#but it appears to be...unproductive? at this point

[hunn1e-bunn1e]

Demiurge - "Worms"

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In which a certain arch-devil has a conversation about humans with his most respected Supreme Being. Or; In which [Name] the Demon King talks about the ins and outs if humans of the old and new world with his most trusted servant, Demiurge.

                                                                                                   

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It was cold that night; the starless sky resembled more of a pitch black abyss, staring back at the eyes that gaze upon it. The skies of the new world...

The new world was a mysterious place; the uncanny resemblance it bore with Ygdrassil was startling and unsettling to most who had suddenly appeared there. Yet this world was so different from their home at the same time.

This new world was ruled by humans; it was a shock to most if not all the denizens of Nazarick. Though one sought the knowledge and wisdom of his most trusted and respected supreme one.

                                                  

"Demiurge... when you think of humans, what comes to mind?"

The demon king asked him; his massive form perched atop the disguised tomb as his piercing gaze stayed glued to the night sky.

The arch-devil took his eyes from the sky to give a side glance to the elder demon. He was flattered that his idol of all people would ask for his view on any subject at all; it made him feel quite giddy, he must say.

"Humans... They are weak; most definitely. However they pose a great opportunity in the bolstering of Nazarick's numbers. So, in a way they do have some use to them."

The elder demon chuckled at his underlings response; he hadn't gotten the point if the question, had he? [Name] now flickered his gaze to his left, locking eyes with the arch-devil as he gave the bespectacled man a relaxed grin.

"That is not what I asked, young one. I want to know how you personally see humans in your eyes. What are they to you?"

Demiurge was disappointed in himself for misunderstanding the supreme being's question. He was supposed to be the most intelligent being in Nazarick, just under the Supreme Beings, yet he couldn't grasp a simple question. How impotent of him.

"Hummn... Humans are... Humans are worms."

The elder demon turns his body towards his servant, urging him to continue speaking. Demiurge glances at the Demon King once before respectfully averting his eyes once again.

"They are lesser beings, sniveling insects beneath the feet of the heteromorphic races; weak, feeble and unproductive. That, to me, is what humans are."

The gargantuan man belts out a loud hardy laugh, bringing his arm up to give the arch-devil a friendly bit painfully strong slap on the back, causing the smaller demon to lurch forward from the force, knocking his glasses to the tip of his nose. [Name]'s laugh slowly trickle down into a light chuckle as he shakes his head, his long mane of h/c hair swaying with the motion.

"Hahaha.... ah.. I knew you'd say that, Young One."

The elder demon speaks gently, seemingly almost relieved at his response. His massive form leans over a bit as he places his hand and places it atop Demiurge's head, sloppily ruffling his slicked back hair and jostling his head around.

It was moments like these that Demiurge felt he was undeserving of. He never understood how a being so powerful and all-knowing as the Demon King could be so loving and fatherly to such an insignificant being such as himself. Amazed couldn't even come close to how the arch-devil felt in the supreme being's presence.

Demiurge never knew an undead demonic being could have such a godly presence before now.

And gods... it was so beautiful.

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Wanna see similar content? Check out my Masterlist!

[xenodile]

I feel like. If Y'shtola was in a relationship, the person she's in a relationship with would be the last person to know. Those close to Y'shtola, like Thancred and Urianger, would see the signs. "Oh she regularly smiles around you? I see, things must be pretty serious." type vibes. Y'shtola is the kind of person that feels very very intensely but does not emote any of it. She's passionate and driven because she has very strong opinions about how things should be and will act to make them so, but she doesn't really display that she's feeling one way or the other, so she gives off the appearance of being cold or just obstinate.

It's a combination of just naturally being low affect and also being very goal oriented and focused. She doesn't have time to emote, she has problems that need solving. She's about to cast a spell that will probably kill her and one of her friends, at best she apologizes to her sister for causing her distress. Mourning the death of one of her best friends is unproductive, there's work to do. The man she lived with for three years and has become the one person she's comfortable with physically touching her gets "I have to keep my promise to him" as she works herself to the point exhaustion and collapse in order to see him again. It takes a near death experience and nearly losing all of her friends to even get close to crying, and her voice cracks for all of 2 seconds before she's back to her usual stoicism.

Trying to actively court her will have little to no success. She cannot be wooed by traditional means. If you want to get in her good graces, you have to work with her. You gotta give her space and contribute meaningfully to her goals. Her idea of a romantic getaway is a research expedition in which you share several long academic conversations about everything you both saw that day over a hearty meal before going to bed in separate rooms.

[sakumichiblog]

Usami Iroha is a girl who constantly pressured by her mother to live up to her high expectations. Despite her mother's aspirations, Iroha doesn't take her studies too seriously and ends up becoming the president of the most unproductive club in her school. As a child, Iroha was friends with Sawada Tsunayoshi, but after her mother's interference, their relationship was cut short, and it was only through Reborn's efforts that they were reunited again. She is a descendant of an ancient clan of professional assassins, who are somehow connected to Vongola Primo when he fled to Japan. Her father is a professional killer who returned to his family after ten years just to train his daughter.

As promised, we're slowly posting profiles and the first one we'll have is Usami Iroha. About her design, this is just the first reference for the very beginning. Iroha wears sneakers instead of her usual school shoes, because her shoes are too tight and uncomfortable for her, and she doesn't like to wear a jacket in her fall/winter uniform. The sleeves of the jacket are too long for her and cover her palms because her arms are too short, and she doesn't want to take it to the atelier and tell her mother about it.

Not all the information is here, it’s mostly for familiarisation and a rough idea of the characters. You can read it below.

Name: Usami Iroha

Kanji: 有佐見彩花

Nickname: Usami, Usamin, Rabbit, Four-Eyes.

Age: 13-14 years old (present); 24 years old (TYL)

Gender: Female (she/her)

Height: 149 cm

Blood type: A

Date of Birth: July 17

Nationality: Japanese

Shorthand: 38

Affiliation: Vongola; Namimori Middle School; Volunteer Club.

Occupation: Namimori Middle School student; President of the Volunteer Club

Like: Rabbits, cute things, mahou shoujo, melon, corn, spring, peace and quiet.

Dislike: Math, insects, bitter food, getting into awkward situations, studying

Hobbies: Collecting manga, going to cafes and visiting Tsuna’s house.

Iroha is a person who often takes more responsibility than she can in order to escape her mother's constant control. A tendency to overextend herself is a constant theme in her life, born out of a desire for independence and a break from the constant supervision of an overbearing mother. Iroha is often confronted with a sense of the limitations of her power in life. She tends to be withdrawn and does not easily make new friendships. Her aloof demeanor often discourages people from getting close to her. However, those who manage to befriend her find that she is a steadfast and loyal friend. Unless her trust is betrayed, the bond is unlikely to be broken.

Beneath her calm exterior lies a fiery temper. Although you can't tell from her appearance, she is surprisingly quick to anger. Given the right excuse, Iroha is virtually undeterred when it comes to conflict with others. Iroha's tendency to make rash decisions, often due to her stubbornness, often leads to negative consequences. She tends to redouble her efforts when faced with difficulties, and this stubbornness often works against her, getting her into more trouble than necessary.

Iroha's sense of self-doubt and insecurity about her decision-making abilities is explained by the fact that she was raised under her mother's overbearing influence. Deprived of the ability to make choices for herself, Iroha lives in constant anxiety, fearing the uncertainty of the future. Instead of contemplating the future, she prefers to live in the present, seeking peace in the illusion of the eternal "now". However, as long as she has loved ones by her side, she finds comfort in their presence, regardless of the passage of time and the end point of her journey.

reference by Michi

dividers by @/cafekitsune

[royalberryriku]

Some Thoughts on the 'Writing Process'™

So I see a lot of writers struggle with these very specific things, AKA:

The Staring at the Blank Page Thing where you struggle to come up with ideas, words, etc

The Word Counting Counting where you cannot stop counting your word count

The 'Can Someone ELSE Proofread This Because I Don't Want to Read It' dilemma

The 'How Do I STOP Hating Everything I Write' issue which also leads into the 'How Do I Stop Scrapping Everything' issue

And finally the 'I DONT WANT TO WRITE I WANT TO IMAGINE IT INSTEAD' problem

There are various things that can make writing hard, but I have had some thoughts! And maybe they might just be useful.

So for Issue Number 1, I've found that, if you want to write, NEVER do it before you already have the ideas. Looking at a blank page just makes it harder. You get bored and that makes writing feel boring. Of course, this is all just my opinion, maybe this actually works for you. BUT! In my own personal experience, I find that actually LIMITING how often I open my document helps a bunch. No matter how much you wanna write, there's no point torturing yourself over how little you're doing and shaming or pressuring yourself to get it done. Punishing yourself is just gonna kill your inspiration and, obviously, you're not going to want to write if you now associate it with punishment for not writing. It's a cycle of just being mean to yourself. Well, don't wanna be unproductive? As silly and counterproductive as it sounds; self care is the answer which I've found that actually works.

This actually leads into Issue Number 2. I think these probably stem from the same issue; punishing yourself for not producing. Again, punishing yourself and shaming yourself into just staring at a blank screen or staring at how little the word count is or how much you have to go until your goal is just going to kill your inspiration and make you bored. Shaming doesn't get you to write more, or faster or suddenly become more productive. Believe it or not? Self care and making it fun is what makes a fun story come to life. You're not just writing a block of text that's a recount to sell in this capitalist hellhole (I mean you are but that doesn't mean the process has to be bound by capitalism because FUCK CAPITALISM), you're writing a story you wanna tell; focus on the story before the method and don't punish yourself for it not just magically appearing. These things take time, they take trial, error, mistakes and various drafts, but FIRST? They take those little moments where you just daydream scenes and the imagination you have to exist at all. Focus first on the story and your own health and the rest will come, slowly but surely. Anyway that was a lot of words to essentially just say; don't look at the word count, focus on the story and the length will follow regardless. It's fine to check and obviously, you'll just have to at some point. But please please try and do what you can to avoid checking, even use a different method. I use page count because it's so varied and inaccurate that it actually doesn't matter and just tricks my brain into using that to see my very general progress and makes it seem bigger than it actually is. It also can just be easier to check at a glance if I want to make sure the structure of each chapter is more or less consistent enough.

