#medicine for long lasting in india

[arayurvedafitness]

सभी तरीके की यौन समस्याओ को कैसे करे जड़ से ख़तम?

आजकल लोग अपनी सेहत को लेकर ज्यादा चिंतित रहते हैं। इसी लिए बॉडी को फिट रखने के लिए, एनर्जी और स्टैमिना बढ़ाने के लिए जिम जाते है। (how to increase stamina naturally) और अगर हम जिम जाते है तो उसके साथ हमे खाने में एक डाइट चार्ट देते है उसके हिसाब से हमारा हर रोज का खाना होता है, लेकिन आज कल लोग खाने पिने के इतने शौखिन हो गए है की खाने पिने में हैल्थी खाना तो बिलकुल भी पसंद नहीं है और इसी वजह से हैल्थी खाना नहीं खाते है और अपनी हैल्थ पर बिलकुल भी ध्यान नहीं रखते है। आपको तो पता ही होगा की हमारी डाइट का और खाने पिने का सबसे ज्यादा असर हमारी सेक्सुअल हेल्थ पे होता है। आज कल ऐसा खाना पीना ज्यादा हो गया है जिससे हमारे देश में सेक्सुअल समस्या से पीड़ितो की संख्या बढ़ती जा रही है। इसके आलावा मानसिक तनाव, कम नींद लेना, पारिवारिक परेशानिया, शारीरिक अस्वस्थता आदि से भी सेक्सुअल समस्याए हो सकती है।

आज के समय में 100 पुरुषो में से 70 पुरुषो को सेक्स से जुडी कोई न कोई समस्या होती है जैसे की शीघ्रपतन, ढीलापन, डिसइन्फेक्शन, इरेक्शन, सेक्स के दौरान थकान महसूस करना, कम कामेच्छा, हार्मोनल बदलाव, स्टैमिना की कमी।  इसे कम करने लिए लोग इंटरनेट पे देख कर कई अलग अलग तरह के घरेलु नुस्खे आज़माते है।(natural supplements for male stamina) और कुछ लोग इसे जड़ से मिटाने के चक्कर में कई तरह की दवाइयाँ भी लेते है। लेकिन कई बार ऐसी दवाइयों से उन्हें साइड इफ़ेक्ट भी होते है।

यहां हम आपको कुछ ऐसे तरीके बताने जा रहे हैं जो वैज्ञानिक रूप से सिद्ध हो चुके हैं। जिससे आपको अपनी सभी यौन समस्याओं में आराम मिलेगा और उसे जड़ से खत्म करने में मदद मिलेगी।

योग और एक्सरसाइज:

अपनी सेक्स ड्राइव को सही रखने के लिए और सेक्सुअल टाइमिंग और स्टैमिना बढ़ाने के लिए कार्डियोवैस्कुलर व्यायाम कर सकते है। यह आपके रक्त परिसंचरण को तेज करता है। और आपके सेक्स करने के टाइम की बढ़ाता है।  सेक्स के दौरान सहनशक्ति को भी बढ़ता है।  इसके आलावा आप अपनी कामेच्छा बढ़ाने के लिए 75-150 मिनिट तक ऐसी एक्सरसाइज कर सकते हो जिससे ज्यादा से ज्यादा पसीना आये। जैसे की तैराकी और दौड़नाजैसी गतिविधियाँ आपकी कामेच्छा को बढ़ाने में चमत्कार रूप है।

सही डाइट और फ्रूट, वेजिटेबल:

खाना आपको आपके सेक्सुअल लाइफ पे बहोत ही ज्यादा इफ़ेक्ट करता है। आज कल के समय में लोग खाने पिने में इतने शौखिन है की लोगो को बहार का मसालेदार और फ़ास्ट फ़ूड कहते है जो सेहत के लिए बिलकुल भी सही नहीं है। जिससे खाने से हमारी एनर्जी कम होती है और कोई पोषण भी नहीं मिलता है। अपनी सेक्स ड्राइव को बढ़ने के लिए और यौन सहनशक्ति बढ़ाने के लिए आप अखरोट, स्ट्रॉबेरी, एवोकाडो, तरबूज और बादाम इसका सेवन कर सकते हो।

आयुर्वेदिक उपचार:

आप अपनी यौन समस्या को जड़ से ख़तम करने के लिए आयुर्वेद का भी इस्तेमाल कर सकते हो जिससे आपको कोई भी साइड इफ़ेक्ट का भी डर नहीं रहेगा और आपकी सभी समस्या जड़ से ख़तम हो जाएगी। आप अश्वगंधा, शिलाजीत, शतावरी, कौचा, गोक्षुरा जैसी जड़ीबूटियों का भी इस्तेमाल कर सकते हो।  इसके आलावा आप इन उपचार को भी इस्तेमाल कर सकते हो। योहिम्बाइन एक पेड़ की छाल का अर्क है जो लिंग में रक्त के प्रवाह को बढ़ाकर बेहतर स्तंभन कार्य को बढ़ावा देता है। एक अध्ययन के अनुसार, एथलेटिक गतिविधि से पहले कैफीन का सेवन करने वाले पुरुष अधिक शक्ति पैदा करने में सक्षम थे। कैफीन के उत्तेजक प्रभावों ने भी उनकी सहनशक्ति में वृद्धि की। जिनसेंग अपने संपूर्ण शारीरिक स्वास्थ्य को बढ़ाने के इच्छुक लोगों के लिए सबसे लोकप्रिय हर्बल उपचारों में से एक है। यह यौन क्षमता को भी बढ़ा सकता है।

आयुर्वेदिक और नेचुरल उपाय:

इन सभी के आलावा आप “Horse Fire Tablet” का भी इस्तेमाल कर सकते हो। यह मेडिसिन पूरी तरीके से आयुर्वेदिक हर्ब्स से तैयार की गई है। इसमें अश्वगंधा, शिलाजीत, शतावरी, कौचा, स्वेत मसूली, मकरध्वज जैसी 9+ जड़ीबूटियों से तैयार किया गया है। इस सभी जड़ीबूटियों का सही मात्रा में मिश्रण करके यौन पीड़ित पुरुषो के लिए तैयार की गई है। जिससे यौन सम्बंधित सभी तरीके की समस्या को जड़ से ख़तम करने में मदद करता है। । इससे कई सारे यौन पीड़ित पुरुषो की सभी समस्याओ को जड़ से ख़तम किया है और इस दवाई को गवर्नमेंट ने मंजूरी भी दे दी है। यह दवाई आरोग्य विभाग द्वारा प्रमाणित है तथा साथ ही इस कंपनी को GMP और ISO द्वारा स्वीकृत प्रदान किया गया है। इसके इस्तेमाल से किसी प्रकार की दुष्प्रभाव का खतरा नहीं है।

For More Information Call Now: +919099857272 Visit Please:- https://www.arayurveda.com/ Email:- info@arayurveda.com Visit:- https://www.arayurveda.com/blogs

Content Source By: https://ayurvedichealthind.wordpress.com/2022/09/29/natural-remedies-for-remove-sexual-problems/

[fatehbaz]

Because most medicines were produced from [...] plants [...] these early “pharmaceutical monopolies” required full control of the production and trade of a species. Russia successfully managed the rhubarb trade in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, while Spain controlled the distribution [...] from Spanish America, mainly cinchona from Peru, in the same period. “True” cinnamon grew only on Sri Lanka, so whoever controlled the island could dominate the cinnamon trade. The Portuguese were the first to create a monopoly on the cinnamon trade there in the early seventeenth century. That monopoly was later optimized by the Dutch in the late eighteenth century [...].

“True” should indeed be in quotation marks here - the term reflects the historically contingent tastes of Europeans, rather than any botanical category [...]. The rarity of cinnamon in the early modern period made it one of the most coveted spices of that era, and European countries without direct access to the cinnamon trade tried to imitate, substitute, steal, smuggle, or transplant the “true” product from Sri Lanka. [...]

---

In the early modern period, cinnamon was also important both as an exotic commodity and as an important therapeutic substance. The Dutch East India Company (VOC), which controlled Sri Lanka between 1658 and 1796, was well aware of this. The VOC vigorously exploited the Salagama - [...] specialized Sri Lankan cinnamon peelers - to supply enough cinnamon, which for a long time was gathered from forests. Only after the peelers rebelled, leading to a war that lasted between 1760 and 1766, did the company revise its production policy. 

Experiments with “cinnamon gardens” (kaneeltuinen in Dutch) led to enormous successes, and the company eventually grew millions of cinnamon trees on plantations in the final decades of the eighteenth century. Meanwhile, competitors of the Dutch had come up with their own solutions [...]: Spain had started growing other Cinnamomum species on plantations in the Philippines, while France and Britain succeeded in transplanting cinnamon to islands in the Caribbean. But the Dutch monopoly was not simply threatened by outside competition. Smuggling, by peelers or VOC personnel, was strictly forbidden and severely punished. [...]

---

Hendrik Adriaan van Rheede tot Drakenstein (1636–1691) was the VOC administrator on India’s Malabar Coast when he started experimenting with cinnamon oil in the 1670s.

He concluded that the oil, which he extracted from the roots of local cinnamon trees, was of better quality than oil from cinnamon trees on Sri Lanka. Van Rheede reported these results in his entry on cinnamon in volume 1 of the Hortus Indicus Malabaricus, the twelve-volume book that was produced by a team of local and European scholars, and supervised by Van Rheede himself.

Van Rheede’s assessment of cinnamon - in fact, the very publication of a multi-volume work about the flora of Malabar - infuriated the governor of Sri Lanka, Rijckloff van Goens, who had secured the cinnamon monopoly of Sri Lanka for the Dutch. Van Goens insisted that Van Rheede stop his medical experiments, claiming that the monopoly was at risk if the cinnamon trade was extended beyond the island of Sri Lanka. 

