#I figured I'll make this post to connect but I'm honestly not really expecting for anything to come out of it

[chalk-homunculus]

It's that time again where I use tags I normally avoid to indicate my existence to other people. I've been getting mildly frustrated not having anyone to talk to about Genshin, so that's why. Especially because Fontaine is just around the corner and I'll drive all our friends (none of whom play genshin) mad if I don't find someone or someplace to direct my rambles at.

Anyway, we play the game on EU servers mainly, but do have some alts on other servers including US server. I'm not necessarily looking for anyone to play the game with me, but I'm not opposed to that either.

It should be obvious from the tags I used alone that I am an introject of Albedo (and it's also my name), and we are a system (DID). Physically we're 24 years old, and not really interested in making friends younger than 20 years old, apologies. Also, I won't tolerate anyone who gets weird about introjects or treats me with no distinction to the source character. I'm my own person (and it took me an unfortunately long time to sort that out mentally to begin with)

Also, please leave me alone if you are or support end0genics or any form of "non-dissociative disorder-system", thank you.

[dnalt-d2]

Christ alive can anyone get a break right now??

(Ahem)

Update time, once again!

Also once again, it is a mixed bag

So to start off with, as most everyone knows, Pomme and Dapper's admins have resigned from their positions. This is incredibly unfortunate, and I honestly don't know what it's gonna mean for the French Creators who said they wouldn't stay on QSMP if Pomme's Admin was fired. Since she technically left of her own volition, I really don't know what they're gonna do

(Edit: I talk about Quackity's stream here but I don't speak Spanish so I can't personally say what was said exactly. Thankfully, it looks like someone JUST POSTED an English Translation so I'm just gonna drop the link here for anyone who wants to read it)

On another note: Quackity has finally given a slight update. For obvious reasons, he can't say anything specific, and I wouldn't have expected him to. But according to the translations I've seen so far, basically said that he can't update because the leaks that happened are creating added complications in the restructuring process. I'm assuming his reason for that is that he simply doesn't want anymore information to be leaked out, but unfortunately, that's just counterproductive to the miscommunication problem

AND SPEAKING OF MISCOMMUNICATION???

So as you all know, I've been in support of the French Union getting involved with this. As I've stated a dozen times now, Unions are meant to be resources, people who inform employees of their rights and do what they can to help them get those rights. As far as I know, one of the main things they do is mediate between the employees and the employers. But APPARENTLY the Union has not attempted to reach out to Quackity outside of Twitter. Which REALLY isn't all that professional. Twitter is a NETWORKING site. Meant to START building connections. Afterwards, people typically move onto email or even discord, which are way better equipped for the long-form communication that's about to have to happen

So even if Quackity WAS active on Twitter, which he isn't. And even if the Union DIDN'T know that, which they do. This isn't the right route to communicate. They have stated that he "has their email" and has to "reach out to them." They are apparently working on the logic that SOMEONE would have had to pass on the information to him by this point, which isn't a fair assumption at all, considering that we know there were Admins ALREADY hiding information from him before all this

They're acting like Quackity is the CEO of a major corporation, with COUNTLESS RESOURCES on-hand. Yeah he's the CEO of this business, but he's also a 23-year-old Twitch Streamer who in all likelihood is learning a LOT about running a business for the first time AS WE SPEAK. I'll tell you right now, when I was 23, I didn't know jack-shit, and I'd still say I don't most of the time. And the only reason I LEARNED jack-shit was because someone would actually TELL me about it. When someone makes mistakes, it REALLY helps them learn when someone is able to not just point out the mistake, but also HOW to fix it. I don't know how they're expecting him to grow from his miscommunication mistakes when they aren't willing to give him the chance to

And yes, there are MANY problems that need to be fixed, as I've said before. But Quackity did outright confirm some of the other things I've said too. That things ARE happening, and we aren't hearing about it. That we aren't GOING to hear about it. Which is fine. It makes sense. We aren't the people who need to know every step of the process. But he is going to have to figure out a better system for talking to the Admins. It's a real problem when he's communicating with people like Aypierre that Pomme's Admin has her job still, but didn't tell the Admin herself

There's still lots of problems, and I know it sounds like I'm just repeating myself, saying to wait and see, but in reality, there isn't much else we CAN do besides that and voice our support

This might be the last time I make a post on this for a bit, because this has been a little draining on me. Which I would normally be able to handle SUPER easy, I'm pretty good at handling stuff like this well enough. But now I've also got real-life stuff reminding me that no matter how much better things SEEM to be getting for me, something's gonna come smack me in the back of the head to remind me that actually things suck, and I just should've known better! And unfortunately that stuff requires my focus more than this. I'll still be here, watching everything, maybe commenting on stuff, but I might not be quite as vocal as I have been

Once again, I remind you all, take care of yourselves first and foremost. Whether it's physical, emotional, or mental, or whatever else. You matter more than the events taking place here right now. My support goes out to all of you, as well as the Admins who VERY WELL COULD BE SEEING THIS APPARENTLY. So I guess this message goes out to them as well lol. You guys rock and I've enjoyed all the contributions you've made

Anyways, see you all later

[venus-is-thinking]

DRDT Chapter 2 Episode 12: Initial Thoughts

Hello everyone! I thought it'd be fun to do a post going over some of my first thoughts from the episode after each release. "Initial" is a bit of a stretch, considering I did watch it a second time while making this post, but it's more "initial" in the context of being before the next episode drops. It's sort of like my "initial thoughts" of the Milgram MVs, which are actually the result of, like, 3 hours of obsessing and research, lol.

(By the way, @accirax and I watched the episode together, so apologies if her initial thoughts end up being, like, the same as mine.)

SPOILER WARNING FOR DRDT CH 2 EP 12!

T/W: Body image issues/body dysmorphia, murder, suicide

The Reactions

Confirmation of what I think most of us already suspected! I do think it's a little weird that Nico didn't bring up their testimony about all of the fish being there at the last time they fed the fish. That probably means it's being saved for later in the Trial, I guess?

It's okay Teruko, I saw literally no one in the entire fanbase figure this one out either!

Why is everyone so mean to her though. Everyone here has been an idiot in the Trials at LEAST once

God I missed David

This was so funny. Get his ass.

(In all seriousness, though, I do wonder if we're going to come back to what J said. I don't currently (?) think Arei was drenched, unless the real purpose of the water WAS just to confuse the time of death, so if the water didn't connect with her enough to cool her down, it might be weird that the body isn't warm after all.)

This took me out. Who let you say that. What.

Okay, but Ace, outside of a killing game... why. Like, literally why would a plastic surgeon need to know how to do an autopsy. King.

Like Felicity...? /hj

All in all, though, this was a really interesting character moment for Arturo! And god, the fact that he started learning medical knowledge and spedrun plastic surgery specifically since age 12 HAS to mean something. My vague theories of Felicity having struggles with body image/dysmorphia (Arturo's section of this post) are... maybe real???

Honestly, I'm starting to wonder if Arturo is going to go farther in this game. I don't expect him to survive or anything, but I could see it taking him a surprisingly long time to die. He feels like he's got too much lore to unpack to die, like, next chapter. Unless he gets HELLA focused next chapter, which is definitely possible.

This is so silly. I love them.

(Note: I'm not a Whit mastermind truther, but if I were, I would point out that MonoTV sort of covering up a rules violation for Whit could be relevant. I'm not a Whit mastermind truther though, so I think this is just a very silly joke a la "no wifi! why live :(" )

Well you see Eden, the killer would have actually had all night to prepare. If, say, they mentioned that they could dial in and focus on their work for like 14 hours straight, they could have gotten a lot done before 7:30 AM!

I'll talk about this more later, but the fact that J, David, Veronika, Hu and Nico seemingly have alibis that actually matter is so iconic. I can't believe that many theories died that quick. I'll talk about that more in my theories section, though!

It's been said before, but. Funniest fucking reaction to being declared innocent of murder.

"David still has a family history of depression even if that isn't his secret" nation where you at?

This one made me laugh out loud. Who does it like him

How truthful do we think David is in this next section? I refuse to believe it's 100% a lie, just because he's cooking SO hard on SOMETHING, but I could also believe David thinks he's lying to an extent. I could definitely see a "the best lies are based on the truth" kind of thing?

Also, damn. Xanvid really is real. LGI got me to believe it but WOW David's just being gay on main now

This was a really good, succinct way to have Teruko show her opposition to David's ideas. Even if it is to end the killing game or do something "good' or whatever, Teruko is still hurt and betrayed by what Xander did. Xander tried to kill her, and presumably would have tried to kill everyone else. David is now doing the same thing.

