#and meanwhile in the medium to long term

[formulatrash]

haven't been this fucking insanely furious at Williams since they fired Damon Hill halfway through 1996

[twilightcitysky]

Everything Is Meant (long S2 analysis, part 3)

Part one

Part two

There's SO MUCH excellent meta out there right now, and I'm going to try not to reinvent the wheel too much, but I want to keep going with tying the episodes/ elements up together because on first watch it wasn't entirely clear how everything fit. I also strongly recommend a rewatch, no matter what you felt about the ending... if you need to stop it 10 minutes early, do that, but you pick up so much more the second time around.

So: Maggie and Nina. I spent most of my first watch wondering why we were bothering with them, honestly. Later in the season Nina, and then Maggie and Nina, gave Crowley some insightful advice, but their actual relationship didn't progress despite all the meddling, and the amount of emotional investment BOTH Aziraphale and Crowley had in making them get together was frankly strange.

I started thinking in terms of mirror couples, since that was such a big deal in S1 and that's clearly what they were set up to be, but I made the mistake that all of us made on first watch: that Nina was Crowley and Maggie was Aziraphale. It still wasn't really coming together.

Then I put the psych hat back on and started to think about displacement. Displacement is a defense mechanism, and it consists of satisfying an impulse (usually an unconscious one) with a substitute object. At the beginning of the season, Aziraphale and Crowley aren't really in a good place, and I think on some level they know that. Aziraphale is trying to SHOW Crowley that he wants to take the next step through all the casual touches and phone calls and inviting him in, and feeling frustrated because Crowley doesn't seem to be taking the bait. (I absolutely think that Aziraphale tried to get Crowley to stay with him at the bookshop instead of living in his CAR, and Crowley said no. That's a whole other meta.) Meanwhile, Crowley, I think, is waiting for a Grand Gesture. Where did he go, as soon as Aziraphale brought up trying to get two humans to fall in love? Romantic tropes. Getting caught in the rain under an awning. A dramatic kiss that opens someone's eyes. That's the sort of thing he's always done, right? Big rescues, impassioned pleas on the street, fancy dinners, "give you a lift anywhere you want to go". He's defensive and guarded and unlikely to let someone in unless he's CERTAIN he won't be rejected, and Aziraphale's approaches are just too... quiet. No one's fault, they just don't speak the same language.

Then, they're handed the opportunity to make two humans fall in love, and they're both All In immediately. Look at Crowley's face when he summons the rainstorm. This is HUGE for him. Why? Because of displacement. Look at Aziraphale arranging the ball and being borderline deranged about it. They're both desperate to demonstrate what they think it takes for two people to move past their misunderstandings and fall in love. They can't do it for each other because the stakes are too high, and if either of them shows their cards unequivocally the vulnerability feels life-shattering. They're codependent and terrified of rejection and also, importantly, have no idea what they're doing when it comes to love. "Saw it in a film", Crowley says. Aziraphale's read about it in books. But they have zero practical experience.

Instead of learning to communicate, they try to say what they want to say through the medium of Maggie and Nina, up to and including the questionable moral decision to exert control over people's actions and thoughts during the ball. If I can just make this come out right, they both think, then things between us will be alright too. It HAS to come out right. They're attempting to gain some control over their own lives, over something that feels so overwhelming and shattering they can't look directly at it.

It doesn't come out right. Nina's relationship falls apart, but that doesn't mean she's in love with Maggie. While Crowley's stress-cleaning the bookshop to the music that played when Aziraphale got his books back in 1941 (just fuck me up David Arnold), they come in and tell him so. "I don't understand", says Crowley. Because it should have worked. Why didn't it work?

They tell him, of course. "You need to talk to each other. Say what you're really thinking." But here's the thing about communication: you have to learn it. You need to get the hang of expressing your feelings without blaming your partner, and separating intent from impact, and staying away from getting defensive and lashing out. No one has ever taught Aziraphale and Crowley how to do this. It's like Maggie and Nina put Crowley in front of a loom and asked him to recreate the Bayeux Tapestry. He doesn't have the skills; he's always going to get it wrong, even if he tries his hardest.

And he does try. But that's where Maggie and Nina the mirror couple, rather than Maggie and Nina the displacement relationship or Maggie and Nina the Greek chorus, come in. Aziraphale, as Nina, has just ended an incredibly toxic, invasive relationship with Heaven. A relationship that invaded every facet of his life, isolated him, and prevented him from being close to anyone else. "Rebound mess," Nina says. Aziraphale is a rebound mess. He's transferred the responsibility for his emotional wellness to Crowley. Crowley is the person he calls when he's in trouble, or (and this is key) when he wants to report a clever/ good thing he's done, or when he's bored. (At no point did Crowley reference Aziraphale calling him for a solicitous reason-- another problem.) Crowley is meant to take care of him. He forgets, I think, that Crowley is a person with his own wants and needs, just like Maggie and Nina are people with their own wants and needs who don't appreciate being messed with. (I think things would have been much different had Aziraphale BEEN THERE for Maggie and Nina's talk with Crowley, but he wasn't.)

And Maggie-as-Crowley? Lonely. Behind on rent, at risk of being evicted (it's important to note that Aziraphale saves Maggie from losing her record shop, as he couldn't save Crowley from losing his flat). Pining. Awkward. Revolving around Nina like a planet, to the extent that we don't get much of an impression of her otherwise. They realize, there at the end, that they both need to round themselves out before jumping into a relationship. Aziraphale and Crowley need that too. They need to take time apart and learn to be healthy on their own. Unfortunately they don't have the skills to get to that conclusion in a healthy way, so it all explodes in their faces and everything falls apart.

Aziraphale tries to teach Nina and Maggie to dance as a substitute for communication. Nina and Maggie try to teach Crowley communication as a substitute for the dance they've been doing around each other. That's the reason they're a part of the plot: they exist to demonstrate the way Aziraphale and Crowley might have succeeded in forging a better dynamic. Sadly, the boys' dance is too practiced and they got sucked right back into it.

It's okay, I think, that Nina and Maggie's storyline never really went anywhere. It wasn't supposed to. It's an allegory, not something that needs to stand alone.

[cottonlemonade]

hii! may i please order a medium pineapple lemonade with extra ice for suna? your work is always so wonderful 🥹🌸

Accidental Confession

word count: 1317 || avg. reading time: 6 mins.

pairing: rival!Suna x chubby!Reader

genre: fluff with some suggestiveness, enemies to lovers

warnings: mdni

request: fluffy-spicy accidental confession with rival Suna

It all started with a meme. If Suna hadn’t taken that picture of you stretching during class and added a little Simba into your hands, you wouldn’t have photoshopped his face onto a mop.

To be fair, his was harmless. Yours was downright rude and so he fell in love immediately.

He followed you around - not as inconspicuously as he might have hoped - to sneak a photo in the most meme worthy moments, flooding his camera roll with dozens and eventually hundreds of snapshots of you. The whole front of a silly little meme war was a great excuse to mask his steadily growing crush and his friends didn’t think anything of it when Suna set a picture of you mid-sneeze as his lock screen. Granted, he himself was still very much in denial about his feelings as well, so it wasn’t that difficult to pretend that he wasn’t bothered when you talked to an upperclassman and laughed loudly at his, undoubtedly, mediocre joke - although Suna did sweep his pencil case off his desk in an attempt to wave Osamu off when he asked if he was okay.

The class groaned when the teacher announced that for the impending field trip they’d be split into teams of two via random lottery. Half the students got assigned a number while the other half drew a little piece of paper from a box held out to them to match with said number. Quiet cheers and not so quiet disappointment could be heard and the teacher called for silence.

Annoyed that he didn’t even get the minuscule chance to work with him, Suna leaned over to Osamu, “Who do you have?” His friend unfolded his paper and turned it over to read.

“5. That’s…”, he craned his neck to check and count, “Y/n, ya?”