Issue Number 3 is tricky, mostly because once you've made something, it can be legitimately very boring to reread everything you JUST wrote. For me, I'm sort of chaotic in that I reread as I go or do it very randomly and rewrite as I come up with things. The good thing is though that what you write isn't set in stone. It's malleable and fluid. I always have a cut and paste section on my computer where I just... cut and page and rearrange things as I think of it. I don't worry about "oh but what if I mess up" because you're ALWAYS gonna mess up! That's actually one of the cool things about writing, you CAN mess up and go back and reread it eventually to make it work a bit better after all the other chaotic going-back-and-fixing-things. Which brings me to my main point (especially if you don't want to replicate my chaoticness) I try to leave proofreading itself as much as I can for the end of it all. As in, I just let myself write, yes rearranging and going back whenever I want, but never throwing anything OUT, never scrapping the whole document because it's gonna have bits you might reuse. And more to the point, it gives you a lose skeleton to base your next draft on. It's more work but I find it really reassuring in that you don't judge every little thing as you go, but just say "meh, fuck it!" and write whatever works, then rewrite it in a separate document all over again, never deleting the last one so you can copy and page whatever you liked from the first draft, or second, or third, and use each mistake and flaw. Recycling is good folks, even just in writing. Or... at least it is for me. If this doesn't work for you, it doesn't work for you, but this is just what helps me so maybe it might help you too.

This also goes into Issue Number 4. Honestly, you're never gonna not be your biggest critic. But! You can at least make your work feel a bit more positive and go in with a "eh who cares?" mindset into writing. It may not erase the "wow this is hot garbage" feeling, but it'll feel a bit more like "well this is MY hot garbage and I don't care if it's bad or good, because at least it was fun". Plus, like I said; recycling is very good. The best way to force yourself not to hate something is to get really damn used to it, AKA, never getting rid of it. Which is hard, I know. Especially if you just really freaking hate it. And, well, it's not like I'm saying you should keep absolutely every little thing, I don't want you all to get clutter and folders upon folders of stuff you won't use...buuut I am saying it helps to keep things and get comfortable in your own messiness and imperfection. It starts to feel normal at least, or for me it does, and slowly you kind of just...accept it. Also, making fun little things to enjoy your ideas away from your writing itself. If you draw? Make fanart. Maybe even make AUs in your head. Maybe make some mood boards. HYPE YOURSELF UP! Or as best you can at least, and never force things. If you aren't feeling this particular story right now? Move on to another project and yes having WIPs can be annoying but sometimes it's necessary. Again, these are all just my opinions and stuff I do when I struggle with these; I'm not commanding anyone to do anything and as always, maybe this won't work for you personally. But hey, doesn't hurt to give it a try first and see if it works, or maybe something else will. Whatever the case, this is just my own two cents.

And finally, Number 5. Honestly? This isn't so much as issue in and of itself as much as just an issue of prioritisation. Imagination is the most important part of even coming up with a story to begin with and, honestly, imagining scenes can really help build a mental image of what you want to describe and how things look and feel. One thing, a little cheat code you could say, that I've found is melding daydreaming with research. Which makes absolutely no sense since this is the most funnest part with the most boring part of writing, but hey, it works surprisingly well I assure you. So here's the setup I have; no doc (except for if I really need to jot down some notes), then images that remind me of my work (Pinterest boards maybe, a few mood boards, etc), then the research. I go between each of these; daydreaming. The result? I imagine scenes with the research I want; motifs that work with themes, imagery to use in scenes, what architecture works, what the weapons look like. Then, before I even write, I go back and still daydream WITH what I've researched and it sticks in my mind way better than even the notes I've made. Speaking of, with notes, I like to doodle in the margins of them, make them fun, highlight with fun colours. Sometimes? Research, note taking and writing doesn't have to be work in and of itself, sometimes it can be fun and a little quest of your own. Sometimes making writing and research feel like you're daydreaming can make all the difference between begrudgingly slugging through a chapter, or just having fun writing a new scene you just imagined and that starts to form into something new and exciting.

TLDR: Make writing fun! Like Mary Poppins once said; "a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down". Sometimes it's actually better to make the work into a treat instead of using a treat as a bribe or punishing yourself. In fact, making any part of the process into a punishment for not working just makes everything harder.

ALSO! Just in general, take breaks! It's easy to forget what you're doing (especially once it becomes fun) and forget to take care of yourself both physically and mentally. Too much time looking at a screen (or even just a page) can be straining! Remember to eat! Remember to drink water and sleep! Get up and walk around if you can, go to the bathroom and maybe even go for a little walk outside and get some Vitamin D if you're able to. Remember to maybe take a few days away from writing so you can come at it again with a refreshed mind and new perspective, sometimes you can get boggled down and start getting too focused on one little thing. It's good to let yourself have half an hour, an hour or even a few days to just refresh and go out and get new inspiration just from living. Sometimes the key to writing and ideas is to just stop writing for a bit and to just take a breath.

[cuubism]

Déjà vu, Déjà connu

[AO3]

based on dreamlings' post

I’m here because… I’m interested.

The words circle Dream’s mind. A spiral of questions with no answer. Interested. Interested. Hob’s hands on his hips. Hob’s mouth along his throat.

In me?

No, Dream thinks. Hob’s fingers inside him, pressing buttons untouched for centuries with the brutality and care of an experienced lover. Yes, yes, maybe, yes.

--

1503.

Dream lies in bed, afterwards, loose and languid. Looking up at the dark wood paneling of the ceiling, the fine grains and whorls of it. Contemplating.

Hob settles back on the mattress beside him, laughs. “I’ve never seen someone thinking so hard after sex.”

“Perhaps I am grading you,” Dream says, and Hob laughs harder.

“Oh, yeah? What score’d I get, then? ‘Cuz I’ll tell you, I never been to proper school, but I have a pretty good bedroom education.”

Dream’s lips tip up in an unwitting smile. Hob is looser, like this. Free and charming, when he does not know who Dream is. Does not think he is a demon, or the devil come to claim his soul. Just a passing traveler in an inn.

Dream had not intended to run into him. He had not intended to see Hob at all until their next scheduled meeting ninety or so years from today. He had come to the waking world for a quick errand, hunting after an occult artifact he’d heard might be in the area.

He’d draped himself in a different form than usual so as to leave less of a trail. Not so different from his usual shape, still lean and angular because it felt right to be barely of flesh, to slip into the shadows between things. But his hair was shorter and lighter than when he’d last seen Hob, his eyes a muted brown, face softer.

Dream did not take much note of his own appearance, most of the time, but Jessamy had advised him to tone down the drama, so Dream had—again to borrow her words—shaved off the more striking edges of his form. Made himself more nondescript.

And then—leaving an unproductive meeting with an artifacts dealer who did not have what he needed, and frustrated for it – he had stumbled into Hob. Hob, who wore this era well, settled into his immortality in the decade and a half since their meeting. Whose auspicious printing trade seemed to be treating him nicely. 

“Whoa, now,” Hob had said, steadying him by the arm as they brushed past each other. They had never touched before, and Dream had stared at the point where Hob’s hand held him. Hob had looked him up and down un-subtly. “Haven’t seen you around here before, have I?” 

“I am just leaving,” Dream had said, making for the door of the inn. 

Hob hadn’t blocked his way, but he had called out. “Sure I can’t convince you to stay for a drink?”

And Dream—he had been frustrated. The waking world made him itch at the best of times, and to have his time wasted to boot—

And Hob was—interesting. Dream was loath to admit this, but his company at their last meeting had been engaging. Left Dream wanting to know more in a way he usually did not, with people.

He should have left. Instead, he had stopped. “If you are buying,” he’d said, because he’d felt it was a more human response than entertain me with your stories, Hob Gadling.

He had turned back just in time to see Hob’s brilliant grin. “Pretty thing like you?” he had said. “Anything you want.”

This, Dream had thought, as he’d followed Hob over to a table, was a Hob closer to the one he had first encountered in 1389 than the one he’d last seen. Rakish, confident, swaggering. Then again, Hob had walked into their last meeting thinking Dream intended to claim his soul, so Dream supposed he could forgive him the break in self-assurance.

The ease of him in that moment drew something in Dream towards him, like a moon caught in planetary gravity.

He had not given Hob a name, and Hob had not given him his, though of course Dream knew it. Secrecy, anonymity, half-hidden glances caught in firelight, words half-spoken and left hanging in implication. This was not a scene, a moment, Dream had experienced outside of stories. But, like a story, it had drawn him in, caught him in the web Hob had unintentionally spun around him, just with his presence. 

Not much felt new to Dream, but this had. He had never been propositioned over a drink before. He had never been eyed up over ale left untouched, unspoken thoughts so bare in the looks laid upon him. He had never been led into the dark corner of a tavern, and felt up with such daring familiarity, or pulled upstairs to a shadowed bedroom, and fucked slow and good like he was not just a casual lay but a lodestone. 

He had never taken a human lover. Every lover in Dream’s past had known who he was, what he was. 

He had never been treated so casually, moved around so easily, his lover ignorant of the dangers of him. And he had never been looked at with such regard by one who did not know his station. For Hob’s looks were by turns heavy and playful but never, never casual. Did he treat all his lovers thus?

Dream should not have allowed any of it. He had thought so, to himself, over and over. Hob kissing up his neck—I should not allow this—Hob tangling a fist in his hair and pulling his head back—I should not allow this—Hob pushing inside him—I should not allow this—Hob kissing him so tenderly afterward—I should not—

“You were adequate,” he tells Hob now, and Hob laughs, raucous and loud. 

