#border radius generator

[amons-hat-enthusiast]

A petition to stop Rio Tinto’s mine from destroying Serbia’s nature

"We call upon you to prohibit extractive mining projects and metal processing in the Jadar Valley in Serbia.

In particular, we demand that you cancel the proposed Rio Tinto lithium mine in Loznica. We demand that you protect the biodiversity, fertile ground, farming villages and rich cultural areas.

Serbia’s most fertile land can be found in the beautiful Jadar Valley. Small family farmers grow raspberries and plums, engage in beekeeping and sheep and goat herding. The valley borders mountains, is surrounded by water and home to thousands of sustainable multi-generational farms.

But instead of protecting it, the Serbian government has approved a project with multinational mining corporation Rio Tinto, for the exploitation of “Jadarite”, a lithium ore in the valley. The government and the company have ignored scientists and mining experts who advise vehemently against the mine and are threatening to cause irreparable damage to the water, land, air and it’s people. Local citizens, who do not want to give up their sustainable agricultural land which has been in their families for generations, are being ignored.

The process of separating chemically stable lithium from jadarite ore involves the use of concentrated sulfuric acid. The process would take place 20 km from the Drina River and use 300 cubic meters of water every hour, while the chemically treated water would be returned to the Jadar River.

The outpouring of inevitably polluted water, as well as underground waters which contain arsenic, mercury and lead, would contaminate entire river basins and continue their journey across the Jadar to the Drina and Sava, polluting not only Serbia's but other countries' water sources as well.

We reject the pollution of the air. Treatment with the above mentioned (and additional) aggressive acids produces toxic gases that can spread within a radius of over ten kilometers and which will corrode the skin and lungs of humans and animals.

We reject the endangerment of the population around the Jadar Valley in the interests of a multinational corporate profit. Rio Tinto has promised 700 new jobs, but forgot to mention that 19,000 people are set to be displaced or severely effected.

Rio Tinto in 2020, destroyed a 45,000 year old sacred Australian Aboriginal cave. The company and its representatives have been repeatedly convicted of fraud and paid billions of dollars in damages and fines for illegal destruction of land, but continue to ravage and destroy natural environment around the world. The company is accused of participating in war crimes in Papua New Guinea, where a ten-year civil war broke out due to the presence of their mine.

The citizens of Serbia have the right to clean air, clean water and healthy living conditions. Stop Rio Tinto’s lithium mine and protect the people, our heritage, our environment and the rivers of the Jadar Valley. United we can save our environment."

https://action.wemove.eu/sign/2023-03-stop-rio-tinto-EN?akid=s1568260..uAF-ha

The text above explains the situation. This is a very important petition and I'd be very grateful if you could sign it and spread it.

(I see that only people from European countries can sign it, others please reblog for this to reach as many people as possible)

[shithowdy]

New Vegas Divide and Big MT Locations

A lot of discussions I find on the matter tend to ultimately be met with the answer of, "It's a fake place somewhere in Death Valley, it doesn't matter exactly where". I can understand not needing this information to enjoy the story, but unfortunately, I'm roleplaying a prequel set in 2276 so I want some goddamn specifics 💅

SO. My own speculation on The Divide's more precise location below the cut. Apologies if anyone has supplied this theory before, I got a little tired of browsing reddit threads full of incurious wiki-thumpers.

(tl;dr it's a developed Fort Irwin)

The Divide and the named places in it obviously don't correlate as directly with real locations like the rest of the game, but this makes sense. In a differing timeline where the nuclear arms race seems to have only shifted in players, not ethics, it's easy to imagine that the area surrounding desert military operations and nuclear development sites would grow in importance (I similarly have mentioned Los Alamos being a much bigger city in our RP for the same reason). The Mojave was a hub for nuclear R&D and even today houses one of our warheads, of course it would boom (pun unavoidable). So the first thing I did was ignore cities, even "Ashton". A location named Ashton does exist further north beyond the Nevada border, but nothing about it geographically matches what we interact with in game.

Instead, I thought about the geography itself. What we know about the Divide is that the detonations there made CA-127 unusable, forcing NCR supply chains trying to reach Hoover Dam to enter via the 15 and Mojave Outpost.

We also know it was east of established NCR territory, west of the main NV game map, and north of the 15.

This means its radius is limited to something like this.

Looking at the overlay, and knowing that the "default story" courier had been for some time delivering supplies between the established NCR and Ashton/Hopeville, their route taking them from The Hub (formerly Lancaster), the industrial and trade center of New California, and this new city makes the most sense.

(As an aside, I have to say that I'm very sorry to classic players upset about the map retcon, because that damn geography doesn't even match what the text implies. The Necropolis is Barstow, not Bakersfield?? Anyway.)

Further evidence that the courier's route brought them from the Hub is a note by a merchant from there who appears to have found their old route after the bombs...

... and Nash explaining that the Courier was initially hired at The Hub in the first place, indicating an established presence there.

So we have the general radius. How do we get more specific? What I think a lot of people ignore when trying to pinpoint the area are the quakes set off by the subterranean bombs and the effect they had on the landscape: gaping geological scars that run East-West, indicating a sensitive fault line at this angle.

The immediately clear answer to this was the Ridgecrest fault.

Okay, so we have a good candidate for a fault line. What sits below it? In our timeline, the remote Fort Irwin and its surrounding military desert combat training sites (complete with simulated villages), and the Goldstone site satellite complex. If you were going to use existing infrastructure as building blocks for new and grander development in this region, the roads, electricity, water treatment, and radio towers here would be the ideal choice. Let's see if it lines up.

You know what? I'll take it. A circular central interchange that branches out through mountainous areas situated just below the Ridgecrest fault. So where does that place Big MT? We know it's south of Hopeville, but it can't interfere with I-15. This necessitates an area of (currently) high elevation with caves below surrounded by darker soil, canyon networks, but an otherwise flat landscape somewhere just south of the Divide radius.

Wouldn't you know, there just happens to be a lone mountain that sits atop an opal mine, which in a different timeline could have very easily been converted into a different excavation project. Opal Mountain, or the Black Mountain Wilderness (unrelated), is a perfect match.

So! This is obviously pure speculation based on me having the specific flavor of autism that brews when one grows up having their own brain fried by 120f weather and residual nuclear fallout. I did this for the purpose of RP, but if anyone finds it useful, yippee etc.

[virulentvoidarts]

LORE DUMP BELOW

It’s an entire essay besties, I cooked here

Censor

He/him

Personality:

Crazed, has several screws loose, very mischievous. He’s extremely egotistical, bordering on a god complex at times, priding on his success and accomplishments.

People who dislike him are just jealous, and people who praise him are simply recognizing how great he is.

Censor does have a certain charm to him, though. He’s loud, full of life, and animated in everything he does

He is also quick to anger, especially if one manages to strike a nerve, as his means of dealing with external problems usually involves violence of some sort given his explosive personality.

He can also be a different person around those he is close with. While still being smug and full of himself, he’s playful and generally softer.

Physical attributes:

Height- He’s a monstrously sized creature for my cyberworld, being the tallest recorded addison (though some speculate he isn’t an addison at all anymore). This height only further fuels that god complex of his, as he is quite literally bigger and “better” than others. He uses his stature as a means of intimidation, to maintain a sense of respect and fear around him.

Automatically dislikes anyone taller than him

Machinery- like NEO was, he is made of metal in certain parts, his arms have connection points where metal meets muscle in his shoulders. He cannot feel painful sensations in his arms, despite still having a sense of touch.

Smile- Censor is permanently smiling regardless of what emotion he is feeling at any given moment.

His grin can raise or lower depending on his feelings, but it never goes away, and is one of his distinctive traits

Lore:

If a Lightner can create a Darkner through their own passions and desires, would it be possible for a Darkner to create its own “Darkner” with a strong enough will?

The whole point of the world of Deltarune is that you don’t get to pick your fate. But in Censor’s corrupted save file, there’s no player to control Kris and the gang.

He’s the result of the game crashing mid-NEO fight, leaving his world behind in an incomplete state, where the city continues on despite there being no lightners anymore.

When they don’t attack Neo as the game intended, his will overrides the corrupted script, and he creates a new self, Spamton EX. Or, as he calls himself now, “Censor”, in a personal rebrand to distance himself from that forsaken name.

While his current form is not nearly as powerful as NEO had been, he still holds enough power that he was able to steal from Queen and get away with it, using the funds to build himself up and begin anew, as Cyber City’s #1 rated game show. He’s currently a huge celebrity despite live broadcasting people getting killed in his hazardous games.

Despite now technically being able to call his own shots now, he wasn’t supposed to have a happy ending, and the world around him is constantly trying to correct the mistake, resulting in Censor having “bad luck”, in which freak accidents are more likely to happen around him.

