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txbbo · 4 years ago

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I've been debating making this because this is definitely not what my blog is known for and I was worried that people wouldn't want to see it, but with the amount of shit im seeing on twitter it's compelled me to make this because I'm so frustrated.

I feel like I could make 100 posts about 'Cancel Culture' and it wouldn't be enough, so I'm just going to focus on what caused me to write this tonight - the Tommy situation. *Warning for a VERY long post below*

To be clear, Tommy has been in 'hot water' on twitter for the past couple weeks, roughly starting with the KSI collaboration where he made a joke about dream stans.

Last week, when the SBI 'exposing account' got made and twitter hyped it up, someone made a Tommy account and made a thread of things he needed to be '''educated''' on: https://twitter.com/idktommyinnit/status/1379158964148002821?s=20

I'll let you read it for yourself (and come to your own conclusion) but to me.... half of this stuff does not require a twitter thread? Breaking it down accusation by accusation:

1) 'The Mexican accent' - the clips show he is clearly only doing it when copying big Q (who famously exaggerates his own accent) and there is zero malicious intent (Big Q is also IN the 3 clips mentioned in the thread, and obviously didn't tell Tommy it was offensive). There's debates in the comments from people who think it is offensive and people who don't, so I'm not trying to pick a side. To avoid accidentally offending anyone, maybe it is best for him to stop, but the way twitter acts as if he was purposefully doing this to offend people is just not true.

2- 'Making a slave joke' - Even saying that feels wrong, because it suggests Tommy is doing something awful. Instead, they are referring to the 'bit' that Tommy, Techno, Tubbo and Ant were involved in, when Tommy and Techno took Tubbo and Ant as their slave. People are taking this vod and using it to accuse Tommy of being insensitive to Black people, but I think people are just assuming the worst. Slavery existed long before the transatlantic slave trade and still exists today. This is a role-play server - Tommy 'forced' Ant to work for him and used the word slave, which to me is exactly what was happening? People 'murder' others on the SMP, people 'kidnap' on the SMP, people are 'terrorists' on the SMP, and all happen without issue. To add, Ant is a WHITE man. Tommy taking a WHITE man as a slave is not something uber problematic.

3- 'His reply to Techno's 'murder is bad' tweet'. - I get people saying that Techno's initial tweet was insensitive, but saying Tommy's agreement to this from almost over a year ago is something notable and worth addressing is just super nitpicky and is clearly only in there to pad out the thread. It also makes me wonder what other CC's interacted with it and if THEY should be cancelled too (according to twitter).

4 - 'The saying slurs' tweet / jokes about 'whats the worst word you know' - This one I can kinda see how people might not like it. However, it's clearly a 'poke' at his friends, making them seem like bad people. To me, its in the same vein as 'Tubbo is a Tory' or when Tubbo shoots back that 'Tommy is a Nigel Farage fan'. They're obviously not, but its making fun of your friends by saying they are, and mockingly making them out out to be bad people.

5- 'Covid jokes' - People are taking jokes he made about him 'having covid' and saying he shouldn't joke about this, even going as far to linking it to asian hate crimes. I don't even know how to explain that that this is just? not a 'cancellable offence'? I'm sorry but if I hear anyone in my family coughing I make a little joke that 'they better not have covid' and I know other people do. I have someone in my family who is extremely vulnerable to Covid and if they caught it, would quite literally die, but I can understand that jokes like these are harmless. The whole internet had a running joke that we were in a 'panoramic' or 'Panera' or 'insert any word that sounds like pandemic.

This thread got a lot of attention and anything he tweeted afterwards was spammed with the link and there were so many people upset that he hadn't addressed it. I saw so many people say how 'upset' and 'disappointed' they were in him.

Going on to today, this happened: https://twitter.com/khasiid/status/1380611890104139776?s=20

I get it, it looks bad. But for context (which the tweet doesn't give), the reply was only up for less than a minute. It was obvious to me, even BEFORE Tommy addressed it in his stream (clip here: https://twitter.com/cowrpse/status/1380640046202593283?s=20 ) that it was a mistake. In the clip, he clearly acknowledges his mistake and seems embarrassed. To me, this situation should just be laid to rest because a mistake does not need this much attention, but twitter disagrees.

In case it wasn't obvious by now, the tide is turning against Tommy and people are less willing to ignore genuine mistakes and assume the worst.

Today, during his birthday stream people were clearly already waiting for him to mess up. Around half way through, he started saying 'finna' out of context and Tubbo joined in. This led to tons of tweets telling him he was misusing AAVE, and while there were plenty of people willing to be patient and educate, there were also people seeing this as an example of him being a 'bad person' and someone who should be 'without a platform'. I think people forget that not everyone has the same internet upbringing as they do. In general, I think its noted that the misuse of AAVE is something that has just recently been brought to attention. I learned about it through tiktok and stan twitter, and I don't think it's unimaginable that a British 17 year old boy (who is not active on either) has never heard of 'African American Vernacular English'.

Just for a fuller picture, today has also brought about another 'criticism' that I just had to address.

1) 'Tommy made a KKK joke' - Like the 'slavery' point, saying this is extremely misleading. It makes people think the worst. Here's the clip: https://twitter.com/ghostburz/status/1380673589612011522?s=20

Here, Tommy and Tubbo are both joking about Tubbo's 'bit' of naming his alt streams 'aaaaaaaaaa', 'bbbbbbb', 'cccccc', etc and how it would've been bad if it was 'kkkkkkkk' (for obvious reasons). That is literally it. It is a less than 20 second clip. Acknowledging that people woulda thought about the 'KKK' is not him 'not understanding Black issues', its a throwaway joke about the obvious.

Lastly, someone on twitter has made a tommyinnit (address asap) doc - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tZEZtBzikS-EYYkssfFtwVOoFqOwCK0zhStLe6H1wCc/edit

I've basically already covered everything in this document, but I wanted to mention how extremely 'guilt trippy' the whole thing is. I struggled to come up with the perfect word for the situation, and I am open to hearing other peoples opinion, but as I have mentioned none of these things Tommy has been accused of were done with malicious intent, and some I believe don't even need addressed at all.

'slavery is a source of astronomical trauma for black people, and isn’t something to be taken lightly if you’re to look into the horrors of the slave trade."

and "Oftentimes they are the last words we hear before we die and it really is not Tommy’s place to joke about words that affect us so negatively."

Are extremely emotional words for a 17-year-old boy to hear on his birthday, for stuff that I believe has been taken out of context and blown out of proportion.

I really feel bad for him, because such a large proportion of twitter (which ofc is the loudest side of the fanbase) is angry at him and is demanding (as the document says) ''either a stream or twitter thread/twitlonger to addressing this' and 'a long and serious apology instead of a short statement pre-stream'.

We all know how twitter works, and unless his apology is perfect (which to me means apologising for stuff that he should't have to, as explained in the thread), twitter will continue with this weird hyper focus on everything he does, and it's not going to end well.

Twitter's mentality of 'putting everything this person has done that could ever be considered problematic' into one neat little thread is so unhelpful and counter intuitive. I got overwhelmed reading some of the stuff people were saying about him, I can't imagine how he feels.

I feel like I have more to say but at risk of writing an essay longer than my actual work I have to do, I'm going to end here.

#this was incredibly cathartic to write #turns out im not just a c! Tommy apologist LMAO #tommyinnit #dream smp #tommyinnit neg #tommyinnit critical #tommyinnit crit #Tommy crit #Tommy neg #twitter neg #cancel culture #mcyt crit #mcytwt crit

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angeloncewas · 4 years ago

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Hello:)

Now i cannot speak for the UK, and their government strategy for vaccine etc. But i can for Norway, to sort give a more example of the other side i think?

So in Norway, things are opening up for the people that has both doses of the vaccine. For Norway the vaccine is not to stop spread. Its to keep hospitalizaion down, and to stop the health care system from collapsing like it did in Sweden, Italy and Spain (just to mention some countries). A lot of our experts on covid etc are saying that the vaccine is to help us getting less sick, so that those that will get super sick (even with vaccine) can get the proper help they need.

This birthday party was not the smartest thing to happen right now, and yes cases are rising like hell all over the world thanks to that stupid deltavariant. Actions have consquenes, and i hope that the CCs knows this. My dad always tells me "it is your choice, but you have to take the consequenses of that choice wether it is bad or not"

I respect that fans, stans, and people in general are dissapointed in their fave CCs going to such a party (i am aswell), and people should be allowed to voice their own opinion on matters like this.

I really like your blog, and your writing on different matters when its comes to either the CCs and the fandom:) Your own opinions and feelings are valid, and no one can stop you from voicing your own opinion. May not agree on everything, and that is fine. We all can agree to disagree on things i hope? aahah

Apologies for the rambling:P and again love your blog, you are awesome:)

I just wanna say first-off that I really appreciate you talking to me abt it. Like no one's obligated to, obviously, but I'm always told that it seems like all opinions are welcome here (because I consciously try to foster that kind of environment !) but this one drove like 10 people away without comment lmao. I warned y'all ! I really did !

