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scentedchildnacho · 1 year

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Amy killed the snake....shockey has been a hexed witch bitch to me pukey shockey must win awful....so here is this snake in an eagles beak so Mexico will eventually claim us is my prediction...

I explained to her about social security that it's mostly become an annoying fight club litter and I have been homeless long enough that middle class people with Mexican migrant parents would finally talk to me a bit more and show me how these border crossings into different energies can be negotiated for remintance payments

They wouldn't really show me how things can go around migration and I wouldn't know to strongly identify as migrant not ward or displaced...

Its more an African education to think of infrastructure as having many more complex layers based off the communities who started an area....for instance sprinkler systems attract a sex industry that's subtly vampiric in it's acceptance of the God Min...min has just been not on the temple mostly

For instance these areas are coloured by Pacific islander ideas of ideal deaf utopia's....so when crack this is actually an east European protectorate the Lord isn't actually western European

So if you ask me the constant rude bullying from housed populations appears attacks on pacific Islanders

It's much too crowded here and this use to be a small protectorate for crack cocaine survivors

Well whatever attacks pacific Islanders is being especially retentive of doing very illegal things like driving excessively in areas that very badly need repairs just to suicide bomb people

Their attackers just keep following them here to keep pushing populations into more intense crowding

They do a lot of hells angels stuff but I think it's more japaneese inspired suicide bombs...sometimes the noise attackers can be shockingly old and it's sad to watch someone come undone in such hatred they would rather deaf you then ever admit systemic wrong

I wasn't African so being kicked off social welfare doesn't make sense to me as just kind of annoying it's just go take part in cheaper systems that give natural resources to European plague because they gave you these information systems...

London school for the arts...laTin....they do work with perfect forms so still a volatile idea like Eva Hesse......so these natural ideas from here still do not have the types of nuclear poisoning stuff made in Europe does....

Yea uhm my peak urban class has professors from Oxford so it's sense of acceptance of unsanitary conditions as just what life is isn't desired by civil rights groups that just state life may be sanitary

For instance one billion people left in less developed conditions then desired doesn't make sense to civil rights groups out of a large crowd there was only about 50 men that needed a breakfast service and a few women that prefer to not leave them at the time

Alot of the stripper issues nationally it's only about the size of a small college that has been that harassed by girls gone wild as to be made exposed and publicly available....

Despite claims of that being about body pride I'm sorry but that was beastiel and even if my enemy a job that takes all mine and theirs and lives above it's means as a job I still wanted to call mercy for the strippers that's terrifying and conscienceless

If it's Jewish people about giving natural law back to white consciousness I would have just given them some seclusion time for stalking around to proudly and confidently take my wallet about the eggs.....

I don't enjoy Roman man about discipline everything everybody did or didn't do gets relegated to his selfish ideation of shove it in her at the time....

Its been my experience that my enemy....the it justified having mine and theirs and has learned to sadistically hit me should I mention my unalienable rights is like friendly...their like my friends so that is not what I would do to my friend considering their family condition is of incest and they do extreme adrenaline stages of activity

She told me some of it is nurses only make 24 dollars an hour so I told her my mother was a nurse and for these development standards that was a good life....if people stalked me as a child with a prestige income I also would be one of those undisciplined kill cult freaks...

Their people who want excessive privilege instead of social psychology like Adler....rich kids off labor were whores and they act like really messed up awful sexualities....

Accepting excessive gratuity off a patient and people will attack their kids if you ask Satan for things satan gives it if you ask God for things the children won't die of disease they will at least be healthy ones .......

Nurses only do nuclear things sedentary vegetative patients only create patients then cry if there isn't more compensation and it's you wouldnt live in your patients neighborhood and help them live active healthy well lives so if only nuclear procedure then hourly if all they do is procedure then that's all the bank has....

They dont care to compensate completely unrecognized completely unpaid achievements and when your patients aren't your friends then invitations weren't made and compensation doesn't come in.....

What repulsive disgusting babies this people has showed itself to be none of it understands the difference between good and bad and that's the parent accepted excess gratuity and whored and fetal alcohol syndromed....terroristic idiots most of the time

Their undisciplined people...that's truly the skill level it has driving around and around and around hitting and mutilating people with break squeeks

I found out about hells angels and nightmare chaos that they were white they were actually uneducated and did just aquire tolerances like an athlete others dont have....this attack is just stupid bloody brutal and nothing

That's why chasing them was very shameful for international groups their aware they steal our educations into their abusive over achieving lives....and create imbalance they are terrorists were uneducated and they kept using them like children for something to do....

Anyway that construction trespass and sound bomb attack can appear like whites they try to act as scary dumb and little as whites do....and they are japaneese....he had to spend most of his life in an asylum internment and that's all he is scheduled to do is spread viruses....

Their gross privileged terrorists......and that's all they do is helter skelter.....

Its been over a year now of constant sound bombs their japs all they care about is highest kill rate

Compensation...moravia in columbia do to personal sale most people have their homes threatened so re leaseing as multi unit individual reality is how they may keep their homes there is a whole world of invites and they stalk patients to sloth around as a parasite

That's why in homeless populations we have a lot of illegally obtained men...he only came from Greece because there wasn't enough to do....

Sort of like African emigration their repulsive maggots rape the front and steal body organs if nursing needs more money so now there is a lot of men treated too uncomfortably about homosexuality and they will kill the male klan rally in hospitals if they need more money they aren't women....

Uhm we get more resilient at refusing to use more then we already have about psychiatric symptoms from development trespass toxicity so all they do is get louder more irritating more infective and desperate...

The enemy is a parasite and apparently impoverishment strikes of giving to systems do slowly hurt the parasite to leave me as a host

I told her the too common acceptance of German culture on coasts is very detrimental to my health....it's put these east west linguistics in Europe it actually doesn't make sense and they keep stalking us with intolerants....

I get repeatedly threatened by people who want me to bomb my own infrastructure because of having federal problems and I was white it doesn't bother me really and I only want to know who keeps stealing my food to

I mean these parasites are so desperate for my acceptance they steal my sleep my foody basic accomodations their that ritualistically violent and repulsive

Ultimately students were exposed by young ages as of body matter exchanges and that's how repulsive this people is it immediately claimed it owned my body.....

They ritualistically kill their schools and live off the just not seen or present right now

Schools wont get away from people with homosexuals so most people's lives is a horrifying misery because schools don't stop allowing that creepy homo party to ritualistically kill each other

As youth they werent allowed more time with their families and so don't display differentiation and repulsion from people too like them.....they cannot display aversion from people like them because the parent wasn't ever present much in their lives

Some folk groups if rural thinking is allowed apologize to marginalized people for creepy school kids that never get away from the poor.....and tell us they would never ever leave their children ever again she had babies and she mother's and she would never ever leave her children to kill poor and marginalized people

Bisexuals stalked into women's spaces and so areas that use to be okay but had some problems are now violent all the time to them their the first enlightenment and everything prior was just mean

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kaponebi · 2 years

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Vanessa and representation in Fablehaven

What is representation? Why is it important?

Representation in books for young people is important for many reasons that I don't need to explain because they are quite obvious.

A young person needs to be represented in order to feel understood, even more so if they belong to certain discriminated ethnic groups, if they had any kind of problems that can hinder daily life, or if they are of a different sexual orientation.

Being diverse when creating one's work allows one to reduce the stigma of these groups, pretending as if they don't exist.

But sometimes, however, for authors, especially older ones, being diverse doesn't work out so well. At least in the good, not harmful, way.

In slightly older TV series, books, films, some hurtful stereotypes are repeated despite their efforts to be diverse.

There may be Asian characters, indigenous peoples of America, homosexual or wheelchair-bound.

An Asian character knows kung fu or karate. The Native American is strongly connected to nature and wears feathers in his hair. A homosexual behaves and looks like a girl if he is gay or like a boy if he is lesbian. A person in a wheelchair is a genius and must be dragged everywhere by the rest.

These are recurring patterns in books for young people because this is how pop culture portrays these people.

If these examples don't seem hurtful to you, I'll present another one that might speak to you.

(That's the example I gave in the Polish version)

How would you feel if every Pole in a book or movie was a stupid donkey drinking too much alcohol?

(Example for the English community, mostly Americans)

How would you feel if every American was someone overwaighted, stupid and always talking about... I don't know... Some eagle and freedom stuff.

It's not the nicest thing to do, and that's how Poland is perceived by pop culture.

(In films they try making the USA seem badass and all so I'm not counting it here)

Representation in Fablehaven

Representation in Fablehaven is an interesting topic.

People of different colours and curves appear through which one does not feel discrimination in this area.

You can accuse Brandon of lack of LGBT+ representation, but let me justify this by saying that then he could not have published the book in countries that censor these topics (e.g.: Russia).

True, he could have created a queer coded character, but he didn't, and I think we can forgive him for that as he also never mentioned anything negative about this community.

Let's just hope he doesn't do like J.K. Rowling who waited until the end of the series and Dumbledore's death to reveal the fact that he was gay.

However, there has never been a character who was an invalid.

In the fourth volume, Vanessa loses her eyesight. In a stupid way, yes, but she loses it. She is officially blind, and I consider her disability a good thing.

Brandon has made one of the main characters a blind person and has prepared the field for a great example of representation.

Vanessa is a strong, "badass" character, and she's very appreciated.

Not only that, the fact that she can't see adds to her character development allowing blind listeners of the audiobook to identify with one of the cooler characters in the series, perhaps their favorite.

It allows such people to feel more normal, not like overgrown children who need to have everything done for them all the time.

For the beginning of my writing in English I chose a shorter text so I can translate it with ease.

English is not my first or even second language so I am aware that it is not perfect.

Please be kind and if you see a fault, inform me in the comments.

I also gently ask to not spoil me the last tom of Dragonwatch because I didn't read it yet. If you want say something and it contains spoilers I would be gratefull if you ad a big "SPOILERS" at the top of your comment.

Thank you for reading and the warm responses I got in my last post.

Greetings friends and to the next time.

#fablehaven #dragonwatch #brandon mull #vanessa santoro #opinion

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onesunofagun · 3 years

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Undeath in the Era of the Hero of Time : 1

aka Seeing the Hero’s Shade in this TP replay shook up all my feelings of agony again and now I’m working backwards from there because I like to hurt myself.

Part One: An Overview of How Fucked Things Are ™

aka The Blood Soaked Hyrule of OoT’s time

Take it as you will, in the Zeldaverse, the colour green has an overwhelming association with undeath.

Sure, sure, life too, I hear you. Farore came down and produced all the living beings that would uphold the law, apparently (specifically not claiming monsters and demons, but that’s another thing). On the surface, that make sense. Forests, lush green fields, prosperity, all of those good things. Green the colour of the most common rupee, green the colour of the Hero’s tunic. Green the colour of magic, and potions that revitalise the body and spirit.

The thing is, revitalising the body and spirit is a flexible idea. To imbue something with new life and vitality can have a lot of implications, especially when you stop talking about the strictly living.

I feel vitality is certainly the best word, not only because of it’s association with life and potency ala the Goddess origin stories, but in the ways that the game uses green itself, such as a measure of both magic and stamina. Green is the colour chosen to represent the unlocked potential within young Heroes.

Vitality specifically refers to a state of being strong and active, and it also refers to the continuance of something to exist. That’s a great thing for plants, or economies, or a potion taken by a young Link who’s swung their sword around or fired off a spell one too many times and feels a little low.

But the dead, though?

As it happens, Hyrule is absolutely littered with human remains, in no small part due to the very recently ended civil wars.

The Civil War, if you need the reminder, is described as a time when the many races of Hyrule were divided and each focused on establishing dominion over the Sacred Realm (because Triforce). I touched on this in my last meta post, but basically, its no holds barred to stop that from happening because if the wrong person gets into the Sacred Realm and makes a wish, it immediately malfunctions.

The criteria for getting into the Sacred Realm and touching the Triforce without royally fucking everything, is basically impossible for anybody not chosen by Hylia.

If you are neither of Hylia’s Bloodline (The Hyrulean Royal Family) or one of her Chosen Avatars (The current incarnation of the Hero), you are not supposed to touch the Triforce. Ever. You WILL be found wanting, it WILL shatter, the Sacred Realm WILL be corrupted by your selfish desires, it WILL unleash and onslaught of mystical influence (reflecting your heart) onto the country.

Now, if it’s Zelda or Link who touches it, that’s fine. Good vibes will pour out. An age of prosperity will ensue. The Sacred Realm is in its default state, a blank and neutral wellspring of magical force.

The game has been rigged from the get go because Hylia still had a job to do. She had to get creative because Demise almost captured the flag, so to speak, leading to the snafu of the Cycle and all that because she cheated at the game, but ultimately Hylia’s task was to guard the Triforce. And that still remains true, for the most part. The Hyrulian Royal Family (and the Shiekah by extension) had to stop at absolutely nothing to win the wars and unify the country, and retain the stasis of the Realm and Triforce, because that’s what their divine orders are.

That’s what they’re supposed to do, ‘the very reason that they’re born’, to lend a quote from King Daphnes. With Hylia on their side by default, they’re willing to do a lot of fucked up things to make sure that happens, ‘for the greater good’.

These dark times are a result of our deeds... -- TP Zelda

In OoT The Sheikah are known as the Shadow Folk. They are heavily associated with death, whether that is caring for the dead’s rest in the graveyard, or working as spies and assassins on behalf of the Royals, or dabbling in various forms of necromancy. Red eyes are an established trait of their people. I will note that, at least from a Japanese point of view, red is often used with the intention of intimidating evil spirits. But it is also a color identified with power and vitality.

So, one could suppose, the Sheikah red eye also symbolises power/control over evil and darkness (spiritually).

That’s a little something that plays nicely with things like the OoT Manga’s explanation of the tear on the eye (and the previous betrayal of the Royal family) and the high probability of a Shiekah faction defaulting during the wars and being banished with other traitors to become the Twili. I know the manga isn’t canon and also SS Impa has a tear, but if you squint, that might be because of her own feelings of personal failure to the Goddess after Hylia’s shedding of her Divinity. You could headcanon that. The existence of the Yiga later in BoTW as a similar happening of division and betrayal lend some more weight to things.

Also, Sheikah who defaulted during the civil war might have even been the ones who actually utilised the Shadow Temple.

Headline: Necromancer ninjas in the process of torturing enough info out of the enemies of the Royal family, who were reportedly seeking the Sacred Realm, decide ‘hey fuck it, let’s take it ourselves’.

