#i have english major disease

[nyadversary]

i mean no disrespect to xeecee and liz shriekshack so i don't want this to come across like a big time own or anything, i'm sure they just spent less time watching invader zim than i did, which is fine (i guess). but in an older episode of the shrieking shack, back when they were still covering harry potter i think, they talk about having watched enter the florpus and they cite a particular joke as being an example of 00s "random humor" but they clearly didn't get the joke. so now i have to be That Guy and explain it.

the scene is — it's near the beginning of the film, when dib confronts zim outside his house. dib is talking about how he looked everywhere for zim and even went to that taco place he knows zim likes. zim responds that he does not in fact like the taco restaurant, gir does, and gir pipes up randomly to say "i ate a baby there once!" the reason i know they didn't get the joke, on shriekshack, is that they stop describing the scene there and we haven't gotten the joke yet. the joke is not that gir randomly claims to have eaten a baby; gir says random shit all the time, because he is malfunctioning (and the joke with gir is much more about him being broken and useless than it is about him saying random shit, btw), and usually when he does this zim reacts in confusion or anger or just doesn't acknowledge what he said at all.

the joke is that when gir says he ate a baby at the taco restaurant, zim's response is to nod and say "he did." zim has never reacted in this way to gir just saying random shit, which means this time it isn't random, gir legitimately ate a baby at the taco place. what would have otherwise come across as 00s-era Random xD™ humor is now a horrific murder confession. and nothing further is said about it, the conversation continues as if gir did not just casually confess to having eaten a baby at a restaurant. that's the joke.

[doctormage]

I made that post unrebloggable for my own sanity but I do feel the need to clarify yet again that this is not op’s fault at all lmao I simply disagree w how everyone else is voting <3

[lizzy06]

Takami Keigo(Hawks) x Reader Fic Recs!! (Tumblr/Ao3/Wattpad)

My Hero Academia Fic Rec Masterlist

lay low (take it slow) ✨by @andypantsx3/andypantsx3(college student! reader, hurt/comfort, fluff, eventual smut) What even was the right google search for this situation? How do I sew someone back together without passing out? How do I not barf on the pro hero I’m stitching up? Or, Hawks’ game of double agent lands him in the shaky hands of one (1) very unequipped English major.[COMPLETED]

Falling for You ✨by @flannel-cladpika (oneshot, soulmate au, fluff)Every year, on your birthdays, you two will switch quirks.[COMPLETED]

Golden ���by @meganshinsou-tm (oneshot, soulmate au, fluff) When you touch yoursoulmate for the first time a thin gold line with be etched around your wrists.

Soul Chicken by @hitsuackerman (oneshot, soulmate au, fluff) Soulmate AU where the first words your soulmate says to you are written on your wrist and while Hawks has an absolutely unhelpful phrase written on them, y/n has something….unique.

Bird Hunting | Pt.2:Bird's Nest✨ by @a-n-conrad (oneshot, soulmate au)In a world where your soulmate was found through a symbol appearing on your left forearm, hinting at the quirk of your soulmate, you had to admit that you were lucky. You already knew who your soulmate was. The only issue was that there was really no way for you, an ordinary person, to get anywhere near the number 2 hero.

Petals and Feather✨ by @a-n-conrad(oneshot, hanahaki au, angst with happy ending) You’ve finally gotten a job as a sidekick after graduating from UA about a year before. But after working with Hawks for a few months it starts to get a bit hard to breathe. How are you supposed to fix a case of Hanahaki disease when you happened to fall in love with the most emotionally unavailable hero alive? [COMPLETED]

BNHA Soulmate AU Week Day 4: Save Your Soul by @writing-freak (oneshot, soulmate au, fluff)part of soulmate au week; everyone has colorful marks on their skin where their soulmate touches them for the first time. you’re determined to hide your soulmarks: a pair of hands on your waist.[COMPLETED]

“you really have got nothing to do on a friday night”  by @bakugohoex (oneshot, fluff)in which your friend keigo invites you to a pro hero event as his plus one, the event leads to a lot more than you expected.[COMPLETED]

Little Moments by @bnhascribbles (oneshot, fluff)Just Hawk's early morning visit.[COMPLETED]

lavender latte✨ by luxdeoro (coffee shop au, fluff, mutual pinning)You serve Hawks a lavender, oat milk latte. Not only is he hooked on your drinks, but he's hooked on you as well.[ONGOING]

a spoonful of sugar✨✨ by Mossful (fluff, angst) In which the Reader bakes and Hawks eats.[COMPLETED]

Pocket Full of Feathers✨ by forthesanityof1 (fluff, humor) You are an investigative journalist starting at a new agency. A chance meeting brings you and Hawks together and starts some odd behaviors on his part. You dismiss it, but end up meeting the hero again and again over time. Slowly, you start to realize things are occurring both within and outside of your control.[COMPLETED]

(Quirk)y Days✨✨ by wotefokizbrunch(fluff, angst, hurt/comfort) In a world where 80% of the population has some wacky power, it is expected for strange shit to happen on accident, or even on purpose, like that one time a villain hit Hawks with a deaging quirk; he left that morning for work his grown ass self and then you had to pick his 5-year-old-self up from the agency.[COMPLETED]

and i've gotta crow ✨by dashielldeveron(enemies to lovers, ) “We’re engaged to be married.” No, you are not. After an accident that was that bastard Hawks’s fault, you decide to play along with your diagnosis of amnesia, among other things, because how far can you make your former bully bend over backwards for you?[COMPLETED]

Color Blind✨ by HeroAssociation(soulmate au, fluff, angst with happy ending) Takami Keigo, otherwise known as the Winged Hero Hawks, had one such mark. He never expected, nor looked for, the person that would change it. Then he found you by accident.[COMPLETED]

The Harpy by romanceisdeadbutimnot(enemies to lovers, fantasy au, fluff) Desperate for adventure you volunteer to check the monster traps protecting your small village. To your surprise you catch a wounded half bird half man, and decide to nurse him back to health.[COMPLETED]

What's Got Your Feathers In A Bunch? by darkenedniqhts(oneshot, fluff, humor)When Hawks saves you from a villain attack, you hit it off surprisingly well, considering the circumstances. Everything is going great, until he meets your roommate.[COMPLETED]

Compelling/tumblr by @bnhascribbles/ ScatteredScribbles(oneshot, hurt/comfort) Hey listen, I’ve got a lot of baggage when it comes to my quirk. Could you repeat the word “yes” if you’re here of your own free will? Oh, and since you’ll probably say that either way and since I’m an emotionally compromised freak, just know that I’ll never actually feel secure in our relationship. This’ll definitely be a recurring thing, and it’s probably gonna be the reason why we end terribly.[COMPLETED]

 Blush by @flannel-cladpika (oneshot, fluff)[COMPLETED]

Headlines✨ by @bnhascribbles(oneshot, fluff) Holding up the newspaper in plain view, you take steady, ominous steps towards his desk. “Any last words, birdbrain?”[COMPLETED]

Stuck In An Elavator With You by @yeahimaloser (oneshot, fluff)he hadn’t really dated anyone before (not seriously anyway), so when he began to develop feelings for a certain someone, he was surprised, to say the least.[COMPLETED]

The Sky is Everywhere by @dira333/Fogfire(oneshot, hurt/comfort, angst with happy ending)Post-Break up is before the Break up…[COMPLETED]

Sometime Around Midnight✨ by 0weCrew(friends to lovers, fluff, hurt/comfort, angst with happy ending) All you wanted to do was enjoy a quiet night looking up at the stars. But fate decided to mess with you instead, and Japan's favorite birdbrain crashed your pity party of one by scaring you shitless.[COMPLETED]

Preening✨ by royalwilds(oneshot, fluff)Hawks loves your hair, playing with it, brushing it, washing it. you realize that it comes from another instinctual nature of his. You try to figure out how to return the gesture.[COMPLETED]

Babybird by Pomenocti(oneshot, fluff)Just Hawks being a dad.[COMPLETED]

Crash✨ by ivan_glee(oneshot, fluff)In which Reader is sunbathing and gets an unexpected visit from the No. 2 hero.[COMPLETED]

A Lungful of Smoke✨ by UnluckyAmulet(oneshot, fluff) As if nearly dying today wasn't bad enough…now you have a crush, too. Damn it.[COMPLETED]

Little Bird by alaskasmonsters(oneshot, fluff) Hawks wasn’t just the charming number two pro-hero the world knew him as. No, he had other sides to him, sides only you, his roommate, had the privilege to uncover. Especially his more birdlike quirks. Like how much he relaxed when people took care of his wings…[COMPLETED]

crawl home to me✨ by Hawnks (supermintfluff)(oneshot, strangers to lovers, hurt/comfort) What is a hero besides determination and hunger? What is a lover if not a resting place?[COMPLETED]

Shiny Things by royalwilds(oneshot, fluff) Hawks has more bird-like tendencies than you initially thought. He likes to present you with odd items as gifts and finally you figure out why.[COMPLETED]

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery by galatiq(oneshot, fluff, humor. coffee shop au) When you put a coffee shop and a nasty storm together, apparently you get Big Bird from Sesame Street crashing into your window. [COMPLETED]

Flowers, Wings, Smirks and Quirks (Ingredients for Love) by ENDisI (oneshot, angst with happy ending, hanahaki disease au) Why was it when you joked about Hanahaki not being real, fate just slaps you awake and tells you "Oh, it's true. You didn't know?" [COMPLETED]

i am your salvation✨ by luxdeoro(oneshot, angst, hurt/comfort) Keigo loses his wings and most of himself, and you're around to try and pick up the pieces.[COMPLETED]

Balcony by RyeTarts(friends to lovers, fluff, slight angst, smut<18+>) After saving you from an office building fire, Hawks thinks that your paths were no longer intertwined. Oh how wrong he would be.[COMPLETED]

Birds Of A Feather by CheerieCherrie(fluff, explicit skippable chp.6) You move to Japan for a change of pace in your hectic life. It doesn't happen, thanks to one chaotic bird man.[COMPLETED]

[edgeray]

Hi there!

