#that is 100% scourge activities

[scurged]

IF YOU WERE A DEITY, WHAT WOULD YOU BE THE GOD OF?

WEATHER AND CALAMITY. tempestuous and fearsome. your moods are hard to read and you strike on a whim. not a soul can avoid you as disasters strike across the land. you have your own standards for what makes sense and what you value and if anyone dares challenge you there will be nowhere for them to run.

tagged by: nicked this from @alchemaxed / tagging: blows a kiss 2 my five followers.

[powdermelonkeg]

so, it’s confirmed that Zelda’s “Time” powers came from Sonia, and her “Light” powers from Rauru, but we know from other games that only the women of the royal family can use the “sealing” power inherited from SkSw Zelda. do you think this means that throughout history, the “Light” powers associated w the sealing are actually separate from the sealing ability? I just remember being really lost after that cutscene, cause even if Rauru somehow was a descendant of Hylia, he wouldn’t be able to use those powers, and the sealing of whatever evil is causing trouble always has a fancy light show with it lmao

So, this is a very complicated question with a very complicated theory to answer it.

We know that Sonia's primary, and, in terms of usablity, only power is Recall.

However, I do believe she's Hylia's descendant, not Rauru, despite Rauru being the one with the light/sealing power. Evidence on that here.

Being Hylia's descendant would make Sonia's birthright be a whole host of other powers, possibly latent, but more probably something that Sonia's never actually been in the right situation to use. Let's take a look at what Skyward Sword Zelda can do.

She can seal the Demon King-

-but only at the expense of her own life force being rendered inert while she does.

She can bless the Master Sword-

-but it's already as strong as it can get.

She has strong connections to time...

...but we knew that already.

Of these three powers, only one would be relevant to Sonia's skill set. The Master Sword can hardly be doubly-blessed, and the Demon King has yet to show his face.

More importantly, however, Skyward Zel's sealing power works MUCH differently to Wild Zel's.

Wild Zel's sealing is instantaneous, fueled by emotion, with seemingly no draining effect on her person.

When fully unleashed, her seal is as total as it is inescapable. It doesn't require her to put herself to sleep until Link can deal the final blow with the Master Sword. The closest thing to Skyward Zel's seal that Wild Zel did was in keeping the Calamity at bay for 100 years while Link slept. During which, it's heavily implied that she was conscious, given that she spoke to Link the instant he woke.

With Rauru, his sealing ability seems much more similar to our princess's, with only some key differences visually.

His right hand gathers light around it, and needs to be extended to fully function.

When the seal first activates, it forms a spherical shape, which is inescapable, albeit on a much smaller scale than Zelda's.

It's a little hard to see, due to the magnitude of Zelda's power, but it IS a sphere.

And although this act does cost Rauru his life, it usually doesn't. He's done this before, multiple times, as stated in Messages from an Ancient Era tablet A Pilgrimage of Light:

"The kyng was late y-come this aven, so maked the quene to sharen tales of hir lond, of shirines al grene yglouen. "Of erli daies sinnes Hyrules funding have diverse monstres hir reaume biseged ond assaylled. "Uncesinge in striffe, thei broughte to despeir folkes lyfen. Kyng ond quen ysete thamselue to bringen scurge to ende. "With might of light ond pouere, driven abak ybeen, ond the roial couple made thes shirines to selen him awei. "Thes holi selen ben yclept Shirines of Light. "Gret kyng, grete quen, y thank ye. Ye foughte whan y wer maiden-child, that y kude pes toknouen."

The translation, to the best of my efforts:

"The king was late to come this evening, so made the queen to share tales of her land, of shrines all green glowing. "Of early days since Hyrule's founding have diverse monsters her realm besieged and assailed. "Unceasing in strife, they brought to despair folks' lives. King and queen set themselves to bringing scourge to end. "With might of light and power, driven aback they been, and the royal couple made these shrines to seal him away. "These holy seals been called Shrines of Light. "Great king, great queen, I thank you. You fought when you were maiden-child, that I could peace to know."

Sonia and Rauru went around making the Shrines of Light that we find in present day and receive blessing from:

So, with the exception of the Demon King, who was so powerful that he could resurrect thousands of years later, Rauru's seal behaved like Zelda's—instant, fueled by emotion, inescapable, projected by the right hand, with no immediate toll on the user.

But what does this mean for Zelda's sealing ability? Despite behaving similarly, it doesn't look similar at all.

Let's look back at what happens when Sonia and Rauru combine their powers.

Rauru brings his hands together in a triangle shape, possibly invoking the same Triforce motif Zelda gives when she unleashes her power. The Secret Stone, which magnifies his light abilities, glows in a similar shade to Zelda's seal.

Sonia extends her right hand as her own tear glows. Despite it only amplifying her time power, her hand shows the same color Rauru's light gives off—as well as being in a spherical form.

Rauru draws in her power (and Zelda's, whose is a combination of both already and therefore adds no new properties) and forms a bright yellow light with a sphere around it.

It's better seen from this angle, where we can also see what looks like an inverted Triforce in the middle.

They're nowhere near the level of focus Zelda's Triforce has, but the triangles are definitely there.

And then it becomes a catastrophic force of power, able to wipe out an entire swarm of Molduga in a single hit.

Zelda's lineage's sealing ability is a culmination of all of this. It's Sonia and Rauru's powers combined, taking Hylia's seal, the Goddess's full power-

-and attaching that strength to something instantaneous and geared specifically to lock away darkness-

-by combining the power of time with the power of light.

Hylia's sealing power isn't Rauru's, but Zelda's is Hylia's AND Rauru's combined.

As a side note, this is also why I think, despite Rauru contributing his power, the magic remains only matrilineal. Hylia's descendants—meaning in this case, Sonia—are the only ones that carry her abilities. Rauru's power attached itself to Sonia's to create Zelda's, but Sonia's abilities—with or without Rauru's boost to them—can only be accessed by her daughters and granddaughters.

Strong enough to rival any magic in the world in sheer might, this later became known as the Light Force.

TLDR: Hylia's seal = Slow, nonlethal, exhausting toll, powerful, golden lightshow Rauru's seal = Fast, potentially lethal, concentrated, opposes Ganon, spherical lightshow Zelda's seal = Fast, concentrated, opposes Ganon, spherical (from Rauru), nonlethal, powerful, golden (from Hylia); a hybridization of both seals, the best of both worlds

[captainhysunstuff]

The Chain - Date: Woods Transcript

The Chain - Date: Woods comic

In the woods, Light and L are climbing over fallen trees.

L: Light. Are you going to tell me where we're going or not?

Light: It's where I'm going to hide your corpse.

L: ...

Light: *smirk* Relax. I'm joking.

L: ...Your sense of humor is terrible.

Light: Whatever. Don't fall behind. I want to get this over with before it gets dark.

L: ...

They walk deeper into the forest. Light eventually stops within a clearing and takes off his bag.

L: This is where you wanted to... continue?

Light: Yeah.

L: Oh... All right. *starts shrugging off his jacket in preparation for intimate shenanigans* Strange location, but-- *thinking* A ritual perhaps?

Light: *snort* HA! Not for that, you goober!

L: *embarrassedly pouts and growls while putting his jacket back on* What's special about this place, then? Is something here?

Light: It's neutral ground.

L: "Neutral ground..."

Light: Have we reached 100%?

L: 99.9%. I wouldn't mind hearing you say it.

Light stands silently. L watches him intently. Light tightens his fist, then loosens it.

Light: *turns to side-eye L* ...I am Kira.

L: *excitedly smiles*

Light: *crosses his arms* What are the conditions of L working with Kira?

L: *smirks* For me to work alongside you?

Light: *leans against a tree, waiting*

L: *sobers up* My terms are as follows: One: you will reveal the locations of every notebook that you know of. Two: the killing list will be run by me before judgment is passed.

Light: *glares*

L: *raises finger* Hear me out. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm guessing that you're hoping to improve the world by killing criminals. Encourage better behavior by threatening swift and severe punishment to those that corrupt society, and targeting those that hinder this mission is an unfortunate exception. I understand that, I do.

But if changing the world is really your goal, then I believe the time for scourging is over. You've already shown everyone that you're watching for the scum of the earth to step out of line. Now is the time to be selective. Quality over quantity. I can help you target more influential people who cause chaos. Attack the root rather than the symptom.

Light: What makes you think that I couldn't do so on my own?

L: Please. No one person can change the world all by themselves. Not lasing change, anyways.

Light: I'm inclined to disagree. Many individuals have made a difference.

L: They still needed other people to follow them. Others who were convinced that their proposed changes were for the better.

Light: I am doing that. Kira has millions of followers by now.

L: Your methods will not last. Even if you manage to get the entire world on board with Kira's purpose and morality, how does that stop crime from happening? Fear of punishment? That already exists! What, because your punishment is faster and supernatural, the lesson will stick better?

Light: *insulted, leans forward* It's better than what came before!

L: And if Kira disappears? In just these few weeks of silence, I've noticed a tentative spike in criminal activity. Things are just itching to return to how they once were. Everyone is ready and willing to accept Kira's time on Earth as a dark, fear-filled period in humanity's history. Write him off as one of the worst murderers of all time.

