#save elephant foundation

[elephantaday]

Day 735 of posting pictures of elephants.

Source: Lesly Fisher (Save Elephant Foundation)

[thepastisalreadywritten]

26 February 2024

🐘👏🩶

[nanaminokanojo]

Between 7:00pm and 8:31pm | gojo x you

TW/CW: mentions of death/dying | shibuya arc | misanthropic thoughts | just angst | strong language

"For the greater good? Fuck that."

Four pairs of eyes simultaneously darted towards you, devoid of judgment. More or less, they understood what you were getting at, but you knew what they meant without words. You weren't supposed to say that. Such was your duty and purpose as a jujutsu sorcerer. But you did anyway, giving a voice to the white elephant in the room, acknowledging what everyone was afraid to even give a single moment's thought.

The greater good? Who does it serve anyway? At whose expense? Your friends' lives? Why? Because you were stronger than the rest of humanity? The strongest for the preservation of the lives of the weak?

You were strong. That should be the end of the conversation. You didn't owe anyone for it. You chose to be strong, and those who were born like you weren't there to play the role of anyone's savior just because they have the means.

Fushiguro Megumi was right: you weren't heroes. You may choose whom you want to save. Your addition to that was the fact that you can choose whether to save others or not. That's the cold, hard truth you wanted to live by without having to apologize for it, but that would shake the very foundations the jujutsu society stood for.

You looked towards Gojo. You knew he was looking at you even with his blindfold on and the lack of physical indication that his attention was on you. And somehow, it seemed to weigh more than any of the looks every one else in the room gave you. It angered you that he was resigned to it all when he was the best out of all of you, the strongest, the honored one. He can do whatever the hell he wants and yet he was there with you, wholeheartedly accepting orders to deal with whatever was happening in Shibuya at the moment.

Alone.

"Now isn't the time to –" Nanami spoke, and you usually wouldn't dare with the degree of respect you held for him, but you interrupted him.

"No, seriously. What does this have to do with us?" you asked, stunning them further. You looked at Nanami who was able to escape this life but came back anyway, confusion and rage glimmering in your eyes despite your calm manner. He could have a good life away from everything, but what the hell was he doing there?

And now they're thinking of sending Gojo alone to play along with whatever schemes the enemies are brewing? They're letting him walk into something that – although he was possibly capable of putting an end to – was, by all means, a trap? You refused to stand for it.

You didn't understand. Ever since you were a child, you were taught and trained to become what you are: a jujutsu sorcerer before you were a human; a tool for this greater good – whatever that meant – before you're a feeling, living being. But as time passed by, watching all the people you knew, good ones, lose their lives for this one-track cause, the less you knew. Why do you have to save them? Lives begin and end. It's just there. Why should those people's lives matter more than yours did? Because they're good? On whose standards?

"Y/N," Yaga warned, evidently seeing the ghost of someone he thought he knew well from last year. "This has already been decided by the higher-ups."

"And nobody dared question it?"

"You're treading dangerous waters there," the principal stated, raising his voice. "This is what we do. It's what you chose to do. Have you come to resent it?"

"There lies my mistake."

Shoko placed a hand on your shoulder. "You don't mean that."

"Geto was right." There, you said it, distabilizing the very principles you all stood for.

"Don't go there –"

You gave everyone a sweeping glare, silencing even Yaga. "His methods will never be right, but he knew what he was talking about." You chuckled bitterly. "He always did. And now he's gone."

You started walking out of the room but paused by the bench where Gojo was seated, still looking unbothered. "I never cared that you were the strongest. To me, you're just Satoru."

You looked behind your shoulder. "That applies to you all."

"Where are you going?" Nanami asked.

"You will excuse me if I do not wish to have a hand in murdering my friends or myself for that matter."

**

"You underestimate me."

You blew the cigarette smoke you were holding in as you stared at the clear signs of veils laid out over the busy streets of Shibuya from where you stood on a building rooftop. Without acknowledging the presence behind you, you finished the last drag of smoke, the burn in your throat and lungs feeling better than all your bitter thoughts and feelings towards the world you've come to know.

"'Just Satoru', eh?"

"You're purposefully being an idiot if you didn't understand what I meant by that." You glanced at Gojo when he came close enough. "Even more so if you think I'll ever underestimate you."

He chuckled. "So, you don't want me to go?" he asked in that melodic, carefree voice, slightly bending down towards the side as if he needed that to take a better look at you. "You have so little faith –"

"Faith, I have too much in you, not because you're strong, but because you are you. What I don't have is sympathy or trust for anyone who thinks they can rely on you all the time to straighten things out."

"And proud?" You let out a humorless laugh. "There's nothing to be proud of in death. There's never any ounce of dignity in it whether you die saving others or if you get snuffed out meaninglessly. It all ends the same way."

His weirdly glossy lips protruded at your sentiment. "Aren't you proud that people are able rely on us?"

"This is wrong." Everything was conveyed in those three words you uttered without any need for elaboration. Gojo merely smiled.

"So, you're scared of dying?"

"No. Dying is easy. That's all where we're headed at one point. You know what's terrifying though?"

"What?"

You finally looked at him. "Giving your life to this cause knowing it changes nothing."

"How very nihilistic."

You shrugged. "A hundred years from now, curses will still be around, kept alive by the very beings we're fighting for at present. And for what? For future generations who will produce curses, stronger and harder to fathom and defeat? All because they can't accept they're just products of a chance in their search to have higher purpose and superiority in life.

We ourselves are cursed. We control that very form of energy to prevent it from evolving into monsters, but it eats us up for the very same reasons."

"Those reasons being...?"

"We're stronger so perhaps we should be responsible for protecting lives around us. Whoever thought of that was fucking cocky, but really, who are we kidding, Gojo?"

He snickered, no doubt thrilled by your unfiltered thoughts. After him, you were probably the biggest thorn on the higher-ups' side with your radical thoughts, at least by their standards. But he still wanted you to jump all the hoops. "Thus your belief that Suguru was right?"

"I'm worse than him. I just don't act on it. I'm super sold on the fact that humans are the scum of the earth, sorcerer or not."

"You're human and a sorcerer?" he pointed out, trying to vex you.

"Exactly."

Gojo patted your head. "And yet you're still here for the very purpose you dare spit on."

