#i don't know if it's worth it to compete the claim since i feel like i have a pretty valid reason to not pay this fine

[supercantaloupe]

i got a stupid fucking parking ticket despite literally having a permit

[greenqueenhightower]

One of the failures of this is season IMO is Aemond's character. Alicent wants to feel valued, Argon wants love, Healena isn't relevant cause *autism*, but what's Aemond's deal? I thought from season one that he wanted to do his duty to his house, be the best Targaryen he could be (whatever this means to him) in a kind of selfless way, except when Daemon is involved. But now season two is trying to show he actually wants to be king? Since when??

In theory Aemond growing from a dutyful boy to a man who covets the throne can work. Power is power and Aemond has the ultimate one at his command. The parallel with Daemon works too. Unfortunately the writing is shit. We don't see the fall out after Jace's death which could have been a major conflict for the Greens. But then we have a scene where Aemond says he regrets it. Ok. But this doesn't tell me why he wants to replace his own brother now. Maybe because he suddenly realized he could deal with his bullies? Idk at this point I'm writing fanfiction and pulling my hair out that the show is messing it up so badly. People who write could probably explain this better than me

Apologies for the wall of text.

Hi anon 💚

It took me forever to get to this but I’m always happy to hear y’all’s thoughts and leave my two cents.

I don’t think that being explicitly exposed to Aemond’s ambitions in S2 necessarily is bad writing. On the contrary, I think the writers left some hints in S1 regarding Aemond’s ambitions and thirst for power. Ever since his first scene in the dragonpit, we got to see that Aemond is not one to cower in fear or accept humiliation. When no one is looking, he ventures deeper into the pit to get a glimpse at (and a chance to claim) a dragon. This boy knows that he's being cheated out of his legacy, and he is very well aware of his abilities. Seeing him pursue this ambition to claim a dragon, it’s as if Aemond is telling us that he will never stop until his goals are met and his ambitions are satisfied. Heck, I’d dare say it’s better than having Aemond explicitly state it. I like the subtlety in which his characterization moves from S1 to S2, as Aemond grows from an ambitious and fearless child to an even more ambitious and fearless man.

Aemond wanted to be king ever since he saw and surmised that he would be the “best” choice for it. In his mind, all his insecurities would vanish, his bullies would be left speechless, and his worth would be proven if he were to be king. So, yes, he very much had thought about it, and he very much wanted it even before Aegon was crowned. In 1x09 he lets some of this ambition slip out when he tells Criston that it is he who studies the histories and who's the most competent with a sword. He even says that if anyone were to seek him with intent to make him king, he wishes to be found. He wants that throne, and he resents Aegon and Alicent for taking it from him. He resents that Alicent can't see why he's the best fit for it (but he is so deluded because of his own ambitions; Alicent knows that Aemond isn't the best fit for the throne). So when he sees an opportunity to covet the throne and gain all that “should” be his, he does it without second thought.

[floppymixtape]

mandatory epic the musical post because my brain has vacated my skull and now it's only musical thoughts

my favorite song from each saga!!

The Troy Saga - Just A Man. Listen. We cannot compare when we cannot compete. This song is the blueprint like no other. I remember the first time i heard it was in a TOH edit and i was like "WHAT IS THAT MELODYYYY" Ever since then my brain has been consumed by this musical. this song haunts me in my dreams. No character playlist is complete without it. the build up, the payoff, the emotions UHG. SO GOOD. I'm just a man indeed.

The Cyclops Saga - My Goodbye. I MUST DEFEND THE CYCLOPS SAGA AT ANY GIVEN POINT. If this saga has no fans I'M DEAD. It's soooo, i don't really know how to describe it but it feels like a musical musical. With the characters running around i can imagine the stage and props. This saga is so good and i'm tired of pretending it's bad. Ok anyway back to My Goodbye, THIS SONG SLAPS!! Athena's voice is amazing and this song is so fun to siiiing!!! "if you claim you are so much wiser? why's your life spent all alone? You are alone!" OK GAGGEDDD

The Ocean Saga - Ruthlessness. This saga altered my brain chemestry i fear. If there's one thing about me, i LOOOOVEEE choirs and chants. When the ocean saga came out i had a hyperfixiation on the GOW games and Ruthlessness starting with the ensamble chants "Poseidon. Poseidon!!!" was right up my alley. There are parts of this song that i really didn't like at first (sometimes the heavy rock influence made me skip it) but the more i listen to it the more i grow to love it. GET IT POSEIDOOOON!! Oh also this saga came out while i was spending my summers at the beach so it was just fitting.

The Circe Saga - There Are Other Ways. A lot of these are the last song of the saga huh... WELL. This song is a showstopper. What can you even say about it??? it's literally built different. The Circe saga wasn't my favorite and it's taken me a while to not skip songs in it BUT i've grown. This song was a instant banger though, Circe's voice is incredible and she SHINES in this. It's also just good. i'm running out of words BUT YOU GET IT!! IT'S THERE ARE OTHER WAYS WHAT MORE CNA YOU SAY??? The Underworld Saga - No Longer You. THIS IS MY FAVORITE SONG IN THE WHOLE MUSICAL SO FAR. Everything about it is SOOOO well done and executed. The waltz tempo, the foreshadowing and the ending with the ensamble???? i told you i'm a sucker for chants and choirs. This is (to me) a perfectly done musical song. It's absolutely stellar. The softness of Tiresias' voice draws you in and makes you believe his role (especially because of the tempo change. "time i've unlocked it" and having a tempo change from the rest of the musical?? SO CLEVER!!) I don't know what else to say but i remember saying to my friend that even if the rest of the musical is trash it is still worth listening just for this song.

The Thunder Saga - Scylla (SCREAMS) this song is. wow. just wow. There's a lot of callbacks and yet it feels fresh thanks to Scylla's incredible voice. The softness at the start and how it slowly unveils into a raw enchantment. The way she haunts the entire song, even if only the end is about the actual monster. The tension between Odysseus and Eurylochus. Also a moment i love is the "You are quiet today" "Not much to say" ODYSSEUS. MR I TALK MY WAY OUT OF EVERYTHING DOESN'T HAVE MUCH TO SAY??? yeah that means we are dying. And lastly Odysseus harmonizing with Scylla?? NO WORDS. NO CRUMBS. ATE.

The Wisdom Saga - All of them?? Ok listen. Usually with epic saga's i always have one song that i like over the rest. BUT THIS ONE??? HOW COULD YOU CHOOSE???

Legendary is the PERFECT character introduction for Telemachus, it's sweet and earnest. He's a boy yearning to find his place in the world and also asking himself where his father's legacy will lead him. It's refreshing and summery, and great!! ALSO... Boy...

Little wolf. is NOT what i expected, it's so much better. AND ATHENA'S COMEBACK TO THE STORYYYYYY!!! this song feels like when you play a zelda game and you slowly help link grow stronger.

We'll be fine is also adorable. I love telemachus in this and it's great to have Athena's incredible vocals back in the musical! "You are a good kid" sobbing. The fact that Athena finally understands that giving up on mortals because of their flaws isn't how she'll make them succeed. it's good

Love in Paradise I really wish Calypso has another song in the future BUT the second half of this has me singing "aaAAaAAAAATHEENAAAA" since it came out. Also the voice for Calypso is soooo cooool <3 <3 <3 please let Odysseus out tho my mans is not having a fun time

GOD GAMES. Ok we all KNEW she was going to be THAT girl. ever since the snippet of Aphrodite's verse came out i've been OBSSEEESSED. Do i wish this song was a little longer... yes... BUT IT'S JUST BECAUSE I WANT MOREEE The idea of each god being a "level" for Athena to beat is genius. And the way each section sounds different is so fun!!! AND ZEUS AT THE END???? ok like we all KNOW she's that girl. and it's honestly a testament to the rest of the songs that this isn't my favorite from the saga.

Gosh this was a lot of yapping

[just-jae]

Hazbin Hoetl 5-6

Spoiler warning!

Not gonna lie, at first I was cringing a bit at Lucifer. I was expecting him the have, like, grace and baddie energy. but he's talking to himself pretending to show off rubber ducks to a crowd.

And of all the potential dynamics he and Al could have had, competing father figures was NOT on my mind at all dude. Al? Dad?

But, I watched these last two episodes a couple (okay maybe several) times over and, it's really growing on me. It was definitely the predeveloped impressions getting in the way of really enjoying these characters. Even the irks I had about Alastor aren't really irks anymore, especially with "Dad beat Dad having much better animation and a banger number for Al (seriously wtf he's horrific in this episode)--

"Could you butt out of my song?"