Dream has allowed it, and now he remembers why he should not. Because now that he has had it, he craves it, the weight and heft of Hob’s body, and his sweet lips, and the heat of him. Hob has surprised him with his care and carefulness and consideration. He is greedy, yes, for life and for sensation, and he takes, yes, but he also gives. He gives and gives. 

“Tough crowd,” Hob complains, goodnaturedly. His look upon Dream is fond and indulgent. “Do I at least get to retake the exam?”

“Have you studied?” Dream asks. He drags a hand down the muscles of Hob’s arm, feeling the warmth of his skin. 

Hob leans in and tugs on the lobe of his ear with his teeth. “I’ll make a study of you as long as you let me.”

It has been long, very long, since Dream has had a lover. The singular attention is blinding.

“Do your best, then, and perhaps there will be a reward if you pass,” Dream says, and Hob flows back on top of him. There is experience in every movement of him, and it’s intoxicating.

Do not allow it, Dream thinks. Once inside, it will latch, as all his lovers have, and he will be caught, even if only in his own mind.

Hob’s hands catch under his jaw and tip his head up into a kiss.

He allows it.

--

“I feel like I met you before,” Hob muses, after, a hand to Dream’s jaw. Familiar, so familiar. Dream doesn’t deny him. “But I definitely would have remembered.”

Dream’s pulse flutters despite himself, and he’s not sure if it’s concern over being recognized or something else. “Would you?”

Hob scrutinizes him. “For sure. But. I don’t know, it’s not coming to me, so maybe I’m just imagining things.”

“Maybe so,” Dream agrees.

Hob’s lips twist in a wry smile. “So helpful, you are. Maybe this, maybe that. I see you, mysterious figure in the night.”

“Mysterious?” Dream echoes. This form is far more human, more mundane, than his usual shape. He has kept himself very contained within the bounds of reason.

Hob taps his forehead. “You’re all question marks. Bet you like it that way.”

“Maybe so,” Dream says, and Hob laughs. And Dream feels a burst of fondness for him, for the way he takes things in stride, his generosity in so easily allowing Dream his secrets, his endless joy in life displayed at their last meeting and even more brightly now. 

“Maybe maybe maybe, ” Hob says. “Maybe I’ll run into you again sometime?”

“In your dreams, perhaps,” Dream says. Hob chuckles like he’s made a joke, but Dream is not sure that he was not serious. He could… find himself wanting this. He could find himself starving for it. Hob drags a hand up and down his arm, light but proprietary, and Dream shouldn’t let him do that, but he does not pull away.

“Telling me to dream about you isn’t going to help me let you go,” Hob says.

“You would hold on so tightly after only one night?” Dream asks.

“You don’t get more nights if you don’t hold on,” says Hob.

No, Dream thinks, as he steals away later that night, slipping out from under Hob’s arm in the darkness to return to the Dreaming. No, I suppose you do not.

[fakeanimalperson]

i feel like there’s a whole lot of (young) people online whose experience with queerness is all very theoretical - which is fine, there’s always stages of development of one’s identity that exist completely internally or only online - but this also means that a lot of the discourse online focuses on a sort of weird and pointless view of the queer community as a kind of Social Club wherein the largest hurdle is whether or not you are Valid to hold Membership. and a lot of the discourse feels very unproductive when it stems from this view of the community - it’s completely pointless to debate whether or not people who appear outwardly to be in straight relationships or cishet boyfriends or whoever is “allowed” at pride because there’s no situation in which someone is “not allowed” to attend pride BY the queer community. that’s not something that happens in the real world. HOWEVER, i think it’s ALSO important to be able to identify that someone who is queer but lives their everyday life completely indistinguishable from a cishet person is going to have a hugely different experience and face significantly less danger than people who live lives that are VISIBLY queer and/or transgender. and i think if someone’s first reaction to that is to feel HURT that this means they are somehow Less Valid then they are missing the point of the community and the existence of events like pride. SORRY to get into this on a lovely saturday morning but this is something that comes up every year and it always makes me think

[amethystpath-writes]

Entertainment

(NOT A PR0MPT)

******

“I don’t love you,” Hero said. “I won’t love you, even though they all suspect it.”

“Isn’t it disappointing?” Villain asked.

Hero only hummed in question. She felt serene despite the storm brewing in her mind. For now, she would listen.

“To make another human your source of entertainment? You are televised. You don’t see your shepherds now, but there is a show playing in their minds during this very moment. You. Naked in my bed- as if we could ever be lovers. A scandal- because no one can ever be good enough. Nobody is allowed to be The Hero. That person, should they ever arise, must always be eradicated.”

Villain stared at the night sky from the park bench, swollen and wet from the rain which had passed. The dark clouds above appeared so thick that they stretched across space, blocking even the moon from seeing her subjects below. Another storm was being pushed through. “They wait for the day you’re found out- living out any trope that serves them, even if it’s not true of your life at all. Enemies to lovers.” He scoffed. “The new fad. Unfortunate for them, I hate you,” he said, and his eyes never left the stormy clouds. “We are not their love story, and I’ll spite you at every turn for making them think this rivalry could turn to such. Tell me, why did you decide to become their next victim, hero?”

“You make it sound like I wanted them to call me a traitor under their breaths.” Her voice held no contempt. She was too tired for that- for anything besides a quietly piqued interest. “I don’t want to betray them. I fight you because they don’t have the ability to. It’s all for them. It has always been for them.”

“And yet”- Villain shrugged- “what have they done for you? Spread rumors? Spoken to teen entertainment vlogs about their accounts on witnessing our ‘dates’? None of it is real. I tell myself I’m fighting for something, but the truth is, none of us are. Not even you, though you think your purpose is to oppose me- to oppose evil and all that is ill. It’s not.”

Progressively, Hero felt the tips of her ears warming- a deep contrast compared to the cold air around her. “I don’t entertain them.”

“You serve them. Is that phrasing any more to your liking?”

She couldn’t argue that. Hero did serve her community- by fighting Villain, by bringing justice to him. Or…trying to at least. The rumors came with their own consequences. She was outcasted. No one trusted her even though she never gave them a reason to distrust her. Hero fought Villain. That was all she ever did, but one person got it into their head that maybe- just maybe- they weren’t fighting at all. Maybe Hero and Villain were living a fairytale. Maybe they were an item and the fights were all a facade so at least one of them would be praised.

Still, it had nothing to do with entertainment. Hero didn’t want to think of it that way. If she did, it meant she did all of this for nothing. She had no purpose. She wasted her time, energy, and effort.

“Why did we meet here?” It was going to start raining again, and Hero was already shivering. She only met him tonight because doing so meant he was with her, in sight, and unproductive in his schemes. He volunteered her as a distraction; she wasn’t smart enough to say no.

“We might only be a means of entertainment, but I’ve learned to appreciate the act. You and I are not friends, but they think so. There’s a camera- over there…” He pointed to a tree, and Hero cursed under her breath. “And it’s been filming us the entire time. Having casual conversation on a stormy night where no one else would dare relax. Nice and private- though cold, but we’re willing to sacrifice that warmth if it means being together, right?”

“You set me up.” Here she thought she was allowing herself to distract him, but it was his plan all along. Of course he wasn’t wanting to fix this problem. “You said you were tired of the rumors, Villain. That’s why we were here, to lay them to rest.”

Villain laughed and finally looked to Hero. His eyes trailed to her ears, all red from her frustration. It irritated her even more and she untucked her hair. “You aren’t just their entertainment, Hero. You’re mine, too.” He muttered, “So easy.”

She wanted to argue: I’m not your entertainment; I’m Im no one’s, but it would only prove him right. Looking at his smile now, Hero regretted even pulling her hair from behind her ears.

I can fight him now. The camera would see it and the people would know that the two were not lovers at all. But again, she’d be amusing him. Right now, he was expecting her to make a move, to- to retaliate, if only to entertain him more. Yet, if she didn’t do anything, the tape he had now would only confirm in the community’s mind that she was a scandal. Untrue and unfit for being their voice. Would they arrest her?

“I’m all you have now. Your only security.”

Hero shook her head. “No. That’s not true.”

“Then who else do you have?”

The sky was sprinkling now. Fat cold raindrops touched on Hero’s shoulders and she shivered. “They’ll believe me,” she said, though it came out as a whisper. Still, Villain heard.

“Do they believe you now?”

No.

“If you are not with me, you are nothing but a bad face to them. I can give you a new identity. I can give you a new start, one where you can be the one entertained- not them.”

His hand touched her face. She flinched. When had she closed her eyes and when had he stood from the park bench? When did the sprinkling of them sky become thin, pelting drops?

It stung: his hand, the rain, the biting cold, the realization that she was running out of options.

“I don’t need your help.”

“They’ll arrest you. Treason,” he said, and rubbed his thumb across Hero’s cheekbone. “Isn’t that the highest punishable crime?”

Was it? She wasn’t sure.

He was scaring her.

He was scaring her, and it was working so well that she felt herself sweating despite also quivering in the downpour.

His fingers wrapped under her chin while his other hand rested on her shoulder. “I can help.”

“You’re the reason I’m in this position!” Hero tried to rip away, but Villain stopped her with a heavy grip. “I don’t want your help. I don’t want your help.”

“You put yourself in this position by fighting something you had no right mind fighting. You were unprepared, Hero. Ill-advised.” His thumb strummed her cheek again, calming, manipulative. “I only helped you realize.”

The drop on her cheek was warm- a tear, not a raindrop. “You told me we’re not friends.”

“No. I pity you.” The hand on her shoulder fell and Villain wrapped his arm around her back, pulling her into a hug. Instinctively, she turned her head against his chest. His shirt was soaked and cold, but it was comfortable. She stayed, forgetting entirely who he was.

When had the heat left her ears? Was it when the rain started or when she laid her head on his chest? “We’re not friends,” she said, but as she stood in the pouring rain, cheek pressed against Villain’s wet shirt, she couldn’t imagine leaving. Let them have their entertainment, she almost said, but no. She wasn’t supposed to be here.

