's grounded in history, in particular the notoriously litigious Anne Rice (rest in piss) and other authors who openly disapprove of fanfiction. but everything I can see indicates it is a myth. fanart and fanfiction are both derivative works.

visual fanartists are allowed and encouraged to make money off their work. I can walk into any con, right into the artist alley and see seas of it - hell, even my local art school's yearly market has booths selling fanart. they're encouraged to seek validation, to express feelings about whether their work is seen or appreciated. they can gate their fanwork behind a patreon; this is an accepted and encouraged practice, because you know, visual artists deserve to get paid (and I am not saying they don't, much of my "fun money" goes to visual artists). sure, it's not legal, same way that fanfiction is not legal. but they deserve to make money off their craft. spaces are actively made for them to do so.

so why this myth? part of it is history, sure. it's the disclaimers at the beginning of fics that say "wah please don't sue me I'm not infringing." it's the specific way published authors have gone after fanfic writers. (we see the same sort of crackdown by disney on fan-merch, maybe even worse, but because artist alleys aren't full of the accursed mouse, it's not in the eyesight of the sorts of fandom I'm talking about.) we haven't, in this sphere of fandom, seen this huge backlash against visual art.

but maybe it's also that when it's visual art, people recognize the value in it instantly. you don't have to put time and effort into understanding the way you do fanfiction; you can, but you don't have to. there's a lot of talk about "pay artists what they deserve," and I don't disagree with that! visual artists should be appreciated and compensated for their labor, and for providing joy to all of us.

yet, when fanwriters ask for anything... for comments, for kudos, for tips, for f/f works to be appreciated. we are called "entitled" and yelled at, told we are destroying fandom when we have held fandom on our shoulders for decades. fandom wants to defend us insomuch as we churn out their enemies to lovers only one bed coffeeshop AUs in perpetuity, for free, fueled only by our love for the fandom, which is expected to be boundless and without end.

but fanwriters? oh, no. the demand is that we stay chaste and pure, unmoved by mere mortal things like money or praise. bummed that your f/f work isn't getting seen like your m/m is? "you're so entitled, this is why I hate yuri fans." (sometimes they'll even say 'this is why I hate lesbians' and drop the pretense!) want to make money off your work? somehow everyone suddenly cares about legality; "you're threatening the future of fanfiction as a whole." the whimsical, fans-funding-fans model only works for visual fanart; for fiction, you must file the serial numbers off and submit yourself to the racist, homophobic, transphobic hell that is publishing (and booktok, lmao).

you don't deserve to get paid the way visual artists do, after all. you don't deserve to have your work appreciated, and asking for appreciation from your readers is entitlement. want to be treated like a human? write more, shove more tropes into it, make your work more digestible and palatable. go get published and give someone else a cut. but keep writing, write more, lest you be accused of "demanding too much" and be told to pick up a pencil. and how dare you abandon that WIP nobody was commenting on, someone might have been hanging off their seat waiting for an update.

anyway, speaking of money. I'm going to be self-publishing a chapbook / zine / Thing full of original poetry about grief and love. it'll be on itch.io for $5 when it is ready, both digital and physical copies included. every booklet will be hand-bound by me and packaged with care. look forward to it

#i am so full of salt

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halliescomut · 11 months ago

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Love Sea Episode 1 Thoughts

My overall thoughts and musings for Ep 1 of Love Sea. Disclaimers: I did not read the novel. I may talk about Mame's use of problematic tropes and overall troubling storytelling, but I may not. I'm not here to grade the quality of her work. Mame as a creator is known for specific issues, and I'm not necessarily ignoring them or approving of them just because I don't call them out. I have seen every Mame show multiple times, so I am indeed well aware.

Okay getting started on ep one, I will start with my two 'complaints' that are sort of connected. The tone of the episode has some pretty wild swings. The most notable is on the boat when Rak is upset, and then it cuts to what is probably 15 minutes later when he's calmed down and they're flirting again. The tone shift is just kind of disorienting in the instance. The tone shifts throught the rest of the episode seem more based around who is the 'subject' whether Mut, Rak, or Mook and so make more sense, but are still kinda sharp. Secondly, while I know Mame isn't they type to take things slow really, I did kind of feel like the hug on the boat was a bit too soon. It's not that it was necessarily out of character for Mut, because I don't think it was, but just that he still doesn't know Rak so going in for that hug was really a leap.