But Van Goens was not so much concerned about the therapeutic efficacy of cinnamon from either of the two regions. He was motivated by an imperial agenda and regarded the natural products of Sri Lanka as superior to anything similar in the region.

The experiments of Van Rheede, who was his former protégé, threatened not so much the botanical quality of the product, or the commercial interests of the Dutch East India Company, but rather the central position of Sri Lanka in the Dutch colonial system and the position of Van Goens as the representative of that system.

---

Even when Sri Lanka still only produced cinnamon that grew in the wild, the Dutch harvested enough to supply an international market and were able to dictate the availability and price level throughout the world. The monopoly, whether defined in commercial or pharmaceutical terms, was not easily put at risk by efforts like Van Rheede’s. Those involved in the early modern cinnamon trade were motivated by various reasons to defend or undermine the central position of Sri Lankan cinnamon: botanical, medical, commercial, or imperial. These motives often overlapped.

---

All text above by: Wouter Klein. “Plant of the Month: Cinnamon.” JSTOR Daily. 17 February 2021. “Plant of the Month” series is part of the Plant Humanities Initiative, a partnership of Dumbarton Oaks and JSTOR Labs. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me. Presented here for commentary, teaching, criticism purposes.]

[covid-safer-hotties]

Why Biden’s premature COVID ending could help it surge - Published Sept 23, 2022

Two years out from the publication of this article, and we can really see how true these warnings were. Why does the mainstream media and DNC refuse to do anything about forever covid?

This week, President Biden said what millions of Americans have been hoping to hear since the spring of 2020: “The pandemic is over.”

I understand the impulse to close the book and move on. But I am deeply concerned that this declaration is not only premature but also dangerous.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus has shown us, again and again, the danger of hubris. Think of the lethal impact of the omicron virus last winter, just when we were so grateful that the delta wave had ebbed. Think of the deadly surges this summer, just when we were planning our long-delayed vacations. This is a virus that has humbled us too often. We must approach it with humility.

This declaration has many damaging effects: As others have noted, it will now be even harder to persuade Americans to get the new bivalent boosters. It’ll be tougher to persuade Congress to fund essential COVID responses. And it will be nearly impossible for local officials to impose new indoor mask requirements should another surge arrive.

To be sure, Biden did acknowledge in his “60 Minutes” interview that “we still have a problem with COVID” and added that “we’re still doing a lot of work on it.” But he sandwiched that message between two flat declarations that the pandemic is over. Those are the soundbites that have reverberated most loudly, and they are decidedly unhelpful.

Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has spoken often about how the U.S. has lurched from a cycle of panic to neglect when it comes to public health. Many of us in the field had hoped that the COVID-19 pandemic would break that cycle — a sliver of silver lining amid all the grief.

We had hoped that policymakers and voters alike would understand how essential it is to upgrade our data infrastructure, stockpile essential medicine and equipment, invest in preventive care for vulnerable populations, restructure our emergency response agencies and support an infusion of public health workers at the local and state levels. Surely, COVID would be the spur needed to finally bump U.S. spending on public health to more than 3 cents on the health care dollar.

By declaring the pandemic over when we are still very much in the thick of the fight, President Biden is undercutting that message.

Let’s look at where we are right now. The U.S. is still reporting close to 60,000 cases and 400 deaths each day. Millions are struggling with long COVID; by some estimates, this often debilitating condition is keeping 4 million adults out of work. Those at work may have less flexibility: Major companies are ending work-from-home policies and Starbucks announced this week that it will no longer give employees paid time off to isolate or get vaccinated. Biden’s remarks will only accelerate that trend.

Meanwhile, only 67 percent of Americans are vaccinated and only half of them have been boosted. While many of the remaining have some immunity from infection, the death toll makes clear that large swaths of the population remain highly vulnerable. And of course, new variants continue to emerge; right now, all eyes are on BA.2.75.2, a mutation of the omicron variant that is notably better at evading antibodies acquired from vaccination or prior infection and is spreading rapidly in India.

Declaring the pandemic over at this stage is tantamount to accepting all this misery as background noise.

And if we accept the status quo as background noise — rather than the urgent and immediate threat it represents — it’s nearly impossible to make the case that we need to do more as a society to protect the vulnerable, respond to surges, or prepare for future crises.

The Biden administration has made significant strides on COVID. It made tests, vaccines and treatments widely available across the country, which improved outcomes and saved lives. The vast majority of Americans feel we’re in a better place than at this time last year and many have returned, at least in large part, to normal activities.

It is an appropriate moment for our leaders to turn the page away from our wartime footing and begin a sober discussion about the next steps: the risks that remain, the importance of responding quickly to local surges, the value of supporting the Global South in building their own vaccine infrastructure — and the critical need to rebuild the battered and woefully outdated public health infrastructure in the U.S.

It is not the moment to declare victory.

John M. Barry, author of “The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History” has a stark warning from history. He writes that the world had largely moved on from the 1918 influenza pandemic when a fourth wave struck in 1920. By then, the U.S. had plenty of natural immunity from prior infection. Still, the virus spread ruthlessly. Public officials failed to respond. They, like the public, wanted the pandemic to be over — so the virus rolled on unchecked. In some cities, the death toll in 1920 exceeded the toll of the huge second wave.

We should not make the same mistake now. With humility as our watchword, we can move to the next chapter without closing the book. That is the way forward.

Michelle A. Williams is dean of the faculty of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

[myemuisemo]

With April showers, Letters from Watson brings us the first installment of The Sign of the Four, a prospect that makes me quake. When I was a tot of eight years, reading the library's copy of The Boy's Sherlock Holmes with a creeping sense of guilt because I was not at that time (and have not been at any time before or since) a boy, I found The Sign of the Four... long. Very long. I was obviously too young for the concepts, even though I could make sense of the words. (That sums up a lot of my reading in that era.)

I'm also reeling from last week's "The Man with the Watches," an utter tragedy of "be gay, do crime."

What's striking me this time -- what with the introduction of Holmes' cocaine use and also the watch deduction that raises a wince and a shudder from anyone who remembers that BBC Sherlock happened -- is how Watson is being positioned (and I don't mean "positioned in the path of which bullet," though apparently he got hit by more than one while in India).

Cocaine

Watson is progressive! His objections to cocaine sound so mild to us in the twenty-first century, but in 1890, scientific opinion was just barely starting to turn away from seeing cocaine as a wonder drug. It was used for local anesthesia as well as for general pep. Queen Victoria drank Vin Mariani, a wine fortified with cocaine, and so did the Pope. Coca Cola contained cocaine until 1906. Sigmund Freud was a vocal proponent of cocaine for improving mood and performance, until he botched an operation in the early 1890s while high.

A couple hair-raising reads on this topic are Cocaine: The Victorian Wonder Drug and A Cure for (Anything) that Ails You: Cocaine in Victorian Medicine.

So Holmes' original audience would have seen him as an up-to-date scientist using a socially approved means of moderating his mood. His shooting up a 7% solution of cocaine is about equivalent to a 21st century person taking nutritional supplements that are meant to boost brain power.

After all the "say no to drugs" education in the American school system, that's so hard for me to get my brain around, but there we are. Holmes is doing something no more troubling than pouring a glass of whiskey and much more scientific.

Watson, therefore, can be read either as being right at the edge of shifting scientific opinion or as being a fussbudget.

Tinge it with romanticism

I'm firmly Team Watson when Holmes starts criticizing A Study in Scarlet:

He shook his head sadly. “I glanced over it,” said he. “Honestly, I cannot congratulate you upon it. Detection is, or ought to be, an exact science, and should be treated in the same cold and unemotional manner. You have attempted to tinge it with romanticism, which produces much the same effect as if you worked a love-story or an elopement into the fifth proposition of Euclid.”

The reader is being positioned here to view with contempt the exact features of the work that we probably enjoyed. Poor Watson!

Is it possible that some reviewers commented on the melodrama of the Lucy portions? Yes, and it'd be a valid point. Nonetheless, having experienced a good many math classes, I think the fifth proposition of Euclid might be improved by a rom--

wait.

Doyle, you magnificent bastard.

Flatland: A Romance in Many Dimensions was published in 1884. It wasn't a huge success, but it seems likely Doyle could have known it, and it did, in fact, mention a love story in a discussion of angles. Back when I read it in college (because if you "liked math," someone would inevitably give you a copy of Flatland), I missed the social satire but appreciated the geometry.

Watson is canonically an effective popular writer, and I refuse to denigrate him for that.

The Watch

First, Holmes substantially invents forensic science with his monographs on tobacco and on callouses.

Then we learn that Watson is a second son, which fits with his his training for a profession and choosing the army to help make his way.

Watson was not on great terms with his brother before his brother's death. Holmes doesn't explicitly deduce this, but it's there to be deduced. Holmes knew Watson's father was long dead, which could have come up in any number of casual ways. Holmes had no idea that Watson had a brother, so Watson:

Didn't mention the brother in any context, ever.

Didn't set up any framed daguerreotypes from his childhood nor any modern photos made with the collodion process. Having a posed family photo would have been so completely normal, as would being sent new photos by family members.

Never interrupted his routine to visit his brother while living with Holmes.

Did not attend his brother's funeral (unless it took place while Holmes was away) and did not wear a black armband for mourning in Holmes' presence. Neglecting mourning for a relative would have been a sign of serious estrangement.

Holmes is possessed of some level of tact in not expanding on this topic.

Watson is also nobody's fool: he knows there are ways to fool a mark with apparently miraculous knowledge.

The question in my mind is this: did Watson deliberately distract Holmes from asking what was the subject of the telegram?

[beta-adjacent]

Omegaverse and the Theatre: Idea Dump

Please build upon/ argue against/ take inspiration from these prompts!!!!! They’re based on a history of theatre class I took last semester

For a good 300+ years or so, betas would be the only people who could act for an occupation.