When there’s individuals whose stories are not meant to end yet, though, his luck suddenly improves when he’s around them, since the universe isn't supposed to take out others as well, only him.

Abilities:

Censors- his name comes from one of the very first abilities I implemented during his early development: his ability to censor people.

He has a radius around him where, when the ability is active, any swear words used will be bleeped out, and a black censor bar appears over their mouths.

He uses this during broadcasts, and to piss people off.

Respawn- As an addison-turned-virus, Censor has the ability to “duplicate” himself much like computer malware can. He uploads his data into a pipis, effectively creating a respawn point where, if he were to die, he’d pop out of the pipis in a small, power save mode.

It takes about a week for him to return to his 9 foot tall self, since he’s around 3 feet upon respawn.

Because of this ability, I have nerfed Censor quite a bit. He might act tough, but when it comes down to it he does not deal a ton of damage, and relies mostly on disorientation to get away from dangerous situations, as he has a tendency to get himself killed fairly regularly.

The plays dumb about how he respawns, and in the media will always insist he does not know how he is capable of this, as it is a quality that viruses have.

Hammer- Censor can summon an oversized hammer as a physical weapon, as well as for physical gags and other uses whilst on set.

Hypnosis- certain types of malware are capable of either altering normal programs mentally or physically (or in rare cases both). Censor is the type capable of altering them mentally through hypnosis.

That being said, he turned into a virus, and wasn’t spawned as one, so his body isn't well equipped to handle the after effects of using this ability.

He most commonly uses it to hypnotize contestants of his show into signing contracts that waive responsibility of harm or death from Censor and his company. That way he gets away with the dangerous stunts and games he broadcasts. Afterward, for the rest of the day he has to deal with crippling migraines as a side effect.

This ability is another secret he guards closely, as it is a telltale sign of being a malware program.

Voice box- Despite not having lips, and his teeth taking up a large portion of Censor’s face, the voice box in his neck allows him to speak clearly. That being said, it also serves two uses in battle.

If he cranks up the volume to its max output, he can let out a shriek that basically is a sonic weapon, deafening opponents for a short period and giving him an advantage.

The voice box has a trigger that, once activated, turns it into what can only be described as a kaiju laser canon that he shoots out of his mouth. It does a significant amount of damage and CAN one-shot opponents if aimed correctly. Censor will only ever use this as a last resort to protect loved ones, never for protecting himself. This is because not only does it make him incapable of speech until respawn, since this is a permanent alteration, but it is also incredibly painful. The gun was intended for NEO; it can be fatal when used since it overheats very quickly, and can get to the point of burning through his neck.

Relationships:

Hex (Orange)- After attempting to reconcile with his OG group of addisons, his relationship with Hex has been complicated. They care for eachother, but Hex used to be a firewall program, meant to sniff out malware and keep cyber city safe, which obviously does not bode well now that Censor is a virus. That being said, tensions do die off at times and they get along well outside of Hex’s suspicions. He personally tailors most of Censor’s clothes.

Video (Pink)- Still iffy. Has no intentions of forgiving Censor for the shit he pulled during the “Big Shot Era”.

Regardless, Censor often visits the small cafe that Video runs. Isn’t super close with him, but Censor still enjoys his company regardless. Has fun messing around and annoying Video along with someone else down this list

Zero (Blue)- Zero has long since forgiven Censor for his misdeeds. They have a heart of gold, and want to see the good in the big guy. They try not to think about his show, as they are disturbed in knowing that people “willingly” get themselves killed on TV.

Will always be happy to cook up dinners for Censor when he visits

Flash (Yellow)- super close with Cens, best buds. Has also forgiven and is moving on.

They are constantly doing irresponsible things for the thrill and the fun of it, with Censor having several viral videos where he accidentally kills himself during these stunts. Flash finds them hilarious.

Video is wholly unamused by their shenanigans (but in an affectionate way). He is the target of many pranks and jokes at the hands of these two.

Relationships Continued (NOT MY OCS):

Gamma ( @notscribblous )- Used to be the bane of his existence, now is the love of his life. Is Censor’s “canon” husband, has gone through several timeline loops in which he went from despising the guy to being head over heels. Enemies to lovers is peak

Ray ( @notscribblous )- Despite Censor not wanting to be a dad, he’s ended up taking the role as a guardian, and he’s a pretty good one at that. But he will absolutely not accept the title of “dad” or “parent”.

He’d burn down cyber city to ash if it meant she was safe and happy.

BB (SeeingIsBeleiving)- DIE DIE DIE KILL. He will make sure BB’s life is hell when he’s around, even if he’s completely outmatched

Gary ( @maggyoutthere )- It’s complicated, don't ask

Schmuck ( @dr-angel23 )- he’s strange even by Censor’s standards, but doesn’t mind the little guy.

Extras:

-his magic attacks are extremely limited, which is why most of his battle tactics would be physical based. That and he usually resorts to teeth and claws to fight

-Cannot exist in a snowgrave route, only ever in a normal NEO battle

-Acts like he has cartoon physics. He, in fact, does not.

-kinda stupid

-actually really stupid

[senka-mesecine]

A mini fic about the home birth of Barnes' wife.. Now I'm going to beg you for it pleasepleaseplease

The Day Beulah Jackson Climbed up the Mountain.

Robert Barnes x Reader.

---

You couldn’t have been normal to have been with that man.

That was the general consensus.

Something must’ve been seriously wrong with you.

She just wasn’t sure what exactly — not yet, anyhow.

But, she’d get to the bottom of it.

And yes, the women down in town discussed it ad nauseum, as they say; Discussed you. Half of them, she personally helped birth into this world decades and decades ago. The other half, she helped in giving birth to their own kids when that joyous, most blessed time arrived. In fact, there was probably no wife, no member of female kind, divorced, widowed or in a state of murky, questionable singlehood in a radius of a hundred miles that she hasn’t had a hand in aiding in the sense of being there in the most fragile and crucial of nature’s hours, making sure those newborns get pushed through alright, get enough air supply, spanking their red little bottoms crimson to ensure they cry when they’re blue and breathless, checking to make sure everything was in order — ten fingers, ten toes and all — cleaning up they mommas, changing the dirtied sheets, throwing out the blood and the placenta, making sure their breasts pump milk alright, that all the vitals are in order, visiting the happy, new parents in the weeks to come to ensure everything is as ripe as a peach and as fine as can be; figured a midwife was as crucial to these small town communities as a Preacher was, if not more, because Beulah Jackson, well, she helped the Preacher’s mother birth him back in the day and then she went and help the Preacher’s wife birth their children too, maintainin’ it generational, like a great big ol’ circle — it’s not quite an official ledger of all the county’s births she kept throughout the years, but she memorized it all, even now as she struggled up the steep, rocky trail of the carved woodland passageways thinking, in fact being certain, that possibly the one person she didn’t help deliver into this was this Barnes figure. Robert E. Lee Barnes; just the name alone gave her the heebie-jeebies. These hillbillies always had to have a name after a dead Confederate general or other. He couldn’t have that older from her own oldest son by a rough estimate, fresh out of that dreadful war over yonder, one of them mountain people decent folk would rather not run into — must’ve had a momma too at one point in time, yet who helped that poor woman give birth was beyond Beulah, because whoever it was, it certainly wasn’t her. She didn’t know anyone else who dabbled in her trade or get educated to go door-to-door. Was the 70’s. Drivin’ out to the hospital was one of them new fashions nowadays. 

Must’ve just let her writhe and struggle on some straw bed for twelve hours.

All on her own. Left it up to chance; however it turns, it��ll turn out, animalistically so.

Like proper white trash.

And now, she was heading up there to aid in the birth for a man she never recalls being birthed.

The birthless.

The birthless havin’ progeny.