Almost seeming to read her thoughts, Villain asked, “Who else do you have, Hero? Stand with me in this rain; let it wash away the hero you tried to be, and start anew.”

Thunder crackled across the sky. Hero remained silent. Enemies…lovers…amusement…what did it matter? She was comfortable in the rain, comfortable in the cold. “Will you delete the footage if I agree?”

He hummed.

“Delete it,” she begged, though her head never left his chest. “I want to start over. I would do anything.”

“Will,” Villain corrected. “I have some ideas for you.”

For now, they would leave the open sky, full of lightning and threatened existences. They would leave, and Hero would cry, grieve over her attempted heroism, and look to Villain- of all people- for a shoulder to cry on.

And as all villains do, he would take advantage of her, warp her mind, make her believe that she was wrong to be a hero, that she was a source of entertainment, though we, dear audience, know she was an inspiration all along.

[intrepid-fictioneer-7]

Somewhat detailed sypnosis of Fate/school life, the 4-koma spinoff of Fate/stay night following the regular lives of the Homurahara students, specifically the track team trio. A manga that has never been translated into English, and so is largely unknown in the English fandom. This would largely not be a problem, except Fate/strange Fake is set in its continuity, or close enough, which makes its allusions to it and important plot points derived from it incredibly confusing.

Not my work, this sypnosis was exclusively typed up by Comun (@kaibutsushidousha​ here) on Beast Lair:

Ok, I have time now. Here's what the general deal with HimuTen is. Himuro no Tenchi is a yonkoma manga starring the normal girls of the track trio + Mitsuzuri, and the much less normal Sajou Ayaka from Fate/Prototype. As the "Fate/school life" subtitle implies, it's wholly slice-of-life, featuring its cast involved in everyday situations, the many original games they play, and supernatural shenanigans that they don't realize are supernatural thanks to Rin or Ayaka cleaning things up neatly.

Publication started in 2006 covering a story set 9 months before the Grail War, but then during its 2015-2017 run, it covered the Grail War from the perspective of people who didn't know the Grail War happening, and is currently set after the Grail War.

In terms of timeline, the main point of divergence that defines HimuTen is Kotomine's handling of Tokiomi's property. Like in the Fsn timeline, after the 4th Grail War, Kotomine was in charge of Tokiomi's finances until Rin grew up, but he made categorically stupid decisions on what to sell and what to keep, and his disastrous management was the cause of Rin's current money problems. But in HimuTen's timeline, while the outcome of Kotomine's poor management was still the same, what specifically he chose to sell was different. This results in two major consequences that separate HimuTen from Fate/stay night:

1)A lot of Tokiomi's less practically useful artifacts and Mystic Codes were sold to Makidera's father's antique shop, which often results in Makidera and her friends being involved in strange phenomena that Rin needs to take responsibility for.

2) A plot of land directly above Fuyuki's best leyline was sold to Sajou Hiroki, causing him to move with his two daughters to move to Fuyuki in 1994. By 2003-2004, Manaka already moved away from her father's house, and Hiroki himself never appears because he's always out of Fuyuki either meeting up with his mage buddy from Tokyo or dealing with Manaka situations, but Ayaka is a main character in this story, so that obviously has many ramifications.

Also, Ayaka's and Manaka's characters in HimuTen are pretty different from their Prototype counterparts. Fake Ayaka is about as much of a self-hating introvert with no self-esteem as Proto Ayaka, but she didn't get from the real Ayaka of this timeline.

The younger Manaka still had the same propensity to set the world on fire for her Prince Charming, but direct quote: "Her excessive omnipotence caused [REDACTED] to [REDACTED] because it was [REDACTED], thus [REDACTED] went completely off-rails, resulting in the collapse of her most confident plan. Catastrophic shipwreck. She learned that picture books are pictures books are for a reason. The Prince Charming of her dreams wasn't real. Disheartened, she [REDACTED]. [REDACTED]. She turned harmless."

Meanwhile, since Manaka never found her ideal hot man, this Ayaka has none of her Grail War trauma. Instead, she had the experience of witnessing depression turn her highly competent sister into an unproductive failure of a human being, and built an actual self-esteem from training in Fuyuki's best leyline, so she internalized that she needed to be the responsible sister.

And, relevantly to /strange Fake, Ayaka also left Fuyuki in the July-August 2003 period for a student experience in the Clock Tower. Waver naturally got interested in a new student with the same last name as Manaka, so they met and she was a temporary student in his class, where she also got to realize her Formalcraft talents from Proto and was advised to specialize in plants since she was so opposed to sacrificing animals.

The last major thing to talk about is the Grail War arc, although I think this was already discussed in the thread when FsF being a HimuTen sequel first came up. Due to the premise of the manga, we don't see anything of the Grail War actually happen, but from its consequences to the people around the track trio (Kuzuki's disappearance, Mitsuzuri's assault and hospitalization, Zouken's death, the Ryuudou family needing to move to the Semina Apartments after the collapse of the cavern under their temple, Medusa's post-war presence, Shirou's survival and relationship status with Sakura, etc.), it's completely that HimuTen follows Heaven's Feel Good End except for the minor divergences caused by Ayaka's presence. And those are only two:

1) During the weeks of the Grail War, Ayaka was teaming up with Ciel (yes, Ciel was there, but she isn't a character in HimuTen, she's just an incognito figure you find, exclusively during the Grail War chapters, talking to Ayaka in the background, appearing on the corners of pages, group shots, etc. and what is up with her cameos is only revealed in profiles outside of the story proper) to kept outside scavengers from interfering with the Grail War. Mashin's official statement is that together the thwarted 9 out of 10 invaders, and the 10th one that slipped past them would have consequences later in the United States. (This seriously implies that the Fsn timeline had a bigger number of scavengers profiting from the Grail War, which certainly will come up in some spin-off, probably the El-Melloi series)

2) Shinji lost a bet to Ayaka during that week, so he had to wear a magical wig that copied his hair, but slightly off-center, making people think he was wearing a wig all along. This protected his head from Sakura's attack, so in this timeline, Shinji was only injured rather than killed.

I suppose I could also talk about Tsunokuma since he cameoed here and how the reveal that the real Ayaka is currently studying in Romania is an extension of Manaka's and Celenike's relationship in HimuTen, but I'll stick to the Ayaka parts to keep this post as short as it can be.

[elephant-in-the-pride-parade]

That Troll Accusing P/T fics and Trek Fic Writers Blogs (Including me) of Racism could be a Right-Wing Bot.

Edit (4/16): I would like to emphasize that i really hope this theory is not true. It stemmed from having had multiple friends and acquaintances in the voyager fandom (white and not) be suicide baited and otherwise harassed with vague accusations of racism over the past year, (for P/T primarily, but other ships and characters on occasion too) yah we did cycle through a lot of explanations. Ultimately our anon(s) being someone with either a malicious motive or an extremely ill thought out and unproductive approach, were the explanations that wound up making the most sense. the content of the anon asks and comments i am refering too has been both vague and painful, and further, never came from a real ao3 or tumblr account. these also came with no evidence based points for the fic writers to work on.

I do not believe this theory below to be anywhere near the most plausible. but it is the only conclusion we could make sense of for a slew of similar anon messages that, at the end of the day, did a lot of hurt without making any concrete points that writers could take action on. By making this analysis, my hope is not to convince you all that a right wing troll is out to get voyager fic writers. Instead, i hope it comforts writers who have gotten similar attacks and helps them to dismiss messages that come with harassment and suicide baiting, rather than evidence based points. And i hope if there are real people behind those anons that seeing this analysis helps them to reconsider the effect their approach is having.

Original Post from 3/2

At first I thought I was paranoid post-2016 and 2020, but now I've been hit a couple times and seen comments on more of the affected fics. And I'm seeing concerning themes.

I make a couple of assumptions here: 1. My anon (whom I will refer to throughout as "The Anon") is the same each time. 2. The Anon is the same actor or belongs to the same group as The Anon troll commenting on P/T and some J/C fics.

The Anon as a Bot Evidence:

1. The Anon accusations are sweeping, but generic. They do not use in-fic textual evidence to justify their comments. You write P/T: You're a Tom apologist. You think Belanna is his exotic wife. You justify your blatant anti-latina racism by casting her anger as an inherent a Klingon trait. You write J/C: You think Chakotay is a noble savage and fetishize him. You write Harry Kim: You're infantilizing him.

These tropes and stereotypes are legitimate concerns that fic writers should care about and should be mindful of. These accusations on the other hand are not legitimate. They are left as guest comments or anonymous asks on fics heedless of the fic content or writer's background or track record. The AO3 comments do not reference fic content. They are repeated across all impacted writers. They target new and veteran writers alike. They target fics regardless of rating.

2. Comments that appear to reference fic specifics go no farther fic tags.

This was harder to catch. But a P/T fic tipped me off last month. It was tagged "Tom & Belanna & Miral". The Anon's first comment on that fic dove in accusing the fic of incest. This showed both that the anon had not read the fic content - they also didn't understand the difference between a / tag and an & tag. (Which also means the programmer of the tag-reading bot or human actor creating tag-based comments is not literate in how fandom ship tags are structured - they may not be a fan at all!)

3. The Anon never replies. Not on AO3 or on Tumblr. (All AO3 comments from "The Anon" seem to stick to the automatically assigned Anon name or use a generic, short first name like "Sam").

Exceptions to this - the rare ocasions where someone sympathetic to the anon replies break from the distinctive patterns of The Anon. Replies come from either burner accounts or guests with more unique names. And these replies are both A - fewer and far between - suggesting they are a different actor - and B - by and large quite serious and thoughtful. I take them to be real people, legitimate fans concerned about racism, caught up in the crossfire.

4. The Anon uses language intended to engender right-wing sympathies and white-moderate anger.

The Anon sent this in their message to me the other day. I will bold the relevant passages.

