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dailybeastarsthings · 2 years

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Chapter 37 – A Day In The Life Of Legoshi

MORNING

My mornings aren’t that interesting usually, but since I started “working” for Gouhin, they have been pretty challenging. After I finish training at around 5 AM, I run back to school. If I’m lucky with the traffic lights, I can get back by 5:45, which means, I almost have an hour to sleep, which is admittedly not much, but it’s still better than nothing.

I usually don’t get up for the alarm, which the others set for 6:45, though. It’s been true for the past and it’s even truer now. To wake me up, the others, usually Jack or Collot, literally drag me out of bed onto the floor. By that time, it’s usually 7:15 or 7:20, which is quite close to when the cafeteria opens for breakfast. Others say that I look super gloomy when I wake up, which tends to linger with me until after breakfast, but in reality, I’m just really sleepy.

After getting up, I try to convince Voss to leave his bathroom ritual for after breakfast so I can get ready, too. I usually take a speedy, five minute shower, and then get dressed. Sometimes I forget how to tie my tie, though, so I ask Jack. I’m usually ready by 7:30, so by the time we arrive for breakfast, there are already a few students waiting in line for their meal.

As you might already know, the day’s menu is hung right next to the entrance for all students to see. We usually have egg salad sandwiches, bean paste buns, French toasts or something with high protein value for us, carnivores. However, we sometimes take the herbivore meal from time to time, if we fancy fruits, vegetables or salads.

During breakfast, we talk about the programs and activities for each of us. We do this to know about each other if one of us needs a hand in something or gets lost. We usually also discuss the latest episodes of our favorite series, The Lost Souls of Crimes. The others keep telling me that the main character looks a lot like me. I think his name is Miyagi but I cannot recall anyone telling me that we would be related. We’re definitely not. He’s way too handsome for him to be any relative of mine.

After breakfast, I usually have my morning classes in the Eastern wing of the school. These classes are from 9:00 AM to 1 PM and usually include the more difficult subjects, like maths, languages or sciences – the ones, which require more concentration to learn. This is a practice, which benefits the students, since our brain is (supposedly) more fresh and awake in the morning and we can pay better attention to our teachers. I must be the exception in this study, since I find it extremely difficult to stay awake during my morning classes. Since I started my training with Gouhin, I cannot stay awake for more than 20-25 minutes of the lesson. After that, I always fall asleep, and I’m usually woken up by the bell. Several of my teachers gave me negative feedback because of this and it is clearly visible on my grades, but I can’t do anything about it.

AFTERNOON

Lunch break is between 1 PM and 2 PM. I don’t always have lunch, but when I do, I always go for egg salad sandwiches in one of the school supply shops. One day I never miss is Friday. The sandwiches are best on Friday. They used to be the best on Wednesdays, but they probably moved those eggs to a latter day of the week on purpose. Nobody believes me that the sandwiches would taste better on Fridays, though. During lunch, I usually meet up with the others to discuss the events of the day and to share notes. Well, to get notes from the others so I can study...

Afternoon classes are between 2 PM and 6 PM. During these classes, we have more relaxed subjects, like history, culture, art and music. I’m not really fond of these subjects. Especially PE, it is my worst subject. I know, how ironic. A strong and physically well-developed wolf being terrible in PE, doesn’t make much sense, right? Well, here I am, basically suffering during dodgeball games not being able to catch any of the balls thrown at me. If I can, I try to sneak in some extra sleep in my classes at the moment. Thankfully, most of the students are allowed to leave the last class at 5:45 PM in order to avoid them being late for extracurricular activities. This doesn’t really affect me being asleep until the bell rings, though…

Sometimes I have free periods, during which I try to cram as much as I possibly can. My grades dropped a lot, however, even if I’m not one of the top students anymore, I’m still somewhere in the average category, fortunately.

Extracurricular lessons are usually between 6 PM and 8 PM and include clubs and extra lessons for those who need a bit of extra training in a subject. The time is not set in stone, however. I often have to stay in a Drama Club meeting after way later. There were instances when we would be dismissed only at 11:30 PM or even later. Since I started training with Gouhin, I’ve been able to excuse myself by 8:30 at most.

EVENING

Dinner is served between 7 PM and 9:30 PM. For dinner, they usually serve ramen, sushi or egg rolls with different kinds of dipping sauces. Sometimes, dessert is also served in the form of cakes or other sweets. Nowadays, I don’t have dinner with the others. I usually pick up something from a stall on my way to Gouhin and eat it when I arrive there. Sure, it would be nice to discuss the day with the others but I wouldn’t really be able to tell them about anything since I sleep through half of my day… Plus, my training is more important at the moment. I want to find the culprit who killed Tem. I miss my series, though…

I start my training by warming myself up. We then discuss the plan for the job with Gouhin. Usually, there are about two-three “patients” we need to capture. The most efficient tactic seems to be that Gouhin distracts them and I attack them while they are not paying attention. It works out really well. It is not an easy job, though. I have several injuries and scars of biting and clawing incidents from the past few weeks, which hurt a lot. Fortunately, most of my wounds are no that deep, so they won’t leave a mark.

After the session, Gouhin locks the patients up and I treat my wounds. He doesn’t interfere or help me, only if the wound is on a large area or if it’s bleeding a lot. There was one case where he had to stitch it together, but other than that, it’s not that horrible. I would like to get less work related injuries, though…

When time’s up, I run back to school and start the process all over again.

During the weekends, we get up later, usually at around 9 or 10 AM, so our first meal is lunch. At weekends, we usually clean the room and make sense of the chaos we create during the week. We also study a lot for tests and play video games, too. Well, at least the others do. I have to cram and sleep a lot. Sometimes, we go to B-Strike and have a good session of playing fetch. Not to brag, but I still hold the all-time high score there.

Other than that, the training session part is the same. There’s no time to waste with that. It seems harsh and difficult at times, but I know deep down that I’m doing the right thing. I’m training to become stronger so I can protect the herbivores. Especially one… Louis.

I’m not gonna lie, I was pretty surprised to see him in the ring of the Shishigumi lions. Though his secret is safe with me, I’m glad that now at least I know where to search for him if I want to meet him. It is pretty difficult to hold myself back, though. And my dreams about him… about us are not helping my situation either. But one day, I’ll visit him there. I don’t know how I’ll do it or get inside again without causing any havoc, but I’m positive that I’ll finally be able to meet my sweetheart.

#beastars #beastars overhaul

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capsicrew · 9 months

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Get ready because I like to ramble. Just workin out my thoughts on the potential new jobs coming in 7.0 before we have any official announcements.

All we know as of writing this is that the 2 new jobs will be a physical melee class, and a ranged magical class.

I just want to go over my thoughts on potential classes which already exist in other titles.

Cut because I tend to type a lot--

Casting Jobs:

Geomancer: A classic job, which already exists in the lore of FFXIV. Mentioned off-handedly with regards to, like, The Swallow's Compass dungeon--but if you haven't done the AST quests; Geomancer exists as a practice in the Far East (shown in both Hingashi and Yanxia, at the least). It sort of exists in opposition to Astromancy-- AST derives power from the stars and heavens while Geomancer derives similar powers from the earth. Further--Geomancy in 14 seems to highly derive from 3 elements--wind, water and earth, which also makes it extremely similar to Conjury in Eorzea. In short--Geomancer already exists so hard in the lore as a sort-of Far Eastern take on conjury, it doesn't really have an identity outside of its relation to these other 2 jobs. But! I wouldn't say its impossible. "Geomancy" has such far-reaching potentiality, the opportunity still exists. Black Mages focus on Fire, Ice and Lightning, so it could be interesting to see a BLM variant that instead focuses on Earth, Wind and Water and could potentially provide party buffs as well, maybe similar to Bard. So--while I don't find it likely, I still have some hope as a fan of Geomancer. Bell weapons would be great.

Time Mage: Extremely unlikely. Most "Time Mage" skills were wrapped into Astrologian, so I don't see Time Mage being a unique job, even as a name for a new type of job. While I'm at it, the "Oracle" job falls into a similar niche, wrapped in AST's "fortune reading" aspects. A magical DPS job could be built with these names, but I feel like there's other options that are far more likely.

Chemist: Still a lot of hope for Chemist. I think the potential still exists for a "potions" themed class like this, but I think it more likely to be a healing class. So, probably not coming this time around.

Necromancer: After how much hype and hope there was for Necromancer as an EW class, I'm surprised I haven't seen more of it this time around. Necromancer has a lot of potential. If you aren't aware--Necromancer is an actual class that was added to the Advanced version of FF5. It has two skills, one is "Oath" which summons a random "demon" (of 4 potential results) to perform a single attack. And "Dark Arts" which is a list of powerful spells a Necromancer can learn by defeating specific enemies (similar to Blue Mage, but the enemy just has to be defeated by the Necromancer, rather than waiting for them to use the spell and Learn it). The trade-off is that Necromancer inherently has the "undead" status, meaning they cannot be healed by items and healing spells (except White Wind). In practice, for 14, it'd just be a sort of darkness-themed casting job, similar to Dark Knight and Reaper. The only refraining point is that Black Mage is a casting job that already deals heavily with the Void. Buuuutttt... "darkness" need not specifically be void-related. What would be amusing-- the 2 new jobs would start at level 80. Just slap the requirement to beat 5.0 MSQ to unlock it and the job teacher could be an Ascian looking for something else to do now that Emet-Selch is gone, lol. We DO still have convocation members we haven't seen or heard from at all lol (though considering we're supposed to be "done" with the whole ascians/zodiark/etc saga, maybe they wouldn't pull that out).

Pictomancer: Seen it mentioned a few times. If it becomes reality, its likely just to be a whole new job based on the name, rather than including Relm's actual drawing ability (which was, like, a sort of weak Beastmaster catch/release skill). But just casting spells out of art supplies would be neat, aesthetically. Maybe worth mentioning that both Krile (XIV) and Relm (VI) are both adopted granddaughters. And Krile is due for a job change, I think. Would be great if she did. Cause if Pictomancer was really added, I'd be sorely tempted to make it one of Beutiq's main classes and its something he and Krile could conspire with lol

Melee Jobs:

Beastmaster: Been sing a lot of hope for Beastmaster as job. It wouldn't quite have the freedom of capturing any monster you want (unless its turned into a Limited Job, but I think we've all been too disappointed by "limited job" before). However, I could easily see Beastmaster being a physical job similar to Summoner in 14--where you're able to call upon a rotation of specific beasts/monsters which can attack and/or augment the player's attacks in certain ways. The slow phasing-out of "Pets" over the last few expacs gives me pause, but maybe that could be an excuse for Beastmaster to stand out. Again, though, I could easily see Beastmaster also being added as a "limited job," where you can capture and train from a list of monsters a la Pokemon--level them up and select specific skills, like the Chocobo companion. But... I'd really rather see it as a full job. My favorite class of all being a limited job already makes me sour on the whole concept, lol Also, I could see Beastmaster reasonably using the Scouting gear. I only mention this because common theory right now is that the new melee class will use the Scouting gear, since Ninja is the only "scouting" class atm--after Reaper was added to share Dragoon's gear last time. As an alternate method to capturing monsters, I could see Beastmaster combined with the Morpher job of FFTA, or Gau's abilities in 6--where the player channels the abilities of beasts/monsters (or actually transforming, in the case of the Morpher) to augment their attacks. Again, likely in the same line as Summoner where the Beastmaster has a set of routine skills that change execution depending on the active "beast."

Puppetmaster: Mentioning this one right after Beastmaster, because I could see it being added in exactly the same capacity. Moreso, perhaps, in that FF11 Puppetmasters were melee-ranged fighters along with their machines. Now, ideally... I'd like to see Machinist take on a form where its automaton is incorporated more into its kit, rather than a whole new class added. I was slightly disappointed when the autoturret "pets" were removed in ShB. Adding some more "puppetmaster" vibes to that part of the job would be interesting. It would create a nice trio of classes with Beastmaster-- Summoner as a casting pet-job, Machinist as a ranged pet-job, and Beastmaster as a melee pet-job.

Mystic Knight: I would love this, hahaha. Mystic Knight is probably my favorite non-casting class. The main challenge is that a potential Mystic Knight's weaponry would already fall into the same class of weapons Paladins use. But they pulled it off with Dark Knight--and I'm sure there's plenty of bladed sticks I'm not familiar with, so I feel like the potential still exists. It would probably be a whole new class with the sort of "feel" of 5's Mystic Knight, but the potential skills and abilities would be pretty easy to craft, I'd think. Maybe with a little feel from Monk were you can infuse the blade with a certain element which augments your stats to either focus on attacking, defense or speed. Or just a cycle similar to Summoner with just a sort of flavor of execution among different elements. When I think of Mystic Knight/Spellblade as a job in 14, though, I tend to think of it as a Tank, due to the comparable 11 class, Rune Fencer. However, based on my observation, I think 11's Rune Fencer was eventually worked into 14's Dark Knight (with 11's Dark Knight looking like its more comparable to Reaper). So just wanted to... point that out I guess. Totally could be a DPS job. Give it the Scouting gear, who cares lol The Warrior of Light wielding a sword with no shield in the teaser trailer gives me some hope, but it could've just been an "anything" filler before the new classes are officially announced.

Cannoneer/Blitzballer: Similar classes in concept. But most likely ranged classes, so not this expac. Only mentioning because I see people still talking about Blitzball lmao

Corsair: I've seen a lot of people talk about 11's Corsair being added as the new class. Which--doesn't seem at all likely to me? I think only because they see the Carribean influence on this central America-themed region and make the automatic association to the pirates. But, buddy, I just don't see it happening here. I think the furthest corsair's influenced has reached 14 is the gun symbol at the marauder's guild where they might've planned on putting a corsair starting class that would maybe evolve into Machinist at level 30. In the MCH quests, too, the guy who teaches you the basics is also a Lominsan pirate-type guy. So I just don't see Corsair being added as a class in its capacity as a job in 11. Plus the new job was announced as melee range, and I don't see guns being that. Granted, however... the 14 team could just develop a whole new class and CALL it "Corsair."

Juggler: Including because I think it would be really funny. Juggler is a sort of thief/ninja class exclusive to Moogles in FFTA. A clown-themed job would be great. Do whatever with it. Stabbing and tools. Melee machinist.

Other: Of course, the opportunity exists for them to do what they did with Sage. Take a job that exists and just ... make something completely new out of it. With that potential, even jobs that are just variants of existing jobs have potential, like Knight, Viking, Evoker, Devout, Magus, Illusionist ... even Green Mage, which is, like... nothing ! lmao

#ffxiv #jobs #theory crafting #I guess

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ramrodd · 1 year

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Dilbert must die to save the world!

COMMENTARY:

This is an excellent and thorough presentation of Kant and the Categorical Imperative. It would be my hope that every Biden voter would review the series in order to further validate the wisdom of the leap of faith they took with their vote for Biden and to validate their rejection of all things Reagan/Trump Conservative as integral to the January 6 conspiracy as legacy of William F. Buckley’s marketing strategy for the 1960 agenda of the John Birch Society.