"Your song? I started this!"

"I'm singing it, I'll finish it!"

Before, I was seeing it as how well they pull off my (and arguably the long simmering fandom's) idea of these characters instead of how well the characters as they actually are are told. So many people thought this show would be a super serious deep dive on Christianity and commentary on religion itself. But at this point, it really feels like Heavan and Hell are metaphores. They focus a lot more on personal issues like relationships, coping mechanisms, flaws like nievety, displaced senses of self worth, etc.

Charlie's idea of what "gets people into heaven" is naive and brochure-like. Adam gave a literal list of three items that seemed overly simplistic (and turned out to be wrong).

But at least they had some idea about it. The higher angels themselves had no clue whatsoever, their only concern was preserving the status quo. And even when things are called to question they fall back to old ways just bc they're scared to change anything. Sera didn't have any malice toward Hell, she just doesn't want to make things worse, having Angels fall, have Hell attack Earth or Heaven, have more evil spread, by changing things.

Getting a better idea of what all of this is about makes it so much easier to appreciate things I initially was put off by. It just has a context that it fits into now.

Lucifer being this disillusioned depressed dork with "yeaaaah, No." energy fits into what we've seen of heavenly culture (uncanny innocence, annoying teen pop-culture energy, being perfectionist yet blind to their own flaws)

And The "Hell's Great Dad" song really broke the ice, especially when Mimzy busted in singing ITS MEEEEEEE-- like

Love her. I wasn't expecting to see Mimzy AT ALL since she was removed from the main cast. And after seeing people talk about her and how they were wondering about her, it definitely felt like popping in the way she did was a response to that. Even I was wondering bc you don't just drop a former love interest for a character like Alastor, but still have them show up in the pilot-- I wanted to see Mimzy lol.

like literally:

"It's MEEE, It's MEEE,

I know you were all waiting for MEEEE!

I'm Here, what a GAAAS,

Took a while but I'm here at LAAST"

Like, im sorry but I felt like she was pointing at me personally, not the other characters, and that was hilarious.

It's so random but doesn't feel out of place at all somehow. The tensions were already super high, so a random screaming woman busting in with even higher energy is like-- wtf?? :'D??

She was a blast the entire time tho, and actually tied into the reoccurring theme of only reaching out to someone so they can do something for you.

It also definitely pinched a side of Alastor, irritating that he does apparently NEED to be there, there's some obligation he actually has to the hotel, or at the very least some stakes to not holding things together, not bc he defended the hotel but bc he specifically says "I can't have that here" , he also doesn't refute the claims Mimzy makes about him. Al clearly adores her and isn't surprised by her antics at all yet still tells her to leave. With the mention of Alastor's "leash" in the same episode BC of Mimzy was just such a great way to use her character. A fun entrance, thematic relevance, and a great plot device to reveal more about Alastor's situation and motives.

Like I said, at first the food tasted cold. I was thinking to myself "Eh, nothing really that crazy ig" but the more I watch the episodes and get over whatever my expectations were, the more I enjoy what's there.

Like, at first I was thinking, "Oh no Lucy's another akward dork, a normie, a loooooserr" (not that being an akward dork or a normie is bad but those were the vibes I was giving off, I'm sorry)

But I keep watching "Hell's Greatest Dad" and NOW it's like

LOOK AT HIM< LOOK AT HIM GO

Like, he's fugghing adorable with the "WAP BAP BOOM"

the puppets and the circus imagery, and just the innocent unmalicious enthusiasm. He's stumbling around over barely knowing his daughter and is now sprinting to make up for being so absent-- and even that absence is implied to be due to chronic depression and pining, missing heaven and having to live in hell forever, not only being the one who supposedly created it by accident, but tried and failed to fix it, even having his own theme park ripped off by a deadly Sin. The show calls it out bluntly, but despite his cheery tone and, yeaaah, no, yeaaah, no" attitude, they did a great job showing that his depression manifested in detachment and disinterest. It sucks for the people it effects but it also sucks to be the one who dropped the ropes in your relationships.

So seeing him brjghtenup and glow over just helping his Charlie put her hotel together was great. He feels useful and wanted again. And imo it's a double edge sword as well if Lucy feels like he has to be useful to be a decent dad.

So, idk. I guess I do want to see how he handles trying to be in Charlie's life again, especially since, at this point Alastor knows and has supported her more than he ever has-- despite the rough beginning and the mockery. (Also Lilith's face being faded out was sus af)

I'm convinced that in Al's case it's definitely not from a genuine place, at least, we still have no reason to believe it is. He was glaring at Lucy as soon as he walked in, and the nearly every comment on how great his relationship with Charlie is was also a jab to piss off Lucy instead of a genuine expression.

A performance, in short.

Still, the fact that someone who's only just met Charlie has a better relationship with her than her father has got to suck to realize if you're the father.

Also-- the scene at the club-- I was pretty mixed about it, like, doing drugs, itself isn't bad-- it can be unhealthy and it can put others at risk if you're resigning your cognizance and self control for the sake of coping with stress-- so it can very easily enable bad things, especially if you become addicted, so,imo is pretty wreckless and definitely a vice. But it doesn't make you a bad person.

But then again angels also seem to think premarital sex and promiscuity is bad too. (Promiscuity puts you at risk for disease, and like drugs can be driven by vices, but, again, the thing itself isn't bad and can still be a healthy practice when it comes from a healthy place)

I'm genuinely proud of Angel for actually growing though, seeing him take care of Nifty and protect her from Val got me on the "Fuck em up" energy. It's always great to see a group of friends watching out for eachother when they know there's a danger to what they're doing-- ESPECIALLY when one of them is new to it all. That's why if you ARE going to do drugs or drink or whatever, definitely don't do it alone or without someone you trust with your safety.

And also never feel like you have to do those things to maintain relationships, some people feel like it would be an insult to imply they dont trust someone or just for being disinterested in their offer. And, frankly there are people who will prey on that.

That was just a great scene. It had some flaws, but was still great.

Also--

PENTIOUS

I HATE

BROTHERMAN MADE ALL THE MISTAKES.

"Bc I'M HAVING SEX WITH EVERY--"

THATS NOT WHAT YOU WANT TO SAY YOU FUCK

Also, not gonna lie but Sera's got me like

Its been a while since I've been down bad for a femenine character.

She is beauty, she is grace~

[leannan-sithe]

So you want to join our Godspousing Discord?

Here is a link to our standard advertisement post. Please go read it to find out more details about our 18+ Godspousing discord.

This isn't going to be our standard advertisement, partially because I'm bored of reposting the same thing. Instead, I want to enlighten folks on what happens on our godspousing discord.

The Pros:

Since it's invite-only, our community feels comfortable enough to get advice about intimate topics regarding deities and spirits, such as love, dating, and bedroom funtimes.

We have our "off-topic" area for your daily life, memes, pet pics, music discussions. We don't solely discuss our dating lives; we work to build a community of friends!

Unless there's extreme drama, what happens on this discord generally stays there. We discourage gossip about other discords and foster mutual respect. If we see each other on other discord servers, there's an understanding that we don't "out" each other without permission!

As an "older" godspousing discord (coming up on 4 years soon!), we have the benefit of past knowledge. We've been through all the varieties of godspousing drama, and we have policies in place to help prevent those from happening again.

The Cons:

Since it's invite-only, we rely on members to invite other people. This other option is literally this kind of Tumblr advertisement. In order to join, you do have to answer me these questions three in a DM. We check for all the basic red and yellow flags -- appropriation, homophobia, racism, etc -- but also take note of things that might be a problem in the future.

When people get mad at our closed community, they tend to use that against us even if the closed aspect benefited them previously. If you've seen complaints and call out posts on Tumblr before, it's usually because someone did something stupid and got banned, so now they're trying to take us down. We've gotten called a cult, I've gotten called a narcissist (derogative), people have turned around to make their own discords to compete with us. There's nothing we can really do to prevent this other than reblog and counter, but sometimes it's not worth it.

We don't allow appropriation. Lilith is Jewish, you should be Jewish or converting to work with her. Celtic is a label of multiple different nations, not just Ireland. Western chakras are appropriated and disconnected from their original dharmic practices. We're really clear on not allowing appropriation, but that's like 50% of the reason people get banned and start blasting us on Tumblr, is because we don't allow them to steal. Is it a cult if the "forced upon" belief is "hey don't steal?"

