#trying something different don't mind me

[sealrock]

the order of saint jehanne ; a look into the past

motto: rage of the fury, temperance of the maiden

active: c. 1410-1558 (148 years)

the order of saint jehanne, sometimes known as the blue sorority, was an officially endorsed ishgardian military order comprised of female knights and were active participants in the dragonsong war. fighting alongside their brothers in arms roughly 150 years since they've been founded, the order set an example for coerthan women everywhere.

rich or poor, young or old, the order accepted any who would answer the call. the knights that joined the order, known by the commoners as 'swordsisters', served for life. taking a strict vow of celibacy and following the creed of the order's patron saint, the swordsisters dedicated their waking moments to honoring the fury, helping the destitute, and striking down the dravanian horde at any cost.

history:

'the blessed one, jehanne tarc' (c. 1340) painted by beittent de tofaux (1276-1356), oil on canvas

jehanne tarc (c. 1154-1173), once a poor farmgirl in the coerthan lowlands, lived a short but illustrious life that propelled her to sainthood two hundred years after her death. hers is a tale that's been spoken by bards and idolized by the smallfolk long after she returned to the earth: guided by visions from none other than the fury herself, jehanne led a campaign of victorious battles against the dravanian horde, only to fall in a fiery blaze by her archenemies.

purportedly the third daughter of eight children, jehanne lived a simple and uneventful life. she was fourteen when she received her first vision of halone, surrounded by her valiant knights in resplendent golden armor; it was said she wept for days afterward for that she could not believe the fury would reveal herself to such a lowly servant. the visions continued soon after that, but instead of being fearful, jehanne fully embraced her visitations—even if no one believed her.

around this time, rumors of a prophecy descended from the highlands about an armored maiden would come forth and strike a grievous blow against nidhogg's horde. lady reinette also lived in the same period as jehanne, but she had already put down her lance to devote herself to the church after avenging her beloved.

at sixteen, jehanne's family was killed when the village was razed to the ground by amelth, a fiercesome and high-ranking dragon with impenetrable scales that has already devastated the armed forces of the holy see's temple knights. believing the prophecy to be true and seeking revenge, jehanne rode to the capital and demanded an audience with the archbishop of the period. backed by her visions of the fury, jehanne was given the archbishop's blessing to fight. with no military training or skills in weaponry, jehanne quickly proved herself to be blessed by the fury. her arrival bolstered the moral of the troops no one has seen before or since her death, and with her leading the charge the holy see managed to drive back the horde at a pace no one could believe.

at eighteen, jehanne struck down amelth; for three days and three nights, they fought a bitter battle that ultimately ended with jehanne as the victor. with so many battles won, the people of ishgard viewed her as the fury reborn. but with all good things, they must come to an end. a year later, jehanne was nineteen years old when she was killed in retaliation by amelth's brood. facing death unflinchingly, jehanne's life was snuffed out by dragonfire.

surprisingly, the church was slow to canonize jehanne as a saint, much like they did saint reinette, despite her glories and virtures. in 1309, jehanne was beatified and canonized as a virgin saint to the cheers of the lowlands who had venerated her. it would take another century before the military order would be founded in her name. with much of her life embellished by folktales and song, jehanne continues to inspire many of the commonfolk.

during her life, jehanne never wavered in her faith and maintained her maidenhood when many men wanted her hand in marriage. she devoted herself fully to halone, and in death her virginity was recognized as her most admirable trait. this sentiment was followed by the order to the fullest, its swordsisters vowing to never fall in love with anyone, for their mission would be compromised by mortal desires.

insignia:

the order's coat of arms was humble in design; its chequy pattern of white and blue was not meant to be excessive or ostentatious, much like the order's patron saint. the white symbolized the swordsisters' unwavering and unsullied purity, while the blue represented the fury's grace and divine favor to her knights.

attire:

the order, being both a military unit and a community of religious sisters, has two modes of dress: combat and clerical.

