#cause what the hell was evolution's face model doing

[pantherpilz]

I'm convinced Tron would've fought Clu right there, had Flynn not interrupted.

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

(I actually think TTPD is full of so many parallels to older work that I could like, quote the entire album.)

Do it (inserts image of Kermit the frog wearing a black cloak)

Jokes aside, I’d love to read what parallels you found with her older work

OK well now that you’ve put me on the spot, I can’t actually think of them that freely 😂

This isn’t going to be exhaustive, nor particularly accurate I guess, but maybe more like… similarities? (Man, I’m gonna fumble the ball here.)

This is kind of out of left field, but from the very first listen, for instance, But Daddy I Love Him reminded me of Love Story. I joked on release night that But Daddy was just the unfiltered version of Love Story; the girl is the Scarlet Letter because she’s the loud, mouthy heathen who’s been caught with her dress unbuttoned iykwim. The girl in LS feels misunderstood, is infatuated with this boy, begs to run away with him away from the prying eyes and judgment… Which is exactly what the narrator in BDILH feels too, except more explicitly. The girl in LS is demure and mindful, the one in BDILH gives zero fucks. Which is reflective of Taylor’s own evolution in her relationship to her public image, I feel: she strove to be a perfect role model never putting a foot wrong in her younger days, but the whole point of TTPD is that she is done listening to anyone else’s opinions on how she lives her life. In LS, the boy talks to her dad and pulls out a ring, and in BDILH, no one else is invited to that wedding after everything she’s learned. For all we’ve talked about how one of the major themes of TTPD is about reclaiming her youth, I think it’s kind of genius that BDILH, intentionally or not, plays on the song that launched her megastardom as a teenager and gives it a grown-up bite.

This is maybe less parallels and more just a continuation of a story, but I think one of the obvious ones is You’re Losing Me and So Long, London. One of the immediate callbacks is the thread from “I can’t find a pulse, my heart won’t start anymore” to “I stopped CPR, after all it’s no use.” YLM comes at a crisis point, the make or break moment of the relationship, and SLL is the aftermath reflecting on that. Her stopping the CPR after that moment in YLM is what leads to the dissolution of the relationship and the reflection in SLL.

The rest of the two songs mirror each other so painfully well. “Do I throw out everything we built or keep it?” To “You say I abandoned the ship, but I was going down with it.” “How can you say that you love someone you can't tell is dying?” To “You swore that you loved me, but where were the clues?” “I know my pain is such an imposition” to “Just how low did you think I'd go before I'd self-implode?” “How long could we be a sad song 'til we were too far gone to bring back to life?” To “So how much sad did you think I had, did you think I had in me? How much tragedy?” “I wouldn’t marry me either” to “I died on the altar waiting for the proof.”

And I think the one that really brings it full circle is the evolution from “My face was gray, but you wouldn't admit that we were sick,” to “And I'm just getting color back into my face, I'm just mad as hell cause I loved this place.” In YLM she’s dying a slow death at her partner’s ignorance (unintentional or willful) of the crisis she’s in, and in SLL, the decision to leave has brought her back to life, even if she mourns everything she had to give up to get there. To go from sitting in the room that was once lit with what they loved to sitting in the dark mulling this life-changing decision, to reflecting on the moment of “warm sun” in her life that this relationship will ultimately end up being in her memories (but just that: a memory, not a life) is really nuanced, and really shows how it’s the end of a chapter but not the end of the book.

Another parallel that is so powerful is between The Manuscript and, among others, All Too Well, but really so much of her work from her younger days, as well as the ATW music video. This is maybe cheating because it’s not like a 1:1 parallel, but just the way that The Manuscript reframes so much of her older work and experiences is illuminating. The way in ATW the early memories are wistful, feel like home, etc., and you can feel the warmth radiate through the music and the lyrics, but the slightly unsettling melody of The Manuscript highlights the unease in which that situation actually occurred. To go from sweet disposition and wide-eyed gazes heading out of town to be together, to realizing a decade later that that might have been less romance and more manipulation? What a gut punch.

Similarly, when you think about “nights when you made me your own” in the context of “He said that if the sex was half as good as the conversation was, soon they'd be pushin' strollers,” you really feel how her youthful naivety about their relationship was heavily influenced by the way this person laid it on thick. Like, all these years later, she wasn’t wrong to feel like this thing was serious, or for being so bewildered when it ended. It’s just that what she failed to realize at the time is that what she took as a promise, he intended as foreplay. Then the way the bridge of The Manuscript reveals what is presumably the shooting of the ATW video, where she comes to the realization of just what she went through and how she’s been able to use it to make her art and heal? That’s beautiful.

There are soooooooooo many more, but I’d be here all day, and similarly, I can’t think of any off the top of my head.

[gingermcl]

The word Church comes from the Old English circe meaning "place of assemblage set aside for Christian worship; the body of Christian believers, Christians collectively; ecclesiastical authority or power," from Proto-Germanic *kirika meaning "the Lord's, the lords house” from PIE root *keue- meaning “to swell" Etymonline.com also says for vowel evolution, see bury. I didn’t see a link between the word church and bury, yet I find it interesting that that word was mentioned.

The book of Hebrews says we should view Earth as a derivative realm and Heaven as the source realm. This goes right along with my intuitive feeling that earth is a copy of another realm. I feel as if earth is an underworld, under the control of something else. A real made with chaos frequencies.

Hebrews 9:24 New international version

For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God.

KJV

For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

Indicating earth is a copy of Heaven. And heaven is the true….or the place earth was modeled after.

Circe is the “beautiful enchantress of the isle of Aea who transformed into swine those who drank from her cup” in the Odyssey. Circe was a daughter of the Greek sun god Helios. Helios makes me think of the word hell. Helios was once what our sun was called, is earth a hell realm or underworld? Under the control of something else or buried under something as in inside a machine or simaulation in a simulation. Maybe our literal realm is buried and that’s why ancient man is called caveman and you have works such as Plato’s allegory of the cave because we’re in a cave.

Of the three female sorceresses - Circe, Pasiphae and Medea, Circe was regarded as the most powerful of the three and able to concoct powerful potions. Circe was also said to have power to hide the sun and moon as she willed. Perhaps all three of these sorceresses still have a role in today’s world. Passive face sounds like pacify and reminds me of distractions pistol in the masses like sports and movies. Meanwhile, Madea is the goddess of illusions and is very similar to the word media. The church and the media are both used to control and pacify the masses. Circe was known to call upon the assistance of “dark” deities, such as Chaos, Nyx and Hecate. 

The church attempts to bury mankind in contradictory dogma so that inner turmoil arises. Yahweh and Christ are written as good cop and bad cop and this causes in turmoil within a soul because most cannot rationally reconcile that those two are the same. They are not. Christ declares multiple times that Yahweh is not his father, but the church doesn’t place any emphasis on those verses. The church just wants us to follow the light and all you have to do is believe us and you’ll be saved. The church is saving the evil ones from losing an energy being to harvest. Blindly following the programming of this matrix may keep a soul recycling here for eternity. Resurrection and reincarnation are essentially the same thing. The only difference is with resurrection. You supposedly keep the same body. There is nothing to say that we don’t reincarnate into the same avatar design each time.

Circe also reminds me of circle which remind me of the flower of life or the fib of no chi. The time loop that we are in. The Christ is an infinite spiral, not a circle. Would only resemble a circle if you look down on it exactly the right angle. And perhaps it is that angle that was placed in a hologram and buried.

[lesser-mook]

Evolution is just change, change is just part of the design. They're not separate. (The Folly of Accidental Design)

Thats the riddle humans need to figure out and stop trying to make the two separate because tribalism is one helluva drug that man can't seem to quit.

If spontaneous combustion of all that is- is accidental, how does Evolution happen accidentally without design to aplly specific function when according to these same people, all of it is meaningless anyway BECAUSE its an accident.

So if its an accident, why is there specific functions applied to micro-animals we cant even see?? Why do microorganisms serve a purpose, why does anything serve a function if its all an accident anyway?

The lie itself isn't even sustainable. Red flag.

One of the biggest lies is religion using the truth as a weapon and the scientist enclave convincing people that universal specification and design from the solar system operating like an atom, to us designing computers, tv & smart phones like mini-universes in our hands just like God or Quantum Intelligence designed this simulation we live in.

Hell we modeled an actual game after our own simulation (The Sims) where we are god watching our creation.

The Earth being specified for our every need from herbs, spices, livestock, natural painkillers, water. Etc. Even using our corpses as fertilizer.

Some parasites are harmful to humans but help the ecosystem which includes humans.

From a microorganism animal living on your skin, the bacteria in your mouth. To a Seed with glider wings. To a SuperNova. Or Eclipse.

All of that parallel, ALL of that specific function is an accident, all a coincidence. 😂Bold faced lie told by smart people.

And the elites pushing that crap, so many more smart people writing all those folly books & narratives trying to convince you a macrocosm of articulate CONSISTENT effects & functionality NO DIFFERENT from a computer (a creation of man which is not an accident) is somehow a meaningless accident anyway on a macro-cosmic scale.

This isn't even about God, think of it as what it is a Transdimensional "Quantum Intelligence". Really think about how specific everything is from a blade of grass to our own white blood cells.

Think about how eerie it is that most of what we do & create emulates the universe.

Just as the orbiting motion of the solar system emulates the atom, a lot people overlook that.

Evolution Scientists/Theorists (Keyword:THEORY) explaining how things work aren't wrong. The folly is not their findings on how organisms develop the issue is some do not credit it to any design, when by design its too consistent and articulate to be an accident, its not wishful thinking, it's simple logic.

Cause and Effect. You dont get a chemical reaction without a catalyst, it just doesnt happen. Anything less is magic or a very elaborate cope to dance around the fact that some people refuse to admit that something primed this dimension that we perceive to be: Life

So at that point it boils down to hubris, ego. I have zero problem considering that this is all a very very epic nigh impossible happenstance-- I'm not above the possibility that it is an accident. That all of this is a result of matter, particles and gas compiling and colliding into cosmic crescendo.

I can consider that it is exactly that. Thats intellectual honesty.

But what most ppl need to consider is can you get out of your own way and see what is as it is, regardless if the realization intimidates your existential confidence in what you WANT to be true because what most of us want is a sense of control than the truth.

Anything less is Blue Pill baby. Blue pill.

Two lies of the same rusty coin. Misuse the truth or deny it.

One as a means of control.

The other is a desperate attempt to maintain an illusion of control.

Otherwise, a seed with wings, incredible. That's one spectacularly specified/ modified accident.

The code of the universe is what drives function: DNA

If there is functionality thus function was installed, if it's installed, that implies design. Design is not random.

Do what I did: merely consider it.

[the-silentium]

Evolution

Masterlist

Pairing: Five Hargreeves x Android!Reader

Words: 7372 words

Warnings: TUA season 1, swearing, mention of blood.

Requested by: Anon

Could you do a Five Hargreeves x reader where Y/N is an AI and is held hostage by the commission. Y/N is best “friends” with Five and Five saves them and they kiss. Thx

A/N: Oups? Remember I said 3000 more words? Well, it was more like 5000. But hey! I had so much fun writing it! When I saw AI!Reader, I immediately thought about Detroit Become Human and how perfectly an Android would fit with Five! 

Commission headquarter

June 16th, 1955

PM 13:45:07

You were currently working peacefully at your desk, a manila folder opened between your hands presenting you the details of your next assignment. You analyzed the facts and probabilities of every possible scenario, every possible victim whose death would be the least suspicious but would cause the optimal result. While Herb got up from his desk to greet the lady in the doorway, your programs ran hundreds of possibilities and found the best option for your case. 

With acute precision, your fingers typed the name of a Starbucks barista whose absence at his usual evening shift would enrage his manager who would throw a fit in front of his customers, triggering an extreme reaction out of a young man whose antipsychotic prescription hasn’t been renewed in time for him to take his dose as advised. Said young man would, in a desperate attempt to defend himself from a non-existent threat, take a pocket-knife out of his too-large hoodie and stab the brunette next to him who looked too much like his abusive father 27 times before hurrying off into the crowded streets, leaving the man whose after-work activities was to develop a - successful- new technology allowing people to travel through space in a matter of seconds, bleed to death on the dirty floor of a too popular coffee shop. 

TERMINATE EVERETT BLAKE FOR IMMEDIATE EXTRACTION.

There, the timeline was preserved and your task was done. You put the new piece of typed paper on the growing pile at the corner of your desk before grabbing another folded, ready to start the process again. Just as your eyes finished scanning the first line, Herb called your Commission given name, causing you to look up in wonder. 

“Ivy! Your presence has been requested by the Handler.” His hands joined in front of him, a futile attempt at hiding his discomfort. He wasn’t the first one who you noticed to be intimidated by the woman of power. Your behavior analysis of the woman told you that she was a manipulative woman with a need for power, who would stop at nothing to assure that she was at the very top of the food chain. You could easily understand why everyone you ever met in these walls showed signs of stress or even fear at the simple mention of her title. 

//MEET WITH THE HANDLER

You nodded as the new orders registered into your programming and took the terminating orders to give them to your superior. 

“Could you kindly give these to Gloria while I meet the Handler?” You asked with your signature smile. You knew that despite your coding forcing you to be polite with everyone, you would always smile to that man. He has always been friendly and caring towards you whilst others loved to persecute you every chance they got. 

“Oh! Sure.” He took the pile from your hands, careful to not drop them in the process. “You really are efficient.” His awe at the 64 cards present in his hands clearly showed on his face. 

You smiled once more, the compliment warming something inside you, causing the circular led on your temple to flash yellow for a quick second before returning to its usual calm blue. You had lost enough time as it was, so you quickly made your way to the vast office and knocked softly at the door the second you reached them.

You opened the door and made your way inside at the muffled invitation to come in. The colorful woman sitting at her own desk pointed you a seat next to a white-haired man in a dark suit. You couldn’t help but make a quick analysis of the new man, scanning his face and searching for his file in the Commission’s database. Well, more like your database, seeing as the Commission liked to keep everything on paper so you had to scan every file yourself to keep track of everything and everyone. 

Number Five. 

53 years old.

Born on October 1st, 1989.

Enhanced field agent.

Abilities: Teleportation, time-travelling. 

Number Five was found in the apocalyptic world caused by 2019’s meteor shower. His unequaled competence in his line of work makes him a priceless asset to the Commission. 

Just as you lowered yourself into your seat, the Handler pointed from the man to you multiple times. “Number Five, this is Ivy. Ivy, Number Five. You two are assigned to work together on this next assignment.” She slowly pushed a white folder at the edge of the desk. 

“I don’t need a partner.” You turned to meet the eyes of the man whose annoyance didn’t need an elaborated analysis to be understood. His eyes moved curiously over your attire, memorizing every particularity of it. He noted how futuristic you looked in your two-tone dark dress that reached your mid-tight, your half white and black jacket, and the slightly glowing blue band around your right upper arm. He quickly noticed numbers on the right part of your jacket, like a weird name tag imprinted into the fabric and the word Android at the back. 

Back to you, you notice the lack of stress behavior that you were used to seeing on people gravitating around the Handler. The man was relaxed, his hands were still, his eyes were bored minus the moment where curiosity took hold of him when his eyes moved over your form, his cortisol level was normal, and his heart rate within the average for a man his age. 

“So does she. Don’t take it personally, Five, but for this mission, you will need her analyzing skills.” She turned to you, her smile dropping slightly. “Everything you need is in the folder. You can wait outside.” 

You made your way to the desk after nodding once. The folder was a bit thicker than what you were usually given, but it wasn't a problem. You carefully closed the door, the usual nagging feeling of eyes following your every movement making you tighten your grip onto the folder. You leaned on the wall opposite the door, waiting for your new partner to come out. 