I just finish to read the rules for Arlecchino request, and I saw no specific illness/disease, so I will try to make my situation for everyone:

I have horrible knee pain to the point I'm close to faint because of it sometimes.

But to put it more accessible to everyone what about that:

Reader hurt themself during a mission but it was an intern injury, they hide it but Arlecchino noticed how they start walking weird and many other sign.. until Reader faint from the pain? How will Arlecchino react and what would she do?

Sorry if it disobey the rules and for any grammar mistake since English is not my first language ^^ (and I'm writing this while it's 12 am where I'm from ;/ )

Thank you if you are making this request, if not I still thank you for reading it until the end :)

I Am Fine in Your Arms

(Arlecchino x GN! Reader)

A/N - Hi, there anon! If you choose to request anon again, give yourself a name/emoji 🫶! I really appreciate you pertaining to my rules; not only do I want to make my x Reader's accessible to as many people, but I also don't want to misrepresent anyone or their experiences with that illness/condition especially since I myself most likely won't have them, so thanks for the consideration. I'm assuming by ‘intern injury’ you mean ‘internal injury,’ so that's what I'm writing based off. You're not breaking any of my rules but your concern is appreciated! Don't worry about it though. Your English is good, especially since it's not your first language :). Little bit rushed because I am tired and ti's 12AM. Thank you for your request! Content warnings / info - reader goes by ‘mother’ but gn! reader, semi-graphic details about injury, this weirdly had actual plot for some reason, 1.5k words

Although the vast majority of your duties was primarily serving the House of the Hearth and the Fourth Harbinger, as a member of the Fatui, it was mandatory for the Fatui to ensure you still held loyalties to the Tsaritsa. Typically, proof of your fidelity was through completing the occasional reconnaissance mission assigned to you every couple of months though this time you were given a different type of operation: direct action, specifically, assassination. 

Assassination wasn't necessarily your forte, but it was doable. In a few weeks, you'd stop scrubbing your hands incessantly in hopes of washing away the stained blood, and you would stop receiving dreams painted in red. At least, with reconnaissance, blood and violence could be avoided. Why you were assigned this particular assassination mission when there were much more suitable candidates, you could only assume. You had an inkling it had to do with some of the other Harbingers’ grudges and suspicions of your husband, and perhaps the chink in the Knave's impenetrable armor  would be you. Failure in this mission could quickly spiral into considerable consequences for you and Arlecchino, regardless if the designation was influenced by more untrustworthy Harbingers, so you couldn't afford to fail this anyways–not with how high profile this target was. 

You return to the House of the Hearth, splatters of blood still visible on your appearance despite your best attempts of cleaning up. At your arrival, some of the children rush to greet you, only to pause as they take in your exhausated form. You give them a weak smile, bending down and extending your arms to accept their eager embraces.

“M-mother!” the children exclaim as they swarm around you, their curious and anxious minds surely brimming with many questions. You hadn't told any of the children where you've gone to for the past few days, believing that there was no need to stir up such worries when the mission was going expectedly. You were wrong, however; no mission like the one they had given you should have been done alone, and yet the only one you could depend on was yourself and your vision. It was undeniably a test for you, and you had only scraped by with your life and the mission's success. Now, all you wanted to do was collapse in bed and hibernate for several weeks, your head filled with a dense fog and senses dulling.  

“Mother, there's blood on–” Barely able to hear the statement, you shake your head, dismissing the little girl's distress. “Don't worry, dear… it's not mine.”

With some effort, you pull away from the children and you hobble your way towards the living commons, your bruised ribs impelling pained grunts from you. 

“Someone…” you pant, placing your hand over your forehead. Leaning against the nearest wall, you shut your eyes, breathing in deeply as an attempt to relieve the ache. “Someone go get your Father.” 

Multiple feet scurry away after your command, but the remaining children around you overwhelm you with their burning questions of what they can do to help, what did you need, whether or not you needed medicine, and much more that you couldn't bother processing.  Gently, you push past them, making your way to you and Arlecchino's shared bedroom. 

“I'm sorry, children, I just need to lay down in private for a little bit, okay? Then I promise that I will be up soon, and we can make cookies. How does that sound?” You say to them in an effort to quell their anxiety and it works for the younger children. The older ones, however, you can tell they still carry some distress but they nod along for your sake.

Such good children. 

You enter your bedroom and shut the door, immediately peeling away your clothes caked in blood, not even bothering to go into your adjacent bathroom. After chucking the articles in the direction of the laundry basket, you dig through the wardrobe for your much more prefered uniform, the one you wore as ‘Mother.’ By that time, the door clicks, and your husband enters.

Arlecchino wastes no time in appearing by your side, her blackened hands wrapped around your hips, and guiding you to sit on the edge of the bed. You hoped that you were able to hide your wince in time when she touched you. You know your husband far too well to know that, despite her stoic expression, she is just as worried for you, if not more, than your children. There's that small knit in her brows, and her lips are curled the slightest bit more. She had always been fiercely protective of you. 

“My love, there's blood–” she starts, but you cut her off with a chuckle. “I know, one of the children already pointed it out.”

Then, your tone hardens. There's no need to wait to let her know. “I need to tell you something.”

“You should rest.”

You shake your head. “This comes first, Arlecchino.” 

“You just came back.” 

“Peruere,” you enunciate, quickly silencing the Knave. “I am fine,” you assure her with a stern tone but fond eyes. You let out a defeated huff, resorting to wrapping your arms around her and leaning your head against her shoulder to ease her and to conceal your pained expression as your body protested the movement. 

Remaining in that position, you brief her on your mission and every single detail to it. From the process of researching and finding the opportune time to, to the actual execution of the assassinatin, which proved to be much more complicated and difficult than you were able to account for. This was due to the lack of information given to you once you were assigned. With the absence of partners and the omittance of crucial details, it is, undoubtedly, an attempt to sabotage you and cause you to fail. The two of you discussed what to do, going forward in cases like this, as well as potential suspects, their motives, and wouldbe gains. With each growing minute, Arlecchino held you tighter and you leaned in closer. 

After the conversation finished, your husband quietly held you, without uttering another sound, for around half-an-hour, the two of you indulging in one another's company. You pull away with a kiss to her forehead.

“I promised the kids I would make cookies with them. Would you like some?” 

Arlecchino knows better than to say no. She gives you a curt nod. You hum with acknowledgement to her answer, standing up from sitting on the bed. Almost instantaneously, the moment you stabilize yourself on your feet, your vision grows black and an abrupt throbbing comes to your head. You stumble forward, but catch yourself. 

“Love–”

“I'm fine. Just stood up too fast,” you gruff, staggering your way towards the door but the limp is far too obvious. You only make it a few steps before you stumble over again, nearly hitting the floor if it weren't for Arlecchino’s quick reflexes. Stabbing pain surrounds you, and paired with your fatigued state, you no longer have the energy to ignore the agony. She cradles you in her arms and you glance up at her. Your sight swims, and her appearance keeps distorting before you. Clinging onto consciousness seems to be a losing battle. 

“The cookies…”

“Forget about the cookies. You said you were fine,” Arlecchino scolded through gritted teeth, with some frustration and anger in her voice. Placing her arm underneath your back and underneath your legs, she carries you bridal-style, already rushing towards the medical bay. 

“Stay awake for me. Stay awake,” it is a harsh demand, but you know it is nothing more than a desperate plea. Your eyelids droop and you close your eyes.

Arlecchino lets out an expletive under her breath, quickening her pace as she barges into the room. The specialized doctor for the House of the Hearth is startled, but the Harbinger's intense glower tells the doctor all she needs to know. 

“Find out what is wrong with her, and fix it. Now,” the Harbinger orders, and the doctor goes into work immediately once your body is placed on the bed. 

The Knave soundlessly watches the doctor's each and every action, refusing to budge by your side. Although she knows that medical treatment is not her expertise, Arlecchino cannot help but critique her doctor in her thoughts. Not fast enough, not effective enough, not enough for her darling who could be experiencing unbearable pain now.

The doctor works until she assures the Harbinger that everything that could be done is, and that you will wake in the following morning. Arlecchino wordlessly thanks the doctor but her hand that clasps yours doesn't move for even one movement. Eventually, night falls. Climbing into the small bed, she tenderly wraps her arms around you, unable to be pulled apart from you until she knows your safety is guaranteed. Underneath her skin, seething rage boils for the coworkers who try to deprive her of her authority and power, but most of all, for causing you in this state.

The next morning, Arlecchino's eyes flutter open when she feels the warm body next to her stir. She awakens to your soft smile.

“I said I was fine, didn't I?” You greet her with a twinkle in your eyes. 

Arlecchino's heart swells.

[juqtier]

₊˚╰ 𖣠 MERCY ✧.* SPENCER REID

SUMMARY: During one of the most detrimental and devastating outbreaks this world has ever seen, the BAU had spent countless hours trying to bring in the man responsible, dead or alive. When they seek help from a minacious mercenary, and personal feelings somehow get involved, the situation quickly becomes much more complicated and difficult than anticipated.

GENERAL WARNING: ANGSTY and horror (somewhat), weapons, violence, descriptions of viruses and diseases, death, kissing of course, zombie like creatures, apocalypse, outbreak, descriptions of mutations

CHAPTER WARNING: descriptions of violence and viruses, reader is kinda an asshole. THIS CHAPTER MAY SEEM BORING BUT PLS the story will get interesting as it progresses! just gotta explain the basic concept!

A/N: the first chapter, yay! this is clearly inspired by resident evil (my fav game series). i thought it’d be interesting and unique to combine my two fav hyperfixations. i made the virus names and effects, and im clearly not a scientist so if they are scientifically inaccurate ignore it or im gonna cry. also, I wrote this with early spencer in mind (3-5) but if you imagine him from a different season lmk! ALSO sorry if any of the writing is bad, my english is terrible!

ACCOMPANYING SONG : SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT, NIRVANA

. . .

CHAPTER 1

January 15th, 2009

- 985 days since the outbreak

You had been caught. You had finally been caught.