Light: ...

L: I'm telling you, if you really want change, just killing anyone who commits a crime isn't going to cut it.

Light: Kira doesn't kill indiscriminately.

L: *approaches Light* I can help you. Help you do the necessary research to deem a person worth erasing.

Light: Kira does do research and judges accordingly.

L: *unfolds Light's arms* Forgive me, but you're just one person from one walk of life. You only have your own perspective to go by. *cradles Light's left hand* This is part of the reason why a single person can't change the world on their own. Not on this scale. Let me lighten the load. *brushes some hair behind Light's ear* Having a second set of eyes is objectively better for making fair judgements. Kira can't afford to make mistakes... *holds Light's hand up and smiles* ...and who is better suited for double-checking Kira's work than the best detective in the world?

Light: *cracks a smile, amused* Hm. You think so highly of yourself.

L: *raises Light's hand to his mouth* My resume speaks for itself, and experience has shown that we work well together.

Light: *touches L's bottom lip* I won't lie. This offer is starting to sound attractive. However, you won't use this to wrest control over who ultimately gets judged.

L: Of course not. All I'm offering is a second opinion. *shoves his hands in his pockets and puts on an annoyed look* Also, criminal lives aren't only a resource for you. Remember, you aren't the only one trying to fight crime. Some of the people you've judged were being held for questioning and died before they could've revealed crucial information. Such hastiness endangers the lives you want to protect. I can ensure that this never happens again. They could also be my employees, so y'know...

Light: *pulls hand back and chuckles sheepishly* Ehehe... I can see how that would be annoying. Fair.

L: You would ultimately have the final say, and I'd leave the act for you to carry out... unless explicitly asked.

Light: Hm. *thinking* He's expressed interest in testing the notebook before. How could he not want to at this point?

L: My next term is the allowance of me requesting a kill now and then.

Light: Oh?

L: It would be an absolute last resort. No offense, but I also find Kira's power quite cheap.

Light: It's really not as overpowered as you'd think.

L: Really? Well, I suppose there are rules in place regarding its usage...

Light: Any other conditions or concerns?

L: The last and most obvious request I'd have... Spare my associates.

Light: *serious expression* Will they obey you if you order them to not oppose Kira?

L: ...Not necessarily.

Light: Then I can't guarantee their safety. Kira will eliminate all threats.

L: Then I ask that you run your decisions by me first. I would like to be given the chance to speak in their defense.

Light: Perhaps.

L: If you agree, know that if I find that you abuse or violate my terms in any way, I will immediately resume my path to convict and sentence you.

Light: *closes eyes and looks away* Hmph.

L: But show me even a modicum of respect, and I will refrain from going after you myself. *leans against the tree alongside Light and partially holds his hand* I promise.

Light looks down at his held hand, and glances back up at L. L smiles softly at him. Light's heartbeat quickens as he returns the expression.

Light: These are all of your terms, I assume? Respect, an open mind, and no surprises. Do I have that right?

L: *nods* Yes.

Light: Hm. I suppose you aren't asking for the impossible...

L looks down surprisedly as Light entwines their fingers.

Light: I also have the right to reject your assistance at any time.

L: Of course. That goes without saying. I can't control what you do. *sticks his tongue out with silly expression* That's a Kira power.

Light: *laughs* True.

L watches as Light rummages through his bag and pulls out a garden trowel.

[hunniegl4zed]

I feel like mephiles would eventually get tired of scourge’s bullshit and delirium (because even nazo and seelkadoom are fearing for their and Iris’ safety when scourge does this.)

And he just shoves a sleep potion down his throat that makes scourge pass out for a while. In the process of this, he’s going back through his mind and trying to figure out what the hell happened in his timeline, and trying to find something that may at least soothe the pain and trauma temporarily. Even if it means unwillingly making scourge’s mind split, creating a system.

Because in the end he and iblis care for their friends and family, no matter how much he doesn’t want to admit it to the public, he’d rather give up his immortality than see someone end up like scourge, Iris, or even seelkadoom, who promptly got traumatized after an encounter with an unstable scourge. Leaving him severely injured and several bite marks on his arms and legs.

He had to get rabies shots because of how violently scourge had attacked him, because doctors feared that he’d become similar to scourge or even worse, dead. It took everything in nazo and Iris to not just straight up make scourge dig his own grave and kill him when they saw their beloved so hurt and traumatized in the hospital bed.

Because of this, Iris had a full blown meltdown, and actively tried to kill scourge after seeing seelka in that state. Because if he could do that to seelka, her beloved, then what could happen to her, Nazo, Amy, aeon, or even cream when their guards are down? And hearing about how he could’ve died just made her snap and go after him. She got him pretty good too, but mephiles and iblis intervened before she was able to finish him off.

To this day, when scourge walks by them, Iris seems to show the more monstrous side of sirens. The side that is seen in movies and stories all over the world, with sharp teeth, crazed eyes, sharp claws, and even some hissing. Accompanied by clinging closer to either one of the boys when she does.. there are few things that you can do to make Iris do that.

- be a ped0, r@p!st, or anything to do with harming someone innocent to get what you want, and she finds out. (This gets you killed, 100%.)

- actively hurt others for fun, or even killing them. (After RPG and wrath of Nazo, the two villains calmed down a lot on their more violent sides. Even more so after seeing how Iris gets.)

- hurting her beloveds. While she knows they can care for themselves just fine, seeing them suffer, knowing there’s nothing she can do to help, and seeing them so scared. It makes her feel helpless, and that can lead to all the bottled up rage from a majority of her life be spilled out onto the ones who hurt her beloveds.

So now everyone is aware of Iris’ disdain for scourge, and scourge knows not to get too close to Iris or the others when she’s like this. Because she still has plans to get rid of him, she’s just waiting for the opportunity to get him alone, or get the right poisons, something outside of everyone’s knowledge. Because in the end, she’s just as bad as some of the villains there, she just doesn’t want to resort to being that if it’s possible….

I may not write angsty shit often, but when I do, I try my best to deliver! ^^

Mephiles: "Here, chug this Monster energy. It's a new flavor." *tosses it to the deranged green bean*

D!Scourge: *catches it mid-air and sinks his teeth through the can, vacuuming the shit out for the can, including eating the can* "OHYEAS THIS SHIT IS G-" *The man in the moon slapping his ass to sleep, falls face first in the floor like a wet noodle.*

Mephiles: *sighs and cracks his knuckles* "Let's get to work."

---

FERAL IRIS?! YES YES YES YEHSVS YES HEVEXNS I WILL SELL MY SOUL TO SEE HER DEFEND AND PROTECT HER LOVED ONES 🔥🔥💚💚💚

Only for him to be even more confused after what happend, his mind playing tricks on him and constantly blaming himself for all the shiet that would go down. Slowly pushing himself away from the others, afraid for hurting someone.

[reasoningdaily]

Idaho manhunt subjects tied to prison gang. Who are the Aryan Knights?

BOISE, Idaho (NewsNation) — The brazen ambush at an Idaho hospital that injured three corrections officers, led to a manhunt and spawned two homicide investigations has thrust the white supremacist gang at the center of the case into the spotlight.

Nicholas Umphenour, 28, and accomplice Skylar Meade, 31, were arrested near the Twin Falls area Thursday after 36 hours on the run.

Now, Idaho State Police claims it can connect the pair of white supremacist prison gang members to two killings that happened hundreds of miles away from where they were arrested. Both victims were adult men and an active investigation is ongoing, police said.

Who are the Aryan Knights?

Meade and Umphenour were both members of The Aryan Knights, a gang formed in the mid-1990s in the Idaho prison system to organize criminal activity for a select group of white people in custody, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in the district of Idaho.

In 2021, Harlan Hale, described as a leader in the group, was sentenced to life in prison for his role in a plot to traffic drugs behind bars and use violence to collect unpaid debts. In a court document, federal prosecutors described the Aryan Knights as a “scourge” within the state’s prison system.

“The hate-fueled gang engages in many types of criminal activity and casts shadows of intimidation, addiction, and violence over prison life,” prosecutors wrote.

In 2022, the Anti-Defamation League counted 75 different white supremacist prison gangs in federal or local facilities in at least 38 states. The ADL said two of the largest such groups, the Aryan Circle and Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, had at least 1,500 members.

How many people are a part of the Aryan Knights?

Mark Pitcavage, a senior research fellow for the ADL’s Center on Extremism, estimates the Aryan Knights has approximately 150 members behind bars and roughly 100 more on the streets. He said the group operates in other states, including Washington and Oregon.

“With all white supremacist prison gangs, the ideology takes a backseat to the organized crime. That’s just a given,” he said. “They use that as a sort of a glue to help keep them together and help keep them loyal to the gang.”

Pitcavage said white supremacist prison gangs are a very different phenomenon from neo-Nazi groups like Aryan Nations, which had a compound in north Idaho at its peak in the 1980s and 1990s.