That certainly fits into the description of, ‘interloper skilled with dark magic started to appear, seeking dominion of the Sacred Realm’, for me.

Anyway, to the point.

In ostensibly one of the most haunted areas of the game, Kakariko village, we’re treated to the Graveyard and the Royal Family’s Tomb, the Shadow Temple, and the Bottom of the Well. All of these showcase the obvious death and torture that went on, as well as the creepy byproducts of places so saturated with blood, pain, regret, and hatred.

There are skulls in little alcoves on the walls of the catacombs, literally built of bones, who deliver messages to Link. The ones that whisper these messages are all marked by the glowing green eye sockets. Here, the green is used to make the presence of a ghostly sentience inhabiting the skull.

Unsettling. Musty. 4/10 heebie-jeebies.

The Deadhand, giver of childhood trauma that it is, really does its job to hammer home the fact that there has been so many deaths, so much anguish and horror, that those remains can seemingly form into entirely new monstrosities. An amalgamate of undead flesh and nightmare fuel, made up of the body parts of torture victims and the grudges of lingering spirits, seeking to consume the living vitality of whatever comes near-- Link wearing green around the thing might as well be red to a bull.

When defeated in game, it typically drops a small green pot that refuels Link’s magic.

This is a common theme with undead enemies, specifically the ones that are of the zombie flavour. Redeads, Gibdos, Deadhands. All of them generally give up, effectively, distilled magic as a drop item.

Terrifying. Probably smells even worse. 11/10 heebie-jeebies.

Literal torture device. So many people died here, the room has a green tinge to it. It is soaked in the spiritual imprint of the pain and anguish that took place here. Blood sits here looking freshly spilled, despite the civil war ending many years prior and the Shiekah having ‘died out’, save Impa.

Elsewhere in the temple and under the well, blood splatters are darker red and at least have the decency to pretend to be old. This means one of two things:

Impa still has to make sacrifices to the Seal that contains Bongo Bongo, or feeds people to the undead creatures who lurk down in the dark so they don’t wander up. (Cue the gasp of ‘so that’s why she let the Hylians into Kakariko! Every so often one of them goes missing!’)

Which is a fun dark headcanon to play with, but probably not the case.

Or more likely, the residual spiritual energy that the green haze suggests manifests fresh blood in a manner typical of extreme hauntings. For the victims, their hatred and pain persists so strongly, that their blood seeps up from the cracks no matter how long it has been.

Poltergeist shit. Slip hazard. 8/10 heebie-jeebies.

Then there is this. Some people say its just another torture thing, it could have been intended to convey some sort of acid dip. If not torture, maybe bodily disposal. And sure, that’s a reasonable guess.

But it is at the very bottom most cavern of the Well of Three Features, and if it were acid-- for how long the bodies have just been marinating in it-- you can assume nothing would be left of them to stick out. And the fact that all the bodies are neatly spaced, with the arms oddly preserved. They’re presumably like that from lowering bodies in from the wooden beams, the victims may have been tied up with their arms straight upwards.

But, given the Redeads wandering around nearby, I’m pretty sure that’s what this thing does. Make Redeads.

The liquid itself hurts Link, but Link is also alive, and this pool seems to be lacking much of a glow. It’s green, sure, but it’s not exactly teeming with energy. And I think that might be part of its designated purpose-- extracting that green vital energy from living prisoners, draining them until they’re dead. I’m talking juicing people and scooping out the good stuff like the pulp from a really disturbing OJ.

But still steeped in the juice as a corpse, you’re basically pickled in magic brine, so then those gross husks crawl out as Redeads. (Hey, you know what’s handy in wartime? Scaring the shit out of enemy forces by sending some zombies at them. And if they kill them, you’ve lost nothing. If the Sheikah could actually control them? Undead soldiers. Excellent stuff.)

But all the pulpy good stuff is gone, and has been for a while, so most of the bodies in there haven’t pickled in enough magic to reanimate, I suppose.

Human juicer that churns out zombies. Out of juice currently. 6/10 heebie-jeebies.

Now, THIS is active zombie juice, if I’ve ever seen it.

This is the Royal Family’s Tomb, by the way. Note the skeletons, picked clean, missing a lot of bones. And that’s a choice they made, because there are also full skeletons around to find.

There are plenty of Redeads down there, for good measure, so I’m going to assume the skeletons are potential graverobbers who were eaten. If Sheikah can presumably command the dead, then the Redeads down there might actually be a counter measure against thieves. If a thief freaks out in the dark when he realises there’s undead down there trying to eat their face, there is also a good likelihood they’ll trip and splash into this green death. A few seconds of exposure is probably enough to kill the average person, and then if their corpse stews for a bit, you have another Redead.

Their living energy revitalises the goop. Their body becomes bolstered security measures. It’s a self sustaining system.

Horrific but effective. 5/10 heebie-jeebies.

Also, there’s a chance that a couple of the skeletons or one or two Redeads down there are the remains of the Composer Brothers. But they will get their own special part in this series, covering Poes in particular.

But for the moment, let it be noted: their eyes are also that ghostly green.

Poes are spirits that are unable to move on and who have the unfortunate fate, if left unattended, of turning into phantom monsters who forget their human selves and prey on the living. They tend to pop up the most in two places. One, the Kakariko Graveyard, is obvious and somewhat expected. Dead people, lots of lingering spirits, most of them probably Sheikah and Knights of renown who died in the line of duty. Understandable.

So when you apply the same thought to the fact that Hyrule field is the second most common place to find them, you may as well be concluding that it’s an enormous mass grave of war casualties.

We have established that mass quantities of concentrated death, especially earth that is saturated by the spilled blood of strong soldiers and highly skilled warriors (full of life and magic, as it were), can result in creepy shit made from human remains reanimating over time.

Poes share their haunting of the field with these bumpkins:

These hauntings are not the result of Ganondorf, or the corruption of the Sacred realm. They are not a particular curse placed by anybody.

The Poes and Stalfolk are present in the game from the very beginning, and quite normal fare for Hyrulean life. Lon Lon ranch and castle town are walled off for good reason, and the drawbridge raises at night specifically in response to the literal skeleton monsters who roam around at night.

Stalchildren, specifically, seem akin to the Deadhand in that they are not a direct reanimation of any one particular set of remains. Rather, they seem to be mutated amalgamations of various parts. In the case of the Stalchildren, they rise up under the dark of night, a not-quite-human formation of bone and magic. They seem to possess an aimless drive to attack, perhaps possessed still by the orders of the soldiers who died there.

Interestingly, in a somewhat similar fashion to BotW’s blood moon reanimating the fallen monsters (due to the potency of Malice in the land peaking at those times), Stalchildren only seem to be active under the moonlight. They disintegrate when the sunlight touches them, which promotes the idea that they are the bones of the fallen possessed by the ghostly memory of the war.

They also appear to wear raggy leather kilts, which is a feature they share with the related monster, the Stalfos, who are often acting out the part of a soldier as well. Even better, those bastards are actually WEARING GREEN, to boot, which given the history of Hyrulean Knights prior and their uniforms (SS and Minish cap) is pretty self evident.

Stalfos, however, are also confirmed as humans who have died under certain unique circumstance (such as the magical influences of the Lost Woods) and reanimated as a consequence of what I assume is basically magic poisoning.

It could be a bit like an overdose, succumbing under the intense mystical forces at play within proximity to the Deku Tree (which the strong of spirit can resist). It could be a draining effect, maybe even just a gaseous version of what’s happening when people come into contact with the green goo, except extracted by the forest spirits and plants (also possible that the strong of spirit might resist). That could go either way.

The forest absolutely does eat people’s spiritual energy, though. RIP to Grog and Link’s mother. They’re Stalfos now.

"Anybody who comes into the forest will be lost. Everybody will become a Stalfos. Everybody, Stalfos."

Upon killing both kind of Stal, however, the bones rapidly deteriorate into flames.

You guessed it: green.

I’ve already pointed out a BoTW reference already, but to add more context back into this thing about the tie between green and things in Hyrule that refuse to die properly:

That last one is cheap of me I’m sorry but we’ll get to him too

So we have established that green has an overwhelming association with not only life, but states of undeath.

The overview is, things were already pretty fucked in OoT Era before Ganondorf got the Triforce.

On to part 2!

#tloz #legend of zelda ocarina #Ocarina of time #link #zelda lore #zelda meta #zelda theory #zelda theories #zelda discussion #death tw #blood tw #shadow temple #shiekah #stalfos #poes #undead tw #long post #hero of time #hyrulean history

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stargazetheseries · 3 years

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OPEN CASTING CALL FOR STARGAZE: “THE PILOT” EPISODE & TRAILER VISIT: https://stargazetheseries.com/casting-call/ FOR DETAILS OR READ BELOW: A Borken Creative Production Sept 27, 2021 STARGAZE is a queer campy sci-fi adventure short-form adventure series intended for OTT. Executive Producers: Jill Golick, Carrie Cutforth Director: Regan Latimer Writer: Carrie Cutforth Union: ACTRA TORONTO (NEW MEDIA) Shoot: The pilot will begin shooting for 5 to 6 days between October 25-Nov 17th, 2021 Location: Toronto STORYLINE: A disparate group of rookie oddballs join an elite squad commissioned to save the Queerverse (from itself) only to discover the STARGAZE program is a sham make-work initiative to keep the crew from rocking the boat by sending them out on a fool’s quest (led by two elder queer chaperones who despise each other). Think: A 2SLGBTQIA+ The Facts Of Life meets The Breakfast Club in space! *BIPOC STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO APPLY **MUST BE 18+ TO SUBMIT EVEN IF CHARACTER IS LISTED AS YOUNGER THE STARTGAZE RECRUITS: SAF RON (she/her): Character is 20, cisgender woman, lesbian, open to all ethnicities; some physical comedy required. LEAD. Mad as hell and not going to take it anymore, Saf joins STARGAZE with high expectations. If the adults won’t save the day, she will… and finally get the credit she deserves! But can this lone wolf learn to connect with others, stop being a control freak, relax her unreasonably high expectations of others (and herself), and step into the leadership role for which she is destined? First, she’ll have to stop seeing anyone getting in her way as a mustache-twirling villain, learn to see her crewmates’ value, accept help, and open herself up vulnerably. Gets apoplectic when mad; Has a knack for creating very convoluted protest chants that no one can follow. WHIT SPRINKLES (he/him): Character is 19, cisgender man, gay, open to all ethnicities. Must be able to walk elegantly in high heels. LEAD. A social media influencer famous for his snarky and bitter ’reads,’ charismatic Whit has developed a parasocial relationship with his stans. Living life performing in the spotlight from a very young age, Whit has no idea who he really is, what his real interests are, or his beliefs outside of what his analytics tell him: “My fans are gonna love this!” Only joining STARGAZE under pressure from his stans, his inability to forge true intimate connections is exacerbated by his relationship with his mother/manager Mumsy Sprinkles, a talentless hack/narcissistic stage mother living her dreams through her kid. If Whit was a meme he would be: ‘Bitch, I dun give a fuck!’ But he does, indeed, give a fuck. ESSA T. HATCH (they/them): Character is 18, non-binary or agender, asexual, demiromantic, neurodivergent, open to all ethnicities. LEAD. Adorkable Essa is an introvert who doesn’t really ‘get’ people. The explorer among the crew with an engineering mind and a love of mapping places and spaces, they know every nook and cranny of the ship and are usually the first to forge ahead (i.e. wander off) on every expedition. Essa mostly wants to be left alone to their own devices because they actually prefer their own company (neurotypicals can be so exhausting!). This normally wouldn’t be such a problem except Essa was pressured to join STARGAZE to make friends and widen their social net out of parental concern (‘We won’t be around forever, Essa!’). Loves to knit, make Venn diagrams of relationships; speaks in emojis when emotionally drained. LEW D’SHUS (he/him): Character is 21, transgender man or transmasculine, pansexual, open to all ethnicities. LEAD. When babelicious Lew looks at you with his rapt attention and dreamy eyes, you feel like the only person in the ‘verse until his short attention span snaps away and he forgets you’re there. “Good vibes, only!” Lew will gladly give you your Tarot card reading, but not before taking the negative cards out first. With his strict ‘the universe is love, we are love,’ mantra, Lew never wants anyone to feel bad even when they are deadass wrong! His philosophy of

appeasement can cause conflict amongst the crew and his inability to take sides in crucial moments will often put them in danger. No, we cannot just hug everything out, Lew! CHRYSTRAH SNU (she/her): Character is 17 (must be 18+ to apply), cis-gender woman, identifies as ‘queer’ but just figuring it all out. LEAD. Chrystrah is a fresh-off-the-belt queer who has arrived with big expectations: ‘I’m here, I’m queer! Direct me to my spot on the rainbow carpet!’ The trauma of her homophobic upbringing has left Chrystrah without any real sense of self; her identity loosely held together like a fragile cracked egg. Any criticism, no matter how gentle, feels like an attack, causing Chrystrah to act abrasive, territorial, and defensive. She is always overcompensating in big bombastic ways because she feels so inadequate for not knowing the right words, behaviours, and codes. She is jealous of Saf (some might say obsessed) who does seem to get it all right. Fiercely loyal, Chrystrah is the first to run headlong into danger to save someone. She has a steep learning curve ahead. THE ELDER QUEER CHAPERONES: BAE TORGA (she/her): Character is late 30’s-early 40’s, cisgender woman, bisexual, bipolar, open to all ethnicities. PRINCIPAL. A war hero (or war criminal depending on who you ask), Bae sees STARGAZE as an opportunity to redeem herself in the eyes of former mentor and friend Oracle Cain. She is someone who struggles with self-loathing and self-doubt even though she’s spent her adulthood righting her past wrongs and reining in her bipolar disorder, which contributed to her past rash and reckless mistakes. Possessing a tough, gruff demeanor, Bae is outwardly sardonic but really a bleeding heart who holds back out of fear that any demonstration of affection and empathy will be seen as a commitment. ORACLE CAIN (she/her): Character is middle-aged or older, transgender woman, ambulatory wheelchair user or wheelchair user, open to all ethnicities. *Note, as this is sci-fi, younger than middle age may apply. PRINCIPAL. A founding figure of the Queerverse, Oracle has done her service, done her duty, and now she’s done. She wants a peaceful existence to guard her limited energy and manage her physical pain. Instead, she’s pulled out of retirement to command a ship full of bickering youths. She also has to contend with spoiled brat and former colleague Bae reminding her of the past that Oracle is trying hard to forget. But duty is duty and it’s not like complaining ever got her anywhere. Talking to Oracle can feel like playing a chess game where the aloof commander is always five steps ahead: you never quite know where you stand with her. ADDITIONAL CHARACTERS ELP WHIPP (they/them or xe/xem): Character is middle-aged or older, gender-fluid, open to all ethnicities. Leader of the coalition of non-profit planets (each with its own conflicting Gay Agenda) that rule the Queerverse, Elp Whipp is a career bureaucrat/bean-counter who often gets caught in the trappings of their own political web — meaning much of nothing ever gets accomplished and progress is never made. Elp will appear throughout the series in that ‘Dean of the school’ role, occasionally showing up to demand overdue reports, warn the crew that their funding is at risk, and generally throw a wrench in the works. CARDIGAN JACK (she/her): Character is 30s, cis-woman, lesbian, open to all ethnicities. Cardigan Jack is a ‘pussy-hat’ wearing neo-liberalist feminist with a pirate vibe. She is the ‘Live, Laugh, Love’ of TERFs, and Saf Ron’s nemesis. TO SUBMIT: Borken Creative is committed to diverse and inclusive casting. For every role, please submit qualified performers without regard to disability, race, age, colour, sexual orientation or gender identity, or any other basis prohibited by law, unless otherwise specifically indicated, subject to legitimate casting directives. DEADLINE: Oct 8, 2021 EMAIL: [email protected]. SUBJECT LINE: Character(s) Role, Performer’s First and Last Name, pronouns. BODY OF EMAIL: Please provide contact info including phone number.