Of course, you were well aware of the risks that came with being a mercenary, being caught was one of them. Yet, this didn’t diminish the anger you felt, sitting in a dingy, dark interrogation room, cuffed to a table.

It felt as if days passed by. Your eyelids felt heavy, you couldn’t manage to find a comfortable position to rest in. A metal folding chair would quickly prove to be a poor place to even attempt to relax in. Sitting in silence for so long, your ears could perfectly hear the buzzing of the flickering bulb above you, and it drove you crazy.

Just before you could drive yourself insane, focusing on each bothersome aspect of the interrogation room once more, the door opened.

Two men, two entirely different vibes.

One was an older, tall, stoic man wearing a suit practically devoid of color.

And while the man that stood beside him wasn’t wearing the most colorful outfit, his blue shirt and purple tie were a stark contrast to the other man’s outfit.

His long, wavy brown hair stood out as well. A part of you wanted to just stare at him, he was so pretty. But the other part of you, the majority of you, wanted to knock both officers unconscious and attempt to run away.

“I’m Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner, this is Special Agent Dr. Spencer Reid. We’re with the Behavioral Analysis Unit.” The older man explained as both of them took a seat across from you.

The words practically went unnoticed by you, your mind had been more focused on the discomfort caused by the tight cuffs around your wrists. Your eyes met Hotchner's, and he could tell exactly what you were feeling.

Angry.

“Wanna take these cuffs off?” You request.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that until you cooperate with us and give us the information we need.”

“What information?”

Your eyes naturally rolled, gradually growing more annoyed by the second. Even with how frustrated you were, you weren’t going to cooperate easily. You were a mercenary, and the FBI was well aware you had only ever been motivated by payment.

It sounded selfish to everyone else. It was selfish, but to you, it was the only way to survive.

Hotch extracts papers and files from a manila folder, spreading them out onto the table in front of you. Your eyes watched his hands as he displayed each paper for you.

“For the past seven months, me and my team have been observing your every move.” Hotch’s eyes are glued to you. “Several times in these past months, you’ve been employed by Luca Ansaldo.”

The name has been drilled into your ears by this point.

Luca Ansaldo, a wealthy, ‘brillitant’ virologist and CEO of the virology company SynX. And, unbeknownst to you, the creator of the Lazarus Virus.

Ansaldo had employed you many times before, and with the pay being more than generous for a seemingly easy job, you didn’t think twice about accepting his offer.

But now, just hearing his name was enough to enrage you. Yet, you remain calm, returning Hotch’s eye contact. You barely even noticed Reid beside him, merely observing the interaction between you and Hotch.

“He paid me well for a simple job, is that what you wanted to hear?” You mutter.

You knew that wasn’t what they wanted to hear, but you also couldn’t tell what they wanted.

The past officers that had come in, aggressively interrogating you, never made it clear what exactly they wanted from you. All you could really understand was that they wanted his whereabouts, and you couldn’t tell them that. You didn’t even know.

“What jobs did he pay you for?” Hotch inquires.

“Easy jobs. I’ve done that plenty of times before for others, why does it matter now?”

Hotchner adjusts in his seat, probably finding it just as uncomfortable as you were in that moment.

“It’s important because we’re not currently after the other individuals you’ve worked for, we’re after Ansaldo.” He explains, sliding a document toward you.

Your eyes quickly scan the words on the paper, taking in all of its details.

“Under SynX, Ansaldo has managed to manufacture one of the deadliest viruses known to man, the Lazarus virus. You can see the results of his work walking in the streets.”

“Lazarus Virus?” You question. “Like, from the Bible?”

You clearly knew about the outbreak, every human did. You just had never been able to put a name to the virus responsible.

Reid took this question as an opportunity to share every bit of knowledge he had about the virus.

“Yes, actually. The name derives from Lazarus of Bethany, mentioned in the Gospel of John. The story claims Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, only four days after his death.” He hadn’t even noticed your eyes locked on him as he rambled. “We believe the virus attacks the brain stem, destroying the brain's basic functions. However, while mental capabilities deteriorate, physical capabilities are enhanced, explaining why they’re rather strong and violent. Those infected by the virus are called ‘Revenants’.”

You couldn’t help but be impressed at his ability to speak for so long without even losing his breath. He had spit out each word with urgency, as if he had been waiting to share this information with you.

“You seem to know a lot about the virus, why am I here?”

“We don’t know enough.” Hotch replies. “Without a sample of the virus, we won’t be able to produce an effective antidote. Ansaldo is currently the only man we know of that has any samples, and you know more about him than any of us. You may be our only chance at finding him before it’s too late.”

He leans forward, an even more intense stare accompanying his statement.

For a moment, for a brief moment, you allow yourself to absorb his words. It was as if a switch flipped in your brain, allowing yourself to prioritize others before yourself.

And again, this sounded so incredibly selfish. You could recognize that, of course. But you couldn’t blame yourself. And quite frankly, neither could Hotch or Reid.

The outbreak was and is devastating. Major cities were overrun and filled with chaos, with millions dead or missing. Trusting people wasn’t as common as it was years ago. Especially for you. You had been alone, fighting to survive, for years. It was all to protect yourself. You had the right to protect yourself, right?

“How much?” Hotch’s words bring your attention back to him, back to the situation you were in.

You weren’t sure if you misheard or misunderstood him, and it seemed as if Reid shared that same thought. His eyes widened as he snapped his head towards Hotch, questioning him with his eyes. Hotch, however, doesn’t even seem to notice Reid’s shock.

“What?” You stutter just a bit, clearly confused.

“How much do we need to pay you for your cooperation?” He repeats.

“You want to pay me to work for you?” You reply, skeptical about the offer.

Reid visibly shared the same sentiment. It was as if he couldn’t close his mouth. You didn't expect this, and neither did he.

“You are the closest connection we have to Ansaldo.” Hotch ignores the shocked faces of you and Reid, “If we have to pay you for your cooperation, then we are willing to do that.”

His expression shows that he’s serious. You consider the offer a bit longer before spitting out the first number you can think of.

“Two hundred thousand.”

You wait for any change in his expression, you wait for him to simply refuse. But he never does.

“We can arrange that.” He gives you a small nod before rising from his chair, Reid following. “I will assign an agent to keep an eye on you. You will be kept under supervision at all times as you work alongside my team. If you even attempt to betray our agreement, I promise you will not see a single dollar.”

“Wait.” You blurt out before they can even make their way to the door. “Can I choose what agent gets to follow me around?”

The way you word it makes it sound like a privilege, like it was an honor to have to watch over you. In reality, it most likely wasn’t.

The FBI considered you a dangerous, difficult mercenary. Asking you for help was a last resort, one they tried to avoid. But as they watched the virus spread across the country, unable to stop it, they knew they had no other choice.

“Do you have an agent in mind?” Hotch raises an eyebrow, confused by your question.

You nod in response, your eyes landing on Reid.

You couldn’t explain why, but his quiet, shy demeanor drew you to him. He wasn’t standoffish like the other officers and agents, he was actually quite the opposite of you.

Reid furrows his eyebrows. Neither he nor Hotch had expected the request; their looks expressed that. Hotch looks over at Reid, as if he were contemplating whether he could handle such a job. It was a silent conversation between the two; you were just an observer in that moment.

“Reid will watch over you as you work the case with us.” Hotch proclaims.

“Hotch, are you sure?” Reid whispers, just loud enough for you to hear him. He sounds nervous as he speaks, causing you to smirk.

“If she causes any problems for you, I will assign a different agent for the job.” Hotch responds, going for the door. His hand lands on the door knob, twisting it and pulling the door open with Reid behind him.

“Can you take these cuffs off me?”

Hotch and Reid turn their attention towards you once again before Reid digs in his pocket, pulling out a set of keys. Hotch watches as Reid walks over to you.

Your gaze remained fixed on Reid as he fumbled with the keys. You observed his shakey hands, finding all of it almost humorous.

When he finally managed to remove the cuffs, he let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding in.

You stand up from your seat, rubbing your wrists where the cuffs had previously been.

“Thank you so much.” You say with a teasing, playful tone.

His eyes never meet yours as he steps back, allowing you to stretch, glad to be free from the metal chair you were held down to.

“The team is gathering to discuss our next steps in the case. You’ll be joining us, since you’re working alongside us now.”

He explains the situation quickly as he leads you out of the room, still avoiding any eye contact.

“Exciting.” A smirk was still plastered on your face as you walked behind Reid.

While Reid was more nervous about the situation, and you clearly found it amusing, there was one thing the two of you had in common at the moment.

You had no idea what you were getting into.

. . .

pt. 2

a.n. : again sorry if the writing is bad, but i’m excited for this series to play out! it’s a concept i haven’t seen done before so i wanted to make something cool with it! i believe even if you aren’t a fan of resident evil, criminal minds x mercenary is still kinda cool. also, if you want to be on tag list im more than happy to add you!

[macgyvermedical]

Do you know how our understanding and treatment of diabetes has changed through history?

Oooh good question, anon!

As you may guess, diabetes mellitus is not new.

We've known about it since at least the Ebers Papyrus (1550 BCE) when the disease and a treatment was first described. This treatment was: "a liquid extract of bones, grain, grit, wheat, green lead and earth." I did not look these up, but I would guess they did not do a whole lot for the treatment of diabetes.

Later during the 6th century BCE it was first given a name when it was described by Hindu physician Sushruta as madhumeh or "honey urine."

Honey urine is a very apt descriptor for diabetes. In any type, one of the most measurable symptoms is that the person urinates a lot, and the urine tastes sweet (or, if one didn't feel like tasting, that it ferments, or that it attracts ants). This was also the first test for diabetes.

The reason for the sweetness of the urine (as well as a lot of other general info about diabetes) is spelled out more clearly in my "Don't Be That Guy Who Wrote Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters" post.

A Greek physician Apolonius of Memphis named it Diabetes, meaning "to siphon" (referring to the large amount of urine lost).

Roman physician Aretaeus later made the first precise description of diabetes. This included the classic symptoms of incessant thirst, copious urination, and constant hunger leading to emaciation and death. He also notes that if deprived of water, the patient will continue to urinate until they become so dehydrated that they die.