Were you an abused woman? Was that it? ‘Cos women, they were known to make husbands outta any old thing the cat drags in; the drunks, the gamblers, the whoremongers, the lazies, the crazies, the type to throw hands. Heck, she should know. She’s seen it all in her time. She once helped the mother of six kids down in Pigeon Forge back in 1956. give birth to her seventh even as the woman’s face was freshly bruised red and blue with the faded signs of a fairly recent beating. Couldn’t have been the monetary gain you were after, because to live out here? Way up in this here middle of nowhere, surrounded by nothing but pine trees, boulders and fog for miles? Sure, she knew the villages and towns dotting the shadows of the Appalachians on the edge of the border were already remote by default, but this was beyond the pale, she concludes, clicking her tongue in displeasure, her duffle bag in tow, collar neatly buttoned at the neck accumulating sweat underneath the hem. She didn’t wanna judge too harshly, but maybe there was something lacking, inside your brain, that is. Simple Minded, and all. Maybe your daddy lost a gambling debt to some individuals he shouldn’t have gone gambling with in the first place and had no way to pay it back so giving up his daughter it was? Perhaps you were a runaway from her own home that ended up taking the wrong turn? Maybe you were a victim of kidnapping and some type of coercion the proper authorities ought to have looked into? Why not? She wouldn’t put anything the folks living up in these tucked away, overgrown hovels. Female kind was scarce up here — in fact, any kind was scarce but bears, foxes and mountain cats; so why not just steal one? Cut to the chase. Skip the whole courtship phase. Put a baby inside of her? Call it a day. She’s heard this Barnes fellow was scarred up and down his face in zig-zags and that he had eyes that drive the fear of God into people. That he was a Sergeant. A pretty nasty type. Who knows what he got up to back in the war; in fact, if he was decent people, he wouldn’t live up here. He’d live down there. Down with the rest of everyone else. Excess isolation, she thought with a certain sense of self assurance, catching the sight of a lone roof and a brick chimney circled in by the embraced of the woods, was often a sign that there was something the matter, because who on earth would go somewhere even seasoned hikers and hunters wouldn’t traverse with ease? Someone who had sumn’ to hide, that’s who. And to bring a whole child into these conditions too, bound to grow up like a feral mountain goat, jumping from rock to rock —

Well, shoot, they were lucky the tricky terrain was nothing new to her.

Otherwise, she would’ve turned back by now.

Alerted Social Services.

The Police, if need be.

Halfway considered tugging at your ear discreetly post-birth.

Explain you wouldn’t be the first or the last to leave a  tyrannical man, child or no child.

The house is exactly what she expects when she reaches it.

Yet not quite.

Was obvious there was a woman’s touch involved; clean garden space, tidied up front porch, the odd pot of flowers hanging from the roofed off portion of the front steps, wooden walls and heavy stone foundations green with old moss, moved lawn spaces in the middle of the wilderness like a patch of civilization carved out of nothing — reminded her of one of those rustic family homesteads miners digging for Zinc would have up in these hills before the vein of industry dried up and in fact, the frame of the man of the steps eerily remind her of that too. Nearly gives her a heart attack. Ah, yes. The man of the hour. Sure, his voice over the landline told Beulah enough about him, but seein’ him in the flesh, was like looking at a slab of marble cut out in the shape of a man, all sharp angles, edges and lines. She didn’t like this son of a bitch; but then again, she didn’t need to like her patients to do her calling of duty and doin’ it right and conscientiously. Sticking to the Hippocratic Oath. She feels herself going stiff at the sight of him. Like the high altitude of the air out on this solitary, woodland massif suddenly got visibly colder and thin. Nonetheless, she throws her shoulders out, maintaining composure. A woman was havin’ a baby. She didn’t have time to be anxious around the man who sired the whole situation. -"We talked over the phone. How far along has the cervix gone and dilated?"- She cuts right to the chase, directly and head on, the choice to bypass all pleasantries and greetings very much deliberate; her momma would be rolling around in her grave if she could see her now, bein’ as rude as she was bein’, but she felt it was necessary; to establish the rules right now — she didn’t much care what war he served in. He wasn’t her cup of tea. Especially not when he was just standing there, smoking, shoulder leaning against a wooden pillar. What was he playin’ at, all nonchalant, turning on his heel instead of sayin’ anything back, walking slowly, throwing down the butt of his cigarette and crushing it with a clean, pitch black bootheel, leisurely, like he wanted her to follow him inside. Where was he keeping his woman? Locked up in some hidden basement pantry somewhere? Like a captive Thumbelina?

The way he moved too. Didn’t move like a normal person.

He moved like he could pounce any moment.

Never gone about midwifing with a loaded shotgun before; but Barnes might’ve been the one occasion where she would have seriously considered it, even though that was no way for any babe to be born. The notion depresses her.

Just not Christian.

 -"Now, I wanna make one thing clear; I want clean sheets, a clean stationary to work on, a clean room, no ticks, flies, bugs, stains, cats and dogs inside the house, and if I see any funny business, I’ll have y’all’s asses reported to the —"-

She starts ranting, talking to his back and his shoulders clad in what seemed like green fatigues of some sort of army jacket rolled up at the sleeves, moving no more than a couple of feet ahead of her, leading her through a wooden corridor, seemingly ignoring her as she had her fingers up, going by numbers — perhaps she was harsh, sure, but she couldn’t stand his lot; firearms on the wall, old, rusty tubs in the backyard, car tires scattered everywhere, critters where cooking was being done; She wanted to maintain a certain hygienic and ethical standard and she intended to deliver this child like god intended: In an environment that was antiseptic, at least vaguely acceptable and good, halting for a moment in front of what seemed like the threshold of a nursery, different in coloring from the rest of the house, so much so that the interior was almost stark on the eyes as she unties her headscarf fastened into a knot under her chin, allowing her short perm breathin’ space; all lacquered white wood, a white bed frame, immaculate white sheets, white lace curtains drawn on, a gust of fresh air peering through a window left half ajar — the frame of a woman laid up in perfectly pale bedding, the sheen of sweat lining her face like she was already going through contractions. Beulah Jackson, as she lives and breathes, she’s positively taken aback, yes. Even the air inside smelled nice — crisp. Pleasant. You turn to look at her, a hill of a belly tucked away beneath a knit, soft seeming, creme colored blanket, protected by your hands and even you look just as inviting and tame as the rest of your surroundings. Like someone living in a gingerbread home in a gingerbread bed. The abode of someone well taken care of, she loathes to admit. Perhaps the most out of place, alien sights were herself after the long trek up the mountainside and Barnes himself, looking like a savage in a china shop, irregardless of the quietly smug look he gives her with those shot glass blue eyes, almost as if to say ‘This good ‘nough for’ya, ma’am? ‘To your tastes?’ Seating himself on the pale arm chair opposite of your bed, thighs wide, like he intended to stick around, wordlessly gloat and watch, never taking his eyes off of you. 

You were so pretty, she thinks, especially with these contrasts in place. 

What on earth attracted you to him?

-"Sugar, you mind the company?"-

She decides to ask as tenderly as humanly possible as she unfastens her coat, leaving it on a nearby sofa that looked like it belonged in a doll house, endearing herself to you tactically to make you feel safe in his presence, setting down her duffle bag on a clean, pristine white wood table and unzipping its contents, being careful to lift up the blanket covering your legs, certain to try and get some acknowledgment whether you wanted him in here in the first place. Eight centimeters dilated. Yeah, you should be ready soon. She could measure just by looking. -"Let me get you in a better position."- She mutters to herself, stacking up the ivory linen covered pillows underneath your calves to ensure your comfort; it doesn’t bypass Beulah’s notice basins of water heated up where early prepared alongside cut chunks of material, gauze and rubbing alcohol. She shoots Barnes a stare, catching him looking at her, gazing like a hawk, something sparkling in his eyes. There it was, that arrogance again. Well, he shouldn’t feel too self content. She expected a former army man who was in Vietnam to know his elbow from his asshole unlike most civilians. She wasn’t about to applaud a fish for swimming in a stream, that was for certain.

 -"No, I want him here."-

You manage as confirmation, through a groan, brows furrowed in immediate distress.

 -"You sure? Alright then."-

She retorts, feeling her head tilt curiously; you should’ve been in more pain by now.

She almost wondered if your Barnes fellow plied you with something to take away the strain.

She just hoped he didn’t go and pour gin into your mouth like it was expected with his lot.

-"I can see a head full of curly hair."-

She remarks, making the announcement, taking a peek into the tent of coverings held up by your spread knees, spotting the circular globe of a scalp riddled with moist, stick curls pushed forth by a sudden wave of rapid contractions, gaze briefly gazing the offending father on the arm chair — goodness gracious, the baby’s going to look like him too, to top it all off, with his head full of brushed out, semi short cropped, dark toffee colored ringlets, she just hoped to god it doesn’t miraculously and tragically go and inherit that nasty scar of his in the form of a birthmark. -"Now, push for me, darlin’, I’m thinkin’ you’re one of those lucky few who’s gonna be done in an hour."- Beulah predicts, quite frankly glad for you; least God could for you livin’ cooped up in the mountains with a man who looked like the devil’s offspring is to ensure you have a smooth, swift birth. Life had to balance itself out some way. Let some woman up in a manor townhouse in Nashville have the long, difficult birth, she figures, rolling up her sleeves after cleaning herself up to the elbows in the basin daddy dearest set out. She still wasn’t gonna applaud him for it -"Eyup! That’s good stock."- Barnes speaks up, probably for the first since she’s arrived, cocking his head to one side in an abrasive fashion, nearly startling Beulah.