the order's combat uniform consists of the medium armor variety—a mix of leather, metal, and chainmail. the tunic worn by the swordsisters consists of the same chequy pattern as their coat of arms, quickly distinguishing themselves from temple knights and dragoons alike. the helms worn by the order offers protection in close-quarters combat: while other knights wear enclosed helms in battle, the order opted to use a crowned mail coif with an open, but barred, visor to improve vision.

while most can identify the order's offensive soldiers, those who wield swords, lances, and maces, the order carries defensive swordsisters who are the healers and mages of their units. they wear the same uniform as the offense.

when not in active duty, members of the order fulfill their daily tasks around their convents in their clerical dress. more ornate (and at times offensive to the more conservative members of the church) than a simple nun's habit, it follows the same pattern of elements with the tunic, coif and veil, but decorated with stripes and jewels.

internal organization:

the order has a hierarchy like any other order in coerthas. while it's easier to refer to everyone in the order as swordsister, they are organized by 'levels':

quaternaire: aka the reverend mother. an elderly head of the order usually elected with votes after serving half of her life to the organization. like her name suggests, the reverend mother runs the convent much like a parent would, with a strict no-nonsense attitude. she received the vows of the swordsisters, admit new candidates, or send them out on missionary work or to the battlefield to offer aid.

tertiaire: after a certain amount of years have passed, or if the younger sister excelled in her work, she'll graduate to become a tertiaire, or 'older sister'. these swordsisters are most common in the field as their survival skills, discipline, and dedication lead them to confront dragons head on. besides combat expertise, some older sisters are more adept to administrative work, performing religious rites, and overlooking the younger sisters and novices.

secondaire: primaires who pass the training are officially initiated into the order, thus becoming secondaires. they are called 'younger sister [x]' as a form of address. contact with the outside world would be cut off from this point forward. the initiate would then receive a new name chosen from the church's beatified saints or known virtues to signify her 'death' to the world. these new sisters continue to receive training from the higher-ups, and their responsibilities are given based on skill. they apprentice under the older sisters in the field and in the convent.

primaire: fresh faces to the order who must undergo a rigorous, and often torturous, physical and mental training initiation that last for one year. during this period, novices are not addressed with special titles, they're allowed to maintain contact with family and friends, and if they choose to, leave the order if they're not capable of enduring the training. novices endure no penalty.

the training initiation does not spare bright-eyed girls and women from its wrath; most novices leave after 3 months of training. only the resolute and pious souls of halone are able to suffer through it. it was modeled after the trials of saint jehanne to bring those closer to the tribulations she once did.

even after becoming a swordsister, one must continue to prove their worth to the saint and to grow closer to the fury through mortifying their flesh (abstinence, self-flagellation, wearing a chain cilice, steam baths as penance). to know what the patron saint went through, the swordsisters put aside their apprehension to train both body and soul in the ways of the maiden. their faith makes it so they can stare down the enemy with no fear.

the end of the line:

once a woman is initiated, she cannot leave under any circumstances. to serve halone is to serve for life, and that means laying down your life in the name of the fury without fear. a swordsister renounces worldly pleasures in the name of her patron saint, and to consider leaving is akin to heresy in the order, often punishable by death.

alas, their mission was cut short by one of their own. the order was destroyed from within by someone whose heart was anchored with mortal desires and temptations. none survived except for the traitor.

older sister tauvane, now tauvane the godless, turned her back on her swordsisters. once a bastard babe born in the sins of her parents, she was given to the care of the swordsisters who treated her as one of their own. while society didn't accept her, the order saw her as who she was: a lost lamb needing guidance. but she committed the ultimate form of treachery in the act of love.

a young temple knight, a heretic injured in battle and nursed back to health by sister tauvane, lured her away from the order. justice was wrought on the nonbeliever, but tauvane retaliated in the most horrific way imaginable: aligning herself with the enemy. the order of saint jehanne was wiped out by tauvane, once a beloved sister and friend, in the year 1558. she nows leads a crusade of her own—a war with the holy see in the name of her beloved.

may the fury receive her flock with open arms and cast down the wicked.

