#well valoris of a sort

[httyd-art-requests]

Hellooo!! I saw a drawing come across my dash recently by you that I believe was original art with your ocs?? I’m a big sucker for httyd ocs and I was wondering, how many do you have? Would you be willing to talk about them maybe??

YIPPEE I love talking about my OCs!! Thank you for the interest, I'm more than willing to talk about my little guys and gals <3 It's probably going to get long, sooo...

OC lore and art under the ominously placed readmore button. smile

Dreamer

The pair you (probably) saw the art of are my self insert, Dreamer, and his Deathgripper companion Draugr. Dreamer is a scholar and healer's apprentice who arrives on New Berk to study dragons in order to better heal them... except he's also terrified of them. Draugr is one of Grimmel's former Deathgripper minions who was stranded on New Berk after the events of (my alternate version of) THW. Dreamer nurses him back to health, and in return he helps Dreamer get over his fear of dragons.

Dreamer also has 2 Terrible Terror buddies, and they're also the ones who deliver all your asks to me :) They're called Terror Mail for a reason, hehe

Light Furies

I have a pair of female Light Fury OC named Eclipse and Sunny, who are a mated pair. Eclipse is melanistic and a menace to humans and dragons alike, and Sunny is the only dragon she likes having around her. Grumpy one × Sunshine one.

Eclipse was gravely injured in a fight to defend her territory from another dragon, and would have perished had Sunny not stumbled upon her. Sunny, a young female who recently left her flock to establish her own, refused to leave a fellow Light Fury to her fate- no matter how much of a hassle she insisted on being. And thus, Sunny slowly carved out a place for herself in Eclipse's cold, cold heart, and two of them remained by eachother's sides ever since.

I plan on redrawing them sometime soon, now that my style has changed somewhat

The Huntsman

The proverbial meat and potatoes of my OC roster. He has the most detailed story out of all of them, and he's one of my favorite OCs I've ever made <3

His name is Iskar, also known by his moniker as the Huntsman. He's the son of a dragon hunter who, after his father's fleet was burned down and pillaged by a mysterious warlord, was raised by the family of a blacksmith on a faraway island where dragons only exist in folktales.

Well, except for one...

Iskar's Night Fury, Warden, who was kept as a living trophy on his father's ship before it burned. Iskar formed a bond with the dragon, who then stole him away to save his life. The two of them have become inseperable, and Warden is part of the reason Iskar is feared across the Archipelago. As for the other reason...

Iskar also gets involved with Drago Bludvist, following a trail of rumors in an attempt to find his father again. Drago blackmails him into working for him, and Iskar becomes something like a personal attack dog and assassin for Drago. He earns himself a reputation and becomes a wives' tale across the Archipelago, and it isn't until he meets Hiccup, during Drago's siege on Berk, that he's convinced to take up arms against Drago and free himself. Iskar switches sides to help save Berk, gives Hiccup his own world map as a farewell gift, and returns home to his family after nearly 10 years.

In a sort of epilogue / theoretical second movie, Iskar takes his niece, Valorie, to Berk so she can learn to train dragons "the proper way". Needless to say, Berk is not very happy to see the man responsible for almost getting their island destroyed. Iskar acts as a translator between Valorie and the Berkians, as Valorie doesn't speak their language and Iskar does (on account of his travels with Drago), and through the course of their stay on the island, he successfully redeems himself in the eyes of the Berkian population.

Valorie

Okay she's not actually Iskar's niece. She's the daughter of Runar and Ylva, the blacksmith and his wife who originally raised Iskar, and the ones Iskar returned home to after he was free of Drago. They had her while Iskar was away working for Drago, and she was around 8 years old when he came back home, give or take. She grew up knowing him as Uncle Iskar, the globetrotter and explorer who occasionally came home to bring her cool presents.

She grew up with a Night Fury around the house, so naturally, she became fascinated by dragons and dragon riding- which Iskar definitely didn't help with, considering he engineered Warden's saddle to have a second seat right behind the rider's own.

She eventually bonds with a Stormcutter while studying under Berk's finest (Fishlegs), whom she names Windseeker.

Valhalla's Gate

Not a character, but an island Iskar discovers during his travels as a free man after Dragos defeat. Iskar is a cartographer by profession, thus the handcrafted world map he gifts Hiccup, which just so happens to contain directions to a hidden island Iskar has named Valhalla's Gate.

It's a dragon sanctuary through and through, built around and on the back of a sleeping Foreverwing which guards the island and all of its inhabitants. You can only approach the island on dragon back, similar to how you could only leave Vanaheim by smelling a certain way to trick the Sentinels in RTTE. A natural defense mechanism, if you will.

Iskar often takes detours on his travels to visit the island, and becomes well known by all the dragons that live on it. Hiccup also finds it thanks to Iskar's map, shortly after Berk rebuilds itself and Hiccup has to suddenly take on a lot of chiefly responsibilities- and what better way to deal with newfound responsibilities than to follow a mysterious map given to you by a guy who tried to kill you? Surely nothing can go wrong. Smile.

Conclusion

There's a lot more to say about all of them, but hopefully this about covers the important parts. I could go on about Ylva and Runar, Iskar's relationship with Eret and Hiccup, Dreamer's relationship with the Berkians, etc etc, but this reply is long enough already lol

I'm always happy to talk about my characters, so feel free to ask me stuff about them if you guys are interested! But, seeing as this is primarily an art request blog, I won't be talking about them much unless someone asks. That's what @wardenofdragons is for!

(He says, knowing full well he keeps forgetting to post on it)

[nightcxty]

phantom liberty (final) thoughts

well this dlc was a great piece of fiction. i say fiction because none of this tomfoolery is canon to my V and i dislike the overall premise of the storyline---it barely felt like an rpg, save for the few path specific dialogue options, it was just a visual novel of sorts.

loved the characters tho i'll say that <3

i liked the implication of the new ending about beginnings and full circles and whatnot but i really didnt need another depressive ending.

like fucking seriously im so tired of the whole 'its cyberpunk so theres no happy endings and its gotta be grim!' spiel. fam literally all of the endings are bad. theres literally no scenario where v and johnny have a happy ending---not even one where they become merged or whatever and live as one. and even that one couldve been open to interpretation whether thats good or bad, but it wouldve been more interesting than another... whatever the hell this was.

johnny silverhand deserves better and ive decided that cdpr doesnt deserve him or keanu and i will actively endorse the gatekeeping of silverv fuckers because we treat this character better than the actual ppl who programmed his ass.

ngl like the dlc feels so... non cyberpunk to me. like it feels like an entirely different game next to the main story. not at all like other rpg dlc's. it feels like youre not even allowed to play as your character.

so! rejecting reality and canon. i literally hate every route in this dlc. fuck myers fuck the fia fuck the government fuck manipulation etc etc

thanks for coming to my ted talk silverv is fine and well and johnny and valory get their happy ending of having hot sloppy sweaty bisexual s*x every night and owning a production studio/label together <3

[psalm22-6]

An interesting letter from Paul Meurice and the rabbit holes it led me down

If you're bored and want something fun/french to read, consider reading the correspondence of Victor Hugo and Paul Meurice. You will find lots of interesting tidbits and really quite touching phrases. Here's a look at just one letter that caught my eye (the above portraits become semi-relevant later). So the letter is undated but contextually, it's from early June 1862. Hugo, in Guernsey, was in close communication with Meurice, in Paris, over the final corrections for Les Miserables and the publication of its last volume. Meurice writes:

Javert Derailed, The Death of Gavroche, The Grandfather, The Passion in the Sewer, the whole drama, the whole volume, the whole poem is splendid. My word! I must straightforwardly decline to express my enthusiasm to you. I would need to have your prodigious execution and your incredible form in order to explain the depths of my feelings. My emotions and my admiration are inexpressable. I can’t understand Barbey d’Aurevilly.* I’ll tell you simply: it is sublime! I cried! You are greater than anyone, greater than yourself!