“Switch with me.”, Suna said.

“Why? Who do ya have?”

“Don’t care. Come on.”

Osamu frowned and raised an almost disappointed brow.

“What happened to ya, dude? Ya know, yer bein’ real obvious at this point, right?”

Suna rejected the allegations, waited a moment, then simply exchanged his slip of paper with Osamu’s.

“Ya owe me.”, Osamu noted.

“Yeah yeah.”

Meanwhile, you seemed less thrilled about the match and when the bell rang you threw an annoyed look at Suna who gave you a blank stared wave and went to lunch with your friends. He was a very unfortunate long-term crush you had nursed since the beginning of the year and was as handsome as he was annoying. In spite of this, you had a great time complaining about your matched partners over your bentos while enjoying the mellowing summer sun under the shade of a tree.

When the next morning arrived, Suna made sure to be only two minutes late instead of his usual 15, so he could secure the spot next to you on the long drive to Kobe. The class would be headed to the big art museum in the city and as an assignment got a list of 15 art pieces they had to find, like a scavenger hunt. The first team to get a picture from each of their art works would get to choose where to go for lunch.

With a sigh you dropped in the seat next to him, frowning at his sleepy grin. When you only scoffed and looked away, his heart started pounding and he had no idea why. And this wasn‘t a “oh Suna, you‘re just in love, silly“ kinda pounding. No! This was more similar to that one time when he went out for coffee with his friends and instead of admitting that he wanted his favorite - a sickeningly sweet vanilla latte with extra syrup pumps - he ordered an iced Americano with a triple shot because he thought it sounded cool and for hours it had felt as if a tiny panicked bird was trapped in his chest. In short, he concluded, you were not good for his health.

“Alright.”, you said once you turned to him. You stood in the entrance together with the rest of the class, holding the reference paper in hand listing the artwork, “I’ll take the top 8, you take the bottom 7.”

He bit back a comment about how there was nothing “bottom” about him, but one look from you and he was quiet. That icy stare of disdain made him want to do the cooking and the cleaning and ask how your day had been while he finished up the ironing. “Let’s do this.”, he replied and nearly whimpered when you rolled your eyes at him.

With some quick online searching, the artwork was quickly found and the pictures taken. To keep up appearances he snapped a few pics in between of the NPCs in baroque paintings with increasingly weird facial expressions, fully intending to ask, “This you?” the next time he saw you. He could also airdrop them during class and looked forward to receiving a less than flattering emoji or thumbs down.

But now he had a different objective. Excited at the prospect of finally having an excuse to get your number, he jogged through the museum to your previously agreed upon meeting spot, finding you seated and waiting for him on a bench. You were scribbling on a notepad precariously balanced on your knees. He snuck up behind you, leaned in close to your ear and in a low calm voice went, “Boo.”

The yelp you let out had museum goers turn to you and a man with a lanyard, who was guiding a tour, threw an exasperated sigh in your direction.

“You better sleep with one eye open.”, you pressed out through gritted teeth, a deep red tint on your cheeks.

“Don’t threaten me with a good time.”, he said simply and in one smooth movement sat down next to you.

“So, how do you wanna do this?”, he then asked casually, waiting for you to say the words.

“Just airdrop them to me.”, you frowned.

“Oh.”

“What?”

“Nothing.” Luckily his deflated shoulders were masked by his chronically bad posture and he quickly selected the necessary pictures.

Your phone gave a little buzz and you accepted the stack. “That’s all. You’re excused. Go off and do… whatever it is you’re doing.”

“I can stay and help, you know? I skimmed some of the plackets.”

“What great work ethic.”, you deadpanned but moved your notepad closer to him so he could see.

With your other hand you swiped through the photos, double checking if you had everything.

He was too busy catching a whiff of your shampoo to notice you furrowing your brow.

“Uhm, Suna.”

You turned your phone screen to him and the blood drained from his face.

It was a picture of you - of course, what else could it have been. You were absently staring out the window in the classroom, your hair a little messy from a regular day of fending for your life in high school. Your chin rested on your palm and the sun shone beautifully against your face. He knew the picture well, because just last night when he couldn’t sleep, he edited it. Black and white hearts bordered the snapshot, a slightly blurry filter gave it a dreamlike feel. He gagged when he saw just how mushy he must have felt to add words around your head. Pookie. Baddie. Loml. My Bbg.

“What kind of prank is this?”, you asked, suspicion clinging to every syllable.

Suna thought.

Telling you that this picture was born out of post-nut hormones would only lead to a somewhat compromising confession that he fondled and humped his body pillow thinking of you, having no problem at all imagining your so very tempting love handles spilling between his fingers.

“Would you believe me if I told you my dog took my phone?“

You stared at him for a moment, then broke into giggles.

a/n: thank you so much for continuing to participate in my events! I’m so happy when someone comes back for more 🥺 I hope you enjoyed this one! 🌟

And once again thank you to @haikyu-mp4 for letting me surf her brain through the storm ✨

[cyjammy]

Vox and Alastor’s Dynamic is so FUN

Hazbin Hotel Season 1 Episode 2 Spoilers ahead!

I have to talk about Vox and Alastor’s “rivalry”. I love how Alastor just couldn’t care less, he’s witty, he’s emotionless and that makes him all the more powerful.

Well, not emotionless since he does express outward disgust towards anything digital, but the fact he can keep himself composed because he knows he is the shit and that’s what makes him my absolute favorite.

That showed through in the pilot and the show didn’t fail to deliver. I love how he’s handled. Viv’s characterization is wonderful.

Most fics I have read with Alastor have shown him as vunerable despite the story never alluding to that and it’s such a breath of fresh air to have canon content of Alastor being his authentic self.

My god do I love a character that’s strong and not swayed by emotion, but they can be handled well too. I.E. VOX oh my god. Every fanon had him pegged down as the victim to Val’s wrath, but he’s the mastermind behind the scenes. A complete subversion of everyone’s expectations. And that’s for another post I’m about to go crazy on, but I digress.

Vox is a man up in his ivory electronic tower with villainous intentions, but he falls short because of emotion!

Handling Velvet’s demands to get Val together? A quick pep talk with himself and he’s got it.

Addressing unforeseen circumstances with concerned sinners? Easy.

But Alastor?

He sees RED. He let Valentino have it when he even thought about going on a rampage over a sinner under his thumb.

When it comes to Alastor, Vox goes on a hate campaign and makes a fool of himself.

Meanwhile, Alastor was minding his business, and Vox couldn’t deal with that.

So much so he causes a blackout in the Wrath ring!

Why? Because of his rejection sensitivity.

He is this all powerful overlord with companions in his rule and when he asks someone of similar station to become his equal he gets rejected.

It’s unheard of for him. He cannot fathom it.

Because that makes Alastor a factor he cannot control.

Val says that Alastor “almost beat him”. Val may not have witnessed that fight and Vox spun it around to claim he came out on top.

But if he did, he definitely wouldn’t let Alastor get away.

Valentino and Vox have known each other for a long time, as shown in a photo in the background in the episode.

So either this spat began before they had met and Vox lied or Valentino witnessed it. I'm excited to see which way that goes.

In terms of influence, Alastor seems to win that battle. Vox is in charge of electrical currents and anything in the digital space.

Alastor is so far removed from that Vox has no influence over him. He refuses to be involved with new technology.

But with Vox having an army of sinners under his wing through subliminal messaging, he had security and power.

With Alastor’s return he brings CHARISMA and he’s doing it SO FUCKING WELL.

This is not a battle, it’s a slaughter, and Alastor is WINNING. With television there are so many ways to captivate a viewer but with radio all the host has is their voice and personality. It all has to be shown in a medium that doesn’t have many options for uniqueness.

Alastor defends himself with grace. He throws out compliments to his fellow overlords while still having it be a slight to the man who began the fight.

