furiouscashwagonexpert

[thefanficmonster]

Love in Color

Benedict Bridgerton x Reader (Female)

Warnings: None :)

Genre: Rivals/Enemies to Lovers, Fluff, Romance

Summary: Nothing speaks to the soul quite like expressive art. Or maybe the even more expressive artist behind it.

The spring breeze wafts in through the open windows of the small room, curling the curtains to its will. The pleasant smell of freshly bloomed flowers lingers in the air although one could hardly sense it over the suffocating tension that's settled in the room ever since Benedict entered to find Y/N already in there.

Although not a word was exchanged between the two, just her gaze was more than enough to let him know she'd rather be anywhere but in the same room as him. Still, her stubbornness overpowered her distaste for her fellow up-and-coming artist and she remained seated even after Benedict decided to make himself comfortable in front of the canvas farthest across the room from the one she'd taken up.

They are just a couple months away from the mandatory presentations of their final pieces and not a single artist in The Academy can rest easy until they perfect their art. Some have approached the situation as much more dire than others would perceive it but that is simply the burden the so-called greats have to carry.

Y/N and Benedict are prime examples of those artists.

For the amount of disagreements and stubbornness that resides between them, it's quite the miracle they are so alike in nature. And, dare I say, in talent as well. Of course, artists and their art are not meant to be compared but you could never miss the similarities. Not in their pieces, per se, but their personalities.

Competition comes in conjunction with the acceptance letter to The Academy. It comes as no surprise that this place is not exactly a breeding ground for friendships but this headbutting between these two exceeds all limits.

"I sure hope that is mere practice." The mockery in Benedict's voice almost makes Y/N's eye twitch as it echoes off the walls of the silent drawing atelier.

He'd been keeping a watchful eye on her work this whole time, even sacrificing a few important brushstrokes due to his divided attention. Good thing this is just a perfecting attempt on his understanding of anatomy, otherwise he'd be far more upset.

She's become well versed in his game by now. He simply cannot withstand the thought of being in her vicinity without provoking her in one way or another. Although she knows better than to feed into his entertainment, she'd also rather pour ink over a canvas of hard work than take his teasing laying down.

"Very like you to not be able to distinguish practice form a developed piece, Bridgerton." The bite to her words is not at all softened by her leveled tone. If anything it packs that much more of a punch.

One that provokes a smile from Benedict.

"I fail to see how that is my fault. You clearly have made very little effort with this piece but the same could be said for many of your previous ones." He's in no way sincere. In fact, he is openly lying on a dime. He adores her art. All games and personal biases aside, as someone with a distinguished taste in art with a high standard for beauty, he cannot, in good conscience, say her art isn't exceptional.

"Paying more attention to my art than your own, are you?" She doesn't bother turning her head his way, offering him nothing more than a view of her side profile.

"Nothing worth of my attention." He muses, almost forgetting the stool has no backrest as he leans back, catching himself just in time to not topple over and give her the satisfaction she most definitely would've held over his head till the end of time.

She hums knowingly, almost humorously, "That misshapen attempt you have over there says otherwise." She isn't far off the mark. His gaze has been more entranced on each brushstroke of her hand rather than his own. He's missed far more marks than he'd like to admit.

She has him there. But Benedict Bridgerton is nothing if not quick on his feet, "That is certainly one way to admit you are unfamiliar with abstract art. How embarrassing on your part."

A scoff parts Y/N's lips, her head finally snapping in his direction, their eyes meeting with a fiery flare. The tension is so potent a flick of a lighter and the room could be set ablaze.

The temperature only keeps rising when she stands up from her chair, crossing the distance between her canvas and his with three long strides as she comes to stand beside him. Sweat beads form on the back of his neck as a chill rushes down his spine. It is a common reaction his body exhibits whenever her proximity breaches the limitations of scandalous.

They're alone. Unchaperoned. Too close to keep the ton's mouths shut if they were to be seen.

His hand comes up to tug at the collar of his shirt in desperate need for more breathing room. He unbuttons the top button on instinct only to realize how inappropriately the action could be perceived. To his relief, Y/N doesn't seem to notice or care. In fact, she's incredibly disinterested in him at this moment, instead offering her whole attention to the painting in progress.

"Abstract, you say?" She muses, reaching down to toy with one of the paint brushes laying in a small blue pain puddle on the palette. "Allow me to fix it for you."

Before Benedict has even had time to process her words, with a swift snap of her wrist the canvas has now been unflatteringly stained with a blue splatter across it that makes his jaw drop.

"You vixen...." He mutters, eyes wide in absolute bewilderment as he watches the splatter drip paint down below it, coating the previously warmly colored drawing with blue streaks.

"My most sincere apologies, Mr. Bridgerton." The faux remorse in her voice raises his blood pressure a whole lot higher, causing him to gulp down his frustration. "It appears I really lack the understanding necessary for abstract art." If looks could kill, she'd be dead. But that glare, that very glare right there provides her such entertainment.

Having expressed her remorse, she slyly goes to make her way out of the atelier, hoping for a celebratory cigarette outside in the garden now that darkness has enveloped the horizon. However...

Before she has even made it halfway to the door, the loud thunder of quick footsteps shake the walls and marble floor. She's barely had time to turn around to witness the most childish retaliation of all time - Benedict has resorted to smearing the entire palette of colors on Y/N's canvas.

I believe this is an appropriate time to mention that they are both aware of how ridiculous this is. It's not even about the pieces, they were mere attempts. Practice pieces, if you will. It's not about them whatsoever. It's the principle. The disrespect, the mockery.

The need to retaliate for every small comments and remark has now become war, fighting fire with fire. Or rather paint with paint.

With redness clouding her vision and practically all rationale having left her mind, Y/N reaches over to grab the small bottle of ink on the professor's desk. A couple steps later and she's dowsing the canvas with it. She hasn't finished spilling the bottle when a hand engulfs her wrist. In a futile attempt to put an end to her offense and save what's left of his painting's dignity - not much, to be honest - Benedict moves her hand, redirecting the stream of ink so now it splashes on them.

His white shirt and her silver dress are now a quarter black in the front.

That realization brings on a brief moment of peace and silence. No movement, no sound. They're just staring at each other in complete and utter disbelief.

A beat later, they burst out into laughter.

"Oh now you're getting it." He warns her, his words breaking them away from one another like opposite charges of a magnet.

They both hurry to arm themselves with paint they can smear on the other but Y/N unfortunately is beaten to it. She's still in the process of gathering ammo when something cold hits the exposed skin of her upper back.

"Purple goes rather well with your dress." His comment boils her blood, making her immune to the cold paint she's now coated with and fueling her into counterattack resulting in red paint drowning out whatever white parts were left on his button-up. She even got a good splatter on his cheek.

Her cocky smirk speaks volumes as she observes her latest art piece, "Red brings out the color of your eyes quite nicely."

Although he's acutely aware of her comment being nothing more than a tease - as is she in her entirety - he can't help the way the breath was knocked out of him

"Is that so?" He muses, slowly crossing the distance between them as if taunting her to run away.

She doesn't. She doesn't move an inch from her spot, instead crossing her arms over her chest as she hums an affirmation that doesn't even fully leave her lips before they're engulfed by his.

If he was worried about their earlier proximity being considered scandalous, he's clearly lost all rationality now considering their bodies are practically molding together, paint-stained hands roaming previously unexplored territory, fingers tangling in each other's hair, exhales mingling in a single breath.

Suddenly, neither of them seems to mind the mess they've made of themselves. They've been wreaking havoc on the other's composure since the day they met, a couple ruined garments and canvases is nothing.

Some things are so much sweeter when you're not supposed to want them, let alone have them. Taking them despite potential repercussions is a thrill that can't match a single high. So, scandals and the ton be damned, he's taking her. Here and now. Paint and all.

* * * * *

The following morning, upon returning to her room from a lecture she cannot remember whatsoever, Y/N finds quite the surprise awaiting her.

~ Forgive me for ruining your dashing gown, Miss L/N. I unfortunately never got to tell you how greatly I like seeing you in it before I ruined it. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't redeem my actions. So, I beg of you to accept this gesture as both a peace and courtship offering. ~

~ Benedict ~

She rereads the note atop the gown laying on her bed at least three times before she realizes she's smiling and blushing - a reaction she would've condemned herself for just twenty four hours ago. Now, with the, um, new developments, being taken into consideration, she allows herself to revel in this unfamiliar feeling that has filled her with a sense of joyful giddiness she can't recall ever feeling before.

As she falls onto her bed, still grinning from ear to ear, she allows her mind to toy with the idea of giving this offered courtship a chance.

After all, no one has ever brought so much color to her life quite like Benedict Bridgerton.

[theonlyamazingtazmin]

Elrondriel - First Elf to Elf intimacy

While I ruminate on a fanfic I’m currently outlining, I thought I could get out my thoughts through this way because its going to be long possible two year wait before we are back into the world of TRoP. However, I’d like to preface that I pinged the chemistry between Elrond and Galadriel from their first ever meet in Season 1 and had I not been swept by Haladriel, I probably would’ve been shipping them fulltime then. The chemistry was taut in Season 1 and its even more apparent and greatly so in Season 2 with the culmination of a kiss that I don’t think anyone would’ve guessed or believed despite the leaks (I certainly didn’t).