*The phrase is "Je jette ma langue aux Barbets d Aurevilly." This gave me some trouble to translate. I figured that he is using the expression jeter sa langue au chien (which I gather means something like "I can't guess at",) but replacing chien with barbet, a type of dog that sounds like Barbey, and also possibly making some sort of pun about d'Aurevilly's distinctive barbe (aka beard)? I really thought he might be making a pun about Barbey's 'barbs' (as in cruel remarks, since his reviews were very negative) but it doesn't seem like 'barb' has that meaning at all in French.] Now bear in mind that in this next part, by "volume ten" he means the latter half of Jean Valjean, and by "these last four volumes," he means what we would call the last two, L'idylle rue Plumet, et l'epopee rue Saint-Denis and Jean Valjean

I have only read the first page of volume ten. We are very behind on the assembly, printing, and everything. Yet we will do everything so that it appears on the 30th.

And it was published the 30th! I don't remember rn what was causing the delays but it is surely mentioned in Bellos's book or in Leulliot's.

The effect and the success of these last four volumes will be immense. More irresistible and more unanimous than that of the other parts. Too irresistible and too unanimous from a certain point of view. It offends many people; some critics are cold, though they were well dispositioned before the book’s appearance. Don’t read into it, don’t hear things in these particular silences and particular reluctances: it can be felt, seen, and touched.

Fun to speculate about if Meurice was concerned about a particular person's silence (in which case, whose?) or if it was just in general. Hugo had expressed his frustration over the reception to both Vacquerie and even Jules Janin. I'd have to look over their correspondence again to see what Hugo said in particular to Meurice but he was surely aware of how Hugo felt. OKAY now on to the subject of the portraits, Meurice tacks on this aside at the end of the letter:

I am writing this to you in haste, having let myself run late. Do you remember a portrait of you, full-length, but young, made some time ago by Deveria? The painting is excellent but why! I never knew you like this…This portrait would have belonged to a M. le marquis de Valori! If it is truly your portrait, it’s very strange. You should remember it then. You are seated on a red damas couch. White pants, a small redingote. You are blond, thin, elegant. The person who has it wishes to sell it. She’s asking for 250 francs. Would it amuse you to have it? They’ll want your response at the end of the week.

Of course when I read this I want to know what image he is talking about. I first thought of the image on the left (scroll back up)...the image on the left is a black and white photo of what is presumed to be a portrait of Victor Hugo at age 16 (I say presumed because that is literally how it is described on Wikipedia) (sometimes it is just described as Hugo as an adolescent) by Achille Devéria (although apparently it has been disputed which Devéria painted it?). The original was, supposedly, at some time in the collection of Prime Minister of France Louis Barthou. Where is it now? Perhaps it is in the private collection of Ms Taylor. Can we get a color photo of it? No. Swift. So my mind went to this image because the subject is young, blond, possibly Victor Hugo, and possibly created by Devéria. However, it doesn't fit the rest of the description. Then @pilferingapples kindly made me aware of the portrait on the right. From what I have found online, this one is attribution to Paul Gavarni, although the websites making that attribution are pretty sketch. The portrait was supposedly at one time in the possession of M. le D. F. Jousseaume, a bookstore owner. Where is it now? Also unknown. (The provenance of both of these is kind of sketchy tbh. I checked three books about Hugo that I have which include images (Victor Hugo: A Tumultous Life by Samuel Edwards, Victor Hugo: A Biography by Graham Robb, and Victor Hugo: S'il n'en reste qu'un by Sophie Grossiord, a curator at the Maison Victor Hugo) and none of them include either of these images.) Whatever the case, the image on the right fits the description in almost every way: it is full length (en pied), the subject is young, thin, there's the red seat, white pants, wearing a coat, and he's "blond" by french standards apparently (and consider that this photo may be a bad representation of the portrait). I haven't seen that image attributed to Deveria but it's possible (or possible that Meurice would believe it's possible.) Then there's the question of provenance. Why did M. le marquis de Valori have it and who was the woman selling it? My guess is that the man in question was Henri-Zozime de Valori, a writer who knew Nodier and who died in 1859. He had published a collection called Odes choisies: précédées d'un discours sur la poésie et les poetes lyriques anciens et modernes which was reviewed (by "S.") in Le Conservateur littéraire so he may have been aquianted with Hugo some way?

Anyways, evidently, Hugo didn't want the portrait because he never responded to that part of Meurice's letter and it eventually came into the hands of the bookseller D. F. Jousseaume. And where is it now? No idea! Okay, the end.

[freedomarrow]

Headcanons: Leonardo's Heritage

I've been thinking a lot about these things recently, and finally decided to catalogue all of my ideas into a whole post. I've already contradicted myself once on this due to not having my headcanons properly sorted out, so :wahoorat: let's get this bread.

As a disclaimer, all of this is my personal thoughts. Aside from "Leonardo's mother died when he was little and his father & brother died during the Mad King's War", none of this is actually said in the game or dev notes. This is 100% my wheelhouse.

---

Full title: Commander Leonardo von Elessar, Duke Valory

Age: 17 (during the events of Radiant Dawn) → 18 (current)

Timeline:

Begnion Year 631: Leonardo is born. It has been 4 years since Ashnard's ascension to the throne of Daein.

634: Leonardo's mother dies from illness.

641: After receiving some initial education privately at home, Leonardo begins to attend Daein's top military school. He studies combat, strategy, leadership and everything else he will need, with focus on fighting the "sub-humans". From the beginning, he displays a special talent for archery.

644: Ashnard's preparations for war enter the final stage. Leonardo's father and brother are called to service. Leonardo usually lives at the boarding school during this time, but occasionally returns home, where he is taken care of by servants.

645-646: The Mad King's War begins and the events of Path of Radiance take place. In the end, Daein loses the war. Ashnard is killed, and together with him, Leonardo's father and brother. Soon after, as part of Daein's subjugation, the Begnion Occupational Army raids and destroys Leonardo's school, with everyone rounded up to be sent to a prison camp. Leonardo and a few others try to escape, but only he makes it out. He meets Edward, who saves his life. Some time later they run into Nolan, and then Micaiah and Sothe, and the Dawn Brigade is formed. During this time, Leonardo is unable to manage the family lands and doesn't know what's happening over there.

648: The events of Radiant Dawn take place.

Post-Radiant Dawn: Leonardo participates in reconstructing and rebuilding the Daein army, but does not yet feel knowledgeable and experienced enough to take command. Once the situation stabilizes enough for him to leave for a period of time, he travels abroad to Fódlan to complete his education. Having reconnected with some of his family's servants and retainers, he leaves them in charge of his family's lands.