In terms of the practical effect the Categorical Imperative has on contemporary inquiry, the Myers Briggs Type Inventory derives directly from its cognitive structures and represents the nature of the human personality as a paradox composed of the synthesis of the rational, the irrational and behavior. It is reliable instrumentation for any program of individuation on the basis that the unexamined life isn’t worth living.

The thing I don’t understand about Wolff, as representative of formal academic contemporary inquiry is his antipathy towards Hegel. He claims, perhaps ironically, of being a Marxist, but you can’t be a Marxist and not embrace Hegel as not only historic method but as the basis of action research, moving forward. The issue isn’t to employ Hegel to understand Marx but that Marx employed Hegel to anticipate history.

Let me put it this way: in the final analysis, Vietnam came down to a contest between Marxism and the Harvard MBA program and Marxism won, primarily because the godless commie cocksuckers in Hanoi understood Hegel and the Harvard Business School ignores Hegel. A consequence is that we have had 40 years of class warfare originating in the deliberate decadence of the Supply-Side policies of Reaganomics which people like Scott Adams has determined to be the ideological hill to die on defending.

The problem with Marxism is that nobody at the time understood chaos or even recognize it existed as an essential to any organically heathy economic ecology. Chaos requires the 4th Law of Logic that paradox cannot be reduced to faithfully render a portrait of any slice of any zeitgeist as a dynamically active society.

I have read Kant, Hegel and Marx, but I have never studied them in the manner Wolff presents them in this series, which is a thing of beauty. This is why you get a liberal arts education, to be around minds suck as these. However, because I have had a working relationship with the Holy Spirit since 1953, I intuitively embraced the Categorical Imperative as exactly the epistemology of a universal nature. Don’t get bogged down in the details of Kant and Hegel: you don’t need to understand voltage and amperes to use electricity. The Army Ranger School employs Hegel to teach small unit leadership and experiential learning and role play to enrich the cognitive skills of the individual expression of the Categorical Imperative.

In particular, the dynamical modeling of Paul Krugman’s “Peddling Prosperity” is Hegelian is aspect and will allow America to jettison the decadent burden of all things Reaganomics and restore the pre-Reagan constitutional capitalism that pulled the world out of the global disaster of two industrial wars. And the MBTI is a tool for the individual to Become All You Can Be as a work in process.

But the most important thing is to understand the wisdom in your leap of faith in voting for Biden as we complete the paradigm shift from the global Military-Industrial Complex to the Starship Capitalism that Apollo 11 made possible, Werner von Braun described and Affirmative Action nearly achieved when Reagan was elected and the crypto-Nazis of Reaganomics began to dismantle Affirmative Action and tne New Deal.

The thing is, Harvard still doesn’t understand its role in the defeat of the Republic of Vietnam and its connection to Robert McNamara, If we actually lapse into an avoidable recession at this moment, it will because everybody will try to employ the Harvard MBA program business model to fix the problem it created.

youtube

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topazadine · 2 years

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Here’s a problem I have with the shitty Boomer mentality of “if you wanted a good job, you should have gone to college for a degree in something like engineering or computer science instead of liberal arts.” This is graciously ignoring the concept of supply and demand, where industries that are flooded with graduates will see wages bomb out and start the whole cycle again.

That mentality assumes that everyone is good at the same things and that anyone can succeed in any degree. This is so untrue that it’s laughable. All of us are wired to succeed in different things; we all have predilections, and while we might be able to scrape by in a different subset, we’re not going to achieve well enough to actually compete with those who are naturally good at that skill. Then we’re going to get into the problem of not being able to get a job because we’re not good enough, and then we’re stuck with no job and thousands of dollars in debt for a degree we can’t use.

I have dyscalculia. I am laughably, horribly bad at math. I cannot do it. Not even basic multiplication: I have to use a calculator for anything more complicated than the fives and tens table. Every STEM degree requires some proficiency at math. I know because I tried for a biology degree, which is about the furthest away from math that you can get in the hard sciences, and I still struggled with all the classes beyond the core ones. I had to do one required stats class for my Master’s in International Relations, and I nearly failed my program because of that one single class.

The problem isn’t that we just stupidly picked a dumb degree that doesn’t matter, because all knowledge has value. It’s not personal failure or us stubbornly refusing to do what’s more “appropriate” or “useful” because we’re willful or something. The problem is that our society is so obsessed with capitalistic achievement that it refuses to recognize that there is utility in knowledge that doesn’t have immediate gains for a corporation. There are relatively quick returns for most STEM-related jobs, like selling an algorithm or a program or an app or a pill. It’s more difficult to quantify the potential financial windfalls of a play, or a book, or an art installation, or a ballet. And don’t even consider going into a field where you’re helping people, because working a single person through their problems isn’t good for the bottom line.

So the main issue here is not that people can’t do math and therefore can’t get a degree in something like engineering. The problem is that we’re told, through low wages and scarce opportunities, that only certain professions are worthwhile, and those are ones that can allow some corporate bullshitter to buy another yacht. Well, that’s dumb. It’s dumb, it’s unrealistic, and it’s genuinely harmful for our development as a society and individuals.

Anyway liberal arts majors rock, keep bein golden, don’t listen to people who tell you that a degree in gender studies or English or anything else is stupid and useless. They’re stupid and useless. Maul them and leave their corpses for the worms.

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halogalopaghost · 2 years

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I just wanna remind everyone that Amazon's commercials are 100% propaganda. Sure, they have benefits and maternity leave. Sure, they get a minimum of 15$ an hour now. But.

But do you know how much of Amazon's warehouse workers are actually Amazon employees? Only about 60%. And that's not during the holiday season, when the number of contractors is exponentially higher.

I've worked in a distribution center. For every 30 pickers or packers, there is at least one manger. Those managers are all Amazon employees, meaning the remainder there is gonna be mostly contractors. Again, this is especially true around the holidays. When I worked there in 2017, the contractors had a three strikes rule. Call out for a shift more than three days (not consecutive, just three days any time at all) and you're fired. You have the flu? Fired. You lost your childcare? Fired. You have no transportation to work? Fired.

A truly horrifying number of warehouse employees were living out of their cars, sleeping at the truck stop across the road. A fellow EMT on duty was so incompetent that he gave a hyperglycemic man a candy bar and made him so sick he could have died. They will require their managers to 40 hours a week (over a 3-4 day period), but the second you cross into overtime territory you're made to leave the building or else. A manager once left in the middle of an active medical emergency because she was going to hit double overtime if she didn't, and she didn't want to lose her job.

Amazon is not an ethical company. They do not treat the vast majority of their employees well, not even their managers. I was an EMT on call in a distribution center and every morning a manager came in with steroid cream he needed put on his head because he was losing his hair from the stress. He wasn't even 30 yet. They do not give reasonable accommodation for disabled persons. They do not allow adequate rest times. They make every single employee clock out before they go through security upon leaving, which can take up to 20 minutes because everyone leaves at once. A Supreme Court justice literally decided that was legal--to hold employees in the building on time they aren't being paid.

Amazon is fucking bullshit. The price gouging alone should be enough to not shop with them whenever possible, but their treatment of warehouse employees is despicable. They treat the backbone of the company like worthless, replaceable drones. Fuck Amazon, fuck Bezos, eat the fucking rich.

Edit: OK to reblog

#this post brought to you by Hulu ads #trying to make Amazon look like it's worth absolutely anything #listen I get it we can't always avoid shopping with Amazon #there are art supplies which I was required to have for classes that CANNOT be obtained locally #and I can't afford to pay shipping etc from a different retailer.#I understand. we aren't the bad guys for USING Amazon #Amazon is the bad guys for fucking their people over even though we're giving them nonstop money #the ghost speaks #Amazon #fuck jeff bezos #eat the rich

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kkglinka · 2 years

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The best thing about Salem pursuing the relics as a means to her own end(s) is that it finally gets those profoundly detrimental objects out of their respective cities.

I do not believe that Mantle, Mistral, Haven and Vacuo are, or ever were, "just like that". I think those relics were hidden in each respective city well before the great war, but that Oz built the vaults afterward for better security. I spotted someone noticing that each headmaster seems to embody each relic (and yes), but it's because each entire city represents both the pros and cons of each one. While that's basic info we were given ages ago, it's why that matters.

Vale has too much directionless choice, with no particular defining trait. It's nice, but not especially creative, industrious or violent. There's a passivity to the entire first three volumes among the local cast. RWBY are free to do as they please, without consequences. Ozpin never takes decisive action, even when provided information. Pyrrha is never really given concrete facts or goals to guide her choice. An aimless choice is no choice at all. A passive leader is one denied trust, easily over-ruled and out-maneuvered by a more decisive one.

Mistral possess knowledge, great literature, poetry and philosophy. It even uses some of that knowledge to produce artistic works (a form of communication) and tech such as airships. But knowledge is also the chief form of currency, not just among the underworld, but the council and Haven's headmaster. It keeps its secrets and its people in effective ignorance. Leo was terrified of voicing the truth because knowledge had gained too much power. Hoarding information ultimately resulted in secrecy, all around. Even Yang, accepting the truth about her mother, responded by keeping it secret.

Mantle and Atlas were slaves to creation of things, objects and tech. One produced resources, the other produced a war machine, rather than the art Oz probably hoped for. It was a culture that made things, and only valued the ability to produce. Which lead to de facto enslavement of its working classes and perpetual desire for more physical resources. It lead to suppression of knowledge, suppression of choice, and even suppression of personal conflict (taking the form of social obedience). It produced a leader who valued material wealth, and the amorphous concept of his culture, over the people that composed it.

We haven't reached Vacuo yet, but it houses destruction, and it shows in its near completely inability to pull together a cohesive government. There's no true order or social hierarchy. There are no safety networks or communal organizations. There's no trust or cooperation. There is no value placed on knowledge for the sake of scholarship. Individual choices are dictated by immediate survival. There was no danger of Vacuo coming to Atlas' aid because that would have required cooperation and organization too. It's rugged individualism taken to its selfish, self-destructive extreme.

There's only one city-state in Remnant that's demonstrated a balance between art, industry, community organization, personal choice, and selective violence. It's the one that's never functioned under a relic's influence, and the one no one, least of all Salem, is attending. It doesn't have vast dust supplies, high tech, huntsmen academies or magic. It doesn't need to, so long as its people keep working together for the common good.

Be interesting to see when this sneaky little point rears its head, though I think it may have started. The people who know how to organize and make things are about to join the people who cannot organize, but understand how to discard what doesn't work. They'll need more facts (likely supplied by our main protagonists), and be rid of the last two relics, before all the survivors can make effective choices. Heck, maybe even Salem will, once she's under the influece of all four.

#fandom #rwby #rwby meta

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deewithani · 3 years

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Raindrops in the Wind - Chapter 4

Chapter Rating: T

Work Rating: Explicit (18+)

Pairing: Jango Fett x F! Reader

Word count: Approx. 2.8k

Warnings: No warnings for this chapter

Chapters will list their individual ratings, work is rated Explicit (18+) for eventual explicit content.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4

The hallways of Tipoca City bustled with activity. People of all different ages and stations walked to and fro, doors opening and closing behind them as they go. The city was like nothing you had ever seen, pristine in it's cleanliness, the only place you had ever been that had been near to it was the clinic on Milvayne, but even that clinic was filthy hole compared to the facilities here on Kamino.

They were, in short, everything you had ever hoped to see for a medical facility.

But Tipoca City wasn't just a medical facility.

~~~

A medical droid had been sent to retrieve you from the transport on the day you arrived, holopad in hand. A quick “Here are your day's orders. Follow me.” was all it said, before pushing the holopad into your hands and moving back in the direction it came. You followed the small droid off the transport, through the rain, then through the nearly identical hallways of Tipoca City, stopping here and there to pick up any clothing or supplies that were indicated on the holopad that you needed. As you trailed the droid you passed by several young human men who looked shockingly similar. Speeding up your gait to walk beside the droid, you asked “Hey, what's the story with those guys?” “No questions while we are working. I will answer any questions to the best of my ability when we have arrived at your personal room.”

After a short time you were led to your quarters, a small room with a bunk, a desk and a chair. There wasn't much room for anything else, but it was yours. Clean and dry, and didn't smell of rot or death, it was much better than your previous lodging. “There is a map of the facility on your holopad. Use it to acquaint yourself with the facility before tomorrow. You are authorized to visit and observe any location listed on your map without prior approval or an escort. Do not, under any circumstance, go to any location that is not shown. Your contract may be revoked if you do not abide by these rules. Do you understand and agree?” The droid was quiet for a moment, seemingly waiting for you to speak, before continuing, “I require your agreement to these terms before continuing.”

You thought for a moment. There was so much about this place that was strange and unfamiliar, and you ached to leave your bunk and “see the sights”, as it were.

“Will you answer some questions if I agree? You said you would once we finished.”

“Yes,” the droid replied. “I will answer any questions you have based on what my programming allows.” This was not exactly the answer you were looking for, but getting some information would be much more helpful than what you currently had, which was essentially nothing.

“Ok. I agree to the terms. Now, are you ready to answer my questions?”

“That is affirmative. You are now permitted to ask me any questions at any time. I will respond as appropriate to my programming.”

The first question you wanted answered came easily. “What does that mean, 'appropriate to your programming'?” The droid replied to your query quickly, “There are procedures and information that is restricted. I may have authorization to access this information, however, I cannot provide restricted information to anyone who is not also authorized. If you ask a question that has an answer that is restricted for you, I will tell you that it is restricted. If the answer is not restricted for you, I will provide my full knowledge of the information to you. If I do not know the answer, I will tell you that I do not know the answer. Does this answer your question sufficiently?” “Yes”, you continued. “I have a few more questions, if you don't mind.” “Certainly, please continue.”

Your mind wandered back to the young men you passed earlier in the day. There had been 10 of them, walking two-by-two in straight lines, in matching tunics and pants, but that wasn't all that had matched. As they passed they looked nearly identical to your eyes, but you didn't have a moment to really look closely, and when you asked the droid it was quick to put you back on track, stopping your query almost before it was out of your mouth. “The men we passed earlier, that I asked you about. Why do they look so similar.” The droid replied quickly, without hesitation, “They are clones. Kamino's primary export is clone technology. Many clones are created and trained here for many purposes.” “And what is their purpose?” The reply again came quickly. “They are soldiers.” “Why is Kamino creating soldiers?” At this question, the reply came much slower. “That is restricted.” You decided to push a little further, the question of the existence of these young men weighing heavier on you than you expected. “How many are there?” The droid again gave an oddly slow reply, as others had came quick and with sufficient explanation. “That is restricted.”

You resigned yourself to the idea that you were not likely to get as much information as you would like from the droid regarding the clones you had seen, so you decided to ask questions that were more pressing for why you were here in the first place.

The answers to your questions came quickly again, as if these were the questions the droid was prepared to answer. “What will I be doing while I'm here?” The droid chirped up at this question, as if it had emotion and was happy that you asked it. “You will be working in a medical and training role. You will begin tomorrow.” “Who will I be working with?” “That is currently restricted, however you are scheduled to be authorized to receive that information tomorrow after orientation.” “What do I do the rest of the day?” “Anything you want, as long as it is confined to the areas you are authorized to go on your map.” “What if I have other questions?” “I will return tomorrow with your orders for the day, you can ask questions to any droid of my type that you see and they will answer in the same manner, or you can request assistance from one of us directly from your holopad.”

You were ready to send the droid away, but one last question lingered on your mind before you would go explore the city. It seemed silly, but with the restrictions seemingly placed on what information you were allowed to know, you wanted to make sure before you opened your mouth and asked a question you couldn't take back to someone you shouldn't be talking to. “Can I talk to people here? Like the men in the hallway?” The droid cocked it's head slightly, as if in thought, and replied “Yes, you can talk to anyone you like, as long as they are in an area you are authorized to access. They are not required to answer you.”