This was because a lot of startup theatre companies feared alphas and omegas releasing hormones on stage as they grew commercially. The effects of this still linger on, with betas having a significant percentage of acting jobs over alphas and omegas combined

Interestingly enough, omegas were allowed back on the stage before alphas (because stereotypes icky)

This isn’t to imply that hormones entirely disappeared during a performance. It’s just that for a long period of time, its presence was dulled down and de-emphasized in place of plot

Many of that era’s beta playwrights (including Shakespeare) wrote pieces about alphas and omegas as a way of mocking/satirizing them, often ironically making them reference their scents/hormones. Much of that nuance is lost now due to shifted beliefs in dynamics/culture/language

Back when theatre was first used, like for religious rituals, there would often be a synchronization of hormones.

Examples include: in Greece, the chorus often repeated phrases to incite/signal a hormone shift. In India, the hormone shifts were dependent on a director’s drum line

Some of these actors would train for decades as soon as they presented, in order to control their scent/hormone release

In fact, many physiological/anthropological historians would cite these actors as the first to master scent suppressing, jumping ahead of the medicinal/scientific curve by about a thousand years!

Sometime in the 20th century, people starting really experimenting with instinct driven theatre.

There is no script to these performances. Actors have to live through a scene/prompt designed to trigger an instinctual reaction (such as a mother losing their child, a territory brawl, etc)

I imagine it was made in reaction to world events at the time, or as a response to older art movements. The origins of Dadaism come to mind here

Everything is consensual, obviously, but it’s considered highly controversial to the public. Some write it off as an “exasperated grab at catharsis” and others praise it for its “inescapable rawness”.

Nowadays, it’s mostly used in improv, for both tragedy and comedy. Most actors find it daunting, but in the last few years, armature improv clubs have started doing instinct-comedic bits with major media outreach

In the last few decades, therapists/psychologists have attempted instinct-driven theatre as a form of therapy. This is even more controversial than the art form itself

[shera-dnd]

I try not to be negative here. Like there's just too much negativity in this webbed site as is and I don't wanna add on to it

BUT god it's so hard not to shit on Mihoyo's character designs

Like I could write a whole fucking essay on why Yae Miko maybe has the ONLY good character design in Inazuma, and how Kokomi's and Raiden's designs are an affront to character design

Not to mention how much I could dunk on how pasty white the entirety of their fantasy India is

...but that would take like an ungodly amount of words and effort and ranting, and like I said I wanna keep negativity to a minimum

so instead I'm gonna do a little "bulk dunk" and go for the entirety of HSR in one go

quick disclaimer that I still play and enjoy these games and Jingliu has me by the balls no matter how painfully boring her character design actually is

ALRIGHT LET'S GO!

I guess it goes without saying that the design of any character in a gacha game is created with only a single thought in mind and that is: MASS MARKET APPEAL!

Which means the characters are meant to be PRETTY and their designs are meant for immediate appeal, not to actually inform the character

This results in some...weirdness

Like the fact that the Natasha (girl on the left) raised Seele (girl on the right) from childhood and used to run an orphanage, meaning she's much MUCH older than Seele, even tho they look about the same age

Okay Nat does look a little older, but no one is allowed to look old in this game

Something that becomes extra clear with

Serval! Who you'd be forgiven for thinking is a young adult playing for a rock band, and not a middle aged disgraced scientist who used to be in a rock band.

And yeah she's supposed to be AT LEAST in her 30s, because girl is the same age as Cocolia and that woman is a mother to an adult woman by the time we meet her

Oh and speaking of Nat and Serval, you've now seen 2/3s of all characters with ANY FORM OF BLEMISHES ON THEIR SKIN!

Nat has a spot on her chin, and Serval has a tattoo on her hip

Last one is Arlan

My man has the only two scars in this whole ass video game. He's also the only dark skinned character. He follows a pattern set by Xinyan and Dehya in Genshin, by being dark skin rep, carrying a big sword, and sucking absolute ass

But okay these characters are pretty, but there's nothing wrong with keeping characters pretty. Well, there is when their prettiness goes against what their character is supposed to be

So Belobog's story is one of class struggle in a military state that is holding back a never ending catastrophe. The entire population of the world is just one big walled city holding back the cold.

In it the rich and powerful live in the Overworld, where they have museums and theaters and grand statues, and a massive building from which their rulers can pass judgement.

The Underworld is mostly just a giant fucking mine where the lower class people are forced to work 24/7 in order to get food and medicine from the Overworld in the hopes that they'll keep surviving.

Underworld characters are survivors who have been struggling every day of their lives and have NEVER SEEN SUNLIGHT BEFORE

Yeah guys I can really get hardworking survivor from these two

But I mean that is just ONE planet, it can't be a thing for EVERY world, right? ...right?

So the Xianzhou Luofu is... a lot. Like it would take a long time to explain everything that is up with those guys, but the big themes here are stuff around chronic illness, memories, PTSD, war time trauma, and a whole bunch of stuff about aging

Like here are two characters who are veterans of war. One is constantly overwhelmed by her own traumatic memories, causing her to go into violent dissociative episodes.

The other one lost her copilot/best friend/rival/love of her life (YOU CANNOT CONVINCE ME SHE ISN'T GAY, MIHOYO) in battle, and the trauma of that loss has left her terrified of flying again, living the rest of her life in the shadow of this one monumental event

...yeah I don't see it either

But hey don't worry, this game believes in gender equality, and that means the men are also just very pretty and very boring

Like the Luofu's messiest polycule, who are all millennia old pretty boys made with the sole purpose of making the straight women in the fanbase call them "daddy"

Well at least Blade has spider lily symbolism, which is like always a plus for me

Okay

That's it

That's all the dunking I have for HSR. I exorcised the angry grumpy critic from my system, and can go back to being positive and loving things again.

And I mean these games make more money than I can ever even conceptualize, so maybe I'm the one who is wrong

Oh also

Clara is perfect and objectively the best character design in this game, don't fucking @ me!

[highwaytothedangerzone502]

Foxtrot Alpha Alpha - Chapter 20

Pairing: Hangman x Female OC

Word Count: 2679

Warnings: Swearing

Summary: Hangman learned his lesson a long time ago to never show his true feelings when someone's words or actions hurt him. To do so showed weakness that could be exploited, and Seresin men couldn't show weakness. Of course, there was an exception to every rule, and Jake's always came in the form of women, three in particular: his mom, Juliette Kazansky, and the girl whose name he could no longer bring himself to speak. She was the girl that got away; she was his biggest 'what if' and his biggest regret; she would forever be the ghost that haunted his dreams. Jake believed that's where she'd stay, for he would surely never see her again after what he did.

Or so he thought.

Notes: This is the sequel to India Lima Yankee; I'm using the same callsign for the Female OC as in Ghost Story because I just really like it, but they are different characters; chapters in italics are flashbacks Half this chapter is from the promotional excerpt I did a while ago for it, but it's been altered to fit the route the story has gone :)

Chapter Songs: History This Everyday Love

****

Juliette

Rooster ambled into the kitchen, most likely due to the mouth-watering smell of bacon, eggs, and French Toast. Juliette bit back a smile at her hungover husband and wordlessly slid a bottle of ibuprofen and a glass of water over to him.

"How bad was I last night?" Rooster asked, scrunching his face in pre-mortification while he swallowed the medicine.

"How much do you remember?" she countered.

"I remember stumbling in and trying not to wake you and Ghost, but you two were already awake..."

"I'd been up, and Mav texted to let me know that I was about to have three men in a state about to enter my house."

"Fuck, I forgot Hangman and Coyote were there."

"I mean, none of you acted too differently than you normally do around each other. Coyote dropped to the floor to pet the dogs, you and Hangman were insulting each other, and Ghost, Mav, and I watched and laughed. Honestly, it wasn't that bad. The funniest thing was you and Hangman trying to whisper but doing it so loudly that you might as well have been speaking normally."

Rooster rubbed his face with his hands. "I'm so glad I didn't wake you up. You weren't waiting up for me, were you?"

"No, I'd fallen asleep and woken on my own when I started craving ice cream," Juliette said, sliding breakfast in front of him. 

Rooster leaned over the counter and kissed her on the cheek, thanking her for breakfast. "How are you feeling?"

"Meh. I'm going to try to eat because I'm hungry, but I also feel like if I eat one wrong thing, I'll hurl. It's a very fine line right now."

"You take it easy today. I'm going to work on the nursery since the paint should be dry by now. I'll get the simple stuff out of the way- curtains hung, lamp put together, stuff like that- and then I'll start putting the cribs together."

"Do you need any help?"

Rooster stared at her in exasperation. "What did I just say? I said I wanted you to take it easy."

"I didn't mean from me. I was thinking Ghost or Mav."

"Oh! Yeah, that sounds good. By the way, is Ghost okay? She seems off."

Juliette hesitated, unsure how much her friend wanted Rooster to know of her inner troubles. "She's acclimating to returning from deployment and is trying to find her place."

"She's got a place with us. Why don't you call her and invite her over?"

"I will after breakfast. I think she's with Jackie at the moment, and I don't want to interrupt." Juliette took a bite of her French toast, relieved when the nausea didn't hit. She pulled out her phone and dialed Mav's number, putting it on speaker. 

He picked up on the first ring. "Hey, Jules, how are you? Feeling any better?"

"Yeah, so far, but it's still early, so it could change," Juliette joked. 

"How's Rooster doing?"

Rooster swallowed his food and replied, "Could be worse. Hey, what are you doing right now?"

"I'm at the hangar. Why?"

"Oh, I was going to ask if you wanted to help me with the nursery, but I'm going to take that as a no." Rooster's brow furrowed. "Why are you at the hangar? You good?"

"Yeah, yeah, had to do some maintenance on the plane. Listen, I'll be back tomorrow. Why don't I come over and help then?"

The couple agreed and hung up. Rooster shook his head. "He's not telling us everything. He was just there last week doing plane maintenance. It shouldn't need it again already. Something's on his mind."

