#‘And other companies do worse things imo’ really. Really

[specialagentartemis]

This was on my post about how the owners of Hobby Lobby used the chaos caused by the US invasion of Iraq, which destabilized the country and caused the looting of the national museum of Baghdad, to smuggle thousands of stolen artifacts into the US to stock their Evangelical Christian propaganda Museum of the Bible.

Like, you do you, I’m not a cop and I’m not your mom, but damn why would you proudly and publicly proclaim this

[boyapologist]

oh yikes.....

[houseofbrat]

As someone who works in PR I am ASTONISHED at how bad Kensington Palace is at all of this. It’s the most interesting part of the whole thing for me. Well that, and how much it seemingly vindicates H&M and Harry in particular in what he’s said about the firm and the media’s role in protecting the Heir at all costs.

Yeah I work in PR for a public company and anytime we want to put something out we have to run it up the chain - we need legal and Investor relations and executive approvals.

Even if KP and BP had their individual PR teams, which makes sense, there should still be one main central PR office that everyone answers to that manages the entire royal families PR, makes sure schedules and press opportunities and STRATEGY AND MESSAGING all aligns, before running up the chain for final approvals. There’d be a social team and a crisis team and government relations team and a branding team and a general “talent rep” kind of team, all working in tandem to serve the overall strategy for the royal family.

The fact that there are so many cooks in so many different kitchens is why the royal family has had so many PR disasters honestly for decades now. They’re truly doing it all wrong. So many Worst Practices here, not Best Practices.

It really doesn't seem like there is an overall PR team. Just the separate entities

Yeah and that’s the problem IMO. They are a business that should be run like a business. They should have the individual departments I suggested, and even more, working in tandem.

The fact that there are so many separate entities with different agendas and priorities is a huge part of their problem IMO.

But Charles has been transparent for the most part!! And photographed repeatedly. It’s so bizarre when compared to KP, and feels passive aggressive to me to be honest lolol.

They’re really so so so bad at this 😭😭😭😭 but the British public and the media lets them get away with it 🙃🙃🙃

For heaven’s sake. If she’s recovering nicely, why resort to recycling old photos?

Other sources are making a pretty good case for the fact that it’s a November photo, taken after Catherine and the children visited the baby bank.

Does nobody, and I mean nobody, know how to do PR in that place anymore? Now it's pin all of this on just-recovering-from-abdominal-surgery Kate? Why not on William since they were so proud about how he was the one that took the photo? Somehow they keep making everything ten times worse.

I’m sorry, but I don’t believe for a second that Kate personally edited that photo together in such a way that it had to be killed as inauthentic. The pulling of the photo is likely more about the refusal to provide metadata or the raw image for proof rather than silly Photoshop choices. That isn’t an issue of “mummy going wild on the computer,” it’s a larger organizational issue about trust, transparency, and KP’s overall poor approach to news orgs and the press lately.

Why is Kate taking the fall? Why is William such a lout to let an ill Kate put this on her own shoulders rather than admit KP made an error or say KP is going to reevaluate their practices and make a change?

Are college interns running Palace p.r.? Because I cannot understand how they're botching this so badly. If Kate couldn't/wouldn't pose for a legit photo, then just don't release anything. The Royals are basically dumping tankers of gas on the inferno by playing all these games. 

Sorry, am I going insane? After saying they wouldn’t respond to these conspiracy theories, they

a) responded by putting out a doctored image,

b) responded to the backlash of doctored image by claiming the woman recovering from a medical issue was playing around in Photoshop, and

c) responded to the backlash of editing claims by putting out an image where the person in the photo is supposed to be Kate but could LITERALLY BE ANYBODY.

NONE OF YOU ARE FINDING THIS WEIRD? NONE?!

"Kate's Back"

Well, it is indeed a picture of Kate's back

Apparently the main symptom of her mysterious medical condition is that any photo with her in it immediately becomes grainy, blurry, or with people's wrists trying to escape into a fifth dimension.

Good Lord, I haven't followed a disaster story this closely since Oceangate Titan and this one may be even worse. The narrative is out of control and the rules have gone out the window.

They already lost control of the narrative at this point. No matter what they do now, they will be scrutinized more than they've ever been before. And they seem grossly unprepared for it.

She’s not even facing camera, how is this supposed to help? This just feeds the conspiracy theorists! headdesk

It's becoming a PR nightmare that only Olivia Pope can rescue.

Maybe the better question is that people are concerned about Kate's welfare, and most WERE okay with waiting under the timeline KP initially offered that is she will likely return by or after Easter.

However KP has mismanaged the messaging, and with that concern grows over how weird some of the updates are. The article explains why this medical time out is turning into an absolute PR crisis. It isn't so much about Kates right to medical privacy (she definitely deserves that )

It now is about institutional reliability, the heir William's arguably erratic or unusual behavior or his courtiers' comments, the mess with the all kill photoshopped/Frankensteined photo (which has never happened before with a palace released photo), the very different approaches from BP vs KP, etc etc. It's become bigger than Kate sad to say.

And ultimately now people are worried for her, in a way they wouldn't have been, because things have become so irregular and bungled. So the urgency to make sure she is safe and okay has become louder and more insistent.

“CNN is now reviewing all handout photos previously provided by Kensington Palace.”

“In editorial photography, photojournalists and editors commonly adjust a photograph’s exposure or color balance in order to more accurately reflect the scene. Most news organizations, including CNN, regard it as unacceptable to move, change or manipulate the pixels of an image. To do so would alter the reality of the situation the image is intended to document.”

“In the past, the family’s amateur photographs have been well received when posted on social media. But on this occasion, this photo was also released to media organizations as a handout and the palace wasn’t transparent about the fact it had been adjusted.

That will have damaged the trust between the palace and media organizations – many of which, like CNN, will likely be assessing all royal handouts. The editing storm has undermined the existing relationship and when public interest over any possible cover up escalates, as it has done recently, many news outlets will now have take that speculation more seriously.”