It's going to be really interesting if, whether genuine or not, David is kinda taking on Xander's position. That's going to give Teruko a reason to (outwardly) hate him even more. I'm really looking forward to learning more about how both Teruko and David view Xander.

Also, it's so fucking funny that Teruko and David are literally fighting over Xander. Like, valid, but. Guys.

(Also, David soooo knows Teruko's secret is the killing game is all your fault. Idk if he specifically knows that Xander's plan was to kill Teruko no matter what, but he's definitely caught on to some extent.)

This was crazy. Is Xander famous? Why would everyone recognize him? Like, did David just take particular notice of Xander because he's a simp, or is there something else going on?

Notably, it's also extremely interesting that David says "Even if you all lost a year of memories for this killing game." It almost implies that David didn't? What do you know???

Also, if David DOES have weird memories about this that no one else does, it's a really interesting comparison to Teruko remembering the existence of a killing game in the area investigation when she was talking to Veronika. Are these two getting special memory privileges because they're important? Or does everyone have some kind of memory that they all should have, but only one person knows each thing?

At first I was confused when David said this, because I really don't know how dear anyone in DRDT's life to him was other than Xander. But then I realized, if David is talking about killing 15 others and yourself, he's definitely still talking about Xander's mindset. Xander had something worth the lives of 16 people that he was trying to do.

I don't know how much David cares about ending the killing game. I wonder if "belief in Xander" is the thing he's willing to kill 13 people plus himself for?

I'm starting to get REALLY curious what J's deal is. Between this and her voiced line earlier in the trial saying something along the lines of "it's like you all still haven't grasped just how serious murder is," she definitely seems to have strong opinions on specifically the morality of killing other people. WHY is she being singled out with these beliefs, what does it say about her, and where is her character headed?

(If she is the mastermind, does this couple with the "all murderers must be held accountable" rule?)

"Any answer" is so funny. I think she's looking for the truthful answer, David. This is why no one believes you when you say anything ever /aff

Notably, this is VERY similar to the plan Eden came up with that Veronika described: using the fact that TV shows need entertainment to continue to end the killing game. It's the same thing, but with a much more depressed "everyone should just give up" kind of flavor.

The level of similarity does make me think David is probably not being 100% truthful, and that he just repurposed Eden's escape plan to be something sort of similar to what he was going for.

I do think that he WAS trying to defeat the killing game by killing people through the class trial. I just think that, between Xander's actions and the motive secret he received, he was trying to kill Teruko specifically. Yet another way that David's unhinged behavior ties into the Chapter 2 secrets.

*Hu hopeless child looms in the distance*

I'm so glad that Hu gets to pop off though. She really hasn't gotten, like, any content in the series so far. Here's hoping this is kicking off her getting a bunch of time to shine!

Interesting that they had both Ace and Hu cut Nico off in this interaction. The staging definitely implies that they're trying to show that while Ace is wrong for talking over Nico and not letting them say anything, Hu is also wrong to an extent for not letting Nico defend themself and running to their rescue all the time.

I am begging you. Please discuss the murder method. I didn't realize until my rewatch of the trial that they have actually literally not talked about the murder method at ALL except for telling David that he doesn't know shit about it.

HUH?????????????

Theory Update/Analysis

Well, I'm gonna start this off by saying that I'm still pretty locked into Eden being the killer. We still need to address the tape, and I personally still found her to be decently shifty now behavior wise (she seemed nervous when we turned back to solving the trial, and she says something about "it's too hard to narrow down the killer :/" when people were talking about morning alibis). I just think it makes the most sense.

While obviously my logic for why Levi would be the accomplice has to be at least somewhat flawed, given Levi's surprise confession (!!!), I still think it's possible that Levi is the accomplice here. He could be doing this to further confuse/complicate the state of things (hence why he calls it leading people astray), and it's possible he's not being 100% honest here.

Something that Levi could be doing here is taking control of the situation and spinning the truth in his favor. Hu mentioned earlier (e11, I think?) that the secrets are phrased dramatically. Similarly, Levi may be trying to offer an explanation for his secret that might be more tame, but still believable.

For example, if Levi says that he killed one of his parents because of the circumstances he grew up in, but it turned out that his parents were extremely abusive to him in some way (cough cough Amane Momose), wouldn't people be more willing to forgive the fact that he's a "murderer"? There are different levels to the culpability of murders.

So, it's definitely possible this is still an attempt by Levi to conceal the truth of his secret. It's true that, right now, no one's really trying to match all of the remaining secrets up with the remaining secret holders in-universe, but the entire fanbase pretty much slam dunked this one. Once the content of the secrets was revealed, it wasn't too difficult to track the origin of this secret to Levi. Levi might know that, and might be trying to spin it in a positive way while he can get everyone's attention and tell everyone the same narrative here in the class trial.

I don't think any Levi accomplice or killer truthers have to fully give up on the idea, or at least not until we see what Levi actually says after this. It's a WILD topic to reveal we're going to talk about, but we haven't actually talked about it yet. If we were told "we get David's motivations for trying to throw the trial," I doubt literally any of us would have locked in the prediction of "David is trying to follow in Xander's footsteps by killing everyone via the trial because he kind of remembers Xander." So, until next week, I'm keeping an open mind!

This was insane. I can't believe we actually got a new episode, and that we're gonna KEEP getting new episodes until the chapter finishes. What the fuck!!!

[mysteli]

this is me trying (jake x f!mc - endless summer)

A/N: I've had a few people ask for more jake x mc fics and I haven't written one in years so I'm honestly really flattered people are still interested in my writing. Thank you, it means a lot. I wrote this one a while ago but figured I'd post it. I'm still working on my books. I just have a lot of stuff to balance at the moment. Hope you enjoy and if even 4 people want more, I'll write some more.

Summary: The whole group wound up in another Elysian Lodge centred on the other side of the island. Lo wakes up and notices Jake is nowhere next to her, which is odd because she remembers falling asleep on him. She gets up to find him.

She looks around the lodge that everyone was too exhausted to explore last night. Probably a mistake because anyone could have snuck up on them last night. Perhaps Lundgren’s soldiers know this was a place they could have chosen to hide in and are on their way right now. 

Lo’s mind had begun to spin to negative thoughts and she tried to pull it back to the reason she got up in the first place. She walks up a big staircase and stumbles upon a hallway of suites. She passes some doors until she reaches one with an ajar door. Curiously, she enters.

Immediately, she spots Jake, sitting on a couch that’s connected to a window. He’s just staring out at the snow. Lo can’t see his eyes but she already knows he’s not looking out of peace. The door creaked slightly as she walked in and she expected Jake to turn around. But he doesn’t. His eyes remain on the outside.

Lo stays put by the door for a moment, waiting for something from Jake. Still nothing. So, she slowly walks up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder so he knows it’s her.

“Jake…” She begins. “You okay?”

Jake doesn’t say anything back or tear his gaze away from the window. All he does is move his hand to where Lo placed hers. His grasp is comfortable, as he rubs his thumb over her skin. They stay like that for a few moments, as Jake clearly isn’t in the mood to talk right now. 

For the first time, he makes a noise. Even if it’s just a heavy sigh, Lo feels more hopeful for a conversation.

“Did you sleep okay?” Jake finally says, bringing some relief to Lo.

“I slept okay.” Lo answers. “Would’ve woken up better to your face though.”

Jake releases a low chuckle, a slight smile arriving on his face for a second. It disappears quickly and he sighs again. “Is that why you came looking for me?”

Lo moves to sit beside him, finally able to see his eyes. His stare still hasn’t moved from the window. “What’s so special about outside?” She asks, moving her eyes to the window as well. All she sees is a wasteland of snow, empty and hollow. One noticeable thing though is that it never seems to end.

“Nothing.” Jake mutters, hanging his head a little. “That’s why I keep looking.”

Lo tilts her head curiously at his extremely bleak comment. She leans against the wall at the other end of the seat, so she’s opposite Jake. He was right though. Something about the calm snowfall and wintery landscape screamed ordinary and perhaps that’s why Jake was so drawn to it. Nothing in their lives had been ordinary since they arrived on this island and the escape back to that normality was something they all longed for.

“It’s all my fault, Lo.” Jake suddenly mumbles, his tone completely defeated. “Lundgren found me. Somehow. I have no idea how but he did.” He hangs his head further down and his shoulders are tempted to fall with him.

Instinctively, Lo shifts closer to him, wanting to comfort him as best she could. “It’s not your fault. I think Rourke might’ve alerted him.” Of course Lo doesn’t know that but she’ll say anything to stop Jake from blaming himself.