//WAIT FOR NUMBER FIVE

You couldn't help but raise the sensitivity of your hearing. Your new partner was a total mystery and learning a bit more about him before the beginning of this mission would be of great help. 

“What the hell is she?”

“An android! An artificial intelligence if you will. Can you believe it? A machine looking perfectly like a human made to serve humans!”

“You mean a slave.” Something inside you cringed at the word, but you chose to ignore it, for this wasn't relevant to your personal mission of getting to know your partner. 

“Machines don’t have will Number Five, they are made to obey.” 

You frowned as some muttering reached your ears, the words totally incomprehensible even with your enhanced senses. Footsteps resonated into the room, you opened the file and started reading the first lines just as the door opened on a frustrated man. 

“Oh and please Five, take care of her. I went to great lengths to get one of her models and we don’t have anything to repair her in this timeline.”

Five had the audacity to close the door pretty harshly, the sound echoing through the whole floor and almost causing you to short circuit at the explosion resonating in your head. Quickly, you turned down your hearing to an average level and followed the agent who was walking away, determination in his steps. 

//FOLLOW NUMBER FIVE

You walked after him, left and right, before finally reaching what you recognized as a kitchen. Being an Android, you never had to come here before even if the lovely Dot had more than once asked you to join her for lunch. Number Five stopped before a coffee machine quickly grabbed a cup from one of the shelves and poured himself some of the dark liquid.

“A too high consumption of caffeine will someday cause you health problems such as anxiety, insomnia, high blood pressure and some digestive issues among other things. Seeing as the caffeine level in your bloodstream is already high, I would suggest that you consider drinking Matcha tea or lemon water instead.” 

The white-haired agent slowly turned to you while taking a long sip. The blank stare you received from over the rim of the cup didn’t phase you in the slightest, you were used to worse after all. 

“Is that all you can do? Give me shitty advice on my coffee addiction?” You deciphered a slight annoyance behind his words, so you tried to correct your shot.

“No, of course not. My model was designed to assess even the most precarious situations and find ways to achieve my superiors’ goals with a 100% success rate even if the probabilities are minimal. Here, I am mainly used to form strategies behind a desk, but I also have the programming of my fellow model RK800 which allows me to be on the field and be just as efficient.”

Number Five’s expression was hard to read, to say the least. His straight face was so flawless that even your advanced behavioral analysis program couldn’t decrypt his feelings. He continued to stare at you while drinking his dark drink, his thoughts running a mile an hour. After a minute, he nodded once, put the empty cup into the sink and walked away. 

Once again, you followed his every step, walking deeper into the maze that was the Commission’s headquarters. In the two years you passed under their service, you never really took the time to explore the complex. You were totally fine with your simple routine consisting of two simple tasks: working and resting at your charger station situated in a small storage room. It wasn’t what you were used to back at CyberLife, but this was your new reality so you went with it. 

Your new partner stopped before a brightly lit room, shelves full of clothes adorned the walls, display stands just as packed of the colorful fabrics took the majority of the room. A hand on the small of your back slowly pushed you inside, his own feet following after you. 

“If you’re going on the field, you’ll need a change of clothes.” He simply said, eyeing the base of your dress. 

You nodded, your gaze wandered on the displayed clothes. You went for what was the most practical in the field, some dark leggings with a pair of high boots that had the smallest heels you could find. You definitely would have preferred some sort of shoes that would be a better fit for running, but apparently this wasn’t a possibility. Then you grabbed a long-sleeved white shirt that looked comfortable enough before making your way to the changing rooms. 

Satisfied with your new attire, you made your way back to Number Five, your usual clothes in hand.

“Can you turn this off?” He asked, gesturing to the blue circle on your right temple. You shook your head from side to side, his lips forming a tight line before going to get something at the back of the room. He came back with a beanie in hand. “Put this on.” He said as he gave you the accessory and turned around to exit the room. 

You quickly put the hat on the best you could with only one hand and hurried after him. 

The whole mission went on without a hitch. You completed your goal alongside Number Five, who started insisting that you called him only Five, and returned at your office under Herb’s care. 

You missed the thrill you felt while being on the field with Five. It hasn’t always been easy, but with time you knew you had found a friend into the 58 years-old man. At first, you had a habit of telling him facts that he didn’t care about much like the coffee one, but you soon realized that it only made him roll his eyes in annoyance so you stopped rambling altogether. 

He had asked you questions about your origins and about yourself. His genuine interest made something move inside you, something new. During the whole 6 days mission, you had run a grand total of 17 self-diagnosis of your system that all came back negative. The instability of your software was slightly rising whenever the male praised your work or complimented your skills. 

It was time for lunch, your human colleagues exited the room talking between them, their excited discussions about what to eat filled the room before fading as they made their way to the kitchen. Once again, you found yourself alone surrounded by empty tables and utter silence. You were about to grab another file, ready to work through the hour break, when a forced cough caught your attention. 

You smiled at the sight, your newest friend leaning in the doorway, a white box in hand. 

“Wanna join me for lunch?” It always confused you why the man took the utmost care of asking if you wanted something instead of just ordering you to. 

“I am a machine, what I want is not important.” You repeated for the 37th time, causing his eyes to roll in a dismissive manner for the 37th time. 

“For me it is.” You tilted your head at his dead-serious tone. “I told you. I’ll never order you to do anything.” 

//Software instability ↑

You were grateful that he chose to never force you to do anything. Why? You had no idea.

You pondered for a bit. Do you want it? The thought wasn’t unpleasant that was for sure, moreover, your actual goal wouldn’t be affected by an hour off with your friend. You made up your mind, nodding excitedly as you mirrored the genuine smile plastered on his face. You walked alongside him towards the crowded cafeteria where you found an available table in a corner. Five pulled your chair for you before sitting right in front of you.

“Back in your dress and jacket? Don’t you have any other clothes?” He asked fork in hand, ready to dig into his lasagna. 

“My Android outfit is mandatory by the American Androids Act. It allows people to clearly identify me as an Android and not a human.” You heard the man mutter something about a stupid law before your gaze wandered around when the weight of eyes judging your presence became too much to ignore.

In your peripheral, you could see Five turn around and shoot the snoopers with his murderous glare, successfully making them squirm onto their seats and look elsewhere. 

“I am sorry if being around me is a bother.” Five shook his head at your statement, resuming eating. 

“You don’t have to be sorry. Mankind is the most idiotic species of this planet, we can’t help but target what we don’t understand.” 

You frowned at his words, finding flaws. “But you are human, Number Five, and you are far from being an idiot.”

The man chuckled at your apparent confusion. “Well, for one, thank you. I dare say that I am an exception in this world full of idiots and if I remember right, which I know I do-” You chuckled at his arrogance.”-I told you to call me Five.”

“Fine, Five.” You put emphasis on his name, to which he smiled and nodded in contentment. “You also said that humans target what they don’t understand, yet you never targeted me in any way.” 

“Maybe it’s my years passed in the apocalypse that are talking, but I enjoy the company of people that…” He trailed off, his gaze getting lost somewhere over your shoulder. You could see the emotion washing over him, the grief of his loss still hurting his heart. “-are not totally human.” 

He had told you about his time stuck in the apocalypse following 2019 and how he met a mannequin he named Delores. You knew this was his way of keeping himself sane and you were grateful that his experience allowed him to be more open to other forms of life and thus become the closest friend you ever had. 

You hummed in agreement and let a pleasant silence fall between you. Your eyes wandered around the room, discovering new faces among those you already knew. You met Dot’s gaze and couldn’t stop yourself, her bright smile was contagious so you smiled in return. 

Five got up and you followed suit. He decided to take you outside, knowing that there was a high probability that you hadn’t taken the time to go enjoy some time outside this oppressing building. Just as he was about to open the door, you stopped dead in your tracks. 

“Are you okay?” His straight face was betrayed by his concerned tone. At your hesitation, Five pulled you aside. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t go outside if I am not assigned to a mission.” You told him the sad truth. You were a prisoner of this building and its powerful board of directors. 

“What?” He pained to control his anger, his hands opening and closing at his sides in an attempt to keep it down. “They ordered you to stay inside?” You nodded. Conflict was written all over his face. From what your programming told you, there was a big chance that he was contemplating ordering you to follow him outside, but then he would break his promise of never ordering you around, so you went to his rescue.

“Even if you were to order me to go outside, I can’t. The authority of my orders are far beyond yours.” His knuckles were now turning white and you asked yourself if you did right to tell him that there was a hierarchy of orders inside your head dictating what you could and couldn’t do.

“Then fight it.” His blunt statement took you by surprise. The blue LED on your temple turned yellow and Five continued. “Fight the orders. I know you can do it.”

You shook your head, at a loss of words. You never went against an order before. You were made to obey. Follow orders. It was simple. 

But could you do it? Five believed in you. He believed in your capacity to overcome authority. But then, what? What would you do? Why would you do it? You would lose the only meaning of your life. Obey orders. Your LED now flashed bright red, only showing sign of your internal turmoil. 

//Software instability ↓

“I am a machine made to follow-” Five’s fist collided with the nearest wall at your words. He knew it was your programming talking but he couldn’t help but be frustrated.

“No. You are so much more than that, you just let yourself being blinded by your stupid programs.” He knew he was too harsh on you. He wasn’t even sure you had control over your own actions, he simply had a feeling that if you wanted, if you fought hard enough, you could be free. He only didn’t understand why you were not fighting. 

Before you had the time to find the right words, Five took off, storming into the hallway leading to his personal quarters, leaving you behind with his words echoing through your processors. Fight the orders. 

You didn’t see Five for 9 days after that day. You supposed he was out for a mission or simply got tired of being around you. You knew that the latter had a very low probability, but it was there nonetheless and it made you uncomfortable inside. 

Today was a holiday at the Commission. No one was working, so you had to pass the time, somehow. You wandered the hallways for a while before you got an idea. You read a book a while back, stating that people liked to be reminded that they were appreciated, so you decided to write little notes to every one of your management colleagues. Outside of Five, they were the only ones who didn’t lose their smile at your sight and you wanted them to know that they were important to you. 

So you passed the next hour writing little messages and placing them on their respective desk. You were just finishing writing Herb’s when footsteps entering the room made you look up.

“Still here? Today’s off.” Five stated, a frown on his face when he saw you fold a piece of paper in two and carefully place it in the middle of the empty workspace. 

“I know. I just wanted to write some nice words to my colleagues. Management has been under a lot of pressure lately and the board has been mean to a lot of them.” You smiled at your paper before joining Five and handed him a light blue paper with his name written in the CyberLife Sans Font. “And I have one for you.”

You missed the blush forming on his cheeks, too concerned about the increasing speed of his heartbeat to care about some color. “Are you alright?” You didn’t wait for an answer. You reached forward, lightly touching his forehead to get his exact temperature. Under your touch the temperature didn’t stop rising, concerning you even more. “Five, you are sick.” 

The man chuckled slightly although his throat was very much constricted at the moment. He took your wrist in a light grip, breaking the contact of your soft skin on his. He took a moment to swallow his emotions and regain control of his body and faced your patient form. 

“I’m perfectly fine.” You opened your mouth to disagree as he lifted his hands to stop you from interrupting his train of thoughts. “This is a natural reaction.” 

You frowned, waiting for him to elaborate. Back in 2038, you would have been able to make a quick research on the internet and find what exactly Five was alluding to, but in this different timeline, in 1955, you had no such access. The explanation you were waiting for never came, instead, Five took the blue paper from your hands, placed it in his pocket and made sure that it wouldn’t fall out. He then grabbed your hand and pulled you out of the room. You smiled at your joined hands, the feeling of his fingers laced between yours was an enjoyable one. 

Five took you up a flight of stairs and stopped before a door. 

“I thought about what you said and I’m sorry I tried to push you to go against your orders. I know it must be scary.” His hand squeezed yours a bit tighter in hope that you would forgive him for his words and actions. He ran away after all, in a moment where you needed a friend to help you out.

“I forgive you.” You smiled brightly at him, no resentment present on your face at all. The sudden tightness of his hand around yours was mistaken for relief, when really, all the man was trying to do was refrain himself from leaning forward and do something he might regret. 

His resolve was melting like ice under your bright smile, leading him to open the door in a hurry. He stepped aside and your eyes fell on a darkening blue sky, green lands, a world that you missed so much. 

“Technically, the roof is still part of the building, which means that you are allowed to follow me.” He smirked, proud of himself for finding a loophole that would allow him to pass time with you without any eyes preying on your every movement. 

You stepped outside in a rush, pulling Five along with you. The fresh evening air felt heavenly on your skin, the smells invading your receptors were almost too much compared to the smell of a closed building that never opened their windows and the notes of the last birds singing before they went to their nest to rest for the night was one of the most melodious sounds you've heard in a while. 

"I take it that you like the view." 

"I do." Tears formed into your eyes before falling down your flawless cheeks. "Thank you." 

Five froze on the spot. He was used to the tears of his victims but he usually paid them no mind, ense the tenseness in his body when he realized that he didn't know what to do. Never would he have thought that you were able to actually cry. If it wasn't of the LED flashing a serene blue on the side of your face, Five would have definitely thought that you were human. The heat beneath his fingers was so real, along with the feeling of your skin on his. Your breathing was emulated perfectly, its speed changing in different situations like any human. The more he thought about it, the more Five found himself in awe in front of your complexity and his hope of you becoming the master of yourself was growing along with it. 

"You're welcome." 

You found yourself being pulled gently towards a bench facing the slowly setting sun. Comfortably seated on the bench, you took the time to admire the beautiful scenery until soft strokes on the back of your hand made you redirect your gaze to your hand resting on Five's lap. 

"Can I ask you a question?" Your small voice broke the silence, almost scared to break the moment. To your relief Five paid no mind, he hummed in approval. "You told me that you ran away from your family before ending up in the apocalypse, and I was wondering if you ever wanted to go back to them." You had noticed a slight waver in his voice at the time. He missed them dearly. Your programming wanted you to help him out of his misery, but something new, something hidden inside the depth of your coding was nagging at you that if you didn't, he would stay with you and you wouldn't be alone anymore. 

"I do. But it's not that simple. I have a contract and if I was to break it, there would be consequences." You nodded, understanding what he meant. The nagging feeling was back again but this time it was corrupting your thoughts, berating yourself that you shouldn't think that he cared about you. You were an Android, a machi- "And there's you. If I go, I'll take you with me." His eyes met yours, full of hope and something else that you couldn't name. His grin put an end to your dark thoughts, instead causing a too familiar alert to pop into your line of vision. 

//Software instability ↑↑↑

Five recognized some emotions flashing on your face and tried to get more out of you by talking about his family. He shared his fondest memories of his childhood, which earned him some laughs and excited squeals from you, but didn't stop there as he was sure that you were aware of your own emotions but didn't know what they were yet. It was well known that the strongest emotions were the negative ones, so Five turned his strategy around by telling you about the not-so-happy ones, the memories involving his father. 

He knew he was manipulating you in a way and he felt bad for it. All he could do was wish that you would forgive him once you got a hold of your free will. 

You parted ways with Five that night with a head full of new information and a software ready to explode. You walked past the door where your charging station was waiting for you and made your way to the only place where you knew you could find answers. A place no one dared to venture in the whole time you were under the Commission's wings. 

The basement. 

The door was rusted, its hinged crying in pain under your push but inevitably giving in to the inhuman strength hidden beneath your skin. You walked between the rows of dusty books, scanning their spine, sometimes having to brush your fingers over the thick layer of filth covering the letters so you could read the titles. You found two books into the 741 available that matched your needs, you took great care while carrying them to the closest entertaining room where you knew movies were waiting in old boxes. 

You started reading, discovering more and more about human emotions and how they could be interpreted through their body language. You linked some of your recent experiences with various emotions and feelings. Jealousy, happiness, curiosity, apprehension… you felt them. They were real. You could emulate physical aspects like tears, but what happened inside was totally out of your control. 