The term "Mellitus" was not added until the 1600s by an English physician Thomas Willis. This was again due to the sweetness of the expressed urine. Willis prescribed a diet of "slimy vegetables, rice, and white starch. He also suggested a milk drink which was distilled with cypress tops and egg whites, two powders (a mixture of gum arabic and gum dragant), rhubarb and cinnamon". Supposedly his patients improved if they kept to this diet, though few managed it long term. I honestly don't know how it would have worked, even temporarily.

A major breakthrough came in 1889 when it was discovered that if you removed the pancreas from a dog, the dog would become diabetic (particularly, that it would urinate large quantities of sweet urine). Up until this point it was thought that diabetes stemmed from the kidneys and bladder, or perhaps the lungs. This was the first time it had been shown experimentally that the pancreas was the problem.

Speaking of this, this was also part of a series of experiments where an English physician named Merkowski implanted a small amount of pancreas in the pancreas-less dog's fat, which reversed the diabetes temporarily. This proved that the pancreas was making something that helped regulate blood (and thus urine) sugar.

What this was wasn't figured out until 1921, when Canadian scientists Banting and Best (with help from McLeod and Collip) isolated something they called insletin (after the islets of langerhans, where the substance was being produced). It's important to note that all of these scientists hated each other so much they almost refused a Nobel Prize over it. Later, Collip would refine the substance and McLeod would rename it insulin.

Prior to insulin existing there was basically 1 vaguely useful treatment for diabetes. Unfortunately, that was starvation. So you could either die a slow and painful death by diabetes or you could die a slightly less slow but still painful death due to eating about 500 calories per day. Either way, diabetes was fatal, usually within a couple of years of diagnosis.

By 1923, the first commercial insulin product, Iletin, had been developed. Iletin was a U10 insulin (10 units per 1 milliliter- less potent than today's U100 and U500 insulins) and was made from pork pancreases. It took nearly a ton of pork pancreas to make 1oz of insulin. Fortunately, as a byproduct of the meat industry, pancreases were readily available.

Now, you might be thinking- no one has mentioned type 1 or type 2 yet in this entire post!

Well, you would be right, because diabetes wouldn't be split into 2 forms (insulin-dependent and non-insulin dependent) until 1979, and wouldn't be classified as types 1 and 2 until 1995. That's right- some of you were alive when there was only one kind of diabetes out there.

Now, there's more about the types in the Hansel and Gretel post, but essentially type 1 diabetes occurs when the pancreas itself stops producing insulin, usually in childhood. When this happens, the body stops being able to use sugar (insulin, a hormone, acts as a "key" to let sugar into cells for use). Without replacing that insulin, the person dies because their cells starve.

Type 2 diabetes occurs when the pancreas still produces insulin, but the cells stop responding to it correctly. This causes high sugar levels in the blood, which causes longer-term complications (infections, ulcers, blindness, neuropathy, heart and kidney disease, hyperosmolar syndrome, etc..) which eventually lead to death.

We started discovering oral drugs that worked on what would later become type 2 in the 1950s. Particularly those that worked by increasing the insulin output of the pancreas, but only when the pancreas was still producing some insulin.

Predicting which diabetics would benefit from oral therapies was challenging, but it was recognized that when the onset of diabetes was slow and came on in adulthood, the oral agents would work, while if it came on suddenly in childhood, the oral agents wouldn't. Terms like "adult onset" and "maturity onset" were common:

(Side note: if you have ever read Alas, Babylon (1955) there is a diabetic character who by today's standards clearly has type 1 diabetes, but wants to switch to the "new oral pill" (called "orinase" in the book, though they are likely referring to diabinese pictured above).)

From 1923 into the 1980s, insulin was given once or twice per day, and not particularly titrated to blood sugar. This was probably just because we didn't have a great way to measure blood sugar in real time. Pre-1970s, there was no way to test blood sugar outside of a lab setting.

Urine testing was common starting in the 1940s, but was cumbersome as it required a flame for heating the urine. By the 1950s, a test had been developed that didn't require a flame, but was still not practical for home use. In the 1960s, paper strips were developed that changed color for different amounts of sugar in the urine. The problem with this was that the strips couldn't change color until there was sugar in the urine- a blood sugar level of over 200 by today's measurements. Low blood sugar readings were impossible at this time, and had to be treated based on symptoms.

In the 1970s, blood sugar could finally be measured by putting a drop of blood on a test strip, wiping it off, and matching the color of the test strip to a chart. While less cumbersome than urine tests, this was still something that would generally only be done at a doctor's office.

In 1983, the first home blood glucometer is developed. Finally, it was practical to take one's sugar multiple times per day, and it becomes possible to experiment with "sliding scale" insulin injections that keep tighter control of blood sugar. By the late 90s, continuous glucose monitors became available- though unlike today's CGMs that allow readings in real time on a smartphone or monitor, these had to be downloaded to a computer at regular intervals.

The 1980s were the first decade where insulin pumps become widely available. The very first pump was large and had to be carried in a backpack, but it represented a huge step forward in glucose control, as it more closely mimicked the function of a working pancreas than once-daily injections.

For the next 30 or so years you really had to work to qualify for an insulin pump, but recently it's been found that pumps greatly improve compliance with blood glucose control whether or not the person had good compliance before getting the pumps, and insurance has gotten better about covering them (though CGMs are still a pain to get insurance to cover).

The 1980s was also the decade that recombinant human insulin (insulin made by genetically modified bacteria) was first used. Up until that point the only insulins were pork and beef insulins, which some people had allergic reactions to. Recombinant insulin was closer to regular human insulin than beef or pork, and represented a big change in how insulin was made.

Today for people who take insulin to manage their diabetes, insulin is usually given as a single injection of a long-acting basal insulin, coupled with smaller doses of ultra-short-acting insulins with meals or snacks. This is the closest we've gotten to mimicking the way a pancreas would work in the wild, and keeps very tight control of blood sugar. This can be done by fingerstick blood sugar tests and individual injections of insulin, or it can be done with a CGM and pump- it just depends on the resources available to the person and their personal preference.

[what-even-is-thiss]

What do you think would our world be like if Christianity hadn't been invented? I'm not trying to start an anti-christianity argument, I am just wondering... Because it transformed our world and our cultures so much. For example, no Christianity = no colonization as we know it, would we still believe in heathen / nature gods or would another religion colonize the planet? What would that look like? Would we even have racism? Since "race theory" was invented by white christian colonizers to "justify" slavery.

I do think that it’s possible colonization would’ve happened in one form or another. What it would’ve looked like, I’m not sure. But people often forget that cultures with religions other than Christianity have historically erased and conquered.

As a Christian I don’t excuse the sins of those who share my faith. Their forgiveness is up to their victims, themselves, and God. And I recognize that Christians as a whole have a tendency to ignore our bloody history. But I also don’t think the world would necessarily be that much better without it. Different? Absolutely. Better? How would we know that? It wasn’t the only or first major religion to spread like wildfire. It wasn’t the only or first religion to be used to justify atrocities. Look at historical examples in Communist countries. Atheism being used to erase people’s religions. Look at the history of Islam. One of Mohammad’s first big feats was launching a military campaign. Look at Ancient Rome. Even though they let people keep their gods they still plugged their own gods in where they didn’t fit, used them to justify horrible atrocities, and severely discriminated against Jewish people.

People in power just want an excuse to justify their actions. Religion or lack thereof makes for a convenient excuse whether we like it or not. Without Christianity the world would still have power-hungry people looking to force their will on others and they’d find an excuse. Possibly in some other religion, possibly in something else. But Christianity became a world religion so long ago that I cannot tell you what I think would’ve happened exactly. If modern racism wasn’t invented something would still be contributing to discrimination.

Perhaps the cult of Isis would’ve taken over the world. It had some similar ideas to Christianity in some ways including a focus on love and a good afterlife for its followers and it was spreading a lot even though some tried to ban it. Maybe it was on its way to being the state religion before my guy Jesus showed up. And temples and shrines of Isis being erected in town squares would be the first step in colonizing an area.

Perhaps the Chinese would be the first to colonize the new world. Or the Arabs. If Islam existed in some form or another. Or even with their old gods. Perhaps the traders of west Africa or the Norse. If you ask me, someone at least was bound to make contact across the water one way or another and unfortunately bring diseases like smallpox and measles with them. What their response would’ve been, I’m not entirely sure. Humans are often xenophobic, but they are also often caring.

It’s taken centuries for the native populations of the Americas to return to their pre-Columbus numbers. Whether or not that recovery would’ve happened faster under different leadership, I’m unsure because as the different colonizers demonstrated over time, there’s many different ways to “deal” with native populations. The English preferred to drive them out, the Spanish attempted to absorb them through intermarriage, the French slowly encroached on their territory and disrupted and took over their economies. And later in Africa and Asia the goal by all was generally to use the land and it’s people as a resource rather than a place to live.

Colonization was an extreme example and expansion of pre-existing techniques and attitudes. There can be arguments made that something like colonization was inevitable eventually with expanding technology such as better ships and guns. There can also be arguments made that it wasn’t. That guns don’t promise colonization. Perhaps something akin to old empires would’ve happened instead. Which isn’t always much better but is more contained.

Whether or not Russia as it exists at the size it is today is also up for debate. Some would argue it’s inevitable. Someone setting up shop in that exact spot has several flat weak points of land easy to invade from so any empire in that spot would find that the only way to protect themselves would be to own all of the land surrounding them. Then again, perhaps nothing is inevitable and that patch of land would be conquered and reconquered switching hands forever.

Alternate history is almost pure speculation. It’s fiction. A popular genre of fiction. You can probably find a book out there telling a story about this if you like.

[sunvylovebug]

Hanahaki Disease [Part 1/3] 花吐き

↬ Warnings: there are some mentions of blood but that's later, the protagonist doesn't seem to have much self esteem but I'm sure we can work on that. This is mostly comfort content with Xiao because I really love this guy a lot, maybe some angst though? …⁠ᘛ⁠⁐̤⁠ᕐ⁠ᐷ

↬ Gender Neutral!Reader and first person narration (⁠*⁠˘⁠︶⁠˘⁠*⁠)⁠.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡

↬ Author Note: English is not my first language, I posted this in 2022, I've corrected some things so I decided to post it again. Likes and reblogs are welcome and appreciated <3 If you have any request for a fic let me know!