Please confirm you are 18 or over in the body of email if applying for a Stargaze recruit character. Submit headshot and resume as attachments to [email protected]. Resume should be in a scannable text file format (such as .doc, .pdf, .txt). First round selects will be invited to submit either a video clip audition or zoom audition invite. Only successful candidates will be contacted.

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#lgbtq #lbtqia #lgbtqplus #queer sci fi #casting call #auditions

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tothedarkdarkseas · 3 years

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Hey! I've seen cul(t)chie be used to tease. I doubt non-Irish folk know it, so I wouldn't call it pejorative. Or maybe it was and I'm too young to know. I selectively forget and disown my ethnicity if I want to and have a habit of stealing accents or slang, especially when I sing, so I'm not nationalist enough to say. My accent is also very light (Think Rob Sheehan). If I find out my favourite celebrity is half-Irish or I'm reading a Wilde book, I'm very Irish. And if I'm talking to a nationalist or a cute English boy, I'm suddenly global and assimilated. Haha.

You don't really have to worry about looking ignorant. I think most people won't notice and find it endearing that you're interested, not to mention the UK is so full of cultures that almost everyone is clueless about half of it and pretending not to be. Most people I meet use Americanisms because they grew up on American telly. It's just a part of life. I've always enjoyed your writing because you take such joy in concepts that most British people are derisive and bored with. Makes being British seem enjoyable and nostalgic almost. Lmao.

I'm still struggling to untangle my feelings about ethnicity and all of that rubbish (who belongs here and who speaks like this and who grew up in my primary school and whose parents have this skin colour and whose great-great-grandma worked in the mills and who assimilated and whatever), so I'm not an expert on anything. Whole thing gives me a right headache and I strongly consider walking around with a full face mask because I don't want to be arsed identifying with anything or anyone some days.

I can never find believable slang when I'm writing either, so I know how you feel about that. If you're interested in checking out more British things, there was this comedy in the 90s (around the time Gorillaz was set) called Stella Street, which ripped the piss out of British celebrities and actually starred Phil Cornwell, voice of Murdoc. I remember watching it when I was younger. Not sure if this ask sent, so if I'm sending it twice and look like a tit, that's super. Best wishes!

First, I am so sorry it has taken me well over a week to answer you-- I don't like to let things sit for so long, and especially not something so friendly and personal. I didn't want to rush out a response between work tasks, and blah blah blah, all of that's just yammering, but I am sorry for the delay!

Thank you for your personal experience with the word cul(t)chie, that really helps to classify how a word is used. It must sound bizarre but it really can be quite difficult to get a realistic image of how often/when a slang term is used, and in a lot of cases, how offensive a word may be; in any culture there's going to be a massive sliding scale on which the language & dialect sits, and as native speakers we sort of take for granted that innate knowledge of when a word sounds cool or funny, or when it sounds horribly inappropriate but you're taken pity on as an ignorant outsider. For instance, 5 years ago, I don't think any Americans knew the word "chav"; 2 years ago, a percentage of small-time comedians online picked it up; now, we are still in the, uh, developing stages of an even smaller percentage learning there's context to words and it's not necessarily an okay thing to say all the time. Yet even as I say that, if my friends ask me to explain "rude British words" to them, I very much still don't have an innate understanding of how each and every one ranks and who is more likely to say what, if anyone genuinely says it at all. It doesn't help that the slang dictionaries which take on a fairly literal dictionary style will sometimes forgo words like "insult" and "slur" (which you'd assume may indicate some level of severity) and instead categorize everything from berk to nonce as "pejoratives." You well know that there's a big gap between calling someone those things, haha. And on top of that, more than once I've run something by Danni ElapsedSpiral or done some research on dead Livejournal "Britpick" communities and found a word to be much milder than it seemed, or much more offensive than I originally thought. I know I'm rambling on now but I've genuinely become really really engrossed in this subject-- if I were some kinda smart guy getting a degree (author's note: I am not that, I am in fact a dummy) I'd want to do a paper on the subject or something, haha.

Anyway! I understand that split feeling (inasmuch as one can understand though a different lens of experience.) At least for myself, I really root it in my own contrarian tendencies, haha. I have a compulsion to not agree with whoever's talking loudest. Like any younger liberal person, I spend most of my time criticizing America, associating patriotism with nationalism, dreaming of what life would've been like living in some "idyllic British countryside" town, feeling such a sense of shame for how the country's insulation has impacted my growth as a person... with those qualifiers, it's bizarre how one insufferable comment on a Reddit thread makes me start mentally compiling points for my terrible thesis, haha. Listen, it was a mistake having countries. It ruined a pretty cool planet. I wish I could be perceived alongside people I agree with socially and politically rather than people I'm actively voting against and actively vote against me just because we're on the same massive hunk of dirt.

For what it's worth, Robert Sheehan's accent is incredibly charming. I'm sure you were not asking for my input on that at all, but on the chance you were saying that your accent is light or that you borrow accents with any apology, I certainly don't think you should feel like your accent needs to be made lighter or heavier or more or less regional, or that you should or shouldn't sing any particular way. I think it's quite cool to pick up accents and phrases while still bringing your own unique voice to the mix for others to admire and pick up on themselves! Kumbaya and all that, but it's nice to think in the modern internet age we could sort of have this evolving, mishmash global culture without stepping on and disrespecting individually important heritage. I have a complicated relationship with my own accent; I hated it when I was young and really trained myself to speak without it. It comes out when I'm just with my family or partner, but I'd never let myself be recorded speaking with that accent-- I really have to be so distracted that I'm not thinking about my voice at all to have an accent, and I am much too high-strung of a person for that to easily happen, haha. So the one or two recordings that exist of me on here are me doing my "public" voice.

I know it's all rather heavy subject matter and I don't want to give the impression I'm being flippant about something that weighs heavy in your mind-- it's just quite different, "interesting" in a decidedly uncheerful way, to observe the unique struggles regarding assimilation and identity in the UK, coming from my admittedly uninformed perspective. It isn't something we're very privy to. There is a huge problem in the American perception of the UK and Europe as a whole (sometimes including the UK under that umbrella, sometimes distinguishing it) as a quirky fantastical mono-culture. Even among the anti-nationalist, progressive kids online, they grow up resenting the cult of patriotism and bigotry in their backyard, and they idolize what seems more romantic without understanding all of the distinct cultures or the familiar xenophobic depth of division between them. I try to talk about these things and hear about lived perspectives so that I can have both a healthier appreciation and a broader unglamorous knowledge. Just as I appreciate a warts-and-all character study, I don't find it personally difficult for opinions, fondness, failures and truth to co-exist in a bigger, more precise, more realistic picture. My only aim is knowing. I don't like looking at the picture less when I can see more of it.

Thank you for the recommendation! I'd like to say I've watched it all since you've sent this but I haven't actually found it anywhere yet. (When I first looked it up, Google's top result was... Stella, from A Streetcar Named Desire.) I'll keep an eye out though! I'd love to hear Phil acting in something pop culture-y with a similar Gorillaz tone, as the only other work I've heard from him has been the polar opposite of Murdoc, haha. That's fun in its own way, but I'd like to hear him doing what I could maybe imagine as a less absurd Murdoc. (Though by your description, it sounds like the show may not actually be less absurd, haha.) As an aside, I've got a few British pop culture books on my holiday list so I'm looking forward to reading and reporting back anything of special Stu-y/Murdoc-y interest, which I gladly invite you to chime in on!

Thanks for your message and I'm sorry again for the delay! And thank you for your opinions, kind words, and listening ear! I hope this was sensible enough to you and doesn't make me look like a raving lunatic. Best wishes to you!

#anonymous

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tog-resources-archive · 4 years

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Thank you fan!anon for sending me such a long, detailed message! Never apologize for writing me an essay since I always seem to be writing essays for other people in return lol. Also sorry it took a while to get to! This required a bit of preparation. You’ve given me a lot to respond to. I’m going to be putting the entirety of the ask under the cut and the tl;dr because this one is very, verrrryyyy long.

Tl;dr- fan!anon talks about the history of top/bottom discourse in TOG and the issues of racism in our fandom. My response: my own feelings on the history of the top/bottom discourse in TOG and the current state of it. General issues I’ve observed in this fandom and the current discourse. Also, we shouldn’t ignore fandom racism, but I don’t think we should be looking at it through the lens of top/bottom, AND I think we should be focusing on misogyny, homophobia, etc. in addition to racism. Not ignore one for the other.

Bottom line though, don’t harrass people, block people if you need to, focus on what you love, support fan creation and let’s try to be a better fandom.

Okay, time to dig in!

Hello fellow fan who has been here since the beginning! I come from the “other side” I suppose, in that I do think the top/bottom discourse is worth talking about. It has to do with the elephant in the room which I haven’t seen anyone touch on – self-identified top!joe fans (in contrast to simply fans who enjoy or prefer content where joe tops). I remember the original top/bottom discourse coming out of a more general conversation about trends in fic (1) wherein Joe was more violent, less empathetic, often not religious, more aggressive in sexual scenarios, and also most often topping. People asked the fandom in general to simply consider, if that is how they perceive Joe, to reflect for themselves about implicit biases that could be colouring that interpretation. The self-identified top!joes used that conversation as a starting point to argue that the above interpretation of Joe, (2) and writing/drawing Nicky as smaller, almost twink-like, demure, more feminine (or writing fic where he was de-aged) was justified by canon (if you recall the multi-day argument about the approximately 1 inch height difference between Marwan and Luca) and connecting those ideas to top!joe just “making more sense” to them. In the hands of a good writer (of which we are blessed to have many in this fandom!), which character tops in an explicit fic is of no consequence to me. (3) But the concept of top!joe has, in my mind, become so closely tied with those fans who, a) interpret these characters and actions in a way that seems influenced by racial stereotypes and tropes and b) use that characterization as “justification” for top!joe. All this when I thought we all agreed that position preference has nothing to do with personality? (4) If someone sees Joe as a very masculine, aggressive, dom-type character (which is a bit of a one-note characterization to start, but I digress), that shouldn’t be related to him being a “top”, correct? Yet that is the interpretation and connection that the top!joes themselves make. So that’s why to me, the top/bottom framework continues to have some value, eve though in an ideal world it wouldn’t: (5) because some fans connect what should be a neutral sexual position preference to an interpretation of Joe’s character, an interpretation which I think doesn’t do him justice. I understand if you don’t want to publish this but I’m hesitant to talk off anon due to how heated this whole conversation is. I also don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings or make them feel bad about how they are participating in the fandom, but I do think self-reflection in terms of how we engage is valuable. (6) And just to fully reiterate in case it wasn’t clear, my above points are specifically referring to who I think of as “top!joe only” fans as opposed to fans who enjoy or prefer content in which joe tops – only the former of which I am wary of. Anyways, sorry for this long message, and I hope I've been able to explain my reasoning. If we continue to disagree, thanks for reading this anyways and continuing the dialogue. Thank you also for promoting femslash events and content! (7)

So....I did say in a previous post that I’m not a big fan of hearsay, and I’m sorry but… that’s kind of what you’ve given me. A lot of “this is what Top!Joe Only people have said” and “this is what the rest of the fandom has said back.” I have to ask, who are these “Top!Joe Only” people that are on the other side of this fandom war? Who are the people representing the “rest of the fandom”? The only names I could really come up with myself are the Top!Joe Server mods as top!Joe only fans, and they haven’t exactly been active recently. Not to mention the Top!Joe server mod @karanoidandroid was the focus of the Art Theft and Bullying debacle a while back (here) which even if you disagree with her… that’s not the way you treat people. Full stop.

But anyway, to break this down, you’ve said that top!joe only fans wanted to interpret Joe in a way that was “more violent, less empathetic, less religious, more sexually aggressive, and topping (most of the time)” and that Nicky is “smaller, more twink-like, more demure and feminine” and that the hardcore top!joe stans are using this interpretation as a reasoning for liking top!joe explicit fics (and for underage fic?)

Er, honestly, I’ll have to disregard the “less religious” comment in this one. Lucyclairedelune has talked about it very eloquently here. As for the rest, let’s say these opinions were expressed on tumblr in July, just when the fandom was getting started. However, after personally going through all the Explicit July fics, I gotta say, the overwhelming majority of writers are focused on romantic Malta sex vacations lol.

From my personal observations (I started reading fic on ao3 in August), I’ve seen some stories that cater to very… specific tastes (mostly kinkmeme fics so I’m not going to touch that) and some that have…. been written in poor taste perhaps. But, honestly, the majority of fics (aka G, T, M rated) that I’ve seen? I would say that they were written with care and concern for the character’s portrayal.