THE Vs ARE PREENING AT HIS PRAISE. THIS MAN IS GOATED.

It's night and day, but that's probably because Valentino and Velvet are tired of Vox's shit. I love this parallel so much!

Vox needed to be the person he was with Valentino at all times if this is a battle he wants to win, but he’s so bitter he will never see that.

He’s stubborn and that’s his main flaw.

And I fucking love it.

Alastor knows what he’s thinking and how to avoid it.

Always a step ahead. And their duet showcases that perfectly.

Alastor uses his opponent’s power against them, seeing the slanderous TV campaign and immediately going on air.

He does that in the pilot as well and seeing that this has become a habit for him is so fun to see.

Alastor is not to be messed with and I feel like people decided to gloss over that. But it’s so in your face you cannot deny it.

Alastor is TERRIFYING with a chilling deposition that will give you nightmares if you dare cross him.

Give him the respect he fucking deserves.

And the music and the visuals of the song — A whole fucking masterpiece.

I’m in love with their dynamic so far and I can’t wait to see where it goes.

So far Vox is the obsessed fanatic that couldn’t handle rejection.

There has to be more than that.

[thydungeongal]

To me the greatest success of Apocalypse World as a game is how it bridges the gap between the in-fiction and out-of-fiction registers. There's very little reason to switch out of a register that abstracts the fiction in terms of game mechanics, partly because the game has very minimalist mechanics but also because the game very much accepts the fact that tabletop roleplaying games are played through the medium of language, and that for a very specific type of play the imprecision of language is acceptable as long as the language is deliberate in the interests of producing a certain type of play experience.

Now, this is one of those instances where I feel that Apocalypse World holds up much better than most games that have come since that utilize the framework it's built around. As a framework around which people make games, one of the biggest failures of Powered by the Apocalypse is people's unwillingness to capitalize on its many instances of "hey this is actually a cool thing that the game does." A lot of the cool things that Apocalypse World does get lost in a conversation that often revolves around Moves as a Thing, Playbooks, the shape of the dice, failure/partial success/success, and fiction first gaminv. (Incidentally, the fact that people don't talk about the fact that one of the ways in which Apocalypse World absolutely does support fiction first as an approach is through its bridging of the gap between the two registers.)

What's particularly funny to me is that sometimes games will try to go for an approach that differs from Apocalypse World's in order to make it more "grounded in the fiction" only to end up with a system that is actually so much more abstract that the process of translating it into the fiction requires extra steps. Apocalypse World's Harm Clock is basically just hit points by another name and Harm only really works if you accept it as a necessary gameplay abstraction to make the process of "how many bullets can my character take" not have to be a whole thing. But it works. A character shoots another character and they take terrible harm (+1 harm) and then we translate that into the fiction. Meanwhile, the approaches taken by some other PbtA games are supposed to bridge the gap between the mechanics and the fiction end up being so abstract in implementation that they require more effort to translate into the fiction. Mark a Condition. Remove a Move from a target. Harm a Stat.

Now none of that necessarily means those games are bad, but it very much feels, to me, like a solution looking for a problem kind of deal. Yes, Harm as a simple "points of damage" system isn't exactly grounded in the fiction and requires an extra step to translate into the fiction, but there is minimal mechanical friction to it and the process of translating the mechanics into the fiction is nearly effortless.

[cheeseanonioncrisps]

One of the more interesting aspects of Stayed Gone is the implication that, prior to his disappearance, Alastor must have been producing some quality programming.

Despite it's obvious importance in the modern world, TV apparently only started outcompeting radio in Hell after Alastor vanished. Seven whole years ago. And when Al returns, Vox's first response is to freak the fuck out about whether he's gonna keep his audience.

That's fucking crazy.

And we can be pretty sure that people weren't just listening in out of fear, either. Or because Alastor was making any major effort to crush all other forms of media.

If this was purely about which Overlord was the most powerful, then Vox's verses would surely have focused on emphasising his own strength. Instead, they're all about calling radio outdated. Vox is genuinely worried— apparently based on experience— that Alastor is going to outdo him in terms of sheer entertainment value.

Which raises the obvious question: what were Al's shows actually like? (Aside from those early broadcasts guest-starting the screams of the damned, obviously.)

We get kind of a taster in the song:

“Salutations! Good to be back on the air. Yes, I know it's been a while, since someone with style treated Hell to a broadcast— Sinners, rejoice!— instead of a clout-chasing mediocre video podcast. Is Vox insecure, pursuing allure? Fitting between this fad and that, is nothing working? Every day, he's got a new format! Is Vox as strong as he purports? Or is it based on his support? He'd be powerless without the other Vees! And here's the sugar on the cream: he asked me to join his team! I said no, and now he's pissy, that's the tea!”

Obviously he's doing it to music, so there's going to be some difference in the cadence of his voice from that, but still, he's talking noticeably quicker than he does in person. And he gets right to the point.

Compare it to his commercial in episode 1. There's a big difference in terms of both how much respect he's showing his audience (“well hello there, you wayward sinner!” vs “good to be back on the air”), and how much relevant information he delivers.

Alastor is a great character to watch, but most people who interact with him directly seem to find the experience either annoying, awkward, terrifying or all three.

Mainly because Al seems to go out of his way to put people off even when he's actively trying to get them to trust him, by making condescending asides or constantly dropping references to his own power. On air, however, he greets everyone politely and even drops what is almost an apology for being gone so long (“I know it's been a while”), then immediately gets to the information that he knows they're really listening for.

Alastor may not respect Charlie, Adam or Lucifer, but he does respect his audience.

And the content he's producing makes it clear why people are still tuning in. Al has the gossip. Katie Killjoy and Tom Trench may not be unbiased exactly, but they're clearly trying to provide sources for their claims and maintain some veneer of professional news reporting.

Al, meanwhile, is quite happy to provide strong opinions and baseless speculation about public figures, content that is less fitting with the professional image that Vox seems so desperate to keep up, but that is likely to attract a bigger audience.

What gets me curious now, however, is wondering what else he used to provide.

Again, radio was apparently the medium for news and entertainment in Hell until Alastor left. Implying that a) radio was at the time fulfilling many of the function that TV now provides, and b) Alastor was involved enough in this that it collapsed/got overthrown the moment he left town.

Did Alastor have an empire similar to the Vees? Did he run a bunch of channels? Did he have DJs and sports commentators and presenters on his payroll?

Given that radio seems to have collapsed completely after he left— did they all go running to Vox when he was presumed dead? Was the Vees new empire in part built on the ruins of Alastor's old one?

Or did he do the whole thing solo and just run like, a bunch of different shows. (In which case, since radio's bread and butter has always been music, Helluva Boss fans can now have fun imagining him interviewing Verosika Mayday about ‘Vacay to Bonetown’.)

[rabbitindisguise]

Coming to fountain pens after being into fiber crafts so far long is comical in its size difference. Like yes hello I'm a ball of 30 meters of yarn and I won't even make a scarf. Meanwhile the humble 15 ml of ink in the bottle will easily write 600+ pages using a fine or medium nib. You get people going like "oh god . . . I bought too much ink, I'll never finish it all in my lifetime" about a box smaller than a suitcase, while a crafter is going to the local craft store for the nth time and has a closet overflowing with yarn (the wrong kind)

And like, I think this reflects how we undervalue some aspects of our lives under capitalism because once you actually stop to consider things long term, a shirt that gets torn in less than a year is worth less than a shirt that's $50+ in materials and 20+ hours of unpaid labor. Because that shirt will last forever!! It will last so long you'll be like "ffs I wish I could get rid of this the style is outdated and it doesn't fit me properly anymore." And yet. The short term one IS more expensive when you divide the cost over the years it lasts. That's not just cope, that's Vimes boots theory right there. The fun part where you knit/sew/etc it all yourself is an additional benefit that obscures how much value a handmade shirt (no matter how shittily) has in material life.

