#I already told you how I'm storing my data! I told you! I told you! oh my god! I told you how like three times!

[liesonthefloordramatically]

filling out IRB paperwork is truly a layer of hell

[greatrunner]

It is a truth universally accepted that when critiquing anything regarding AO3/OTW, reactionaries enter the building, and critical thinking and discernment gets locked out.

Nia Ola (on Substack) attempted to raise the alarm about AO3's changes in Terms of Service. This bit in particular:

Nia Ola: "[...]AO3 just updated their terms and conditions so that the only way you can use the site now is that you consent to them taking your data (so, works that you've written, distributed, saved, bookmarked, etc, everything) and give that data and information to the government."

In my time reading Terms and Conditions of Service, websites claiming that they're "duty bound" to provide data uploaded to the site to the govt, depending on jurisdiction, is not a surprise. You will not be informed or told by the site(s) when the government accesses/obtained your information. All on the pretense that it would "interfere with an ongoing investigation".

It isn't dissimilar to the one I've read here for Tumblr. The bit that says (legalese-y) that anything you post on the site can be used as evidence (IIRC) if it becomes "necessary."

But as usual, the AO3 brigade worked like hell to shout them down. Folk focused a lot on how OTW made their TOS "easier" to understand. They claimed Nia Ola was spreading misinformation. Most have gone as far as quibbling with her phrasing, "giving your information to the government" (which they would be doing) based on their personal interpretation of her meaning.

After making the video (they posted on TikTok) private, Nia Ola continued to encourage people to use security measures like VPNs and secure Browsers (they mentioned Firefox; I'm sure others are recommending Tor, Brave, and lesser-known browsers with better security features than Edge or Chrome) and to back up information they didn't want to lose.

Is it an explicit consequence of the election? Probably not. AO3/OTW knows entirely that they're hosting grimy shit on their website and refuse to do anything about it. AO3/OTW, like other websites, are "all-ages". Meaning OTW knows kids as young as 13 (and lets face it, younger) are using AO3. If the US or any other country decides it's politically advantageous to go after them, AO3/OTW is gonna cover their asses and throw you under the bus.

Point-Blank-Period.

That said, I think it would be irresponsible to exclude the election as a factor altogether. Organizations (govt or otherwise) are hang-wringing about rustling conservative feathers, and censoring themselves to avoid the wrath of a Trump Admin.

KOSA and COPPA are still in play. And there's the bill targeting non-profits to consider that's likely (and did) to pass not long after it got shot down.

When Tumblr wanted the favor of the Apple Store and their advertisers, they targeted sex worker blogs and fashion and art bloggers (primarily Black/non-Black). Then, they created an AI flagging system that still doesn't work.

When enough people (and advertisers) made enough noise about the NC-17 content that FanFiction (dot net) hosted on their site (at the height of its popularity, mind you)? They made a choice that allowed the website to survive and eliminate the target on their back. Both were financially motivated, yes, but if it's a choice of annexing content to stay online or getting shuttered?

AO3 will not be an exception. It's already embracing that "Obeying in Advance" phrase y'all are in love with right now.

Nia Ola is not the only one raising the alarm or alarmed by this decision. In your haste to fall on the sword for an organization that does not care about you, try not to make an ass of yourself by dog-piling people with experience regarding the consequences of data collection stemming from policies meant to criminalize sexual content, yeah?

This will continue unless we establish actual policies, education, and protections to prevent the mass surveillance of adult spaces under the pretense of "decency" and "protecting children." Additionally, we must address the ongoing elimination of healthy and safe spaces for children.

Because in our govt's haste to claim their concern for children, the corporations they serve have been demolishing child spaces and media online to save a couple of bucks (Cartoon Network's website comes to mind), and pushing children into adult spaces. And if they're not pushing kids into adult spaces, they're inviting adults into so-called kid spaces to increase their profits (Roblox and its attempts to become anything but a game for children, to say nothing of their monetization of the ideas that kids make).

Until our culture/society overhauls its approach to sex education, divorced from white supremacy, the actual intention of creating spaces that aren't sex-negative and don't prey on uninformed children will probably always exist in short bursts.

That means our politic has to rid itself of the reactionary ilk that (a) demonizes all things sexual and (b) refuses to practice discernment and critical thinking in their so-called sex-positive spaces. Both are why places like AO3 manifest and then ultimately help no one.

And it does not help anyone that reactionary AO3 loyalists will always fight to keep conversations about the site politically and socially stunted and unchanging.

Not all censorship and moderation is or should be sex-negative or censorious to the point of infantilizing. But, if the goal is maintaining free speech and freedom of expression (as we like to think of it vs how the govt allows it), it cannot be to the detriment of itself or for the sake of it (i.e., anti-censorship is not the answer any more than autocratic censorship is).

[lisutarid-a]

[Gakuen K] Munakata Reisi Route Translation

Assisting the President of the Student Council Office

LIST OF CHAPTERS

[Translation under the cut]

Saya: --This is a program list for the school festival.

Munakata: Thank you. Next, please put together the applications for permission to use the classrooms there.

Saya: Okay, understood.

*A few moments later*

Saya: I put together the applications.

Munakata: Thank you. Next, please create a timetable for the event hall and the sports ground.

Munakata: I think we can use last year's data, could you please check?

Saya: I got it.

Munakata: When you are done with that, could you please deliver the documents to Awashima-sensei?

Saya: Okay.

*Many hours later...*

Saya: (Whoa…It's already dark outside)

Awashima: Huh, I was thinking about the lights being on…I see the President is still working, right?

Munakata: I have a lot of things that need to be done today, so it will take a little bit longer.

Awashima: That's so…Please be careful not to push yourselves too hard, both of you.

Munakata: Thanks for your concern.

Munakata: We hope to announce all the details at the end of the week.

Awashima: Understood. Well, I'll leave the key to you, so could you please lock the door?

Munakata: Got it. …Excuse me, Awashima-sensei.

Awashima: Yeah, what is it?

Munakata: Could you please sign this? I have some documents that I'd like you to look over.

Awashima: Understood. I'll verify them.

Awashima: Is that all?

Munakata: Yeah, thank you. Sorry for holding you back.

Awashima: It's fine. It's dark outside, please be careful going home.

Saya: Okay, thank you.

Munakata: Well, let's get back to work, shall we? We have a list of equipment needed, so please take a look at it and prepare the application.

Saya: Okay, understood. Um, how much longer are we going to work today?

Munakata: Until the end of today's work.

Saya: U-Understood!

Saya: (Let's do our best to finish it as soon as possible!)

Munakata: Could it be that you had plans?

Saya: No, it's not a big deal, don't worry.

Saya: (I can't tell him there was a TV show I wanted to watch…Work comes first!)

Munakata: I see. Sorry to keep you up late.

Saya: No! It's just that my work is taking too much time. I'll try to do it more efficiently.

Munakata: You are doing your best. It is inevitable because of the amount of work you had to do in the first place.

Saya: Senpai…Thank you.

Munakata: It's already dark, I'll walk you back to your dormitory when it's time to go home.

Munakata: But I don't know if I can finish before the date changes…Though I think it's just barely manageable.

Saya: Is it really going to take that long?

Munakata: …Or should we just stay the night?

Saya: Eh…?

Saya: (Stay the night, just the two of us?)

Munakata: Right, tomorrow is Saturday, and I have permission to use the student council chambers all weekend long.

Munakata: And we can proceed without losing time in getting here from the dormitory.

Munakata: If we work together until tomorrow morning, we'll certainly finish it.

Choice: Understood ❤︎

Saya: U-Understood. Let's work hard all night today!!

Munakata: Oya, you are very motivated.

Saya: Yeah! I learned from senpai before.

Munakata: …? What's that?

Saya: Senpai said that if you put things off until later, you'll find yourself in trouble later, so I decided to follow your example.

Saya: So I want to finish it first.

Munakata: You…really remembered that, didn't you?