Now, some fans (usually older fans) are very focused on “your kink is not my kink” and other fans feel this is an inappropriate way to view “racist, homophobic, islamophobic, etc” fics. And I agree with that. If people are using kink to excuse racism, homophobia, islamophobia, transphobia, antisemitism, misogyny, etc, in fics: Fuck that. But I think there’s a lot of misunderstanding flying around when people react to ‘ykinmk”. This fandom likes to assume the worst of their fellow fans imo, and I honestly don’t think that when a person defends kink that they’re trying to defend racism. They’re trying to defend their kink community which, historically, has been attacked and misunderstood by the purity police. Look into the Livejournal, ffnet, and even the Tumblr purges if you don’t believe me.

For the record, I don’t know anyone on tumblr personally. We’re all effectively strangers talking to each other on the internet, so I’m not going to make assumptions about people from stories they’ve posted on AO3 or the kinkmeme. If you want to talk about the issues those fics represent, that’s cool, but don’t harass people whose life stories you don’t know (and don’t vagueblog about them). (This is just a general statement, not saying this about you anon! I feel really strongly about this.)

Now you say, “some fans connect what should be a neutral sexual position preference to an interpretation of Joe’s character” and I hate to say it, but there are ALWAYS going to be some people who have awful opinions. Ones that are either truly terrible, or kind of in poor taste, or maybe you just don’t vibe with them. Personally, I don’t have enough time in the day to address every weird thing that a person spews on the internet. I won’t judge if you want to take them on, but, personally, I haven’t seen any recent militant top!joe only posts that are calling for racist portrayals. I see people referring to past conversations, for sure, but again, I can’t do anything with hearsay.

And honestly, we keep bringing up the top/bottom discourse of early TOG fandom, and we’re just not the same fandom we were then. SO MANY people have left the fandom in that time-- a lot of big name (or simply well known) fans and a lot of MENA fans. Regardless of what “side” you’re on in this, we all lose by focusing on the positions, by dividing everyone by “top” or “bottom” or “switch” fans, and by bringing up what people said in July, or August, or September. It’s exhausting, especially because I think a lot of people have done exactly what you said. Many authors HAVE self-reflected, they’ve thought about trends, the implications, and are contributing/interacting with the fandom as best as they can. Do I think we should stop focusing on self-reflection? That we should stop being careful about writing potentially damaging portrayals of our favorite characters? NO. Let’s keep at it! Let’s encourage others to do the same… but not with top/bottom discourse.

Let it be known that I don’t think racism is a topic we should disregard to focus on other things. Honestly, I would be happy if people gave some of the energy they have for “top/bottom” discourse to talk about the portrayal of Nile Freeman or Lykon or Copley or Quynh… the other POC representation in TOG that usually gets ignored. You may interpret this as me going “but what about??” and that’s fair. I just think that we talk about Joe ALL THE TIME in this fandom. There is an avalanche of conversation and content for this man (who I love, don’t get me wrong) and it just feels really disingenuous (to me) to talk ad nauseum about racist portrayals of Joe, but then to ignore Nile Freeman and wlw fics when Nile is the rare Black Female Action Protagonist and Andy/Quynh is an extremely rare interracial canon lesbian couple. And I’ve been trying to use my blog here to bring attention to this, think of me what you will because of that. (Again just a general statement anon! Not directed to you XD)

And from what I’ve seen in this fandom (and many others to be fair) is that we care about racism SO MUCH…but only when talking about how a man has sex. It speaks of a lack of intersectional understanding of these topics, disregarding the misogyny that IS ALSO inherent in fandom, and disregarding the homophobia of overfocusing on the top/bottom dynamics. BUT I’m not asking you to ignore racism; all I’m asking is for you to focus on the other issues too.

Bottom line though… the discourse is not what it once was. A lot of people, on whatever side, have left the fandom, or have taken a break, or are vocally tired of “top/bottom” discourse. Personally, I think we should talk about racism… but not through the lens of explicit mlm fic sex positions. Let’s talk more about race, gender, sex and sexual orientation, but not in a way that divides the fandom, in a way that makes people sick of being here, in a way that kills our content creator’s passion. Honestly, I think it can be done! But only if we work toward that goal together.

I would like to focus on encouraging events in our community, such as the ongoing Old Guard Big Bang 2021 event and the upcoming Femslash Fortnight Spring Solstice Edition event. If anyone is organizing other events, let me know and I’ll hype you up! But as for the rest, I’m tired, you’re tired, we’re all tired. Let’s try and work harder to be a kinder, more inclusive fandom in the future, for everyone’s sake.

#tumblr is a nightmare #the formatting issues i had with this one...#the old guard #my post #my ask #reply #loooooonnnnng ask and loooooong reply #sorry guys #this will be the last one for a while i think #the old guard discourse #old guard discourse #tog discourse

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shan-joed-blog · 4 years

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Wisdom from Years of Android Development

Source of Information: Android Classes In Pune

I still keep in mind that day back in 2014 once I chose to begin Android growth, and this was among the greatest decisions I required in my entire life. It's been approximately two and a half a year today and that I had the opportunity to understand and un-learn a good deal of items in Android.

Originally when I began, I did not have a mentor or someone who could direct me to do things the ideal way. I have done a LOT of errors and wasted a great deal of time later rectifying them.

Afterwards, after one and a half a year, I have the opportunity to use some really gifted and expert Android programmers, who advised me and allow me to shape matters in a far greater manner. Both these stages helped me find out a hell lot of stuff in the tricky way.

It's been quite a while I have been attempting to assist other programmers in a sense possible for me personally, indirectly and directly.

In the following guide, I'll be sharing a few of the gems I have gathered lately. It may help a person to get started quicker rather than repeat the mistakes which I did.

Disclaimer: I could largely be focussing on Android plus a few notions of product and programming development within the following guide, so if you aren't acquainted with some of them, you may rather not read any farther. Others, just dip. :--RRB-

Do not Reinvent the Wheel

Originally I had a lousy notion of not utilizing open-source libraries. Whatever I wanted, I only wanted to make it . It has was severely a terrible thought.

When you've got a problem whilst creating your program, and if this problem was solved by another person earlier and in a fantastic way, why don't you use this? You may save yourself a good deal of time.

Focus on the core business logic of your program. If you wish to create network calls on your program, you do not have to earn a Retrofit yourself.

Bonus: Android Arsenal keeps a record of nearly all of Android libraries made. Go take a look.

Pick Libraries Wisely

You will find lots and a lot of open-source libraries out there in Github that you use at no cost. But do not get too excited and begin using libraries .

Assess the amount of celebrities that library gets, the greater the better. Assess whether the writer of the library also have established some other popular libraries too. Verify the topics (both closed and open ), which may provide you a clearer idea of how powerful and secure the library is in creation.

If you're able to spend the time, then you ought to dip into the code of the library and assess yourself whether its really worthwhile.

You only wish to make certain that the code you're likely to use is dependable, bug-free and high quality.

Pro Suggestion: Try any library hosted straight from the command line with Dryrun.

If you aren't doing this, START today.

Whatever code you're in a position to write now is simply because you've read and heard something, somewhere, someday. It is only a manifestation of what you know. You may just grow and improve your self by studying and learning from other's work.

The fantastic thing about Android is the fact that it's an entirely open-source platform. Dive in the code and assess how they've implemented the frame. There are hundreds and hundreds of open minded libraries in Github. Simply select a library and find out the way the programmer have employed it.

Bonus: here's a curated collection of a few of the greatest libraries and here's a list of nearly all accessible Android programs out there. You're welcome:--RRB-

Should you compare coding together with composing, then coding criteria is similar to your own handwriting.

Since you'd be studying more of the others code, other folks are also studying a great deal of your code and you do not wish to frighten the shit from these, do you really? And if you're working within a business and cooperating with other programmers greatly, do take particular care of it.

Write brief, readable and clean code which you and people reading your code will like thoroughly. Your code should read as a narrative.

Do not complain if you compose a bit of code along with your coworkers do not speak to you for a couple of days.

You Want ProGuard, YesYou Want It!

ProGuard not just minifies your code, but it also obfuscates your code which makes it tougher for reverse-engineers to comprehend, replicate and control it.

Its free and comes bundled with all the Android SDK, and there's simply no reason for you to not use it.

I've observed many developers releasing their program in the marketplace with no ProGuard. It shouldn't require more than a couple of hours to get a not-so-skilled hacker to control an the program published without Proguard.

Pro Suggestion: But if you'd like top-notch protection, then ProGuard is just like a cardboard at the same time you want a secure, and here it's, DexGuard.

Use a Suitable Architecture

You may thank yourself for choosing a suitable structure in the first location.

It's possible to utilize MVP (Model-View-Presenter) structure that may decouple your code to various easy-to-manage layers thereby enhancing code flexibility and significantly reducing maintenance period.

There's a good demo job for you to begin. And if you're having trouble grasping it, here's a thorough guide for the novices.

Bonus: Do provide a check out this, this and most significantly this. Every one these can help you in executing MVP on your undertaking. User Interface Is just like a Joke, Should You Need to Explain It, It Is Bad

Should you work for any company playing the use of"only" a Android programmer, you likely won't have to be overly concerned about that, since there really are UI/UX designers to look after this.

However, if you're a single programmer, you have to get this directly in your mind. I've seen programmers creating really great programs with good performance, however, the UI looks horrible along with the UX makes it a hassle to use.

Layout a clean, easy and gorgeous interface that's easy on the eyes. You shouldn't just think as a programmer, instead you need to focus on igniting the concealed designer in you.

Attempt to make a lasting impression in your customers by designing a gorgeous UI, so they return to your program more frequently than others and often convert more (purchase your premium variant ( possibly ).

You ought to find a kick by eliminating elements from your own design, instead of adding. Keep it minimal and clean.

And there's this book you probably would really like to see if you want to know more about design.

Analytics Is Your Very Best Friend

If you would like to produce a really amazing program, then you have to heavily rely on analytics programs to assess the operation and utilization of different sections of your program.

By analytics, I refer to both the collision reporting and program usage monitoring and you want both of these.

Anything you do, you can't ever make something ideal. When actual users will begin using your program on various Android apparatus and on different Android variants available, you may also find a few of the greatest written code to drop flat on the floor.

Crash reporting programs can allow you to monitor and fix themone crash at one time.

You also will need to begin thinking like a marketer and also examine the use of various elements of your program. This is what's going to allow you to bridge the gap between what you've created and what your customers' actually desire.

Pro Suggestion: I strongly suggest looking for the crash reporting tool in Instabug. You're going to appreciate it.

Make a Marketing Ninja If you're a single programmer, you need to consider beyond being"a programmer" and need to understand marketing too.

I've observed great products fail because of lack of suitable marketing, and also the not-so-good ones become hugely successful only because of fantastic advertising.

If you're seriously interested in your work and need it to reach a huge audience, you want to spend your time and cash in properly advertising your program. But prior to beginning your marketing and advertising campaigns, make certain your program is totally stable with all attributes prepared. You need maximum conversions out of each penny you pay, right?

Spend some time exploring who your opponents are and how you can overcome them. Identify the ones you're able to compete quickly as well as also the ones which you need to keep aside for a long term struggle.

Pro Suggestion: This is an inexpensive market evaluation instrument, I really like to use.

It Is Time to Boost Your Program

This is something which the majority of us don't do, however, you need to and you want to.

Write code which runs fast, takes less memory and absorbs less apparatus storage.

An unoptimized program works well under ordinary conditions, but when placed to various stressful circumstances, it may show you its true colours.

Bear in mind, a very small leak can sink a large ship. Spend some time on knowing how the Garbage Collector works in Java, produce heap dumps and examine your live items.

Pro Suggestion: Use Leak Canary to discover your memory flows. It can save a great deal of time by accomplishing this job for you.

Save Over 5 Hours Each Week with Gradle Builds

It is very very possible that you're utilizing Android Studio to create Android programs and utilizing Gradle as your own build platform. Gradle is excellent but its slow and it becomes much thinner than a snail as soon as your job size begins to increase in proportion.

I recall the countless hours I've wasted just sitting and awaiting the Gradle assembles to complete. On hefty workouts, I wasted around one hour just Gradle assembles and that is like 5 hours each week draining the gutter.

However, there are ways to speed this up too.

It is possible to stick to this and this article to greatly enhance your construct rates. My construct time fell from 4 minutes to less than 30 minutes following appropriate optimization.

Evaluation, Evaluation and When You're Finished, Test Again!

There isn't anything more significant than testing. This is something which needs to be on very top of your list.

Test your program as completely as you can. Create various stressful scenarios for your program and see whether it can endure.

I'd formerly made the mistake of publishing my program from rush and did not spend appropriate time analyzing it. I had been waiting for my customers to confront bugs, report it and then I'd go and mend them.

You may spare a day, or 2, or per week by cutting time from studying, but will most likely have to spend over double afterwards.

Make a visionary. Sow today, reap afterwards.

There are a massive assortment of all Android devices with different display sizes and hardware specifications from plenty of different apparatus manufactures that personalize the OS for their heart's content.

Added to this are the a variety of Android variants at which Google adds/removes API performance from nowhere to raise your workload further (an example here).

By way of instance, not just one Android programmer has completed a program without using SharedPreferences API. It is so common, however it had been broken up in Samsung Galaxy S using Android 2.2 (bug report ).

Spend additional time creating different designs for different screen dimensions. Evaluation on various apparatus, having different variations, different specifications and from various OEMs.

Never presume something could work, simply as it appears so.

Start with Git, Now!

If you're still not utilizing Git, go right ahead and begin using it straight away.

Once I began Android advancement, I was unlucky enough to not understand exactly what the fudge Git was. I used to replicate my whole project regular and keep 1 backup in my hard disk and another from the cloud. Seems foolish? Yes, it was.

Git can radically enhance your workflow. If a person asks me to mention a tool I use everyday and can not quit using? It is Git and Git each time.

And likely after using it for a couple of days you'd fall in love with it and wish to understand how Git works tirelessly, so here it's prepared for you.

And after some time, you'd be starting a large project your self and get confused about how you should keep a suitable branching model, so that you go.

Bonus: If you're only starting out and can not manage to pay the monthly subscription fee for keeping private repositories from GitHub, it is possible to attempt BitBucket which permits you to do this free of charge.

Make It Hard for the Hackers

The open minded nature of Android is exactly what makes it susceptible to attacks.

You do not need it to happen for your program, right?

You ought to be aware of how to safely store API keys everywhere on your program. If you're managing sensitive information from those consumers, then you have to understand how to encrypt themwhat algorithm to select (secure yet quickly ).

It's also advisable to keep the encryption keys safely in the host or locally (if desired ). If you're storing sensitive information in the database, then think about obfuscating it.