His fingers protectively gripping your hand from his armchair now pulled entirely close.

Possessive.

Defensive.

Clearly mocking her through the way he simultaneously threw his prominent, scarred chin out, like someone who’s miraculously read every single thought ever since she’s walked up here. A twinge of subdued shame overtakes her once you push and your face crumples up in pain and she says nothing back to him because this wasn’t the right time to snipe at each other. The way he observed you so intently, his focus instantaneously rendered singular, almost boyish once you practically scream and throw your head back against the lacey pillow, like the years melt off of his face, undisrupted by his gnarly scar that quite frankly made her nose crinkle up in distress; for a moment he looked like a child; she shakes her head, brushing the thought off, focusing on all the blood and fluids lubricating the vent space for the little one to glide through — first birth; you were good and healthy. Predicted more for you. Your man seemed like the type who wouldn’t crawl off of you until you’re bred with at least ten, she scoffs, her Forceps, tools and vacuum on the ready in case extraction needed and the procedure gets stalled as you grip the sheets, pushing, your teeth gritted and lids crinkled up, sweat accumulated around hair neatly tied, brushed back —- she wondered if he did that for you too.

-"Now push, darlin’, I hate to say it, but y’all doin’ this perfectly fine without me! Must be a record!"-

She yells, voice congratulatory, fingers guiding the little head and shoulders protruding through where it ought to have gone; with birth, there really wasn’t any written rules. Some folks give birth after twelve hours of intensive struggle, some need a Caesarean, some give birth after five hours, some are just smiled on by a lucky star and give birth after half an hour and in her forty years of doing this, the shortest birth she’s helped along with had to have been four hours long; today, though, that place seemed to have been under a real threat of losing its number one spot only to be replaced by the woman of one Robert Barnes whose babe was already halfway inside of its momma and the other half, as slithery and as slick as an otter, in the palms of Beulah’s welcoming hands, eyes glued shut, face red, expression all crinkled up, sliding unto the clean cotton towel her pappa undoubtedly set out for you to lay on, now stained red with blood. Takes exactly thirty five minutes and ten seconds; the white ornate clock on the wall above the bed tells her as much; and at nine in the morning, one minute give or take, Beulah Jackson birthed a fresh bouncing baby girl, yes, all ten fingers and ten toes involved; her two hundredth and twenty eighth baby to date, umbilical cord attached to its placenta in tow; she cries out all on her own without even needin’ a spankin’.

Seven pounds and two ounces; the most perfectly average baby measurement.

She could tell simply through experience alone, years and years of birth perfectly average kids. She reaches for the disinfected scissors, about the set the newborn free; a chill runnin’ down her spine.

Realizing he was right there, shoulder to shoulder with her, starin’ down your privates.

The sheen of a push knife between the knuckles.

Man as big as a bull and as quiet as a rattlesnake.

Didn’t even notice him standing up from his seat and walking over.

-"Wh — what are your intentions with that thing?"-

She nearly stutters, drawling, pointing the top of her nose at the blade.

Watching him place the sharp, pointy edge against the fleshy rope of the cord attached to the bellybutton.

And cut.

Before she could stop him, he was carrying his baby girl to the washing basin.

He wanted to the do the honors personally, huh?

And here she semi expected a man like him to moan and complain his firstborn wasn’t a son.

-"Your hands better be clean."-

She interjects, not intending to be a pushover where the subject of a baby’s safety was concerned, approaching you instead, where your head lay on the pillow and clearing your accumulated sweat of your brow as you watched her eagerly, with a look of relief while Beulah herself, hell, she couldn’t help but observe those big, meaty bronze hands carefully wipe the newborn off from all the excess puss, blood and slime, aquiline nose fully downcast, lids heavy, entirely focused on the task, something oddly calm about it, about him in the spite of the fact that knife he cut the umbilical cord was right beside the wash basin, gleaming with a freckle of red, like a ruby. -"Bobby."- You moan out --- a peculiarly sweet nickname for a man like that --- the tone of your voice halfway cracking with pain, almost on the verge of tears when he approaches you, setting down the babe on your torso slowly for skin to skin contact, minding the head; Did he do this before? Was he from one of those families with a litter of children and he so happened to have several siblings he looked after or sumn’? She has to wonder, observing you two, collecting the blood stained basins, rags, cloths, the rolled up placenta and the spread out fabric that was underneath you in a singleminded pursuit of discarding of everything, giving the new parents a moment to themselves, watching Barnes back in his arm chair, elbows on his knees, having that perplex, sorrowful boyish look to him; like a ten year old grievin’.

Tender.

It was unexpectedly, harrowingly tender.

So much so she had to get out of there in spite of imagining her own legs grow petrified to stone, feelin’ like an intruder seein’ sumn’ not meant to be seen. You were normal. As opposed to all her expectations of you, you were a normal, well cared for woman. Perhaps not unlike any other woman she's ever met.

-"You folks rest up. I’ll be right here. I'll sow you up in a hot second."-

She whispers in a haste, small voiced for once; stunned for words, more like.

Quietly stepping out of the gingerbread doll bedroom, listening to you whimper with your child.

This was the one  day Beulah Jackson climbed up the mountain on foot, sure.

She figured, well enough, tossing the bloodied water into a nearby ditch —

Well, it would’ve been the day she climbed down the mountain too.

Understanding she didn’t have to understand everything.

And all the ways distinctive folks loved.

[urlcyberpalace]

AMP UP! THEME BY URLCYBERPALACE⚡

Install + Preview 1 + Preview 2

Hi guys :] left my hibernation. im excited to make another theme ive had planned and after that? well see...

Features;

You can mess with border-radius (corner roundness)

Generally a lot of animated kind of stuff if you like that

5 link 👍

glowy stuff options

the swag

[jukkaricity]

OC Tag Game, Alectris Mercar

Thank you to @serstolas for the tag!

gently tagging @sketchytea, @sparklingarsonic and @muwitch

General 

Name: Alectris Mercar

Alias: Tris

Gender: Female (She/Her)

Age: 29-30

Spoken language: Common, Tevine, she starts learning Antivan post-Veilguard, some swear words in Ander and Qunlat

Sexual orientation: Pan

Occupation: Shadow Dragon, shop-owner, family disappointment

Favorite…

Color: Magenta

Entertainment: Opera, hands down. She sees her favourite plays multiple times in a season. Sends flowers to favourite singers. She's a bit unhinged. Alectris might not feel like she belongs among other socialites of the Tevinter society, but whether she likes it or not some things simply just rubbed off on her.

Pastime: Depending on the situation she might be playing a lute (if there's nobody in the earshot), trying to figure out how to craft proper enchantments (she's really bad, best no people or valuable in the minor explosion radius) or some sort of physical training.

Food: Alectris is not picky, the perks of surviving Tevinter military, but watching a bunch of fellow soldiers on Seheron taken down by fish pockets made out of poisonous fish made her avoid any type of sea food. She's not a terrible cook, but what she can cook is rather simple and more filling than aesthetically pleasing.

Drink: Wine, preferably sweet varieties.

Have they…

Passed university: Yes. How she has managed to pass the Minrathous circle is not completely clear even to her, but she's made it. It was not the practice but the theory that held her back.

Had sex: She's had some prior partners but never serious or long lasting.

Had sex in public: Nope

Got tattoos: A whole bunch. A terribly made was-supposed-to-be dragon above her knee she got while on a leave near Nevarran border. Snake on right shoulder, snake/ dragon inspired sleeve on left hand from more prominent ones.

Got piercings: She has her ear lobes pierced, and a helix piercing on right ear.

Got scarred: Too many to count, she has some lightning strike scarring on her left hand from a magical accident from her time in the circle, and a bunch of various cuts from her military career.

Had a broken heart: Can't get a broken heart if you keep everyone at an arms length.

Are they…

A cuddler: Not really. She might want to hover around closest friends maybe sit shoulder to shoulder, but cuddles are not exactly her thing.

Scared easily: Not really. And if she is she'll either turn it into anger or sarcastic jokes.

Jealous easily: Not exactly but there are things that sting like seeing people have a good relationship with their family.

Trustworthy: Generally trustworthy, but rather selective about who and what is worth such an effort.

Family

Siblings: Four older siblings. Two brothers and two sisters.

Parents: Her parents are both Laetan mages, their relationship is complicated in different ways.

Children: No.

Pets: Kios her Mabari hound. Post Veilguard she warms up to Lucanis' snake and even gets a couple more for him. They also get two more Mabari.

[ao3css]

Hello! First of all, thank you very much for all your help!