~~~

Nearly a month had passed since you first came to Kamino. The areas you were authorized to access were surprisingly large, and you were seemingly only restricted from the private offices of medical personnel and the private dwellings of others who were working for the Kaminoans as you were. The information flowed more free than you had expected as well. When the droid returned on the second day with your orders, you had expected to be doing shady work that you would have to hide from others. Instead you experienced a normal, if rather boring, training and orientation class where you were provided with everything you could possibly need to perform a satisfactory job while you were here. You learned that you would be a trainer, both in providing emergency medical assistance when options for medical supplies and facilities were lacking or non-existent, and also training them in dealing with civilians, of which there was an extremely short supply on Kamino. Everyone in the places you were authorized to be was either a Kaminoan medical worker, someone training the clones in the art of war, or a clone. You were none of these things. You were someone who knew how to blend in, lay low, survive and help others survive, and you were exactly what the Kaminoans had been looking for to help round out the clones' education.

Before you were hired the younger cadets had been training for civilian contact by watching holovids, which had not been as effective as the Kaminoans had hoped. The children had been acting out what they saw on the screen, but were having trouble knowing how to react when an interaction didn't follow a scripted narrative. They needed someone who had experience with a wider world than their brothers and trainers on Kamino, or a screen in their hands, could provide. They were introduced to this type of interaction with you gradually, whenever one had been injured in training and needed one-on-one medical assistance. At first you just sat in with the medical officer or droid that was assigned to the task, waiting in the room alone with the cadet so they could talk to you, if they were so inclined. You were instructed to ask the cadets about their pastimes, if they enjoyed games with their brothers, small, unimportant chit-chat that was intended to help them acquaint themselves with people outside of their normal social circle. Quickly these appointments began to include older cadets, and cadets that just needed standard medical physicals.

Your days followed the same pattern. In the mornings you would train older cadets in ways to treat and heal in emergency situations, and afternoons were filled with meeting and talking with cadets in medical offices, each one looking at you with the same eyes and same faces. You had seen so many and they had all blended together that you didn't notice a young clone in blue was very different than the others you had seen.

~~~

As Jango listened to Boba retell the story of meeting the woman at his checkup, it became clear to him that she did not realize that Boba wasn't a cadet. She had been free with information, asking Boba what type of games he liked to play in the barracks, who his best friends were, and what classes he most enjoyed. When he asked, she told him that she had talked with lots of other clones at appointments just like his. Boba played along like the good son he was, and Jango couldn't be prouder.

His plan was simple, he only needed to take the place of an older clone who had an appointment she would be at. Sure, he looked a bit older than his oldest clones, but this woman hadn't even noticed that his Boba was wearing a completely different outfit than the cadets she usually saw, so he thought she could be duped easily. How many clones had she even seen up close, face to face? Sure, they all had the same face, but many had scars from training that marred their otherwise smooth skin, and this would make it all the easier for him to pass himself off as a clone. He spread word through the Cuy'val Dar, and soon enough he was told he was scheduled for a checkup, well, CT-4138 had a checkup. CT-4138 had never actually met the woman, so there was little chance she would think that Jango wasn't the “real deal”. The real CT-4138 would be provided some “additional personal training” that would keep him from making the appointment, and no one would be the wiser.

When the day of the appointment came, Jango dressed himself in the same plain armor the older clones wore and set out from his apartment, walking down the stark white hallways of Tipoca City, occasionally stopping in to watch combat training or joining groups of clones as they walked to and from classrooms before breaking off yet again, turning down another hallway. There was always an opportunity to gather more information, and Jango used this time to listen to the chatter between clones, things that were only for the ears of their brothers. Talks of nightmares, troubles in training, and of the new trainer, the pretty girl running the emergency medic training class. Jango learned that word of her was running through the city like wildfire, cadets bragging that she favored them in her class, older clones bragging that she favored them in dark hallways and storage closets, but all agreeing that she was skilled and that her training, while not standard, would be more than sufficient in helping them save their brothers when all other methods were unavailable.

This was not all Jango learned. By and large the clones were itching to meet her. Where before they had dreaded their regular check-ins with the medical droids, now they were waiting with excitement for their turn with her. With the undercurrent of excitement moving through the them, Jango decided he should act excited at this meeting as well, and as the time neared for him to report to be observed he made a conscious change to his demeanor, putting on a slight grin, relaxing his shoulders, and walking as though he was holding himself back from bouncing in happiness. He thought he looked very much like what an excited clone who had never actually met a woman before would look like going to meet the girl of his dreams for the first time.

~~~

Your day had been busy, as usual. You had spent the morning showing cadets how to set broken legs with makeshift splints, watching as they occasionally held each other down and pretended to be in the middle of a war zone, fighting with an injured brother who is trying their hardest to keep the others from helping him. It may have seemed to outsiders to be silly, but in real life people didn't simply stay still and allow you to help them. They needed to be able to hold thrashing brothers down and help them, even if they were in pain, confused, and trying to get away. These training sessions frequently ended in “medics” carting off squirming “victims” on their shoulders, while the “victims” fell into fits of laughter as they pretended to scream in pain.

It would be a heartwarming display of the love they shared for each other if they weren't being taught how to fight, how to kill, how to protect each other, and how to die.

Some days it was too much, to painful to know that these men and boys had been created for the purpose of war. You would ask the droids what war they were created for, but you continually got the same reply, “That is restricted.” Somewhere in the Galaxy there was a war, either ready to break out or already in progress. There had to be. There was no reason to create men for a theoretical war. They were going to fight, someday, and they would die like soldiers in war do.

And there's nothing you can do to change that. The more you see them, the more you talk to them, the more you hate that you know this.

Shortly after arriving in Tipoca City dreams like the one that plagued you on Milvayne returned, the faces of the children much clearer now that you know was calling for your help. You move through the white walled rooms and hallways of the city, passing by clones as the smiling faces of cadets look up to you, their voices thanking you for coming to help. But the dreams always end the same way, children laying still in those same hallways, lights darkened as you are grabbed by the hand and pulled out into the rain.

As you make your way to your first medical appointment of the day, you wonder if you should have came here at all. The pay has been good, but there is nothing you need to spend your credits on. All of your needs have been met by the Kaminoans. You have enjoyed your work, but all the cadets will eventually leave, even if no one will tell you why or when. You are not allowed to speak to anyone outside of the authorized areas, and you are not allowed to leave. There are so many people here, yet you feel even more alone than before you came.

The medical droid is outside the room when you arrive, holopad in hand, and as you walk through the door you realize your 'patient' has already arrived. “Are you CT-4138?” He looks at you quizzically, tilting his head slightly, before a slight smirk reaches his lips. “I am. You must be the pretty trainer.”

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sinsbymanka · 3 years

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Inquisitor as a Companion: Maria Cadash

@little-lightning-lavellan started this amazing trend and I have gratuitously stolen the template from them. I finished this up this morning as a good distraction for not feeling well!

Is your OC a Companion in the Dragon Age series? What would it be like for a player to select them to join their party for quests (or romance them, perhaps? 👀)

You have selected Maria to join your party! (art made by @lavellanvibes)

Race: Dwarf

Affiliation: Carta

Gender: Female

Class: Rogue/Archer

Specialization: Assassin

Background

Maria was born in 9:11 Dragon, the eldest daughter of Roland and Meera Cadash. She has a sister who is two years younger than her - Beatrix Cadash. When Maria was four, her mother died in a Carta mission gone wrong. Her father had been in line to take over the Carta, but fell apart after the death of his wife. He seems to have spent the next ten years in a bottle, but Maria rarely says anything negative about him.

Most of Maria’s childhood was spent in the care of her grandmother, the indomitable Zarra Cadash. Although funds were frequently tight, Zarra did her best to raise her granddaughters with a sense of dwarven pride. Maria is well aware of the history of House Cadash, the abandonment of her family and thaig by Ozammar, and the fate of most of her Ancestors. Her grandmother is very traditional and while Maria may jokingly laugh at most of her traditions, she still studiously carries them out.

Maria quickly became her own rising star in the Carta, known for her quick wit, sound mind, and deadly aim. However, she met and fell in love with the son of a prominent Merchant’s Guild member when she was 20 years old - Fynn Dunhark. After a whirlwind romance, Maria abandoned Ostwick, the Carta, and her family to start a new life with Fynn in Hercinia. Zarra disapproved completely - expressing much distrust of the Guild. Although Maria wanted Bea to accompany her, Bea refused because she too was doing well for herself in the Carta.

One year after their elopement, assassins hired by Fynn’s father tracked the couple to Hercinia. They had been hired to kill Maria, but Fynn died at their hands instead and Maria was captured. The assassins, knowing they wouldn’t recoup the other half of their payment from Fynn’s father, ransomed Maria back to the Carta. To raise the money, Bea Cadash made an unsavory alliance with a very distant cousin of their, Dwyka Cadash (also known as the Dasher) who had been “sweet” on Maria before her elopement.

Bea Cadash helped Dwyka assume control of the Ostwick Carta and Maria came back to her family a broken hearted woman. She resumed her place in the Carta and, eventually, rumors began to grow that she had entered into a relationship with Dasher himself. Fynn Dunhark’s father committed suicide after the failed assassination attempt.

Maria spent the next several years in the Ostwick Carta. She’s perhaps one of the best smugglers the Carta has ever seen and has a very in depth knowledge of the way most criminal networks in Thedas operate and a firm grasp of the lyrium trade. Although she seems to have no actual power within the Carta to make decisions, she’s widely respected by her fellows and it’s roundly acknowledged the whole thing would fall to shambles without her steady hand. She’s got a long history of handling the most difficult smuggling jobs herself. Much to her detriment when she’s sent to Southern Thedas to supply the templars and mages in the middle of a war.

Involvement

Maria Cadash can be found at the Storm Coast as soon as the area opens up for exploration. Scout Harding will offer in her report a quest called “Signs of Carta Smuggling” which leads to a hidden cove in the map and a pitched battle between Maria, several templars, and several mages. After dispatching the enemies, Maria can be engaged in conversation. She reveals she was selling lyrium for the Carta, but one of her crew messed up and gave both sides of the dispute the same time and location to meet. Further questioning seems to reveal that Maria was charging the mages less than the templars, when pressed she says it’s because they don’t have as much money. If Varric or Bull are in the party they will both shrewdly interject that she’s a liar.

Maria will talk about the smuggling operation and the Inquisitor has the opportunity to recruit her by asking the Ostwick Carta to supply the Inquisition with lyrium. Maria says she’s got other skills than smuggling, opening up her availability as a party member.

When at Haven, she can be found at the archery targets. Once the Inquisition relocates to Skyhold, she spends her time on the battlements near the tavern. When asked why she’s always up there, she jokes that she likes to be tall.

Approval and Romance

Maria can be romanced by an Inquisitor of any race or gender, but the romance is not locked in or consummated for most of the game. Maria is slow to trust or return the Inquisitor’s affection and doesn’t respond well to being pushed for more before she’s ready.

She slightly favors the mages over the templars, but much like Varric, tends to look at individuals instead of groups. She approves of acts of kindness and charity, an Inquisitor that jokes with her and others, and actions that favor the oppressed. She disapproves of most things done just to appease nobles, acts that hurt others, and acts that side with who she sees as an oppressor. She also, interestingly, disapproves of executing most prisoners. The sole exception is Erimond, where her approval is guaranteed but the amount of approval is contingent on whether or not Hawke is left in the Fade.

If Maria isn’t romanced by the Inquisitor, she can end up in a romance with Varric Tethras, but it does require some work on the Inquisitor’s part to move beyond flirtation in game banter. This sequence of quests involve Maria’s companion quest and Varric’s. They can be obtained post-Adamant and done in any order.

If Solas and Maria are not romanced by the Inquisitor, in game banter seems to reveal that many companions believe Solas has a crush on Maria Cadash. This includes Varric, who oddly seems to not mind even if he is in a relationship with Maria. Despite this banter, there is no way to cause a relationship between Solas and Maria.

Companion Quests

If Hawke survives the Fade:

The Inquisitor, when saying goodbye to Hawke, witnesses Hawke’s goodbye to Varric. If Maria and Varric have been in the party together often enough to start their flirting dialogues, the camera will show Maria approaching and Hawke will cryptically tell Varric that there is “Always time to start a new story.” The Inquisitor has the option to wave Maria over to say goodbye to Hawke as well. If she’s invited into the conversation, Maria will jokingly tell Hawke she’ll keep Varric in trouble. Hawke seems to approve of this.

If Hawke is left in the Fade:

Upon approaching Varric in Skyhold, Varric will talk about how he misses Hawke. If Maria and Varric have been in the party together often enough to start their flirting dialogues, the camera will show Maria approaching. The Inquisitor has the option to wave her over. If she’s invited into the conversation, Maria will ask Varric how long he’s been writing letters. When he says he’s done Maria says she’ll use her smuggling contacts to get them where they need to go and that he needs to sleep. Varric allows himself to be sent to bed.

Varric’s Quest in Vallamar:

When Bianca Davri is in Skyhold, Maria will shift locations. She will move from the battlements and into the upper floor of the tavern near Cole. Cole’s ambient dialogue will reveal that she is unhappy with Bianca’s presence. If Maria is brought along to Vallamar, she disapproves. During the quest she frequently interjects into Varric and Bianca’s fond memories dialogue. After the second time this happens, Bianca will begin to ask intrusive questions about Maria. Whoever the third companion is will ask the Inquisitor if they’re happy with their choices for this party.

Maria becomes angry at Bianca during the culmination of the Vallamar quest. She will ask the other woman how many people she’s hurt to answer a question. Bianca will ask Maria how many people she’s hurt on the Dasher’s behalf. If this quest is done before Maria’s, the Inquisitor will have the opportunity to ask Maria about the Dasher. Regardless of the dialogue exploration, Bianca will eventually reveal that she knows Maria is in a relationship with the Dasher.