Saya: Oh, but I didn't bring a toothbrush or a towel for washing my face…The store is closed, right?

Choice: Staying night is a bit…

Saya: I think that's true, but staying the night here is a bit too much…

Saya: (That means I and Munakata-senpai have to sleep together here…)

Munakata: I see…I thought it would be more efficient if we could alternate sleep and not lose any time for meetings.

Saya: (Senpai told me before that it's not good to put off work, so I guess I should stay the night)

Saya: I-I got it. I'm staying!

Munakata: Hah…You don't have to make that face. It's all a joke. I think the day will be over soon.

Saya: Eh! Is that so? Could it be that "barely manageable" is also a joke…?

Munakata: I mean, that I almost managed with it.

Saya: (I wonder if he was making fun of me…?)

Munakata: Now, let's focus on the last spurt, shall we?

[Prev chapter][Next chapter]

[drdemonprince]

my thoughts and values align with yours re: STIs and risk AND i keep coming up against resistance to the recent discussions as a high-risk person still living almost entirely isolated amidst the ongoing pandemic. and when i take a second to breathe and think, i realize these are not conflicting at all. the friction isn't that i view illness morally or that i think we should avoid all risk. it's that the majority of folks without question take precautions to reduce STI exposure but the majority of people no longer consider doing the so minorly inconvenient precautions to reduce the spread of covid, which i would argue is much riskier than STIs at this point. and it's so exhausting because then i have to, based on my risk analysis of covid, take way more precautions because no one else is looking out for me. community care and harm reduction are my biggest driving values and i grieve how absent they are around me. i just wanted to share in case others are feeling similarly while reading this discussion. you rock and i so hope i get to engage in a beautiful public kinky scene some day.

Hey, thanks so much for sharing and walking us through your thought process.

What I might add is that individual people might not seemingly put much effort into COVID mitigation anymore because they have next to zero institutional support in doing so. Many of my disabled friends have to work in areas with a high risk of COVID exposure: waiting tables, stocking grocery store shelves, working as home health aids or phlebotomists, or teaching in schools. Some of them are high risk themselves, but because they have no choice but to work in areas where their life is put on the line, they have very high stress decompression needs and feel already resigned to their disposability in society, and so they do also go out to bars with their friends or hold parties or visit clubs.

I also know people who are able to socially distance quite strictly, test regularly, are vaccinated and boosted, but who intentionally make plans to visit cruising spaces or gay orgies very rarely so that they can remain relatively safe COVID wise but also not kill themselves out of despair (I'm not being hyperbolic here, that's exactly what some people have told me are the competing risks they face when they balance COVID exposure against isolation. And I know that many high risk populations face these same severe negative mental health outcomes too -- in fact, I know high risk people who choose to go out in public at times in order to remain sane, but who have to sit with the fact that it could be a mortal danger to do so).

I also think about how the queer community came together in the fight against AIDS to make condoms available, to educate one another about safer sex practices or harm reductionist practices, to engage in sex together in risk mitigating ways (such as gloved fisting) and how they pushed for the government to make drug treatment available to them. I see a lot of queer and disabled advocacy groups doing similar work today to spread accurate data on COVID as best they can, promote masking, organize solely outdoor events, encourage vaccination, and remind people of the stakes.

And I see such a massive gap between the ways in which risk mitigation was made possible through such community efforts, and how catastrophically the government fails us regarding COVID. We are not given free tests anymore. Vaccines aren't free anymore either. It is no longer a state of emergency. Many of us have been forced back into in-person work at our jobs. Our unemployment benefits have been cut. Student loan payments are roaring back into action. Disability benefits and medicare's expansion is rolling back. We no longer have accurate testing and tracing data. Masks are no longer required.

If a person wants to behave responsibly regarding COVID, how are they even supposed to? They can wear a mask in public and not experience in-person community to the extend they might like or need. But they can't actually prevent themselves from getting or spreading the virus because they've been forced back to work. I understand many people do not even take these small steps to reduce harm and that it is dismaying and outrageous. And I think you have ever right to feel outraged by it. But I also think individual behavior flows from social support and institutional pressure, and nearly all of that is heading in the wrong direction right now.

And I think about how collective the push for better government interventions regarding AIDS was, and how much the push regarding COVID instead is focused on targeting individual people for the actions they've made within a very unsupportive context. It was not beneficial to view individuals who had bareback sex or shot heroin as the origin of HIV, and I don't think it's helpful to understand COVID as a phenomenon of individuals failing to mask now.

Granted, it took HIV activism YEARS to get to the point of ACT UP. And we're not so many years deep into COVID yet comparatively. Personally when I look at all these facts in context I see a population that largely did take COVID seriously for a time, but who, due to a mix of institutional failure, mass misinformation, risk resignation, and despair, no longer do so in their behavior.

I don't believe in moralizing emotions and I think from your perspective you're affected by all these factors PLUS the massive risk of developing Long Covid symptoms or worse. And I know you know and live all this shit already so forgive me for preaching to the choir. But I do want to gently push back against the idea that most people don't care about COVID the way they care about STI's. I believe our discourse on both has been horrifically poisoned by individualism, capitalism, and institutional failure.

Some articles I have written on the subject:

[crplpunkklavier]

Hey there! I might be applying for a PhD program in Germany next year and I was wondering if there was anything about Germany that's normal for natives but foreigners are confused about that you'd like to share? For instance, I was once told virtually nothing in Germany opens on Sundays, things like that <3

that's correct yeah, definitely get your shopping done BEFORE sundays and official holidays, because all stores will be closed. that includes places like pharmacies and doctor's offices! if you have a medical emergency on a weekend it's basically like having one in the middle of the night, so you'll have to find your local emergency numbers to call. the only places that ARE open on sundays/holidays are gas stations and some kiosks, so if you just need drinks and/or snacks, you're fine.

every bottle or can you buy that has this symbol on it:

you can return at stores with Pfandautomaten. theyre machines in grocery stores that you can feed your bottles/cans into, and they print a receipt that you hand over at the register, and youll get a little bit of money back. depending on what it was, it can be like 25 ct per can or something. its money you already paid when you bought it, so you dont get free money or anything, but its nice. also my non-german spouse just loves standing in front of those machines and watching.

our infrastructure is pretty bad in comparison to, like, most other industrialized places lol. its highly unlikely that there will be public wifi where you are, so get set up with a sim card asap. reception/data might still be pretty bad if youre not in a big city. the plus side of how backwards we still are about many things is that germans still looove cash. there will be places that do not take cards. usually its smaller places like bakeries or a farmers market stand. but it will happen

do go to a bakery whenever you can. you can get bread rolls for 30 cents and entire loaves for 3 bucks. theyre good!

there will be no a/c unless youre in a store or in a place with properly funded trains/trams. no residential buildings have a/c. i will be very surprised if your university does

if youre moving into any sort of student housing deal you might not have to deal with this, but if you're going to rent an apartment here, chances are it won't have a kitchen, and potentially it won't have flooring either. you have to get that yourself. it then ~belongs to you~ and you can take it with you when you move again, or try to sell it to the next tenant, and apparently people think that thats a good way to do this? i dunno lol. you can get kitchens at ikea. i'm sorry.

i'm not entirely sure where you're from, but if you don't get cold winters there then it might be worth to read up generally on how to dress for central european winters. you're not going to get fully snowed in unless you're moving all the way south to the alps, but we get snow sludge pretty much everywhere, and temperatures will drop to around 0° celsius.

april and may will feel crazy. you'll get 27°c one day and a thunderstorm will cool things down to 10° the next day.

most people speak english! we learn it in school. some will be apprehensive to do it, many will have a thick accent. but you will probably get through to people if your german isn't solid enough yet.

we have a large turkish population! try their food, go to their supermarkets, it's worth it!

good luck!! i will rb this if i think of anything else <3

[olivermajor226]

CHOPPER MONOLOGUE

From ArtBomb, chapter 2. I just...it's been so long since I've been able to write him, and of course I'm pulling this out of context, but I think it stands alone enough, and Chopper should get the credit he deserves for this rant.

