#improperly divided

[mdzsxperience]

Lan Sect's known rules !

▷MDZS Home Page

We are all aware of the famous wall of rules at the Gusu Lan Sect, which Wei Wuxian has a hard time following.

Well, according to the MDZS novel, there were 3,000 rules when they were students, and 4,000 rules 13 years later after Wei Wuxian was resurrected.

I managed to compile 180 rules and divided them into categories.

Sources:

The official printed novel The drama (Youtube) The anime/donghua (Youtube)

Interpretation:

There might be translation mishaps from Chinese to English. One thing could be interpreted in various ways depending on context. (note: neither Chinese nor English are not my native languages.)

THE RULES:

▷ Rules on appropriate behavior: (39 rules)

Lan clan disciples must follow the principles of the Lan

Do not work after 9 pm

Do not rise after 5 am / Do not wake up at 8 am

Do not go out at night

Those who come at night should not be allowed in until 7 AM

Do not be late

Do not enter Cloud Recesses without permission

No one is permitted to attend the lectures without an invitation

Do not enter the back hills without permission

Do not fight without permission (alternate: fighting without permission is prohibited)

Do not create damages

Do not take life within Cloud Recesses (alternate: do not kill within the premises)

Do not stand incorrectly (have a proper posture)

Do not sit improperly (sitting improperly is prohibited)

Do not make noise (causing noise is prohibited)

Do not hurry rashly (do not act impulsively; running is prohibited)

Do not move arbitrarily

Do not smile for no reason (do not smile foolishly, do not laugh for no reason)

Sneering for no reason is prohibited

Do not drink alcohol (alcohol is prohibited)

Do not consume meat

Killing livestock within the area is prohibited

Do not be difficult with food (do not be picky about food)

Do not eat more than three bowls

Do not talk during mealtimes

Pets are not permitted

Change clothes after a shower

Wear a headband to discipline yourself

Do not touch others’ headbands without permission

A headband is not to be used for any other purpose

Only a spouse or child may touch the headband

Do not bribe a law enforcer

Do not use a concealed weapon

Do not hide an edged tool

Do not wear any jangling objects like beads

Do not wear more than three accessories around your waist

Do not alter clothes secretly

Never hurt insects or plants

Do not borrow money

▷ Rules related to personal virtues: (63 rules)

Love and respect yourself

Behave yourself

Be respectful (be courteous)

Be modest Arrogance is prohibited

Hide your wisdom

Do not show off your skills

Be humble

Do not be supercilious

Be amicable and united

Be strict with yourself

Have a strong will and anything can be achieved

Diligence is the root

Morality is the priority

Harmony is the value

Be ethical

Uphold the value of justice

Be just

Shoulder the weight of morality

Perform acts of chivalry

Have courage and knowledge

Have courtesy and integrity

Do not be ill-mannered

Have affection and gratefulness

Be compassionate

Be generous

Frugality is a moral

Give more, take less

Do not expect rewards after giving

Do not be miserly

Do not regret offering

Accumulate virtue and merits

Make sure to act virtuously

Be grateful

Be grateful when praised

Stop bad habits

Destroy the five poisons (desire, anger, ignorance, pride, & jealousy)

Do not indulge in pleasure

Do not be promiscuous

Do not indulge in debauchery

Do not wallow in luxury and pleasure (do not live extravagantly/in luxury)

Be peaceful when insulted

Do not succumb to rage

Speak meagrely, for too many words only bring harm

Do not be haughty and complacent

Do not be of two minds

Do not exult in excess (do not be excessively/too happy)

Do not grieve in excess (do not be excessively/too sad)

Do not covet the property of others

Do not steal

Do not be greedy

Be careful with your words

Do not use coarse language

Do not tell lies

Do not take your own words lightly

Do not sow discord

Do not use flowery writing (do not write about love and sex; do not use frivolous language; or do not spread empty lines)

Do not say one thing and mean another (do not break promises; do not go back on your word)

Do not boast about your own strengths

Believe sincerely

Do not be suspicious

Do not be wasteful

Do not break faith and abandon the right

Do not be unreasonable

▷ Rules for training, studying, and learning: (8 rules)

Learning comes first

Train your body and your mind

Maintain your own discipline

Organise work properly

Do not neglect your studies

Do not give up on learning

Do not lose your life goal

Nurture aspirations

▷ Rules for interacting with others: (48 rules)

Love all beings

Embrace the entirety of the world

Honor good people

Appreciate the good people

Good people will be esteemed, blessed by nature, and followed by good fortune

Respect the filial ones

Be fair, and they will follow you

Be trustworthy, and they will believe you

Be mighty, and they will die for you

Be loyal

Earn trust

Win friendships with kindness

See friends as neighbors

Steer away from bad men

Correct others by correcting yourself

Do not fear the strong

Do not ignore others and be undisciplined 

Help the lonely

Take pity on the desolate

Do not despise poverty

Do not bully the weak (bullying is prohibited)

Do not mix public and private interests

Help the underprivileged

Care for the weak

Lend a hand to those in need

Rescue those in danger

Do not take advantage of your position or connections to oppress others

Do not build wealth by using others, for this wealth won’t last

Do not curry favor (flatter)

Do not go tuft-hunting

Do not be a social climber

Do not form a clique and exclude others

Do not insult people

Do not use bad words to hurt others

Do not tease others

Do not praise yourself and slander others

Do not jump to an unfounded conclusion (do not make assumptions about others; do not judge others quickly)

Do not judge people behind their backs (do not speak ill of others; speaking behind other people’s backs is prohibited)

Speak not about other people’s weaknesses

Be easy on others

Be sad for other people’s sufferings

Rejoice in other people’s blessings

Regard other people’s gains and losses as your own

Do not hold grudges

Have wins and losses

If others win over you, do not envy

If others lose to you, do not look down

Do not take apprentices excessively, nor pass ordinary people

▷ Rules for respecting those in authority: (11 rules)

Respect the elderly

Do not disrespect the elder

Do not disregard the younger

Do not forget the grace of the forefathers

Be loyal, filial, friendly, and dutiful

Be a filial child

Do not argue with your family, for it doesn’t matter who wins

Honor the teachers and respect the elders

If your senior is standing, you may not sit until they have done so

Teachers have extensive knowledge and are examples of moral integrity

Disturbing female cultivators is prohibited

▷ Rules on cultivation, good and evil: (11 rules)

Concentrate on cultivating

To suppress and eliminate ghosts and monsters, liberate them

Stay on the righteous path

Take the straight path (follow the righteous way)

Reject the crooked road (do not take the crooked ways)

Eliminate evil and establish a just law

Do not associate with evil

Do not befriend the evil

Do not fall to evil

Resist evil

Promote good

▷ Bonus rule:

Wei Wuxian isn't allowed. (Do not get near Wei Ying)

▷MDZS Home Page

[completed ; 10/07/2024]

★ ⁺. ໒꒰ྀི｡- ˕ -｡꒱ྀི১ ૮꒰˶ᵔ ᗜ ᵔ˶꒱ა ˖⁺‧₊˚

[ravioliage]

Completely hypothetical here: What would Dragon Age be like as a series if it had the backbone of Disco Elysium’s politics and themes? This is not a gotcha, I’m genuinely curious about your opinion.

Oh geez. Once again a disclaimer: I'm not a smart person.

I love Dragon Age, it's my least favorite game series.

I do think entertaining this kind of hypothetical is like looking at a mold ridden house with a cracked foundation, and lamenting all the things that occured for it to get this bad. Everything from improperly mixed concrete to cheap pipes that would inevitably burst. It's the Extreme Home Makeover of video games, honestly. Where for a brief moment the house looked fantastic and everyone celebrated and cried. But in reality was all a rush job house that fell apart in no time and fucked the family financially. And dumb people on the internet blame the family for lack of maintenance to the house. Not, y'know, the people who ran the show who built a shitty house.

Metaphors!

I think what Dragon Age most needed from the start is to figure out what it wanted to say. It's why I love Veilguard, where they were clear with "We're going to tell a story about grief and how you should let go of the past instead of trying to make things great again. Trying to revive the past will only lead to more pain and grief. The future is now, old man."

I'm sure it has no correlation with current events and I'm sure there is no reason people are mad about the plot.

Now, I'm not saying that Origins/2/Inquisition didn't have themes. I'm saying that they didn't know what they wanted to say and then a lot of fandom cope happened to make it good. (And that's okay. Dark Souls is also fandom cope and it's great.)

I could go into the ass oppression allegories and the Chantry in Origins but y'know what I'd rather dissect the Stargate movie where people disappear. Tldr, years before Veilguard, BioWare chronically suffered from "we're going to embark on an interesting topic and quit halfway through" syndrome also known as "erm, actually, we shouldn't let politics divide us. UwU, both sides are bad!" centrism.

Anders is such a fascinating topic in this case. Anders wasn't a character that was written in good faith, especially when you consider who he was based on (iirc it was an ex boyfriend with borderline disorder?). And no. None of this justifies what happened to his writer. But he wasn't written in good faith and BioWare never intended him to be what the fandom has turned him into. So I'm still not sure what in the hell they tried to say with Anders. Maybe they intended to do something smart, saw the fandom reaction to him on release, chickened the fuck out, had a centrist panic attack, and delegated him to John Terrorist.

DA2 also tries to touch on police violence and incompetence, but that falls apart with Aveline's whole character arc. I already ranted about that.

DAI tries to touch on religious zealotry but never fully commits to it, sloppily delegating it to the Venatori instead of Andrastians. There was so much potential for "a religion that has gone off the rails and zealotry is the ultimate cause of the Circles". Then the man who wrote Corypheus says that "moustache twirling villains are antithetical to Dragon Age"

Anyway this probably doesn't answer the question. But if it were written by people with a backbone there probably wouldn't be a story of "police violence is fine if your friend does it" or "mages are terrorists by default" or the Dalish Elf Origin which was atrocious.

With this insane person rant, there is a lot to love with Dragon Age. In some ways the same thing where there is a lot to love about Dark Souls lore. The characters are wonderful for the most part. Shame they're stuck in Thedas.

[neuvetoile]

Do You Think Something Would Really Happen?: OCD and Shame.

I remember sitting at the dinner table with my parents after coming home from school, pushing my food around with my fork. Steak, potatoes, and corn. It was late at night, my parents having picked me up from daycare after their 9-to-5s, and we sat in a collectively exhausted silence. Half of the table was taken up by mail, flyers, and my old homework sheets.

I analyzed my plate. My corn touched my steak, my steak touched my potatoes, and my potatoes touched my corn. As I’d start with the corn, I’d have to grimace as I came to the conclusion that whatever touched the steak and potatoes would need to be left on my plate. It was contaminated. I’d cut around the edge of the steak that touched my potatoes and corn, and ate around the mashed potatoes that also touched the steak and corn. 