If Maria’s companion quest has been completed, the Inquisitor can refute that, but Maria will disapprove of any dialogue options beyond “That’s not your business,” which gathers great approval. Varric will attempt to interject and calm the situation, but Maria will turn on him and ask him how long he intends on living in his fantasy world or if he’s ever going to grow up. This is the same conversation you can witness at Skyhold post-completion if Maria was not brought along. Either way, Maria storms off. It is revealed that she has left the party (in Vallamar) or Skyhold. She is unavailable to be selected as a companion until the Inquisitor leaves the area and then returns to Skyhold.

If you have Solas in the party while Maria is missing, he will reveal he wishes he could find her in the Fade, but he cannot, and that he is worried about her. If this takes place after the quest with Wisdom is completed, the Inquisitor may point out Solas is getting a taste of his own medicine.

The Inquisitor may choose to ask Maria where she was when she returns. If she is asked, Maria will reveal she was almost back to Ostwick before she realized clan Davri had hired assassins to kill Varric. If the Inquisitor asks where the assassins are, Maria says they’re not a problem anymore. Further questioning reveals Maria has not spoken to Varric about what happened and they both seem to have just made up their mind to never mention it again.

To trigger Maria and Varric’s romance, the Inquisitor must tell Varric that Maria came back to take care of the assassins sent after him. Varric laughs off the assassins, saying he’s dealt with them before, but seems touched that Maria came back to handle them. His dialogue ends with him being thoughtful and murmuring that maybe he hasn’t fucked up.

Maria’s Carta Problems:

Maria will mention she’s got unfinished business with the Carta and ask for the Inquisitor’s help. If the Inquisitor agrees to help, no questions asked, Maria greatly approves. If the Inquisitor questions her, she seems exasperated, but does not disapprove.

Maria reveals that the Dasher has information about her family which means Maria can never leave the Carta. The Inquisitor can ask Maria if she wants to leave and Maria indicates she doesn’t know, but she wants to have the choice, and no matter what happens she can’t go back to Dasher’s Carta. When questioned about the Dasher, Maria will reveal his identity and discuss his cruelty and stupidity with business. At this point in time, the Inquisitor can ask about rumors linking Maria and Dwyka romantically. Maria will say it’s not like that and ask you to trust her. If you say you do, she will greatly approve.

Maria says she’s heard Dwyka is in Ferelden looking for her to bring her back to Ostwick. Maria wants to find him first. The Inquisitor must track down information on Carta operations. When Leliana is asked she recommends Varric’s own Carta connections as the best route. The Inquisitor can ask Varric to look into it, which he does gladly after surmising it’s for Maria. He does warn the Inquisitor Maria probably didn’t want him knowing what she’s doing.

After speaking to Varric, a mission opens at the War Table. Upon completion of this mission, Maria can be taken to a spot on the map near the Storm Coast. Exploration of the map reveals that Dwyka is dealing in red lyrium. When confronted by the Inquisitor and Maria, Dwyka taunts Maria that she’ll never get away from him. This cues a battle.

After the enemies are defeated, a final cut scene shows Maria firing an arrow into Dwyka’s throat and then standing over him as he dies. She tells him he will never hurt her or her family again, and that they’ll all forget he even existed. If Solas or Varric are in the party, one or both will comment that Dwyka got off too easily. Despite their victory, Maria seems exhausted. The Inquisitor can ask what was between her and Dwyka and Maria will confess that her sister murder Fynn Dunhark’s father after the failed assassination attempt and Dwyka had evidence that would see her family wiped out by the Merchant’s Guild for killing one of their own. He used that knowledge to blackmail Maria and Bea into working for him. She can be pressed further by an Inquisitor asking if all she did was work for him. She’ll admit that’s not all, but she never loved Dwyka, she was trapped.

If Varric is in the party, he’ll reluctantly confirm the Guild has organized to purge troublesome Carta families before. Maria will bitterly state that the Guild can’t survive without the Carta - they do the jobs “respectable” dwarves won’t do and nobody blinks at their deaths. Varric tries to protest and she pointedly asks him how many Carta members Hawke wiped out in Kirkwall. Varric says that isn’t fair and Maria responds that life isn’t fair. Then she says they should go.

After this quest, the Inquisitor has the option to inform Maria that Varric helped find the information that led to Dwyka. Maria says she should be angry at the Inquisitor for involving him, but then admits Varric isn’t a bad sort. She says “If things were different…” and then trails off before saying she’ll have to find some way to thank him.

This is also the trigger for Maria’s romance. The Inquisitor has the opportunity to tell her that when she’s ready, they’d love to get to know her better. Maria says she needs time, and if the Inquisitor says she can have as much time as she needs then Maria is on a romance path.

Helping Cole:

After both quests have been completed, if Maria and Varric have started flirting in party banter, and Maria was invited to the conversation post-Adamant, the following events can occur after the next storyline quest but before Trespasser DLC is started:

Cole will come to the Inquisitor and ask for help. He’ll reveal that Maria and Varric are in love with each other but they won’t talk. This starts a complicated chain of events where the Inquisitor and Cole attempt to force Maria and Varric to talk about their feelings.

A game of truth or dare in the Tavern where Maria and Varric keep doing increasingly bold dares to avoid picking truth. The Inquisitor can dare them to kiss, and they will, but they’ll break away quickly and end the game.

The Inquisitor can start a bookclub and pick one of Varric’s romances. Cassandra is overjoyed, but Maria spends most of the book club needling Varric mercilessly and Varric doing dramatic readings in silly voices to make her laugh. Cassandra eventually kicks both Maria and Varric out of the book club.

Finally, Cole and the Inquisitor cause an “accident” where Maria and Varric are trapped alone in the undercroft by a magical artifact Dagna was studying that creates a barrier. The Inquisitor says she will go get a mage to undo it and leaves. When the Inquisitor returns, several hours later, she interrupts Varric and Maria cuddling and looking out over the mountains. This locks in their romance. If Solas is still with the Inquisition, he will be the mage that undoes the barrier. He will say he is very happy for Maria and Varric before quickly leaving. If Solas is in a romance with the Inquisitor or already gone, Dorian will undo the barrier and say “It’s about time.”

If the Inquisitor is romancing Maria themselves, they will skip right to the end of this quest before the Arbor Wilds and end up locked in the Undercroft with Maria because of Cole’s “help”. Maria will confess her feelings and thank the Inquisitor for being patient. She’ll say they have lots of time before Cole gets help and ask what the Inquisitor would like to do. The Inquisitor may choose to talk or consummate the relationship, Maria will approve of either and the relationship will be locked in. Solas will retrieve them after a good amount of time and state he is glad they found happiness eventually.

Trespasser

If Maria was romanced by the Inquisitor:

She can be found in the gardens and it is revealed she has continued to work for the Inquisition. The Inquisitor can ask Maria to marry them and Maria confesses she thought she’d never get married again and it would feel like a betrayal. The Inquisitor can say Fynn would want Maria to be happy and Maria will say that they’re right, but she needs some time. After the first foray into the Crossroads, Maria can be approached again and will say yes. This cues a private marriage ceremony.

As the anchor worsens, Maria begs the Inquisitor not to leave her and says she can’t bear to be left alone again. The Inquisitor can promise to keep fighting or offer Maria comfort. The epilogue reveals a romanced Maria and the Inquisitor finally go visit Maria’s family in Ostwick and that Maria reforms the Ostwick Carta as a shadow organization to serve the Inquisitor in their quest to stop Solas (which she greatly approves of) or redeem Solas (which she’s much more wary of.)

If Maria and Varric started a romance:

Maria can be found near Varric at the fountain and will reveal that she’s been in Kirkwall helping Varric. Bran will interrupt your first conversation by calling her “My lady, the Viscount’s Mistress,” which will cue a small meltdown from Maria. She tells the Inquisitor to ignore Bran. If asked, Maria will reveal there’s apparently a special title for the person fucking the Viscount in Kirkwall. She’s unhappy about it. She’ll also talk about how her family has moved to Kikwall and that Varric is having a hell of a time dealing with her sister and grandmother.

Varric, while giving the Inquisitor their estate in Kirkwall, will say that Maria would love to have a friend in the city that doesn’t call her the Viscount’s Mistress. And then will advise the Inquisitor to never ever call Maria that if they know what’s good for them. The Inquisitor can ask Varric why they’re not married if she hates being his mistress so much. Varric simply sighs and says it’s complicated, but that they’re happy and he wouldn’t trade it for the world.

An Elven servant brings the Inquisitor a note after the first foray into the Crossroads. This note reveals Maria is expecting a child. The next time the Inquisitor speaks to Maria, they’ll confront her with this information. Maria will attempt to deny it, then reveal the truth. She’s unsure how anyone would know since Varric doesn’t even know, the only people who do are her grandmother and sister. She’s not far along and wants to continue to fight. The Inquisitor can choose to allow this. If they do, Varric disapproves and Maria approves. If they do not, Maria disapproves and Varric approves. Maria is also removed as a party member the rest of the game, although she can still be spoken to.

Either way, after the second foray into the Crossroads Maria will hint that her and Varric have gotten married by correcting Bran when he calls her the Viscount’s Mistress and saying that it’s not her title anymore. When the Inquisitor asks, she’ll say they can celebrate after and asks the Inquisitor to make sure Varric stays safe if she is no longer a party member.

During the confrontation with Solas, he reveals that the servant was one of his spies and that he has been watching the Viscount’s Keep. When asked why, his answer varies depending If Solas has been romanced by the Inquisitor. If he has been, he will say that he would not see one of their friends hurt when they are vulnerable. If, however, he was not romanced by the Inquisitor he will tell them that he could not bear to see Varric and Maria hurt by the loss of a child in battle, hinting that he still has feelings from their time together in the Inquisition even if they were never acted upon. Solas indicates approval of keeping Maria out of the battle and disapproval of allowing her to stay.

After the game, Maria and Varric return to Kirkwall and the epilogue mentions they have a baby girl together and that Maria is the most unique Viscountess Kirkwall has ever had.

If Maria was not romanced and the romance with Varric did not trigger:

She can be found in the gardens and it is revealed she is still with the Inquisition, although she is toying with the idea of reforming the Ostwick Carta under her terms. She expresses concern as the Inquisitor becomes more and more ill, which eventually turns to anger towards the rest of the Exalted Council.

If Solas was romanced by the Inquisitor, Maria’s epilogue says that she returned to Ostwick and rebuilt the Carta there. An Inquisitor who is friendly with her uses them in their quest to stop Solas with Maria’s blessing.

If Solas was not romanced by the Inquisitor, Maria suddenly vanishes when she returns to Ostwick without a trace. There’s no sign of her working among Solas’ people, however, and most people agree she would not join Solas. Her fate is ultimately a mystery.

Combat comments

Kills an enemy

“I want that arrow back.”

“Sod off!”

Low Health

“I’m fine, stop staring and help me kill these things!”

“Right. I need to sit down.”

Low Health (Companions)

(The Inquisitor) “If you go down, I quit.”

(The Inquisitor - if romanced) “You absolutely don’t get to die on me.”

(Varric, romance not triggered) “Varric’s gotten quiet. Probably check on that.”

(Varric, if romanced) “Varric! Varric, talk to me!”

(Solas) “Solas is in trouble!”

(Bull) “If Bull goes down I’m not gonna have any cover!”

(Cole) “Stay away from Cole you bastards!”

Location comments

Crestwood

“What do people even do out here for fun? I’d be bored to tears.”

The Hissing Wastes

Maria: “Wish my grandmother could see these Dwarven tombs. She always said Orzammar was wrong. You can hear the Stone everywhere if you try hard enough.”

Inquisitor: “Have you ever heard it?”

Maria: “I’m not sure. But I know Orzammar is wrong about us. I’m as much a dwarf as they are.”

Storm Coast

“I’d like it here a whole lot more if it’d stop fucking raining.”

The Deep Roads (Descent DLC)

Maria: “I can hear it, you know.”

Varric: “I don’t hear anything.”

Maria: “I don’t think you’re trying very hard.”

Varric: “You’re probably right, Princess.”

Companion Banter:

Varric: “You’ve gotta be the nicest Carta member I’ve ever met.”

Maria: “That’s because I’m being paid really well.”

Varric: “Sure, Princess. Don’t worry, I’ll keep my mouth shut.”

Maria, laughing: “No you won’t.”

Maria: “Is it an act of protest?”

Varric: “I haven’t even started protesting, but I’m about to. If the Inquisitor makes us climb one more mountain…”

Maria: “Your beard. Or lack of beard, I suppose.”

Varric: “It was distracting from my chest hair. It had to go.”

Varric: “I’ve been doing some research into the Ostwick Carta…”

Maria: “Don’t.”

Varric: “Too late. What are you doing? You could be running that gang. He’s a-”

Maria: “If I wanted your opinion on my career, I’d ask for it.”

Varric: “I know a thing about complicated partnerships, you know. I’m just worried.”

Maria: “You’re not my father. Don’t act like you are.”

Maria: “Your shots keep veering left.”

Varric, sighing: “If you ask to fiddle with Bianca’s cocking ring…”

Maria: “I assumed it was cause you were staring at me.”

Varric: “At that templar that almost took your head off.”

Maria: “Uh huh. And the shots veering left were because of the cocking ring.”

Varric: “Speaking of staring… I can’t help but notice you’re a bit enamored.”

Maria: “If you don’t want people to stare, you should do up your shirt.”

Varric: “I absolutely want you to stare, Princess.”

Maria: “I’ll remember that if I decide to stare.”

Solas: “I cannot help but notice that you seem fond of Mistress Cadash.”

Varric: “Spend a lot of time noticing Maria?”

Solas: “She is difficult to miss.”

Varric: “Maybe you should tell her that next time she’s watching you paint.”

Solas: “You have a lovely voice.”

Maria: “Oh sweet Ancestors. Don’t tell me you were at the tavern too? Bull didn’t tell me what was in that drink and next thing I knew…”

Solas: “I was above. With Cole. He said you sounded like magic. He was not wrong.”

Maria: “I… thank you. You’re both full of it, but thanks.”

Bull, if in party: “Smooth. Very smooth.”

Varric: “Here you go, Princess.”

Maria: “A daisy?”

Varric: “That’s no common daisy. That’s a fine Orlesian Marguerite.”

Maria: “Very fancy. The Carta just calls them daisies.”

Varric: “You deserve something a bit fancy.”

Companion/Advisor comments about Maria Cadash:

Josephine: “Mistress Cadash is quite good at cards. I’ve not had that much of a challenge since I was a young girl. Do not wager anything you would not care to lose.”

Leliana: “Maria Cadash is putting herself and her family at great danger to stay here. I wish I could believe it was more than self-interest, but I wonder if she’s not willing to die before returning to Ostwick. It… it is a bit sad, isn’t it?”

Varric, romance not triggered: “Princess is a real Carta dwarf with a heart of gold. It’s probably going to get her killed someday. Carta isn’t kind to people like her.”

Varric, romance triggered: “Thanks for helping me with Maria. I owe you one. It’s not always easy, we’ve got a lot of baggage. But it was time to start a new story, and I needed a muse who could kick my ass every time I start acting like an idiot.”

Solas: “Maria Cadash is clever and curious. She’s wasted on the Carta. I suspect if you treat her well, she’ll be an ally to the Inquisition.”