[witchqueenvisenya]

this fandom is truly something. on one hand they're hooting and hollering at hotd's "without our dragons, we're just like everyone else" despite that being not true because they have this tiny little thing called dragon dreams and the ability to command dragons (debate about nettles and sheepstealer aside — she was very much a dragonseed IMO). nobody contests that it is only the first men who can have green dreams and really only starks and immediate direwolf approved family that are safe around said direwolves so it is blatant envy and disdain that makes most of this fandom deny the targaryens their own special markers because of course if non targaryens like sansa command dragons it is much safer for the smallfolk amirite? but it is an undeniable hundred percent high septon approved fact that f!aegon will safely sit the iron throne and be accepted by everyone from the riverlands to dorne, despite really being... just like everyone else and actually worse than other leaders around his age bracket in the story. an untested young man who may be descended from the blackfyres who has little patience when he loses a simple game of cyvasse and has soundly rejected any notion of humility in saying that it is daenerys, an already tried and tested conqueror who must bow to him, supposed rhaegar's son aside... yes. this is the man who will bring stability. i know very well that daenerys saw a vision of people cheering on a cloth dragon, but where exactly? her visions in the hotu are sometimes straightforward, but not exact indicators. and while it is possible he manages to take king's landing (not without bloodshed and more tragedy for the smallfolk, a point never really addressed), i don't see anyone doing obeisance to him in the true sense. many nobles, who have seen considerable upheaval in the previous many years would apply a wait and watch strategy, since he doesn't really have a dragon to go and enforce his rule, and cannot exactly take his golden company (who originally meant to declare for daenerys) and go on tour while leaving the city as is. so... targaryens are just like everyone else but young griff is specialer than non targaryen rulers before him. the stablest perfectest boy king to ever grace westeros... hmm.

[miniopolitan]

The MySims ports arrived today! (And by today I mean "this evening" because EA is like the only company who doesn't release their games at midnight) I haven't tried Kingdom yet, but here are some first day thoughts for MySims. I played up to star rank 3.

This seems to be the most common complaint and it's definitely the most noticeable things about these ports: the controls are really weird. I got used to them pretty quickly but there are still moments where I find I have to wrestle with the controls a bit. Not game ruining IMO and I understand the Wii control scheme can sometimes be hard to translate to other consoles but I still think they could have done a better job. Apparently Kingdom controls are worse so I'm curious to check it out later.

I noticed some visual glitches, specifically the lighting will sometimes get weird if you're building something more complex. I've also seem reports of audio bugs from other people. Again nothing game ruining but I wish this was more polished.

Otherwise the game looks nice. It's pretty much the original game but with sharper textures. Also I think there are more hair and clothes? I don't remember all CAS parts from the original from memory but some stuff didn't look familiar to me.

For those wondering how the garden works: there's no multiplayer and all the new PC essences are available to everyone, no trading involved. The annoying thing is that this means the garden fishing and digging spots have HUGE pools of droppable essences and it takes forever to grind for copies of them. No multiplayer also means this is now just a huge empty area with nothing to do. You can build some houses here but you can't move anyone into them or anything like that, you still have to deal with the very limited amount of lots from the original game.

This probably isn't too impressive for those who played on PC but for someone who used to play the Wii original these loading screens are a dream. Going from the very long loading screens of the Wii to only one second AND the game autosaves during that is amazing. Hooray for technology.

So overall are they worth it? For me personally, I don't regret buying the bundle. They're games I really enjoy and I don't have a convenient way to play the Wii originals, plus even if I did this is probably the best version of the original MySims.

If you never played the series and are considering getting it? Ehhh maybe look up some gameplay of the original MySims because I suspect it's a game a lot of people wouldn't like; it's very repetitive. MySims Kingdom is very hard to define genre wise (it's an... adventure game? I guess?) but it's overall a very enjoyable experience that I would recommend to most people (assuming they didn't screw up the port somehow lol). At the end of the day these are pretty much straight ports of two 2007-2008 Wii games. You'll have consider whether that's worth 40$ to you.

[acaplaya-musings]

Prompt by @fallingblueroses: "We needed the money, Kath"

Loosely inspired by the zombie apocalypse mini-fics by @willows-adventures-in-words (and totally unconnected to my own fic that I wrote based off of VoicePlay's Thriller video)

Yeah so like most people probably, my brain initially thought of doing something silly/funny/random for this prompt, but that's not really a style I'm super great at writing imo - I overthink things and care too much about details. But then I was like "hang on, there's no rule saying this has to be comedic! I can do something totally different!" And then a evil grin spread across my face >:)

And yeah this is just over 2000 words because the concept of a story under 1000 words is foreign to me lol rip

It had been about roughly four weeks since the whole ‘Zombie Apocalypse Sickness’ thing had started sweeping across the country. Or maybe it hadn’t been quite that long, or maybe it’d been a little longer – it depended on who you asked. No one knew quite what to do about the infection victims; there was majority disapproval about putting them in hospital beds, not when a cure hadn’t yet been created, but any other method of restricting their movements was seen as inhumane by some, and just simply too risky by others. And so they were left to wander (or, in most cases, stagger).

Whatever was originally behind the “zombie outbreak” in the first place was also still unknown, but many feared that it was only a matter of time before the virus (or whatever it was) evolved and mutated, turning its victims more hostile and aggressive. However, not everyone shared the same concerns – the consensus amongst most companies was that so long as they still had uninfected employees, then their businesses would continue to operate, and the government agreed. It was one of the reasons why Geoff and Kathy were staying in their own house while many others had left – they were still expected to pay the bills, so they might as well continue to actually make use of the house while it was still safe enough. There was a contingency plan in place to use Pattycake Studios as a sort of ‘safety bunker’ if things got worse, but Kathy very much hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

Currently, it was nighttime, and Kathy drowsily reached an arm across to cuddle in closer to Geoff. But all she felt was thin air.

Kathy blinked her eyes open and turned on her bedside lamp. The other half of the bed was most definitely empty.

‘He’s probably just gone to the bathroom,’ she told herself, trying to stop herself from needlessly worrying too much. ‘I should just go back to sleep, and he’ll be back in bed before I know it.’

But still, Kathy couldn’t help but feel the need to check. It was at least somewhat irrational, but what with the whole looming threat of the zombie infection, and what was feared to have happened to… well, basically she would fall back asleep easier if she knew for certain where Geoff was.

Kathy grabbed a torch and slowly shuffled her way out of the bedroom and towards the bathroom. But the door was ajar, and there was no sign of Geoff. Kathy decided to check in William’s room, and William at least was still fast asleep in bed, but Geoff wasn’t there either.

She took a deep breath in and out, trying to calm herself as she felt her heartbeat increasing. ‘Okay, maybe he just went to grab a glass of water.’ But Geoff wasn’t in the kitchen, or the loungeroom, or any other place in the house.

Sitting down in the dark, Kathy held her head in her hands. How long had he been gone for without her realising it? She hadn’t seen any sort of note from him explaining his disappearance, but he wouldn’t have left without a good reason, right? She could try calling him, but she couldn’t remember whether she had actually seen Geoff’s phone still in the bedroom or not. And besides, surely Geoff would already be doing everything he could to get back home quickly – she had to be sure of that. But it was the potential ‘challenges’ he might be facing along the way that were the problem.