---

FAMILY

Father: Otto von Elessar, duke Valory. A Paladin serving directly under Bryce of the Four Riders, and one of Ashnard's "most elite, handpicked soldiers", to quote the man directly. Proficient in spearmanship and archery. He will have been one of the lance-wielding Paladins killed by the player during the final chapter of Path of Radiance.

Mother: Juna Lorette, noblewoman from Nevassa. Her marriage with Otto was arranged, but genuine love between the two blossomed as well. Died of illness (in my personal headcanon, tuberculosis) when Leonardo was three years old, leaving her husband grief-stricken. Leonardo has only very few vague and unclear memories of her.

Siblings: - Michel von Elessar, older brother serving in the same force as his father. He was 11 years older than Leonardo, making him 24 at the time of his death. He will have been one of the bow-wielding Paladins killed by the player during the final chapter of Path of Radiance. - There was also at least one stillbirth before Leonardo was born.

Other: Leonardo did have some uncles, aunts, cousins etc. in the other noble Houses and families. However, he was not particularly close with most of them, and the majority of them perished either during the Mad King's War, or later as the Begnion Occupational Army was taking over - after all, removing a country's nobility is an important step in eradicating a nation. No one has attempted to make contact with Leonardo since the end of the fighting, and so he believes himself to be alone.

---

NOTABLE SERVANTS

Marion Tavang: Head retainer in the service of House Elessar. Handles all sorts of affairs, helps with the managements of the family's lands, and also played a role in Leonardo's earliest education when he was little, teaching him to read and count. Referred to by Leonardo as "Mr. Tavang" and in turn refers to him affectionately as "Young One", as opposed to the usual "Young Master" used by everyone else. Mr. Tavang has managed to survive all the wars in hiding and reconnected with Leonardo afterwards. At the moment he has fully returned to his work. Leonardo is in constant contact with him - if he's seen sending a letter home, it's probably to Mr. Tavang. (For his appearance, think... kind of like a white-haired Hanneman in a more formal attire. He would have Sage as his class.)

Daria Corvet: A servant to House Elessar, predominantly responsible for cooking for the family, but also helped raise Leonardo in his mother's absence. Leonardo thinks of her as something of an adoptive grandma, and she is also very attached to him. Also survived the wars and was sought out by Mr. Tavang afterwards, and gladly came back to work. Eagerly awaits Leonardo's return home. (For her appearance, basically think Cassita from Fates.)

---

VALORY

A province just to the west of Nevassa itself. Within its borders are both fields and a forest. The people living there grew oats and rye, held animals, hunted in the forest and gathered wood to make a living. While Daein overall is not particularly fertile, this area wasn't too bad.

The relationship between the Elessars and the people living on their lands has always been generally positive, with the dukes refraining from harsh rule or high taxes and doing a good job protecting their people from bandits.

The Elessar manor is located a half-mark from Nevassa.

During Begnion's occupation, as almost all men were put in prison camps, there were nowhere near hands to work, the fields were left to lie fallow; only now have the people been able to return to them. The family manor has suffered damage, with most of its valuables and riches stolen and either used to finance the Begnion Occupational Army or confiscated by the Senators.

After the war, Leonardo does not regain everything that was stolen, because life isn't fair like that of course, but a portion of the family belongings and fortune is restored - though he donated some of the latter to the reconstruction efforts immediately. As it stands, the Elessar manor is being renovated, the fields are being revived, and people in the area are picking their lives back up.

LEONARDO'S CURRENT STATUS & STANDING

As Leonardo never officially renounced his title, he is formally the Duke of Valory. Whether or not he will keep the title, he has still not fully decided.

On the one hand, he doesn't feel like he's prepared and suitable for this responsibility, he quite frankly doesn't know just how attached he feels to these lands anymore, and also staying means he will eventually be pressured into finding a wife and continuing his line.

On the other, he does feel a sense of responsibility for the people who live there, knowing that they survived the war in hopes that someone would return to take care of them, and at the moment, with the help of Mr. Tavang, he appears to be handling it okay, even while studying abroad. He is also aware that, should he want and need help from the Queen, Micaiah would not hesitate to be there for him - though he also believes he shouldn't trouble her with his affairs.

For the time being, he continues to hold the title as the last remaining member of the Elessar family. Once his education is complete (read: should I ever drop him), he will return home and that will most likely be when he makes his final decisions, taking full control of his life.

[solobrividiecoraggio]

Riporto e poi traduco in italiano, con l'aiuto di Google, un passo del capitolo sul Self-Enhancement Bias tratto da You Are Now Less Dumb di David McRaney

Cross-cultural studies by psychologists Hazel Markus and Shinobu Kitayama in the 1990s showed that many Asian cultures actively suppress the urge to self-enhance. As they put it, the Western concept of "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" is seen in Eastern cultures as "the nail that stands out gets pounded down." American self-help techniques, they point out, ask people to do things such as look in the mirror and say, "I am beautiful," one hundred times before leaving the house, while in Japan, workers gladly do things such as hold hands and tell coworkers that they are beautiful. Markus and Kitayama point out that in such a culture, people tend to become more confident to the well-being of the whole. A person in such a culture, they say, doesn't feel the gut punch of disappointment if their personal accomplishments never set them apart or don't generate individual praise or fame. Disapproval in the eyes of others is given much more weight than praise, because praise is less reliable, less likely to be honest. As Markus and Kitayama put it, "Those with interdependent selves will tipically not claim they are better than others" and will feel icky if a sense of superiority does waft into their heads. You've probably noticed shades of Eastern attitudes in Western cultures. Subcultures and political camps will often laud the sort of sensibility that leads to drum circles and communal ownership and that coincides with a sense of diminished self-enhancement and more focus on interdependence. People in those subcultures may even adopt some of the philosophical and religious views of Asian societies. Likewise, opposing camps offer an alternative view, admiring individuality and personal liberty to a degree that stimulates feelings of self-enhancement in a far more magnified way. Source: Markus, Hazel R., and Shinobu Kitayama. "Culture and the Self: Implications for Cognition, Emotion, and Motivation." Psychological Review 98, no. 2 (1991): 224-53.

Studi interculturali da parte degli psicologi Hazel Markus e Shinobu Kitayama negli anni '90 hanno evidenziato che molte culture asiatiche sopprimono attivamente il bisogno di autovalorizzarsi. Come i due descrivono, il concetto occidentale "la ruota cigolante va lubrificata" è visto nelle culture orientali come "il chiodo che sporge viene martellato".

Le tecniche di auto-aiuto americane, riferiscono, invitano le persone a fare cose come guardarsi allo specchio e dire, "io sono bella", un centinaio di volte prima di uscire di casa, mentre in Giappone i lavoratori fanno volentieri cose come tenersi per mano e dire ai colleghi che sono belli.

Markus e Kitayama riportano che, in una cultura del genere, le persone tendono a riporre più fiducia nel benessere collettivo. In una cultura di questo tipo, spiegano, una persona non avverte un pugno allo stomaco per la delusione se i propri successi non la distinguono mai o non le generano elogi o fama. Viene dato molto più peso alla disapprovazione negli occhi degli altri, rispetto ai complimenti, perché questi sono meno affidabili, è meno probabile che siano sinceri. Come spiegano Markus e Kitayama, "Chi è interdipendente tipicamente non affermerà di essere migliore degli altri" e si sentirà uno schifo se una sensazione di superiorità dovesse passargli per il cervello.