Solas if Maria is in a romance with Varric or the Inquisitor: “I believe she is happy. That is all that matters in the end. I hope she remains so.”

Cole: “She locked it away. Couldn’t survive if she felt it. But she’s gone. A ghost. Everything haunts her. She doesn’t want to go back. You have to help her.”

Cole, if Maria is in a romance with the Inquisitor or Varric: “She thinks about how she buried him. Dirt in her fingers. Stone take him back. Ancestors guide him. Then she remembers she’s alive, and someone is waiting.”

Trivia

Maria reveals throughout dialogue that she’s a fan of Varric’s books, except his romance serial, which she thinks is ridiculous.

She can sing very well, but rarely does so. A romanced Maria (Varric or the Inquisitor) sings much more often than a non-romanced Maria.

She has trouble sleeping and spends the nights she can’t watching Solas paint. She’s fallen asleep on his sofa multiple times.

She is an expert marksman and a bit of a perfectionist. Any flaws in her technique have to be stamped out.

If her and Varric are in a relationship, their daughter is named Marguerite after the daisies Varric used to give her.

#dragon age #female cadash #varric tethras #dragon age inquisition #female cadash/inquisitor #female cadash/varric tethras #solas #omg this is so long #i'm so sorry

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toxoiddiamond · 3 years

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T H E B A S I C S Given Name: Rafael Caleb Isserlis Nicknames: His family all call him Ray, but most people just call him Rafael. Age: 30 Birthday: June 6th Zodiac Sign: Gemini Birthplace: Sunnyvale, California Current Location: Barcelona, Spain Speaks: English, Spanish, some Castilian, a bit of Hebrew but not much. Dominant Hand: Right Education: He graduated from UC Berkeley with a Bachelor of Arts degree. His original focus was Computer Software Engineering, but he switched his focus to Drawing and Painting in his sophomore year. Occupation: Bouncer at a strip club, and he has been working on a comic book with a friend (Rafael is working on the art, and his friend is the writer/story creator) for about a year. They hope to publish and sell it at some point soon. Vehicle: 2003 Opel Zafira in silver. Not the most attractive car, but he got it for cheap and it has been very reliable for him. Worldly Possessions: Lots of art supplies, a bunch of comic books, tons of dog toys, a photo album full of family pictures (put together for him by his mother before he moved to Spain), and tons of blankets and pillows because he loves to be comfy~ Pet(s): A black and white Mucuchi named Oreo. Rafael loves taking Oreo pretty much anywhere that dogs are allowed, and Oreo is always very happy to go on adventures.

A P P E A R A N C E Height: Just under 6’ Hair: He generally keeps it trimmed short just because it is easier to take care of, though he occasionally grows it out a little longer so the curls really show. He’s never dyed it before, so it is his natural dark brown color. Facial Hair: He always has at least a little bit of facial hair, even if it’s just some light scruffiness. He does like to let it grow out more sometimes. Eye Colour: Brown with some flecks of hazel Skin Tone: Dark, though the tone varies depending on the time of year. He is quite a bit darker in the warmer months thanks to his love of the outdoors. Clothing: He dresses casually for the most part, lots of jeans and t-shirts (especially band tees). If he’s working, he might wear a nice jacket as well. He almost always wears combat boots, unless he’s going running or hiking, then he’ll wear comfy sneakers. He loves wearing beanies, especially in colder weather, and he has them in a bunch of different colors. Although he doesn’t have much reason to dress up, he does look great in a suit and has some nice clothes on hand just in case. Distinguishing Marks: He has a couple of large tattoos on his chest, and a half sleeve on his left arm. He plans on getting more tattoos at some point, but he hasn’t decided what he wants or where. Face Claim: Jordan Calloway

H E A L T H Physical Health: Rafael is in excellent health– he loves doing any sort of physical activity, especially if it involves being outdoors, so he's very fit. He works out on a regular basis and eats quite healthy (though he's not opposed to a little junk food now and then). He gets sick now and then, just minor things like a cold or a mild case of the flu, but he's never been seriously sick or anything. Basically, Rafael takes great care of himself. Physical Abilities/Limitations: He can lift very heavy things thanks to his weight training at the gym. He's got good endurance/stamina– he can hike or run for quite a long time before needing a break. He's a good artist with a very distinctive style; he is constantly drawing, doodling on napkins, just keeping his hands busy whenever he can. Addictions: No addictions to speak of. Allergies: Citrus in general makes his mouth hurt, but sometimes he eats it anyway because he just can't resist. Mental Health: Generally good. He had a very stable upbringing with lots of supportive friends and family around. He is lucky enough to never have experienced any sort of mental illness or any really traumatic events in his life.

H I S T O R Y Summary: Rafael was born in Sunnyvale, California to wealthy parents (his mother is an OB/GYN, and his father is a very successful software engineer). He was the fourth of five children. He grew up surrounded by a very loving family, including much of his extended family, and had a near idyllic childhood. Growing up, Rafael always showed an aptitude for art– he was quite a skilled artist from a young age, but he also had a deep interest in his father’s work and loved all things to do with technology. He taught himself to code when he was about twelve years old and even made a couple of very basic games just to practice. Rafael was always a great student, not exactly straight A’s since he had a bit of a hard time in his literature classes and some of the more complicated math classes, but he never got any grades lower than a B, and he always tried his hardest and studied a lot, did extra credit whenever he could, etc. He also always had a lot of friends and was a bit girl crazy in high school, so he was always dating a new girl. He was on his high school’s soccer team as well– the PE coach always wanted him to go out for the football team, but Rafael hated football and still does, so he never bothered, preferring to use the time to do various volunteer projects or just hang out with his friends. Thanks to his excellent GPA and a wealth of extracurriculars and volunteer experience, Rafael had an easy time getting accepted into UC Berkeley. He initially majored in Computer Software Engineering, as he’d always planned– but after a trip across Europe with some of his friends just before his Sophomore year of college, he had a shift in perspective and realized that he really wanted to focus on his art after all. He changed his major to focus on Drawing and Painting, which was a bit of a surprise to his family, but they were, as always, very supportive of his decision, especially since it turned out he wouldn’t lose any progress toward his degree. After graduating, Rafael decided to do what he’d always wanted to do and live abroad. He decided on living in Spain, since he had taken nearly eight years of Spanish between high school and college and was almost fluent at that point. He spent a few years just travelling around Spain, exploring, working odd jobs, meeting people, just having a good time. Eventually he ended up settling in Barcelona after meeting a particularly good group of people, finding himself a quaint little house in the heart of the city, and getting a job as a bouncer in a local strip club. He has been there ever since. Job History: He didn't have his first job until college– he worked as a barista at a Starbucks on campus for his entire college career, which he actually really enjoyed. Once he moved to Spain and started traveling around, he did tons of odd jobs helping out with manual labor, working in restaurants, helping out around people's houses, doing yard work, just anything he could find that didn't require a lot of commitment. Once he settled in Barcelona, he took a job as a bouncer in a strip club because it paid decently well and fit into his schedule very nicely– that is where he's been ever since. Fondest Memories: Lots of happy childhood memories, too many to list actually. One of his fondest memories is his trip across Europe with his college friends. Plus all his adventures across Spain and the various times his sister Eliana has come to visit him. Worst Experiences: His paternal grandparents both died in a car accident when Rafael was fourteen, and that was probably the single worst experience of his life. A couple of his breakups were particularly rough on him as well.

C O M M U N I C A T I O N Speech Pace/Style: Definitely not a smooth talker, but not super awkward either (unless he’s trying to flirt). He’s laid back when he speaks, not overly formal, always seems pretty relaxed (again, unless he is attempting to flirt). He doesn’t talk excessively, but he’s not quiet or shy either, always loves to jump into a conversation, especially if it’s about a subject he’s interested in. If someone gets him started on a subject he’s passionate about, he gets very animated and excited about it. Accent: American accent, which sometimes comes through in his Spanish– though his Spanish accent, for the most part, is pretty good. Favorite Phrases or Words: He says “oh snap!” a lot when speaking English, something that rubbed off on him thanks to his younger sister. Usual Curse Words: He doesn’t curse a whole lot– it’s not that he’s offended by cursing or anything, he just kind of doesn’t think to curse unless he’s angry or really passionate about something.

P E R S O N A L I T Y, M I N D S E T, A N D B E L I E F S Personality Type: ENFP-A Sense of Humor: Rafael loves to laugh and has a pretty open sense of humor. The only type of humor he doesn’t vibe with is super offensive or raunchy/sexual humor, that’s just not his thing. But anything silly, clever, wordplay or puns, non-sequitur/weird humor, all of that is totally his cup of tea. Habits: Rafael is a bit fidgety and always has to be doing something with his hands. He can be still if he actively focuses on not fidgeting, but it's a little difficult for him. He's constantly drawing on napkins or little pieces of paper, on himself, and on others if they'll let him. If he doesn't have a pen handy then he'll crack his knuckles or he'll kinda rock back and forth on the balls of his feet. He just really cannot hold still unless his mind is fully occupied with something. Fears/Phobias: The whole idea of ghosts or demons really freaks him out. He also sometimes has a touch of existential dread and wonders if he’s going to be alone forever, but that usually doesn’t last long, just a sleepless night or two and then he gets past it. Strengths: Rafael is a very caring, sweet person who is genuinely interested in other people and loves to help whenever he can. He is attentive to people’s needs and tends to anticipate those needs in advance, so he is quite a thoughtful person. In general, he’s an optimist who likes to look on the bright side of things no matter how bad the situation may get and tries not to let the little things get him down. He is also very protective of those he loves, and though he is friendly to people almost all of the time, if anyone is rude to or tries to hurt someone he cares about, he won’t hesitate to speak up on behalf of or physically protect his loved one. Flaws: While his optimism is often a positive trait, Rafael sometimes takes it too far and doesn’t allow himself to just be sad or angry now and then, even when it would be good for him. He tends to suppress any emotion he perceives as negative instead of actually processing his feelings. In relationships, he can be a bit possessive and jealous at times, but he knows that’s his own problem and he really tries not to take it out on his partners. Hopes/Desires: He really hopes to get his comics published at some point– he just really wants to get them out there, even if they don’t get super popular or anything, he’s just really proud of their work and wants people to see it. He also really wants to find someone he can settle down with (or go on adventures with), someone he can spoil with tons of love and affection. He would love to get married and maybe have kids someday, but if his partner didn’t want children he would be okay with that also. Self-Esteem: Super good, honestly. He has his moments of insecurity just like anyone else, but overall he is comfortable with himself and believes himself to be a good person. Religion: Kinda Jewish, kinda atheist. It’s complicated.

R A N D O M Sleeping Position: Curled up on his right side, usually. Boxers or Briefs?: Boxers Day or Night?: Night for sure, he is naturally a night owl. Top or Bottom?: Probably top more than anything, but if he was with a partner that wanted to switch it up, he would happily give it a try~ Partying or Relaxing?: This would be a really hard choice for him, but he would probably have to go with partying. He loves the atmosphere of a good party.

R E L A T I O N S H I P S Closest Friend: Besides his younger sister, Rafael's best friend is Isabel Maduro, a woman he met when he moved to Barcelona. They have been working together on a comic book series for a while now; she is a very talented writer who comes up with stories that blow Rafael's mind. They see each other fairly often not just to work on the comics, but to go on walks or out to lunch, or on the occasional hike. Relationship History: Rafael had a ton of relationships in high school, many of which lasted two weeks or less and obviously those relationships didn't get serious at all– Rafael was just kind of playing the field at that point. He didn't actually have sex, or a serious relationship, until his first year of college. He then dated his first serious girlfriend, and they lasted about six months before she broke things off because she felt he was more attached than she was and she didn't want to waste his time. That is actually how all of Rafael's relationships have gone since then– he always gets broken up with before a year has passed (often much sooner than that) because they're not as into him as he is into them, or he's just too much, being too intense, etc. As a result, he's now reluctant to express his feelings at all because he doesn't want to put pressure on anyone. Sexual Partners: Rafael doesn't exactly get around or anything, but he has had about a dozen sexual partners in his life, all of them women. Thoughts About Sex: Rafael loves sex within the confines of a relationship but doesn't have much interest in it other than that. One night stands, flings, anything like that is not for him. So far, Rafael has only been with women. He's been attracted to men before and he knows he's definitely not straight, but he's always been way too nervous to try and flirt with men. He has never come out to anyone but if he were to end up in a relationship with a man, he wouldn't hesitate to come out– his sister Eliana is a lesbian and currently engaged to another woman, and was readily accepted by their family, so he knows they would all support him if he ever told them.

P A R E N T S Name(s): Shira and Booker Isserlis Age(s): Both 64 years old. Social Standing: White collar for sure, and they are in very good social standing. Occupation(s): She is an OB/GYN who is set to retire in a couple of years, and he is a computer software engineer who doesn’t plan to retire anytime soon. Religion: She is Jewish and he is agnostic, but does observe/celebrate Jewish holidays and events. Quality of Relationship With Their Children: They love and support all of their children unconditionally. They do worry about Rafael sometimes just because he’s more of a wanderer than their other children, he’s a bit more aimless, but they know he can take care of himself. Living/Deceased: Both alive and in excellent health.

S I B L I N G (S) Name(s): Daniel Isserlis, Itai Isserlis, Tamar Huang, and Eliana Isserlis (soon to be Eliana Florakis). Age(s): 34, 32, 31, 29. Yes, their parents basically had all of their children back to back. Social Standing: They have all done very well for themselves, and are all in good social standing. Occupation(s): Daniel is a software engineer and works with their father. Itai is a forensic accountant and he has helped to arrest many white collar criminals. Tamar runs a non-profit organization that helps underprivileged children by providing housing, food, education/tutors, and after school activities. And Eliana is an event planner who specializes in weddings. Religion: Daniel and Tamar are still devoutly Jewish. Itai and Eliana are more like Rafael– they appreciate and enjoy aspects of Judaism but they don’t really believe in it. Quality of Relationship with Character: Rafael loves all of his siblings and would do just about anything for them, but he is definitely the closest with Eliana out of all of them. He really only sees/talks to his other siblings a few times a year, but he talks to Eliana all the time. Living/Deceased: All alive.

D A I L Y L I F E Living Arrangements: He lives in a cute little one bedroom house right in the heart of the city, on a very busy street. He loves being right in the middle of everything, so it’s ideal for him. The place was a bit rundown when he first bought it, but he has fixed it up quite a bit and although no one would say it’s luxurious or anything, it’s definitely nice and comfortable. He loves having guests over and has lots of seating and a large TV, plus a pull-out couch in the living room just in case anyone stays the night, not to mention a spacious king sized bed in his room.

#character: rafael isserlis #ship: razio #character sheet

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samanthawilsonart · 3 years

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How to Prepare and Facilitate Your First Art Workshop

Using your creativity to facilitate an art workshop isn’t just an extraordinary method to acquire some extra funding for your studio.

Art workshops can also offer you the chance to meet new individuals in your creative field, grow your contact list, invigorate your own imagination as well as work on your public speaking abilities.