"He doesn't have to tell us everything, Bradley. If something is on his mind, he'll tell us when he's ready," Jules admonished gently, sliding her half-eaten breakfast over to him when nausea rolled over her. "Finish it for me. If I eat anymore, I'm going to be sick."

Rooster happily obliged, albeit eyeing her worriedly. Jules ignored the look and called Ghost in the meantime but quickly hung up after ordering her friend to go back to sleep. She recognized that tiredness all too well. Ghost promised she'd come by afterward to hang out.

Once Rooster finished breakfast and did the dishes, he headed to the bathroom and took a quick shower before tackling the nursery. Meanwhile, Juliette sat on the couch and reviewed some documents for work. Her boss had become extremely lenient with her working hours after learning of her pregnancy complications, and Juliette couldn't be more grateful. 

She'd gotten three-quarters of the way done when her phone buzzed with an incoming text. She snorted at Coyote's message: You'd think my hangover is from all the shots last night, but I'm pretty sure it's from Hangman and Rooster violently hitting me upside the head.

Rooster responded instantly: You should've been more quiet entering the house. You could've woken up the girls!

This time, Hangman chimed in: Says the guy who whispered louder than most people talk.

You did the same! Rooster said, his indignance clear through the four simple words. The text was followed by Rooster verbally saying from the other room, "The God damn snark of- OW!"

"You okay?" Juliette hollered in concern.

Ruefully, he answered, "Yeah, Raptor knocked the lamp over, and it hit my head."

"Maybe he was trying to tell you to lighten up." Silence ensued briefly, but she heard Rooster shuffling down the hallway. He appeared in the doorway and said nothing, only staring at her in entertained exasperation. Grinning, she said, "Oh, come on, you know you want to laugh."

He pursed his lips and then lied, "Absolutely not. Not a single laugh at that. I don't know watt you were thinking."

Juliette opened her mouth to respond, but an incoming text cut her off. Snickering to himself, Rooster returned to the nursery while she read the message. It was from Hangman, but this time, sent only to her: Joking aside, did we bother you too much last night?

Not at all. Ghost and I found the whole scene pretty funny. Besides, I knew you were coming. Mav forewarned me. 

Lol how's Bradshaw doing this morning? I haven't seen him drink that much in ages.

Shockingly well, actually. He's working on the nursery right now- trying to put the cribs together now by the sound of his cursing. How are you holding up?

I'm good. It takes a lot to get me drunk, let alone hungover. Texan genes doing me proud. Does Bradshaw need help with the nursery? Hangman queried. The question took her by surprise, but she wasn't going to pass up on the offer since both Maverick and Ghost were currently unavailable.

Bradley will never admit it, but yes.

Be over in thirty.

Juliette smiled to herself, pleased Hangman decided to join. She'd been concerned about him lately. While he hid it well, she could sense the hidden troubles in her friend that all started the night Ghost arrived. How much it had to do with her, and how much it had to do with the out-of-the-blue call from his family, Juliette hadn't figured out.

Right at the half-hour mark, the doorbell rang. Juliette struggled off the couch and hollered, "I got it!" 

Rooster let her, continuing his attempt (but failing) to construct the extravagant cribs that Sarah Kazansky had gifted the couple upon the announcement of her daughter's pregnancy. Jules shuffled to the door and, ordering Raptor and Lightning to stay back, swung it open, beaming at the man before her. "Hey, Hangman."

In his endearing Texan drawl and with his ever-present smirk, he replied, "Hey, Princess."

The two had formed a close friendship ever since the special training detachment mere months ago. Rooster didn't know it yet, but Juliette planned on making Hangman one of the twins' godfather. She'd seen him around her nephews at family barbecues and how wonderful he was with kids. She had swiftly made up her mind about it afterward. 

"How are my three favorite people?" Hangman asked, gently hugging Juliette and being careful to avoid her ever-growing belly. Then he knelt down to pet the excited German Shepherds.

"Nauseous, as usual, although it's slightly abated for now." Juliette moved aside to allow him entry. "Come on in. Bradley-"

"Hangman?" Rooster sounded from behind, his voice growing closer as he walked up behind his fiancée. "What are you doing here?"

"Princess said you needed help-" Hangman held out his arms- "so here I am. Your Lord and Savior."

Rooster looked down at Juliette. "Honey, I meant competent help."

"Any man who saved your life is competent in my book," she responded matter-of-factly, patting his cheek. "You work well together when you're not at each other's throats."

"And here I thought we were making headway, Bradshaw," Hangman teased. "Hell, I even brought sustenance."

Hangman lifted a six-pack of beer, and Rooster raised his eyebrows. "Sustenance or a bribe?"

"Both."

Rooster grinned. "Well, I guess some help is better than none. Come on."

"Before we get started-" Hangman pulled out a carton of ice cream and handed it to her- "I brought something for you too."

Juliette greedily snatched it up because despite having chills from all the nausea, something about the sight of the ice cream made her appetite return. Shooting Hangman a thankful smile, she hurried to the kitchen and ripped off the lid. Juliette grabbed a spoon and plopped happily on the couch, nausea miraculously gone, although she wouldn't complain or think about that too much. After all, she welcomed the reprieve.

For the first hour, Rooster and Hangman sounded like they were getting along. Juliette even swore they clinked beer bottles a couple of times. Of course, once that initial hour passed, she could hear some of their frustration coming out. 

After killing half the ice cream carton, Juliette went to put it away. As she shut the freezer, the doorbell rang. Perplexed as to who it could be, she went to answer it. Opening the door, Jules found Ghost standing before her. "Hey! What are you doing here? I wasn't expecting you for another hour or so."

Ghost shrugged. "Couldn't stay asleep. Is it still okay for me to hang out?"

"Of course! Besides-" Juliette stepped aside and allowed her friend in- "you're just in time for the entertainment." 

"I always did have perfect timing," her friend joked, shrugging off her jacket. "Is someone else here?"

"Hangman. He's helping Rooster put the cribs together, and I use the term 'help' loosely."

Distaste flickered across Ghost's face at his name, but she refrained from remarking about it. The two girls made their way to the couch and sat down. Raptor and Lightning lay on their feet. Ghost asked, "So, how's the nursery coming along?"

Juliette started to answer but stopped short when she heard Hangman demand in annoyance, "Bradshaw, is there anything you're actually capable of doing?"

Rooster responded with equal irritation and without a beat, "Putting up with you. You're supposed to be helping here!"

"It's not my fault the instructions are in Chinese and that you can't find the ones in English!"

"There are pictures for each step!"

"They're not clear enough!"

"Come on, we're smarter than this," Rooster said. Juliette could hear the confusion in his voice.

"Clearly, we're not," Hangman retorted before laughing mischievously and adding, "What does this look like?"

"You have the mind of a child."

"And yet, I'm still more intelligent than you."

"That's rich coming from the guy who forgot the word for 'sting ray' and called it a 'sea pancake.'"

"What does it say about you that you knew exactly what I was talking about?"

"That I am fluent in child from having worked with you for so long."

The boys continued their jesting while Ghost and Juliette eavesdropped, smothering their laughter at the continuous insults the boys hurled at each other and watching TV, content with each other's company. Another hour passed before Rooster and Hangman emerged from the nursery. The latter zeroed in on Ghost the moment he laid eyes on her, but he swiftly shifted his gaze to Juliette. 

"So-" Jules began, barely keeping a straight face as she feigned ignorance- "how's it coming along?"

"We're getting there," Rooster blatantly lied. "We're taking a break to go get dinner. What do you ladies want?"

"I'll defer to Juliette," Ghost responded. "Whatever she craves is the best way to go."

"I am craving seafood," Juliette admitted shyly, not wanting to force anyone to eat something they weren't in the mood for. "Is that okay?"

"Seafood it is, Princess," Hangman promised, bowing his head. "What would y'all like, and from where?"

"If you go to Pappa's Seafood, Rooster knows my answer," Jules said, standing up with the help of Bradley. "Crawfish platter."

"Ooh, what's on that?" Ghost asked.

"Fried crawfish, crawfish etouffee, and French fries."

"How big is it?"

"Enough for one person."

Ghost looked at Rooster. "Make that two crawfish platters."

"You got it," he said. He kissed Juliette and bid Ghost goodbye before strutting out the door. Hangman pecked Jules on the cheek, bowed his head at Ghost in acknowledgment, then followed Rooster.

Juliette waited until the door shut behind them before saying, "Want to take a shot at putting the cribs together?"

"Absolutely," Ghost agreed, following her friend to the nursery. The girls entered a chaotic scene. Bits and pieces were scattered across the floor in no particular order; some were put together but with no obvious evidence of where they belonged on the crib, and Juliette could only be thankful it belonged to only one crib instead of two—at least the second remained safely in the box. 

"We have our work cut out for us," Ghost mused, sitting on the floor in the middle of the madness. Juliette gently lowered herself to the ground across from her. "At least they had the sense to leave the nails and bolts in the packaging."

"I knew I should've supervised them," Juliette said, shaking her head. "Okay, where are the instructions? The English ones, I mean. I'm sure they're around here somewhere. Rooster probably set them down in some weird place. I'd say grab them from the second box, but I don't know where they are in there, and I don't want to risk adding-" she motioned at the parts strewn about- "to this insanity."

"You stay seated. I'll get up and look around," Ghost ordered, standing up. 

Juliette watched her friend, unable to hold back the question that had been on the tip of her tongue since Ghost's first day when she ran into Hangman. Leaning back on her hands, she asked hesitantly, "So, are you ever going to tell me how you and Hangman know each other? Because you are obviously more than old acquaintances."

Although Ghost didn't face her, Juliette saw the girl's shoulders sag. "How long have you known?"

"A while. Between the blatant tension between you two and the fact that Hangman called you an 'old acquaintance'- which is the same thing I called Rooster when Phoenix and Hangman picked up on our chemistry the day he arrived for the special training detachment- it wasn't hard to figure out."