[shimmershy]

Buttercups and Golden Flowers

[icewindandboringhorror]

What would you choose? :0c

(note: original image is from HERE (link) - but I edited it to add a wider variety of options.. also added $3 extra to the total, even though I know that makes it more uneven lol, I thought if you're adding 10 whole extra items, the money to spend should at least be increased slightly, if that makes sense..)

[starry-bi-sky]

i have... ✨Danyal Al Ghul Headcanons✨ but specifically for my yaelokre danyal oneshot

There's also the tumblr post here but I recommend the link in the title because its the ao3 version, and that one is edited and has some stuff in it that's not in the tumblr post, and will be the version I'm using.

So for summary: this Danyal is also from a Demon Siblings Au where Danny is five years older than Damian. However, things turned out a bit differently, and Danny and Damian had a fantastic relationship with one another. Danny loved music and regularly came up with songs to sing to Damian with. Specifically the folk band Yaelokre's EP "Hayfields" (seriously go fucking listen to it its sooo good. Harpy Hare is the second song but its my favorite. Special shoutout to @gascansposts for introducing the band to me)

He falls off a train when he's twelve and Damian is seven while the two of them and Talia are on mission. He ends up with magically induced amnesia and wakes up in Arkansas while the Fentons are on their yearly Divorce-iversary visit to Aunt Alica, and since he can only remember his name, he ends up being taken into their care.

---------------

Yaelokre Danny has the same facial scar as Things in Threes Danyal, since he was initially another version of him where things turned out better. I'm debating on whether or not I should take it away however, and give him a different scar (maybe from when he fell off the train?), just because the scar is a pretty key identifier for Ti3 Danyal.

-----------------

Danny frequently visits Aunt Alicia in Arkansas! Well, only after he gets settled in and stuff. He doesn't really like the city that much and prefers the countryside where Alicia lives. I know she lives in a cabin but I'm changing it to a farm, so she puts Danny to work and gets him to help her.

I don't want to confine his hobbies to only being star stuff, because people tend to have more than one hobby and I feel like it reduces him to one-dimensionality, so he likes to garden, and learns guitar. His room becomes filled with plants, and he turns their roof into a rooftop greenhouse right below to OPS Center.

He has a complex relationship with the weapons from his past, but he's not... like... appalled by it? When he finds his weapons in the Fenton attic all he thinks is that they're his weapons, and he starts carrying a knife on him afterwards. Essentially he becomes fascinated with weaponry because its one of the few physical ties he has to his past, and while he's not training like he is in the League, he allows his strong muscle memory to guide him through his katas.

Danny likes climbing things. This causes Problems For Everyone Else.

----------------

Danny was not the "kinder Al Ghul" in the League. His kindness extended to his brother and family, and that's it. To everyone else he had high expectations out of them, and the pride you'd expect from the grandson of Ra's Al Ghul and trained by its top members. While he wasn't like, unnecessarily cruel or anything, he wasn't merciful either.

This transfers post-train fall as him coming off as no-nonsense and unforgiving. He's not fond of the idea of giving people second chances, and is skeptical of the idea. He's disgusted by incompetency and views it as an unforgivable offense, especially if he thinks that the person should know better, although he's not sure why. Some egocentrism for the soul.

He doesn't like being touched by anyone who isn't family, and gets irritated when anyone grabs him or holds onto him for extended amounts of time. Dash has gotten hit so many times. With Jack Fenton's tendency for abrupt physical affection, it doesn't make it any better. I'd argue it'd make it worse because Danny doesn't want to be touched more often than not.

------------------

Danyal had a red scarf in the League that he wore on his last mission, it came off before he fell off and caught itself on the roof. Damian still has it and took it with him to Wayne Manor. He's got it locked in his room and takes it out when he's alone and missing Danny the most. One time he forgot to put it away before leaving his room, and Dick was visiting the manor for something and found it. Damian found him holding it and freaked out.