Kathy went back to the bedroom to go put on her hearing aids, then returned to the couch in the living room and lay down on it. There was nothing she could do right now but wait and hope, but she would stay here for now, so she would hopefully know immediately when Geoff arrived back home again.

Kathy must have drifted off at least for a short while, because all of a sudden she was hearing sounds of a car engine outside, specifically their van, pulling into the driveway. ‘Please tell me that that’s Geoff!’

She lay still on the couch, only barely peeking towards the doorway. She closed her eyes when she heard the sounds of the front door being unlocked. There was footsteps, and a light was briefly swept across her face. Then Geoff sucked in a breath and made an “ah” sound, likely having realized that his disappearance hadn’t gone unnoticed. He flicked on the ceiling light, and then bent down and placed a hand on Kathy’s shoulder.

“Kath?” said Geoff softly.

Kathy opened her eyes and looked up at him. “Geoff!” she said. Then in one quick movement, she got up from the couch and flung her arms around him. “Oh Geoff, I was so worried, where were you?” She pulled away to look at him properly. He was wearing a plain black hoodie, long black jeans, and black boots, and there was a black backpack next to his feet. “Seriously, Geoff, where did you go?” Kathy asked.

Geoff looked away uncertainly, and was quiet for a couple of moments before responding.

“I was helping us get more resources,” he said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you.”

“Resources?” replied Kathy, confused. “What do you mean? What could you even get at this time of ni-”

Kathy cut herself off as the pieces fell into place in her mind. The black clothing, the backpack, Geoff sneaking off in the dead of night without so much as a written note, the vagueness of his response.

“Geoff, please tell me you didn’t do what I think you did.”

Geoff held up his hands. “I swear it’s not as awful as you might be thinking, probably.”

Kathy sat back down on the couch. “You broke into somewhere, didn’t you?” she said, feeling like she already knew the answer.

Geoff sat down next to her. “I guess you could say that, yes,” he replied, hanging his head. “But look, I swear we didn’t cause any property damage, and nobody got hurt.”

“We? So the others were with you, then?”

“Layne and Eli, yes.” Geoff lifted his head and looked at Kathy. “Please don’t be mad at them, though. This was my idea, and my plan; they only mostly went along with it because they would’ve been worried for my safety if I did it alone.”

Kathy leaned up against Geoff’s shoulder, and he put his arm around her in an almost-automatic response. “Well you might as well tell me what happened, and what exactly you’ve come home with,” she said.

Geoff took a deep breath in and out. “You know that old cinema a couple blocks away from Oviedo Mall?” he asked.

Kathy raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, kinda?” she replied. “Didn’t that place get abandoned a few days ago after the last of its workers got infected?”

Geoff nodded, but otherwise gave no response.

“Let me guess, you went for the cash registers, didn’t you?” Kathy asked.

“We need the money, Kath, you know we do,” Geoff replied, looking at her with a pleading expression.

Geoff wasn’t entirely wrong – almost all stores had switched to only accepting cash since the whole zombie plague thing had become an issue, and fully-functioning ATMs had become an extreme rarity. It was a small blessing, at least, that Geoff and Kathy’s account was already set up to automatically pay bills as soon as they came in, but when it came to food, toiletries, gas, and other regular expenses, all they had to rely on was the money in their wallets and purses.

And Geoff… He hadn’t been quite himself for about a week now, not since Cesar’s disappearance. Cesar had said he was going to take a quick trip to see Omar to make sure he was okay, and that he was only going to be a day or two at the most. But that was the last time anyone saw him or heard from him, and nobody had been able to get in contact with Omar either. Of course the rest of VoicePlay couldn’t help but be seriously worried about their missing friend, but Geoff had taken it especially hard. Something in him had shifted – he had become quieter and more closed off, while at the same time seemingly becoming more determined to do whatever it took to keep the rest of his loved ones alive and safe. A few weeks ago, Geoff would have never even considered robbing somewhere, not even at his most desperate. But now, Kathy couldn’t even feel all that surprised about it.

“Okay, I’m not saying I’m in any way okay with this, but did you end up getting anything?” Kathy asked.

Geoff nodded again, and gently shifted away from Kathy so he could reach towards his backpack. He opened it and pulled out a small clear plastic bag with an assortment of coins and notes inside it. “This should hopefully last us a few weeks,” he said, “maybe even a month if we’re lucky, Layne and Eli took some as well; I figured it was only fair.”

“So the cinema really was totally abandoned?” Kathy asked.

Geoff pulled a face and looked away. “Well… for the most part, yes,” he replied.

“Geoff, what happened?”

“It wasn’t really anything that bad, no police or anything like that, just some young guy. Could’ve been a cleaner, could’ve been a security worker, or could’ve just been someone trying to use the place as a hideout, but whoever he was, he must have heard us moving around.”

“Were you spotted?” Kathy asked.

“No, but it was a close call,” Geoff replied.

He explained how he and Layne had dashed over to hide behind a large movie standee, while Eli had simply ducked behind one of the concession counters. Geoff peeked out from behind the cardboard display, and saw the unknown man sweeping his torch around. Then he realized in a panic that the man was walking towards where Eli was hiding, and so Geoff did the first thing that came to his mind: he created a distraction.

“A distraction?” asked Kathy. “What kind of distraction?”

“It might just be easier if I demonstrate,” Geoff replied. He closed his eyes and began to make a low growling sound, almost in subharmonic territory, if not slipping in and out of it.

“Ah, I see. Trying to scare him off then, were you?” Kathy replied, unable to stop the corners of her mouth from pulling upwards.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Geoff replied with a small grin (a rare sight these days).

Layne, as always, had been quick to catch onto Geoff’s line of thinking, and had joined in with his own sorts of ‘zombie growls’. It had certainly been effective in getting the stranger to freeze in his tracks, but there was still no sign of him actually leaving anytime soon. So Geoff decided to take a small risk by taking the zombie impersonation a step further.

Slowly, Geoff moved out from behind the standee. He had pulled his hood up and tried to cover his face with his hair as much as he could, so to avoid it being obvious that he wasn’t actually infected. He lurched towards the young man, limply raising up one arm in his direction, while continuing the growl sounds.

“But the zombified people aren’t actually aggressive!” Kathy pointed out. “And they don’t typically growl, either.”

Geoff gave a half shrug. “Well there haven’t been any reports of aggressive zombies yet, but it’s bound to happen sooner or later, and someone’s gotta be the first to encounter a hostile zombie, right?” he replied. A small grin crept up on his face. “You could say the same thing about the growling,” he added.