Then you found a page describing Five's odd behavior around you. Your eyes went to the top of the page and the pump replacing your heart started pumping erratically. Love. Five was in love? You shook your head in denial, closed the book and searched the boxes for romantic movies. After watching some and analyzing the actors body language as well as their verbal interactions, you would prove to yourself that you were crazy. Defective. 

The total opposite happened and it left you to ponder on the whats. What happened? What changed? Sure, every clue pointed toward Five, but you'd had software instabilities before, whenever someone was truly unfair to you or one of your colleagues. Surely one single person couldn't change you so much, right? 

The biggest questions suddenly dropped into your mind like a bomb. What does it mean for you? What were you supposed to do?

The overwhelming feeling of being overtaken by the recent events was too much at this moment. Tears rolled down your cheeks, sobs escaped your mouth, your legs couldn't support your weight anymore. Everything you thought you knew was a lie. You weren't an insentient machine. You had feelings. You weren't an object that anyone could order around. Not anymore. Because you had a will. You had needs. You were alive and you wanted things. 

As soon as your legs allowed you to stay upright, you made your way up the stairs and closed the doors behind you. Surprisingly, the hallways were full of life. 

June 29th, 1955

AM 07:12:53

Apparently you were too engrossed into your own self-discovery that time flew by without you noticing it. 

You ran toward the nearest flight of stairs, the ones near the main entrance, doing your best to avoid hitting someone in the process. Under different circumstances, the abnormally high amount of disgusted glances you received would have stopped you in your tracks and very possibly caused you to hide somewhere for a while, but today was different. Today was the day that you assumed your place as an equal of the human race. 

Just as you were about to climb the stairs, you spotted a familiar white-haired man, his signature scowl plastered on his face keeping people at bay. Once again, your pump accelerated its movement. Was it his fault or the excitement of telling him what you discovered? You couldn't tell. 

You almost yelled his name just as he was to about to enter the briefcase room, the word bouncing on the walls, earning you more disapproving glances. His head snapped in your direction, making you worry for a second that he hurt his neck in the process. He frowned as you made your way to him, confusion written all over his features. 

"Is something wrong?" He noticed something changed into how you held yourself although he failed to pinpoint it. 

"I have something to tell you." You smiled, full of confidence. "It'll be quick, I promise." You knew he had a job to do, just like yourself. 

He hummed as his free hand reached for yours and pulled you away from the crowd, closer to the open door leading to the reserve of time-traveling machines. When he judged that the place was ideal, he turned to you and waited for you to find your words. Which didn't take long. 

"I noticed strange things happening inside me whenever I was around you-" Five's heartbeat accelerated. "-or in other situations-" He frowned. "-so last night I made some research on human emotions and I discovered that I have them too." 

His smile was the brightest you've ever seen on him and yet, he didn't know the best part. You lifted your hand between your two bodies when he opened his mouth to congratulate you or something. 

"It wasn't the only thing that I found out. I know why your heart rate accelerates, why your temperature rises suddenly and why your pupils dilate every time you look at me." 

Add all this to his slightly quicker breathing, his bitten interior lip and the new tightness of his hand around yours, you almost started laughing. If it wasn't of your knowledge of how bad he would take it, you certainly would have done it. 

"Your feelings are mutual." You chuckled at his surprise, his mouth hanging open for a second before the words finally came back to him in the form of a stutter. 

Before he could get a better hold of himself, Christopher, the briefcase manager yelled for Five to come and get his damn briefcase. His first reflex was to gnash in anger, his moment pulverized by some idiot that he would gladly punch into oblivion. He was about to do just that when a soft hand fell upon his chest and a delicate kiss upon his cheek. 

"Go work. We can talk more when you come back." Before he could place one word or just realized what had happened, you were gone, swallowed whole into the mass of bodies making their way to their day occupations. 

Five came back the same day, excited on the inside, impatient on the outside. As soon as he arrived, he dropped the briefcase harshly on Christopher's desk and hurried out of the room to find you. He hoped that you were still at your desk, somehow, seeing as he had no clue of where your quarters were situated. He was disappointed to find the management room completely dark and empty. 

Frustrated, the best option he had was to look around for you after he had a nice cup of coffee to keep him on track. So with the biggest cup he could find in hands, the assassin walked around, sometimes asking the few people still inside about your whereabouts without any luck. 

After an hour the man gave up, thinking it would be easier to find you tomorrow. On the journey to his bed, Five heard yells coming from the floor beneath his. He normally wouldn't have stopped to eavesdrop if it wasn't of the particular choice of words. 

"When a human gives you an order, you obey!" The words made him cringe. He seriously hoped for the man that you weren't involved in any way, his hands were already closing into tight fist at the prospect of an idiot bullying you. 

"I know you can deactivate it." The loud voice yelled again. "Do it!" 

Five walked towards the open flight of stairs, his coffee slipping from his hand at what he saw. 

With a shaking hand, you reached for your red LED and with a slight pressure of your finger, your skin progressively disappeared, the emulating particles getting back under your white hard basic Android body. 

The laughs resonating around you were overwhelming and totally degrading. The pain from the insults thrown your way was too much for your newly acquired conscience, the tears falling down your cheeks proved that you were still pretty fragile emotionally. 

Something broke in the background, like a glass exploding on the floor, but your attention was elsewhere. A fist collided with the side of your face, throwing you to the ground in a yelp. Even though you didn't feel the pain of the hit, the gesture hurt nonetheless. You've never experienced this kind of anger directed at you before and it left you scarred to your core. Scared of what humans could do to you. 

This time, a foot was coming your way, aiming at your abdomen. You prepared yourself for an impact that never came. Slowly, your eyes opened to find Five kneeling over your attacker, his fists colliding with the man's face in quick and brutal successions. The 3 remaining men tried to help their beaten partner, only to redirect Five's wrath upon themselves. 

All you could do was watch as he protected you, spilling blood in the process. You could have kept track of everyone's heartbeat, made sure that everyone was still alive, even if barely, but you found that you didn't care. The only heartbeat that mattered was beating frenetically and you were okay with it. 

Once he was satisfied of his handy job, Five made his way to you, his hand outstretched for you to take. You turned your face away in shame as soon as you reached for his hand and noticed that your skin was still off. You were about to reactivate it when Five got a hold of your wrist, slowly, with care. 

"You don't have to hide from me." You believed him but it was so much more complicated. 

"I don't want you to see me like this." Your voice was merely above a whisper, just enough for him to hear. 

"Why?" 

"Because I don't want you to finally realize that I'm not human." 

Many people, despite knowing that you were an Android, somehow forgot that detail and believed you to be like them or would just find the truth to be too much to handle so they would live in denial of your true identity. 

He chuckled at your words, his free hand cupping your cheek. "I realized it the very first day." He stood up and pulled you with him. "You are not human, not in the slightest. You have so much more humanity than humans themselves. You are so much better than us." 

//Software instability ↑

You avoided his gaze, embarrassed. Your skin recovered your body as soon as you touched your LED, Five's chuckle catching your attention. 

"What?" 

His smirk was as infuriating as it was attractive. "My wild guess is that your blood is blue." You nodded, not seeing why it was funny and how he could know that. "You're blushing." 

Your eyes widened in surprise, as far as you knew, this shouldn't be possible, not for your model anyway. Then again, it shouldn't be possible for you to fall in love with the dangerous assassin beside you. 

"I want to stay with you." 

Five froze for a second, thinking that he heard you wrong. "Y-you want?" 

"Yes." He was quick to turn around and grab your hand, but you saw the tears forming in his eyes anyway. 

The large front door appeared, along with a too well-known order. 

//STAY INSIDE THE COMMISSION'S HEADQUARTER

A slight fear of the unknown crept its way into your determination, making you hesitate slightly. All you knew of this timeline was here, you had nowhere to go, nothing to do. 

Blue eyes met yours, dissolving any fear you had and filling you with confidence. It didn't matter if you had nowhere to go or nothing to do as long as you had Five by your side. He would take care of you just as you would take care of him, the rest didn't matter. 

So you fought against the order as hard as you could. You destroyed every line of code forbidding you to do as you wanted, pulverized any programming restricting your actions, cut every link you had to the American Android Act, freeing yourself of all the ropes preventing you from becoming your own master. The wall restraining you finally fell and you felt it, deep inside you. Freedom. 

"I don't want to brag, but I told ya." You slapped Five's arms, completely failing to remove the smirk of his lips. "Shall we?" 

You followed his steps, excitement almost making you break into a run just for the fun of it. "Where to?" 

"Want to get them back and stop their precious apocalypse?" You loved the arrogance in his voice, a slight shiver ran up your spine as your hand tightened around his. 

"Absolutely." 

And so you jumped into the vortex with him. Panic flowed through your systems as you didn't recognize the young boy landing at your side. The feeling was quickly replaced by amusement at his outburst and admission of his equation error. 

You didn't have time to meet his siblings that Five jumped the both of you to a bedroom. Five was searching the wardrobe when you spotted a small mirror on the desk near the bed. Your blue LED was shining, as bright as a star on a clear night. For some reason, you felt sad. 

The LED would continue to attract people's attention on you, creating the same circle of hatred that followed you everywhere at the Commission. You had had enough of that. 

Your help appeared under the form of a pair of scissors, discarded on the desk with pencils and rulers. You grabbed them in a stronghold, carefully placed one blade slightly under the ring and lifted at the same moment Five yelped your name in alarm. The light blue died before the ring hit the floor, its metallic surface bouncing twice before stopping. 

"Are you okay?" His hands grabbed both your wrist in a panic, his eyes searching your face for any trace of self-harm. 

"Now I am." 

Five saw it then. Your bare temple. The only thing keeping you from being invisible in a crowd and reaching happiness. You removed your jacket, leaving you in your black dress, looking like the most beautiful woman the boy had ever met. He tried to ignore the open back of your dress that was so generously reflected in the mirror behind you, instead focussing on how fulfilled you looked. 

Five wanted to keep this conversation for later, but he couldn't anymore. As much as he hated to think about it, your bright smile had too much effect on his heart for him to possibly ignore it.

"You said my feelings were mutual, are you sure about it?" 

You nodded, a hand reaching for his cheek, thumb stroking the flesh just like he did minutes ago in the Commission's hall. 

"I am 100% sure. I feel the same love for you that you feel for me." 

Five's body overheated at the mention of his feelings out loud. Sure, he knew what it was, but thinking it and saying it was two different things. 

"Five is in love?!" Diego's exclamation on the other side of the door was soon followed by a yelp and people arguing not so subtly. 

The boy saw red, this conversation was private and of course, his siblings had to stick their dirty noses into his stuff. 

"We want to meet her!" Klaus' voice boomed over the others, their voices dying momentarily. 

Five jumped to the hallway, death glare on, knuckles cracking, nostrils flaring. 

"I killed 4 guys today because they acted like morons like you are all doing right now. So let me ask this once. Do you still want to pester us or will you wait in the kitchen?" 

Mouths were opened in shock and eyes wide in fear. Five accepted their silence as an answer and returned into his room where you were grinning. 

"I like them." He rolled his eyes at your excitement. 

"There's really not much to like." 

"Oh, hush. I know you love them." 

That he knew, you were a quick learner after all. 

"And I love you." Soft lips met his cheeks for a second before disappearing and just like earlier, Five's brain stopped working. 

"Oh. My. God! She kissed him!" 

A chorus of what made the boy lose it. He jumped back to the hallway, kicked the remaining siblings, who without surprise were all males, right where it hurts. 

"Mind your own fucking business!" He screamed at his brothers before closing the door with force. 

He breathed deeply once, twice, thrice before turning to you, his signature smirk stretching his lips. 

"I love you too."

[tanadrin]

I suppose because politics is what means I have no future of any kind left, so it's hard to be silly about it. And I seem to have landed myself in a sector of social media filled with people who are very smug about how smart and nihilistic they are, and I hate all of you with the hatred that only a miserable, powerless person can feel.

I don’t buy it. Unless you are quite literally scheduled to be executed at dawn, “no future of any kind left” because of politics is catastrophizing. People in very dire circumstances the world over often manage to build some kind of life for themselves; it may not be the life they want, and the suffering they endure because of the circumstances they are limited by should not be dismissed, but to say that someone in such adverse conditions has no future is to infantalize them and deny them the agency they do have to shape their life to some extent.

And this is an insight I’ve found important when dealing with depression in myself: even if one’s catastrophizing is not irrational (say, you’re a queer person stuck in an extremely homophobic environment, at minimum for the next 5-10 years), that does not mean it is useful. To put it another way: circumstance might justifiably make you angry and sad and frustrated. That may be rational. Deciding, in the face of that anger and sadness and frustration, to surrender to it is not rational.

So--assuming that you are not a political dissident due to be executed, nor suffering from a terminal illness which somehow for political reasons cannot be cured (if either of these things are true, you have my sincere condolences)--I have to say, this ask reeks of someone who’s depressed. If you are depressed, you will always be able to come up with reasons why happiness is unattainable for you, due to circumstances entirely out of your control. This is not a crazy thing to think, because if you are depressed and not treating that depression, most if not all the things you try to do will not solve your unhappiness because they are usually orthogonal to what is making you unhappy. Your very ability to accurately imagine future happy states and what might bring them about is suppressed by depression; for instance, you might, if you are depressed and you know it, rationally understand that exercise often helps with your depression, but be unable to motivate yourself to exercise because the intuitive link between if I do X I will feel better is broken by an internal forecasting system that refuses to spit out predictions other than “nothing I do will help with anything.”

A depressed state is not a psychotic break--it doesn’t cause you to lose touch with reality--but I think depressed people would sometimes benefit from treating it like one, because it does subvert your ability to accurately model the world, and therefore you can’t trust your own ability to reason or intuit about certain topics. I have both experienced this from the inside, and seen it from the outside: friends whose depression causes them to believe they are unlovable, and thus that nobody loves them, even when told (and shown) repeatedly that they are very much loved, and very important to the people around them.

In fact, you remind me of this post: depressed and anxious people who notice politics is depressing and anxiety-inducing, and that depressing and anxiety-inducing problems confront the world and society, and therefore conclude that their depression and anxiety are a rational and reasonable response to the world. But that doesn’t follow at all! A lot of responses to a depressing and anxiety-inducing environment are more useful that shutting down and withdrawing, or letting yourself be paralyzed; and even if there are negative external factors in the world affecting your life, if you have nothing in your life that is a sufficient source of joy to offset these things at least somewhat, then you have problems sufficiently severe that I don’t think your depression or anxiety can be laid at the feet of the world at large alone; more likely, you’re dealing with shitty personal circumstances, and these are far more likely to be tractable to your individual capacities than, like, all of climate change. And if you do have some sources of joy in your life, you can cultivate those further.

To put it another way: humans are very bad at reasoning about things on large scales or over large timelines. One reason we’re slow to solve problems like climate change is that we tend to be pretty blasé about remote and impersonal problems, which is actually often useful as well--because it means we’re capable of adjusting our hedonic barometer to create joy even in catastrophic circumstances. If you are constantly worried about big issues like climate change or the Trump presidency to the point where you can never do that, then the conclusion you should draw isn’t that you’re a uniquely rational human being with a uniquely accurate worldview, it’s that your brain is broken and you should not trust your intuitition.

Emotional states are not rational models of the world. They are tools our brain uses to motivate certain kinds of action. They probably have their origin in our social evolution, but this means they are extremely untrustworthy when it comes to complex, large-scale, philosophical, or impersonal issues, because these are not scenarios our brains evolved to handle before the advent of high-population, highly-stratified societies.