However, if you’ve never facilitated one, it can be a little intimidating to get started. So how to go about instructing one?

Regardless of whether you’re thinking about what drawing and painting exercises to show or the number of participants you ought to have in each class, we’ve gathered together eight helpful tips for hosting your very own art workshop, so your students leave feeling fulfilled and prepared to pursue your craft more.

Know Your Audience

It sounds obvious, but start with your audience. Depending on who you’ll be working with, you’ll need to offer different activities, like charcoal drawing, simple shading or loose watercolour warm up exercises for example. It’s about understanding their particular needs.

If you’re working with young children, they won’t be accomplished artists – but they will be very creative. Older people looking to get into art for the first time might be more comfortable with something like watercolours. Student artists may be digitally-savvy. Every age group and skill level is different!

Bear in mind, you want to challenge your audience, but equally make them feel comfortable. Start by bullet-pointing some initial ideas for the type of projects you want to run.

Contact your Participants Ahead of Time Outlining the Workshop

In good time before your first workshop, send your participants an email itemizing what they can anticipate from the day. This will be your first formal contact so it’s a great opportunity to make a good first impression to get people excited about your workshop!

Suggestions:

Add a short bio about yourself, introducing your creativity experience and who you are as an artist. Do you specialise in drawing? Are you a fantastic oil painter? Have you received any notable awards for your work? It’s a great way to make a more personal connection.

If your workshop requires a lot of materials, you may ask them to bring some along with them.

You may like to request that everyone considers what they want to gain from the experience and ask them to share that with the group upon arrival.

Providing this information ahead of time will almost guarantee that your workshop will run smoothly because people will know what to expect and come prepared! It will help make the experience beneficial for all.

Try not to Give Too Much Authority

Drawing and painting isn’t about getting things right. A workshop is more about facilitation. It means that you guide the participants through the exercises. They can learn and share the experience as a group while feeling free to express their unique creativity. This will help everyone feel relaxed and encourage imagination.

Set Up Tips

Furniture arrangements of a room can influence the feel of any space. It’s not a smart idea to situate yourself at the top of the class as this makes you resemble a teacher. Have your artists sit in a circle for example which will encourage sharing and playfulness.

Workshop Ideas Depend Upon Your Participants

A successful art or drawing workshop needs good ideas. Create the session for your specific age group. For example, for children, you may focus on only one simple project or idea, like painting an animal. In case you’re working with grown-ups, you may focus on multiple different drawing and mixed media exercises.

Offer practical Wisdom

(Listen to this less than desirable workshop experience from watercolor artist Angela Fehr )

“Despite the fact that I didn’t know it at that point, I had picked an educator who was more concerned about empowering students’ creativity than really showing us how to paint. From that class, I learned how to paint from light to dark, however I was still practically clueless where genuine techniques were concerned.”

You want to try to avoid this, and ensure your participants return home feeling more confident to apply new techniques in their own work. Angela recommends having students make cheat sheets to assist with reviewing various procedures they’ve learned.

Complete a Full Piece

A great goal to work towards is having students finish a whole piece so they feel more accomplished. Taking a completed drawing, painting or sculpture home will not only make them feel good but it will encourage them to speak about your workshop with friends or family.

Plan Out The Structure of Your Lesson And Practice Them

Have a rough idea of the exercises you wish to facilitate and gather the right supplies. Rehearse with a friend and note down areas you feel work well or need amending. It may take some time but will make you feel really prepared when the official workshop day arrives!

Cover Your Expenses

Realizing what to charge for workshops can be a genuine challenge. To get an idea, research what other similar creative workshops sell for in your area and factor in the cost of your studio or workshop space, your time, preparation time and materials for every participant. This is so important to make sure you actually make profit!

You may consider offering an installment plan for individuals who cannot afford the workshop in one go.

Promotion, Promote, Promote!

When you have your workshop arranged and all set, promotion is a vital key! Make good use of your creativity here and social media platforms; facebook, instagram, your blog, your newsletter (if you have one) or create one for this, online groups, public art fairs, and any other outlets you can consider to get the message out.

Eliminate any doubts or fears students may have in joining your class by expressing the experience level required for the class. You may increase your success by opening your workshop up to people of all levels or you can be more specific and hone in on a specific level, like for professionals only which can attract a niche market or participants.

Keep the Class Size Little

Keep it clear for yourself and your students how many participants you can teach at once. It’s nice to have the ability to still offer one-on-one attention within the group setting to offer direction.

This may mean starting with just a few students and seeing how it goes. You can always increase the size as time goes on, and you get to know more about your own unique teaching style.

Remember to Have a Good Time

Don’t forget to enjoy the experience! While you want your students to leave having acquired new drawing and painting skills, they should also have fun! Balancing the right amount of learning with fun will ensure your students want to come back for more!

Move Forward and Facilitate

There is no reason why your first art workshop can’t be a triumph. To make the experience less overwhelming, remember what you would like to gain from the session if you were the student. Remember to create an intriguing class where students can learn genuine techniques with one-on-one direction, as well as have fun with new friends! Following these simple steps will help make your future art workshops a success and help grow your flourishing art business.

#Arts #artist #artists on tumblr #fine art #art club #art class #art commisions #kids art class #online art class #private art class #art shop #figurative art #painting class #drawing class #drawing commisions #life drawing #art for sale #wall art

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assetsliterature · 3 years

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7 ways to earn money while you sleep

: Creating money while you sleep. Whenever I get this in my mind, I always remember a quote from Warren buffet “if you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.”

First, let me tell you something. If you haven’t been heard this type of thing before, then believe these things:

Every way I share in this blog works.

Ways which can make money while you sleep are called: “Passive income.”

You cannot achieve multiple income sources just reading ``always remember “1 hour of doing > 5 hours of thinking.

Passive income :

Just imagine you wrote an ebook and publish it on Kindle, then people who are interested in your ebook will buy it, I know that selling a book on a huge level can be a hard task, but after doing this, you will make money while you sleep ;

This is just an example of ‘selling a digital product online.

~ Please scroll down if you don’t want intro~

Don’t let your area influence your mindset:

When I was living in my hostel, sometimes I used to to the terrace for stargazing at 3 a.m. with my best friend. One night he asked me to give my best advice to him because I haven’t got any advice for him in my mind.

But now I have one

You must have heard that- “the people you socialize with influence you so much.” That’s why you should be with people who have a positive mindset ~~

People around you affect your life in many ways. Let’s understand this with an example- “imagine you’re a student and your classmates don’t take their studies seriously, they only study one night before an exam, they bunk classes and waste so much time on not-so-good things.” Then there is a big chance that you can be like them too!

“Sociologists tell us the most introverted of people will influence 10,000 others in an average lifetime” every person you come in contact with is impacted in some way.

So, in my opinion, train yourself to not learn from negative minds. Stay with people you want to be. They will always lift you!

Remember: Just because someone is so confident at saying something doesn’t mean they are right!

How much you can earn:

Creating Passive income in your 20s is not something that everyone does, and for making your passive income source work good you have to put in some effort and time. You have to invest your money in it.

You can start with investing a little, and then you have to invest from your profit to make it work well.

So it depends on you; however, there are so many ways that have a huge income compared to another passive income source.

7 ways to create passive income for beginners :

1.Sell Digital Products:

If you’re a newbie, then this can be a good start for you!

There are a lot of things to create and sell online! I.e., ebooks, online courses, podcasts, graphic art bundles, photographs, music, templates, and so much more.

If you like blogging, you can create podcasts, ebooks, online courses related to your niche. Visit this for more examples of digital products_ If you’re interested in photography, you can sell your pictures at reasonable prices. Just pick your interest and go for it! It is not effortless, but you can learn and earn a lot from this!

Requirements?

All you need to have is a phone, a good internet connection, an urge to learn, and a lot of patience.

How much can you earn?

If you choose to write an ebook and you list it on Kindle for 1$, and you get one buyer a day, then you can earn 30$/month easily; stock photos earn approximately 25–45 cents per image, it depends on how many people are buying from you. The prices of online courses are usually 8$. If 1 thousand students buy your course, then you can get 624$ from it!

The more you work, the more you’ll earn but make sure to be creative and unique and don’t forget- “quality over quantity.”

# Don’t give up too easily if you’re here to earn.

2.Start a blog:

You may have heard that before, but it’s because it’s work. Even I was thinking about this so many times before starting this blog, and it’s good to have something on your bucket list to work on. When you are free, you can start a blog and give your six months in it.

Remember, it’s worth the hustle. Imagine if you started a blog one year ago. Do you believe you’re that useless that you can’t even get 50,000 views on a blog after working one year?

You can check this out if you’re interested in starting a blog.

Requirement:

I know a friend who is planning to start a blog. I asked him about his blueprint, and he said, “i will write and earn” he is stupid; I hope he is now seeing this right now, first learn about blogging in-depth and decide how much time you can give it, if you don’t have a plan then you will be lost for a moment, trust me I know that, been there.

These things are a must for starting a blog :

A niche

A map for both before posting an article and after posting an article

And expect the hard time will come, and if it will not, then it will.👁

How much you can earn:

Blogging is something a small blog can be a bug business after some time, many bloggers who just started blogging for a hobby leave their 9–5 from it,

It’s from google AdSense website;

Google will pay you according to your niche, but if you create a finance blog and you get 50,000 visits per month, you can make 15,012$/year.

# for blogging, you should learn daily and use google sheets for planning. You can download the sheets template from here

3.Join the affiliate program and use Pinterest:

You can join the Amazon affiliate program by just signing up to their website. By doing that, you can share your link, and if someone buys a product from your link, you’ll get paid depending on the product category and price.

So there is a problem in that like who will buy products from your link, I know, so that’s why you will use Pinterest,

If you don’t know about Pinterest, you can download Pinterest from any app store and use it.

You can share pics with links on Pinterest, and it’s called creating pins. So people can see your shared photos on Pinterest, and if someone sees a product they like, they will click on the pic, and then they will redirect to amazon.

Requirements: you don’t even need a laptop for it, just 1 hour a day and a little bit of Pinterest SEO, and it’s the best thing I love about Pinterest; it has so easy SEO compared to google.

How much you can earn?: amazon affiliate earning has no limits; you can increase it as you grow anywhere online. Once you achieve your target on Pinterest, you will thank you for just starting.

4.Rent your apartment on Airbnb:

Airbnb is a platform where someone can rent out their couch, room, or home.

Since hotel prices are so high in major cities, it’s been obvious that before booking hotels people check Airbnb.

If you have free space in Airbnb, you can try this out, and after some time, you can hire a cleaner and an assistant to manage everything.

Requirements: you have to live in a developed city, if you are like me then AirBnb is no use for you, but I will wait when my hometown has so many travelers all around the world XD!!

How much you can earn?: That depends on the level you are receiving orders from AirBnB, but for a try, you should register on it and try yourself how often you get a call !!

5.Write an ebook:

If you love the idea of digital products, then you can choose to write an ebook. In that case, you don’t need any investment. You can check this out for more category ideas !!

For creating book covers or any graphic, use Canava. You can choose something related to your studies or interest. But do remember this ‘getting readers for your book is not easy. Everything is hard, so choose your hard.

Requirements: just an idea about your ebook, map of where you will share your ebook(like Facebook groups. Forums related to your book title etc.), and you have to know good writing and your target audience but don’t worry and don’t afraid of failure, you should give 30 days to write your ebook and see what you can do

How much can you earn?: As I mentioned earlier, it depends on your readers. If you get 80 readers at a 1$ price per month, you get 80$/month without doing anything. It’s just a starting future. You will get more readers if you write valuable content for your target audience.

#write an ebook like you are talking to your friend about something

6 .Dropshipping:

Dropshipping is like selling products online, but you don’t store your product. You use a third-party supplier (like wholesaler or manufacturer) to fulfil product needs; I am sure you have heard Shopify’s name before from Shopify; you can create your dropshipping business; I highly recommend you check out Shopify website. If you use Shopify, don’t worry; no one will know if your eCommerce website is Shopify.

From here, you can learn how to start an eCommerce dropshipping store from scratch.

Requirements: A niche, a supply for your store, build your online store and then market your store after that to improve your store.

How much can you earn?: It’s just like a store but online, but it can be a lot more profitable than an offline store. You have to put a lot into it to succeed, so your earning cannot be defined by just typing and thinking !!

7. Create an app:

I am not saying that it’s not risky, but you can create an app that solves people problems or help them with something like if you use android, then you might have some problems and wish that there was a solution for it _

Some time ago, I was searching for friends interested in fantasy books, so i wish that I had an app where I can just find them ~

So if you can solve the problem from your app, then try it.

However, you have to invest in it first because everyone is not an android/ios app developer.

Requirements: an idea, some money to hire a developer, and a plan

How much you can earn?: when you upload your app on any app store, and user use it, you earn money, so it depends on what’s your planets

Like you can sell the app to every user or add a subscription fee or monetize your app.

So it will worth it when it achieves its meaning!

_____

Thanks so much for reading this article, I will share more business strategy in-depth and if you really want to earn from passive income please accept my suggestion and plan something and go for it because i know a lot of people who learn and never take actions ~~

You can subscribe to us if you love this topic!

Assets- Literature

Original article: https://www.assetsliterature.com/2021/05/how-does-cryptocurrency-work.html

You can check our website for other contents like this.

#passiveincome #financialfreedom #entrepreneur #investing #money #business #entrepreneurship #bitcoin #investment #success #forex #motivati

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ramrodd · 1 year

Video

youtube

Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, Robert Paul Wolff Lecture 1

Dilbert Mus die!

COMMENTARY”

This is an excellent and thorough presentation of Kant and the Categorical Imperative. It would be my hope that every Biden voter would review the series in order to further validate the wisdom of the leap of faith they took with their vote for Biden and to validate their rejection of all things Reagan/Trump Conservative as integral to the January 6 conspiracy as legacy of William F. Buckley's marketing strategy for the 1960 agenda of the John Birch Society.

The thing I don't understand about Wolff, as representative of formal academic contemporary inquiry is his antipathy towards Hegel. He claims, perhaps ironically, of being a Marxist, but you can't be a Marxist and not embrace Hegel as not only historic method but as the basis of action research, moving forward. The issue isn't to employ Hegel to understand Marx but that Marx employed Hegel to anticipate history.

I have read Kant, Hegel and Marx, but I have never studied them in the manner Wolff presents them in this series, which is a thing of beauty. This is why you get a liberal arts education, to be around minds suck as these. However, because I have had a working relationship with the Holy Spirit since 1953, I intuitively embraced the Categorical Imperative as exactly the epistemology of a universal nature. Don't get bogged down in the details of Kant and Hegel: you don't need to understand voltage and amperes to use electricity. The Army Ranger School employs Hegel to teach small unit leadership and experiential learning and role play to enrich the cognitive skills of the individual expression of the Categorical Imperative.