Regardless, Geoff’s plan had worked, thankfully, and the young man had bolted in terror.

.

Kathy placed her hand over Geoff’s and looked at him solemnly.

“Geoff, if you’re ever going to do anything like this ever again, please tell me first, okay?” she said.

Geoff blinked at her in surprise. “Aren’t you going to tell me to never do something like this ever again?” he asked.

Kathy sighed. “Well of course I’d rather you didn’t, but I know how tough things are right now, and I’d rather I at least know where you are and what you’re doing, rather than having another night of waking and finding you completely gone because you’ve snuck off somewhere again.”

Geoff nodded. “Fair enough, I guess,” he replied.

With her free hand, Kathy reached up to Geoff’s face, stroking his cheek with her thumb. “I love you,” she said.

“I love you too, Kath.” The two of them leaned closer and connected with a soft, gentle kiss.

Geoff and Kathy were living in unpredictable times, but Kathy knew that so long as they still had each other, they were going to make it through.

[narcoticwriter]

The thing that really gets me about Elira's stream is that she said MANAGEMENT told them there was a risk of their personal information getting out there and them getting doxxed. There's a few things about that that just don't sit right with me.

1.) You cannot condemn someone for a doxxing that didn't happen, especially if you don't have proof that they were planning on doing so. Collecting information for legal is standard, not shady. So this was 100% meant to paint Selen/Doki as someone who is vindictive, by saying she *could* dox them. Even if she hasn't. Even if she wasn't planning on it.

2.) This tells me that management was intentionally fear mongering. Intentionally riling up the other livers. Either to get them to act out, or to isolate either party. Somethings fishy about that.

3.) This... this feels like classic union busting tactics. I know they're not trying to unionize, but union busting tactics can also be used in situations like these. Which just makes anycolor look worse imo

Agreed! The fact that the company told the livers that she could doxx them is crazy, especially since they were never meant to see those documents in the first place. And I find it surprising that despite the repeated statements from Doki stating that she did not want this to be public, they keep dragging her back into it.

Yup, and I've also heard about how Vox has been doing mentally and this to me feels like a textbook play to get him especially to act out. And given his reputation and previous actions, they were betting on that.

It wouldn't surprise me if this is what they're doing. They're actively breaking the morale of their livers and it seems to be working well enough from the outside. However, I also think they underestimate some of their liver's ability to take bullshit.

In general, I don't think ANYCOLOR realized how anti-corporate a good chunk of their English-speaking audience was and quite frankly, it's a disaster every time they try to do something else after the initial precedent of the termination letter.

I don't see this issue going away anytime soon and quite frankly, I no longer think it should. This is the final nail in the coffin for this branch and if it withers and dies, then I suppose it does.

[dearweirdme]

You know watching AYS just made me realize that no ship is real. These boys are not dating each other and depending on the day, they pretty have a very similar kind of friendship. You know how we always talk about paying attention to the little things? When you really pay attention to those little things it kinda makes it clear that they are all just friends.

In this episode Jk didn’t know if Tae’s glasses were prescription glasses or not, Tae asked Jimin if Jk learned how to flip the soju bottles before opening them from him, Jk attitude too. Sometimes he could be extremely sweet to both and sometimes he just there with both. Like that previous anon said, Tae was basically on his phone almost the entire time and even when they went out to eat, it was mostly Jimin and Jk talking with each other while Tae was either on his phone or just in silence and only contributing to the conversation every once in a while. I don’t think any of those boys are dating each other. They are all just friends and their friendship with each other isn’t even that different when you really look at things.

The previous anon mentioned Tae being on his phone alot and I also did notice that about him in alot of BTS content. We may talk all we want about the company potraying him in a certain way but do we really believe that all these years the company has been making him stay on his phone while Jimin and Jungkook are off playing around? Maybe that is why we always had way more Jikook content because even in Are you sure you can clearly see it while they eat. It also makes sense now why Jimin and Jungkook always spoke about being all nighter friends because even in this show you can see how Tae leaves and goes to bed earlier than them and they stay up together playing or talking or whatever before finally going to bed around 4am or so.

Hi anon!

I just finished watching, and I don't feel the same. I think we look at different things when we talk about 'the little things'. To me the little things are Tae and Jk always going to sit next to each other. It's them always walking closeby. It's the looks they share. It's the softness in their voices. Things like that.. are abundantly present all throughout Are You Sure. The difference between Tae and Jk and Vmin and Jkk is really striking to me. Sure Vmin are seen together a couple of times, because they drive in the car together... it's cute.. it's not intimate. Sure Jkk joke and banter and cuddle for some moments, but it's those tiny moments and there is no draw to each other in the moments that aren't banterous. It's some kind of constant thread between Tae and JK though.

The examples you gave of your 'little moments' weren't what you felt to me. I think they do wear glasses with and without prescription and that's why Jk asked. He even knows his eyesight is worse than Tae's. The soju bottle thingy can just be something he doesn't do often, or has learned only recently.. it's not that deep imo.

I don't see how your last paragraph connects to Tae and Jk not being together. I have always known that Jk and Jm hang out at night together because their sleeping paterns match more at times. I've even told Jkkrs that often enough. That has nothing to do with relationships though. WHy should Jk go to bed when he isn't tired yet? Why shoulds Tae stay up if he wants to sleep (and note that sleep was at one thing a very heavy issue for them.. especcially Tae). There are so many hours in the day, in this show we have only seen about 1 hour of content.. which leaves so very much open.

I have thought since episode one that Tae possibly joined them just to be able to spend time with Jk. That feeling has only grown stronger.. the feeling I have from this, is that Tae was joining Jk on a working schedule just because he could. He was in the show, but he wasn't as committed to it as Jk and Jm were. Not because he didn't want to, but because it was work for Jm and Jk.. and it was work/private time for Tae.