Dick could only say "I've never seen you wear this, Damian, this is really pretty--" before Damian shoved him to the floor and stole it out of his hands, before screaming at him; "Don't touch this! You don't ever touch this! This is mine! You hear me!?"

It caused such a commotion that the rest of the family present came to see what the fuss was about, and Damian kicked them all out of his room. Dick is the one brother Damian's the closest with, so the fact he reacted so strongly shocked them all.

This is likely what leads to the "Danyal" conversation.

[batbabydamian]

so, Batman #147… rambling about the difference in how Zdarsky portrays the two current Robins

this is a fantastic run for Tim, and very much written like a return to form of what plenty consider the best dynamic duo, but even more so "the best Robin". once Damian's introduced in this run, Zdarsky really makes sure you still know that lol

1. "We don't need anyone else" VS "I need my family"

#147 clearly exemplifies the contrast, so i'll go through it first. Damian, having fallen for Zurr's lie and accepted him as the real Bruce, goes so far as to say in the very first page "We don't need anyone else." it's cold colors, machinery, and hollow declarations of "father and son" for these two.

towards the ending, Tim has deduced where the real Bruce is hiding and brings him food expecting Bruce's knack for self-neglect. it's all warmth, sunshine, and mutual understanding - also a cute back and forth of "Batman and Robin" between them. on top of this, where Damian isolates Batman & Robin from family, Tim is the one to remind Bruce about "helping each other." Bruce heartily agrees with "I need my family" for a weighty end.

along with this parallel, from #138 Tim makes it clear that even in opposition, he's only ever trying to help Bruce. Damian was still on the wrong side with Zurr-induced-Bruce here at the time too 😭

2. Tim's independence as both a hero and partner

Tim is written as the ideal Robin to Bruce's Batman, and has made Robin its own independent hero on equal footing rather than a sidekick - it's made in statements by both Tim and Bruce, and through the entire narrative. he takes initiative and tries to foresee what would ultimately help Bruce. beyond being great partners, there's many bits showing their emotional connection ("i'm scared of being lost, but i'm more scared of losing you, Bruce" hit me like a bag of bricks). tbh this almost could be a Batman and Robin run lol

added the first panel from #126 of Tim declaring he's his own hero outside of Bruce, proven plenty especially in his backups in #131-134!! the other panels are a few highlights from #128, #130, and #135 of the partnership between Tim and Bruce

granted it's Zurr, but Damian is mostly seen following orders and given pensive looking panels when there's something concerning. While Tim continued to represent Batman's ideals during his own solo quest to find Bruce, Damian doesn't question or take action against "Bruce's" sudden shift in ethics

Batman #134 Backup - Tim showing support toward Toyman VS Batman #146 - Zurr and Damian confront Harley as she pleads about her change of heart

another kiinda parallel in #147 is Bruce acknowledging Tim's hard work to become Robin compared to Damian who's out here going Batman and Robin/Father and Son. i don't think it's an intended parallel but just the state of continuing to show Tim in a better light - Tim put in the effort "to become the second-best Robin" while Damian is Robin because..."son." supposedly less effort on his part too, because LOA.

second pic is from Batman/Catwoman The Gotham War: Scorched Earth, felt fitting to add since Tim mentions needing to "know everything" in both. and the humble brag. which ofc Tim believes Dick is the best!! but also. jic we didn't know Tim is the best current Robin sdfgh

3. Damian's blind loyalty as "Bruce's son"

there's a weight to the Robin title when regarding Tim, whereas Damian's "Robin" role is excess and counterintuitive. he's delegated to desperate sidekick to Bruce, as well as becoming an obstacle to the family. being Robin only seems significant to Damian in how it ties himself to his father, and his single Robin quality is a loyalty that's been written to an extreme fault. the only positive angle i could see this in is Zdarsky aiming to put Damian in a sympathetic light in how far Damian was willing to fall to stay by his father's side, hence, fooled by that nightmare story/confession. the problem with this is that we have not seen a single emotional connection between the two in this run, so why should we care about that relationship.