"You’re the perfect example of the kind of white person who ruins fandom for everyone else, a nasty racist bitch who cares more about their shitty fanfiction than the feelings of actual people of color. Keep using your precious freedom of speech to fetishize brown men I guess

"The kind of white person": This anon has no proof of my race and proof doesn't matter to them. (They have targeted writers of color and white writers alike) They are indiscriminant because they are hoping some of their targets are white women. They are also attempting to out-group white women from the rest of fandom - trying to engender in me feelings of being alienated from my community.

"Nasty racist bitch" "Nasty woman" incidentally is what Trump famously called Hilary Clinton during a 2016 debate. Calling me a racist is there to put me on the defensive (and to alienate me from my coalition) Im meant to feel shocked and disheartened by this accusation. And in a way, keeping this generic serves a purpose. A lack of specificity makes it harder for me to defend myself. "Bitch" is there to trigger my fear/anger response. It is also assuming my gender - again. The anon doesnt care if they accidentally sent this hate to a man or nonbinary person or a person of color. they are betting that at least a plurality of targets will be their key white woman demographic.

"people of color" - while it is correct terminology - is also terminology of the US left/democratic wing. By using this term the Anon is in-grouping themselves with the left - trying again to make me feel like an outsider.

Finally, the kicker is the Freedom of Speech part of this ask.

The Anon is using the concept of free speech here in the same way that the MAGA crowd does, to mean that I ought to be able to say whatever I want regardless of how it hurts others, rather than the legal term's actual definition - the right to critique one's government without being jailed or killed.

By accusing me of caring about Freedom of Speech this way they're not trying to make me feel guilt - theyre trying to hurt me, make me angry, and guide me to sympathize with Republicans. They are using the term this way to push me to think of my fanfic in terms of free speech and thus to agree with Republican freedom of speech talking points. Or if I reject the accusation - to feel torn between Left and Right.

The Anon is trying to sow discord. Theyre employing the same tactics that broke the Womens March movement in 2021, and that pervaded so many Facebook groups and twitter in the last two US election cycles. They are using tactics honed to cleave apart progressives and moderates.

My only question after all those realizations was: why the fuck are they doing this to such a niche group as star trek fanfiction writers.

And then it hit me.

The Anon's Motive: Trek Fic Writers are a Target Election Demographic.

By and large, US fan writers of ships from 90s star trek are women, often millenial and gen x women, many likely to be suburban. And yes - more likely to be white. In short we are part of the same demographic Trump lost in 2020 and needs to either win back this year, or try keep from going to the polls.

You can tell me I sound ridiculous - I think this whole stinking situation is ridiculous. I'm not unaware of how fringe a theory this is. I've been taught to always assume incompetence before malice. And for a while I considered that maybe The Anon was genuine. Maybe they had good intentions and poor execution. I'm sure I could write characters of color better (I am not afraid to admit that I'm still learning. Being wrong isnt something to be afraid of). I wanted this to be the case actually, but I have too much evidence and motive in favor of malicious bot tactics to ignore.

I have tried so hard to think of a reason I'm wrong. Except that all the pieces make sense. No fic / writer specific grievances have been aired by The Anon. They hit the same points every time, again, without textual evidence. They never reply. They chose words that wound and inflame but that never say anything specific about the fic or writer.

And wouldn't it be damn convenient for the Trump camp if a bunch of progressive and moderate US star trek fans decided not to vote because they were disheartened by being accused of racism and felt alienated from the democratic coalition.

This is a niche community. But we likely arent the only targets. And as a friend reminded me tonight, it doesnt take much to move the needle.

[questiontocertaintyofreality]

Theory: Sigma's Identity is Lev Tolstoi

Decay of the Angels is a organization, equivalent of Russian literature in Bsd. There is something in the subtext that has been puzzling me since the first moment I saw Fyodor and Nikolai together.

Where is Lev Tolstoi in the BSD universe?

I thought for the first tims hat he would not be on the same side as Fyodor and Nikolai because of differences in philosophy and ideas, or that he would start on the same side and leave, etc. I was thinking about it, but Tolstoy did not appear in the story. So of coudse theory came to my mind.

Sigma, who is we don't know he's full identity" is actually Lev Tolstoi

I will explain everything in detail and at the end of these short paragraphs you will understand the logic of the theory. Now, I saw an idea at @bungoustraydogs-tr was written in just one sentence:

Sigma might be represent one of the building blocks of Russian literature, Gorky or Tolstoy.

is it possible ?

I think: (Drum voices)

He could be

Let's dive to the point. With his own words and writing, Lev Tolstoi is constantly searching for something that can be called internal and tries to understand his own self, why he is alive, what is being a god etc. He explains that he is trying to understand. He thinks day and night to prove to himself how the value of life is determined and the existence of the God he actually believes in. He is similar to Sigma, who does not remember his memories, does not actually have a sense of self, and therefore tries to understand the world he thinks he lives in. Tolstoy's sense of self was also undeveloped. At the same time, Sigma existed in the middle of nowhere, meaning he had no choice but to seek values, vitality, and purpose. He thought he had to follow the path given to him. To follow the path promised to him. Rules made by destiny , well, sound familiar to someone also to someone's characters . Tolstoi

At the same time;

"The view that knowledge acquired through reason leads to error helped me to save myself from the wrong path of indulging in unproductive thoughts. The certainty that knowledge of truth can only be found through life called me to doubt the correctness of my life. Despite everything, I was looking for God, I was hoping to find Him, and I was directing a prayer to the God I was looking for and couldn't find, as was the old custom. Sometimes I was weighing and measuring Kant's and Schopenhauer's facts about the unprovability of God's existence in my mind, and sometimes I was trying to refute these facts."

These are the sentences coming from Lev Tolstoi's own mouth.

Second thought for the theory;

When Sigma was born in the middle of nowhere, he had a ticket for a train that wasn't in the desert.Simple. Anna Karenina. Anna Karenina is a book that begins with children playing with trains, and the train has an importance that cannot be hidden in terms of the plot. Even though I haven't personally read it, I researched that trains were important to the book.

Second thought for theory;

When Sigma was born in the middle of nowhere, he had a ticket to take a train that wasn't in the desert. Simple. Anna Karenina. Anna Karenina is a book that begins with children playing with trains, and the train has an importance that cannot be hidden in terms of the plot. Although I haven't personally read it, I researched that trains were important to the book.

Thirdly, while thinking about religion and morality, Tolstoy, like most people, thought that the world in which a religious person lives was not the most important fact. He had no ambition, but he took good care of himself because he valued life. Sigma voided a gamble at Sky Casino, giving its customer a second chance. Sky Casino was life for Sigma and he nullified one of the game his customer play so Sigma think games aren't important as his customers views. In fact, the search for talent emerged in parallel with acquiring knowledge.

I can believe Asagiri doesn't want t add Tolstoy but after all the authors reveal in story.... Also Sigma isn't count as a villiain after all and Lev Tolstoi really want to see himself as a better person, this is kinda a obsession to him. So, this theory might make sense

[rickybaby]

I was so hopeful this race weekend and now we have to endured stupid thought pieces about how Yuki has apparently ended Daniels entire career and how Daniel is not a team player, blames anyone but himself and Yuki is the best boy in the class and apologises for his mistakes etc.

It concerns me how they stick their head in the sand and ignore things from the tp and ceo about how Daniel, not Yuki is developing that car but Yuki is reeping the benefits of this experiments by vcarb

Hello nonnie, we’ve done the whole teammate battle thing already back in 2022 and most of the time, it’s only fuelled by ‘fans’ and the media. It’s nothing but tiring and unproductive to dwell on what they say and I’ve learnt to only concentrate on Daniel and what’s happening to him.

And yeah, there’s no two ways about it. It sucks. It feels like 2022 all over again and the whole media barrage is only going to get worse. Unfortunately I think this underperformance is going to continue till they introduce their first significant upgrade in Imola

Frankly the whole situation with Daniel currently is perplexing to me. Bayer’s comments from yesterday sure seems to indicate Daniel is the one willingly bearing the experiments on his car to help them find weaknesses in their package. And this in part appears to be supported by Daniel’s comments here:

Laurent’s comments after quali as well were more positive than negative, saying how this was the most comfortable he had been in the car all weekend, which once again points to the constant adjustment they seem to be making all the time. And the lap that got deleted would have comfortably taken him to Q2, which shows the speed is there.

But then all the positive spin I can put on the whole thing comes crashing down when I listen to Daniel’s post quali interview and his general demeanour is ‘I don’t know. I don’t understand’ and it feels terrifyingly like the Daniel of mclaren.

As @slutforpringles pointed out, the new floor seems to be the clear culprit. I just hope Daniel with all the experimenting he’s been doing is able to influence the upcoming upgrades to address this issue …

[militantinremission]

The 2024 Presidential Election: Heads- They Win, Tails- We Lose

The Democratic National Convention hasn't started yet, but Kamala Harris has literally been anointed as the DNC Nominee for POTUS. Mainstream Media is already asking her about her choice for a Running Mate. 44,000 Black Women, 20,000 Black Men & upwards of 200,000 White Women have gone on Zoom Calls to raise Millions & lend their support to Kamala. Even White Men have jumped on the 'Harris for President' bandwagon. Her Campaign is barely off the ground, but she has already raised Hundreds of Millions of Dollars for her Campaign War Chest. The Media is reporting this as 'Inspirational', but I find it kind of scary. Political & Corporate Elites have commandeered the Election Process, & very few seem to care. NO ONE was discussing Kamala Harris as a Presidential Candidate, but suddenly she's a Rock Star; complete w/ Rappers twerking & Democratic Shills crying On Camera.

Donald Trump recently attended the National Association of Black Journalists' Convention & DIDN'T do well. I personally think that it was a missed opportunity for Both Sides. Black Journalists had an opportunity to ferret out Trump's SPECIFIC POLICY for Black America, & he had an opportunity to 'Sell the Soap' to undecided Black Voters. BOTH SIDES engaged in a 'Pissing Contest' that did NOTHING for Black America. Some NABJ Members have put out pieces critical of the appearance of Fox New's Harris Faulkner on the 3 Woman Panel, saying that she shouldn't have been there. THIS is a problem. If Black Journalists are supposed to reflect the multiple ideologies of Black Americans, why is it a problem for Harris to represent that segment of the Collective? Rachel Scott had Every Right to address Donald Trump the way she did, but I thought it was untimely, unproductive, & unprofessional to make it her Opening Comment. We ALL KNOW that Trump is a Megalomaniac; how about getting him talking first, before unsheathing the knives?