[proxissima]

Ooooh what do you think of afo's backstory? Did you like it or not? Since you like him lots, it would be interesting to hear your opinion. Did you expect anything like this?

Sorry, I didn't mean to reply to this this late; I had half of this typed out last Monday, then the new chapter and life happened.

So... The last few chapters in general have been quite a ride, with very mixed moments and scenes. That tonal whiplash, going from the chapter before that to arguably the most rancid and horrifying backstory in the series so far, was something else.

Ik you didn't ask about my opinion on the chapters before that one, but let it be said that that disbelief was no longer being suspended™. Everything related to Bakugo was just taking me out of the story completely because of how goofy it felt. That being said, I also believe that Horikoshi had written himself into a corner beforehand with Bakugo, because the way his death had been set up, actually keeping him dead would've been a poor choice but his revival now was also... not handled in a way that feels authentic. But all of this is just my opinion.

Anyway, I have to give Horikoshi credit for this chapter about AFO's backstory, because I was genuinely about to check out of the series as a whole, ngl. It was jaw-dropping and it's been a while since a story made me feel as viscerally uncomfortable/disgusted as that past chapter. The circumstances surrounding AFO's birth, that Yoichi and him were actually twins, the comparison between quirks and STI's... Jesus.

There's the obvious parallels of the brothers' story with the myth about Romulus and Remus, which I think is pretty cool.

That chapter was a lot more explicit than what anyone could've seen coming, HK really went all out there. Is it what I'd expected? I mean, I was never really... too concerned about AFO's personal upbringing. I figured he was an entitled, rich asshole by the time he locked Yoichi into the vault, but that's pretty much a given and now basically confirmed. I did like to think he was always like this, raised in a rich family, though I never really committed to that idea, because, ultimately, it doesn't really matter because it all boils down to the same thing.

What heinous crimes he chose to commit later in his life when he needn't to.

AFO's childhood turned out to be utterly horrifying; he lived through deeply traumatising formative years, hunted and scorned by society, before he inevitably turned the tide with his god-like powers and became the scourge of society for his next 100+ years alive, in return.

He's become a supervillain, a mass and serial murderer, and whatever else is in his long list of crimes.

None of it excuses his actions, but the tragic circumstances do leave room to wonder, what if.

He was very much shaped by his mother's death, forcing him to take up the mantle as a caregiver for his twin brother from early infancy, by how he was not just I ignored and failed but actively hunted down by society. This environment led to him seeing himself not as human in the beginning, which turned into a god-complex later in his life.

He's indifferent to the suffering he causes others at best, and really enjoying at worst. He shows no remorse for any of his actions, ever. Look no further than one of the recent past chapters where his face literally split open from the grin he had on it as he was about to kill All Might. Taking 408 into account, as well, he's hunted down and killed each and every individual related to the second OFA user, which makes me wonder what he did with the infants and small children.

((I'd argue that AFO is a narcissistic psychopath and would most likely be diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder (this and malignant/grandiose narcissism are almost indistinguishable from each other). He checks pretty much all the hallmarks for NPD and ASPD:

Saying he's a deceitful person is an understatement. He's a chronic and cunning liar and manipulator. He's been using Shigaraki (whom he'd robbed of his own identity) from early childhood on to sort of fill the role of a substitute for his own brother, but also as a vessel and backup plan, should his body give out, while simultaneously taking revenge on both the seventh and eighth users of OFA.

"Failure to conform to societal norms and laws". ...Lol.

He quite literally started a cult around his persona (#408).

A remarkable lack of empathy. He hardly ever displays real emotions, not even anger in most situations (I'm not sure how much the final battle can be accounted for here, since he was influenced by Shigaraki's hatred, which is what causef give in to his own hatred of All Might to chase after him)...))

[blimbo-buddy]

Patron!Scourge idea.

So, remember when Scourge talked about icing his veins and feeling cold and such?

Yeah... so let's make that an actual ability. He's able to ice the veins of cats much like the second chance grant.

The cat is basically able to stay calm and controlled no matter what even in the most dire of situations where a cat would be upset or afraid.

It's not like they won't express themselves. It's just that they can't. It's like Scourge is basically preventing a tunnel vision of sorts

Keeping a cool head and seeing clearly. Nothing to cloud judgement.

I don't know about situations this'd activate in but, it's be pretty neat ability to have.

I imagine when it's over the cat feels an overstimulation of feelings and that was being locked away or something. Any ideas?

What'd ya think?

Ooh, interesting! So it'd be like a moment of clarity for the cat? What I really like about this is that it's also plausible for cats who aren't as superstitious to think that it's just your brain finally gaining proper control and coming to its senses. Scourge descends down to the Clans because he sensed some stress (No clue why he went to the Clans in the first place just go with it) and he sees 100+ cats stressed the fuck out 24/7 and he just dips because that's too much work for him. I think this idea is super neat!

[autobot-ome]

Bio

Name: Ome (pronounced O-mey).

Nickname(s): Sweetspark, little spark, spec (Omega), lass, kiddo (TF Cybertron Metroplex), little blue (Jazz), Starlight (TFA Sunstorm), my queen (Scourge).

Age:

TFA and Bayverse - 3.5 million stellar cycles (years) old.

TF Cybertron - 100 stellar cycles old.

Fall Of Cybertron - 18 stellar cycles old.

Height: 5 foot 5 inches.

Birthplace (i.e City): Vector Sigma, Cybertron.

Gender: Femme.

Pronouns: She/Her.

Sexuality: Straight.

Faction:

TFA and Bayverse - Autobot

TF Cybertron - Neutral then Autobot

Fall Of Cybertron - Neutral

Rank:

TFA and Bayverse - Warrior

TF Cybertron - Welder

Fall Of Cybertron - N/A

Alt Mode: N/A (because of her size)

Weapon(s):

TFA and Bayverse: Two blasters on her forearms, and her tendrils can be used to plug into devices, hack and give an electric shock to the enemy.

TF Cybertron: Her tendrils can be used to plug into devices, hack and give an electric shock. When she activates her Cyber Key power, her tendrils become longer and unleash a powerful blast of electricity, her Cyber Key Power can also be used to transform her welder into a blaster.

Fall Of Cybertron: Her tendrils can be used to plug into devices, hack and give an electric shock.

Accent: British.

Personality:

TFA & Bayverse: She can be seen as quiet and shy around those she doesn't know, even wary at times, but once she gets to know them she is friendly and can even be cheeky at times. But she is fierce against the enemy so is not one to be underestimated, and if she is called Puny or Pipsqueak it will rile her up. Once someone makes friends with her, she would be a trusted friend to them, and she will not hesitate to stand up for her family and friends.

TF Cybertron: Around those she knows, she is friendly, talkative and can be a bit cheeky, however around strangers she is quiet and wary unless they prove to be trustworthy, she would be a solid friend to have as she would have their backs, she can have a little bit of a temper when taunted and can get angry if her Sire is insulted so wouldn't hesitate to stand up for those she cares about, and like the other Gigantians, she has a sense of pride in her work.

Fall Of Cybertron: She is quiet and keeps to herself, she has the worry of getting caught by the Decepticons and feels vulnerable, she is desperate to feel protected as she has never had that feeling before. She is hopeful that the conflict will end one day and she can finally feel safe.

Appearance:

Holoform (TFA & Bayverse only): FC: Emeraude Toubia.

Holoform's Outfit:

Likes:

Music

Astronomy

Gaming

Spending time with friends and family.

Welding (TF Cybertron only)

Dislikes:

Decepticons

Being called Puny or Pipsqueak.

Fear(s):

Losing her Sire

Pitch black darkness

Creepy-crawlies

Lightning

Strength(s):

Good flyer

Accurate shooter (TFA, Bayverse and TF Cybertron only)

Can listen to orders

Her size can help her to hide if needs be

If she shocks someone it can be painful to the recipient, if she uses a high voltage shock it has the potential to knock a Cybertronian into stasis depending on their size.

Weakness(es):

Blind in her right optic, due to a scar, so has no depth perception. (TFA and Bayverse only)

Her size can give her a disadvantage since a Decepticon could easily swat her out of the air if they manage it.

If she shocks someone continuously it would eventually weaken her, and if she shocks someone with a high voltage shock it will leave her weakened and vulnerable to attack.

Crush:

Animated - Sunstorm or Jazz.

Bayverse - Jolt, Drift or Hound.

TF Cybertron - Scourge or Jetfire.

Family:

TFA & Bayverse - Omega Supreme (Sire/Father)

TF Cybertron - Metroplex (Sire/Father)

Fall Of Cybertron - Metroplex (Eventual Sire/Father)

Other Info:

When she is shy, she is very quiet and tends to stay close to Omega/Metroplex, and will only communicate with him through their bond.

She also has thrusters on the soles of her feet that she can bring out when she wants to fly and can retract them when on the ground.

When she is riled up she would have to be held back as she would go after whoever would call her Puny or Pipsqueak without thinking.

She has a battle mask that covers her nose and mouth in battle.

Omega/Metroplex is protective of her.

When she is angry, she has the tendency to slip into her native language, Cybertronian, if she is arguing with someone or ranting (but she doesn't argue or rant all the time).