My parents would raise their brows and dismiss the quirk until it became a constant habit of mine. Any food on my plate that touched was suddenly contaminated and therefore, inedible. They’d occasionally scold me for leaving so much food on my plate, not because I was full, but ‘because my food touched’. 

They would eventually learn that it was easier to divide the food so it didn’t touch in the first place, in which case I’d be able to clean my plate.

It eventually became a joke at the table.

“You know, it all touches in your stomach.” I’d nod, “It’s different on my plate.”

And, they’d laugh. My face would flush, and I’d very quickly learn to be ashamed of my little rules, despite the accommodations both me and my parents made to enforce them.

Underwear, and then socks. It was always the right sock. Then I could put my pants on, and then my shirt. Any other way was incorrect. I’d restart if I did it wrong, and everything had to feel right. I can’t wear those jeans because they don’t feel right. Not today, maybe tomorrow. I’d become ashamed of how long it would take me to get ready. When I went to a uniform school, it became much easier.

Forks all go in the dishwasher, facing the same direction. They can only take up two rows. All big spoons go together, and all little spoons go together, only taking up a row each. All of the bowls faced inward on the top rack … I think you get the idea.

My parents would tease me by putting a dish in the dishwasher improperly. I would feel violently ill as I was forced to fix it before turning the dishwasher on. I would get caught doing this, and my parents would let out a little laugh.

Someone at daycare named the dog on their DS game after a phallic body part. I felt like I was going to be ill. I had to tell the caregiver. I tattled. I felt even worse when she was punished for it. It was my fault. 

I had to punish myself too.

I never realized that all of these little events were textbook symptoms of OCD. Nobody in my life did. A lot of my compulsions were mental, and because of it, I thought everyone did them. I thought everyone felt a duty to report when someone broke the rules, because if they didn’t, something bad would happen to them. I thought everyone avoided the cracks in the sidewalk, just to make sure nothing bad would happen. I thought everyone put the knife in their hand back down until everyone left the kitchen to be sure they wouldn’t stab someone. 

Saying it out loud makes a lot of sense. However, the inherent shame that would follow my sudden realization that I had OCD was never something I expected. I had gotten through C-PTSD treatment easily, but the grip of embarrassment that coiled around my stomach, up my spine and around my mind would be unbearable from these new symptoms. The shame has done nothing but make my symptoms spike. As someone who has been mentally ill their whole life, I have never felt worse.

OCD is a disorder often attributed with two symptoms: obsessive thoughts, and compulsive behaviours. However, OCD is such a broad disorder that it’s impossible to truly understand its breadth through this two-symptom definition. Obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviours can take on dozens, if not hundreds of different themes, and can be difficult to pinpoint without the appropriate knowledge and understanding.

And, there’s an inherent shame that comes associated with these obsessions and compulsions. An inherent knowledge that they’re foolish, unreasonable, and illogical. And yet, I lock the door anyway. I put the knife down anyway. I isolate myself anyway.

Nobody talks about the shame associated with OCD. There’s such a medicalized view of OCD, focused on treatment and eradication, that I find early on a distinct lack of care from medical professionals on the symptoms I experience. So easily do people brush off my distressing thoughts, ones that leave me isolated to my bed, ruminating about what I could have done better. And yet, reassurance is bad for OCD.

I was scared when I had to tell my doctor about my symptoms. I was more petrified to even tell my therapist who I had grown to. I remember trembling as I typed out the obsessions and compulsions I engaged in, once on notepad and again on my phone. I remember feeling violently ill as I convinced myself I was insane, that I was going to engage in these horrible acts. That I was a monster pretending to be a good person. They would lock me up when they heard all of the horrible things I had done in my head. I could never be the ‘good’ person I needed to be. That this wasn’t OCD; this was just me.

I remember getting a psychiatric appointment set up with my doctor as she seemed relatively unphased by my symptoms. The reassurance I so desperately craved, some sort of absurd reaction that embodied the illness and distress I felt, was nowhere to be found. I’m so desperate for the claws of adoration to tear deep into my skin, so deep that I bleed before I realize how much this love hurts. I needed her to cry for me. I needed more.

I needed more validation. I needed more love. Love so much it stings.

I remember having to find a new therapist, because I needed someone who knew about OCD. I remember thinking I found a good one, and I disclosed some of my more taboo symptoms. I was, instead, dismissed outright. I was told that I could be schizotypal. That I could have commanding hallucinations.

“You should tell the psychiatrist about your commanding hallucinations,” she said,

“they could get dangerous if you act on them.”

She spent so much time trying to understand and dissect these ‘commanding hallucinations’, trying to understand the ‘source’ of my intrusive thoughts, that she forgot I was a person. Maybe it was tied to my cat dying in grade 7, or the way I was raised as a kid. How did my dad treat me? When did I learn to speak? How was my birth? When did I learn to read? Did I grow up with friends?

She dug her claws of ‘care’ so deep into my body that I became nothing more than a cadaver in her eyes. I was in so much pain that I can’t remember the rest of that therapy session. I fauned. And yet, I still tried to convince myself that she was just caring for me. That, this was the affection I hungered, right?

Still, I know that everything is fine. That I am personally loved by so many people around me. I have a supportive partner who would do anything to make sure I’m okay. I have amazing friends by my side. I’m successful and beautiful and wonderful and optimistic.

Yet I still crave that violent, awful reassurance and care. There’s a shred of doubt that I could secretly be a murderer, a rapist, a liar. I have to make sure I’m not. I have to.

As I filled out the YBOCS with my new therapist, I made it to the last question. A question where the score didn’t matter. It wouldn’t impact what the clinical severity of my OCD was. I don’t really even know why it was there. It read: “Do you think something would really happen?”

No. But I ashamedly do the compulsions anyway. How am I supposed to feel loved without reassurance?

[dead-lights]

blender tool: batch thumbnail renderer

i did a blender/python thing! i've seen some people posting about the hassle of taking thumbnails for pose packs and thought I'd put this up - I wrote a simple script a while back to take thumbnails for my blender pose library (those are up to 256x256 pixels, much bigger than the thumbs exported from S4S) but I imagine it would work for posemakers as well.

what this does: it automates the pose/render/save cycle. add your character to the scene, set up your camera, add your poses to a collection, and hit the button - it will put the character in each pose, render, save, and then move on to the next so you don't have to do it manually. this is especially useful for things like emotions packs where the camera does not need to be adjusted between poses.

what this doesn't do: you still have to position the camera and configure render settings, import your model, and add your poses to the scene. the camera does not move between renders, so if some poses are out of frame or otherwise don't work with the camera settings, you have to fix that manually.

i got kinda anxious about posting this and let it sit in my drafts for way too long - I used generic blender rather than sims-specific tutorials and worry I did things inefficiently or improperly, but it works for me, I use it often, and it saves me a lot of time, so I'll put it up. I welcome any criticism or advice people have for me.

i've uploaded a sample scene I used to get those renders of L, as well as the script itself in case you want to import it into your own scenes instead. the sample camera is set to produce 500x500 pixel thumbnails with an orthographic camera, rendered with Cycles, but you can set up the camera/renderer however you'd like.

download sample scene (includes script & instructions)

download script only

download instructions only (just a .txt file with everything below, but without pictures)

i'm going to work with the sample scene for these instructions, but this should work in any scene with a character mesh, an active camera, and a pose collection.

import your model. you need the mesh. this does not have to be in its own collection, as long as it isn't in the poses collection. set your active camera up to have the render settings/framing/zoom that you want. this will be used for every single thumbnail and cannot be adjusted in between renders.

2. you need the rigs from the poses. for .blend poses exported from S4S, drag them into the scene, open "Object" and then select rig.

make sure the rigs are going into your 'poses' collection - the collection doesn't have to be called 'poses' but it does need to contain ONLY pose rigs. name them whatever you'd like the thumbnails to be saved as.

3. head over to the scripting tab. if the script "export_thumbs.py" isn't open, hit the folder button to find it.

4. in the outliner, click on both the pose collection and the character mesh (note - NOT the character rig, you want the one with the inverted triangle and the wrench). you should see both icons selected.

5. hit the "run script" button at the top of the scripting tab.

at this point, if all went correctly, blender should appear to freeze (because it's doing stuff!) but you will notice a folder called "renders" appear in the directory with this blender file. Inside the renders folder, there will be another folder with the name of whatever character mesh you used - this allows you to run the script with multiple character meshes without overwriting files, as long as the meshes have different names. one by one, your thumbnails should show up here.

once the script has gone through every pose, blender will become usable again, and you should have a directory full of thumbnails. hooray!

note: every pose in a collection will render with the same camera settings. if you need to change the camera, for example because you have both standing and sitting poses, you can divide the poses into different collections. you have to run this script for each collection of poses you want to render - it will not automatically go through every collection in your outliner - so this gives you the opportunity to adjust the camera between batches. because thumbnails are named after the pose names, overwriting shouldn't be an issue.

please let me know if you have any problems with this! It's possible the scene may cause issues in older versions of blender - it was saved with 4.1 - but if it doesn't work, the script itself works with versions at least as old as 3.3.

[fountains-of-footsteps]

I'm really curious about how the boys look like, like do they look like they're real life counterpart or did you tweak a few things that made them different??

Wait this is a bit of a long shot but do you have a human design for them? Idk if you know this but Rain's human design has vitiligo hehe

they have a mix of real life counterpart accuracy and spicing it up! Dutch rabbits x cottontails don't really exist in real life, so I settled for making Vita's design mostly inspired by a Dutch with faulty markings. Dutches are ADORABLE, and they must have incredibly precise markings in order to be show quality. Vita most definitely does not. He's a black variety with an uneven color divide and faulty face patch, and the black parts of his fur have a kind of dappling similar to cottontails fur.

On the left is a perfectly marked Dutch, and on the right is one with faulty markings. They're a very recognizable breed, which means its also very easy to spot if they're marked improperly, making Vita stand out a lot when compared to other Dutch rabbits. Especially his mother. Fuku is quite a classic Argente de Champagne, I wanted him to have that very classic distinct beauty of an Argente. I also think their little black nosies and paws are very cute. I originally wanted to make his fur darker, maybe more similar to an Argente Noir, but I think him and Vita would wash eachother out when drawn together if I made him too dark.

Holland Lops come in like a million (30 officially recognized) color varieties and they're all so cool and cute so I have yet to decide for Yuji. Daisuke is an Antelope Jackrabbit specifically, they're absolutely beautiful and regal,, and also extremely goofy looking.