What I did like:

I'm very much a fan of the country mouse, city mouse type of story, and just the general humor that comes from having a CitySlickers kind of plot, so I do enjoy the bits of humor related to Rak now being in a pretty rural community, and I'm hoping that the opposite does present similar comedic opportunities when Mut goes to Bangkok with Rak. That being said it is a bit of a fine line between fish out of water humor and kind of degrading someone because they aren't familiar with an environment they never had the ability or opportunity to experience, so hopefully that line is tread carefully.

I'm interested in learning more about Rak and his kind of writing hang ups. The information that gets introduced is that Rak writes romance novels, but he can't write sex scenes if he's not like actively involved in a sexual relationship.

I'm wondering if this will be an explicit inclusion of and Ace or Aro character, which is fairly rare in media overall, but especially in Thai BL, when having a character say they are explicitly gay is a fairly recent development. Mame in particular has been overall more inclusive of different sexualities, having explicitly Pansexual and Bisexual characters, as well as Gay and Lesbian characters. And there are many valid reasons to read Ae from Love by Chance as Aromantic or Asexual (or both really) but it's is never explicitly said. So having Rak be Aro would be a wonderful step forward there. Overall I'm interested in how this particular storyline plays out.

We don't really learn much more about Rak this episode, which feels appropriate, because he's meant to be closed off. So I imagine we will learn more about him as Mut learns more about him. I do know that there are people that find characters like Rak, Sky, or even Type off putting as they're often very rude in order to keep people at arms length, but I do have a soft spot for cranky characters with emotional walls. IRL their behavior would be frustrating and I would not appreciate it, but in fiction I will allow it and often enjoy it.

As far as what we learn about Mut, he is interested in money, but he doesn't want it just for nothing. He makes it clear that he really only wants it in trade for doing the work he's been hired to do, which does indicate his overall honorable personality. We see that he's pretty beloved and trusted by his community, which kind of confirms that honorability. If he were some shady beach bum people wouldn't trust him the way they do. We also see that Mut takes active interest in his community and it's members, so it's clearly mutual respect and affection. It's pretty clear to me that this is shown to us, the audience, to reinforce that Mut for all of his playfulness is a responisible and kind person, so we feel comfortable with him pursuing Rak. I think it's also something likely to be observed by Rak in future episodes to help him feel more secure with Mut.

Overall, outside of setting up the story and initial attraction with Mut and Rak, there isn't a whole lot else of note. We do get the introduction of Mook and Vi, the GL side couple. They have two very short scenes, so we truly don't learn a lout more than their names, and we're all aware that the GL side couple in Wedding Plan was lacking, so here's hoping this attempt it better.

The views and the setting of the episode are absolutely gorgeous, and there are some very long shots that take in that environment and setting. It's something that I don't know is necessary, but I definitely understand the reasoning since it is some really beautiful scenery.

I was also a bit concerned with how 'similar' Mut and Rak would be to Prapai and Sky, and while there are clearly parallels, I don't feel like it's a cut and pasting of them into a different setting.

Additional kind of negative note: don't love the line reinforcing colorism "your pale skin shows you're pure of heart"...it's not great. Especially when you combine it with them leaning into a common colorism casting trope of a darker complected actor playing a 'poor' character and a paler complected actor playing a 'rich' character. Like yes the difference in complexion would make sense since Mut and the other members of his community would just be outside often and for extended periods, it's still kind iffy. Also not a huge fan of the whole conversation about hair removal and the reinforcement of that beauty standard. Granted it's up to an individual what they want to do with their own body hair, but it does still set an unrealistic standard and that's unfortunate.

#love sea the series #love sea ep 1 #love sea #mutrak #rakmut #tongrak x mahasamut #tongrak #mahasamut #fortpeat #fort thitipong #peat wasuthorn #mame bl #thai bl #HallieSMeta

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