I don’t care to interpret this as platonic, I’m not sorry. You can throw as many of the interviews as you can but actors can and have lied before, I’m well experienced with this. In actual text in the show, this scene is presented with the full fanfare of longing and romance down to the music cues. Yes, it had a functional reason of providing cover, but Elrond is smart. He could’ve done a number of things before a kiss on the lips no less. A kiss on the forehead, the cheek, corner of the mouth even. Had the chemistry not been there, this onscreen kiss would’ve been fallen flat and not much anger towards it would be this high but people can recognise the level of chemistry between. The level of intimacy between Galadriel and Elrond is only second to the actual onscreen romantic couples we’ve seen in the show and movies.

An analysis:

I think people don’t realise that the kiss between Galadriel and Elrond is the first elf to elf romantic intimacy we’ve seen onscreen. Between the PJ movies and TRoP, we’ve seen Dwarf/Elf and Human/Elf romances which have been depicted as the peak of star crossed lovers separated by immortality and time — of which Elrond’s heritage is a product of that and his descendants continue to be in the far future.

The arguments (of cope) I've been seeing proclaiming that's how elves platonically say goodbye to their friends is very paper thin against all depiction of Elvish intimacy where its been clear that kisses are romantic, an expression of agape.

We've seen it with Aragorn and Arwen:

Arondir and Bronwyn:

Kili and Tauriel:

The first time we could've gotten Elf to Elf intimacy was in the Hobbit films with Legolas and Tauriel but we see an explicit rejection from Tauriel to Legolas for Kili and despite how close they were (though separated by rank), we could've seen the proposed platonic goodbye kiss but we didn't and we know why.

Okay, maybe the kiss is an outlier but physical closeness is surely the norm, right?

Not really, even under the guise of close friendship, Elrond and Galadriel remain outliers far closer and leaning to romantic. No other elves than them two interact the same way they do.

You'll see a familar scene of this

Their physical closeness (there's never a space for Jesus!), exceeds far beyond of other elves and their friendships, even for Elrond and Durin and its been consistent

Does this not look the image of a ruling couple

Images by @maul-of-shame

Even when they're angry at each other, it doesn't stop or impede their physical closeness. This is not a one time thing, but a consistent effort between them you don't see with the other elves.

This doesn't just stop in the show, but also in the movies. The chance to depict interaction between a married canon Elven couple and it was cold and distant between them.

PJ didn't care for Celeborn clearly but he could've easily had him in here taking on the role that Elrond is doing for his MIL :) But his omission is pointed and you have Elrond fulfilling that instead.

If you didn't know the history or lore about them, I guarantee most would've assume they're together

[dailyadventureprompts]

DM Tip: Better Random Encounters

One of the most important steps I made in my journey to becoming a good dungeonmaster was realizing that quite a lot of the system I was learning and the popular advice surrounding it was absolute garbage. 5 to 8 encounters per adventuring day? Encumbrance? Many of these things were holdovers from the days when the game consisted solely of dungeon crawling until level 10, and had no bearing on the character centric narrative adventure game I was wanting to play. 

Random encounters were one of those holdovers: an expectation that every dungeon, wilderness location, and even city should have it’s own list ( level appropriate or not) of various challenges and random sights that the party should roll for by day or hour as long as they were playing the game. Specifically, they’re a holdover from a time when random encounters were the main way that players would find these sights and challenges, as much of the gameplay was otherwise about exploring a large ( and mostly empty) map of a dungeon or landscape. This is where the idea about 5-8 encounters per day really comes from.

The real problem is that encounters these days are quite a lot of work, both in that the DM has to put a lot of energy into making each encounter entertaining/challenging AND that any potential combat or RP is going to eat up a lot of table time. The workload for DMs is compounded by the fact that if the party isn’t having frequent random encounters in the same area, a good portion of their prep work is wasted, which begs the question of why do random encounters at all and not just concentrate all their efforts on one or two really good encounters? This is the route I’ve seen most groups take , leaving random encounters as obligatory filler, if they use it at all.

But what if you still like the idea of random encounters? Well below the cut I’m going to show you not only how to design encounters that take advantage of an element of randomness while still keeping that focused feel, and over here I’ll talk about how to design adventures that embody that element of discovery random encounters were supposed to facilitate in the first place.

The Jack-in-the-Box Encounter: Imagine that your party has crept into the lair of some terrifying monster in pursuit of their current goal, perhaps they’re looting a ruin, or recovering a mcguffin, or rescuing an abducted npc. They know that if they stay too long, the monster will discover them and they’ll have to face down a foe that far exceeds their current strength so they need to be smart, cautious, and fast, despite seldom being any one of these things. Allow them to explore the lair freely but every time they make noise or take a lot of time doing something, you throw a d6 into a cup or small bowl in a way that -plinks- ominously. Six dice in the bowl? Roll them, and if the number 6 comes up, the beast has arrived and the heroes have a hell of a fight on their hands.

This method of encounterbuilding allows you to have a threat looming over the party’s heads, acting like a clock that ticks forward whenever they move. The best part is that it’s possible to get to the limit of six dice and not have the jack-in-the-box encounter trigger, meaning that their luck holds out. if you want to give them extra wiggle room ( such as if they have to explore a whole dungeon without alerting the boss) you could do a countdown system, three 6 needed to pass on their first trigger, then only two, then one on every subsequent throw. 

Whether or not the enemy announces itself when triggered is entirely dependant on how you want the encounter to play out: A giant might thunderously return home giving the party one last chance to dive for cover before they’re spotted, while a shadowy wraith might stalk the party from the darkness, waiting for the perfect time to strike under the pretenses that the count is still continuing.

You could also use this to represent a bountyhunter tracking down the party over the course of weeks, getting just a bit closer every time they give themselves away. 

[dearestones]

Neutrophil Squad x F! Immune Cell Reader Before Dating Headcanons

Warnings: N/A

@hellowiamadrawer Request: Hi again, if it's okay could I have some headcanons of how the female reader (can be an immune cell or regular cell) met the neutrophil squad (4989, 2048,2626 and ofc 2001) before they started dating?

.

.

.

U-2001

U-2001 probably met you when you were both newly matured neutrophils while in the middle of combat. While he's a skilled neutrophil, that doesn't mean that he's infallible.

In the middle of gutting a bacteria with one of his many knives, he forgets that he shouldn't leave his back wide open. As his receptor pings in urgency, he tries to turn around, knife in hand and at the ready, but is still slow to react.

Luckily for him, 2001 is not alone. Despite the bloodbath and carnage that decorates the middle of the bloodstream, you are there to protect him. Like him, you're not a seasoned veteran, but you are spry and full of life. The instant you recognize that your teammate is in trouble, you leap him and immediately annihilate the scum that dared to hurt another immune cell.

After a brief acknowledgement of your valiant efforts, the both of you go back into your attack positions and stave off the continuing infection.

For many cycles afterwards, you don't talk, but acknowledge each other. Respect grows between you and you can on him to step in whenever a bacterium or parasite proves too much and vice versa.

It isn't until the both of you end up being critically injured and sent to the infirmary that you and 2001 finally have a conversation that doesn't require the use of your combat skills and bloodlust.

Between the two of you, your warrior's bond far exceeds everything and allows you to build your relationship from mutual trust and respect.

U-2048

You meet U-2048 when he's busy trying to flirt with various civilian cells. While he definitely has the looks for a cliche Casanova type, he isn't that great with his words.

As an immune cell, he already has points docked for attractiveness because of his inherent bloodlust that comes with the territory, so that rule out most civilians. But, he also has points docked for being rather too forward or too coy with his advances.

He will never admit it, but he can never find the right balance when trying to woo possible love interests.

With you, though, he's a strong conversationalist. Despite his apparent interest in trying to go for various other cells, he always find time to relax and joke around you. Here, all his corny puns and pick up lines actually sound smooth and not like he rehearsed them many times in the mirror like he was still a myelocyte.

Eventually, those pick up lines begin to grow more and more true. It starts as something small. Innocuous. Something he can plausibly deny as being a product of inebriation or deliberate teasing.

However, as time goes on, he becomes more bold and more willing to take risks.

In the end, this culminates in an impromptu confession where he is no longer afraid of possible rejection or making his feelings known.

Whether or not you reject him, he'll be fine. All he wants is to show you that he can be truthful and honest about his feelings.

U-2626

Getting to know U-2626 is a unique experience. He's level headed and rational, compassionate and loyal. Although his hair masks his eyes, and thus, many of his expressions, you can tell that he's always pleased to see you.

It's his smile, his laugh, and his mannerisms that make him intriguing. He's an engaging character who's always keen to make you giggle at his jokes or the stories about his teammates that he made you swear you wouldn't tell anyone.

He's a sweet companion, a friend to you at your lowest, darkest moments. Attentive and kind, he's always there with a mug of steaming green tea and a cone of glucose should you ever need it.

Furthermore, he's while he's great at conversation, he's also a good listener. It doesn't matter if you want to complain or to pass the time by talking about the trivial. He lives for them all because he can spend time with you.

As a result, it's because of these conversations that the both of you come to realize that the both of you hold each other in a positive regard. So much so that it's not long before the both of you are in a relationship—much to the bemusement and fond exasperation of your coworkers. 