If your program includes a premium version that gets cracked and has published at no cost. You'd incur a critical reduction in company, right?

There are many things you can do to stop your program from becoming tampered. There's not anything like 100% safety. Any proficient and recognized hacker with the proper tools, patience and tools may crack your program.

Whatever you need to do is make it hard, rather very tricky for the hacker to decode it.

A luxury apparatus will hide a great deal of flaws while creating your program. Suppose you're doing something from the UI thread that makes its way to get a laggy UI, however onto a potent device, you might never ever observe that.

A classic, low-end apparatus, dumped with a lot of programs makes it perfect for a development apparatus.

That is an investment which will pay you eternally.

Whilst creating large and intricate programs, you may face some common issues that have probably been solved before by somebody more capable than you, that is when designing patterns comes in to play.

Here's a Github job that shows all of the design patterns known to humanity.

Looks like a great deal? It really is not. You'll begin enjoying them after you dip in.

It Is Time to Give Back

Most of us have a great deal of assistance from folks around us and by the net. Lets declare it. When you have a issue, the very first thing you'd do is Google that and find the very first link from StackOverflow. Sometimes you're in a rush and you wind up copying and pasting the alternative in the response with the greatest votes.

Ever believed the amount of libraries you're using from Github free of charge and the way in which they have significantly reduced your development efforts and time. Its because somebody somewhere has taken the opportunity to construct it and donate to make the community better.

Recall the day, if you had been stuck in knowing a challenging idea or something that's completely new to you, and you wind up finding an wonderful blog post that made it super simple for you. Its because someone skipped a film date and wrote this post.

We're active in our work and also we find it too hard to handle time and do something for others. But try to get some time each week to donate and make this particular Android community wealthier.

I've attempted to discuss a few of the lessons I have discovered in this brief journey with Android improvement. I'll continue my trip, find out more and share more. I hope it will help somebody and makes their life somewhat simpler.

Android Course In Pune | Android Training In Pune | Learn Android Development In Pune

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zehrasyilmaz · 4 years

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♏︎ S C O R P I U S the eighth sign.

OVERVIEW:

♚ symbol: the scorpion ♚ element: water ♚ quality: fixed ♚ colour: scarlet, red, rust ♚ day of the week: tuesday ♚ ruling planet: pluto, mars ♚ flower: geraniums ♚ tarot card: death ♚ gem: topaz ♚ greatest compatibility: taurus, cancer, pisces

THE PERSONALITY:

♚ strengths - resourceful, brave, loyal, honest, ambitious. ♚ weaknesses - jealous, distrusting, emotional, secretive, defiant.

Known for their intensity, they are determined individuals who absolutely throw themselves into whatever they do -- but getting them to commit to something is rarely an easy task. In fact, it's better not to even try to "get them" to do anything. Solar Scorpios absolutely have their own mind. And, their primary motivation is unlikely to be prestige (like their Capricorn friends), or even authority (Leos can have that, too)--it's real power. Their power can absolutely be of the "behind the scenes" variety, just as long as they have it. Scorpios seem to have plenty of willpower and know what they want (though they won't go out and grab it at the wrong moment). They simply sit back, watch, and then get it only when the moment is just right. This patience is considered their powerful skill of strategy at work. Scorpio isn't afraid of getting their hands (their bodies, their minds) dirty. The darker side of life intrigues them, and they're always ready to investigate. Scorpios never give up. They have tremendous staying power. They're not in the slightest intimidated by anybody or anything. Confrontations are not a problem. In fact, talk to any Scorpio about their lives, and you'll probably be in awe at all they've gone through. Trauma seems to follow them wherever they go. When Scorpio learns optimism, instead of expecting the worst, they'll find that they possess amazing regenerative powers -- the power to heal, create, and transform.

THE SELF OPINION:

You take pride in your ability to negotiate and to establish harmony in your relationships. It is important to you to have a partner, as you feel incomplete without one. You are motivated to become well-liked, and you are especially sensitive to rejection. One of the lessons in your life may be to avoid putting harmony and others' opinions of you above your own needs. Use your social skills and seek out peaceful relations with others, but try not to over-identify with your partnerships and the way you are received by others. You may marry someone with a strong personality.

THE MOON IS IN TAURUS (FIRST HOUSE):

Sweetness itself. Convinced of their ideas and strong-willed. She is foresighted and willful. She knows how to trust. She appreciates all the good things in life. She appreciates and protects nature.

She is very emotional and can be driven to do things by her emotions. She may not always think things over or through in a given situation. She can be irascible and easily angered or fired up. Marital or domestic strife or a heated atmosphere at home is possible.

She has changeable moods, a reserved character, can be stubborn and may lack assurance. Her relationship with a guardian may have been difficult or a challenging early family life in some cases.

She is kind and sympathetic, with a strongly compassionate nature. When in love, she is usually very devoted. In fact, she is devoted by nature, not only in matters of the heart.

She has intense emotions and passionate feelings. She fears the loss of control of emotional and domestic matters, and can fear change, upheaval, being caught unawares, having the rug pulled from beneath her feet. At the same time, she attracts change and disruptions. The love life may be riddled with emotional scenes, jealousy, and possessiveness because she attracts intense partners. There can also be big expectations of a partner or partnership.

She is perspicacious, ingenious. She binds intelligence and originality together with genius. She likes literature, especially fiction. She is spontaneous in her friendships and knows how to turn situations around positively. She can put down in writing everything that her imagination and intuition dictates. A wonderful storyteller. She has a great sense of observation and quickly grasps and sizes the situation. She is crafty, subtle, and perceptive. She likes to have her own ideas about things, to form an opinion and think over the problems it poses. She is an intellectual.

THE PASSION:

The sexual stamina of this sign is thought to be the strongest of all the positions of Mars. Sometimes, Mars in Scorpio people are attracted to taboos, and their fantasies may involve blowing the taboos to smithereens! They enjoy scenarios in which the "other" is giving in to them, wants them completely, and will do absolutely anything for them. And, their sexual appeal is strong enough that they generally do get what they want. They find it difficult to share their partners, though they will likely never admit this.

THE ARCHETYPE:

the black widow, prostitute, phoenix, thorny red rose, belly dancer, erotic dancer, smoldering ashes, scorpion, seductress, celibate, psychologist, jealous one, fortress, the betrayer/betrayed, vampiress, alchemist, shaman, spy.

#redwood:task #take this garbage

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beatrix-wright · 5 years

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‘JOKER’ drove at 100 kilometres per hour in peak traffic while I was tied to the passenger’s seat

This will have spoilers for Joker in it, but I will not synopsise the film. Most of this will be about my experience watching Joker rather than the story of the film itself. I greatly appreciate anyone who takes the time to read this.

Joker, directed by Todd Phillips, starring Joaquin Phoenix, wasn’t what I expected…

That’s both good and bad. I have praise, undoubtedly. I don’t think it was a bad film by any means, but I also want to say up front that I don’t think I’m ever going to watch it again. At least not for a very long time.

I have seen a number of Todd Phillips’ films, through many unhappy mistakes. Frankly, I wasn’t expecting much of the cinematography, but really, Phillips knocked it out of the park in some sections. The movie has high and low parts in this category, but overall, regardless of what was happening on screen, Phillips has tried his best to make it as visually appealing as possible. Certain shots, zooms and camera movements perfectly encapsulated the emotion of the scene or of the characters and it really helped immerse viewers. This film unquestionably has a beating, feeling-driven heart. Although its a weak pulse that many would miss if not invested, it’s there, trying desperately to claw its way out from under the vicious and cool exterior that the film puts up. If Phillips and Scott Silver, the other writer on board the project, had the poise to take the film that direction, I truly believe that it could have been a meaningful, heartfelt tragedy. But we’ll get to that later.

Something else many people have applauded in Joker is Joaquin Phoenix’s performance, and they’re right. Phoenix, while not the first to play Batman’s most iconic villain by any stretch of the imagination, has made it his own in a way that works for the tone and message of the film. Joaquin Phoenix’s passion for this project comes through so clearly in his portrayal of Arthur Fleck/Joker. There’s a humanity and empathy that Phoenix manages to build in the beginning of the film that is missing from most portrayals where the Joker is only a raving lunatic. The only time I’ve seen anything similar for the character is in Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke, which was an inspiration for the film, but even that isn’t quite as authentic as the show given to us in Joker. The heart that Phillips emphasises wouldn’t be present without Phoenix. Joaquin Phoenix really was the best part of this film and I cannot commend him enough for the tastefulness he tried to bring to the project. His portrayal of Arthur Fleck’s mental illness is really nothing to be sneezed at, which brings me to my next point.

Joker has an almost truthful, although greatly exaggerated, portrayal of mental illness, something that surprised me while watching in the theatre. I have personally dealt with depression and anxiety and found many aspects of Arthur Fleck in the beginning to be somewhat relatable. Truly, this exploration of mental illness wasn’t something I’d seen before. While Fleck’s diagnosis is not not disclosed, simple sentiments such as “I just don’t want to feel so bad anymore” really hit home and yet again Phoenix’s delivery helped to bring genuineness that wouldn’t have been there otherwise. Many other minor things that I don’t have the time to go through really sold me on the character and the performance, and Arthur Fleck truly came alive for me and the others in the cinema. The film also establishes Fleck’s laugh as a signal for when he’s feeling depressed, lonely, anxious or anything of the like and it helps to guide the viewer through the confusing reality of mental illness. Laughter, too, helps myself and many others cope with our mental illness. I find it hard to be frank about how I’m feeling without turning it into a joke of some sort. It was odd watching a film about a well-known villain and sharing a number of experiences with him, knowing of his sheer insanity from other forums. But this was what really made the first section of this film so compelling.

My praise for Joker stops here, however.

Joker has been described as “dangerous”, but I don’t think dangerous is the correct description. Joker, in the best way I can possibly put it concisely, is ill-conceived, tactless and lacking awareness. It’s a bit like driving recklessly through peak hour traffic. For some people it might be enjoyable but to many, it is generally considered poorly thought out and foolish. And oh boy, oh boy, does Joker take you for a ride. For a film that initially seemed to somewhat understand mental illness, it falls flat on its face as it proceeds to blame Arthur Fleck’s mental health problems for his violence. This isn’t to say that some people who have mental illnesses can’t be a danger to others and themselves but the sheer standardness of Fleck’s symptoms at the beginning compared to his shocking acts of cruelty later left a bad taste in my mouth and I found myself thinking ‘I’m not a time bomb’ over and over at certain sections of the film. Stigma against people with mental illnesses permeates the story and I don’t think even Joaquin Phoenix, for all of his ingenuity in playing this character, could escape the demonisation of this group of people.

I’ve seen Joker interpreted as a “cautionary tale” about how “society’s ignorance of those who are less fortunate will create a person like the Joker”, but if it really wanted to be that, Todd Phillips and Scott Silver have missed the mark by a longshot. The message ends up garbled, and comes through more strongly as ‘If we, as a society, don’t watch out for mentally ill people, we may have a real life Joker on our hands’. Despite acting like someone who thinks he knows what’s best for society, Todd Phillips can hardly bring his message about it across properly in his own film. Most of us with mental illnesses aren’t going to suddenly snap and go on a killing spree, but Joker supports the opposite and isn’t particularly concerned for the damage it might bring to mentally ill people.

Like I said, I enjoyed the accuracy of Arthur Fleck’s mental illness but the rest of the film misses something that the beginning had: taste. I support the pushing of boundaries in film. I think it is very important to test the limit and explore new concepts and ideas no matter what. But it needs to be done well, and Phillips, who doesn’t have much experience with serious and poignant cinema needs to steady his aim before firing off a film like this. Many may decry me as a softy who can’t handle serious, disturbing or confronting films, but that is simply not the case. I just propose that if you’re going to be all that, you might as well do it properly. One such confronting film is Blue Velvet (1986, dir. David Lynch) which handles a variety of heavy topics. Lynch, in contrast to Phillips, however, wove his story delicately, creating a tasteful and seriously disturbing film that is still considered one of the greatest of all time to this day. When I got into the first act, I was deeply hoping that Joker would be something like that. It held so much promise and I genuinely think the beginning is magnificent as well as certain sections throughout. Again, this isn’t a bad film at all. I just believe it mishandled some of its ideas in a way that could be potentially damaging.

Something else I find to be an issue is the view of the Joker as a hero by real people. Arthur Fleck’s drive is largely based around his mistreatment. I personally really love complex villain who have relatable incentives, but the difference is that the Joker as a character is already idolised by a number of less-than-brilliant groups. The Joker has sympathetic motivations and while he absolutely turns into a villain he’s still framed as somewhat correct in these views which turns into a larger problem when narcissists who feel they are down on their luck identify with the Joker and use their misfortune to justify terrible actions against others. While for Fleck, it’s his poverty and mental illness, for some real people it can be something like not getting a girlfriend or having people of colour “invade their country”. To most people who watch Joker, it could seem absurd how this film would encourage violence but as someone who could relate to Arthur Fleck initially, I can easily see how someone with something more wrong with them than just mental illness could identify with him throughout the film. Because it isn’t just mental illness that creates mass murderers and serial killers. Its something far more deep-seated and vile. An ingrained dismissal for the value of human life. The pit that Joker needed to dig itself out of was that of misanthropic reddit pages and 4chan posts. It would have been hard, but frankly the film did itself no favours in having a nod to “we live in a society” memes during the Joker’s monologue towards the end. I don’t think that all of this was intentional and honestly, if you’re a normal person, have no fear of being radicalised. I just don’t know if Phillips completely comprehends what he’s toying with. There was a shooting by someone inspired by the Joker in 2012 at a screening of The Dark Knight Rises. These things occur, unfortunately, and even though if something were to happen now, in no way would it be the film’s fault, we do have to be careful what sort of an impression we can leave on people with our media.

Joker isn’t a bad movie. Is it everything it’s made out to be? No, and really that comes down a lack of precision in its creation. I really can’t watch it again, due to how monstrous it made me feel but I won’t disavow anyone who wants to go see it or enjoyed it for the right reasons, because there is a lot to enjoy if you’re not bothered by those aspects of the film. It was a really interesting character study of one comics’ most mysterious and iconic characters, but I believe the message they wanted to send about said character was poorly handled. Personally, I think I’ll stick to Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke. I’d rather the Joker’s origins be a bit more multiple choice.