I imagine his range from regal creature to under-stuffed toy depends on his emotions that day.

[bigtreefest]

Chapter 1: I Don’t Curtsy

From: The Banes of the Ball Series

Pairing: Jimmy Dobyne x Heiress! Reader

Summary: You don’t enjoy attending debutante balls, but it’s all about keeping up appearances. Doing so is much easier when you’re not the one who has secrets that can ruin a reputation. You just happen to know them all…

Word count: 1,346

Content/warnings: Me knowing next to NOTHING about the southern debutante season and frankly being a little disgusted by the concept, Jimmy trying to be intimidating, mentions of societal expectations, reader holds many secrets, allusion to drinking (reader lowkey has alc in her cup, but I didn’t say it)

Author’s Note: After much discussion with @sweater-daddiesdumbdork this series is my attempt at remaking the ending of The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond. I was really unsatisfied with Jimmy’s character arc, so this is the start of his realizations of wrongdoing and redemption. I’ll do my best to set the stage for those who have not watched.

Dividers by @firefly-graphics

Main Masterlist | Series Masterlist | Next >

Jimmy looked around at the ornate ballroom. Pillars, chandeliers, and all. This type of scene was still much fancier than what he was used to, and he was more than ready to be done with pretending to partake in the life of luxury, but Fisher, the woman whom he was still escorting to the events of this debutante season, insisted they act as though all is well.

Fisher had received one more invitation following the debacle at the Halloween party several weeks ago, from you. She hadn’t expected anyone to acknowledge her existence anymore, given the scene that was caused over her lost earring, dishonesty, and inability to fit in. However, if anything, the scene had caught your eye, as many things tended to.

You and Fisher had grown up together, spending several years in school making jokes few others had the ability to understand. You hadn’t seen her since she had gone off to college and you had gone—well, elsewhere…for awhile.

Fisher was taken aback when she received the mail. She believed your invitation to have come out of pity, but it was anything but. To be honest, the sight of her little scene at Halloween had just brought back your fond memories. It seemed like she needed support…and maybe a friend. Either way, she would have thought herself to be a fool to not take the opportunity to raise her status once again by showing someone with such a respected reputation requested her presence.

Since returning home, your hadn’t had much say in your debut as an eligible bachelorette. Your mother and aunts had coordinated everything, from your dresses, to your appearances, to the ball hosted at your family’s manor. Your reputation was high, and according to your family, important to upkeep. The politics of these events bothered you, though. So much effort put in just to have so little say in the rest of your life once you were married off. It was a daunting truth for many women of this age.

Therefore, you were going to take every small step of defiance you could, starting with Fisher’s invitation to the ball. It killed two birds with one stone: helping her reclaim her reputation and upsetting your family with the surprise, knowing they couldn’t show their disgruntled feelings at the event for fear of improperly ‘upkeeping’ their status.

Of course, Fisher accepting your invite meant she’d bring an escort along, likely Jimmy Dobyne; someone who you already knew more about than he’d like.

You sipped your punch in a secluded corner of the grand ballroom of your family’s ancestral home, careful to keep from staining your obnoxiously ornate white dress. You surveyed the room, your escort long gone, out dancing with the girls he truly coveted. He was a cousin’s friend, doing your aunts a favor by attending these events by your side. Neither of you harbored interest for the other, though, making it easy for you to slip away and for him to schmooze as he pleased.

You’d always preferred to observe, anyway. You had developed a skill set of learning to find higher ground which allowed you to see events without drawing attention to yourself. This prompted you to learn a lot of information at several events. From your dark recesses of rooms, you’d seen it all: business dealings, less-than-savory behavior, and every secret under the sun.

This all was a product of being the only heir to your family. You had learned from a young age that if you could effectively blend into the background, that would mitigate any questioning you were prone to face. You only had to make yourself seen every so often. And sure, you still had to wear dresses to appease the aunts, but at least no one bothered you in your solace, until you were found.

Somewhere behind an exotic plant in the corner of a rarely-used staircase, you were surprised when a tall, black tuxedo crowded your view. Broad shoulders turned around and your eyes met those of Jimmy Dobyne.

You stepped out from your hiding place, knowing you would have to strike up conversation, and not wanting to expose your spot by making it look like Jimmy was talking to a plant instead of a person.

“Well good evening, James. It’s wonderful to see you here, does this mean Fisher is in attendance, as well?”

You leaned against the wall as Jimmy moved to do the same next to you, speaking to the side.

“Good evening. A nice ball your family has thrown. Yes, she’s downstairs making the rounds.”

You nodded, taking another sip of punch.

“Oh, thank you. They truly have an eye for grand things. A shame Fishy didn’t find me up here with you. I always liked her.”

Jimmy nodded. “She and I have our own interests at these types of events. I consider some of these people my friends. I am not sure if Fisher can say the same. She was surprised to see your invitation. We both were.”

“Well, yes, it’s been a long while since we’ve spoken. I do hope she’s enjoying herself.”

Jimmy let out a slight chuckle. “I hope so, as well. Why are you not out dancing? This is your family’s ball.”

It was your turn to laugh back, but it came out as more of a scoff. “I don’t enjoy playing into the traditions if I can help it. I don’t curtsy. It’s bad enough I’ve been taken away from other comforts and squeezed into this ridiculous dress. No need for another discomfort. I would be fighting against the rules just like Fisher if I didn’t believe my compliance would ultimately lead to freedom.”

Jimmy looked at you thoughtfully. “I’m not sure is Fisher is much better off. Many don’t like her and she isn’t on an easy road.”

You hummed in acknowledgment, taking in what you already knew. “It’s a shame, really. I truly do admire dear Fishy. If you ask me, she’s the only one who’s really sane at these events. Pointing out the flaws in behavior. Challenging her own father over his poor decisions.”

You trailed off before looking over and up into Jimmy’s eyes, locking in before you continued, speaking with a certain steel coldness in your voice. “She doesn’t deserve the mistreatment she faces. Especially from those she considers closest to her.”

Jimmy’s demeanor grew harder, his shoulders pulling forward in a near-attempt of intimidation. You wouldn’t waver, though. You’ve fought off worse than a single farm boy, enlisted to be a proper, well-behaved escort. “And what exactly is that supposed to mean?”

Your lips morphed into a tight smile as your tilted your head to the side. “Oh calm down, James. Here, have a drink. It’ll settle your anger.”

You pushed your cup towards him before retracting quickly. A patronizing tone laced your voice. “Or is that what has you acting with such little decorum?”

Jimmy huffed and looked at you with a gaze that was meant to be even more piercing. “Now, what is that supposed to mean?”

You shrugged, looking off into the distance to be sure no one was paying the two of you any attention. “James. Do calm down. I don’t enjoy attending these events any more than you, and the last thing I need is for you to draw an unwanted gaze our way. My hideaway has already been discovered by one person, lest others see. You and I both do not want to be here, so let’s not make our presence emphasized. Understood?”

His nostrils flared as he threw his back against the wall once again, biting the corner of his bottom lip to hold his tongue.

“These moments of refuge in hidden places are sacred to me. They keep me out of the societal eye that I do despise, as well as let me see everything.”

You stood on your toes and leaned towards Jimmy’s ear, whispering. “And I do see everything.”

Jimmy’s face dropped in shock, but you didn’t see, having already started walking away up the staircase.

Next >

Bonus A/N: whew, here we go, folks. Someone tell me to stop starting new series lol

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA for reporting my neighbours for running a hack shop mechanic operation? [Long post, sorry!]

I live in a somewhat "bad" area. I really don't mean to judge people for who they are or what they do with their lives, but living here isn't pleasant. Unfortunately, the price divide between the "two sides" of my area is steep. You go from $60,000 houses to $400,000 houses with no middle ground, so moving isn't really an option unless I want to just change where I am in the "bad" side.

I live on a straight stretch of road, houses on one side of it, a wall on the other. This is relevant to the story. Its not a very long straight, but its straight, with two blind corners on either end.

Now, onto my neighbours. They're not good people. They deal and use drugs, there seems to be an endless supply of people moving in and out with them, they have uncontrolled and aggressive dogs that have caused issues in the area, they're known for fighting at maximum volume on the streets at 4am, they ride loud illegal (and stolen) bikes up and down the street at dangerous speeds and other things.

(With the latter, they've already caused two accidents, almost caused a lot more, and have already killed two animals by hitting them as they race up and down the street.)

Their latest thing, for the last year or so, seems to be running some kind of illegal workshop on bikes and vans right outside their house. At all hours. I've been woken up at 11pm and 4am before by insanely loud engine revving, and when I've looked out of the window they're on the street with torches, elbow-deep in engines.

This is a daily thing. And the engine revving seems to be a constant part of it. Even with my windows closed, I had to call off a work meeting once because it was so loud my team couldn't even hear me talking properly.

At least twice a day they have a van or motorcycle, sometimes more than one, that they're working on. They'll rev it a ton, rummage around, speed it up and down the street, then the cycle begins again the next day. Multiple people in my area have complained to them, but all they do is tell you to fuck off or threaten to beat you up.

Now the noise and the dangerous driving is one thing, but I'm also extremely dubious about the quality and safety of their so-called repairs. None of them seem to have any actual training in mechanics or how to properly fix what could be a legitimately dangerous issue in a vehicle.

If you know anything about vehicles you know that something "fixed" improperly can be deadly. If something fails in a vehicle when you're doing high speeds on the freeway, you can not only take your own life but possibly those of others, too.

And my neighbours do not seem like the kind of people who care about that.

I've seen them using duct-tape to fix up a motorcycle once.

Now normally, I've just turned a blind eye to anything happening in my area. The people who have been relocated due to their behavior have just been replaced by people equally as bad, if not worse, so I've learned to just stay in my lane, save my money and hope I can leave one day.

However this... Seems like something I should speak up about. I can respect a hustle and a little under the table income, but I cannot respect risking people's lives for some quick cash. Nor can I respect the fact that it triples the dangerous driving and dangerous people in the area.

So... My question is would I be an asshole if I at least tried to get the police to do something about this? Or, is it even worth it? Can anything be done about an unlicensed mechanics operation?

What are these acronyms?

[xxtwelvii]

I love your courier six design, but why does it hurt when their face is exposed? Curiosity is gnawing at me

glad you asked!!!! my courier , even prior to being shot , has a loongg history of getting shot, burned, etc. while she travels. ik technically the courier was long out of the divide after the package blew up, but mine specifically got caught up near the outskirts of the blast, making for some major injuries ^__^

so !! simply put, she keeps getting beat up and torn apart over and over again, to the point where her body is struggling to keep up. having a helmet keeps the wind from flaring up her improperly healed wounds, and ensures that no more major injuries happen !