She can hear the Omega Frequency, which triggers visions of what is to come, but they stop once she has helped Primus to fire The Ark (TF Cybertron only).

Quote(s):

"I may be small, but don't underestimate me"

[sunnunderthesun]

"We organized the very last show in 2023..."

Whether to address societal issues or personal traumas of people, forum theatre coupled with psychodrama have been used by NGOs in a number of tormented African nations.

The Brazilian theatre practitioner, Augusto Boal, is known as the creator of forum theatre – an interactive form of theatre in which the audience becomes “spect-actors” when they intervene and change the course of the play. Psychodrama occurs as the actors portray their real-life struggles and explore their anguishes. Spreading messages of awareness and resilience through masquerade and embryonic dramas has been around in Africa since times immemorial. But Boal’s method of forum theatre is now being applied in an effort to unite Africans in regions of tension.

In the book Art and Conscientization (2015), Claus Schrowange writes about his experiences of developing and organising plays with groups in Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo “for the promotion of peace, human rights, and sustainable development”.

According to him, “The ideal Forum Theatre performance is indoor with 20 to 100 spectators, in a hall of the size of one to three classrooms. The larger the audience, the less intense the program. ... Actors should not use microphones, not even during open air performances. Microphones destroy the natural voice which is necessary to project emotions to the audience. ... Our actors only wear uniform T-shirts, most of the time in black and white, with black trousers or skirt. They remove wristwatches, necklaces, earrings and any other item that attracts unnecessary attention. In order to open the senses and energy flow and make better use of their body, they always perform barefoot. ... The play is the heart of the activity. Our goal is to leave the audience astonished, inspired, confused, and enlightened at the same time. We motivate them to become active in their daily lives and within their limited means and powers, to act against all kinds of injustice, violence and Human Rights abuses. ... The actors don’t need to be experts in theatre, but they have to be open to discover themselves and share their real emotions on stage. Actors should act in the language they are using in their own daily life. When it is not possible, more emphasis should be given on the non-verbal expression and the verbal part should be reduced to a minimum.”

However, theatrical attempts to unite different African communities, especially those engaged in decades-long violence against each other, aren't easily welcomed. In areas prone to violence between militant groups and government forces, many adults and children end up becoming soldiers to survive in the absence of employment or education opportunities. The children get drugged and the women and girls are raped by armed men. The forcibly-displaced surviving civilians have deep emotional scars and distrust for NGOs.

“Africa independence was a masquerade, and most of the scourges that devastate this region are consequences of government irresponsibility, and the lack of some politicians’ awareness. They promulgate laws and change them, but they don’t ensure that the entire population has understood them: the first victims of this situation are not enlightened. This is the environment in which our Theatre of the Oppressed group is working,” writes Eliezer Kasereka who, along with his friend, once violently protested against plays organised by Schrowange in Kiwanja because his Theatre of the Oppressed mixed Rwandans and Congolese when there were allegations that Rwanda supported the rebel groups operating in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. But Schrowange and his group were able to influence Kasereka into experiencing “the power that Theatre of the Oppressed has to change minds and heal hearts”.

Since the beginning of 2016, Joseph Tsongo, the founder and CEO of Amani-Institute ASBL, and his friend Eliezer Kasereka, supported by the NGO APRED-RGL, began to use “participatory forum theater in psychodrama style” to help the child soldiers, who had managed to escape from the deadly clutches of armed groups, reintegrate into the society that feared them. They used to host theatre workshops at least once a week in the north-eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Last month, we contacted Mr. Tsongo to learn when the last forum theater was held by him, considering the present crisis in the country. On April 2nd, 2024, he said, ...we organized the very last show in 2023 due to the deteriorating security situation in the region, as well as due to a lack of necessary resources. (His original reply in French: En effet, nous avions organisé le tout dernier spectacle en 2023 et cela en raison de la détérioration de la situation sécuritaire dans la région mais aussi par manque de moyens nécessaires.)

In this regard, worthy of mention is Milo Rau’s solution-driven political theatre, The Congo Tribunal, involving the “victims, perpetrators, witnesses and analysts of the Congo War in Bukavu/Eastern Congo”. It explores the war in Congo – triggered by the West-sponsored Rwandan Genocide (1994) and fuelled by the powerful capitalists’ greed for the country’s natural resources necessary to run the technology of the 21st century – that has claimed the lives of over six million Congolese people. Based on The Congo Tribunal, Rau’s opera called Justice is “the first lyric work on the crimes of transnational companies ever” developed with the victims of the Glencore copper mine accident at Kabwe, aiming to raise funds for them. Justice will be taking the audience "to the heart of the Congolese mining industry", at Tangente St. Pölten Festival in Austria on 30th April, 2024.

However, the Congolese people, struggling with the harsh realities of civil wars and continuous exploitations by the economically powerful nations, need much more international attention than they are receiving now.

[everybody-loves-purdy]

My 2023 Warriors reread!

As you may know, we celebrate 20 years of warrior cats in 2023, so I decided to do my long overdue reread of every single book this year. I thought it would be fun/interesting to keep everyone updated with my progress and thoughts, so here is how this is going to work.

To reduce spam, this is going to be a regularly updated master post containing a continually updated tier list. I’m going to have a short pinned post containing a link to this post, and update that with what book I’m currently reading. I also thought it would be fun to have one sentence reviews/ statements/ thoughts about each book.

Since I have very recently reread River, Sky, and Onestar’s Confession, they’re already on the tier list/review list (I couldn’t find a tier list with Sky yet so that won’t be on the list itself but it still gets a ranking). I will mostly read the books in publication order with a few exceptions which include reading all books in a single arc together, and reading a few books in a reading order I prefer more.

As books come out this year I will pause my reread to read those, give them a review, and then continue my reread after they’re done.

Anyway, the tier list:

One sentence thoughts on each book:

Into the Wild - A - No wonder this thing got like 100 sequels.

Fire and Ice - B - Graystripe commits manslaughter twice in this book.

Forest of Secrets - S - This book is littered with so many good character moments throughout, and despite reading this book more times than I can remember, the third act is still so tense and emotionally driven for me.

Rising Storm - A - This book is quite chill until Runningwind dies and it all just gets more dramatic from there, I always am unprepared for how hard Yellowfang’s death hits.

A Dangerous Path - A - Seeing just how ill Bluestar gets in this book is absolutely heartbreaking.

The Darkest Hour - S - What an excellent way to end the arc, and what would have been at the time the whole series, special shout out to that guy Vicky knew/knows which came up with the initial idea of Scourge.

Firestar’s Quest - B - The only real problem I have with this book is the extremely forced Spottedleaf relationship drama.

Midnight - A - I do not remember liking this book this much last time I read it at all, I wasn’t expecting this to get an A, I really like the character interactions in this particularly.

Moonrise - D - You know in games where you choose to play a side quest but it goes on way too long and you can’t wait for it to be over, yeah that’s this book’s Tribe plot.

Dawn - B - The workmen in this book are pretty terrible people, one deliberately injures a cat and most of them just don’t seem to care when several cats are running around their active heavy machinery.

Starlight - C - Brambleclaw please stfu.

Twilight - C - I already can’t remember most of what happened in this book and I finished it about 10 minutes ago.

Sunset - B - I was on the fence about whether to give this C or B but the Hawkfrost confrontation pushed it to B.

Rise of Scourge - A - Wherever Scourge is living there’s a pretty severe feral cat problem judging by the overhead shots showing them littering the street.

The Sight - A - I forgot how good the character interactions are in this book.

The Lost Warrior - C - I feel really bad for Millie’s owner, she clearly loved Millie a lot.

Warrior’s Refuge - C - Why does that cat have a hereditary 90s haircut?

Warrior’s Return - C - Diesel is the best part of this book, he’s great.

Secrets of the Clans - B - A cute field guide, it’s interesting to see in particular the stuff which ended up becoming dotc, and how those stories in the book are presented as the stories as how the clans know them rather than be totally accurate.

Dark River - C - The character interactions really hold this together, it would definitely be a D tier book if based on the plot alone.

Outcast - E - There’s a few good character moments, especially from Breezepaw, but otherwise the book is just racist and boring.

Eclipse - A - I wanted to keep reading this despite having my life consumed by tears of the kingdom so you know it’s good.

Long Shadows - B - Everything before the fire scene was C and the fire scene and beyond was S so it all evened out to an B to me.

Cats of the Clans - C - It’s fine, that’s all I really have to say about it.

Sunrise - S - What a tragic story for so many involved, and the emotional beats are absolutely nailed.

Into the woods - D - The priceless look on the big handsome cat’s face was the best part of the book

Escape from the Forest - C - She should have stayed with the captain and Patch, I hope she went back to them later on

Return to the Clans - D- In hindsight maybe Sasha shouldn’t have insisted to her kits that Tigerstar was misunderstood and other cats just didn’t understand him

Code of the Clans - A - It’s a shame more and more of this is becoming retconned, I like to still think that it’s all still canon bar the elements of the stories that directly contradict new canon.