U-4989

With U-4989, you know you’re always in for a ride. 

You know that most of 4989’s improvised weapons are against regulation, but you can’t help indulging him in his whimsical creations that do, more often than not, actually get the job done. You wouldn’t be giving up your standard issued weapons any time soon, but seeing 4989 go after bacteria with a sign for glucose sweets or a pan filled with various nutrients never fails to make you smile. 

It’s all adventure and adrenaline with the both of you. It’s almost like the world is constantly colliding and spinning faster and faster, never stopping. From the amusing to the horrifying, the both of you face life’s challenges and hardships with laughter spilling from your mouths and joy in your souls. 

For a good while, you thought you were just good friends with him, but then he starts making things for you. Sometimes, it’s weapons. Other times, neat little trinkets that don’t often have a functional purpose, but look pretty in your dorm room. Each and every time, without fail, you thank him and you watch as his large eyes grow wide and his cheeks become saturated with the color of an eosinophil’s uniform. 

You grow to love this cute, bashful side of 4989. 

Unfortunately, he isn’t always the best with words, often favoring physical affection and action. 

That’s more than fine by you. 

Really, it’s fine if he wants to take the lead in other aspects of this burgeoning relationship, but it’s you who steps up and tells him that you would like to be official. 

Again, his eyes bulge wide open and he looks shocked, but in the end, he accepts. 

Every day, from then on, he’s always at your side, fiddling with something new and making sure that you have the nicest of his creations. 

.

.

.

If you want to donate a Ko-Fi, feel free https://ko-fi.com/devintrinidad.

HATARAKU SAIBOU (CELLS AT WORK) MASTERLIST

[best-underrated-anime]

Best Underrated Anime Group C Round 3: #C8 vs #C2

#C8: Government employee and his white cat boss

#C2: High social anxiety girl has to befriend her whole class

Details and poll under the cut!

*Text in green indicates that something has been changed.

#C8: White Cat Legend 2020 (Dali si Rizhi)

Summary:

Chen Shi, a young man from the countryside, journeys to the capital in search of his missing older brother, whose existence he only knew about upon his mother’s death. He knows neither the name nor face of his brother, and after finally arriving at the capital, he runs out of money as well. One thing led to another, and he finds himself employed at Dali Court, where he works for Vice Minister Li Bing, a large white cat.

On the other hand, Li Bing is of royal blood who was imprisoned because of his family’s treason. Now, he has to work in the government to atone for the crime.

At Dali Court, they review court cases from all over the country. But when an incident involving the esteemed ministers of the royal court breaks out, Dali Court is called to help, only to find themselves entangled in political threads and hit heads with an eccentric demon.

Li Bing is determined to get to the bottom of this, but how far can he go when he could regress into a real cat at any time when left unchecked?

Propaganda:

I’m tired of writing new propaganda every round, so I’m begging you to just trust me that it’s GREAT.

Intriguing plot? Check. Complex and interesting characters? Check. Comedy? Check. Drama? Check. 

The blend of comedy and drama is just so good. I started the show because I love cats and supernatural stuff. Who would’ve thought it would pull me into an abyss of despair of political intrigue. The cat demons turned out to be just the icing on the cake. 

We have all these different characters brought up in different ways that their ideas of what is Right conflict with each other. None of them are exactly Wrong or inherently Evil (well, except for maybe one guy), and this makes it so much more difficult to choose who to root for. You’d think everyone against the protagonists are the Enemies, but turns out even the protagonists are limited by their biases and unintentionally harm others. Even the two protagonists themselves get into arguments because of their different standpoints.

And I just love this because it makes them realistic, you know? The characters don’t always agree with their friends, and their enemies are not completely hostile either. It really all boils down to what they believe in. Sometimes their beliefs align with existing comrades, and sometimes they find it on the other side.

Production-wise, this show also gets a check on everything. As an adaptation, it’s amazing. The original manhua has quite a simple style—kind of like comic book drawings, and panels are all rectangles in one straight line. Storytelling is also simple and straight to the point. 

But the 2020 donghua? God, it went far and beyond that.  The animation team does not cut corners at all, which is a feat considering the show has a low budget from what I’ve heard. 

A short, simple scene in the manhua becomes an emotionally-devastating experience in the donghua. The animation choices, angles, music, and just everything else blend so well to deliver a STORY. This adaptation does not just copy frames from the source (like Blue Lock) or cut/reorder some of the scenes (like Horimiya and Sasaki to Miyano). White Cat Legend 2020 understands the material so well that it can creatively use the advantages of the animation medium to deliver an experience that exceeds even that of the source. Think Mob Pyscho 100 or One Punch Man s1 level of creativity. It even has mini stories at the end of the ending song. For s1, the mini stories are in stop-motion, while for s2 it’s formatted like a video game. You gotta appreciate the effort.

Please just vote for this show. It deserves to be in the Finals.

Trigger Warnings:

Cannibalism - There’s a cat demon who appears in human form, and he eats humans (it’s not shown explicitly, though).

Animal Cruelty or Death - said cat demon also eats animals raw (again, not explicitly)

Graphic Depictions of Cruelty/Violence/Gore - There’s blood and fighting, and somebody also gets tortured in season 2. But again, nothing too graphic

#C2: Hitori Bocchi’s ○○ Lifestyle (HitoriBocchi no MaruMaru Seikatsu)

Summary:

Many of us know what it is like to transition to a new school with few to no friends in a new environment, going through the arduous process of getting to know people again. Bocchi Hitori knows this struggle all too well, having just graduated from elementary school and thrown into middle school. Unfortunately, she suffers from extreme social anxiety: she faints when overwhelmed, vomits when nervous, and draws up ridiculously convoluted plans to avoid social contact. It does not help that her only friend from elementary school, Kai Yawara, will not be attending the same middle school as Bocchi. However, wanting to help her, Kai severs ties with Bocchi and promises to reconcile with her when she befriends all of her classmates in her new middle school class.

Even though Bocchi has no faith in herself, she is determined to be friends with Kai again. Summoning all of her courage, Bocchi takes on the daunting challenge of making friends with her entire class, starting with the delinquent-looking girl sitting in front of her…

Propaganda:

This is a fun and lighthearted show. Watch it if you need something cute to chill out! The art is cute and colorful, the music lively, and the animation fine enough.

As it's adapted from a four-panel gag manga, the story is simple and focuses on the various characters. They all have pun-based names related to their main personality trait, so they're easy to remember if you know some basic Japanese (Hitori Bocchi means all alone, for example). The girls are all adorable and fun in their own quirky ways, and I loved seeing the heroine doing her utmost best to overcome her fears -and other challenges- to befriend them in the hope of fulfilling her promise. That's the power of the Do-Your-Best Fairy! They all care for each other (despite some teasing) and help Bocchi with her monumental task, never pulling her down for her struggles but gently pushing her in the back when needed.

But most importantly, Hitori Bocchi is a very relatable character. As someone suffering the same trouble, I related a lot with Bocchi, from her silliest worries to her escalating panic and weird schemes in an attempt to prevent anything wrong. Anxiety is faithfully represented, mixed with the right amount of laughing to how far Bocchi can get to avoid fearful situations in her very cute ways. It feels good to see a character like me in a such positive light! The struggles are real and acknowledged, and it’s really moving to see our heroine overcome them little by little in a very humanizing way.

This series has become one of my comfort materials, and I come back to it when I need hope and inspiration in everyday social interactions! If you need one last thing to be convinced, listen to that most adorable and silly song that will give you the Power of Motivation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGoGwlNmZUQ 

Trigger Warnings: None.

When reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.

If you want to criticize one of the shows above to give the one you’re rooting for an advantage, then do so constructively. I do not tolerate groundless hate or slander on this blog. If I catch you doing such a thing in the notes, be it in the tags or reblogs, I will block you.

Know one of the shows above and not satisfied with how it’s presented in this tournament? Just fill up this form, where you can submit revisions for taglines, propaganda, trigger warnings, and/or video.

[beardedmrbean]

The Kansas legislature passed a bill Wednesday that would classify organized retail crime (ORC) a felony offense, joining nine other states that have passed similar laws in the last year. 

ORC refers to orchestrated groups of shoplifters who commit smash-and-grab robberies of stores or target cargo carriers.

The state’s upper chamber passed the Substitute House Bill 2144, which would split the felony charges into two tiers. A theft of merchandise valued at more than $3,000 would be classified a felony and those convicted would face between 31 and 136 months behind bars. If the amount stolen exceeds $15,000, the sentence range is between 38 and 172 months. 

'BURGLARY TOURISM' PLAGUES SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AS UNVETTED FOREIGNERS RAID LUXE HOUSES

The bill still has to be signed by Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, before it goes into effect. 

In support of the bill, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach wrote that ORC isn’t "mere shoplifting."

"These crimes typically involve stealing for personal use. It is large-scale theft of retail merchandise that represents a concerted effort to victimize a business, often with the intention of reselling the items for financial gain and often using those financial proceeds to fund additional criminal activity," he said.

A 2023 report from the National Retail Federation, the world’s largest retail association, found that organized retail crime was a primary driver of the massive amount of "shrink" retailers saw in 2022, with non-employee stealing making up 36%. 

The term "shrink" typically means theft and other forms of inventory losses, and retailers nationwide experienced $112 billion in losses in 2022. 