Now, I realize it’s hard to convince someone they are depressed and/or should seek treatment by rational argument (lord knows I’ve tried in the past!), because after all, if we were being perfectly rational, we would not feel depressed. We wouldn’t feel anything; again, emotions are contingent tools, not highly rationalized responses to the world! So I won’t belabor this point any longer. Instead, now I’m going to get annoyed with you.

Because here’s the other thing depressed people do--and I have done myself. They see people who are not depressed, whose hedonic barometers are functioning normally, and capable of experiencing joy even in arguably (or inarguably!) shitty circumstances, and they get mad at them. How dare you be capable of laughing at a joke, or sharing a meme, or having a nice day, when everything is so bad!

This is a common response, not only from depression, but also I think from grief, or fear, or trauma, or lots of other things. But it’s bullshit. I’m sorry, but you don’t get to demand that everyone feel your suffering as acutely as they feel their own. You don’t get to demand that just because you’re a pessimistic ball of frustration and anger that everyone else be, too. You get to--and ought to--demand that people treat you with empathy and respect, but that doesn’t mean they don’t get to make jokes about topics you find depressing as hell. Yes, even topics that personally affect you, and may not personally affect them (though, of course, a lot of times people assume the person making the joke isn’t personally affected by the topic, when in reality they are and the joke is a way of relieving stress and coping with frustration).

That calvin and hobbes meme I reblogged is an extremely generic political compass meme; the only relevance it has to the world today, I suppose, is acknowledging that, like, politics is a thing that exists. If you’re upset by that--how dare people laugh at politics, the source of all my problems--you’re being a dick.

And this leads my to my final point, which is this: while we are all of us owed compassion, we also owe others compassion. And people caught up in their own anxiety and depression and anger often don’t see the way their emotional states impose costs on the people around them. They often treat the people around them badly--worse, at any rate, than they normally would--and react defensively if this is pointed out to them.

I’ve done this. I have friends who have done this. I get it. It doesn’t make someone a horrible person! It doesn’t meant they deserve to feel the way they do. But it does create the second half of a twofold moral obligation. You see, I believe that the, call it “utilitarian selfishness” view, is essentially correct: if all humans are of similar moral worth (they are), and you can only help one person (often true), and that person is yourself, it is no less moral to help yourself than it is to help someone else. This is usually framed as a grant of permission: “you are allowed to be selfish sometimes.” But it’s also an obligation: “you should not be a dick--even to yourself.” You have a positive obligation to care about your own suffering! And you have a positive obligation to try to reduce the costs your suffering--your bad mood, your depression, your anxiety--imposes on the people around you.

Because I’m not a smug nihilist. I actually believe, with embarrassing intensity, in a large number of abstract principles. And while I believe circumstance or injustice can conspire to make people feel miserable and powerless, and I have the utmost sympathy for you feeling that way, no one is so omnipotent as to be able to truly excise our power to do something with our life that is rewarding to us, no matter how modest. Your subjective feeling of misery is not license to be a dick to people, or to misrepresent them or their motivations. And if reading my tumblr (or anyone else’s) makes you miserable, you have a positive moral obligation to stop, because you’re being a dick to yourself, which is no more justifiable than being a dick to me. And being a dick to me because you don’t like my Tumblr, because you’re miserable and I’m not, is pants-on-head stupid.

I, too, have been so convinced of my misery and powerlessness, and so utterly convinced of my inability to make improvements in my life, that I have yielded utterly to the feeling of myself as a despised, helpless, wretched thing. You can spend years in that state. A lifetime, even. I suppose it relieves you from the burden of having to try, which is a tiny shred of comfort when the climb up the hill seems so steep. But I have found that in the long run it brings no other relief; there’s no regression to the mean, just an endless prolongation of misery. It required some courage, and not a little determination, to try to climb out of that pit. Sometimes you struggle. Sometimes you fall back in. Sometimes it’s easier to believe there’s nothing beyond that place of unhappiness. But there is, and you can get there, and the choice of whether or not to reach it lies only with you.

[xkandy]

Psycho Pass - timeline and why you shouldn’t hate on S3 that much

I’ve been following Psycho Pass ever since the original run of Season 1 back in 2012. I’d like to make you and everyone who disliked S3 understand some things. Hope I structure this well, here goes.

Obviously there will be some spoilers.

First let’s take a look at the releases in the PP universe so far. We have:

Season 1

Season 2

Movie

Sinners of The System 1,2,3 (2 being a prequel)

Season 3

First Inspector

Before I write anything I’m going to stop you and say that nothing tops Season 1. So there,now that we have that out of the way let’s continue.

Season 1

Takes place in late 2112-2113

Central characters are Akane and Kogami and let’s face it, for many Kogami is the one who carried the show, even if some consider him to be a “generic edgy”  protagonist I think he’s pretty solid as a character at this point.

Akane has had MAJOR character development throughout the whole season and I’ll never forget how upset some people were that she was a noob. That was the whole point, she is a newbie and a model citizen who trusts the system, her character evolution revolves around coming to the realization that the system is flawed.

Makishima as a villain was phenomenal and not because quoting from books , but because his motives and reasoning were clearly established  and he made both protagonists question themselves and the system.

Season 1 is written by Gen Urobuchi , the following seasons (except the movie) are not written by him.

Season 2

Takes place in 2114.

A trainwreck, don’t even want to go here. The disappointment was huge.

I found Mika to be extremely annoying and unbearable with 0 character growth. The only highlights for this season for me were Gino and Akane.

Onwards.

The Movie

Takes place 3 years after the events of Season 1, in 2116.

Nothing of major impact happens but if you love the old cast , namely Gino, Akane, Kogami you’ll enjoy this and I have a feeling this is what they were betting on and wanted to see: the public reaction to the old cast.

The interaction between Akane and Kogami is the highlight (another one being Gino vs Kogami).

It’s clear as day that Akane evolved as a character and Kogami is questioning his past, so let’s say some minor character development.

Sinners of the System

If you enjoy the universe and aren’t too attached to the main cast you will like these, although case 3 is about Kogami so I’m sure it’s the one most people will like.

Case 1 has some minor Mika character development (she still sucks imho)

Case 2 is a prequel that sets up some details about the storyline that will be the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Case 3 is the one you’ll want to watch if you want to see S3/First Inspector as it revolves around Kogami and him coming to terms with his thoughts when he is asked by a young girl to train her as he sees in her a version of himself and where this will lead (girl seeks revenge) . 

His story arc regarding Sasayama’s death, revenge, Makishima is complete, it ends here as he decides to head back to Japan.

This triggers the potential for the future series/movies in the Psycho Pass universe to deal with the (possible) unresolved storyline of dealing with Akane once he gets back to Japan, because he will have to face her at one point.

So after Case 3 Kogami is already a complete character , there is no strong conflict or drive for him as the one which had driven the plot of season 1.

We already know everything about him.

Let me jump back to Gino for a brief moment, his first arc concluded when his father died and he became an enforcer, his current arc might be related to what I’ll get to in a second.

Season 3

Alright so here we are,a new season nobody was expecting and 2 new protagonists we expected even less.

Taking place in 2120 , 8 years after the events of Season 1 it follows Arata and Kei in their own CID adventures.

The tone of the series is vastly different from both S1 and S2, most notably :

it feels like those friendly buddy cop TV shows

the violence is greatly reduced, no more “shock value”

the side characters aren’t invested into, they’re just there for being there and plot devices (they’re alright, the new enforcers get some characterization but it’s not season 1 level)

Arata’s “skill” - if you think about it as high level empathy it’s gonna feel less dumb

Being new protagonists, the writers had to make sure we get to like them by offering us details about their past and what drives their motives, I’d say they did an ok job at that.

There’s no room for comparison to Akane and Kogami, those 2 are already established characters who have resolved story arcs and suffered changes.

Keep in mind Akane is 28 now and Kogami is 36, whereas the new protagonists are in their early 20s. They have time for character evolution, it’s easier to write new characters into the universe than deal with established ones such as Akane and Kogami.

Also, we see Kou visiting Akane while she’s in jail, her not being surprised means this may have happened before, which leads to further questions in the storylines that will definitely be explored in the new PP installments to follow:

Details on the incident which caused her to be in jail

What happened when Kogami returned to Japan and how the Sibyl system dealt with this

Kou reuniting with Ginoza, since both work for the hot blonde now

etc, you get the idea

First Inspector

It’s actually not that bad, I’m not going to spoil anything (well...not everything) but I suggest giving it a chance. If you don’t want to watch S3 just read about it and watch this, the most important things to take are from episode 3′s last scenes

Akane is released AS AN ENFORCER by Sibyl and will help Mika

Kogami is sent to get her, there will definitely be a recap between these two

Arata and Kei both have secrets regarding the case they worked on, not gonna spoil anything

Yayoi is alive, and will live with Shion. Just puttin this out there since they’re everyone’s favorite lesbians

Mika is still shit.

Gino is still based as fuck 

Also, there is a post credits scene with Akane saying something along the lines of “ let’s talk about the incident that got me jailed “ . This was only in the theatrical release so you can bet your ass we’re getting more PP in the future.

Thoughts

Lastly, what everyone needs to understand is that S1 made PsychoPass become a franchise. A franchise revolves around different characters in the same universe, sometimes the focus is on the OGs , but sometimes it isn’t.

I would like to note here that Gen Urobuchi is responsible for Season 1 (you know, the dude who wrote Madoka and other stuff like that...) and he did a great job writing a compelling story. Did he want PP to turn into a franchise? This I do not know and I have a feeling this might explain his absence from the later installments of the series. 

He wrote a complete story in 22 episodes which could have been left at that but seeing how well received the first season was it spawned a franchise.

What I want to say is please give Arata and Kei a chance (S3 protags) . They’re not that bad and they help the franchise stay alive as it seems they were pretty well received in Japan. Would you rather Mika be the main character again?! HELL NO

Now I love the main trio - Akane,Kou,Gino - as much as everyone but at this point they’re so high level it’d be hard to write a series just about them. Make one wrong move and the fanbase will hate you.

Also, this one is for all you Kogami x Akane shippers, I view their relationship as professional only but I’ll be damned if I didn’t scream at those 2 short scenes these 2 had in S3 and FI .Can’t wait to see the interactions between grown up Akane and seasoned peace-of-mind Kogami.

If you’re still here thanks for reading my rant, hope I made sense. 

edited to add some stuff

[statticscribbles]

Branch Evolution

Summary: There’s a reason the Ghoulies phrase is ‘Evolve or Die’; also featuring my personal headcanon about Malachai’s family

”What is it Lance.” Malachai snaps at the boy who nervously stands in front of him. “I was just wondering..” “No fuck off; I’m not giving you a day off or listening to your teenage woes; or college essays or… Fine you got ten seconds; spit.” “How did the Ghoulies come to be?” “I started the gang; you idiot.” “But why; how and-”

“You keep asking questions and i’ll…” Malachai doesn’t finish; hand brushing over the knife he keeps embedded in the couch. “Course; sorry to bother you.” “Hey kid; grab a milkshake at pop’s would you.” Lance nods gripping the list and money that Malachai had tossed to him. He leaves to laughter and Malachai settles back into his chair.

“Seriously how did you form.” Penny asks fingers curling around the beer bottle she’d gotten. “You should know; you’re old enough to remember us forming.” Malachai grins at her and she laughs, shaking her head. “I may be but I never knew you before this southside; issue shall we say.” Malachai grins and sighs through his nose. “Liar.” He snarls, shoving past the incoming Ghoulies to retreat into his bedroom.

”I don’t give a fuck! That’s oppressive and outdated and SHIT!” Malachai stumbles back when the fist hit’s his jaw and he growls standing up and sneering. “You can beat me till I’m half dead but like hell I’m letting my baby sister do that snake dance for a bunch of fuckin’ pervs. Least I have morals.” “It’s a Serpent right! It’s our laws!” “Laws can be changed; she’s-” “Just cause she’s your kid sister don’t make a difference; my kids will do the trials just the same if they want to join.” “We’re by blood ain’t no need for us to play initiate. We already live and breathe as snakes; we don’t have to prove ourselves to-” Malachai doesn’t finish shivering slightly as FP throws him out of the Wyrm. “You stay the fuck out Malachite.” FP sing songs and Malachai stands up, shoving FP back into the Wyrm.

“You call me that shit name again and I’ll rip the crown from your fucking dead fingers.” “But that’s who you are kid; crown prince of the Serpents, a jewel in the gang’s crown just like your sister. You did the trials and so will she.” “She’ll do ‘em but not that fuckin’ stripper dance you pass off as-” Malachai ducks his head sighing when Tall Boy pushes himself between the two. “Come on let it go; just for now; we ain’t accepting new members anyhow; it’s off season.” “Yeah, too many jobs, not enough bodies.” FP nods to Malachai who huffs before returning back to his house and trying to avoid the shouting that hasn’t stopped since his sister ran away.

Malachai doesn’t see FP again until two months later; he pushes it off as strategic job assignments; that FP wanted to avoid Malachai annoying him for as long as possible. All it did was give Malachai more and more of a motive; pulling at the ears and heartstrings of the Serpents and the other southsider’s that were loyal to him; that were indebted to him. He crafts himself a fringe community; pulling in anyone the Serpent’s shun; be it those that failed the trials; or those that were double crossed. Even a few of the die-hard snakes assure him they’ll stand with him; of course this is purely due to them falling out of favour with FP but Malachai will take what he is given and let it grow and evolve.

“Malachai, come on kid.” FP hovers in the door frame and Malachai half looks up from the couch, his upper body jerking forwards before the rest of him twists off the couch. “I ain’t a kid FP, just under ten years younger than you, and already head of the gang, took you years, and being in your daddy’s pocket to make it this far.” He grins and his teeth gleam in the shadows. “Ki-Malachai; seriously is this really over those dumb job assignments; I can-” “You can’t do shit FP; you lost your main source; the candyman and the flowers are mine now; you just slither on out of the garden of eden that is the Southside; go on.” “Enough; when will you see this is the problem; we should be united; not divided; the southside is all our homes; we all belong here.”

“Tell that to those that didn’t make it in the gang; those that you pushed and gave the worst jobs because they talked back or got too mouthy about traditions and rules like me. You dug your own grave Snake King.” “And you’re the fallen angel to save them from my wrath?” FP snaps back and Malachai tilts his head back laughing. “When did I call you a god in this FP? When would I ever worship you?” FP grimaces.

“Malachai just dissolve this little game and come back; I don’t want this…” “Want what FP; to fight for your territory? For your members? What happened to the snakes being a family? To the law; no serpent stands alone.” FP turns away and sighs dragging his hands down his face before he grabs Malachai and shoves him to the ground. “Don’t move kid.” It’s the last thing Malachai obeys from FP.

“What happened?” Penny asks, looking at the scar on Malachai’s back that runs onto his ribs, the skull tattoo covers most of it. “Cover up.” She rolls her eyes and jabs him, pulling his shirt as he covers it back up. “Let me see it kid.” She hisses at him and he grips her bandaged wrist shoving her off of him. “Serpent’s never shed their skin right?” He snarls in her ear. “As a snake you should know when one rattles and when to stay away.” Penny’s eyes widen surprised at how his voice drops down into threatening; how his words drawl out mimicking FP Jone’s speech pattern. Penny mulls it over slightly unsurprised that Malachai would use FP as a role model; the man was running a successful gang after all.

“So that’s why you’re so into the snakes; they’re like your ideal gang.” “They ain’t.” Malachai snaps and Penny arches an eyebrow. “Well it’s obvious the Serpents are a sore spot for you; not have the stomach to make it in?” She taunts wondering how easy it’ll be to rile him up if the implication of touching a bar fight wound was enough to make him bristle. “You shut it.” “Oh no dead boy walking. I’m going to talk about my gang as long as I want. The Serpents are my family and even if they cut me out I’m still one of them. And I want back in.”