With things that are optional, where you can do it the more efficient but not necessarily less costly way, you no longer have to rely on a company to produce the things you need for it. If your gel pen dies an untimely death by its ink running out, and you find you they don't make those refills anymore, you have a plastic casing with nothing new to put in it and no pen to write with. With fountain pens you have a converter option that frees you from proprietary products. It's basically open source handwriting. You can even hand make your own ink (professionals course, do not attempt) so even if you're stuck in the woods you can still write with it if you had the foresight to write down the recipe.

And uhhh what are some other "luxury" hobbies that are just doing things without a subscription model . . . physical journalling/mail doesn't require electricity, film photography doesn't require software updates, typewriters can make things legible without relying on a computer, physical art doesn't rely on software either, hand sewing can work without electricity and you can do more complicated/stronger techniques, etc etc. Basically: electricity isn't bad, but being beholden to a corporation (as we know with AI) who can put a stranglehold on it and remove your capacity to do that task independently is bad. Acoustic hobbies- even if they don't amount to anything from a survivalist or independence from society sense- give people greater autonomy in important areas of their lives that they can leverage when people put in price raising measures. And that's ✨ priceless ✨

Important edit: I don't think "investment pieces" are valuable though. The value of an acoustic hobby is not if you can sell it, it's if companies can't sell to YOU. A mistake people get tripped up on us the $10,000 purses and shit that's just markers of wealth. Hobby value bottoms out low and you're immediately destroying any resell value it has by using it so like. If it isn't materially worth the money you spend on it then it's a ripoff. (Example: fancy decals you don't want? Rip off. Unnecessary gold accents? Rip off. Etc)

[homestuckreplay]

this would be funnier if dave’s beverage of choice was a lemon lime soda

(page 1645-1657)

The empty scaffolding of Dave’s apartment is a sight to behold. On the zoomed in version you can see the wavy edges where the other apartments have been wrenched from the penthouse, which is pretty fucked up to think about. I’m starting to think we won’t see Dave actually enter the Medium, but what happens next with his sprite is WAY more significant – and unique to his entry.

We circle back to Dave and John’s pre-blastoff conversation from a few pages ago, now from the other perspective. It’s a trick Homestuck has used often, but this is the first time the conversation changes, with Dave telling John to wait where before he let him leave. And then Future Dave shows up, who is WAY cooler than Present Dave.

When John asked ‘what kind of gullible stooge do you think i am?’ (p.1648) I said OUT LOUD, ‘maybe the kind of gullible stooge who’ll fuck up a whole timeline for a cool leetspeaking troll girl you just met?’ And what do you know, on the very next page present Dave says ‘[Future Dave] says i dunno gullible enough to trust a leetspeaking troll who wants you dead and strap on a rocket pack cause she said to’ (p.1649). Because like. John has befriended aliens and captchalogued a salamander and created remote controlled ghost weapons and resurrected his long dead grandma and the idea of Future Dave is where he draws the line? Dave is right to say ‘this sort of cornball horseshit is your cup of tea not mine’ because he’s the guy who recently invented a convoluted piss drinking prank and decided it was too much effort to go through with (p.1440-3). This is the guy who will only put in the work on something if it contributes to his very specific self image, and even then, he’ll act like he didn’t work hard on it at all (see: all of Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff).

It looks like John still blasts off, but while he’s in the air, something Dave said resonates – probably the realization that he and Dave have been friends for years, and yes Dave is a dickhead, but he’s still stood by John’s side and never tried to hurt him. Meanwhile, John’s only been on good terms with GC for a couple hours, and she’s previously expressed a wish to hurt him and his friends. It’s pretty common (in regular, non-life and death situations) for people to get excited about a new friendship, go all in on that, and neglect their previous friendships. John is learning not to do that in a much harsher way than most people, but it’s still a good lesson. And I’m so relieved it worked and we don’t need a whole other loop, because three Daves would just be too many.

And then. And then Future Dave jumps into the god damn sprite. Just drops all his cool loot, says nothing, and jumps the fuck in there.

?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

^ it probably feels something like this??

Okay. Thinking this through. We have two Daves, both of whom have the exact same life experiences up to and including Dave telling John ‘it definitely sounds like youre fucking something up over there. but alright later’ (p.1637 / 1646). Davesprite, additionally, has had four months of emotional growth. Four very traumatic months in which he’s lost and grieved his best friends, been haunted by a ghost puppet, and had to learn skills fast and fight his way across a land of burning metal. But also four months in which he’s been free of Bro, able to live independently for the first time, literally master time, and work towards the goal of saving himself and his friends. I’m not saying it’s worth the suffering, but I’d say he’s almost certainly a better person for all this. On top of that, Davesprite now might have birdlike qualities including a desire to nest and lay eggs, and he has access to l kinds of knowledge about Skaia, Sburb and Dave’s quest that just filters into his head now through his merging with the game code. Present Dave doesn’t have any of that, but he does have his future self to advise him, and stop him from making his mistakes. He’s also gone from a life of trying to live up to his bro’s example, to a life of trying to live up to his own cooler future self’s example.

Where do you even begin trying to unpack all that? From either of their perspectives????

Yeah that’ll have to do for now. But there’s definitely some big existential questions about what it means for there to be two Daves who are so the same and yet so different, what their relationship will be like, how they’ll interact with their other friends, and how becoming a sprite affects personality. I also noticed that we've seen future Dave drawn in a cool action hero style, like we've seen for John and Rose, but back in the present he's all sprite art again. It's not a hard switch over, there's examples of both on both sides, but I think this softer, more dynamic art style might be associated with the kids being in their Lands.

One difference is that Davesprite is able to troll gallowsCalibrator, and pick the right point on her timeline to do this. I’m not sure the kids have the power to contact the trolls first; all evidence so far says they can only respond. GC does get pretty handily trolled here, and I don’t buy her ‘OBV1OUSLY 1 KN3W 1T W4SNT GO1NG TO WORK’ (p.1657) for a single second – she’s saying that in hindsight to save face, but she genuinely wanted to try this. She’s also definitely flirting with Davesprite – just like GA, she immediately gets a crush on the first person to out-troll her.

Davesprite asks ‘whos in charge of timeline management’ among the trolls, and GC has previously mentioned a ‘M41D OF T1M3’ (p.1524) who we now learn isn’t interested in trolling the kids. None of the troll usernames mention time directly, but apocalypseArisen and twinArmageddons both predict big, world ending events, suggesting knowledge of the future, while caligulasAquarium has the same god’s eye view, person observing their domain feeling as the ‘Godhead’ in Dave’s name. So I’d guess one of those three for the time domain.

Finally, we get to see Rose again!! There’s another conversation recap, this time of her earlier Pesterlog with Jade, followed by the most Rose phrase of all time – ‘the luxury of Harley's narcolepsy’ (p.1654). It continues to be one of my favorite things about Homestuck that the narrator is pretty hands off with the kids, and really lets their voices come through.

We get a first glimpse of Rose’s dream self in her bedroom on Derse!! Vodka Mutini is there too, and has clearly grown up across the last few months. I’m horrified that Future Dream Vodka Mutini is ceasing to exist. It is the real tragedy here. I'm also big on how she's alchemized her laptop with the power supply, AND how Dave throwing her bed out the window persisted into the dream realm, so she has to sleep in her knitting. (Hey, it's been four months. She could've alchemized a new bed. This is a choice.)

But, we now have 3 of 4 lands revealed, 3 of 4 sprites fully prototyped, 3 of 4 dream selves… really checking off some lists. I like that Rose’s dream outfit isn’t just a colorswapped version of Jade’s, but is also based on her waking outfit with its shorter skirt and headband. The miniflash confirms that Rose’s future dream self is able to merge with her present self, which might give present Rose some additional knowledge that she didn’t have access to before, especially knowledge about Derse. It’s not as extreme as the Dave and Davesprite situation, but this is still going to impact her, especially once her present self finds out what’s happened.