I wanted to ask you how to change the shape of the profile picture, like a heart for example? In general it is square and I saw that in some skins it is circular

This is so cute! here's what you can do:

.icon { mask-image: url(https://64.media.tumblr.com/9ba116de84c2a4025308efe00c868ba9/34dd23f1e72d362f-9b/s250x400/37485c4039f765ab39f104b464dfec3c6dfda3fd.pnj); mask-repeat: no-repeat; mask-size: 100%; }

or:

.icon{ -webkit-mask-image: url(https://64.media.tumblr.com/9ba116de84c2a4025308efe00c868ba9/34dd23f1e72d362f-9b/s250x400/37485c4039f765ab39f104b464dfec3c6dfda3fd.pnj); -webkit-mask-size: 100%; -webkit-mask-repeat: no-repeat; }

(Both do the exact same thing, but some browsers need the -webkit- version)

Any transparent image (the one below is the one used in the code above) can be used as a mask. (Rounded corners can be done with the border-radius property)

[forever-eternal]

Physical Headcanons of Dragon Slayers

Dragon Slayer Magic, and slayer magic in general, changes the User’s physiology in ways other magic types do not– though the element they correspond with does play a major factor in what changes occur, there are some that affect all Dragon Slayers: (Hiro and Tsuki are OC’s who only sort of exist in the same universe, but are both Dragon Slayers)

Indent Text = Mainpoint

Bullet = Subpoint

Number = Subpoint of Subpoint

All Dragon Slayers have enhanced senses, more so than their God and Devil Slayer counterparts– where only one or two of their senses are heightened

Their senses are nearly triple that of a normal humans, and often leads to sensory overloads (Hiro and Erik having stronger hearing than most dragon slayers, Erik due to the nature of his magic- able to hear thoughts and movements of the body- and Hiro due to her magic and a genetic defect- able to hear all the way to Fiore’s farthest border with her mufflers turned up to 10 [10 is the strongest setting on mufflers, allowing the most sound to come through, but still blocking most of it]. Without her mufflers, she can hear all of Ishgar)

Their sense of taste is also increased. To protect their nervous system and body from damage caused by certain flavors, dragon slayers have a thicker, viscous saliva that covers their mouth as a shield, which ends up blocking a lot of flavor

This means they can eat the hottest peppers in Fiore with little fanfare, fire dragons in particular are prone to such snacking habits.

It also means their food will have more spices than most humans can handle because they want to taste it

Their magic forms a thin barrier around their vital organs, though the actual purpose is unknown, it is believed that it’s to guard against internal attacks – poison, illness, etc.

The thickness of the barrier depends on age and element, with Wendy having thicker barriers than someone like Erik (who is immune to toxins), but not as thick as Gajeels.

Natsu and Tsuki’s magic burns through toxins, though Natsu is still vulnerable to a few. Tsuki’s internal temperature, being a White Fire Dragon Slayer, is far too high for normal toxins.

This means that, if Tsuki gets sick, the bacteria has evolved to survive her body temperature long enough to effect her. She will be under quarantine, as some bacteria would die with the body temp lower than they evolved to handle, while others will spread even further.

Dragon Slayers are able to roar, though their age, gender, and element do play a part in what it sounds like:

Tsuki and Natsu’s pitch shifts and changes with their mood, but it’s always extremely loud

Tsuki’s is, by far, the loudest naturally– she’s had plenty practice– and it often causes the ground to shake (There have been a few fallen buildings as a result, she doesn’t roar often)

Tsuki sounds most like a dragon, as she’s the only one who really remembers being taught how to roar like a dragon and not a slayer. Hiro would have been similar if she were old enough to learn it.

Wendy and Hiro are able to twist their vocal cords to create such a high pitch, that it can’t be heard–but still bursts eardrums

Due to their age, they have to force louder volumes, and usually need several minutes to let their voices rest afterwards

Hiro’s is more draconic simply because of the nature of Storm Dragon Slayers.

Laxus’ is loud, and incredibly deep, sounding like ongoing thunder with an echoing higher pitch– and is the second naturally loudest overall

Hiro, due to being a storm dragon slayer, also has a bit of this effect– like rolling thunder and lighting aftershocks. It’s a lot quieter than Laxus’.

Gajeel’s sounds like grating, creaking metal; it’s very deep, and has a medium volume- though it does cause slight vibrations in a thirty meter radius

Sting and Rogue have a medium volume, and no one really knows what their actual roar sounds like

They mimic each other and others, like light reflections and shadows

Erik doesn’t really roar, it’s more of a loud, ominous hissing sound

The sound causes a primal sort of fear in all who hear it, though dragon slayers are more immune than average humans. It does not affect Tsuki, who was raised and trained around many slayers, and Hiro, who lives to spite her body and instincts

Dragon Slayers also purr, much like cats do, though the same factors apply

Tsuki purrs the second most, and does it especially when around those she considers hers

Her’s in specific has a soothing, and calming effect. It tells you everything will be alright, and that she’ll take care of it. It comes with being the oldest and most intune with her instincts

Natus also purrs quite a bit, usually while eating or sleeping

Since he’s still young, it’s more of the effect of a kitten on Tsuki, though non-dragon slayers don’t really notice the difference

Wendy and Hiro purr like it’s second nature, though Wendy only really does so to calm Hiro. Hiro purrs the most out of all of them

They are very noticeably kitten purrs, giving the urge to protect and nurture to the older dragon slayers that hear it

Laxus has deep rumbling purrs, and he doesn’t purr often

So far, Tsuki, Erik, Wendy, Hiro, and his kids are the only ones who have ever heard him purr

Though, it’s more like they feel him purr

Gajeel also has deep purrs, though rather quiet

Again, it’s more of something you feel than hear, his entire body shakes with the force

This is all according to Tsuki and Hiro, though some believe Wendy and Levy have heard them– neither will reveal anything

Sting and Rogue are much like Natsu, though they have more control over it– due to the trauma inflicted by Jiemma

With Tsuki, Laxus, and Erik, they are near constantly purring

They do purr around Hiro as well, its almost infectious

Erik is more similar to a snake than a cat, and his draconic sounds reflect that! So, while he doesn’t exactly purr, he also kind of does.

It sounds more like a quiet, content hissing though, but is described as more of a churr

Purrs are very infectious, if one purrs, they all purr, even if they’re doing so for different reasons

Stick em in a room with Tsuki and/or Hiro purring, and soon they’ll all be doing it without realizing

It’s a form of nonverbal communication for dragons, usually meaning happiness or contentedness

Dragon slayers have sharp claws, though their length depends entirely on the individual slayer

Some keep them filed down as not to accidentally scratch anything, but it does cause a strange, burning-itch in their fingers

The claws grow faster than an average human’s nails

Tsuki doesn’t cut hers beyond a certain point, cutting them down to the same length of the average nail is what causes the itching, almost like declawing a cat, very uncomfortable and not the usual

Natsu and Hiro don’t cut theirs down either, and it’s up to Tsuki to make sure they actually take care of them– though Hiro is generally very good at keeping them short enough to be able to do things, but long enough to defend herself if she can’t access magic

Gajeel also keeps his a certain length, and so does Erik, but Gajeel does it for max Bad Boy Effect and Erik does it because the tips can excrete poison if he wants them too, and if he cuts them too close it gets into his bloodstream and it’s really annoying

Laxus keeps his claws short because long nails make him uncomfortable, and the electricity in his body already causes itchiness. What's a little bit more?

Wendy keeps her short, but not super short, and also files them into more a square shape

Wendy likes to paint all their nails and once she and Hiro use the Puppy Eyes, no one can decline, it’s against the law

All kinds of Slayers have two magical cores, where their magic energy is stored, while other Wizards only have one.

No one knows entirely why, but it is believed that the first Slayers evolved the second core to manage their magic easier, as it is a very volatile magic genre

Dragon Slayers are hypoglycemic, mostly because of the volatile nature of their magic eating up at any sort of energy their body has– including their blood sugars.

Tsuki is the only one who is aware of this, but thinks the others are aware even if they’re not.

They know their body feels weird and they get tired, and that Tsuki makes sure they all eat after every fight and will shove food in their mouth whenever they feel that Weird Discomfort in their bones, but they don’t know why and don’t really care. That’s it.

It’s very annoying to deal with

They suck at taking care of themselves, all in different ways and all for different reasons.

[ghostsprobably]

Hello sorry for the inconvenience I just wanted a clarification on your winx au to understand how you place the realms

No inconvenience i'm sorry it took me so long to answer this!!!!!

I've posted the map I made a couple of times but i never really went that in depth about what i did to the places themselves. Well I mean I did but that's in a notebook somewhere and didn't ever actually get posted lmao sorryyyy

Okay so! I'm going to try formatting it as straight forward as I can, but it's still gonna be long as hell. Also there's some things I can't quite remember so I'll come back and update this when I find them in that notebook

Earth - Regular Earth where we live

Magix - The name of the planet where everyone that isn't from earth lives; It is very similar to earth in every way other than having magic; I might have people from this planet be called magicians, alongside people from earth being called earthlings.