Sorry, Cass. Whatever goose chase Eirtae sent you and Kay on, well, uh, let’s just say the goose chase she took me on started far earlier. Like this morning. At 400 hours. And it started with calling me over and over, basically throwing a metaphorical stiletto at my head, so uh, little busy right now, and I’m already in deep shit with the other Mr. Syndulla, because we had, well, other plans today, important plans. But when a woman you respect with all your stupid synthetic life asks you to take her off-world, or rather threatens that stupid synthetic life if you don’t take her to Coruscant this instant , I mean, you do the chivalrous thing, yeah? Shit. Probably said too much. Don’t…don’t read too much into that, okay?  

You’re telling me Eirtae was on Coruscant this morning? Cassian asks in code, just because he’s pretty certain, then, Chopper did not get the heads up about the Semantics program. 

And he’s just telling Cassian everything.  

Even as he stands, still looking at the painting, he smiles triumphantly. That got anything to do with her secret plans for today? Cassian toys. 

I can neither confirm or deny…. 

But I just saw her, Cassian baits him

And it’s then he strikes gold.

Well, duh, Captain. Gods, I forgot you’ve like been literally nowhere since the Empire. No double and triple jumps anymore, Andor. We’re an inner rim system. It’s one jump, and only takes like twenty minutes to get to Coruscant, at most. It was actually really fucking bizarre and wild. She told me I wasn’t allowed to ask questions, and anyway, we end up at her favorite department store, and when someone tried to tell Eirtae I couldn’t go in, well, uh, I fear her wrath. She went on a twenty-minute tangent about how I was a decorated war veteran, and when that didn’t work she commed the retired Mon Mothma herself and let her give a piece of her mind to the sad little sixteen-year-old speciest mall cop. It was brutal. Then we’re the fanciest fucking store of my fucking life, just she and me, ol’ C1-10P, tracking dirt into the place, probably, and she’s charging all kinds of shit to her mother’s credit account, saying things like, “we need to defund the wealthy Chop. That’s how you take down the kriffing system.” Then when we were by the loading docks Eirtae tried to…liberate the loading bay droids, right there on the docking platform. Like right then and there. Actually convinced one of them, like the only barely sentient one of the bunch, who is honestly so fucking confused right now. I mean this bastard’s just your basic service droid, maybe a week into understanding he’s something separate from the boxes he’s loading into the Courier, and in his kriffing face is this beautiful, fiery woman delivering this passionate speech about how he’s her equal and deserving of rights and love and he already as her undying respect. Like this lucky son of a bitch who looks like a box, loading boxes, and he tells me he’s been online two weeks and in this once in a billion shot the angelic Eirtae Alniyat herself chooses to grace Coruscant with her presence, which I know she hated doing. Like it was really fucking hard for her to go back there, Cass, and he’s the only one she has time to save so she points to him and says, “you.”  

Chopper’s still going, but Cassian is already laughing out loud to himself, unable, truly, to believe what Chopper’s saying, save for the fact there are all these random snippets of his data of everything, although just visual, because say what you want about him, Chopper tells one hell of a story.

Then she apologizes, fucking apologizes, Cassian! And asks if he has kriffing autonomy, and of course each and every choice should be his. And he’s not so much an idiot he doesn’t directly load his own ass right onto my ship as soon as all the furniture is fucking loaded. And that’s when this woman turns to me and says, “Well, if it all blows up in my face, at least we did one thing right today, Chop. Gods, I love rebelling. Now let’s jump to lightspeed!” And I’m like, “yes, heh, adorable and all, love, but lets leave the fucking landing platform first, but also good idea about hauling ass because we just straight up stole this droid, from a soulless  corporation or not.” Like seriously Andor what in the fucking hell? Who is this fucking woman all the sudden?

Cassian is cracking the fuck up, laughing his ass off out loud, as Chopper keeps going. 

And of course ever since we got back Mr. Luckiest Box Alive keeps following me the fuck around and I don’t know what the fuck to do with him, Cassian. Because Eirtae’s got me on like five thousand errands, promising some shit about a surprise party and how everyone should believe in magic and there’s gold at the end of this kriffing rainbow if I help her and boy did my mind go to dirty places— I can’t help it I’ve had a crush on her forever and she’s so fucking beautiful and special. And even though I laid that all to rest a lonnng way back, really thought I had, today I’ve never seen her so…enraged with the fiery burn of a cause in all my fucking life and so she was just pushin’ allllll my right metaphorical buttons—then she looks at me dead in the optics like now she’s a Jedi fucking mind reader, points at me and says, “Two words for you, you smarmy astromech. Data. Sharing.” And I’m like what in the fucking hell?! So you know I log onto the old awful Network rumor mill and low and behold, what do I find out? Cassian Fucking Andor snogged our only monogamist Eirtae Alniyat and she got angry, slapped him then shoved him into some flower bed or some shit. And before I ask you if any of that’s true I gotta say, you broke this box’s motherfucking heart, because he was pretty sure his future included a lifetime with her, and he won’t shut up about it now, and like I can’t shake him, Cass. I can’t shake him! So either I’ve lost my touch, the whole galaxy’s gone wrong again, or he’s actually a kriffing genius because he’s worse than a motherfucking TIE-defender. And it’s all your fucking fault!!!

[thegodthief]

Dreamt I was at work and work was being an extra special shit show. A surprise power outage just made everything worse and some of the staff had either not shown up for work or fucked off for the day.

I was at the front desk trying to salvage some semblance of civility in the face of a family that was pissed as hell that their favorite grocery store had gone out of business with no warning, and somehow that was my workplace's responsibility. (Spoiler: it's not. The clients are just that demanding and entitled in the waking.)

Suddenly, there were another pair of hands available as someone came behind the desk and started helping me with data entry and paperwork. Together, we got the hot mess at the front resolved and I got the clearance to lock the front door and declare the office closed for the day.

I turned to the mysterious helper. I have never seen her before. Come to think of it, her appearance keeps changing even as I'm staring at her. I realize that I have the taste of metal in my mouth.

"Hello, Traveler. It's been a while since I have encountered others."

She smiles. "No, it's been a while since you started letting yourself be aware of others."

Ouch. She's right.

She laughed at my silent agreement. "You have this dream settled, so I'm going to let you get some rest. We'll meet again, I'm sure."

I meant to ask her name, or some kenning to know her by, but the moment I thought of asking it, I already knew the answer.

Advena.

I could feel the language it came from slipping around my tongue: Latin.

She smiled at my recognition. Without words, she told me that our encounters were not complete but I still had more to learn about her, and about myself. She banished herself from my dream with her own bright laughter.

So now, it's day, and I'm awake and making it everyone else's problem. I get a chance to sit down and look up what the word advena means in Latin.

Noun: advena m or f (genitive advenae); first declension 1. outsider, foreigner, stranger, alien. Synonyms: aliēnus, aliēnigena, peregrinus Source: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/advena#Latin

Oh.

It's gonna be that way, then.

We'll see how this turns out.

[jamiesugah]

I'm on a family cell phone plan with my parents. Yesterday after 18 years with Verizon, they texted that we were switching to T-Mobile and I needed to get to a store as soon as possible to switch my sim card.

I asked how soon was soon, because my parents constantly forget that just because they're retired doesn't mean the rest of us don't have work. They told me it didn't need to be right away but it had to be soon.

Then like two hours later, my mom called me on Facebook Messenger, which it's damn fortunate I actually have on my phone (I didn't for a long time), to tell me that they switched my number early and I needed to get to a store asap because I wouldn't have cell service until I did. Not like I have a fucking job or anything, or that I was at work when they called. Not like I don't need 2-factor authentication for EVERYTHING I use at work.

So after work I went to the nearest T-Mobile store and they switched my sim card. Calls and texts are back, yay! Immediately call my parents, both of their phones are off.