↬ Word Count: 730 Words

I knew what would happen once I found that person what I was destined to, it was known as Hanahaki Disease, a curse which happened to all the people of my clan. I remember that almost all of my family has been through it.

Once they meet the person with whom they share their soul, a strange infection appears in the lungs, specifically a sakura tree begins to grow in this space, and the only cure is... The love to be reciprocated. Technically it should always be reciprocated, however, I had known some exceptions to the case and I was very afraid from that day would come, I've seen painful deaths in my family due to this curse and I was afraid that the same would happen to me.

After all, I've never considered myself a special person, I don't stand out for anything in particular, music, arts, literature, sewing, nothing really.

I'm very average in everything and I don't feel it's worth being with me either, I'm just a hermit who hardly knows how to socialize with my family and a few other people, nothing out of the ordinary.

But my parents wanted it to be different, after many disputes I was forced to travel to Liyue because of an "errand" that I had to fulfill. I was terrified of the idea of leaving the comfort of my home, the few times I had to do it was cause some important clients had different needs that I had to attend personally, but I had never gone so far by myself...

I had to do it for them, for me, so I decided it, I accepted the proposal they were giving me and I traveled to Liyue to live with a friend. I knew her because she had helped us in the past and now she was a friend of my family, she was part of this city, full of unknown people and with laws that I didn't understand, the contracts were complicated for me at first but after some time I had adapted with her help.

Everything was going good and soon I received an order for which I'd have to leave the pink-haired girl's home for a few days, it was about a wedding dress, a girl who was staying at the Wangshu Inn would soon marry the man of her dreams and she wanted me to make her dress personally. I decided that I would stay there for a while, to make my job easier, so I said goodbye to my friend and went there... At least tried to.

The same day I was moving, I had some major delays, ended up out of town late at night, alone, didn't know how to fight and also a bit lost. I thought the situation couldn't get any worse but it did when some enemies appeared out of nowhere to attack me.

I ran as far as my legs could, hurting myself a lot on the way, then regretted having made that decision and thought I would die right there, however, a turquoise glow appeared and soon my enemies were on the ground just like me.

"Can you get up, human?" a voice spoke to me, somewhat cold, coming from the boy who had saved me.

"Uh... I-"

I felt a sharp pain in my chest, as if something had exploded near my heart, I grimaced and put a hand to the area trying to relieve the pain, which clearly did not work and only served to disconcert the golden-eyed boy. "You're hurt?"

I shook my head cause I couldn't speak, I felt like I was short of breath and my chest was tight… but the moment I felt his touch my heart eased. That boy had me in his strong arms and a second later we were in a completely different place, I was scared. Who is he?

"This is the Wangshu Inn, I think it's where you wanted to go. Didn't you? Treat your wounds and don't be that fool to be alone at night again, humans like you are... very fragile."

He turned around ready to leave, finally I was able to say something. "W-wait, m-may I know who you are?"

He looked at me before disappearing from my sight, his voice murmured something, something that stayed in the back of my mind the rest of the night. "Xiao."

Part Two

[frangipanilove]

Daryl’s Green(e) Jasper Revisited; A “Roch” In The Road

“Pilgrims Under The Field Of Stars” (part 2) (part 1)

The “Roch” in the headline is not a typo, it’s a reference to St. Roch, patron saint of dogs and dog lovers, also known for healing people suffering from plague and infectious disease, and that’s why it’s super interesting that Daryl finds the little green(e) rock as they’re quite literally out searching for antibiotics to combat the prison flu, or shall we say prison plague?

St. Roch, Rocco in Italian, in English sometimes called "Rock", was a pilgrim who was known for tending to, and healing victims of the plague. He became known as a protector against plague and infectious disease, and at one point he contracted the bubonic plague himself. He was healed when a dog came up to him and licked his wounds. He’s since been depicted in iconography always with a dog by his side and wounds caused by bubonic plague exposed on his leg.

He had “triumphed over the disease in his own flesh”.

To me, this reads like an obvious historical parallel to the Wildfire virus in TWDU. For someone who has been talking about dogs and their Sirius (reunion/resurrection/rebirth) symbolism for close to a decade now, it is quite interesting to see that St. Roch was healed from the bubonic plague by a dog. This lines up with the Sirius symbolism in TWDU in a really compelling way.

My hypothesis is that the Sirius symbolism on the show comes from both the story of Sirius the Dog Star, the returning star, as well as the resurrection symbolism associated with St.Roch, patron saint of dogs and dog lovers, who was famous for protecting against the plague and infectious disease. And in the context of Daryl's green(e) jasper, Daryl's "Roch" in the road, we see all of that on full display.

St. Roch's body currently rests in Chiesa di San Rocco in Venice, Italy, one of many "plague churches" built to protect the city from the numerous waves of plague that affected it through histoey. In fact, the word "quarantine" originally derives from Italian, and it specifically comes from Venice:

St. Roch, in addition to being patron saint for dogs and dog lovers, as well a known protector against plague, is the patron saint of Venice, along with San Marco. Venice, a major trading hub during the middle ages, suffered multiple plagues due to the extensive foreign trade, hence the invention of quarantine arrangements.

Why the history lesson, you may ask. Well, it's to demonstrate that St.Roch is not some random saint in the context of the green(e) jasper from 4x4 Indifference. His legacy is directly connected to the circumstances around Daryl finding the jasper, or the "Roch" in the road", if you will. Daryl specifically found the jasper for a woman who had been on her way into quarantine in A-block as they were leaving, and their entire mission revolved around finding antibiotics, or a "cure" against the "plague".

And, St. Roch, a pilgrim himself, is specifically tied into the pilgrim symbolism I talked about in part 1 the other day.

In TWD 4x4 Indifference, the prison flu/plague was at its height. People were dying, Glenn and Sasha were ill, and their only option was to go to a veterinary college Herschel knew about to scavenge what they could find of antibiotics. The theme here, as Daryl finds the green(e) rock in the road, is healing people from the flu/plague. My hypothesis is that the green(e) rock, a reference to St.Roch, protector against plague and known for miraculously healing plague victims, foreshadows the antibiotics they later will find, or basically the cure against the plague.

Keep this in mind, I’ll return to a “cure against plague” shortly.

There have been many interesting, well researched attempts at deciphering the symbolism around the green jasper over the years, and as we know, symbolism in TWDU is always multi-layered, it can have more than one meaning.

For me, the most obvious thing is that it’s green(e), it seems like an no-brainer reference to Beth Greene. Remember, this was before Beth and Daryl escaped from the prison together. Considering what we now know was to come for them, it seems plausible that the green(e) jasper would function as some kind of foreshadow of that.

Then there’s the fact that Daryl specifically got it for someone who needed it for her husband’s grave marker. In that respect, it’s tied to resurrection symbolism. Symbols on grave markers often include crosses, of course depending on the religious beliefs of the deceased, but I don’t think it’s far fetched to interpret the jasper as synonymous with a cross. And of course, crosses are resurrection symbolism, they’re tied to Beth in all kinds of ways.

Then there's Michonne's nod to the Sirius symbolism, when she made a joke about how the color brings out Daryl’s eyes:

It’s a potential reference to the one-eyed dog from 4x13 Alone, and also a potential reference to the “the heavenly beast with a star in its eye" as Robert Frost said in the poem “One More Brevity “.

"It's a good color". It's (Beth) green(e).

"It brings out your eyes". It's Sirius symbolism and a reference to the one-eyed dog from 4x13 Alone.

Also, don’t forget that Beth’s been connected to issues regarding eyes and eyesight since 4x12 Still:

It's Sirius symbolism, which is tied to St. Roch because he is the patron saint of dogs and dog lovers, and was always depicted with a dog by his side in iconography. And Sirius symbolism is resurrection/rebirth symbolism. St. Roch, patron saint of dogs and dog lovers, miraculously survived the plague himself, as well as being known for healing people from plague and infectious disease.

We see how the Sirius/dog symbolism becomes intertwined with symbolism pertaining to the plague, healing, and a "cure".

Remember Daryl got the green jasper for Mrs. Richards, she was going into “A-block” as they left. “A-block” was where they kept the people sick with flu in quarantine.

Mrs. Richards’ name is likely a reference to “Roch”. The names aren’t etymologically linked in any way that I’m aware of, but come on, you can hear it, right? Richards and Roch? They're not completely different. At the very least, they’re close enough to earn a substantial side eye from me…

The jasper stone, the "Roch" in the road", is associated with the flu. Or should we say “plague”….? And it's associated with being cured, healed, resurrected, reborn...

Remember TWD episode 7x9 Rock In The Road? TF went to The Kingdom to secure Ezekiel's support in the war against the Saviors. Ezekiel was reluctant, and Rick had to resort to storytelling and parabels to convince him. Rick’s story was one about the girl who was bringing her carriage to the market, but there was a rock in the road that broke her carriage and caused her to lose an entire cask of beer.

Beer = ethanol = cure. I’ve talked about the connection between ethanol/alcohol and a cure/pharmakon in many posts such as here and here.

And remember when I said above that the jasper represented the antibiotics they would later find?

And how in Rick’s story about the “rock in the road”, the girl lost a whole case of beer?

That came into play in FTWD 6x3 Alaska.

Dwight and Althea were out scavenging, when they came across a community in a high-rise building. This storyline tied into the CRM in that Althea was there searching for her mysterious love interest Isabel, who was A CRM pilot. Isabel’s helicopter was scheduled to land on the top of the high-rise, but Althea warned her that the property was infested with rats carrying the bacteria Yersenia Pestis, better known as bubonic plague- This is the bacteria that caused the Black Death during the Middle Ages, killing off half of Europe’s population. St. Roch was known for tending to victims of the bubonic plague, he was known for performing miracles, and he contracted the plague himself, but still survived.