Texas, Virginia, Alabama, Indiana, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Oregon enacted retail theft laws last year, while California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana and North Carolina passed ORC laws in 2022. 

"While theft has an undeniable impact on retailer margins and profitability, retailers are highly concerned about the heightened levels of violence and threat of violence associated with theft and crime," the NRF wrote on its website. 

State Senate Republicans who voted for the bill argued that ORC needs its own category since shoplifters who steal for their own use versus those who are part of a broader organized scheme are charged the same way. 

"Currently we don’t have the proper tools to prosecute that type of crime, so that’s what this bill does," state Sen. Kellie Warren, a Republican, said of the bill, The Topeka Journal reported. 

Some states hit hard by retail theft have gone so far as to create their own law enforcement task forces to address it. The NRF found that Los Angeles was one of the hardest-hit cities in California for ORC, leading the LA County Sheriff Department to create the Organized Retail Theft Crime Task Force.

Meanwhile, opponents of tough-on-crime laws such as these argue the harsher penalties are too extreme for the crimes and could prevent a person from being rehabilitated. Maine’s legislature passed a bill in the House this week that would prohibit charging people who already have two prior convictions of theft if the third theft is worth less than $500. The state’s current law permits a felony charge for the third conviction if the crimes all occur within a decade. 

[collapsedsquid]

Western officials also believe Russia is on track to manufacture two million artillery shells a year — double the amount Western intelligence services had initially estimated Russia could manufacture before the war. As a result of the push, Russia is now producing more ammunition than the United States and Europe. Overall, Kusti Salm, a senior Estonian defense ministry official, estimated that Russia’s current ammunition production is seven times greater than that of the West. Russia’s production costs are also far lower than the West’s, in part because Moscow is sacrificing safety and quality in its effort to build weapons more cheaply, Mr. Salm said. For instance, it costs a Western country $5,000 to $6,000 to make a 155-millimeter artillery round, whereas it costs Russia about $600 to produce a comparable 152-millimeter artillery shell, he said.

One of the things I saw recent quips on is how Europe's shell production is below ww1 levels

[blissfullyapillow]

hiya :) id like to request a star rail matchup please (if your rqs aren’t open feel free to ignore)

im a straight female (she/her) and id like to not be matched with sunday

appearance: 5’7”, long blonde hair (usually in big curls or a messy bun) i do wear glasses but if I’m going out I’ve always got contacts in. my style is very girly- a mix of vintage classy (think marilyn sort of) and y2k. my makeup tends to stick to being quite simple and natural, but i do love a red glossy lip

personality: enfp, 7w6. im very outgoing and loud, but i also value my quiet time to relax. i joke around a lot, so I find it hard to converse with people who are serious *all* of the time. im definitely an emotional person, and that will usually drive my actions over logic. im academically intelligent but admittedly lacking in street smarts or common sense. creative, very much the dreamer type and i need to have my freedom.

I put a lot of effort into my appearance because I genuinely enjoy it. It can make me a bit high maintenance but I would not expect too much from a partner, especially not without reciprocating in some way. I also love doing anything artistic (im currently studying art!) travelling, music, and cooking.

my love language in a relationship would probably be physical touch, but I’m easy to impress with most efforts of romance. in a partner I look for someone strong and loyal, with a good sense of humour and ability to have long conversations with- whether that be equally contributed or lead by myself in the case of someone more quiet.

thank you if you get to meee ☺️💖

ps could I be 🍰 anon pls if u don’t have that taken? C:

Pillow Talks: Hi again 🍰! I made my own header for your request because content for Sampo is oddly lacking for some reason??? Anyway, I hope you like your matchup! I promise you it’s good hehehe. 

What I think your relationship would sound like: Sampo Koski

Masterlist

⊱ ۫ ׅ ✧ ݁˖$ ⁺⊹ ★.ᐟ 

Icon creds in header: @/faivrse on pinterest (left) & @/mintst4rss on pinterest (right) 

⊱ ۫ ׅ ✧ ݁˖$ ⁺⊹ ★.ᐟ 

Sampo would be in LOVE with your hair. Really, long blonde hair with big curls? He’s a goner, especially when you put it up into that messy bun of yours. Honestly, he was lovestruck the moment he laid eyes on you. 

Oh, how you made his heart pound. Of course he had to approach you! …Only for his reputation to serve as a horrible first impression. You’ve heard the name Sampo Koski far too many times to count. 

You honestly began to believe it was some legend to educate people on the crafty ways you could be scammed out of your money, but the man himself stood before you, bent down to be eye level with you as he spoke. You knew better than to make the mistake of engaging with him, so you continue walking.

If only he didn’t have such an awful reputation, maybe you would’ve stopped to hear what he had to say. Despite your apprehension, you kept walking to your destination, effectively ignoring him despite his many attempts to ask you out on a date.

You successfully escape him, only to encounter him the following day as you accidentally bump into him. You start to think it wasn’t an accident when he turns around, all too eager with that stupidly charming grin on his face. 

It takes many more encounters for you to finally agree to a date, solely because you happened to see him helping a young child that was previously ignored by everyone else. You were heading over to help the child, but he swooped in to save the day before you could. 

After you witness the tearful, yet happy, reunion of the child and their parents, you decide to give him a chance. Besides, you should form your own impression of him before completely writing him off…

Your decision leads to a beautiful relationship, one that far exceeds your expectations. Through conversation, you come to learn just how complex of a person Sampo is. Although he appears to be a dishonest, crooked individual, he provides remarkably wise advice whenever you approach him with your worries. 

He’s also fiercely loyal, which you’ve come to realize over time. Once you two officially started dating, even before, Sampo’s eyes have always remained on you and you alone. Sampo is an attractive individual so he’s been approached while the two of you have been together. 

You know you never have to worry though, because Sampo won’t even look their way!  He always politely declines any offers he receives, and he’ll casually intertwine his fingers with yours as the two of you walk away. 

He’s more than happy to have long conversations with you, and the tone can shift depending on the topic and your personal feelings. He’s really good at being a solid emotional support for you, and he’s quick to pick up on the little things you do that indicate how you’re feeling.

Sampo relies on you when it comes to academics, but street smarts? Oh, he’s got you. He’s helped you avoid many situations that otherwise would have escalated quickly, and other scammers trying to make a quick buck off of you.

Sampo loves to joke around with you. Your laughter is as heavenly as the sound of money in his hands, as he flips through the stack of cash he managed to make through very legal and very ethical means. 

If his sneaky ways really bother you, he’ll still spoil you with gifts and fun outings, but he’ll make the effort to earn the funds through more conventional ways he knows you’d approve of. But the money he spends on other things? … not so much.  

Sampo is head over heels in love with everything about you, but especially your appearance. Oh, he loves when you put on your red lip gloss, if you don’t specifically tell him to, he won't keep his hands off of you anytime you wear it around him.

Your style is very appealing to him, and he makes the effort to tell you how beautiful you are to him everyday. When he found out you wore glasses, he snuck a picture of your cute face that he can often be found admiring; it’s still his lockscreen.                      

He finds it adorable how much of a dreamer you can be, and he'll happily participate in any of your hobbies you’d like to share with him. 

Regarding your personality, he actually admires how loud and outgoing you are! It only serves to liven him up when he’s feeling a bit down about things. When you’re feeling emotional and it’s causing you to take unwise actions, Sampo is exceptionally good at stepping in and gently talking you down. His voice takes on this soothing tone that you subconsciously calm down listening to. 

Overall, you two are really cute together! He’s head over heels in love with you, and he treats you like the queen you are and nothing less; you are absolutely smitten with him in return.

✧˖°♡〃⋆.˚

His fingers lazily loop one of your curls around his finger, flashing you a saccharine sweet smile when your eyes glance in his direction.

“You look really pretty when you’re concentrating like that, you know?” His words cause your heart to flutter, but you purposefully ignore him in favor of reading the recipe laid before you.

Sampo watches intensely as you bend slightly forward to ensure you pour the correct you need into the pot. How can you focus when you can feel his gaze, and when he’s looking at you like that…

You feel your face heat up considerably. With a huff you turn around to tell Sampo to back off, only for him to immediately capture your lips. 

As much as you’d love to indulge him, you’re both pretty hungry. So, with a sigh you pull away. “We can cuddle and watch movies together later-” You smile at the way his eyes immediately light up, “IF you help me finish cooking. Weren’t you complaining about being hungry earlier?” He sighs in faux annoyance, leaning in to press his lips against yours once more before he begins assisting you.

He knows you’re both looking forward to your cuddle session, after all. 