By the time I get home, I realize I don't have data. And I can't send or receive texts in group threads. I text my mom to tell her this, she asks me if I'm still at the store. Two hours later? No, I'm fucking not. She tells me to go back in the morning. I HAVE A JOB. T-Mobile stores don't open until 10am, which is when my shift starts, and I'm not in the office today, so I would be going into a different store.

Dad texts this morning and tells me to restart my phone, which I have already done like four times. Then he tells me I should call the tech who did their switchover, since it was "her blunder" that caused my number to be switched early. I. AM. AT. WORK.

I shouldn't complain, because my parents still pay this bill and as someone paycheck-to-paycheck, it's a huge relief to have one bill that isn't mine. But I got no notice on the switch and then they messed it up and now I have to fix it. AND WE'RE GOING TO ALL BE TOGETHER IN SIX WEEKS AND COULD HAVE EASILY DONE THIS THEN.

Or, you know, we could have planned this better so that we could go into the store at the same time, even though we live in different states, and do this all at once, instead of me scrambling to catch up because I don't merit any consideration in this situation at all.

[demons2003]

My Boys (Chapter 32)

Series List

Y/n's pov

At the front counter, Robin and I were having to deal with every single customer that walked into the store, including Erica Sinclair. Resulting in us having to give her free samples of ice cream over and over because of the stupid company policy. Robin moves over to the tup of ice cream containers and gets some mint chocolate ice cream for Erica. She takes the small ice cream sample and after eating it looks at Robin to say, "Can I try the peppermint stick?" Robin, who's had enough of this whole encounter since she first walks in says, "Haven't you already tried the peppermint stick?" "Yes, and I'd like to try it again," Erica snaps at her. God, how the hell do I babysit her? I don't remember her being this bratty the last time I was with her. Robin finally has enough and turns around, noticing me standing there but instead calls, "Steve!" I smile at her and wait for Steve to answer her. He doesn't answer and Robin starts to move to the backdoor. "Wait Robin!" I exclaim, getting up from my position and following after her, ignoring Erica and her friend's calls.

"All right, babysitting time is over," Robin says as she opens the back room and walks in. I quickly follow behind her and walk behind Dustin and Steve, looking over Dustin's shoulder to see how far they've gotten on the transmission. "You need to get in there! Y/n's no help anymore!" Robin exclaims as she moves further into the back. "Hey!" I yell, giving her a glare but she just smiles over at me. "You didn't tell her to piss off!" Robin says, looking over at the board that use to contain data she had put on earlier. "Hey, my board! That was important data shitbirds!" She yells at them, turning back to the boys. "I guarantee you, what we're doing is way more important than your data," Dustin tells her. Steve nods a little in agreement and throws his banana peel on the table. "Yeah? And how do you know these Russians are up to no good anyways?" Robin asks as she moves over to the table. I move next to Robin to find Dustin looking confused at Steve and then over at me. "How does she know about the Russians?" Dustin asks us, wondering which one of us spilled the beans. I shrug my shoulders as Steve says with a mouth full of banana, "I don't know." "You told her about..." Dustin starts to say to me but I butt in to say, "I didn't tell her anything." 

"Hello, I can hear you. Actually, I can hear everything. You are both extremely loud," Robin exclaims, clearly annoyed with the both of them. "You think you have evil Russians plotting against our country, on tape, and you're trying to translate, but haven't figured out a word because you didn't realize Russians use an entirely different alphabet. Sound about right?" Robin rants to them both, Steve and Dustin looking confused at each other. I laugh a little and say, "She's right idiots." Robin reaches for the tape recorder but Steve's faster and yells, "Whoa! Whoa! What do you think you're doing?" "I wanna hear it." Robin shrugs, looking between the two of them and me. "Why?" They both ask at once. "Cause maybe we can help. I'm fluent in four languages, you know," Robin tells them. "Russian?" Dustin questions. "Ou-yay are-yay umb-day," Robin says, leaning closer to Dustin. Steve laughs at her, clearly impressed with her. "Holy shit," Dustin says, smiling up at Robin. "That was pig Latin dingus," Robin says, causing me to laugh at them all.

Steve hits Dustin with the banana peel as Robin moves to the seat next to Dustin and says, "But I can speak Spanish. So can Y/n. We can also speak French and Italian and I've been in band for 12 years. My ears are little geniuses, trust me." Steve goes to say something but Robin buts in and says, "Come on, it's your turn to sling ice cream, Y/n and my turn to translate. I don't even want credit. I'm just bored." Steve takes a big breath out and the bell from the counter is hit. Robin puts the ice cream scooper out waiting for Steve to take it from her. "Please Stevie, we're really smart," I say to him, giving him my best puppy dog eyes. Steve nods slightly and takes the scooper from Robin and hands me the tape recorder.

Couple Minutes Later

We'd been listening to the recording over and over, trying to work out what the hell it is saying. I'm sitting next to Dustin who is holding the recorder while Robin is pacing back and forth. "Wait, that last part, just one more time," Robin says, holding her hand up to tell Dustin to stop. "Okay," Dustin whispers as he rewinds the tape. The recording starts again and Robin continues her pacing. I look over at Robin as she says, "Okay, that word. Um..." I try to think with her, her waving her hand which is helping me think as well. "It's pronounced... 'dly-nna-ya' Which is spelled..." Robin says, waving her hand at Dustin as he walks over to the board. Watching this is really interesting. "The... The chair. The chair-looking thingy," Dustin exclaims, pointing at a letter on the board. "Yeah, okay," I say, looking down at the piece of paper and write that down. Robin moves over to the window as I write and tells Steve, "We've got our first sentence." "Oh, seriously?" Steve asks as he moves over to her. "Yeah. 'The week is long'," Robin says, the last part in a Russian accent. "Well, that's thrilling," Steve says, not impressed at all with our hard work. I laugh a little and yell at him, "We did better than you and Dustin. We at least made some progress." I look up to find Steve giving me a playful glare. Robin laughs as well and closes the window on Steve. Robin moves back over to us and we continue to try to break the Russian message while somehow serving customers that walk in the store.

Couple Hours Later

After a couple of hours of trying to decode the Russian message, we finally got something that sounded somewhat right. Every other store in the mall was closed but we were still open trying to get this message finished. All at once we read the message, "The week is long, the silver cat feeds, when blue meets yellow in the west." "The hell did we just decode?" I ask, looking at the other three. Robin shrugs and says, "I have no clue but can we go now?" I nod and we all make our way out of the store. "I mean, it just... it just can't be right," Steve says as he pulls down the store gate. "It's right," Robin says as the three of us start walking away from Steve. "Honestly, I think it's great news," Dustin yells to us. "Why do you think that Dusty?" I ask as Steve yells, "How is this great news? I mean, so much for being American heroes. It's total nonsense." "It's not nonsense. It's obviously a code," Dustin snaps at him. "What do you mean a code?" Steve asks. "Like a super-secret spy code," Dustin tells him, looking back at him. "That's a total stretch," Steve says, seeming to be slightly annoyed about today's events. "I don't know, is it?" Robin questions. I nod with her and whisper, "She's right. It would make some sense."

"You're both buying into this?" Steve asks, surprised by us both. "Listen, just for kicks, let's entertain the possibility that it is a secret Russian transmission. What'd you think they were gonna say, 'Fire the warhead at noon'?" Robin says. "Exactly," Dustin says. "If you don't want someone to listen to your secret messages then another language plus a secret code would be a good idea so people won't know when you are doing something," I tell him, moving back and putting my arm over his shoulders. "And my translation is correct. I know that for sure, so...'The silver cat feeds', why would anyone talk like that unless they're trying to mask the meaning of their message?" Robin asks us all. "Exactly." I agree. "And why would anyone wanna mask the true meaning of their message unless the message was somehow sensitive?" Robin explains trying to convince Steve we are all right. "Exactly," Dustin says to Steve, giving him so much attitude. "So, I guess that confirms your suspicion," Robin says to Dustin. "Evil Russians," Dustin and I say at the same time.