Second, yeah. I know for a fact that my perspective - American, in proximity to highly at-risk people (as in, ones who will more than likely be hospitalized if they do get it, regardless of their vaccinations) + already a hypochondriac - skews my opinions. I know that I got kinda ahhh about it (but in my defense I said that I likely would) and I'm sorry about that.

I know that the vaccine ultimately is to level-out the virus itself to be in the same vein as the flu (or something like that, don't quote me) and while it's definitely terrifying it's something to factor in regarding this situation. They looked at the information they had and made the decision they did - even if I was 100% all-in on them being shitty (which I'm not) - I wouldn't expect them to listen to me or anything like that. I'm just putting how I feel onto Tumblr. It's gonna be unbased sometimes ahrjgnf.

Third, thank you for the compliments :') I'm always more than happy to chill with ppl who disagree with me in any capacity and I try to make that clear but I know that some people don't feel that way. Sorry I'm really awkward when people are being nice but it's really great to have you around <3

#angel answers #anon #discourse #cc critical #covidtalk #long post

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encyclopika · 4 years ago

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Animal Crossing Fish - Explained #100

Brought to you by a marine biologist who has written 100 of these holy crap.

CLICK HERE FOR THE AC FISH EXPLAINED MASTERPOST!!!

Here we are at 100 and I’m celebrating by covering my favorite fossil, as well as the last fossil fish (we have two more aquatic fossils left) - Dunkleosteus. The Dunk is a favorite among fish enthusiasts, at least from my experience. It represents the very best of the Placoderms, an ancient lineage of fish that introduced and exemplified many of the evolutionary milestones vertebrates like us still take for granted. Nevertheless, they didn’t exist on Earth for long, but they were hella cool.

As big as the fossil appears, it is just one fossil piece in ACNH, so if you haven’t found it yet, guess you’ll have to just keep digging everyday until you do. (Also, “Zubatman” is my husband’s username in the game, in case you were confused lol)

Like I said above, Dunkleosteus belonged to a class of fish called the Placoderms (Placodermi), an ancient lineage of fish that has no relatives alive today. They appeared and then went extinct all WAY before the dinosaurs ever set foot on Earth, their hayday being during the Devonian Period, ending some 359 million years ago. The class name means “plated skin” and that’s really the first feature you would notice about these fish. About half of their bodies were covered in bony plate armor, and most species were bottom dwellers that could have really used the help. Predators, such as sharks, were already prowling the seas at this time. However, Placoderms weren’t just here to be prey; they also evolved into some of the most massive predators of the Devonian.

Of the ten species of Dunkleosteus we know of (since that’s the genus name), the largest was the type species for the genus, Dunkleosteus terrelli, which grew to be about 20 feet (about 6.1m) in length, we think. I’m pretty sure this is the species the fossil is meant to represent, since D. terrelli was widespread and is the most well-known of the Placoderms in general.

^Here’s what the fossil looks like irl. (Ghedoghedo, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

^And here’s a common reconstruction of what it may have looked like in life. This is a toy of a D. terrelli! where were these toys when I was a kid???

I say this is a “common” reconstruction of Dunkleosteus terrelli because we actually don’t know what the second half of the fish looked like. We can do our best to reimagine it based on the rare, well-preserved fossils of its relatives, but the truth is, we don’t know for sure. Like sharks, Placoderms had skeletons made of cartilage (the flexible material that makes your ears and nose). Cartilage doesn’t preserve as well as bone, and so, all we have of this animal are its plates that did preserve better to become fossils.

Like I said above, Placoderms exemplified and even introduced some evolutionary milestones. For one, Placoderms were among the first classes of Vertebrates to have jaws and really use them well. Before sharks and placoderms, Vertebrates were jawless. Jaws were an extremely important adaptation for Vertebrates, and you can tell because we all have them now (except for the Agnathans, the hagfish and lampreys). Jaws allowed Vertebrates to manipulate food better, break it down, and especially help predators catch their food. In that vein, Dunkleosteus terrelli, being the largest predator of its time, was probably the first super-predator in the world’s oceans, eating other predators as part of its natural diet. With teeth like scissor blades that are believed to have self-sharpened themselves every time the animal opened and closed its mouth, The Dunk was truly a sea monster.

Not only that, but Placoderms are also recognized as the first vertebrates to have live birth, in which the male and female copulate internally and then the female keeps the eggs inside her to incubate and then birth babies live and ready to go. The discovery of a Placoderm fish fossil showing a female that died in the process of live birth pushed live birth in vertebrates back some 200 million years.

Unfortunately, like all good things, the Placoderms didn’t last. They went extinct at the end of the Devonian, with only a single group lasting into the first part of the Carboniferous period before becoming extinct as well. Today, there are no surviving Placoderms. It’s believed their heavy armor is what ultimately did them in, becoming outcompeted by the armor-less, but much more agile sharks and bony fish.

And there you have it. Fascinating stuff, no?

#placoderms #dunkleosteus #fossil #fish #acnh #animal crossing #animal crossing new horizons #science in video games #animal crossing fish explained

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risthebrave · 4 years ago

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okay so i was going to send in an ask for the director’s cut thing, but there were too many fics i wanted to ask about 😭 i’ll send them in but PLEASE keep in mind you don’t have to do them all i feel bad dmfjsjf

move so pretty (you’re all i see), sleeping on our problems, works like a charm, just a flicker in the dark, and sweet like honey

ahhh omg thank you for sending these in! i’m so sorry for how long it took to get out - i may have forgotten about it shjkskss also i don’t mind talking about all of them but i’m definitely going to keep each one short. you can find them under the cut:

move so pretty (you’re all i see) ~

this fic was started initially when i was doing word prompts using curiouscat! people would send me words and i’d write a quick little drabble/snippet... they’re typically around 300-ish words but i got the word “owns,” and maybe got a bit carried away? i think that prompt ended up being 1k words - too long to post using cc so i had to take screenshots and post as separate tweet.

the idea that came to me was something i love to read in fics: one of them walking in on the other masturbating. i didn’t intend for it to become anything more than that snippet but i what can i say? i got intrigued. my brain helpfully provided a backstory: best friends, harry maybe having feelings for louis but not wanting to ruin their friendship...

fast-forward three days and i posted an 11k fic shjssks

this was my first attempt at writing a pwp so that was an interesting experience!!! i’m too obsessed with giving backstories and arcs to ever write just pure smut but this is the closest i’ve gotten??? 5.5k/11k being smut, that is. and for once coming up with the title wasn’t too hard because there’s one song i always think of when it comes to best friends to lovers and that’s lucky!!

i don’t really know what else to say for this one! i remember sarah and i both wrote and posted pwps in a short span of each other so that was fun... she’s actually the one who motivated me to finish and post this fic instead of just letting the idea go. and her dog ended up in the story: chica <3 my absolute favorite <3333

sleeping on our problems ~

welp. this fic was a struggle for a long time. idk if i’ve talked about it on this blog but this fic was initially an exes to lovers fic!!! where they spent harry’s rut together right before breaking up and then louis finds out he’s pregnant and angst ensues.

changing it to a one-night stand (even though it wasn’t only one night shjksks) ended up being a really good decision in the way that this new version of the story required a lot less angst and reflection of their past relationship, choices, actions!! that first fic was going to be a lot heavier i think shjsks but i really love how it turned out!!

barring the main tropes, the progression of the story and the outline itself changed so. much. in the process of writing... i found an earlier saved version of my outline and the story is almost completely unrecognizable haha. and actually the most recent saved version of the outline is also not 100% accurate to the final story because for the last 10k of the story, i was flying completely free shjsksk.

also, even after i finished the fic, i went back and added two scenes the next day so it’s safe to say i changed so much of this story -- it was never supposed to be that long either hsjsksk the goal was 48-50k and i thought i was being optimistic!

somewhat in the same vein but also really different: this fic was one of the first fics i ever wrote out of order! before this, i had switched around maybe a couple times when writing a fic but mostly stuck to chronological order. but in this one i kept getting stuck with certain scenes and decided that i’d never reach my goal of finishing unless i switched to parts of the story i had the inspiration to write in the moment instead of getting stuck on one single part i had no motivation for. it really helped the process and i’ve been switching around ever since.

another thing that really helped me actually finish this fic was the motivation and encouragement of people on twitter and i’m still so appreciative of it now :’) there’s no way i could have finished this fic without the kind words and well wishes of my mutuals!!