Why Being Invite-Only is Necessary:

People lie to us to join, they hide their age, their name, their past history of appropriation. They hide their godspouse or spirit partner's names and then get shocked pikachu when we're not okay with ghosts of dead murderers being around. Can you imagine how much worse it would be if our community was publicly accessible?

We aren't a zoo. Every few years, we prune our lurkers who don't reply to an activity check (after months of being warned and direct messages about it) so we know exactly how many people are around. We don't have hundreds of non-active members sipping tea and watching us confess fears and worries about our intimate lives. We don't allow people who are casually interested to join, only people who are seriously wanting to start godspousing. We don't allow researchers, we don't allow people who have only just heard of godspousing and found our post.

The community is mostly self-moderating, but on the occasions that we have problem members, the workload goes from 10% to 110%. We've had people say they're married to spirit "X" and then spirit X turns out to literally be a serial killer. We've had people who claim to be indigenous and Jewish and practice Shinto (all things we don't challenge directly, as it could be true) but then step on their own feet and admit they're not Jewish at all, they were just thinking about converting, they went to a Shinto shrine and a powwow once, so it's okay. We've had people who blamed a specific god for COVID and said it was actually a good thing. We've had people have a villainous Pop Culture partner, which is fine, but then they started posting on tumblr about how genocide is good actually. And these aren't even touching on the casual TERFs, racists, and p*dos that worm their way in without anyone noticing. These were people who were actively invited. A public server would be a billion times worse.

So, at the end of it, just go check out our regular advertisement and see if you want to join.

Maybe we have a lot of rules. Maybe we seem very wordy in all the things we do or don't allow. But, damn y'all, it's for a reason. And the reason is to keep our server safe and healthy!

[canmom]

I’m not sure if you’ve seen this but do you remember that unofficial animation studio (Studio Eclipse) who said they were animating a few Berserk arcs (namely the ones that were skipped in official adaptions)? Remember how they came out with a trailer the other month and that reached millions of views?

Well it looks like Studio Gaga actually responded today basically saying they’re not authorised to do this and at this point we’re not sure if further action will be taken. It’s awkward since Studio Eclipse set-up Patreon tiers for supporters ranging from a few dollars to over $200 so I guess the issue is that they’re monetising somebody else’s IP.

ooof, that really sucks. if anyone hasn't seen this trailer (I think I posted about it at some point), here, it's solid animation:

Legally they don't really have a foot to stand on here (Miura's works are not out of copyright, distributing derivative works is a reserved right that you can't really do without a license, Studio Gaga are presently the only ones with that license). Fanworks usually skate by on 'technically illegal but we are mostly not making any/enough money to be worth litigating' (and companies have come to recognise that cultivating fandom activity mostly tends to make them money rather than deprive them of it so they don't go too hard on suppressing it). I guess this crossed the threshold of being worthy of attention.

After all, this is very explicitly presented as an adaptation of Berserk, which they are making money off, which is thus kind of directly competing with what Studio Gaga are doing. So they can more plausibly claim economic damages in court.

This kind of highlights that like... with Miura dead (though his assistants continue to tell the story), the manga approaching 40 years old, oodles of money made already, and many adaptations of Berserk already existing, it probably feels like, in some moral sense, it 'ought to be' fair game to adapt by anyone - especially the parts of the story that it seems nobody else has any interest in adapting. And artistically, I'd love for anyone who feels like it to present their interpretation of Berserk, and all such things to be freely accessed by anyone. The more adaptations, the merrier. But once again the way culture works (continual flow of information, inspiration, derivative works etc.) and the way economics works (to make money, the thing you are selling has to be scarce) come into conflict.

It definitely seems like some companies have found a way around this. Games Workshop for example have been handing out licenses to adapt their IP very freely, and rather than slam down the legal warhammer they've pulling Warhammer fan animators (such as the creator of Astartes) into the fold, and releasing their works on their streaming service. They've even got a bunch of official Warhammer webcomics now. The result is that they get to treat fan animations as spec work, they can promote the 'Warhammer player' lifestyle across multiple media for cheap, and also it seems like there's a new 40k computer game every few months. We could speculate why this is working better for Warhammer than other companies - partly it's that the hobby is very DIY driven (it's all about painting little army men) so promoting fan activity is very on-brand, partly it might be that it's a 'universe' with loads of lore and stories to tell, so the adaptations are more mutually reinforcing each other rather than competing to be the definitive version? But also maybe it's just an experiment on GW's part, whose results are as yet unclear.

We could imagine Studio Gaga offering the guys at Eclypse a job to continue making their adaptations with a cut going back to Hakusensha, which would probably be the 'good end' of this affair, but they aren't really under any obligation to do that.

I still don't know what the answer is - restricting distribution of copies of an artwork/derivative works is such a horrendous, inelegant hack for 'divert a portion of the productive surplus of society to keeping artists alive', one which endlessly damages the thing it's supposed to be protecting, but it is hard to imagine what other model would work without a pretty fundamental reorganisation of society. Which, you know, is already needed given *waves hands* climate change etc. But in the immediate term, fan artists always run the risk of this kind of thing.

[asexual-means-no-attraction]

Hello! Do you have a stance on whether the female category of a sport should be open for trans women to join? I've heard that the male category is actually an 'open' category, as well, meaning women and trans people are included automatically there, too, if they wish to compete there. I don't hear people mention that, though.

I remember watching a YouTube video by Samantha Lux on the topic that was actually really good. She discussed how tran women who've been on hormones for a while actually find their physical abilities start to line up more with cis women. One of the studies she showed took actual athletes before and after their medical transition and how their abilities change to match up with cis women athletes. If you want some good info on the topic, she's a good source to look into.

I am not super into sports so my own research is a bit lacking. But growing up I've always thought it was silly to have every sport segregated by gender. Again, I know very little, but the idea that golf needs to have men and woman categories baffles me. It just makes me think of that story of a teenage girl who struck out Babe Ruth or that Twitter post where they tried to make Serina Williams and a top male tennis player (can't remember off the top of my head) had the same number of wins and the male tennis player corrected them because Williams had a LOT more.

Like, there's a lot of instances where gender has been shown to not really matter for certain sports. And I find it dumb that we have to STILL keep them separated.

And none of that is including how hormones change physical characteristics.

Plus like... It's not WORTH it financially for a trans woman to compete in the women's teams. Women's sports are paid less, and have poorer quality of equipment. I remember reading an article about women's soccer fields having a much rougher grass than the men's field making it more dangerous if you fall. Like, if it was a whole "they can't win as men so they're gonna win here" it literally makes no sense. So it's not some ill intention thing, they just genuinely wanna compete with their same gender.

It goes even further too since every instance I've ever seen of someone complaining about a trans woman in a sporting event, she didn't even win! Showing even further that she doesn't have some step up. She just has a chance to win (and hopefully one day she will) along with all the other women there. But people just yell and complain as if these women are some boogie man when they're just people trying to be themselves. I've even seen people take cis athletes and claim they are trans women because they won and had athletic bodies instead of "feminine" ones. It all just leads to more women getting hurt instead of just uplifting everyone.

It just feels way more deep than it should be. Just let the woman be and compete with other women.

I've never heard of the "open" thing for the men's category before. Not sure if that's a thing. If it is, it's probably cuz no one knows about it. That, or people who try to go that route are forced out.

[seventeendeer]

Kind of a weird request, and you don't have to do it if you don't want to, but I was wondering what exactly the Engineer would be like in terms of that TF2 analysis thing, and also is his depiction in things like the comics and expiration date accurate?

not a weird request at all!! I'm actually very curious about this myself!

As I mentioned in the big analysis post, I'm the most familiar with the cultural movements that shaped the characters of Scout, Soldier and Spy - I also have at least cursory knowledge of most of the rest of the mercs, with the unfortunate exception of Engie. I'm not very familiar with the exact cultural relationship between the American South and the rest of the US during this era, so it's difficult for me to pinpoint where the tropes he's based on came from. Sorry about that!

What I do know is that Southerners are often stereotyped as unintelligent and uncultured - the "twist" of a Southerner actually being highly intelligent "in spite of" their heritage is an old trope in fiction, dating back to at least the Cold War. We've seen examples of this trope as recently as Gravity Falls. There's an entire TV Tropes page listing instances of this trope across genres (look up the "Southern-fried genius" page, if you'd like to poke around some old media properties yourself).