also, Damian constantly bringing up his position as Bruce's son just makes him look entitled? since Bruce rightfully expressed his claim of having the others as his sons too (with the unfortunate exclusion of his daughter)! so it's like a "lol you're not that special" vibe when looking at it from the outside?? ykw concerning #138, Damian saying "You're the one trying to destroy my father" also could have been in contrast to Tim saying "We'll help our dad" at the end.

Zdarsky seems to believe the only meaningful part of Damian being Robin is he's the son of Bruce, and not a single nod to any noble aspect Damian's achieved beyond that. we're constantly reminded of Tim's greatest hits as Robin, from taking on the mantle to pull Bruce out of darkness (#135, #138), mastermind a whole takedown (Gotham War: Scorched Earth), and always being on the same wavelength with Bruce etc. the entire run sings Tim's praise, and it's deserved!! my problem is how it's in stark contrast to Damian's portrayal of being the other Robin who's only special because he believes he's the greatest son and wants to be at Bruce's side.

so all this to say, if your fav is Tim YOU'RE EATING WELL!! personally as a chronic enjoyer of things, this has been an entertaining run! as a chronic enjoyer of Damian, it's definitely not for many of his fans at this point in time.

i did like this part!! his grin!!

[dazais-guardian-angel]

kinda wild to me that one of the most compelling aspects of both Chuuya and Kunikida's characters to me, that I never really see talked about, is how they're heavily set on a doomed crash course towards complete and utter destruction, and how I am so, so worried for them both.....

[carlyraejepsans]

hey. you probably won't see this, but i just wanted to say thank you for not being a jerk about bi lesbians. it's really disheartening how much hate we still get, and it's nice to see someone just. not doing that.

it's nice to know someone with a (probably?) big blog/account is in our corner.

not sure why i shouldn't be able to see this ask, i am not as big of a blog as some people think HAHAHAHA. but hey you're welcome. I'll always stand behind anyone who defines a label through their personal experience. as long as you're not trying to define other people's experiences for them, it's literally nobody's business but yours.

[chaikajpeg]

hinata shōyō | haikyuu

reference photo: link to the original post on twitter. shot by oremiya14

i don't know the name of the team and the player yet but i'll add them later (i'm in a bit of a hurry so i have to go... sorry!!)

[dee--eer]

Happy early holiday, @hiromiikunn! Here's my gift for you as part of this year's secret santa hosted by @dcmkkaishinevents, and I hope you like it!

[coquelicoq]

i haven't even tried to take a nap. i've just been staring at lists of hanzi radicals for hours, thinking to myself, wow, this would be a lot easier if you just memorized some hanzi radicals.

[uhbasicallyjustmilex]

fire and the thud came on my spotify shuffle while me and my sister were listening to music this afternoon, and at the end of it she turns to me and goes “who was that? the lyrics sound like the kind of thing you’d write” and honestly i think it’s one of my favourite unintentional compliments i’ve ever received

[iceglade]

i have so many theories connected to the fact that absorbing life force is connected to rewinding time considering all we know about allen being the prophesied destroyer of time and the horrifying implication that BOTH akuma AND innocence are people and that it is said the earl will become the pillar unfortunately this is d gray man and the next chapter will immediately render all theories obsolete all over again

[the-zapped-part-timer]

Sorry for not posting that much on here! Life is getting in my head right now and has affected my obsession with this show. Don't get me wrong, I still am very obsessed! But it's just taking a little pause at the moment. So much has happened, nothing really good, which is so fun.

This blog ain't go nowhere! Just burnt out, I guess? I promise I'll get to the rest of my marathon... eventually, I don’t wanna force it. It was just terrible timing overall.