(also - i included an easter egg in this fic from another one of my fics... i suppose that’s sort of the type of insight that fits for these things? the ballet louis and harry saw in new york was swan lake <3)

works like a charm ~

ooo i wrote this fic for my friend’s birthday!! she loves hp aus and slytherin hl so it was just a given that i write that for her. i was on a deadline - pretty sure i made the doc on september 4th, aka nine days before i posted - and i hadn’t had my full outline done when i started which is is... let’s just say very uncommon.

this is another example of me going off outline and changing the story as i went because initially the estimation was about 12k and the basic plot was that after they’d fuck for the first time, they’d immediately talk about the past and resolve those misunderstandings. but when i got to that point, i realized it felt too rushed for how the story was progressing so i extended it a bit and added some more *tension* and *miscommunication* until they finally got their shit together!

also i feel like some would find louis’ blatant lies when interrogated about his feelings for harry to be unrealistic but as someone who has definitely done the exact same thing (lmao - without the happy ending), i find it a definite possibility. and i mean, we all say stuff we don’t mean under pressure - whether it’s to louis’ (and my) extent or not.

another thing i remember about this fic was having to work out with sarah - who was also posting a fic for this friend’s birthday - posting times and dates. we eventually agreed that she’d post first and i’d post the day after (neither were the actual day of the birthday because we were both running late!) this is a conversation we proceeded to have many other times since we both have made habits of birthday fics and we pretty much have the same friends.

all of this was also happening in sync with us writing a fic together for our other friend’s birthday which was on the 8th... yes it was exactly as chaotic and stressful as you’re thinking but also fun! and i love all three fics involved!! haha.

just a flicker in the dark ~

okay this fic is definitely my favorite thing i’ve ever written and i’ve said that before many, many times but it’s true! but it too changed so much from the initial idea to the final end product.

in fact, the original idea was a 20k somewhat-crack fic where harry was a ghost and louis was the paranormal investigator trying to get him to stop haunting this house. it was just supposed to be a quick and fun halloween fic to work on while finishing up my first blff and finally making head way on my abandoned second blff... obviously, that changed drastically.

it initially started with me getting the idea of louis and harry being partners and enemies. and then i was thinking... why not throw exes on top of it while we’re there??? that was completely self-indulgent since exes to lovers is my favorite trope of all time. but the idea was still that they were paranormal investigators trying to work a case on a haunted house and though the estimated wc had raised to 35k, i was still hoping that it’d be quick and easy because i had two other projects that needed a lot of my attention.

then came the first day of october. i woke up after having the craziest dream about louis and harry and the ghost that was not really a ghost. i ended up writing about 7k that thursday and the story really just took shape from there. the first sequence i wrote was actually the scene where louis goes into the backyard and ends up in the pocket dimension where the spirit imprints on him - i think it was a 3.5k scene and it just flew out of me sjksjsk. after that i took a small break to start my outline but it was more of a messy list of ideas and details and things i wanted to include than my usual organized format. the next scene i wrote that day was the scene where louis is in the bedroom and the demon is there but harry is not but then he is (i’m so good at describing things, right?) that’s actually one of my favorite scenes i’ve ever written and the funny thing is that i barely even knew all the details of the demon plot by this point but my hands just kept typing and my brain had the tendrils of the story forming and that amazing feeling that this is something good.

i could ramble on forever about the process of writing this fic but i’ll just say that it’s the most fun i’ve ever had writing anything ever. word-building and supernatural elements are my favorite and getting to delve into those things here was so much fun! the entire process took twenty-five days (spanning from october 1st to october 28th - with a small three day break to focus on finishing miss wedding au!!) and though i did have some small struggles and moments of writer’s block, for the most part the story just came to me. and it’s so amazing to me because i didn’t even have all the details and facets of the plot until louis did too but it ended up working out??? if anything, it showed his process of figuring things out really well because it was the process of me figuring things out!

also this was the first time i heavily featured a fic pet in a fic and i fell as much in love with venus as everyone else did :’) she has my heart, truly <3 i love this world and these characters so so much and i hope to return to it sometime in the future!

sweet like honey ~

whooo, okay, this fic... yikes. this fic was a capital s Struggle.

so basically this fic was written for the blff and though it came out first, it was the second prompt i signed up for, prompt 63: Friends to lovers AU where Harry and Louis are best friends and flatmates in Uni and they both need money, Harry for his gym membership and Louis for cute stuff like sanrio plushies, so they decide to film homemade porn videos together. Louis is shy and sweet and maybe inexperienced and Harry kinda doms him.

i remember the exact moment i saw the blff post on tumblr about it being allowed to sign up for another prompt from that point on - i was sitting at the counter at my friend’s ranch’s kitchen eating crepes and browsing on my phone. i saw the post and immediately signed up for this prompt because it had been my second choice and though i love love loved my first prompt so much, i was disappointed at not being able to write this one... but i did!

the idea and basic outline was actually completed way back in july/august but for some reason i just couldn’t make any actual progress on it for so long??? i’m pretty sure the document was stuck at 5k for over three months shsjksks to be fair, i did keep pushing it to the side in favor of other newer fics but i was just experiencing the biggest barrier when it came to this story and characters.

in fact, i actually reached out to the mods in late october about a potential extension - they informed me that all writers could use a two week extension if needed and i figured that would be fine. however, i didn’t end up using it! within the first few days of november, i managed to pull the wc up to 8k by the skin of my teeth (was still majorly struggling) - i was still sure i’d need an extension but then something really awful but in this case, helpful, happened...

election week.

basically, i’m a big stress-writer. writing is what i do when i’m upset or anxious or stressed because it truly is my happy place. i wouldn’t say writing during that week made me feel much better about everything going on but it provided a distraction. so much though that i went from 8k to 24k in the span of a few days... and i have absolutely no recollection of writing any of it.

not only did i not need any extension, i also somehow ended up finishing early by a few days. and i really liked what i had!! or what i remembered of it anyway shjskks.

one thing i remember really focusing on in terms of these characters and dynamic was having it actually just be them starting as friends and developing feelings later. i feel like a common trope in friends to lovers fics is having one or both of them with pre-existing feelings that they feel is unrequited. obviously there’s nothing wrong with that (i’ve written it myself lol) and it’s a common trope for a reason - because it’s good - but i wanted to try something a little different. them actually filming these videos is what acted as the catalyst to them beginning to view their relationship with new eyes and open the door to the eventual feelings that developed.

i also had so much fun writing harry’s pov in this one haha. i feel like this version of him was really bold and shameless and super easy for me to develop.

this is also the closest i’ve ever gotten to meeting my estimation word count... ever. my estimate was 32k and it ended up at 33k!!! and yes i’m more proud of that than i should be lol

anyways, i pretty much just rambled but if anyone sees this and gets some good insight out of it, then yay! feel free to send more director’s cut inquiries!! i love doing them (even if it takes me weeks - sorry again!)

#asks #director's cut #msp #soop #wlac #jafitd #slh

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retphienix · 5 years ago

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Credits are rolling as I type because I saw fit to forego capturing since I didn’t REALLY do a live playthrough on the blog and instead just showed off moments here and there.

Just wanted to say, that was damned good.

It gave off such a dnd vibe to me and since I’ve yet to indulge in that truly it was a nice romp.

But seriously, what an awesome game with even more potential if more were to come in the series. Phenomenal writing and a very simple but ingenious gimmick of making magic simple but full of potential since it interacts with the elements and environment. A+ stuff there.

Did get a chuckle out of the ending slides surrounding a CaC gaining divinity basically just sliding the camera onto the same image 6 times where it clearly would be different slides if you used a default character lol.

What to dwell on...

Combat in the game was phenomenal! But it’s funny to me how it ended up in MY party.

Since I made the grave mistake of letting all the companions maintain their default classes I ended up with a rather eclectic combo and my OWN stubborness lead to me sticking to that for the most part.

Beardy as a full on warrior in the vein of my old WoW character. He ended up being a friggin’ godsend to the team since I ended up going more physical damage than magic (but still a 2/2 split team count wise TECHNICALLY).

Going heavy in 2h weapons and stength just resulted in him tearing everyone apart at a moments notice all while having his hand on that idol of resurrection so I could literally never be too risky with him. (A touch of a difficulty equalizer in some cases and complete nullification in other instances sadly)

Beast ended up molded to straight hydro for heals all while wielding the biggest shield I could manage at any moment and stacking con/int. He was bulky, sure, but didn’t really abuse that much and instead spent every battle freezing everyone with freezing blast and rain, or saying screw it and using blood rain with his torturer perk so everyone bled while he spammed heals. It was effective but mostly just CC.

Fane was the second MVP if not total MVP? Beardy really did the most all said, but Fane? A Necessity At All Times.

He was holding the second idol, though rarely needed it (neither did Beardy to be honest, but still).

Fane went all in on summoning, and aero as his secondary for when he ran out of spells etc.

His incarnate was insane through this run, I love how summoning can honestly give you either a huge physical damage output buff or any element you please. His summoning is why my 2/2 split party ended up leaning heavy on physical, because it made more sense to abuse a physical incarnate’s output than to constantly grab a water one (for restoration magic and water damage) or fire or whatever else.

Having powerful shock spells was nice too. But mostly he summoned and then buffed his summons. I INTENDED to stack some poison related spells on someone for healing him, but Fane ended up going the entire game after act 1 without healing outside of bottles and he did just fine. God that sleeping bag or what have you is op for out of combat and who needs healing in combat when you have an insta-rez on death and tons of damage going out.

Oh and by the end I decided to spend like 144k on a ring with 1/3rd the magic defense on it because he permanently poisoned him. So that was nice.