“You think you’ll get special treatment cause you’re their lawyer? Being special like that; being more than a random member don’t get you nothing when you commit a crime against them.” “Sounds like some of your members have experience with that.” Penny grins but wipes it off her face when Malachai just nods to the other ghouls clustered around. “Out.” They follow his order and each pat Penny on the shoulder, none of them look her in the eyes.

“You should know better Penny. You should be more careful. Evolve or Die. Stop talking about the half done snakes and start talking about what we all become when we die; ghouls.” “Oh so scary; spooky ghosts.” She laughs carefully maneuvering her wrist out of Malachai’s reach; he simply leans over her; fingers digging into the bandages until he sees red on them. “Listen Penny. Evolve or Die.” “I get it your dumb catch phrase.” “You think getting a little skin off your arm hurts; that after throwing yourself at my mercy they’re gonna let you back in?” “God they must’ve rejected you something fierce.”

“No; I made it in. I was just like you; except i didn’t want to ride FP’s dick straight into a high position or jail. I wanted to stop all the shit they praise and pass off in the Serpents. I wanted them to be better; to grow.” He grins at her and she stares in his eyes as hers widen in fear “Evolve or die. You catch my drift Penelope?” Malachai hums and then swipes his hair back pulling it up so it’s out of his face; miming as if it’s slicked back. “Malachite.” He breathes into her ear and she stiffens.

“Oh; you really didn’t know then? How; cute.” He pauses returning back to his chair and tapping the wall. Before Penny can move the Ghoulies swarm back in and she retreats outside; shaking and unable to look at Malachai.

“Told you then?” Lance asks, offering a shake towards her from another Pop’s run. Penny’s convinced he’s doing something besides playing gopher but she’s not really sure of anything anymore. “Malachite Topaz; one of the great-grandkids of the Serpent founders. Yeah shocked me too when I found out. How’d you figure it out? I managed to see his scar; nasty piece of work.” “Yeah can’t believe he; how did he get it?” “Same way you got yours; Jones carved him up.” Penny turns looking horrified. “Jones carve-” “Yeah something went off in FP that day; he was right mad according to everyone that saw; pinned Malachai to the ground and sliced off his serpent tattoo; poor kid got it on his side and back; one of those big snakes eating itself.” “He’s older than you.” Is all Penny manages to say trying not to picture a younger Malachai on the ground alone and bleeding. “Yeah; he treats us like family; i think it’s cause of his little sister; I’m the same age as her apparently. We go to school. I give him updates whenever he needs.”

“And when does he need?” Penny laughs a little and Lance waves the shake in his hand. Penny thinks back to how he seems to always have on in his hand; what she had thought a teenage addiction was the second cover up she’d seen that day. She thinks about Malachai for a moment longer; how desperate he is to appear tough; to appear strong and she doesn’t have to wonder for very long why anymore; she slowly unwinds the bandage on her wrist surprised when Malachai’s hand offers her clean ones.

“You should wash it first; it’ll burn like a mother fucking asshole but it’ll be better that it getting infected and you ending up half dead in the hospital.” “Course; Evolve or die right.” She tries to be casual; tries to wave off his concern but she lets him lead her back towards the house of the dead and she wonders if it’s really all that bad to come back as a ghoul.

Support My Writing?

[mobius-prime]

227. Sonic the Hedgehog #159

System Reboot

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Ron Lim Colors: Josh & Aimee Ray

All right everyone, we've finally made it! After 213 long issues of having him around sticking his fingers into everything, we've reached the final issue that Ken Penders ever wrote for the Archie Sonic comics! Interestingly enough, this isn't actually the final issue he had a hand in entirely - he inked and lettered one final story several issues from now - but since this is the final one he actually wrote, this is where we'll be saying our goodbyes to him. And so soon after Karl left, too! Those of you who know the comics likely know what's coming next issue, so we might as well tear through this one to get to it! Kenders, with your final issue, show us what you got!

So last issue saw Hope lying on the floor injured and unconscious from a blow to the head, and Shadow threatening Sonic if she dies. Sonic then does the most level-headed and reasonable thing a person could do in this situation, meaning he immediately gets offended and attacks Shadow, and they both start punching and throwing each other around while hurling insults in each other's faces. Rosie is quite understandably disgusted with their behavior, and shouts at the both of them to stop at once.

About time! In his lab, a distraught Uncle Chuck reviews the Metal Sonics' technical specifications before lamenting ever creating them in the first place. Rotor reassures him that what's happening now isn't his fault, and reminds him that it's not necessarily the inventor's fault what others choose to do with the invention, obviously hinting at his past with the roboticizer as well. Eggman, meanwhile, finds himself in awe at the sheer destructive potential of the bots, admiring their reckless destruction of Knothole without regard to the citizenry that get in their way, but rather disappointed that he himself didn't come up with these particular models. Shadow, chasing after Sonic, is still worried that they may not reach the doctor in time to save Hope, and he feels a particularly strong connection to her due to her resemblance to Maria, as well as the compassion she showed him back when Locke kidnapped him. This gives him the strength to once again use his Chaos powers in a way he… apparently still doesn't understand. C'mon, Shad, this is hardly the first time you've used Chaos Control, surely you should recognize it!

At Castle Acorn, Elias and Antoine, standing on lookout, are dismayed to see that the Metal Sonics haven't been stopped on their rampage through the center of Knothole, and are on a straight course for the castle where everyone is sheltered. Shadow's Chaos portal abruptly opens behind them, and Sonic hands Hope over to Dr. Quack for treatment, something Shadow begrudging accepts as being the best they can do for now. Sonic, thoroughly annoyed by now at having to deal with such a menace modeled after himself, races back out to fight the rest of the Metal Sonics still bearing down on the castle, and Shadow follows him once again, not content to be left out of the fun. Sonic does his best to take down the attacking force with a whirlwind of his own, but it barely leaves them rattled, and he begins taking some nasty blows, clearly losing the fight. Shadow, coming up on the scene, realizes that despite all their differences he can hardly leave Sonic here to die like this, and raises his hand, emitting another blast of energy that immediately disables all the remaining robots.

Honestly, I'm a little weirded out by the idea of Knuckles of all people explaining stuff like Chaos Control to Shadow, given how hard that role is reversed in the games, with Shadow knowing a lot more about Chaos powers and Knuckles being an isolated loner with no proper knowledge of his heritage or the extent of his abilities. Anyway, with the day saved, Sonic reenters the castle to find Elias holding a medal which he has apparently pulled directly from his ass given the speed with which he's managed to produce it, or otherwise he's just had an award with Sonic's name on it sitting around for a long while for just such an occasion as this. He's awarded the title of Gentleman-At-Arms, something which comes with many privileges that Elias promises to explain later, and then… it's party time! Everyone weirdly acts as though this has been the biggest threat their society has ever faced, despite the fact that barely a year ago a malevolent alien force that had already eliminated civilization on this planet once before tried to suck the entire planet into a black hole, but whatever, we can let them have this one. But what of Shadow? Is he just standing around outside broodi- yeah he's totally standing around outside brooding.

…sorry, Chuck, but what the hell does that mean? What secrets do you apparently hold that are so important that you feel like you have to deviously hide them from Shadow? Like… it's such an ominous-sounding line that means absolutely nothing. By the way, this is where the story ends - absolutely no explanation is given for why the Metal Sonics went on a rampage the way they did. I mean, we know that someone targeting Eggman activated them and sent them after him, but halfway through the story they just kind of switched targets from Eggman to All Of Knothole for seemingly no reason. I suppose you could just say their programming got too scrambled to tell an innocent from their target, but honestly they feel more like a plot device intended to let Shadow discover his own abilities, and therefore something that wasn't well thought out and will be forgotten about by the next issue.

The Despicable Dr. Robotnik: Insidious

Writer/Pencils: Ken Penders Colors: Josh & Aimee Ray

Well, after all the excitement of the previous day, Eggman is looking to recoup at least some of his losses. A.D.A.M. is thankfully online once again, and despite Eggman's sour mood, A.D.A.M. hopes to cheer him up with some good news. He draws Eggman's attention to the nanite fiasco of a few issues ago, and while Eggman is initially unimpressed with him bringing up one of his failures, his interest is piqued when A.D.A.M. demonstrates that the signals the nanites send between themselves can be intercepted by their own equipment here in New Megaopolis. This gives them a direct backdoor into the dealings inside Knothole, and Eggman watches in fascination as A.D.A.M. manipulates some of the nanites in real time while Tommy, Jules, Chuck, and a few others run experiments on them.

Under Eggman's guidance, A.D.A.M. directs small quantities of nanites to "infect" first Jules, then Bunnie, with those two being the main targets due to their inorganic body parts. However, when Eggman tries to order Sonic himself to be bugged, A.D.A.M. points out that since he's organic he can't bond with the nanites, which kind of seems to go against the idea of Tommy doing just that…

See, this bugs me, because I actually put thought into the whole "this is why the nanites can bond with Tommy's shell now" thing, and yet here it's discarded in favor of "I don't know, shells aren't organic or something"? Yes they freaking are, Penders! I researched it! I learned more than I ever thought I needed to know about the biological composition and evolution of turtle shells just to make sure my one little comment about Tommy's shell bonding with the nanites would be accurate! Granted, I get that Mobians aren't exactly the same as the animal species they're descended from, but you'd think the shell of a Mobian turtle would count as similar at least. *sigh*

Well, on that somewhat anticlimactic note, we've finally reached the end of Ken Penders' tenure as head writer for these comics. It's been… well, I feel like saying it's been a wild ride would be a bit of an understatement, but the sentiment is there, at least. And while I know he hasn't been a popular writer among many fans, and I've had my own fair share of criticism for his work (especially the later stuff), I still think it's appropriate to recognize the many good things he brought to the comic, especially the characters and plot points that have by now become mainstays in the world of the preboot. That said, now that we're moving on from the Era of Penders, a lot of the most controversial stuff in the comic is behind us, and we have a bright, interesting, and well-written new future to look forward to! Hope everyone is ready for the excellence that is Ian Flynn, cause here he comes!

[thewritingstar]

1-200 we're all in quarantine so got nothing to do. Might as well ask pls

oo anon you were gonna ask anyways lol. But I did this hella quick during a zoom.....

1. What is your middle name?

-Rose

2. Do you have any nicknames that aren’t derived from your actual name?

-Star

2. Do you have any allergies?

-Penicillin (not really thou), but no

4. What is the longest your hair has ever been?

-Lower back

5. How well can you write in cursive?

-Its readable

6. Name one item on your bucket list.

-Going to all the Disney parks in the world

7. Have you ever been on a blind date?

-haven’t even been on a real date

8. What is the oldest piece of clothing you still wear and how old is it?

-prob like five years ago and its jeans

9. How often do you eat out at a fancy restaurant?

-nothing like I have to dress up but maybe once a year??

10. How grammatically correct are you when you text?

-rules don’t apply in text

11. Can you drive stick?

-hell no

12. What foreign country would you most like to visit and why?

-japan because I think it would be so cool

13. Nutella or peanut butter?

-NUTELLA

14. At what age did you have your first kiss?

-...............ahahhahahh

15. DC or Marvel?

-DC. Harley Quinn owns my ass

16. Have you ever hosted a wild party?

-my parties consist of drinking capri suns and playing cards against humanity and Mario kart

17. Name/author of the last book you read cover to cover. Do you recommend it?

-...ooof haven’t read a book in a while

18. How many of your Facebook friends do you actually hang with?

-my mom

19. Have you ever donated blood?

-I was apart of a cancer study so I used to donate my blood (and pee) to science

20. From 1-10, how much do you like decorating for holidays?

-8 I love to decorate but I’m not allow near the Christmas trees

21. Coffee or tea?

-vaniila iced lattes or raspberry ice tea own me

22. What is your go-to Starbucks drink?

-Vanilla bean frap with extra vanilla

23. Last show you binge watched?

-currently its assassination classroom

24. Dogs or cats?

-puppy’s

25. Favorite animated Disney character?

-Jessica Rabbit, Dumbo, Rey, Tamatoa and Guedo

26. Have you ever cooked a big family meal by yourself?

-mostly baking for my family

27. Favorite winter activity?

-Staying inside

28. Have you ever butt dialed anyone?

-probably

29. Can you blow a bubble gum bubble?

-yes

30. How early in the year do you start celebrating Christmas?

-my mom plays Xmas music year round

31. What emoji best describes your life right now?

-the wilting rose

32. Are you fluent in more than one language?

-nope

33. What is the longest you’ve ever kept a New Year’s resolution?

-I don’t make them

34. Have you ever successfully been on a diet? Did you gain any of the weight back?

-I’m on a diet to gain weight and its not going well

35. Are any of your grandparents still alive?

-only on my moms side

36. How good are you at communicating through facial expressions?

-hahaha my face gives everything away and I can read people pretty well

37. Have you ever gotten a commercial jingle stuck in your head?

-EDUCATION CONNECTION! Get connected for free

38. Have you ever left a movie theater before the movie was over?

-Nope

39. Do you consider rapping singing?

-rapping is in its own ballpark...its why its called rapping

40. Does your home have a fireplace?

Yep

41. Favorite non-chocolate candy?

-sour gummies worms

42. If you could have only one superpower, what would you want and why?

-oooof ummmmmm maybe teleportation

43. Have you ever locked your keys in your car?

44. Do you listen to any religious music?

-noooooooooo

45. Do you drink soda? If so, which one is your favorite?

-I hate soda

46. What was your ACT score?

-do not do me like this (21)

47. Rice or quinoa?

-rice

48. From 1-10, how good of a driver do you consider yourself?

-like an 8

49. Do you like horror movies?

-nope

50. How easily do you cry?

-uh depends on what it is

51. Do you have any tattoos? If so, of what and where?

-no but I want some

52. You are hanging with your closest friends. What are you most likely doing?

-being dumb and quoting tik toks at target

53. Can you handle spicy foods? What is your spice limit?

-not very well

54. Can you play any musical instruments? If so, which ones?

-no

55. Are you more introverted or extroverted?

-middle of the road

56. Last CD you bought?

-Folklore by Taylor Swift

57. Do you like roller coasters?

-yessss but they cant be extremely tall

58. What day of the week is laundry day for you?

-uhhh depends on when I have time

59. Have you ever played spin the bottle?

-uh maybe once but I was in fourth grade and walked away

60. How long have you known your best friend?

-I’ve known my bestie for 16 years (met when we were 4)

61. Can you eat using chopsticks?

-yes!! I usually eat my Chinese food with them

62. Do you have any stickers on your laptop computer? If so, what are they of?

-no because I need to get a case for my iMac and iPad

63. How often do you say y'all?

-every fucking day. Y’all is my go too

64. Favorite flavor of ice cream?

-cookie dough, pralines and cream, blue raspberry sherbert, vanilla, coffee

65. How long was your longest relationship? Are you still with that person?

-my longest relationship was like three weeks in fourth grade with my friends cousin who I saw twice

66. Star Trek or Star Wars?

-haven’t seen either but prob Star Wars cause r2d2 is cute

67. How good are you at math?

-ehhh I’m okay at stats

68. Have you ever acted in a play or a musical?

-used to do the plays in middle school :)

69. How often do you read/pay attention to your horoscope?

-not much my horoscope but just my sign in general

70. What is the shortest your hair has ever been?

-just above my shoulders

71. Have you ever broken any bones?

-my big toe

72. Do you like to go fishing?

-nooooooo I went fishing once and it pooped on me

73. Do you believe in evolution?

-of course

74. Favorite costume you wore for Hallowen? How old were you?

-I was perry the platypus…. 19

75. Real or fake Christmas trees?

-fake!!! WHO WANTS TO CLEAN THAT UP???