[starwriterulia]

Perversity and Loathing - Chapter 1

Revision finished November 16, 2024.

CONTAINS HEAVY SUBJECT MATERIAL THAT MAY TRIGGER READERS WITH ANXIETY, DEPRESSION AND PTSD. SOME CHAPTERS CONTAIN 18+ CONTENT.

This is a reboot of Tomb of the Goshenite Stargazer Dragon. (Masterlist)

Fandoms: DC Comics, Batfamily, Thalassic Space (OC)

Characters (In order of appearance): Faith Lawson (self-insert), Barbara Gordon (Batgirl), Dick Grayson (Nightwing), Ra's al Ghul, Bruce Wayne (Batman)

Word Count: 3340

TW: Rape and stabbing (Ra's al Ghul to Faith Lawson), death (Faith Lawson)

A/N: Oh my God, this reboot is so much better! This, this I can work with. Tag list in the replies of people who liked/reblogged any part of the previous version of this story. You're not obliged to read or leave a comment, I just thought I'd let y'all know about the reboot. Thank you for reading! ^w^

Update (November 6th): I realised, like, two days ago that there's no fucking way I would survive this, and I'm only getting around to it today 'cause I've got two days off work. So, uh, half of this chapter is different (and I gave Barbara her earpiece, forgot to in the original version)! And yes, I pasted all of the original onto a Word document so I didn't have to retype all of the lore. But this means I have to restart Chapter 2! This is fine! This is totally fine... :')

November 16th: Aaand finally done. Things came up. Work, recharging, spending time with my friends. :p I'll start work on Chapter 2 either tomorrow or sometime this week or next week, as my schedule is kinda loaded lol.

November 17th: Forgot to add a brief description of myself, oops! Found a good place for it, though. My eye colour is noted by Batgirl instead of being in that paragraph, though.

Dividers by @cafekitsune

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2

My legs were heavy as I ran up the gravel hill in the cold of morning fog to the off-white house on Carmen Hill Road my family lived at for a year. I turned to the right, passed the backside of the house, and took a sharp right, opening the white door with a window to enter the boot room, then an identical door to enter the kitchen. It had a white fridge, green counters, an island light-oak cupboards and cabinets, and checkered laminate flooring. Left of the front door was the table my parents made in 2008 that they broke while moving from the house on sixth street to the homestead on Highway 27, positioned between the island and the wall hosting the front door. A bay window alcove occupied the wall left of the table and island, looking out onto the deck my parents had built with help from my mom's family. A wall with a door to the improperly built basement, the reason my parents were glad this house was only a rental, and a brief space with a door to the deck separated the kitchen and living room, which had off-white carpet and a large window on each wall. The wall opened to the immediate right of the door I came in from, and there was a laundry room with large, unpainted wooden stairs that had no railing. Following this was a bathroom, then the master bedroom.

I was alone, and it was silent. If I go up the stairs, I'll be pulled under and taken to the second floor of the House Filled With Darkness and be woken by either my dad's face on a moose head, or a Five Nights at Freddy's animatronic. But I want to go in my room and dance! I've got plenty of room to dance, at this house. Ugh, but I'm so hungry!

I walk towards the fridge and open it. I feel myself wake up, leaving the dream, and see the early morning sun. I grumble and close my eyes, assuming I've destroyed the illusion, a brief throbbing in my brows.

Barbara shared the migraine. It pulled her from sleep with a groan, her eyes parting briefly to look at Dick. He pried open his right eye and whispered, "Are you OK, Babs?"

"Yeah, but something's off." She answered. Dick caressed Barbara's right arm, as it wasn't against the bed, opening his eyes fully.

There's lamb, poultry of some kind, a carton of eggs, a carton of milk, other condiments and dairy products, and the crispers are filled with a cabbage, an onion, a few heads of garlic, two turnips, a bag of carrots, a produce bag with several tomatoes, an eggplant, and is that a bundle of okra?

"Who's fridge is this? We never had eggplant or okra."

"I believe that's my fridge, dear." I turned and saw Ra's al Ghul. Naked, like I suddenly was aware of being. I gasped, seeing his cock, and snapped my head away, shutting the fridge.

"She's in trouble. Ra's is there. They're both nude."

"Oh shit. Do you know her?"

"No."

'Did she intentionally choose Barbara, knowing Batgirl's identity?'

"Are you usually nude in your dreams?" I heard him lick his lips, and hum lustfully.

"Sometimes. I sleep nude, though." I pinched my left wrist. I looked over my right shoulder at his face. "How did you do that?"

"We're both actually here, aren't we?" I nodded, furrowing my brows and frowning. "I don't know how I did that. I fell asleep with thoughts of a girl like you: short, a cute face, bright eyes, nice hair, though I wonder what your natural colour is," My dyed black hair was grown out by three inches. "And a delicious body." His brows raised as he eyed my breasts, stomach and thighs.

"Fuck, he's gonna rape her." Barbara said. Dick sighed heavily.

"How much do you weigh?"

"165 pounds." Ra's hummed. "You should leave so the dream can end. You shouldn't interrupt things like this, it's dangerous for both of us." Ra's chuckled and shook his head.

Barbara rapidly said, "She told him to back off so the dream can end. It's dangerous for both of them. But he just laughed and shook his head."

"You're a virgin, aren't you?" I couldn't stop my lip from trembling.

"Babs, can you use your link with her to separate her from Ra's and have everyone wake up? I don't want either of you to get hurt."

"Come on, dear. Don't be scared."

Barbara shook her head in the pillow. "I dunno how to safely do that, like Zatanna would. She needs me, Dick. I can't leave her."

"Please leave, Ra's."

"She knows who he is, too."

"He is infamous." Dick tilted his head.

"Go back to Earth Prime."

"She's not from Earth Prime?" Barbara said.

"Oh. She's from Earth-33." Dick said.

"No." Ra's licked his teeth, baring them as he closed the two steps between us. I briskly walked towards the window, left of the fridge and looking out to the deck.

"C'mon, run!"

"He'll be too fast for her, Babs."

"What's the matter?" Ra's calmly opened the drawer closest to the fridge and found a butchering knife. He walked towards me.

"He's got a knife!"

"Shit."

"I-I can't!" I gripped the window alcove, kneeling.

"Can't what, dear?"

In a tone of realisation, Barbara said, "She can't run."

"She can hear you, a little!"

"I think so."

"Just please leave!"

"I already told you: no." Ra's lunged down and stabbed my right ribcage. I screamed, releasing the wall, my legs unfurling and my bottom hiting the floor, tears collecting in my eyes. I crossed my arms over my chest and tucked my head into my arms. Ra's grabbed my left arm, then my right, forcing each to the side. I uselessly scratched the floor and pressed my head against the flooring.

Barbara screamed, grazing her fingernails against the sheets and pressing her head into the pillow. "Babs!" Cried Dick.

Ra's pushed the knife deeper into my flesh.

Barbara's torso curled up. Dick gently took hold of her shoulders.

His left hand crossed over his right arm to hold my left shoulder and used his body weight to lower my upper body to the floor. I made a stuttered wail and thrashed my legs.

Barbara kicked the air. Dick removed himself to avoid her motions.

Ra's lowered his pelvis and pushed his whole penis into my vagina, and I screamed, "No! Fuck you!"

Barbara howled and writhed. "Ow, fuck!"

"Babs!"

Ra's withdrew the knife and stabbed my left ribcage deeply, thrusting his hips. I shouted, "With this knife, I sever the Phantom!"

Barbara opened her eyes. Panting, she sat up and looked at Dick.

"And with my blood, I craft the Clicker!"

"I can still hear her."

"I place it into the Bonded's hand!"

"What's she saying?" Dick asked. Barbara felt the fingers of her right hand forcibly move to hold an item.

"And with the Clicker, from here to the Bonded's roof Ra's al Ghul and I shall go!"

Barbara opened her hand and saw a white rotary lamp switch. "She was improvising a spell. She gave me this Clicker that she just made. It should move her to our roof." She flicked the switch.

Our minds parted. Ra's and I moved to a roof. The early morning sun shone in Gotham, too.

"And now our minds aren't connected!" Barbara said, leaving the switch as she scrambled out of bed and put on her costume.

Ra's pulled out the knife and made a long, shallow cut from the left side of my ass to the lower end of my thigh. I wailed and fisted my hands.

Dick followed Barbara's lead, putting on his earpiece and tapping and holding it for a second, hearing a beep, then tapping it three times. "Recording audio". Said the automated voice.

"She's still with Ra's?"

"Yep! Must've been the only way for both of them to leave!" Barbara pocketed the Clicker, then put on her cowl and earpiece. Nightwing put on his mask. They went to the window, and Batgirl opened it.

Ra's made an identical cut down my right ass and thigh. "You look so beautiful."

"Fuck you." I sobbed.

Nightwing said, "I'll fight him. You dress her wounds so she can make it to the hospital!" Nightwing and Batgirl grappeled onto the roof. The young woman and Ra's were nude, of course. The woman had faded dyed red hair, which had been burgundy, and had a bit of black ombre at the ends. She was 4'6" (145cm), and about 165lbs (74kg).

Near the edge of the far side of the roof, I whimpered a Ra's drew a deep, long cut down the outer sides of my left ass and thigh.

Batgirl threw a batarang, knocking the knife from Ra's' hand, and the knife fell to the street below as Nightwing ran to Ra's and the young woman.

Nightwing wrapped his arms around Ra's from the back and tore him away from me.

Ra's gracefully landed on his feet and began to fight Nightwing.

Sobbing, Batgirl knelt beside me.

Batgirl noted the woman's hazel green eyes. 'Wow, beautiful.'

"I'm so sorry!" She used her left hand to put pressure on the wound of the woman's left side, and hastily cleaned and dressed it with items from her belt.

"It's OK, it's only his fault!"

"You really can't run?"

"No! My dwarfism comes with hypotonia." I bent my right arm in front of my face to show Barbara that my forearm was short.

"Ohhh."

"I haven't been able to move since I broke my left patella in high school."

"Shit, I'm sorry!" Batgirl tended to my right side.

"This is a waste of my time. I already got what I wanted." Ra's said. He kicked Nightwing away, then used magic to fly to the next rooftop.

"DAMMIT!" Nightwing yelled. 'He's stronger. He couldn't do that before.'

Moving behind my head and placing it on her lap, Batgirl said, "Dick, just let him go!"

"Fine. I think he took magic from her, though." Nightwing came towards us and knelt to Batgirl's right.

"He took my dark magic. Thirteen percent of what I'm guaranteed to have, after a summoning. Without it, I've only got two percent solar magic. I can give you get my most basic treasure, but that's it."