“You say that but you don’t know.” It’s like he can read her thoughts. With that, he fixes his gaze on Lo, letting her finally see his eyes. “All of it is just insane. I finally tell you all about my past and it instantly comes back to bite me.” Jake’s words are laced with hurt and Lo can tell he’s trying his best to hide it. “Maybe they would’ve come earlier if I told you any sooner.”

At his words, Lo feels a tinge of guilt, since he’d already told her about his past much before all this. Would telling him that make him feel better or worse? She can’t decide.

“Jake…” That’s all she manages to say, while she fights with her own brain. 

Jake notices her indecisive expression and simply raises an eyebrow at her. “What?”

Realising the hole she’d already dug for herself, Lo relents. “You did. You told me about it before.”

Confused, Jake scans his girlfriend’s face, trying to figure out what she means. “I did?”

“Remember the first night we got together?” Lo mutters, causing Jake to release a breathy laugh. For a moment, she swears she could see him smile.

“Of course,” is all he responds with, taking her hand in his.

Lo blushes slightly at the tender contact, feeling more confident in continuing. “You told me about your past. All of it. Then, all the shit happened with Vaaryn.” Her expression begins to fall. “That necklace took me back to where I wanted to be, but it was before that conversation so you don’t remember it.”

“Ah.” Jake lets out, dropping her hand in the process and moving his own behind his head. 

Slightly saddened by the removal of his touch, Lo hesitantly continues. “I didn’t want to tell you that I knew out of respect for you. ‘Figured you would’ve told me again when you felt ready.” She sighs, realising that’s not what he did.

“I was going to.” Jake confirms, moving his hands from his head and placing them on his knees. “But there was never really a good time. With Diego getting kidnapped. The Vaanti and all that stupid bullshit. Didn’t want to add any more onto your plate.”

He hangs his head again, looking more defeated by the second. Lo shifted closer to him once again, tilting his chin with her finger so his eyes meet hers. She could tell he was growing tired of it all, even if his demeanour appeared strong and prepared in most of the danger they’d experienced. This was different. This was the first time she’d seen his eyes so full of dread.

“We both had our reasons then, I guess.” She tries to joke but it doesn’t really come out like one. Her tone starts to become just as shaky as his. However, Jake does let out a small chuckle.

“Yeah. We’re both trying.” Jake smiles again and this time it’s genuine. “I can promise you one thing though, Princess.” 

“What’s that?” Lo asks, smiling back at him.

“Lundgren’s not gonna touch you. I swear on that.” Jake’s gaze becomes serious and full of intent. “No one’s dying on my watch.” He cups Lo’s face and grazes his thumb over her cheek.

“No one.” Lo repeats his words, implying for him to stay away from his own demise too. “We’re not losing anyone.” She states sternly, pointing a finger on his chest.

As a reaction, he lets out a low chuckle. “Okay. I get it. You’re not over me attempting to sacrifice myself.”

Lo moves her hands to his neck and begins to stroke the bottom of his hair. “I don’t know what you mean. Of course I want everyone to live.” She arches her eyebrows at him, making sure she’s coming off direct. “You hear me?”

Smile growing wider, Jake wraps his hands around her waist. “Yes. I hear you.” He states back, pulling her in for a meaningful kiss.

[ilwinsgarden]

My thoughts on and impressions of the latest Doctor Who specials and Power of the Doctor

So I finally watched everything so I've thought I could write it down here in case someone would like to read it and... whatever. So let's get into it, shall we?

I watched the Power of the Doctor as the last one (actually just now finished watching it) and I'm really glad I did it but I'll write about it at the end as well (or should I make a separate post?), so first the so-called anniversary specials. First of all, I wasn't happy about that thing with David Tennant (i.e. regenerating into David Tennant). Not that I'd think something like "this couldn't happen" or something like that (honestly with everything that did happen in Doctor Who so far, there's basically nothing that couldn't happen. It's just things that some people would like more and some less), it's just... not fair? Also it feels more like a special episode for Red Nose and not a regular one(s). Anyway, I still watched it (partly because of the fact that the Doctor became Disney princess and I happen to have Disney+ so I could watch Doctor Who as easily as snap of the fingers.) and I enjoyed it more than I expected. No, no excitement, no hopping in joy, but still generally enjoyed watching. However there still were things that bugged me like: -despite the Doctor looking like Tenth Doctor, everyone suddenly magically knew that it's regeneration after Thirteen. How?? -Donna said she forgot again everything that she knew from that TimeLord part in her, but she (and Rose as well) knew that the Doctor was a woman before. How? (by the way this whole thing that the part of Time Lord that was in Donna (and then Rose) all the years was still in connection with the Doctor somehow so it "knew" what was happening to the Doctor... eh. Doesn't sound right to me either, sorry). -moving to second special and Donna's shouting when Tardis abandoned them on the spaceship. (this is something I already complained about in a short post before) She remembered travelling with the Doctor, so she knew what could go wrong (everything) and how often (basically everytime), yet she insisted she would like to go in the Tardis and do the short trip and when something went wrong she immediately went crazy, shouting and demanding she has to go back home. Seriously, Donna? %/ - I mentioned earlier that regenerating Thirteen back into Tenth Doctor (sorry, he's just the same, he's not Fourteenth to me. It would make somewhat sense if he looked the same (except age obviously) but acted differently.) felt unfair to me and even more when he didn't regenerate but divided himself (and the Tardis), like... eh, no, not fair. Which brings us to the special with Celestial Toymaker. I was looking forward to it and curious because Celestial Toymaker is one of my favourite classic who stories so I was curious how he'd be in NuWho. I liked him (though I didn't quite get why he had that sort of a German accent??) and rather enjoyed the episode. Except for that "regeneration" thing at the end of course as I already said. Anyway the biggest complaint I would have about the specials is that for me they didn't feel like anniversary specials. Moreover 70th anniversary. Not even one of them.

Now probably a few words to the Christmas special and first look at the new Doctor. He seems good (like... good for the Doctor. As the Doctor. Doctor-y.) and I think I'll enjoy watching his episodes. As for Ruby... I'm not sure. She somehow seems very similar to other previous Doctor Who companions like Rose (Tyler) or Clara. You know, like... yes, it's a different actor and looks more or less different but somehow doesn't differ that much. I didn't think of it when watching, but when thought of it now I think I figured out why I wasn't excited about her. It's not that I didn't like her, I just... don't care about her. But we'll see when we see her (them both) in more episodes I guess? Probably.

And now I finally got to Thirteenth's regeneration story - Power of the Doctor. I finally gained courage today to watch it (because I love Thirteen, I don't want to see her go, right?) and I'm really, really glad that I watched it after all the specials, because this - to me - felt much more like an anniversary special than all the Tenant specials together. I didn't like to see Thirteen go but otherwise, I LOVED it. Of course I knew there's gonna be Ace and Tegan but didn't know how much. And I didn't avoid spoilers so I caught there's gonna be more "old familiar faces" but didn't search for the details and also partly forgot about it. So seeing the previous old Doctors made me smile (and drop a tear), seeing Tegan and Ace in action was so brilliant, and that therapeutic session at the end? Top-notch. Can we have a spin-off out of this? However that anniversary feeling wasn't because of seeing all the old familiar faces, but how it was put in the story and how it all was done and just... it was great and wonderful and I really really loved it.

And that's probably all I wanted to say. If you read the whole thing, congratulations and you're welcome to leave a comment... no? OK, never mind. Good night! (it's 22.27 here)

[cucumbermoon]

Hello! I just wanted to say, I was browsing old Indeedsir posts as is my wont, and I came across your Meet the Family fic, and I really really love it and have read it multiple times. It's still open in a tab on my phone right now. I like Rebecca, she feels like a fleshed out real person and a believable Jeeves relative. I love outsider POV fics where you have to read between the lines, and I think you did that really well in that Rebecca doesn't have the information to understand straight away what she's seeing, but we understand perfectly what's going on between J and B. The contrast between her (understandable) assumptions about how a rich employer would be expected to treat her brother and what becomes clear is the actual reality is so !!!! The way she describes the way Reginald talks about Bertie makes me feral. She thinks Bertie is an idiot but we know he's just babbling because he's nervous about meeting Reg's family!! I adore the way Bertie and Reg are clearly communicating with each other nonverbally from the moment they get there. The moment where Jeeves looks at Bertie chidingly and Rebecca assumes there's no way Bertie could have picked up on it, but then she realizes he looks contrite made me want to scream!!! BEST moment (and there were a LOT of great moments). I love love love your characterization of Bertie, the way he's brilliant in his own way and shows hints of hidden vulnerabilities and is just INCANDESCENTLY in love with Jeeves. The way he tells the swan story oh my god!! (it's funny how we were just talking about that on that tumblr post recently!) Some of the dialogue made me laugh out loud.