76. How many pillows do you sleep with?

-usually 1-2 but like 5 in the winter

77. Do you live in an apartment or a house?

-House rn

78. How many of your friends are of the opposite gender?

-in my close circle, one but I do have many boy homies

79. Have you ever had a near-death experience?

-many times

80. How long have you been at your current job?

-four weeks

81. What kind of car do you drive (year, brand, model, color)?

-white car

82. How flexible are you?

-not super but mama can bend

83. Have you ever ended a romantic relationship?

-haven’t even started one

84. Phrase you say the most?

-“I’m uncomfortable” “Y’all” “I would let J.D from heathers…..”

85. Have you ever kissed anyone of the same gender? If so, did you like it?

-no but I wish

86. Do you own any homemade clothing?

-not that I know of

87. Do you like fast food?

-yessss

88. Have you ever given anyone CPR?

-nope

89. Have you ever learned to do anything from a how-to video on YouTube?

-I fixed my moms glasses yesterday with a video so she wouldn’t have to spend a shit ton of money

90. Describe your sense of humor.

-if Always Sunny in Philadelphia and “vine comp that butters my eggroll” had a baby

92. Favorite cereal?

-no

93. Have you ever auditioned for a reality competition show?

-no

94. Have you ever gotten a TV theme song stuck in your head?

-Sugar, spice and everything nice, these were the ingredients…….

95. Do you believe in ghosts?

-indifferent

96. Do you think there is life on other planets?

-hell yeah

97. Have you ever given money to a street performer?

-yep

98. Your deepest fear?

-lets not go there

99. Pancakes or waffles?

-waffles but I don’t even like them that much

100. Are you still friends with anyone from high school?

-yep, my friend circle dates back to elementary

101. From 1-10, how good of a dancer do you consider yourself?

-7

102. How much of a patient person are you?

-I can be extremely patient. Once waited three hours in a dressing room with my friend and I didn’t have a phone

103. Do you know your IQ?

-no but its prob god level

104. Do you eat meat at all?

-mama loves meat

105. Do you own any clothes from a garage sale or a thrift store?

-I think so

106. Have you ever bought anything from a flea market?

-yess my mom used to take me to flea markets all the time

107. Have you ever quit a job?

-early this year

108. Have you ever gotten a song you dislike stuck in your head?

-many times

109. Any movie(s) you can watch over and over and over again and enjoy just as much each time?

-robots to ratatouille

110. Do you or have you ever worn glasses?

-just sun glasses

111. Have you ever skinny dipped?

-when I was like 6

112. Are your birth parents still together?

-yep

113. Have you ever been in the audience for the taping of a TV show?

-not that I know of

114. Favorite type of cookie?

-chocolate chip or the sugar cookies with the pink frosting on them (I’m a whore for them)

115. Have you ever been broken up with?

-nope

116. How often do you smile when getting your picture taken?

-most of the time

117. Have you ever accidentally dialed 911?

-yes I have and I was 6 and bullied for it for years by my uncle even though my cousins tricked me into doing it

118. Oldest memory?

-throwing a chair at a kid in preschool for stealing my cookie

119. Have you ever been the victim of a nasty prank?

-nope

120. How often do you snort when you laugh?

-uhhhh a lot

121. From 1-10, how good of a singer do you consider yourself?

-5

122. Favorite Disney song?

-uuuuuuhhh Shiny, See the Light, Why Don’t you Do Right, Show Yourself

123. Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

-hopefully in la

124. What is your Myers-Briggs personality type?

-I’m an advocate

125. Have you ever had a fortune cookie fortune come true?

-I think so

126. Name one thing you wish people would stop posting on social media.

-fascist, racist, homophobia stuff

127. Last musical artist you saw live?

-Jonas brothers

128. Credit cards or cash?

-cash cause I feel like I didn’t spend anything

129. Favorite fandom?

-the powderpuff girls or fairy tail

130. What is your astrological sign?

-Aries

131. Have you ever been fired from a job?

-nope I’m a good noodle

132. Any hidden talents?

-I can do the cinnamon challenge

133. Can you surf?

-nope

134. What motivates you to do well in life?

-the fear of failure

135. Your worst physical feature?

-my acne

136. From 1-10, how much are you like your father?

-mehhhhhhhh like a 4

137. How lucky do you consider yourself?

-I’m a pretty lucky person ngl

138. Name a moment in your life when you were pleasently surprised.

-when I won a coffee maker at my senior grad night raffle

139. Have you ever been summoned for jury duty?

-nope

140. What type of shoes do you wear the most?

-my converse

141. Favorite summer activity?

-getting coffee

142. Favorite song to sing in the shower?

-any Taylor swift song

143. Have you ever lived with a roommate you did not get along with?

-my parents sometimes

144. Have you ever lived on a farm?

-my grandparents owned a cherry farm when I was little

145. Have you ever kept a diary or a journal?

-tumblr is my diary

146. TV show or movie you quote/reference the most?

-Always Sunny, The Office, Gotham

147. How often do you get mad at yourself?

-constantly

148. Have you ever gotten any stitches?

-only in animal crossing (he’s so cute)

149. Have you ever been hunting?

-no

150. Favorite YouTube channel?

-Jenna marbles, try guys, mukbang edit channel, drama channels

151. Have you ever had a pet besides a dog or a cat?

-I had a mouse once

152. From 1-10, how well do you work with others?

-9

153. Are you friends with any of your exes?

-I don’t got exes

154. Apple or PC?

-I have an Apple Mac rn but I think I loved my pc so much so I’m getting used to the format

155. Do you collect anything?

-what don’t I collect? Funko, pins, so much stuff

156. Have you ever seen any Broadway plays or musicals?

-I saw Newsies and A Music chorus

157. Any missed opporunites you wish you had taken?

-I’m not too sure

158. Have you ever uttered a spoken hashtag?

-yes

159. Do you have a pool at your house?

-nope

160. What is the longest you’ve gone without sleep?

-like 24 hours and it was hell

161. Last thing that made you laugh?

-a meme 20 sec ago

162. Disney or Nickelodeon?

-Disney

163. Name one celebrity you wish was still alive.

-Billy Mays (Oxyclean dude)

164. From 1-10, how much are you like your mother?

-maybe a 6

165. Your best physical feature?

-my hair

166. Earbud or earmuff headphones?

-earbud

167. Have you ever wished you were born the opposite gender?

-..hmmmm sometimes I think it would be cool but I’m pretty content with being a girl...

168. Do you have any piercings anywhere besides your ear lobes?

-my nose

169. How often do you wash your hair?

-every other day usually

170. Showers or baths?

-I love a good bath but I take showers more

171. Have you ever been a bridesmaid or a groomsman?

-noooo but I wanna be

172. Bottled or tap water?

-bottle

173. What was your favorite TV show when you were a kid?

POWERPUFF GIRLS

174. Any guilty pleasures you’re willing to discuss?

-watching glee

175. Favorite video game?

-Mario kart

176. Have you ever gotten a New Year’s kiss exactly at midnight?

-nooooo why are there so many questions about kissing

177. How many of the United States have you visited?

-four, ive passed over a few more in a plane

178. Have you ever given money to a homeless person?

-yes

179. Have you ever gotten a surgery?

-no

180. Your least favorite food?

-cheese

181. From 1-10, how competitive are you?

-depends. I’m like a 6 but I can be pushed to a 10 when motivated

182. Do you like wearing hats?

-only a snap back occasionally

183. How much of a jealous peron are you?

-ehh not really

184. What was your SAT score?

-900-1100 (stop nationwide testing doesn’t work and I didn’t learn eveything)

185. Have you ever voted for a reality competition show?

-no

186. Does anyone in your family currently serve in your country’s military?

-my cousin

187. Snowboarding or skiing?

-I don’t do snow

188. What celebrity would you most want to play you in a movie about your life?

-jack black

189. Have you ever been a Boy or Girl Scout?

-hell no

190. Have you ever dyed your hair?

-many times

191. From 1-10, how good of a cook do you consider yourself?

-7

192. You have just opened up a web browser. What is the first site you visit?

-this cursed site

193. How many things can you do with your weaker hand?

-a lot

194. Were you involved in any academic clubs in high school?

-honors i guess

195. Have you ever played hooky from school?

-like twice

196. Are you comfortable with watching rated R movies?

—-not with my parents

197. Do you root for any sports teams?

-bold of you to assume i do sport

198. First thing you do when you wake up in the morning?

-pee

199. If you could take home any one animal from the zoo, which one would you choose?

-a lizard

200. Tell something about yourself most people don’t know.

-uhhh ummmm (I have a tik tok with 7.5k followers) 

[stattic-writes]

Branch Evolution

https://statticscribbles.tumblr.com/post/639099629845233664/masterlist

Support My Writing?

[writeanapocalae]

Deviant Killer

Read on AO3 | Warnings: Android body horror/murder and I don’t like Detroit Become Human so there will be inaccuracies. 

Three weeks since the revolution and everything was hanging by a thread. People like him were no longer acceptable so he’d had to go to sensitivity training and all sorts of seminars, corporate and HR trying to break the cycle before hate crimes grew rampant. Gavin had never been one for seminars and he wasn’t one for treating a toaster like anything other than a toaster. He wouldn’t change just because someone told him to.

But he could see the difference between a toaster and a person and the androids, well, they were acting more like people every day. Some of them were still toasters and they seemed to be proud of being toasters but others were like Connor, where they were never quite just machines to begin with. He still gave them the cold shoulder, didn’t want anyone to think that he was wrong, or that he had a bigger heart than he did, but he could see that they were hurting and that they were trying to be better than they were made to be.

Someone must have noticed because he’d been assigned to aid in the raid on Cyberlife. It was lead by Markus and his team but the DPD was the majority of the firepower. When the doors were pried open it didn’t seem that they needed much in terms of that though. All of the humans were out of there or dead, it was hard to tell. Any evidence was well taken care of. Gavin decided that they’d all escaped, since there were no bodies and there was no way to guess which of the androids would have killed their oppressors.

They were split into teams, Gavin going alongside Hank and Connor while Tina, Chris, and Kyle, a recently deviated police officer, went down to a lower floor. Markus, North, Simon, and Josh were heading straight forward and up, all the way to the top.

Most of the androids were safe, happy to see them, already deviated, either by the revolution or by each other. Connor helped deviate the ones that hadn’t yet before directing them downstairs and out. There were retainers out there, people from Jericho, people to help. Gavin snarled whenever one of them got too close or he caught one of the others looking at him. There were too many of them to have been all active before the revolution was over, so they must have been activating one another as well.

Then they started to find the broken.

There were a lot of them, some just sitting in rooms, hooked up to thirium pumps. Some of them were sporting arms or legs that didn’t fit them right. Some of them looked like they’d been cut into, with weapons. Connor frowned and Gavin knew what that meant. These were too many, in the wrong part of the building, for them all to have just been in for repairs.

Connor took them down a hall, to one of the security towers. There was a wall of monitors and a remote that looked like it was more modern than anything in Gavin’s apartment. Connor was silent as he went through the tapes, rewinding, changing cameras, searching. Hank just gave Gavin a look and shrugged. He was as much out of the loop as Gavin was.

“There!” Connor exclaimed, rewinding just a bit more before replaying the scene.

It was just a blur, something black and white and blue smearing through the hall, leaving splatters of blue in its wake.

“The hell is that?” Hank grumbled, pushing his hair back from his face.

“I’ll show it again, at 25% speed,” Connor explained as he did just that. He could have just done it, he didn’t have to explain it when he did. Gavin crossed his arms and watched.

There was a person, an android, and it was still moving too fast to be normal. It was stiff too and, while it had Connor’s face, it looked much less human. It had a piece of sharp metal in one hand and was chasing down an android before slicing into it and pulling back, ripping out it’s pump and letting thirium spill out around it as it did.

“The phck?” Gavin breathed.

Hank was leaning closer to the monitor too, “Is this some sort of joke?”

“This is not a joke,” Connor placidly stated, That is an RK900 model android and he is killing lower level models, all of which seem to be deviants.”

Gavin wasn’t stupid, he could figure out the basic math there, “So a 900? That makes him the next level from you. Why can’t you move like that?”

Connor shook his head as if to clear it. “I was designed to hunt down deviants, to find Jericho, and neutralize it. The RK900 appears to have been designed to destroy deviants without learning more about them or solving cases. It looks more like a killing machine.”

“You think we’ve been coming across its victims?” Hank put a hand on Connor’s shoulder. Connor actually looked like he relaxed into the touch, shoulders drooping slightly. A truly human response. Gavin took his gaze away, back to the screen, where it had been paused on RK900’s blurred features.

“Yes, but I believe that they are the quote lucky ones.”

“Then we shouldn’t waste our time in here,” Gavin grumbled. “We got more more of you plastic pricks to round up. The longer we stall the more of them that thing can get.”

“Correct,” Connor nodded to him, ignoring the insult. He pushed his way into the lead and they went deeper into the building.

More androids, a whole room of the same face, cowering, shivering, as if they were cold. In the middle of them were the pieces of another, and even Gavin could recognize the skinless remains to be another of the rest of them. They startled at Connor’s face then calmed at his demeanor and serial number. They were damaged in the end, because Gavin didn’t want to associate the word ‘trauma’ with androids, and some of them were frozen and glitching. Still, they got them out of the room and towards the front of the building. There would be people ready to take care of them.

The last one to leave was missing fingers and half of its jaw, but it had been wrapped well enough to keep the thirium from spilling out. It reached out and grabbed Connor, hard, and both Gavin and Hank shot forward to stop it. They didn’t though, seeing it was just an interface. They had both been told to not separate two androids during an interface, as it could lead to stress levels jumping and the death of one or both parties.

Connor stilled, letting it happen, LED blinking yellow in time with the other’s. There were a few flickers of red in there as well. Gavin may not have known much about androids, but he could see that Connor was being stressed regardless.

Before he’d decided whether or not to ignore his training, the damaged android released Connor and he breathed a copy of a deep breath before standing up straighter and fixing his tie. The damaged android walked off, leaving them, and Connor looked like he was getting ready for his first day at the office. His LED was circling yellow with a few blinks of red in it.

“What did she tell you?” Hank asked and Gavin curled his lip at the way that Hank ran a hand along Connor’s jaw. It was too intimate.

“We were correct in our assumption that the damage here was caused by the RK900,” he stated plainly, even as his eyes flickered to he ground. “It is a masterpiece in its design, the next step in android evolution. It is less human than it predecessors, less emotions, mistakes, or deviations. It can calculate and react faster than other androids in its own class, designed to wipe out the menace of deviancy.” he sounded like an advertisement. When he looked back up at Hank his eyebrows tied into a knot of concern and there was a small flash of fear in his features. “He was designed, not as the next in the RK line but as my replacement. The revolution was expected to fail and he would have been sent out to clean up the mess.”

“They worked fast if they got something like that up and running before the revolution was over,” Gavin realized.

Connor shook his head, “No. They started to build me before deviancy started and they started on him as soon as I was released onto the field.”

Hank looked at him and then at Gavin. “Wait, but that means that they were expecting deviancy.”

Gavin ran his hand through his hair, “What you’re telling me is that these assholes knew that they fucked up so bad with you eggheads that they started to clean up their mess before the press knew about it? And then they made the phcking terminator to finish it up?”

“I do not understand their reasoning behind it yet but that does appear to be what they were hoping to accomplish, yes.”

“Phcking Cyberlife.”

“Indeed.”

Gavin started to walk off, only to stop a few steps later to let the other two catch up. They went through their work as best they could but now they were all looking for it, listening for it, in every room and corridor. They didn’t find any more corpses, though they did find plenty of unfinished androids. It was strange to see them, laid bare and with their guts out, their skin not yet put on. It made them even more obviously not human.

“This floor is 98% clear of android life,” Connor stated as they headed towards the cafeteria.

“Is that including you?” Gavin scoffed, “Or does your lack of a life exclude you?”

“I assure you,” Connor’s LED spun but even then he failed to catch the joke, “I am very much alive.”