Anyways, I'll be around, posting or rebloging! You can still ask me things or talk (but I might take a bit to answer, sorry).

Have a good day/goodnight y'all!

[avareiahgt]

So, this is my first writing in order to explain a bit of my world. I'm so sorry for my English, i hope you can at least understand what I'm trying to say hehe.

I would love to post some pictures of my characters but I'm not the artist type, to my disgrace.

No more waiting, I know this chapter isn't the most interesting, but it's our introduction and I think it's important.

Warnings: mentions of death, mentions of violence, human experimentation

Next part

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PROLOGUE

I guess you’re wondering what everything of this is about. Well, I’m going to tell you an ancient story:

History books say, a lot of centuries ago, one and only kind of humans inhabited this planet. They were all the same, they were born with the same abilities and possibilities, paying some mind to little differences: skin color, religion or sexuality were some of them…

But one day marked the future and all those things that kept them separated stopped matter anymore.

First offspring met daylight crushing the mother form the insides. Four months forward, that baby had the stature of an adult, normal human. Emergency interventions by the responsible scientists were actually useless, letting the breaking news slip into radio and TV, the project of a giant baby that made its mother explode due to the fetus’s abnormal size and development.

It would be a wonderful terror story if it weren’t because it wasn’t an isolated case. A lot of incidents like the previous one peaked some weeks after that. Who knows if the rich and privileged knew about this before the rest of us…

Strong investigations started in every country. What could it be? Toxins, viroides, mutations… Nothing seemed to make sense, they couldn’t find the reason. Sadly, some predacious people put their eye on it looking for a unique opportunity. New test tube babies. They weren’t genetically engineered but, once fertilized and showed an excessive growth, they were extracted from the belly and maintained on enormous tanks that emulated placenta.

First years were met with failures and the deafening fall in the world birth rate. Just a few babies were born with normal conditions, with human proportions. Anyways, the discouraging perspective for couples to keep trying to be parents made it collapse. No one wanted to give birth. Chances were low, only 12% of pregnancies found the four-leaf clover and went awfully normal. The horror of the remaining 88% meant an overdeveloped not-born crushed the mother form the inside without enough development to eat, breath of merely live without a machine. They were trying to maintain a giant one or two-month fetus. It would never work.

Babies kept growing in size while time passed but not a single one survived. One decade went by a number of deaths and lost inversions until… a baby girl was born. Healthy, pretty and gigantic. While the clinics and labs halls were full of cheers, streets were full of hate. What to do with a baby that no one could properly attend? Who would teach, feed and handle her? And, the least and worst, who was going to deal with her when she was adult enough? Who were supposed to go against her wishes?

Sooner than later, some of the brightest minds found a conclusion: if we couldn’t stop nor fix whatever mutation that afflicts them, we would improve it. We would learn and work for a new human generation. Opposition and admiration became enemies to death. Cities burned, complains were massacred and, of course, entire governments and countries fell. From time to time, the first fights were replaced for some with new values. Nevertheless, there was something that anybody could kill… human scientific curiosity.

More than a million new human failures were the first stone for the future path: to replicate the original mutation on adults became a reality. Shifting was slow, painful and irreversible, but compulsory. First of all, it was a progressive change, they were bigger each time holding their morality and intelligence, which only resulted in more experiments, cheerfully this time. Even so, it all was a unique question: why would you want -and keep- 90 feet human guinea pigs if you weren’t enough strong nor competent to even control them? Like every human being, those experiments also became ambitious. Finally, an important 72% of population reacted positive to the mutation, it seemed that the new designed virus acclimated itself slow but unstoppable. From that initial 72% only the half made it through. Which was the position the old generation was holding in now? A minority, so small at number and size both.