Hai probabilmente notato l'influenza dei valori orientali nelle culture occidentali. Sottoculture e schieramenti politici lodano spesso il tipo di sensibilità che conduce a un cerchio di tamburi e a proprietà comunitarie, e che coincide con una certa diminuzione dell'autovalorizzazione e più attenzione all'interdipendenza. Le persone incluse in queste sottoculture possono perfino adottare alcuni dei punti di vista filosofici e religiosi tipici delle società asiatiche. Allo stesso modo, gli schieramenti opposti offrono un punto di vista alternativo, che ammira l'individualismo e la libertà personale a un livello che stimola sentimenti di autovalorizzazione in un modo molto più preponderante.

[hoursofreading]

Last June, I watched in shock and horror, along with the majority of Americans, as the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision affirming a person’s right to reproductive self-determination. In some states, a girl young enough to be reading my book can now be denied an abortion, even if the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest, risking her own physical, mental, and emotional well-being and blighting her future along the way. It has always been a precarious enterprise to walk the world in female form, at every age and stage of life, but this is not the reality I imagined for the children I was writing for, nor my own. In order to see our girls safely to adulthood, we need to arm them with facts and information, model for them body acceptance and self-regard, and codify their human rights at the state and federal levels. A girl born in 2023 should—at bare minimum—have the same legal protections as a girl born in 1998. Since its publication, The Care and Keeping of You has eased two generations of girls into their pre-adolescent years. Some girls who first read the book in the privacy of their bedrooms or at a slumber party with their friends are now young mothers themselves. Perhaps they’re the sort of cool moms whose children will come to them with their embarrassing body questions when the time is right. Today’s girls have all of the resources of the internet in the palms of their hands—for good or for ill—and there are more books than ever to help them navigate the wonders and challenges of puberty. Even so, the central messages of The Care and Keeping of You—25 years after publication—are still there to help support girls in those tender in-between years. Those messages still ring true, even if their state laws tell them otherwise: You are strong. You are capable. You are worthy. The future belongs to you.

[foxauxmirror]

I’m probably going to hell for this but oh well... ̶s̶o̶r̶r̶y̶,̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶s̶o̶r̶r̶y̶.̶ Music: Little Big, ‘I’m OK’. 

[diehz]

something just doesn’t sit right knowing that today marks the two year anniversary of detroit: become human and the main actors who played crucial figures in the game, jesse williams and valorie curry, are excluded from such celebration. their characters, markus and kara, have never been truly embrace by the fandom and many forget their significant impact in DBH. 

without kara, you wouldn’t even have a game. valorie was the one who set the precedent, she is the one who kickstarted this whole thing. without her short film, this game wouldn’t even be possible. without markus, you wouldn’t have a plot. you wouldn’t have a revolution to which the story lines of kara and connor are contingent on the consequences of this revolution. to be honest, the way the response of the game was centered around connor and his story shouldn’t really come as a shock to me or anyone because in our society, we are made to pay more attention to white people than people of color. that’s the plain simple fact: our implicit biases are shaped by the racist society that we live in.

the fact of the matter is that to have connor and bryan (along with his wife) at the helm of marketing for dbh, to have people care more about connor than the black character? to only care about a white cop in a game that is exploiting the traumas and profiting off of the painful history of african americans during the civil rights movement? in a game that bases elements off of jewish history from those triangles and armbands to help differentiate androids from humans to literal fucking concentration camps? that’s just good ole racism (and bias) that’s sugared as “look at this cute connor character! his story line is written well because the writer and director doesn’t know any other plot to write!” as an easier pill to swallow.

you all choose to only “stan” the white character because they’re more “interesting” and you “empathize more” with them? don’t even start with that bullshit of “markus was boring” or whatever anti-black reason you got because there isn’t a good reason for you to only focus on connor and not markus and kara. the way y’all lack empathy for black and brown folks is racist (and unsettling) and unless you unlearn and actively choose to fight against your implicit biases brought by your racist environment/upbringing then you are going to continue to exhibit racist behaviors.

like, i DOUBT y’all couldn’t find a SINGLE interesting about markus, the black main protagonist, throughout his entire narrative arc bitch i FUCKING doubt it. i’m sorry to be te one to tell you but if you’re white, you’re racist and all your white faves are racist. even if you are person of color and want to defend white people by saying “i’m not white and I find markus boring and I stan connor” then i got some news for you: please check your anti-blackness. if you find a character of color bland once, that’s okay. if you find out that you often find characters of color as plain and boring, then it’s not a coincidence, it’s a pattern of your own biases.

bryan and amelia dechart are racist because they enable their fandom’s (it’s essentially their fandom name manifest destiny teas) racist behaviors. david cage is racist because he chose to write about a game as a civil rights allegory and made androids as placeins for people of color, specifically black people, and made us feel as be viewed as anything but human. if you are a gavin reed stan and/or ship reed900, you’re racist because you have this man the WORKS for a minor white character that spoke less than ten lines yet consider markus as monotonous and dull...youve could’ve put that energy into fixing his character but y’all didn’t. if you are a rk900/nines stan and create fan works like fanfiction about a white character with no lines and is found in the worst ending where the revolution fails and millions of androids die? that’s racism. before y’all say anything, yes, i did contribute to this behavior but i learned from it. the way that the fandom continued to foster this culture of paying more attention to connor to the point where the only works that gained attention were of connor is to blame. we must all step back to think about it, learn from this experience, and to do better next time however the more i watch the fandom from a distance, i know it’s hopeless optimism because racism has consumed the DBH fandom whole.

the exclusion of markus and kara is the direct result of the brain rot within the DBH community. there is no excuse for y’all not to include them when you talk about Detroit because they put in just as much work as bryan did. just because they don’t engage with the fandom as bryan does, it doesn’t mean that you should blatantly erase them from the narrative. how dare you put community engagement as some sort of requisite to be given attention? in y’all’s clouded minds you forget that these are actors who have other projects that they’re passionate about and want to explore instead of staying stagnant by continuing to promote and talk about a shit slavery simulator game that has very little redeeming qualities to it? where they have personalities not built around a character they play in a game from two years ago? it’s one thing to acknowledge you were in this project and humbly respond to stans, praising their fanart and showcasing them from time to time and it’s another to continue to profit off a game that is not rightfully your own.

markus and kara were let down by the fandom.

jesse and valorie were let down by the fandom.

[shark-from-the-park]

It's that time again, when I post to let my darling octopus friends here on tumblr know how much I love and value and appreciate them. This time with artwork. Almost like a shoddy belated Valentine's day gift.

As we already know, I am pathologically incapable of reposting tag chain posts because of my insane paranoia about leaving people out of the tags and people feeling left out (I'm a wreck). But I do notice and appreciate when I am tagged in these sorts of things, so thank you, guys.

My withered shark heart loves this dumpster fire of a website and all who inhabit it.