There's so much more I want to say but I'm actually not sure how long asks are allowed to be, and I don't know if you even check LJ anymore and I honestly can't figure out how LJ works anyway, but if you ever saw your way to posting it on AO3 I would love to comment on it. I want to write a book report on it. I want to put it in a blender and drink it. I want to boil it down to a tincture and sprinkle drops of it on everything. It's SO GOOD.

Oh, wow. First of all, I am relatively new to tumblr and I don't know how to answer asks other than publicly, so hopefully this is all right! And no, I haven't logged into LJ in over a decade and I have no idea how to do it anymore!

Thank you so much. It's incredible to get any kind of feedback at all on a story I wrote fourteen years ago, but especially getting feedback like this is just incredible. I was (obviously) a much younger and less experienced person when I wrote my little smattering of Jeeves and Wooster fics, and though I have thought of them from time to time I didn't really have the courage to go back and read them again until you wrote to me.

Thank you for reaching out, for opening that door again. I spent last night rereading my Jooster stuff from when I was in my early twenties and it felt like reconnecting with a version of myself I'd almost forgotten. I never really thought about posting my old stuff on AO3, but I'm going to consider it. I will let you know if I do. I remember at the time I intended this particular story to be a part of a series, and I actually have half a chapter each of a story from the perspective of Bertie's sister (that mysterious person!), and Jeeves' uncle Charlie that I was going to add. Maybe I'll dust those off and try to finish them! I also happen to be a huge sucker for outsider POV, so it would be a lot of fun to play around with that series again.

Finally, I am so deeply pleased that you enjoyed it. I know anyone who produces art of any kind hopes that they can make some connection with someone or bring some joy into the world, and it absolutely delights me to know that something I wrote made you happy for a while. I appreciate your generosity in writing to me. Readers like you make writing so much better. People like you make life better.

And yes, it's so funny that we were talking about the swan thing like three days ago. I had forgotten I wrote that same sentiment in a fic a decade and a half ago. I guess none of us change as much as we think we do!

Thank you again. You've made my day, maybe week, maybe month.

[hambonusmaximus]

This will very much be a long personal post, so feel free to skip this if you don't care enough about what's going on in my life.

(Also mentions of depression if that sort of thing bothers you)

Also also, I'm just jotting down thoughts as they come to me, so my points might end up disjointed.

As I mentioned above, this post is mostly going to be talking about my depression, where I believe it stems from and how its affecting me currently. This isn't meant to be pointed at anyone in particular, these are just what I'm going through and how I feel about it.

For whatever reason, I really feel like my depression has really been kicked into overdrive lately, and its got me thinking about why, and what I should possibly do about it. Its honestly been really hard to enjoy things lately, and me wanting to spend time with friends just makes me feel like I'm being a bother most of the time. I know that they would tell me that I'm not a bother, but I can't shake the feeling that me trying to insert myself into their lives just makes me an annoyance that everyone would be better off without. I worry that I come off as some attention-seeker that craves validation, or that I'm constantly trying to make conversations about me, and while there is definitely a part of me that desires validation, which I'll get more into in a bit, I genuinely do not mean to make things about me all the time. I guess maybe I try to make myself more relatable and that's where these thoughts come from, I just hope that I'm the only one that thinks that.

As for that point about needing validation from others, that I believe stems from the part of my life where most everyone seemed to hate me for seemingly no reason. I won't go into my entire life story, because no one wants to hear that, but I will just say that, from around 6th grade all the way up until my 30's, I would constantly be belittled, insulted, bullied, beat up, and told that I'm a lesser person for just being who I am. I never had many friends growing up, even well into my adult life, and even some of the people I considered friends would eventually turn their backs on me. I was miserable for so long. It got to the point where I just wanted it to end. I would have accepted death at any point during that time. Not enough to take my own life, but I wouldn't have fought against it either way.

Suddenly, in the last couple of years, things starting getting better. I was getting promoted at my job and earning more money, I was paying off credit card debt that I never thought would have been possible... and most importantly of all, I reconnected with an online friend from years ago, one that I never actually figured would connect with me again. Then he introduced me to more of his friends, and then more, and suddenly I'm surrounded by so many wonderful people that all seem to really like me. It felt sort of overwhelming, and to be honest it still does at times, but I actually felt like I was worthy of love and praise rather than just being some nobody that didn't matter to anyone. I've never had this many friends at one time, and its been incredible to say the very least.

However, that brings me to my next problem; the feeling that I'm just an awful friend. I don't like having this feeling, but I cannot help it some times. I generally don't reach out to talk with friends in DM's, because (again) I don't want to be a bother, so I prefer to wait and see if they would reach out to me. It feels selfish of me to expect others to initiate a conversation when I can't bring myself to do so.

Another problem is, as I mentioned before, I feel like I try to insert myself into other people's lives without considering their feelings about it. I do want to be a part of my friends' worlds, as much as they are a part of mine, but again I get this gnawing voice in my head that tells me I'm being selfish. Like, two friends could be having a conversation about something, and I feel like I have to feel included somehow. I don't do it intentionally, or maliciously, but it feels like it comes off like I do. I hate that I feel like I can't help myself sometimes.

Regardless of all that, there is one thing that worries me most about my new friends; that feeling that, inevitably, I'll either say or do something that will drive them all away, and leave me with no one left to care, back where I started those years ago when I was at my lowest. That worry has been keeping me from really enjoying the things I want to do, like playing games or making art, and even hanging out with those same friends. Perhaps that's why those feelings of me being a bother to everyone is so prominent in my mind.

I don't really know what all I could do to change the way I think. I also don't expect this post to be able to change anything either. I suppose its just a way for me to put this all out there so others are aware of what I'm going through mentally. It does feel kind of nice to be able to vent this all out in some way that doesn't feel intrusive or mandatory to others. I also don't want this to seem like engagement-bait or whatever, that's not really a thing I like to do.

If you've read up to this point, I really appreciate you taking the time to do so. If you are a friend of mine, please don't feel pressured to check in on me or try to explain anything to me. These are simply my thoughts, not pointed at anyone but myself. I love and cherish you all, you mean the world to me, and nothing will change that.

[shutupdevvie]

ok so some people have been doing their little mushy end of dig/end of tbagg thing so here i am because i can never pass up the opportunity to be sappy. also this is gonna be long af and i honestly don't expect anyone to read it but i wanna write it so i'm going to.

dig allentown was so many firsts for me. it was my first greta show. my first show ever on the floor. my first time waiting for wristbands. my first time traveling for a show. my first time going on a trip with my best friend completely on our own. what i'm trying to say is that allentown meant a lot to me and it meant a lot that i had tay (who literally will not see this post but i'm gonna say it anyway) with me even though she didn't really care to see them very much. she still stressed with me for MONTHS over this show and sat with me for wristbands and gave me support when i needed it at the show. not only was allentown so important for me, but it was also just such a great show. the setlist was fucking amazing. i don't think i will ever get over it or figure out why they played that setlist in allentown of all places but whatever the reason, i am grateful.

then we have atlantic city. ac was very much an unexpected experience for me. i had plans with other people for months that fell through and at the last minute, tal offered me a place in her room, and i am so glad i took it. spending that weekend in ac with tal and lexi and buffy was something so extremely out of my comfort zone. i had never met any of them before yet i was committing myself to staying with them. i was stressed as fuck but i was so tired of everyone being so surprised that i was willing to do something like this that i forced myself to get over it and have a good time. i think they will all admit that i still didn't talk very much and that may not have given off the best impression but ac was one of the best weekends of my life and i forever am grateful to them for making it as great as it was. spending all night in the hostage room together. watching tal crumble after seeing sam in the hallway (sorry tal but i couldn't NOT mention it in my favorite memories). doing prayer circles together in hopes of having a good show. getting second row, barbs, and stardust chords for night two (plus my rose that i will always cherish). and we also have to mention learning the rival sons claps because that is still one of my absolute favorite memories. anywho ac was also very special to me and it brought me closer to some of my favorite people.

and finally to the battle at garden's gate. tbagg is the reason i'm here right now. "here right now' meaning a) alive, b) on tumblr writing a sappy post, and c) a greta van fleet van just in general. this album and this band has changed my life so so much more than i ever could have possibly guessed. without this album, there would be so many wonderful people that i would never have had the chance to talk to and connect with and i would never be listening to the music that i do now. tbagg was a life-changing album for me in so many different ways, and i am so glad that i found it, especially when i did. there are times that i still feel a little alone in the universe, but then i post some bullshit about josh kiszka and somebody halfway across the world will respond and i'll remember that, maybe i'm not so alone after all.

anywho i guess the tldr is: i love greta van fleet. allentown and ac changed my life and so did tbagg overall. i love @streamsofstardust and @jakewhorecore and @artificialbarbarians for making ac so great and for being some of my favorite people. and i love all of you. also want to say that i love @highdefkiszka because she's like my bff and i would never have met her without these stupid fuckers ! to a new chapter and i'm sorry this is so long and so gushy and everything, i can't help it :))

[vt-scribbles]

💫what is your favorite kind of comment/feedback?