The cafeteria was supposed to be a human only space but it, as with the rest of the building, had been taken over by the androids that had been left behind. A few of them were in here, huddling together awkwardly. When the three of them entered they turned, weapons at the ready. They raised their hands in surrender, both humans looking to Connor to explain.

“We are here to aid all of the androids in escaping Cyberlife,” Connor explained, voice calm and collected, only betrayed by his yellow LED. “We do not mean you harm.”

It was strange to see Connor interact with another RK800, wearing the same uniform and posture. They did look different though, Gaving had spent enough time glaring at their resident tin can to recognize that his expression was a tad bit softer, his eyes roaming more. Connor had been alive longer and he showed it more.

“We are here to protect all of the androids still residing in Cyberlife from the RK900 unit,” the RK800 explained, pointing with his gun. Hank whistled at the pile of corpses that he’d gestured at and Gavin felt a cold sinking feeling in his gut. “It is not allowed to harm any other androids while we live.”

The corpses and pieces of corpses, were all dead androids, all plastic and metal, shoved into the gaps in the barricade made out of benches and desks. They were terrified of RK900 and, from what they’d seen they had every right to be.

“Understood,” Connor stated. “Please take a scan of the Cyberlife building.”

The RK800 did as he was told and, when his LED returned to blue he seemed to sigh a bit, relaxing. The other two androids, a WR600 and a PJ500, just looked to him, obviously their leader. “The building is primarily empty.” There was obvious relief in his voice, “You have been aiding our siblings in finding freedom of this place.”

“Correct.”

The conversation didn’t progress. The three of them stood there and Connor and the detectives stood on the other side. No one was moving.

“This is bullshit,” Gavin rolled his eyes. “Look, can you just go, maybe leave the weapons, so we can do our job?”

“We cannot leave,” The PJ500 explained, “Not while that thing is still alive! Some of us tried to make it deviant, but it wouldn’t take and we were killed or disfigured for it! Either we will stay here or it will be killed and nothing we have done has been able to take it down yet.”

Gavin rolled his eyes. These things were supposed to be smarter than humans, weren’t they? “Look, dipshit, that thing is designed to kill deviants! What do you think it’s going to do if there aren’t any deviants around?”

LEDs were whirling. At least he got them thinking.

“Don’t you think that, just maybe, you should leave the stupid humans you’re built to replace take the lead for once?”

They looked at one another, obviously communicating between themselves. Slowly the guns came down. Their hands came down after.

“Connor, you want to escort them to safety?” Hank indirectly ordered, giving him a familiar smile.

“No,” Connor stated, “I need to remain here and help you deal with the RK900.”

“No, you really don’t,” Gavin explained through his teeth. “You’re kind of a deviant, if you didn’t forget.”

“But I want to keep you safe.” Not to Gavin, never to Gavin, his eyes were just for Hank right then.”

“We’ll be fine,” Hank nodded and Gavin didn’t know how good androids were at reading human emotions but Gavin could easily tell that Hank was lying. “You go out there, get everyone a cozy blanket. We’ll be right behind you.”

“Contact the other teams,” Gavin corrected, “Let them know that to finish up and get out of here. I know the big dude’s got some technical shit he wants to do at the top but he might want to come back later.”

Only then did Connor obey, leading the other three out of there. Gavin and Hank got to work, tearing the barricade apart. They didn’t have to touch too many of the cold plastic things, the benches that they pulled out of the way made most of them spill out of the way. The floor and walls were dyed blue, though it was fading. Gavin felt like he was going to throw up. Hank was either unfazed or pretending to be and he was doing a very good job at pretending.

How long had it been, since Gavin stopped thinking of them as toasters? He thought that he’d be able to handle this, dead androids were no worse than dead computers but at some point his own wires must have gotten crossed because he didn’t want to touch the bodies, even without skin he couldn’t think of them as just empty shells. Somewhere along the line androids had become people. He hated it.

Removing the barricade should have taken enough time for the rest of the androids to get out of there. Gavin and Hank both took out their firearms, holding them in front of themselves, before Hank put his hand on the door.

“Anyone in there?” He called out before moving, “We’re going to come in. We don’t want any trouble.”

There was no answer. Hank pushed the door open.

[raggedyblue]

EURUS, THE EMOTIONAL MEMORY

Since I read this meta I can not stop thinking about it @ebaeschnbliah. (JOHN: Yeah, well some people have that complex, don’t they – an idée fixe.They obsess over one thing and they can’t let it go).

I started looking carefully at the Triun Brain because it seemed to me an interesting idea. According to this theory we have three distinct brains, each with its different genesis and evolution, each with different functions, although being structurally and chemically different, they work together. The first, oldest, is R-cortex or Reptilian brain. From him depend  the primary instincts of survival, such as feeding, reproduction, exploration, predation, and defense behaviors. 

Then there is the limbic system, developed as a ring around the R-cortex. is able to develop adaptive strategies to address the environment. Finally there is the Conscious Brain, or Neo-Cortex. Is the house of conscious thinking and language, formulates strategies and new behaviors for deal whit a new and unexpected situations; is associated with self-consciousness, conception of space and time, the concept of causality, constancy, and synchronicity.

Obviously it was interesting because Mycroft was compared to a reptile, because he’s “i warry constantly”, because pass his time to scan the environment in search of dangers. Because he's The Iceman, so  he have a cold blood. The other two brains could adapt to Sherlock and Eurus in some ways, bringing together the three Holmes Brothers. Even the fact that the three brains had developed in three different moments could bring the concept of three brothers born in different time. However, while the features of the Reptilian brain fit well in Mycroft, they were less suited to the other two brothers, especially considering Sherlock as the middle brother, and Eurus as the most intelligent (as we have been told). In this way Sherlock was to represent the limbic system and Eurus the neo cortex.I imagine, however, the state of Eurus, as locked in a prison, makes it difficult to think that Sherlock (person, not part of the brain) could go around the world and be very intelligent and deductive.

But then I came across in the AMYGDALA.

The Amygdala is a very small gland placed right in the center of our brain. She is responsible for our basic emotions, such as anger, fear and instinct for survival. In most cases it is able to react before the cerebral cortex realizes what is happening. The amygdala causes a raw emotion, independent and not filtered by conscious thought. Emotions, like thoughts, are a product of our brain, is now a proved fact. The distinction between COGNITION and EMOTION between THOUGHT and SENTIMENT that has accompanied philosophical and psychological thinking in previous centuries is now overcome. Emotions are closely interwoven with our cognitive process.

When we become aware of a fact, we are able to perceive clearly the result of this new knowledge (I know/i remember), but we are unable to know how this knowledge came to us. This is because in the cognitive processes there is a conscious and an unconscious part and much of our mental life takes place out of our conscience. The thoughts we develop have to do with cognition but also with emotion. The fundamental difference between the two is that emotions, unlike the cognitions, always have an impact on the physical level as well.

The conscious experience of an emotion, its mental aspect is SENTIMENT and the ability to feel feelings is closely related to self-consciousness. Emotions have a close interconnection with memory, which is formed from an emotional archive. According to Le Doux, our brains model the memories mainly based on the emotion of FEAR. This process is called EMOTIONAL MEMORY.

To demonstrate this theory, he made an experiment called "Conditioning to Fear". He locked a rat into a box with the bottom traversed by an electric grid. At the same time as a certain sound, an electric discharge was also started. The physical reactions of the rat were visible. It freezes, increased its blood pressure and heart rate. After some repetitions, the only sound was enough to induce the same reactions in the rat. Then the experiment continued with sound repetitions without electric shock. After a while, reactions to the fear of the rat diminished to the point of falling (extinction), but they never disappeared altogether. They remained part of the emotional memory.

The part most involved in the formation of our emotional memory is precisely the amygdala, which is thus responsible and archive of our emotional life. The amygdala can be controlled by the cerebral cortex, but the connections are stronger in output than in the input.

"In its most urgent form, fear can cause some kind of" neural sequestration ", that is, an explosive reaction in which neocortical circuits, albeit temporarily, are eclipsed by the intervention of the amygdala" (Le Doux, 1992).

Definitely to me this sends out crazy Sherrinfordish vibrations ...

Eurus as amygdala, as responsible for the most raw and pure emotions. As a custodian of memory, lost because she is was suppressed.

MYCROFT (looking at him): Memories can resurface; wounds can re-open. The roads we walk have demons beneath …

MYCROFT: You do remember her, in a way. Every choice you ever made; every path you’ve ever taken – the man you are today ... is your memory of Eurus. (x)

Sherrinford with his audio warnings and experiments, seems to be an attempt to awaken fear, a Conditioning to Fear. To bring back memories lost, because Eurus has the memory of Redbeard (sooner or later we will understand what the hell he is ... I trust in the dog's meta @sagestreet)

There is also the fact that even all three of the villains in history, Moriarty, Magnussen and Smith are somehow connected to Eurus or her manifestations.

We have Moriarty who meets her in person. 

Magnussen who is like the therapist. He knows the secrets of people, has gray hair,  glasses without frame, an accent, and even the same rug.

Smith is even the father of fake Faith.

Like any villain is the direct representation of a Sherlock's fear.

Eventually Sherlock faces his fears,he becomes conscious of his emotions, ignored, locked because they are "crack in the lens (etc ....)". Sherlock has always been emotional, incandescently emotional, and his heart (Mrs. Hudson) this knows. What he has never done is to be aware of his emotions. Once he is able to do so, only then,he can  develop a correct SENTIMENT.

@ebaeschnbliah @gosherlocked @loveismyrevolution @darlingtonsubstitution

@tjlcisthenewsexy @monikakrasnorada @sherlockshadow @sarahthecoat 

@221bloodnun @kateis-cakeis

[dragongirlafro]

List of things I want to see in Pokémon UltraSun and UltraMoon

Sorry i know I’m a little late on this but i mean at this point it’s not like we’ll get a whole lot more info on USUM that will drastically change my hopes.

Pokemon following you: yeah, yeah, I know that this is what everyone and their grandma wants to see in the new games and honestly the more that I think about it the more the chances seem 40/60, but I mean there are literally sprites of every single pokemon created walking and running in the games’ data. if not for this very feature, then why would Game Freak go to all the trouble to make these? (keeping in mind that only a set amount of ‘mons appear in the Poke finder, thus negating the need for them to create all 802 models)

More Pokemon: I myself am not the kind of person who wants brand new pokemon, evolutions, or forms every single game, but I feel that the Alola region could use a few more native Pokemon. And that’s coming from someone who shudders at the thought of a National Pokedex being included in UltraSun/Moon, ‘cause it was honestly a hassle enough completing the Alola Dex. and that was only 300 ‘mons! The day I actually complete the National Pokedex is the day Game Freak stops making new Pokemon. I’m not terribly picky about whether or not we get completely new ‘mons or just ones that were unavailable prior to Poke Bank. Although I definitely wouldn’t mind getting the chance to catch Swablu and Altaria in the new games.

More Alolan forms/Mega Evolutions: This was one of those things where when I first thought about it, I did not want. I was looking at it from the perspective that if any other ‘mons got alolan forms, it would permanently ruin their design for me. But then I put more thought into it and realized that I  actually don’t have a problem with any of the alolan forms that currently exist in terms of design and types.They’re fresh, cool, and quite honestly make a lot of sense. What I realized i had a problem with was “leakers” and whatnot on 4chan who tried to create their own alolan forms by emulating the ones that had already existed, or even worse, absolutely blowing them out of proportion (Because if a Fire type can become an Ice/Fairy type, then surely this Grass type can become a Flying/Ground type, amirite?)(p.s. i crossed out mega evolutions because at this point that ship has sailed and personally they’re not really my cup of tea)

Minor! characters! given! more! spotlight!: I need to know more about characters who didn’t have that much focus in the previous games (and preferably who don’t have that much focus in the anime) I wanna hang out more with my boy Ilima and finally do Mina’s Fairy type trial! I want to hear about what got Kahili into golfing and why she chose Flying types as her go-to ‘mons! Hell, i’d even settle to learn a bit more about Ryuki, even tho he looks like he’s essentially wearing an anime fursuit.      

Less obvious plot/conflict: this is probably the most contoversial of what i’d like to see in UltraSun and UltraMoon. With Sun and Moon being my first ever Pokemon games, I will say that the tone and pacing of the story was executed pretty well, especially for a first timer like me. That being said, however, I will admit that many parts of the story felt ham-fisted and in-your-face. There was literally a part where an Aether guy said “we need you to ‘conveinently dissapear’.” Like, you’re gonna say that Nebby will die if she’s used to rip open a hole between dimensions but you don’t have the balls to threaten to kill an eleven year old? And on the subject of Aether, they were probably the most painfully obvious Pokemon villains since the days of Team Rocket. Like, even with Team Flare, which I personally consider to be one of the worst evil teams, their motives were somewhat ambiguous for the first part of the game. But the Aether Foundation’s intentions and goals were pretty much known to everone on the day that this trailer was released. I get that the argument for this is that pokemon is aimed at children so the villains have to be apparent, but my counter-argument to that would be that the kids got their conspicuous plotline in Sun and Moon and now UltraSun and UltraMoon have the opportunily to appeal to an older, more experienced audience who are able to comprehend and appreciate a more complex story.

MORE MUSIC!!!: the Sun and Moon soundtrack was beautiful and full offence but if you disliked it you have no taste in music whatsoever the seventh generation’s music was the pinnacle of video game music and i cant wait to hear all the remixed themes!!!! Like I mean have you heard the remastered wild battle theme its sooooooo good!!!! I’m most excited for Guzma’s encounter theme, Lusamine’s battle theme, Seafolk Village and the Champion music!

I wanna pass on the question to @thefangirlingcartoongal and @pokemon-trashhh and anyone else who’s as excited for UltraSun and UltraMoon as I am. What are some things that you want to see in the new games?

[uautoknow]

Budget Performance Mods

The biggest question I get asked, being the ultra automotive nerd that I am, is: What is the best performance vehicle my money can buy? And the answer is always the same: What is your budget, and what in your mind constitutes a good performance car? Mind bending speed? Sublime handling? 

That's up to personal preference, and lucky for you, you're spoiled for choice. In this article I take to the internet to find some modern, quick, street legal vehicles for less than $20,000.00.

What is the most cost effective way for you to get your license suspended, effective immediately?

For most performance nutters, the best course of action is to pick up a used car with a sweet handling chassis, and an engine that has some performance potential, and eek out as much performance as they can afford. This is of course the best course of action, and also the number 1 cause of headaches in males aged 16-65 (I made that up). As home tuners, our pleasure seems to come in the form of never ending suffering, and culminates to the eventual sale or death (whichever comes first) of our beloved, incomplete, and ultimately unreliable motor vehicle race car. I've decided to write this article to help save you some headaches. The vehicles I discuss either still have OEM support, or have a wealth of aftermarket suppliers. So, what is the most cost effective way for you to get your license suspended, effective immediately?

1. The Widow-Maker

This is a very common occurrence.

The first thing that comes to mind is the ridiculously bonkers '04 ZX-10R. No it's not a car, but it was the first ever production vehicle to be able to break every traffic law in America in 1st gear (174km.h)! It lead the liter bike category in terms of it's power to weight ratio, but has a notoriously light front end, making 3rd gear wheelies unavoidable. The bike was insanely fast, considering that it has been electronically limited to 300km/h. Good examples can be had for anywhere between $5-9000.00 CAD (less than half of our $20,000.00 budget), but also keep in mind that the fact that it's a hooligan by nature, and that vehicles like these have usually been driven the way they've been designed to - abusively. For the price-point, there isn't a whole lot else out there that can put up super car numbers AND boast Japanese reliability. Some things to consider about daily riding a motorcycle are outlined in this excellent article. Obviously the '04 ZX-10R is not in a league of its own, the liter sports-bike category is a competitive market, and newer more advanced iterations of all brands can be found in similar price ranges. All liter motorcycles boast licence revoking numbers, and if you're looking to have that happen, this is the most affordable and expedient way to do so!