"I can't believe I'm about to agree with this strange child and my best friend, but, yeah, totally evil Russians," Robin says, looking back at Steve and me. "So, how do we crack it?" Dustin asks, clearly excited about this whole new adventure that we have found ourselves in. "God we're doing this again?" I whisper, looking up at Steve worried. Steve softly smiles down at me and nods, giving me a quick kiss on the forehead and listening to Robin and Dustin again. "Well, I guess we translate the rest and hopefully a pattern emerges," Robin says, answering Dustin's previous question. "A pattern. Right, like maybe 'silver cat' is a meeting place?" Dustin asks Robin, the two seeming to forget Steve and I are here as well. "Or a person." "Or a weapon." "It's probably gonna take a super genius to crack it, but..." Robin and Dustin say back and forth but Steve seems to have an idea. He had moved out of my arm a while ago and Robin seems to notice as well. "Where'd Steve go?" Robin asks me. I shrug and turn around to try to find him as well.

As I turn around, we find Steve standing next to a kid's horse ride. "Hey Steve! What are you doing?" Robin yells back at him as coins are dropped from his pockets. I look confused at him and walk quickly over to him, Robin and Dustin staying where they are. I start to panic a little, worrying about why Steve is moving so fast and juggling all these coins. "Uh, it's a quarter. I need... Do you have a quarter?" Steve asks the three of us, seeming to know something we don't. I dig through my pockets, trying to use it as a way to calm down, as Robin chuckles and the other two make their way over to us. "Sure you're tall enough for this ride Stevie?" I ask him, still trying to find out if I have a quarter and coming up with a different way to calm down. "Quarter!" Steve yells as I finally find one. "Here!" I yell, handing him the quarter I just found. He bends down and puts the quarter into the ride. It starts to play a song and move, all of us waiting for what Steve's going to do now. 

"You need help getting up Little Stevie?" Robin mocks him. "Shhh!" Steve shushes her, listening to the ride while Dustin laughs at him. "Would you two just shut up and listen?" Steve finally snaps at them both. I kneel next to Steve and place my hand on his shoulder, trying to listen to what he's listening to. We stay like that for a second before I whisper to him, "What's up Stevie?" "Holy shit," Dustin says, seeming to understand what Steve is getting at. Steve looks up at them and Dustin explains, "The music," taking his bag off. "The music!" Steve exclaims, seeming excited that he could help in some way. I listen a little closer and realise that the music is the same one that was playing in the recording. "Omg, good job Steve," I whisper to him, shaking his shoulder a little. Steve gives me his doppy little smile as Dustin grabs the recorder out and plays the recording again for us all. We look up at Robin as she says, "I don't understand." "It's the exact same song on the recording," Dustin explains to her. "Maybe they have horses like this in Russia," Robin tries to rationalize. "'Indiana Flyer'? I don't... I don't think so. This code, it... didn't come from Russia," Steve says, continuing to look at the horse. He looks over to Robin and Dustin, glancing at me every once and a while, saying, "It came from here." We all look at the horse, trying to process the information that we just found out. "Well, that's not good for us," I whisper, knowing that it won't get much better from here.

[blindfoldlove]

Listening to this song ready to start telling a story, as humans do, about my life. I had just finished cheesy eggs in a tortilla and sat there in my dimly lit living room and savored each bite. In "Thinking Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman, he had said there was a study where they found that french women find more satisfaction from their food than American women because they aren't multi-tasking while eating. So, in french style, I suppose, I sat there and thought about the particles of my eggs. I closed my eyes and tasted. While I chewed, I looked around at my plants, books, and the skeleton named jinkies whom always makes me happy. The whole act was yummier so I suppose there may be some truth to that with the one trial I have attempted on myself... hardly good data but there I go.

Earlier, I climbed my heart out. There is this pink 12- that I am so close to finishing. I am so passionate about it and I constantly steal looks in between climbs l...I love having a project again. I'm making progress and am already able to climb up and down 8s and 9s. Soon, maybe, I can climb down 10s and 11s like I used to. I've been climbing like a monkey, swinging from side to side while listening to R&B which has been my genre of choice to climb to as of late. I saw Atlanta after my climb and we spent over an hour discussing intelligence, civilization, language, and power structures. It was a delight. I love breaking down subjects with humans. It is rare that I get to do so, though, I will say the Universe has sent me more souls to ponder life's deepest treasures lately. When I have opened myself to what god/universe/creator has in store for me, I have found so many gifts.

I started this new biography called "We Will Be Jaguars" by Nemonte Nenquimo. She was part of the Waorani tribe found in the Amazonian areas in Ecuador and so far, from what I understand in the book, she documents her experiences growing up in the jungle and being introduced to Christian missionaries who brought sickness to her people. I don't really like to read full synopsis of books just like I don't like to read climbs before I climb them. I like to not assume how it will end - sort of with everything in life perhaps. Hearing of this women's experiences is fascinating. She mentions places I've been to and it was neat to imagine the different animal life and her ancestors walking the same paths, maybe, that I did. When I went to Ecuador, I swam in tucked away pools in the Amazon forest near the small city of Coca. I spent alot of time alone in the jungle and with kids talking in Spanish about what their life was like. I remember this one child in particular named Charlie. He reminds me now of Ezra and was so intelligent. He would walk with me and explain different parts of his culture to me. Years later, hearing this woman's experiences is fascinating. She was talking about how she went to this missionary lady named Rachel who would give the girls dresses who would go to church. She wouldn't give you a dress if you didn't go. Before she received a dress, she said she would walk around naked in then jungle in her favorite pair of red underwear. She talked about how her baby brother would feed the monkey near them and how she told him not do so because the monkey needed to learn to feed herself.. and because she liked watching the way the monkey would pull apart insects- I found that last part very wonderful. Why? It's very human and honest.

I'm still reading through my Zen book and scribbling notes on all the pages like this one:

I was thinking this morning, staring out at the dusty white mountains and watching another season change into itself how odd it is that so many years have gone by. I swear it was just 2020 seconds ago and we all wondered if maybe the world was ending.

I've been struggling with aspects of my past and present that I still feel too sore to write about. Some days are better than others but I'm still in a state of shock. I am am allowing myself to feel the feels. I cannot be ashamed of that. I must show up honestly. I won't feel good living otherwise.

Otherwise, I am joyful. This baby inside of me kicks. What a strange thing it is to grow a human!

Off to fart around, literally, and play piano maybe or write a poem.

[passerine-writes]

Silent Sparks - Volt 82

Warnings: It's a small filler chapter cause next chapter is the start of the raid!! Word count: 1946

Notes: Italics - Tsukare signing Bold italics - Family member/friend signing 'Italics with apostrophes' - Thoughts

Masterlist

Volt 81 | Volt 83

My first day back to class was uneventful. Dad and I sparred in front of most of the class. I used my inhaler once during the entire match, but he deemed he felt comfortable with me going on the mission.

The call came the next day in the middle of the night.

My phone buzzed on my chest, Denki sound asleep on my laptop and I rushed to get my shoes on. Midoriya and I left our rooms at the same time and only gave each other a nod while we rushed to the elevator. Kirishima, Uraraka and Tsu standing in the commons with their phones.

"Alright. You too?" Kirishima asked us.

"We got it." Tsu confirmed.

"It's happening." Midoriya said.

"Hey, you okay? Did you sleep last night?" Denki asked as I came down to the commons to eat breakfast.

"Yeah, I got a little bit of sleep in." I told him lackadaisically.

"What's going on?" He asked gently, careful not to draw anyone's attention to us.

"I'll explain later, I promise. I can't talk about it right now." I told him softly while looking into his eyes. He took a breath but nodded and dropped it.

Kirishima, Midoriya, Uraraka, Tsu and I sat in silence, all of us mentally preparing for today. I gave my brother a hug and Denki a quick kiss and soon left with the others to Nighteye's agency.

"They're keeping this Eri girl in their stronghold?" Rock Lock asked incredulously.