If you are shy or a lurker, if you think no one notices you, if you have ever liked one of my posts, or if you haven't, if you tolerate the times when I scroll through tumblr in a trance and like six million of your posts in the space of 6 minutes without reblogging any of them, if you put up with the fact that I sometimes (often) forget to reblog anything for days on end, if you tolerate the fact that I am one of those cringy old tumblr people who often reblogs things and adds comments to those things rather than just tag commentary (although I also do tag commentary as well), if you tolerate my general intense cringiness, if you put up with my insatiable Fitzier/Valoris/Jaz Haz horniness, if you wonder why I haven't reblogged that post you tagged me in yet, if you send me weird asks, if you send me pictures of nudibranchs and sharks, if you communicate with me at all...

Know that I love you, I appreciate you, I see you and I cherish you. And thank you.

/🦈

[soviet-history-detective]

What is the cost of not respecting boundaries?

(For those who haven’t seen, Part 1 and Part 2) A quick rundown for the people who are wondering what’s going on: Hello, folks. I am one of the leading Chernobyl/Legasov researchers who runs this youtube channel. I found the audio fragments of Legasov tapes which became quite a hit and received praise from Craig Mazin. Legasov tapes, which the migty HBO couldn’t find with their Russian-speaking consultants and millions of dollars of budget. I found rare photos and pre-Chernobyl videos of Legasov, translated a substantial amount of documentary material on Soviet near history topics, a good chunk of that being on Legasov and Chernobyl.  I am a live and let live kind of person and I was willing to look the other way with the Valoris shipping business cause “they were shipping the tv show characters and fangirling about the actors” so I ignored it and posted historical information, answered questions, unearthed and translated documentary videos and text material.   Then I abruptly stopped and went quiet cause the shipper gang went too far and started writing gross shit, rape fantasies and dragging real people who weren’t even in the tv show into their godawful fics -one of them being someone I highly admire, respect and look up as an inspiration and role model notwithstanding. 

They didn’t stick to Valoris, they had to involve the people who were not in the script at all. People whose names they learned from me. They had the audacity to discuss their fucked up fantasies (which they call headcanons) right under my nose, they couldn’t control themselves since they are completely driven by base animal instincts and some of them are downright sociopaths with no boundaries: Rabid and depraved, driven only by the primitive sexual instincts, with a two digit IQ, no understanding of boundaries, ethics, morals, completely bereft of common respect and decency. It’s creepy as hell -run for the hills kind of creepy.  (When I say no ethics and morals I don’t mean only sexual perversions. One of them is notorious for plagiarizing other people’s content in multiple social media platforms and acting indifferent when called out.) So I got creeped out, grossed out, infuriated, disillusioned and went quiet. Blocked everyone who was associated with Valoris to avoid their gross thirst talks. Blocked the tag too. Stopped posting new finds after the last Legasov video compilation. Stopped translating videos and text material for a long while.

They are way past normal shipping. This is some seriously fucked up shit.  Here are a couple of examples (Warning: Gross content, rape fantasies, scroll past the images and continue reading below if you can’t stomach or are a minor)

Here is more rape:

Their biggest argument is “We are writing fics about the fictionalized tv show characters” which is total and utter bullshit, because:

Nikolai Ryzhkov was not in the tv show at all.

Neither was Vladimir Gubarev. Why are they in those fics?

This isn’t all, there are public posts here where they were bouncing ideas and coming up with the most abhorrent fantasies about a real person who was NOT in the tv show. I don’t have the time to search them, plus they are really gross, you are better off not seeing it. (A paranthesis here: I’m totally indifferent about explicit fics if they involve only fictional characters and not promote rape culture. Just to make things clear.)

If you are using the names of real people, you are shipping real people. Period. I can write a fic using the shipper gang’s names in an alternate reality setting where they are an evil gang of cannibalistic cunts who raid maternity wards and butcher all the babies then burn puppies ad kittens alive for fun. Or I can write a fic where they all get sodomized with saguaro cacti dipped in ghost pepper sauce by sadistic rogue KGB agents. It’s fictionalized versions of them in an alternate universe after all, so it’s totally ok. Right? Well, there really is no point arguing these things, and that is not even the point of this post. I’m just saying it’s fucked up, creepy and wrong in every way. 

Not to mention they bully and gaslight people who speak up against them. Grown ass women bullying a 15 year old and adding a transphobic comment after learning they are trans is NOT COOL. @ihatefandomsfuckyouall can testify as the target of their bullying. That’s wrong and creepy as hell. 

HOWEVER. Like I said in the previous post, this won’t be about a holy jihad against shipping or some big anti-shipper crusade.  Nope, nope and nope with nope sauce.

Ship away, ship all you want, ship till you drop, ship till you turn Fedex green with envy. I am not here to lecture sociopaths driven solely by primitive sexual instincts and bereft of any kind of boundaries, morals, common respect and decency. There is nothing I or anyone can do about it. Like i said, I have no intention of trying to talk sense into anyone or giving sermons. So rest assured that I am well aware it’s pointless and stupid to wage a war against shipping, however gross and vile it is. I can’t stop you from sexualizing anything that walks (or has been long dead) and spewing sick ass fantasies. I will repeat for those with two digit IQ: I know there is nothing I or anyone can do to stop you from doing what you are doing, absolutely nothing. So I will do NOTHING. Got it? Whoever claims otherwise is full of shit, I will do absolutely NOTHING, you got my word 100%.

Seriously I won’t hate on you, I won’t call for holy wars and witch hunts. So, rest assured, I will not make any move against any of you, nope. Besides I don’t have the time for that, I have a busy life and better things to do. No war, no hate, no screaming, no drama, nothing. Is that clear? Capiche? Comprende? Понятно? 

Well, now let’s get to the heart of the matter:

I have been quiet but not idle. I’ve been contacting people, sending queries, making phone calls, digging state archive repositories. I have been finding material and boy did I find material! I happen to be one of the very few people who are blessed with an extraordinary ability to find things no one else can find. You have seen what I can find by utilizing search engines and going through links. Even Craig Mazin himself was mighty impressed with my finds, the proof is out there in public view, I won’t bother digging it up now.

Anyway. It turns out I can find hell of a lot more than that by contacting people, sending queries, making phone calls and digging through state archive repositories. Some of it costs pretty penny but no matter, I don’t mind paying for never-before-published video footage that is not on the internet. Some of it is not even digitized so you gotta pay extra fee for digitization and it can be quite high depending on the video length and media.

We are talking about HD videos here. There is excellent AI video processing software out there which can turn even the most primitive 19th century videos to crystal clear 60 fps HD so we are good. (Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HbElEqm1TQ) I have photos that can’t be found by searching the internet. You’d drop dead if you saw some of them. I’m working on getting the full footage of Legasov’s IAEA presentation. It’s hella difficult, you have to personally go to Vienna and go through the seven hells and seven lower hells to obtain access. Also you need to be a research scientist with a reference letter. (All this info and list of requirements can be found on IAEA official site.) I won’t get into the details but I have it all sorted out, scientist and all. It wasn’t easy and it took a damn lot of time, effort, pulling family connections etc. Now the only remaining roadblock is this accursed coronavirus. As soon as the pandemic subsides a trip to Vienna shall be in order. The long Q&A session following Legasov’s report is unfortunately not available, but Legasov’s report certainly is (after fulfilling a laundry list of requirements.)