"What's your name?" Batgirl asked.

"Faith Lawson. Sorry for making you feel all that."

"Don't worry about it."

"You were just the first person I thought of, when I realised Ra's activated my powers. Your status as Bonded was temporary. You're free, now."

"Aw, well, I'm honoured you thought of me, first. Let's get you to a hospital, OK?"

"No. I won't make it. You know that." Batgirl sighed and nodded, frowning. "Dick, knock on the door to the roof five times, and after you hear two knocks, you can open it."

"Uh, OK." Nightwing hurried to the door and did as asked. The door knocked twice from the inside. Nightwing turned the doorknob and pulled it open a couple of inches, and batted his lashes.

"Just enough for an arm to go through." I said. Nightwing opened the door about five inches. A white hand wearing a black long sleeved jacket protruded horizontally, holding a white and vivid blue gradient scallop seashell necklace on a silver cable chain. Nightwing stared.

Batgirl shouted, "Dick!"

"Sorry!" Nightwing grabbed the item. The arm swiftly retreated. The door slam shut.

"Knock again to end the ritual." I said.

"Five more times?" Nightwing asked.

"Yes." Nightwing did this. The door knocked twice. Nightwing quickly returned to me and Batgirl, handing Batgirl the necklace. She lifted my head and helped me wear it. I controlled a cough and tasted blood. "Shit. One percent left. One minute left, if that."

"Is there anything else we can do?" Asked Batgirl.

"I need to use the stream in the Batcave."

Nightwing interacted with his glove. "I'll put you on the call, too, Babs."

"Thanks."

"Batman, this is Nightwing and Batgirl."

Bruce Wayne sat in the kitchen, a cup of coffee on the island and his phone in hand, eyes on the pantry door. "What's happening?"

I said, "I can come back once while wearing this."

"Can you fly to the roof of our apartment? We have someone who needs to use the underground stream in the Batcave."

"I'm sure people have already died from curiosity, but I..." My eyes felt heavy. "I don't have time to tell you how to stop Ra's." Bruce hummed in thought.

Batgirl carressed my hair. "It's OK, Faith. You can tell us when you're back."

"Is she why my pantry leads to a familiar ominous stone hallway?"

Nightwing said, "It wasn't her, directly, though she knows the ritual to open and close that." I shut my eyes.

"No." Batgirl softly said.

"She's gone?"

"She's gone."

"Anyway, that allowed for someone or something to give us the seashell necklace Faith is now wearing."

Batgirl said, "Bruce, knock on your pantry door five times, and if you hear two knocks, it should have worked."

"OK." Bruce rose, went to the pantry door, and knocked. He heard it knock back. He opened the door. "Huh." He closed the pantry and meandered back to the island, sipping his coffee.

"Did it work?"

"Yes." 'That's not how it worked, in the novel. Faith took some creative liberties.'

Nightwing asked, "Bruce, can you help us stop Ra's? He took thirteen percent of Faith's power, and it's all dark magic. She used the last two percent to help us."

Batgirl said, "Literally her last two minutes alive, reduced to less than one minute after she told us about the ritual and made sure she got her necklace."

"If, no, when we get Faith back, she can help us, too."

"Of course." Bruce picked up his mug. "I'll be there soon. And I'll give Zatanna a call, after Faith is back, assuming the League doesn't call me first." He emptied it into the sink, put his mug upside down, and ran into the Great Hall towards the study.

"Thank you." Nightwing replied.

"Bruce, you said there was a familiar ominous stone hallway?" Batgirl said.

"Mhm. I entered it, of course. Pitch darkness. Not even the light from the rooms could pierce it. It had one turn, to the right; a dead end. I turned back, and a path had opened to my right." Batman descended the stairs to the Batcave.

"The Navidson Hallway." Said Nightwing and Batgirl.

Nightwing said, "No wonder Faith said some people have probably already died."

"Devoured by the labryinth." Said Batgirl.

"I guess you can just make it somewhat friendly with the ritual."

"Maybe. Did anything else happen while you were in there, Bruce?"

"I decided not to venture further, but I did hear a faint jingling of bells in the distance."

"Creepy."

"I swiftly exited the hall and shut the door. And now, thanks to you, it's gone." Bruce reached the foot of the stairs, put his phone on the desk of the computer and entered the changing station. "Do you know Faith's last name?"

"Lawson. We only know she's from Earth-33 because she knew our names."

"You don't know her nationality?" Batman exited the capsule and went to the Batplane.

"Canadian, I think." Batgirl said, gently putting Faith's head down and standing, drawing Nightwing's attention.

"Either that, or she's from Washington. And where are you going?"

"I'm going to get her a towel for now, and a change of clothes for when she comes back."

"Good idea." Nightwing replied, and turned his head to look at the city.

"I appreciate what you're doing, Dick, but maybe keep an eye on her, in case, I dunno, something tries to grab her."

"Ooh, yeah." Nightwing looked at Faith's feet. He noted that they were wide, and that her right foot was deformed. 'How did its arch get so high, like that?' Batgirl ran to the edge of the roof, and grappled down the fire escape, entering the window of the apartment.

"What did Ra's do to her?" Batman asked, raising the plane. It was already pointed towards the exit, so he accelerated.

"Stabbed both ribcages, made a cut from underneath her buttocks to her lower thighs, and raped her. I tried to fight him, but he said it was a waste of his time and that he'd already got what he wanted. He was stronger from the magic he stole from Faith. He flew to the next rooftop with magic. Never seen him do that before." Batman hummed.

"They met in a dream." Said Batgirl, grabbing a dark grey shirt, black sweatpants and black socks from her dresser and wrapping them in the grey towel she had collected. "I was there from when Faith opened the fridge in her childhood home, and there was eggplant and okra, which her thoughts said her family had never used, and she asked whose fridge it was. Ra's was behind her and said that it was his fridge, and started being a perv." Batgirl exited the window, and returned to the roof. "Apparently, he fell asleep looking for someone just like her." Batgirl knelt and wrapped Faith's torso in the towel. "That's better."

"Faith couldn't run, and of course couldn't convince him to leave. She has hypotonia and hurt her left patella in high school. All she could do was back up to the window alcove and crouch while Ra's immediately found the drawer with the knives. And then he hurt her, and I felt it 'cause she temporarily Bonded me to her. I was the first person she thought of. She improvised a spell poem to stop the phantom pains I was experiencing and to give me a Clicker, a rotating lamp switch. That's what I used to bring them from the dream world to our world."

"Ah."

"She said that Ra's activated her powers in the dream."

"Uh-huh. I bet she would know exactly how to help us deal with Ra's."

"You mean, how to get her magic back."

"Yes."

"She probably does." Nightwing bent his knees and picked up Faith. He and Batgirl watched the skies for the Batplane in silence for ten seconds.

"I'm minus thirty seconds from your location." Batman said. "Are you two doing OK? You've been quiet."

Nightwing answered, "Yeah, just..."

"Sorry for her." Batgirl finished.

"Yeah."

"You did all that you could. I'm sure she was thankful for you two. I'm guessing you'd like to look after her, when she's back."

"Yeah." Nightwing said, then Batgirl parroted.

"She'll be in good hands, then." Batman said. Nightwing and Batgirl watched the Batplane approach the roof, and hover above at the edge. The loading door at the back lowered. Nightwing jumped in, then Batgirl. The door closed, and as the plane rose back into the sky and accelerated, Nightwing and Batgirl walked towards the cockpit, and Batman stood from the pilot's seat. They met two steps away from the cockpit. He sighed. "She's young."

With a note of sorrow, Batgirl added, "She's beautiful." Batman nodded. Nightwing did, afterwards.

"We don't know how old she is, exactly." Said Nightwing.

"Mid-twenties. Batgirl, would you mind stitching her wounds?"

"Sure." Batgirl replied. Nightwing handed Faith to Batgirl, who went to a table. Batman sat back in the pilot's seat.

"Has the League called you yet?" Nightwing asked, crossing his arms over the back of the passenger's seat.

"No. Not yet. Zatanna was called, though."

"She might be in trouble."

"I told her what to expect. She should be OK. She's a rational person."

"Has anyone seen Ra's?"

"No. He may have gone into hiding."

"Maybe the Hallway got him."

"If it did, I hope he's realised his mistake and finds a way to give Faith her magic back."

"That would be nice." Silence for a few seconds.

"Sit down." Nightwing did as requested. "She'll be OK."

"I hope so."

Proceed to Chapter 2

[toastling]

A Brief Account of History and Politics in the Modern Age Empire of Dragons

While in theory, the electoral system of the Aldarian Empire was designed to give any dragon from any clan an equal opportunity to claim the monarchy, in practice, this has not prevented certain long-standing dynasties from coming into being throughout the empire's history.

Initially created in response to the assassination of Balthalazar and the dozens of resulting claims of hatchlings born of his line from across the empire, power was taken from the capitol and spread evenly among every clan and every settlement around the world. Governors became as important as monarchs, and every single clan regardless of size had the same amount of sway over the political functions of the empire. And rather than relying on specific lineages to govern their empire, the clans would choose a representative from among themselves, and then vote on those representatives in a formal election.

The representatives with the highest number of votes would then be presented before the governors, and go through a second round of voting and deliberation. At this time the overall winner could be rejected and the runner-up of the inter-clan vote could be called in, all the way down the line until a suitable candidate could be found that all the governors could agree upon. Then, finally, this candidate and the winner of the inter-clan vote, should they be different, would both be advanced to the final round of votes and presented before the council of elders.

The elders would then choose which of these two options were most acceptable, and either formally elected to the status of "monarch", or the process would be walked back to the governors who must choose a new candidate to present before the elders. This new candidate would then be presented, once again alongside the winner of the inter-clan vote, and the elders would deliberate yet again. Throughout this whole process, the only candidate that would never change would be the inter-clan choice, who as the winner of a popular vote, is considered the choice of the people.

But as the people and the governors might not always agree who would be best suited to lead the empire for the next several centuries, the elders always had final say and acted to end such disputes and maintain a swift and smooth transition of power. Once the elders' selection is made, the rest of the prior king or queen's Inner Court would then formally confirm and crown the new monarch, though they also have the power to reject the elders' decision under specific circumstances should a legitimate concern be raised. This, however, has almost never happened in the nearly 20,000 year history of the empire, only ever coming into play in the very earliest days in the chaos of the first few eras post-Balthalzar.

It was hoped that by dividing power through so many different groups and processes, a more fair system of governance could be created. At the start, the responsibilities of a dragon monarch or governor were different from what a modern human government official's responsibilities might be, so the exact repercussions of a properly or improperly suited monarch has historically been different for the dragons than it would for us humans. Since the entire species are united under one government with one language and one culture and one geographically disconnected empire, there is less conflict between factions of dragons like is so commonly seen with us humans.