"And by stronghold, you mean..." Fat Gum trailed off.

"The headquarters of the Hassaikai. It's their leader's residence." Ryukyu confirmed.

"So you're tellin' me all that time we spent investigating was for nothing then?" Rock Lock jabbed.

"Not at all, we gained plenty of new information as well." Nighteye corrected.

"How'd you confirm she was there?" Fat Gum asked quickly. I bit back my laughter as Nighteye pulled out Gung-Ho! Glitter Squad 10! box.

"A member of the Hassaikai visited a nearby department store the other day. He purchased a toy favored by young girls." Nighteye stated casually.

"What?"

"That's pretty sparkly." Rock Lock said.

"Listen, maybe the guy just likes cutesy stuff. Different strokes for different folks, Nighteye." Fat jumped in. "You wanna tell us what you're doin' with one, though?"

"Yes. I was there when he made the purchase and overheard his conversation with the store clerk." He explained how he used his foresight on the guy and saw Eri.

"You ended up using Foresight anyway?" Rock Lock jabbed.

"If you recall, I said I'd use it when our path was more certain." Nighteye stated calmly.

"Whatever, this means we've got the data we need, right?" Fat Gum interjected.

"Yes. And we know for sure when they'll be there thanks to our stakeouts." Centipeder confirmed.

"We also worked with the police and already got a warrant to search the place!" Bubble Girl told us happily. "Next step..."

"... is to barge in there!" Fat Gum exclaimed.

"So what's the deal with ginger back here?" Rock Lock asked, turning around from the front to look at me.

"And that means?" I replied dully.

"Last time you went out and these guys were involved, they almost killed you." I sighed at the statement while everyone turned to me in silence.

"Yeah, they almost killed me. Had Fat Gum radio the school so I could say my goodbyes and everything. I don't believe that was just the Hassaikai though. They're working with the League, we can assume that much. As we are all well aware, the League has an interest in me. My bet is they persuaded the Hassaikai to help trap me or take me out, especially since Kirishima and I caught the guy who shot Sun Eater. For what reason, I'm not sure. But I can almost guarantee that the news coverage pissed off the League a lot." Rock Lock took a few steps forward, arms crossed over his chest.

"What makes you say that, Shortstack."

"Shigaraki is a power hungry, egotistical maniac with a loathing for heroes. He wants attention. He functions much like a toddler having a tantrum, that doesn't mean we should underestimate him though. So if he was behind that, or had anything to do with it, the fact that he got zero recognition, it would send him into a frenzy. He thrives off of chaos, whether it be in society or the chaos he makes. I'm aware of the risks, I'm not daft, but my only concern at this moment is getting that girl out of there. And it's Sonus, not Shortstack." Rock Lock licked his lips and nodded, dropping the issue right then and there.

I stood off to the side as Mirio worked on cheering up and pep talking with my classmates, Amajiki looking at him lovingly.

'They're cute together.' I thought to myself, mostly focusing on keeping my heart rate calm.

I followed everyone to the men's locker room, my suit having been repaired fully since the last time. I felt stray eyes on my back, and I already knew who they belonged to without looking up as I got in my costume.

"What?" I asked dryly.

"I- How did you..." Rock Lock trailed off.

"Just because I don't have my glasses on doesn't mean I don't have eyes in the back of my head. What do you need?" I asked again, my tone colder.

"I just wanted to say, it was nothin' personal back there." I scoffed under my breath and popped my glasses on.

"Sure it wasn't." He looked taken aback by my comment. "You don't feel like you can trust me cause I'm a kid. Personally, I couldn't care less who you are. I don't care about your age, your fighting style, who you like, what you look like, what your quirk is, none of it. As long as I know at the end of the day you're gonna have my back out there, couldn't care less about any of that. You saw my scars in person, so what? Now you're convinced I'll have your back and you feel the need to tell me because you felt bad?" He sighed and hung his head for a moment, waiting until I turned to face him.

"You're a good kid, you have a good head on your shoulders. You got morals and I can respect that. So, Sonus, next time work studies come around, I'd be proud if you reached out to me." He said, handing out a card to me. I let a small smile slip as I grabbed it and tucked it into my hero costume.

"Glad to know you aren't rescinding your offer from the Sports Festival." I told him, the two of us starting to walk out of the locker room.

"You saw that I sent you an offer? I'm sure you got loads."

"Almost four thousand to be more precise." He looked at me baffled.

"And through all those, you remembered mine?" He asked in arrogant disbelief. I sent him a cheeky smile and tapped my temple with my index finger.

"Don't forget, high IQ, gotta use it for something." He sighed and shook his head.

"Well played."

"Now then. Let's begin." Nighteye said before we all left, gathering in front of the police station at 8 am.

"As you know, Nighteye was able to use his quirk on a Hassaikai member. Through it, he saw underground facilities, and we believe them to be this Yakuza group's headquarters." The lead officer on the case started, briefing us and all of the cops behind him. "We were also able to confirm that the girl we're trying to rescue is currently being held in one of the rooms there. Although we were unable to map out the entire layout of the underground hallways, we believe the man Sir Nighteye saw took the shortest route to our target. This is the best intel we have at the moment concerning the Hassaikai's stronghold. It's the basis of this mission. Stay smart. These guys are dangerous, and we can expect them to bring their quirks against us, full force. We're passing around a list of current Hassaikai members and their quirks according to our registration databases. Commit this to memory."

"It's solid information to have on hand. Thank you for this." One of the heroes in the front said, an officer handing me a paper. I gazed over it, remembering the key points as best as I could.

"We don't wanna give them time to hide." The detective stated. "Our aim is to identify and apprehend all members as quickly as possible while securing our target."

"Things are moving fast now, huh?" Kirishima asked excitedly.

"Yeah, just remember to stay more focused than me and you'll be alright." I told him.

"You two are energetic, considering how early it is." Amajiki commented.

"Bold of you to assume I slept after we got the message this morning." I said sarcastically.

"I'm getting nervous." Uraraka expressed.

"No joke, first detective work, and now we're cooperating with the police. There's so much I don't know. Onryo seems to be the only one in our class who understands all of this." Tsu said, a finger pushing into her cheek nervously.

"I've dealt with the police too many times and after being a victim in a hero raid that needed to be rescued, it really tends to clear things up. Y'know, like looking at things in a different perspective." I rationed, seeing my Dad behind me look at me curiously.

"All the pros seem like they're pretty chill, huh?" Kirishima asked Midoriya and I as we walked away from the girls studying with Ryukyu. "So brave!" He cheered.

"Hey. I haven't seen Gran Torino around here this morning. You know where he is?" Izuku asked hesitantly.

"Apparently he won't be joining us today." Sir Nighteye said as he walked up.

"Tsukauchi's been keeping an eye on the League. According to him, it looks like they're on the move. Fortunately, we have plenty of heroes here, so we can afford to send Gran Torino." The detective said, walking up beside Nighteye.

"I was wondering where Tsukauchi was, but that answers my question." I told him blandly.

"Maybe we can take down the Hassaikai and the League of Villains at the same time!" Kirishima cheered.

"Oh, yeah!" Izuku returned with excitement.

"Whaddya think Tsukabro?"

"That's the hope, and I'm not trying to be a pessimist, but I won't hold my breath on taking down both groups today." I said in a colder tone.

"Let's do this." Midoriya said, more to himself than anyone.

"Not yet." My Dad said as he walked up to us.

"Ah! Mr. Eraser Head, sir!" My green haired best friend exclaimed in shock.

"I'm teaming up with Nighteye Agency for this. Do you understand me?" He asked.

"Yes, sir!"

"And Sonus. I'm watching you, too. Make me proud." He said before walking off. I swallowed the lump in my throat, my nerves starting to climb.

"Now! Heroes!" The detective called. "Things could get violent quickly out there. If you encounter even a hint of suspicious behavior or resistance, call for help immediately! We're up against gangsters who've avoided capture until now. It is imperative that each of you carry out your respective assignments. And stay sharp in there! We will commence the operation at 0830 hours. Heroes, move out!" He said while him and the rest of the cops saluted us.