🌿how does creating make you feel?

🎀give yourself a compliment about your own writing

💞what’s the most important part of a story for you? the plot, the characters, the worldbuilding, the technical stuff (grammar etc), the figurative language

💝what is a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?

🕯️was there a fic that was really hard on you to write, or took you to a place you didn’t think it would take you?

🍭why did you start writing?

💎why is writing important to you?

🪄what is your post-writing/sharing aftercare? How do you take care of yourself or celebrate yourself when you’ve finished a fic?

🤲what do YOU get out of writing?

💌share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

Kept it to the questions that were positivity-oriented because, well, asking you to think about the rougher aspects of fandom writing doesn't feel like a nice thing to do, but if there are any other questions you wanted to answer, feel free to do so!

💫what is your favorite kind of comment/feedback?

Another one of my fave comment types is people who just... liveblog their reactions. Nothing fancy. They just write reactions or thoughts as they read along. I love these so much because they let me watch a reader's thought process, and it lets me know where I'm tripping up or where I'm conveying things exactly how I want. Plus, I just LOVE seeing people experience the story blindly, because, well, it's the one thing that I as the author cannot do. I'll never get to experience my writing as a reader. I know all the secrets.

🌿how does creating make you feel?

It's the closest to 'magic' I can get. Creating something from nothing but the thoughts in your head. And sometimes these thoughts connect with other people? I'm weaving words or images from NOTHING, and it's doing SOMETHING? that's incredible.

Not to mention, it's always an addicting feeling when characters start to come to life on their own. Or, when pieces of your plot start to click together. It's as satisfying as making progress on a puzzle, except you know the puzzle is going to look absolutely incredible at the end and you can't wait to show it to people.

🎀give yourself a compliment about your own writing

My writing can be very 'cartoonish' at points, and I adore that. I love writing my stories so that an animated film/show plays in the reader's head.

💞what’s the most important part of a story for you? the plot, the characters, the worldbuilding, the technical stuff (grammar etc), the figurative language

Definitely the characters. Plot and worldbuilding are a very close second. It depends on what type of story I'm following. If it's a fairly simple story, the characters need to shine. If it's a complex world with lore and twists and turns, the worldbuilding needs to be tighter. But I mostly care about our characters being at least interesting to watch. You could have a great setting and such but if the characters are boring, I'm not going to watch/read.

💝what is a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?

Honestly, The Harvester! We didn't expect so many people to connect with it, or to be able to look past its rougher edges as a "copy-pasted roleplay between two nerds".

🕯️was there a fic that was really hard on you to write, or took you to a place you didn’t think it would take you?

I'll instead talk about a chapter of The Harvester that was hard to write. There's a future episode where Hema reflects on some of the bad things he's done, in a very down-to-earth conversation with someone. I think about this chapter a lot because it was written right after my car accident in 2017, which was my first near-death experience. I was in a bad place mentally, and the breakdown Hema ends up having is very similar to a real-life breakdown I had while visiting a friend's house. Reliving that very raw and upsetting feeling was hard on me, but it made the scene hit harder and it felt more honest, which wound up improving it, in the end.

🍭why did you start writing?

I'm not really sure! I had ideas, and I wanted to get those ideas down. I started writing after finishing Fullmetal Alchemist, and I wanted to have my own animated show some day. Now that I'm older, I understand that a book series would be way more affordable haha. I actually almost stopped writing because my highschool english teacher told me to 'give it up, you'll never go anywhere with this,' and to this day that spite has mixed with love and passion for the craft and drives me forward.

💎why is writing important to you?

Because it's the closest thing I have to magic. Like a fish has to swim, I have to take people on journeys. To make their existences easier. To make life a little more fun or creative for them, for a time. I want my stories to be an escape for those who need out, and shelter for those who need to hide.

🪄what is your post-writing/sharing aftercare? How do you take care of yourself or celebrate yourself when you’ve finished a fic?

So this is an odd one for me to answer because I do chapter-by-chapter releases and haven't finished a whole story yet. But my after-chapter-posting routine is usually 'go to sleep, get snacks, and keep Gmail open on the side in case of comments.' Sometimes I go back and re-read it, or I doodle something for the chapter.~ But tbh at this point, it's a pretty casual thing for me.

🤲what do YOU get out of writing?

It helps me feel like I'm part of the world. Like my stories make me more real, because it's one of the few modes of human connection that I have. I can reach out and connect to people that I may never even speak to, but a tiny part of me lives on in their story because they read something I wrote. Or maybe something stuck with them, or they got new friends because of it. The world is one big story and I'm just looking to have a few cameos in it.

💌share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

How abouuut... the first draft of Find Your Wings' prologue? ;3

[bumblevoid]

so,, fnm won the poll and i've already actually been working on some materials sO

the promised ramble! (not including any drawings, sadly)

so. Five Night's Monsters is a fun little monster of the week campaign based in the world of fnaf, yeah? it also draws inspiration from batim and the matrix (coming from someone who has seen part of the matrix but like. not all of it). I'm not going to touch too much on that stuff, cause i don't wanna spoil my big twists for the hunters, but one of them already knows what i mean :D

the campaign takes place in hurricane, utah, to no one's surprise. I'm using this funky timeline that's like. half pre-prepared, half made up on the spot. it is taking place in 2018, and starts on the day of the fnaf 3 fire- set by henry and helpy. three of our hunters were meeting up after a while of not seeing each other, the fourth joined in to give them a ride getting henry safe, and the fifth will be joining in soon. this brings us to our dear hunters! i won't say too much, as they each have their own characters and backstories, but I'll touch on how they're connected, and basic ideas of backstory. first we've got @clemmieinnit's hunter, Bonnie Jeremiah. he's like, a band teacher, and honestly connects most of the hunters? like, one is a college friend, the other two are former students. he's also the bonnie mask bully. clem's playing the Wronged playbook next, there's @starlightandroses's hunter, Syren Vanheri. they're the local conspiracy theorist of sorts, an expert on freddy's without the inside info. lani's playing the Expert playbook the next hunters don't have tumblr,, we've got Toren Ageri, former night guard. he's got a really fun and interesting backstory that's mostly kept under locks haha. toren is the Crooked. and there's Ren Spurling. their mother was a night guard, but wasn't as lucky as toren to live. ren is the Mundane. and of course, making an entrance literally as I'm typing this, is Melanie Kyla Jensen! she's a very fun character who I've been working with the player on, and boy am i excited for her. her aunt is our good good ghost friend cassidy. melanie is the Spooky!

okay. so there's the hunters. so, I'm not entirely sure what they're expecting the final end-goal to be right now, but they're probably thinking defeating wafton? then again, i have let it slip there's several potential bbegs so who knows. but basically, it's just sort of a motw fnaf thingybading. they've been fighting the phantom animatronics lately, as they haven't actually encountered too much of this hunt's monster. and what they have encountered is easy to blame the phantoms for (which is funny cause there was a 20% chance they'd show up and then i rolled a 1 on the d100) so far, they've met up, found helpy, helped henry, fixed helpy, and are stuck in a power-outage that they're just kinda. doing a bunch of things figuring out what's going on. right now, we've got the "he's immortal???" plotline, and the "jeremy is, in fact, also the vr jeremy" plotline going on. also the "melanie explores freddy's" plot.

some fun things i'm doing here are. not really how motw works but i couldn't care less it's interesting- but some of the npcs are recruitable, and have playbooks themselves. these npcs are jeremy, henry, sammy, and michael (not that. mike is there yet.) one is the wronged, one is the spooky, one is the monstrous, and one is the chosen. sammy is our local favorite npc! he's both the hunters' favorite, and mine... yeah you can probably guess how that's turned out haha.

might post some of the npc files (hunter's edition) once i get some more drawings going of these little dudes

[valcuda]

Robert and Avery - The Beginnings - Prologue, has been released!