[tomwambsgans]

a core thing about tomgreg imo is the fact that while they contend with what seems to them (and sometimes are) Really Huge Deals, they're essentially non-players in the world no matter how high up they go. their fears about the stability of their station and attempts to secure it are more often than not naive, and the majority of big moves that they make are on accident or lucked upon. now this isn't to diminish the years of hard work on tom's part to strategize and work his way up, but the fact of the matter is that for him and greg alike it's 99% schmoozing and betraying people's trust and even then having someone else to pull them up - purely on a whim thats usually contingent on how well they can ingratiate themselves - because they genuinely do not belong here.

it's why tom is in the executive floor needing to get greg to smell his breath and play a punchbag so that he can feel confident amongst his supposed "peers", and why tom's plans about the cruise scandal probably didn't even make a difference in the long run other than make things worse for himself, and why in argestes it's the roys dealing with a completely unrelated source for that scandal, a REAL scandal while tomgreg is basically running in circles and panicking about We Hear For You, and why greg having the cruise documents only ultimately got him in with kendall enough to get him an apartment while any notion of corporate security basically went out the window in no time, and why the only thing tom had to show for himself re: mencken and the election was "calling it" and that of course meant nothing (not that it was bad but that it wasn't necessary), and why greg having the information about shiv in the finale didn't do anything for him.

they are not only a duo of clumsy interlopers but people who Things Happen To rather than the ones who make things happen, even now. tom is only able to be ceo because the state of the company specifically called for a ceo who is a puppet. a pain sponge and his greg.

there is of course a greater message of how capitalism is rarely a meritocracy anyway and it's ALL just people lucking into their positions, but the difference between tomgreg and the roys is that the latters' luck was the DNA that they were born with, and tom and greg had to make theirs, and that is SO much flimsier. like the show ended where it needed to but realistically past the vaccuum of narrative it's inevitable that they'll reach the end of that stick someday. and it won't be a tragedy either bc they'll have already wrung out everything that they could have reasonably wanted from their elite stations by the time that day comes. even if it's an ousting it WILL be an escape bc they'll be cashed out with offshore accounts to live the rest of their lives on an endless vacation and fuck nasty forever

[yuikomorii]

It's unfair that some characters do not get as much spotlight, but our Fandom isn't responsible for that. Rejet, as a company, made a decision to portrait Ayato as the main lead.

Does that means he's better, and that his route/character development is written to perfection, while others aren't "good enough"?

HELL NO. Absolutely not.

Some parts of Ayato's development with Yui felt really rushed imo, or the main conflict on CD Dramas getting "solved" (if there's even a resolution) with 0 lessons learned.

We should see all characters equally for their difficulties, as well as acknowledge their flaws. But everyone has their favorites. Sometimes, we just want to praise them for the sake of praising instead of analyzing everything/every character so thoroughly. It's okay.

Do what you enjoy!! Don't let others talk down to you.

+

I hope you are alright ♥, you did an awesome, informative post that has been seen and agreed with by many people. Time to pat yourself in the back for a job well done.

Don't forget to hydrate, and I wish you the best.

// To be honest, I think the anime is the only occasion when not everyone gets enough spotlight because their routes are as long as Ayato's. Everyone receives a lot of content, and DL got so much merch that I doubt anyone will be able to gather every piece of their favorite character. ^^”

I have never seen anyone saying that Ayato got the best development, because he definitely didn’t. After the curse got broken, he started acting like a normal teenage boy. His true face was described by Rejet as “pure-hearted”, therefore I don’t think there’s much room for personal improvement when you have always been brave, empathetic and self-sacrificing. Nor can they totally get rid of his impulsiveness or occasional arrogance, since everyone needs to keep some flaws. However, it’s true that, while he doesn’t develop incredibly, he does mature a lot throughout the games. I guess that’s one of the reason why his smile starts fading away game by game. After all, he begins to see things exactly as they are.

While it’s true that his DF route is considered by Japanese players as the best written one in the franchise, it’s still very weak compared to routes from other otome games. I truthfully believe everyone deserved better routes, given that they’re all so rushed for unknown reasons. Maybe it’s just me but I feel like most of the time everything escalates too quickly?? And some conflicts between the characters are so random and just there to add unnecessary drama.

Furthermore, whenever new official art comes out, I'm always excited to see how others react to their best boys. I really like seeing people thirst for their favs and I believe more people should do so, without the fear of being judged.

Last but not least, there will always be characters who go through more horrible stuff than others, yet people should understand that this doesn’t make their trauma the most important. Even in real life, it’s not good to invalidate someone’s feelings only because someone else “had it worse”. I understand that it’s amazing how some people manage to stay resilient, but not everyone is like that. On top of that, the jokes about the Diaboys’ traumas I’ve seen in this fandom will never be funny. I hope nobody is planning to post such things again because ew—.

Thank you for your ask, it was interesting to read! I’m glad my post helped others understand him better!! I wish you the best too. 💕

[smokestarrules]

hi! i wanted to ask u a question abt gwitch if that’s okay. during That episode 17, before miorine does the cruel/idiotic betrayal breakup she tells guel that she’s the same as him and also doesn’t want to lose her precious things. obviously she meant suletta but i was always confused, bc she’s still going thru with the backstabbing and pushing her away so she IS losing her precious thing unlike guel who with this deal is preserving his precious thing which is jeturk company by partnering w her. so they’re not the same in that sense OR did she mean 2 other ways: that she doesn’t want to lose the precious suletta she knows and loves to prospera’s manipulations that’ll turn her into a murderer, or that she means it like suletta will surely die on this path if it continues and she doesn’t want to lose her literally.

sorry this got long but i’m v curious how u interpreted that, like she said that and then goes and gives up her precious thing- unless it was the latter reasons i mentioned. also i’m realizing now it sounds like i hate miorine, i don’t, i get what she did and im nuetral/like her character but i never got the catharsis and resolution from that act bc of the rushed ending, and now i have this unresolved frustration and anger towards her that pops up sometimes when i think abt the 2nd cour.

i rly rly wish they’d gotten to talk abt this more during their reunion than just the one line “pulling u away from ur mom, it was all a mistake” like i desperately needed the words im sorry. i KNOW she probably said it offscreen but maaaan, i know u like this trope but break your heart to save them gets under my skin so badly i just want to shake the character!

this got long again i’m so sorry for the rambling, like i said i’ve got baggage from ep17 that imo didn’t pay off well enough to justify doing that. i still ship sulemio tho and am so happy they’re married, it just breaks my heart that we didn’t get more episodes to unpack that miorine acted exactly like her father. have a good day! thanks for reading all this if u did

To me it was both of the reasons you yourself mentioned: Miorine weighed her options, and ultimately decided that Suletta would be worse off if she didn't cut ties with her in the worst possible way. As a result, Suletta would be taken out of the most dangerous areas (re: Prospera also giving her up, as was the deal) and she wouldn't be further corrupted by Prospera either.

There just really wasn't any good decision to make. I love that episode because I think it's incredibly good character development for Miorine to be able to make that choice; she's always been somewhat of a selfish character and that's been shown alongside her protection of Suletta, so obviously this is a huge decision for her no matter what.