This is not all. There are photos (in addition to the publicly available ones I posted before) and video footage of Ryzhkov visiting Chernobyl, Legasov’s meetings, partial video of one Polituro meeting. There is this one precious footage where Legasov is laughing and drinking vodka. I won’t even say how many hours of work it took to find that. (Plot twist: I’m not the one who found it!) I have a pile of videos of Ryzhkov when he was the chairman of the council of ministers of the USSR, which are historical records of tremendous importance and not on Youtube. Buddies who have seen them had insta-man crush on him without even hearing my translation. Some of you would KILL for those, I know for a fact. For the Legasov drinking-partying video you would sell your soul to the devil (who wouldn’t?)

I have an IAEA report with an extremely rare photo you can’t find by searching. I won’t tell you who is in it cause I don’t want to supply anything you could use for your gross fics. Suffices to say one of them is someone you are drooling about and the other one is a big shot name that’s not on your radar and will unleash all kinds of fic ideas once you hear it. So nope. I ain’t giving you another Ryzhkov, I learned my lesson. I have video footage of that same man giving high praise to Legasov, talking with a tone of fondness, defending him against accusations. Such a sweet video. It put tears in my eyes. I can see you gang drooling a lake over that one so hell fucking no.  

Did I mention I started translating Legasov documentaries? Every single one on youtube. Including the entire Звезда Полынь. Also planning to convert some Legasov footage to HD using the aforementioned software tools. 

I have actually been posting videos and text material translations left and right, just out of your sight (nice rhyme, isn’t it?) 90% the material I listed above is either in the pipeline or in my hard disk.  @tryingtobealwaystrying can verify. She helped out a great deal with the IAEA business and I owe her one for that. We are both individually damn good at finding stuff but it turned out we can work wonders as a team. As a result, we have a treasure trove of the highest order in hand and in the works. 

And, here is the deal: YOU WILL SEE NONE OF IT.

N.O.N.E.

Not a shred. Not a pixel. Nothing. Ничего. Совсем нет. 

Get it now? “You didn’t see it cause it’s not there!” 

You won’t see it cause it won’t be there! 

So, this is it. I can’t do anything about your shipping scumbaggery but I can cut off your supply and deprive you of material and information. You will NEVER be able to find any of it on your own (let alone afford the fees for.) 

I will deprive you of the fruits of my labor. 

Indefinitely.

Of course that doesn’t mean I’ll keep it all to myself. I will share them but not in public. In fact I have translated and posted some videos you wanted real bad, one of them got 1000 views overnight but they are not public, for my work is not for the eyes of the wicked and unclean miscreants. I post them in shipper-free foreign forums you can’t find and send links privately to decent, wholesome people who are interested in Chernobyl and Soviet history for the passion to learn and admiration for the historical figures, not for spinning depraved fantasies and writing horrendous, projectile-vomit-inducing sex fics. And -as those of you who possess three digit IQ’s might have figured out!- I am not alone in that. (Plot twist FTW!)  Congrats, folks. You managed to alienate and drive away the top Chernobyl-Legasov researchers and translators with your hideous debauchery, extreme scumbaggery and abominable attitude. So, this is your punishment: NOTHING. This is the consequence you will deal with. This is the cost of your choices. 

A big nothing is all you will ever get from now on. 

See, told ya, there is absolutely nothing I can do about your gross shipping and scumbaggery so I will do NOTHING. 

Got the joke? LOL. I have awesome humor don’t I :) 

No more videos. No more photos. No more answers. No more translations. No more information.

You royally fucked up, people. You don’t get to eat the cake and the icing, especially not when you offend and insult the cooks, take a dump in the middle of the restaurant and masturbate while rolling in it. You could have kept it out of sight. You could have exercised some goddamn tact. But no, you had to behave like animals in heat. 

Well, you can continue obsessing over the TV show scripts until you get sick of it.  I will be posting translations of different parts of Soviet history like the WW2 era. You can ship Hitler and Stalin all you want. Get those headcanons rolling! I will even give you a prompt: Stalin cheats on Hitler with Mussolini. LMAO. 

You know what, I take back the not a pixel thing. We may post screenshots from the videos and low-res crops from the photos from time to time just to rub it in your face. 

Here is one where they are grilling Velikhov shortly after Legasov’s suicide. Oh boy you gotta see his face when they start bombarding him about Legasov’s death.... 

Here is the shot from a long video where the legendary Premier Ryzhkov is sporting the legendary 80′s Soviet glasses in all his superlative handsome glory. He is giving an interview about important historical turning points in this video and this isn’t even the best shot. You have to pay to get a copy but before that you need a superpower-like ability to find where it is in the first place. I scaled it up to 1440×1080 but not gonna put the high resolution version cause I’m such a darling.

  Here is Ryzhkov in the famous white work attire of the Soviet era. Looks familiar, yes? Do I need to tell WHERE he is and what he is doing? (Hint: The year is 1986.)

Oh man, oh man. How worried he looks, so heart-wrenching. The footage is only about 3 minutes but absolutely solid gold. I won’t say whether there is Legasov or Scherbina or BOTH of them appearing in this footage cause I’m such a sweetheart.

Unfortunately I am not at liberty to post any Legasov shots cause I am not the finder of the Legasov videos we currently have at hand. Too bad, so sad.  There you go. Enjoy your cold dish of nothing. Bon appetite. Adios amigas!  WHAT IS THE COST OF NOT RESPECTING BOUNDARIES? @tryingtobealwaystrying​ @the--arch @ihatefandomsfuckyouall​ @rarravai​ @weronikaisback​ @live-long-and-time-warp​ @tryingtobealwaystrying​ @chernobylgal86​ 

[mamavalcalaw]

Craft

It was warmer then it was outside for sure, though the big store was not completely warmed up. Even if it was just that the wind was completely blocked, though the heat coming off the hotplate and large cast iron pan and lid were both giving off heat and feeling the store with the smell of slowly roasting veggies and quail.

Lana was sitting in an old display chair, feet propped up on an ataman, she had an well taken care of fur blanket covering her to fight off and win against the chill. Having several skins of yarn around her and just... she was happy. 

Knitting in the prewar store, listening to Valory breathing in her sleep and semi distantly the moose in the back shipping and receiving area. The back lot was fenced and over grown with grass, but for now the moose seemed content for being out of the weather as well.

There was some plants growing in the front windows, and in other stores in the complex. A stream had broke its banks a long time ago, to create another path that came close. 

All things considering...this was a good place to have as a home base. Just needed to keep out of the storm for now.

She looked up hearing what sounded like a knocking? Gunshot?

Lana tilted her head to listen intently. Valory and her had cleared out all the Lost Ones inside this, the ferals outside on the other hand... not as much. They were a sort of security.

The large deathclaw slowly shifted, the pops not quiet loud enough yet to wake Valory out of her deep sleep. Lana did get up, pulling on boots and picking up her bow, quiver and hunting riffle to check out what was out there. 

[confessionsofdamagedminds]

Literally all lore is shaky in this project, but upon impulse realising they could actually fit in well, I added the HBO versions (important to note) of Valery Legasov and Boris Shcherbina.

They’re more or less the same as in canon, other than this story being a modern AU for them because it takes place in modern times. Tachanka and his s/o are being put on trial for charges I will explain another time, and Boris is one of the officials helping the prosecution get their case across. He basically works in the difficult field of handling geopolitical affairs in this AU. And also becomes a dad figure to Anna, Ivan, and Simeon.