THIS CHAPTER ISNT A SIGN OF WHATS TO COME. THIS HAS A VERY DIFFERENT FEEL FROM THE REST OF THE STORY.

This chapter sets up an important event for later. Don't know when later will be, it should be pretty early, but I need to introduce Avery before I have it pay-off, so it'll at least be a chapter.

(Also note: This is quite short. Expect to be able to finish this in a single sitting)

Anyway, you can find it here!

-

Now for some ramblings!

Anyway, this is the start of a new series, currently named "Robert and Avery", cause those are the names of the two main characters, and I didn't know what else to call it...

This is called "The Beginnings" because it just sets up the story really. It's currently the part which I plan to be multiple chapters, thought that'll potentially change.

I do have plans for lone chapters, hell, I already have scenes typed up, and even more ideas I have yet to flesh out. This series is meant to be kind of "slice of life" like, just made up of parts that are loosely connected.

This is seriously the most experimental series I've ever done, which should be obvious from the fact, this is my first bit of public writing I've done in years. Don't look for my first, cause I deleted it out of embarrassment.

-

The characters will all have posts talking about them. They're literally just rips of their pages from my private wiki, which I use to organize everything.

The posts themselves are private, but you can access the ones related to the characters in that particular part from a link at the end. I do plan to have a master post on @valcuda-story-content which has all the character profiles, but I'll only do that once this part is finished, since I want to introduce the characters first.

-

Honestly, I'm diving into the deep end here. This is an idea I didn't want to go through with, but am forcing myself to do anyway. I literally don't even have finished artwork of Liena or Selina yet... nor have I decided exactly when the story takes place, which is pretty important for the next part.

I don't know how good this'll turn out, but hopefully it'll turn out well.

-

Chapter 1'll actually take some time to make. I basically already had the prologue thought out before I even started working on this, it was just a matter of trying to figure out how I wanted to do it, since I originally planned for this to be a comic, but my artskills suck with comics...

Anyway, that's all for now!

[generalgri3vous]

Sci fi story idea: kingdom that revolves around a technology goddess (Technia) who is actually a very stressed Ai who was programmed to be the ultimate artificial intelligence or something. she went through a bunch of trauma and tests leaving her jaded and the towns people are making it worse, asking her for stuff she can't give them. the pressure of the demands makes her and all devices shes connected to break. there's a cheerful scientist princess (Alexa) who likes experimenting, repairing tech, and some playful hacking, the princess's cousin (Perl) who is slightly snarky but pretty chill and supportive, a curious and out of touch robot (Connie) who uses other people's voice clips to speak and is secretly Technia's prototype who was abandoned after being deemed not good enough. she doesn't remember this until later so let's just say the memory file was locked. Paige's little sibling (Pascal) came in late and had no idea Connie's a robot and thought she was just really weird. an Ai copy of a character (don't know who) has a minor identity crisis after the original tells them that they're not real and eventually becomes an individual.at some point Technia hacks Connie so Alexa does a counter hack and later Connie has to fight someone or protect or escape I'm not really sure and she overheats or runs out of battery or glitches or crashes and she collapses in front of the kid who is horrified and thinks she's dead but cousin tells her "she's a robot, it's okay. we can fix her." which shocks the kid and after the the patch up Alexa hugs Connie and yells "you're all better now!" also Alexa contributed to helping make either Technia or Connie I'll figure it out later and didn't know she did until the events of the story. Technia gives out some kind of puzzle to the whole kingdom as some kind of test but absolutely didn't expect so many people to solve it so fast so she posted a red herring to lead them off track and uh. idk.I just realized that if Connie had to fight someone that would probably break the first law of robotics (don't harm humans or allow a human to be harmed through inaction)() if she's fighting to protect someone else it's like... the first law violating itself? and it goes in a loop and she gets confused which leads to the collapse described above. (just realized this wouldn't happen if she fights a non-human. dang.) could be anything else tho. don't ask why most of the main characters are girls.Connie got her name because when asked who she was she remembered someone referring to her as a concept and thought that was her name so she introduced herself as Concept and the protagonists just decide to call her Connie since that's an actual name.

honestly this sounds dope af. i already love Connie with all my heart. :]

[disheveledorganization]

intro

contacted a second divorce lawyer today. the first one never responded, so i'm hoping to at least hear back from this one.

i'm putting this post (and if any others i might make) under a cut because i don't want them reblogged and i don't want them saved if i should decided to delete them later on. hopefully that's a thing still.

i want to say that i'm not sure how my marriage got to this point, but i do know. communication breakdown! reaching out for connection and being rejected! lying! drinking! and the icing on that cake: financial infidelity.

my soon to be ex-husband has at minimum $15k in cc debt that i didn't know about, and probably more. like there's a strong possibility that he ran up some ccs (and then paid them off?) without me knowing. and to pile more shit on top of shit, he (his business - an s corp) owes the irs like $300k. i had a full blown panic attack when i found out. and i only found out because the irs sent a certified letter to the house. this has been going on for years and i had no idea. and i can't get a straight answer out of him. first he said the irs thing had been going on for 3 months, then he said 3 years.

we have children, pets, a house, and i haven't worked in more than a decade because i've been homeschooling our kids.

(please, before anyone says anything about homeschooling freaks, i have trans kids with autism, adhd, severe depression, among some minor physical issues that call for regular doctor appts out of town, so. public school would be a dumpster fire.)

i'm currently taking college courses in the hopes of some sort of career. no, idk how i'll homeschool my kids and work. but i'll figure it out. i have the support of my parents and sister. and an extended family who will be there for me. and my friends.

i've told him i want a divorce. he said he's been expecting it for 10 years. blew my mind. he said he wants me to keep homeschooling the kids. that he'll move out of the house. that he'll keep paying bills. but then he hasn't really talked to me about it since then. i'm hoping for a collaborative divorce where we work through it while keeping the kids our priority. i don't want this to get messy.

yes, i'm in therapy. i started going because of my severe anxiety and depression, but i'll continue seeing my therapist through this and beyond. yes, my kids are in therapy. i thought it might be good for them to form a relationship with a therapist before the shit hits the fan.

and, just to be clear, the $ isn't the only reason for this divorce. i've tried everything, even couples counseling, which he stopped attending. he started pulling away from me about 10 years ago, which is odd to think about when he says that's when he started expecting me to leave him. and he does things sometimes that just...... he lied and told my youngest that i'd taken his sister to the emergency room because she was much sicker than we originally thought (i'd taken her to cvs for cold meds). this was his idea of a joke. my child was frightened and shocked, and he insisted it was 'just a joke' over and over.

he is not physically abusive. i'm not afraid of him. and i honestly believe that he cares about and loves the kids. he's just emotionally stunted and refuses help.

this got long. hopefully any updates will be shorter.

[shadomega7569]

The Launching Issue With Publishers.

I'm someone that frequents all sorts of games and at times I'll dip into the AAA territory. However this leads to a major issue that I personally find rather tedious and somewhat pointless and if you haven't figured it out from the title then allow me to explain.

We already have our run of the mill Launchers like Ubisoft Connect, EA Launcher, Steam, Epic Games Launcher, and even BattleNet offering a store front as well as a friends list and other unique features tied to each launcher with steam having the workshop and other community features, Challenge hub for Ubisoft, the Free games featured on Epic, and of course EA and Ubisoft sharing the steam locale for their games allowing anyone on any storefront play together.

Those however are not the launchers that are the issue as those are actually viable to what they offer. Some Studios you'd least expect now have their very own launcher and for anyone playing on console then you don't have to worry about these, PC players however will know to dread these launchers.

Rockstar Games Launcher

This launcher is one example of why some of these extra studio launchers are pointless as this adds nothing for players to gain aside from seeing their games which any other storefront that hosts games from multiple devs and studios will have all their listed games be available to see.

What makes RGL a hinderance to players is the integration of it in older games such as GTA IV to where you can't save the game unless you're logged in either online or offline but still forcing a launcher requirement on the game that doesn't need it and functioned perfectly fine prior to it being integrated.

It's not like Rockstar is putting in their Social Club features as those can be accessed from a browser of any kind and to say it again, this launcher is pointless and just becomes another step to playing the game of which if anything goes wrong with it then you can't even play the game.