Sibelle did fuck all the whole time.

Which is rude to say, sure, and you’d be right to say that. I ended up enjoying Sib’s character and she did put out some nice burst damage in physical form at the start of most fights.

But I never gave her a chance and it shows. (in terms of build).

She joined as a worthless rogue with no invis or survivability and dual wield burst being her only tool, and instead of fixing that with some invis or survivability, I said “Sure, Sib. You’re a lethal assassin. Tell me how that works out.” and she proceeded to spend like 60-70% of the fights in the game face down in the pavement because after her initial burst of damage she’d die and I couldn’t be arsed to care.

She lived the final fight just fine though, go figure. She didn’t go down once and actually pulled her weight for more than just the first round. How novel a concept, Sib. Maybe next time grab some other talents outside of just scoundrel and dual wield.

What a self burn where I say I stubbornly made a bad character and it’s their fault. lol

Speaking of those idols real quick, it cracks me up how the one fight I completely botched was saved by them. When I ran into the paladin leader in the basement I decided to take him out since I heard he was with the black ring prior. I killed HIM just fine, but the rest of them were 2-3 levels above me and were rough as all hell.

Eventually it was Beardy, alone, in a corner, surrounded, and after like an hour of combat he finally fell. Everyone de-aggro’d. He rezzed with the idol. And I calming rezzed my team and walked out having killed the only person I needed to (and a couple extra). That was an amusing moment.

I love how the game would occasionally, with a straight face, do the most fantasy trope things possible and it felt FRESH since no one would dare do them today.

Things like trolls guarding bridges and a lot more I’m blanking on because of the credits rolling. I just appreciated that and found it really fun.

Credits just finished so I was reminded of the gift bags and what a damned shame!

When I first read up on them it was through a video showcasing how they can break the game etc A vid I’m sure someone would be aware of it they were aware of the subject matter.

Apparently at one point you could use them whenever to change and add features and still get credit for achievements/trophies etc. But that changed at some point so all these interesting gameplay tweaks are just sullied by you not getting credit for stuff.

Sure, that’s dumb of me to imply, but you know I’m right. No matter how much we fight the implication that trophies matter they still do to some degree. I, for one, like scrolling through them as a sort of list of past exploits, I even get some nice memories from doing just that, but activate a bag and you don’t get to write down that achievement.

Meaningless, sure, but enough of a dissuasion to prevent me doing it :/ For now at least. They really are a list of fun features to toggle! But why I harp on it is that some seem like 100% quality of life and nothing else and you still can’t use them without it disabling trophies :/ Things like “Sprint” for moving about the world faster, lord.

Achievements are such a stain on gaming, I swear. For a hundred reasons, and for making some like myself in this instance AVOID fun because we don’t “get credit” oh fuck off trophy. If you didn’t exist I’d have had more fun, hence why going back to play older titles that don’t have them is such a pure joy.

Bleh. I play into it AND hate it.

Anyways.

What’s there to say. Divinity 2 was a blast, I do wish for a more refined one later on but this was such a unique experience none the less.

Roughly 110 hours of gameplay (minus AFK time I do in damn near every game so I’ll say it was like 100 hours) and I’m left too speechless to say half the things that came to mind while playing. Darn it.

A+ stuff. I’m honestly still impressed that such a content loaded single player experience is ACTUALLY all that and able to do 4 player coop.

Sure it’s technically understandable, but in terms of what games, you know, generally do? That’s unthinkable to me. That’s the kind of thing that’s reserved for tabletop, hence my early mention of dnd. You don’t usually see a story driven things like this being coop on console- and if you do it’s lightly handled in a way where the coop player doesn’t matter. Like Fable 2 henchmen, or Fable 3 where the coop player might as well not exist and just shows up to do fights and follow the main player.

That’s the term.

Most coop rpgs have the MAIN player and then coop buds assuming they implement coop.

This game is more of a 4 MAIN players all at once situation and I’m entirely unfamiliar with that in gaming other than tabletop.

OBVIOUSLY this wasn’t too much of a big deal for my single player playthrough, but other than that it was almost always on my mind and lead to me starting 2 other runs with friends :) (that both pretty much died out because they both struggle to find time to play games as is so sitting down and coordinating 3 people for 2 separate coop runs of a 100 hour game wasn’t really happening- now I understand dnd groups pain lol)

Enough rambling when I admit I have lost all my talking points. Good game.

#divinity: original sin 2 #RetPlays

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romyism · 6 years ago

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– 𝐚𝐡𝐚𝐡𝐚 , 𝐚𝐲 – it’s ya girl , 𝒖𝒉 , skinny penis. jkjk , it’s only me , cc , local apocalyptic Hoe and i’ve been kinda sick lately Whoops. i’m a cst-er and go by she/her pronouns and will respond to any nickname i receive. i’m bringing my bby romy into this friend group and honestly ? she’s quite a handful so i’m gonna sneak in this apology first thing because phew , she’s so much i almost put ‘ these hands / her fists ’ as her weapon but i didn’t think that was the best idea for her.

( kim yerim → twenty → cisfemale ) ROSEMARY “ROMY” NA has been spotted hiding in the cabin. when you see HER, the odds of seeing them with a HIKING STICK in their hand is very likely. apparently their friends see them as the INCENDIARY - which makes total sense seeing as they’re VENTUROUS & PERCIPIENT as well as being CLIMACTIC & PROVOKING. i just hope they can survive the apocalypse…

AESTHETIC: holding back rambunctious laughter in a silent library, never being afraid to confront someone who’s done you wrong, a wide smile with a busted lip, the feeling of the wind blowing through your hair, half-buttoned dress shirts and short skirts, taped fingers from your latest fight, never being seen without a smile, being fiercely protective of the ones you love, the bigger the hoop the bigger the:, pulling hair in the non-sexual way and always being known as a firecracker.

* QUICK STATS /

full name: 나 로미 / na romi / rosemary na nickname(s): romy preferred name: romy age / dob: twenty / may , twenty-third , ‘ninety-nine gender: cisfemale / she/her pronouns label: the incendiary ( designed to start fires / tending to stir up conflict ) faceclaim: loml , kim yerim ( yeri from rv )

* QUICK FACTS / HEADCANONS

legally blind, her glasses are thick af and she isn’t afraid to give someone a headache by making them wear her glasses.

is never seen without a smile on her face , even if she’s getting pulled out of a fist fight or is having a yelling match with someone.

a mix of class clown with drama queen so all in all: a+ annoyance. major annoyance. just isn’t afraid to make an inappropriate joke at an inappropriate time.

like stated above , is also super dramatic. just one of those girls that’ll scream at the slightest inconvenience just to laugh about it.

is very confrontational and isn’t afraid to start a fight if she feels like she or one of her friends has been wronged

has daddy issues but will joke about her dad like he’s a part of her life all the time.

has been in a lot of fights , have gotten a lot of stitches and casts and has had her ass handed to her multiple times but has no intentions of stopping.

genuinely has been getting into physical fights since like the fourth grade and definitely knows how to fight and surprisingly HASN'T gotten charged for assault or battery yet considering she's definitely the type to start AND finish a bar fight and has spent a night in local sherriff's stations.

her weapon is a hiking stick but she's ... good FDSKLASJA, hand to hand isn't the BEST idea with zombies but she's gonna try anyway. ( also, she's probably taped a knife to the end of the hiking stick and probably twirls it a lot, bobbi morse style and doesn't take it seriously smh )

a happy , dramatic , fighting small gorl. so kinda like a golden retriever honestly.

*BULLET POINT BIO

where can i even begin ? to sum up romy’s life in a nutshell , she’s a bundle of trouble who’s gotten into a lot of fights and has some big daddy issues , okay ? if you want a taste of who she is , she’s inspired a lot by the song HER by chase atlantic :)

but ! basically , born to korean immigrants , romy was given a very american name in hopes of giving her a normalized life in america. she was only ever spoken to in english , ridding her of a chance to learn her native language and spent very little time to learn about her culture. all of these decisions were made by her mom , who loved romy so much despite having her at a very young age.

from ages one to six , she was pretty happy and had a pretty average life. her dad was a hard worker , learning the ins and outs of computer engineering / software just as it was taking off and had a good enough job to support the family and she was 100 % without a doubt a daddy’s girl. she had him wrapped around her little finger and she just absolutely adored him , no matter what he did.

then , a couple months after her sixth birthday , she remembers watching him pack up a suitcase and leaving. she doesn’t know why and her mom never told her , but she remembers sitting on her bed and seeing her dad through the crack of her door packing up in silence and leaving without even saying goodbye to her , which sorta broke her little heart.

but she could tell it broke her mom’s heart too , so romy just ... continued with life without ever really dealing with it because That’s Just What You Do , you know ? she became a rambunctious little kid and by the time she was in junior high she was a regular trouble maker. she didn’t intend to make life harder for her mom , but she just had a lot to deal with and didn’t know any other way than to throw hands in the girl’s locker room.

she wasn’t horrible , seeing as she still had friends and was quite popular around school. she wasn’t a bully either , but people knew she wasn’t afraid to get knitty gritty. but , even though she’s known for fighting , she spent most of high school just sitting in the front of class cracking jokes with the teacher. if you wanted someone to distract the teacher while you finished your project , romy was your girl.

in the same vein , she was sort of ? a drama queen. would complain loudly and often about nothing , make a big deal out of nothing and wouldn’t be afraid to march up to someone and confront them if she thought she had good reason to. so actually , maybe she was a little bit of a bitch , but that’s just who she was.

barely graduated , still isn’t sure how because she spent her last semester of senior year showing up late and leaving early. but graduated anyway and since she didn’t have the grades for college , left town and started traveling instead. mostly makes money through odd jobs and things locals will pay her to do , so is now mostly a jack of all trades.