Donald Trump tripped over his Ego several times at the NABJ Convention. While his Supporters say he 'didn't take The Bait', his reply to Rachel Scott says otherwise. Trump is so used to speaking to his Base, that he didn't think about WHO he was talking to. His reaction was unsophisticated, condescending, & borderline juvenile. His response, was a salvo of bombasity that played into the hands of the Democratic Machine. Among the cringe worthy comments made were:

He said that he was 'The Best President for Black Americans since Abraham Lincoln', which is comical.

He said that J.D. Vance is meaningless as a VP Choice.

He fumbled the question of Qualified Immunity in the aftermath of Sonya Massey's Murder. Sean Grayson is THE POSTER CHILD for ending unquestioned Immunity for Police Officers behaving badly.

He also failed to score points w/ the audience when he questioned Kamala Harris' Ethnicity- is she 'Indian' or 'Black'? Facing an Organization that boasts about having Roland Martin & April Ryan among their Members should've been a warning to stay away from That Conversation w/ That Crowd.

Again, I think that this was a missed opportunity for Both Sides. From what I understand, Donald Trump was the 1st GOP Candidate to speak at this Convention in Years. I think a little Grace, Courtesy, & Professionalism would've bore more fruit. The NABJ revealed themselves more as a cadre of Democratic Shills, than a Group of Objective Reporters. Why was Harris Faulkner singled out? Attorneys literally go to war in Courtrooms, but We see how Prosecutors & Defense Teams can go out for drinks in the aftermath; why is This not The Case w/ these Journalists? How does their singlemindedness benefit the Black American Collective? Are they 'Black First', or Democrats First'?

Donald Trump's Achilles Heel, is his mouth. I have said before that Trump is a literal 'King of Off Color Comments'. He's been doing this for over 40Yrs, so I don't expect him to stop. If he keeps sabotaging himself, Kamala Harris has a very good chance of winning. Kamala Harris' Achilles Heel, is her disingenuity. She has as many personas as Drake. She takes on the identity of her Audience:

She's 'Black' in front of Black American Audiences

She's 'Asian' in front of Asian Audiences

She's 'Caucasian' in front of White Audiences

She's the 'Child of Immigrants' in front of Immigrant Audiences

Kamala takes on the persona of each audience, & tells them what they want to hear in their particular vernacular. Sometimes there are contradictions in her Messinging from one audience to another, so she has been accused of flip- flopping. If Kamala can't find a way to be more genuine & consistent; particularly in her Style & Messinging when addressing audiences, her Honeymoon Period may move to a Period of Hard Questions. Both Candidates have their weak spots, but while Trump has made some pretty cringe worthy comments, Kamala has an actual History of Bad Policies. If attention shifts away from 'Who LOOKS Bad' to 'Who's BEEN Bad', Trump has a very good chance of winning.

Kamala Harris started her ride to the National Stage as the '1st South Asian American' in the U.S. Senate. Before that, she was an 'Asian' District Attorney & Attorney General. She's been on several platforms over The Years; touting her South Indian Heritage, Culture, & Upbringing. Her 'Blackness' didn't come into play, until she decided to Run for POTUS. Donald Trump probably thought that he could repeat Talking Points circulating in The Black Community, but he chose the wrong Audience. I don't agree w/ a lot Trump's rhetoric, but I do agree w/ his questioning Kamala's transformation into a 'Black Woman of Asian Descent'. This would've worked like a charm 30Yrs ago, but Indigenous Black Americans are delineating from the Diaspora & focusing on Our specific Lineage Group. As I said during her 1st Run for POTUS: Kamala Harris' 'Black Experience', is as an Elite & a Prosecutor... People like Karine Jean Pierre, Joy Reid & Stephen A Smith are descendants of Immigrants; they DON'T have the Cultural Experience to define Blackness in America. At best, they're [conveniently] Situational about their 'Blackness'. FBA Family calls THIS- 'Tether Behavior'.

It's comical to watch Van Jones & Sunny Hostin cape so hard for Kamala Harris. Sunny went as far as citing the 'One Drop Rule' to substantiate Kamala's 'Blackness'... This got Me thinking: A Legion of Black Celebrities & Politicians have defended her [perceived] Blackness, but has ANYONE actually heard Kamala SAY that she was Black? I've heard her proudly say that she was 'South Indian' on many occasions. I've heard her use terms like 'We, Us, & Ours' when addressing Black Audiences; but I NEVER heard Kamala Harris say that she was Black, or Afro Caribbean for that matter. I don't understand why Blackfolk are supposed to be excited about a CosPlayer that hasn't presented ANY POLICY, other than 'Reproductive Justice'. Her Campaign Website offers more Paraphernalia than Policy Initiatives. I question the motives of the Democratic Party. They're telling American Citizens that Donald Trump WILL become a Dictator, if Elected; but The DNC just installed a Presidential Candidate w/o a single Primary- What should We call That?

We shouldn't be surprised by the actions of The Democratic Party. The DNC has already admitted & Members Of Congress, like Rep. Adam Smith of Washington State have arrogantly repeated that:

The DNC (like The RNC) is a Corporation

As such, they have a Right to Select ANY CANDIDATE THEY CHOOSE

They're NOT obligated to transfer ANY Campaign Donations to the Candidate that Donors chose to support

Primaries are a recent Phenomenon; The DNC doesn't need a Populace Vote to make their Selection.

I can't help but ask: What's the difference between MAGA Republicans & The Democratic Party? The Biden-Harris Administration has ushered in several Policies that can be seen as Authoritarian. Our Right to Free Speech & Right of Expression are currently under attack. College Students & their Supporters took to The Streets, in Protest of Israel's 'Campaign of Genocide' in Gaza; but Democrats not only ignored the Protestors, they arrested many of them & threatened their Jobs & Educational Future at the Universities they attended. Colleges & Universities are currently being threatened w/ loss of Federal Grants, if they acquiesce to Student demands for BDS Policy against University Investments in Israel. The Democrats that attended Benjamin Netanyahu's 'Congressional Address' applauded his rhetoric. Kamala Harris herself promised Netanyahu $38B in Aid over the next 10Yrs. Some Media Outlets focused on the supposed 'Dressing Down' that Harris gave Netanyahu, but Talk is Cheap! Action speaks LOUDER than Words.

Kamala's lack of Policy Measures tell Me that she already has her Policies at Work. She's the other half of the 'Biden- Harris Administration'. Joe Biden said that she was in The Room when he was making Policy, & that she was On Board. Taking that into consideration, can We expect More of The Same from a 'Harris Administration'? Will she keep the current Cabinet Members in their Role? Her lack of specificity only raises more questions. Donald Trump doesn't get a Free Pass; he allowed Project 2025 rhetoric to continue, until it became too detrimental. We already know that BOTH PARTIES have flawed Candidates, but I see another pattern developing; I first noticed it during the 2016 Presidential Race. Whenever Hillary Rodham Clinton reached a 7 point lead or better, some skeleton from her closet would fall out & she would drop in The Polls. On the Other Side, whenever Donald Trump reached a 7 point lead or better, he would say something Off Color that would cause his Poll numbers to drop. This back & forth went on until Trump's 'Grab 'em by the p-' remark.

I see the same thing happening w/ the 2024 Presidential Election. Donald Trump's Political & Social Capital was on the Rise following the Assassination Attempt. He was Riding High into the Republican National Convention; meanwhile, Joe Biden was in Hot Water & Kamala Harris was an afterthought. Trump began talking about Unifying The Nation, & started to sound somewhat 'Presidential'... Then he chooses J.D. Vance as his Running Mate & foregoes ANY talk of Unification; instead he gave a 90min Speech that was equal parts unnecessary & cringe worthy. He inexplicably stopped his Own Momentum, just as Kamala Harris was being positioned to run against him. I foresee Kamala's Honeymoon Period coming to an end Sooner than Later. She has yet to give an Interview, & the Shills are getting antsy. She's currently riding a Wave manufactured by Corporate Donors, Black Boule, & Carpetbagger Colonists in Blackface. At some point she WILL have to Stand on her Own. Inconsequential Slogans like: 'What can Be, Unburdened by What has Been' will only take her so far- she will need to bring Substance to The Table.

I understand & appreciate how the current State of Affairs affects ALL Americans; especially those living Paycheck to Paycheck. That said, My Politics is BLACK FIRST, so I focus more on 'What's in it for Us'. From a Indigenous Black Perspective, I don't see ANY CANDIDATE for POTUS looking out for Our Interests. NONE of them support a Lineage Based Multigenerational Reparations Plan that will make Cash Payments to American Descendants Of Chattel Slavery. The CBC certainly doesn't have Our Back; several of their Members recently attended a 'Caribbean Americans for Kamala' Rally. It's pretty clear that Our 'Cousins' are looking out for their Own Interests. We FINALLY understand that We have to do The Same... The Best advice that I can offer The Family, is Register to Vote! Vote your conscience, even if that means 'Riding The Couch', but make sure you're on the Voter Roll for your District. The Powers that Be will have an accounting of how many Voters are available, & how many of those Votes they collected. We can make a Real Statement during This Election Season!