2K Games Launcher

Honestly I didn't even know this was a thing until I bought the Mafia trilogy, much like Rockstar this launcher is pointless as all it has to offer is a store front to all PC games tied to 2K so roughly about 5~ franchises to buy or launch from the launcher offering really nothing to the table other than being a hinderance to playing the game.

Game Launchers In General

While I've only encountered a handful of launchers for standalone games, the launcher for Prison Architect is one that was the inspiration behind this post as early access releases of the game didn't have this step to launching the game. it essentially serves as a newsletter pop-up for the game and offers nothing else but is still required to launch the game meaning you need yet another account in order to play a game.

The Reason Why

The reason why these additional launchers exist is mainly to try and stand out as they seen EA and Ubisoft doing it however over time Ubisoft and EA got better with their launchers as in the past they had so many issues with them forgetting passwords or outright crashing when attempting to locate a games files.

EA and Ubisoft will use your username and such when doing cross-play but also offer some features behind it that actually stand out as oppose to "hey guys look we have a launcher so you can browse our games" when Steam already has that option available by clicking on the developer name or publisher name. Steam also allows native cross-play with many games already that just uses your steam name or an inputted name within game to show up in cross-play games.

The way I see it gaming has gone downhill and segregating games to launchers is becoming a bit ridiculous. One of the reasons not listed above is definitely a money issue as a games on steam when bought the developer/publisher only sees about a 70% cut while steam takes 30% so for every $60 game sold steam sees an $18-$20 cut per sale while if the games are bought through a launcher the publisher/studio is 100% them, so yeah money is the reason something pointless outside sales.

[rodthomaswriting]

Tame

She sipped her glass. All was pleasantly loud as they approached her.

"I'm so glad you're here. I keep getting cougars in my yard."

"Sorry?"

They smiled. "Come on."

She tried to smile back, finishing her glass quickly and going back to the punch bowl.

"Panthers, huh?"

She turned, spilling some.

He held up both hands. "Panthers?"

"Sure," she nodded.

She spent a lot of that evening staring in the bathroom mirror. She hadn't wanted to go to the conference anyway. Was she more qualified than anyone else? There weren't really any connections to be made.

While typing away Monday, it continued.

"How was it?"

"What?"

"The pet convention?"

"It was alright."

"Learn a lot?"

"Um. Yeah."

He smiled. "And they definitely learned a lot from you!" The shoulder slap was unnecessary.

Alright.

Lunch was quiet.

And then the emails started. Alice wanted to meet about her cat.

"I know it's not exactly your area of expertise, but I figured you might know a little about general feline diet?"

She nodded. She had no idea.

Sarai sent three about the upcoming talent show.

"I mean, sorry, but we already told people you signed up."

"Why?"

Sarai smiled. That same eyebrows up half shrug.

"Why?"

"I mean, they'll be kind of disappointed." She did finger guns. "The main event," she laughed nervously.

Another email had her at HR.

"So, what was your complaint?"

"I really don't understand the comment in this email about me being good with a whip."

"It makes sense to me, with all due respect."

"Is that not suggestive to you?"

"Well, not in-context."

"Context." She thought about what in her desk would and wouldn't fit in the bag she was carrying.

"Well," he watered a desk plant, "it is you."

"Uh huh." She took a post-it from his desk and scribbled quietly. And that began her last two weeks.

But it didn't end. The cashier lit up at her frozen chicken. "Ah, feedin' the big cats?"

"The what?"

He smiled. "You do tigers? We have a sale on cinnamon right now. Aisle five." He winked.

Why? Why why why?

And she hated being the new girl.

"Keinan?"

"Yeah?"

"Does Michael sign emails to you with meows?"

"What now?"

She turned her monitor. "I guess some are roars."

"Huh. No. Imani?"

"Yeah, man?"

"Does Mike meow at you in mail?"

Imani blinked. "No."

"He's signing 'meow' to-"

"Oh, well if it's to you, that tracks."

"Why would that make sense?"

Imani smiled. "I'm gonna get more tea."

"Right." He waved. "Good luck." He stared at the screen again. "It is weird."

"Thank you."

"I'll talk to him about it."

"Thanks."

The next day, human resources met her at her desk. "You know, we subsidize mental health services."

"That's cool."

"If you need." His hand was on her chair.

"Ok."

He left.

The first session didn't go much better.

"So your employer referred you?"

"Yes."

"Did she tell you why?"

"No, actually. I'm getting harassed, honestly?"

"Oh?"

"I really don't understand it. I left my last job because someone made a joke about me being good with a whip. They sent me to a pet conference, too. I don't have any pets."

"And you don't see where they're coming from?"

"No."

"So, if I was to ask about my cat's diet-"

"Why do they keep asking that?"

"Honestly, I don't know how to tell you this, but you're going to have to expect that response if you want to get anywhere. Not everyone can tell that your looks don't correspond with… that sort of thing. I know it's frustrating. I'm sure it's hard for you. But you need to be patient."

"Why?"

The therapist sighed.

"I literally don't understand."

"Right." They wrote on their pad. "So how long have you been experiencing psychosis?"

She tried to understand. She really did.

"Hi."

"Hi?" He put a box on the shelf.

"You said something about tigers and cinnamon to me a few weeks ago?"

He smiled. "Yeeaahhhh."

"What did you mean by that?"

"Oh, don't worry. I'm gay."

"No, I-"

"I do have a friend into that sort of thing. I'm no good at it and he's bi."

"Thanks, but that's not what I'm-"

"You do shows of it?"

"… What?"

"You do shows of it locally?"

"Shows of what?"

He smiled, shrugging, then put another box on the shelf.

Soon enough, it was the Christmas party. Not everyone showed, but Keinan did. No one else talked to her, but they seemed happy enough to stare.

"Hey."

"Hi," she said. She felt her sock slipping down in her boot.

"These parties are always so…"

"Boring?"

He nodded. "We'll go with that."

She laughed.

His stare was different. It would continue to be different all night. She accepted his ride home. And he accepted her invitation in.

"I don't believe them." It was a quiet mumble in the dark.

"What?" she whispered.

He held her tighter. "I don't believe you're a lion tamer."

She kissed him. "Thank you."

"You're not a lion tamer, Maggie. I love you. I love-"

"Shhhh…"

It all made Monday very interesting. Things with Keinan were fine, but not the "you again" eyeroll from human resources. "What can I help you with?"

"When did you get the impression I was a lion tamer?"

"I never said that about you."

"I've been told I give that impression. Can you explain why I give that impression?"

"We have firm anti-discrimination policies in line with Title VII at this workplace."

"Who is telling everyone I tame lions? I don't."

He stared.

"Why does everyone think I tame lions?"

"Have you ever done… other big cats? Small exotic animals? Do you-"

"NO!"

"I'd appreciate if you didn't raise your voice at me."

Getting groceries delivered was expensive especially when you live on savings.

The woman at the temp agency turned the license in her hands. She held her hand out.

"What?"

She smiled. "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought maybe you had other licenses or… accomplishments." She typed. "So, Microsoft Office. Wow. You're a fast typer. We do have some state park openings."

"I'm only interested in administration."

She laughed. "Sure, honey. Uh huh."

A cat perched outside her window the next morning. It didn't mean to stare either, she was sure.

No emails.

Was it weird to quintuple text him?

Knock knock knock.

She opened her eyes. There were heavy footsteps and tinkering in the kitchen. She combed through her hair with her fingers and stood at the door for ten minutes. Then to the kitchen.

"Oh, sorry. Thought you were- Wait, ain't I seen you at the circus?"

"That was- That was someone else."

He smiled and continued fixing the sink.

She went back to bed.

It was dark out. She didn't put shoes on. She didn't lock the door. Concrete, then asphalt, then grass. Concrete.

"Where are you? Where are you?" She kept walking.

Sure, there were signs. Of course there were signs. She didn't read them.

Very few buildings had lights on.

She stopped. A black and white cat was rubbing against her legs. "Go away." She pet its neck. "Please, go away."

Its yellow eyes stared up at her. It ran through a gap in the fence.

She followed.

The gap was just big enough. Grass again. Stones.

"Alison Brady. 1957-1968."

"Marcus Riddle. 1890-1972. Father."

"B.D. 1896."

There were a few fruit trees in the cemetery. She noticed her leg was bleeding.

"Amy Harward. 1919-2003."

A gazebo a few hundred yards away was lit up. There was another gap in the fence.

She crawled through. The sod gave way to local weeds softer than the grass. She crossed a river. She climbed.

"Can I?"

At the top of the hill was another fence.

"Oh, Maggie. You're so good at fence climbing. Someone like you, I saw you swinging from the trapeze. You're great at-"

Breathing.