*PERSONALITY

oof , uh if you couldn’t tell from the bio , she’s a handful.

her pos traits are venturesome and percipient , meaning basically: she’s adventurous but she’s got a good grip on things. people don’t expect much from her because ... dumb jock who gets into fights , but she’s mostly got a good grip on things fjsdlfdsj. she’s just v courageous and adventurous and is usually the first to volunteer for doing the Thing nobody else wants to do.

her neg traits are climactic and provoking because: she’s dramatic and she’s confrontational. no stranger to a fight , she’s not afraid to start a fight if she feels like she or one of her friends has been done wrong. unfortunately , that means she’s ready to throw down at any given moment which can be problematic because calm down romy.

all in all , a wild spirit that has no intention of calming down. if she was on a reality tv show , she’d be the crazy one because she just ... is a firecracker of a human being.

* WANTED CONNECTIONS

all of them fdsafad

BUT ! i’d love to see some rivals / enemies / neg connections because romy is kinda the worst so people who can’t stand her , people who she’s gotten into fights ( physical or not ) , people who think she’s a bit much , all of the above fdksfs

or someone who she loves dearly ! people she considers blood and would fight for no matter the situation or if they asked!

someone she has an unrequited crush on or vice versa ! someone who has she has a mutual crush on but she has daddy issues so it never really works out fjdsa any gender for this one babY

hook ups / exes cause again ... daddy issues. any gender bbies !

ex friends ??? we love an angsty friendship connection here where they used to be friends and something happened and they WANT to be friends again but it’s Complicated.

ex enemies !!! FKDSJ where they ‘hate each other’ because of their really rocky past BUT it’s not that deep they actually love each other now.

a smooth lil will they / wont they / exes / angst-y plots because i without a doubt am a hoe for angst in the apocalypse.

if nothing here floats ur boat PLS lmk and we can brainstorm cause i already love all ur muses and want plots with ALL of them.

#walkers:intro #flashing gif tw #!! just in case #but hello i'm so excited 2 be here #i'm :eyes: job searching so if this doesn't make sense ki** me

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thorne93 · 7 years ago

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Curious Conundrum (Part 30)

Prompt: You’re John Watson’s sister. One day you decide to visit your brother for lunch, only to meet the infamous Mr. Holmes…

Word Count: 1392

Warnings: language, flirtation, sexual innuendos (maybe? idfk), murder/crime/case related stuff, angst, jealousy…

Notes: Beta’d by @carryonmyswansong Not only did she beta, but I literally couldn’t have written half these scenes without her help. She contributed majorly, even wrote some parts of scenes. I am forever in her debt.

Also, this starts AFTER Season 2, episode 1. I don’t follow all the episodes, but it does follow the timeline and hit some major events : )

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

“That’s not possible,” Mycroft said in disbelief as he got out of the car. Your eyes shot to him as you had stood up, your body still shaking from the trauma of losing him yet again.

“What? What is it?” you asked as Mycroft eyed you. He spoke some more into the phone and then ended the call.

“Well?” John pressed.

“I don’t believe it. But right now on every television in the nation Moriarty’s face is playing. It keeps saying ‘Did you miss me’?”

Ice ran through your veins.

“Mor-Mor-Moriarty?” you gasped in barely a whisper. John knew this would probably send you over the edge so he glanced your way and quickly secured himself by your side, making sure you stayed up right. “He’s...he’s back? How? He shot himself.”

“Yes… He did,” John concurred.

“It doesn’t matter how, what matters is England needs Sherlock Holmes,” Mycroft said to you. His tone was cool, always that air of superiority, but his eyes… in his eyes was sort of… gift. He was saying that at least now Sherlock could come back.

Even with Moriarty possibly returning, Sherlock’s return outweighed that by an insurmountable bit. You jogged over to Mycroft and hugged him.

“Oh thank you!” you cried happily.

“Watson, do get off me,” he ordered and you let go, the grin larger than life on your face.

“Pretend all you want, but you’re just as happy as I am.”

The plane landed and you nearly sprinted into it, with your family in tow.

“Sherlo--”

“I have to go back!” he said in a rush as he looked up at you and his brother.

“What?” you asked, as if you‘d been stabbed. What the hell was he talking about. Surely he wasn’t referring to returning to his flight plan for Eastern Europe.

“I was nearly there. I nearly had it.”

“Had what, darling?” you asked as you sat in front of him, worried.

He went on to tell all of you that he had reconstructed a famous case from 100 years ago. The abominable bride. She had shot herself in the head and come back from the dead, just like Moriarity. He was trying to see how he would’ve solved it back then.

Mycroft seemed incredulous to Sherlock visiting his mind palace and performing this. John and you tried to defend him and say he’d done it before but Mycroft was insistent what Sherlock was doing wasn’t real.

“Did you make a list?” Mycroft demanded.

“A list? Sherlock isn’t high,” you retorted.

“Yeah, no I’ve seen him do it,” John stated.

Sherlock started deducing his brother but he wasn’t having it. He demanded the list once more.

“This is preposterous. Sherlock was sober when the plane took off he couldn’t possibly--”

But he reached into his coat pocket and tossed out a list. Your jaw clenched as you eyed him furiously. John picked it up and read it as Mycroft explained why there was always a list of everything he’d taken and how much. The three of them started to debate the fact that he wasn’t high before he got on the plane.

“Nobody deceives like an addict,” Mycroft commented with a smirk.

“I’m not an addict, I’m a user,” he corrected. “I alleviate boredom and occasionally heighten my thought process.”

You were speechless. The last time you would see him and he couldn’t even be sober. What a complete and utter ass!

Without another word, you stood from the plane and left it. John was behind you momentarily.

“Woah, woah, where are you going?”

“Anywhere that selfish prick isn't!” you shouted as you turned around and pointed at the jet.

“Wow, alright. What’s wrong? This isn’t the first time he’s been high.”

“No! But it’s not the first time we’ve said goodbye, either! The first time, what did he do? He went out of his way to make it unusually cruel to me. The second time, your wife shot him and he nearly died again trying to prove a point. Now? Now he can’t even tell me goodbye sober!”

Growing angrier, you turned and started marching away again.

“Did you ever think he did all of that for you?” your brother called. It made you stop. “The cruelty of his suicide. The danger of trying to save you and me from Mary. The fact that he can’t cope with the idea of leaving you yet again.”

“Don’t. Don’t make him out to be some saint.”

“I’m not. Sherlock is the most selfish and arrogant ass there is,” John said, his voice getting closer from behind you. “But don’t think for one second he doesn’t love you.”

Angry tears streaked down your face as you stood with your fists clenched so tight you thought your gloves would rip.

“He tried to ease the blow of his death by making you hate him. He tried to save our family by going after Magnussen. He is high right now because the thought of leaving you again probably hurts him just as much as it hurts you.”

You shook your head. “It’s not the same. He swore to me he would stop doing the drugs. I told him I couldn’t take any more scares from him so now that we’re engaged the drugs had to stop.”

He pursed his lips as he thought. “Sherlock says he’s not an addict, and technically he isn’t, seeing as he can put down the drugs when he really wants to. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t a crutch. The minute he’s faced with something emotional, he turns to that.”

“But why? When he has me!” you begged, pointing at yourself wildly with both hands.

“He was about to not have you. He isn’t wired like you or me. He isn’t used to dealing with loss or heartbreak, not really. So when he’s faced with these heavy emotional weights and strains, he turns to the one constant he’s always known.”

You shook your head as his words took hold in your head. The logical, and even compassionate part of you knew he was right.

“Since when did you become well versed in therapy?” you teased.

“Just living with Sherlock made me an honorary shrink,” he boasted as he threw his arm around you, ready to lead you back to the jet.

But the sight of Mary poking her head out made you stop.

“John! Get in here! He’s overdosing!” she called.

John’s worried eyes flashed to yours before he let go of you and ran inside the jet, going full doctor mode. The sight of John working on him, checking his pulse, measuring his heartbeat sent your own heart speeding. How many times must you endure nearly losing this man?

When he finally came to, he stated he needed to get back to work. One quick angry comment to his brother and he was dashing off, Mary and John on his heels. Mycroft stood there with a hidden hurt expression on his face.