While the political agenda behind stereotyping Southerners as stupid has historically had obvious advantages to people in power (I'd assume the stereotype dates back to at least the American Civil War), I don't know who benefitted from subverting the trope and why. I'd assume someone did, since all the other mercenaries are based on politically-charged stereotypes in media. If I had to make a semi-educated guess, I'd imagine it could have been an attempt to smoothe over some of the lingering cultural tensions between the South and the rest of the US, in order to unite the people against a foreign enemy? Simultaneously validating those who viewed the South as uncultured/"quirky", while also introducing the idea that they could still have something valuable to contribute to American society, and trying to make Southerners themselves feel like they had a seat at the table of American culture.

But this is all speculation! I'm not nearly informed enough on the subject to make any hard claims. If you'd like more info, I'd have a look into the relationship between the South and the rest of the US during this era (and right before), and see if you can spot any red threads.

One more thing that's worth mentioning is that technological advancement was a very widely-discussed topic during the Cold War. Most likely, you've heard about the space race - the US and Russia competing to be the first nation to launch a manned spacecraft to the moon. This was part of a larger technological rivalry between the two superpowers, both of which sought to prove the superiority of their own nation's scientists and technological advancement. As a result, the US heavily promoted the idea of American tech being uniquely miraculous, futuristic and almost mystical in nature, both to their own citizens (to encourage nationalistic values) and to foreigners (to improve their image in the eyes of allies, and to intimidate the enemy).

I'm 99% sure this is relevant to Engineer's character. An American character portrayed as friendly, approachable, humble and sort of "homey"/comfortable to be around, while also being insanely smart and capable of creating technology so advanced it borders on magic hits a very specific vibe that was very present in the minds of Americans during the Cold War.

By contrast, look at the sorts of tropes the other TF2 scientist calls back to - Medic, a foreigner, specifically a German (again, remember that World War 2 was still a fresh cultural wound across the world during the Cold War), is portrayed as a creepy, amoral Frankenstein-esque figure who is arguably the most cartoonishly "evil-coded" character on the team. While Engie is inspired by tropes associated with safety and home, as these concepts are portrayed in American media, Medic is arguably the most viscerally off-putting of the mercs. Pyro is made out to be more straight-up horrifying, but Medic is disturbing. Watch Meet the Medic and try to count how many common phobia-triggers are packed into that one short alone. Of course, in practice, both of these characters are simultaneously creepy, hyper-violent, and ultimately disarming and likeable (supporting the game being designed to enable silly, mindless, fun virtual violence), but the media stereotypes they're based on were intended to instill extremely different feelings in their contemporary audience.

So yeah, while I can't give you a definitive answer as to the specific source of Engie's character, I hope these details can help you get started on your own research! If nothing else, this small bit of context may help you out.

(Briefly touching on Engie's portrayal in the (newer) comics: he is not nearly unhinged enough. A common problem among all the mercs, but he definitely gets the worst of it. Later comics practically treat him as a plot device instead of as a main character in his own right, and it's a bummer. Without being super familiar with the media he's based on, I can't get into more depth than that or identify exactly what went wrong, but one thing I can say for sure is that he did not get to Use More Gun nearly as much as he should have.)

[justinforprez]

Real Starship costs

I gathered these from a ton of sources on the internet. some are dubious reddit posts sucking Musk's cock

But anyway I want to crunch some numbers on REAL costs

Starship has $30k in helium, $3 mil in methane (at least) and $300k in oxygen (at least) per flight. Not counting other consumables for passengers

It requires 14 flights to get enough fuel to go to the moon plus the first flight for passengers thats $50 mil

$45mil in heat tiles if it was the space shuttle and Space X said it was $12,000 per sq meter or $9.6 mil which is on Nasa's material cost database so I trust it

Thats quite the improvement in 40 years. Not bad. Still crazy

1.25% needed to be replaced per flight but otherwise have a 100 flight lifespan but its probably longer

So thats $120k in tiles per flight

The best engines EVER the RS-25 only lasted UP TO 15 flights and SpaceX have never officially stated how long the engines last but have said reuse up to 10 times and ONE booster managed 21 launches so far but we don't know anything about its engines

Theres roughly $38 mil in engines if SpaceX can be believed and I have no reason to doubt them on engine costs. At 10x reuse thats $3.8 mil per launch.

.Estimated total dev cost will be $10 bil but thats not usually counted but $6bil of that would need to be private investment as per commercial space requirements. Not counting profit if we assume that the vehicles have a lifespan similar to shuttles at 100 launches. I do think that the shuttles development cost of $50 bil was reasonable but with advanced in CAD I think they COULD do it for $10 bil and that 10 bil is from experts.

development plus 4 launches will complete $5 bil in spending

The last shuttle was $1.7 billion. Space X say that the full stack was $150 mil. Experts believe that the Falcon 9 costs about $30 million to build.

The raptors are at least twice as expensive and theres 38 total in the stack. vs 10 on Falcon. So they are about 2x as expensive per kg lifted. So maybe the vehicle. Falcon 9 lifts 1/5 that of starships claimed 100 tons (it only did 50 the first time). So $300 million to build. Thats maybe not exactly fair since tank costs don't space linearly. Bigger tank is not that much more expensive. But thats $3 mil/ launch. I can't spend all night on this.

So far we have $10.75 mil per launch as COST, not price. and we are fully excluding development, operations, tracking, refurbishment (we assume it lasts 100 times at no cost then fully replace), and of course profit.

SpaceX want to go public. Profit will matter.

Musk claims $2-3 mil/launch. Thats not possible.

Falcon 9 has a refurbished cost of $15 mil. So they spend 1/2 the cost on refurbishment for reference. Which is awful by the way and worse than Shuttle which was about 1/4 and still wasn't worth refurbishing.

So without refurb I expect a price of at least $20 mil/launch and more likely $30 mil if they go public. But realistically since it can lift 5x falcon the price would be $300 mil if they had to pay for all that other shit and not compete with their other product.

However if their refurb cost is similar to Shuttle at 1/4 cost per flight thats $75 mil added. So $85 mil cost and likely triple that for the sale price. So $250 mil per launch

Thats cheap. Dirt cheap by the way

Its still VERY cheap to get that much to orbit and I feel that its much more realistic.

I hate these fraudulent, ridiculous lies by Musk. Its still a potentially revolutionary vehicle at that price.

However its TERRIBLE for getting to the Moon or Mars. It they have $85 mil in costs for 15 launches to refill to go to the moon and 20 launches for mars (one way trip) thats $1.275 billion to go to the moon. Which is DIRT CHEAP compared to apollo. Musk could be making these numbers as claims at could actually back them up even if they end up being too optimistic.

Also launching 15 rockets to do one moon trip is fucking nuts by the way and incredible unreliable. given that the real engine life will probably be around 10 to 15 launches. that a whole starship per trip in which case you should just expend the vehicle and make it out of carbon fiber.

[freeworldallahexecutivembaclass]

Guess who my coach and trainer is it's no lie Joel Osteen he is getting me in shape and fit as a decent human being thank you brother I love you so much 💖 😍 thank you Joel your my friend and pastor I love your sermons it's my favorite show now . I just found out I'm Donny Creed in his new movie as Apollo Creed son I'm him in Creed 3 the new movie hot stuff it's baking cookie hot muffin stove gloves hot I'm in the kitchen training ferociously thank you so much oh yeah one of my favorite movie stars ✨ check his new movie out that makes me SIR Jay Z and Beyonce Son the Prince and much love to fellow Houstoner Beyonce Knowles Carter my homegirl and my sister mom mom Baytown Texas in the house 🏡 I owe bloods an apology the gang my gang my brothers the people who I legalized the pot gaunja marijuana bud for no I'm not into that gang lifestyle even though much tension come from my way while they are being easy and cool and people like them right now I ask the city of New York that every building or sign they put up in my name you put them included we started together and squashed our drama no drama no beef I know Joel Osteen hear me and Beyonce hear me I'm trying to end the war between me and gang members I promise not to violate them or disrespect them since I'm claiming that I'm not a gang member or a person that is into that type of crowd and it's people I like them but I rather put you at the same levels I'm on so that we can compete friendly competition you make your song I make my song and let's see who win the city type stuff I'm opening the door so you can all get on in any industry you want just like I legalized the bud weed marijuana to get the cops off of you I'm letting you in the game of being truly powerful and that echo out of my room can go away the mind control voodoo hex can go away that would help and level any playing field 🏑 and this is from a cartoonist digital animator me .

My self taught schooling and schedule hope it helps .