There were multiple tries for coexistence thanks to equality factions, none of them worked. There wasn’t a single person in the whole world that didn’t know the REM implications. It started as an integrative association for the new -old- minority for them to live in big cities, just so oversized for them. Unfortunately, soon the cover went down: it was a military special branch focused in infiltrations and information seekers. They had never stopped those experiments. The main director, Avery Dorens, showed his face without doubt when his name appeared on every media. Visionary, he called himself, who had been fighting in order to find a cure for the Older’s involution problem. His followers were ex-military agents, spies and even ex-convicted. All of them strong people with weak or broken ideals. Nothing could stop him and, some years later, even with his expedient still opened, Dorens’s project received tons of support and financing.

That’s how war started. A war my side lost. Giants versus humans. Step by step, giants replaced us. Some of us were immune, I don’t know why, so we saw ourselves as the resistance. We were the ones loyal to the human race. This meant a rupture with society. Most of knowledge became lost or destroyed because of the war. Giants called themselves Newman, the new improved human race, since my kind was baptized as Older, the old, outdated, weak that had to disappear in order to favor the specie’s development. Newman versus Older.

Older were expelled after losing the Size War. They hid themselves into the most rural places, out of reach from Newman. It wasn’t an easy task since nature seemed to grow with them, grass strands were the size of a person. A lot of species disappeared along the Size War, some others integrated the mutation.

Nowadays, here we are. It’s been 200 years and, theoretically, Older are all dead. We are a fantasy creature that only appear on kid’s tales and history books. We have been forgotten and my generation is being prepared to guide our little world, the one they let us without knowing it.

Who would believe that creepy story? It was a horror tale to tell the children to sleep. Real world was there waiting for me to conquer it. I wasn’t supposed to waste my life yearning for something interesting to happen in Berhem, was I? It was a beautiful and small city with a familiar atmosphere. It was perfect for breeding kids and living a peaceful, long live. It was placed in a long-lost forest, protected by some hundreds of natural, green barriers that kept us from the ugly outside. None of the young knew how to go through it neither we had permission. Where was the sea? Snow? Dessert? Legends, that’s all it was. And I wasn’t one to keep dreaming and waste my time wondering. I needed to know the truth.

What was outside those green walls?

—Don’t stop running, Walker! — the trainer’s voice resonated through the pavilion’s walls. I knew she wasn’t expecting an answer, so I didn’t. I kept my usual rhythm. Resistance test was the one I was focused now, it took me time to get the trick, but I got it at least.

Sooner than later, my life was going to change. I was training for the Military Force, Exterior Initiative -MFEI abbreviated - section. I’d always been a curious child. Reckless and shameless, my mother used to say. Me joining MFEI was completely opposite to her beliefs but she had understood it would be the only way for me to be happy: finding answers to my never-ending questions.

I could have started my own little company, study abroad, learn a profession or even just stay at home with a good husband who would keep me fed and healthy, but that wasn’t my deal after all. I dreamt about exploring new areas, look for whatever land that was our so far in the past. I wanted to find a time where we weren’t Older, just human.

And that time would come when I was accepted at MFEI.

[thebirdandhersong]

well mark that down as situation 2938489 that I don't know how to handle

[batsplat]

casey also talks about sepang 2015 what do you think of that

oh in that podcast? uh... lemme listen again...