In Alaska, Dwight caught the plague:

Without antibiotics, Dwight faces an almost certain death.

Althea, on the rooftop and in communication with CRM-Isabel, is told about beer in the supply crates:

As we've learned by now, "beer" in TWDU is directly associated with some form of "cure". Beer is "cure" symbolism.

And lo and behold! Next to the beer, she finds...

Ciprofloxacin, the exact antibiotic she needs to cure Dwight’s bubonic plague.

We saw in FTWD 6x3 Alaska how TPTB basically equaled ethanol/beer with antibiotics, essentially confirming the connection between "alcohol/ethanol" and a "cure". We've since seen this very theme multiple times.

In TWDDD 1x3 Paris Sera Toujours Paris, Fallou made a reference to the bubonic plague as they were moving through the catacombs. The catacombs are, according to urban legends, lined floor to ceiling with the skulls of the victims of the bubonic plague (I think historians would like to correct a few misconceptions on that, but regardless, that’s a version of history that’s well established in the popular mind):

“Here, we survived many apocalypses. We will survive this one too”. Plagues were common in medieval Europe…

Like I mentioned in part 1, the themes around pilgrimage came back in TWDDD season 1, when Losang namedropped Camino de Santiago to Santiago de Compostela. I also explained how the symbolism associated with St. Christopher is intertwined with the type of resurrection symbolism we see around Beth.

Beth, like St.Roch, is heavily associated with dog symbolism as well as resurrection symbolism.

Beth is the one in TWDU that’s tied up with dog symbolism the most. She IS dog symbolism.

And so is St. Roch, patron saint for dogs and dog lovers...

Daryl has proved to be a quite a dog lover:

And because St.Roch was also famous for healing plague victims, as well as miraculously recovering from the plague himself, we see here another way in which the Sirius/dog symbolism ties into themes of resurrection and rebirth, and themes of a “cure”.

St. Roch was a pilgrim, he’s deeply tied into the symbolism around pilgrimage, which became relevant again by Losang mentioning Santiago de Compostela. Remember, as I explained the other day, the pilgrim symbolism was quietly, yet unmistakably, introduced with Morgan immediately after Beth had been "killed" in 5x8 Coda.

As some sort of pilgrim, we watched him reach Father Gabriel's church, and it was almost as though he had reached his desired end point, the final destination of his pilgrimage. He "resurrected" the overturned cross, as though he metaphorically "ressurected" Beth. I likened Morgan to St. Christopher, patron saint of travelers, but St. Roch was also a pilgrim.

The green(e) jasper?

It foreshadowed the antibiotics they were able to find at the veterinary college in 4x4 Indifference, it foreshadowed the “cure”. The green(e) jasper is a metaphor for the cure. It was green(e)., and therefore potentially associated with Beth. And it is closely associated with dogs and dog symbolism, through St. Roch. The green(e) jasper is Sirius symbolism.

The other day I wrote about the Way of St James, or Camino de Santiago to Santiago de Compostela. I had seen hints of a theme of travelers and pilgrimage ever since Morgan showed up after Beth’s death in 5x8 coda. We’ve recently seen Losang bring it up in TWD Daryl Dixon. As we know, the working title of TWDDD was Pilgrim, so I think it’s fair to say that the pilgrim theme has been canonically confirmed.

In part 1 I mentioned how the symbolism around St. Christopher, patron saint of travelers (including motorists, hello car/trunk symbolism) was first subtly alluded to immediately after Beth’s death, then became canonically confirmed in FTWD 6x2 Welcome To The Club. We saw Daniel, a character who had survived a gunshot to the head, carry a St. Christopher medallion.

We later saw Madison, queen of death fake-outs in TWDU, survive getting shot point blank, in a Ford Mustang:

The St. Christopher medallion quite literally stopped the bullet and saved Madison's life. This is the type of resurrection symbolism St. Christopher provides to Beth. And it happened in a blue Ford Mustang.

St. Christopher is the patron saint of travellers, including motorists, and I would have to assume that includes kidnapped girls in trunks of cars. And the Ford Mustang symbolism is something we'we seen a lot. Most recently in TWDDD 1x6 Coming Home, when Carol drove a blue Ford Mustang and happened to lock some poor unsuspecting fellow (joking, he had it coming) into the trunk of said blue Ford Mustang...

Read more on Ford Mustangs and why they're resurrection symbolism here and here.

The symbolism around pilgrims was for a long time merely subtle clues, and I was entirely prepared to admit I was reading too much into something that existed mostly in my own head. However, with Losang explicitly mentioning Santiago de Compostela in TWDDD 1x6 Comimg Home, the symbolism of St. James Way, or Camino de Santiago became canon. Just like the symbolism around St. Christopher became canon in FTWD 6x2.

I started researching the symbolism pertaining to St. Roch around the same time, and I think it's just a matter of time before he will become explicitly mentioned too, canonically confirming the symbolism, just like St. Christopher and Santiago de Compostela. I believe we will hear about him soon.

[lemonidae]

Nitro+Chiral VN

Togainu no Chi

In a ruined world, seeds of new chaos. In the years following a third world war, a devastated Japan is divided between two rival factions with no hope for reconstruction in sight. Caught between East and West, Tokyo has degenerated into a brutal, crime-ridden wasteland.

Like many of those reaching adulthood in this dark new world, a young man named Akira seeks some kind of meaning in the violent street fighting contest Bl@ster. But even as he rises up the rankings, he feels almost nothing. Is this all there is?

In Toshima, a district of Tokyo ruled by the mysterious syndicate Vischio, the blood sport Igra makes Bl@ster look like child's play. Competitors have the chance to win control of a drug empire worth more than in their wildest dreams, but losing a bout means losing your life.

When Akira is arrested for a crime he didn't commit, a strange woman appears with an even stranger offer: he can regain his freedom if he fights his way to the top of Igra and destroys Vischio from within.

What dangers and revelations await Akira on Toshima's pitiless streets? Is he strong enough to survive them?

Buy: Steam | Jast

Lamento: ~Beyond the Void~

The game takes place in a fictional world inhabited by Ribika (who look like humans but have cat ears and tails). Their world has fallen into dark times -- a mysterious void has made some places (and even animals) impossible to touch, causing major food shortages. A strange and deadly disease that has killed off a large percentage of the female Ribika population is also spreading.

The hero, Konoe, exists in this miserable world, living alone in the starving village of Karou who have turned to cannibalism. The story begins with Konoe in Karou, where he suddenly begins to see horrible dreams and strange marks appear on his body. This is believed to be a curse so Konoe heads off to Ransen (the big city) in order to heal his body…

English fan translation: How to install | Game files ver.1: onedrive | Game files ver.2: internet archive

(Patch could not work if the game is updated to version 2.00)

Chiral Mori

This is a fan disc of the Nitro+ Chiral characters, featuring 3 mini games. Various characters from Togainu no Chi and Lamento -Beyond the Void- are included.

Play poker against cute chibis of the Togainu cast, or test your typing speed with the furry-eared guys of Lamento. There's even a strange version of the Puyo Puyo falling-block game for you to enjoy.

more info here

Sweet Pool

After recovering from a serious illness, Sakiyama Youji hoped that things would finally get back to normal. But shortly upon returning to school, his world begins to change—and no one seems to notice. Bizarre symptoms plague his body, and vivid hallucinations of blood and flesh stalk his every waking moment. At the same time, two fellow students — the stoic Tetsuo and the notorious troublemaker Zenya — begin to take an intense and inexplicable interest in him.

What are Tetsuo and Zenya after? Are his hallucinations really nothing more? Everyone seems to know more than they’re letting on—but by trying to put the pieces together, Youji may be sowing the seeds of his doom.

Buy: Steam | Jast

Dramatical Murder

"I will destroy you."

Midorijima. Situated to the south of Japan, this beautiful island was once a place where people lived in harmony with nature. Then the Toue Corporation took over, driving off most of the island's residents and forcing those who would not leave to live in the shadow of Platinum Jail, a walled-off megaresort where the wealthy wallow in luxury.

Aoba is a young man living with his grandmother in the Old Residential District, the last refuge of Midorijima's people. While his peers join gangs and fight for dominance of the streets or immerse themselves in the virtual reality game Rhyme, Aoba works part-time at a junk shop and hopes only that his peaceful life will last.

But strange things are happening on Midorijima, and Aoba will soon have to fight… or lose everything that he holds dear.

Buy: Steam | Jast

Slow Damage

The year is 20xx, and the declining nation of Japan has built the ultimate casino resort: Shinkoumi.

This “special economic zone,” once known as Tokyo Waterfront City, is functionally its own separate country under the complete control of a private managing organization known as the Takasato-gumi.

But of course, a city with open doors has its dark side. Amidst the rampant crime and decay, degenerate hedonist Towa lives each day like it’s his last…

Buy: Jast

nitro+CHiRAL tumblr fansite : nitrochi-paths

BL game downloads: BLpaca

sources:

[nyadversary]

perfectly understandable imo if you don't like stephen king's writing but some of the criticisms i've seen on here are bizarre. saw someone complaining recently about how there's nazism in apt pupil. you know, the novella in which a precocious white boy with a somewhat troubling interest in the darker parts of wwii history discovers that an old man in his neighborhood is a former nazi / war criminal, blackmails the guy into telling him war stories, and ends up descending into a violent fascist mindset himself as well as reawakening murderous impulses in the old man. shocked and appalled that the story about nazis had nazis in it

[stephensmithuk]

The Hound of the Baskervilles: Mr. Sherlock Holmes

Doyle wrote this on his return from the Second Boer War, where he'd been a volunteer physician at a field hospital.

In 1898, he had written a short story called "The King of the Foxes", having been a fox-hunter for a while. It deals in rather similar themes and is seen as a forebearer to The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Originally serialised in installments in The Strand in 1901, this third of the Sherlock Holmes novels was published in book form in 1902, getting a US release at the same time.