Ghost scoffed. "Hangman and I don't have chemistry."

Uh-huh, and Rooster and I aren't about to have twins. Juliette disagreed with her friend but kept the opinion to herself. Now was not the time. "I wanted to wait until you told me about it, but something tells me it's been eating at you, him being here, I mean. So what is it? What happened between you two?"

Ghost sighed and shut the top dresser drawer she'd been searching. Facing Juliette, the female pilot said sadly, "Once upon a time, Hangman and I were best friends. We met in high school and were inseparable for almost a decade."

Bracing her elbows on her knees and leaning forward eagerly, Juliette asked, "What happened between you two?"

Ghost dropped her gaze to the floor. "He nearly got me killed."

****

Tags: @lgg5989 @shanimallina87 @polikszena @summ3rlotus @icemansgirl1999 @supernaturaldawning @thedarkinmansfield @lyannaforpresident @lapilark @getmyprettynameoutofyourmouth @simpofthecentury @shadeops21 @pansexualwitchwhoneedstherapy @double-j @bradshawsandbridgetons @catsandgeekyandnerd @peachiicherries @multifandomcnova @fandomsstolemylife00 @bookloverhorses @mak-32 @midnightmagpiemama @luckyladycreator2 @ellamae021 @kmc1989

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[madamlaydebug]

“If cannabis were discovered in the Amazon rainforest today, people would be clambering to make as much use as they could of all of the potential benefits of the plant. Unfortunately, it carries with it a long history of being a persecuted plant.” ~ Dr. Donald Abrams, Chief of Hematology Oncology at San Francisco General Hospital

Approximately 106,000 Americans die yearly from prescribed medications, according to the American Medical Association. Even more frightening, preventable medical errors account for a staggering 400,000 deaths in the U.S. each year — and is considered the 3rd leading cause of death. “It’s equivalent to 2,000 commercial jets taking off each year knowing that they don’t have enough fuel to complete their journeys,” notes Peter Edelstein M.D. “Would you allow your spouse to board one of those planes? Your friend? A stranger?”

Good question. Increasingly, people in the West are seeking out treatments that work harmoniously with the body, instead of against it — in other words, they’re walking away from the medical establishment and all its mishaps, mistakes and pharmaceutical drugs. A case in point is cannabis, especially in its raw form.

A Rich History

Marijuana is one of those plants that, to many, conjures visions of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raids and hippies in a drugged-out daze. But it wasn’t always this way.

“The ancient Chinese knew of marijuana’s pain-relieving and mind-altering effects, yet it was not widely employed for its psychoactive properties; instead it was cultivated as hemp for the manufacture of rope and fabric. Likewise, the ancient Greeks and Romans used hemp to make rope and sails. In some other places, however, marijuana’s intoxicating properties became important. In India, for example, the plant was incorporated into religious rituals. During the Middle Ages, its use was common in Arab lands; in 15th-century Iraq it was used to treat epilepsy; in Egypt it was primarily consumed as an inebriant. After Napoleon’s occupation of Egypt, Europeans began using the drug as an intoxicant. During the slave trade, it was transported from Africa to Mexico, the Caribbean and South America. Marijuana gained a following in the U.S. only relatively recently. During the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, cannabis was freely available without a prescription for a wide range of ailments, including migraine and ulcers,” Roger A. Nicoll and Bradley N. Alger remind us in Scientific American.

Even American Founding Father Thomas Jefferson declared: “Hemp is of first necessity to the wealth and protection of the country.”

So what happened?

In 1937, the United States Congress decided — against the recommendation of the American Medical Association — to pass the Marijuana Tax Act. The legislation essentially banned the use of marijuana by making it excessively expensive and difficult to secure. It has been downhill ever since. That is, until the last few years where legalization of marijuana has exploded in the U.S., for both recreational and medicinal uses. For our purposes here, we’re going to look at the health benefits of the plant — which are quite impressive.

An Essential Vegetable

“It [cannabis] has captured these molecules that help our bodies regulatory system be more effective. The bottom line is it’s a dietary essential that helps all 210 cell types function more effectively. I don’t even refer to it as medicine anymore, strictly as a dietary essential.”

~ Dr. William L. Courtney

It may be a stretch for some to recognize rawcannabis as the next in-demand superfood, but Dr. Courtney, a physician with extensive medical training who specializes in the dietary uses of cannabis, presents a provocative case.

When you heat or age cannabis, Dr. Courtney believes that you lose 99% of the benefit cannabis provides. In contrast, if you consume it raw, you’ll reap the full value of the plant. Plus, raw cannabis is non-psychoactive, so you won’t experience a high — an important point for those who would like to utilize the healing aspects of cannabis without feeling drugged or off-center. This means you can also consume a much higher amount of health-promoting compounds with raw cannabis juice compared to if it was smoked or extracted as an oil, according to Dr. Courtney.

Terpenes, essential oils found in cannabis which give the plant its unique aroma, are particularly compelling.A study published in the British Journal of Pharmacology states that terpenoids are “pharmacologically versatile: they are lipophilic, interact with cell membranes, neuronal and muscle ion channels, neurotransmitter receptors, G-protein coupled (odorant) receptors, second messenger systems and enzymes.”

The researchers explored the powerful effect terpenes exert in animal tests. Limonene was found to increase serotonin in the prefrontal cortex and dopamine in the hippocampus region of the brain — both of which help fend-offdepression and feelings of stress. Moreover, limonene induces apoptosis (cell death) of breast cancer cells and demonstrated exceptional radical scavenging properties. It’s also remarkably bioavailable, rapidly metabolized and is highly non-toxic and non-sensitizing.

Myrcene is anti-inflammatory and an effective sleep aid, while pinene acts as a bronchodilator and broad spectrum antibiotic — including the destruction of lethal MRSA bacteria. Pinene also curbs inflammation. Linalool is a sedative and anticonvulsant. Caryophyllene is antimalarial, anti-inflammatory and useful in treating duodenal ulcers. Nerolidol inhibits fungal growth and protozoal parasites. Phytol increases GABA expression, resulting in a calming effect. These are just a handful of the 200 varieties of terpenes found in cannabis.

How to Enjoy More Raw Cannabis in Your Life

For a daily dose, Dr. Courtney advises juicing fifteen cannabis leaves and two buds, which is then added to a small amount of fruit or vegetable juice that is consumed throughout the day. If you would like to learn more about juicing cannabis, this article offers tips and suggestions. Keep in mind that juicing improperly may create heat, which will cause THC to form. Jeffrey C. Raber, Ph.D. also recommends having the strain of marijuana you’re using tested at a reliable and accurate lab so you know exactly what you are getting.

Article sources:

www.psychologytoday.com

www.humboldtjustice.com

www.globalhealingcenter.com

www.cannabisinternational.org

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

www.huffingtonpost.com

www.projectcbd.org

[beens-on-toast]

Practically 5% of Gaza's population is dead or injured. Most people have lost a limb or more. Some are in critical condition and will probably die from lack of fuel and medicine. Some sources say 800000 might die from hunger. Many Palestinians in the northern strip have gone without food for 3 days. And the world moves on.

The West hasn't won a single war it waged on the Middle East unless you think of kill count and complete destruction of infrastructure a win. All it has done is caused destruction, killed millions, created more radical groups, and left the countries it has invaded in economic ruin. Dear Zelensky had a wonderful taste of Western interference. He was convinced not to take a peace deal last year by Biden and Boris Johnson. 500000 Ukranians either dead or severely injured later, he requests Switzerland to write up a peace deal. All those promises of "we will stand with you till the end" to "we will stand with you for as long as we got the supply too" to "sorry your old news" cost half a million their lives. When a peace deal does come through the media will rave how Putin lost and was the one forced to make a deal. They won't mention the 500000 causalities of the war or that Zelensky drafted people as old as 70 since all their young men were either dead or so injured. They will never be able to work and live a normal life because a peace deal wasn't brokered earlier. An entire generation of men and women gone.

Anyone who thinks the West is still powerful is drinking some strong Kool Aid. Countries have surpassed the US in military strength. A million dollar missile is being used to take out 2000$ drones. Wrap your mind around that, what a trade off. For every 100 drones the Houthis send out to the Red Sea it'll cost around 100 million of missiles. And most countries are sick of being bullied. Sanctions only work for a certain length of time, it takes only a little bit of research that they only had a impact on Russia's economy for a short period, they just ended up trading with India. All tactics are ineffective and the world has realized that. And they have finally realized that it is better to be enemies with the West than to be its friend.

The only way I am able to stomach the horrors I have seen in Gaza is that they didn't die or suffer for nothing. Their deaths had an impact, it unmasked the West, showed the West has no interest in helping the "weak", that democracy and human rights is for some not all, and that the West, the boogeyman, is more afraid of the world than they are of them. Ceasefire, free Palestine, and stop the genocide.

[non-un-topo]

oh please please tell us about the next qq fic 🥺🥺🥺

Hello, beloved!!! Thank you for enabling me lmao!!

So I desperately missed writing little queer quartet adventures, but was basically brain dead and fell into a heavy post-fic depression after my last mystery fic. But I've been spinning this idea around in my head for a long time now and will very soon have time to write!! Bits and pieces will likely change, but I can tell you some things so far.

Putting this under a read-more actually because I kind of rambled and I don't want to clog the dash lol

It will take place in India in the mid 1400s. The quartet will have come from Bulgaria, escaping the consequences of a certain mistake that Quynh might have made in battle. Not a small mistake, either. They make it to northeast India and have to stop because by that point they're penniless and starving. Conveniently, there happens to be a noble Hungarian family who has settled there for not-yet-known reasons, managed by the lady of the house, lady Morana, because the lord is off fighting the Ottomans. Anyway, Morana is causing problems with the locals by demanding that they mine for ~~something, ohh~~ even though she hopes she's being a good person by supplying them with jobs and extra food. But whatever she's mining for --- which she has not actually specified --- must be really valuable because she's offering all of the house's gold and riches as a reward to whomever finds it. She has men overseeing the mines who sift through all the resources people find, who might call on anyone at any time if they happen to find the thing. Anyway -- the quartet sees this noble family (and later a very sick population of locals) and think, "hmm. We should con them and redistribute the wealth." Naturally.