Black America was ignored for over 3Yrs, but suddenly We've become a Commodity during the last 6 months of the Biden-Harris Administration. They have provided legislation for EVERYONE BUT US. Illegal Immigrants are currently getting resources meant for Us, then some! Meanwhile, Democrats & their Shills have bombarded Us w/ the Doom & Gloom associated w/ 'Project 2025'. They think We have Short Memories & can't see that this Heritage Foundation 'Wish List' is nothing New:

Newt Gingrich called it- 'The Contract w/ America'

George W. Bush called it-'The Project for a New American Century'

Project 2025 is a Case of: New Name, Same Old Agenda. Democrats have been using Fear Tactics against Us since The Daughters of The Confederacy wore hoods to scare Our Children, & the Ku Klux Klan ran w/ The Concept. If Dems were SO CONCERNED about Our Welfare, they would arm Us w/ legislation, like an Anti-Black Hate Crime Law. The Truth is, The Democratic Party has a History of doing more Harm to Us, than Good. People seem to forget that Dems were the 'Segregation Party' (Dixiecrats) that lynched Our Ancestors & sanctioned the LOOTING of Our Towns, Farmland & Property. The GOP for the most part, watched Our Oppression in silence, but they have made their Position CLEAR over the last 60Yrs. No matter WHO wins in November, We will lose... Can't think of a Better Time to make a Statement.

-Just Sayin'

[camthesolemnone]

Sorta of a HeavyMedic vent(?) oneshot cause I've been inactive on AO3 for so long

"Mein lieber, you look frustrated."

The scene Medic was greeted with upon entering his lover's bedroom was not one he would have preferred. Heavy was sitting at his desk with a pencil in hand and a blank sheet of paper in front of him. The giant was hunched over, straining his muscles and revealing all of the stress in his shoulders and neck. His expression was scrunched up; it appeared that he was on the brink of punching a hole right through the paper.

"I am! This feels pointless!" Heavy responded.

Misha's overly harsh tone notified the doctor that this was not a spur of the moment irritation: it was suppressed anger that he had been holding in for days or possibly weeks. It was an extremely unhealthy habit, and while Ludwig would normally chastise his lover for this type of behavior, he knew that comforting words would be more effective in quelling his beloved's rage.

"What seems to be the problem? Having a bit of writer's block?" Medic asked in a cautious tone.

Heavy snapped back: "It has been months! There is no inspiration, no motivation! Whenever I put pencil to paper, I lose my will to write. I feel as if I have gotten nothing done."

Ludwig understood the true magnitude of the situation and was determined to support Misha in any way he could. He too fell into fits of unproductivity in his medical work, and it could feel crushing to the point of suffocation at times. The doctor paced over to Heavy and squatted down to his level. He placed his hands over his lover's with the intent of kneading the tension out of them.

"Why do you think this creative drought is occurring? You are a master of poetry, my dear, so I am certain your head is not completely devoid of ideas."

And the medic was correct. Heavy had so many different story ideas in his mind at any one time, but it came with the caveat of not knowing where to start. Most of his ideas lived and died as a single paragraph in his notebook, never pursued further after the initial burst of excitement. It felt like a never ending cycle.

"I do not know, Medic. I was so productive before--I even published a book! I have more time now than ever to create, and yet I am stagnant" Heavy explained.

"How about you take your mind off of it for a while? We can grab lunch, and maybe you will be more motivated by the time we get back," Medic offered.

"Nyet! That is exactly why nothing is getting done! I say that to myself, and then spend the whole day polishing Sasha or playing Poker! I don't know what has happened, Doktor!"

The more that Heavy described his struggle, the more clear the picture became to Medic. He was trapped in a terrifying cycle indeed: it wasn't just a case of short term writer's block, but the fault of a larger, well-hidden force.

"Misha, mein Kuschelbär...do you think you might be depressed?"

Heavy's anger intensified and it appeared that he was about to lash out at Medic for making such a claim when he suddenly froze. The giant slowed down and sunk back into his seat, really considering his lover's words.

"No, I can't be! I am not a weak baby man! Only small babies suffer from sadness problem!"

Medic sighed and shook his head.

"Depression isn't necessarily only characterized by sadness. It is associated with a lack of motivation in daily activities and can affect you in many different spheres of well being--"

Ludwig stopped when he realized that his explanation was getting a bit too professional. Professional rationalism was not was his lover needed in the moment: he needed compassion.

"Heavy, it's okay to accept that you're not well. Anyone of any age group can feel this way. I'm here for you, as your doctor, and lover."

Slowly but surely, the frustration on Heavy's face began to fade. He had been made fun of as a child in his small Russian village whenever he cried in public. Additionally, his father had essentially drilled into his head before his passing that a real man concealed his feelings from his loved ones. He thus grew up with the notion that any form of emotional distress was a sign of weakness. His partner was determined to change that thought. Misha's fists loosened as Ludwig whispered reassurances to him, allowing him to fully entwine their hands. The German leaned in to give the Russian a soft kiss on the forehead, which resulted in the first smile from him Medic had seen since entering the room.

"The Medigun cannot heal emotional damage, but I might have some medication in my cabinet that could help." Medic ended off his sentence with a playful wink.

Heavy laughed at this comment and pulled Medic up to sit in his lap. He placed his chin over the doctor's shoulder, nuzzling the crook of his neck whilst keeping him close in the iron circle that was his warm arms. Ludwig joined in with the laughter when Misha's stubble tickled his neck.

"Thank you Doktor. You have taught me valuable lesson. I will face this depression head on and write poetry again! ...And Heavy wants love from his medic now."

Medic smiled, relieved to see his beloved in a better mood.

"Affection can certainly be a remedy!"

[theno1joelhater]

good morrow, you. time for a gus lighter rant because he is such an interesting little dude. there are sources/links at the bottom

Gus Lighter my love, my light, the center of my galaxy, i love you so very much but YOU. WHAT ARE YOUR MOTIVES ???? what is the point of all the (max) harm you cause ?? what the hell are you doing you damn character ??? are you just fucking with them? is this for your own personal enjoyment? is this some kind of kink? WHY

firstly, i dont think his title does him justice. he’s not some human therapist who needs therapy—gus lighter isn’t a human at all. either that or at least implied to be some kind of non-human eldritch creature. just look at his video with gabriel (1). he does weird things !!!! things that people can’t do !! also, in his vid w officer avoidy (2) he says that avoidy’s in purgatory. makes you think !!!

now, i get that gus’ whole thing is that he lies and is a lier man but !!! what if that was true. what if avoidy is in purgatory. what if gus lighter was some kind of demon sent out to…idk mess with the cgcu? judge them? i still dont get his motives. this has been entirely unproductive!! the only thing we got was his potential species.

then again, the purgatory demon theory is sorta not great. the whole thing with purgatory is that it’s any empty void where souls await judgement. this leads me into my next theory: gus could be the being judging whether they get into heaven or hell. however, this theory would imply that everyone is already dead. and they’d all be unaware of it too, based off the fact that the justin case storyline exists (sorry, just had to mention it). justin’s whole plan is to convert everyone to him so that he wouldn’t die, but that would be completely thrown out the window if they were all already dead. also bjorn yesterday’s death wouldn’t make sense if was canon (there also might be more to prove they’re all alive, but i can’t be bothered). so cool au, most likely not canon. gus being a demon that judges the souls of the cgcu? that’s sick broski!

well, i don’t think i can decipher his goals and aspirations (at least not now), but i can try and figure out his abilities!

so good boy gus clearly has some kind of mind manipulation powers (source? just look at all the other gus lighter videos!). i’d assume his powers start off weak but quickly get stronger the longer he stays with the person he’s trying to manipulate until they fully submit to whatever he says. this is because at the beginning of his videos, the victims (clients) seem to retain their rational thinking but in the end they fully believe whatever gus says. an example of this’d be in the tim iddboy video (3) tim thinks gus is jumping to conclusions by calling him insane but eventually believes that there is something horribly wrong with him. i’ll admit this example isn’t great, so we’ll look at a different one: freddy frugal. (or should i say freddy financier?) in his video (4) we get a much better example of this. freddy comes in with no issues. gus convinces freddy that he has amnesia and is actually freddy financier. freddy rejects the idea at first but accepts it. again, this just goes to show how powerful his mind powers are (and that he has them!!).

also, a lesser power he has is teleportation. in his vid with gabriel (1) he’s seen behind a door, even though the last time we saw him he was in his chair. when gabriel rubbed his eyes, gus was gone. he did a teleportation !!!!

something i find interesting is that he can’t retain control of all of his clients. in his video with gabriel (1) he says he has some very sick individuals here. i’ll discuss this in depth later. originally, i assumed that was all the characters that have seen him before, since we haven’t seen most of them after their initial video with gus. however, this is disproven by gabriel appearing in a new video (5) and freddy frugal’s video one month after his visit with gus (6). there might also be others but i can’t be bothered to find them. what im trying to say is that you can escape from gus lighter’s influence. he can lose control. that means he can be defeated.

another thing is that he seems to have limits, or something like that. i don’t know how to describe it, but he can be put off by things. he can feel emotions. in the freddy frugal vid, gus said “thats a lot to unpack” (or something of the sort) when freddy says why he showed up to therapy (4). so he has human emotions. that means he can be vulnerable. that means he can be defeated.

well, time for me to talk about my second crack theory of: gus lighter works at a mental hospital! or he has a ward for his more “insane” patients. this can be proven by his video with gabriel (1), where he LITERALLY says that!!! maybe gus could have a mental ward, and characters that we see later on managed to escape him. you can escape gus lighter. he has weaknesses. that means he can be defeated.

so overall? i don’t know SHIT about his motives but he’s got mind manipulation and teleportation. and he has weaknesses. that means he can be defeated.

oh, and just some delicious food for thought: he has basically the same outfit as hugh mann, but inverted.

1. https://youtube.com/shorts/ZNGCVOywZGw?si=vo_bNC4EKx0wEzup

2. https://youtube.com/shorts/Lb0Th4pgDYw?si=TeE8SArB7Tn6muEX

3. https://youtu.be/JoqhpW4Kp_8?si=5D7h_75cvv1JHe8l

4. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4LMHTVOGNOE

5. https://m.youtube.com/shorts/1u-lVcuM2Us?si=D_P0ZLkqRa98F-3_

6. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PosGzDXvjA0

[dweamofsweep]

Final few drawings from this sketchbook now that I’m recycling it! Kind of sad because this particular notebook was one I used as a little kid, it has some suuuper old and embarrassingly bad (but funny) drawings in it.