Dedicated to,

.⋆.˚🍰₊˚.ᵎᵎ˖⁺. ݁

[broadcastbabe]

I watch as you both fondle yourself, competing to be the first to pleasure me. There had been such team work when you undressed me while we danced in a tipsy 3-way embrace. I purposefully picked you up at the hotel bar this evening after we eyed each other at several breakout sessions at the conference. It had been a long boring day in yet another city that offered little more than a chance meeting in a convenient downstairs bar. I was not opposed to your pal tagging along, considering the number of drinks we shared and my level of drunken desire. He is younger, more enthusiastic and has a sandy blonde resemblance to a college boyfriend I once had. As you encourage him in your little contest, I can see his reach will far exceed yours. I’m counting on you for finesse and perhaps some mentorship while you both ravage me. The result of your contest has produced promising advantages for me. You join me on the bed first to assist me with the bra strap I’ve been teasing from my shoulder. Your words are gentle as your warm hands massage my breasts and nuzzle the fishnet fabric away to expose the tingling flesh beneath. Concentrating on my taut nipples, you suckle as I whimper with lust. I’m aware we’re being watched and open my eyes to see we’re no longer alone on the bed. His lips join yours as you nurse in tandem, adding your own gratified groans. I’m squirming with excitement from the varied attention, unable to discern which is more stimulating. You seize on the movement of my hips to ease my thong away, so your fingers have access to the abundant juiciness now revealed for you both. Directing your protege to taste the spoils, you position yourself to prop me up so we can both witness his technique. He meets our watchful gaze with those sparkling blue eyes as his tongue laps at the oozing nectar before dipping inside to tantalize me with his search for more. My hand finds your length and I mimic the in and out within my grip, as you egg him on with how much I deserve his best efforts. My moaning slips an octave as he complies and your hands return to my pliant breasts to tweak the throbbing tips. My hips rise to meet the rhythmic tongue thrusts and he never loses contact, staring at me, now through heavy-lidded eyes dazzled by the ambrosia and my responses.

You suggest my first orgasm might be a sight to see considering my behavior so far. His eyes brighten and he extracts his busy tongue. His girth has grown to an extreme as you note and I open my legs wider in hopes I can take him in completely. I murmur of my needs as he teases the tip along the lengths of my swollen entry. I tighten my grip on you to signal my readiness and you groan, relishing the feedback. Cautioning him to take it slow, you reach down to splay the portal with your fingers, kneading me for further surrender. His impatience implants himself swiftly inside me, then slows while he leans forward to kiss me deeply. My flavor is still lingering as his tongue probes my mouth while he progresses further below. He indulges your request for a taste with a soulful exchange of gratitude before returning to focusing on my impalement. Nearly halfway inside me he straightens his posture to watch himself disappear into my depths. It excites you both as I sense more pulsing growth from inside and my steadfast grasp on you. I mimic the long stroke of his entry upon your hardened girth, much to your howling appreciation. At his hilt, he kisses me again, nearly silencing my breathless moaning. Sensing our need for friction, you bark orders to ‘give her your best, young man.’ What follows, escalates from a slow grind to a frenzied pumping that rocks the bed we share. We are screaming at a pitch with no regard for neighbors or the hotel staff. I close my eyes to imagine the scene from above and my orgasm closes in faster as I float to observe the multiple pleasure points of our earthly delights. I am only faintly aware of the sequence after I cum first, with epic flourishes of my bucking body and quivering flesh. He detonates within me triggering subsequent aftershocks that catch us all by surprise. My constant handwork is further flexed to help drench me with the ropey fountains of your climax. It seems never-ending, but I suspect it’s a feedback loop while I am floating semi-conscious through an exhilarating deja vu. I awake murmuring your names, to find the young buck cleansing me thoroughly, while quenching himself with your spoils. You are smiling and grazing my effervescing skin with your fingertips, relishing the aftermath of our threesome

“He’s primed for another go…”

“Such a big boy, when he’s all grown up…”

“Too much?”

“Not so far…”

[bronzegods]

Aset, goddess of magic and wisdom

A sharp intelligence has always come easy to Queen Aset. She was the first among her siblings to learn to shapeshift, the first to achieve competency in magic, and the first to challenge and rival Djehuty with her cunning. But it seems that despite the effort she puts in, it’s never been enough to earn the respect of the elder gods. All eyes were on on Usire, her husband, to lead Kemet and enable it to prosper. To them, she’s just an afterthought, the Deified Wife, and she’s determined to change that - for herself, for her sister, and for every young goddess who will be born in Kemet in the future.

But it’s not easy to shift this paradigm in a world steeped in centuries of misogyny. With her husband gone, it’s painfully obvious that Kemet refuses to envision a pantheon with a goddess at its head, even though she was the one drafting and executing all the agreements with surrounding foreign pantheons. The truth is, they don’t want to be ruled by a single queen. And that’s just too damn bad, because she’s not letting them crush her aspirations underfoot. A better future for Kemet will arise, whether they like it or not.

Tricking Ra into giving up his secret name was the first step. With Ra being the biggest source of the dismissive sexism leveled at her, controlling him was a key mission. But now she has a new challenge - her own brother, Sutekh, threatens her sovereignty after he kills her husband and makes a claim to the throne. Sutekh rivals her in magical prowess and exceeds her in raw strength, making him a formidable enemy. There are only two ways this can go if she wants to stay queen: either she marries Sutekh, as Ra has demanded, or she kills him.

The second is a far more attractive option.

Highlights in her life include:

Famously tricking Ra into revealing his secret name. The power of his secret name allows her to compel him when he’s in his powerful afternoon sun form, which prevents him from outright smiting her for defying him. She has been unsuccessful at doing the same to Atum, the evening sun, which complicates her plans - she can out-magic him, but his political power still makes him dangerous. Fortunately, Khepri, the morning sun, has proven himself to be little trouble.

Negotiating and executing a treaty with the underworld gods, who are headed by Khenti-Amentiu and his myriad of jackal god sons. Inviting Anpu to participate in Iunu’s royal court has given Kemet unprecedented peace with the Duat gods, a much needed change after a prolonged war between her father and previous king Geb and Khenti-Amentiu.

Securing the loyalty of Baalat of Gubla, in the Retjenu city of Gubla (modern Byblos), which has given Kemet access to communications and trade with pantheons as far east as Mari, Ebla, and the land between the two rivers itself (the Sumerian city-states, notably its biggest city, Ur).

Her relationship with her brother-husband Usire was all right, but she did resent that she put in all the political work and he got all the credit. Usire wasn’t a bad fellow, but he was far more interested in the natural landscape (the Nile inundations and vegetation, unsurprisingly, given his affinities) than playing politics. The two balanced each other out well, and Usire respected her, but he couldn’t quite grasp the frustration she dealt with at being a woman in a man’s world.

She does have some hope that Kemet can change, though. Of all the elder gods, one in particular supports her sovereignty strongly — Min, the god of Koptos. She never expected he of all deities would align with her political goals, but Min has always been full of surprises, and continues to be a valuable confidant and friend.

Commissioned Lineart by Argenemartwork

[woolandcoffee]

I'm sorry, I just can't get it out of my head that a lawmaker from [state redacted] who reached out to my office for any info we have on state efforts to regulate wetlands was hoping to find a state that had reached some kind of "balance" where they did not regulate more than the feds, but also hadn't gone too far in the "other direction."

Brother, what even is that supposed to mean? If you're talking wetlands regulation in a post-Sackett world, I'm not sure its possible to not exceed federal regulation. If the feds are limited to regulating those wetlands that are "indistinguishable" from with free-flowing water bodies by virtue of sharing a "continuous surface connection" with said water bodies, I'm not sure how you can have state regulations that don't go beyond that. Like, what kind of balance are you looking to find here?

I suspect that what's happening is a low-key recognition that only regulating wetlands that share an unbroken surface water connection with larger water bodies is going to lead to the very rapid and virtually unchecked destruction of critical wetlands, and the state would like to prevent that, most likely for economic reasons. But this particular state has an extremely conservative government that is ostensibly in favor of gutting the Clean Water Act entirely, so they don't want to look too much like they're enacting stricter laws than what is currently going on at the federal level. After all, why spend so much time fighting for federal deregulation if you're just going to turn around and impose state regulations?

Its a fantastic catch-22 that would almost be amusing to watch play out if ecological harm wasn't guaranteed to occur.

[turanga4]

Talk about your fav WIP!!!

Thanks thanks, a fun question!

I'm not fully sure I have a favorite WIP, as much as I have like five albatrosses of various sizes and levels of bird shit and flapping.

But, the premise I think I feel is the coolest, and the one that is most hypothetically motivating to actually write, is one I've left untouched for several months, so perhaps talking about it HERE will get the juices flowing.

It's a post-war Neville point of view piece, where my initial conceit, at least, is the strategy of using elements of improv comedy in working with dementia patients--the whole "yes and" bit where you don't oppose the scenario that someone offers up to you, but rather incorporate it into the existing bit. I want to play with the idea of Neville finding his footing, in general after the War and specifically after learning that he could have been the Chosen One, and incorporate elements of his relationship to his parents.

It's a thing that sounds much much cooler in initial synopsis than it's played out so far on actual paper, so part of me is like, hey look, there it is, I'm done, did you enjoy. Especially since my goal for this lil fic is for it to NOT be lil fic: a writer I absolutely look up to and adore told me, several months ago, that she sees promise in my stuff and thinks I should try to exceed 3,000 words some time, so that's the goal with this piece.

Way daunting, but possibly worth the effort. Thanks thanks for the attention and the boost!

[mariacallous]

This week, the Pentagon released its annual report on Chinese military and security developments over the past year. That capped a busy season for the Government Printing Office: the National Security Strategy, National Defense Strategy, Nuclear Posture Review, and Missile Defense Strategy all came out publicly last month.