Bluestar’s Prophecy - A- It’s a miracle no one in ThunderClan immediately recognised Mistypaw and Stonepaw at their first gathering only mere moons after the identical Mistykit and Stonekit supposedly died.

The Fourth Apprentice - B - Jayfeather just can’t catch a break can he?

Fading Echoes - B - I feel so bad for both Dovepaw and Ivypaw, I thought to myself “oh honey… no” so many times reading each of their POVs.

Battles of the Clans - C- How and why does Cedarheart know about SkyClan in this?

Shattered Peace - C - Willie is the worst BloodClan cat name ever, imagine losing your home to a cat named Willie.

A Clan in Need - B - It was very satisfying to see Violet and Barley beat up their abusive brothers.

Heart of a Warrior - B - the last 3 pages are a RavenBarley shipper’s dream.

SkyClan’s Destiny - E - I did like many of the character moments, and almost rated the book higher on those alone, but the plot is just a bunch of random things happening before the main plot gets a rushed resolution in 3 chapters after getting barely any focus.

Night Whispers - B - Dovepaw and Ivypaw’s relationship is breaking my heart in this one.

Sign of the Moon - F - It started off ok but then it became very quickly apparent that there is no reason for this book to exist apart from padding out the arc to six books.

Crookedstar’s Promise - S - This book hurts my heart.

The Forgotten Warrior - E - In this one I can just feel the writers struggling under the weight of everything they set up but neglected to plan how they would follow through.

The Last Hope - B - I found about 77% of this book to be C tier but the battle at the end is good, iconic, and emotional so I bumped the whole book up to a B.

The Rescue - B - That old lady seemed really nice, I hope she found a cat which loved her and stayed with her.

Beyond the Code - B - I hope Sol’s siblings ended up having good lives, did Cinders scout the homes for her children beforehand or did she just randomly choose houses I wonder.

After the Flood - B - Glad Shrewtooth got some time in the spotlight like that before he disappeared, I wonder what happened to him, I miss him.

Yellowfang’s Secret - E - This book is just messy; lots of obvious errors, bad pacing, and Yellowfang herself is just so bland, she’s nothing like the cat she is in the first arc.

Hollyleaf’s Story - C - Nice insight into Hollyleaf’s time in the tunnels, I don’t have much else to say about it.

Mistystar’s Omen - C - Probably worth a read again if you’re invested in ASC, you get more out of it.

Cloudstar’s Journey - A - Why no one talks about this book is beyond me, do yourself a favour and check it out if you haven’t.

Tallstar’s Revenge - S+ - Words cannot describe how I feel for this book but maybe the fact I added an S+ category just for it can.

Ultimate Guide (2013 Edition) - B - Nice guide with a few mistakes, B tier rather than C for the art, RIP Wayne.

The Sun Trail - S - Overall I really liked this one particularly the stuff at the beginning up to Gray Wing finding Jagged Peak.

Thunder Rising - A - I’m sorry for the gross treatment you were given Bumble, you deserved so much better.

The First Battle - S+ - What a heart-wrenching tragedy the second half of the book is, perfectly crafted to just continue inflicting emotional pain on the reader.

The Blazing Star - C - You died too soon One Eye.

A Forest Divided - B - Surprised I enjoyed this one as much as I did, not looking forward for Slash next book, such a nothing villain.

Path of Stars - B - Was considering giving this a C until the second half picked up and the ending left me an emotional mess, Slash still sucks as a villain though.

Moth Flight’s Vision - C - This book was so close yet so far to saying purposefully something meaningful about trauma.

Tigerclaw’s Fury - F - I liked Jaggedtooth and not much else at all.

Leafpool’s Wish - D - I liked the last two chapters with the three as kits, that was cute, unfortunately how vile StarClan are drags the whole book down.

Dovewing’s Silence - B - The first few chapters that dealt with the direct aftermath of the battle were my favourite.

Bramblestar’s Storm - D - Would be a lot better if it was about 30% shorter.

Mapleshade’s Vengeance- A - A really good self contained villain origin story - Warriors needs more like this.

Goosefeather’s Curse - S - Genuinely probably the bleakest and most hopeless warrior cats story, and I adore it.

Ravenpaw’s Farewell - S - This story radiates love.

The Apprentice’s Quest - B - The characterisations of Needlepaw and Alderpaw are my favourite things about this book.

Thunder and Shadow - A - “A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it”, isn’t that right Onestar?

Hawkwing’s Journey - A - Probably simultaneously both the most hopeless and hopeful warriors book there is.

Shattered Sky - S - Manages to build a sense of horror and dread about the fates of the missing cats that you rarely see in a warrior cats book.

Spottedleaf’s Heart - F - This book is just thoroughly terrible in so many ways, I don’t think I need to explain myself here.

Pinestar’s Choice - B - I really like how Pinestar’s struggle is handled, and Shanty, I fully believe those dream cats telling him to kill Tigerkit were just a normal nightmare rather than a message from StarClan.

Thunderstar’s Echo - A - I liked this one better than I remember, the character bonds and interactions really sell it for me.

Onestar’s Confession - E - Imagine building up a character for an entire book as an awful person then just having them be forgiven by everyone at the end, enjoyed the Darktail stuff so it gets E rather than F.

River - A - I’m really glad to see warrior cats doing some good old murder mystery again.

Sky - B - Wake up bestie new character with anxiety just dropped.

Shadow - A - Nightheart gets smacked in the face with a frog, if that’s not enough reason for you to check this book out I don’t know what to say.

A Thief in ThunderClan - A- After all these years of wanting a Brightheart book it finally came and I definitely wasn’t disappointed.

Riverstar’s Home - S - We got a really nice close platonic friendship between a male and female character in this, to make up for it the Erins gave us the most fridged character in warrior cats history.

Thunder - A - It only took 20 years but the warrior cats discovered therapy.

Wind - A - Oh Splashtail, Tigerstar would have given his tail for a son like you.

Ultimate Guide 2023 Edition - C - I liked the new stories, points off for the horrendous colour errors though.

TPB Graphic Novel 1 - A - I love the art, the pacing for the fire and ice section isn’t great though.

Ivypool’s Heart - S - One of the most emotionally mature stories in warriors, with the underlying message that there is life and beauty in everything and nothing ever truly leaves.

[trudemaethien]

FIC MASTERLIST

Fics are grouped by rating, then alphabetical (except series, which will be posted by series name with titles color coded for their individual ratings). These links will take you to the respective tumblr posts, which are in turn linked to the stories on AO3. You’ll need to be logged into AO3 in order to read, as I archive-lock everything I write.

🥳 I hit the link limit (100) so ToC pt. 1 is complete. (pls lmk if any links are broken bc I will fix them) Please enjoy and feel free to reblog any you like 😊

Table of Contents, Part 1

[G]

Give Those Back This Instant!

Total Eclipse of the Heart

Legacy of my Life

Special Forces

There Rose Such A Clatter

Werdlaara: Ad be Haar Au Be’catra • Gaan’ike • Haar Jai’galaar bal Haar Laar’senaar • Mhi An Jurir • Ner Verd’ika • ni copa

[T]

Bacara Knits (Soft Wars): Knitting is Soldiers’ Work • Every Burden, Layette Down • Shall I Spin You A Yarn • Worry Knot

Restoration and Reclamation

Four and Twenty Blackbirds Baked in a Pie

from your lips, a kiss

Seen, Known, Loved (Changed)

Song of Songs: Laar’riduur

Unit Cohesion

[M]

Adenn (Merciless) • How Painful the Dream I Do Not Wake From

Boots on the Ground

Butt Fucking

A Gentleman and An Officer

Ghost Legion

[E] (biggest section 😊😅😌)

Artists Unknown

Blossom

Closer

Electromagnetic

f(x)=√25e^2: You Don’t Have To (No I’m Gonna) • plus podfic by flowerparrish! • And Do I Dream Again • Move Everything Slightly to the Left, to the Right

Holder of Sheaves

I know your Name as I do my own

Intersection of Non-Standard Genders: As Above, So Below • Down We Go Together • Woke Up Alone In Our Bed • Hand in Lovable Hand

Ke’bajuri

Kiss of Danger (CoD MW, https://archiveofourown.org/works/43655341 🔒)

Kriff Squad: For Fucks Sake • Hay Babe, I Herd Ewe Might be Down to Flock • CG Report Form HKU-575/1010 • Zero Fox • Defenestration and Other Romantic Activities

Look Down to the Infinite Depths

(loving you is) not a chore

Merverse: Ocean Torrents • Hold Me, Thrill Me, Ke’murcyu Ni • Take My Haal Awayyy • Edeemi, Baby, One More Time • Bring Me To Oya • Shoulda Put a Brii’rud On It • Be’chaaj In Your Rock and Roll • Something in the Sho’cye

No Consent on Kamino: Danger to the Body • Ground Zero: First Time Hurts, Kid • Odd Ones Out • Bloody Inconvenient • Just a Little Prick • Ad-vent-ure • Looking Good plus podfic by flowerparrish! • Push to the Limit • Does Not Occur In Isolation

Purple Butterfly: I do? I do. • I Take Thee

A Proud Man May Kneel

Rocky Start

The Scourge Lays Low All In Its Wake

Served Cold plus🔒https://archiveofourown.org/works/48494416 podfic by stargateinmybasement

Torrent’s Vod’ika: Color Me Curious • Satisfaction Brought Her Back plus🔒https://archiveofourown.org/works/49569277 podfic by stargateinmybasement

shu’tup and fuck me hard,case

split ourself wide open

trust me to see you home safe

Repcomm (All Ratings)

All Fun and Games • Nine Tenths

An Ehn

Boom Boys (Ke’bajuri)

everything about you pisses me off

Faces Indistinguishable in the Dark

Family Formed

For Taking, Forgiving

I’m Not Lost, I’m Right Where I Need To Be

love in all the wrong places

Make It Hurt

Mentality

Now and Then (i wonder what u see in me)

Offer. Consideration. Acceptance. Mutuality.

