Destiny, Armored Core, TF2

He returns one night to his humble apartment, which is known to have vermin, and comes across a rat, which he could easily kill or set loose on the street.

But the rat- it is special. It seems to speak to him. Promises him every little thing he desires- talent, fame, and fortune. Recognition and esteem like he has only ever seen from afar; fine company like the wealthy men and women whose scraps he picks at over the sink.

Put me on your head, the rat says. Put me on your head and think of nothing.

It is strange at first, yes. Strange to feel another take control of his life and live it better than he ever could. To see miraculous things created with his own two hands, to feel his feet move in graceful and fantastic ways with a confidence he has never had.

But the rat delivers as he had promised: he receives promotions, notoriety, admiration. He is noticed. Envied. Every day is a waking dream, rubbing elbows with beautiful women and handsome men and influential personalities who lavish him with praise. It is addictive, this lifestyle- never mind that he is only ever truly conscious of it as a passenger of in own brain.

It is when he has reached heights few can ever conceive, with all that the rat had ever promised- a beautiful wife in a beautiful house with all the world in his palm, in possession of all the wealth and success a man could ever want, that the rat says that it is leaving.

Leaving? The rat cannot leave. Everything he is, the rat has provided.

"I have delivered on our bargain", the rat says. "I have brought to you all that you have ever dreamed. What more could you desire? I must live my own life, now."

The man is furious. He is terrified. He destroys the rat, in all of the ways that a rat can be destroyed, until nothing is left of it but a fine smear of marinara sauce.

He returns to the restaurant the next day moving like the shell of something hollowed-out and brittle. He cooks well- his fingers remember the movements, his eyes recognize the patterns, his mouth know without his asking what orders to speak and what platitudes make patrons smile pleasantly with their straight white teeth.

He retains the talents of the rat. The charm of the rat. All the worldly pleasures the rat had provided him.

Still, it seems, he is little more than a vessel for the talents of the rat.

But the rat is gone.

聖地巡礼✨✨

If you visit Tokyo, you should check out the real-life locations because there are many buildings used as models!

Easy as can be, perfect apartment dweller

Might take some convincing

Basically a coin flip

It will be an uphill battle but I might be able to, while saying goodbye to my deposit

No increased rent, deposit or argument could convince any landlord to let us in

Thjazi is a revolutionary. He is putting his body on the line. He is actively investigating and taking steps to counteract whatever it is the Sundered Houses are doing. He is speaking out publicly, inspiring people to follow in his steps. But taking those actions means that there are things he cannot do. He is a known face and a known troublemaker. His interactions are automatically suspicious. Several groups have a motive to take him down. He can't have an established home base that people know about. His money is assumed to be dirty. He has to watch his back constantly. Every stranger could have a reason to knife him when he's not looking. Even some of the people he can work with want him dead (*cough*Bolaire*cough*).

Hal is just a nice guy, a law-abiding citizen; and that let's him be a pillar of the community in a very tangible way. He is able to bail people out of jail, feed people who need it, etc. By maintaining his position in society (what some more radically minded people might call "complacence" or even "collaborating"), Hal is able to do the things Thjazi can't. Hal made a deal for Misha to be under house arrest in his own home. He can do that because he is a trustworthy member of society, and everyone knows where he lives. He can have a friendly conversation with the sister of one of his employees: that's not suspicious. Hal is covered in a veil of plausible deniability, and that allows him a lot of freedom in a way his brother could never achieve.

Both things are necessary. You need people who will openly lead and speak and put their bodies on the line. But you also need people who can open their doors without fear and make connections to the people who aren't that brave, who can't afford to be brave.

There's this Stop Killing Games movement in the European Union (which is GOOD and SHOULD HAPPEN and I hope they SUCCEED WITH PREJUDICE) but. That's the European Union. That's not Australia. Or the USA. Or any number of other places. Will a win there actually affect any of us outside the EU?

The reason that most of the momentum related to this issue is in the EU right now is because that's the most important and influential target; EU consumer protections are better and easier to influence than other Western major markets like the USA. Frankly, it doesn't matter where these protections happen so long as it's a market big enough that the developers can't afford to lose it. If Ubisoft can't sell games in any EU country unless they give them an end of life plan and aren't allowed to destroy them, then they have to obey those rules or they lose one of the biggest non-China markets in the world. There are several petitions and soforth targeting the EU directly and various European countries right now, some directly related to the global movement of Stop Killing Games and some completely independent but with similar goals. You can of course start a petition or whatever equivalent exists in other countries, but unless you think we can get regulations in China, they're not going to be nearly as influential as going for the EU. But I'm sure that if someone got one off the ground intheir own non-EU coutnry, the Stop Killing Games supporters in the relevant country would back it.

For anyone interested, Ross talks a lot about the Stop Killing Games movement on his youtube channel:

When GDPR appeared and was first approved big companies (like spotify, meta, sony, microsoft) had to instantly adhere to the new regulation. Now keep in mind GDPR is also an EU set of laws and regulations. HOWEVER because of it regulating one of the biggest ticket markets it was immediately added as company policy that it should follow GDPR protocol to every single user that requested it. It became standard practice now worldwide for any company that operates in the EU because its cheaper to operate the entire world under one blanket policy than to pick and choose and risk a big fine.

Stop Killing Games (USA) and Stop Destroying Videogames (EU) are localized efforts that will force the hand of big companies that want to operate in those big ticket regions to adhere to policy and given how hard it would be to have to separate and condition which countries get which policy it is highly likely to become a worldwide protection.

I'm not gonna just accept that this was 100% a coincidence. It's weird. Nothing's certain. But it feels sus as hell.

So we can probably expect a few SoS cards to show up in the marvel set.