You smirked at him. "I don't want you to have to kill another one of your friends for insubordination and subscribing to the ideologies of our realm's Lord Voldemort."

"Suguru had hair and a nose though?"

"He's prettier, too, that cult-leading fucker, but not the point, dumbass."

It was both funny and sad how you speak of the fallen Geto Suguru so fondly as if he didn't kickstart the most massive chaos in recent jujutsu history. But like Gojo, to you, he was just Suguru.

Just then, Gojo pulled you into his long arms, giving you a bear hug that annoyed you more than anything. "You've always been our sweetest Y/N even if you act like Ryomen Sukuna's spawn."

You pushed Gojo off of you, straightening your hair out in irritation. "He's my ancestor after all."

You both made disgusted faces at that little detail about you, but as always, Gojo was quick to recover into his cheerful façade. "Don't worry. I'll be back."

He said that, but not even an hour later, you were hearing Itadori Yuuji screaming from the top of a building in the middle of the deserted Shibuya.

Gojo Satoru has been sealed by none other than the very person – or at least whatever now resides in him – whose beliefs you agreed were right.

[funnywildlife]

Eye Spy Peekaboo Leopard 🐆 stunningly captured by conservation #wildographydudette, author & birthday girl @karinvancouwenberg. Brilliant Books: Magic of Botswana & Magic of Hope, proceeds of which will go to Jane Goodall Roots & Shoots @janegoodalluk as well as Save The Elephant @savetheelephants foundations. * ・・・ Instafollow #birthdaygirl @karinvancouwenberg for regular updates, books, prints & inspiration. Karin Van Couwenberg Wildlife Photography https://www.wildlife-photography.be/ * #Wildography #WildographyandSafaris #AfricanSafaris #wildlifephotography #leopard #featuredwildographer #karinvancouwenberg #femalephotographers https://www.instagram.com/p/CqQ-etpsyrB/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[eddieredmayneargentinablog]

New post: Broadway Barks! 🐕🐶

Over 30 Celebrity Presenters Will Join Bernadette Peters and Sutton Foster for Broadway Barks

The annual pet adoption event will be held later this summer in Shubert Alley.

Celebrity participants have been announced for the annual pet adoption event in Shubert Alley, Broadway Barks, which will once again be hosted by Tony winners Bernadette Peters and Sutton Foster.

As previously reported, the 26th annual dog and cat adoption celebration—founded by Peters and the late Mary Tyler Moore—will be held August 3. The day kicks off at 3 PM, and celebrity presentations of the adoptable pets from 25 participating rescue groups and shelters will begin at 5 PM and continue to 6:30 PM.

Newly announced for the event are celebrity presenters Eric Anderson (The Great Gatsby), Philippe Arroyo (& Juliet), Jeannette Bayardelle (& Juliet), Shoshana Bean (Hell’s Kitchen), Dan Berry (The Outsiders), Maya Boyd (& Juliet), Stan Brown (Water for Elephants), Andréa Burns (The Notebook The Musical), Andrew R. Butler (Stereophonic), John Cardoza (The Notebook The Musical), Gabriela Carrillo (Six), Victoria Clark (Kimberly Akimbo), Jenn Colella (Suffs), Joe De Paul (Water for Elephants), Olivia Donalson (Six), Gregg Edelman (Water for Elephants), Jordan Fisher  (Hadestown),  Jasmine Forsberg (Six), Sara Gettelfinger  (Water for Elephants), Dorian Harewood (The Notebook The Musical), Nikki M. James (Suffs), Jeremy Jordan (The Great Gatsby), Sky Lakota-Lynch (The Outsiders), Storm Lever (Six), Isabelle McCalla (Water for Elephants), Wade McCollum (Water for Elephants), Paul Alexander Nolan (Water for Elephants), Brad Oscar (Wicked), Emma Pittman (The Outsiders), Maryann Plunkett (The Notebook The Musical), Eddie Redmayne (Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club), Jelani Remy (Back to the Future), Didi Romero (Six), Adi Roy (Aladdin), Austin Scott (& Juliet), Christopher Sieber (Death Becomes Her), Jennifer Simard (Death Becomes Her), Emily Skinner (Suffs), Steven Skybell (Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club), Alexandra Socha (Wicked), Dennis Stowe (Aladdin), Justin David Sullivan (& Juliet), Paulo Szot (& Juliet), Jordan Tyson (The Notebook The Musical), Michael Urie (Once Upon a Mattress), Ben Jackson Walker (& Juliet), Khaila Wilcoxon (Six), Betsy Wolfe (& Juliet), and Joy Woods (The Notebook The Musical).

Proceeds from the event benefit the participating shelters and rescue groups: 1 Love 4 Animals, Abandoned Angels Cocker Spaniels Rescue, Adopt A Boxer Rescue, Animal Care Centers of NYC, Anjellicle Cats Rescue, Best Friends Animal Society, Bideawee, Bobbi and the Strays, City Critters, Francis’s Friends, Hearts & Bones Rescue, Husky House, Linda’s Cat Assistance, Little Shelter, Long Island Bulldog Rescue, Mid-Atlantic Great Dane Rescue League, Muddy Paws Rescue, North Shore Animal League, Pet ResQ Inc., Save Kitty Foundation, Second Chance Rescue, SPCA of Westchester, Urban Cat League, and Yankee Golden Retriever Rescue.

Foster first co-hosted with Peters in 2022. Both are returning to Broadway later this season: Foster in the revival of Once Upon a Mattress and Peters in Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends.

Since its inception in 1998, approximately 85% of the more than 2,000 cats and dogs showcased in Broadway Barks have found forever homes. Visit BroadwayBarks.org.

Broadway Cares is one of the nation’s leading industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations. By drawing upon the talents, resources, and generosity of the American theatre community, since 1988 Broadway Cares has raised more than $300 million for essential services for people affected by HIV/AIDS, COVID-19 and other critical illnesses across the United States. Visit BroadwayCares.org.