Only Good Things in Storr For You

Percussive Recalibration

Send My Love

Watch My Battleskirt

[caparrucia]

17 and/or 18 for the writing ask meme, please?

Under a cut, because spoilers for the Regis/Aulea/Titus fic and a LONG ramble about the puppyverse.

17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.

Right now I'm wrapping up a +20K one-shot revolving around the formation of the Regis/Aulea/Titus triad in the puppyverse, which is like. The conclusion of a solid ~20 years of pining and slowburning from Titus and Regis and a closer look at who Aulea is, as a character.

This is a story that I, regretfully, knew I had to cut out from the main story of the puppyverse. For those who don't know, the puppyverse is my fanfic equivalent of "hold my beer and watch me" story that's 100% self-indulgent and written primarily for my own amusement. It's a collection of disparate AU prompts floating around the XV fandom over the years and my sincerest attempts at writing them all at once coherently.

It's also fundamentally a story about people figuring out their own definition of humanity and personhood. Through love, yes, in some cases, not not necessarily romantically or sexually. The story revolves around the five main "inhuman" co-protagonists, with the main plot broken up in two clear arcs: Arc 1 introduces the setting and the first few AU premises, which sort of stack on each other. It's primarily driven by the CorNyx (non)relationship (it's complicated) and takes advantage of the fact both of them are outsiders in their own way: Cor has extensive knowledge of the past and the things that have caused the current state of the world, having played a (very traumatic) role in the events that precipitate the setting: ie, Mors yeeting the Scourge and the Astrals into the shadow realm. Nyx is a foreigner who views everything and everyone with a layer of cynicism that only really gets challenged by Cor's shameless sincerity about everything. There's other POVs in the story, particularly to setup things that neither Cor nor Nyx would have been privy to, but arc 1 is mostly about THEM and the war and what they've become, throughout the course of it. Act 2 is when the plot itself picks up and things start actively changing, as a result of all the setups from act 1 and the backstory. The dominos are in place and now we get to tip them off and watch the pretty patterns they make, so to speak.

So as much as I love the Regis/Aulea/Titus story and their character development and the nuances of their interactions, it very clearly did not fit within the framework of the main fic. I've written tidbits here and there, about them, to scratch the itch, but I genuinely love this ship. They're a fantastic power triad and I really wanted to tell their stories, so I decided I was going to, for my birthday. Which I missed, but it doesn't matter, it's getting done now.

This is a story about politically savvy adults who are also stubborn and set in their ways, forced into a situation that forces them to be sincere about their feelings. And boy, they have A LOT of feelings. It's a get-together story where things are simultaneously too fast and too easy and too hard and too slow. They're keenly aware of the consequences of their actions and the weight of their decisions and the fact the world doesn't really CARE about them, as individuals.

It's also a story I stubbornly chose to write from Titus' POV. Because Titus is disabled and he's good at masking, and because he's mostly seen from the outside, people don't really get the weight of Titus being disabled, to what extent and what it means, for himself and his relationships. This is a Titus that isn't a traitor for the very simple reason that Mors removed the reason he would have had to be a traitor: there was no scourge to destroy his home and leave him bitter and furious at the kingdom that did nothing to protect his people. He's still a bitter, snarky, snarly shit whose primary running gag is serving as Regis' moral measuring stick and threaten treason if Regis proves to be inept as a ruler. But Regis is not a bad ruler. He is in fact a very competent ruler that Titus personally admires (and more, but he's not an idiot, he refuses to acknowledge any of those feelings because they would be inappropriate, and Regis is not emotionally available for any of that, so what's the point, cough, cough, this is why they've been dancing around each other for over a decade). Titus is crippled when he's poisoned, and this is mentioned in passing in the main story: the reality of it is far more significant than what the many unreliable narrators of the puppyverse might notice. Titus is poisoned and only saved because Cor intervenes, but while they manage to save his life, the poison has left him with chronic, degenerative nerve damage. He goes from a General that fights in the frontlines, carrying out Regis' defensive war with the Empire in the open, to not being able to stand unassisted more than half an hour, maybe an hour and a half with a cane. And because Titus has compartmentalized what happened to him as being part of the war, he sees what happened to him as being on the same level to what happens to soldiers that get crippled in action. He's not bitter about it! (He is absolutely bitter and frustrated about it.) He's so busy not being bitter about it that he doesn't really bring attention to the fact Regis lost his fucking mind about it.

See, one of the most sobering moments in the puppyverse is the purge that Clarus Amicitia leads in the wake of discovering it was Regis' cousin who was sabotaging the war efforts because she'd bartered with the Empire to let them put her son in charge once Regis was out of the picture. It's a very gut-wrenching moment, because it shatters the idea that "Lucians = Good" that the story had been peddling until then, and kinda shifts it more towards "War=Bad", which is a recurrent theme. But the incident is very colored by Cor's traumatic response to it, and the fact Ignis is caught up on it and being treated as a traitor for his associations with his mentor, Regis' cousin.

Here's the thing that none of these characters mention, in the corresponding chapter of the puppyverse: The reason Clarus did this? The reason they figured out it was Sylvia who'd betrayed them? The reason Clarus freaked out and ordered wholesale slaughter of people?

Clarus was trying to swiftly resolve the issue to try and keep Regis from going on a murderous rampage, because Regis was very much pissed when he found out Titus had been poisoned. See, Clarus is the one person who knows: a), how fucking ridiculously magically powerful Regis is, and b), how very FUCKED the entire continent would be, if Regis decided to go on a murderous rampage. How do you even begin to stop someone who commands that amount of magic? You don't, really. You can only appeal to his better nature. To his reason. The purge is Clarus hoping he can keep Regis from going full on rage monster by assuring him that while, yes, Titus got caught in the crossfire, it has been taken care of. Thoroughly. No loose ends left for Regis to gnaw on like that. Because yes, Clarus is a competent Shield and a good friend, he is 100% aware that Regis is despondently in love with Titus and refusing to act on it, because he's also, at the time, mourning for his wife. (Remember, until Aulea crashlands the party, as far as Regis and Clarus knew, she was dead. And Regis has been mourning accordingly ever since.) Regis lost his shit so badly at Titus being poisoned, that he ordered Titus to be treated in the Royal Quarters, by his own royal medic team. He also might have threatened to kill them all if Titus didn't survive it. It's not a subtle thing, is my point.

But it's also not the kind of thing Cor or Nyx or the kids would know about or notice, because the people involved are politically savvy enough to keep their feelings to themselves.

And yes, Interregnum brings up the fact the triad got together, but it didn't really go into the details, again focusing on the outside perspective (Noctis: He's fucking my parents.) and the consequences that ripple off from it, without directly acknowledging the inner workings of that relationship.

And it's a fucking fun relationship. Fullstop. They're silly and principled and fucking insane, in their own way, but they balance each other out so well! Like cogs falling into place. I'm excited to show it to you, guys.

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. Spicy addition: Questioner provides the passage.

From the one-shot in question:

“Is that how you say hello?” Titus asked dryly, darkly amused by the way Regis’ face flushed with equal amounts rage and embarrassment.

“Knocking, Titus, have you heard of it?” Regis said, and then shattered Titus’ smirk in one swipe: “You have to know better than to sneak on someone under constant death threats. You’re not this stupid.”

“What death threats?” Titus asked, eyes narrowed, and reached out a hand to hold Regis’ throat so he could tilt his head up and force him to look at him in the eye.

That was a thing he’d just so very recently discovered: Regis lost his ability to lie convincingly, if forced to hold eye contact like that. It did a number on his ability to enunciate words with more than three syllables, too, but Titus was okay with getting the small words version of this.

“Two fifths of my court and a solid three fourths of all known foreign governments right now,” Regis replied, trying for blithe but barely scratching the surface of morose instead. He scoffed, but didn’t pull away from Titus’ hold. “You know better than most how many would rejoice if I dropped dead tomorrow. You used to threaten to join them twice a day if I annoyed you enough.”

Titus considered tightening his grip until he heard cartilage snap under his fingers and instead tugged Regis forward so he could kiss him. Was that wise? There, in the Citadel? In plain view of at least one camera? Probably not. But he felt like it, and given the fact Regis immediately kissed back, hands reaching out to claw at Titus’ clothes, it wasn’t unwanted. Untoward.