Also if Joaquin Phoenix is nominated for or wins an Oscar, I won’t be mad, he really was pretty great

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vylad243 · 6 years

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Morro and Harumi Headcanons.

Might include spoilers? Maybe? I don't know what you've seen.

There may or may not be over a hundred:

• Morro called Harumi 'Jade' instead of 'Princess'

• Harumi calls him 'Breeze' in return

• Morro and Harumi's friendship started because of their hatred of the FSM

• Morro helped reconnect Harumi with her parents when she died

• Morro braids Harumi's hair

• Harumi taught Morro how to dance

• Following a certain theory that I might post soon, Morro and Harumi visit Ninjago to make sure everyone is okay.

• Morro and Harumi greet the bounty every time her op ass dies

• Harumi likes to see how far she can step before she pisses Morro off

• Harumi tries to convince Morro and the FSM to fight all the time

• Harumi will use Morro as a "Date" for dances and parties and such whenever she gets the chance

• Harumi and Morro are constantly sassing each other

• Harumi likes Morro's elemental dragon and she tries to talk him into always having it out.

• Harumi once tried to get Morro to visit his parents in the departed realm but when he kept refusing she gave up, not wanting to push him.

• Morro once called Harumi his cousin and she freaked out, forgetting he was adopted by Wu, he hasn't done it since.

• Harumi called Morro 'Sour Green' once.

• It bothered Morro because there is a colour called 'Lime Green'

• Harumi will walk up to Morro with random rocks and ask him to identify if because he was once a miner and probably knew a lot about rocks

• Harumi found out Morro really like Amethysts and likes to say his favorite colour is purple, which he never denys 🤔

• Harumi likes to watch Morro's and the FSM's arguements and will occasionally eat popcorn during these

• Harumi is a bit afraid of how Powerful Morro is compared to the Ninja

• Morro showed Harumi all the best places in the departed realm and also showed her how to look upon other realms

• Harumi clings to Morro like a bat whenever they past the Great Devourer in the departed realm, the snake is surprisingly chill

• Morro has slight PDST from the cursed realm and Harumi feels useless whenever she watches him slightly freak out when it's mentioned

• Harumi learnt Morro likes hugs.

• She recently learnt only she can hug him.

• No matter how mad Morro gets at Harumi, he'll never let her suffer alone and will always be there when she needs someone

• Harumi hates that she can't help Morro in return though because he doesn't tell her anything, but she doesn't know that just her presence helps him

• Morro strongly recommends avoiding Harumi's adoptive parents in case they snap at her and he knows she's not emotionally prepared for that

• Harumi thinks Morro should get a service dog if they ever permanently stay in Ninjago

• He disagrees with her about that.

• Harumi and Morro get into alot of arguements about his safety once she found out he was actually allergic to a common metal found in alot in caves, hell if I know what it's called.

• Harumi feels like she's become a little too protective over Morro until she remembers the dumb shit he pulls

• Morro think that he's under protective of Harumi

• Morro tried his hardest to hide the fact he's half blind from her, the scar is so close to his eye, and how he moves his head, he feels like she already know, but she hasn't yelled at him yet so he's unsure (My headcanon hiiissssss)

• Harumi likes to call Morro 'Mini-god' and the Bounty 'Big God'

• It really gets him mad, but he loves her to much to say anything about it.

• Harumi likes Horror movies, but won't watch them, mention them, or talk about any near Morro because they scare him to no ends.

• It makes her really curious of what's in the Cursed Realm though.

• Morro likes puns.

• Harumi doesn't

• Morro can sing

• Harumi is mad he never does sing

• Morro can speak so many different languages it's ridiculous. He can speak Oni and Dragon too.

• Harumi want him to teach her, but she hasn't convinced him to yet. In reality she just wants to understand what he's saying half the time.

• Harumi and Morro insult each other every chance they get

• They don't do well separated

• English actually isn't his native language, he just learnt it at such a young age from Wu

• Morro is short and Harumi makes fun of it every chance she gets

• Harumi's favorite colour is actually yellow

• Harumi comes up with the craziest nicknames for him and he can't come up with any good ones, her personal favorite that he gave her was Onyx, but she really likes Jade too.

• Morro insults her in different languages

• Harumi doesnt like the second largest snake either

• Each time Harumi sees Morro cry she tries to cheer him up by saying "It's okay my life sucked too."

• He will passive aggressively say that she died when she was older then fourteen and she'll just hug him.

• Harumi and Morro's favorite spot is the waterfall in the departed realm despite Morro's anxiety with water

• Morro has heterochromia eyes, one green and the other is silver

• Harumi has pretty sky blue eyes

• Harumi and Morro like to insult Misko, the FSM, and Wu.

• They're both pretty socially awkward

• Harumi has tried to get Morro to tie back his hair

• Morro will stay up all night just to watch Harumi and make sure she's doing okay and not having any nightmares while she sleeps

• Harumi loves to sleep

• Harumi doesn't like fire to much, and ironically, Morro doesn't like water

• Harumi likes to lean against Morro

• They actually ignored each other's existence at first

• The first person Harumi saw in the departed realm was a childhood friend of her's

• The first person Morro saw was the FSM

• Yes they immediately got into an arguement

• Morro makes jokes about how Harumi took his plan, but little does he know his plan was the base to Harumi's plan, just different objectives, and outcomes, and boring stuff like that.

• Morro hates sleeping

• Harumi wonders if she would of been sent to the cursed realm despite redeeming herself, she also wonders that about Morro when he died again

• Morro hasn't told anyone that destroying the Cursed Realm was a stupid plan and that all realms use each other as pillars

• He also never said 'I told you so' when Djinjago was destroyed when the Cursed Realm fallen (Is that how you spell it)

• Harumi and Morro usually greet all those who pass into the departed.

• Morro has called the head writer in Cloud Kingdom stupid on multiple occasions

• Morro might be one of the only characters in Ninjago who doesn't have his destiny being written out by the people in Cloud Kingdom (I say this is a might, I'm not sure, but I'm sprinkling some theory juice in here)

• So technically he did prove destiny wrong since he gets to write his own now. (If the above is true)

• Harumi likes it when Morro does her hair

• Morro refuses to let Harumi touch his hair.

• Harumi is a bit jealous of Morro's powers, but that's only because she felt she could save her parents' life if she had them

• Morro would of most likely given Harumi his powers

• Harumi and Morro actually don't talk about Lloyd that much

• Harumi has tried to show Morro how technology works, but he's beyond that stuff.

• He thinks it's stupid, but doesnt care enough to turn back time to make technology never exist

• Morro actually finds a bit of pride being the first ever elemental master that was a villian, he thinks it's nice that it proves you don't have to become what others think you're going to be.

• Harumi thinks it's funny that Morro is kidna cheesy, but she excuses it because of his young age.

• Morro doesn't like being the youngest villian though

• Harumi thinks it's stupid that Wu puts so much pressure on kids

• Morro, despite having huge advantages against the ninja, liked to be fair and give then easier chances to beat him. (Like seriously, dude. You could of just phased through the FSM's shit. You didn't have to play by the rules)

• Harumi doesn't like The Overlord

• Morro questions how when The Overlord died he was sent to the departed realm instead of the Cursed Realm

• Morro never went to school and is purely self-taught, besides the things Wu taught him

• Harumi feel bad about everything she did

• Morro honestly couldn't care less about what he did

• Moror can play a guitar

• Harumi likes to visit Ninjago, she doesn't like how she has to hide everytime she does it though

• Harumi is afraid of what the FSM will do to her and Morro if they keep fighting with him

• Harumi really likes pearls

• Morro wanted to be a doctor when he was younger

• Harumi wanted to be like the Ninja until the Great Devourer Incident

• Morro made Harumi pet the Great Devourer once. He doesn't regret making her do that

• Morro's favorite flower is a lily

• Harumi's is either a Carnation or Devil's Paintbrush

• Morro is slightly irritated that the FSM made a giant snake that consumes everything in it's path and didn't take precautions to make sure it didn't do exactly what it did.

• Harumi will sometimes just agree with whatever Morro says

• Morro used to like the rain

• Harumi likes mysteries

• Morro once asked Harumi if her adoptive parents had kids, would the baby be the ruler because it's actual blood or if Harumi would because's she's the eldest and she was adopted at such a young age

• Harumi didn't know how to answer and said she believed the baby would

• Morro actually likes cuddles, he's just very selective

• Morro used to be friends with that Grundle he threw a stick at. He named it Honey.

• He never told Wu about his very dangerous pet

• Harumi likes sea creatures and the ocean. Again, mysteries

• Morro likes to read and used the read every chance he got

• Harumi asked Morro what it was like being Wu's student and he just pointed to the Great Devourer and walked away. She still doesn't know what that means

• Morro, despite accepting he's Wu's adoptive child, will fight anyone who says he's Wu's son.

• Harumi made one joke about how Morro should of used the water from his second death to help him survive his first death.

• He just responded with "That's not how boiling works"

• Morro likes to stargaze

• Harumi and Morro can both draw

• Harumi and Morro both don't like the idea of the other talking to other people, afraid they're gonna loose their best friend

• Harumi likes to pick grass from the Departed Realm and watch it fade away

• Harumi wants to learn how to play the piano

--------

And I'm gonna stop now, I need to save some hcs in case I need some more for later xD

#ninjago #headcanons #morro #harumi #morro and harumi #i wrote a lot #vylad's random headcanons

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spiritroots · 6 years

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Hi.I have a bit of a sensitive question. I'm a white girl who was adopted by a black family when I was a baby, my mom said she saw me and instantly knew I was meant to be hers. I grew up with rootwork in the house, my grandmother taught me all that I know about rootwork and life in general. However since coming onto Tumblr, I feel like I can't carry on with the traditions I was brought up with because of my skin colour. Any advice? I understand if it's too much of a sensitive question. Thanks❤️

Hey there! I’m sorry that you’re in this situation because it’s definitely a difficult one, and I think it’s good that you reached out about it. I’ve spent my morning thinking on this and asking friends and researching transracial adoption… and to be honest I’ve realized that I don’t think I have enough intimate knowledge of the complexities of transracial adoptions to answer this adequately. I have four different members of my family who were adopted, but I was not adopted and don’t have a deep understanding of that experience.

I’m gonna share some of my honest thoughts about hoodoo, ancestry, and race, but I don’t think I have a definitive answer for you on exactly what to do.

I’ve included my thoughts below the keep reading line, but I ask other black rootworkers - especially anyone with an understanding of transracial adoption to also join in on the conversation and share some insight.

I was always taught across Africana traditions and hoodoo that having black ancestry is a fundamental part of the practice. It’s in your blood and bones, it’s in your DNA, it’s how you channel and tap into your wisdom and the juju of an unbroken lineage of ancestors going back through slavery and back across the waters to West Africa where these traditions have their origins. Beyond just cultural appropriation (which matters too on a different level), there’s also that blood ancestry aspect that to me is a tradition-level inherent reason why non-black folks (people without any African descent) simply can’t practice hoodoo no matter how hard they may try to.

You said you feel like you can’t practice because of your skin color, but I have white skin too. The difference is that I’m white passing, not white. We may both appear white to most people, but when I take a DNA test, my African ancestry sure does show up next to my European ancestry. I am biracial. We both have black family - and they are your family as much as mine is my family - but you are still white because that doesn’t change your race. Just like a black kid adopted into a white family would still be black - not white.

To me where this gets extra confusing is that since they are your family and they chose to teach you… I mean those are your family traditions too, and while you’re still white, having a black family means that black culture may be a part of your culture too. This is where this question gets into the transracial adoption territory beyond my experience and knowledge. You probably have a special and unique relationship to black culture that other white people don’t have because of your transracial adoption, and that’s an amazing thing. I respect that and it was your grandma’s choice to teach you hoodoo.

No one can take those experiences or that bond away from you with your family and with your upbringing. I just urge you to understand the privileges you have as a white person. Many of those privileges overlap with the ones I have as a white passing person. Our white skin and appearance mean we are favored by society over our families in soooooo many ways more than we can fathom or imagine even when we try to grasp it. We don’t have to be afraid of cops in the same way as our family members do. I don’t know what it’s like to actually be adopted, but people have assumed that I am more often than not.

We have many of the same privileges and possibly even some of the same challenges as white-looking people in black families, but racially we are not the same. You also have different challenges than me a person who was transracially adopted, but you have different privileges as a white person too. I think these differences are extremely important for you to understand when looking at how you engage with black culture. It’s a part of your family and your cultural upbringing, but it’s not your race, which is something that goes beyond skin color when it comes to being black in the US.

From a young age, my mom made sure I knew that I was biracial black, and that has been a part of my heritage and life experience in terms of who I am knowing that my white passing privileges can be stripped away any time because I’m not actually white. I proudly choose to identify as biracial even when it means people laughing at me not believing it because it’s not something I can change - it’s who I was born as.

You were born the way you are too, and like I’ve said you also have your own and unique experiences because of that. And unfortunately, you’re in very very difficult to navigate waters as a result of it all. I wish I could tell you the best way to navigate that and where are the “lines” are, but truthfully I don’t know because I don’t know exactly what or how your grandma taught you or what her thoughts are on the whole ancestry aspect. I don’t fully know how cultural appropriation applies in the complex situation of transracial adoption. That’s why I put so much emphasis just now on the race piece - the one thing I do know, is that regardless of everything else, you are white.

So while I may not be able to give exact advice about what to do or what not to do, I strongly urge you to remember that and understand that your identity and life experience, as well as your connection to these traditions and culture, is fundamentally different than it is for us black folks. You don’t have a birthright to it in the way that we do, yet it is a part of your family traditions and culture. I don’t know what that means for you, but I do think that it’s essential for you to try to understand as much as possible as you figure out what to do going forward.

I hope this helps, and I also urge you to listen to what other black folks have to say if anyone else weighs in on it. Please do NOT listen to the opinions of anyone who isn’t black about this matter… they really don’t get a say about it.

#racialidentity #transracialadoption #whiteprivilege #culturalappropriation #appropriation #discussion #hoodoo #rootwork #conjure #personal #mixedrace #biracial #whitepassing #ask

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dragonscalesatdawn · 6 years

Text

Dragon Worldbuilding in ‘Scales’

@abalonetea

“i’d love to know anything about your dragons that you’re able to share” - first of all, thank you! So much!!!! I was going to answer that in a reblog like you did, but the post got long, so...now it’s this.