[thecreaturecodex]

Yin Shu

Image © @a-book-of-creatures​, accessed at A Book of Creatures here

[The consonite choir, and my fondness for semi-mundane details of fantastic landscapes inspired this entry. The worlds of fantasy RPGs are filled with subterranean predators ready to eat player characters... but what else do they eat? Where are the herbivores? Forgotten Realms has the rothe, sort of subterranean yaks, and Pathfinder’s Darklands at least has some herbivorous dinosaurs down in the Vaults of Orv, but herbivores are still definitely few and far between. Hence the “hidden mouse”, a Chinese entity that explains where mammoth bones and tusks come from in a worldview without prehistoric elephants roaming around in the recent past.]

Yin Shu CR 4 N Magical Beast This enormous creature resembles a vole the size of an elephant. It has short clawed legs and large tusks, and its eyes are almost hidden by its shaggy hair.

The yin shu are giant rodent-like burrowers that live underground. They are important players in Darklands ecosystems—they consume plant roots, lichens and fungi, and are themselves consumed by predatory beasts and monsters. Bulettes and purple worms especially feed heavily on yin shu, and are more likely to prey on surface dwellers when yin shu populations are low. Yin shu live in fission-fusion societies, traveling alone when food is scarce and coming together when there are ample resources. They only dare go to the surface on moonless nights or during heavy storms—sunlight burns their skin and flesh, causing them to rapidly melt away into skeletons.

Some subterranean humanoids interact with yin shu, for a variety of purposes. Those with permanent settlements view yin shu as a potential nuisance, eating crops and undermining foundations. They are eaten, and their flesh is quite tasty, but killing a yin shu can be a dangerous prospect for an unprepared hunter. The flesh also evaporates in sunlight, so can only be eaten aboveground at night or inside buildings. Attempts to domesticate yin shu for use as labor animals has been mostly unsuccessful—yin shu are dimwitted and do not take direction well, but can be controlled with magic relatively easily. Derro are especially interested in yin shu because of their shared vulnerability to sunlight, and some derro labs contain yin shu as experimental animals. The tusks of a yin shu are almost indistinguishable from elephant ivory, and are used for the same purposes.

Yin Shu CR 4 XP 1,200 N Huge magical beast Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +9, tremorsense 30 ft. Defense AC 16, touch 8, flat-footed 16 (-2 size, +8 natural) hp 47 (5d10+20) Fort +7, Ref +4, Will +2 Weakness light blindness, sunlight vulnerability Offense Speed 30 ft., burrow 20 ft. Melee gore +8 (2d8+5) Space 15 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Statistics Str 30, Dex 10, Con 17, Int 2, Wis 9, Cha 9 Base Atk +5; CMB +17; CMD 27 (31 vs. trip) Feats Endurance, Iron Will, Toughness Skills Climb +14, Perception +9, Swim +14; Racial Modifiers +4 Perception SQ docile, earth mover Ecology Environment underground Organization solitary, pair or herd (3-6) Treasure incidental Special Abilities Docile (Ex) A yin shu treats all of its natural weapons as secondary natural weapons. Earth Mover (Ex) A yin shu can burrow through solid rock. It treats solid rock as difficult terrain, and leaves a permanent tunnel behind as it moves through rock. Sunlight Vulnerability (Ex) A yin shu takes 1 point of Con damage each round it remains in direct sunlight (no save).

[mintspamzz]

im bored so

fav primer: for me def milk hydro grip do not buy the mini. it runs out so fast)

fav foundation: i don’t wear foundation but i use drunk elephant b goldi drops and bronzing drops. they are so worth your money i swear. (btw ima save y’all n say imo elf halo glow is js not a good foundation atleast for me. it’s SO cakey and makes u look sweaty)

fav concealer: NARSSSSSSS (or too faced!! not a big fan of kosas but i still love and use it)

fav blush: rare beauty hands down will never b using another blush and they last FOREVER and are gorgeous. my fav shades are bliss and happy (saie is also good)

fav gloss: YSL, summer fridays lip oil, and dior . also the cotton candy too faced one 😍 DO NOT GET THE GLOSSIER BALM THE LAYERS SEPARATE AND ITS SO DISGUSTING

fav highlighter: i don’t wear highlighter a lot but benefit cookie or rare beauty!!

fav mascara: drugstore mascara is sm better than high end!! i’m in love with my hot pink lash princess we’re like this 🤞use firework waterproof or any waterproof on the ends to set the curl!

fav setting power: o/s

fav setting spray: urban decay and charlotte tilbury (the mini charlotte one will last you a few months!! it’s so worth it)

[gmmtv-bl-tournament-but-evil]

i think dbk is honestly overrated, or at least that's how i felt about it. i get why people love it so much, but it left a very sour taste in my mouth. going into 2gether, i had already seen a lot of negativity about it, so i expected it to get bad (it did) but i did expect dbk to be a lot more bearable. i think the show just felt so stagnant in terms of petekao, and while i appreciate what it did with the coming out plot, i feel like petekao as a relationship felt really weak and i didn't really root for them to be together?

i didn't like how we could see how pete's possessive behavior having negative impacts on their relationship, and kao feeling compelled to hide things as a result (like, god. he wanted him to just refuse to tutor the kid cuz hes jealous?) was something that instead of being addressed seemed validated. i like flaws, i loooove when characters have big personality flaws, even. but this felt like it was just being validated. we get the vibe that pete was right, and at the end, kao affirms that he likes that pete is possessive. i feel like this would have landed a lot better if instead of possessiveness that feels detrimental, pete grew into being possessive but also respecting this boyfriend. it just felt. odd.

look. i love established relationship and i also ADORE break ups. i think a good break up -> getting back together can be really interesting. i am an exes to lovers enthusiast. but i also almost had zero care about petekao getting back together (this also happened when i watched kiss me again before dbk. i just did not care that much. as a side note the person who directed 2gether, puppy honey, kiss me again, teenage mom, social death vote, etc is my mortal enemy as a 4 pillars fan who has STRONG opinions on the quality of these???) because the show really just made me feel their relationship was really unstable at its foundation? of course, i know they’re good for each other. for example, pete becomes better because of kao. still? didn’t quite work for me.