Week 1 Monday : Chapters 1 , Chapter 2 , Chapter 3 Subjects : Retail business kit for dummies and branding for dummies , Art of the deal Donald Trump class

Tuesday Subjects : Administrative Assistant secretary handbook chapter 27 , Chapter 28 and chapter 29 and resumes and cover letters for dummies Chapter 4 , chapter 5 and chapter 6

Wednesday : Chapter 1 , Chapter 2 , Chapter 3 Subjects : Living longer for dummies and success habits for dummies

Thursday : Chapter 1 , Chapter 2 , Chapter 3 Subjects : Communicating effectively for dummies and Commercial real estate for dummies

Friday : Chapter 1, Chapter 2 , Chapter 3 Subjects : Project management for dummies and Running a restaurant for dummies

Saturday : Chapter 1 , Chapter 2 , Chapter 3 Subjects : Basic English class writing skills and basic arithmetic class Donald Trump's commercial Real Estate and Donald Trump's entrepreneurship class

Sunday : Chapter 1 , Chapter 2 , Chapter 3 Subjects : Management for dummies and product management , Microsoft office for dummies

Week 2 Monday : Chapter 7, Chapter 8 , Chapter 9 and chapter 10 Subject : Retail business kit for dummies and branding for dummies chapter 4 , chapter 5 and 6 , Art of the deal Donald Trump class chapter 1 , chapter 2 and ,Chapter funny story the back room operations is major work I never doubt myself though because I'm successful already it's funny because I'm quiet but my work ethic is sorta what drives me since I was young and hustling I work and work extremely hard at trying to my deals done or maybe a song I write or studying about some country that need my help now I got all these accomplishments and I'm a winner there and haven't missed yet this is new to me you don't hear from me I'm doing my homework I take my time with everything I do I basically learn the game that I'm getting into and then pitch my stuff law proposal or whatever and I win all the time I study hard 😂 I feel good but you know I'm going to get a good life from all this so it is worth it 😊 ❤️ .

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1st semester subjects :

Some good books to read a doctor prescribe medicine and a psychiatrist prescribe techniques to bring a person back from dangerous behavior and mannerisms that creates their characters and then of course their destiny books for you can change that let reading be your new cool 😎

[lythea-creation]

Hi, I would like to request a Clove Kentwell x Reader I don't really have anything particular so you can choose the plot.

I hope you do my request

I Will Win For Us - Clove Kentwell x fem reader (Chapter 1)

First of all thanks for the request, anon. I have never written anything for Clove before, but I hope you like what I came up with anyway.

summary: Clove and (f/n) have known each other basically their whole life. What happens when Clove wants to volunteer for the next Hunger Games?

warnings: none I think

word count: 762

Author's note: Feel free to check out my Masterlists and make requests. No reposting please! Reblogging, comments and requests are always appreciated &lt;3 If you like the story/my writing, please don't be shy to say it via comments or asks! It takes you a few seconds and might make my day. It's the best appreciation you can show to a writer you like.

Since I got several requests for more Clove content, I decided to turn this oneshot into a series. Hope you enjoy it.

----------

I had been trained to become a peacekeeper from a young age, nothing unusual in district 2.

My life had always consisted of endless training, work and discipline. Breaking out of this concept had not even crossed my mind. It was my sense of normality.

Making friends as a child or teenager was a difficult intent as we were encouraged to compete against each other, to become the greatest, make our families proud.

Therefore it was hard to trust.

Without Clove I would be a robot … simply existing to fulfill the expectations forced upon me without a second thought.

She was the one who had been keeping me alive all this time.

We had known each other basically our whole life because our parents were close friends.

Hence Clove and I had trained together and motivated each other to exceed our limits. Our friendship and rivalry had made us stronger as we had different strengths and weaknesses.

Helping each other out was not exactly a thing between children of our district. Sure, we allied during the Hunger Games, but as soon as it came down to killing to win ourselves we did not hesitate to do so.

So Cloves and my relationship set us apart from the rest.

Currently we were practicing throwing knives at targets.

Clove had always been great at it, a natural.

I preferred hand-to-hand combat. My reflexes were sharp meaning I could dodge nearly every attack, whether it was a hand, foot or even a weapon.

Suddenly a knife grazed my ear as it barely missed my head.

My hand automatically moved to the small cut.

“You should get rid of your daydreaming if you wanna survive in the arena”, Clove noted with a grin.

“You know I'm not planning to go there”, I reminded her.

“I still don't understand why. You would stand a good chance with your reflexes”, she considered.

I could not understand why she wanted to participate in the Games so desperately.

Most teenagers here wanted to make their family proud by it and could not wait to do so.

But we were only fifteen. There was still time to grow and improve our senses and skills.

“Are you seriously planning to go this year?”, I inquired anxiously.

“(f/n), you know exactly how long I already waited. And my parents want me to. I can't let them down”, she claimed, approaching me slowly.

“I just don't want to lose you, Clo”, I whispered as she was standing right in front of me now, holding my hands.

“I know. I'm not planning to die either”, she reassured me. “When I get back from the Games, we can live in my victors house together. I know we didn't plan to tell our parents about our relationship until we were eighteen. But they couldn't keep us apart then. Nobody can resist a victor. We can finally step out of line and stop hiding.”

I loved the imagination of that. Yet it was not worth the risk to lose her completely. Waiting three years was definitely better. But she would only get mad at me if I told her that and I did not want to fight her now. The reaping was only five days away.

“Then let's make sure you win”, I declared and pushed her to the ground with a surprise attack.

I was sitting on top of her now holding her wrists next to her head. “You're dead”, I announced jokingly.

“That wasn't fair”, she complained struggling to free herself.

After a few seconds she gave up. She knew best that she did not stand a chance against my fighting techniques. I had beat grown men with them.

“The fights in the arena won't be fair either”, I shot back.

“Yeah, but I won't be distracted by them or trust them like I do with you”, she uttered softly.

For a moment I could see the fear and pain in her eyes. I saw the fifteen year old girl and not the soldier they were trying to turn us into.

I let go of her hands and instead leaned onto the ground next to them to kiss her.

When we pulled away Clove quickly turned us around. So she was holding me down now. Her proud grin was pissing me off and making me love her even more at the same time.

Clove was a fighter. I was sure she would do anything required to return to me. Hopefully it would be enough.

Next Chapter

[slimepuparibaba]

Rei the Dayflower Seelie

Rei was actually the Seelie that was initially assigned to Lumine during the treasure hunting event! After spending so much time trying to find treasure for their old partner, they found traveling with Lumine to be quite the refreshing experience and loved spending everyday with her.

Lumine obviously had to choose between the three different colors of Seelie (Blue, Pink, or Gold) by the time she collected enough iron coins.

When asking around for some advice, many seemed to claim that the Pink or Gold Seelies are the best ones, as the Pink ones attract attention and love and Gold ones bring extra luck.

But, Lumine instead picked the Blue Dayflower, because they were said to want to see the sights of the world. Since they were already acquainted, Lumine was happy with that and decided to take the little treasure hunting Seelie with her.

Lumine decided to name the small Seelie 'Rei' because the word "Seelie" reminded her of a person she swore she heard of before named "Seele Vollerei"... she thought it was a cute name and that it was fitting for such an adorable ray of sunshine!

Rei can make small cooing sounds that seem to be close to legitimate words--they only use basic sounds and can't formulate full-on sentences though, but they're learning quite fast!

This came especially in handy when Lumine first introduced Rei as a permanent member to the party to Childe, as he was at first a bit reluctant, because they alredy had to deal with Paimon; he didn’t know if another flying companion was worth the trouble.

However, as soon as Rei called him ‘papa’ (or at least that’s what they assumed Rei said), he instantly fell in love with the little Seelie.

If anyone dares hurt Rei, he will not hesitate to throw hands; he will destroy anyone who scares or lays a single finger on Rei.

After that, Rei would start to call Lumine and Childe 'mama' and 'papa' quite a lot, to the point where ChiLumi would call Rei their son! (Side note: Seelies don't have genders, but Rei himself seemed to prefer male pronouns... good to know!)

Lumine and Childe pamper Rei a lot and have even begun requesting kids meals for him at restaraunts or booster seats (even though Rei floats and doesn’t seem to feel the need to eat). Paimon gets upset with this.

Paimon likes to flaunt her authority over Rei, saying she is Rei’s big sister and that he must obey her rules. It's a one-way sibling rivalry, since Rei is very much affectionate towards Paimon as he is with everyone else while Paimon is attempting to compete with him for "the best companion award".