I would have also loved to see an apology, but unfortunately it's pretty clear that the tail end of the show was pretty rushed and while the scene we did get of their reunion was done incredibly well, there's a few things that they simply ran out of time for. In the end, I think I would have loved a true season 2 where they could flesh everything out more slowly and thoroughly, but I am happy with what we were ultimately given. You are absolutely valid to have some misgivings about how it all went down.

[i-have-bees-in-my-brain]

Thinking about the role system of the clans and how it is cemented in the different dens for each role. This has both positive and negative impact imo.

I love the sleepover or youth hostel vibey potential of the apprentice den. Staying up late to talk, plotting shenanigans, sneaking out, complaining about your annoying siblings snoring, cuddling with your friends after an exhausting day of training.

With the warrior den, i really like what was described in TPB when Fire and Gray were made warriors and (i think) Whitestorm, but definitely a mentorly figure, released them from the silent vigil and showed them free space in the warrior den to get some rest. A really wholesome thing which i think should be a tradition for former mentors to do, because it signifies that even now when the newly named is a Warrior, a part of the main protectors and providers of the Clan, they are themselves cared for and protected by the other warriors.

This first sleep of a warrior should also be jokingly referred to as an important ritual and base for one of these traditional unfunny jokes among the senior warriors. Young warriors are so lazy these days, sleeping till sunhigh.

Also it's so funny to me to think of Tigerclaw and Fireheart as roommates

These dens really signify the connection of a clan. To be one of the warriors isn't just a job, it's what shapes each day and night. They are always around each other, for better or worse. A betrayal hurts so much more when they have slept next to you everyday. A cat that died or left the Clan leaves a hole in the order of things. The remaining ones will feel it in the morning by the lack of warmth on their pelts. But eventually they'll fill the gap as time passes and new warriors join.

I like that the leader and the medicine cat sleep alone. These are important, sacred roles and it is an honour to have their own space, but it can be cold and lonely. They may have power, but they lose this understanding and community that comes with the other dens. It might push them to seek company with each other, or (mostly in case of the Healer) with their counterparts in the other clans.

StarClan is closer to these cats because they sleep alone. Their dreams are easier for StarClan cats to wander in because they aren't huddled together with others, and they sleep deeper because they are undisturbed. This is maybe also why StarClan sometimes seems more distant when they are most needed, because the healers will be busy and sleep less deeply when they have many patients to attend to.

Where the deputy sleeps may signify their role within the clan, which can vary depending on clan traditions and the current leadership's preferences. They could be seen as the first among the warriors, something between their manager and their union represantative, and thus sleep in the warrior den, maybe in an elevated or especially good spot. Or they have an entire den on their own, maybe if they are primarily seen as the heir. Some leaders may choose to share the den with their deputy if they are close and rely on them a lot. This might also happen if the leadership sees themselves as very much above the commoners.

[strawbrygashez]

Under the cut is questions and answers to some otp prompts I gathered. They are for Fillmore x Gnarly bc no one cares enough about the ship to ask me questions about them 💀💀

————————————————————————

• Who fell for the other first?

Fillmore totally fell in love first. I think Gnarly knew of Fillmore but didn’t think much of him tbh. He thought his style was kinda cool and wouldn’t hate talking to him but he just didn’t think much about him. For Fillmore, it was pretty much love at first sight.

• Who made the first move?

While I think Fillmore would have been the first one to try to start a conversation, Gnarly is the one who would have to make the first real ‘romantic’ move. Fillmore is too awkward to do it himself.. and or he’d do something he thought was an ‘move’ but Gnarly misses it because Fillmore is so awkward/weird about it.

I haven’t thought too much about what the first move Gnarly would exactly do is but maybe something like holding Fillmores hand while they walk because Fillmore keeps bumping his hand on his.. hm 🤔

• What personality trait do they love the most about each other?

Gnarly loves how weird and off putting Fillmore is. Gnarly has just always found himself enjoying the company of ‘weirdos’ and loners most his entire life. He also is entertained by how passionate Fillmore is about his interests even if he himself doesn’t believe in all of his conspiracy theories.

Fillmore loves how effortlessly cool Gnarly is. Even taking away the crushing aspect, I think Fillmore genuinely would look up to him in a few ways. Like yeah Fillmore has fun freaking people out by screaming about conspiracies but he also dreams about successfully pulling off the ‘mysterious bad boy vibe’ like Gnarly 💀 but a few things are stopping him.. (mostly the mental illness)

• What are things they don’t agree on?

Conspiracy theories

Extremely g0rey movies & extreme metal music (Gnarly loves them)

Weather preferences. (Gnarly loves winter, Fillmore doesn’t because he always feels cold no matter the time of year. Winter just makes it worse)

The Smiling Friends (Gnarly doesn’t hate them as much as Grim does but he still thinks they are lame)

How many blankets should be on the bed. (Gnarly would be fine with a super thin blanket with holes in it while Fillmore could sleep with every single blanket he can get his hands on in the house)

• Love Language, Flirting Style, bigger tease?

Fillmore in my mind is terrible at flirting. He can barely even do it if he tries. Most of the time whatever comes out of his mouth that’s supposed to be ‘flirting’ might come off as creepy or just weird. Hes better at flustering Gnarly when he doesn’t think of what he’s doing as ‘flirting’. Like when he just genuinely speaks from his heart or puts a lot of effort in to show that he cares about him, that gets to Gnarly a lot more than just some odd ‘flirting’ line. So I guess his main love languages are acts of service and words of affirmations.. OH yeah Fillmore complements him lots :) for his looks, stuff he does, and how.. he smells (ew)

Gnarly is a horn dog IMO!!!!!!!!!! His flirting is really blunt and freaky.. and he’s the ‘bigger tease’ between the two. He doesn’t even need to do or say much to have Fillmore swooning tho tbh. But when he does flirt it’s like.. really just saying what he wants to do with him once they are done with whatever bullshit they have to do during the day 💀 He’s big on physical touch also. Half the time he doesn’t even think about it when he puts his arm around him and whatnot.

• How do they comfort each other?

Fillmore can NOT tell Gnarly he learned his comforting techniques from Pim because Gnarly would probably get even more frustrated that they work LOL but yeah he learned a lot from Pim back when him & Pim were in high school together and Pim helped him through breakdowns and panic attacks.

Gnarly prefers to have space when he’s upset and Fillmore will respect that. He’ll use what he’s learned from Pim once Gnarly has calmed down a bit which usually includes them talking it out. If Gnarly doesn’t feel like talking about whatever happened in the moment, Fillmore is fine with just being there for him and taking care of him.