COUNTRIES

Solaria - One of the major world super powers of Magix. A massive kingdom with happy citizens and generally good quality of life. Capital is Soletres which sits along the coastline of a massive bay, the capital city is surrounded by desert as you leave the coast. The south most shore is quite marshy and the northern most border is mountains, with lots of different kinds of terrain in between. Though King Radius and Former Queen Luna divorced many years ago, Luna is still a prominent figure in politics. Princess Stella is a beloved icon of her people.

Eraklyon - Another major super power. Shares some of its western border with Solaria and extends east to the coast. A very mountainous country, with some areas of plains to the south. Capital is ________. Quite a different vibe from Solaria, Eraklyon is heavily militarized with a sizable class divide. Much of the country lives in poverty. King Erendor and Queen Samara are proud, stubborn rulers (and parents). Prince Sky is largely a mystery to the public.

Andros - Though not quite as enormous as the last two, still quite a powerful kingdom as they are rich in resources. Also in control of Lightrock Penitentiary, a highly secure prison on an small island to the north. The main island of Andros was created by a massive, now extinct volcano. The bowl is now an enormous lake that is connected to the ocean via giant rivers and canals, this is where the capital city, _________, is located. Andros is a semi aquatic kingdom, a merge of two civilizations that were once at war, and as such there is a secondary royal family that resides off the coast of the main island. They are secondary in power to the main royal family, comprised of King Neptune, Queen Ligea, and Princess Aisha.

Dominoe - By the time of our story, this kingdom has long since fallen. All that remains of this once flourishing nation is abandoned ruins nestled in the snowy mountains north of Eraklyon. After the fall of Dominoe, Eraklyon actually tried to take over it's territory, but found the landscape to be far too harsh to settle. The captial city of Sparks is now a ghost town, or is it?

CITIES

Linphea - A very small city in the forests of Solaria. Populated by both civilians and acolytes as this city is the location of the Sacred Garden of the Mother Dragon. It is said to be where she first landed on Magix and is a holy site full of secrets.

Melody - A destination city in the south of Solaria. A cultural hub filled to the brim with tourists. This bustling city is always buzzing with passion, and it's where Musa's parents met and she was born.

Zenith - A densely packed city in the north west of Eraklyon, just within its border with Alfea and close to Red Fountain. This city is a hot spot for tech and engineering. Despite being a bustling city that never sleeps, this is ironically one of the more socially relaxed parts of Eraklyon, and people are a lot more welcoming here than other parts of the country.

Dyamond - This is a spoiler!

Gardenia - Bloom's hometown on earth, now located just outside of New York City because that's the area I'm familiar with and that'll make it a lot easier for me to write for.

OTHER

Alfea - Elite fairy College north of Linphea, near the Solarian border with Eraklyon but on the Solarian side.

Cloud Tower - College for witches just north of Solaria's border in a small country I don't have a name for yet, and to the west of Alfea. One of the few schools for witches across Magix, allegedly where the practice was founded.

Red Fountain - Military academy to the east of Alfea, past the border into Eraklyon.

Lightrock Penitentiary - a highly secure prison on an small island to the north of the main island of Andros

Light Hope Monastery - Home to peaceful monks who tend to the island on which Lightrock Penitentiary is located. Sometimes prisoners with excellent behavior can be granted a sort of parole and allowed to live amongst the monks. It is also kind of like rehab.

Omega Penitentiary - the most brutal prison in all of magix, where the worst magical offenders of all time are kept in crystalline prisons designed by the Great Dragon herself.

I think that's just about everything I've cooked up so far!!

[insomniphic]

💕VALENTINES DAY IS A WEEK AWAY!💕

So guess what?! :D

I’ll be posting daily One-Shots of Narry in very Valentine scenarios for 7 days!

None of these are canon! They’re just cool “what if’s” since Narry is probably doomed to be forever lonely 😔.

Anyways~

DAY 1: Crowded Places

Narry participated in a party once; in our current timeline he might have already joined more than four, perhaps none, but ONE was enough to realize his hatred towards crowded places, of every kind. “Hatred”? No. Not really. Maybe it’s discomfort. Maybe fear.

The music is the latest hit of this year, so was the next, and the following. The taste was generic — made to entertain most of the crowd because of how trendy it is — so it was no surprise that everyone was still moving their bodies to a rhythm that matched their hearts more than the beat. Narry wished there was more variety so he could test his memory… Perhaps he could just list out the pitch, the notes, maybe the specific riffs to the bass that carried the harmony.

An arm brushes against his. A sandal comes close to stepping on his black loafers. Hair slashes across his back. An empty plastic cup tips and touches against his chest.

He really needs to stop closing his eyes, these sensations were becoming more intense without his vision and it was making him shudder when he isn’t even feeling cold.

While pursing his thin lips, the brunette tilts his head down and cracks both of his eyes open, looking straight at his feet. There’s about a two step radius that he could shuffle around in. (Disregarding the shoulders that nudged past that small border.) He made sure to straighten his body like a rod, taking less space to give himself, and others, more room.

It’s alright, Narry, just listen to the music. The music is loud, this room is big. It’s alright, Narry, just listen to the echo of the music. If the music echoes, then the room is spacious; it’s big.

“Oh my goood, have you heard what Juliet just did to her new boyfrieend?~” A random girl slurred out, her eyes hazy as she pressed herself closer to her other female companion, trying to be more audible in the crowd.

Narry blinks, his brows furrowing. Music, Narry, music. “You know how to dance, huh?” A man with a buzz-cut hair chuckled as he swayed along with a some blonde woman. The duo was too close for his liking; it’s almost as if those words were directed to him.

“Hahaha! Yeaaah!” The other squeaked, her face flushed and hair a mess from all the grooving, “I was in the dance team when I was in high school!” She grinned suddenly throwing her hands up, ultimately hitting against Narry’s arm without her knowledge.

Narry writhed as he began to inch away from them. He steps out of the center of his small safe space, and it led him into bumping against another stranger. And like a game of Pong, he bumped into another as he apologized. Where’s the music? Narry’s eyes whirled around, looking for safety. Why can’t I hear it?! Where is it?!

…Screw the music. Screw the size of the room. It’s too cramped here— WHY is he here?

“Narry!” The man jumped — not out of fear, but more in relief.

Music. He’s hearing the music.

“Narry! Oh god, what are you doing here?!” Narry’s lover pushed through the wall of people, concern driven all over their face. Before Narry could even reply, they were already taking action. “Common, let’s get you out of here!” They yelled over the crowd.

The yellow eyed man kept himself close behind them. He’s usually much more… organized than this. Thankfully enough, he felt all of the tension release as he stumbled slightly on random rubbish that’s been tossed on the hard tiles of the club. He’s usually much more autonomous than this. When finally reached the door — he forgot there was one (he’s usually a lot more aware than this) — he pries his eyes away from the textured ground and then up at the moon, the stars, his lover. Suddenly, his head was clear.

“Gosh…” Narry groaned, lowering his head into his hands, “I’m usually a lot more… normal than this.” He shuddered, his shoulders sinking slightly.

“Narry, you are being normal.” His hands are stuffy. Music. Listen for the music. “You’re just overstimulated, alright?” he looks up from his hands. He hears the echo of their voice. It’s spacious; the world is big. “Don’t bash yourself for that.” They smiled, clearly hazy from the fun he probably just pulled them away from, but they seemed clear in the head enough to mean what they’re saying.

Once he nodded, the other sighed, running a hand through their hair as they looked down the empty sidewalk and streets before glancing back. “Why are you here, Narry? I thought you said you’ll just stay at home for tonight,” they frowned slightly with concern.

Why? Why… Narry was quiet for a moment, the most knowledgeable being in the world seemingly forgotten. “Oh— uh…” his hands naturally ran down to touch his pocket, feeling the contour of his cellular device. Right. “I wanted to pick you up,” he mumbled, “You texted me a while ago, saying that your friends left earlier while you guys were at the pub, and I didn’t want you to go back with an Uber — and by yourself. I came — brought the car — and thought I could find you easily if I go inside myself instead of waiting. And—“ he paused, “I got stuck.”

His lover chuckled, before they reached down and took his gloved hands into theirs. “That’s really thoughtful of you, Narry… thank you.” They gave him a closed eyed smile, and Narry couldn’t help but reciprocate, albeit a bit shy because of the earlier predicament.

“Are you good for a hug?” They widened their arms for him, and Narry paused.

Of course he couldn’t say “no”. And with a small hum of encouragement, he bent himself down and enveloped themselves into each other’s warmth.