[lcdrarry]

LCDrarry 2025 Round-Up Post | Week 4

At the end of the week during our posting period, we won't post a new work, instead you have time to catch up with the works that posted during the week and hopefully leave lovely comments for our creators.

Happy reading, commenting and sharing! ;)

~Your LCDrarry Mods

PS: Please have a look at the author notes and tags on AO3 for additional information. Thank you!

PPS: Please share far and wide! Thank you!!

~~~

Podfic

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A Christmas Miracle by sleepstxtic

Prompt: "House MD", 2004 + A Christmas Carol, 2009, Robert Zemeckis Written by: @sleepstxtic Narrated by: Anonymous Length: 4:56:08 Rating: Explicit Warnings: Implied/Referenced Character Death, Minor Character Death, Past Child Abuse, Illness

Summary: Draco is a world renowned Magi-Diagnostician and Harry is a Cursebreaking Healer, both working at St. Mungo's. They're not quite friends, not quite lovers, who argue at work and have sex on the weekends. And they're both fine with it, thank you very much. But when a mysterious attack in the hospital leaves Draco in a coma, Harry must do all he can to save him. All the while, a inexplicable, deadly children's illness is spreading through wizarding London. Oh, and there's some time magic thrown into the mix.

Or

A Christmas Carol with a Drarry twist.

Listen to it now on AO3.

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Art

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What the fork?

Prompt: "The Good Place", 2016, TV Series/Show Prompted by: Anonymous Artist: Anonymous Medium: Digital Art Rating: General Audiences Warnings: None

Summary: Harry and Draco meet in "the good place." Harry doesn't know what to make of Draco, a witty, self-centred bloke who lives a morally questionable life.

View it now on AO3.

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Fic

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Knockturn Hill

Prompt: "Notting Hill", 1999, Roger Michell Prompted by: @Elizah321 Author: Anonymous Word Count: 9,148 words Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Summary: Fifteen years after the war, Knockturn Alley — where Draco and his friends sought refuge from their tarnished reputations — has transformed into a surprisingly charming neighborhood and rebranded itself as Knockturn Hill. Draco has settled for a boring, pathetic and lonely life between his shop and an apartment with an emerald green door. Meanwhile, Harry Potter, the wizarding world’s most famous and adored figure, has grown accustomed to a life of luxury, constant attention, and admirers eager to please him in every way they can. When a group of reporters ambushes Harry in Knockturn Hill he is left desperate for a place to hide.

Read it now on AO3.

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The Grim Barbarity of the Department of Mysteries

Prompt: "Severance", 2022 Prompted by: Anonymous Author: Anonymous Word Count: 12,828 words Rating: Mature Warnings: Themes of spousal loss and grief

Summary: Harry sits and listens to the minutes tick by, and tries not to think about all the sounds that are missing: the clatter of cabinet doors and whistle of the kettle; the whoosh of an accio’d briefcase and the rustle of papers haphazardly stuffed inside it; an intermittent off-key hum along with the wireless. He’s not sure how long he sits there trying-and-failing, but without Draco there to cast a warming charm, the coffee goes cold before Harry thinks to drink it.

OR: Harry doesn't want to grieve. So instead, he forgets.

Read it now on AO3.

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Seven First Dates

Prompt: "50 First Dates", 2004, Peter Segalo Prompted by: Anonymous Author: Anonymous Word Count: 20,898 words Rating: Explicit Warnings: Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, References to Depression

Summary: When Harry ran into Draco Malfoy in a Muggle bookshop, he certainly found it odd. When he spotted him there for a second time, Harry convinced himself that Malfoy was plotting something awful. By the third encounter, he’d realized what was actually up: Malfoy had short term memory loss. He was stuck reliving the same day over and over again. Well wasn’t it just his luck that Harry was starting to fall in love.

Read it now on AO3.

~~~

Please help promote the fest by sharing your favourite submissions, so more people can enjoy all the amazing new Drarry works of LCDrarry. Thank you!

Creator reveals are on 1 June 2025.

[trekbait]

Must see things on DS9 while on shore leave!

Deep Space 9, simultaneously the most important military outpost in the Alpha Quadrant and the most popular shopping mall this side of Freecloud, has rapidly become a Shore Leave destination to rival Risa. This is your guide to making the most of your leave!

The Promenade

The hub of the station is the Promenade where you can view the station’s many stores. You’ve got gift shops, a tailors to dress up for a night out, the Jumja stick stand, Bat'leth’s R Us and the bowling alley. As far as food or drinks, you’ve travelled around the quadrant in seconds! Choose from Bajoran, Bolian, Klingon, Vulcan, the replimat, and of course Quark’s which we will come back to soon. 

Can’t I just replicate all of this, you ask? Sure but cosplaying ancient capitalism is a hobby so many Federation citizens enjoy these days. Just remember to bring some currency and brush up on the terms you need to “haggle” and “gamble” before you go so you don’t look like an “easy mark” (Have you got advice on how to spend currency? Leave a comment!). If you’re looking for handmade “unreplicated” items, however, get your purchase externally verified before parting with your chosen medium of exchange.

If you’re not someone into aesthetic scarcity, there’s more to do! Opposite Quark’s is the Bajoran temple where you can take in a slice of Bajoran culture. After all, they’ll soon be a Federation member! If your captain has been savvy in scheduling your visit, you may even get a chance to see the Gratitude Festival. Finally, fans of the first Ferengi in Starfleet may want to find a spot opposite Quark’s and dangle their feet over the edge. Enjoy the ambience of Commander Nog’s favourite spot before security moves you along.

Watching the Wormhole

You may be wondering why we didn’t point out the best spot to see the wormhole on the promenade. Well, that’s because the best spot isn’t on the promenade. Every insider knows to head to a vacant upper pylon (our favourite is number 2). Up there you’ll get a beautiful view of what the Bajorans call the “Celestial Temple”. Maybe you’ll have a religious awakening? 

Don’t forget, they say that if you see the wormhole open, you get to make a wish. I guess the dockmaster at DS9 must be a very lucky person by now.

Ops

The nerve centre of DS9 is off duty to casual visitors (such as young ensigns on shore leave) but since the war ended tours have been scheduled twice a day. Visitors will be shown around Ops by a member of the crew and told stories about the events that happened there. You will also get to see inside the station commander’s office including Sisko’s famous baseball. If you’re lucky you’ll catch a glimpse of Colonel Kira! The wait list is very long so book ahead.

Note that holo imagers are not permitted in Ops and the tour may be cancelled at short notice in the event of an emergency situation. For a more in-depth experience, see the “Ops: Battle Stations!” holosuite programme in Quark’s which recreates various dramatic battles from the station’s history.

Quark’s

This isn’t just any Quark’s, it’s the original Quark’s! A bar so good it’s spread across the quadrant like Caitan nip. It’s got drinks, live music, auctions, a Dabo wheel (with some very good-looking Dabo girls and guys to help you part with your currency) and some amazing holosuites (with none of the content filters recently applied to Starfleet Holodecks). This is also the spot where Captain Sisko punched Q!

Those looking for something special should ask after Quark’s private stock. It comes at a premium, but who can turn down some Aldebaran whiskey? Share a glass with Morn who is renowned for regaling fellow patrons with war tales. Meanwhile, Ensigns who have studied under Professor O’Brien at Starfleet Academy might also be looking out for his famous dart board. It’s located just to the left of the bar and you can try it out yourself! See if you can beat O’Brien and Doctor Bashir’s high scores!

Speaking of O’Biren and Bashir, check out Vic’s Lounge in the holosuites. This recreation of an old Earth club was so popular among the crew of DS9 that Bashir kept it running 26 hours a day. The eponymous Vic himself, the proprietor, is a sentient hologram much like Voyager’s EMH. So speak freely and enjoy the vibe of old Earth.