In particular, the dynamical modeling of Paul Krugman's "Peddling Prosperity" is Hegelian is aspect and will allow America to jettison the decadent burden of all things Reaganomics and restore the pre-Reagan constitutional capitalism that pulled the world out of the global disaster of two industrial wars. And the MBTI is a tool for the individual to Become All You Can Be as a work in process.

The thing is, Harvard still doesn't understand its role in the defeat of the Republic of Vietnam and its connection to Robert McNamara, If we actually lapse into an avoidable recession at this moment, it will because everybody will try to employ the Harvard MBA program business model to fix the problem it created.

Dilbert must die to save the world.

#youtube

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ill-will-editions · 4 years

Photo

QUARANTINE LETTER #1

This is the first in what we hope will be an ongoing epistolary exchange between comrades living through conditions of quarantine. Responses and other reflections on the present moment can be sent to: [email protected]

***

Destitution, interrupted

1. The theorists have agreed: the current interruption is the outcome of well-established logics of capital, crisis governance, and alienation. Giorgio Agamben writes, “humans have become so accustomed to living under conditions of perennial crisis and emergency that they do not seem to realize that their life has been reduced to a purely biological condition stripped not only of all social and political dimensions, but likewise of its human and affective dimensions.” An article in Lundimatin on March 19 insisted that “the economy is the devastation”, but whereas this was “a theory before last month…now it is a fact.” Another article from the same issue reminded us that “the catastrophe is always already here”—from the floods and fires of California, to the atmospheric asphyxiation of non-human life, to the warming oceans and melting icecaps—and, if there is a difference today, it is only that “we are now obliged to open our eyes.” Finally, as if to carry this logic to its outer limits, a recent letter from Jacques Camatte proposed that “what we are now witnessing is the outcome of [a] vast phenomenon that has developed over thousands of years, stretched between the two great moments during which the threat of extinction asserted itself.” [1] The Coronavirus, it would seem, is nothing other than the protracted outcome of civilization itself.

While it is certainly right to insist that conditions of the present are an extension of the conditions of the past, this chorus of continuity misses something essential. Our world is certainly decomposing, but the song is not exactly the same.

Two years ago, a friend stated that, “the constitutive heterogeneity of the real is given to us under the mask of unity, homogeneous unity. To superficial perception, the mask is the real itself. To allow the mask to falter, is therefore to risk vertigo.” [2] In January, this mask still resembled the form it had assumed in recent years: a tumultuous but for the most part intelligible field of global political polarizations. The world, and our place within it, still felt within reach.

By March, the ruling institutions had been forced into a roundly reactive posture. It is by no means clear that the Coronavirus can be compared to a typical economic crisis or natural disaster, nor has the response been limited to an ordinary state of exception. After all, at least for a moment, rulers and ruled alike were pushed on to the back foot, their certainties shaken, as the virus usurped the position of global antagonist. Institutions on which the reproduction of this world depends have been perfunctorily suspended: employment, imprisonment for misdemeanors, evictions; even the DOW Jones seems up for grabs.

The dislocation of the social fabric has been far deeper than anything we have known. The veneer of normalcy fell away at a shocking speed. Actions that were once the very substance of normalcy now feel like experiments. And if we are honest, the ethical and political lines are not exactly what they used to be.

2. Three months ago, what concerned us and much of the world was the tally of forty-seven countries: the newspapers announced “a new global wave of revolt.” From France to Hong Kong, riots, occupations and blockades erupted with a ferocity and longevity unknown in living memory.

Successful revolts do not only undermine existing powers— they also allow their participants a capacity to participate more fully in the world. If we have come to think of revolt as a destituent force, this is not only because revolt splinters and fragments the social fabric into asymmetrical camps, but also because it returns us to earth, placing us in contact with reality. Destitution is rightly thought of either as a double movement or as a single process with two sides. On the one hand, it refers to the emptying-out of the fictions of government (its claim to universality, impartiality, legality, consensus); on the other hand, a restoration of the positivity and fullness of experience. The two processes are linked like the alternating sides of a Möbius strip: wherever those usually consigned to existing as spectators upon the world (the excluded, the powerless) instead suddenly become party to their situation, active participants in an ethical polarization, the ruling class is invariably drawn into the polarization and cannot avoid exhibiting its partisan character. The police become one more gang among gangs.

Needless to say, our situation today is different. We are living through a halfway destitution, a destitution interrupted. Every party has returned to earth-- yet without entering a world. The advent of COVID-19 has drained standard narratives and roles of their force. The logics holding this world together have been revealed as the arbitrary and mechanical operations that they are. Yet because it was neither “we” nor “they” who pulled the e-brake, but a perfectly inhuman virus, the standstill of historical time lacks the festival that usually accompanies it— the collective intelligence and confidence that comes with being the agent plunging normal time into disorder. In the absence of an agent, the truth of this moment remains stubbornly negative: our lives materially prostrate to supply chains as far flung as they are brittle, our world a conduit of reciprocally perilous immunity and disease.

3. Under ‘normal’ circumstances, participants in political events are never solely agents, but always also patients at the same time—we affect and are affected, we are changed by what we do and what is done to us, whether by police or one another. To have an active hand in our own deposition, to become anyone by participating in a common power with no name, is the mark of those movements and moments of eruption we’ve felt close to over recent years.

By contrast, our one-sided passivity in the face of this global event generates a vertiginous sense of being outpaced by the change around us. To be patients but not agents has meant that the dislocation of social life has occurred at a speed that makes it all but impossible to metabolize.

In their 1956 text, “A User’s Guide to Détournement,” Debord and Wolman observe that the subversive power of a détournement is “directly related to the conscious or semiconscious recollection of the original contexts of the elements.” This dependency of subversion on the memory of the subverted is not limited to the case of art but is, they argue, merely “a particular case of a general law” applicable to all action upon the world.

If the radical interruption of normal life we are undergoing has been so disorienting, this is because it is unfolding like a botched détournement, one whose force or potential is neutralized by its very radicality. We are swept into the new with such disarming speed that we cannot recall what preceded it. The tissue of normal life has been punctured, yet the cancellation was so rapid that we have been unable to register the distance traveled between the “original contents” of normal life and the world we now inhabit: a violence too sudden, too terrible even to be liberating, numbs us to the subversive effects it nevertheless carries out. The upending of the world becomes a strangely pacified process, reduced to a disorienting and disempowering experience: an inhuman velocity, less an event than a jump-cut, an excision of memory, a vertical severing of time itself.

In the long run, the vertigo will settle into more acute polarization. When it does, our inability to recalibrate will play to the benefit of the ruling powers. It insulates them against the subversive shock of what the virus has compelled them to do—less by the so-called “Corona socialism” than by the radical demobilization of the labor force that has accompanied it. Meanwhile, we float in an empty time; unable to seize upon and decide it, we wait for the suspension of history to reach its conclusion.

However, as Furio Jesi understood well, suspended time often requires a “cruel sacrifice” before it can conclude itself. [3] If our only experience of this event is as a “blip” of confusion and panic amidst an unbroken chain of administered life, when the time finally comes for an imperial reboot, the reversion to normalcy (or worse) will find no argument or exteriority to oppose it. That we remain dazed and out of step with the world gives our enemies free reign to reintroduce historical time on terms amenable uniquely to them, as the recent murders of activists during the quarantine lockdown in Columbia have already begun to attest. [4]

For now— at least for a moment—we are all here on earth, in the desert solitude of collective uncertainty:

To have been on earth just once —that’s irrevocable. / And so we keep on going and try to realize it, try to hold it in our simple hands, in our overcrowded eyes, and in our speechless heart. (Rilke)

However paradoxical, perhaps our task over the coming weeks is to slow down the pace of change, to impose a rhythm allowing us to participate once again in the subversion and reinvention of the world on our own terms.

-August and Kora

Chicago, March 24, 2020

*******************

[1] Giorgio Agamben, “Clarification,” published on the column Una voce, on Quodlibet.it website; (Anonymous), “Coronavirus: Apocalypse and Redemption,” Lundimatin #234, March 19, 2020; Anonymous), “What the Virus Said,” Lundimatin #234, March 19, 2020; Jacques Camatte, “Letter from Camatte to a Friend in the North,” 3.20.2020. English translations available here: ill-will-editions.tumblr.com

[2] Moses Debruska, “Preface,” in Josep Raffanel i Ora, Fragmenter le monde (Paris: Divergences, 2018), 19. Our translation.

[3] “Every true change in the experience of time is a ritual that demands…a determinate cruel sacrifice.” Furio Jesi, Spartakus. The Symbology of Revolt, Trans. Alberto Toscano (Seagull, 2014), 61-63.

[4] “Colombian death squads exploiting coronavirus lockdown to kill activists,” The Guardian, 3.23.2020. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/23/colombian-groups-exploiting-coronavirus-lockdown-to-kill-activists

#Coronavirus #covod 19 #Furio Jesi #Destituent power

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lalaytight · 3 years

Text

Nct Dream as University Students

-Information Prior to Reading-

Clearing - When applying to University after the official date of the A level results, national results, the clearing section opens which allows people who did not get the required grades or have changed their mind in term of courses, apply to university and get a spot.

Dissertation - he final project completed in the last year of University, is normally around one set topic and makes up a good chunk of the final grade awarded at the end of the course.

Pre's - Stands for Pre Drinks a social event where alcohol is consumed prior to going to the clubs.

Masters- A second degree normally 12-18 months long in addition to the bachelors degree when you first graduate. Normally more specific than the first degree.

Gap Year- A year taken between finishing up school and going off to university, normally spent either saving for university or more commonly travelling the world and 'finding' yourself in a third world country on a beaten path.

Pull/ going on the pull- The act of trying to get a date or take someone home with you whilst on a night out in the clubs/ pubs. Can be either successful or unsuccessful but is a great past time.

Tactical chunder- The act of throwing up whilst drunk in order to sober yourself or remove some of the alcohol from your body. Is often done to make room for more alcohol.

Warnings: Alcohol consumption

Mark Lee

Mark is currently a second year university student studying Art history. His entrance story to university was not easy nor common, at first he took a gap year working out just what he wanted to do with himself for the rest of his life. About halfway through this gap year he decided university was not for him and he wanted to take a gap life rather than just a gap year. However, his mother was not impressed and insisted he went to university. Therefore, he entered as an Art History student but did not put any effort in resorting in him having to retake his first year of university. As his parents told him that if he dropped out that he must have a full time job in place before doing so and Mark was too lazy to find a job.

Mark is part of the university football, soccer, team. He wasn't a first pick for the club and he is mainly kept as a reserve for the team. It's not that he isn't a team player, rather the opposite and his club members absolutely love him as he's their biggest hype man. They always want him on their society nights out but they just don't want him playing. Mark might be a team player and somewhat well coordinated but he isn't the best under the pressure of the game and can get overwhelmed by the large groups of players he has to go up against.

After his first year plunder where he was forced to retake the year considering he passed none of the assignments or exams, Mark got his act together. He is now one of the hardest working members of the class trying to constantly prove to himself and his lecturers that he can in fact do it. When it comes to group projects he generally takes on the role of the person trying to convince the others to do the work. However, when this is undoubtedly unsuccessful he will then pull his weight to the max and complete the work that was missing from the other project members. The epitome of a stressed bunny at all times whilst trying to do uni work.

Mark is a terrible lightweight who attempts to keep up with his friendship group, who are all younger than him. And he is not very successful at it, he will only drink liquor partially because its a ploy to get him drunk faster and because his stomach cannot stand anything yeasty in terms of alcohol. He is fully under the belief that apple sours is a very strong drink. When drunk Mark seems more than willing to share his insane knowledge of Justin Bieber songs, he knows nearly the entire discography it would seem though not in the right key, Haechan has still to find a song he doesn't know the words to yet but the younger man has made it his mission to do so. Mark will get chatting to the prettiest person in the room accidentally whilst drunk and the others are definitely jealous of him especially when said person not only offers to help Mark back to his room and into bed but will also give Mark their number before leaving.

Huang Renjun

Contrary to popular belief Renjun is not an arts student, though he throughly enjoys the subject and can be seen frequently floating around outside the building he is in fact a classics student. No nobody knows what that means and Renjun is more than likely to study a masters on top so he can actually do something with his degree, maybe teaching though he's not a fan of small children.

Renjun is not part of a society but he is well known on the campus. He is considered two things firstly the one kid who spends way too much time around the art building considering none of his lectures occur there. He lurks with the intent to be able to sneak his way into the building and this is where he is not directly known but known for. This is because he steals from the department to supply his own personal art supply. He has a mission to never pay for his own supplies again he will only use the university's. To do this he tries to sneak in using a different unsuspecting person's swipe card access as this doesn't bring anything suspicious to him or another person. Hence the lurking but he tries to play it off that he's waiting for his partner though tends to walk off with a different person each time the security guards overly catch him.

In terms of being in class, Renjun is that one quiet student. Considering the register is done by tapping yourself in on the wall and not physically answering your name, it is more than likely you won't hear him speak for weeks on end. It's also like this in group projects as he doesn't tend to turn up to group meetings preferring to email you instead or when he does he still remains quiet. The one other noticeable thing about Renjun in class is that he goes all out in terms of appearance. He has never attended a lecture, seminar or meeting in jogging bottoms and his fit is normally very much on trend. He even went through a little time period where he was dressed like an eboy but realised he suited the softer colours much better and swapped it out for the normal yellows and oranges he is more commonly known to wear.

Just like Mark, Renjun is a pretty big lightweight. He is the first to vomit throughout the night and will continue to do so throughout the night. But he tends to pretend or try to convince the others that he is actually much more sober than he actually is. It doesn't go swimmingly well, as they coin onto the fact that every time he disappears it's to the toilet to vomit. In fact he almost accidentally locks himself in one of the stalls in the mens toilet and has to be rescued by one of the other boys in order to get out. Will try to brush it off as that he wasn't that drunk in the first place but is not doing a very good job about it. In terms of trying to pull on a night out Renjun tends to go for the friend of the poor person Jaemin is flirting with non stop. The two make rather great sidemen even though its not always on purpose.

Lee Jeno

Jeno studies architecture which is actually a really long degree. But in order for him not to appear as nerdy as he is, he tells everyone he is studying something to do with sports. Normally going for sports psychiatry as his go to or back up degree only his housemates, or closest, friends know what he is actually studying. He is convinced by telling everyone he studies Architecture that it will ruin the image he has so carefully crafted for himself.

Jeno is a rugby player and proud of it. He tends to wear it with pride like it is a personality trait and can often be seen walking around the University City in his rugby jumper with his initials and nickname plastered on in the most obnoxious font. Though he joined the sports society for the game he very quickly fell in love with the social aspect to the society as well. He can always be seen on a rugby boys night out going full out for whatever theme they have chosen for the night sometimes getting the other boys to help him with the makeup for some of the different costumes he wears. He gets really excited when its his turn to sing the dick song around the hughstreet chanting his own made up verse about his own sexual endeavours despite being completely unexperienced.