All the documents, not just this most recent one, emphasize China. Although it is Russian President Vladimir Putin who is raining down death and destruction on Ukraine, issuing nuclear threats to the West, and distorting energy as well as food markets worldwide, China gets pride of place as security challenge number one — even though China has not employed large-scale military force against an adversary since its 1979 war with Vietnam. Given Beijing’s capacities, the Pentagon is convincing when it describes China as its “pacing challenge.” But we Americans have demonstrated before the veracity of the slogan that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing — and we are tending towards overhyping the China threat in a way that could raise the risks of war.

To be sure, Beijing deserves most of the blame for today’s unsettled Indo-Pacific region, with its big military buildups, threatening words and actions towards Taiwan as well as other neighbors, menacing behavior in the East China Sea and South China Sea, and increased repression at home. Indefensibly, Chinese President Xi Jinping has also given succor to Putin as the latter wages his heartless and unjustifiable war in Europe. But on several key points, the recent U.S. government reports, as well as American policy more broadly, go too far:

The Pentagon report, like other documents, correctly criticizes Xi’s support for Putin, including the joint statement released just before Russia attacked Ukraine in February announcing that the China-Russia relationship knows no bounds. However, the relationship does in fact have bounds — and very important ones at that. To date, China has not sent weaponry to Russia during the Ukraine war, despite Putin’s requests that it do so, a point U.S. President Joe Biden once acknowledged in passing this fall. Yet the Pentagon’s 2022 Annual Report on China and other official documents, in explaining the nature of the Russia-China relationship, fail to acknowledge this crucial point.

The Pentagon’s latest report, again accurately, complains that China’s military budget has continued to grow at roughly a 7% annual rate of late. China now spends an estimated $250 billion to $300 billion a year on its armed forces, second worldwide only to America’s nearly $800 billion. Yet Beijing’s military budget, while robust, remains at less than 2% of GDP — the level considered a minimal acceptable effort within the NATO alliance. America’s own level exceeds 3% of GDP. Of course, NATO is a defensive alliance. China’s recent behavior – from the Senkaku islands in the East China Sea, to its missile launches near Taiwan, to the creation and militarization of artificial islands in the South China Sea, to (limited but quite lethal) aggression against Indian soldiers in the Himalayas – is not generally defensive. Yet it is still important to note that China is hardly engaged in blatant arms racing.

The Pentagon report sounds the clarion call that China appears to have the capacity, and a plan, to expand its nuclear forces from their current level of about 400 warheads to somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 by 2035 or so. This is certainly not good news for American strategy. However, an established superpower like the United States with 5,000 nuclear warheads of its own should not be surprised that a rising superpower like the PRC may desire to have 20% to 30% of that total itself.

The Pentagon also harps on the fact that, by ship count, China now has the world’s largest navy — generally failing to note that, because U.S. ships are typically much bigger, America’s naval tonnage exceeds China’s by a ratio of about two to one. Neither of these metrics is conclusive, and others are important too. But the frequency with which Washington complains about the number of ships in China’s navy wrongly implies that fleet size is the central standard of excellence for modern maritime capability, and that China therefore has somehow malevolently moved ahead of us in overall strength.

Washington rightly objects to Beijing’s claim of sovereignty over the South China Sea, and the Chinese military’s proclivity to harass U.S. Navy ships there. China is indeed in the wrong with these expansive claims and dangerous actions. However, U.S. views that free transit by other nations’ navies within the economic zones of another country should always be permitted are not universally accepted themselves. For example, under its reading of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, even India believes that any country wishing to traverse the exclusive economic zones of another nation (within 200 nautical miles of the coastline, generally) should request permission for such a transit in advance. Yet we accuse Beijing of fundamentally challenging the rules-based order with its own behavior. We need to temper our anger, even as we continue the freedom of navigation operations.

The Biden administration’s National Security Strategy prioritizes China as the “most consequential strategic competitor” of the United States. This, like the National Defense Strategy’s framing of China as the Pentagon’s “pacing challenge,” is reasonable. But in other ways, we seek too often to stir the pot. Terms like pacing challenge stand in stark contrast to the administration’s frequent and highly inflammatory use of the term “genocide” to describe China’s treatment of its Uyghur population in Xinjiang province. Beijing does commit severe repression against the Uyghurs. A recent U.N. Human Rights Council investigative report chose the correct language, determining that China has been committing “…serious human rights violations…” in its August 2022 report on the subject. Yet diluting a culture and even curtailing some reproductive rights of a minority population, however morally reprehensible, do not constitute genocide. That latter term has a potent historical meaning that conjures up images of gas chambers and mass butchery. Whatever State Department lawyers may argue, what China does in Xinjiang is terrible, but it is not genocide, and the U.S. government should stop using that term.

The China challenge is going to be with us for a long time. We need to choose our words and our strategies with calm, balance, and precision.

The last point made here I'm not sure I necessarily agree with the author entirely (especially considering the way that the UN Human Rights Council report is reflective of the influence China has and had and how it managed to neutralize that discussion and further scrutiny into Xinjiang) but...

[sexygrass]

Guide to the Vampires' Abilities and Weaknesses

Power and Abilities:

The supernatural forces that sustain vampires also endow them with superhuman physical abilities as well as powers of mind control. Their physical abilities such as strength, speed, agility, durability, healing, and senses all grow stronger with age and experience.

Super Strength:

Vampires are noticeably much stronger than Supernatural Hunters, immortals, and humans and slowly grow stronger as they grow older. Even new vampires who are still in transition can toss an average-size, fully-grown human across a room with great speed and force.

Their other feats include single-handedly lifting grown men high off the ground by the throat and snapping their necks, cutting off a person's head with their bare hands, and ripping out internal organs such as hearts with little to no effort. Their strength is also more powerful than that of werewolves in their human form and, depending on the age of the vampire, can be equal to that of Evolved werewolves. 

Their strength allows them to jump higher and further than any natural creature. Vampires who feed on humans are stronger than those who feed on animal blood. However, young vampires may have difficulties while dealing with truly heavy objects. Although a vampire's strength enhances with age, it can also be noted that the emotional status of the vampire takes a toll on the strength. 

Super Speed:

Vampires are much faster than various other human and supernatural beings such as supernatural hunters, immortals, and werewolves in human form. Vampires can accelerate their movements to cover short distances in an instant, usually faster than the human eye can see. When running across long distances, they appear as vibrating blurs of motion allowing them to appear or vanish quickly and quietly. Their reflexes and dexterity are similarly heightened, allowing them to catch certain projectiles such as arrows and thrown stakes in the air with ease.

Super Agility:

Vampires possess super-human agility, such that they can react quickly, jump very high, climb, and run incredibly fast without difficulty or exhaustion. For example, they can jump from the ground up onto the roof of two-story buildings or jump down into hundreds of feet deep ravineand land on their feet with no injuries whatsoever.

Super Senses:

Vampires have extremely keen senses of hearing, sight, smell, and taste that far exceed those of humans and werewolves. They can hear whispered conversations, even ones in far buildings and on phones, though most vampires typically learn how to tune out most ambient noises when it's not necessary to hear them— they can also turn their enhanced hearing off, which explains why they can occasionally miss auditory warnings, such as the footsteps of approaching enemies when they're paying attention to other things. 

Vampires can also smell blood from several meters away, and see in total darkness. Their senses of taste are also enhanced as well, allowing them to detect the presence of drugs, alcohol, or vervain in someone's blood.

Super Durability:

Vampires can take a great amount of physical damage without being slowed down. Even vampires who have been shot with wooden bullets, which have a weakening effect on vampires, can be seen to continue fighting so long as they were not shot in the heart or the head.

Vampires still react to physical force in a human manner, particularly young vampires, who will occasionally be affected even by human-strength-level force. Vampires can also still be stunned and dazed by strikes and trauma, though their tolerance for it will increase as they get older.

Healing Factor:

Vampires recover tissue from any form of physical damage to their bodies within seconds to minutes, though they still feel the pain of a wound before it heals. Vampires can snap their bones back into place after they have been broken and they can be seen to fully recover from gunshots, stab wounds, and torso impalement very quickly, so long as they had consumed a regular diet of human blood prior to the injury. 

Those vampires who feed on animals will still heal much faster than a human, but their injuries, especially severe ones, will take much longer to heal than those of a vampire who feeds on human blood. The only injury a vampire can sustain that cannot be healed on its own or by consuming more blood is a werewolf bite. 

Also, vampires' enhanced healing is limited to physical damage to their bodies—many forms of magical damage and psychological damage are beyond their capability. Vampires cannot grow back body parts, though they can reattach the severed limb with some effort.

Immortality:

A vampire stops aging once turned. Upon their transformation, vampires become immune to all conventional illnesses, diseases, viruses, and infections. While vampires who were cancer-free as humans will be immune to cancer after they are turned, those humans who were turned while they had cancer will not only still have it as a vampire, but their newly-enhanced healing factor will accelerate the progression of the cancer cells over two-fold, nearly always causing the cancer-stricken vampire to kill themselves to end their suffering.

Enhanced Emotions:

Vampires experience emotions more powerfully than humans. Emotions like love, joy, and happiness are magnified for vampires, allowing them to live life more intensely. This ability allows vampires to feel emotions at their peak regardless of their age.