“He means thank you,” you quietly said, offering some form of sympathy to him. “And so do I. I know it’s not easy to care for him, and you do it unwaveringly. I’m not sure where he, or even I, would be without you. So thank you.”

“You’re very sentimental,” Mycroft observed.

A gentle smile touched your face. “Hmm, I was told the opposite before I met your brother.”

“I didn’t say it was a bad thing,” he remarked with a ghost of a smirk. “You really care for him, don’t you?”

“With all my heart and soul.”

A small moment of silence passed between you two. For a split moment, Mycroft’s face seemed to soften, the gentleness reaching his eyes before he voided his face of any expression again.

You gave a slight nod, about to walk by him when he said, “Watson… Y/N, take care of him, please?”

“As if my life depended on it,” you vowed with a sincere nod.

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

Forever Tag:

@cocosierra94

@essie1876

@magpiegirl80

@letsgetfuckingsuperwholocked

@iamwarrenspeace

@marvel-imagines-yes-please

@superwholocked527

@missinstantgratification

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@rda1989

@munlis

@thefridgeismybestie

@bubblyanarocks3

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@sorryimacrapwriter

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@bittersweetunicorm

@alyssaj23

CC tag: @disneyoncerlover815 @ultrarebelheart@tngrayson@clairese1980 @ladyblablabla @molethemollie @lareinedususpense007

#curious conundrum #sherlock holmes #sherlock holmes x reader #sherlock x reader #sherlock #sherlock fic #sherlock holmes fic #sherlock bbc #john watson

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dono-harm-totonystark · 3 years ago

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IV catheters will usually be placed in the forearm / elbow. They CAN be placed in hand or wrist veins (in people who have large ones) BUT it is NOT the first place that will be attempted. (I Hulk out every time I see a movie and somebody has an IV cannula in their hand.) The reason this isn't done unless necessary is the veins in the forearm and below run VERY closely to the nerves and arteries, and it's EXTREMELY easy to stab past the vein and into one of those. I once personally requested an IV cannula in my wrist due to the state of my elbows and I ended up with a bruise down my thumb and 8 months of nerve damage. (It healed eventually but nevertheless unpleasant. Even more unpleasant for the medical personnel who does it without trying more appropriate veins first and then amply warning the patient before proceeding to the wrist, that then gets sued because the patient now cannot move their thumb.)

Central IV is called a central line in the biz. It is used in A) emergency / critical patients where other IV access is impaired, e.g. when both arms are broken; or B) in situations where the sheer amount of fluids / drugs that need to be administered would be unrealistic for a smaller vein. Central lines also require maintenance (a heparin flush every 4-6 hours) to avoid a formation of clots within or next to the line. If a clot forms, the line has to be removed and replaced--you MUST NOT flush a clotted central line because the clot is big enough to cause trouble.

In comparison, a normal IV cannula can be totally flushed through. The clots are microscopic and all you risk then is blowing the vein.

For those who REALLY wanna know details, central lines are placed into the bottom part of the jugular vein (near the collar bone) and are long enough to reach into the vena cava which is the largest vein of the torso. You can have 2 central lines simultaneously if need be (but very rarely is it necessary).

Bonus points that central lines can also be used for drawing blood, repeatedly, even after something else has been given through it. For example, you have a central line which you've been giving fluids through for the last 12 hours. You disconnect the fluids, flush through with heparin, draw up a few 2-3 mls / ccs of blood and discard (diluted) and draw up your sample after. This minimises the amount of stabbings necessary.

For the above reason (and the tiny veins reason) central lines are quite good for small children and newborns.

Central lines have 2 or 3 ports, each of which can be used for a different type of fluid or drug, or for the heparic flush, or to draw blood from. It's good practice to keep track of which one is used or was recently used for what, but it's not 100% necessary and will not endanger the patient if they get mixed up.

Central lines are painless (well, the application may require a local anaesthetic for the cutting of the skin). IV cannulas involve a stab, and then you can FEEL them in your vein / under your skin when moving around.

Blown vein is when a vein ruptures around or above the IV cannula. Usually happens because the cannula is too big for the vein or too much pressure was applied during placement or flushing, HOWEVER some veins are very fragile and blow just because they want to.

You should NEVER place an IV catheter in an arm that's broken, swollen, or otherwise unhealthy (not if you can avoid it, at least). This is because the blood flow will be severely impacted by any pathological process, causing the fluid therapy or drug administration less effective.

So I’ve noticed a bunch of medical errors in fics I read, so I decided to post this handy guide to some of the most common errors and some background on basic medical things.

ps- they are not medical treatment or first aid advice. I’m not actually a doctor. yet. but I am certified in first aid. this is just so your writing can be more realistic.

#emergency medicine #tw: surgery #tw: drugs #tw: hospital

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sunshine-ita · 8 years ago

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71 hours later – A Mass Effect: Andromeda critique

Et voilà! Since March 21, 2017, I’ve passed 71 hours in the Andromeda galaxy. Hated the first hour, because the Character Creator (CC) couldn’t or wouldn’t give me what I wanted. But as soon as I started the game with the default Sara Ryder, I could truly appreciate (and frown at) Mass Effect: Andromeda.

Here is a critique of the game. Let’s see what you scored, Andromeda!

I tried to make this review as spoiler free as possible. Hopefully, you won’t be spoiled. Fingers crossed!

The Game Engine

1. The Design - 9/10

All things considered, ME: A is a beautiful video game. The hardcore Sci-Fi fan in me is in bliss. All the planets are stunning; the ones you can land on and the ones you can scan only. The galaxy map and the travelling between stars and systems is pure delight. The attention was put in the details. The ships, the technology, the clothes, the outposts… Everything screamed Mass Effect to me. The Tempest is very sweet to travel in. And yes, the Nomad too. It resisted better to my bad driving than the Mako!

The design of the characters and most NPCs is on point. The turians and salarians look even more alien than in the previous games of the franchise. The asari bother me a bit, though. They all look alike, except for facial marking and skin color… And for PeeBee and T’Perro, both in the Tempest crew. I expected more diversity among the asari. For the rest, no major concern.

The visual of ME: A is a feast for the eyes, and even more since the release of the patch 1.05 (the character’s eyes are much better and the general coloring of the game too). My computer is old, I played in medium quality (in low quality, my eyes were crying because of the lack of details), and I can’t imagine how amazing it is in high and ultra high settings.

2. The Animation - 8/10

There were a LOT of complaints when the game came out. The animation was, to certain people, a complete disgrace. Honestly… I don’t get it. Fine, the animation is not perfect. But that bad? Come on! Some eyes or mouth movements were a bit weird, same for a couple of body movements and overall animation mechanics; LIKE IN EVERY FREAKING VIDEO GAME I EVER PLAYED. I don’t get the « animation rant ». Sure, Bioware will have to patch a couple of things, but in general, it’s quite playable as it is.

3. The Dialogs - 7/10

I liked the four dialogs options for Ryder. It gave enough versatility to the conversations and I think it’s a nice way to customize your character.

My game had some bad times with dialog synchronization, though. Sometimes, the background conversations would suddenly shut up for no reason; or two dialogs would embark on one another, making a real cacophony in my headphones. And fuck, SAM, stop telling me every 2 minutes, that I have new email… WHEN I DON’T HAVE SOME. So annoying.

4. The Sound Effects, Ambient Sounds and Soundtrack - 10/10

I think it’s one of the elements I prefer in Andromeda. Ship sounds, guns firing, the galaxy map, the scanners… Simply amazing and exactly what I expected. The new soundtrack feels even more cinematic than the Trilogy ones. We hear the resemblance, but it’s just enough to make us smile and want to travel more in Andromeda.

Bioware, you did extremely well on that one.

5. Combat Mechanics - 8/10

Three words: fun, versatile… complicated.

You can basically build your own combat specialist in ME: A, and it’s great. The thing is: I had to lower the difficulty for my first playthrough, because I was overwhelmed by the new fighting system. Combos, 50+ buttons to press on the controller, and all the other combat gear and perks hidden somewhere in the menus. It’s fun, lots of fun, spectacular, but a bit difficult to get around at first. In fact, after 71 hours in Andromeda, I feel like I don’t get the fighting system at all. Need to play again to comprehend it more.

A New Beginning

1. The Story - 7/10

Andromeda is clearly the first game of a new trilogy. Or, at least, there will be a sequel. The end of the game screams at you «THERE WILL BE A FOLLOW UP, GUYS». I’m still deaf from an ear.

The story is good (would not say extraordinary, though), and it leaves you with so many questions. I won’t make a list of the questions I have, because I don’t want to spoil anyone.

The Andromeda storyline was obviously built to pick the curiosity of the players and create a hype for a sequel or other promotional material (novels, comics, DLC). I must admit I had a moment of «That’s it? » at the end. Still, a part of me likes the wide opening.

I’ll be watching out for DLCs, books (already reading Nexus: Uprising), comics and other side stuff; which is a bit frustrating, because it cost a lot of money. But hey… That’s how Bioware/EA works. Not going to change. Must roll with it.

2. The Characters - 8/10

I could write a thesis on this topic, so I’ll be brief, and I’ll stick to the Tempest crew.