Though sometimes Childe will threaten to cook Paimon into emergency food if anything were to happen to Rei and it turned out to be Paimon's fault, so that's nice

Though Rei no longer hunts for treasures, the entire party is still happy with his presence, as he is always there to make everyone’s day. He is basically a floating ball of serotonin and will give cuddles.

I am not kidding. He is not a Fire Seelie, but he is still very warm and will cuddle the closest person in his vicinity.

Lumine’s entire party just agrees that they must bring Rei everywhere.

[alyce0013]

Corpus Christi

A beautiful piano rendition of Moonlight Sonata flowed through the large empty villa. Sunday was family day, so Kihyun was once again alone in the place he had been chained to for the past several decades. He always loved the way the music echoed back to him as he played. This song fit the brooding mood he was currently in, and Kihyun knew allowing himself to be taken away by the melody would improve his mood for when his master returned. He looked up from the keys of the piano into the dark empty sockets of the human skull resting atop of the piano.

"What should I play next my friend?" He asked the skull, smiling sadly. His fingers paused over the keys as he made his decision. Für Elise echoed back to him and flowed through his soul. He closed his eyes giving in to the brooding, somber feeling. Everything he had done these past several decades, the reason he was figuratively chained to the villa, it was all for one person. For her.

Kihyun could barely even remember exactly how her sweet voice sounded anymore. He longed to hear it, escaping to the place in his mind where he kept those memories. He remembered her hair always being a bit of a mess. He had made a joke about how it matched her personality. He remembered her smile, how her eyes would light up as if her soul was glowing through them. The sound of her laugh, loud and contagious. Her voice calling to him, making his heart swell with love and adoration.

"Corpus Christi." Her voice whispered in his mind. His eyes quickly opened wide in shock at how real it had sounded. Kihyun's fingers accidentally hitting the wrong keys and messing up the beautiful piece of music. He glared at the skull in front of him for a moment before he heard the main doors open, announcing the return of the family. He closed the cover of the piano quickly as he rushed to greet them.

"My king." Kihyun offered his arm to take his coat, bowing stiffly in respect.

"Ah, Kihyun, I trust everything went smoothly while we were gone?"

"Of course, my queen." He responded taking her coat as well. The prince and princess waved him away and put their own coats away.

"How are the holiday preparations coming?" The king asked.

"Everything is all ready for you. Starting with appetizers in the sitting room and leading up to the main feast in the dining room." Kihyun felt a sense of pride in how well he set things in motion. He may be here as a punishment, but he wasn't going to let that get in the way of doing the best job he could.

"Competent as always, Kihyun. Thank you." The king praised, smiling fondly. "Join us for dinner, would you?"

"O-of course." Kihyun stuttered, dark brown eyes wide in surprise. He had only been invited to dinner twice before, but never to a feast. It was rare for him to be shocked at all, and now it happened twice in one day. It really was throwing him out of his comfort zone. He was normally a composed, reserved person, not allowing his emotions to show very much if at all.

The royal family passed by him on their way to the sitting room. The king patted him on the shoulder. The queen mirrored her husband's fond smile. The prince showed complete indifference as usual. The princess brushed into him in a flirty way. Kihyun rolled his eyes at the princess's back. She had taken a liking to him a couple decades into his punishment, and constantly enjoyed flirting with him. He denied her at every turn. He was forbidden, and disgraced, but most of all his heart was already claimed.

Kihyun quickly left to the servants quarters to change into something more presentable for dinner. He wasn't going to appear at the holiday feast in his servant clothes in front of the entire royal family. He couldn't be so disrespectful. This feast was the most important feast of the year, about as special as the humans regarded Christmas, which was only a week later. He looked at himself in the mirror, combing his hair back a little and making small adjustments to his three piece suit.

Kihyun walked through the different areas in which servants were working on his way back to the main villa. He had to make sure everything was perfect and inform them he wouldn't be available to help.

"Ah, Kihyun, there you are. For a moment I thought maybe you changed your mind about joining us." The queen addressed him the moment he walked into the room.

"Just making myself presentable, my queen." Kihyun sat in the only available chair, across from the princess as he spoke. She had been staring at him since he had arrived.

"Everything is flawless as usual. I don't know how you do it." The king commented as the main course was placed in front of them. The human, whose skull now sat on the top of the piano, had been prepared exceptionally well, according to Kihyun's instructions.

"Any job worth doing is worth doing well." Kihyun responded.

"You should be very proud. It sometimes seems like only yesterday you were sentenced to work here as punishment for your crime. You started off just a normal servant, but you quickly worked up the ladder until you became my steward." The king spoke as everyone ate. Kihyun was confused as to why he was bringing the past up. His believed his crime was well worth the decades of servitude.

"My penance must be paid, my king." Kihyun bowed his head in respect.

"It was a punishment, and yet you took it on willingly and excelled. I don't think anyone else in your position would have been as hardworking, diligent, and humble as you. You impress me, Kihyun." The king paused for a moment, savoring a piece of human meat. The silence allowed small, quiet conversations to break out amongst the table. The princess had decided at that moment to try to be flirty with her feet under the table. Kihyun pulled his feet back and rested them underneath his chair instead. He saw disappointment flash across her face before he looked over at the other guests at the table. The entire council was here as well as their families.

Kihyun thought back to the last time he had been in front of the king and his council after they had discovered what he had done. He had been brought in with cast iron shackles around his wrists and ankles. He had kneeled in front of them, asking for mercy, and trying to explain. Back then he had fallen so far. He wasn't an arrogant person, but he never expected to ever be begging on his knees at any point in his life.

"Kihyun, should we bring out the other human? This one is almost down to the spine." A servant whispered inconspicuously in his ear.

"Yes, also announce the next course, and prepare for dessert." Kihyun responded just as inconspicuously. He should be behind those kitchen doors, running things, but he knew most of the people under him were more than competent with the right guidance. He just had to trust them.

Kihyun's orders were followed and the king requested a fine wine for the entire table. Kihyun looked around the table at the guests. He still had no idea why he was dining with the entire ruling class right now. The princess seemed to be begging for his attention, but trying her hardest to hide it from her father. He wished she would take a hint and just give up, but the feast continued with barely a hiccup. The main course finished well and the next course was served. The king looked extremely pleased with everything which gave Kihyun a swelling feeling of pride in his chest. He pushed the feeling down a bit, reminding himself of the virtue of humility. He was sure that virtue was one of the main reasons he could be at this table right now.

"I didn't think you could beat last year's decadent feast, but you definitely outdid yourself." The king remarked as dessert was finally brought out.

"It is all due to your exceptional leadership that we are allowed to celebrate so well, my king."

"Before we start eating dessert, I have some things I would like to say to you, Kihyun." The king raised his voice so everyone in the room could hear him. All conversations immediately stopped and all attention was directed to him.

"You have my undivided attention." Kihyun assured him calmly, while underneath his composed demeanor, he was completely panicking.

"As I said earlier, you've served me very well these past few decades, and although you were working as punishment for your crime, you carried out your work meticulously and with humility and diligence. So, I feel you deserve something in return. Honestly, I don't know what we are going to do without you." The king smirked as he said the last statement.

"Without me?" Kihyun asked confused.

"Yes, the council and I have put a lot of thought into your behavior and service, and we have unanimously decided that your sentence is finished. Your punishment is over. Of course, you will never be able to reclaim your status as a prince, but you are a free man once again. All I ask is that you train your replacement if you decide to leave. If you decide to stay, I will make sure you live much more comfortably than you do now." The king smiled at Kihyun as shock took over his face. He couldn't believe his ears. He had waited for this moment for so long, never hoping it would be so soon.

"I-I don't know what to say." Kihyun confessed, stuttering for the second time that day. Shock was still taking hold of his thoughts and body making him unable to decide whether or not this was all a dream.

"Seeing my normally composed, brooding steward flustered is enough to know how much you appreciate this gesture. I do expect an answer as to whether you will stay on as my steward in two weeks. From this moment forward you are free to come and go as you wish. Enjoy your reclaimed freedom, Kihyun." The king then started to eat his dessert. Kihyun's thoughts raced as he finally realized he wasn't breathing at all out of shock. He let out a heavy shocked breath as he looked around the room at approving faces. He was free.

"Corpus Christi." That voice, her voice echoed once again softly in his head stopping all his thoughts except one.

"I need a plane ticket!" Kihyun blurted out a bit louder than necessary. The king laughed at the sudden outburst. It was so out of character for Kihyun to be so emotional, but he couldn't help it.

"Why not just use your own wings?" The king asked smiling fondly.