[strangecloud]

I've been feeling very disillusioned with technology for a while now, and I'd like to explore why.

Believe it or not, I've always been kind of a Luddite. That might sound weird coming from a computer nerd, but I'm a computer guy first and foremost. I've been using them as long as I can remember and I even got pretty good at operating computers, going as far as tinkering and assembling some myself (which admittedly isn't that hard, but it is an uncommon skill)

Regardless of how much of a nerd I am, the level of tech in my life has always been significantly behind the curve. My components are a few generations old at best. I've been using the same phone for half a decade. I grew up gaming on a PlayStation 2 when most of the world had moved to the 7th gen. I'm about as far from cutting edge as you can be without just not caring about tech at all.

What disappoints me about technology is that it doesn't look like it's meant to make life easier for people. It's meant to exploit them.

There's not really any good reason why everything should have glitchy, unresponsive and poorly put together apps nowadays. "Smart" tech has always been smoke and mirrors driven by marketers trying to sell things nobody really needs. All these home gadgets are just as reliable and useful as the goddamn Juicero, the difference is the marketing on a lot of them is successful.

An over engineered lock on your front door isn't going to stop burglars. No lock ever will. The point of locking your things isn't to make them secure, it's to make the effort of breaking in not really worth it. That smart lock, however, might lock YOU out of your house, as already has happened to one dude from the USA if I'm not mistaken.

We've seen tech bros trying to sell people "phygital" stuff that is just augmented reality DLC powered entirely by marketing. It's not useful and does nothing, the only purpose of it being a vector to suck money out of people who are susceptible to advertising tricks. That's the same thing that drove NFTs, by the way. People being told they were inadequate for not owning a pointless product and deciding to buy it based on the optics and the zeitgeist instead of any practical function. And don't get me wrong, the people buying these things aren't necessarily the problem. I think we as a society have been conditioned to see marketing and conspicuous consumption as such an integral part of life that we have trouble even recognizing we're participating in these toxic behaviors and industries.

I think therein lies the problem. Tech isn't meant to be useful to people. It's meant to be desirable by people and useful to money. This problem manifests itself in many ways, from the theft machines we see in the AI industry, to massive amounts of toxic byproducts released by functional-yet-obsolete e-waste, to the mountain of human suffering that content moderators in big platforms have to endure just so we get pretty cat pictures on our dashboards.

I'm sure this sounds overly pessimistic but I don't think tech can come back from the capitalist event horizon that it has probably already crossed. I think eventually the quality of services and goods on the internet is going to be so bad that it'll not even be worth having it around.

While I have you, STORE YOUR THINGS LOCALLY. Don't trust cloud servers and platforms to keep your things safe for you. If you cannot hold the hard drive containing your videos and images and art and files IN YOUR HAND, it's not safe. Keep at least two separate drives with more than one copy of everything you care about each. Take it from someone who's been on the internet since 2006 and has never lost one byte of data to system formats and hard drive crashes.

[kadoodles-on-ao3]

Hey there!! Happy New Year! :)

Lately I've been feeling...

like shit

the past few weeks to be quite honest aha, but I'm still gonna keep trying!!! If nothing else, I've been trying to distract myself by delving back into the depths of my constantly growing Xenoblade Voice Line Project TM :)

(If you're curious, currently I am working on simultaneously 1. reviewing each and every voice line for all the bosses as well as 2. cataloging the order each of their lines are stored in their respective data beCAUSE the og ripper, bless their heart 1. missed a few files among some bosses in addition to accidentally overlooking Yaldabaoth and Face Nemesis* entirely, and 2. their program's naming convention ended up making the filenames, sorted alphabetically, sort into an entirely different order than they're actually stored in the data and I mayyyy have taken said order as gospel [because if you told naive past me I'd be digging into the game's Image file myself in the future and end up double-checking the ripper's work I'd... probably believe you honestly lmao] which means I have to reorganize the entirety of the Unused Boss Line tables as well as rewrite most if not all of my guesses for what I think said lines might have been meant for since I based both the tables and my hypotheses on said incorrect order.

I also made a reference excel sheet listing what characters all the kyp files and the brres-es and brsar-s within are for, which I finished data-entry-ing a while back and am now making it look nice as well as actually readable. Oh and I'm gonna rip all the NPC's little talking-to-them-in-the-overworld "Hello"-s and "Yes?"-s and upload them to the Sounds Resource along with everything else that got left out too :) Which speaking of!

*I actually ripped and uploaded these two's audio files back in July but they still haven't been posted yet haha. Not complaining in any way at all of course, there's so much for that team to sift through on there and it's all volunteer work and so extremely impressive how much they get done already! Just very interesting to see just how long it's been since I last worked on this dang thing, it feels like it was only a few months ago that I contacted an old TCRF member to help me figure out how to dig through the guts of this game I adore. And now it's 2024 already! Crazy...)

[justcallmedust]

Things in the past 2 weeks that have seemed shady, and probably are:

On the morning of 8/23/23 he pulled out of the driveway for work at 6:28am, and prior to that he sat in the driveway texting for about 3 minutes. Then at 6:45 he texted me reminding me that it was garbage day... a whole 17 minutes later. It takes less than a minute to get to the stop sign where he would have texted me that after seeing everyones garbage cans on the road. He prevously has claimed it takes him 35-40 minutes to get to work, so when he texted me I thought it was odd and assumed he was at work already. Now I know for a fact his drive to work is about 20 minutes both ways no matter which way he takes because I've driven it and timed it. So I ask him, at 6:48am "you're at work already?" So he texts me back at 7:24am claiming he had just got to work then. ??? That is a whole 36 minutes later. On a good day with normal traffic he could have driven to work twice in that time. He would have me believe it took him almost an hour to get to work. and he had the nerve to ask me if I understood the concept of time.. seriously. So I ask him "where did you stop?" and he didnt answer, he proceeded to fight with me over what time he left the house and sent me a screen shot of his text reminding me of the garbage and trying to claim that was when he left. THEN he decides to throw in that he stopped for a bagel by work.. um ok.. I dropped it because he was way too invested in gaslighting me. But that same day he didnt come home on time and when I texted wondering if he was ok he claimed he told me he'd be stopping somewhere to finish some spackling at a side job. I remembered that differently and the following day he had to stop after work to do the same thing.

On 8/29/23 I found that 2 condoms were missing, he claimed to have no idea how that could have happened. I still have not found them and he rolls his eyes if I bring it up.

Then on 8/31/23 he used up all the data from our phone plan. I had previously got 3 notices over the last week or so alerting me to data being gobbled up. When questioned he 'had no idea' how his phone was using data since he 'barely even uses it'. When I looked it up in the usage log, it showed he used more than 90% of our data for this billing period and most of it was web and social app usage. He did not want to talk about it, blamed work emails.. which, no thats not even possible. I wanted to look at the phone and make sure all the settings were correct and he did not let me.

I also have not yet hooked the phone up to my computer to recover all the deleted texts.

Also, this was the night I was taking our youngest son to freshman orientation and I was going to be taking the girls too but they decided to stay home. He allegedly was going back to that side job again to finish it.. The girls were playing xbox in the living room and said that he came back right after I left. He came in through the front door thinking no one was home and started rummaging through stuff in the bedroom then grabbed the air compressor from the mud room and left. They said he was surprised they were there and seemed really angry.

On sunday 9/3/23 he was getting texts early in the day from Tommy, allegedly inviting him to a bbq.. wtf? no, what the actual fuck? Husband says he wants him to do work in their house.. How is this guy even wanting to talk to him? This entire situation is still SHADY AS FUCK. No fucking way he's gonna go work in that house with that cunt muffin there. But he probably will, and he'll just lie to me about it.

Lastly, yesterday he lied about where he was going. Claiming boredom and just needing to take a ride.. didn't even know which store he was going to. When he came back he backpeddled saying he said exactly where he was going and claimed he didn't want to tell me he was going to buy chewing tobacco. So lying to me is still a choice for him.