Somewhere along this line (I'm still figuring it out) they, or more specifically Yusuf or Quynh, realize the lady might be looking for a fabled substance that can turn iron into gold. That's right: the philosopher's stone. So this is sort of how they try to con her. Yusuf takes on the role/disguise of an alchemist and makes fool's gold, Nico has to pretend to be a leper for a little while. It's a whole thing.

But before all of that, Quynh and Andromache both get jobs working for this family because... food and money are needed, stat. Even though Quynh is morally opposed and grumpy about it, she gets a job as a servant, hoping it will put her closer to the lady of the house so she can learn her secrets (like wtf are you digging the land for, lady). It doesn't quite. Turns out Quynh is hired specifically to assist the lady Morana's daughter, Jana, who is blind. Jana is not helpless like her mother thinks, and she is very smart and well-read. She and Quynh develop a nice little friendship and do anarchy. Andromache is hired as a swordsman to train the eldest child of the noble house, Henrik, who is 16 and acts like it.

I could talk a lot about the OCs because I just spent a few days developing them, but I'll keep it under wraps for now unless anyone wants to know dsfgfd. I just figured the canon characters are probably a lot more interesting.

Andromache will eventually get to beat up the bratty young lord (for a good reason).

Yusuf will put his artist skills to good use, and miiight come across some problems as he pretends to be an alchemist (I mean, lying about the fact that you have THE miraculous alchemical substance has consequences).

In befriending Jana, Quynh may also befriend a Mysterious Character who also works for the household, ohhhh. I was thinking a lot about GoT and HotD lol. Many mysterious spy-like characters there.

And Nicolo will discover some things about medicine that will have lasting benefits. (He might also have to amputate something in order to look like a convincing leper, but he'll get better lol).

I can tell you there will be alchemy (well, not really but you know), lepers, moral issues / grey morality, OCs I am kind of proud of, drama as usual, and very many typical queer quartet shenanigans and jokes.

Anyway uhh yes! There it is... <3 I'm still figuring out the plot and doing my research, but it's definitely cooking. It will also switch POV between the four characters, which I don't think I've done before in one fic yet! I'm aiming for Quynh to be more of the focus though. If this ends up being like 40,000 words and super niche or disorganized, oh well. I'm just happy I have a new idea <3 Thanks again!!

[rabbitcruiser]

Save The Rhino Day

Save the Rhino Day, celebrated globally on May 1, is a day centered around raising awareness of the rhino’s plight in the world, and highlighting ways to help this incredible animal. This day is especially important given the current devastating statistics — on average, one rhino is poached somewhere in the world every 22 hours. On this day, various animal rights organizations, non-profit companies, zoos, animal activists, and other concerned groups provide opportunities to encourage more rhino conservation efforts from people around the world.

History of Save The Rhino Day

To trace the origins of the Rhinoceros, we’d have to go back some millennia — almost 56 million years ago, to be precise. That’s when the first ancestors of the modern Rhinos roamed the planet. They were more horse-like in structure and had no horns. Old rhino bones found from this period in North America show a gradual evolution from this old horse-like structure into one more aligned with today’s rhino. Over these years, there were three distinct species that scientists think might be the ancestors of today’s rhinos. One of these was called the ‘running rhino,’ which was adapted for speed.

Another was more aquatic and resembled today’s hippopotamus. The last, most direct ancestors to the modern rhinoceros appeared approximately 25 million years ago and had multiple sub-species in their families. Of these, the wooly rhinoceros was one of the largest subspecies, weighing in at almost four times the size of the average African elephant, and boasting one-meter-long horns. This species inhabited a large area, from Siberia to the British Isles. These plant-eaters lived alongside the wooly mammoths, and have been found fossilized in ice and in cave paintings made during that period.

These rhinos only lived in Asia initially but began traveling to other places around 25 million years ago. Over time, these rhino ancestors roamed the continents, primarily living in Eurasia (Europe and Asia combined) and North America. However, the American rhinos went extinct sometime between 5.4 and 2.4 million years ago.

Rhinos have also featured in many Asian and African legends — they are the fire-stamping heroes in many stories from Burma, India, and Malaysia. According to these stories, rhinos appeared every time a fire was lit in the forest and would stamp out the flames. So popular is this tale that it even featured in a popular 1980 South-African movie named “The Gods Must Be Crazy.”

Unfortunately, these once-abundant creatures have lost out to human activity. Hunting, and now, poaching and habitat loss, have drastically reduced the number of rhinos across the world. Rhino horns are also integral to traditional medicine in many parts of Asia, with people believing it has mystical powers. Since 2007, there has been a sharp increase in poaching activity and illegal trade of rhino horns, to the extent that many subspecies of rhinos have been declared extinct and the entire rhino population is listed as ‘endangered’.

Save The Rhino Day timeline

1973

A Symbol of Queer Identity

Two Boston artists, Daniel Thaxton and Bernie Toale create a lavender rhinoceros as a symbol to increase awareness of gays and lesbians and put it in a series of subway posters.

2011

No More Black Rhinos

The Western Black Rhino — which used to live in Cameroon, Chad, the Central African Republic, Sudan, and South Sudan — is declared extinct because of excessive poaching.

2012

A Ray of Hope

For the very first time, a Sumatran rhino — the smallest of the rhino family — is born in captivity in the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Indonesia; this miracle repeats in 2016, and then in 2022.

2018

A Sad Farewell

The world bids goodbye to the last known male northern white rhino; only two females survive to this day.

Save The Rhino Day FAQs

What day is World Rhino Day?

On September 22 each year, the global community celebrates the rhinoceros and explains what people can do to help them.

How many rhino species are there?

At present, there are five species of rhinos in the world — the white rhino and the black rhino (both found in Africa), and the Indian, Javan, and Sumatran (all found in Asia).

Are rhinos endangered?

The black, Javan, and Sumatran rhinos are still listed as ‘critically endangered,’ while the entire species is classified as ‘endangered.’

How to Observe Save The Rhino Day

Learn about the rhinoceros: Uncover more interesting information about this magnificent animal. Watch documentaries featuring the rhino, read books and other literature about them, and discover more studies and research that show just how the rhino lives.

Visit a rhino: Why not go see a rhinoceros in real life? Check out rhinos at a local zoo or plan a trip to visit rhinos in the wild.

Help save the rhino: Research the efforts various groups make towards saving the rhino, and check out what you can do to help. These could include online volunteering services, donations of funds, and more.

5 Fun Facts About The Rhinoceros

The rhino communication method: Rhinos make funny sounds — like snorting, sneeze-like sounds, and even honking — and use their bodily waste to 'speak' to other rhinos.

They don't have 20-20 vision: Rhino eyesight is notoriously poor, so much so that if an animal only 100 feet away — in an open space, too — stood motionless, the rhino wouldn't be able to spot them.

How the white rhino got its name: This rhino isn't actually white — English explorers mistook the Afrikaans 'wyd,' which refers to the huge girth of this animal, as 'white' and the name stuck.

Their horns are like our nails: Rhino horns are made up almost entirely of keratin, which is also the protein found in human hair and nails.

And still, people steal their horns: Even as rhino horns are proven to have no health benefits, signs in museums — like the National Museum of Scotland — notify visitors that the horn on display is a replica, as the real one has been stolen.

Why Save The Rhino Day is Important

It helps increase awareness: Rhinos are becoming increasingly rare in the wild, and only continuous efforts to raise awareness, like celebrating Save The Rhino Day, can help this endangered species. Do your bit today to support rhinos.

Creating safe havens for rhinos: The spike in awareness such days provide also subsequently raises the amount of help being offered to save the rhinos. These increased efforts could help secure various safe and protected spaces for the rhino to survive and thrive.

Building a rhino-loving community: Conservation efforts have had a significant impact in the past — various subspecies of rhinos have seen their numbers gradually increase over the years as a result of these activities. After these celebrations, we are left with a passionate and motivated global community that wants to see the rhinoceros flourish in the decades to come.

Source

[strtrk]

Please amplify Doha's story! Doha is a 19-year-old Palestinian student studying English literature. She's an immensely talented writer. Doha's campaign has been verified by Operation Olive Branch. I've been messaging her via Instagram, and she's told me how much she enjoys reading Japanese literature. Please read Doha's story below:

"Dear Fellow Human Beings,

My name is Doha Hassan, and I want to live.

I’m a Palestinian college student from Rafah, the southern most border in Gaza. Over the past four months I’ve seen the Israeli bombardment on Gaza creep closer and closer to my home.

I am nineteen years old, and I have hopes; I have dreams. I am passionate about reading and learning; and I have so many plans for my life, many of which came to a halt when Israel destroyed my university where I studied English literature. My youngest sister, Dana, is in kindergarten, Leen is in sixth grade and Ameer is in high school. I and my sister Raghad are university students.

Due to the destruction of universities, including my own, I have fallen behind my peers in education. Despite being a second-year college student, I am determined to start afresh and apply for a scholarship abroad. But I also need to be reassured that my family is safe.

Instead of being able to study and enjoy my time with my family, we have found ourselves living in dire conditions imposed by Israel’s genocidal war. Daily airstrikes and bombings have persisted for over four months, depriving us of sleep and leaving us traumatized. This is in addition to having endured 17 years of a siege during which Israel has continued to block essential supplies including food, fuel, drinking water, medicine, and electricity. As resources dwindle, even the most basic necessities become scarce and we often endure long queues just to obtain flour from UNRWA, when it’s available. But since the United States began its campaign to abolish UNRWA even that has become impossible.