Jeno is a lazy student. He tends to do the bare minimal for everything related to the degree. This includes actual attendance, if he attends, which he often tends not to do, you can bet the clothes he was in was the exact same outfit he wore the week before. Most of the time he is found back at his uni accommodation just chilling with his other housemates when they ask him why he's at home and not at uni his go to response is 'I just couldn't be bothered to walk there so I decided to stay home' or 'I slept through my alarm and decided to take a self care day'. Even if his self care day had literally been the day beforehand. However, despite his lack of effort in actually producing work, especially in group projects, its hard for anybody to get overly mad at him considering he normally brings out the big guns and will get up to present the project making most of it up considering he did not do any of the research or work. When he actually wants to get work done you can only find him on the silent floor of the library hidden in one of those single person cubby holes right at the back. He is the kind of person to hiss, maybe even bark, at someone if they made noise around his quiet space.

On a night out Jeno is that one drunk who likes to bring out his talent at 'playing' the guitar. Like most people the one song he actually knows how to play is Oasis 'Wonderwall' and he will play this multiple times during the night. The only way to stop him doing this is to let him be completely in charge of the music for the night and therefore a lot of grime music is played throughout the evening only being interrupted by the odd song one of the other boys has managed to sneak onto the playlist. Is the best at holding their alcohol but does take a tactical chunder right before going to bed in order to reduce the banging hangover he knows he's going to have in the morning. When the boys are playing games whilst at pres Jeno is the first to flake out and give up on the game never have I ever considering he has done nothing and feels like he is the only one not drinking and doesn't find the game fun.

Lee Donghyuck/ Haechan

Haechan studies theatre studies. No surprise there as he has a talent for the arts, he is a well versed triple threat and is thought to be an actual threat to his other students or as he likes to call them his competitors. He is one of those who you cannot be sure whether he took the degree because he wanted to study what he was so good at or because he enjoyed the drama between the students on the course more. Considering there was so much between the department. He knows everything going on, exactly who's sleeping with who. You want to know the tea he's got it.

As a part of his course Haechan is very often involved in the shows the university puts on every semester. Yes all three of them, and he's pressed when they actually cast a female to play the female lead. He's also joined the music society and is a proud treasurer. He is in charge of how the club spends their money and doesn't hesitate to put most of their budget aside for the recruitment events in September and following bar crawls. The society has gained many members due to the legendary parties they throw curtesy of the budgeting planning Haechan performs.

Haechan is very friendly with nearly everyone in his tutor group. He's not shy to introduce himself to others and this has granted him a very nice reputation around the class. It's worked in his favour as everyone has deemed him someone safe to tell their stories and feelings to, well nearly everyone, and therefore he is the gossip queen. He promises to keep your secrets but his entire set of roommates know everything by the end of the day. He's a hard worker, extremely hard worker and this shows in his work as he constantly remains at the top of his class. He stays late all the time to work and books out the many rooms in his building over the weekend to work. His dissertation out of all the boys was probably one of the best, because he actually cared for the subject he was writing about.

At a Pre's Haechan is the one who hacks the playlist. He loves to add just a little bit of Bieber to every playlist, it's a guilty pleasure. But Jeno never seems truly angry at him, a little miffed that his password keeps getting guessed but other than that the hacking's allowed. Haechan is also the one to bring out the drinking games first. He's a sucker for any card based drinking game but will totally come up with his own rule set and spend most of the time arguing with anyone trying to tell him that the rules are incorrect. By the time they've hit the club he's had a cheeky little vomit on the side of the path only to continue to laugh it off. Alcohol just makes him even more daring than he was anyways so out comes the jester. The sudden courage to do anything when drunk is a blessing and a curse. He is the only one up to climbing over the stools to release a trapped Renjun but he is also always up to dancing on the tables pint in hand. The most reluctant to leave the club. And the one pulling when he really doesn't want to. He's there to party not to get numbers. At the end of the night he's gained like 5 snapchats he never intends to use.

Na Jaemin

Jaemin studies English Literature. He was given two options, start work or go to university. And Jaemin's too pretty to be working so university it was. In his opinion. He entered university, barely, but he got the grades he needed irregardless. And after all who cares what A level's you hold when you have a degree?

Jaemin isn't in any society's or on any sports teams. He doesn't care about university that much to get involved. What he is at is every single student night held by the student union. He's always there right in the centre of the room having the time of his life and chucking the empty cups onto the floor.

Jaemin's a lazy student in the way that he attends university because he doesn't want his attendance to plummet but he has no intent to involve himself in the lectures. Barely completes his coursework and he once tried to pay a ghost writer to write his essay. He can always be found sat at the back of the lecture hall sitting in a strange silence alone. He's dressed to the nines and looks completely at peace air pods in and Netflix show playing. He doesn't have to worry about getting notes he'll just flirt his way into getting someone to send them to him. The official crush of the English Lit course, but he's just a little too far away for comfort. He does not participate in group work, he's always sending the work but it never arrives. You'll have to do his part as well and he'll get the same grades the rest of the group does. Because even when you send those sheets in about what everyone did, the lecturers don't read them or care and he gets away with it.

Jaemin has one intention on a night out to pull. But he isn't looking just for a casual relationship. He's determined to find the one whilst at uni. He's looking for his other half. And he'll use any of the other guys to help him pull. Anyone and everyone is his wingman. Except Jisung who's the house baby and he can't ever see dating. Jaemin can hold his alcohol pretty well, he's had enough practice. He's always the one to suggest shots on a night out. And he always picks a Jaegar bomb. To the point where nobody in the house can smell Jaeger without getting the urge to vomit.

Zhong Chenle

A boy from a well off background studying economics. Couldn't get more cliche. But the truth is that Chenle loves the subject he picked it not because it was a typical rich boy thing to do, but because it generally interested him. He worked hard to get into university. But he won't tell anyone. If anyone asks he just laughs it off with a shrug of his shoulder as to query what else he would he do?

Chenle joined the music society Haechan is the treasurer of. And he's gunning for Haechan's chair when the older guy leaves university. He loves the society and everything they do, from the self produced songs to the nights out and the editing of self made music videos. But this isn't the only club he's a part of, he's joined the university extreme Frisbee sports team. He joined as a joke back in first year but he felt almost guilty just quitting. So here he is still part of the team. But hey they get to go to varsity each year and he gets to parade around in his sports uniform. And its a hit with the ladies.

In class, Chenle is one of the most active participants. He loves his subject, loves his study and he rather enjoys arguing with students and professors alike. It has lead to a rather sour view of him from many of the students. But he has his solid core of friends and couldn't care about what the others think. What he does care about is the way one of the lecturers teach and his goal is to drive them to insanity so that they quit. After all who makes group work a necessity in every single seminar. Evil people. And he's here to rid the university of evil lecturers. No matter what it takes. Despite his hate for the obscene amount of group work, he's an active participant and always willing to give the presentation working for many of his more shy classmates. But he will drag out the presentation what was supposed to be five minutes is more like 20 and full of jokes and one liners which mean you never forget what he was talking about. Even if it was completely down the wrong track.

Chenle is a great mixologist at a pre's. He'll make anyone a drink. And its strong, pungent and straight to the point. You want to get drunk, he's your man. He'll help you take a tactical chunder before you leave for the club as well. But he's also ridiculously responsible and won't let you get black out drunk in his own house. He knows when you've hit your limit and will totally supply you with water he pretends is gin so you can sober up slightly. Toaster is also always on to provide those carbs you need so desperately if you've gone overboard too fast. He's also the one who demands you go for food once you've left the club. Whilst in the club he's down for anything. Mariah Carey, break up songs or heavy metal he's here for it all. Finger guns at the ready he's going full out. Will draw the room's attention and unsuspecting targets, namingly Jisung, onto the dance floor with him.

Park Jisung

A humanities guy through and through, Jisung studies History. Another not ashamed of the course he's studying, Jisung will happily tell anyone that he's studying history. He'll also tell anyone that History was the only subject he passed well and it was just fate. He came in through clearing but he'll tell you the story of how desperate the university was to have him that they didn't care about the U he got in Maths.

Jisung is an active participant in the shows the university puts on each semester. He doesn't take to the front of the stage but rather works in the back. He's a sound technician and a rather good one. He can mix and sort out the mic's levels like nobody else. And if he turns up Haechan's mic when he's got a solo he'll always say his finger slipped. And he's charming enough to get away with it, every single time.

Jisung loves history, but he hates participation. If he could join every single lecture and seminar from the comfort of his bedroom he would. But alas he cannot, lecturers actually want you to attend. So begrudgingly he does make his way in for scheduled lessons. But he's sat in the very back corner where its so dark nobody can see him there. He listens and takes notes but if a questions asked to the class he'll slump down into his chair to avoid being seen to be asked the question. In terms of working with others this is also not something he wants to do. Jisung already has his friends, his housemates, he doesn't need any more. And therefore, he never ever makes any of the meetings set up by the group. He's active as much as he physically has to be in the group chat but that's all. He does however, send his piece of the work in super early. So there's a silver lining to his complete and utter reluctancy to work with others. Even if he does leave the group feeling as though he's a bit of an ass.

Jisung is the house's baby. And therefore, they're always trying to get him drunk. He's a lightweight and he's drunk within two hours of them starting. But he's an adorable drunk sat in the corner of the room on the sofa covered by a blanket that has been taken from someone's room nursing a bowel of snacks and laughing when someone loses ring of fire and has to drink the mixture of alcohol in the middle of the table. He makes it to the club, always does, but is banned from drinking any more when he gets there. He's also constantly under the strict watch of the others as he has a tendency to wander around the club and get lost. Though when in doubt you can always find him in the smoking area getting hit on by much older woman.

#nct imagines #nct scenarios #nct dream #university au #college au #nct fluff #oneshot #thatcollegeaunooneaskedforpart1

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marvinswriting · 4 years

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google meets

Let’s play a game called which of these things has Marvin and her friends actually experienced during distance learning and what's fiction? Plot twist, it's all real shit I’ve sat through in history today. Ft a hint of world building g/t mean girls

I sighed, logging out of one google meet only to join another. I was slowly dying, becoming one with my chair for sitting for so long.

Okay, it's a little dramatic but- sitting for forty seven minutes only to have a three minute break before another forty seven minute class sucked. And unlike my typical seven hour school day, I couldn’t just skip my tiny class to be with Damian.

Still, there were some positives to online learning.

I watched as other faces loaded into the meet, all my friends slowing joining in. I had quite a couple classes with everyone, and all my tiny classes were with Regina and Aaron. It was the ideal school schedule- but it wasn’t half bad online either.

My phone screen lights up beside me and I already know it's a groupchat with everyone.

Tiny classes felt almost normal, but co-sized classes felt odd. To see Regina and Damian’s faces next to each other at the same size was definitely weird.

Some classes were never co-sized. Like gym or science. It’s simply easier to do complex experiments with chemicals when it's a manageable size. But other classes didn’t have those requirements.

Like history.

Where I was now.

The class was pretty quick to realize the teacher this year didn’t know how the class worked.

Today was no exception.

She had her camera on and it was opened to the whiteboard, but her mic was off.

Still- she began teaching, waving hello to us before turning around to write on the board.

For a couple minutes, we all sit in silence, waiting for her to realize her mistake.

I grinned to myself, watching people begin to type in chat to tell her we couldn't hear .Some of the brave souls even unmuted, but the teacher couldn't hear us over her own muted lecture.

I glanced over to my phone, unlocking it to read the chat going off.

anyone was going to tell her she's old and should call her grandkids in a retirement home, not her students in the school

Ah, Regina, always bringing the kind words. Bit rude but true.

Cady being Cady offered to unmute and help the teacher, but she got shot down pretty unanimously by the chat. An excuse not to work is an excuse not to work. I grinned watching her shrug and put her phone away in real time.

Karen had sent a paragraph of emoji which I didn't understand but Gretchen laughed on camera so I'm sure it meant something.

I snapped a textless photo to Damian privately, ignoring the group chat for now.

I watched with a suppressed smile as Damian's eyes flicked from the meet down, where his phone hid out of sight.

It wasn't hard to tell when a student was on their phone, especially when all the students were on their phone.

I ignored the snap from Damian as sound suddenly went through my laptop.

"I was on mute this whole time! You should have said something!"

You could almost hear the collective sigh through the muted mics as all the students shook their heads.

Whatever-

We tried.

I only half pay half paid attention to the teacher as she began re-explaining her lesson. Something about extra credit. Like I’d be caught doing that.

The groupchat continues buzzing, but I don’t open the messages. I need to pay attention somewhat.

My desk had totally changed for the school year. What was once covered in art supplies and drawing was now barren, with my laptop and some notebooks. Damian had made me do it on facetime, claiming he knew me too well and that it would be a distraction.

While he was right- who could have known my phone would be my downfall.

I snap Damian, not trying very hard to conceal my phone as the teacher continues her lesson. She’s not teaching, just informing us of basic rules in the classroom, only get extra credit if all other assignments are done and I have the right to turn down topics.

Boring.

“Lets say, Janis-”

I look up wide eyed, but the teacher is facing the board. I’m just an example.

I glance quickly down as a new message from Regina.

try not to look like such a deer in headlights smh. and tell damian to pay attention

I suppress an eyeroll, tuning back into the class. “If Janis wanted to do extra credit on, oh I dunno, the history of sports, I may not know much about sports, but I would allow it. This is history class after all.”

I don't bother hiding a laugh at the look on Damians face.

The groupchat lights up again with a message from Gretchen.

I dont think I’ve ever seen Janis pick up a ball?

Damian is quick to respond.

i have there's a reason it doesn't happen

Wow, okay, rude.

“Or maybe Aaron wants to research art in the 1920s,”

My phone is buzzing almost instantly with a message from Aaron in the groupchat.

Wow, okay, Ms. C. Just totally switch Janis and I? Literally offended. Like I’d touch mushy rainbows.

I duck away from the camera as I laugh out loud, placing my phone down on the table. I can see everyone in the chat on my laptop screen and they all seem to have a similar reaction. Aaron looks supremely done with this class and Gretchen’s has sweater paws with her hands trying to discreetly cover her grin. It’s not working.

My phone is still for a total of thirty seconds before its buzzing again, but this time- a skype call. I put in an earbud before picking up, watching Damian and Cady’s face’s fill the screen. “Wow guys,” I tease. “We really aren’t planning on learning this yeah, huh.”

“Speak for yourself,” Cady says without even looking away from her computer. “I can multitask.”

“Jan and I cannot.” Damian shakes his head. “But this class is really boring.”

I grin, as Cady shakes her head and mutes us, clearly trying to pay attention. The groupchat is still going off and judging by the fact that Regina is full on crying from laughter in the upper right hand corner of my screen, it's gotta be something good.

Our teacher seems pretty oblivious to it all and maybe- just maybe, history won't be so bad this year.

tldr, marvin is going to fail US history 11H @realmisspolarbear @musicallygt @smallsoysauce

#g/t mean girls #but there's no g/t interaction sorry #its o n l i n e #i wrote this while in class #and on skype with my friends #and on google meet with my teacher #oops #tiny janis #tiny regina #tiny aaron #giant damian #giant cady #giant gretchen #giant karen

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