"It's too far for that. I'd definitely be seen by humans."

"Well, set it up. You know how. You have my full support." The king went back to his dessert and so did the rest of the room. Kihyun excused himself quietly. The only dessert he needed was the freedom he was just granted, and he wasn't gonna waste one second of it. He was going to go find her. His steps hastened as he stepped out of the dining room and out of sight of everyone inside.

Kihyun hastily set up a flight to Texas as cheap as possible, and three days later he arrived in Dallas. He quickly rented a car and started what would be around a seven hour drive down to Corpus Christi. He drove the entire way down to the city, making a plan in his head. He knew her favorite place was the beach. She had always loved the feel of the sand between her toes, the salty water washing over her feet, and the sound of the waves crashing against the shore. The was no doubt in his mind he would find her there.

The first day was spent at North Beach, which was the most popular one in Corpus Christi. He walked along the water, getting lost in the sound of the waves. He could smell the food from the restaurants along the waterfront.

It reminded him so much of the first time he met her. Kihyun had walked along the water just like now, but back then he had been so deep in thought. There was so much responsibility on his shoulders as prince, and the sound of waves always helped destress him. He was so lost in his thoughts, he hadn't noticed her sitting, allowing the waves to wash over her feet as they came in. He had tripped over her legs, and barely avoided face planting into the wet sand with slight use of his wings. She had laughed at his 'graceful' recovery. Maybe he wouldn't have been so taken with her had she been angry with him.

The sun set on the water creating beautiful colors in the sky. Kihyun had spent the whole day on the beach reminiscing, eating at one of the restaurants, and just walking along the water over and over. She wasn't here. Darkness fell and he decided to try another beach tomorrow.

The second day he spent at Cole Park. The views were beautiful, but there wasn't much sand. He smiled sadly as he hung on a railing overlooking the gulf. This would be a perfect place for a picnic and more of a lazy kind of day. The sun reflected brilliantly off the water as he walked along the pier.

It reminded him so much of their first date. A picnic area overlooking the ocean. She had made a basket for him and he had made a basket for her. They had laid out beneath the canopy of a large tree. Kihyun didn't know what exactly it was then, but he had that floaty feeling of falling in love throughout his whole body. He was so confused as to how he could feel any attraction like this towards a human. It might have been the way her eyes sparkled when she spoke about her passions, or maybe the way the sunlight kissed her skin so gently like she was precious that made him even more taken with her. She had closed her eyes and just bathed in the fresh ocean air and calmness of the moment. Kihyun would swear he had never seen anything so beautiful.

Although he spent the whole day walking the pier, breathing in the calming ocean air, and just soaking up the sun, she had been nowhere on this beach. He sighed sadly, swallowing back tears. Darkness fell on this day and despair started to rise up in his chest.

The third day he spent at South Padre Island. A small smile spread across his face as he shed his shoes and wriggled his toes into the sand. The sunrise caught his eye today as he looked out at the gulf. He walked along the beach close enough to allow for the waves to wash over his bare feet as they came in. He noticed a couple riding horses along the beach close by.

This beach reminded Kihyun of the day he proposed. It had only been two months after he finally confessed his true nature. She hadn't been scared of him at all, not even when he showed her his true appearance. She had just softly touched his horns with wide eyes.

Kihyun wanted the proposal to be special, and, since the beach was special to them, he knew it was the perfect place for special. He had walked over to her with the horses to ride along the beach. Her calm, animal loving nature allowed her to bond quickly with her horse. They rode along the beach as the sun set beautifully on the water, even though he barely noticed it. He had been looking at something more beautiful the entire time. He suddenly dismounted from his horse, causing her to be concerned. She dismounted as well, walking the horse along with her back to him. His palms had been so sweaty, his heart had raced so fast, and every beautiful word he had planned to say emptied from his mind. He still somehow managed to ask her from down on one knee, explaining how she completed him so perfectly. It was his happiest memory. Her absolute joy was indeed more beautiful to him than any sunset on any beach.

Unfortunately, she was nowhere to be found on this beach. Kihyun swallowed back tears once again as the small flame of hope dimmed slightly. He definitely had heard her voice right. She should be here somewhere. He returned to his hotel slightly defeated.

It was on the fourth day at Whitecap Beach where he finally found his heart again. He found this beach to be beautifully peaceful as he started to walk around. He walked along the water, deciding whether or not he wanted to walk the pier as well. He watched a man starting to build a sandcastle for a few moments.

As Kihyun's gaze swept back towards the water a woman caught his eye. At first he couldn't believe it was her. He gazed at her figure in the distance, close to the waves, walking along slowly. The first absolutely genuine smile since he was ripped from her slowly spread across his face. Her hair was messy as always, the wind blowing it beautifully to the side. It was as if time stood still for a moment and his whole body froze in excitement and awe. She was just as beautiful as he remembered.

Kihyun broke into a sprint, not slowing down until he was a couple feet from her. She had stopped for a moment, looking out at the sun rising above the water. He quietly walked up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and buried his face into her neck. She smelled so good. She smelled like home. A loud gasp escaped her throat as she moved to grab his wrists.

"They gave you back to me?" She breathed, absolute joy filling every syllable. She turned in his arms to face him,running her hands all over his body as if she had to make sure he was real. Her hands settling on his chest as he wrapped his arms around her tighter. She buried her face in his chest as happy tears started to fall down her face.

"Yes. I'm finally free." Kihyun sighed happily. "I missed you so very much!" The tears he had been holding back the past few days started to drip from his eyes.

"I missed you too. I thought you were dead." She confessed, looking up into his soft, dark brown eyes. "I was so afraid you were dead." Kihyun softly wiped her tears with his thumbs as he cradled her face in his hands. He placed a soft, sweet kiss on her lips.

"We don't kill our own kind. That was the first thing I taught you when I turned you." He wrapped his arms around her waist again, pulling her closer, holding her tight as if to say he would never let go. "I was sentenced to servitude and stripped of my title."

"Did you regret it...while you were being punished?" She asked gently, as he kissed her forehead lovingly.

"Turning you? No. I knew turning a human into one of us was illegal, but I was willing to take any punishment just so that I didn't ever have to lose you. It was so very selfish, but so very worth it." Kihyun admitted. She wrapped her arms around his neck, gazed into his eyes, and smiled lovingly up at him.

"They gave you back to me for Christmas." She sighed. "This is the most perfect Christmas present ever."

[whoami-imnotentirelysure]

01.18.2022

I definitely need to get this out while I'm thinking about it. I've never had the best relationship with my mother, but even still I've always wanted and craved love from her. I was never really given that. If I was it was in short intervals as a child. I guess it kind of hurts right now because mom is putting up pictures of Bs kids. He's been around for a year now, almost. Not once has he gone and seen his kids. Claims he "doesn't have the money", but if he stopped drinking as much booze as he's been drinking (easily 30$ a night worth, minimum), he would have the fucking money. I hate hearing lousy people tell lies saying they don't have money to do something "important to them", but can settle on spending money on shit that is a waste of time. He's a fucking alcoholic, he's clearly a lousy father. He doesn't remember his kids ages, or even how long its been since he's seen them. His oldest daughter is like, my age. That's why it pisses me off so much. I can't stand it. He's got 4 kids of his own. My mom is going to wound up getting stuck with this man, he's got 4 kids of his own. She had it hard enough fucking leaving M lousy ass, only because "Y was like her own". It took her a year and a half to finally leave. It was difficult to try and get her to do it. Even after she used to invite Y over to hang out with X. B only cares about getting fucked up, and that's so blatantly obvious. I knew it from the first time I met him. He's turned my own mother into a raging alcoholic. He's mean as fuck to my little sister. He knows better than to cross me, only because I can take him down via fist fight. He learned from my mother that I'm a lot stronger than I look, and not only that but I'm taller than him. I'm tired of getting new siblings. Especially ones I don't even fucking know about. I'm ready to leave. I want to be surrounded by love. Not feeling like I constantly have to compete with everyone about everything. Why did I bother coming back home? When can I leave? Why do I feel trapped? I don't want to be here.