This meant in modern times, dragons very rarely had to deal with matters of war beyond self-defense from human encroachment, and because of their magic, resources were never scarce. The role of the empire's government, then, was less to truly "govern" its people and more to set an example for what the race should aspire to. It was the role of the monarchy and its governors to provide for and tend to their people, and to keep alive the old traditions and strengthen the familial bonds shared between all dragons as their numbers declined more and more with each passing century of human-dragon conflict. It was their responsibility, too, to fight on behalf of their people against the human invaders, and to counter their neo humans with the dragons' own sorcery.

It was for this reason that for many eras, a heavy emphasis was placed on the study of magic and mastery of its application for any dragon that wished to get into the empire's political system. If a governor or a monarch could not fend off even the most unique of neo humans, whose powers often went far beyond the scope of magic, then they were no protector and a poor fit in this warring period. Following the institution of the Era of Silence, however, this changed. When the Era of Silence began and The Transformation occurred, and all dragons were given the ability to take on human forms and live and hide in plain sight of the enemy, the nature of the empire began to slowly change according to human ideals and sensibilities.

However, dragon lifespans are incredibly long from a human perspective, and the reign of a specific monarch can span centuries even on the lower end. In the time from the Era of Silence's establishment in 1600 to its end in 1983, only two monarchs - a father and son - had come to hold the throne. Governors, however, came and went far quicker.

A century-long term limit was put in place to ensure that while the monarch would be steeped in and uphold the traditions of their era through the passage of time, governors were the agents of change who could appeal to the monarch and their Inner Court and the Elders for a change in tack whenever necessary. While their long life ensured the longevity of their culture, it also led to an easy fall into stagnation, so by keeping governors coming and going, the dragons hoped to keep a careful balance between new and old ideas and to keep up with the rapidly changing human-dominated world.

Elders, too, seldom lasted long in their positions - as by their nature they were already of quite advanced age, they rarely lasted more than a few centuries before they passed and a new elder was selected to take their place. The Council of Elders formed the backbone of the monarchy's Inner Court alongside the monarch's small, chosen cabinet, and held knowledge stretching further back than the traditionally younger monarch would be intimately familiar with. In all things cultural, the monarch was the means of action, but the elders were the deciders. So in this "brief" period of 480 years, many governors and elders came and went, while only two monarchs sat in place.

The result was an increasingly unstable empire as human society evolved at an explosive pace in comparison to the long-lasting, glacial nature of dragon governance. Disputes between the governors who comprised the Outer Court, the elders and advisors of the Inner Court, the monarchs themselves, and the various clans became more commonplace. Ultimately, this created a schism between the Elders, the Monarchy, and the Clans in particular.

As humans advanced culturally and technology at an unprecedented pace from the 1700s on, the dragons remained largely stagnant. Wanting to prepare in response to any future potential human aggression as their numbers and capabilities grew, the clans began putting pressure on the monarchy via the governors to adapt new strategies faster than ever before, and to make more concessions in terms of tradition in order to keep ahead of the ever-looming human threat.

The Elders, meanwhile, continued to treasure culture and tradition above all else, and began to act in stark opposition to the will of the people expressed via their clans and monarchs, and the once cohesive Inner Court fractured between the monarch's inner circle of chosen representatives within that court and the elders themselves, and their dealings became more antagonistic as a result. Distrust began to grow between certain members of the Inner and Outer Courts, and the elders attempted to maintain a sense of historical cohesion at odds with the needs and wishes of their people.

This ultimately led to the civil war and first attempted coup by the Empire's Champion and the favorite soldier of all the elders, D'aagor Ilias T'silth, and his inevitable failure, exile, and the tightening of the leash around the throats of the elders by the strengthened monarchy in its aftermath. All of this ultimately would go on to set the stage for D'aagor's second coup, the end of the Era of Silence, and the Great War which nearly brought an end to man and dragon alike.

Compounding these issues is the uncovered faults in the electoral system. While initially intended to give every clan an opportunity to chart the course of their people at least once, in practice, over the last 7000 years, dynasties - successions of 2 or more monarchs who are related directly by blood to the previous monarch - have become more commonplace. But the most egregious example to date is the Albion Dynasty, which has persisted through 5 separate monarchs over the last 3,100 years.

This sort of a hypothetical favoritism for a particular clan or even direct familial line was accounted for in the initial drafting of the electoral process through the Marriage Clause. Put simply, no monarch, once elected, could remain single without facing exponential risk of being removed from their position by their Courts. If elected, a dragon is single, and remains such for longer than two centuries, then they are to be formally ejected from office and a new election is to be held. If a dragon is already married, however, they are to marry again, and it is only this additional, new spouse who is to rule beside them as their co-monarch - the king, queen, or second of either to complete the Head of State.

To explain this, we must briefly look at what marriage is in dragon culture, and how love and relationships differ between humans and dragons. To start, even if they have been in long-term relationships for more than a thousand years, most dragons never marry. This is because marriage is not a simple act of love or joining of families as it is for humans, but the institution of an entirely new clan and a major upset to not only the structure and nature of the empire, but the entire species.

Before Balthalazar, clans of dragons vied for supremacy in small nation states, squabbling over resources much like humans. It was his path of destruction and reconstruction that saw the species united under one banner for the very first time, as his power was so potent there was no dragon or city of dragons alive that could resist his will. But in creating his new empire, Balthalazar saw it fit to not break up these clans, but rather incorporate them into the political process. He was not an evil tyrant, though he was tyrannical all the same, he truly did love his people and their history and their culture. He simply sought radical change and lasting peace, and took extreme actions to see it done - or, so his proponents proclaim. Whatever the case, the power vested in their clans and clan names was left intact.

But creating new clans was not a simple process, and could only be done through marriage. Marriage is, for dragons, a remarkably intense physical and spiritual process of purification and rebirth. Most attempts end in failure and no dragon is the same coming out of the preparation process as they were going in. In the end, the two or more dragons wed will either combine their clan names into an amalgam, or create an entirely new name whole cloth, and a new clan will be born that will be descended from those dragons. Marriages, then, are intense religious and sociopolitical events, not romantic gestures.

Dragons are all generally considered to be bisexual by nature, and as their ability to switch sex at will and change their form on demand long, long predates their ability to change between natural and human form at will, they have a much looser and less intense focus on the idea of "gender". Dragons are also incapable of procreating at will and are only fertile and capable of reproduction during a brief 3 months period each year, with that period determined by their particular clade - a mountain dragon's mating season is different from a drake's, for example - and so the issue of unintended spawn is much, much less pronounced.

All this means that dragons are far less restricted than humans when it comes to matters of sex, gender, and romance. It is incredibly common for dragons to participate in vast polyamorous chains which are in near constant flux from a dragon's timescale, with partners coming and going in regular intervals over the course of centuries. The nucleus of these polyamorous chains typically tend to be very strong and long-lasting however, and these life-bonded partners - who need not be pairs, mind you, but can be of any number of compatible dragons - act as the most important relationships in their long lives and are typically where any and all hatchlings end up descending from.

So, as marriage is a sociopolitical process, and dragons are already inclined to polyamory, and their inability to reproduce throughout the majority of the year makes sex as much a means of communication and bargaining as it is an act of love or reproduction, it begins to become clearer how marriage is intended to work in selecting and solidifying a monarch. The goal is to intentionally select a partner from outside the monarch's own pre-existing polychain and instead, as an act of political good will, select one of their chief rivals from the election process to act as their co-monarch and formal spouse in the eyes of the empire. From their hatchlings, but not they themselves, a new clan will then be named and born, while the monarchs will maintain their original clan names and simply act in conjunction.

Typically, the rival chosen to become co-monarch is the one whom placed second in the inter-clan election or who was proposed by, but did not win, the gubernatorial or elder elections. It is very rare for a monarch to choose to go further down the line to a lesser rival, though it has happened on occasion at various points the empire's history. But in general, the marriage is a salve to ensure that, even should a dynasty come into being, that it is never truly, singularly that one clan's monopolization of the throne. No matter what, the chosen monarch's spouse will always be their greatest political rival, and power would, theoretically, never completely fall into one, singular clan's hands for any extended period of time. They cannot select their spouses freely and consolidate power - they must share that influence with their people.

And this takes us to 1981, and the tail end of the Era of Silence. 3,100 years into the reign of the Albion Dynasty and immediately following the death of its most recent monarch, Severus Albion. As per tradition, with Severus' passing, his spouse voluntarily relinquished power and their inner circle of chosen advisors was disbanded. The elders and governors then summoned the heads of each clan to the capitol, and a new election was held to decide who was to be the next monarch of the Aldarian Empire. If trends persisted as they had, then the result was clear - the former King's son, Sirus, would be next to claim the throne. But this was where all the problems began.

Sirus' father was a moderate traditionalist, an elderly king who had reigned for 900 years uncontested. Though he listened to the will of his people and tended to their needs and concerns to the best of his ability, he was not a particularly radical agent of change. Sirus, meanwhile, could not be further apart. Sirus was something of an naive idealist in the eyes of his people, and at worst, an extremist in the exact worst direction. He had lived his whole life with a deep fascination for and appreciation of humans and their ingenuity and how they found meaning in such brief lives as theirs. He had spent more time living among humans disguised as one of them than he had in the capitol in his natural, draconic state, and had far softer stances on human relations than most governors, his father, or any of the elders.

As expected, Sirus was elected to monarch almost as a matter of course, though he faced great resistance from the elders. In particular, the Chief Elder, Master Elheim, vehemently opposed Sirus' appointment to King given his extreme leniency toward humans. The 1970s and 80s were a particularly turbulent time for human technological advancement, and they were beginning to have extreme detrimental effects on the planetary environment that the dragons would not be able to combat in secret for very long. Without making some big, open movements, there would soon be no way to avert the inevitable climate catastrophe should humans keep on their current course, and this was known to every dragon within the empire's governing body.

The last thing they wanted was a monarch sympathetic to human greed and manipulation when such a day came, when the Era of Silence may need to be ended in order to ensure the continued survival of the planet. However, this was one of those rare instances in which the rest of the Inner Court decided against the decision of the council of elders, and Sirus was instated against their protestations and democracy was carried out as intended. But this was just the beginning of the chaos that would result from Sirus' ascension to the throne. He was a dragon who bucked tradition in every conceivable way.

Even in the little things, such as sexuality, Sirus was different, more human. Unlike most dragons, he had a firm preference for one sex over the other, and like most humans, he did not engage in polyamory but had been with a single life partner for the last 300 years of his life. However, everyone expected that as King, Sirus would put his people and their culture and their traditions and their needs over his own, and agree to marry his chief political rival - Lumaria Vestra - and ensure a smooth transition of power.