This is not just a trust issue for me. This is actual shady shit. I know I'm not crazy. I need to keep reminding myself that he is continuing to deliberately lie to me. I have no evidence that he stopped talking to her.

[jack-o-mirth]

COVID cases are creeping up again. Here's the data regarding "COVID Case Rate per 100k" in the state of Maryland, taken from the official state health website:

July 1 - July 31

Statewide: 0.95 - 2.07

Anne Arundel County: 0.89 - 1.65

Baltimore County: 0.71 - 1.99

Baltimore City: 1.01 - 2.21

Why am I still paying attention to this? Yes, I do believe that COVID will be an endemic illness that we live with similarly to the flu, the common cold, or any of the other endemic viral infections. But I don't believe we're there yet.

First, we now know that COVID screws up the body's immune response to ALL cornonaviruses, including the common cold. Remember the "Cold From Hell" in 2022? How do you feel about getting that once or twice a year?

Second, we still don't know enough about Long COVID and what it does to the human body to treat it, but we do understand that it can have unpredictable, debilitating, and long-term effects on any organ in the body with small blood vessels. That includes lungs, kidneys, liver, heart, and brain. It can cause long-term cognitive dysfunction.

I don't know about you, but I don't really have the brain cells to spare these days.

Finally, it's been almost a full year since the last bivalent vaccine booster was rolled out, and more than a full year since we've had any major announcement about the next vaccine and how it will be available. To get a flu vaccine you walk into pretty much any pharmacy anywhere. You have a general idea of when you should do this, and you have a general idea of how much it will cost.

For COVID? All I know is that I've had friends turned away from chain pharmacies who told them they couldn't get a vaccine because "they already got vaccinated last summer."

I have no idea if there's a new vaccine, where I can go to get it, or how much it will cost me out of pocket.

I'm continuing to mask up in places like grocery stores, pharmacies and any other place where, if I got COVID, my first thought would be, "UGH. I can't believe I got COVID in such a mundane and stupid environment. That totally wasn't worth it."

By mitigating my risk in those lower-stakes environments, I feel more comfortable taking bigger risks in higher-stakes environments like rehearsals and other fun or productive social gatherings.

I'm continuing to test on a regular basis any time I've been in an environment where exposure is statistically likely. Is it expensive and annoying? Yeah. COVID tests should be free or very cheap. But, sadly, we don't live in a country that has decided on that priority.

Your mileage and risk tolerance may vary. But that's exactly the point: we want this to be an endemic part of our lifestyle, but it's still too unpredictable and inequitable in its danger for that to really be true.

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

(ii)

Shuichi told us that you'd found something important. Is everything alright?

Yes, yes, very important! It's just-Gah! Sorry, I'm struggling to formulate my thoughts into words!

Scanning...BeeZero is currently experiencing high levels of distress originating from self-doubt.

That doesn't sound good...!

Keebo, seriously, are you alright? I've never seen you this out of breath!

Can Keeboi BE out of breath? I mean, he doesn't really even need to breathe.

Kokichi, I do not have the mental capacity to deal with your derogatory comments right now!

Keebo, calm down! Just take a second, and explain what's going on!

I...Hah...Alright...

So...After what we discovered with Himiko, Emeleven and I divvied up some tasks to figure out what we should do going forward. In my case, I retrieved Rantaro's tool: his Symettra Matrix; and decided to do some poking into it.

Since it's now technically Shuichi's, I wanted to understand how it worked in the case he decides to use it in the future. But when I started analyzing it, I discovered something.

What?

The Matrix itself is capable of holding data that the members of ERR0RM3SS4GE can pass around to each other. Unfortunately, there's an encryption key that I cannot get through, and it's needed to get in contact with the other members. So while anyone can use the Matrix, only the members of ERR0RM3SS4GE can use it's communication network.

However, there were some files already stored on the device, and...I found one that contained something I had never expected.

And...what might that be?

A video message...One addressed to US.

Us? As in...?

As in the participants of Danganronpa V3. From what I understand, Rantaro had it saved in the Matrix from before the battle against Zetsubou. And...we were supposed to see it in the instance that he didn't make it out.

Who...Who sent the message?

I'm sorry, but I HAVE to show you. If I tell you, you won't believe me...!

Then play it already! If it's that important, then show us the message!

*Keebo starts repeating an input pattern into the tiny device that's familiar to him, but he fumbles a bit thanks to his shaking limbs.

R-Right, I'm on it...Sorry, I'm just still in shock over it...

It...It scared you that bad...!?

"Scared" is not the correct word for it...I just...It's hard to describe. On the one hand, it answers so many questions that we've had up until now, but in turn, it leaves us with hundreds more...!

So another day on the job basically.

I sincerely hope your confidence isn't misplaced, Kaito...

Keebo! Just play the damn video! Stop yapping!

Right then...This will present itself as a hologram like most of the Matrix's creations. Everyone gather round until all of you can see.

Can someone maybe give me a boost?

Gonta, get behind me, you're hogging most of the space.

This is Our Reality [END OF ARC]

So...Nico Himuro really left...And she left the Symmetra Matrix behind?

She wanted you to keep it. I think it was just one final act of kindness on ERR0RM3SS4GE's part.

Yeah...Probably...

*After saying their goodbye's to Kuripa, Shuichi and Kaede return to Shuichi's office. Shuichi sits on his chair, head in his hands while Kaede sits on his desk next to him.

Are you feeling okay?

I definitely feel better now. Kokichi helped talk some sense into me.

I...I'd be lying if I said I didn't have any reservations...In fact, I don't think I'm gonna be able to get any sleep tonight...

You will when the exhaustion kicks in. Staying up and fighting for over 24 hours is gonna take a mental or physical toll on anyone.

I can sing you a lullaby if that helps.

Hehe...I'm not a little kid, but...that actually sounds nice.

Honestly, at this point, I think a vacation is called for...

Ahaha. Yeah, that sounds nice.

*Kaede shimmies along the desk until she's in front of Shuichi, and she starts to lift her legs and hug him with her thighs.

Are you thinking...A vacation for the team or...some kind of honeymoon...?

*Shuichi lets himself be pulled in until he wraps his arms around her.

Well, I could be persuaded to have some alone time...

*The two of them slowly start to kiss deeply and passionately.

In all seriousness, please let me know if there's anything I can do to help you Shuichi. You and I are a team, you know? We gotta be there for each other.

I know Kaede. And I do trust you more than words can express. It's just...I'm not really sure where we go from here.

Well...I guess we just take our time, huh? Nothing wrong with living in the moment and appreciating what you've still got.

You're right...

*They start to kiss again, but suddenly...!

*SLAM!*

SHUICHI! Haah! Haah! Are you here!?

GAAGH!?

H-Hey! Keebo! Kind of in the middle of something! Do you mind!?

A-Ah! Sorry! N-No! I really am sorry, but this is important!

*A little bit disappointed, but also heavily concerned from the look on the robot's face, Kaede pulls away from Shuichi as Keebo, panic-stricken, rushes over to his desk.

K-Keebo, calm down! Wh-What's the matter?

I'm sorry, I know that you really need to take a break, and I'm sorry for barging in on the two of you, but it's urgent!

I did as you asked and I started investigating Rantaro's Symmetra Matrix. And when I managed to look into it's database, I found something unbelievable!

Wh-What did you find?

Trust me...You won't believe me if I tell you! I NEED to show you! Right now!

And not just you! Everyone needs to see this! Please, help me gather everyone up, and meet me in the tech lab! You know where Kaito and Kokichi last were, right!?

Kokichi too? Just...what did you come across!?

——————————————————————

*While Keebo returns to the hospital to gather everyone up that remained with Himiko, Kaede and Shuichi go and find Kaito and Kokichi. After a short time, they reconvene in the tech lab.

Oh...Good...Everyone's here.

Keebo! You alright?