[cbdschweiz]

10 Things Most People Don't Know About cbd wirkung

The Cannabis Cancer Get rid of With Rick Simpson

Hemp seed may be the best way to obtain protein and several other nutrients in the world. The hemp oil and cancer thing needs a bit more attention, while regular hemp essential oil can help from a nutritional stand point, it requires to be mentioned that the nice stuff comes from the kind that gets you high. The chemical make up differs, and the cannabinoids in pot impact your CB1 and CB2(I might have got that wrong or off) receptors, which turbo charges your disease fighting capability and kicks it right into a higher equipment. You can find out more at: by Rick Simpson and he even shows steps to make it. It might not be legal, but it's worth the risk if you're in need of it. This might also be a positive thing to stack onto Mike Farley's guardian's attempt at getting healthy, also the 90 forever protocol I mentioned previous can help with the cirrhosis(it can help alcoholics), the liver runs on good fat and a lot of nutrients.

Many studies and research reports have indicated that hemp seed oil may be useful for preventing some of the common diseases, including heart conditions. One study actually indicated that hemp seed essential oil might have some role in avoiding heart attacks. It contains numerous organic compounds known as sterols, which help in lowering cholesterol levels. Hemp oil can be abundant with gamma linolenic acid, which can assist in restoring hormonal balance and could be useful for who have problems with PMS, menopausal symptoms and women. With an ideal balance of Omega 3, Omega 6 fatty acids and ceramides, hemp essential oil is great for your skin and hair, and it has been considered for most beauty treatments. Researchers think that it might have a role in boosting the immune system too. Not to forget, hemp oil is extremely great for organic pain relief. If you have considerable chronic pain, this could be one of the effective solutions you are looking for.

Info and statements made are for education purposes and are not intended to replace the advice of your treating doctor. Global Healing does not dispense medical information, prescribe, or diagnose disease. The views and dietary assistance expressed by Global Curing are not intended to be a replacement for conventional medical support. When you have a serious medical condition or wellness concern, see a medical doctor. This Web site consists of links to Web sites operated by various other parties. Such links are cbd schweiz provided for your convenience and reference only. We are not responsible for the content or items of any linked site or any link contained in a connected site. Global Healing will not adopt any medical claims which might have been made in third party references. Where Global Healing has control over the posting or other communications of such claims to the general public, Global Healing will make its best effort to eliminate such claims.

A few oils are rated 0 on the scale. These are sunflower and hemp. I chose hemp for personal reasons. I take a spoonful of it daily to obtain my dietary linoleic acid, and I use it as a moisturizer and cleanser for my face and body. A lot of people SWEAR by this oil, including myself. This is the best thing that ever happened to my skin. I utilize it two ways. I use a drop or two as a moisturizer on my face after my cleaning and toner part of the morning and night time, as soon as or twice a week I utilize it as a cleanser. Hemp is quite volatile; it goes rancid quickly. I maintain mine in the freezer. This will keep it from going bad. I've had mine within for 5 or 6 months and it's still fine. It'll begin to smell funny when it goes rancid, and you'll have to throw it out.

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The greatest upside for me personally, taken only at night the indica strain for hypertension and sleep, about twice week for my heart dieses or even more if needed. My girlfriend uses cannabis for her brain cancers. Can't imagine a larger up part of anything, since my research and personal encounter shows it is the best treatment on the underground marketplace. Plus if 63% of all people are going to die from either cardiovascular disease or cancer that means it is very clear and doubtful that mainstream medication causing genocide and lying to us. You need to share my personal success with the world. My daughter keeps telling me I am a genius between my micro nutrition, cannabis and sculptor business. For the ABCs of lifestyle survival is priority one, maybe period will tell, if I'm a genius.

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Alcohol and cigarettes aren't for medical use only, and they're killers. We tried outlawing alcohol and just the mob benefitted. And oxycontin is normally pretty much as bad as heroin, and nobody settings the abuse of this. Furthermore, you allow every farmer develop pot and it might recover this overall economy in a heartbeat. Our founding fathers knew this, that's why they grew it and smoked it. Actually, in Groundbreaking America you can also be jailed for not developing it. Pot was legal tender here until about 1800. American flags and King James bibles had been once created from it, too. As for the moral issue, I simply don't see one. What's immoral about ingesting a substance that is not even while dangerous as soda? The just moral concern I see is certainly in imprisoning people for having it. In the mean time, untested pharms go to the market and kill people on behalf of the profit-minded drug companies and their advertising clients. And those drugs do wayyy more harm than good.

In 2013, my annual PSA test showed a rise. I knew that PSA, which means prostate-specific antigen, is a proteins that can sometimes become an indicator of prostate malignancy when the level begins to go up. When my PSA score reached 5.6 and remained in that level for approximately a calendar year, my doctor near my home in Oakland, Tennessee, just outdoors Memphis, suggested that We see an urologist for a biopsy. The urologist had taken 12 samples of prostate tissue, and among the samples was twenty five percent cancerous. That was the very first time I heard the big c” word. Instantly I was in a daze that lasted about a week. Regardless of how you prepare or everything you expect to hear, when a doctor tells you that you have cancers, it's a shock. Questions had been racing through my mind: What will life be like now? How will things transformation? Exactly what will eventually me? Fishing season As I began to take steps toward deciding on my treatment, many options were presented to me. The urologist who diagnosed me recommended prostate removal. But he also offered me a book of 101 queries about prostate cancer and known me to two additional doctors at different facilities.

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[punkscowardschampions]

Rio & Buster

Rio: Oi McKenna Rio: can't get hold of your 'rents, big surprise, yeah Rio: ask 'em if we can crash in Nance's room this weekend, she said it's okay already, 'course Buster: Not your errand boy, darling Buster: Hit up my sister to be your messenger Rio: We've been trying, bitch Rio: Are they about or nah? Buster: How the fuck should I know? Rio: Err, you live with 'em Rio: at least in the same country, like Buster: That doesn't mean I've got their schedule memorized Buster: Didn't see them at the breakfast table like, for what that's worth Rio: Ahh, you've not had your weetabix, cool Rio: explains why you're being so unhelpful Buster: Course Rio: ugh, waste, best be a fucking travelodge nearby or summin Rio: lenny henry don't let me down Buster: Stay here Buster: You said yourself Nance okayed it and if they aren't about to ask do you reckon they'll be about to do bed checks? Rio: Yeah? Rio: If you reckon Rio: don't wanna make the place look messy, like Rio: wouldn't ask if it was just me but Indie and Edie wanna come so Rio: ain't letting them sofa surf, even if they wanna Rio: Make sure they behave, swear down Buster: Yeah, yeah Buster: Don't get in my way and it's chill Rio: Can only promise on my behalf on that one, but just be your usual self and it'll dull their appeal real quick, sure Buster: That'll have to be good enough, won't it? Buster: Hope you're better at babysitting than you are at cracking jokes Rio: Unless you wanna draw up a contract for 'em Rio: not my idea of a laugh but it's your free time, baby Buster: Nah, you're alright. I know they can't read, like Buster: Feel free to waste as much of your own time as you wanna but I'm good Rio: Ha, funny Rio: Bet Edie's smarter than you without the tutors, posh boy Buster: How much you willing to put on it? Rio: I'd put tonight on it Rio: how sure I am Buster: Your loss Rio: You reckon Buster: I know Rio: Let's hope for your sake you know more than just that Buster: Keep the blind faith for your sister, I don't need it Buster: Be getting on my knees next, putting stock in hope, nah Rio: Hey, it is Friday Rio: as long as you're repentant by Sunday, who cares Buster: If I'm sorry on a Sunday I'll be heading to sexual health not God's house Buster: Can't pray that shit away Rio: Lovely Rio: Could've kept that between you and the nurse, same kind of confidentiality clause Buster: It's a hypothetical, like your sister being better than me at anything Rio: Sure Rio: Humility, for starters, got that one in the bag Buster: Yeah, well humble, you lot Buster: First thing anyone reckons Rio: In that case, who cares what you or anyone reckons? Rio: No need to be competing with a kid, for one Rio: Awks Buster: You clearly, since you brought it up Buster: I ain't in no competition 'cause she'd never match me Rio: Whatever, university challenge Buster: Good one Rio: I know Buster: Yeah? 'Cause sarcasm's lost of you Buster: Can't be that smart either, like Rio: Not claiming to be Rio: but I was CHOOSING to ignore it, just, by the way Rio: the subtleties of polite conversation passing you by Buster: When I'm having a polite convo they won't do Buster: But since this ain't it Rio: Only because you insist on bragging incessantly Rio: a reoccurring theme in all your conversations, no doubt Buster: No need for you to worry about it 'cause we're done here with this one Buster: And you've already vowed to stay out of my way this weekend Rio: Don't YOU worry, 'cos I won't be Rio: got much more fun things to engage my interests Buster: Good Buster: Looking forward to not seeing you around, Cavante Rio: Likewise, McKenna