Because I’m horribly self-indulgent, Valery and Boris are married. And you’ll be getting sprinkles of Valoris content on here. 🥰 Valery, still affiliated with the Kurchatov Institute for now (unless I come up with something else), meets the main cast through Boris, and becomes close with Salomea through their shared interests in chemistry and physics.

Apologies if it’s a bit confusing right now, haha, I’m still sorting out lore and all that, but I think this way of implementing them works out really nicely 😅

[queer-disabled-activist]

Are there people in bands you just ignore? Because like I like Steve Perry (obviously), I like Neal Schon, I like Ross Valory because he seems like a funny and goofy guy, I like Gregg Rolie because well he had such an intense stare, you couldn’t ignore him if you tried, I like Smitty of some sorts, he’s a good drummer and he was there.

Then there’s Jon Cain which I ignore and forget most of the time. He’s kinda just there and because of his beliefs and that he seems like an awful bigot I forget and ignore him without even realising that I’ve done it. If there’s interview parts I skip it unless he’s talking about Steve Perry because then I need to know. He’s just so god damn awful, and wish he wasn’t because he’s talented after all.

[the-manfred-boys]

There was a quiet knock on the door to Leo’s bedroom before being opened by a short female android. She had mismatched eyes, one blue and the other brown that held a sort of machine like gaze in them as she politely entered. “Leo? My name is Valorie. Your father asked me to come and offer my services to you. I’m a therapist who helps those struggling with mental issues as well as stress and addiction.” She spoke clinically, but attempted to ease him with a gentle smile. -WR400-Valorie

Leo didn’t always hang out at his father’s place, having his own tiny little apartment that he could stay in. But with a recent relapse, he ended up caving and smoking red ice after being clean for several months. He regretted his mistake right away and went straight to Carl, asking for forgiveness and help, and his dad suggested he stay here for a while to keep himself from doing it again. 

He wasn’t expecting his dad to send an android to help him with the issue though. When Leo heard the knock on his door, he had been lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling and lost in thought, so the sound made him startle as he pushed himself up into a sitting position and looked over to see Valorie enter his room. As she introduced herself, Leo just stared at her like she was an alien from another planet. 

“Um... I don’t have any money to pay you for that sort of thing.” Maybe Carl had paid for the services, but Leo didn’t want to assume that after all the fights they’d had in the past over money. “Look, I don’t really need th-ther-thera-p-p-pp- Fuck. I don’t need your help. I don’t do the whole ‘spill your guts to make you feel better’ thing. I don’t like being psych-cho-choan-n-nalyized. It’s nothing personal against you, I just... can’t.” He’d only ever gone to a mental health therapist once and it had not ended well for him at all. In fact, just remembering that incident was making his stutter act up from the stress.

[overcoatangel]

tagged by @daeneryssansa thank you!!! 😄

 rules: pick 5 shows, then answer the following questions. don’t cheat. tag 10 (or however many) people. 

1. black sails 

2. killjoys

3. the witcher 

4. deadwood 

5. star trek: discovery

who’s your favorite character from 1? Eleanor, but Flint is very close

who’s your least favourite character in 2? Gander or Jelco, two creeps.

what’s your favourite episode of 4? Does the movie count? If not, then any with Wild Bill, even though I cry (”Here Was A Man” 😭)

what is your favourite season of 5? 2

what’s your favourite couple of 3? I don’t really have one yet! (Renfri x Life, Mousesack x Life, don’t look at me)

what’s your favourite couple in 2? Johnny and Dutch, non romantic

what’s your favourite episode in 1? That’s so hard!!! Season 2 episode 10 is definitely up there

what’s your favourite episode in 5? The Sound of Thunder, or Such Sweet Sorrow

what’s your favourite season in 2? 3

how long have you been watching 1? Since the first season ended in 2014

how did you get into 3? I read an interview with the showrunner that assured me this was NOT GoT, and I’m glad I did, started watching the day it released on Netlfix

favourite actor in 4? Oof, Keith Carradine, Brad Dourif, Timothy Olyphant...ok I am bad at this

which do you prefer? 1, 2 or 5? I officially hate these questions!!!! But, 1, Black Sails owns my soul

which show have you seen more of, 1 or 3? Well, Black Sails is done, and the Witcher is only one season so far (that I’ve watched 3 times? 4 times?), but, I’ve watched Black Sails A LOT, so 1

if you could be anyone from 4, who would you be? I want nothing to do with these people tbh. Bullock, I guess???

would a crossover of 3 and 4 work? Frankly the Deadwood crew could use some help from the Witcher team, so, yes! Why not?

pair two characters in 1 who would make an unlikely but strangely okay couple? There are no strange pairs in Black Sails (or, rather, it was nothing BUT strange groups), but if we’re talking romantically....nope, still no really strange but okay couples?? Only strange and shitty ones like...idk, Flint and Woodes Rogers? Which ew, no. 

overall, which show has the better storyline, 3 or 5?    They are so different, I can’t really compare them, plus they’re both young shows, but I’ll say Disco, because I think they have fewer head-scratching moments to sort out in their writing (though they definitely had issues in s1 and s1 lacked the buckets of charm and fun that the Witcher exudes) 

which has better theme music, 2 or 4? Deadwood, sorry Killjoys, I love your theme, but that Deadwood theme is really, really good

@sojisubsabs @castlevanian @0ut-of-my-head @veinsofmantra @sy5starplaty

@sndaen @valorious @andyoudoctor @korzoff @aproclivityforcriminalactivity

[maraudesmap]

23 May, 1992

Today in Italy is the anniversary of the death of the magistrate Giovanni Falcone, his wife Francesca, also a magistrate, and three police officers and their bodyguards: Vito Schifani, Rocco Dicillo and Antonio Montinaro.

They lost their lives in a mafia attack called "Strage di Capaci" (the Capaci bombing), which took place on the A29 motorway at 17:57 in 1992.

I'm not writing this post to teach history or even for a sudden poetic surge of melancholy. I'm writing because I see more and more often on socials like this one an attitude of romanticization of the mafia, often also by cosplayers and people that I esteem so much and that I find inspiring and that I don't want in any way to offend. Surely these people create their content knowing what they are talking about but maybe some of their followers base their knowledge on these AU or on comics read or other conjectures. So I want to talk to these people who maybe think that mafias are not a totally negative thing.

I understand that abroad there may have remained an image of the mafia like Al Capone or similar... of men of other times, criminals of course, but with values like, for example, the untouchability of women and children. Perhaps (I am not an expert on the subject, so it may be possible) in the past organized crime had a sort of ethical code; but, if it ever existed, it hasn't existed for a very long time. Because the mafia, the real one, the one that still terrorizes countries in the south but also in the north of Italy, kills men, women and even children indiscriminately.

It kills men who fight for the freedom of the state and for legality, like the magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.

It kills boys like Giuseppe (Peppino) Impastato, a young journalist and activist in his early thirties who rebelled against Cosa Nostra, because he believed that the terrified Sicilian people could be freed from this scourge.

It kills women like Graziella Campagna and Emanuela Loi. The first "guilty" of having collaborated with the justice system for the arrest of a fugitive mafia man, discovering his identity by chance while doing her job as a laundress; the second one, instead, was one of the first women policeman of the bodyguard service, entrusted to the protection of Borsellino and, like him, blown up outside a building in the Strage di Via D'Amelio (Via D'Amelio bombing).