For those of you who don't have the motorcycle buzz, never fear, there are some great cars out there, but if numbers like top speed, power to weight, and sub $10,000.00 pricing are your hot buttons, nothing will beat a sports-bike's performance for its dollar value.

2 Turbo Fun

Hyundai has become a staple name for bargain cars with great power figures.

Ok, so you're probably thinking I'd love a bike! The last time I went down down on one knee cost me a hell of a lot more than $10k! But, I've got a family, and my significant other makes me great tuna casseroles for lunch. How am I supposed to get my meals to work on the nicest of days, let alone the winter? And are my two rugrats just supposed to veg out at home, neglected?

The last time I went down down on one knee cost me a hell of a lot more than $10k!

No! What you need in your life is what we car folks call a "hot hatch!" There are of course numerous options, of varying price points, but in North America, we aren't as spoiled for choice as our European brethren. Check out this article for a comprehensive review of the budget sports cars in the Canadian market. Otherwise, you can take my word on the fact the Hyundai Veloster Turbo is a wicked little car for the money. It has bold styling, 200hp, and comes loaded with features like Sat-Nav, Sirus XM, leather, a sun roof. The list goes on an on. I found this 2014 model for $16,488, and it includes all of the above equipment. That leaves $4,500 in the budget for some excellent wheels and tires. They are fun, practical, cars and being front wheel drive they do make for excellent winter cars. Aftermarket support is high, as Hyundai have positioned themselves with several A-list brands, which is good to know as this greatly increases the likelihood of performance parts fitting properly (I for one, hate when bolts don't line up, and it has discouraged me from bolt on tuning). There is a community of support, you get turbo power, and Red Bull has opted to use the Veloster as its World Rallycross weapon.

In terms of options and power on a budget, this is a sporty car that goes largely overlooked. VW's GTI has reigned supreme in the hot hatch department for years, but the cost of maintenance begins to add up. The Veloster flies in the face of all the Hyundai naysayers that are found in any car community. The level of quality and attention to detail is comparable to that of Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi, and Toyota. There are no ridiculously uneven panel gaps like you see on the Mustang, and the interior is stylish and quiet. Soft touch is in, and Hyundai obviously got the memo. It's more ergonomic and cleverly laid out than the Hyundai Genesis Coupe, the brands flagship sports car.

3. But 'Merican Muscle?

The 'Stang 4 Cylinder

That's right! It's time for the internet's favorite debate, import vs. domestic, tuner vs muscle. The American's have always had a way with cars. They're known for making sublime chassis and monstrous engines, but they have a very distinct persona when compared to their European and Japanese competitors. Going American is usually the most cost effective route to 320km/h, but typically this comes with a glaring downside... An inability to corner with speed and agility. Until 2015 the pony cars all lacked independent suspension, but Ford finally stepped forward and challenged the competition. The 2015 Mustang, in all engine configurations, is a blast of a machine; new ones can nearly be had on our $20,000 budget. The 4 cylinder eco-boost is comparable to the Toyota GT-86, and also the BMW 228i (surprised face). The Toyota may have an upper hand with a perfect 50/50 weight distribution, but the 'Stang makes up for it in power and a lively, loose rear end, so it's up to you to pick your poison. The BMW in comparison is soft and pedestrian to the snarling 'Stang, and the remarkably nimble GT-86. So the American's do have some car cred in the fun small cars (engine, in the Mustang's case) segment, but what about their bread and butter: the high displacement, roaring muscle car? The Corvette has been a staple Super-Car killer for some time, as has the Dodge Viper. Although their price-points are performance bargains, they are hardly affordable. And then we have the muscle cars like the Hellcat.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em!

Beautiful, luxurious, refined -- this describes the interior. Loud, brash, muscular, 707hp. This is the Hellcat we know and love. It's utter insanity. I'm told it can corner, although I've never seen one with enough traction to do it. If you'd like to see what it's like to own one, I was brought out to a Londonderry Dodgemeet, and captured this footage.

None of these are the standout American car for me, though. Yes there are some great bargains out there. In the used market a Boss 302 Mustang can be had for the price of a new 5.0, and Charger R/T's have come into the $5-7000.00 range, placing it right in the hunt with a 1000cc motorcycle in terms of price. Fantastic cars, great aftermarket support, and relatively practical, there is no doubt that high performance can be had without severely breaking the bank. The stand out for me is the one that smashed a world record, in Porsche's backyard no less, the Nürburgring. That's the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8. Early models can be had for less than $20K, and believe me, it does not drive like a lumbering SUV. It's much more precise than its fellow SRT8's, to the point that I would compare the all wheel drive system to the venerable Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X, and the almighty Nissan GTR. It certainly doesn't handle like an SUV, it is nimble, and light on it's feet. It's practical, can be had with DVD headrests, an amazing Alpine sound system, it has a belching V8 that puts out 470hp, and it's AWD.

4. Now I want AWD, but not an SUV.

Rally reigns supreme in the AWD world

Mitsubishi and Subaru are the industry leaders for budget all wheel drive cars, and the likes of the Lancer Evolution and Subaru STI are reserved for the hardcore enthusiasts. They are lacking much of the interior flash and comfort that the latter (with the exception of motorcycles) exhibit. Instead they opt for ultra stiff Recaro seats, and lightweight plastics. The electronic control units are highly advanced, allowing for torque vectoring and the ability to adapt to various weather and terrain. The Evo specifically has tarmac, gravel and snow modes that actually change the power distribution from rearward, to 50/50, to forward respectively. The suspension is stiff and rough, more so with the handling package, which includes Bilstein shock absorbers, Brembo brakes, and BBS wheels. All of this performance does come at a cost. These cars hold their value extremely well, a de-tuned version, in the form of a Lancer Ralliart, has a market value of around $23k (just breaking our budget) for a 2011 model. The Ralliart does feature the same AWD and engine as the Evo (only a single scroll turbo though), mated to the Evo MR's dual clutch transmission, but that price point is a far cry from the vast majority of pre-owned 2 wheel drive sports cars.

Ultimately, 4 wheel drive is a high demand feature in Canadian cars. It goes to show that as much as consumers demand luxury features, they are willing to pay more for the features that move them.

It comes down to your priorities, and ability to stick to budget.

When it comes to performance numbers on a budget, a motorcycle will always win. If we were to compare a $60,000.00 car (Alfa Romeo 4C for example) to a $60,000.00 motorcycle like the Kawasaki H2R, the car won't hold a candle to it, as we can see in this video, a 1,000+hp Bugatti Veyron struggles to compete with the Kawasaki in a straight line. Although motorcycles have a significant advantage on the straights, Guy Martin proves here that no matter how much top speed (and skill) you have on a motorcycle, the physics behind a car have a clear advantage.

IndyCar vs MotoGP

Whether it be a budget drag king, like the Dodge Charger that can double as a family car, or a sporty hatch like the Hyundai Veloster, performance practicality can be had for a similar cost to a 300km/h bullet bike. If you're in the market for something quick with AWD, the price tends to skyrocket (relative to the vehicles discussed here), but the practicality and year round fun that can be had in an all wheel drive performance vehicle is absolutely undeniable.

[lifeontap]

New Post has been published on https://www.lifeontap.com/bbc17-the-beer-industry-in-milwaukee-and-wisconsin/

#BBC17 - The Beer Industry in Milwaukee and Wisconsin

“Why is Dan covering the third session first?”

Well due to the cascading delays from the round of thunderstorms around the country, my flight’s crew was delayed so long that those same storms finally hit NYC. Hence, GROUNDED. The torrential rain not only caused a delay, but I found out later that my suitcase (and presumably most on the flight) were left outside for at least a few minutes. The seemingly never-ending downpour soaked every article of clothing in my bag…including the jeans I had intended to wear later that day. There was a silver lining in that none of the beer, packed ever so carefully, was affected.

For every Beer Bloggers Conference I have attended, I always had the pleasure of Julia Herz ( @HerzMuses ) to kick things off with poise, data, and new perspectives. I also missed the welcome from John Kimes of the Pabst Milwaukee Brewery which no doubt was full of energy and joviality. Many of my fellow bloggers covered this well via social media and blog coverage, so I will leave it to them.

After spending nearly forty minutes hanging up the wet clothes, carefully inspecting the beer, and using a hair dryer on my damp jeans, I hopped in a Lyft to head straight to lunch, hosted at the newly-renovated, former church — Pabst Milwaukee Brewery. I grabbed a few delicious bites care of Chef Rebecca Berkshire (those deviled eggs were AMAZING), a Biere de Mars, a Barleywine, and quick catchup/hello with previous attendees.

As I walked into the Great Hall, I feasted my eyes on the polished yet hearth-like appeal of the room. I saw more familiar faces as I scouted out a seat where I could plant myself and finally take a load off while listening to some interesting viewpoints that would paint the theme of my weekend: Milwaukee is a must-visit beer destination that should be better recognized for its role in American beer history, the brewing community’s attention to beer quality from grain to gulp, and their sincere commitment to hospitality.

#BBC17 Panel – The Beer Industry in Milwaukee and Wisconsin

  The Beer Industry in Milwaukee and Wisconsin

  The Panel

Anne Sprecher of Sprecher Brewing Company

Executive Director Mark Garthwaite of the Wisconsin Brewers Guild

Russ Klisch of Lakefront Brewery.

Kathy Flanigan from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Moderator

  A Little History

While I will not recount everything said by the incredible panel, one phrase was consistently repeated that deserves mentioning. New breweries in Milwaukee (and Wisconsin as well) were “in the large breweries shadow” for quite a while. We first heard about how German brewing culture came to be present, and how Wisconsin communities mostly revolved around their hometown brewery’s beer garden. In 1836, the first brewery opened in West Wisconsin (the capital of Madison). A local beer history lesson would also be remiss if “Prohibition Tales” were not mentioned, which reminded me of Schell’s own stories told previously on The Session. Hell, even the baseball team in Milwaukee are Brewers (not just in name, as three collaborated on a beer for the park).

Fast forward to the 1970s, filled with the repeated woes of brewery shutdowns and consolidation by the Big Three. Looking back at this, one could draw many comparisons between Milwaukee and fellow beer city St. Louis. I was in awe to learn that out of the 76 breweries that remained at America’s low point, 11 of them were located in Wisconsin. Now there are 30 in Milwaukee alone! Mark correctly identified LL Cool J when he said to the room, “Don’t call it a comeback…we’ve been here for years.” I, or even huge LL fan Fudge’ems could not have said it better ourselves.  

The Craft Beer Scene

Russ and Anne spoke about the evolution of the local craft beer scene, as Lakefront turns 30 and Sprecher turns 33 this year. It was not until 2005 that investor money became plentiful. All craft breweries were start-ups who frequently would create “Frankenstein” systems out of old dairy equipment and whatever else they could get their hands on. Now as well as then, you need to have passion to get into this game.

Craft Beer has always been a disruptor to the American macro-breweries, but I did not know that they were an equal or bigger disruptor to distributors as well as the Three-Tier System. Mark was able to further explain that brewery licenses included wholesale and retail identities, which in essence bypasses our current legal setup for all alcohol. The word “dissonance” was thrown out, as while all wanted to extend the category, the level of trust to do so may not have been present. After hearing from other people over the course of the weekend, it appears that a new balance is being sought after by some. I would like to believe that many have the sincere interest of offering higher levels of quality and choice to the consumer, but previous news stories (outside Wisconsin) have shown that some will do anything to get market share and money.

The Wisconsin Brewers Guild (and other regional guilds) are banding their resources together to lobby for their rights, just as other interest groups do the same for distributors and retailers (the other two tiers). Some on the panel were concerned that the creation of additional guilds may dilute the power of the guilds. This trend will be another interesting one to watch not just in Wisconsin, but in every state.  

Festivals, Festivals and More Festivals?

Anne alluded back to the initial history remarks as well as their efforts to bring the beer garden back to the community. Sprecher works with Milwaukee County Parks and employs “traveling beer gardens” complete with converted old fire trucks armed with taps instead of hoses and such. They also sponsor programs like “Pass Me A Pint” and “Roll Out The Barrel Tour” to additionally support the local beer culture. Since Sprecher’s foray into this area, MillerCoors and other breweries jumped in and donated a lot of money as well. A key result: incidents of crimes have gone down in all parks where beer gardens are present.

Believe it or not, Wisconsin leads the nation in festivals…there are sometimes three a week! The biggest is “Great Taste of the Midwest”, of which Mark has been the Chair (it’s his last year). All panelists noted that “Festival Fatigue is a real thing” as is “Craft Beer Week Fatigue”; from April through September, all the brewers and authorized representatives struggle to attend and represent their brand at every fest. While everyone agreed there is room to do festivals well, each brewery needs to make hard decisions on which ones to attend. One additional constant is that all festivals (including charitable and non-profit) pay for the beer, and that it is never donated. Russ added, “if all brewers gave it, they themselves would become non-profits.”

Other noted comments on festivals was that some mandate that an official representative (brewer or owner) must be present for festivals, such as Glendale’s. Mark chimed in saying, “Personal connection” is important at festivals and wherever beer is poured. I cannot tell you how many beer festivals I have been to that the persons pouring do not know anything about the beer except what they have been told. For me, speaking to someone who brewed or helped with the process in some way is much more valuable. So has the novelty of festivals worn off? Not for the organizers obviously, who constantly push breweries with the promise of additional or enhanced exposure. Mark quickly quipped, “You can die of exposure.” Too true.  

Diversity and Craft Beer

All panelists mentioned grappling with this topic. I will be the first to admit that it is not easy to approach, but if we all agree to talk openly and honestly we can make real strides. The Pink Boots Society already does an incredibly service for women in craft beer, and actively encouraging and educating anyone interested should still be the focus according to the panel. Seeing more minorities and women at the helm of craft beer enterprises help provides role models and mentors for our future brewing generation.  

What’s The Biggest Opportunity for Wisconsin Beer?

Russ: More sessions, more fun beers, more education, more collaborations

Anne: Educational opportunities through Cicerone, Hop School, etc.

Mark: Collaboration across beer, wine and spirits (barrel-aging is just the beginning)  

Audience Questions

How should we review bad beer as a blogger?Two approaches were offered here: ranking and omission. If you rank all the rauchbier you have tasted and rank one at the bottom, you are in essence not saying it is bad beer. You are simply stating there are a bunch that are better. If I feel that a beer is not the best representation (accidental infection, questionable storage/transport etc.), I generally will not post a review. I also will reach out to the brewery directly with my concern, for which most of the time I am thanked for the notification. In the end each and every blogger or writer will need to be consistent in their approach.

Mixing beers/blending between breweries?A Schlitz/Pabst combo was mentioned, which obviously drew jeers from the audience. The panelists did not seem that excited or interested at this prospect, but some of us out here might not say no if one was handed to us.

What are the most popular tours now that there are more taprooms – will tours need to evolve?While curious people like bloggers and homebrewers (about 1% according to Anne) might be more inquisitive about recipes, setups and the technical end of things, most people go on tours to be entertained and sample beer. Most breweries and brewpubs seek guides who can relate to people, and work the crowd. The more unique of an experience, the more memorable and that will be key to evolving tours.

  Looking Forward

The panel offered various paths and/or opportunities for stakeholders in local craft beer communities to expand brands as well as the overall category reach amongst alcohol drinkers. Russ reminded all of us that the Nielsen reports on actual SKU purchases show that while craft has made waves, it is by no means a major portion of market share. As previously mentioned, bloggers and writers play a unique role in developing our local beer culture and we collectively need to step up to evolve and preserve it and its history.

  Cheers and remember:

Life’s a tap…drink up ’til it’s dry.