The hug was tight; it gave him no space to move, and the entirety of the hug were just sensations he wouldn’t usually agree to. And yet… he didn’t mind it.

Narry has a fear towards crowded places, but his only exception only ever seemed to be their comfort.

===

Next—>

[k00289929a]

’Movement; Initial Proposal’

Given the scope of primary research was expanded for this brief, “Primary research is research that doesn’t already exist in the world, it is original data i.e., drawing, photography, recording audio, testing materials,  gathering information through surveys etc.” I kept this in mind as I developed my initial ideas within ‘movement’.

Given my electives were graphic visual communication, printmaking and animation, one of the natural conclusions I came to was the movement of characters that occurs fundamentally with animation.

As per the brief, I believe an interesting direction to take, ‘movement’ is with an existing year-old “drawing” of my own, depicting an original character of my making. From here, I can explore ‘movement’ in animation of this character, their mannerisms with how they ‘move’, and ‘move’ the character’s concepts forward by developing them and their visuals.

Recognising that this project does need to fully intertwine all three electives, I believe a possible proposal for this, would be a collage-type animation. I could develop printed patterns and use these to form the animation, as shown in this example, and bring in graphic design with a border around the video, and typography like that seen in silent films for dialogue.

This animation would of course, be only an element of the final presentation, but I believe is a possible equal blend of these. Which, presuming the final project is for wall display as has previously been done with both ‘assembly’ and ‘radius’, is a perfect projection piece that can be paired with other elements that can be created alongside this piece.

As for the character himself, Alastair von Mandeville, is originally a character made for the tabletop roleplaying game Dungeons and Dragons, but for the purpose of this brief, I am removing him from this context, and repurposing him into another of my own creation, though I am retaining the fantasy framing and flavour.

Alastair hails from a merchant family that operates out of a boreal climate dealing in trapping and the sale of animal furs and skins; a business that has dwindled dramatically due to overhunting. As a twice spare heir to a dying fortune, Alastair was shipped to the local monastery to be educated in magic, taking an oath to the god of the monastery’s dogma of protection of nature’s winter cruelty; winter’s wrath should not be intervened with. In terms of his role within this religious sect, he would operate akin to the missionaries that, in the Roman Catholic faith, travelled to the ‘New World’ of the Americas during the age of exploration.

Despite this oath, the emergence of an odd spirit that has begun to inhabit his dreams and it's memories manifesting in them, as well, has sway his perspective, and opened his mind to new ideas. This has lead him to, initially quietly, reject his former worldview. The hinge of his narrative is attached to whether or not he overcomes the inherent nature of the moth's timidness to actually express his perspective. Something made complicated due to his immersion in his religion, and that his work now directly contradicts his beliefs.

When it comes to character design, I often pursue themes as the central aspect of the character, for Alastair, this is of the moth. For the entirety of the process of this brief, the primary source I want to bring the theming and visuals back to is this idea of the moth. To this end, I want to incorporate ideas of apprehension, doubt and mystery between this existing character and the supporting secondary character I want to develop in tandem, to generate the body of the work. I feel these themes do connect heavily to the idea of the moth, due to both it’s nocturnal nature, meaning hiding and waiting is a huge component of the creature’s nature behaviour, and night itself, thus only emerging at night, generally associated anything with an air of mystery, see bats being associated with the monster of the vampire. The head of the creature is also often visually lost in the air and the wings, which I feel further justifies the themes I am taking from this source, as the insect itself comes across as though it’s hiding in it’s own bulk, which is also something I feel is already incorporated into Alastair, with the large, thick cape.

I want to take the first of these three core themes and inject them directly into Alastair, mainly through the mannerisms I’m hoping to portray in the animation, perhaps having him hesitate, withdraw a hand, or dart his eyes to convey that sense of timidness. I’m also aiming to convey this through his design, which ultimately dictates his movement, which as mentioned above, I believe exists within the cape, but also with the droop of the hair over the eyes, in the size of the glasses themselves as they can catch light to create a glare that almost entirely obscures the face, going back to that idea of hiding and shyness.

[essophysics-enjoyer]

a very incomplete list of personifcoded things on the scp wiki

-SCP-8190. Featuring the sapient concept of containment/worship of the Founder and Foundation facilities that build themselves in a manner, and I quote, “comparable to single-celled eukaryotes such as slime moulds”. There’s also a bit on how to murder organizations. It is an ADMONITION article so like, be warned.

-SCP-1761. Either a countryspirit or a demi of one. You can’t hurt him until he declares war on you. He announced he would be closing his borders one time and nobody could come within a 1 meter radius of him. This was the first SCP file I ever read actually.

-Fall Witness, Part 2. The fae just straight-up generate an avatar of the O4 Council (and they call the avatar an avatar too). Also gets bonus points for being set in a Vanguard canon.

-SCP-7079. 7079 takes the Ethics Committee out on a date (or doesn’t). Shares an author with 8190 and thus is equally as mindfuckful.

-SCP-8889. VKTM x William Wettle.

-SCP-8499. They desecrate a goddess to build Amoni-Ram. She’s conscious through all of it.

-SCP-5513. It’s uh, basically the OG goihumans.

-Essophysics from the Site-17 Deepwell canon.

[abhishekpandey123]

Elections in India

India’s national election will take place in phases over 44 days. Here’s why it takes so long

Nearly 970 million people or over 10% of the global population are eligible to vote in India’s general elections. The mammoth exercise is the biggest anywhere in the world and will take 44 days before results are announced on June 4.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is aiming for a third consecutive term in office. He is set to compete against a diverse yet faltering coalition of opposition parties who are finding it difficult to counter his popularity. The majority of polls forecast a comfortable victory for the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, solidifying his position as one of the most prominent and influential leaders in the country.

WHY DOES IT TAKE SO LONG?

Two primary factors contribute to this situation: the vast expanse of India, the most populous nation globally, and the intricate logistics required to enable each eligible voter to participate in the electoral process.

Over the years, the duration of voting has wavered. It took nearly four months to complete the vote in India’s first elections in 1951-1952, after it gained independence from British rule, and just four days in 1980. In 2019, voting took 39 days, and this year’s election is the second longest.

With 969 million registered voters, the size of India’s electorate is bigger than the combined population of the 27 European Union member states. This includes 18 million first-time voters, and around 197 million who are in their 20s.

The vote to choose 543 lawmakers for the lower house of Parliament takes place over seven phases. India’s 28 states and eight federal territories will vote at different times. Each phase is one day, with the first held on April 19 and the last on June 1.

Some states may complete their voting process within a day, while others might require more time. For instance, Uttar Pradesh, the largest state in India with a population of 200 million, equivalent to the size of Brazil, will conduct voting over seven days. This extended duration of the voting process in India's general elections has been criticized by Modi's opponents, who argue that it provides an advantage to the prime minister in terms of campaigning and travel, particularly in states where his party is not as strong.

EVERY VOTE COUNTS

The Election Commission of India is responsible for ensuring that a voting booth is accessible within a 2-kilometer radius of each voter. Chakshu Roy from PRS Legislative Research emphasized the extensive efforts election officials must undertake to enable every voter to cast their ballot. Around 15 million election officials and security personnel will travel across deserts and mountains, utilizing various modes of transportation such as boats, walking, and even horseback riding, to reach all voters.

It can be especially arduous. In 2019, when India last held elections, a team of polling officers trekked over 480 kilometers (300 miles) for four days just so a single voter in a hamlet in the remote state of Arunachal Pradesh, which borders China, could exercise their right.

Officials also traveled to a village tucked away high up in the Himalayas in 2019 to install a booth at 15,256 feet (4,650 meters), the highest polling station anywhere in the world.

This time too, polling stations will be installed in remote places, including one inside a wildlife sanctuary in southern Kerala state and another in a shipping container in western Gujarat state.

TIGHT SECURITY

Security is cited as a significant factor behind the multi-phase elections in India, according to experts. In order to ensure safety, a large number of federal security forces, who typically guard borders, are mobilized and work in conjunction with state police. Their primary responsibilities include preventing violence, escorting electoral officials, and transporting voting machines. Previous elections in India have been marred by deadly clashes between supporters of rival political parties, particularly in West Bengal. However, the presence of heavy security forces has contributed to a decrease in such incidents over the years, resulting in relatively peaceful voting. The geographical diversity of the country, with its rivers, mountains, snow, and jungles, poses challenges for the movements of security forces. Despite these obstacles, the chief election commissioner, Rajiv Kumar, has emphasized their commitment to ensuring a smooth voting process by going the extra mile for the convenience of voters.

[saizov]

♡

Just art under the cut! Nothing graphic ✨

Class/es. Ninja (starting) -> Kinshi Knight (but he prefers throwing knives and shuriken to the bow) -> Wyvern Rider/Lord 

Trinkets!