It kills kids like Giuseppe Di Matteo, kidnapped at the age of 12, held hostage for more than a year, then killed and dissolved in acid just because he was the son of a repentant boss.

It kills children like Mariangela or Noemi who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It kills people on the street just because he looks like a member of an enemy clan and therefore "uups, wrong person".

The mafia here in Italy is serious. Despite the fact that some young people answer "it's not here in my house, so I don't care" it's a disease that seems incurable, worse than Covid19.

It's not only about southern Italy as many people think, the small town where I live is one of the (minor) centers of the mafia in the north of the peninsula, just 10 years ago there were arrests and "gambizzazioni" (shooting another person in the legs as a warning or a gesture of revenge) just behind my house.

So, please, however imaginary "the Boss" may have his charm, don't make him pass for the misunderstood one, the one who in the end does good even though he bypasses the law because in this way you only spit on all the dead, as you would do if you would excuse the perpetrators of the massacres in schools or other kinds of attacks.

With this I'm not saying that in Italy we have to pay attention to every dark alley or similar (I mean, in those cases you have to pay attention wherever you are, but not because of the mafias). Ours is a wonderful country with a unique history and culture that can't be found anywhere else, as well as all the cultures of this world; so, once this mess with Covid19 is over, come and take a tour and enjoy the beautiful cities like Naples, Rome, Turin, Florence and Bologna or see the wonders of our Alps or beaches.

As a fangirl and a cosplayer I love good AU's and the creation of original and eye-catching OC's... but the important thing is to be able to distinguish fantasy from reality.

I know that not many people will have read all this post and many will have found it heavy and boring but I invite you to do some research, even just type on google "Strage di Via D'Amelio" and "Strage di Capaci" which are the most sadly famous. Look at the photos. Look how they destroyed roads to hit a single man, in both cases. Then you can go back to cosplaying and writing and reading fanfiction, you have every right but at least you will do it with more awareness.

 P.s: This applies to all mafias, both Italian and foreign.

 P.p.s: Since English is not my native language and I have never studied it so much, I hope I haven't made too many mistakes and that the sense of the post is still clear.

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Oggi in Italia è l'anniversario della morte del magistrato Giovanni Falcone, della moglie Francesca, anche lei magistrato, e di tre agenti della loro scorta: Vito Schifani, Rocco Dicillo e Antonio Montinaro.

Hanno perso la vita in un attentato mafioso che prende il nome di Strage di Capaci, avvenuto nel tratto autostradale A29 alle 17:57, nel 1992. Non scrivo questo post per insegnare la storia e neanche per un improvviso slancio poetico di malinconia. Sto scrivendo perchè vedo sempre più spesso su social come questo un atteggiamento di romanticizzazione della mafia, spesso anche da parte di cosplayer e persone che stimo tantissimo e che trovo d'ispirazione e che non vorrei in nessun modo offendere. Sicuramente queste persone creano i proprio contenuti sapendo di cosa stanno parlando ma magari alcuni loro follower basano le proprie conoscenze su questi AU o su fumetti letti o altre congetture. Voglio quindi parlare a queste persone che magari pensano che le mafie non siano una cosa totalmente negativa.

Capisco che all'estero possa essere rimasta un'immagine della mafia tipo Al Capone o simili... di uomini d'altri tempi, criminali certo ma con dei valori come, per esempio, l'intoccabilità di donne e bambini.

Forse (non sono un'esperta in materia quindi può essere possibile) in passato la criminalità organizzata aveva una specie di codice etico; ma, se mai c’è stato, non esiste più da tantissimo tempo.

Perchè la mafia, quella vera, quella che terrorizza ancora paesi del sud ma anche del nord Italia, uccide indistintamente uomini, donne e perfino bambini.

Ammazza uomini che combattono per la libertà dello stato e per la legalità, come i magistrati Giovanni Falcone e Paolo Borsellino.

Ammazzano ragazzi come Giuseppe (Peppino) Impastato, un giovane giornalista e attivista appena trentenne che si ribellava contro Cosa Nostra, perchè credeva che da questa piaga il popolo siciliano terrorizzato si potesse liberare.

Ammazzano donne come Graziella Campagna e Emanuela Loi. La prima "colpevole" di aver collaborato con la giustizia per l'arresto di un mafioso latitante, scoprendo l'identità dell'uomo per caso svolgendo il proprio lavoro di lavandaia; la seconda, invece, è stata una delle prime donne poliziotto del servizio scorte in Italia, affidata alla scorta di Borsellino e, come lui, saltata in aria fuori da un palazzo nella Strage di via d'Amelio.

Ammazzano ragazzini come Giuseppe Di Matteo, rapito a 12 anni, tenuto in ostaggio per più di un anno, poi ucciso e sciolto nell'acido solo perchè figlio di un boss pentito.

Ammazzano bambini come Mariangela o Noemi che si trovavano solo nel posto sbagliato al momento sbagliato.

Ammazzano gente per strada solo perchè somiglia a uno appartenente ad un clan nemico e quindi "uups, persona sbagliata".

La mafia qui in Italia è una cosa seria. Nonostante alcuni giovani rispondano "non c'è qui a casa mia, quindi non mi interessa" è una malattia che sembra incurabile, peggio del Covid19.

Non riguarda solo il sud Italia come molti pensano, il paese dove abito è uno dei centri (minori) della mafia al nord, solo 10 anni fa ci sono stati arresti e "gambizzazioni" giusto dietro casa mia. Riguarda tutti, anche chi nasconde la testa sotto la sabbia.

Quindi, per favore, per quanto nell'immaginario "il Boss" abbia il suo fascino, non fatelo passare per quello incompreso, quello che alla fine fa del bene nonostante scavalchi la legge perchè così non fate che sputare su tutti i morti, così come fareste se scusereste gli artefici delle stragi nelle scuole o attentati di altro tipo.

Con questo non sto dicendo che in Italia dobbiamo fare attenzione ad ogni vicolo buio o simili (insomma, in quei casi si deve fare attenzione in ogni caso ovunque si è, ma non per via delle mafie). Il nostro è un paese meraviglioso con una storia e una cultura unici e introvabili da altre parti, così come tutte le culture di questo mondo; quindi, una volta finito questo casino col Covid19, venite pure a farvi un giro e a godervi le splendide città come Napoli, Roma, Torino, Firenze e Bologna o a vedere le meraviglie delle nostre alpi o spiagge.

Da fangirl e cosplayer adoro delle buone AU e la creazione di OC originali e accattivanti... ma l'importante è riuscire a distinguere la fantasia dalla realtà dei fatti.

So che non molti avranno letto tutto questo post e moltissimi l'avranno trovato pesante e palloso ma vi invito a fare delle ricerche, anche solo digitare su google "Strage di via D'Amelio" e "Strage di Capaci" che sono le più tristemente famose. Guardate le foto. Guardate come hanno distrutto strade per colpire un singolo uomo, in entrambi i casi. Poi potete tornate a fare cosplay e a scrivere e leggere fanfiction, ne avete tutto il diritto ma almeno lo farete con più consapevolezza.

P.s: Questo discorso vale per tutte le mafie, sia italiane che estere.