Don’t forget to stop in the gift shop on your way out! 

The Tribble Experience

Something away from the promenade is a Tribble cafe, opened in a cargo bay after the crew of the Defiant brought back the one-extinct Tribble from the 23rd century. Realising they could stop its spread by ensuring they were away from any food supply they managed to relocate the tribbles away from the promenade to a cargo bay. 

Lacking a better idea, they opened an “experience” where you get to pet, play with and roll around a cargo bay with several hundred tribbles. Their cute purrs will calm even the most nervous disposition!

Please note they have a strict no-food policy for all visitors. Anyone inadvertently bringing food into the Tribble Experience will be held legally liable for all the Tribble offspring that result as well as any containment or cleanup costs the station incurs.

Dukat’s Ghost

Several years back, the crew on DS9 triggered a Cardassian self-defense mechanism built into the main computer designed to suppress a Bajoran uprising. While the station locked down and attempted to kill its now Cardassian-free inhabitants messages of the old prefect, Gul Dukat (yes, that Dukat), played on monitors across the station. 

After the program was purged, a bug remained in the system. Head down to level 32, section H. Stand outside the cargo bay there and turn right. Walk to the next junction then left, right then straight on for 12 meters. On your left you’ll see a flickering display screen. At 12 minutes past the hour, every hour, an automated message from Dukat to his Bajoran workers will play. However, the audio generation gets spliced with the general communication system of the station so you’ll get a unique presentation from Dukat. We stayed for 3 hours and heard these;

“Bajoran Workers, I will learn to live with it. Because I can live with it. I can live with it.”

“Bajoran Workers, it is said that in the right hands the Mercury Stone has the power to cleanse the land of evil and bring prosperity to all.”

“Bajoran Workers, come to Quark’s, Quark’s is fun, come right now, don’t walk, run!”

Enjoy your stay on DS9 and remember to leave a review on FourQuad.

[allastoredeer]

Archangel anon again! Here for those extended Gabriel headcanons. Okay! Gabriel's the messenger of heaven, so i imagine that it's his's responsibility to convey messages between heaven and hell. That makes Gabe the only sibling Lucifer has been allowed to have simi-consistent contact with since his fall. They're not allowed to have long, deep conversations, but they do try to catch up a tiny bit. I see Gabe as a trickster with a heart of gold. Seemingly a charismatic goofball who takes very little seriously. A fast-talking, smooth-talking, ALWAYS talking jokester who can make you want to tear your hair out one second, then charm the pants off you the next. He's the best liar of the family, incredibly good at playing dumb despite actually being quite cunning, strategic, and above all else, PETTY. He is very protective of his siblings, especially Lucifer nowadays (side-effect of being the only sibling allowed to talk to him) and can hold a grudge like no ones business.

But, the main reason I wanted to give special attention to Gabe is because of his patronage. As I was doing research on Gabriel I made a delightful discovery ripe with potential. Remember how I said Gabriel is the patron of communication services? Well another way to phrase it would be he holds patronage over all forms of transmitting information from point A to point B. This includes telecommunications that transmit information through electrical means. Such as telegraph, telephone, internet, and broadcasting. ALL forms of broadcasting. Including both television AND RADIO.😃😃😃

Do you see? Do you see the abundance of potential that I see?? Gabriel is the Patron Archangel of both TV AND RADIO. He holds dominion over

TV AND RADIO

I cannot begin to describe the joy I felt when I made that discovery! Instantly got the brain buzzing.

Alastor and Gabriel have the capacity for either becoming instant best friends or instant enemies and I can't decide which one I like more... Oh who am I kidding, it's enemies. Imagine Gabriel is visiting Lucifer and Charlie and he inevitably buts heads with Alastor. Either Alastor says something snide about Gabe himself, or maybe Lucifer. Meanwhile, Gabe has gone uncharacteristically quiet and just stares at Al for a long moment. Then, an unreadable smile slowly forms on his face and he laughs good-naturedly, slapping Alastor on the back a BIT too hard but otherwise just says "You got me there, buddy" before sauntering away.

But the next morning, Alastor tries to enter his radio tower to do his morning show, only to find the door is locked tight and there's some kind of powerful ward keeping him from shadow-porting in. Then, every radio in hell suddenly comes alive as none other than Gabriel's loud, bombastic voice comes pouring enthusiastically from the speakers.

Gabriel has redefined the term "pirate radio" by not only hijacking Alastor's radio tower, but also literally every radio in hell. And worse, he's turned Al's show into one of those "zany" morning-zoo radio shows. The kind of shows thar are more annoying than funny that always play on the radio on your way to work or school? I imagine Alastor considers those shows a perversion of his medium. And as the cherry on top, Gabe refuses to relinquish control back to Alastor calls in (the number is 1 777 3625, that's 1 777 DMBK🤭) and apologizes ON AIR for all of hell to hear.🤣🤣🤣

You know what, I'm kind of with Alastor on this one.

If someone messed with my passion like that, I would never apologize. I would double down. I'd never stop pushing those buttons, consequences be damned. You want me to say sorry? Nah, bitch, how about you stop being a wuss?

LOL I think Alastor would take a megaphone, plop himself on a rooftop (or just roam the streets) and do his broadcast like that. He'd find himself a soapbox to stand on. You know, the old fashioned way. I mean, depending on if Alastor can control radiowaves, he might be able to hijack one of the speakers he set up all over Hell. He'd pick a new one every day, and diss on ol' Gabe. He'd go into how Heaven keeps repressing the sinners of Hell, first it was the Extermination, and now Heaven's silencing their voices. When will the tyranny end? How long will they put up with this??

LOL Idk now that I'm thinking about it, the idea of Alastor starting a revolution against Heaven purely out of spite is incredibly funny and I love it.

(Also that is really interesting about Gabriel patron of communication 👀 that has so much potential)

[cyber-corp]

Lately I’ve been leaning towards discovering new music through radio and music video stations, as they do a lot more in helping me find new music than streaming services ever did.

I think the problem is that streaming’s algorithmic nature leads to locking yourself into a comfort bubble with the same old playlists with the same old recommendations. “Made For You” playlists further lock you into that box as long as the songs get more streams.

Meanwhile, I watched Rage recently (the Australian equivalent of MTV) and it got me hooked on Reel Big Fish and Little Simz, two amazing artists I had no interest in before because I was never made aware of their music. I rediscovered The KLF through listening to Radio X on the RadioGarden app. Two mediums of listening to music known for constant repeats of popular songs have done more for me (in terms of finding music) than Spotify has ever done.

At the end of the day, all three still want your money, but Spotify wants your money by locking you in your comfort zone and all your “favourite playlists”.

[mariacallous]

In the next few months, Chinese President Xi Jinping will announce his country’s new climate targets. His decision could make or break the Paris Agreement, the landmark treaty—ratified by nearly every country in the world—that aims to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. If the world breaches this critical threshold, it will see major falls in food production, a severe hit to global GDP, and a rise in deadly weather events.

All participating governments are due to submit their 2035 climate targets to the United Nations by next February. The most important will come from the three largest emitters today, which collectively account for more than 50 percent of global emissions: the United States, European Union, and China.

The United States and EU have not reduced emissions fast enough to align with the Paris goals, but they still delivered two-thirds of the 13 percent reduction in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s carbon emissions over the past decade. China, meanwhile, is responsible for more than 90 percent of the growth in carbon dioxide emissions since the Paris Agreement was negotiated in 2015.

The 1.5-degree target has been in danger for a while, but China’s scale and role in driving emissions put the country in the unique position of being able to single-handedly limit warming so that it stays as close to that target as possible. Global emissions need to peak urgently, and that is simply not realistic without China changing course.

Despite this, China appears to be gravitating toward a weak, conservative set of near-term targets. Although Xi has previously pledged that China will become carbon neutral before 2060, recent policy trends indicate that Beijing’s new targets are likely to fall short of what’s needed to realize that 2060 climate vision—and stave off the worst of global warming.