I love the characters. The Ryders have enough uncertainty and mystery around them to be interesting and I like the fact that your character, Sis or BroRyder, is inexperienced. It makes a distinct separation with Shepard.

The Tempest crew is nice. It doesn’t feel like it’s the same crew as on the Normandy. Vetra and Drack are the best squad mates; my favorites by far. Cora doesn’t annoy me. I get her; her sense of duty, her insecurities, her asari training who helps her focus. Jaal is sweet and emotional. PeeBee is a Liara on speed and I like how awkward she can be. T’Perro… I just want to marry her. Gosh, I love that doctor. Suvi is so sweet, curious and intelligent. I just want to hang out with her and eat her weird experiments. Kallo is skilled, yet so stuck up. He’s adorkable. Gill and Liam… They’re cool, but I must say they’re the two characters in the crew that don’t bring any reaction from me. I’m… indifferent. What I’m certain of: I want to get to know them better, so I can appreciate these two guys as much as the rest of the crew. I changed my mind about Kaidan Alenko, thanks to the fandom. I certainly can change my mind for Liam and Gill.

3. The Romances - 5/10

Ok. Bioware. *sigh* We need to talk.

I’m SO disappointed. And being disappointed romantically SUCKS.

I expected SO MUCH from the romances. Honestly, I wasn’t tempted by ANY of the romance options and Sara ended up with Reyes… Because her one true love, Lexi T’Perro, is not a romantic option (I’m still crying; Sara too). The sex is a subtext. Come on! And the Kerri date… FUCK. Can’t say more, don’t want to spoil. But... SO DISAPOINTING.

I’ll go on YouTube and watch all the romances, see if one is to my liking. Still, you’re not getting a high note on that one, Bioware.

4. Main Quests & Side Quests - 8/10

Lots of quests, but none that really annoyed me. They’re nicely integrated into the storyline. At the end, though, I was a bit tired of side quests popping every 5 seconds. What I liked is that the quest system makes Ryder be a pathfinder. For real. Stuff to do for your crew, the arks, the Nexus, the outposts. It represented well the extend of Ryder’s job.

My game has a lot of bugs in the quest system, though. I currently have around 10 quests (mostly additional assignments) that I can’t finish. Maybe a patch to help?

5. Hints to the Trilogy - 10/10

One word. P.E.R.F.E.C.T.

Really.

Not too much, not completely absent. Well placed, nicely explained or integrated into the storyline. Surprises, smiles, feels, joy… Only perfection.

Thank you. The fan in me is satisfied to the core on this point.

So, what did you score, Mass Effect: Andromeda?

80%.

Well, this isn’t bad! Because no, 80% doesn’t mean Andromeda is complete shit. It means 80% of the game is great, 20% not so much.

And you know what? It’s normal. It’s normal for a video game, or anything in life, to be imperfect. If it was 100%, there would be no place for headcanons or fanfictions or fanart. Where is the fun in that?

I’m also confident that the next patch, the DLCs and the side stuff will help Andromeda get better and better. Plus, if I recall my own Mass Effect experience, the Trilogy is not perfect either. It’s the whole games, side stuff and fandom that makes it amazing.

Now that my first playthrough of Andromeda is done, I want more; need more. I need more Mass Effect in my veins. That’s why all I want to do now is get along with my post-ME3 fanfic; and start a second playthrough of ME: A.

Next Ryder, here I come! Oh, and… I should try the multiplayer. Right?

#mass effect andromeda #critique #mass effect #bioware #sara ryder #first playthrough

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613526362 · 6 years ago

Text

Up in the sky

These are the facts, as they happened.

It had been about an hour and a half since we took off, and they'd served dinner, which I ate with satisfaction prior to brushing my teeth. I had finally put on my ear muffs and covered my head with a blanket, after taking two hydroxyzine to help me fall asleep. As I was drifting in the direction of sleep, I heard on the overhead, "There is a passenger in need of medical assistance. If you have medical training and can assist, please proceed to the back of the plane."

First I pulled the blanket off my head. Next I pulled off my ear muffs. I thought for a second, and then looked around. Considering doctors are a dime a dozen in the developing African nation we just left from, I expected to see 20 people standing up and proceeding to the back of the plane.

No one.

Alright, here we go, I thought.

Upon arriving to the back area of the plane, where the attendants prepare food, I found a 40-year old female missionary sitting on one of the flight attendant's pull down chairs, with several of her missionary lady friends surrounding her. There was also what appeared to be a doctor who had responded from first class to come help. I listened in for a second, and was able to gather that the patient ("Grace") had been feeling nauseas a couple hours before the flight, and upon boarding, became vomiting repeatedly and having diarrhea too.

I discussed the case with the doctor. When the doctor said, "If we had some zofran," I said, "I have some." Before I could go get it though, one of the flight attendants suddenly produced a first aid kit in a long metal box.

At around that time, another flight attendant I did not recognize suddenly appeared, looked at me, and said, "She's a doctor," pointing at the African doctor. I immediately responded to her, "Yes. I am too."

We broke the seal on the first aid kit, and opened it.

Quite the curious hodgepodge of items that medical kit was. There were odd non-sterile bandages with "Made in China. Guaranteed sterile" on them, drugs that the doctor and I had never even heard of before, syringes without needles, and quite a few other items equally perplexing. There was an inventory list too, which stated "injectable promethazine" was supposedly included inside. While we began the search for the promethazine, I mentioned that promethazine is an extremely dangerous drug, and can lead to extreme necrosis if not properly administered deep IM or IV.

Luckily, we didn't find the injectable promethazine.

Shortly after I grabbed the oral zofran from my bag, the head flight attendant started asking us if we needed to do an emergency landing.

I had already talked to the patient, checked skin turgor, asked her about when she last urinated, and how dry her mouth was.

I looked at the doctor while answering the flight attendant, as if for consensus, and stated that I thought we could try to manage the patient for now, without any drastic measures. We could try doing oral rehydration and zofran. I mean, where were we going to do an emergency landing right now, Libya?

Apparently one of the missionary friends of the patient was a nurse, and she spoke up to state as much. She asked if we had any IV fluids in the kit. Yes, we replied, but only 500cc. We would try to manage with zofran by mouth first.

About the time that we had come to that conclusion, the patient started losing consciousness.

The doctor and I immediately looked at each other and said, "Ok. IV fluids."

I then addressed the nurse and the doctor and said, "So which one of us is best at IV catheters?"

For the nurse, that seemed to be a call to action. She said, "I got it. Give me the fluids and the line."

I told her I would help her out, as I'm also a Paramedic. I was shuffling through the equipment trying to find what we needed, noting what we didn't have as I compiled supplies. "Don't have a tourniquet," I mentioned in passing. "Okay, we can cut a glove in half and use that," replied the doctor. We discussed IV sizes for a moment, and eventually I handed her a 20 gauge IV. After we found the alcohol preps, she began the IV placement process as I looked for tape to tape the IV.

When eventually I compiled all the IV secural supplies, I looked over at the nurse.

Things didn't look good.

She was inserting a bare IV needle into the patient's R hand vein.

First, I said, "So, you're going to put a 20 in the hand?" She replied, "Yes, I do this all the time."

I said, "Ok, I guess we can put 500cc through the hand. But you don't have a catheter on the needle."

She said, "I thought we'd just do a straight stick."

I didn't continue to mention that the needle inside an IV catheter is actually way too small diameter to actually give fluids through, and the only purpose of it is to confirm placement of the IV in a vein by showing a "flash of blood."

As her "attempt" failed, I thought to myself, "Oh shit. I'm the only one on this plane who can do this shit."

I grabbed another 20 and tied the glove high up on the arm to look at the AC. First, I could palpate it well. I said, "She's got a good AC."

The doctor thought to mention that I didn't have gloves on, which isn't all that abnormal for me. I said it was okay.

Then the glove-tourniquet popped off, and I couldn't palpate anything the next time I tied it.

Finally, "Ok, I feel it again."

I went in.

Nothing, no flash.

Shit.

Dug around a bit.

Nothing, no flash.

Doctor, nurse, two missionary friends, patient, three flight attendants all watching, hoping I can get it.

Nothing.

I palpate the vein again, and its several mm medial to wear I am.

All turbulence must have led to some patient movement, and I was in the wrong spot. I could move through the subnormal space to get over there, but it was a long shot.

I tried, and I got flash. I was in the vein.

Trying to advance the catheter off the needle, it wouldn't advance completely. All of a sudden things didn't look as good. Too late though, because I'd already said out loud, "I got it." Had to make it work now.

Pulling the needle all the way out and leaving the catheter in place, I put the needle in a sharps container and noted no blood was flowing out - meaning it wasn't in the vein. I retracted it a bit, and sure enough, blood flow.

All over my hands.

It was in, but just barely.

I held the IV steady against the patient's arm, as the nurse hooked up the IV fluid line.

I instructed one of the missionary friends to squeeze the saline box - that's right, IV fluids in Africa comes in a box more often than a bag - in order to speed up the infusion. It was slow progress, but after we had infused about 200cc of fluid, the patient's mental status changed, and she even stated out loud that she felt better.