then there's non. i have no idea how "18year old with a crush on kao who goes too far" became the main driving force of the entire story, because i think there were a multitude of ways to explore the coming out plot poignantly and non was! not it! and i've never enjoyed how they wrote non in the end. in a show where we sympathize with kao for his fear of coming out, i didn't like how we were pitted against the 18yr old with a shitty parent who was scared of coming out. yeah, he fucked up massively and almost ruined kao's life. i get that. but do i think not addressing the massive "bad parent" motivation elephant in the room felt odd? how is it a happy ending that he's just definitely going to suffer cuz of his goddamn strict dad? do we just not care about non? maybe i'm just overly sensitive about this as someone who sympathizes with people who do things because of the fear of their parents (looking at you, ben from nlmg!) and thought it was insulting to me personally that the show said that "a parent will always know what their children are" (i disagree) also pretty much abandoned non? i get most people just found him annoying, but damn. i felt bad. non is like pete in ways, but even more immature and without the presence of a supportive father

oh our skyy was bizarre to me, by the way. less relevant to my opinions on dbk but the characterization was SO off in it and it just felt unneeded. and i’m a kongart our skyy lover so maybe it’s that i subconsciously compared it (our skyy petekao just feels so markedly Not PeteKao of kiss me again OR dbk!) also this didn’t factor into my voting but the continuity changing between kma our skyy and dbk really annoyed me as someone who watched it in order.

i liked sunmork, but a side couple can never save a show for me. the ost & cinematography was nice as well (i looped the theme song so much!) but unfortunately, the show really didn’t work for me. honestly, dbk vs 2gether was hard for me because, well (i could write a rant of this length on 2gether 😭😭😭 maybe longer actually) yeah. but that’s the fun of the competition!

I agree almost completely with everything you say about DBK. Despite finding Non extremely annoying, it left a terrible taste in my mouth that the reason why he was such a dickhead was never addressed and I agree that he got dealt a terrible hand by the narrative.

As for SunMork, I understand your feelings but I have to say that if it wasn't for them I would have never finished DBK. Although it's also true that I watched Not Me way before DBK which endeared to me Gawin soooo much and was also already extremely in love with Podd. That is to say, I was personally invested.

The only episode from that season of Our Skyy I watched was the Puppy Honey one which I liked better than the entire show, so I can't really say anything on the matter of PeteKao there.

I had a completely different experience when first coming into contact with 2gether too and in fact, part of the reason I hate it so much is that I saw nothing but praise for it before watching it and it made me so fucking mad. All the people hailing 2gether as this fantastic, incredible, amazing, showstopping, revolutionary show made me extremely suspicious and then I watched it and completely hated it, and the suspicion turned into absolute fury. Especially when I see it compared to other, better shows as something they should aspire to be.

I realise I'm coming off as extremely mean about it but it pulls some visceral reactions out of me so I'll just stop here before I cross a line.

I love your message, Anon, but it's not lost on me that you didn't actually say which one you voted for!!!!

[saint-bestial]

@ygoc-week - Day 4: Relationships

we can't talk about Sylvester's relationships without addressing the absolute elephant in the room that is him and Kiryu. yes they're dating. yes they're the best and worst thing that's ever happened to each other. welcome to hell shivshipping!!!

Kiryu liked to take his smoke breaks with Sylvester. he found it peaceful and Sylvester never nagged him about the habit. it was a nice way to escape from the others for a while. meanwhile, Sylvester would grapple with the odd feelings that bubbled up inside when he glanced over at Kiryu.

buckle tf up. (cw for violence, death, and abuse. nothing too graphic or in-depth though)

Sylvester and Kiryu met during childhood. they were each other's first actual friends. Sylvester basically hated humans and Kiryu had endured horrific abuse most of his short life. surely this is the foundation for a healthy, stable relationship. right. right??

yeah. no. by chance, Sylvester kills one of Kiryu's abusers. Kiryu, witnessing this, has a Formative Kiryu Moment and also becomes obsessed with Sylvester. Sylvester, who has zero frame of reference for what constitutes a relationship, does not realize the significance of this singular event.

during the Team Satisfaction era, Sylvester scouts out rival gangs and scavenges supplies for Kiryu. he isn't an official part of the team, in fact Kiryu doesn't let the others on to what he's doing until they literally track him down when he goes to meet with Sylvester. Sylvester is a source of friction within the group, and his later use to intimidate conquered gangs out of rebelling contributes to its dissolution.

this era is also where shivshipping gets its name. Sylvester, someone who enjoys making improvised knives, makes one for Kiryu as a gift and display of trust. it's something that clues Kiryu in on his feelings being mutual. also they're both fucking violent but. yeah. o yeah and Kiryu lets Sylvester call him by his given name at some point here. maybe before idk yet.

so Team Satisfaction dissolves, leaving Kiryu and Sylvester alone together again. bad idea. Sylvester aids Kiryu in his preparation to launch an attack on Security. and then just before Kiryu leaves on his suicide mission he FINALLY. finally. gets to kiss Sylvester. which. crisis time!!!!

Sylvester fucking regrets everything so bad. his fear of intimacy meant he couldn't even properly love Kiryu while he was around. his grief screws him up so bad that he gets sloppy, and he's eventually tracked down and killed by one of the gangs he'd once threatened on Kiryu's behalf. and then gets resurrected as a Dark Signer.

Kiryu, also a Dark Signer, feels a lot of ways about this. on one hand he's like holy shit i get to see you again. on the other he's like i thought you were going to come save me. because he became quite delusional in prison and convinced himself that Sylvester (who thought Kiryu died the day of his attack) was going to come rescue him. but then he sees that Sylvester is extremely happy to see him and is actually receptive to his advances so things smooth out pretty quickly. they do undead gay villain things. yay!

until the Signer War starts and Kiryu is ripped away from Sylvester yet again. and then Sylvester is subsequently confronted by Yusei and Aki, and falls to them.

so when the Dark Signers are revived Sylvester refuses to leave Kiryu's side. like he ugly cries when he finds him which is something Kiryu's never seen him do. and then Kiryu decides to go find somewhere to die. and Sylvester's like well. i'm coming with anyway. i can't fucking stand losing you a third time but i'll be with you. i can grieve while you're still alive it's fine. it's fine. (it was not)

at this point Sylvester is basically a physical manifestation of Kiryu's guilt. many of the scars on his body came from missions that he sent him out on. he had no regard for his safety and thought only of his own benefit. he treated him awfully at times and took advantage of the fact that Sylvester's isolation from people made his trust easy to abuse. even now by allowing him to come with he's just hurting Sylvester more. but because Sylvester has no where else to go, no one else to support him, it would be worse to leave him behind.

the time in Crash Town is absolute hell for Sylvester. sunsets aren't so beautiful anymore. maybe Kiryu will come back that night, maybe he won't. Sylvester does small things for him, like helping him with grooming habits. anything to maintain some semblance of control. it's a really weird phase in their relationship.

afterward they both end up living in the newly renamed Satisfaction Town together. they both slowly learn to heal and become better for each other. it takes a really fucking long time. they never formally get married, but it's obvious to anyone what their relationship is.