Valter!Asugi has a penchant for side capes ( but Saizo fusses at him for how easy it would be to get tangled up and blindsided when wearing the capes ) — typically in shades of olive green or navy blue. 

Valter!Asugi should NOT be allowed in a twenty foot radius of anything laced with dark magical possession/corruption qualities— he’ll end up shook in the head, and he gets that little tragedy from Pa No. 2 (Valter).

Was trained as a ninja until about fourteen/fifteen — after which, he decided he wanted to pursue flying. However, he had to start in Hoshido and then progress after peace was made between the countries. 

Valter!Asugi is still chill and go-with-the-flow, but now if you really (and I mean REALLY) do something to upend his chill, it’s game on. Holy hell it’s game on, and he knows like forty-two different ways to painfully kill a man. 

Valter!Asugi is not sadistic or pain-enjoying (because this is still Asugi) but he’s a little more willing to use it as a method with the Moonstone’s genes somewhere in there now. 

Valter!Asugi has thought about growing his hair out to match his pa’s, but he doesn’t want the effort of having to maintain it. Also doesn’t think it’s strategic if he puts it up and someone grabs it — moot point for ninja work in his earlier years. 

Valter!Asugi used to sneak into Nohr to find different baby wyverns —either parentless or abandoned— and raise and foster them near the Hoshido-Nohr border, and hope they would start naturally migrating into Hoshido. They never did, so he started researching the safest way to move their dens. 

Valter!Asugi has tried so many times to sneak across the Nohrian border to see the wyverns, but the farthest he’s ever gotten might have been a thirty stealth sneak into the country before he realized how bad of an idea it really was. 

Valter!Asugi’s main hobbies are: dragon-rearing (when given the chance—he’s done all his research), hunting, unorthodox (cheeky) infiltration or acquisition of info, and weapon/armor collection. 

His favorite things to collect are spearheads from historical lances and pauldrons from generals or commanders with unique designs (he steals these from auctions or black market deals).

He had one baby dragon from Nohr that he smuggled to the border as a kid, named it Creampuff, and then he flew off. He’s decided that if he ever opened a bakery for his confection-making hobby, Creampuff would be the one treat that comes up, stays for half a year, intrigues all the customers, and then goes away and never comes back. 

After his ninja training, he wanted to pursue flying! However, because of Hoshido’s non-existent wyvern population, he learned to fly with the Kinshi and, post-war, finally pursued his wyvern-flying career. He’s currently trying to see if he can incorporate his wyvern into stealth missions … but it’s not going so well. (Yes, he has been fussed at.)

[speedyposts]

In legal no-man’s land, refugees in Malaysia struggle to eat, pay rent

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – It is late afternoon in Kuala Lumpur and in the harsh heat, Zabi* concludes his third visit to the doctor in a month, still unsure of what is causing his excruciating stomach aches despite all his reports being normal so far.

He worries about paying for the doctor as, being a refugee, he does not have much money or any medical benefits.

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When Zabi came from Afghanistan to Malaysia as a teenager five years ago, he had no choice but to fend for himself. His family had only enough money for one of them to flee.

“I know it’s illegal for a refugee to work in Malaysia. But I have no choice as an orphan, as I have no trace of my family at the moment. I work around 18 hours a day and I hardly get paid four ringgit ($0.88) an hour,” the 18-year-old told Al Jazeera.

Zabi is working as a housekeeper in a Malaysian-owned hotel in Kuala Lumpur but because he is a refugee and not officially allowed to work, he has no written contract.

He has had a series of other jobs – as a security guard, in restaurants and in customer service – and lives a precarious existence, struggling to make enough money to pay his 500 Malaysian ringgit ($106) monthly rent.

“After extremely exhausting long working days, Maggi instant noodles are something I eat most days,” he said.

Malaysia has no formal framework for refugees, which means they are left in a legal no-man’s land where they are vulnerable to exploitation by those who do employ them. Under Malaysian law, refugees are also no different to undocumented migrants who are often targeted in official crackdowns.

Asked about refugees at the United Nations last month, the Malaysian representative defended the government’s approach and indicated that there was no room for change.

“Who is the deserving refugee? Who is a deserving asylum seeker? Who is an economic migrant? Who is to determine them as such?” Foreign Affairs Ministry Deputy Secretary General (multilateral affairs) Bala Chandran Tharman told the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Geneva, according to the Malay Mail.

While Malaysia is a member of the UN, it has never signed the 1951 Refugee Convention and there are no laws (PDF) in place to recognise and provide for those fleeing persecution and conflict.

Refugees also have no right to work, attend school or access medical care.

Registration with the local office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) provides some measure of protection and support, including limited access to healthcare, education and other services provided by the UN and its partners.

“This is only an identity document and has no formal legal value in Malaysia,” the UNHCR website notes of the card given to all those registered with it.

In 2022, the Malaysian government said all asylum seekers and refugees would need to register under the government’s Tracking Refugees Information System (TRIS), which was launched in 2017.

The TRIS website talks about safety and the risk of social problems linked to the influx of refugees but suggests registration may allow cardholders to work in some, mostly unskilled, areas.

“The lack of legal protection forces refugees to work illegally, and most of the jobs that they find are 3D jobs, the ‘difficult, dangerous, and dirty’ kind of work that Malaysians try to avoid,” said Jana Stanfield, the co-founder of Together We Can Change the World and founder of the Refugee Film School in Kuala Lumpur.

Without legal protection and proper contracts, many do not receive Malaysia’s national minimum pay (introduced in May 2022) of 1,500 Malaysian ringgit ($329) per month or 7.21 Malaysian ringgit ($1.64) an hour.

Zabi, who spent five months learning English after arriving in Malaysia in 2018, says the boss at the security firm where he once worked had agreed to pay him about 1,000 Malaysian ringgit ($219) a month but never did.

Even now, he is forced to do overtime, which is unpaid, and work in other roles to meet his employer’s needs. He told Al Jazeera he has to agree to these conditions, having no alternative.

More than 70 percent of the 185,000 refugees in Malaysia registered with the refugee agency are of working age. According to information gathered from refugee communities, most make a living in restaurants, retail and other service jobs as well as agriculture and construction.

“It is a ‘win-win’ for Malaysia, as it would take into consideration both the humanitarian needs of refugees, whilst also benefiting the Malaysian economy as it recovers from the social and economic impact of the pandemic,” UNHCR spokeswoman Yante Ismail said in a statement to Al Jazeera about allowing the community to work legally.

Malaysia has allowed certain groups of refugees to join the workforce in the past.

In 2015, some Syrians were allowed to work and send their children to school under a scheme based on an initiative in the early 1990s for Bosnians fleeing the Balkan wars.

“Malaysia can allow refugees to exercise their right to work under an existing legal framework … and then this can be expanded to include education and healthcare,” said Mahi Ramakrishnan, an investigative filmmaker and activist based in Malaysia. “The question is whether the government has the political will to do so.”

In 2017, a pilot project allowed about 300 Rohingya refugees with UNHCR cards to work legally in the plantation and manufacturing sector, but was not adopted.

In October, the Human Resources Ministry said refugees might be allowed to work officially in the so-called “3D jobs” amid shortages of workers who are usually brought in through government-backed arrangements from countries such as Bangladesh and Indonesia. Those schemes are currently under review as Malaysian seeks to regularise its policies on foreign workers.

Ultimately, refugee advocacy groups say the government needs to take the lead on any policy change.

“To grant refugees the right to work is to ensure that they are able to have access to livelihood that is safe, decent and dignified,” Hui Ying Tham, the executive director at Asylum Access, told Al Jazeera. He stressed that the implementation of this “requires a multifaceted approach with the government leading, in consultation with refugee communities, the changes in laws, policies and attitudes to create a framework that recognises and supports the rights and potential of refugees.”

Tham added that work should also recognise the skills and experience of the individual refugees as it does with any other member of the workforce.

Abolfazly*, an Afghan refugee school teacher whose village was burned down by the Taliban, agreed.

“We had a life before taking refuge in another land,” he said. “We’re educated, we’re resourceful. Host countries like Malaysia can use us – not only in agriculture but in their socioeconomic development,” said the 28-year-old, who is working on finishing his PhD in law.

The UNHCR remains hopeful that there will eventually be a resolution, although the latest comments at the UPR suggest that might not happen soon.

For refugees like Zabi, that means continued struggle.

“I want to go to university. I love learning new languages,” he told Al Jazeera. “Right now, my life is all about eating, sleeping and working. I have no plans for the future because I know none of the plans will work. But I’ll still keep trying – like I always do.”

*Pseudonyms have been used to protect the refugees’ identity

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