Conversely, sadness, depression, guilt, fear, and anger are also amplified, causing many vampires to become so overwhelmed that they "turn off" their humanity. Turning off their humanity allows them to block out their more negative emotions, such as fear and guilt, allowing them to feed and kill without remorse, go against any opponent without fear, and relieve themselves of painful feelings such as grief, loss, depression, and shame.

A vampire without their emotions is far more calculating and direct than one who keeps them on. However, vampires can become remorseless killers, and are almost unrecognizable from the person they truly are, as blocking out negative emotions also causes their positive emotions to become dulled or nonexistent as well.

Vampires are capable of turning their humanity back on and bringing back their emotions, but it is difficult as a result of the fact that they will be bombarded with all of their repressed emotions in addition to the guilt of anything they did without their humanity with enhanced intensity.

This ability fades with time and vampires who are over 500 years old will lose the ability to turn off their humanity altogether. After time and practice, the overwhelming sensations of heightened emotions fade as the vampire learns to overcome their emotions without turning off their humanity altogether.

Mind Compulsion:

Vampires have the ability to influence and control thoughts, emotions, and behavior and can alter or erase memories. There is a sort of hierarchy as to how this ability works and has a weaker form than that of Original vampires and can only compel humans and cannot compel other supernatural beings.

Sire Bond:

Although rare among them, sire bonds can be formed when a human is turned with the blood of the vampire for whom they had strong romantic feelings before they were turned. Those vampires with a sire bond are supernaturally loyal to their sires to the point that they will go out of their way to do whatever their sire asks them to do, even if they don't actually want to do it. However, this bond doesn't affect how they truly feel about their sire, it only affects their behavior.

Telepathy:

Vampires have a limited form of telepathy that allows them to easily enter the minds of humans, and with more effort, the minds of other supernatural beings. Other ways to weaken a vampire to use telepathy on them are to starve them or drain them of blood, inject them with vervain, or expose them to werewolf venom. It is one of the hardest abilities to master, and because of this, it is usually the last of the mind-control-related abilities a vampire learns after becoming proficient in mind compulsion.

Normally, this ability works through tactile contact, usually by the vampire placing the palms of his or her hands on the temples of the vampire whose mind they want to enter. The vampire then closes their eyes and focuses on the information they wish to seek, allowing them to sort through their victims' memories until they see what they're looking for. However, there are strong-enough vampires who can mentally communicate with others from a short distance without tactile contact in order to send distress calls and mental images during emergency situations.

Like their physical attributes, a vampire's mental strength increases with age, making it difficult for a vampire to invade the mind of an ancient vampire or even that of the Originals.

Dream Manipulation:

Vampires can also use their power of telepathy to control dreams and the subconscious. This is an aspect of telepathy that is much easier to learn, and with it, a vampire has the ability to produce and modify dreams, bestow nightmares and lucid dreaming, distort people's perception of reality, and trap someone in their dreams. 

Vampires can manipulate and enter the subconscious of other vampires and even Original vampires if they are vulnerable enough. However, this is a learned skill that requires practice to achieve.

Illusions:

Vampires have the power to trick the minds of others into seeing or feeling things that aren't actually happening, For example, they can make vampires who are weaker than them, believe that they had been starving of blood for years.

True Face:

A vampire's true face is the appearance they are hiding under their normal human face. When a vampire's true face is revealed, the sclera of their eyes turns blood-red, dark veins appear under their eyes as the blood pumps forcefully through them, and their canine teeth extend into razor-sharp fangs. 

On some occasions, a vampire's fang teeth can include both their canines and their lateral incisors. A vampire's true face can be revealed whenever they wish, but it will appear against their will whenever they are aroused by the scent of blood or are feeling intense emotions such as fear, anger, lust, sadness, etc. 

A vampire's fangs are extremely sharp which gives them the ability to tear into almost any substance and tear off limbs. A vampire's true face will appear for the first time either while they drink human blood for the first time or shortly afterward. With the fangs come the darkened veins under the eyes as well. 

vampires' weaknesses:

Wood:

Wounding a vampire with a wooden weapon, such as a wooden bullet, will incapacitate them and it will take longer for them to heal their injuries than if the wounds were caused by any other substance. 

Stabbing a vampire through the heart with a wooden stake or shooting them with wooden bullets will result in instantaneous and permanent death as their bodies desiccate into a gray color, and their vampiric veins thicken and protrude from their skin.

Animal Blood:

Animal blood, while somewhat it can satisfy a vampire's hunger and sustaining their undead life, it will make the vampire considerably weaker than they would be if they had drank human blood, causing their physical abilities to be inferior to a human-blood-consuming vampire, making them heal much more slowly, and making their compulsion less effective.

Broken Neck:

Breaking a vampire's neck will not kill them, but it will render them in a death-like state for varying amounts of time, depending on the diet and age of the person in question. 

The Cure:

If a vampire takes the cure, they will revert back to being mortal again. Once taken, the cure prevents vampire blood from having any effect on them, as it will not heal their wounds, and, if the vampire dies with vampire blood in their system, they will remain dead and not awaken as a vampire in transition. Additionally, their blood becomes the Cure once they've ingested it, making them a target to any vampire who wants to cure themselves. If the Cure-laced blood should be drained from a cured vampire, that vampire would begin to rapidly age to compensate for the years they spent as an undead, unaging vampire. In the case of older vampires, this can cause them to age so quickly that they die in weeks or months if the Cure has been drained from their bodies.

Decapitation:

Dismembering or manually removing the head of a vampire will result in instant and permanent death.

Desiccation:

Vampires who abstain from blood for extended amounts of time will eventually desiccate and mummify. Witches can use magic to desiccate a vampire.

Fire:

Vampires are highly flammable and sensitive to fire, and will quickly burn and die from it if the flames are not extinguished in time. This quality can be useful in disposing of the remains of a dead vampire without any physical evidence. However, in some cases, vampires will use this vulnerability to their advantage. For example, they can remove their daylight rings and expose their hands to sunlight near an open gas leak, causing explosions and fireballs to incapacitate or kill their enemies and dampening the flames before they can do harm to themselves.

Vervain:

Exposure to or ingestion of vervain causes a vampire to become severely feverish and weak to the point that it can even hinder their healing abilities as well. Also, physical contact with vervain will burn a vampire's skin. Vampires cannot compel anyone who has ingested vervain or has it on their person. 

Vampires can build up a tolerance vervain, allowing them to protect themselves from compulsion by an Original and to help lessen the likelihood that it will seriously incapacitate them when used by enemies. However, it will still burn them upon contact, but if ingested, it will not weaken them as much if they take small amounts over time to increase their immunity.

Heart Extraction:

Removing the heart of a vampire will result in permanent death.

Invitation:

Vampires cannot enter a home without an invitation from the owner. An invitation can be granted long-distance and even by someone who hasn't lived in the house in years.

Sunlight: 

Sunlight and UV rays burn vampires on contact, and prolonged exposure will cause them to burst into flames and die. However, this weakness can be mitigated by the use of a lapis lazuli stone enchanted with a specific protection spell by a witch for a particular vampire, which is usually affixed to jewelry, though it requires the vampire to wear the stone at all times.

Vampire Bloodline:

 If an Original vampire dies, all vampires descended from their bloodline will slowly perish as well. 

Magic:

Vampires are susceptible to the powers of witchcraft. This is inclusive of mystical objects such as dark objects. A Siphoner can also siphon the magic from a vampire to fuel their spells. Witches are able to use magic to cause agonizing pain by inducing aneurysms in their brain or muscle spasms, telekinetically ripping out their hearts or snapping their necks, magically increasing their hunger for blood to unbearable levels, setting them ablaze with a single thought, and desiccating them to the point of mummification.

Werewolf Venom: 

The bite of a werewolf, which involves injecting toxic venom into the wound, is extremely lethal to vampires. It will cause them to hallucinate, grow severely weak, and go rabid until it kills them. 

Vampires suffering from the bite seem to always hallucinate either significant moments from their past, significant people in their lives, or specific actions of the vampire that they feel guilty or ashamed about.

Physical Trauma:

Minor physical injuries such as gunshots, stab wounds, and broken bones will cause pain and also slow them down. However, this is momentary as they will heal completely so long as they haven't been weakened by other means such as vervain or werewolf bites.

Poison:

There are various poisons invented by people that are capable of incapacitating or desiccating a vampire when administered. 

Fertility:

Vampires can't procreate. they're sterile and cannot have biological children. 

Papa Tunde's blade:

is a weapon-turned-dark object that belonged to and was created by the witch, Papa Tunde. By appearance, it resembles a simple white bone blade wrapped with cloth at the handle. It was used in his practice of Sacrificial Magic to absorb the power of those killed with it or draw on the power of its victims by carving sigils onto them. the blade was ultimately imbued with the power to dig into its victim's chest, rendering them unconscious in a state of constant and extreme agony.

Psychology: 

Blood (especially human blood) does not only satisfy a vampire's thirst, but it also heightens their supernatural abilities, making them stronger, faster, and able to heal much more quickly than they would after not eating for a significant period of time.

The longer a vampire abstains from blood, the more likely the vampire will become feral until they are eventually unable to resist feeding on whomever they come upon.