Bonus lightning round with some other characters!!

Yusei: Sylvester never ends up bonding with him, despite Yusei attempting to reach out. Sylvester keeps him at arm's length and tolerates his presence for Kiryu's sake.

Jack: they fucking hate each other. Jack, with his Signer Mark being present from birth, sensed something was up with Sylvester immediately. his mark burns and itches in his presence. he is extremely critical of Kiryu's relationship with him, maintaining that Sylvester is nothing more than an animal. Jack and Sylvester cannot be left alone together. there will be blood.

Crow: they don't know each other very well. Crow initially distrusted him but became far more open to him than Jack. he and Sylvester share a common interest in birds, opening up an opportunity for friendship.

Lua and Luka: both of the twins are terrified of him. with Luka's ability to see duel spirits, she can see Sylvester's soul trying to leave his body. this has many fun body horror effects. neither of them interact with Sylvester outside of the Dark Signer arc.

Aki: extremely close friends post canon. they bond over shared experiences of monstrousness and alienation. she also helps Sylvester with his relationship with Kiryu, as she is able to recognize toxic behavior due to her previous relationship with Divine. her psychic abilities allow Sylvester to manifest his dragon body outside of duels. do not fuck with them when they're together.

Dark Signers: the closest thing he had to a "human" support group. besides Kiryu, he was closest to Demak and Misty in particular. Sylvester is probably the only one who would describe his time with the Dark Signers to be a positive experience. he mourned the loss of this group greatly, something that caused some friction between him and Kiryu.

Pelican Immortal: (sorry i STILL do not have a name for this guy) Sylvester served under this Earthbound Immortal as a Dark Signer. it is also the one who devised the plan to put him in a human body in the first place. he trusted the pelican deeply. after the Dark Signer arc, it no longer spoke to him. Sylvester blamed himself for failing, making the god abandon him. for a time, he would pray and make offerings to it in hopes it would return to him. Kiryu did not like this at all.

[elephantaday]

Day 753 of posting pictures of elephants.

This is Kanjana!

Source: Save Elephant Foundation

[thepastisalreadywritten]

21 August 2024

Source: BBC News

South Africa prepares to release Charlie the zoo elephant into the wild

12 August 2024

The Zimbabwean-born elephant was captured in 1984 and brought to South Africa as a circus elephant when he was just two years old.

In 2001, he was placed in the zoo, where he became one of the main attractions. He will finally be set free at the age of 42.

🐘🥹🩶

[thenationaltreasuregazette]

Should Abigail Leave Ben? Part 3: Disaster

In Part 1 and Part 2, I examined Ben and Abigail’s early interactions in National Treasure and argued that the film did a solid job of conveying their mutual interest in one another long before Abigail got roped into the treasure hunt.

Long before Ben saved Abigail’s life, wowed her with a treasure hunting extravaganza, and became one of the wealthiest people she knows, she was interested.

Long before Abigail risked throwing her career away to aid Ben on his quest, and committed a few felonies for him along the way, he was interested in her.

In short, I buy it. I buy that these two people had enough of a foundation to form an actual relationship that is based on something more than the adrenaline of the best/worst weekend of their lives.

However.

It’s time we talk about the elephant in the room,

the harbinger of disaster,

the hurricane-force ice storm that will doom this ship and its crew:

National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

Let's do this ↓

My entire thesis about Ben and Abigail’s relationship only applies to the first National Treasure, okay? Like, in a bubble.

In my mind there is a distinct divergence between the two films and one does not lead necessarily into the other unless the sequel is actively playing in front of my eyeballs.

But.

If we are to take Ben and Abigail’s relationship in National Treasure: Book of Secrets as even mildly canon THEN SHE SHOULD DUMP HIS ASS AND NEVER LOOK BACK.

BoS succumbs to the bad Hollywood habit of resetting characters back to their first movie starting positions so we can live the first movie over again rather than progress forward with a (gasp!) new and different story.

In the BoS world, this reset looks like:

Ben and Abigail are once again not together and she is holding him back from getting what he wants (treasure)

Ben is once again the laughing stock of the historical community

Nobody seems to believe he’ll find this treasure even though he found a $10 Billion dollar cash of gold literally three years ago??

Riley is an undervalued punching bag

and so on

That’s obnoxious from a storytelling perspective because WE DON’T ACTUALLY LEARN ANYTHING NEW ABOUT OUR THREE MAIN CHARACTERS.

The only people we really learn anything about are Emily and Patrick, because Emily is necessarily injecting new information and new emotions into the story by virtue of not being there the first time.

In terms of Abigail and Ben’s relationship, the “sequel reset” back to square one means that my entire thesis falls apart if you include BoS in the calculations.

I’ve been arguing that the first movie goes out of its way to establish that Ben and Abigail have mutual interests, and a mutual interest in each other, outside of the treasure hunt and that this is the actual solid ground on which they would grow a relationship, not anything that happened after Ben stole the Declaration.

Book of Secrets says, actually no. With no treasure hunt to force them together, Ben and Abigail don't communicate well and are kind of petty with each other, and ESPECIALLY, Ben is a dick to her.

Going back to “no new information,” we already know that Benjamin Franklin Gates has a dickish streak, and is fully capable of being a dick to Abigail, especially when he thinks he’s right. We see this in National Treasure after Ben and Riley rescue Abigail from the catering truck.

Ben is high on the adrenaline of the heist and rescue, and is in a mood my mom would call “full of piss and vinegar.” He has fun being a smug douchebag.

BEN You're still shouting. It's starting to annoy. You'd do well, Dr Chase, to be a bit more civilized in this instance.