Second - You fool. You’ve activated my infodump card! I have so much to share! A lot of what I’m about to write will probably never be explored, at least not in much depth, in the WIP itself, as much as I’d love to, because it’s just backstory infodump stuff and not really plot-relevant. But it’s really cool and I adored coming up with it, so I’m thrilled to have even the tiniest excuse to share!

I’ve put it all under a cut because seriously, I’m not kidding about it being long, lmao.

The classic dragon in fantasy is great, and all, but there are aspects of them that don’t make a whole lot of sense if you look at them from a science viewpoint. I’m no animal expert or anything, but I’ve decided to use what knowledge I do have/can google to try to fix a few of the little things that don’t make sense. I like to science my fantasy lmao. There doesn’t seem to be much I can do about them being far too heavy to ever fly, let alone carry passengers, and a few other elements just wouldn’t come together naturally in a single animal, so I used some backstory excuses.

My world, which I’ve yet to name, was made through a mix of Gods and evolution. Gods made the Big Bang, and though they mostly left things to form as they would, they did help things along here and there, and continuously interfered in how their Big Bang evolved until they had the world as we see it today. They still interfere - frequently, from their viewpoint, but of course they’re immortal, so interference happens only every few thousand years at most.

Dragons were, long story short, a result of one God bragging about her creation of the first human, and saying that nothing could be more creative or original than this, and how her creation would soon conquer the world, blah blah. Another God (Gods being petty as they are) basically just said ‘hold my beer’ and made dragons, in much the same way that a twelve year old author makes a shameless self-insert character. He took a bunch of features from other creatures that he thought were cool and smooshed them together.

Now, if a God wants to bestow a creature with magical abilities, these abilities come from that God, and tax the God a little of their power. Gods have a lot of power, so this is only a very minor inconvenience, but they still like to avoid overusing it if they can. This guy was really hell-bent on spiting his sister, though, so once he had the basic beast to work with, he just couldn’t resist giving them a bunch of magic in the end. But that’s why they’re not just creatures of pure magic.

(Fun fact - another God also had the idea to build a creature to spite the God who made human and her bragging - but she took a different route and just gave humans magic - and hey presto, elves! The dragon guy was really pissed that he didn’t think of it.)

He used magic to make them fly, and magic to allow them to breathe fire - literally, purely for The Aesthetic™. He also gave them a certain brand of telepathy - I’ll get to that later. But that’s all the magic he gave them (although, this was enough to give them a connection to magic that they can, in times of great need, draw on more magic to use at their own will. But that’s basically limited to a panic response, they can’t do it just whenever) and here’s where we get into my own takes.

Dragons are typically reptiles. They’re also typically warm-blooded. Like, super warm blooded - some stories have dragons who are hot enough to make rain turn to steam. Those two facts don’t really work together, so in my world, dragons aren’t reptiles at all. After a bit of research and screwing around, I’ve decided that they’re probably closest to monotremes - a group of mammal that lays eggs. Their scales are made of keratin, similar to an echidna’s (one of two types of monotreme) spines. They also have short, dense fur underneath the scales, and the males have manes. Male monotremes also have a venom spur, so my male dragons have venomous barbs at the tips of their tails.

Monotremes are born hairless, but I discarded that because...because shut up, is why. Baby dragons looking like little lumps of raw chicken didn’t work for my Aesthetic™. But, it seemed to much of a stretch to have them born with scales. Thus, for the first two weeks of their life, dragons are covered in a layer of extra-soft baby fur. The fur doesn’t come in the same variety of colours as their scales, but it’s usually as close as possible. For example, Avaura is going to be a red dragon, but at the point I’m currently up to writing, she’s just a little ginger puffball.

Ok, now for the telepathy thing. Originally, the God who made dragons was content to just let them communicate through body language, but (because this design process took a fair while) he saw how humans and elves were really benefiting from being able to communicate more complex thoughts to one another, and he changed his mind. Only, dang it, he hadn’t made a creature with the sort of mouths that could pronounce sound the way the others’ creatures could, so he had to find another way for them to communicate. One that didn’t drain too much of his own power. So he came up with a pretty complex system.

Baby dragons inside their eggs can sense the minds of people who touch the eggshell, and they imprint upon a creature - usually their mother - from inside, and only hatch when this creature is around to protect them through their vulnerable infancy. And then, only when that creature’s thoughts tell the small that it’s safe to hatch - well, mostly. If a dragon is waiting in its egg for too long, it can get impatient. Sometimes they make hasty decisions about who to imprint upon, and sometimes they do things like hatch when it isn’t safe once they’ve chosen somebody.

(There’s a famous figure in my world who decided to smash a bunch of dragon eggs. It backfired horribly, from his viewpoint anyway, and he ended up with like ten dragons imprinting on him because hey, this guy was better than nobody at all. He may or may not be real, but parents tell their kids about him to scare them away from being cruel to other children.)

Upon hatching, the baby dragon forms a permanent psychic link with it’s imprinted ‘mother’ where their minds become basically two parts of a whole. They can see through one another’s eyes, feel each other’s pain, and remember each other’s memories. They can ‘speak’ to one another without speaking, just by sending thoughts, images, sensations, etc., although in my actual writing I translate these into something like dialogue for readability purposes. When an entire clutch of eggs (which are usually around 30 at my current stage of worldbuilding, but that number might change idk) all the little babies who imprint on the one mother are connected to each other through her. Thus, they have a strongly matriarchal society - and since they can remember all their mind-partner’s memories, after a few generations a dragon is less of an individual being and more an amalgamation of several wise and ancient beings. If they could talk to you, it would probably be a pretty unsettling conversation.

Dragons usually live on a continent, a fair ways away from where the ‘people’ races live and where my story takes place, so when a dragon egg for whatever reason doesn’t imprint on its mother, its usually another dragon who takes care of the lil bab.

But, for reasons that aren’t and probably never will be known, there was one time that a heavily pregnant dragon decided to fly away from her home and lay her eggs in the land of peoples. These babies were all set and ready to hatch, and then tragedy struck and mummy dragon died. The babies never got to emerge from their shells, and there were no other dragons around to adopt them.

Thus, these babies, 30 or so of them (again, might change the number, idk) were left with no mind to tell them it was safe to hatch. So they didn’t. For quite a few years. Then along came a human that one little egg deemed worthy of imprinting on. This human became known as ‘scaled,’ due to the dragon scales, of the same colour as her mind-partner, that grew and spread from the spot on her skin that first came into contact with the egg. Humans aren’t dragons, though, and so the clutch of eggs were far pickier about picking one to imprint on. No two of them ever agreed on a person, and so each scaled human has only been partner to one dragon (aside from the one guy I mentioned earlier, but he’s a special case. And possibly fictional).

The scales growing on human mind-partners is basically the dragon magic trying to identify the hatchling’s mind-partner as another dragon, failing, and instead of accepting this, just going ‘well them I’ll make them a dragon!’ But of course, dragon magic being pretty weak, it takes far more than a single human lifetime for any real change to happen, so they just grow a few harmless scales on the surface. The scales are harder than human skin, obviously, so they make for somewhat decent armour, but just because they protect the skin from cuts does not make the area immune to any sort of bludgeoning or impact-based damage, as many scaled folk find out the hard way.

Avaura is the second-to-last to hatch of this clutch. One the last bab hatches, there will likely be no more scaled people. Unless of course, Something Happens. Which it might. Or might not. Who knows.

And my god, that was long. If you actually read all of that, thank you so much for listening!!!!!!! I hope it was even half as entertaining to read as it was to write :)

#WIP #Writing #Writeblr #Fantasy #Worldbuilding #Dragons #Scales WIP

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tamsythepansy · 6 years

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I went on a flight of fancy this afternoon and made my very own Niche Pride Flag (inspired by a euphoric conversation with a friend last weekend). Rather than just keep it to myself, I figured, hey, what else is Tumblr for?

Note that this is intended to represent me and me only; it’s an exercise in self-awareness and (re-)affirming my values. I guess I have a weird and nuanced relationship with the politics around pride flags and flags in general.

Here’s the breakdown:

Seven horizontal stripes for the seven letters of my given name (it’s a powerful name, and seven is historically an auspicious/significant number).

burgundy: passion, in both the sense of emotional passion (for things, ideas, people, etc) and spiritual passion (transformative suffering - good things in my life have often come out of very dark periods); recognition and acceptance of the fact that suffering is a part of life (a nod to certain alternative interpretations of the Garden of Eden story, and to the First Noble Truth in Buddhism).

mulberry: also known as murrey in heraldry. I developed a fondness for this colour during my last big period of self-assertion (when I was also heavily involved with the SCA); it felt like all the best qualities of blood-red and royal purple rolled into one. I use it here to represent what the Shambhala Buddhist community (from whom I’ve learned a lot) calls warriorship - a kind of dignified bravery - in my case encompassing a dedication to justice, ideally fuelled by the compassionate love known to Christians as agape (analogous to the Buddhist metta).

rose pink: queer femininity. My relationship to femininity is complicated and (like anything) context-dependent; what both defines it and makes it vague is that I perform it specifically for myself and for other women-aligned people (i.e., the usual definition of “femme” in lesbian communities), as well as to transgress the limitations of my assigned gender. I don’t know how much of it is essential to me, but I like it when other people recognize it in me.

white: non-binariness, analogous to the white stripe in the trans and genderqueer flags. However, my sense of my own gender is virtually a blank slate; I reject all essentialist notions of gender (and sex), and feel quite strongly that gender can only be understood in terms of performativity (at least on a personal level) and/or as a class system (on a societal level). Thus, my own gender quest is ultimately a lifelong exploration of throwing gendered attributes against a metaphysical wall and seeing if they stick; it’s a kind of openness, nothingness, don’t-know-ness that I have to be comfortable with.

(I realize this flag design is literally “centering whiteness”, as a friend of mine observed about the trans and genderqueer flags, but, as a white person, this is also a reminder to myself to be accountable for my own privilege and ethnocentrism.)

medium blue: boyishness; salvaging and sublimating whatever attributes of my assigned gender I find helpful or even important. Note that I construct “boyishness” as a very different thing than manliness or manhood, which I’ve never been able to identify with.

indigo/dark blue: spirituality, esp. mysticism. Should be self-evident if you read my posts, but I’m really into the idea of liberatory encounters with a divine presence that may-or-may-not be within us if not also outside of us, and calls us to work toward a vision of universal love and justice.

In case you haven’t noticed, I find God and gender to be very similar as they can’t be said to exist in a nuts-and-bolts sense of phenomenal reality, but this doesn’t preclude them being real or meaningful (after all, they affect us and the world around us).

forest green: renewal and resiliency. During my last big phase of self-assertion, I bought a dark green wool overcoat (think Captain Jack Harkness) at an army surplus store and wore it everywhere. I’m doing the same with a dark green corduroy jacket that’s belonged to a succession of important people in my life. Green is a colour of new growth, but here it’s focused and determined. Throw whatever you want at me, I’ll just reinvent myself and move ahead.

#about tamsin #personal log #tamsytalk #niche pride flag #gender quest

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ripleyink · 6 years

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Disgraced Deviants - Tommy Conlon

Author’s Notes: I have more of this written and saved but I wanted to post this to see if it was for anyone’s interest. If there’s anything particularly triggering in here--besides what’s already mentioned and my bad grammar--let me know. Sometimes I miss things. Length: Longer than my John Shelby fic--not as long as I originally intended it to be (seriously this was almost 10 000 words, I cut it back a lot). Rating: For adults. Definitely for adults. WARNING: Violence, a woman does get physically attacked in this so be warned, strong coarse language, and mentions of PTSD, implications of domestic abuse.

Someone was shouting at another outside but no one inside was paying attention.

The erupting noise of a bang filled the enormous space of the boxing gym, its sound fitting to that of a large sack of meat being slammed forcefully against a cement surface. It wasn’t far off from that image conjured in the majority of the attendees heads since their attention was dragged to one of the three boxing rings; entranced by the fight going on in that ring rather than their own business.

In the ring that had captured the attention of the others, Tommy Conlon had his opponent pinned beneath his weight, only partially aware of his elbow digging deep into the younger boxer’s already bruising side. Tommy couldn’t recall his name, couldn’t bring to mind what he said about where he came from or what his reason was for wanting to fight Tommy. All Tommy managed to remember in the heat of his oncoming victory was that the guy was left-handed; he grabbed with his left, swung with his left and dodged to his left and this observation made by his more experienced opponent was ultimately his downfall.

The ex-soldier held him down without struggle, his arm wrapped securely around his opponent’s neck while he waited—the trapped man whipping back and forth like a desperate animal—for him to tap out. The longer Tommy held him, the more frantic the younger man became, and soon he was grabbing the back of Tommy’s neck, sloppily throwing unseen punches into any part that would cause momentary weakness. The more he chose to struggle and fight against his inevitable defeat, the harder he was pinned into the floor of the boxing ring. Tommy was getting fed up with how stubborn this kid was choosing to be and glanced over at his coach, Paddy, for some assistance in persuasion.

Paddy, donning a beige flat cap in the gym with his matching ensemble of casual beige and white clothing, nodded in understanding and stepped up to the ring. He crossed his arms and perched them on the edge of the ring’s platform, lowering his head to meet the younger competitor’s eyes. It was time for a little heart-to-heart with one of the younger souls.

“Hey kid,” Paddy rasped, attracting the pinned boxer’s attention. “Tap out, okay? There are no heroes here.”

The boxer who was practically merging into the ring’s floor by the undeniable force of Tommy Conlon couldn’t have been older than twenty-two. While he was muscular like all the other men present in the gym at that exact moment, there was no life experience in his eyes; life ages a person, experience ages a person, but his olive-toned skin, jet black hair, strongly-defined jawline, and dark brown eyes kept any trauma he may have suffered perfectly concealed. There was no puffiness to his face, no blemishes, and no little flaws that gave character to the likes that walked in and out of the boxing rings. He was identifiably fresh, new and extremely naïve to go up against Tommy Conlon who was known for knocking his opponents down within the first five minutes. Unless this guy magically turned into Brendan Conlon, Tommy’s brother, he was screwed from the get-go.

When Paddy saw that this guy was stubbornly refusing to tap out, the older man swallowed a harsh lump forming in his throat and leaned in closer. “Listen, he’s already been to prison—I’m not fond of him going back based on charges of murder of a stupid kid who didn’t want to hurt his ego. Tap out now or get choked.”