Chinese diplomats often boast about their country’s record of overachieving on climate and energy targets. As Kevin Rudd, the former Australian prime minister, has put it, China’s strategy on climate is “to under-promise and over-deliver.” For example, China far exceeded its 2020 commitment to reduce carbon intensity as well as its wind and solar power capacity targets for 2015 and 2020.

But now, China is looking increasingly likely to miss the 2025 targets that it named in its Paris commitments and elsewhere. These include plans to “strictly limit” coal consumption growth, “strictly control” new coal power projects, and reduce carbon intensity (carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP) by 18 percent compared with 2020—all by next year. China’s emissions would need to fall between now and the end of 2025 for the country to reach that target. Yet the carbon intensity target set by China’s Environment Ministry for 2024 leaves room for emissions to rise this year, suggesting that the ministry is not seriously pursuing the 2025 target.

Meanwhile, a flurry of high-level policy documents published in recent months indicates that Beijing is likely to pursue conservative near-term climate goals. The State Council’s plan for controlling carbon emissions only expects them to peak just before 2030, and the Central Committee of the Communist Party only aims for China’s emissions to show a “falling trend” by 2035. Due to the lack of ambition in the medium term, Climate Action Tracker—an independent research group—has determined that China’s policies and targets are “highly insufficient” despite the country’s long-term carbon neutrality target.

Furthermore, China’s National Energy Administration has dropped hints that it is erring on the side of caution when it comes to the climate. Top agency officials have dismissed evidence that emissions could peak several years ahead of the “before 2030” deadline—China’s official target—and proposed energy installation targets that would slow down clean energy deployment. They have also advocated for fossil fuels meeting 30 percent of energy demand growth through 2030.

One reason that regulators tend to be conservative is that bureaucrats’ prospects in climbing the ladder of the Communist Party hinge upon the achievement of policy goals, making lower targets desirable. Ministries are also constrained by the level of climate ambition set from the top; bureaucrats have no control over economic policy priorities, which can have a major impact on emissions, especially when China’s leadership considers an energy-intensive sector the growth driver of the day. For example, Beijing’s favorable treatment toward the petrochemical industry has been a major driver of the sharp rise in coal consumption in recent years.

Yet Chinese policymakers’ unwillingness to take more progressive positions on climate is seemingly at odds with their country’s booming clean energy industry and other promising domestic trends. China’s solar and wind installations nearly doubled in 2023 compared with the year before and have continued to accelerate this year. The nuclear power sector, another important source of low-carbon electricity, is also growing, with 20 new reactors approved for construction from 2022 to 2023, and another 11 so far this year.

At its current rate, the growth in clean energy is sufficient to cover all additional electricity demand at the rate forecasted by the China Electricity Council for the second half of this year. If China continues to add renewable energy at the rate that it did in 2023, it could be on track to triple its renewable energy capacity from 2022 to 2030, in line with the target to triple renewables globally agreed upon at last year’s U.N. climate summit in Dubai.

Driven by clean energy expansion, China’s carbon emissions reportedly started declining in March and have continued to fall since then. Meanwhile, energy planners appear to be slamming the brakes on fossil fuels. Beijing approved hundreds of new coal power plants and coal-based steel plants after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but permits for new coal plants fell by about 80 percent in the first half of 2024 compared with the previous year. In August, Beijing introduced a ban on new steelmaking projects, and no coal-based steel plants have been approved since the start of this year.

Research suggests that China needs to cut emissions by at least 30 percent by 2035, compared with 2023 levels, to limit warming to 1.5 degrees. China can achieve meaningful emission reductions by 2035 if it maintains its rate of clean energy deployment. However, policy inertia and conservative thinking risk preventing China from capitalizing on progress that has already been achieved in the real world.

Despite these roadblocks, it is in China’s own interest to make ambitious climate targets. The clean energy sector contributed a record $1.6 trillion to China’s economy in 2023, accounting for 9 percent of the country’s GDP and 40 percent of economic growth. In addition, a weak climate goal from Beijing would affect trade policy; it would increase tensions by undermining China’s domestic market for clean tech, further inviting the ire of countries that are concerned about China’s manufacturing overcapacity and low-cost exports of electric vehicles, solar panels, and other green technology.

A lowball target would also upset Beijing’s diplomatic alliances in climate negotiations. So far, China has been the de facto leader of the developing country bloc in international climate discussions. This has allowed it to resist calls to set climate targets on par with those of richer countries. But that position is increasingly untenable. China is on the cusp of becoming a high-income country and is on track to overtake the EU’s historical carbon dioxide emissions in the next few years to become the second-largest historic emitter after the United States.

In recent U.N. climate talks, the Maldives and Antigua and Barbuda—developing island nations that are part of China’s negotiating bloc and are among the most vulnerable countries to climate impacts—openly voiced their disquiet about China’s lack of commitment to addressing climate change. China’s next target, if not sufficiently ambitious, could lead more countries to break ranks with Beijing’s negotiating alliance, flying in the face of its efforts to portray itself as a “doer in global climate governance.”

To continue to make progress on climate, Xi cannot rely on his bureaucrats to put forward meaningful targets—he must do it himself. Xi and the rest of China’s top leadership will have to balance the growth of their country’s clean energy industry against short-term economic considerations related to fossil fuels. Weak targets that allow the expansion of the fossil-fuel industry would pull the rug out from under the clean energy sectors that have been China’s star economic performers of the past couple years.

China’s leaders are almost certain to wait until the results of the U.S. presidential election to announce their targets, and they will likely feel more pressure in the case of a victory by Democratic candidate and current Vice President Kamala Harris. The other question is whether China’s other important partners—including the EU, United Kingdom, and other G-20 members—will hold Beijing to a high standard. This will be especially important if former President Donald Trump wins the election.

Until then, the message to China has to be clear: Lip service to multilateralism and global climate action isn’t enough; Paris-aligned climate targets are essential. After Trump was elected in 2016, China vowed to defend the Paris agreement. Now, the country is increasingly at risk of failing to do so. As a recent strategy document for China’s own cabinet reads, “Major countries should focus more on the future of the earth and humanity and act in a responsible manner … thus fulfilling the responsibilities commensurate with their status.”

[dailycharacteroption]

Races Among the Stars 10: Kalo

The gas giant Bretheda, which is analogous to Jupiter in the real world, is called The Cradle due to it’s vast number of satellites. While many are uninhabited, some of which are actively hostile to life, an inordinate number of them actually harbor life both familiar and strange.

One such moon is Kalo-Mahoi, a watery moon with a frozen surface, and is clearly based on Europa, a moon of Jupiter that has long been a subject of speculation for possibly harboring life.

Kalo-Mahoi does harbor life, ranging from the microscopic to the very macro-scopic, including twenty-legged crustaceans, and tube worms big enough to ambush and devour creatures as big as whales, and so on.

The moon also harbors a sapient species in the form of the Kalo, who were first described as being akin to humanoid jellyfish in the Distant Worlds book (which served as the core inspiration for Starfinder back in the day), but are now more akin to alien deep-sea fishfolk, which honestly fits their art more.

Though they once were nomadic tribes that worshipped the linnorm children of Ragadahn and the fey eldest himself out of fear and respect, the kalo have long since take their homeworld for themselves, organizing and pushing the greedy and hungry dragons into the deepest ocean trenches, and with that, began cultivating a peace-loving society of art, science, and culture that nevertheless is willing to go to war when necessary to protect what they care about.

Kalo are humanoids with wing-like fins on their arms as well as having webbed flipper feet. Their bodies are covered in dark green scales, and their heads have decorative spines on the scalps, large, bioluminescent eyes used for long-range communication as well as sensory barbels around a mouth of needle-sharp teeth. Their skeletons are mostly cartilage, so while it is serviceable enough in the water, kalo tend to be a bit frail and tire easily when out of water, necessitating servo-equipped armor or augmentation to facilitate long-term overland travel. Speaking of which, kalo are entirely aquatic, and cannot breathe air, requiring respiratory equipment as well.