I don’t have a problem with this scene or this character trait though because it makes sense to me in the moment. He’s just done an insane thing and gotten away with it. He’s pulled of a heist, no one got hurt, and he’s got the fucking Declaration of Independence in his car.

Of course he wants to flaunt it, especially to the person who both wouldn’t help him and said it couldn’t be done. It’s a moment of obnoxious showmanship that feels totally in character, especially for someone who’s been written off and doubted for most of his life.

A critical element of this behavior though, is that it’s an outlier. This isn’t how Ben normally treats people. He’s not, like, a Tony Stark type, for whom being a smug asshole is his default setting and a cornerstone of the character. Ben Gates is, in general, earnest, curious, and driven. He isn’t—at least for me—fundamentally a jerk.

In the first movie.

In the second movie it seems like…yeah, smug douchebag is his default setting. Or at least that’s the pattern he’s fallen into as far as how he treats Abigail and Riley.

Now, there are plenty of plausible reasons for this. The first movie ends with Ben having become absurdly wealthy, admired, and respected in his field, a total 180 from how he’s lived the first 40 years of his life. That could turn anybody’s head. Ben could have easily become a jerk slowly over the intervening three years.

Except if that was the case—if that was the theme of BoS or the arc the film wanted Ben to take—he would have to have changed by the end of the movie. If Ben’s sequel arc was that he’d lost touch with himself and the things and people that matter to him most because of the spotlight he was suddenly under, he would have found those things again by the end and made things right. That's what a character arc is, the journey someone takes to change.

But that’s not Ben’s arc. In BoS he actually doesn't have one.

Ben’s "arc" is that Abigail and Riley keep telling him he’s not listening to them or respecting their needs and boundaries, and Ben keeps deciding that doesn’t matter as long as he’s right. And by the end of the movie…he still thinks that. He has not changed in any meaningful way and then Abigail takes him back anyway!

Abigail’s "arc" is that she doesn’t like Ben ignoring her input and assuming things about her and their relationship even if he turns out to be right…and then she decides that that’s okay because he found another treasure.

I would love to say there’s more to it than that but…

I hope by this point I have proven my credentials in the “reading emotional and thematic nuance into National Treasure” department, but I don’t think Book of Secrets has all that much going on under the hood.

If you do see something else I’d love to hear it! Drop a tag, comment or reblog!

And honestly? It just kind of makes me sad. There are a lot of things about BoS that make me slightly annoyed, but Ben and Abigail’s relationship makes me tired and sad. Because I like them together! I like how the first movie set them up as kindred spirits, but that shared passion and curiosity is gone in the sequel.

Something, something, honeymoon phase. Sure. But this isn’t a cutting realistic drama about a relationship falling apart. It’s National Treasure.

This moment, when Ben and Abigail embrace after the water ordeal, is supposed to make us feel good. Like, Yay! They lived! And they're finally back together!

But every time I get here it bums me out.

Because while the first National Treasure went out of its way to establish that Ben and Abigail had the makings of a solid couple before the treasure hunt forced them together, Book of Secrets works hard to unravel that foundation. By showing their relationship falling apart, then having them get back together even though Ben has not changed or learned any kind of lesson about respecting Abigail’s input, the sequel confirms what the original worked so hard to avoid: they’re only together because of the treasure hunts.

Abigail has no reason she should take him back now, except:

He’s rich and famous again

They almost died together again

Now, she seems to have been well off from the start. She has nice clothes, a high-ranking job, and drives a BMW in the sequel, not to mention she was getting his house?? They’re not married! File under: future article topics.

And while she could theoretically be woo’d by newfound riches, Abigail has never shown herself to be that interested in the monetary aspect of treasure hunting. In the first treasure room, she makes a b-line for Alexandria scrolls, not any of the gold. While I’m sure they are valuable, they’re more valuable for their historical value than their monetary worth. (It’s Riley who’s the most outwardly money-motivated of the group.)

The realer, sadder answer for me is that—at least as presented in BoS, and I take its canon-ness with a massive grain of salt—Ben and Abigail actually aren’t that compatible. What brings them together is the adrenaline of the hunt, and trauma bond of nearly dying in each other’s arms every couple of years.

The only thing that changed about their relationship between Abigail breaking things off and taking Ben back is that they went on a fun treasure hunt, did some crimes, and both almost died under Cibola.

Which means that in another year or two, once the press has calmed down and the exhibits have opened and there are far fewer high-adrenaline treasure-related activities to focus their attention and keep them together, their relationship is going to degrade again. As BoS presents it, there is apparently nothing for their relationship to stand on outside of treasure hunting.

That makes me so frustrated! Because the first movie explicitly puts in work to avoid this! It tries to convince us that they’d make a good match even before any of the shared treasure hunt stuff happens precisely because it’d be so easy to see their relationship as something only built on these moments of peril and turmoil with no real chance of lasting.

But BoS goes back and rewrites their history to ensure that is the case.

National Treasure presents the life-or-death treasure hunt as a fascinating moment in the development of their relationship, but not what actually brings or keeps them together.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets turns around and says that all the chemistry we saw at the beginning of the first film was actually not that important, and it’s the life-or-death treasure hunts that bring and keep them together. In the mundane reality of ordinary life, there is no hope for these two people to see anything interesting in one another, or to communicate well or respect each other (cough cough, Ben), or to be a healthy, functional, or interesting-to-watch couple.

And I think that sucks!

What do you think?

Next time, let's bring in the parents!

[rappaccini]

The biggest flaw with Gwen in spiderverse is how they're regulating her to being the love interest of spiderman again...they think its different than from with Peter but it isn't at all.