Our challenges intensified when my sister fell ill and we were unable to access proper medical care due to Israel’s obliteration of Gaza’s entire hospital infrastructure. Despite our struggles, we opened our doors to provide shelter for displaced friends and family in northern Gaza, sharing what little we had with them and remaining resilient in the face of adversity. There are currently 1.5 million such internally displaced Palestinians in Rafah.

After two months, resources in Gaza became more scarce, compelling us to manually grind wheat to make bread and ration our meals to make ends meet. The hunger crisis gripping Gaza worsened, leaving us sleepless at night as we have been enduring relentless airstrikes and bombings. With gas supplies depleted, we have resorted to cooking and baking bread using coal, exacerbating my father and sister’s respiratory issues.

Despite our resilience, the looming threat is on my family’s doorstep as a ground invasion of Rafah is imminent. We’re not sure which will get us first: Israel’s genocidal war or Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon against Palestinians in Gaza.

We have been hoping against hope that there would be a lasting ceasefire, but the urgency of our situation has compelled us to seek safety in Egypt.

Your generosity and support can make a huge difference in saving our lives. The only way out of Gaza is through the Rafah border, which requires a fee of $7,000 for each adult and $3,500 for each child. The total amount for my family to get out of Gaza is $45,000. My family consists of 5 adults and 2 children. The horror we are living through is unimaginable. The non-stop air strikes and bombings have changed our lives to a battle of everyday survival.

Every contribution, regardless of its size, will help ensure our safe journey out of Rafah towards a more secure place in Egypt. Your generosity will provide us with an opportunity to reconstruct our lives.

With gratitude,

Doha"

[zealouscanonindeer]

This is a continuation of Holmes and Emily's adventures. This series will be narrated in Holmes and Emily's Pov. Enjoy!

Series Masterlist

1. Ladies and letters

Sherlock Holmes:

"Really, Holmes," Watson chided, "She's half your age."

This was not entirely accurate - not that Watson paid excessive attention to facts in the sensationalised accounts that he sent to the Strand. Hyperbole, it seemed, was a writer's best friend.

"You're acting like I'm some lovesick suitor trying to win her over with charm and affection," I replied tartly, examining my nails with what I hoped was a sufficient air of indifference to the topic, "two qualities for which you know very well I am not famous. I believe you are simply imagining something that does not exist, and it's getting rather tiring. I would like for you to drop it." I was not in the mood to discuss the matter any further, for my ribs injured during a recent case had not yet entirely ceased to ache.

Said topic, of course, was a young lady of my acquaintance, one Miss Emily Cartwright, whom Watson seemed to think had quite turned my head. Of course, the very idea was absolute rot - the day that simple lust brought on by a pretty face overtakes the precision of my mind is the day that Watson leaves medicine once and for all and takes up professional dart-playing.

This is not, of course, to say that Miss Cartwright - or Emily, as she has insisted I call her - is an unattractive young woman. Though she generally wears her molasses-brown hair in a proper chignon or even a French twist, I have had occasion (though not on purpose) to see it loose, and the image has, strangely, stayed with me till now. Her build is slender and finely-boned, but woe betide anyone who thinks her overly delicate for it - this, of course, has included me. In addition, she has proven her intelligence more than once, possessing a level of rationality keener than is representative of her sex, and she never ceases to surprise me.

She also has managed to drive me up the wall more than once, for despite her keen mind she is also rather hot-tempered and capricious, and not the sort to give up without a fight, either physically or verbally. The last time I saw her, in fact, she still bore the fading marks of a split lip, testament to an encounter we'd had with a crooked deliveryman.

"Holmes, are you even listening to me?" Watson broke into my train of thought. In the course of my reflections I had managed to tune him out briefly, something which never ceases to annoy him.

"Yes," I replied, "And I think you're being silly."

"If I'm being so silly, why haven't you opened any of her letters?"

I allowed my gaze to briefly regard the small stack of unopened envelopes resting benignly on the corner of the mantel. There were five of them, addressed in her elegant script (Fountain pen, fine brass nib, black India ink, slightly smudged from the heel of her dominant left hand briefly resting on the wet ink) and sealed (teal green sealing wax - I could probably hunt down the vendor if I cared to do so - there were only three vendors that I knew of who sold this peculiar shade), with the topmost envelope (fine-quality paper with a medium cotton content) lightly scented (predominantly lilac, with perhaps a hint of jasmine). Why should I open them? I could determine practically everything from the sealed envelopes.

No – I must be honest. I could determine everything but a rational reason not to open them. They'd sat on the mantel (I thought it slightly obscene to impale them on the jack-knife along with the rest of my correspondence) with all the quiet menace of Pandora's Box, had the contents been sent through the post rather than bestowed by the gods for safekeeping.

"My mail is my business," I informed Watson, "And I shall open it whenever I wish."

Watson huffed a long-suffering sigh at me and, shaking his head in amused disbelief, opened his newspaper.

Finally, as a compromise, I resolved that if she wrote me a sixth letter, I would open all of them.

No sooner was the thought formed in my mind than Mrs Hudson came upstairs with the evening mail. It contained two letters, one from Inspector Lestrade - and one from Emily.

Blast it.

Emily Cartwright:

Where to begin?

I suppose I could begin by telling you my life story up to this point, and in fact I could even make it interesting, but I have found most habitual autobiographers to be rather egotistical, assuming that everyone wishes to know such an awful lot about them that they write it all down and have it bound in a ponderous volume that subsequently accomplishes little more than continually reaffirming the law of gravity until such time (I have yet to discover the exact interval, but between fifty and a hundred years sounds right) as it is declared a classic and force-fed to a whole generation of literature students.

So I shall simply adhere to more recent events, such as my current acquaintance with a certain Englishman who hails from the neighbourhood of Baker Street and who happens to be mildly famous.

Most people, on reflecting upon the character of Mr Sherlock Holmes, would describe him as arrogant, overbearing, and altogether too logical for his own good. His ways are rigid, they say, his manner is cold, and besides which quite unsociable toward most people. (Rumours abound, paradoxically, about the fact that he freely accepts as clients Those Women who work from street-corners and brothels.)

I have found him to be quite polite and well-mannered, if a bit reserved towards women. He can be rather abrupt at times, a trait which takes some getting used to, but once one is in his confidence he can be a fierce ally and a close friend (I am put in mind of the series of events which led to him attacking a very large man who was manhandling yours truly in a trouser role).

In terms of appearance he is no Adonis, with his angular build and avian profile, but he is handsome enough to put most people at ease (my father being a glaring exception, but he is another matter entirely), and his neutral (some would say stony) countenance makes a delightful puzzle of trying to figure out what is going on in that tidily ordered mind of his.

His best features, in my opinion, are his hands, with the slender fingers of an artist and the delicate touch of a surgeon. Granted, they are as often as not marked by burns and stains, but these are the calluses of his trade.

Most of all, what sets Holmes apart from most men I've met in London is the fact that he doesn't try to impress me with wealth (of which he has very little) or promises of pampering (which I wouldn't accept) or even simple doting affection (which would either make me quite ill or suspect that he was ill). He sets the rules and expects me to follow them - or rather, he *doesn't* expect me to be able to follow them, so he is surprised when I call his bluff. It has, I think, become a game between us - he pushes, and I push back. He forms certain expectations of my abilities, and I cheerfully defy them. It keeps things interesting - or it would if he weren't being so damned stubborn right now in not replying to my letters. I don't think he means anything by it, of course - one could accuse Sherlock Holmes of many things, but deliberate and wilful incivility is not one of them.

[hongjoongscafe]

Cancer awareness.

So last time someone asked me whether we celebrate Diwali or not I replied that we won't be this year since my uncle (my mother's brother) is on a ventilator. This was 11th November. On 13th November, my uncle passed away due to cancer.

Nobody knew he had cancer before. So let me take you on a journey of about four and a half months of cancer.

–July 2023.

So my uncle had a “wound” around his wisdom tooth. He was in pain and consulted a dentist 1. This dentist has done all the dental stuff in our family/relatives. A really good one. He said that it was an ulcer and it would be fine and gave some painkillers and other medicine to help it heal.

However, that did not work out and the pain only got worse. My uncle changed the doctor and went to the dentist 2. Now, this dentist is a well-known doctor and works in a very expensive hospital. And he has a clinic of his own. He said that they needed to extract the wisdom teeth. And after that, it will heal. So they did that.

The pain did not stop but it only got worse for even worse.

–August 2023.

When he did not get any relief, my uncle went to another hospital (which is one of the top hospitals in India). They did the scanning and we found out that he had stage 1 cancer in his mouth.

The doctors recommended he should get it operated and removed. So they did that. It was a shock for doctors that when they were operating on him, they found that it was not only in his mouth but in his throat as well. It looked like it started in the throat and its roots went towards his mouth.

They declared that it was not the first stage but the fifth stage of cancer.

Then his chemotherapy and radiation began. He was getting weaker quite faster since his upper jaw was operated on and he was on a liquid diet.

The treatment went on. He was fine at the beginning. Doing minor chores or taking himself to appointments. That did not last long.

–October 2023.

His health got worse and he was completely in bed. His breath would shorten even if went to the toilet which was just one step from his side. It would take minutes on minutes to get his breath at a normal rate.

It was around 14th October. We were there. My aunt helped my uncle bathe but things were not good. His breath was way too short and you could see his stomach getting sucked in when he was trying to breathe.

The next day was the day he was hospitalized.

The doctors said that his lungs were filled with water because of some infection which, to date, is not known.

They started taking out the water. They would fill many bottles every day. It was abnormal, to say the least, that there was that much water in his lungs.

–November 2023.

During that time, they took his bone marrow and tested it. Just to find out the cancer has spread in his bones as well. The doctors did another test whose results took almost a week to come back. The doctors said that if this test was positive, they can do another treatment which was basically the last thing they could do to save his life.