Also just going to put this here; I know something kind of blew up here over the weekend in this corner of Tumblr. Dr. Tezuka has been dead for several decades now, so we will never know exactly what “ending” he thought about for Tenma and Astro further than how they got separated and never really permanently reunited throughout his numerous re-writes and loose canon tendencies. That’s up to us to parse and make meaning of and potentially imagine beyond for ourselves as audience members of the series, which many fans have done over the years (And even any other official work done after Tezuka’s passing, like AB2003 and ATB, Pluto etc are basically the same thing). I believe we are allowed to disagree with the evaluations of media that others come up with, whether just in our heads or posted publicly! However, it is not our job to budge every last person’s opinion on the internet. We may “see” each other on a somewhat regular basis because, let’s face it, this fandom is pretty small, but at the end of the day none of us know everything that informs the meaning being made by the others — and we are not obligated to disclose such personal information for any reason, in real life or online. To give you an example and offer up something about myself, Astro as a character resonates with me in large part because he stands on the border between one group and another; although he is certainly a robot, he lives his life as a human would most of the time, creating a split between himself and other robots while still not being accepted fully into human society. It gives him a unique opportunity to bridge the two together, but as a result he can never be entirely one or the other. The reason why I find that fascinating is because I am a second-gen immigrant Asian-American, and it forms some parallels with the way I feel in my own life, having been raised more American than Asian. Also, my parents are culturally Chinese-Indonesian, but ethnically appear Chinese (as do I). I will never be fully accepted into native Chinese, Indonesian, or Chinese-Indonesian communities because I act too much like an “American” despite my appearance. I will also never be fully accepted into the American community I live in because I still cling onto some of my heritage, and of course also because of my appearance. But maybe due to my experience in both worlds, the chances have increased that I could foster greater empathy, interest, or understanding between them, and Astro gives me hope for that.

However— I wouldn’t expect anyone here to know that (or even remember after reading it — it’s fine, you can purge the info from your brain LOL) even if it does affect my readings of certain scenarios and stories. If someone were to post something that doesn’t acknowledge or reflect the perspective I have, I can feel any type of way about it, but I have to remind myself I don’t know where they’re coming from and to try not to take it too personally, since they don’t know where I’m coming from either. Maybe someone has had the exact opposite experience from me, maybe they just haven’t been in any comparable situation to begin with, they could also be a lot younger or older, or from another part of the world — on the internet you really just don’t know, and a person doesn’t really have to tell you if they don’t want to. Personally, once I’ve said my piece, I’ve said it. If someone disagrees with me over the same point repeatedly, and I considered their viewpoint but decided to retain mine, I don’t continue to engage them, because I know it gets unproductive sooner or later (neither side changes their mind or learns anything new, if anything we both just become more stubborn about our own arguments because we have to keep making the same one over and over). I do think about Tezuka’s and other artists’ work very seriously, as an artist myself and an aspiring professional, and I believe that’s a valid angle to come from. Yet I often just draw things on a whim despite the aforementioned, and as embarrassing as it is to admit, most of my drawings have very little meaning. I just post on here hoping it might make someone else a bit happier to see it; I suspect that many others in the community do the same. (Obviously if I misrepresent something severely in my own work, which I hope I will not but you never know, I want someone to tell me about it, but I didn’t think this was the case in the particular situation happening now.)

and… I will freely admit to sharing outlandish internet takes both as a kid and as an adult, then changing my mind and looking back on it, as well as my behavior in general, later with regret 😭 it will happen again, I’m sure… perhaps this is one and I should have kept my mouth shut, but I hope this at least gave some of my perspective. If you want to probe any further into my thoughts or ask for clarification you can!

[anneangel]

Grantaire...

Curious how Victor Hugo manages to fuse personality into the characters. Grantaire may be in coadjuvant but he's so... quick-witted, intelligent and well-spoken, with a very social demeanor, but with a bottle in hand and alcohol in his body, he becomes easily depressing, truly dejected, melancholy and downright unhappy. And I sympathize???

They are characters so different from each other, it's crazy how the same author who creates the merciful, religious and God-fearing Bishop Charles-François-Bienvenu Myriel, creates Grantaire too and so many other characters with such different and profound personalities.

Grantaire has such a skeptical view of life (see everything from a negative dogmatism point of view, that is, his justice about things is always conditioned by a feeling of disbelief, do not confuse with questioning, in the skeptic there is a surly, bitter, unproductive denial – people like that are usually pessimistic). This is described in the book as: "Grantaire was a man who took good care not to believe in anything." He's not genuinely a person contrary to those around him, his cynicism isn't an act of provocation towards his peers only, but really how he views life and the world.

In the book: “He was ironical and cordial. His indifference loved. His mind could get along without belief, but his heart could not get along without friendship”.

And too, he says :

“Gentlemen, my father always hated me because I could never be a mathematician. And here, too, I don't understand your love of freedom and the republic! I'm just Grantaire, the good guy! As I never had money, I never got used it, and therefore I never lacked it; however, if I were rich, there would be no poor people, you would see! Oh, if good hearts were the ones with good fortunes, it would be different and things would go along a different path! Why, imagine Jesus Christ, with the Rothschild fortune! What good would he do!(…)”

“In fact, this circumstance has just confirmed my conjectures about the situation of God's fortune, and judging by so many poverties that already exist up there and down here, in view of so much misery in everything, I suspect that God does not it's very rich there. There is appearance, it is true, but one knows the poverty that is hidden. Oh, by all the saints on Olympus and by all the gods in Heaven, I wasn't born to be a Parisian, I was born for the easy life, but that's not how anyone's life is. In view of this I will drink more. The earth is absurd. Oh, old world, old world! You are the vile vessel of demoralization, deprivation, prostitution, ambition, ineptitude!” And Grantaire, after this burst of eloquence, had a burst of coughing, which he deserved.

“My friends, I hate the human species! (...) I think it is time to clarify the human being. But here comes sadness to take possession of me again!"

"Oh my God! Morality is something that does not exist in this world! Oh, what in this world goes birds of prey! Almost all are bad eagles! So many that I am afraid of them. So, don't believe in anything. The only reality is drinking. Whatever your opinion, it doesn't matter, it's all about drinking!". This was his axiom: "There is but one certainty, my full glass."

Grantaire, completely intoxicated, stunned the ears of those around him, in one of the corners, disagreeing in a thunderous voice and shouting: “I am thirsty. Mortals, here is my desire: I wanted to drink, because I want to forget life. Life is a hideous invention by I don't know who. Something that lasts nothing and is worth nothing; and we kill each other to live. Life is a frame about to come crashing down. Happiness, a panel painted only on one side. Ecclesiastes says that all is vanity. It is a pity that I am ignorant, otherwise I would quote you an immensity of things; but I don't know anything. I used to be gifted when I was in art class, but there are so many vices in virtue…” Bossuet tried to shut him up and Joly said “don't give Grantaire any more wine, he ends up this penniless and a little mad”, but R kept going at the top of his lungs “Who gave you such a right without my permission? And too much, I'm sad. What do you want you to say? Man is bad, man is deformed, miserable, infamous, melancholic... and I am angry, enraged, bored, I can only open my mouth, I feel dead, I feel stupid (...)”

"wine, mediocre source of dreams. Grantaire was an adventurous drinker of dreams. In the first glasses Grantaire, his prodigious joy appeared; then he reached this dismal (macabre) phase, a fearful intoxication, half-opened in front of him, instead of making him stop, it attracted him. He had left education aside and had left the cup, drinking from the bottle. The measure is the abyss. Having no opium at hand (used as a narcotic, taking the person into a stupor rather than anesthesia), nor hashish (cannabis extract used as a narcotic), and wanting to fill his brain with twilight, he had resorted to the dreadful mixture of brandy, beer and absinthe, which produces terrible lethargy (unconsciousness). It is from the three vapours, beer, brandy, absinthe, that the lead of his soul is composed. And his darkness is three: Nightmare, Night, Death, fluttering over his sleeping psyche".

“However, this sceptic had one fanaticism. This fanaticism was neither a dogma, nor an idea, nor an art, nor a science; it was a man: Enjolras. Grantaire admired, loved, and venerated Enjolras. To whom did this anarchical scoffer unite himself in this phalanx of absolute minds? To the most absolute. In what manner had Enjolras subjugated him? By his ideas? No. By his character. A phenomenon which is often observable. A sceptic who adheres to a believer is as simple as the law of complementary colors. That which we lack attracts us. No one loves the light like the blind man. Grantaire, in whom writhed doubt, loved to watch faith soar in Enjolras. He had need of Enjolras. That chaste, healthy, firm, upright, hard, candid nature charmed him, without his being clearly aware of it, and without the idea of explaining it to himself having occurred to him.”

One might almost say that affinities begin with the letters of the alphabet. In that sequence, O and P are inseparable. You might just as well say O and P as Orestes and Pylades.

"A true satellite of Enjolras, Grantaire lived within this circle of young men (les amis de l'ABC). He dwelt among them, only with them was he happy, he followed them everywhere. His pleasure was to watch these figures come and go in a wine-induced haze. They put up with him because of his good humour. In his belief, Enjolras looked down on this sceptic; and in his sobriety, on this drunkard. He spared him a little lordly pity. Grantaire was an unwanted Pylades. Always snubbed by Enjolras, spurned, rebuffed and back again for more, he said of Enjolras, ‘What marmoreal magnificence'."

"There are men who seem to be born to be the reverse, the obverse, the other side. They are Pollux, Patrocles, Nisus, Eudamidas, Ephestion, Pechmeja. They only exist on condition that they are backed up with another man; their name is a sequel, and is only written preceded by the conjunction and; and their existence is not their own; it is the other side of an existence which is not theirs. Grantaire was one of these men. He was the obverse of Enjolras".