The writing is literally on the wall, and the writers need to address this-they don't have deep feelings for each other, they're not soulmates destined to be or whatever, they're two traumatized kids who formed a trauma bond and mistaked that for love. The relationship feels rather shallow and has glaring flaws--Miles put Gwen on a pedestal and likes her off that, Gwen sees Miles as a replacement for Peter. But there's very little foundation as to why they actually like each other. And if they just get thrown together in btsv without acknowledging the elephant in the room between them and the way their feelings are, well that'd just be extremely forced and cheap.

the biggest problem with spiderverse gwen is she's being written by men who did not understand what the purpose of her character is within the spider-man canon, and could only imagine her as a love interest. everything off, questionable or underwhelming about her character and every change in adaptation stems from their need to make her Miles's Girlfriend.

and the romance is forced as hell. they retconned the ending of the original movie to switch gwen's feelings from platonic to romantic, and any of the interesting things about them being fixated on each other as a way to put off dealing with their trauma falls flat, because it's still being framed as this beautiful positive romance that'll succeed against all odds... and all the unfortunate implications are almost certainly accidental.

them isolating themselves from everyone in their lives and fixating so hard on a hypothetical relationship with someone they don't even know? not gonna discuss it. somehow, it's romantic and star crossed and not shallow and on the verge of going toxic.

the ending of the spider within confirming that miles uses his imagined version of gwen as a distraction from his problems, when he really needs to reach out to the people around him, his dad most of all? probably gonna fall flat if he and gwen get together anyway.

and it's canon at this point that gwen sees miles and peter65 interchangeably. like, the storyboards of her intro sequence literally have a cut moment where she's looking at miles and he glitches into peter and the intent is explained as "gwen doesn't want to lose miles like her peter, which is the reason why she's doing all this"

gwen transferred all her trauma about peter onto miles so she wouldn't have to address, deal with or move on from it. it's canon that she can't get over this loss and is punishing herself for it by isolating herself from everyone, keeping her emotions stuck in the past and centering her need to reenact that disaster over and over until she saves the boy she's projecting onto and gets to start the romance she wishes she could've had with him.

and that shit could be so cool, but only if you approach it as a tragic situation that gwen needs to grow past because there's nothing to 'redeem' herself for in the first place and it would be terrible for her emotional health to start a romantic relationship on the basis of "you remind me of my dead crush so maybe i can use you as a replacement goldfish for him" "good enough for me!"

who wants to bet that if btsv ever addresses this, they'll treat it like a positive ("don't worry gwen, if you repeat the peter situation with miles, you can have a happy ending this time!"), and that the best ending gwen can hope for is one where she lives and plays good girlfriend to miles as a way to punish herself for not being one for peter. forever.

instead of acknowledging that what gwen actually needs is to move on from those feelings entirely.

[godstaff]

DC Writers are very limited. On top of that, they must privilege Batso in all their stories because he's the company's cash cow.

Batso has zero superpowers, except for having the entire comic company on his side, which one should never underestimate. He may be an extraordinary human, but he's still just human, with limitations. Writers tell us he has none, he's very clever, the most. But he's far from being a supergenius with a solution for everything: he can't stil solve the problems of his troubled city, his confessed main goal, which he may had made even worse with his mere presence. crazy activities and ill fated plans. He never used his sizeable intellect in curing terrible diseases like cancer or to solve famine or poverty, only toys to show his enemies and friends how smart he is. In spite of this, writers insist on telling he can outsmart even his meahuman colleagues, people who can read and memorize an entire librfary in the time it takes for him to take a dump. Either you cancel the superpowered all together or you stop talking nonesense. Both are not acceptable. IMHO.

He's a billionaire, inherited, with zero social empathy. His riches are his superpower and that's all he cares about. The current social statu quo of wealth distrubution is fine by him. as long as it allows him to keep playing the masked hero. Social justice escapes him or he doesn't give a shit abou it. His only contribution on the matter is the typically useless charity foundation, which's only purpose is allow rich families and multinational companies to get tax exemptions and save face in public, saying "at least, we are doing something".

He pretends to ba a rich playboy and it is hard to believe how he can pull it off. Social butterflies and socialites are very focused in catching a rich partner to marry or, at least, to pass a wild night, but not with Bruce. their quest submits the potential candidate to the harsh scrutiny of the interested gold diggers. Let me tell you: these women can't count to ten, but their BS radars are top notch. He famously doesn't drink and has too many dark secrets to allow others into his convoluted life. in social circles, word of moth is paramount and the girls rapidly warn others about his unavailability for anything and promptly declare him an outcast and untouchable. A weirdo. Pretty much, socialites and gold diggers are like the mean girls in high school: if you don't play by their rules (they play your game as long as you are a viable suitor, when they realize you are not, it's over) they won't waste their time with you and won't let anyone else do it. That's the problem with home schooled rich kids: they miss a lot in social conventions and clues. You may be vengeance, you may be the night, but you're not the night these girls want, so scram, freak. Note: in his defense, he can only have sex on rainy nights, on rooftops with hiscostume on. Kind of a fetish of his.

One obvious advantage writers have over fans to sell them bullshit is fans are also socialy awkward weirdos themselves eager to buy that bullshit and what they consider cool and trendy, like being a billionare and fight crime in a costume with secret dual identity it's just a fantasy of them. Fans desperately want to be their hero. Fans, with all due respect, have little or no idea what is cool in current society. They rely only on their fantasies, which are often incomplete wishful thinking and missguided, fed by what people who want to sell them stuff say to them. That's the only reason a character like Batso can have such enormous popularity.

And the elephant in the room: he is crazy as fuck. He's a socially functional maniac, a sociopath with delusions of grandure and split personality who believes the masked character is the real person. His grasp on reality is duvious at best, but his colleagues let him operate and take decisions for them because they're a bunch of cowardly yes men and women and enablers. This is all writers doing because they have orders from above.

Not gonna say it doesn't happen in real life. We all know cases of public personalities belonging more to a mental hospital and yet, they are running countries and multibillion dollar companies. Power doesn't discriminate. But in writing, we have the oportunity to set the record straight, but because he makes money for the comic company, we will let things stay as they are...

Okay...pretty much like real life.

We all know superheroes are not entirely there, they don't have all their ducks in a row, like Punisher, and others, but they are treated as a necesary evil, marginal individuals who can't belong in society. Batso is deemed as an example to follow and a model. A captain of industry and a social leader.

Again, pretty much like in real life.