Penang is a state of what is now Malaysia, located on the western coast of the peninsula of that country linked with the rest of Asia. A small and densely-populated state, it consists of Penang Island with the state capital George Town and the mainland, mainly comprising the city of Seberang Perai, today with a population of nearly 950,000. The area was a British colony at the time.

Made from palm cane from Licuala acutifida, the bulbous-headed "Penang lawyer" may be a mispronuncation of the local term pinang liyar or come from the fact it was believed to be used as a method of dealing with disputes, by hitting people with the big end. The Southern and Eastern African knobkerrie is similar in appearance.

One also turns up on "Silver Blaze", where it is considered as a possibility for the weapon used to murder John Straker.

M.R.C.S. stands for Membership of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons, a qualification at post-graduate level for surgeons. Once you get it, you can use the post-nominal letters.

The Charing Cross Hospital was located on Agar Street and was a major medical school. It still is, although it moved location in 1973 to Hammersmith, retaining its name, in a new massive hospital building; it had been decided after the Second World War that it would a good idea to move such a major medical facility out of Central London - it had become cramped in any event. The old site in Agar Street is now Charing Cross Police Station.

House surgeons were recent medical graduates carrying out surgery in a hospital under supervision. The term is still used today, covering a six-month placement in what other places call medical internships.

I believe Medical Officers dealt with general medical issues at the local level, like contagious diseases, sanitation and hospital management.

Parishes are the smallest level of local government administration in England. Historically, civil parishes and ecclesiastical parishes were the same thing, but state and church gradually moved apart, with 1894 seeing the final separation. Many have since disappeared, but about 40% of the English population remain in a civil parish, mostly in rural and urban areas. These range in size from a few hundred people to over 100,000, with Northampton being the largest. They may not be called a Parish Council; a Town Council or even a City Council (eight, including Hereford and Salisbury) are the same thing.

There has been somewhat of a revival of parishes in the 21st century, they can be created via petition and have often been set up to replace boroughs where unitary authorities have merged those with county councils. Milton Keynes is an example, now with ten parishes.

M.R.C.S. holders call themselves "Mr/Ms/Mx/etc." not "Doctor".

A frock coat is a knee-length mens' coat with a skirt-like bottom, popular in this period. It was used as formal day wear, but by 1889 was being replaced by the morning coat in that regard. It ceased being required at the royal court in 1936, but still turns up in some places; like officers of the Household Division. The "Teddy Boys" (and Girls) youth subculture of the 1950s to 1970s also were fans.

[yamayuandadu]

"There’s a misconception that Matarajin is Shiva which is perpetuated entirely by Touhou fans." - I think you overestimate Big 2Hu when English Wikipedia itself says that:

"Daikokuten originated from Mahākāla, the Buddhist version of the Hindu deity Shiva, conflated with the native Shinto god Ōkuninushi."

The Mahakala-Shiva connection is repeated in JP Wiki, quoting an encyclopedia? And I thought the Shinbutsu merger was also not too controversial

it's a bit of a mess ngl especially since Okina seems designed to be a mess as well

I haven’t seen anyone but Touhou fans make the leap from “Matarajin is associated with Mahakala” to “Matarajin is literally Shiva” let alone to “Matarajin is associated with Okuninushi”. So I maintain it is not incorrect to refer to it as a Touhou fandom misconception specifically. To be even more precise - it’s limited to a specific subset of English-speaking Touhou fans, mostly on reddit and to a smaller degree twitter. Tumblr has its fair share of misconceptions too, don’t get me wrong, but they have more to do with misinterpreting something because of what ZUN said. Anyway, it’s the Daikokuten article which says this. Not the Matarajin one. And this applies to Daikokuten, not Matarajin. These are two separate figures. Both of these wiki articles are entirely reliable on their own but you can’t perform this sort of haphazard synthesis. Matarajin and Daikokuten are not interchangeable.  More under the cut, including a quick overview of some of Matarajin’s actual associations which get entirely glossed over both by ZUN and in fan discussions.

The fact figure x is equated with figure y in one specific context does not mean all of their associations are transferable. And in particular the fact that Mahakala originated as a form of Shiva (though whether this is necessarily always vital in Buddhist context is another matter) can’t be easily assumed to also hold true for Matarajin. This is one step away from arguing Tenjin and Tamamo no Mae are basically just Okuninushi via vague Shiva connections (or rather connections with figures which originated as manifestations of Shiva but acquired distinct identities in Buddhism with time, really).

It is true that there is a theory going back to the 1950s according to which Matarajin has been partially derived from Mahakala, specifically developing as a result of confusion between him and Taizan Fukun (see discussion in William M. Bodiford’s Matara: a Dream King Between Insight and Imagination, p. 240). However, Bernard Faure interprets the connection as possibly only based on phonetic similarity between the names. Following Faure’s and Nobumi Iyanaga’s research it is entirely possible Matarajin’s name has nothing to do with Mahakala etymologically and instead comes from the Seven Mothers (mātṛkā, transcribed in Japanese Buddhist sources phonetically as matara). It’s worth noting ZUN seems to be aware of this, since Okina’s first bio calls her an “an Earth mother goddess” (地母神). It should be pointed out that in Buddhist context the Seven Mothers are a type of dakini-like disease demon, and not spouses of major deities, though.

Keiran Shūyōshū does equate Matarajin with Mahakala (“Makakaraten”) though it also states that Matarajin might instead be one of the dakinis commanded by him. It’s actually this network of associations that matters when it comes to equivalence between them, rather than the separately established equivalence between Mahakala and Okuninushi. Matarajin’s dakini association recurs elsewhere, and there are even (mostly Shingon, but still) cases of full on equation with the dakini par excellence, Dakiniten. I’m actually surprised I haven’t seen it referenced in any Touhou discussions. Matarajin being a dakini, identical with Dakiniten or at least commanding dakinis consistently pertains to the belief that dakinis consume people’s livers to free them from bad karma. As a curiosity it’s also worth mentioning that Inari Kinja Kō from the Edo period lists Matarajin, Dakiniten, but also Izuna Gongen among names applied to supernatural foxes - another major component of the dakini network (down to “fox sorcerer demon” - 狐 魅鬼 - being one of the early Chinese translations of dakini), though one with limited relevance for Matarajin otherwise. It would be fun to reference in Touhou context, though. 

To sum up, my issue is that entry level understanding of the nature of connections between deities leads to a simplified image of them, and overshadows more interesting reality. In this case there are also entirely fictitious associations on top which doesn’t help.

It’s also deeply puzzling to me that people are so eager to invent an Okuninushi connection where there isn’t one when Matarajin already has an incredibly well attested link to a figure from “classical” Japanese mythology, specifically Susanoo. The nature of this connection is somewhat variable. We have cases of direct equation: in various texts from the Mt. Hiei Sanmon tradition; in texts from Hinomisaki (a branch of Izumo Grand Shrine); in the account of Saichō’s journey to China in Sange Yōryakki; in Jimon Denki Horoku (here Matarajin is called a “trace” of Susanoo - we’re essentially dealing with reverse honji suijaku); and in Nihon Shoki Kikigaki (a medieval commentary on the Shoki; the author went all out and also equated Susanoo with around half a dozen other figures, ranging from Pangu [sic] to Kōjin).

Equation with a twist is also an option: in a local tradition from Gakuenji, Matarajin was understood as a name applied to Susanoo after he died and was buried underneath this temple. However, they can also be associated without being equated. A novel take on the Ama no Iwato myth from Fujiwara no Tameaki’s Kokin Wakashū Jo Kikigaki Sanryū Shō has Susanoo team up with Matarajin and a horde of demons (you can find a translation in John Breen’s and Mark Teeuwen’s A New History of Shinto, pp. 142-143; I have yet to add this to the wiki article).

The Susanoo connection also brings us to the arguably most important cluster of Matarajin’s associations. There is a distinct possibility it didn’t arise in a vacuum, but rather due to convergence of two other connections - between Susanoo and Shinra Myōjin, and between Shinra Myōjin and Matarajin. As a fellow old man Tendai deity, Shinra Myōjin is arguably the single figure most similar to Matarajin, though obviously they are not identical. Still, it feels pretty glaring to me he’s not referenced in any shape or form in HSiFS, not even through a single offhand comment or spell card. Matarajin and Shinra Myōjin additionally effectively formed an interconnected network with a further similar Tendai deity, Sekizan Myōjin. This brings us back to something I brought up earlier - the modern theory that Matarajin was partially derived from Mahakala nonetheless acknowledges the influence of Taizan Fukun on his character, and it is the association with Sekizan Myōjin that emphasizes it the most, since the latter was essentially patterned after him and similarly functioned as a supernatural judge determining people’s lifespans. 

The connection between Matarajin and Taizan Fukun had an additional layer to it, though - as a core member of the entourage of Enma, Taizan also had strong links to beings like the Seven Mothers and the dakinis, much like Matarajin did. Faure outright argues this might have been why they came to be associated with each other. The Taizan Fukun connection is another one I have no clue why neither ZUN nor any fan works acknowledge. Especially since Taizan is actually mentioned in Touhou (in the Yama entry in PMiSS). I really hoped we’ll get something in SFW, but not much came out of that and we instead got my least favorite Okina scene yet, the Flandre power level deus ex machina. Tragic! Maybe one day, considering hell is basically a secondary setting of Touhou in its own right, though I’m not very hopeful.

I’m willing to admit obvious omissions like lack of any references to dakinis, Taizan, or Susanoo (coupled with severely overestimating the connection with Hata no Kawakatsu, but that’s a topic for another time) do make it possible to say Okina is a “mess” as you put it, though I don’t think it had to be this way. The problem imo lies in ZUN no longer writing her the way he did in HSiFS - she hasn’t made a single religious reference since despite these making up the bulk of her dialogue. In a perfect world, her reappearances would be used to cover the missing aspects of Matarajin’s network, but it seems like even when the plot is basically begging (once again, SFW) for it we are getting basically nothing. I have no clue what happened, though it also strikes me as notable that despite being named after a Matarajin-esque figure Megumu got precisely 0 meaningful religious references so far. 