She dropped down. The rocks gave a hollow clunk. She climbed a fake stone wall.

"Elephants!"

"Ostrich!"

"North American River Otter!"

"No. No, no, no."

The butterfly area was completely shuttered.

"I know you're here."

"Southern Warthog!"

"California Sea Lion!"

All the signs were so cheerful and green.

"The Baringo Giraffe – Northwest Kenya and Southeast Uganda! Formerly a wider distribution through Africa! They have been exterminated over most of West Africa through overshooting!"

"No."

When she saw it, she climbed the netting. She scraped her knees on plexiglass. The rocks in here were real. The rocks in this one were real.

"African Lion!"

[resowrites]

Hitch - oneshot.

Summary: Henry and his girlfriend hit a bump in the road…

Pairings: AU!Henry Cavill x Girlfriend!OC

Warnings: angst, fluff, relationship difficulties/argument, language, pet names, nondescript OC body type/appearance, brief allusion to smut, hastily written/lightly proofread.

WC: 1630

A/N: Hi folks, still not back in the writing groove but gave it a go and this was the result lol Sorry for deleting the last request, still having a crisis of confidence but I appreciate all interactions (especially as it helps me figure out blog direction). Not sure how often I’ll continue posting atm but feel free to send requests etc. - R x

My work must not be copied, reposted, or translated elsewhere. Likes, follows, reblogs and comments are thoroughly welcome and appreciated! Gifs/pics not my own. I hope you all enjoy and thanks for visiting!

Hitch - oneshot.

"I just want you to tell me why."

"Henry, do you not think if there was another reason, I’d just say so? Especially if it meant not having this conversation again?"

"So you honestly expect me to believe that you won’t get married simply because don't want to?"

"Yes! I said as much not long after we got together, why did you think I’d change my mind?"

"I dunno, I thought maybe you were trying to protect yourself. I know being with someone like me will never be straightforward, but why is marriage an impossibility given how long we've now been together? I've never done anything to make you doubt me or my love for you." She sighed and placed her hands on her hips, struggling to comprehend how watching some dreadful reality show about matchmaking had led to their current discussion. 

"Henry, I really can’t have this conversation again. I've told you my reason why and won't keep repeating myself. Goodnight." Henry dashed between her and the living room door.

"Darling please, we need to talk about this. Surely you can appreciate why I’m confused? You won't attend premieres with me, you don’t often travel with me. I respect that you're your own person and want to be out of the spotlight at much as possible, but now I'm worried you don't feel the same way about me anymore."

"Henry, you already know that isn't true. For fuck's sake I take care of everything each and every day don't I? Your house, your personal affairs, even your dog! I live in the middle of nowhere for you, I get abused every day worldwide for you, and I can't even walk down the fucking street without the risk of being photographed - all for you! Why would I do any of that if I didn't love you? I've never wanted your money, connections, or anything else, and yet here you are questioning me!" But her anger only served to rile him up further. 

"Well, I wonder why! You sound pretty resentful even though this is our house, our dog, our fucking life! For God’s sake I thought we were past this, what else can I do to prove that you're my priority?"

"I'm not resentful, that's my point! And we didn't choose this house or other aspects of our life together but I'm still here, still dedicated to you. What else do I have to do, to prove that?"

"So that would help? If we moved, chose a house together?" She clasped her forehead, exasperated.

"Ugh, no! I love this house because you chose it, just like I love you. Now let me go to bed." Henry blocked her path once again.

"No, please… I'm just trying to understand. You forget that I know you were engaged before, so is it that? You love me but you were in love with him?"

"Or the experience just confirmed marriage isn't for me. If I'd lost the person I loved most, why would I settle? I'm hardly the type, am I?" He searched her eyes.

"But if it's inconsequential to you why can't we do it? I just want you to be my wife, you know fine well I'll never hurt or leave you!"

"Except I don't! No one can. I don't want marriage because I don’t believe it's a vow anyone can honestly make. You might wake up tomorrow and decide you don't love me anymore, or next week you could meet someone who makes you realise you never did. I'm sorry but having to get divorced just adds insult to injury and I won't do it to myself. I refuse to."

"Oh, darling." Henry tried to move in for a hug but she swiftly raised her hand.

"Stop it. Whether you accept it or not, I continue to be here because I love you, and I'm sorry you think I haven't done enough to make that clear."

"And I'm sorry you think I don't love you as much as you love me." A look flashed briefly across her face.

"When did I say that?!"

"Throughout this entire conversation! So I was right all along, you think I'm just a selfish prick who wants to have his cake and eat it. First it was your father, then your ex, and now me. I'm just the latest in a long line of disappointments, aren't I? What do you want me to do? Give up acting? Will that be a big enough improvement for you?" There was no mistaking the look on her face anymore.

"How dare you. I've always respected what you do--"

“She said sarcastically.”

"Oh whatever, all this really comes down to is you not being able to control me any further than you already do." He stepped back a moment, turning around only halfway when he was ready to speak again.

"You don't really believe that?"

"Either way, I'm never getting married or having children. If that's too much for you then, I suppose... our relationship is already over." Her eyes were distraught and Henry rushed forwards, gripping the sides of her arms.

"No, no. Please, don't say that. I'm not losing you over something like this. Having children is different and besides, I don’t want to share you with anyone else," she felt her heart pinch. "I'm sorry, Okay? I'm just hurt, but I'll get over it. Yes, I'm old-fashioned, I find it hard that you don't let me spoil you, or that we have to take turns paying for holidays. You even have to pay for the upkeep of this place!”

"Yes, because you bought it despite us both living here, why can't I at least contribute?" He finally let her go, sighing as his head dropped down.

"I just want to care of you."

"And you do! Which I'm grateful for and is the reason I do whatever I can to take care of you as well. Marriage gives me the ick, alright? I'm just not lovey-dovey, sue me."

"Bollocks. You spend ages cuddling Kal, cooking for me… do you know you even cuddle up to me at night after you've fallen asleep? I try and stay awake just so--" his voice caught in his throat, "I don't miss it. We don't have to have a wedding, though you seemed to enjoy Mark's and Claire's...”

"I'd enjoy myself at funerals if they had open bars." 

"Well, what if something happens to me? I need to make sure everything's taken care of."

"We can go to a solicitor for that." Henry rubbed his jaw.

"What if we make it just us? We don't have to invite anyone other than the witnesses." She pondered the suggestion for a moment. 

"How about we have a civil union?" He scowled.

"What, where you don't have to change your title, surname, or even be called my wife?"

"Henry that's my last offer, take it or leave it. For fuck's sake why can't I just be your partner? That's all I've ever wanted to be..." She swallowed back her tears but practically fled the room. Henry just stood with his head in his hands. Neither of them slept well that night.

***

The next couple of days passed uneasily, not that she didn't try her best to make things better. She still didn't want to give in to Henry though, no matter how bad it felt not to. She thought she’d sacrificed enough for them to be together. If she said yes to this, then what would be next? It was as she was curled up on the sofa, letting such thoughts churn over and over in her mind, that he came and sat down beside her. After a couple of minutes, he gently took her hand. "Listen, I've thought about what you said and I think I finally understand. With that in mind, I'd like you to accept these as a promise that we'll belong to each other for as long as possible and as best we can.” He looked at her knowingly while pulling two velvet boxes from his pocket. “I got you the same promise ring as mine as I know you don't like anything sparkly, mine's just wider cos I've got big hands and need it to last. You don't have to be a Mrs or take my surname either, though I know you don’t like yours so I thought maybe you could anyway?" His hopeful eyes were met with the mischief in hers.

"But your surname’s awful as well!" He snorted.

"Fair enough, I know it's a nightmare changing everything by deed poll anyway. We can wear the rings on our right hands if you want, so... what do you think?"

"I'll accept it on one condition," she teased, though the tears in her eyes were plain to see.

"Which is?"

"You get down on one knee." Henry stared at her for a moment in disbelief but soon hurled himself to the floor, grinning as she presented her right hand. He took his time, making sure to slide the band on carefully. Once that was done she grabbed his and as gently as her patience would allow, twisted it over his finger. They beamed at each other before he leaped to his feet, pulling her with him so they could kiss and embrace. His heart felt like it was about to burst. "You know, if I'm not your wife then what will you call me?"

"How about 'wagon?'" She giggled and swatted him on the arm. "What about me?"

"Hmm, let's see... what else begins with 'w?'" He roared with laughter, planted another kiss on her mouth, and swept her up into his arms. She knew they were headed for the stairs before he even turned round.

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