His friends😜, for some reason, overlook all his quirks and, instead of helping him get professional assistance, which he desperatelly needs, indulge in his games. If they were having some sort of economical compensation, that would be a reason. But no. Just because. Besides, he treats his friends and everybody like shit, considering himself above all of them. He loves to play parlor tricks on them to confuse them and feel superior. Why would a normal person stand him is beyond me. He claims being a personal friend of Clark Kent, but he can't stand his wife Lois Lane because she is as nacisistic as himself and they constantly clash. A friend for Bruce is a person he can use and manipulate at will. Clark has his own personal puppeteer, so he's taken, mostly. So Bruce takes on him in the League of Justice, berating him at every turn in front of their colleagues, to show Superman is just muscle, a brute with no brain. Kal-El, used to being disrespected at home, shuts up and smiles like an idiot.

This will continue as long as fans need Batso to fulfill their fantasies.

And this IS real life.

[shaw546088]

I never knew I needed an inspirational movie, not until I have watched "The Woman King" 😭✊🏻!!! My heart totally broke in the last segment huhu it just shows how a mother truly cares for her daughter that no matter what the odds may be, a parent will always be a parent and he/she will conquer and breakdown all the walls and enemies just to save their children so that they can be safe.

"Your tears mean nothing. To be a warrior, you must kill your tears."

- Parang sinasabihan lang ako na to be a BSA Student, I need to kill my flaws – those that will hinder me from excelling in this field. Ofc I don't see tears as a weakness, it is part of being a human. Kaya naman, the most proper thing to do is to balance my time to study (to strengthen my foundation) and to enjoy the rest of my time also ( to be vulnerable and weak).

"His brother did not honor it, but King Ghezo believes in tradition. In the twin gods, Mawu and Lisa. Woman and man. Equal. Ghezo will name a woman king. For the gods and the people."

- This what I truly like during the whole duration of the movie, the concept of gender equality and fairness, the Kingdom of Dahomey let the women to be strong and brave to fight for what they think are right that will surely bring goodness and peace to the whole community.

"Sometimes a mouse can take down an elephant."

"Vision is seeing what others do not."

"Fear not. Face it head on. Relentlessly, we will fight."

- I will hold on to this statement that King Ghezo have said in the movie 🥺✊🏻 I will fight for my dream, to help the Filipinos worthy of being helped and to improve the economy of our country.

"To stay, she must pass the test.

To be useful, she must stand on her own."

- Parang sa FAR lang kanina 😭✊🏻

"To be great, you must focus. There can be no distractions."

- Mukhang 'di ko ata kayang walang distractions bhie 🥺

"When it thunders, our ancestors demand we rip the shackles of doubt from our minds and fight with courage!

We fight not just for today but for the future!

We are the spear of victory!

We are the blade of freedom!"

"In my blood is the blood of a killer. A man who gave you so much pain. I am sorry."

- Nawi, her daughter

" You are Agojie. I am sorry. I left you. I was not brave enough. But you survived because you are meant to be here. It is not your fault what happened to me. You… are not the thing that hurt me. You are Nawi. You are my daughter. I am sorry."

- Nanisca (the woman king/ her mother) towards her daughter Nawi

These statements that Nanisca have spoken, pertaining to her long lost daughter Nawi, will really scarred me for a month 🥺😭

[rabbitcruiser]

National Elephant Appreciation Day

Take a trip to the zoo or a wildlife conservatory or fire up Disney’s Dumbo and appreciate one of Earth’s largest, most interesting creatures: the elephant.

Many annual celebration days have a long, storied history and carry huge global significance. Is National Elephant Appreciation Day one of them? Perhaps not, but that doesn’t mean that it is any less important for the ones who the day is about – and in this case, it’s all about the elephants! 

History of National Elephant Appreciation Day

Established in 1996 by Mission Media, a graphics and publishing company, the origins of National Elephant Appreciation Day are largely based on owner Wayne Hepburn’s personal fascination with elephants. His interest, in turn, began when he received an elephant paperweight as a gift from his daughter. Despite its somewhat ridiculous back story, the day has received some official recognition over the years.

That said, while native to Asia and Africa, elephants are certainly worthy of some appreciation from everyone around the world. They are, after all, the largest land mammals on the planet and sadly, many species of elephants face the threat of extinction, due to environmental factors as well as the ivory trade.

Those who love elephants and want other opportunities throughout the year to celebrate these incredible creatures can also observe World Elephant Day in August or Save the Elephant Day in April.   

How to Celebrate National Elephant Appreciation Day

So what should you do to celebrate National Elephant Appreciation Day? Well, just about anything elephant-themed. Get on board with observing by implementing ideas such as some of these:

Visit Some Elephants at the Zoo

An amazing way to show appreciation for this largest of land mammals might be to head over to a local zoo and pay them a visit on National Elephant Appreciation Day. Check the zoo’s website ahead of time to see if they publish a list of feeding times, as that is a particularly fun hour to view the elephants during their meals. Many zoos throughout the United States, and in countries all over the world, offer access for children and adults to experience elephants in a safe and calm environment.

Learn Fun Facts About Elephants

Finding out more about elephants can be a superb opportunity to celebrate National Elephant Appreciation Day. Try out some of these fun facts to learn, share and raise awareness for the day:

Elephants are able to distinguish languages Researchers believe that they can tell the difference between the languages of people groups who prey on them and those who do not.

Elephants are amazing hearers Even though their ears are enormous, another way that elephants can “hear” is using their feet, by picking up low frequency sounds through the ground.

Elephants can experience trauma Just like humans, elephants are highly emotional and intelligent creatures, and they can also show signs of PTSD when they have experienced a tragedy.

Elephants need their trunks to survive The trunk of an elephant is extremely versatile, allowing them to not only smell but also breathe underwater, pick up items, clean themselves, make sounds and even provide a defense for themselves.

Make a Donation to Help Elephants

Those who are concerned about the dwindling populations and the way this could affect the plight of these amazing animals might want to make a donation to a favorite wildlife charity that is dedicated to helping elephants. From protecting their habitat to legislating better laws to prevent poaching, many charities do all sorts of work to take care of elephants.

Take a look at some of these nonprofit organizations that help elephants:

World Wildlife Fund. This well-known organization offers the opportunity for patrons to “adopt” an elephant.

International Elephant Foundation. This charity provides protection, medical care, conservation partnerships and more.

Save the Elephants. This UK registered charity is based in Kenya where many of the world’s elephants live.

Elephants Alive. Specifically targeted toward helping the elephants who live in Africa, this nonprofit organization allows patrons to participate in a program where they become an “elephant guardian”.

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