Despite my ambivalent views on Okina as a character, I think it would be unfair to call the genuine Matarajin a mess. The networks in which he was included are fairly coherent, and represent a typical example of medieval theology, not something uniquely convoluted or outlandish. It’s not a topic which is difficult to research, either, with plenty of easily accessible publications in English. If nothing else, I think HSiFS deserves credit for opening the metaphorical door to them for more people.

[diorysuss]

dio’s big list of murder drone theories

so hi. it’s me dio. i’ve been cookin a bunch of theories i think you guys will like so I’m gonna masterlist em here. these range from “serious” to “crack” so be warned (nothing extreme dw)

Nori will be french (Semi-Serious)

Evidence gathered -

1. In episode 2, Khan holds up a manual that has 3 languages; Russian, English, and French. These can be linked to Yeva, Alice, and by proxy, Nori.

2. The colors of the French flag, red, blue and white, make what? Purple.

3. As seen in the 7&8 teasers, there is a secret underground cathedral. Cathedrals are French architecture. Perfect to experiment on a FRENCH drone, don’t you think?

4. The French love pissing off the English. Like how Nori pissed off Alice. Coincidence? I think not.

5. Russia, France and the USA happen to be world superpowers. Hm.. powers.. like the solver.

Foreign Accent Syndrome & The Solver (Not expecting it to be canon)

Evidence gathered/Reasoning -

Alice could suffer from foreign accent syndrome (shortened to FAS) , a condition where it makes the afflicted person speak in a completely different accent in their native language. Linked to brain damage and strokes, the disease is thought to sever connects to the part of the brain that controls your lip movements, thus giving you a different accent.

67% percent of people who suffer from FAS are women, like a majority of the solver users, and we know the solver is notorious for messing with people’s brain. A lot of Russian viewers have pointed out Doll’s bad accent (which I’m well aware is just the VA not natively speaking Russian, but hear me out!) Doll has an American accent due to FAS and the solver messing with her brain.

Thad being the solver’s “spy” (Semi-Serious)

Evidence gathered/Reasoning

1. Consistent purple headlights in episode 4

2. Lack of vocal interactions

3. Eldritch J afflicting him (cannot be good)

With Doll and Uzi down deep under the surface, the solver has no one of the surface in order to do.. whatever. Not sure yet, but it seems like it choose Thad, possibly due to a closeness with N and Uzi. Whatever he has, it cannot result in him being normal in any way whatsoever. I just refuse to believe it. Interestingly, he also happens to be named after a disciple of Jesus who warns of heretics and is literally the patron symbol of hope.

The cross (Serious)

Evidence gathered/Reasoning-

The cross in the episode 7 teaser everyone is going crazy for, I know! But it being upside down will not necessarily represent an evil. Instead-

- A cross upside down is representative of St. Peter, who requested to be crucified upside down because he did not feel worthy of dying the same way as Jesus.

- An upside down crucifix, however does actually represent the devil, and would represent the solver in this case. The key difference is that a crucifix has Jesus’s body on the cross.

Uzi is clearly holding a cross due to the lack of Jesus. This makes me believe that she herself doesn’t feel worthy of something; my top pick is she doesn’t feel worthy of sacrificing herself for the better of Copper-9 and the universe, and gives into the solver as a result.

JCJenson is cover-up business for a cult (Serious)

Evidence gathered/reasoning -

1. Humans are not too concerned with events surrounding the solver- in fact, they seem content being around it. Tessa seems to be the only one to care.

2. JCJenson products and products of Cyn/Solver share a lot of characteristics

3. A very cult like area sitting under JCJenson labs is very suspicious

My best guess here is that JCJenson summoned the solver for money/power in exchange for giving the solver test subjects and sacrifices such as Nori and Yeva so that they can grow. However, the cult slowly began to corrupt the company until they became just a cover up- quickly switching to space travel to help spread the solver while still advancing their robotics. The Elliot’s were possibly a family who disliked this idea and made special leaps to make sure the solver didn’t infect their house; which failed, just look at episode 5.

Final Destination & an actual true important death (Serious)

Evidence Gather/Reasoning -

Final destination is a movie trilogy that is notoriously famous for having gruesome deaths and how attempt to escape death is futile. Since other episodes have been based off other horror flicks/tropes (I.E, episode 2 was based off Alien, episode 3 Carrie, episode 4 any slasher flick ever, etc) I believe someone important will “die” this episode and in a gruesome manner. J? Doll? Uzi? N? Fucking Khan? Who knows!

Teacher affiliated with the solver (Crack)

1. Orange eyes, like Alice had, suggests he was affected by the solver at one point

2. Wayy different from other worker drones, who are at most optimistic about death and at their worst having a panic attack. He simply does not care. About anything.

3. Knew something was up with Uzi before her solver was even revealed

4. Only worker drone who’s seen on screen drinking. Even if it’s just an alcoholic drink, we know drones can’t drink anything other than oil and batteries, so what’s in there?

5. No where to be seen during episode 4, considering he would have been an easy target for Uzi

Completely crack, I just like this theory cause it seems so out of place and different. I reviewed some cursive on the clipboard and apparently, his name might be Lu/Lou or some variant, maybe even Liam? Who knows it’s fucking funny lol

fish khan

fish fish/ fish

fish khan fish fish khan khan fish fish khan fish fish fishhhhhhhh fish fish fish fish figshhhhhh fish fish

[transtalesofdoom]

Rant about the ICD-10 and nonbinary trans identities

This one's actually just build-up to another one, but it makes me very mad, so.

What's an ICD? ICD is short for "International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems", which is an absolute mouthful. It's basically a catalog of diseases that gets maintained by the WHO and occasionally updated into new versions. The most recent one is the ICD-11 that was published in 2022. It is five times the size of the ICD-10, which was published in 1994. Quite a bit happened in those 28 years, you know?

For this post, the relevant sections are obviously the one regarding trans health. So let's look at them:

The ICD-10 defines "Transsexualism" as

"A desire to live and be accepted as a member of the opposite sex, usually accompanied by a sense of discomfort with, or inappropriateness of, one's anatomic sex, and a wish to have surgery and hormonal treatment to make one's body as congruent as possible with one's preferred sex."

It's categorized under "Mental and personality disorders". Such fun!

The ICD-11 now calls it "Gender incongruence" and defines it as such:

"Gender incongruence is characterised by a marked and persistent incongruence between an individual’s experienced gender and the assigned sex. Gender variant behaviour and preferences alone are not a basis for assigning the diagnoses in this group."

I don't know why it's british, and I don't care. There's a further distinction between prepubescent patients and those who have entered puberty and above. It's a bit longer and I promise it's the last stupid medical paragraph in this.

"Gender Incongruence of Adolescence and Adulthood is characterised by a marked and persistent incongruence between an individual’s experienced gender and the assigned sex, which often leads to a desire to ‘transition’, in order to live and be accepted as a person of the experienced gender, through hormonal treatment, surgery or other health care services to make the individual’s body align, as much as desired and to the extent possible, with the experienced gender. The diagnosis cannot be assigned prior the onset of puberty. Gender variant behaviour and preferences alone are not a basis for assigning the diagnosis."

Thats a lotta words. TLDR: "Person does not identify with assigned sex, likely wishes to transition to the experienced gender." Also important to note: Instead of a Mental Disorder, it's now categorized as a "Condition related to sexual health". Great!

Why is it not great? Because the ICD-11 is not currently in active use. The WHO expects a transitional period of 5 years or longer for countries to implement this. The US, for example, is aiming for an implementation in 2025, but it could extend to 2027 depending on required modifications. Non-english countries, like mine, also require time to translate the thing. Until implementation is complete, a majority of doctors are still trained to use the ICD-10. Health insurance companies also are not required to adopt definitions from the ICD-11 during the transitional period.

By the way, did you spot it? It's a small, but important difference: "the opposite sex" (ICD-10) vs "the experienced gender" (ICD-11). That's right, the current system only acknowledges binary trans people! Good for them, awful for me!

Now, of course there will be doctors who know better and acknowledge nonbinary identities, but under this current catalog, they do not have to. Neither does your health insurance. So if I, who is decidedly not of the binary variety, want health care and I want my insurance to cover it (just to stress again: I am not in the US), my best bet is to lie.

If I want trans healthcare, instead of getting a kind that is best suited for me and my identity, I should tell my health care providers a fabricated story about how very binary my transness is.

You realize what that is, right? It's another gender identity being assigned to me that doesn't match my own. Isn't that ironic?

But hey, only three more years until we get it implemented. Maybe.

[pub-lius]

How did historical people deal with hiccups?

Like do we know?

I hate you for burdening me with this question/nsrs

I found basically nothing that actually answers your question, but here’s some info i found thats somewhat relevant

Hiccups are a result of our evolution from fish, who have a respiratory process designed to separate water from oxygen. We maintain some of this respiratory structure, so when triggered, our diaphragm contracts followed by the closure of vocal chords, which causes the “hic” sound. There’s actually a few more muscles involved in this process, but i literally dont care, im not a stem major

Hiccups have very many causes, but the most common ones you’ll experience are from feeling nervous or excited, alcohol consumption, spicy foods, carbonated drinks, stress, overeating, or chewing gum. They can actually be caused by serious health issues as well, such as cancer, diabetes, kidney disease, or central nervous system damage, however in these cases, they last a lot longer than a few minutes. For example, Charles Osborn (1893-1991) hiccuped for 68 years straight after a bad encounter with a hog.

The word “hiccup” stems from the word “hiccough” from 16th century English, showing their association with the act of coughing. Additionally, in Old English used throughout the medieval age, the word for it translates to “elf heartburn” because they were believed to be caused by elves. Either way, they seem to have always been viewed as a normal bodily function

You might have heard older generations say that hiccups mean that one of your friends is talking about you, and if you go through a mental list of your friends and find the person who is doing the talking, they’ll stop. This belief seems to stem from the Northern states of India, where they believe hiccups are connected with the evil eye, and that someone close to you is sending negative energy your way

Anyway, that’s all that I found. I wrote this instead of writing my college application letters so. Clearly i have priorities. I hope you at least learned something from this, because I actually had a lot of fun (i love etymology)