In many cases, a vampire who has been starved for a long period and is risking desiccation will eventually become so overwhelmed with hunger that they lose all sense of their humanity and rationality altogether and finally give in to their bloodlust. 

vampire blood, just as with human and animal blood, can be used to revive a vampire who has been desiccated (even if they ordinarily do not partake in the consumption of vampire blood), and it can also help a badly injured vampire heal more quickly if human or animal blood is not available. However, human blood is most compatible with a vampire's dietary needs, and because of this, the majority of vampires rely on it as their sole food source.

Despite their main food source being referred to as "human blood," this term also extends to the blood of both witches and werewolves who are in their human form, as their blood seems to be functionally identical to that of regular humans.

vampires still have human-like physiology, and their bodies continue to function normally as long as they have a steady diet of human blood. for example, their heart still beats to pump the blood they've consumed through their system to maintain their vitality. Because of this, vampires can eat human food, though it doesn't sustain their life or provide any nutrition as blood does, and their digestive system will continue to process it and produce waste just as a healthy human does. 

Regardless, many vampires continue to eat regular food for several reasons, including out of human habit, to maintain human appearances in order to prevent their exposure and to help sublimate their eternal hunger for blood and thereby keep their bloodlust at a manageable level.

Vampires can also become intoxicated by drugs such as alcohol and marijuana just as humans can, although they do have much higher tolerances due to their accelerated healing, which rapidly regenerates the cells damaged by these drugs which cause the sensation of being drunk or high. In fact, most vampires frequently drink alcohol throughout the day to help them deal with their perpetual hunger, much in the way that some vampires eat human food to help curb their cravings.

Myths

Garlic: The vampire's supposed repulsion towards garlic may have been a fabricated lie, similar to how werewolves are not actually immune to silver. This myth presumably started to hide the fact that vampires are actually vulnerable to vervain.

Holy Items: The myth that vampires could be harmed using holy artifacts like crosses, blessed ground, and holy water may have circulated from the belief that they are unholy creatures originating from Hell and in league with the Devil.

Mirrors: The myth that vampires did not cast a reflection may have come from the belief that vampires had no souls.

Shapeshifting: The origin of the myth that vampires had the power to morph into a bat, wolf, rat, or a cloud of mist is unknown. It may be the result of a mistake of perception between vampires and werewolves.

Soulless: The belief that vampires are soulless beings may have stemmed from their ability to shut down their humanity, causing them to block out their emotions and behave without remorse or regret, giving off the impression that they have no conscience and by extension, lack a soul.

Death: Contrary to popular belief, vampires have beating hearts and they cannot function without oxygen. They will, however, be forced to revive after suffocation or oxygen deprivation but will only die again if the circumstances of their revival are less than favorable.

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Unification Church found guilty. First prison sentence for conducting spiritual sales. Tokyo District Court: “Highly organized crime”

Akahata, Wednesday, November 11, 2009

The trial of the “Shinsei” case, which is a trial for the Unification Church’s spiritual sales, was held on the 10th November at the Tokyo District Court, where presiding Judge Yasuhiro Akiba sentenced defendant Naoki Tanaka, president of Shinsei, a name seal retailer, to two years in prison (suspended for four years) and a 3 million yen fine (prosecutors had requested a two year prison sentence and a 5 million yen fine) for violating the Specified Commercial Transactions Law (intimidation and confusion). The presiding judge acknowledged the connection between the defendants and the Unification Church, saying, “It was highly organized, and the crime is extremely serious.” This is the first time that someone involved in spiritual sales has received a prison sentence for violating the law.

In addition, Furusawa Junichiro, a director of Shinsei, was sentenced to one year and six months in prison (suspended for four years) and a 2 million yen fine (the prosecution had sought one year and six months in prison and a 3 million yen fine), and Shinsei LLC was fined 8 million yen (10 million yen).

According to the ruling, the defendants lured passersby under the guise of fortune-telling based on name, and made them buy expensive name seals by telling them things like “Your ancestors killed someone and that karma has befallen you,” and “To get rid of that bad karma, you need to change your name seal,” and the salespeople even went so far as to tell the customers to keep quiet.

Judge Akiba called the method “clever and malicious.” He determined that this was done with the “purpose of also increasing the number of Unification Church followers” based on the Unification Church’s “manual that is intertwined with faith,” and that it was “a continuous crime that is recognized to have been organized at a fairly high level.”

The defense lawyer said that they would not appeal.

This significant ruling is a turning point

Tokyo District Court, November 10th. During the verdict on the spiritual scam case, the defense lawyer, who also participated in a Unification Church mass marriage, looked up to the sky, put his hand on his forehead, and looked stunned. Until now, the Unification Church has avoided investigation into the background of similar crimes by accepting summary fines. This ruling broke through that wall and delved into the fact that the church is a participant in the spiritual scams.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Lawyers against Spiritual Sales [Scams], which has pursued the criminality of the Unification Church, issued a statement at a press conference after the ruling that “the significance of (the ruling) is extremely great.” Regarding the length of the suspended sentence of four years, lawyer Masaki Kito said, “They must have seen the possibility of continued criminality.”

It has been nearly 30 years since spiritual scams became a social problem. Kito pointed out “the abnormality that (the administration and the judiciary) have continued to ignore.” He said, “Although it has taken too long, this is a turning point (in the pursuit against criminality effort), and we must continue.” At the same time, he emphasized the need to apply the fraud charges, saying that there are limitations to applying only the Specified Commercial Transactions Act.

Since its formation in 1987, the National Federation of Bar Associations has received approximately 30,000 consultations on damages totaling 106.2 billion yen. The actual damage caused by the Unification Church’s crimes is thought to exceed 1 trillion yen. Even now, they continue to evangelize and solicit while concealing their identities, and recently instructed believers across the country to donate 1.4 million yen each under the pretext of “building a temple in Japan.”

At the press conference, Kito and others stated that they aim to bring charges against the Unification Church for fraud and against its headquarters, and called on the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to “exercise its authority under the Religious Corporations Act to investigate, suspend operations, and apply for dissolution orders.”

__________________________________

Tuesday, July 14, 2009 Kyodo News The head of the Unification Church said Monday he will resign after some church members were arrested and indicted for allegedly selling expensive personal “hanko” name seals by telling people they would suffer bad fortune if they did not buy them.

At a news conference in Tokyo, Eiji Tokuno, 54, denied any church involvement in the scam, saying it does not supervise its followers’ economic activities. But he said he will step down to “take moral responsibility” over the case involving Shinsei, a Tokyo-based company that sells hanko [name stamps or name seals]. Gentaro Kajikuri, a 72-year-old executive member of the church, will succeed him, Tokuno said.

The Metropolitan Police Department said Shinsei and the Unification Church were closely linked, with Shinsei’s sales performance and other details reported to the church.

The police raided the church and arrested the Shinsei president and six others in June. LINK

__________________________________

First criminal trial of a front company of the Unification Church of Japan to be held – for doing ‘Spiritual Sales’

The National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales 全国霊感商法対策弁護士連絡会

霊感商法 初の懲役刑 統一協会の犯罪認定 東京地裁 「高度な組織性」

[adj4mp]

30 by 30 Environmental Plan

30 by 30 is a global effort to restore the biodiversity of the planet. Signed at COP15 the aim is that 30% of lands and territorial seas are restored to a level that promotes biodiversity by the year 2030.

The UKs goal as an island nation is somewhat more ambitious with our territorial waters as we've worked towards a 70% protected seabeds and we're already at 40% though ongoing monitoring and policing for these protected areas is necessary it is substantially easier for the UK to do this for marine sites than terrestrial ones.

The government have so far protected 26% of england under the scheme which is depending on your perspective only a little short or a long way to go. The report I have in hand doesn't mention the Welsh, Irish or Scottish commitment but the aim seems to be an up to date assessment in January 2028, presumably the 30% designated as protected by 2030, and the restoration work for 70% of the protected areas to favorable status by 2042.

A number of previously protected areas have been declared as Destroyed and even if they continue to be protected and even potentially restored they wouldn't count towards the 30 by 30 target.

This is the first environmental plan I've looked at in depth the committee report is dense and has a lot of recommendations, the agreement to honor this commitment that was set in place nearly a decade ago by a previous government can only be seen as a good thing.

Whether or not we meet the targets as laid out or even exceed them in some cases working to protect the environment is good, its good for humanity as a whole but its also good for individuals, having access to green spaces and blue spaces significantly helps people's peace of mind, even if you never choose to use them having the option taken away eats away at you. Humans weren't designed for concrete jungles and the target for every home to be within a 15 minute walk of a green space is admirable.

I am sure there will be complaints from some saying that we aren't doing enough, and others that will claim that too much is being protected. This is unfortunately the nature of balancing out all the needs of our society, not every need can be wholly satisfied. I would like to see more biodiversity conservation, I'd like to see more small scale areas protected under this scheme. It feels to me as though the easiest to protect areas will be national parks and larger estates, but 5 acres here a square mile there will soon add up and there are plenty of such locations.

An area of a village where I grew up was colloquially known as bluebell wood, it was and still is only a small area used by dog walkers and kids. In some ways it would be an ideal location for locking in some of our biodiversity, it is unusual in that the area is home to millions of wild bluebells that appear each spring, and I doubt that this would be designed or cultivated as a restoration project, but as naturally occurring biodiversity it is an amazing hidden gem and provides many niches for animal and plant diversity that may not exist in other more prototypically forested areas.

This is something to keep an eye on going forward.