yeah idk it's not really anything new I'd say? he's said basically all the same stuff in more interesting and extensive ways elsewhere. I think casey inevitably has a very 'well feuding is bad and helps nobody' point of view, has expressed that before in the past, does it here again, and he's also drawn a parallel between himself and marc on several occasions. which... well, of course there's similarities in terms of public discourse or whatever, but the parallel really falls apart whenever casey argues the feuds cost valentino. like, I do think it's sometimes important to just. keep in mind. it's interesting that casey draws this comparison in his mind but that doesn't necessarily means he's right about this. I'm not sure how you'd argue that starting a feud with casey cost valentino anything competitively? you can argue it didn't help him I guess, and then we can have a debate about the ins and outs of the 2008 season. we can also have an argument that in a hypothetical world where casey isn't ill in 2009, valentino doesn't break his leg and casey isn't on a piece of junk in 2010, and valentino isn't on a piece of junk in 2011-12, then actually maybe valentino sparking open animosity with casey COULD have cost him. but we don't know that! didn't happen! I wish we could have found out, but we never got the chance! as it stands, the tally on this is pretty straightforward: casey won the title when things were reasonably civil between them in 2007, and valentino took control of the following season at the exact moment he worsened the relationship between the pair of them in 2008. obviously, it's all more complicated than that and casey would of course argue laguna didn't negatively affect his subsequent performances... but it certainly didn't help them. like, at the very worst valentino escalating tensions in 2008 is a complete net neutral. after 2009, them being bitchy to each other every other tuesday was completely competitively irrelevant beyond maybe affecting how they approached occasionally fighting for a podium position. hey, maybe casey used that feud to fire himself up through sheer spite throughout the later stages of his career, but that doesn't actually support his anti-feud stance - it's basically the exact same thing as what valentino does. they're both quite similar in that regard! always so hungry to prove a point, to show how someone else is wrong. kinda half the point with this feuding business is to get yourself going, get yourself motivated, yeah. he straight up openly admits to using yamaha's repeat rejection of him as a way of giving himself motivation, and at the end of the day that's really not all that different?

anyway, what else does casey say... oh yeah, that him and the other aliens were already kinda prepared for this and had learned vale's tricks. that valentino had only been able to get into the minds of the previous generation. welllllll *wiggles hand* sure, I mean, he did clearly have to change his approach... he couldn't just use the exact same playbook to get to them, either on-track or off-track. but that's why he did change up the playbook... again, whether you want to believe valentino won his final two titles 'in the head' rather than just through pure pace kinda depends on how you assess the evidence, but it is at the very least a debate. and, y'know, it's always worth remembering that valentino's most important mind games with casey didn't happen in a press conference... it was on the track. and the on-track stuff really is just embedded in how valentino approaches winning. speaking of aliens, this is what dani and jorge have said:

like, valentino's entire approach to his riding, even to the way he's setting his bike up, is deliberately about directly fucking with you... he's not actually always trying to be faster than you as much as he's trying to give himself the tools to make your life miserable, to pressure you into mistakes, etc etc... and again, especially with casey (if anything because he was so mentally sturdy), the off-track stuff was really just window dressing. (I know they bicker a lot after 2009 but it's just so fundamentally irrelevant to actual on-track competition.) so you can be aware of those tricks, but it also doesn't necessarily help you when someone's being nasty to you on-track in a way you just fully do not enjoy. which is what it was like for casey! for casey, a lot of this comes back to the truly unpleasant context of how he was perceived by the public, how he was treated as mentally weak or 'broken' or whatever partly because he had the misfortune of coming up against a bloke who had the reputation for breaking rivals. I think it's quite natural to end up with a bit of a hardliner 'actually I've never been mentally affected by a result in my life' stance - and of course casey is a lot tougher than a lot of people give him credit for. that being said. sometimes your rivals affect you, shit happens, it's part of the game. it's fundamentally a nice idea to think that valentino's tactics weren't just morally wrong but also ineffective, which is kind of the appeal of this narrative, right? you want to believe you're above that, you want to believe you were adequately prepared and wise to valentino's tactic. it's unsurprising and understandable that casey does tend to tell the story that way, but again it's *wiggles hand* also hard to describe it as completely factual

uh. what else. oh I'm thrilled casey does canonically know valentino and marc were friends, he has said he wasn't following motogp too much during that time period so you couldn't be sure of that. does this mean anything? does it tell you anything? well, no, but it's just a pleasing thought to me. I like that. oh also 'provoking particularly aggressive riders isn't a good idea' is kinda a funny take from casey? like, he of all people would hate the idea of being cowed by someone's reputation like that... casey's right that provoking fast riders can potentially be dangerous, but y'know I do think that's probably not news to anyone almost nine years later. um. that's all I've got I think