Despite its role in helping establish their freedom and control of their homeworld, most kalo abhor violence, seeing it as a last resort. As such, they have a complicated relationship with their own history, and many aspects of their culture have changed to reflect this shift in priority. Such things as sharkhunters and mantariders being terms now for their peacekeeping military, and deepspeakers changing from being the mouthpieces of the linnorms to being librarians and archivists.

In the place of warfare, however, art has taken it’s place, everything from sculpture to music to fashion, and even medium like calligraphy and painting thanks to the addition of air-filled sections of their cities which nestle near hydrothermal vents. Art is such a big part of their culture that kalo artists are rather famous throughout the Pact Worlds, with large followings. Furthermore, this artisanal bent also means that even practical kalo products are exquisite in design. All of this stemming from the ancient design philosophy that rose in the wake of their victory over the linnorms: No longer would the kalo hide themselves. They would be bright and flashy out in the open with no fear.

Kalo tend to be agile and introspective, but somewhat frail.

Their deep sea nature does inure them to the cold, however.

While somewhat slow on land, they are naturally also agile swimmers.

Their eyes are also quite sensitive to light, but they also possess accurate sonar senses to pinpoint targets even when their eyes fail them.

Adapted to hunt in the dark, kalo are quite stealthy in the water.

Naturally, as aquatic creatures they cannot breathe air.

The agility and stealth of the kalo makes them very desirable as operatives, especially for missions involving bodies of water. Meanwhile, ranged combatant classes will also benefit from their superiority in the water for keeping their distance, though their sluggishness on land can be a hinderance. Intuitive biohackers are also a good option here, as are mechanics for representing the many innovations of their people. Their wisdom and dexterity make mystic and precog the preferable casting classes for them, though they can be quite competent as witchwarpers and technomancers as well. Their artistic talents actually makes envoy a sleeper hit with them as well. Meanwhile, consider how the aquatic nature of the kalo affects their likely choices in equipment, particularly focusing on aquatic weaponry and those that grant the echo property for long-range tracking. The only real weakness of the kalo is their low con and starting hp, which makes nanocyte and vanguard hard sells, in addition to close-range builds of other classes. Even that can be worked around however.

That does it for today, but next time will be another surprising throwback to Golarion!

[markantonys]

A weird trend I've noticed (at least among Twitter show to book first timers) is quite a few of them hating show Rand in s1 but loving him immediately when reading Eye of the World. Which is kinda bizarre to me? Especially considering how they aged him up in the show and he's way more mature than he is the books. And I adore book Rand he's my favorite character in the entire series and glad more people are liking him. But makes me feel more protective of show Rand cause he also deserves the love!

I think the reasons though are cause showwise we can't see inside his head so people who didn't like him in s1 see where he's coming from when reading the book since they see his thoughts? Idk

that's so rude!!! i would guess it's because s1 rand expresses anger (and expresses anger towards female characters lmao) much more than eotw rand, who is just kinda quietly vibing and drinking his milk and being wholesome and keeping most of his negative emotions in his head because he's too polite to express them aloud (which obviously can't work in a visual medium). overall, according to my vague memories of eotw, i'd say that s1 rand is a much stronger personality than eotw rand, which makes him a more dynamic and interesting character but at the same time puts him at higher risk of rubbing people the wrong way than Untoasted White Bread Blank Slate Boy aka eotw rand haha

and the maturity increase is similar. in eotw, mat is immature in a way that most people find grating and unlikable, and so most people agree that he unequivocally benefits from the show's maturity increase. but rand in eotw is less "immature" and more "naive", he's immature mostly in a sweet and endearing way, and so maybe this group of readers doesn't care that he's acting more like a tween (or even a straight-up child at times) than the young adult he's supposed to be, they just find him Cute And Baby, and meanwhile they find s1 rand rude and unlikable because he has more serious problems and reacts more seriously to said problems (thinking mostly in terms of his relationship with egwene here - a certain subset of viewers hate s1 rand for having his own feelings & opinions in the relationship rather than being 100% fine with getting dumped in ep1 and then 100% happy to jump back into egwene's arms like nothing happened in ep2 when she wants to reverse her decision, so i could imagine they like him more in eotw when his problems with egwene are mostly silly and childlike and treated comedically by the narrative, as opposed to legitimate conflicts in an established long-term romantic relationship which the narrative takes seriously)

but if you don't love rand at his throwing a tantrum at moiraine in s1, then you don't deserve him at his going to get a glass of milk at midnight and spitting it out in surprise upon running into a fade! i can only imagine that these people are going to start hating book rand in later books once he stops being Untoasted White Bread Blank Slate Boy and starts developing a stronger personality and rougher edges lmao

(also, all this is not to say that rand's eotw softness doesn't come across in the show, because it absolutely does! i think s1 rand is on the one hand angrier and more volatile than eotw rand (which gets him hate in spaces like twitter and tumblr among those who deem any male character who isn't nice and agreeable 100% of the time Trash) yet simultaneously he's also more openly affectionate & tender and more of a homebody (which gets him hate in spaces like reddit among those who deem any male character who isn't a badass power fantasy 100% of the time Lame))

[alientitty]

poor people really do spend more. and i dont mean in the idiot bootlicker sense that "rich people got that way by being 'smart' with their money and not giving to those in need 🤓'" (they just dont give a fuck and also have no idea what its like. i think this is a story middle class people tell themselves to soothe their conscience). i mean that poverty is expensive.

you can't afford a nice apartment or house with a washing machine? alright go use a laundromat and just hope youre not stuck with a place that charges $11 for a medium sized hot water heavy cycle. homeowners are definitely not paying that much per load over the long term. youre sick or injured? well you can't afford healthcare so you hope it goes away and end up at the emergency room with insane bills, with something that a richer person could have prevented.

by many measures the mortgage for owning a home is cheaper monthly and long-term than renting. you can take money out of your house to cover unexpected expenses...and rich enough people won't even see consequences for that. but if you rent then all your money is just going to some asshole who owns shit and can charge whatever they want from you because the alternative is homelessness.

you live in a rough area? your wallet might get stolen by someone else desperate in poverty and going after the closest, easiest targets. and now you have to pay tons of fees to replace your IDs and and you lost the cash you had in there and you have to hope they dont max out the credit cards you used or pull identity fraud which is extremely expensive, painful, and drawn-out to clean up.

even something as simple as lunch at work. executives and doctors and shit get free catered lunches at their board meetings all the fucking time meanwhile the people working to make that happen have to shell out for (often insanely priced near business areas) food because when youre working yourself to the bone to make ends meet you dont have time or energy to cook every single meal you'll ever eat (something middle class assholes will tell you to do all the time because they think not being rich means they're an expert on all the tax brackets below them).

or clothes, right? cheap polyester wears out fast and looks bad when youre trying to impress for a better job and hey it might catch fire in a poorly maintained washing machine (this has happened to several people i know) but you can't afford $85 for a single pair of pants. this one is extra insulting cuz people with a little money will tell you how youre such a bad person for not buying from their preferred expensive ass brand that's using ethics as marketing (never mind what the actual chain of production looks like!)

i could go on and on but you see my point. and i wouldn't describe myself as having ever lived in poverty (some of these things happened to me but others to people i know), just working-class and close enough to know that it could be worse. this is also why forcing people deep into poverty to qualify for any social assistance is so cruel. it's just so insulting and frustrating and demeaning when people act like poverty is just the product of poor individual choices so everyone deserves it. great way to tell yourself you don't have to feel bad about the suffering you witness or guilty about having more through mere chance. great way to do absolutely nothing and feel fine about it.