Those few seconds of rushed contemplation was enough for the younger boxer to really consider his situation. Frantically, he slapped his hand—not tapped; slapped—against Tommy’s swelling bicep that seemed to be closing little by little against his throat. Tommy’s arm weakened, releasing his defeated challenger from his vice grip. There was an obvious sense of indifference he displayed when the man gasped as he inhaled the musky but welcome air of the gym, his forehead pressed against the dirty floor of the boxing ring. The champion—glistening beneath the white lights as if his own sweat had formed a protective sheen—pulled himself to his feet, tearing his mouthguard away from his teeth and spat into a blue plastic bucket left on the side below the platform. There was no crimson swirls of blood mingling with the saliva; something which Paddy Conlon considered to be a win for health more than rank.

But what it also meant was that this guy, the one who naively went up against his son, wasn’t a challenge. Tommy had only been out of prison for a couple of months yet there was something rippling inside of him; a heat, a desire to burn and war against anyone willing to go up against him. Since the fight he had with his brother and the witness of what level of power the Conlon brothers could drag from their damaged souls to use in a boxing match, no one had been tempted. No one wanted their heart to stop working because their opponent’s aim was a little too good and the force of their punch a little too severe.

But Tommy wanted a challenge. He wanted someone to throw him off, to make him forget his own existence and simply be in the present of the fight. Whatever this man’s name is or was—if he had told Tommy it went right over his head—he wasn’t good enough. He was too young and very stupid.

Paddy eyed his son moving to the edge of the ring, resting his arms on the rope while he continued to spit out saliva that had built up in his mouth. His father dropped down to collect the water bottle left on the floor, pulling the cap for Tommy before he handed it to him. Studying his son, Paddy grew concerned that Tommy wasn’t resting because he needed a break but because he was giving the other guy one. Had Tommy gotten worse while being in prison? Had he become more aggressive?

“Tommy,” he fixed Tommy with a calm yet intense look. “Hold your position but give them some room to breathe, alright?”

Tommy nodded at him, but it didn’t seem very sincere. Still, Paddy wasn’t going to push it at that moment in particular, since he was concerned about the kid who had boldly, and arrogantly, decided to go up against his son. In his defence, he didn’t know Tommy had been training even in prison; keeping himself in shape and focused under the watchful eyes of military prison guards. Maybe that was why Tommy had been so ruthless in this fight; prison had really made him learn what it meant to survive in a harsh environment.

The older man returned to where the younger fighter was; he had collapsed onto his back, breathing rapidly with his eyes squinted shut and protected teeth clenched at the inevitable agony he was feeling. Paddy leaned closer to the man clutching his side, hearing him grunt and groan through the overwhelming sensation. Once again, Paddy crossed his arms over and rested them against the edge of the platform, barricaded by the ring’s ropes from the man who would need a stitch or two above his left eye. The man’s bled through five different wounds that Paddy could see from his angle. There was probably more and definitely some internal bleeding to add to this guy's medical bill.

“Well, I can’t say you don’t have some balls, kid, but there’s a thin line between holding your own and being stupid. Learn to let your pride and ego go and tap out earlier next time.”

With that being said, he reached through the gaps in the rope to give a supportive pat on the young man’s arm. He was probably one of those kinds of people who fight others because they have self-esteem issues.

“WILL YOU FUCK OFF!”

“Why?! So you can run circles around me?!”

“—fucking following me to the gym now, what is wrong with YOU?!”

“YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO FUCKING PAY ME, YOU ASSHOLE! THAT’S HOW THIS SHIT WORKS!”

Everyone in the gym was dragged abruptly into the sudden commotion occurring inside the walls—Tommy and Paddy being of no exception when their eyes and ears were called to the attention of the two people having a shouting match inside. Natural curiosity and instinct toward the out-of-norm was enough for all the coaches, the fighters and general visitors to pay attention to the drama. Tommy’s brow furrowed while he watched.

Without any confusion stood a man and a woman arguing with their voices raised. The man was someone familiar to all whether it is more so to some and less to others. His name was Bobby Fisher; a frequenter to this particular gym and an all-round irritating sort of character with spiked, copper hair, a patchy beard, tattoos of naked women marking every inch of skin his torso could provide and dark brown eyes that always had a feverish glimmer in them. It was the kind of stare a rabid dog might have but because Bobby preferred to punch a bag than a person, he was relatively harmless to the other fighters. Tommy had never spoken to him nor had any interest in him until this moment.

To add further character to his appearance, Bobby was also a tall, broad-shouldered man. He towered over others easily and the woman he was screaming at the top of his lungs at was no exception. In fact, she was about average in stature but far more simple in appearance than Bobby. Her blonde hair hung long in a rather boring style, her nose was tipped upward at the end, the shape of her face was round but not unattractive, and while her eyes were wide in the heat of her emotions the colour wasn’t identifiable to Tommy. He couldn’t tell. His eyes snapped to the movement beside her jean-covered leg, slightly stunned to see a large German shepherd pacing to and fro behind her. Tommy could see it was on a leash; but it growled and barked whenever Bobby took a step closer to its master and that made Tommy concerned that a leash won’t hold it back.

The young woman’s breathing shook, her fingers combing through her hair while she tried to calm herself down. “Bobby, you owe me five months rent… I’ve tried being understanding of your situation and everything but I’m not doing this anymore… I need to survive as well…”

“You followed me to the fucking gym—what part of that is fucking reasonable?! You fucking stalking me for money now, like, what the fuck is wrong with you?! You’re a fucking psychopath!”

“You want a place to live,” she whispered vehemently to him, “you have to pay the fifteen hundred for it or else I’m going to throw your shit on the street and lock you out.”

It was so abrupt that it didn’t process anyone’s mind for a moment—not even Tommy’s or Paddy’s. In a mere millisecond, Bobby’s arm came up and his closed fist connected directly into the side of the woman’s face. She doubled back, tripping on her booted feet while Bobby stomped forward, gripping her by her hooded jacket and bringing her closer just as he slammed his fist once again back into her face. The second punch was what snapped everyone present out of their shock.

But no one acted as quickly as Tommy did.

Tommy gripped the rope and jumped over, propelling himself toward Bobby as soon as his feet touch the ground. His peripheral vision fell out of focus as his directive became clearer to him; gone was his thought process, replaced by military training and basic human instinct mingling together with a rage that only ever emerged in the controlled environment of mixed martial arts. It overwhelmed Tommy and pushed any other sense out of his mind, out of his concentration.

His palm connected violently with the side of Bobby’s head, tightly clutching the gel-soaked strands of Bobby’s red hair and dragging him off of the woman whose screams were not missed by Tommy. The familiarity of the circumstances had caught Tommy Conlon in a trance of memory and the only thought screaming the loudest through the red fog was:

Get away from her.

“Get the fuck off me—” Bobby demanded, clawing at the side of Tommy’s arm with what tiny fingernails he possessed to use in self-defence.

Though there was a man bigger than him clawing at his arm, begging him to let him go, Tommy couldn’t hear any of his cuss-ridden pleas or the attempts to break through the fuzzy haze which clouded Tommy’s judgment. The voices, the yelling; all of it was a blur, blending into incomprehensible noise in the background which filled his ears but failed to reach his brain. In a swift, jutting movement, the fighter threw Bobby to the floor, far away from where he was safe. Bobby attempted to recover quickly enough to make an escape before any damage was made to his own face, but he wasn’t fast enough; bigger than Tommy, definitely, but not the kind of warrior he was. Tommy’s knuckles connected sharply, violently against the side of Bobby’s jaw. Then he hit him again, and again and another punch.

Every action he made was being spurned on by the sound of a dog barking… and the screams of the woman still ringing in his ears while she tried to shield her face from the blows…

On the outside was Paddy Conlon. He had seen Tommy get into a state but nothing like this; this was something animalistic, something buried so deep only now did it surface and it was appearing with a vengeance. He couldn’t comprehend the level of violence he was seeing, but his son, as cruel as it sounded, had put himself in a really terrible position. Tommy was on parole from the prison and a fuck-up as great as this would get him screwed over—possibly house arrest and another incident would lead to a return to prison. Paddy hurried over to his son, failing to move as hastily as he once did.

“Tommy!” Paddy rushed to his son, startled by the sheer ferocity on display. “Tommy, quit it! Tommy! Tommy, the fucking cops are gonna think you started this! Tommy, you’re on fucking parole! Let him go!”

The strength of the punches began to split skin apart, darkening the area of attention for the assaults as they swelled and would soon bruise, and all the while Bobby seemed incapable of kicking Tommy off of him. After some deliberation to risk their safety to break the fight up, the other fighters and gym attendees snapped into action. Several of the bigger guys wrapped their arms around Tommy’s stomach and arms, seeming to actually have difficulty tearing him away from Bobby’s beaten self. Each of them, all knowing Tommy well from his daily visits to the gym, restrained him as best as they could until they waited for the inevitable sense of rationality to clear Tommy’s clouded mind.

It was as if a blindfold had been removed the eyes of a raging bull. Tommy’s intense stare, not glancing for a second away from Bobby, softened into one of bemusement. He scanned the rest of the gym, seeking out something, but seeing it was nowhere to be found. The woman and her dog: where were they?

“Where is she?” Tommy mumbled, slipping his arms out from his restraint. He felt deflated suddenly; the same way air would come out of a tyre after puncturing it with a sharp object. He felt like someone had taken almost all of the energy from his body.

“She ran off! Girl had a swollen eye and was bleeding all over her face so I imagine she’s fucked off to the hospital or something,” one of the shorter, thinner gym attendees, Marlon, replied. He shrugged his shoulders when Tommy glanced over at him, clearly feeling safe standing in the boxing ring far away from where everyone else was.

Meanwhile, Paddy approached Bobby’s grunting, bloodied form lying awkwardly on the floor of the gym in a thickening mixture of crimson and speckles of saliva. The sight was truly saddening to see; probably appalling for someone who wasn’t accustomed to these sorts of brawls being carried out by unthinking, ferocious men behaving like wolves.

“Get back to what you were doing,” Paddy addressed the remaining attendees in the gym while glaring down at Bobby, “maybe Eddie won’t pull the shotgun out on you if you act like nothing happened.”

“What about the blood?”

He waved his hand, grumbling. “There’s blood in these kinds of places all the time, what’s a puddle of it going to do?”

“Give Eddie a seizure,” Marlon replied, shrugging his shoulders.

“We’ll have to risk it, won’t we?” He chuckled harshly, lifting an arm to point at the lockers. “Tommy, go have a shower and get dressed. We’re done here for the day.”

The small crowd eventually dispersed. The tension in the massive gym fizzled into an uneasy simmer but everyone remained on edge for another possible outbreak of anger. Some of the men laughed sheepishly to clear the anxiousness from their tightened muscles, others slipped back into systematic ritual of their training routine without another word, and some decided to head to the gym showers and probably spend the rest of their day and evening getting drunk. Paddy swept the back of his arm across his wrinkled, leathery forehead doused in a nervous sweat from before. He glanced over to find Tommy pulling the tape from his blood-coated knuckles, nudging the locker room door open with his shoulder. His opponent—who refused to tap out for as long as he could manage—far away from where Tommy was.

The older man sighed heavily, turning his attention back to Bobby. The ginger boxer was managing—though poorly—to lift himself off the ground, specks of blood spitting from between his blood-covered lips and scarlet-stained teeth.

“What the fuck—” Bobby mumbled sinisterly, trying to see through the one eye that wasn’t swollen. “Which fucking cunt did this?”

Paddy sighed even heavier than before, his eyes rolling. He, with a bit of difficulty, bent into a crouch beside the beaten man.

“I recommend staying down. The one who beat you has done time and well,” he laughed hoarsely, “frankly, you look like a prolapsed asshole.”

Bobby spat again onto the carpeted floor, levelling himself onto his less bruised side; supporting his weight on his forearm. “Where is she?”

Remarkably, Bobby seemed to have missed that conversation occurring just a moment before. The coach shrugged his shoulders, gesturing to wide space empty of any women at all. The gym itself, made up of grey and alternating shades of blue, was filled with only sweaty, putrid-smelling men who had been there for no less than a couple of hours. But no, no blonde with a German shepherd was there for Bobby to see or find. If there was one thing Paddy was going to learn from his own past, it was that Bobby was never going to see a blonde with a German shepherd unless he wanted cops on his ass and prison in his vision.

“Fuck knows,” he chuckled humourlessly. “But I have a good feeling your shit is gonna be on the sidewalk when you get home this evening.”

The copper-haired fighter gave Paddy an irritated but acquiescent stare. “Yeah, that’s probably what’s going to happen… I rent out a room from her…”

“You know what you’re gonna do when you see your shit on the sidewalk?” Paddy’s voice darkened threateningly, his hand snapping to clutch the back of his spiked hair in a harsh grip. “You’re going to take your things, leave the money you owe her, then fuck off and not contact her again. In case your dumb ass didn’t notice, there are at least twenty men who witnessed you beating the shit out of that poor woman and saw your ass get kicked for doing so. Really thin about your choices next time.”

He shoved his head roughly away, pushing himself out of his crouched position, turning on his heel.

“She—” Bobby began, being cut off rapidly by an aggravated Paddy.

“Listen, buddy, whatever excuse you’re gonna make—I’ve fucking done it already. Whatever excuse you’re gonna pull out of your ass to justify yourself, I’ve already been there. I know all the fuckin’ excuses. Don’t fucking try it.”

There was a pause filled mostly by the noise of Bobby breathing through his mouth. There was one thing hanging on Paddy’s mind about the whole incident: it was about money.

“How much do you owe the girl?”

Bobby clicked his tongue. “Fifteen hundred… she keeps fucking reminding me every fucking—”

The older man held up a hand to stop him. “Yeah… you have this impression I’m sympathetic. Do you have the money?”

He didn’t reply. The older man cocked a brow at him, snorting incredulously.

“You do, don’t you? You could’ve avoided getting your face punched in, you know.”

“The money’s for someone else. I owe a couple of people money. ‘s why I do ring fights and shit.”

Paddy snorted again. “Can an old man with a former alcohol problem give you some advice?”

Bobby glanced up at him. The fighter’s face was swollen and visibly sore, his lip was split, his left eye the size of an avocado seed and his black wife-beater singlet stained with his own blood.

Paddy didn’t blink.

“Get your shit together.”

#tommy conlon #tommy conlon fic #warrior 2011 #PLEASE READ THE WARNINGS #I AM NOT CATCHING FIRE BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T READ THE WARNINGS #I WARNED YOU

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