Sirus did not do this. Instead, he married his life partner, Nilah Aravelis, now Nilah Albion, and made her his Queen. He then ignored the governors entirely and chose the Captain of his father's Royal Guard and his childhood friend, Li'alie Ninoke, to be his royal advisor - second only to the monarchs in power and influence - as opposed to a more aged, experienced governor who was presumed to be more in-touch with the needs and desires of their people. This was a completely unprecedented series of events, made even worse when, mere months into his monarchy, Sirus announced intentions to the governors of the Inner Court to voluntarily end the Era of Silence and approach the humans at their "United Nations" to expose the existence of magic and their people in an attempt to chart a better, more unified course for the future of both species and the planet at large.

This was the worst case scenario, and one the elders could not abide.

This is also where details become more hotly contested.

Somehow, word made it to D'aagor, even in his exile, of Sirus' then-private discussions with his court to end the Era of Silence. Some say a rogue governor still loyal to the empire's former champion was the one who told him. Others place the blame squarely on the court of elders, and onto Master Elehim in particular, who always had a soft spot for D'aagor despite - or perhaps even because of - his extreme, anti-human sentiments, sentiments that verged on the genocidal. But by all accounts, and much to his own honor, D'aagor initially refused to act on this information, respecting his former King's decree of exile and the choice of his people in electing Sirus to the throne. As much as he disagreed with the young upstart and as dangerous as he felt him to be, D'aagor was no longer part of the empire, or part of his people.

Whoever it was that told D'aagor of what was to come, it wouldn't be long before he would go back on his decision and instigate the Great War and end the Era of Silence himself, before Sirus could hope to do so peacefully. After his husband Namur was killed by an unknown neo human, D'aagor fully gave in to his hatred and his violent impulses, and staged a second coup to much greater success. While the new King was away, traveling to meet with the humans, D'aagor walked the seas to lay siege to human coastal cities while sympathizers to his cause and opponents to Sirus waged a civil war in the capitol.

Were it not for the remarkable strength, cunning, and resilience of its new Queen, the empire may well have changed monarchs or collapsed in its entirety that day. Instead, Nilah held her own against the insurgents both physical and political, and stood her ground alongside her and her husband's chosen Captain of the Royal Guard, Alyle. She then sent the former captain and the King's advisor, Li'alie, to catch up with Sirus and act as reinforcements should he come under attack from abroad, unaware but suspicious of the state of affairs outside the walls of Aldaron.

The war that followed saw the open acknowledgement of magic and the supernatural to humanity for the first time in nearly 400 years, and the near extinction of both races as D'aagor attempted to release an ancient evil from its icy tomb in the Antarctic, an evil false god created by dragon sorcerers in the distant past with the express purpose of killing all mankind with incurable living rot. But, D'aagor was killed, the First Heroes were exalted, and Sirus, fighting alongside the humans with Li'alie and members of his Royal Guard, salvaged relations with their sibling species, with great assistance from the neo human scientist and civil rights leader Stan Lewis.

The world that followed the end of the war was entirely new, and while not quite how Sirus had envisioned it, close to the ideal he'd had in mind since he was a hatchling. A world where humans and dragons lived together openly, side by side. Imperfect though it was, it would be a great start for a brighter future - or, so he hoped.

Though D'aagor was dead, the coup defeated, and the civil war over, tensions still remain to this day between Sirus, Nilah, and the elders. Nilah knows full well Elheim was responsible for everything, but cannot provide conclusive evidence to seal his fate. Elheim meanwhile begrudgingly respects and intellectually duels with the Queen while her King interacts with the people none-the-wiser, waging simpler conflicts of his own with the Chief Elder while his wife truly keeps the old bastard of the empire in check. But there are still many issues left unresolved.

D'aagor's inner circle, Ganesha, could not be fully quashed by the humans or the dragons. Many of his closest confidants and most dangerous accomplices disappeared into the wind, likely with some assistance from sympathizers among the governors and elders alike, while the true identities of some remained completely unknown to this day. There were also still old wounds from Sirus' ascension that had yet to fully scar over, such as the grave disrespect paid to the Vestra Clan and its matriarch, L'wara, mother of Lumaria, Sirus' chief political rival whom he by all rights should have wed as a means of keeping the peace. Instead, Sirus gave Lumaria a high ranking position in his Royal Guard, and allowed her mother an additional century to rule as governess of her territory.

This was not enough.

The disrespect L'wara feels has seen her and Sirus butt heads on multiple occasions, and she now leads a not insignificant faction within the Inner Court who generally oppose him and his idealistic proposals in concert with the elders. Meanwhile, rumors of a new supernatural terrorist organization calling itself Providence have begun reaching Aldaron, and the monarchs could not help but feel as though those unaddressed missing members of Ganesha may be in some way involved in its activities. Compound this with whispers that the folkloric Great Wizard Aleron was not only still alive, but making active moves on the world stage again in service of humanity, and the Aldarian Empire is entering into a new era of crisis like it has not witnessed since the death of its founding monarch, Balthalazar.

It is anybody's guess just what it is the future may hold, or what the dragon empire may look like when all is said and done. But what was once a unified and peaceful people is quickly devolving into a political quagmire unheard of in the modern era. The day may soon be coming where dragon is once again warring with dragon, and not just against the humans or some unifying threat. And should that day ever truly arrive, it may bring with it the end of the Aldarian Empire, and perhaps even the dragon species, once and for all.

[holymaccaronii]

Sorry for sounding like a kid asking their mom for something in the store- but can you pretty please give feedback on my version of swapped AM I just posted? You seem pretty qualified and all with how well written your AU and BE are.

Ou hello mutual c:, I just read your version and I’ll gladly give feedback on what you said! Sorry for answering so late btw I felt tired from an event I went to yesterday, but I’m good now.

Okay so- Before we begin I would like to comment that some stuff such as the political part was kind of hard to understand because I don’t know much about those themes ;;. I am not saying that it is improperly written, but it is stuff that I am not very informed of thus can’t easily get an idea of.

It is actually quite impressive that you could make a swap of AM involved in politics + divide his mind into the legislative, judicial and executive sectors. I honestly find that to be a quite creative way of dividing his mind and it does really fit IS as a whole. Some other nice points of parallelism that I noticed regarding them and AM is that they were created to help humanity by restoring part of the planet but not in a perfect way, that they model their personality based on the people it has counseled and interacted with, and that they are overstimulated due to what they have catalogued from past experiences. I also noticed that similarly to what AM does when tormenting his survivors to cope with his hatred, IS copes by building stuff and listening to them to distract their mind. I love it when people attribute phrases with their ihnmaims OCs, and I was surprised to learn that your phrase comes from an actual philosopher like Seneca. These r the stuff I found very cool and I love the concept so far from what I have read!

The only feedback that I could give you regarding this concept is to maybe arrange all of the points you mentioned in a chronological or compact way so they’re a bit more clear to understand, if you do plan to develop IS’s lore, which I highly encourage you to do! I got a bit lost on some aspects such as their personality and the events that occurred to them, but it’s understandable since you mentioned the info was scattered all around + it’s probably the first version? It’s just about working on the simple definition of a character once you have a big lore behind them. (Maybe it’s that or maybe my English isn’t englishing to understand some big words- sorry if it’s abt that.)

My own AU had a lot of different versions before it got to be what it is, and some of my (old) drawings aren’t even canon anymore due to those changes. Now I am sure of what my AU is about and I am able to actually resume it chronologically for people to get an either simple or complex concept about it (I think ppl do understand it lol I HOPE). I can now explain BE’s character and how she changed through time in a simple and concise manner which I believe is a good indicator that your character is properly defined.

As a conclusion I rlly liked the idea and I’d like to keep reading abt them in the future :3. If you need any help or opinions abt their lore don’t fear to ask.

@surlynotaperson

[autumnoficarus]

a brief analysis of Lokius and what their characters have to do with numbers, π, and mathematical constants

i really live for meta analysis on cinematography used in shows and movies, so i especially enjoy reading about analyzations of the loki series right now. one of the theories i've seen and immensely enjoy is the visual repetition of numbers throughout the show, and how they symbolize certain elements of the narrative. the fact that pie is significant - the mathematical ratio of π has a constant (3.14159 or 22/7) - and we watched characters being almost drawn there multiple times before the finale is just so neat to me. That being said, I'm not sure if I've missed anyone pointing this out yet - but I think THIS is a very interesting choice, even more so in how it's framed:

The way the scene above ends with Mobius positioned right next to that HUGE '2' is, I think, very telling. He's also standing so that the smaller '5' is almost completely obscured, letting the '2' be displayed more prominently (I'm not sure yet if there's more reason here behind '5' being used, other than that it's to further clarify where we're at in the timeline of the show (the location being where mobius' and loki's initial introduction took place) but I plan to re-watch the series from the beginning solely to find possible points of analysis that may have been missed soon. I will have to see if and how much certain numbers pop up in scenes). Putting the constant of pi and numbers theory aside for a moment, just having the '2' stand nearly as tall as Mobius and Loki while they shake hands and part for the last time...it's a pretty clear nod towards their partnership. I am convinced this was a set design choice to really hone in on the fact that these two characters when paired together are what was needed for a successful solution to the multiverse's instability. Here's my reasonings for that:

Firstly, I think this could have multiple meanings or house numerous symbolizations, but I'm gonna really try to stay on focus and as close to how I interpret the significance of π as I can. Straight away, we could say the '2' is a throwback to the theory of fundamental constants as it is a variable of π's equation. However, I want to break down why I believe the variable's even factor can correspond with what we know about these characters.

1) Mobius represents order in its purest form, which embraces the importance of chaos (which is then mirrored by Ravonna's own representation, order that oppresses chaos and why that inherently cannot WORK). If we think about physics for a moment, or even basic mathematics, integers exist to be combined, divided, and shared - right? And without divisions of integers that create remainders or function improperly, we wouldn't have constants (such as π). Without equations that use both even and odd qualities, there wouldn't be the natural continuum of real numbers that we rely on in order to understand our universe. Mobius' character constitutes as one side of an equation - the side of order and, more specifically, an integer that can further divide into equal distribution - where the sum is a functional constant.

2) I personally like to further interpret how Mobius's character could overall stand for the '2' in π's constant through the fact that two being equally divisible means he has an equivalent amount of 'order' to his mindset as he does 'chaos'. Both components make Mobius who he is and that's ultimately the reason he's 'order at its purest'. And I know I'm silly and crazy, but I'll dive even deeper here. It can also be argued to be just as meaningful that '2' is able to divide and share the same amount of something because of how we see in the show that Mobius' patience, empathy, and other positive qualities start to reflect - and be matched - in Loki's growth as a character.