The test came out to be positive. And they prepared the injection. They took him to the ICU in order to keep him under observation for 24 hours according to the protocol of that injection.

This injection was supposed to extend his life by 2 years (maximum). This was an expensive injection costing ₹2,00,000 and this was to be given every three weeks.

Things didn't turn out well.

His health deteriorated. He already had a kidney problem for a long. His kidney doctors had asked him to buy a plot just in case they needed to perform a kidney transplant.

His creatinine increased dangerously and doctors suggested dylasis. They did that too. However, nothing worked and finally after two days, on 13th November, he took his last breath.

.

I made this post to share something that happened to us recently. Never have any of us thought this would happen to our close relatives/family. Cancer is a tricky thing.

The main fault was of Dentist 2 that he pulled his tooth out. Cancer attacks faster when it is touched. He should have taken cautionary steps while treating.

What's done is done. He can't come back and we hope he finds peace.

I just want to share this so you are aware of it. Always get proper tests done. Never take things lightly. Even if you see minor symptoms of anything, get it checked. I don't know what to say right now. But at least let's stay healthy and cautious.

Cancer is a sneaky nightmare. It took someone so close to us within a few months. It was a horrible and haunting thing.

I hope nothing like this happens to any of you. I love you guys so please let's stay healthy. Look after your friends, family, and yourself. Life is too short for regrets❤️.

[xtruss]

The Comic-Book Aesthetic Comes of Age in “Across the Spider-Verse”

The Spider-Man sequel might be the first superhero film to take full advantage of what comic-book art can achieve onscreen.

— By Stephanie Burt | June 14, 2023

Each of the Spiders in “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” brings not just an art style but a personality and a backstory.Art work by Aymeric Kevin / Courtesy Sony Pictures

The latest comic-book movie associated with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” certainly knows what kind of film it is. Most of the movie follows Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy, two animated teen-aged Spider-People, but, for the sake of the fandom, live actors from live-action blockbusters make surprise cameos. Gwen quips at one point that Doctor Strange—last seen in the M.C.U.’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”—should not practice medicine. Miles’s high-school roommate references another audience favorite, “Spider-Man: Homecoming” (2017), when he tells Miles, “I’m not your guy in the chair.” Inevitably, there is a meme-inspired scene of Spider-Man pointing at Spider-Man. This is the kind of self-aware fan fodder that, in lesser films, might feel tired.

And yet “Across the Spider-Verse,” which came out on June 2nd, does something that no live-action superhero movie has done before—or can do. It leans hard into, and emulates onscreen, the storytelling devices and the visual flair that make comic books special. Even more than its predecessor, “Into the Spider-Verse” (2018), the film feels designed to show young people, many of whom were raised on superhero movies, why they might care about the comics that launched these characters. It does this so well that, at a time when some Marvel movies haven’t been doing so hot at the box office, “Across the Spider-Verse” has already raked in nearly four hundred million dollars. At 7 p.m. on a Wednesday night, with local schools still in session, my seventh grader and I found most of the seats in our suburban multiplex full.

The first scene in the movie reintroduces us to Miles’s long-distance best friend, Gwen Stacy of Earth-65, a.k.a. Spider-Gwen (voiced by Hailee Steinfeld). Her world looks painterly, as if rendered by brushes and pastels; she often appears in Expressionist shades of blue and pink. That’s how the rest of the film will roll: each Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, or Spider-Villain, and each new Earth on which they live, has its own eye-popping art style. Miles (voiced by Shameik Moore), a Black Puerto Rican physics star who draws in all his notebooks, inhabits a world that evokes hip-hop album covers and graffiti. Miguel O’Hara, or Spider-Man 2099, comes with clean lines, techno details, and RoboCop vibes. Spider-Byte appears as a glowing avatar like the nineteen-eighties film “Tron.” Pavitr Prabhakar, a.k.a. Spider-Man India, swings through his home city of Mumbattan, all tropical colors and curvy architecture. (When characters move between dimensions, they pass through a portal made of hexagons—a basic geometric unit of Hollywood animation.)

Almost all of these characters existed in comic books before they hit the screen, and, crucially, all of them have what the scholar Hillary Chute identifies as the core property of comics: they look like somebody chose to draw them. They bear the mark of their creators’ hands. The Spot, a villain who sets the movie’s main plot in motion, looks like a blank page splattered with ink; each of his splotches opens up a little wormhole, in the same way that the pen stroke of a comic can open up another world. The animators of the film owe a lot to Marvel’s comic artists: the credits thank a “Black Panther” illustrator, Brian Stelfreeze; a co-creator of Miguel O’Hara, Rick Leonardi; and the nineteen-eighties titan Bill Sienkiewicz. All three have contributed to the making of “Across the Spider-Verse.”

The film’s version of Miguel O’Hara (voiced by Oscar Isaac) behaves like a stern, bad Spider-Dad. He resolves to stop Miles from disrupting something called a Canon Event—a plot development so important that it has to happen in every parallel world, lest the entire universe be at risk. “You break enough canons,” Miguel warns, “and we could lose everything.” He sounds almost like a Marvel Comics editor, telling writers that they can’t go too far. (One writer, Grant Morrison, called their longest project at Marvel “more like a prison than a playground.”) In the tradition of print comics, the film offers explanatory notes in 2-D colored boxes; some of them, in an homage to the comics of the nineteen-seventies, are even signed “--Ed.,” for editor.

Like all the best teen superhero comics, “Across the Spider-Verse” hints, or more than hints, at real-life dual identities. The colors that tend to accompany Gwen, blue and pink, are the colors of the transgender flag. A poster in her bedroom says “protect trans kids,” and her father, a police officer who initially has no idea that she is Spider-Gwen, sports a trans-flag pin on his uniform. Gwen tells Miles that her parents “only know half of who I am.” She also wears her hair in an asymmetrical undercut—which, my seventh grader told me, is often a sign of trans or nonbinary identity among Gen Z. (It should not be confused with a half-and-half, my seventh grader added.)

Miles and Gwen both have well-intentioned cops for dads, who try hard but can’t seem to stop enforcing rules. In one scene, Miles tells his father, “Men of your generation ignore their mental health too long.” In part for this reason, Miles and Gwen feel the kind of solidarity that young people can share only with one another. When they finally get some tender alone time above a twilit Brooklyn, Gwen asks Miles, “How many people can you talk to about this stuff?” He tells her, “You don’t even know.” That’s what happens when trans people meet one another, too—something that the Internet pointed out right away. (This isn’t the sole Spider-Man film to be interpreted as an L.G.B.T.Q.+ allegory; some viewers saw Tom Holland’s Spidey as transmasculine, too.)

“Across the Spider-Verse” is a sequel, but it’s arguably the first superhero film to take such full advantage of what comic-book art can achieve. At the Guggenheim Museum, Gwen has to fight a version of an old Spidey villain, the Vulture, who looks, in her words, like a “big flying turkey from the Renaissance.” He’s drawn in the style of ink on parchment, with the scratchy, busy lines you’d expect from a goose-quill pen. He’s not just from another Earth but from a different artistic universe. Elsewhere, several Spider-People chase Miles across the body of a rocket and up what appears to be a space elevator. Theoretically, C.G.I. could help live actors imitate some of these stunts—but not in such colors, and not with such dynamism and glee. In another sequence, Miles races a moving subway train while he fights a pangolin-esque villain, who rolls up in an armored ball. In a live-action film, the scene would cost a ton and still look cheesy. With animation this artful, it’s all part of the fun.

Comics are at their core a visual medium. “Everyone’s first response to your work will be to the visual aspect,” Brian Michael Bendis, the co-creator of Miles Morales, wrote, in his 2014 book about creating comics, “Words for Pictures.” In a comic, the script has to serve the art, which in turn has to serve the characters. And this script does. Each of the Spiders brings not just an art style but a personality and a backstory: tragedy for Miguel, teen heartbreak for Gwen, dad jokes for Peter B. Parker, that lovable sad sack from “Into the Spider-Verse.” (There’s even a Spider-Baby.) Each character and each gadget—one is called a Go-Home Machine—says something about generational change. Today’s kids may feel that they can’t live up to adult expectations and still be themselves. Where, if anywhere, can they find heroes?

Maybe Gen Z could find them in superhero comics, but it’s not clear that they’re reading many. The best-selling U.S. single-issue comic book of all time remains “X-Men No. 1,” published in 1991, which moved more than eight million units; in the past ten years, the best-selling superhero comics have tallied half a million instead. “The captive audiences of the pandemic era are out doing other things,” the comics journalist Heidi MacDonald wrote this year. When Zoomers read comics, it’s often via online platforms such as Tapas and Webtoon, which span genres from high fantasy to romance, or else in all-ages, slice-of-life graphic novels. (“Guts,” by Raina Telgemeier, was America’s most-purchased book—not comic book, book—one week in September, 2019.) “Across the Spider-Verse” could help to boost printed comics. Marvel has leaned hard on movies to promote Spider- titles, including the made-for-mobile online comic “Spider-Verse Unlimited.” Viewers who want to read stories that look like the Spider-Verse might also check out recent issues of “New Mutants,” by Vita Ayala and Rod Reis, in which feelings are more important than fisticuffs, and the expressive art fits the strong emotions.

“Across the Spider-Verse” is full of astonishing action, but a quiet scene midway through, when Miles and Gwen finally get a moment together above Brooklyn, might be the most affecting in the film. It lets viewers—including my rapt seventh grader—contemplate what young people want from one another, what they can never get from adults. Perhaps it’s a budding romance. Perhaps it’s trans bonding. These moments set up the conflict that comes later, when Miguel O’Hara tells Miles what he must do for the multiverse, and Miles, facing a superhero-level trolley problem, just says no. And the whole thing takes place, beautifully, with Brooklyn inverted: Miles and Gwen, using their tenderness, and also their powers, conduct the whole conversation upside down. ♦