Gnarly is so bad at comforting others but he tries if he REALLY cares about the other person. In the beginning when Fillmore would have a breakdown, Gnarly would just be like “uh..I guess I’ll head out then so you can deal with whatever this is..” 🤦‍♀️ Eventually when Fillmore starts begging him to not leave him when he’s like that, Gnarly will get more used to at least being near him when he’s upset.. and then he slowly learns that he doesn’t even really need to talk it out with him. Fillmore is someone who just needs help getting grounded in reality sometimes so something as simple as Gnarly holding his hand is enough to somewhat calm him down. And if the relationship gets SUPER serious,, Gnarly will email Pim ONCE to ask for some advice and what worked the best to help Fillmore in the past. He threatens Pim not to tell anyone about the email though. If Fillmore realizes what Gnarly must have done to know what used to help him in the past and points it out, Gnarly is quick to tell him to shut up 🤭

• Who’s more sentimental?

Gnarly tho he’d never admit it.

• What happens if the other is sick?

Fillmore is there for him 24/7. He doesn’t care if he gets sick. Hes either running around getting stuff for him or is cuddled up in bed hugging him all the same if that’s what Gnarly wants.

Gnarly also will get him things but probably won’t be so quick to be all up on him. Hes mumbling ‘ew’ when Fillmore sneezes or something and tells him he looks like shit (so sweet 😍). He’ll leave the door open so Fillmore can yell for him if he needs to while he’s off in the living room doing whatever.

• Do they get along with each others family/friends?

Gnarly doesn’t care much for Pim or the UFO group. Hes not gonna be terrible to them really. Hes just gonna kinda mostly ignore them and would probably just be on his phone for the most part.

Fillmore wants Grim to like him but Grim finds his obnoxious and his romance with Gnarly, cringe.

And if we are going with the theory that James might be Gnarlys brother, James would pick on Fillmore and keep asking stuff like “Where the hell did you find this freak?”

• A song that perfectly describes their relationship?

Love at first fright by Murderdolls

• Favorite games to play with each other?

Mortal Kombat, Postal (they take turns), Guitar Hero, Doom.

• Who uses more emojis?

Oh god. Fillmore. Almost every text he sends has a emoji at the end.

Gnarly uses them mostly in a dad way like sending 👍 👎

• Who’s a light sleeper?

Fillmore. He jumps a lot at every sound during the night. Gnarly has to sling an arm over him to get him to stop moving so much and to stay in bed.

•Pet names/nicknames?

Cringe warning for this. I think it would be funny if Gnarly randomly called him Philly Cheesesteak once, found it amusing and then started calling him Philly or Phil from then on. He has him saved as ‘Philly Cheesesteak 🖤’ in his phone.

Fillmore doesn’t really call Gnarly anything crazy besides sweetheart maybe lol

• Who’s more possessive/jealous/protective?

Fillmore ‘knows’ everyone is just dying to have Gnarly as their boyfriend but is actually pretty chill unless he thinks Gnarly is actually flirting with someone back. If he thinks something like that is happening, he’d try to drag him off.

Gnarly is protective of Fillmore more than he is possessive ?? I guess. Like he knows most people would be quick to give Fillmore shit for the way he acts and whatnot so he’s always on guard in public with him. If someone looks at Fillmore wrong he’ll stare them down until they get uncomfortable enough to look away.

I also can see Fillmore being kinda guillble so if Gnarly thinks someone is trying to mess with him, he’ll have the same protective feeling come over him.

(Ok that’s enough for now.. I answered more than I thought I would 💀)

[outsidereveries]

— has ahyeon left babymonster?;;

mainly geomancy reading

thanks to @/geomanteia (not tagging the account because i don’t quite know if letty would be fine with tagging), i found my new joy when i can do readings at night without waking someone up, lol

i could say this was requested from x, so let’s check!

i would say no, so here i’ll focus on 3 things.

1) her relationship with yge: 1st house, fortuna major

her relationship with the company is actually really great. i would even say one of the greatest, which considereing what is the company and how they function, quite odd. from what i see, they benefit each other. however, the neighbour house shows losses. ahyeon’s scandal, coincidence or not, slows the girls’ debut. since i asked did she left yge and baemon, it looks like she’s “on hiatus” as babymonster member.

2) her situation according to outsiders: 3rd house, caput dragonis

it looks like according to the k-netizens and possibly the international ones, the company haven’t teached ahyeon anything on purpose to see her patience and emotional support, i.e. to test her. therefore, it can be yge’s fault for ahyeon’s scandal. i would even say they leaked these videos on purpose😐

3) how her situation affects her career: 4th house, rubeus

unfortunately her situation is badly affected for her individual relevance, so unless she personally apologises and “fix” herself (admit to her mistakes and learn her lesson), her situation won’t be brighter. the neighbour house (fifth) shows the same relationship with her fans, her audience, so therefore is really worse but can be fixed.

4) ahyeon herself: 7th house (because i am the asking this), cauda dragonis

because of the current situation with her, she doesn’t trust the company. perhaps she have learned the truth about her company’s intentions? she blames the company for her mental health, it seems to be unstable because of the drama. the situation’s secrets (6th house) are just the luck for ahyeon because of her realising her mistake. unfortunately, due to her company, there are doubts if she realised this as her mistake or not. we aren’t sure if she can apologise properly. the other one, 8th, since it’s about personal gains, it shows losses, as we’ve already seen. unless she’s “doing better” and apologise properly, which if yg doesn’t allow, they have to unless ahyeon will be in this situation for a while (i’d say дередже but since it’s dialect word? phrase? in bulgarian, situation is properly enough) in its best and baemon’s debut could be delayed indefinitely unless there are other actual issues.

conclusion (answer, laetitia): no, she’s still babymonster member. furthermore, she might have more creative freedom than the rest of the girls. the company like her so much to the extent they’re willing to make her “more free”. the hiatus seems to be ahyeon’s choice.

oracle card for clarification: successful career (i think it’s self-explaining lol)

tarot cards for clarification: 6 of pentacles, queen of wands • the hanged man

basically the bottom card confirmed the hiatus. queen of wands is ahyeon herself bc she’s leo while the 6 of pentacles can be the rest of babymonster which explains the hiatus enough imo. since the both cards are positive.. there’s no sense to say she’s leaving or something as of now.

(chart, i numbered the houses)

Edit, again: about my “chart”, i added the judge, the 15. with the 1st mother, 1. Since the first mother represents me, Ahyeon personally is represented by the 3rd daughter, 7th house. I am still not sure if I made a mistake, but if I add the third daughter to the judge, it would be Acquisitio (2 dots, then 1, then 2 and in the end one). The overall answer isn’t changing in my point of view.