“I came to give you good news,” Titus said, not quite pulling away, basking in that moment when they were breathing the same air. “Now all I want is to discipline your Saboteur Corp.”

“Would I still have a Saboteur Corp. after you’re done?” Regis asked, and grinned when Titus bit him for the cheek of it. “Tell me the good news, I could use them today.”

This is a very interesting moment, because there's a gap in Titus' narrative. He's a very meandering narrator. He goes on tangents, thinks about details, puts them in context. He's well read and he's got a flair for the poetic. He's got a ton of very eloquent tangents and even more witticisms to deliver. He's devastatingly well spoken, and utterly ruthless about it. And yet, between them "getting together" as it where, and then dealing with the fallout of it, there's a distinct gap in Titus' POV. He laughs at himself and mocks his own sentimentality, he's very mean-spirited to himself, in places, but he doesn't SHOW us, his thought process about this relationship. About letting himself fall head first into a sort of relationship that's not just (definitely) sexual - they've had sex a few times by now - but also... romantic? Emotional? It's hard to pin it down.

There's just... this very sharp change, before and after, in the level of physicality that he allows himself, with them. It goes unexplored and that in itself highlights it. Or at least that's the intent. Clarus makes a comment, in a scene prior to this, but after Titus falls in bed with them, that amounts to mocking Titus for fucking a dragon and not realizing the implications of it. That Regis and Aulea have staked a claim on him, and Titus is a fool if he thinks he can make them forsake that easily.

The thing is, Titus has staked a claim of his own, but because he's the narrator and he's a very unreliable narrator, like all narrators in the puppyverse, he doesn't see fit to examine that claim in depth. It's a fun scene, both for what they discuss and what it means for their relationship, but also... because it represents the new status quo. The fact that Titus isn't going to dance around this and be cautious about it. He likes to pretend he's the sensible one, but he's the one fucking the literal fucking ruling royalty. So who's the sensible one, really?

(None of them. The answer is none of them. It's great.)

[fxa]

clear sky is legiterally the most evil antagonist since tigerclaw. I HATE HIM. like, i hated tigerclaw too, but in a good way because i thought he was a well-written and complex villain. he did a couple cartoonishly evil things but he was always to be taken seriously. big bads like brokenstar and scourge and the leaders of the dark forest were too one-dimensional. but clear sky is complex in a different way from tigerclaw and i actually loathe him. at least tigerclaw had conviction. tigerclaw "knew" that what he was doing was right and his intentions pure with consideration for the greater good. now that's a compelling character!!! meanwhile they keep giving clear sky these moments where it's like he's AWARE he's being the villain and even regretful of it, but then he just chooses to fucking double down. tigerclaw never needed doubling down because at least tigerclaw was never a coward and actively malicious on purpose for the sole intention of being malicious and in power!!!!!!!! clear sky is just annoying i won't lie. like are you serious man. absolute fucking compensating neckbeard of a cat. so cartoonishly evil it's just pathetic, and the moments of sympathy make it WORSE. dreading having to read the next four books knowing he becomes skystar and therefore will almost 100% survive until at least NEAR the end of the set

[xtruss]

Tech Official Pushing TikTok Ban Could Reap Windfall From U.S.–China Cold War

From his perch on a government commission, Jacob Helberg fearmongered about TikTok in Congress. He also works for a giant defense contractor.

— Sam Biddle | March 21 2024

Photo Illustration: Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Among The Many Hawks on Capitol Hill, few have as effectively frightened lawmakers over Chinese control of TikTok as Jacob Helberg, a member of the U.S.–China Economic and Security Review Commission. Helberg’s day job at the military contractor Palantir, however, means he stands to benefit from ever-frostier relations between the two countries.

Helberg has been instrumental in the renewed legislative fight against TikTok, according to the Wall Street Journal. “Spearheading the effort to create the bipartisan, bicoastal alliance of China hawks is Jacob Helberg,” the Journal reported in March 2023. The paper noted collaboration between Helberg, previously a policy adviser at Google, and investor and fellow outspoken China hawk Peter Thiel, as well as others in Thiel’s circle. The anti-China coalition, the Journal reported this past week, has been hammering away at a TikTok ban, and Helberg said he has spoken to over 100 members of Congress about the video-sharing social media app.

From his position on the U.S.–China commission — founded by Congress to advise it on national security threats represented by China — Helberg’s rhetoric around TikTok has been as jingoistic as any politician. “TikTok is a scourge attacking our children and our social fabric, a threat to our national security, and likely the most extensive intelligence operation a foreign power has ever conducted against the United States,” he said in a February hearing held by the commission.

Unlike those in government he’s supposed to be advising, however, Helberg has another gig: He is a policy adviser to Alex Karp, CEO of the defense and intelligence contractor Palantir. And Palantir, like its industry peers, could stand to profit from increased hostility between China and the United States. The issue has been noted by publications like Fortune, which noted in September 2023 that Palantir relies heavily on government contracts for AI work — a business that would grow in a tech arms race with China. (Neither the U.S.–China commission nor Palantir responded to requests for comment.)

“It is a clear conflict-of-interest to have an advisor to Palantir serve on a commission that is making sensitive recommendations.”

Experts told The Intercept that there didn’t appear to be a legal conflict that would exclude Helberg from the commission, but the participation of tech company officials could nonetheless create competing interests between sound policymaking and corporate profits.

“It is a clear conflict-of-interest to have an advisor to Palantir serve on a commission that is making sensitive recommendations about economic and security relations between the U.S. and China,” said Bill Hartung, a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and scholar of the U.S. defense industry. “From their perspective, China is a mortal adversary and the only way to ‘beat’ them is to further subsidize the tech sector so we can rapidly build next generation systems that can overwhelm China in a potential conflict — to the financial benefit of Palantir and its Silicon Valley allies.”

Big Tech’s China Hawks

Helberg’s activities are part of a much broader constellation of anti-China advocacy orbiting around Peter Thiel, who co-founded Palantir in 2003 and is still invested in the company. (Helberg’s husband, the venture capitalist Keith Rabois, spent five years as a partner at Thiel’s Founders Fund). Thiel, also an early investor in Pentagon aerospace contractor SpaceX and weaponsmaker Anduril, has for years blasted the Chinese tech sector as inherently malignant — claims, like Helberg’s, made with more than trace amounts of paranoia and xenophobia.

Thiel’s remarks on China are characteristically outlandish. Speaking at the MAGA-leaning National Conservatism Conference in 2019, Thiel suggested, without evidence, that Google had been “infiltrated by Chinese intelligence” — and urged a joint CIA–FBI investigation. In 2021, at a virtual event held by the Richard Nixon Foundation, Thiel said, “I do wonder whether at this point, bitcoin should also be thought [of] in part as a Chinese financial weapon against the U.S.”

For Thiel’s camp, conflict with China is both inevitable and necessary. U.S.–China research cooperation on artificial intelligence, he says, is treacherous, and Chinese technology, generally, is anathema to national security. As he inveighs against Chinese tech, Thiel’s portfolio companies stand by with handy solutions. Palantir, for instance, began ramping up its own Made-in-the-USA militarized AI offerings last year. Anduril executives engage in routine fearmongering over China, all the while pitching their company’s weapons as just the thing to thwart an invasion of Taiwan. “Everything that we’re doing, what the [Department of Defense] is doing, is preparing for a conflict with a great power like China in the Pacific,” Anduril CEO Palmer Luckey told Bloomberg TV last year.

Palantir is making a similar pitch. In a 2023 quarterly earnings call, Palantir Chief Operations Officer Shyam Sankar told investors that the company had China in mind as it continues to grow its reach into the Western Pacific. On another Palantir earnings call, Karp, the company’s CEO and Helberg’s boss, told investors the more dangerous and real the Chinese threat gets, “the more battle-tested and real your software has to be. I believe it’s about to get very real. Why? Because our GDP growth is significantly better than China’s.” Even marketing images distributed by Palantir show the company’s software being used to track Chinese naval maneuvers in the South China Sea.

Thiel is not alone among Silicon Valley brass. At a February 2023 panel event, a representative of America’s Frontier Fund, a national security-oriented technology investment fund that pools private capital and federal dollars, said that a war between China and Taiwan would boost the firm’s profits by an order of magnitude. Private sector contributors to America’s Frontier Fund include both Thiel and former Google chair Eric Schmidt, whose China alarmism and defense-spending boosterism rivals Thiel’s — and who similarly stands to personally profit from escalations with China.

TikTok, Bad! China, Bad!

Repeated often enough, anti-TikTok rhetoric from tech luminaries serves to reinforce the notion that China is the enemy of the U.S. and that countering this enemy is worth the industry’s price tags — even if the app’s national security threat remains entirely hypothetical.

“Just like tech had to convince people that crypto and NFTs had intrinsic value, they also have to convince the Pentagon that the forms of warfare that their technologies make possible are intrinsically superior or fill a gap,” Shana Marshall, an arms industry scholar at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, told The Intercept.