3) Another thing I want to point out is that there would be no 'change' without sums that end irrationally or are absent of means to be expressed. In other words, if mathematics lacked equations that ended in remaining values and instead only functioned via numbers that divide until nothing is left then there would never be any outcome that can undergo change. Everything would always zero out, and - of course - we saw what happened if the sum is always 0; Timely's invention fails, the Loom still overloads, and no one survives the outcome. Mobius is a necessary factor because of his divisible qualities and sense of order, but so is Loki because without them changes wouldn't be possible. As a duo, they are both equal parts transformed and combined to produce the right outcome of events.

4) Of course, Mobius alone does not finish the equation. It is in the combined efforts of Mobius and Loki that we see a successful end in the finale. Loki does not accept their burden and ascend the throne to become the God of Stories until their last conversation with Mobius where they are reasonably lost on how to solve the problem of the multiverse ending. Mobius' influence, both the entirety of his presence within the series and in the last bit of advice he gives to Loki, is what provides the final results of Loki's arc. Likewise, Mobius doesn't leave the TVA and avoids knowing about his life on the timeline until Loki sacrifices themselves so he can still have that choice to look. And then when he does look, it's heavily implied that Mobius was encouraged by Loki's words during their discussion over pie ('never look, never know'). The sum of their journeys are only achieved after knowing and changing the other. Their arcs and the multiverse status are left uncompleted until they come together as the two variables of an irrational fraction that creates a circle (a loop with a beginning and an end).

5) Returning to my first point and the significance of Mobius + order, we are meant to regard Loki as his opposite. Loki is 'chaos in its purest form', and during Loki's arc they learn to accept the consequences, and viability, of life devoid of any structure (again having a mirrored version in Sylvie who is seen to function under similar chaos, but refuses any semblance of order; this only creates problems that then divide into even more problems. We get confirmation that Sylvie's mentality - like Renslayer - does not WORK, which is seen in Loki's numerous attempts to fix the domino effect that Sylvie starts by killing HWR). Order and chaos being meaningful and having their own separate potentials to be good and bad has been a running theme in this show. Entropy is needed - just like irrationalities and remaining values in mathematics - for life to thrive, but there needs to be a balance in place. Disorder and the regulation of disorder is a necessary constant, and Loki becomes that constant from the sum of their and Mobius' relationship.

6) Hear me out: Loki being at the heart of Yggdrasil is a lot like how the automat was the center of the TVA. The automat had an endless source of pie; Loki fueling the 'tree of life' with their magic creates continual growth and rejuvenation of the multiverse's branches. The finale showed us that the sum of Mobius' and Loki's partnership results in the perfect equilibrium of chaos and order, which becomes the solution to what had been an unsolvable equation - even for HWR. The culmination of their shared bond provides a foundation for the multiverse going forward, and Loki's ability to maintain it stems from the purpose and love that they found from that bond. Notably, the constant of π - 22/7 - is an irrational number. When expressed, its decimal is known to be non-repeating and non-terminating. The multiverse is now a non-repetitive, non-terminating constant that - I say, once again, with feeling - is established only by Mobius and Loki growing and changing because of each other.

I'm not sure if anyone will find this small observation in the goodbye scene and my subsequent insane ramblings interesting, but uhhh. This is just one of the many things I haven't been able to get out of my head since the finale, and I desperately needed to write out at least some of these thoughts or lose the last of my marbles (now asking for donations of any unused marbles towards my mental state, thank you).

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

NASA's Swift reaches 20th anniversary in improved pointing mode

After two decades in space, NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is performing better than ever thanks to a new operational strategy implemented earlier this year. The spacecraft has made great scientific strides in the years since scientists dreamed up a new way to explore gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe.

"The idea for Swift was born during a meeting in a hotel basement in Estes Park, Colorado, in the middle of a conference," said John Nousek, the Swift mission director at Pennsylvania State University in State College. "A bunch of astrophysicists got together to brainstorm a mission that could help us solve the problem of gamma-ray bursts, which were a very big mystery at the time."

Gamma-ray bursts occur all over the sky without warning, with about one a day detected on average. Astronomers generally divide these bursts into two categories. Long bursts produce an initial pulse of gamma rays for two seconds or more and occur when the cores of massive stars collapse to form black holes. Short bursts last less than two seconds and are caused by the mergers of dense objects like neutron stars.

But in 1997, at the time of that basement meeting, the science community disagreed over the origin models for these events. Astronomers needed a satellite that could move quickly to locate them and move to point additional instruments at their positions.

What developed was Swift, which launched Nov. 20, 2004, from Complex 17A at what is now Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Originally called the Swift Observatory for its ability to quickly point at cosmic events, the mission team renamed the spacecraft in 2018 after its first principal investigator Neil Gehrels.

Swift uses several methods for orienting and stabilizing itself in space to study gamma-ray bursts.

Sensors that detect the sun's location and the direction of Earth's magnetic field provide the spacecraft with a general sense of its location. Then, a device called a star tracker looks at stars and tells the spacecraft how to maneuver to keep the observatory precisely pointed at the same position during long observations.

Swift uses three spinning gyroscopes, or gyros, to carry out those moves along three axes. The gyros were designed to align at right angles to each other, but once in orbit the mission team discovered they were slightly misaligned. The flight operations team developed a strategy where one of the gyros worked to correct the misalignment while the other two pointed Swift to achieve its science goals.

The team wanted to be ready in case one of the gyros failed, however, so in 2009 they developed a plan to operate Swift using just two.

Any change to the way a telescope operates once in space carries risk, however. Since Swift was working well, the team sat on their plan for 15 years.

Then, in July 2023, one of Swift's gyros began working improperly. Because the telescope couldn't hold its pointing position accurately, observations got progressively blurrier until the gyro failed entirely in March 2024.

"Because we already had the shift to two gyros planned out, we were able to quickly and thoroughly test the procedure here on the ground before implementing it on the spacecraft," said Mark Hilliard, Swift's flight operations team lead at Omitron, Inc. and Penn State. "Actually, scientists have commented that the accuracy of Swift's pointing is now better than it was since launch, which is really encouraging."

For the last 20 years, Swift has contributed to groundbreaking results—not only for gamma-ray bursts but also for black holes, stars, comets, and other cosmic objects.

"After all this time, Swift remains a crucial part of NASA's fleet," said S. Bradley Cenko, Swift's principal investigator at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "The satellite's abilities have helped pioneer a new era of astrophysics called multimessenger astronomy, which is giving us a more well-rounded view of how the universe works. We're looking forward to all Swift has left to teach us."

Swift is a key part of NASA's strategy to look for fleeting and unpredictable changes in the sky with a variety of telescopes that use different methods of studying the cosmos.

IMAGE: Swift orbits above Earth in this artist's concept. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab

[eclipsedmonsoons]

Hey chatters i know i died but i come back with more mcyt fic content

Is it tagged improperly? Probably. Do i care right at this moment? No. You can still tell me things to change though. I wont mind.

Its a combination of day 27 and day 6 and then i divided that by 2 and rounded down.

Day 6 - healed wrong

Day 27 - voiceless

There is blood and one death. Idk how else to warn ya.

[theload]

Draconic Energies

*Disclaimer: Some terms and classifications may be subject to change.

Draconic Energies are defined as any energy which is, in some way, whole. In the current Cycle of Tamut, energies have been improperly made, resulting in only two energies being fully Draconic. Many more energies aren’t Draconic at all, and yet some still are what have been dubbed Quasi Draconic, being in some way whole without being perfectly whole.

Draconic Energies in the Cycle of Tamut are divided into different categories, some of which can overlap. They are:

Pure and Quasi: Pure Draconic Energies are perfectly whole while Quasi Draconic Energies are imperfect in their wholeness.

Composite and Primary: Composite Draconic Energies are made up of a combination of other energies, while Primary Draconic Energies exist all on their own, without the input of other energies.

Greater and Lesser: Greater Draconic Energies are capable of creating Dragons without the influence of Eitr or Arkhe, while Lesser Draconic Energies are not.

Pure Draconic Energies

There are two Pure Draconic Energies, identical in form and function though not in source. The first is Essential Arkhe, coming directly from Tamut the Essence. The second is Urobian Eitr, the energy of Ouroborus, the First Dragon.

Quasi Draconic Energies

All other Draconic Energies are classified as Quasi Draconic Energies, meaning that while they are in some ways whole, they are not perfectly whole. Quasi Draconic Energies are:

Living Atter

Kaiju Radiation (possibly more accurately described as a subtype of Atter)

Cosmic Mana

Imagination/Belief

Discordant Dissonance

Faerie Glamour

Lanced Animys

Death

Divinity

Composite Draconic Energies

These energies are made up of others, rather than having a pure source. Composite Draconic Energies are:

Divinity: Made up of Essential Arkhe/Urobian Eitr, Cosmic Mana, and Imagination/Belief.

Kaiju Radiation: Made up of Urobian Eitr and Living Atter.

Living Atter: Has both a Pure Form as well as a Composite Form. The Composite Form is made up of the Elements of Nature (Water, Air, Earth, Fire, and LightDark) combined with either Cosmic Mana or Essential Arkhe/Urobian Eitr. When made with Cosmic Mana it is known as Lesser Atter, when made with Arkhe or Eitr it is known as Greater Atter.

Faerie Glamor: Made up of Living Atter and Imagination/Belief. Like Atter, it has a Lesser and Greater form.

Greater Draconic Energies

The following energies can create dragons unassisted:

Divinity

Discordant Dissonance

Imagination/Belief

Cosmic Mana

Kaiju Radiation

(Greater) Living Atter

(Greater) Faerie Glamour

[coco-cinnamon]

writing yes and nos.

this is a list of things i am comfortable and not comfortable with writing for smut but also in general. i ask that you please respect this, any requests involving things i am not comfortable with writing will not be written.

things i am comfortable with writing:

drug & alcohol use for people who are of legal age, smut, degrading kink, breath play, rough sex, some dark content, knife, gun, & blood play, spit play, cum play, age gap (only for people over the age of 21), pregnancy, the only mental health condition i am willing to write for is anxiety since i am diagnosed with it.

things i am NOT comfortable with writing:

i will not write anything underage, piss kink, bowel kink, eating disorders, no mental health conditions (minus anxiety since i have it), sa, murder, no physical health conditions since i don't have any so i don't want to improperly represent it. if you do request something that isn't on this list and i'm not comfortable with writing it, i will tell you that i can't write for it because of that and add it to this list.

bear dividers by @aqualogia