Unfortunately though, the fluid wasn't flowing anymore.

I didn't note any infiltration, so it didn't seem like the IV was bad. We turned our focus to the box and line, and first the nurse uncapped some valve that neither of us had seen on an IV line before. We thought that might be helping initially.

My hands were tied, but next I told the doctor to check the roller clamp. She said, "it's up high, but it seems to just roll when I move it higher."

"That means it's completely unclamped," I told her.

Eventually the nurse suggested positional occlusion, which I had considered but not stated out loud. Moving the patient's arm around a bit, we started to get better flow.

It probably took 45 minutes to infuse 350 cc.

Eventually I had the nurse take over holding the IV in place, because I had noticed a BP cuff in the first aid kit and wanted to check the patient's blood pressure on the other arm.

When I did, I found it to be 92/60. The flight attendant asked, "Is that bad."

The doctor spoke up, saying, "Technically it's within normal range....."

I was thinking, "Bad."

After we finished our IV therapy, the doctor and I put together a treatment plan. Missionary friends had cleared out a row for the patient to lie semi-sitting. The doctor had asked if the patient could lie in first class, but of course, that wasn't happening.

Before we could enact our treatment plan, someone came back and asked for the doctor's help, as another patient had a "severe head ache." Jokingly, I turned to the doctor and said, "This is how it starts. One person gets sick, and then all the other passengers see it and decide they're sick too. I've seen this movie."

The doctor grabbed the blood pressure cuff to go triage our second patient, as I stayed with Grace and told her what the plan was. We're going to have her chew the zofran, and try to sip some fluids, and get some rest.

She was dizzy on owalking, but we guided her back to her row. I was a bit displeased to see the missionaries were lying her down - that's not exactly the position I wanted.

"We don't really want her lying down, so if she vomits, she can breathe it in."

As was happening increasingly, the nurse slighted my advice and stated, "No, I'll keep an eye on her."

Ok fine.

At about that time, I returned to the back and found the African doctor. She asked me what specialty I was in and where I practiced. I said, "Emergency medicine." She said, "Oh wonderful. I'm an internist, so this isn't my specialty."

She disappeared, and I never saw her again.

Less than an hour later, Grace was vomiting again. She vomited all the fluid that the nurse had coached her to sip and a bit more, probably 150 cc. Grace said to me, "It feels like bile." I looked at the vomit and said, "Some of it is bile, but regardless, you're losing fluid, and we don't want that."

That was the end of hour four. It was an 8 hour flight.

Grace's blood pressure held for hour five, and six, and we administered several more doses of zofran.

As her BP's continued to hold just above 100, I instructed the nurse to keep having Grace sip water whenever her nausea level was less than 6/10 - in coordination with our zofran doses. The nurse pushed back. I said, "It's the bacteria that's causing her to need to vomit, not the water." The nurse said, "Yes, but the water isn't helping."

I tried to be patient with the nurse and explain on multiple occasions (I was visiting the patient every 30 minutes or so, taking her vitals by putting my watch on her wrist as a heart rate monitor and doing a manual BP), that the patient had lost a lot of volume, and we had only placed 500cc of it.

She was in a very fragile state, even if it didn't seem like it. Nonetheless, the patient was resting, so I let her rest. I communicated that I was hesitant to dose her at more than one zofran per hour - which was already way too much considering this was the 8mg zofran tablets.

At hour five of the flight, things took a turn for the worse when Grace started having severe diarrhea again. She went into the bathroom and flushed three times.

I took Grace's blood pressure again, and it had dropped precipitously. 88/54.

She was now hypotensive. Her heart rate was also over 100, as the heart tried to compensate for the lack of volume.

I looked at the nurse and her young missionary accompany, and I said, "This is a very unique situation. Not having the medication you need."

I looked down, and thought. Then I looked up at Grace, and, speaking very softly, I said, "Grace we just gave you a Zofran 40 minutes ago. I know your nausea is a 7/10, but I'm going to have to have you take another Zofran, so that you can drink some water. As a doctor, I know exactly how much fluid is in your arteries and veins right now, and it's not good. We have to replace some of that."

Before Grace could take my next Zofran, she was back in the bathroom again having more diarrhea. When she came back out, she was in and our of consciousness.

I had put up with the nurse's bullshit enough, and now I was taking charge. "She's goning to stay right here. We're going to do another zofran. And in 10 minutes were going to start pushing fluids. Otherwise, we're going to wind up right back where we started, and this time we won't even have 500cc of fluids to save us."

And that's what we did.

One of the flight attendants who was hovering asked if we should give her some Sprite.

"No, the sugar makes diarrhea worse. What she really needs is Pedialite, but I doubt anyone has any."

Someone mentioned as an aside that we could put some salt in her water. I said okay, we'll do that (I'm usually not opposed to something that is sound and can't hurt). When the flight attendant brought.a couple packets of salt over, the young missionary girl opened one up and started to pour it in the water.

"No," I said. "Don't bother. It will just sink to the bottom." Then, I had Grace protrude her tongue, and I poured salt on her tongue, after which she drank some water. I was sincerely hoping it wouldn't cause her to vomit, and I guess since we had so much zofran on board, it didn't."

Another flight attendant appeared and handed me a vomit bag to write on. "Can you please write what is going on with the patient so the pilot can radio the tower."

I wrote,

"Hypotensive patient. Losing consciousness. Severely dehydrated."

Then, I thought for a second, and realized I hadn't really followed traditional medical report formatting. So I added,

"40-year old female. Severe nausea and vomiting."

Alright, that spruced things up.

I read it to the nurse, and she seemed to agree with me that what I wrote was a pretty concise and accurate depiction of things.

As we neared landing, we moved Grace back to a row and had her sit up so we could buckle her in for landing. I sat next to Grace, and as I monitored her level of consciousness and pulse, I finished up a report I was writing in my notebook to give to the paramedics when we arrived in Dublin. It was mostly her demographic info, allergies and medical conditions (none), and a narrative followed by vital signs.

The chief flight attendant came over and let us know that paramedics would be coming onto the plane. They would need to do their own assessment, the flight attendant said. "Of course. That's fine." I said. "But I need you to make sure that there aren't all sorts of people standing in the isle blocking their way," I replied. She said, "Of course. No one wills and."

As we landed, I took the stethoscope back from the nurse, who had been holding it for me. I put it around my neck and said, "This will make me look a bit more official."

After we landed, the flight attendants read a message that literally said, "Thank you for choosing Easet African Airlines for your flight today. Whether your final destination is the Big City or you're continuing on, we thank you for your loyalty."

That's when I realized the flight attendants were going to do a crew change, and those with me now were probably most interested in getting the hell out of there.

And that's about how it went. I walked up front to the door, and repeatedly asked the flight attendants to have all the passengers sit. At one point a man even charged up to me with his bag, and said, "Big City?"

No, she informed him, we're not in the Big City yet.

The young missionary girl came to the front, and I told her, "Get these people out of the isle. I'm about to yell at all of them in 30 seconds here."

She tried to, but it's hard persuading Africans sometimes.

The door was opened, and immediately outside I saw workers from the Dublin crew. I couldn't tell who was EMS, so I started hinting at them and saying, "Are you a paramedic? Are you a medic?" NO, no, they said.

They pointed down at the end of a set of stairs that had been attackhed to the door, and I saw an ambulance. I saw what I thought might be too paramedics still sitting int he carin.

It seemed a natural connection of dots for me to hop out the door and head down to give them report and accompany them up, but when I did, the flight attendants immediately yelled at me, "No, no, come back. You cannot walk out there."

Sure were better at keeping people off the starts then out of the isle.

I checked the isle once more, and I saw a lot of people still in the isle.

I started yelling. Oh shit. I'm yelling on a plane.

About that time, I realized they were actually bringing Grace to me.

Probably not a bad idea.

Grace arrived, and almost immediately thereafter, the Paramedics were at the door. I addressed the one who arrived first, and gave report. He said, "So it looks like she needs a visit to the hospital and some IV fluids."

I said, "Yes, definitely. Can you give her some fluids en route to the hospital."

"No," he said. "We don't do IV fluids here. WE could give some zofran, but sounds like you've already done that."

Oh wow.

While I was hoping things were over, they weren't.

This was supposed to be a re-fuelign stop and passengers weren't supposed to be leaving the plane. Grace, and the missionary who had been elected to go with her, were having their passports and tickets analyzed and photographed.

Geez, come on.

As the EMS team and I wanted, I handed my report to them.

Finally, I looked at the official inspecting the documents, and I said, "Can she go."

"Yes, yes," he said.

And she went.

That was that.

---

De-planing, I went up to the pilot and told him the first aid kit needs to be restocked. He discussed the incident with me a bit.

He asked if they took down my name and email address and phone number. I said, "Yes. I hope I don't get in trouble." He said, "Well you never know, you might get a free ticket to Wakanda."

I would like that, I said. I would like that a lot.

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