“TikTok Threat Is Purely Hypothetical, U.S. Intelligence Admits”

Marshall said bodies like the U.S.–China Economic and Security Review Commission can contribute to such conflicts because advisory boards that encourage revolving-door moves between private firms and government help embed corporate interests in policymaking. “In other words,” she said, “it’s not a flaw in the program, it’s an intentional design element.”

“The tensions with China/Taiwan are tailor made for this argumentation,” Marshall added. “You couldn’t get better cases — or better timing — so grifters and warmongers like Helberg and Schmidt are going to be increasingly integrated into Pentagon planning and all aspects of regulation.”

Forcing divestiture or banning TikTok outright would not trigger armed conflict between the U.S. and China on its own, but the pending legislation to effectively ban the app is already dialing up hostility between the two countries. After the House’s overwhelming support last week of the bill to force the sale of the app from Chinese hands, the Financial Times reported that Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin accused the U.S. of displaying a “robber’s logic” through legislative expropriation. An editorial in the Chinese government mouthpiece Global Times decried the bill as little more than illegal “commercial plunder” and urged TikTok parent company ByteDance to not back down.

“There are a lot of defense contractors that are discussing the China threat with an eye out on their bottom line.”

Of course, self-interest is hardly a deviation from the norm in the military-industrial complex. “This is the way Washington works,” said Scott Amey, general counsel at the Project on Government Oversight, a watchdog group. “There are a lot of defense contractors that are discussing the China threat with an eye out on their bottom line.”

Although it’s common for governmental advisory boards like Helberg’s U.S.–China commission to enthusiastically court the private sector, Amey said it would be important for Helberg to make clear when making policy recommendations whether he’s speaking as an adviser to Palantir’s CEO or to Congress, though the disclosure wouldn’t negate Helberg’s personal interest in a second Cold War. Such disclosures have been uneven: While Helberg’s U.S.–China commission bio leads with his Palantir job, the company went unmentioned in the February hearing. Given the ongoing campaign to pass the TikTok bill, Helberg’s lobbying “certainly raises some red flags,” Amey said.

He said, “The industry is hawkish on China but has a financial interest in the decisions that the executive branch or Congress make.”

[eirian]

interest check for pre-orders for:

sonic adventure 2 standee restock

submas standee restock

submas double-sided keychain restock

gen II pokemon starter line keychains (possibly future lines as well?)

sonic (restock), shadow (restock), silver, knuckles, tails, amy, infinite, and scourge lanyard keychains

furry tarot cards

TRANSPARENCY NOTE: i'm going to be using most of the funds to pay for rent because i really need it. it will take a little while for the orders to be processed but i 100% promise i'll be actively ordering the stock with the extra money that isnt going towards rent! i dont expect a LOT of orders for each of these so i wont be ordering very many--basically i'll be ordering this Per Request (so once i reach the minimum order quantity with requests i'll order them but i wont order them in bulk). i will update the site with previews for the art that will be used if enough interest is generated.

if all that is ok with yall, please let me know by voting in this poll:

if you have any questions, please message me!!!

[mightyflamethrower]

Boosters, fencers, and cleaners: Inside cartels' newest criminal enterprise of organized retail theft

by Anna Giaritelli, Homeland Security Reporter

 August 29, 2023 06:00 AM

A nationwide retail theft epidemic cost the United States close to $100 billion in 2021. Stores are being forced to raise prices or shut up shop, insurers are refusing to help, and smaller mom and pop stores are being left behind. In this series, Mayhem on Main Street, the Washington Examiner will investigate the causes behind the scourge of shoplifting, the role of the cartels, the cost to stores big and small, and the complicity of lax prosecutors. Part 2 investigates the role of the cartels. To read Part 1, click here.

Mexican cartels are behind the spike in organized retail crime and are deeply entrenched in every level of the process, according to the federal government's chief investigative agency.

Retailers nationwide sustained nearly $100 billion worth of losses in 2021, the highest year on record, according to the National Retail Federation report published in September 2022. The growing number of cartel-run theft rings around the country drove that figure up from $70 billion in 2019.

SMALL BUSINESSES HELPLESS OVER SPIKE IN RETAIL THEFTS, SAY THEY FEEL ABANDONED BY LAWMAKERS

"Organized retail crime is leading to more brazen and more violent attacks in retail stores throughout the country. Many of the criminal rings orchestrating these thefts are also involved in other serious criminal activity such as human trafficking, narcotics trafficking, weapon trafficking, and more," said Steve Francis, acting executive associate director for Homeland Security Investigations, in a statement. HSI is part of the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The Retail Industry Leaders Association described the acceleration of organized retail crime in recent years as having "exploded."

In fact, 80% of retailers polled nationwide reported an increase in merchandise stolen in 2022, according to the National Retail Federation.

No subindustry of retail is exempt. A spokeswoman for the home improvement corporation said Home Depot's most targeted items have been wire and wiring devices, power tools, and home automation products. When stores lock up those items, it only prompts thieves to focus on stealing other high-ticket items.

(San Francisco Police Department via AP)

Organized retail crime has taken a huge toll on federal and state governments, costing them $15 billion in lost tax revenue, not including lost sales taxes, according to HSI.

Additionally, the average family will fork up an extra $500 annually to cover rising costs of goods as companies increase their prices to make up for stolen goods.

The type of mass-theft seen around the nation, particularly since the coronavirus pandemic began, is different than shoplifting, according to HSI. As the pandemic set in, people increasingly pivoted to purchasing items online, making it easier to sell stolen goods.

"Organized retail crime exploded over the last few years as criminals exploited the anonymity of third-party online marketplaces to fence billions in stolen products," RILA Senior Executive Vice President of Public Affairs Michael Hanson said in a statement.

These retail crimes are perpetrated by people who work as part of a crime ring run by cartels. In recent years, cartels have gone from illicit drug manufacturing and smuggling, human smuggling and trafficking, and illegal firearm smuggling to commandeering crime in the retail environment.

Cartels are involved in every level of retail crime, from in-store theft and listing items in online marketplaces to shipping stolen merchandise worldwide and using U.S. financial institutions to hold their profits.

(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Stolen items are then handed over to the second person in the theft ring: the "fencer" or "fence." The fencer buys the merchandise from the booster at a discounted price and will list the item on a number of platforms, including e-commerce websites such as eBay and Amazon, social media, and wholesale or trading companies.

Fencers will go to great lengths to conceal that the items were stolen. One example is using lighter fluid and heat guns to remove anti-theft stickers from goods. Once purchased, goods may be shipped via cargo containers overseas to be sold.

Joana Suleiman/Washington Examiner

"The reason is almost certainly the I-70 corridor, which has become a pipeline not only for drugs but also for organized retail crime. There is a link between drug trafficking and organized retail crime," Kobach said in prepared remarks for testimony before a House subcommittee in June. "The drug-addicted often become boosters in order to feed their habits, and some fences recruit them specifically."

Boosters "almost always" steal a dollar amount that is below the felony theft level, Kobach said. In Kansas, that looks like $900 worth of merchandise being stolen to stay below the $1,000 felony threshold.

Boosters typically use "pushouts" or "rollouts," throwing items in a cart or large bag and walking or running out of the store, "knowing that the policy of the corporation prohibits staff from stopping them," according to Kobach.

"With this brazenness comes increased violence, with boosters sometimes assaulting or even using pepper spray against store personnel who dare to intervene," he said. "Boosters will hit the same specific store with impunity, sometimes as frequently as two to three times per week."

One such incident in April turned tragic when the booster was approached by Blake Mohs, a 26-year-old Home Depot security guard in New Jersey. Mohs took back the stolen merchandise and was shot. The woman arrested after the shooting was identified as 32-year-old private security guard Benicia Knapps. Knapps picked up the stolen item next to Mohs and ran out after shooting him.

Home Depot has since introduced several initiatives to mitigate theft, though Fornes did not share details.

The final two steps in the theft cycle are left to the "cleaners," whose job is to disguise the origins of stolen merchandise, and professional money launderers who funnel the profits, according to HSI.

This summer, Congress cracked down on items sold on retail sites, including Amazon and eBay. The INFORM Consumers Act, passed in June, has been the biggest step forward for retailers and law enforcement. The Federal Trade Commission issued a warning to online sellers that it would be cracking down as the law called for.

"The industry is hopeful that requiring online marketplaces to collect, verify and disclose information about high-volume third-party sellers, marketplaces will finally evict bad actors from their platforms," RILA Senior Executive Vice President of Retail Operations Lisa LaBruno said in a statement when the bill was passed. "In turn, consumers can shop with more confidence that the products they purchase online are legitimate."

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Fornes called it a positive first step for how it takes away the "cloak of anonymity" that professional shoplifters hide behind when selling stolen merchandise online.

"Now, Congress and states must focus on three paths forward: First, enforcing the new law of the land. Second, creating capacity for law enforcement to investigate and prosecute cases through funding federal, state, and local task forces. And third, educating and training law enforcement and prosecutors on how to partner with retailers to combat dangerous criminals and organized crime," Fornes said.