Edit #3: Yeah, I did. Since I practice geomancy with questions related to me ofc I’ll mix them up😭

[lunarsights]

im still confused as to how the whole adore x hybe thing came about and honestly props to both illit and newjeans for not overreacting the way the adults in charge of their respective groups have mishandled them. in a way the two groups handled their current situation better than those in charge and it boggles my mind how such " adults" get put in charge of literal minors.

it kinda gives off um p3d0 vibes a lot of the time. ik kpop is rampant for appealling to naive girls and boys but I still think that groups can still coexist without too much competition. as you csn see with for instance skz and ateez they both coexist maturely without much competition between the groups despite doing vastly different performances. it just gives sleazy wannabe wealthy but really they are making bigger deals out of nothing vibes too. bc we know kpop puts more unhealthy emphasis on the imagery and less on the music itself. I dont know if itll be kpops downfall but as of late with everything that seems to be sturring about in the media towards idols and those in charge of said idols, ehh i dont really get good vibes from it these days. I very much think eventually its a trainwreck waiting to happen. maybe its bit off more than it can chew, got too much going on at once and cant really separate their greediness for general interest in what these groups want to achieve.

and even if mhj does become less bigoted she is still a pos for escalating this issue in the first place. do u think all the negatives that go on in kpop is complete karma? someone else stated that things can often be a cover up for worse things so is this really a pr stunt? a distraction tactic?

illit, newjeans, le sserafim, and all othe groups mentioned in the whoel debacle have really been mature about everything for sure. i think companies/"the adults" get very caught up in the money and therefore have little foresight of how these things impact idols. they don't care what happens to who as long as they still make a profit, you know?

i'd also point out competition always exists: even amongst groups we think don't show it (and sometimes it's pushed by fans instead of companies). as someone who's a staytiny, ateez and skz literally competed in kingdom and although members kept it friendly and strictly to the show - fans hyped everything up and made it seem real and even kept it going afterwards. i think this is happening with illit/newjeans/le sserafim also. all those girls like one another; they probs message each other, do challenges, and all types of other things. it's mainly the general public and their companies that create this idea of them competing fiercely.

i don't know if karma is the right word, but i believe everything done in the dark will be brought to light - even if it seeminly takes forever to happen, and pluto in aqaurius especially makes the statement true. pluto in aquarius is all about creating havoc and clearing out traditional channels of life that have operated under circumstances against society's greater purpose or ideals. so, if you count that as karma then i'd say yes.

i think people go too far with the pr stunt/distrction tactic takes. none of this is helpful for hybe, min heejin, new jeans, illit, le sserafim, or anyone else involved. everyone looks bad, and it makes audiences not want to engage with anybody mentioned. as for kpop scandals being made public to cover up government scandals? also unlikely. kpop fans don't pay attention to the korean government like that, and those living in korea don't care about kpop as much as foreigners do; and even if they do people need to logically think: when celebrities in your home country get into controversies does that stop you from caring about what your government is doing? likely no, so that belief is also unfounded imo.

last thing i'll say is that pluto in aquarius is supposed to incintivize the collective to want less artists/celebrities who are far removed from them. people will want to listen to music that mimics their own experience and will want artists who are more humble and home grown over record-label made. even the kpop industry is finding this out with trying to champion groups and members that are self-producing as opposed to how it was in earlier generations. authenticity is key with pluto in aquarius.

[demystifiedstardust]

Seelies

Not the mythological kind, the Gen//shin kind.

Ever since I started playing this dumb game, they've been driving me insane.

Cw unreality

Why do they look like that? Why are they that color?? That shape??? Why do they have that transparency and flow????

I dropped my tablet the first time I encountered one in Wind//rise. Why? Because that likeness has a very personal significance to me.

Way back in the day when I was quite young, we had a school assignment to draw god (outing my location through this anecdote immediately?? Rip to my cool guy persona). I (wisely imo) didn't turn in the assignment, but if I had followed through, my drawing would not have been supply-side Je//sus but rather a seelie. That same shape, that same color. Albeit much... larger. Much, much larger. Incomprehensiblely large. But still, the spitting image of Gen//shin's seelies.

The world has no shortage of coincidences, and I'm willing to believe this is one hell of a coincidence that I've found myself part of. But I really, really want to know what the design process was like for seelies. Why did the devs choose that likeness specifically? What design considerations were there? Are there discarded drafts? If I could get more information, it would put my overactive brain to rest. Or maybe make it worse, depending on the answers I get. HYV is a large, well-oiled machine of a company, so there must be some market-research reason behind their decision.

...but would I truly be satisfied with an artbook-commentary-style answer? Because at the end of the day, the way that design got into Genshin is only trivia. The real thing I'm grappling with is how to reconcile the divine avatar of my childhood independently cameoing in a video game. Of course, it can't be just any video game, but it has to be the same one that gave a name to my twin, and the same one that gave me a stable sense of fictional self that slotted itself oh-so-slowly-and-seamlessly into my life that I don't see a point disambiguating the "Aether" out of the "me" nowadays (and melusines, I guess, though that's more of an if-the-glove-fits thing). (...and the whale. But that's whole other post to screech about).

It's literally just a video game, meant to have mass appeal. But why does it seem to go beyond that? How does it manage to consistently target intimate parts of my life in such hyperspecific ways?? People joke about instead-of-brain-it's-[interest] but this damn thing is hopelessly rooted into my mind, and every time I think I'm getting used to the flow of things, it finds another way to poke holes into my sense of... self? sense of reality?

Like, I know the devs aren't reaching into my head and pulling out my memories, because that's not a thing. That's literally impossible, and even if it were somehow possible (and I want to reiterate that it's not possible and I don't believe it to be so), they would have no reason to do that. There's no benefit. But damn if it doesn't evoke a similar feeling to my memories being in there.

It annoys me greatly not just because it sounds so fake, but also because I'm not a fan of metaphysical thinking as applied to myself. It would be easy to call this evidence of [insert popular metaphysics], but I will never personally be satisfied with that. (Note: I support spirituality, and metaphysical beliefs are valid! I just have baggage to work through surrounding my own experiences.)

(Note 2: I realize this makes my shark past life hypocritical, but to go into it more deeply would derail the post, so it will have to wait for another time.)

Big props to the devs for sending me through such a mindfuck. Every major story update has me wondering what new plot beats are going to ripple through my life as though I'm a raft on a stormy sea. Ughhh.